The days passed slowly as the Fellowship canoed along the Great River. Airesiwe's arms ached with pain, and her left arm wasn't doing any better. In fact, it was becoming worse. But she refused to tell anyone about it, in fear that she forever be know as 'a burden' to the Fellowship.

Airesiwe and Sam were the only people who paddled their canoe. Sam would usually take the day shift, and Airesiwe, the night shift. At times, her left arm would become so numb that she would usually drop the paddle in the river. Luckily, the paddle was made up of a light material, and would float. But every time she dropped it, she would have to paddle back using her hands, which caused many delays.

One night, Airesiwe was paddling when she noticed that Frodo was awake. She slowed her pace and decided to ease the silence of the dark night by talking to him. But no matter what, she couldn't think of anything useful to say. Finally, Frodo broke the silence.

"Airesiwe," Frodo whispered. His face was pale and his eyes were as dark as the river itself. He made a small gesture towards the water behind them. Airesiwe stopped paddling and crawled to the back of the boat, hoping not to wake Sam. Once she got to the back of the boat, she peered out onto the black river and squinted her eyes. She couldn't see anything in the dark night.

"What do you see?" Airesiwe whispered back, still trying to scan the water.

Frodo shivered. "I'm not sure, I, I guess it must have just been a vision." Frodo cowered down to the bottom of the small boat, as if hiding from the very air he breathed. Airesiwe wished that she could comfort him, but instead looked one last time at the surface of the water. At last, she saw it. A dark shadow was paddling not far behind them, and a small hissing noise could be heard.

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After another day of paddling, the Fellowship reached the shores in front of what looked like a large waterfall. Behind the rocky shore, was a large, thick forest. They unpacked many of their supplies and already started to make a small fire. Airesiwe decided that this would be a good time to explore the land, but knew that Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir would never allow it. So she waited for awhile, until all of their backs were turned and quickly fled into the forest.

Finally, Airesiwe was alone. She walked slowly through the woods, (which surprisingly let in a lot of sunlight) thinking about what to do next. Leaving Lothlorien was probably something that she would regret forever, but knowing that she was to keep her promise, she had no choice. She kicked some leaves that laid on the ground and tried to remember Rivendell, and if Arwen was worried. 'I'll probably never hear the end of it' Airesiwe thought to herself.

She continued walking in deep thought, when suddenly a black shape appeared. Carefully, she drew her bow and arrow, and wished that she had her sword. The shape came closer, until finally it was clear.

"Frodo?!" Airesiwe shouted, louder than she intended. "How did you find me?"

"I'm, I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." Frodo stuttered while turning bright red. "It's just that, well, it's Boromir. He tried to take the ring from me." Frodo turned around and looked in the direction he came. "He's gone mad. I, I don't know what to do! If this ring can possess someone as powerful as Boromir, then just think what it'll do to me!" Frodo was yelling at this point, so Airesiwe put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You've gotten the ring this far Frodo." Airesiwe wasn't quite sure how to continue, so she dropped the subject. "Boromir isn't as powerful as you think. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was a wimp. Besides, he tried to take the ring at the council. He's greedy, and his possession of the ring started before this quest even began."

Frodo turned around and smiled at Airesiwe. "You're right," he managed to say through his big smile. All of a sudden, a loud noise erupted from the heart of the forest. Not knowing what it was, Airesiwe aimed her bow in that direction. A swarm of what looked like oversized orcs were running towards them armed and ready to attack.

"Run!" Airesiwe yelled at Frodo. Frodo just stood there in shock and fear. "RUN!" Airesiwe shouted louder giving Frodo a light push. Frodo fell to the ground and Airesiwe turned around, only to be faced by one of the large creatures. Airesiwe took one of her bows and stabbed the giant creature. It let out a low moan, then fell quickly to the ground almost knocking Airesiwe over as well. She didn't have much time to recollect her arrow, for another orc had come up and attempted to stab her. Before she knew it, she was surrounded by large orcs, with only a couple arrows to use. She looked in the place where she pushed Frodo, and saw that he was gone.

Panic arose is Airesiwe's mind as she tried to stay calm. She took out her bow and an arrow she had and aimed it at a random orc. She fired it, hitting it, and while it screamed in pain she shot another. Pretty soon the circle that had surrounded her broke and she was able to run away. As she ran, she bumped into Aragorn.

"Airesiwe! Thank heavens we found you!" Aragorn said. But when he saw the swarm of orcs coming towards them, he quickly started to run pulling Airesiwe along with him.

"Where is Frodo?" he shouted while running. Airesiwe whimpered to herself and wished that Aragorn would let go of her bad arm. Instead, she gave a short reply.

"I'm not sure. I figured he was with you and the others." She dodged an arrow that flew past her and started running faster. Aragorn did the same.

"I want you to find him. Leave these orcs to me." With that, he stopped in his tracks and started fighting the orcs. Airesiwe kept running, but not to find Frodo. Instead she made her way towards the shore in hope that it wasn't too late to return home.

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She arrived quickly at the shore of the Great River, not long after winning a short battle with a couple more orcs. She looked at the boats and saw that one was missing. Looking towards the other side of the river, she caught a glimpse of Frodo paddling towards the other shore. He was alone, and already halfway across the river. Not wanting to startle him, Airesiwe jumped into the warm water, and swam underwater towards the canoe. The river water was very dirty and murky, and it was almost impossible to see within a foot ahead of herself. A couple times, Airesiwe silently came to the surface for air, but finally was right under the boat. She could hear Frodo screaming, and another shadow could be seen in the water, though she could not clearly make it out. She swam towards the surface, almost about to burst, and silently floated there.

There seemed to be much commotion in the water on the other side of the canoe. She bobbed in the water for some time, not sure of what to do when the splashing stopped. With that, she put her fingers on the brim of the canoe and attempted to pull herself up into the boat.

Coughing out water, Airesiwe lifted herself up from the river water and almost tipped the boat over. Because of the murky water, she couldn't see very much and her eyes stung. Just then, an object slammed into her left arm and she cried out in pain. Collapsing, she fell back into the water and made no effort to get back up. She opened her eyes when she was already halfway down and desperately tried to push herself up. Finally, she broke the surface of the water, eyes stinging and still coughing up dirty river water. She opened her swollen eyes and saw Frodo and Sam looking down on her with pale faces. She managed to smile weakly as Frodo and Sam helped her up into the boat.

"Airesiwe! Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Sam said quickly. "I thought you were Gollum, or some other unearthly creature. I didn't mean to hit you like that!" Sam was on the brink of tears as Airesiwe hugged him.

"It's ok Sam," she said quietly, "Everything's ok now, I'm not hurt that badly." She looked over at Frodo who was trying hard not to laugh. Just his expression made Airesiwe laugh as well. Before long, both of them were laughing hysterically almost tipping the boat over. Sam looked down at them, and started laughing as well. After much debating, they decided to stop laughing and continue on towards Mordor.

When they reached the shore of the other side of the Great River, they dropped their canoes and other non-useful supplies that they carried and trudged up a tall, nearby hill. At the top, they could just barely see beyond the mountains that separated Middle Earth from Mordor. A large volcano erupted, making the trees around them sway.

"It's hard to believe that we will actually be going in there," Frodo said to himself.

"Yes, it is hard to believe," Airesiwe said standing nearby Sam. "But not even the lava of that mountain can stop us from doing so." She looked at the two rosy cheeked hobbits and smiled. They smiled back, and soon were laughing again. When Frodo caught his breathe, he walked up to Airesiwe.

"I'm glad you're with us, Airesiwe," he said shyly. "Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far."

Airesiwe felt like laughing, but then soon realized that he was serious. "Me?" Airesiwe questioned Frodo. She turned around and looked at Sam, who was still looking in awe at the mountain of fire. "It wasn't because of me that you made it this far Frodo. It is Sam who has stuck with you since the beginning." Airesiwe turned to look back at Frodo who was staring at Sam. He walked up to him and spoke a few words to him, then they hugged each other. 'Those hobbits have the tightest friendship I have ever seen' Airesiwe thought again with tears dripping down from her eyes. The hobbits walked back down the hill, but Airesiwe stayed on top. She looked behind her and saw Middle Earth below her feet, and wondered if the Fellowship would find a safer path to take. She looked upon Lothlorien, then upon the Misty Mountain. She strained her eyes, but couldn't see Rivendell from where she stood. As soon as she turned around and followed the hobbits, she knew that now, she couldn't turn back no matter what dangers were ahead. She would do anything now to help Frodo destroy the ring, even if it killed her.

*~*The End*~*