Disclaimer: LOTR was created by JRR Tolkien, and all the characters

and names you recognize belong to him. Debora and Claudia are just

two internet girls having some fun with their favorite characters.

Not copyright infringement was intended. This was made just for fun.

And yes, we ARE nuts, so don't bother emailing us just to tell us

that. Reviews are ALWAYS welcome! :)

Debora (Brazilian Nut) and Claudia (ElfNut)

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Nuts in Middle Earth

Chapter 3

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The following morning, Legolas was the first one to wake up. Being an

elf made him a creature deeply attuned to the nature, and so he

usually woke up with the birds' singing, and the first breeze in the

morning... But this morning was a particularly silent and freezing

one.

He looked at the two strange girls who had crashed into them the day

before. The red-haired one had been quite restless the previous

night, but the black haired had been quite still and calm during the

night.

What he didn't know was that Claudia had spent half of the night just

trying to sleep. But knowing that Legolas was just there, at arm's

reach, had made it nearly impossible for her. And if she kept moving

very much, someone could wake up and get suspicious at her, so she

had kept very still in order to fall into sleep.

Eventually, her tiredness had won over, and she had drifted into

sleep, but she hadn't wakened up by the time Legolas had. As a matter

of fact, no one had.

Legolas used the few minutes of solitude and silence to ponder about

what Claudia had said about that "Force" business. It seemed somewhat

similar to the Elves concept of the equilibrium between all living

things, but he had never listened about someone actually taping into

this equilibrium like these Jedi people apparently could.

Curious as he was about the powers of the two strange women that had

joined the fellowship, he decided to bid his time and observe. There

was something about the foreigners Mithrandil was not telling the

fellowship. Elves were patient creatures. He would wait.

The remaining members of the Fellowship began stirring from sleep

into the freezing morning air. As Boromir woke up, the first thing he

did was to search with his eyes for Debora, since he feared last

nights encounter had been a dream. He saw her sleeping still, close

to where Claudia was rising from sleep. He smiled to himself.

Claudia's first thought when she woke was that all the Lord of the

rings business had been a dream, a very vivid dream. As she opened

her eyes and found herself in the cave, with Debora next to her, she

knew it wasn't.

Claudia thought of a way of gently waking Debora, and decided to try

her luck with the force ... she sent some images from Boromir into

Debora's head, to see what happened.

Debora was enveloped by Boromir's strong arms, her eyes heavy with

sleep, when he started to kiss his way down her neck. She trembled

all over and stirred, opening her eyes to look up at his deep blue

eyes... Only to see herself facing a rocky wall. Debora blinked.

Where was she? Had it all been just another dream?

She remembered going to the movies with Claudia to watch Episode II,

but everything afterwards was a bit blurred. She turned on her back

and faced the other side, a slightly frown on her face. She had never

thought that Bolivia could be so cold...

Only to find herself facing Boromir knelt before her, his eyes

obviously examining her previously sleepy form. She blushed and

froze at the same time; the previous night's events came back to her

mind, crystal clear. And had she done?

"Good morning, gorgeous." Boromir said, with another one of his

dazzling smiles at his lips. Debora wondered for a moment why he

would be smiling so often now, since his character was never a very

smile-y character.

She blushed even more at the possibility that had risen in her head.

"Good morning." She said, stretching her arms up her head, shaking

sleep from her, while also trying hard not to think about what had

happened between them.

Before either of them could say anything else, Aragorn got up and

addressed everyone. "We have to leave now, if we intend to cross

Caradhras today before the nightfall."

While watching Debora's exchange with Boromir, Claudia was laughing

to herself.... let Deb have her fun with Gondor Boy. She nudged Deb

through the Force (for practice) "Come on sleepy head, rangerboy

wants us up and ready!"

Debora stood up and turned with half closed eyes to Claudia who was

already helping the hobbits with their backpacks. "Any coffee?"

Claudia smiled broadly at Debora. "Sorry dear, no coffee in Middle

earth. Do you want to eat something?"

Debora's eyes briefly flickered to Boromir, "Err, do you have some

kind of fruit? " she said to Claudia

"Aragorn gave me an apple, Deb. We can share, but don't get into the

biblical meaning of the fruit, if you know what I mean..."

Debora scowled, but accepted her half of the fruit. "There's only

one? Don't they have more food? I thought that at least the hobbits

would have more food with them."

The hobbits were ready to go, the same as Gandalf and Aragorn.

Boromir didn't move from Debora's side. Claudia was happily chatting

with the hobbits when Legolas entered the cave and smiled at her. She

began to stutter and decided to shut up."

The Fellowship of Eleven began the walk towards the pass of

Caradhras. The snow was deep and there were still harsh icy winds

blowing in their faces.

Debora and Claudia were comfortable but freezing in their leather

outfits. From time to time they stumbled in the snow, wishing they

could walk on it like Legolas did.

Debora's teeth were clattering in the cold, and the fact that they

were halfway buried in the snow didn't help. She stopped for a moment

and glanced over her shoulder at Claudia.

Unexpectedly, she felt something warm on her shoulders, and turned

once again. It was Boromir; he was putting his cloak on her shoulders.

"To keep you warm," he said.

"Thanks," Debora answered, already feeling better from just looking

at him.

It was like heat irradiated from him to her.

But she still felt cold, and really pissed up by the fact that they

were moving so slowly in the snow, when they could be moving much

more quicker if they could walk in the snow like Legolas.

They were reaching the pass, as Legolas signaled them to stop. "There

is something foul in the air...".

Gandalf listened. "It is Saruman, he is trying to stop us."

The wind grew stronger and suddenly a lightning struck the top of the

mountain sending rocks and snow upon the Fellowship.

Legolas shoved Gandalf towards the mountainside, as Aragorn did

with Gimli, Frodo and Sam. Claudia gripped after Merry and Pippin and

threw herself away from the abyss into the snow, after seeing that

Boromir and Debora were doing the same. A deep blanket of snow

covered all of them.

Legolas was the first to find his way through the snow and helped the

others. The wind was still beating furiously against them.

"We have to go back," yelled Boromir against the wind. He was holding

Debora's hand, which was numb from the cold.

"We should go through Moria," added Gimli. Gandalf didn't want to go

through Moria but he left the decision to Frodo. He saw the frozen

pass and decide. They were to cross Moria.

When they were coming down from Caradhras, Boromir kept mumbling all

the time about how stupid the hobbits were, and how they should go

through the Gap of Rohan instead of Moria.

For the first time since arriving at Middle Earth, Debora remembered

the One Ring. "Boromir, what happened with the Ring? Is it with

Frodo? I thought he had dropped it on the snow yesterday..."

Hearing Debora's question made Boromir jerk his head up at her. She

was afraid for a moment that she had said a bit too much (she wasn't

with them when Frodo had dropped the One Ring)

But Boromir didn't seem to notice that. "How do you know about the

One Ring? I thought only those of us at Elrond's Council knew about

it."

Debora panicked for a second, before coming up with an excuse. "Well,

you heard Gandalf. We are here to help you, and so we needed to know

what we were up against."

A hollow laugh escaped Boromir's lips. "Against? Don't tell me you

also think we have to destroy the Ring. It may be our only hope

against Sauron!" He almost yelled, but just not loud enough for the

rest of the Fellowship to hear.

Debora swallowed. "Boromir, I know you think the Ring can help

Gondor's people. And I also know that Gandalf and the others already

told you that the Ring can be Gondor's destruction as well, and yet

you still think we should take the Ring to Gondor. But even though I

don't agree with you, I understand you. It took me a while to,"

Debora remembered how she had hated Boromir's character after reading

Tolkien's book, and how the movie had changed her perception of his

character drastically, "but I finally did. You don't want the Ring

for its power. You want it to help Gondor. To help your people. You

have spent way too many generations fighting against Mordor, and the

Ring could be the solution. But it isn't. Trust me."

"Who says I wouldn't be able to control the Ring?" His eyes suddenly

seemed to see past her. "And how do you know all that?"

"Let's just say that I know you better than you think." she said,

with a sadness ingrained in her voice. "And that I only want good

things to happen to you, but if you continue to pursue your wish to

have the Ring..."

They were interrupted by Gandalf. "I think it's too late for us to

reach Moria today. We'll camp here and continue our journey

tomorrow." He said to both, and then, his eyes focused on Debora, he

added. "We all should get some rest. No more talking."

They made camp and lighted a fire; even though they had descended

from the snow peaks from Caradhras, the air was still chilly. Gandalf

sat apart, worried about having to cross the mines. Frodo was very

tired, and Sam and Claudia tucked him in near the fire. Boromir,

Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn were deciding the watch turns, as Claudia

and Debora approached them and told them that they wanted to take a

turn too.

"We are able to take our share of duties around here, Aragorn" said

Claudia. Debora agreed "We are your equals. We will share the watches

and the fighting."

"But you know nothing about Middle Earth, and you are.... females"

said Gimli.

Debora was upset." We know enough of Middle Earth. And yes, we are

females and we are equal to you, Gimli."

Claudia saw the insecure look in Aragorn's eyes and proposed. "At

least let's take the watches in pairs. We want to prove that we are

not a burden to you."

Aragorn looked from his friends to the women. "Then it shall be that

way. I will take the first watch with Gimli, Boromir and Debora the

second and Legolas and Claudia the last one. Do you all agree?"

"Can we take the first one?" Debora asked, on impulse.

The men agreed, and Aragorn thought he saw Debora blush and Boromir's

gaze sparkle for a moment. Claudia was uneasy making figures in the

dirt with her boot and sighed.

Everybody, except Debora and Boromir, went to sleep. Gandalf was the

last one, after giving both of them a look halfway between amusement

and warning.

Debora and Boromir sat on some round rocks near the camp, just close

enough to the fire to see if anyone approached, but far enough not to

be seen by anyone trying to approach them.

At the first sign that everybody else was asleep, Boromir snuggled

closer to Debora, his hand already seeking her face, intend on

continuing what Gandalf had interrupted the night before.

"What..." Debora jerked up when she felt Boromir's intention. "Look,

Gondor Boy, I know what we did, or rather, *almost* did last night,

but it's not going to happen. The only reason I agreed to take watch

with you, and asked for us to have the first shift, was to finish our

earlier conversation about the Ring." She said, looking down at a

very confused looking Boromir, who was still seated on the rocks.

A smile crept on his lips, though. "Gondor boy?"

Debora blushed deeply. "Yes, it's a nickname. No time to explain it

though, and don't try to change the subject."

Boromir got up and shortened the distance between him and

Debora. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?" he said, crossing his

arms across his chest. "I'm not going to change my mind about the

Ring." He said, a hint of anger in his voice.

For a moment, Debora was speechless. Not so much because of what

Boromir had said; she had expected something like that. But rather

because of his closeness to her. He smelled of sweat, but also of

earth and melted snow. And that only enhanced Debora's senses to

Boromir's manly and muscled body closeness to her.

She shook her head. This was not the time. "Boromir, please, listen

to me. If you continue to pursue the One Ring, you'll end up..."

Boromir interrupted her. "How do you know all that, anyway? What are

you? Some kind of witch?"

Debora couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Or

rather, I wish I COULD say that. Or at least say that I was a real

Jedi Knight, but I'm starting to go off topic here." She looked up at

his eyes, trying to see past the anger imprinted on them, and hoping

he wouldn't push her away from him. "I'm just worried about you.

That's all."

Boromir looked at the strange and at the same time alluring woman in

front of him. He didn't understand why, but he felt drawn to her.

Well, he understood part of it. She was a sexy woman, and very

attractive, but he didn't know her at all and yet, here he was,

yearning to touch her and feel her touch against his skin. He shook

his head. It had to be some kind of Dark Magic she was using at him...

He looked into her eyes. He could see worry and a hint of a deeper

feeling in them, but no deception. He couldn't quite bring himself to

believe that she was lying to him.

"Why are you worried about me?" he asked her.

Debora looked at Boromir. She knew why she was worried about him, but

she couldn't tell him. She was afraid she might scare him away.

Besides, who would believe in someone they had just met that they

loved him?

At that exact moment, they heard a howling in the distance. 'Saved by

the bell,' thought Debora, as she asked aloud, "What is that?"

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TO BE CONTINUED BENG

PS: Now this fic even has CLIFFHANGERS! LOL!