Boromir: La La La... No one's guessed the songs yet!

Merry: Loo Loo Loo... Ha, not even you!

Boromir: Here's a clue!

Merry: From me to you!

Boromir: It crawls on the ground,

Merry: Makes a weird sound.

Boromir: And the reunion tour will be half way dead!

Merry: DB doesn't own anything, don't sue here at all!!!!!!

Chapter Four: Swiftly the Tide Turns

====================

Jericho awoke with a pounding headache. She turned over to see that Pippin had just awoken also. He yawned and rubbed his head.

"What did I run into last night?" he asked groggily.

"Beats me! I feel like shit!" she moaned.

"Glad to see you're up!" Merry said happily from by the window.

"DON'T SHOUT!" they both yelled. He raised his eyebrows and sat down on the corner of the bed.

"I heard when we're leaving," he said softly.

"When?" asked Jericho squinting up at him through a mess of blonde hair. Pippin sat up squinting.

"Tomorrow morning, so we need to get all of our things together today." Jericho just moaned and rolled over in the bed, stuffing her head under a pillow.

"What happened last night?" her voice reverberated against the mattress.

"What do you remember?" the hobbit asked coming to her side.

"Sitting at that damned table feeling like an idiot. Drinking wine," she thought for a moment, "Lots of wine..." She sat up and looked at Pippin.

"You got drunk too, right?" she asked placing a hand on her forehead. He nodded and fell back into bed. Merry smiled at their gestures.

"Hey, it's not like you've never gotten drunk or anything!" Jericho snapped throwing the covers from her bare legs. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of them but she just got up and continued to get out of bed.

"Well, yes, but usually I don't get so drunk that I pass out!" he retorted.

"Merry," Pippin said feebly.

"I'm sorry if I felt just a little overwhelmed!" she shouted pulling off her old clothes and changing into a new dress.

"Merry," Pippin tried again.

"Overwhelmed?? Jericho, you've been a hobbit, a blind one at that! How can sitting at a table with these elves and such overwhelm you?" he replied his voice rising in anger. She turned on him, a look of death in her eyes. She was half way into a dress her breasts were exposed over the top of it. He turned a deep shade of red as she walked up to him menacingly.

"I was overwhelmed," she said through clenched teeth, "Because I am not like them. I've never done anything worth writing down, worth bringing on a stupid fellowship. I'm not like them Merry, only I know that. No matter what we've been through you would never understand how I felt last night." She turned quickly, pulled up her dress and stormed out of the room in search of some coffee.

()

"Merry," Pippin said again from under the covers. Merry turned toward his cousin.

"What?" he asked sighing deeply.

"I was trying to tell you not to do that. Why do you not listen?"

"I don't know," he answered placing a hand to his forehead, "I just... don't know anything any more." Pippin crawled over to where Merry was sitting on the bed.

"You know, if you hadn't have questioned her like that she wouldn't have gotten mad at you," he said softly.

"I'm acting just like I did before. This is exactly the behavior that lost her," he sighed hanging his head.

"I wouldn't call her lost," Pippin smiled patting his friend's back, "She's just a little out of touch right now."

Merry stared at him with wide and quizzical eyes.

"We've all been through a lot, and it is not going to get any easier. Hold on and be there for her. She needs a friend in you, not an enemy."

"Or a lover?" he scoffed. Pippin hung his head.

"No, she doesn't need one of those. But she needs us to be her friends. I saw her pain when you fought with her. The last thing she wants is a fight between you two, just try to overcome and just be there for her."

Merry sighed.

()

"Jericho?" a voice asked behind her. It was Merry's voice and she felt her rage start up again. She turned to speak to him, a look of ice in her eyes, but stopped cold when she saw who stood there.

"Miss me?" Glorfindel asked raising his eyebrows menacingly. Her look of rage quickly turned to fear.

"What do you want?" she asked her voice wavering.

"Answers, just like you. But unlike you I plan on extracting them any way possible," a cruel smile lit up his face. Fear tremored throughout her body.

"You won't kill me, I'm too valuable."

"No, but who says that death is an option? There are more things I can do." Jericho's mind flashed to Boromir.

"Who says I have to hurt you?" he smiled. The hobbits filled her mind, pictures of them in pain, dying.

"The one's you love are not safe as long as you lie to me," the elf threatened. Boromir's dead lifeless form settled itself in her mind's eye.

"What must I do?" she asked.

"Answer me this one question... for now." She nodded and hung her head.

"What is the fate of the fellowship?"

She thought for a moment. "Death," she replied coldly, "They will all see death."

He stared at her in rage. "Do not toy with me, you foolish girl!"

"Don't we all see death?" she asked fearlessly her eyes glinting. He raised his hand as if to strike her. Jericho starred at him and awaited the blow.

"Jericho?" asked Merry's voice for real this time. She stood up and walked over to him, ignoring the elf in front of her.

"Yes Merry?"

"Will you come walk with me? I need to speak with you?" he asked.

"But of course," she smiled and turned back to Glorfindel who was shaking in rage, "I'm not doing anything important." She gave a polite nod towards him and exited the room.

()

He had not expected such a warm welcome from Jericho. In fact he expected her to refuse to talk at all, this was a welcome surprise to Merry.

They walked on in silence. Merry couldn't bring up the courage to ask her yet, he knew what he must say, but the actual saying of it was beyond him.

"I'm sorry for getting so angry at you earlier," Jericho murmured not looking down at him, "I was just out of it from last night. Can you forgive me?"

Merry looked up at her numbly. He didn't know what to say, she had just taken the words right from his mouth.

"The real question is if you can ever forgive me!" he answered stopping and gazing up at her. "I've done nothing but doubt you, even before..."

"I have done nothing but hate you, even before. It's my fault we've been so at ends. I've tried to forgive you a million times, but really it's been me who's at fault. How many times are we going to have conversations like this?" she confessed staring off into the distance.

"Many, if we are truly what you have called Best Friends," Merry smiled, "In fact I think it's good for us to fight like this, the making up only allows us to open up and tell what is in our souls."

Jericho stared forward still, "I guess so... I just hope... well... what are hopes anyway. We are best friends again and that's all that matters."

"Were we ever not?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

Finally Jericho looked down at him, a trace of sorrow still filled her eyes as she stared down at him smiling. He could see how terribly she tried to make it real. "No," she sighed and walked on leaving Merry alone, as he always was.

()

Pippin sat on the edge of the bed as Frodo and Sam bustled about the room packing and arguing like they always did.

"Don't put that there Mister Frodo, you can't possibly carry all that!" Sam said taking the pots out of his bag and securing them safely on his own.

"You aren't a pack horse Sam, I can carry more that it looks!" Frodo pleaded.

"You're skinny as a rail, Pip here could carry more!"

"I don't see how!"

"Excuse me!" Pippin exclaimed coming out of his stupor momentarily.

"Only an example beggin' your pardon Perigrin," Sam apologized.

Pippin nodded and sank back into his mind. His thoughts were swimming as if they weren't his own. All he could feel was sadness, an overwhelming amount at that. It felt as though all life was gone and that things would be better off without him. What was his purpose in this fellowship anyways? How many lives could he save? He certainly couldn't save Gandalf!

Pippin suddenly awoke from his stupor again. Gandalf... What was going to happen to Gandalf? How did he know this? Was he developing hindsight just as Jericho had? Slowly and carefully he placed a hand on his pocket and the small block that he had found. It wasn't stealing, he assured himself. He found it that's all. Nothing bad or anything, it's just a finder's keeper's sort of thing. She didn't need it now anyways.

"Sam what are you doing with my clothes!" Frodo exclaimed.

"You can't carry all that Mister Frodo, you just can't!" Sam explained holding the garments protectively as Frodo tried to wrench it from his grasp.

Pippin smiled, he was glad to be able to concentrate on something positive finally.

()

Jericho looked up from her sad thoughts to see Boromir smiling down at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked sitting next to her.

"Terrible, but things are looking up," she teased placing her head on his shoulders.

"That's good, because we have an early start tomorrow."

"I've heard," she sighed, "I am going to miss this place. It's so pretty and serene."

"Yes, but my home is just as beautiful, maybe even more," Boromir boasted.

"Glad to know your homeland is nice, mine is terrible. Full of dirt and smoke and nasty people, nothing like this place."

"There must be something nice about your home?" he enquired.

Jericho thought for a second, "There might be one thing."

"What?"

"My homeland is filled with gorgeous rolling hills and on some of them you can sit and watch the sunrise or sunset depending on how late or early you sleep. My homeland is known for it's hills and I think I would only come back for that reason. Other than that I would much rather stay here."

"There is nothing for you back home?"

"A broken home and a loser brother? No, there's nothing for me in the past."

"Merry was in your past." His eyes bore into her face and she felt suddenly ashamed.

"Merry is my past, my only past. And if I ever venture back there one day he is one of the parts of it I will look upon fondly. But I do not venture there just yet. The sting of the past is too painful. Another day, maybe."

Boromir kissed her cheek gently and laid his head upon her shoulder. She placed her head on his, closed her eyes, and just was.

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Sorry this took so long. I was side tracked, but now I'm back. I have the winner of the contest, but you'll get the next chapter. I don't remember how to spell your user name! Sorry!-DB:D