Disclaimer – Middle Earth and all its characters belong to Tolkein, Agnes and Granny belong to Terry Pratchett

AN: It's really hard to type in a car when you get carsick easily, bleh. So through queasiness and boredom I give you: chapter 14! Tah-dah!


Agnes and the Elves

Chapter 14 – Dwarf Bread Again

Agnes woke, as was her usual custom, just before the sun rose. She stood and stretched languidly, once again admiring the view from her window. The sky was pink and gold in the east and the sun just beginning to peek through the trees, causing the forest to light up in brown, orange, yellow, and red. A crisp autumn breeze blew across her face through the open window, effectively bringing her to full wakefulness and making her feel refreshed.

Agnes crossed the room to the washbasin and quickly scrubbed her face and neck with the cool water, then combed her long hair until it was tangle-free. With this done, Agnes decided to try and get to the kitchen and get breakfast by herself, if her door wasn't locked that is.

Agnes walked to the door and gave it an experimental push, it swung open obligingly. She poked her head out and looked around; the hall seemed to be deserted.

Lord Elrond must have decided I'm definitely not dangerous.

Well, you did side with him about that Ring. Perdita said.

Perdita's mentioning the Ring woke in Agnes a faint longing to see it again, a longing she shook off with difficulty. It's a good thing I did too; I don't think I could have resisted it for more than a few days. She shuddered. Maybe less if I was actually carrying it.

Yeah... Perdita said vaguely, trailing off into mental silence.

Shaking her head to clear it, Agnes shut the door behind her and walked off in the direction in which she thought the kitchen lay.

After only a few wrong turns quickly corrected by Agnes' good memory she arrived at the door to the great hall. She peered in cautiously, suddenly nervous about being in the presence of so many elves whom she had no hope of communicating with without Gimli's reassuring and stoic presence. The hall was about half full of people, all elves except one Man sitting in a corner. Agnes could tell he was a Man because of his beard and general scruffy appearance when compared to the elves. He also missed that light that seemed to emanate from all of the elves.

Shaking her head to rid herself from her reservations she walked through the hall, aware of eyes following her progress. She reached the door to the kitchens and pushed into the kitchens without a pause. It was much less hectic than it had been the day before. People worked steadily while chattering to each other, obviously working through comfortable routine.

Agnes stood inside the door awkwardly, wondering if she should just go to the nearest hearth from which a pot of porridge was swaying gently, or ask one of the cooks if she could take some first.

The decision was taken out of her hands when the same cook who had yesterday sent her and Gimli scurrying from the kitchens walked up to Agnes, a smile on her face. She pointed to the pot of porridge, then to a sack of bowls and spoons nearby, then to a jug of water standing by the door next to which many clay cups had been stacked. She smiled encouragingly at Agnes, then hurried off to some other duty.

Clearly she knew you wouldn't be able to understand her. said Perdita.

Clearly. responded Agnes. She walked to the hearth and ladled herself some porridge then grabbed a cupful of water and walked back out to the great hall, stepping out of the way of a few elves that had entered the kitchens, clearly intent on some porridge as well.

To Agnes relief she found an unoccupied corner where she could sit out of the way and watch the hall unobtrusively. She noticed that the few elves seated at the high table all seemed preoccupied with something. Agnes remembered that last night Gandalf had mentioned a council that was to be held today.

No wonder they look preoccupied, Agnes thought to herself, do they know that the Ring has been found, that it's here? Will any of them be chosen to travel to the volcano?

Does any of this matter to you? Perdita thought sarcastically. You're not involved anymore, you declined to be a hero.

Agnes, as she often did, ignored Perdita. Perdita wasn't a morning figment-person, and tended to be nastier than normal before around ten o'clock in the morning. Agnes finished her porridge and returned her dishes to the kitchen.

She ran into Gimli as she exited the kitchen. He reminded her of her promise to bake dwarf bread.

"Now?" she asked, slightly taken aback.

"Yes, now. I will be, ah, busy come midmorning and through much of the rest of today." Gimli said.

Agnes almost said "Oh, the council, right?" then remembered that he didn't know that she knew about it, and bit back the words before they came out. "I suppose we shall have to go search for the right kind of gravel then, shouldn't we?" she said instead.

Gimli readily agreed, and they spent a good twenty minutes wandering around outside in the morning sun searching for good gravel, and received many stares from confused-looking elves. Gimli seemed to be fairly cheerful, but occasionally Agnes would see a worried expression cross his face, but every time it was quickly replaced by good humor. Agnes guessed that he was thinking of the council that was to take place sometime today.

At last they had collected enough gravel for a medium loaf of dwarf bread, and they went back to the kitchen. Agnes wasn't sure how, but Gimli managed to procure for their use oven and counter space, as well as a chisel, hammer, tongs, and a very small shovel of the gardening variety, as well as some of the more normal cooking ingredients Agnes needed.

As Agnes worked on forcing the ingredients into the "dough", Gimli pulled up a stool and sat watching her work raptly. As it became obvious that Agnes did indeed know how to make the bread properly, a smile slowly appeared on Gimli's face. When Agnes placed the dough on its pan and pushed it into the oven, Gimli got off his stool with a very pleased expression.

"Lass, that looks to be as fine a loaf of dwarf bread as my own mum could ever make." He said, smiling. He opened his mouth to say more, but just then a loud bell could be heard ringing somewhere outside.

Gimli looked worried, and a little disappointed. "I... I have to go lass." he said. "There is something I must do for awhile."

Agnes nodded, trying not to look too knowing. "It's all right, I'll go for a walk or something. Will I see you for lunch, perhaps?" Somewhere from the recesses of her mind, the thought that Gimli really was a fine figure of a dwarf.

Ew! Screeched Perdita. You're as bad as Nanny and Casanunda! He's a dwarf for crying out loud!

I know that! Snapped Agnes. I don't know where that came from, so leave me alone.

Gimli murmured a goodbye as Agnes was arguing with herself. She nodded and he hurried out of the kitchen.

Unlike normal bread dwarf bread took a good three ours to bake, so Agnes decided to walk through the woods to the circle of stones where she had first appeared in this place. Nodding to the head cook, Agnes exited the kitchen and found her way outside. Searchiin her memory, she picked out a path and walked into the sheltering trees.

It had not rained since Agnes had come here from Lancre, so the gouges in the ground where the elves had dragged the stretcher carrying her body were still plainly visible along the forest floor, making her path extremely easy to follow.

Agnes allowed her mind to wander as she walked, thinking of the council. She considered eavesdropping, a fairly easy feat if you were a witch, but dismissed it. If she just watched, she would not understand a word of what was being said. The only way to that would be to Borrow, to ride unbidden and unnoticed in Glimi's or Glóin's mind. She dismissed this idea for two reasons: firstly she had never Borrowed a person before, and felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought. Secondly even here, an entire universe away from Granny, the thought of Borrowing felt slightly wrong. It was the specialty of Granny Weatherwax, not Agnes Nitt.

As Agnes came to this conclusion, she stepped out into the clearing where the circle stones sat quietly. She stared at them, wondering how she was to use them to get home when she could feel no power from them. The space they circled might as well have been just the same as any other patch of grass.

Suddenly, just as it had barely two days ago, the circle flashed as if stuck by lightning. Instinctively, Agnes jumped backward in alarm.

Why are you jumping away? Asked Perdita incredulously, don't you want to go home?

I- Agnes began, but before she could formulate a coherent thought someone fell through the circle, which flashed again and then was as still as if nothing had happened.

Agnes stared in surprise at the person now climbing to their feet. "You? How..."

Granny Weatherwax put her hat firmly on her head, which had fallen out when she hit the ground due to the sudden absence of her usual hat pins. "Hello Agnes, been enjoying yourself?"


AN: dun dun dun! Yay for bad cliffhangers. :o)