Disclaimer: Obviously Lord of the Rings isn't mine because I so royally screwed it up. :D At least I don't act like I own it. That's a plus. Ping! + Gollum is getting restless in the ferret cage.



An Ent Child

Chapter Two- Entish Decisions



My fellow Ents had assembled for an Entmoot, but I was too young to join them, so I rested some distance away from the Hobbits. Every so often my curiosity would get the better of me, and I would turn my eyes in their direction to see what they were doing. Sometimes they slept, mostly they ate what edible plant they could find, and at one point they even had a bit of a squabble perhaps just to relieve some anxiety. After all, Entmoots take much time.

As part Ent, I can stand completely still for hours, silently watching and listening to all around me. This was probably the reason the Hobbits didn't notice me gazing at them. When I had grown weary of standing, one of them saw my movements and told the other, and they both rushed over to me.

"Lucy, do you know what they're saying over there?" Merry asked me, nodding in the direction of the gathered Ents.

Blinking, I realized that the Hobbits were actually much smaller than I had thought. When I had first met them, they had been sitting, so I had overestimated their height. I smiled. Even though I make an exceptionally tiny Ent, I was taller than them by at least three Hobbit heads, which I found comforting. Usually I was the little one, but for the time being, I wasn't.

"Lucy?" Merry asked, eyeing me. "Are you all right?"

" 'Course she's all right, Merry. Ents are a bit slow with talking, so they're a bit slow with listening, too," Pippin said with a silly grin.

I glared down at him. "Ents would rather be slow talkers and thinkers than speak quickly and irrationally to someone like you have," I said.

Pippin bowed his head slightly and said, "I was only making a bit of a joke, Lucy."

A feeling of guilt calmed my offense as a looked upon him. "I am sorry I spoke so rudely," I murmured. "I have made myself a hypocrite with my words, and it is true that Ents are slow with their speech. I understand you are impatient and eager for their decision."

Rarely did I feel guilty, and I was uncomfortable with the emotion. Even more uncomfortable was the silence between the three of us after I had spoken my apology.

"Do you know what they're saying over there, Lucy?" Merry asked again.

"Allow me to listen for a moment," I told him, hoping the edge in my voice had disappeared.

"They are disagreeing," I told them after I had heard a bit of the conversation. "Many of them do not want to fight."

"Why not?!" Merry demanded, balling a wide Hobbit hand into a tight fist.

I listened again. "They don't want to help because none have done anything to help the Ents or to help the trees," I uttered vaguely. Listening to the natural Ent language was rather tiring to my adolescent ears.

Deep in his thoughts, Merry glared at the ground while Pippin glanced about the surrounding forest. He didn't seem to be angered like Merry was by what I had told them. In truth, I don't think he was even thinking about my words because his stomach grumbled quite audibly at that moment.

Long, monotonous hours later the Entmoot came to an agreement. They had decided not to fight, and when Treebeard told this to the Hobbits, Merry became very upset and shouted at both Treebeard and Pippin. After Merry had made his point and stomped off, Pippin stared after him with a look of disbelief on his face.

Wondering what had Pippin so shocked, I went to speak with Pippin before he and Merry departed with Treebeard.

"I'm sorry we won't help you," I said, tentatively resting my hand on his shoulder.

He looked up to me and smiled, but he didn't seem to put much effort into it because he had a pained look on his face. "Is it so wrong to want to be naive?" he asked quietly.

I didn't understand what he meant, and I didn't know in what context he was speaking. "No," I said. It was all I could think to offer. Maybe it was all I could offer. I wanted to give more.

His silent, unexpected disposition left quickly, and he turned to me with a large smile. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Miss," Pippin said jovially, crossing his legs and bowing in the most comical way I have ever seen.

"And it has been a pleasure meeting you, as well, Pippin," I said. Then he followed after Treebeard, leaving me with a very lonely feeling.

My meeting with the Hobbits was brief, and I felt as if it couldn't be the last time. How could I never see those charming faces again? Perhaps I felt so attached to them because they were the first race other than the Ents I had ever known, or perhaps my feelings were toying with me, making me believe that I had formed some long-lasting bond with them. I didn't understand. I didn't understand anything, and the more I realized this the angrier I became.

*****

Soon after the Entmoot, I was walking with my father back to the area of the forest we had made our home so many short years ago. Questions I had no answers to were furiously buzzing about my mind much like a cornered wasp.

"Father," I began. "I think we should help the Hobbits."

"Hm," my father said. "That is what you think?"

"Yes! They have done nothing wrong to us, so why should we deny them our aid?" I demanded.

"Yes, well, we Ents do not help them because of them. We Ents do not help them because it would help those who don't help us."

It took me a moment to sort through his words, but when I had, he soon had discovered me and gave me a dismayed look as if he were looking at the wasp. He said, "Are you suggesting we sacrifice what remaining Ents there are for the thousands of Men and Hobbits and Elves and Dwarves that are so insolent as to have forgotten us?"

"Our battle doesn't have to be for the aid of those peoples! Our battle is also for ourselves. I listened to the Entmoot, and if this Saruman creature you spoke of has grown so terrible, his evil will surely not overlook us. We have to do something. We can't let ourselves be pushed around!" I buzzed with a small gasp at the end. I had proved myself a hypocrite again. Without realizing it, I had been thinking as I was speaking, and my words had poured from my lips like muddy water newly choked on. I did not apologize or ask for forgiveness; I meant my words however cruel and unruly they sounded.

My father was upset by what I had said. I could feel it, the way the trees around us grew silent when his angered eyes looked upon them. "Saruman would not dare to strike us. Though we are few, we are great," he uttered proudly, "but you should be silent. You know nothing of such matters."

He had me cornered. I had no knowledge of battle and fighting, yet I had voiced myself anyway. He had effortlessly pointed out my ignorance, and my feelings were wounded. As the wasp would, I lashed out, jabbing my sting into the most vulnerable area I knew of.

"Tell me about my mother," I said.

"Hm. That is not the topic of conversation," Father said, walking a bit faster.

"It is now." I ran in front of him and stopped, trying to block his path. "Please," I said.

"What do you want to know?" he asked after an exasperated sigh.

I was silent as I thought. Honestly, I hadn't really thought about any specifics I would want to know because I didn't think my father would answer me. After all, he never had before.

"What is her name?" I decided would be my first question.

Father was quiet, maybe because he was trying to remember or he was debating whether he should tell me or not. He said, "It was Pertholiel."

"Pertholiel," I repeated. One less thing was storming about my mind, and the relief calmed me just a bit even as I realized he had said 'was.' "You speak as though she is not living."

"I do not know if she is alive or not."

It was many centuries ago that I was born, so my mother was probably dead. The thought pained me, and it took me some moments before I asked, "What was she like? What did she look like?"

"She was kind and caring. You have the same lips as she did, as well as the same habit of demanding for answers when you cannot stand not knowing them any longer." Remembering such happy memories, Father smiled to me, and I knew he was no longer upset by my impudence. Knowing this, I felt brave enough to ask him more questions.

"What was she?" I asked.

A cry of despair interrupted Father as the howl sounded throughout the forest, and we turned our heads in the direction of the noise.

"Treebeard!" Father said, recognizing the voice. "We must go to him. We will speak later."

Even though he probably didn't hear my agreement, I said one as I ran alongside him. Never had I seen my father move so quickly before. I felt stronger somehow by the site of his long legs finding the best hold as he moved up and down hills and dips in the land as we trailed our way back to Treebeard's direction.

Making our way through the forest, we came to a clearing.

But it was more than a clearing. It was a gravesite. Fallen trees were lying across the gentle slope of the land crying bitterly to its dead children littered upon it. The very vision of the trees Father and I had chatted with daily was enough to make me shaky. Afraid I might lose my footing, I leaned against my father.

"Saruman has done this," he said as if I had asked him who had committed this terrible murder.

Maybe I had asked. I don't really remember. All I can recall is that every Ent I knew was angry; every Ent I knew was mourning the loss of his friends, and every Ent I knew went to battle on that very day.

What seemed like mere moments before, I had declared that the Ents should go to war, but once we were rushing down the hill, once we were rushing to the enemy's walls, once we were rushing inside the enemy's walls, I was afraid. I had never been so scared in all of my existence, but with my father and fellow Ents fighting beside me, I forced myself to move, to fight the opponents.

They were horrid, these opponents. At the time, I did not know the word ugly, but later on I would associate ugly with this Uruk-hai race. Some had small nostrils between their writhing eyes that hungrily searched for any weakness I might have, any vulnerable area to make their mark. Others had long, pointed noses covered by dark, gleaming skin like that of a snake. They tried to pierce me with their arrows, and they tried to stab me with their swords.

I didn't know how to fight, but I didn't worry. Something came over me. I became unaware of myself, of who and what I was. My thinking and actions became primitive. Truthfully, I believe I had no other option; I had never been taught how to fight or defend myself with skill and with strategy, so I fought by hitting, kicking, dodging, jumping, slamming, anything I could do.

After I had taken down some of these Uruk-hai opponents, I began to grow too confident, making snide remarks to my adversaries and not paying attention to what was happening around me. I felt invincible. I was invincible.

Arrogantly, I straddled a dizzy Uruk-hai that had fallen onto its back, and I wrapped my hands around its neck, beginning to strangle it. Taking advantage of my exposed weaknesses, another Uruk-hai took a stick and struck me across the forehead. I flew back onto the dirt from the force of the blow. Blood trickled down one side of my face, blinding me as I opened my spinning eyes. I touched my hand to my wound and looked at the blood, my blood, coming from it. At that moment, I realized that I might die. At any given time, I could be killed. One of these Uruk-hai might take me down.

I had to stay alert; I had to keep fighting even though I couldn't see out one eye. I used my other senses to aid me in this battle. My ears picked up the grunt of an Uruk-hai preparing to attack me from my right, so I turned, pulled my hand back, and slapped it to the ground with a powerful force that the mightiest of trees possessed.

Trying to rid myself of the dizzy feeling, I stood silently for a moment. Being blind, my right eye stared at the blackness of my eyelid. It witnessed again what I had seen of my murdered friends while my left eye saw the pains of the battle being fought. I looked down at the Uruk-hai I had hit to see that it was coming out of its daze.

I looked into its eyes; saw the blood oozing from the corner of its mouth.

Then I heard the scream of my father. Whirling around, I saw him. Some of the Uruk-hai had taken their torches and set fire to him. I ran to him. The fire was quickly spreading across his massive body.

I called to him, trying to think of something, anything I could do to make the fire stop.

He made no reply, his writhing form moving about chaotically until he finally fell. The fire was now devouring him.

My left eye took the site in, practically drinking every flame and licking every horrific detail of crackling limbs and melting eyes.

I heard a deep laugh from behind me. I looked around. The Uruk-hai I had hit had turned its head to face me and was watching me, laughing at my loss and my pain. I walked to it, looked down at it. I beat it until it was no longer moving, until my numbed ears no longer heard its evil laughs.

Maybe I stood there, looking upon what I had done, or maybe I fought more Uruk-hai. Whatever I did afterwards is still a blur in my mind, and I don't think I ever want to see those memories clearly in my remaining days of life.

Some of the Ents that were still alive had moved the rocks that were damming the water, and someone screamed at all the Ents to hold their footing, but he could have shouted something else. I don't know. I didn't hear. My head was pounding from the cut across my forehead; my arms and legs were aching from the strikes to my opponents. I suppose I thought the phrase 'hold your footing' meant 'collapse onto the ground' because that was what I did.

Ents shouted at me to get up or I would be swept away by the powerful water. At least, that was what I was told had happened. I was unconscious at the time. It is said that the Ent Bregalad picked me up from the ground and held me above the rushing water that pulled the glowing carcass of my father to the depths of the land of Isengard.

In the middle of the night, I awoke and saw that I was resting with the Hobbits in Bregalad's house. Even though my entire body felt numb, I could vaguely make out the sound of voices coming from outside. Creeping to the entrance, I listened to Treebeard and Bregalad as they spoke in the slow Entish language. They were discussing my future. What should they do with me now that my father was dead? Would I live alone? Should I live alone? Would I allow an Ent to take me in? Should an Ent take me in?

Blinking in the dim light of the moon, I looked down at my hands. I envisioned the blood of all those I had killed spilt upon the two palms and ten fingers. I was no longer the innocent half-Ent I ad been that morning. Having never realized how much I truly loved these lands, I decided that it was too holy for the murderer I had become. I had committed several crimes, had killed several living creatures. I was an impure being now. I couldn't stay.

But I didn't know where to go.



;) : Thank you for your positive response! Lucy is not me at all! Lol I don't want to be a half-Ent, I just want to write about one. ^.^

Jacque : I'm glad you like my idea, and thank you for saying so. The Two Towers was beyond perfect. Heh heh ^.^ I think Lucy is interesting, too.

Chewy Roots : I try to make a disclaimer fun since the ones I usually encounter are lame or dull. Actions scenes are hard to write, so I hope you liked my authorial skills in this chapter, too. Pippin and Merry are the best, so I tried to make them as Pippiny and Merry-y as possible. ^.^

Nightshade : I hope you continue to find this story creative. Thank you so much for the nice review!!!

Furius : Bravado? Me? Shucks. You're making me blush. Lol Thanks for being so supportive!

Riiki TikiTavi : Thanks for your suggestions. I gave them some thought, and they really helped me to sort things out. ^.^

Jenny : You silly cornball. Lol ParENT hyuck hyuck. (I'm not being mean to her. I know her, so it doesn't count as mean. Heh heh ^.^)

Dalia Archer: Your name is Lucy? Cool! I hope you don't like my fanfic only because of that, though. Lol ^.^

To those of you whose "polite sarcasm" did not go unnoticed : You are reading fanfics. This isn't the book. I'm not trying to be the book. Get off my ass, you shitsuckers.



Author's Note:

Wow! I think I just threw a big container of gasoline into that fire. Whew, what a scorcher!

Okay, you guys, I admit it. I completely forgot about the Entwives. It's been a long time since I read The Two Towers, and the Entwives weren't mentioned in the movie (if I they were, I missed that part), so I *GASP* didn't remember. Anyway, I changed that part of it, and I adjusted Lucy's age to about sixteen centuries. She has the mindset of a sixteen-year-old, so bare with me. Teenagers like to branch out from their parents (heh heh that was cheesy as mac), so Lucy does that with the nickname idea and the idea of war and all that.

Unlike other heroines, Lucy has no knowledge of war and how to fight, so she just lets instinct take over. I believe that all creatures have instinct even if they are half-Ent.

Since no one would just accept that Lucy could be born without serious splinter problems for the mom, I will be inserting some info about how she was born. It won't be anything too graphic.

In the next chapter, Lucy will probably meet our three favorite running- over-the-land characters Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas. Woo! Sam and Frodo are our two favorite walking-over-the-land characters. Lol I have some funny ideas for those three! They're so great. ^.^

This fanfic will be both movie-verse and book-verse, so everyone can relate to it. Since I am writing it though, I will have some me-verse I suppose you could call it. Heh heh

I hope you liked my wasp simile. ^.^ I love similes! I don't love wasps, though. ;.;

Let's see, what else did I want to say? Well, again I will only require a minimum of three nice reviews to post the next chapter. Please let me know if you want this story to have angst or not. I'm not going to take the time of explaining emotions and things in depth to readers that couldn't care less. Teehee

Also, I think all of you will like the relationship between Lucy and Legolas. I'm not a big fan of love-at-first-site, so I'll make this relationship more realistic. If you want to know what I mean by realistic, you can check out some of my other romance fanfics to see what I mean. If you don't care, leave my fanfics alone. ;.; teehee

I'm really starting to like this fanfic, and I hope you all are, too. Have a VERY merry Christmas! Get all the presents you want and then some! Eat yummy meats and treats! Do something super fun! Woohoo!