J&W: Thanks to all of you nice people for reviewing us! Jade says she loves
ya'll. And to CoolMistaria1- How did you know we're American? The e-mail
addy? *ponders* Thanks to Kearbear, Bus Friend, Ly-chan, Kaze no Tenshi,
evilspoofauther1Sven, Lady Jean Greenleaf, and my first reviewer Abigail.
Big happy chunk of support there, whee. Here's the fourth chapter, enjoy
(if at all possible), review, you know, the usual. Also, please point out
any typos... I'm to lazy to go over it.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Not Jade's. Everything in here except for Manda and Candy belong to the late J.R.R. Tolkien. Of course! Like either of us could come up with anything nearly as complex as LotR... The little bit of song Candy mumbles belongs to Pink, the singer. ^_^
After the trees had stopped, Candy remained where she was on the ground. Manda still gripped her shoulders tightly, but was looking out past her at the motionless trees.
Candy abruptly flopped back to the ground and rolled onto her side, not looking at either Manda or the two hobbits. She was quietly whispering to herself, "I'm crazy, I'm crazy, trees don't move, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna wake up, trees don't move don't move just like the bears don't drink coke." ((J: This is from those commercials with the polar bears drinking coca cola. That's a frickin' scary thing, and she tells herself that they don't *really* drink coke.))
Pippin crawled over to the two girls and shook Candy lightly. "No, you're not crazy, because I believe we all saw it. Either we're all insane and we might as well play along or it really happened. If that's true we need to get out of here!"
"No dip, Sherlock..." Manda muttered angrily. "Master of the obvious are we..."
Pippin looked at her in surprise. "Ah, what?"
"Nothing!" Manda snapped. "Let's just go to sleep, since all we have around us for probably miles is trees. We can't run, so let's at least wait for daylight."
Merry watched blankly. He wasn't used to seeing Manda ticked off; all he'd seen of her was her tired or cheerful side. He'd almost believed that was all that existed of her. Reality check, heh. "But what if-" he started, but the angry whisper of Manda cut him off.
"Shut up! Or you'll be missing a few yards of skin... I have nails, unlike Candy... speaking of, shaddup!"
Candy was whispering, "The Exorcist girl isn't gonna get me... she's not gonna spiderwalk... no faces are gonna flash... eeek!" Manda had thrown a dirt clod at her from the loosened soil nearby.
"I'm still on watch." Manda whispered faintly. "I'll stay up for a few more hours and wake one of you up.
"I'll stay up with you." Offered Merry sweetly.
"No, I'll just throw a fit at you or something. Go to sleep." Manda sounded very decided.
"Are you absolutely cer-" he shut up as something whizzed past his face, and the spray of loose dirt told him she'd thrown another chunk of dirt.
Pippin didn't say a word. He wouldn't fancy a mouthful of mud.
They all settled down after that, staying as quiet as possible, partly to avoid disturbing the trees and partly to avoid Manda's wrath.
Pippin woke up first, and opening his eyes, saw Manda's slouching back. With a start, he realized she'd probably stayed up all night. He whispered to her, and she jumped, her head jerking up and one hand flying out as if to hit someone or something. She shook her head then twisted around to look at Pippin.
"Yeah?" she croaked.
"Have you been awake since the trees?" Pippin asked softly.
"I guess so... Musta nodded off just now though." She whispered back hoarsely. Her throat was almost as dry as it had been with the orcs.
Pippin soon shook Merry awake, and Manda prodded Candy until she rolled over and smacked poor Mada in the face. She smacked her friend back, and if not for the hobbits they might have started a real catfight.
A few minutes later Candy sat on the ground, looking moody and nibbling at some lembas. Manda was getting way to bossy, in her opinion. She wished she had her diary with her; she felt the need to write. And that was how she started singing Pink's Dear Diary.
They left the miserable little 'camp', which was basically just a little space between the trees where some of the twigs and leaves were brushed away, and all too soon they were off again. Manda could almost walk after the rest, but still needed support on one side. Once again Merry volunteered to help. Candy just walked along, muttering 'Dear dear diary, I wanna tell my secrets... cuz your the only one that I know who'll keep them..." and so on. Pippin walked beside Candy, trying to memorize the song, since he liked the tune.
And so, in this way, they made gradual progress, even if they didn't know where they were trying to get to. Eventually they found a little river and drank there. Merry and Pippin noted it tasted a little strange, but neither Manda nor Candy seemed to care. The two hobbits filled their leather flasks, and Candy had a few plastic soda bottles she'd forgotten to throw away for the past few days, so they filled those too. The two hobbits eyed the bottles but said nothing.
When they were moving again, Manda had a bout of curiousity. She had always liked mystical or weird things, and that seemed to fit wherever they were very well. "Tell me about the elves please, Merry, Pippin."
Merry and Pippin looked at each other blankly. "Well..." started Merry, "We probably don't know much more than you do, except that they aren't terrible like all those western countries are making them out to be. They're quite a fair people."
"Ah huh. Do they have pointy ears? Green hair? Are they bugeyed?" Candy asked dully. She saw the whole magic affair as very childish."
"Well, no..." Pippin said quietly. "They haven't got green hair or bug eyes... They look almost normal, if you just see one. They have got pointed ears though."
Candy snorted and stopped asking. Manda looked down at Merry curiously, and on an impulse pushed his curly hair from his ears. "They are pointed!" She gasped. "I thought I was imagining things yesterday. Are you an elf?" She yelled down at him, a little too loudly.
Merry winced at the extra volume and shook his head. "No, not an elf. A hobbit, thank you."
Manda looked blank. "But you said elves have pointy ears."
And so have hobbits. You might note, if you ever meet one, that most elves are rather tall. All hobbits are short. You must have noticed that much."
Candy blinked over at them. "I thought you were midgets. Figured it would be rude to say anything." Manda nodded in agreement.
Pippin shook his head. "We're taller than average, just so you know. Back in the shire we're big imposing fellows.
"The Shire?" A polite question from Manda.
"Where hobbits live, to put it simply. But it is a simple place, so it fits. It's very green and lush and happy, with lots of good-natured hobbit folk and lots of usually well meant gossip." Pippin sounded wistful as he said this.
"Regular farms boys then." Candy drawled.
"I suppose so." Agreed Merry and Pippin together.
They were quiet for a while longer, with only the sound of their moving feet and they whispering of the trees to accompany them, when Merry glanced up at Manda and asked, "Where do you come from?"
Manda glanced at Candy. 'Tell them everything?' her look asked. Candy shook her head, 'No, not now.' Manda looked at her for a moment, then answered Merry. "A city."
"What city?" inquired Pippin.
"Mustang." Offered Candy.
"Never heard of that." Said Pippin companionably. "Must be far from the shire, or too small to be on a map.
"Both." Said Manda.
"Where is it then?" asked Merry, not registering the discomfort in their voices.
"The middle of nowhere," said Candy.
"I thought you said it was a city. Surely it must be somewhere." Pippin.
"It's a little city." Manda.
"More of a village?" Merry.
"Yeah, sure." Candy.
Pippin hmmed a little suspiciously, then peered through the trees and gasped. "A clearing!" Which there was. It was a little rocky hill where the trees hadn't grown, and sunlight was shining down on it.
There was a mad scramble as they all took off for the clearing, Manda and Merry somewhat behind, but they all got there and sat or lay down, enjoying the light.
"Ah, sunlight... It feels so warm after that cold stuffy forest." Manda murmured.
"Yeah... It was starting to get to me." said Candy calmly. She was stretched out on a flat section of rock looking absolutely blissful. "Reminded me of school, always so cold and everything."
At the mention of school, Merry began wondering exactly how old the girls were. He knew they were young, but hobbits had a longer lifespan than most people, so might be younger than he thought. Also, most hobbits he knew had gotten a meager 'what-you-need-to-know' education and little more, which made him even more uncertain of their ages. They were either younger than they looked, real scholars, or things were very different in 'Mustang.' So he asked. "How old are you two? Not to be impolite or nosy, just curious. It's perfectly alright if you don't want to answer."
"I'm fifteen, sixteen in September, Candy's sixteen in October," said Manda, without a moment's hesitation.
Pippin looked a little bewildered at their young age. "Only 15? I'm 29-" he started to state, but was interrupted by a much deeper, elderly voice that emanated from the trees.
"I'm older than all of you added together and multiplied ten times over." The voice drawled slowly, resonating in deep tones.
The group froze.
"Who... Who's there?" called Manda faintly.
The deep, slow voice seemed closer the second time. "I am Fangorn as the elves would have called me, or maybe Treebeard to you younglings. Such a hasty name, seeing as I've been around as long as I have."
"I can see something in the trees. It... it looks like a tree itself..." Candy whispered. "It's big."
There was a hushed silence as the girls and hobbits waited in tense silence. All too soon they could see the source of the voice; A tall, treeish looking man of between eight and twelve feet. It was hard to guess, since neither of the girls were much for estimating distances. He had 'hair' that went out almost exactly like the leaves and branches of a normal tree. He had a twiggy beard, which covered much of his rough dark face, which looked to be made of bark. He was completely covered in bark, as a tree would be. Two huge limbs seemed to serve as arms, at the ends widening into a gigantic palm and splitting into huge finger-like branches. About where a man's groin ought to be the tree split into two legs, with huge feet that were covered in meshy roots.
The hobbits, being hobbits, and very diplomatic fellows, threw themselves into conversation, very quickly finding the tree-guy was a very hospitable fellow; kind, but boring. It didn't take long to introduce their own party to him, and for the tree man, Treebeard, to identify himself as an ent. Candy would describe them like so. "Ents are big tree people who talk waaay to slow and don't know when to shut the hell up! I mean, seriously, nobody wants to know about some guy who chopped a few old trees down. Except for maybe those mindless hobbits."
It seemed all too soon to Manda and Candy that they were being given a ride to something called an entmoot. Treebeard had gotten awfully worried over something the hobbits had said, apparently. He carried them two at a time for most of the way, Manda usually being in one hand or the other, since her ankle was still acting up. The fricking tree-thing was tireless, it seemed, and went on for miles.
When they finally stopped it was to rest (Manda: Thank god!) and tell campfire stories. Or, big huge table stories, since there was no campfire and there was a gigantic table that they got to sit on. (Candy: Oh joy! Sittin' on a big gritty table to listen to boring stories when we could be sleeping...) Treebeard told them about entwives, would had gone away a long time ago and left the ents without any way of reproducing.
The also drank an ent draught, some weird spiced water that made their hair and whole body tingle, like they were growing abruptly. They stayed at the spot, an odd hollow in the trees with a few stone pillars and a nearby bubbling stream, for the night. It rained, and they slept.
Manda lay in the dark for a long time, listening to the rain, Candy's breathing, and the quiet murmurings of the two hobbits and the ent. It was very soothing, and she drifted off for a while... she woke up just enough to hear Pippin, Merry, and Treebeard talking about a ring and some guy called Saruman... 'I've heard that name before... with the orcs." And then she just dozed off.
Candy asked Treebeard what an entmoot was in the morning, and he told her that it was a gathering of all the ents who could be alerted to discuss some important matter. When she asked what they were meeting about, the two hobbits and the ent looked between eachother.
"Something about Saruman and a ring." Said Manda softly.
Treebeard acted first, surprisingly enough. "We mean to stop Saruman from killing any more trees and to keep him from helping the dark lord Sauron, however inadvertantly."
The girls were silent. They didn't know what was going on, and there wasn't much use in trying to understand it. She had a feeling it would take a while anyway, and that they wouldn't care one way or the other.
For a long time Treebeard carried or led them to the entmoot. Soon they heard other ents, calling eachother in the distance with loud 'hoom' noises.
They shortly met with dozens of other ents, all varying in shape and form and all resembling some sort of tree. The 'talked' to each other using musical humming noises for some time, and left them in the care of a younger looking ent, Quickbeam. As it turned out, Quickbeam didn't know how to do much but wander around and talk. Manda and Candy convinced him to let the rest and nap for a few hours.
When they woke up, they were all bored. There was very little to do. Small talk was the only thing to do, and it was pretty dull.
"I like your hair, Quickbeam. Gotta love the rugged look," said Manda a little sarcastically.
"Hom, thank you..." said the ent slowly. "Yours is very nice and short. You look well hedged like so."
Pippin raised his head at that. "Why *do* you wear your hair so short? You almost look like a boy..."
Manda ran her fingers through her hair, which was no longer than the nape of her neck. It was cut very ruggedly, with bangs and lots of unevenness. "I like it this way. It's easy to take care of, and I think it's kind of cute." She paused and messed with her hair for a moment longer. "Eww..."
"What?" Asked Candy nervously. "You haven't got lice or something have you? We've been in these trees for so long..."
"I don't know about lice, but my hair is really greasy. I just realized it's practically plastered to my skull."
Candy touched her own hair and nodded. "Mine too..." She looked at Merry and Pippin meaningfully. The both looked dirty, and she'd noticed. Oh, how she'd noticed. "We could all use a bath, you guys. A bath. Where we can all be clean."
Pippin turned to Quickbeam. "Ah. Do you know of any places that would work as a bathing pool?"
The ent thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I believe so. A little ridge is some ways downstream. There was a small waterfall, and over the ages it has turned into a more drastic drop into a little pool."
Manda and Candy were up in a flash, pelting downstream like they were being chased by wolves. Pippin and Merry lagged behind, got a little more information out of Quickbeam, then hurried after them.
After a few hundred yards they slowed to a jog, then a walk, then a trudge. Manda turned and called back to the trailing hobbits. "How far did he say it was?!"
One of the hobbits called back, "A few miles!"
So they trudged along some more. "Great." Manda muttered. "More walking."
"It's for a good cause." Said Candy cheerfully. "We need a bath. We NEED a BATH."
And so, they eventually made it to the pool. It was about ten feet wide, five feet at the deepest point, with a drop of about six feet from the top of the little waterfall that formed it to the pool. Manda and Candy, assuming they had enough time before the hobbits showed up, stripped down and looked down at the water. Manda jumped in first, and at her shocked scream, Merry and Pippin came thrashing through the trees.
"What's going on?! Manda?!" yelled Merry and Pippin together. Candy shrieked and modestly covered herself, throwing herself bodily into the water and screaming as well.
"It's COLD, damnit!!!!" roared Manda.
"Shit yeah!!" snarled Candy.
Pippin sat down on the ridge, out of sight of the girls and sounding a little bewildered. "Ah... it is a mountain stream, you know... of course it's going to be cold."
"SHADDUP!" snapped Manda.
Merry had started to strip down as well, not thinking that the girls might be uncomfortable swimming with a pair of (male!) naked hobbits. But oh, how they were. Candy looked up and screamed, "What are you DOING?" which startled him. Manda looked up and squealed, "Get your shirt back on! Wait your turn! That's messed up!"
Merry blinked and sat down beside Pippin, pulling his things back on. "Oh." He said quietly. "Strange girls they are..." murmured Pippin.
While they waited for the girls to finish bathing they talked quietly and inspected Manda and Candy's clothing.
Pippin was eying Candy's bright red t-shirt, which sported an adorable SpongeBob SquarePants logo. "Sponge. Bob... Sqaure pants. But that's a shirt, and it certainly isn't sqaure."
"They mentioned it earlier." Said Merry. "The snail and ship joke I believe." The looked at it for a while, then Pippin said, " I think I understand. The character on the shire is square, er, more rectangular, but aside from that... he does where square shaped pants. I'm sure they could explain more later. Which brings to mind, I would how much longer they'll be. I'm tempted to fall asleep."
"So'm I, but who knows when they might need us to jump to the rescue?" said Pippin wryly.
"Just as well, I sink like a stone when I try to swim and you aren't much better." Merry drawled.
"I'd use my incredible wit, of course." Pippin smirked.
"I rather fancy you would only jump in to get yourself saved, you ogre. I noticed you peeking down at Candy just now."
Pippin blushed bright red. "Just checking on her!"
Merry chuckled at his younger relative. "If I catch you looking again I'll have to thrash you." He said, joking.
"Why? Someone down there you don't want me to see?" pried Pippin.
"Uh, no. Just... protecting the poor girls from your terrible gaze. You're a regular basilisk, you're so hideous. The poor girls are just too afraid of being turned to stone to say anything."
"He is-" splash! "He-" cough "is not! He's cute!" called Candy decidedly.
"Heheheh.." Pippin chuckled.
Down in the little pool Manda and Candy were whispering to each other.
"Who do you think is cuter?" asked Candy of Manda.
"I... that's a mean question! They're both cute."
"Oh come on!" prodded Candy.
"Errr... fine.... Merry." Manda said slowly.
"Merry?" Candy sputtered. "No way. Pippin is adorable."
"He's alright, but I like Merry more." Manda said a little defiantly. "Pippin's little scottish accent is cute and all, but Merry is just... Merry."
"Eheh... Manda and Merry sittin' in a tree.." Candy started to taunt. Manda blushed bright red and called up to the hobbits, "HEY! We're done, throw our clothes down please!"
"But they'll get wet!" objected Pippin.
"They won't take long to dry, and there's no way I'm going to climb that rise naked." Manda yelled.
"Alright, fine..." The two hobbits through down their clothes one article at a time. And man, pants are freakin' hard to get on wet. Eventually they climbed up the sheer face of the rocky ridge and joined the hobbits, laying face down on the rocks to dry while the undressed and jumped into the water, then rolling over and drying the other side once that was done. All too soon the hobbits finished, and Candy and Manda retreated back to Quickbeam's place.
They followed the same routine for a few days. There wasn't much to do but talk, tell stories, swim, sunbathe, and play little games. By the time Treebeard came back they were all bored out of there mind, excluding Quickbeam, who never seemed to get fed up with anything.
"We are going to Isengard. Saruman must be punished for his actions. The ents agree unanimously. We leave immediatly." Treebeard said, a little faster than usual.
Quickbeam nodded stiffly. "I was going to go no matter what the group chose at the entmoot."
"Yes," said Treebeard slowly. " You were always very hasty. Remember, you got your name by answering a question before it was even finished."
Quickbeam nodded and motioned to Treebeard. Quickbeam picked up Manda and Pippin, Treebeard taking Merry and Candy.
It didn't take long at all for the trees –wait, ents, to prepare. In hours they were all stomping away, singing long songs and generally being about as mean-looking as is possible when you're a kind hearted treeman. Manda noticed first a line of tall dark trees following them. When asked, Quickbeam named them as huorns and said the ents shepherded them.
"They very much despise the race of men, Manda, so stay clear of them unless you've an ent with you. They may try to do you harm on your own."
"They have before." Mused Pippin. "Gave us a real scare. I suppose one of your kind stopped them?"
"Treebeard, I expect. That's his usual wandering grounds."
Candy was soon asleep, curled into a compact ball in the huge hand of Treebeard. She woke when Treebeard gently rolled her to the ground by Manda, who was sitting upright.
"Hom, Manda, Candy, stay here. Merry and Pippin will be closer to the siege than you, since they're... ahm... more capable. It safe here."
Candy was soon asleep again, but Manda stayed up to watch the siege of the tall black tower of Isengard.
Wendy&Jade: Very sorry that took so long! Spring break and general laziness held us back... you know. Apathy is a terrible thing. Thanks fer the patience, and chapter five shouldn't be too long in coming.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Not Jade's. Everything in here except for Manda and Candy belong to the late J.R.R. Tolkien. Of course! Like either of us could come up with anything nearly as complex as LotR... The little bit of song Candy mumbles belongs to Pink, the singer. ^_^
After the trees had stopped, Candy remained where she was on the ground. Manda still gripped her shoulders tightly, but was looking out past her at the motionless trees.
Candy abruptly flopped back to the ground and rolled onto her side, not looking at either Manda or the two hobbits. She was quietly whispering to herself, "I'm crazy, I'm crazy, trees don't move, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna wake up, trees don't move don't move just like the bears don't drink coke." ((J: This is from those commercials with the polar bears drinking coca cola. That's a frickin' scary thing, and she tells herself that they don't *really* drink coke.))
Pippin crawled over to the two girls and shook Candy lightly. "No, you're not crazy, because I believe we all saw it. Either we're all insane and we might as well play along or it really happened. If that's true we need to get out of here!"
"No dip, Sherlock..." Manda muttered angrily. "Master of the obvious are we..."
Pippin looked at her in surprise. "Ah, what?"
"Nothing!" Manda snapped. "Let's just go to sleep, since all we have around us for probably miles is trees. We can't run, so let's at least wait for daylight."
Merry watched blankly. He wasn't used to seeing Manda ticked off; all he'd seen of her was her tired or cheerful side. He'd almost believed that was all that existed of her. Reality check, heh. "But what if-" he started, but the angry whisper of Manda cut him off.
"Shut up! Or you'll be missing a few yards of skin... I have nails, unlike Candy... speaking of, shaddup!"
Candy was whispering, "The Exorcist girl isn't gonna get me... she's not gonna spiderwalk... no faces are gonna flash... eeek!" Manda had thrown a dirt clod at her from the loosened soil nearby.
"I'm still on watch." Manda whispered faintly. "I'll stay up for a few more hours and wake one of you up.
"I'll stay up with you." Offered Merry sweetly.
"No, I'll just throw a fit at you or something. Go to sleep." Manda sounded very decided.
"Are you absolutely cer-" he shut up as something whizzed past his face, and the spray of loose dirt told him she'd thrown another chunk of dirt.
Pippin didn't say a word. He wouldn't fancy a mouthful of mud.
They all settled down after that, staying as quiet as possible, partly to avoid disturbing the trees and partly to avoid Manda's wrath.
Pippin woke up first, and opening his eyes, saw Manda's slouching back. With a start, he realized she'd probably stayed up all night. He whispered to her, and she jumped, her head jerking up and one hand flying out as if to hit someone or something. She shook her head then twisted around to look at Pippin.
"Yeah?" she croaked.
"Have you been awake since the trees?" Pippin asked softly.
"I guess so... Musta nodded off just now though." She whispered back hoarsely. Her throat was almost as dry as it had been with the orcs.
Pippin soon shook Merry awake, and Manda prodded Candy until she rolled over and smacked poor Mada in the face. She smacked her friend back, and if not for the hobbits they might have started a real catfight.
A few minutes later Candy sat on the ground, looking moody and nibbling at some lembas. Manda was getting way to bossy, in her opinion. She wished she had her diary with her; she felt the need to write. And that was how she started singing Pink's Dear Diary.
They left the miserable little 'camp', which was basically just a little space between the trees where some of the twigs and leaves were brushed away, and all too soon they were off again. Manda could almost walk after the rest, but still needed support on one side. Once again Merry volunteered to help. Candy just walked along, muttering 'Dear dear diary, I wanna tell my secrets... cuz your the only one that I know who'll keep them..." and so on. Pippin walked beside Candy, trying to memorize the song, since he liked the tune.
And so, in this way, they made gradual progress, even if they didn't know where they were trying to get to. Eventually they found a little river and drank there. Merry and Pippin noted it tasted a little strange, but neither Manda nor Candy seemed to care. The two hobbits filled their leather flasks, and Candy had a few plastic soda bottles she'd forgotten to throw away for the past few days, so they filled those too. The two hobbits eyed the bottles but said nothing.
When they were moving again, Manda had a bout of curiousity. She had always liked mystical or weird things, and that seemed to fit wherever they were very well. "Tell me about the elves please, Merry, Pippin."
Merry and Pippin looked at each other blankly. "Well..." started Merry, "We probably don't know much more than you do, except that they aren't terrible like all those western countries are making them out to be. They're quite a fair people."
"Ah huh. Do they have pointy ears? Green hair? Are they bugeyed?" Candy asked dully. She saw the whole magic affair as very childish."
"Well, no..." Pippin said quietly. "They haven't got green hair or bug eyes... They look almost normal, if you just see one. They have got pointed ears though."
Candy snorted and stopped asking. Manda looked down at Merry curiously, and on an impulse pushed his curly hair from his ears. "They are pointed!" She gasped. "I thought I was imagining things yesterday. Are you an elf?" She yelled down at him, a little too loudly.
Merry winced at the extra volume and shook his head. "No, not an elf. A hobbit, thank you."
Manda looked blank. "But you said elves have pointy ears."
And so have hobbits. You might note, if you ever meet one, that most elves are rather tall. All hobbits are short. You must have noticed that much."
Candy blinked over at them. "I thought you were midgets. Figured it would be rude to say anything." Manda nodded in agreement.
Pippin shook his head. "We're taller than average, just so you know. Back in the shire we're big imposing fellows.
"The Shire?" A polite question from Manda.
"Where hobbits live, to put it simply. But it is a simple place, so it fits. It's very green and lush and happy, with lots of good-natured hobbit folk and lots of usually well meant gossip." Pippin sounded wistful as he said this.
"Regular farms boys then." Candy drawled.
"I suppose so." Agreed Merry and Pippin together.
They were quiet for a while longer, with only the sound of their moving feet and they whispering of the trees to accompany them, when Merry glanced up at Manda and asked, "Where do you come from?"
Manda glanced at Candy. 'Tell them everything?' her look asked. Candy shook her head, 'No, not now.' Manda looked at her for a moment, then answered Merry. "A city."
"What city?" inquired Pippin.
"Mustang." Offered Candy.
"Never heard of that." Said Pippin companionably. "Must be far from the shire, or too small to be on a map.
"Both." Said Manda.
"Where is it then?" asked Merry, not registering the discomfort in their voices.
"The middle of nowhere," said Candy.
"I thought you said it was a city. Surely it must be somewhere." Pippin.
"It's a little city." Manda.
"More of a village?" Merry.
"Yeah, sure." Candy.
Pippin hmmed a little suspiciously, then peered through the trees and gasped. "A clearing!" Which there was. It was a little rocky hill where the trees hadn't grown, and sunlight was shining down on it.
There was a mad scramble as they all took off for the clearing, Manda and Merry somewhat behind, but they all got there and sat or lay down, enjoying the light.
"Ah, sunlight... It feels so warm after that cold stuffy forest." Manda murmured.
"Yeah... It was starting to get to me." said Candy calmly. She was stretched out on a flat section of rock looking absolutely blissful. "Reminded me of school, always so cold and everything."
At the mention of school, Merry began wondering exactly how old the girls were. He knew they were young, but hobbits had a longer lifespan than most people, so might be younger than he thought. Also, most hobbits he knew had gotten a meager 'what-you-need-to-know' education and little more, which made him even more uncertain of their ages. They were either younger than they looked, real scholars, or things were very different in 'Mustang.' So he asked. "How old are you two? Not to be impolite or nosy, just curious. It's perfectly alright if you don't want to answer."
"I'm fifteen, sixteen in September, Candy's sixteen in October," said Manda, without a moment's hesitation.
Pippin looked a little bewildered at their young age. "Only 15? I'm 29-" he started to state, but was interrupted by a much deeper, elderly voice that emanated from the trees.
"I'm older than all of you added together and multiplied ten times over." The voice drawled slowly, resonating in deep tones.
The group froze.
"Who... Who's there?" called Manda faintly.
The deep, slow voice seemed closer the second time. "I am Fangorn as the elves would have called me, or maybe Treebeard to you younglings. Such a hasty name, seeing as I've been around as long as I have."
"I can see something in the trees. It... it looks like a tree itself..." Candy whispered. "It's big."
There was a hushed silence as the girls and hobbits waited in tense silence. All too soon they could see the source of the voice; A tall, treeish looking man of between eight and twelve feet. It was hard to guess, since neither of the girls were much for estimating distances. He had 'hair' that went out almost exactly like the leaves and branches of a normal tree. He had a twiggy beard, which covered much of his rough dark face, which looked to be made of bark. He was completely covered in bark, as a tree would be. Two huge limbs seemed to serve as arms, at the ends widening into a gigantic palm and splitting into huge finger-like branches. About where a man's groin ought to be the tree split into two legs, with huge feet that were covered in meshy roots.
The hobbits, being hobbits, and very diplomatic fellows, threw themselves into conversation, very quickly finding the tree-guy was a very hospitable fellow; kind, but boring. It didn't take long to introduce their own party to him, and for the tree man, Treebeard, to identify himself as an ent. Candy would describe them like so. "Ents are big tree people who talk waaay to slow and don't know when to shut the hell up! I mean, seriously, nobody wants to know about some guy who chopped a few old trees down. Except for maybe those mindless hobbits."
It seemed all too soon to Manda and Candy that they were being given a ride to something called an entmoot. Treebeard had gotten awfully worried over something the hobbits had said, apparently. He carried them two at a time for most of the way, Manda usually being in one hand or the other, since her ankle was still acting up. The fricking tree-thing was tireless, it seemed, and went on for miles.
When they finally stopped it was to rest (Manda: Thank god!) and tell campfire stories. Or, big huge table stories, since there was no campfire and there was a gigantic table that they got to sit on. (Candy: Oh joy! Sittin' on a big gritty table to listen to boring stories when we could be sleeping...) Treebeard told them about entwives, would had gone away a long time ago and left the ents without any way of reproducing.
The also drank an ent draught, some weird spiced water that made their hair and whole body tingle, like they were growing abruptly. They stayed at the spot, an odd hollow in the trees with a few stone pillars and a nearby bubbling stream, for the night. It rained, and they slept.
Manda lay in the dark for a long time, listening to the rain, Candy's breathing, and the quiet murmurings of the two hobbits and the ent. It was very soothing, and she drifted off for a while... she woke up just enough to hear Pippin, Merry, and Treebeard talking about a ring and some guy called Saruman... 'I've heard that name before... with the orcs." And then she just dozed off.
Candy asked Treebeard what an entmoot was in the morning, and he told her that it was a gathering of all the ents who could be alerted to discuss some important matter. When she asked what they were meeting about, the two hobbits and the ent looked between eachother.
"Something about Saruman and a ring." Said Manda softly.
Treebeard acted first, surprisingly enough. "We mean to stop Saruman from killing any more trees and to keep him from helping the dark lord Sauron, however inadvertantly."
The girls were silent. They didn't know what was going on, and there wasn't much use in trying to understand it. She had a feeling it would take a while anyway, and that they wouldn't care one way or the other.
For a long time Treebeard carried or led them to the entmoot. Soon they heard other ents, calling eachother in the distance with loud 'hoom' noises.
They shortly met with dozens of other ents, all varying in shape and form and all resembling some sort of tree. The 'talked' to each other using musical humming noises for some time, and left them in the care of a younger looking ent, Quickbeam. As it turned out, Quickbeam didn't know how to do much but wander around and talk. Manda and Candy convinced him to let the rest and nap for a few hours.
When they woke up, they were all bored. There was very little to do. Small talk was the only thing to do, and it was pretty dull.
"I like your hair, Quickbeam. Gotta love the rugged look," said Manda a little sarcastically.
"Hom, thank you..." said the ent slowly. "Yours is very nice and short. You look well hedged like so."
Pippin raised his head at that. "Why *do* you wear your hair so short? You almost look like a boy..."
Manda ran her fingers through her hair, which was no longer than the nape of her neck. It was cut very ruggedly, with bangs and lots of unevenness. "I like it this way. It's easy to take care of, and I think it's kind of cute." She paused and messed with her hair for a moment longer. "Eww..."
"What?" Asked Candy nervously. "You haven't got lice or something have you? We've been in these trees for so long..."
"I don't know about lice, but my hair is really greasy. I just realized it's practically plastered to my skull."
Candy touched her own hair and nodded. "Mine too..." She looked at Merry and Pippin meaningfully. The both looked dirty, and she'd noticed. Oh, how she'd noticed. "We could all use a bath, you guys. A bath. Where we can all be clean."
Pippin turned to Quickbeam. "Ah. Do you know of any places that would work as a bathing pool?"
The ent thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I believe so. A little ridge is some ways downstream. There was a small waterfall, and over the ages it has turned into a more drastic drop into a little pool."
Manda and Candy were up in a flash, pelting downstream like they were being chased by wolves. Pippin and Merry lagged behind, got a little more information out of Quickbeam, then hurried after them.
After a few hundred yards they slowed to a jog, then a walk, then a trudge. Manda turned and called back to the trailing hobbits. "How far did he say it was?!"
One of the hobbits called back, "A few miles!"
So they trudged along some more. "Great." Manda muttered. "More walking."
"It's for a good cause." Said Candy cheerfully. "We need a bath. We NEED a BATH."
And so, they eventually made it to the pool. It was about ten feet wide, five feet at the deepest point, with a drop of about six feet from the top of the little waterfall that formed it to the pool. Manda and Candy, assuming they had enough time before the hobbits showed up, stripped down and looked down at the water. Manda jumped in first, and at her shocked scream, Merry and Pippin came thrashing through the trees.
"What's going on?! Manda?!" yelled Merry and Pippin together. Candy shrieked and modestly covered herself, throwing herself bodily into the water and screaming as well.
"It's COLD, damnit!!!!" roared Manda.
"Shit yeah!!" snarled Candy.
Pippin sat down on the ridge, out of sight of the girls and sounding a little bewildered. "Ah... it is a mountain stream, you know... of course it's going to be cold."
"SHADDUP!" snapped Manda.
Merry had started to strip down as well, not thinking that the girls might be uncomfortable swimming with a pair of (male!) naked hobbits. But oh, how they were. Candy looked up and screamed, "What are you DOING?" which startled him. Manda looked up and squealed, "Get your shirt back on! Wait your turn! That's messed up!"
Merry blinked and sat down beside Pippin, pulling his things back on. "Oh." He said quietly. "Strange girls they are..." murmured Pippin.
While they waited for the girls to finish bathing they talked quietly and inspected Manda and Candy's clothing.
Pippin was eying Candy's bright red t-shirt, which sported an adorable SpongeBob SquarePants logo. "Sponge. Bob... Sqaure pants. But that's a shirt, and it certainly isn't sqaure."
"They mentioned it earlier." Said Merry. "The snail and ship joke I believe." The looked at it for a while, then Pippin said, " I think I understand. The character on the shire is square, er, more rectangular, but aside from that... he does where square shaped pants. I'm sure they could explain more later. Which brings to mind, I would how much longer they'll be. I'm tempted to fall asleep."
"So'm I, but who knows when they might need us to jump to the rescue?" said Pippin wryly.
"Just as well, I sink like a stone when I try to swim and you aren't much better." Merry drawled.
"I'd use my incredible wit, of course." Pippin smirked.
"I rather fancy you would only jump in to get yourself saved, you ogre. I noticed you peeking down at Candy just now."
Pippin blushed bright red. "Just checking on her!"
Merry chuckled at his younger relative. "If I catch you looking again I'll have to thrash you." He said, joking.
"Why? Someone down there you don't want me to see?" pried Pippin.
"Uh, no. Just... protecting the poor girls from your terrible gaze. You're a regular basilisk, you're so hideous. The poor girls are just too afraid of being turned to stone to say anything."
"He is-" splash! "He-" cough "is not! He's cute!" called Candy decidedly.
"Heheheh.." Pippin chuckled.
Down in the little pool Manda and Candy were whispering to each other.
"Who do you think is cuter?" asked Candy of Manda.
"I... that's a mean question! They're both cute."
"Oh come on!" prodded Candy.
"Errr... fine.... Merry." Manda said slowly.
"Merry?" Candy sputtered. "No way. Pippin is adorable."
"He's alright, but I like Merry more." Manda said a little defiantly. "Pippin's little scottish accent is cute and all, but Merry is just... Merry."
"Eheh... Manda and Merry sittin' in a tree.." Candy started to taunt. Manda blushed bright red and called up to the hobbits, "HEY! We're done, throw our clothes down please!"
"But they'll get wet!" objected Pippin.
"They won't take long to dry, and there's no way I'm going to climb that rise naked." Manda yelled.
"Alright, fine..." The two hobbits through down their clothes one article at a time. And man, pants are freakin' hard to get on wet. Eventually they climbed up the sheer face of the rocky ridge and joined the hobbits, laying face down on the rocks to dry while the undressed and jumped into the water, then rolling over and drying the other side once that was done. All too soon the hobbits finished, and Candy and Manda retreated back to Quickbeam's place.
They followed the same routine for a few days. There wasn't much to do but talk, tell stories, swim, sunbathe, and play little games. By the time Treebeard came back they were all bored out of there mind, excluding Quickbeam, who never seemed to get fed up with anything.
"We are going to Isengard. Saruman must be punished for his actions. The ents agree unanimously. We leave immediatly." Treebeard said, a little faster than usual.
Quickbeam nodded stiffly. "I was going to go no matter what the group chose at the entmoot."
"Yes," said Treebeard slowly. " You were always very hasty. Remember, you got your name by answering a question before it was even finished."
Quickbeam nodded and motioned to Treebeard. Quickbeam picked up Manda and Pippin, Treebeard taking Merry and Candy.
It didn't take long at all for the trees –wait, ents, to prepare. In hours they were all stomping away, singing long songs and generally being about as mean-looking as is possible when you're a kind hearted treeman. Manda noticed first a line of tall dark trees following them. When asked, Quickbeam named them as huorns and said the ents shepherded them.
"They very much despise the race of men, Manda, so stay clear of them unless you've an ent with you. They may try to do you harm on your own."
"They have before." Mused Pippin. "Gave us a real scare. I suppose one of your kind stopped them?"
"Treebeard, I expect. That's his usual wandering grounds."
Candy was soon asleep, curled into a compact ball in the huge hand of Treebeard. She woke when Treebeard gently rolled her to the ground by Manda, who was sitting upright.
"Hom, Manda, Candy, stay here. Merry and Pippin will be closer to the siege than you, since they're... ahm... more capable. It safe here."
Candy was soon asleep again, but Manda stayed up to watch the siege of the tall black tower of Isengard.
Wendy&Jade: Very sorry that took so long! Spring break and general laziness held us back... you know. Apathy is a terrible thing. Thanks fer the patience, and chapter five shouldn't be too long in coming.