Project Rivendell Part Six

(A/N locating Rivendell in Wales is my idea, and not based on anything from the films or books. It just fits in with my story.)

While Rhonda was creating chaos among the elves, Will had other concerns. He had spent the past few weeks trying to figure out how Rivendell fit in with the Welsh landscape they had left. He became certain that he recognised a few of the valleys and rock formations in Rivendell. There had been some erosion by the time they had begun digging in the 21st century, but he was able to make out the pattern of erosion. He had what he thought was a good reason for doing this. He needed to find a hiding place for the things he had begun to collect.

He finally settled on a place behind the waterfall, which he was convinced was the area where they had been digging. Over the course of a few weeks, he began moving objects there, with the belief that, should he return to his own time, he would be able to find them easily and make a fortune from their sale to museums and private collectors. That way, he reasoned, he would be able to pay off his student loan and live like a king. Nothing that the elves left lying around was safe from Will's grasp, be it swords, shields or simple knives and forks. The elves were so trusting that, as far as Will could tell, they didn't even notice the missing objects. In fact there were odd times when he had admired a piece of jewellery or a picture, and the elf in possession of it had generously made him a gift of the object of his desire. It was like taking candy from a baby. Occasionally Will felt a pang of guilt, because the elves were so generous and giving, but mostly he convinced himself that as they didn't miss the items he took, then it was obvious that they didn't really need them.

One day, Will was struggling with a particularly heavy bag of loot, when the elf Anondir offered his help. It did not occur to Anondir to mistrust Will, despite Rhonda's recent behaviour. Will gladly accepted Anondir's help to take the bag of loot to his hiding place behind the waterfall. If Anondir was surprised to see the collection of artefacts hidden in the cave under the waterfall, he kept it to himself. He was, however, curious as to why Will needed them.

"Well, you see," Will lied. "I've bought them off the other elves. I'm going to hide them here, then when I get back to my own time, they'll be worth hundreds of times more than I paid for them." He had, of course, paid nothing for them, but Anondir did not think to doubt his word.

"Why is it that you and the Lady Rhonda place so much importance on riches?" asked Anondir. Anondir had started to feel bad about dishonouring Rhonda to Legolas and Isaldur. He was very inexperienced with women (though Rhonda had taught him a thing or two!), and had reacted immaturely. He realised that now.

"Well, modern life is expensive." Replied Will. "You've got to have the right car, the right cell phone, best hi-fi system. Then there's clothes." Will surprised himself by mentioning all this. He had not realised how materialistic he was until this moment. He had thought that was only Rhonda's problem.

"And why do you need these things?" asked Anondir, hardly understanding some of the things Will mentioned.

"To be popular, to make friends, so people like you. Look Anondir, I'm a black kid from the ghetto ... well alright, maybe not the ghetto, but from the wrong side of town. I was brought up in a block of flats with about two hundred other black families all vying for space. No one ever expected me to do well at school, so I didn't. They - the white middle class teachers who taught me - expected me to become a drug pusher, or a pimp, or an armed robber, but there was no way I was going to do that. My mother brought me up right, and I'll fight with anyone who says different. I ended up selling real estate ...houses and the like. But I hated that, because it only reminded me of the sort of houses I would never get to live in. So I thought I'd become an archaeologist and perhaps find some Roman coins or something. Make my mint that way. It's better than what people expected me to do, which was to become a thief or a pusher."

Only Will had become a thief, he realised now, as he spoke to Anondir. He had stolen from a people who had never questioned the colour of his skin, or had preconceived ideas about him because of it. He pushed the thought aside. What did it matter? In the future they would not be alive to miss the things he had taken (though they had tried to explain the concept of their immortality to him). And he hadn't actually stolen the stuff. They were still on elf land, only hidden. Who knew whether or not the elves would find them long before he did? In this way, he talked himself out of feeling guilty.

"Will ...," said Anondir, who had only understood half of what Will had told him, but had managed to grasp the gist of Will's statement. "I am your friend. I like you. You do not need to be rich to keep my friendship." The young elf held out his hand to Will, and Will took it tentatively.

"Yeah...er thanks." Said Will, suddenly feeling very bad about himself.

****************************************** As Elrond and Gandalf were riding towards Gondor, with Connell the ranger as their guide, Pippin was returning to the Shire. He was surprised to see the human woman awake and smiling at him from Frodo's garden.

"It's Pippin, isn't it?" said Gwyneth. "I recognised you from Frodo and Sam's description."

"Yes, Lady ...er..." Pippin blushed. She was very pretty. Prettier than Polly, if that were possible. And almost as lovely as Arwen, though Pippin had yet to meet the elven maiden's equal.

"Gwyneth. My name is Gwyneth."

"Well Gwyneth. I'm afraid I bring you bad news. Gandalf cannot come. There is trouble. I must see Frodo!" Pippin exclaimed suddenly, as though the urgency of his message only just occurred to him.

"I am here, Pippin." Frodo came out of the front door of Bag End. "What is it?"

"Gandalf can't come. He is riding to Rivendell then on to Gondor, hopefully with Lord Elrond and the ranger, Connell. The orcs have regrouped and are threatening Middle Earth again. I should have come sooner, but sometimes things seem so quiet here that I forget all the things that can happen."

Despite the fact that it was only a year or two since the battle for Middle Earth, Pippin and most of the other hobbits had fallen into a false sense of security, due to being back within the safe confines of the Shire. Only Frodo remained wary. The darkness was deep inside him, and he never forgot it, not even under the influence of beer.

"The orcs?!" Frodo exclaimed, though his face suddenly looked animated and excited again. "This is terrible. I think we should help our friends."

"What, travel to Gondor?" asked Pippin.

"Yes, we'll go to Gondor. Me, you, Merry and Sam. We've fought orcs before, and I still have my knife that Bilbo gave me."

"That sounds like a plan! I'll go and get Merry" said Sam, rounding the corner of Frodo's house. He hadn't really been eavesdropping again, but it was difficult not to hear things when they were said while you were listening.

"Just a minute." Gwyneth stopped them before they ran into Frodo's house to plan their journey. "What about me?"

"Oh, This is not woman's work. You'd best wait here until we return, Lady Gwyneth. " said Sam, who worked on the basis that all human women were of noble birth.

"I don't think so." Said Gwyneth. "I need to see this wizard, Gandalf, to see if he can get me back to my own time. I can't wait while you go and fight the orcs. I'll come with you. And as for whether it's woman's work, Sam Gamgee, I can see I shall have to educate you about feminism on our trip to, where is it? Gondor?"

The three hobbits looked at each other, then at Gwyneth. She was far too big for them all to overwhelm (and she was a lady, which meant they couldn't possibly knock her out), so they shrugged and agreed to take her with them.