Angel
Chapter 16: Weathertop Through Rivendell
Authoress' Notes: I am very, VERY sorry for leaving you all hanging for a month, and I have no excuse other than just not writing u.u. However, I have made this my longest chapter ever (almost 4 pages on my word processor instead of the usual two!) and I hope you'll continue reading my fic despite my less than regular updates *Sweatdrop*
"Hey guys, where's Tersa?" Pippin asked, looking around the clearing Aragorn had found for them to camp out in for the night. "She's been quiet all day, and now she's disappeared!"
"I'll go find her, I need to ask her something anyway." Sam sighed, then got up and walked off into the trees.
"I wonder what it is that he needs to ask her…" Merry said, looking up at the darkening sky thoughtfully.
"You really were drunk when you announced to everyone in the Prancing Pony that Tersa had a crush on Sam weren't you?" Frodo laughed, putting more wood on the fire. "I heard you halfway across the room."
"Tersa is going to kill me…" Merry moaned, burying his face in his hands.
Tersa looked at the horizon and sighed as the cool wind ran softly through her hair, throwing a few strands in her face. 'What have I gotten myself into?' She thought, sitting down underneath a nearby tree. 'I'm probably going to die out here.' She shivered as a leaf tumbled past her feet, crumpled and defeated, only able to go where others pushed it until it cracked and fell apart. 'Just like that leaf… but at least-'
"Tersa?" Sam's voice broke into her thoughts. "Are you alright? You look like you're in a trance."
"I'm fine. What are you doing out here anyhow? They send you to look for me?" Tersa asked, looking up at Sam dully. "I don't know why they would… I've been nothing but trouble so far."
"So have Merry, Pippin, and I. Frodo is the only one that really needs to be here." Sam paused and looked towards the horizon. "Before we're left in complete darkness or they send someone out to look for both of us, may I ask you something?"
"Of course. I'll answer to the best of my ability." Tersa laughed, tucking a stray lock of her long brown hair back behind her ear. "Ask anything."
"Is what Merry said about you fancying me true?"
"W-What?" Tersa stuttered staring at him in shock.
"That night at the Prancing Pony when Merry said he didn't warp your mind into having a crush on me. Is what he said true?" Sam repeated, and Tersa curled into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding beneath her hair, instead of answering. "Tersa?"
"You'll hate me if I tell you. You'll never look at me the same again." Tersa sniffled, her shoulders starting to shake. "Please don't make me answer. Please."
"Tersa, your answer won't cause me to hate you. I can't think of much anything that could cause me to hate you, Pippin, Merry, or Mr. Frodo." Sam sat down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Nothing will change, no matter what you answer."
"Honestly?" Tersa asked, peeking over her knees at him unsurely.
"Honestly." Sam smiled.
"Then… it's true." Tersa said then quickly hid again, not wanting to see his reaction. "It's true, it's all true please don't kill meeeeeeee!!!!!!"
Sam blinked, too shocked to do much else. "Really?"
"Mmph!" Was the only reply he received before Pippin and Frodo came crashing through the bushes.
"What are you two doing here?!"
"Strider sent us to make sure you hadn't been killed by a ring wraith and to drag you back to camp! It's already nearly too dark to see!" Pippin said. "What's taking you two so long?!"
"I just needed to ask her something, that's all." Sam answered, helping Tersa get up off the ground.
"A watchtower? It's a really big rock…" Tersa cocked her head to the side to look at Weathertop from another angle. "A really crumbly big rock."
"Think what you wish Tersa, but it once was a watch tower." Aragorn said over his shoulder, starting towards the stone structure. "We will rest there tonight, where we can spot ring wraiths coming from any direction."
"We're SLEEPING there?! It looks like the wind could blow it over on top of us!" Tersa yelled after him, running to catch up. "Are you trying to kill us?!"
"No, I'm trying to keep you alive. Keep your voice down." Aragorn ordered, and then said nothing more.
"Bah! We're all gonna die." Tersa sighed, her head in her hands. "All of us!"
"You are the most negative hobbit I have ever seen, you know that? We'll be fine." Merry laughed, using Tersa's shoulder as an armrest as they trekked across the field. "Strider won't let anything happen to us."
"I don't think even Strider could stop one of those ring wraiths." Frodo shivered. "I wish I'd never gotten this ring."
"At least you have friends to suffer with you." Pippin remarked cheerfully. "It's not all that terrible!"
"It is more terrible than you know." Frodo replied sadly.
"Well there is one plus to being stuck with that ring, you'll probably outlive all of us on this journey!" Tersa smiled, trying to cheer Frodo up. "You're the one that needs to be protected after all."
"True. And I suppose you're right Merry, Strider won't let anything happen to us." Frodo shivered again, feeling unknown eyes on his back as they began to climb the long flight of stairs up to find a campsite.
As soon as they found a suitable place to camp, Aragorn gave each of the hobbits a sword and went to go keep watch. Then Frodo made his first real mistake in this story. He went to sleep and left Sam to supervise Merry, Pippin, and Tersa by himself where Sam could easily be out voted.
"All in favor of a fire besides me?"
"Merry and I!"
"All opposed?"
"Mr. Frodo and I!"
"Sorry Sam, looks like you're outvoted three to two, even though Frodo isn't even awake and his vote really shouldn't count because it wasn't really his vote." Tersa shrugged as Merry attempted to build a fire and Pippin dug through the food bag. "I'm pretty sure there aren't any ring wraiths that are near enough to see just a teeny little fire."
"But Tersa it's just not a good idea! Strider would be against it, I know he would! It's like just taking out the ring and waving it around saying 'come get us'! Please don't!" Sam pleaded.
"Er… well…"
"No influencing Tersa to change sides with an unfair advantage Sam!" Merry laughed, finally managing to get the fire lit. "Besides, it's already been done and we have no water to spare to put out the flames, so just enjoy being warm for the first time in days!"
Sam sighed, defeated. He knew he would regret this later…
"Some protector you are! Frodo's been run through and now we're running for our lives!" Tersa cried from the very back of the group as they ran through a forest, still trying to get away from the ring wraiths who hadn't stopped following them, despite Aragorn's using them as screeching torches. "We've been running for days on three hours of sleep at most, and it's your fault!"
"Maybe you should have thought before you lit a fire where it could be seen for miles around!" Aragorn growled, trying his best to hold onto Frodo and keep from tripping over plants and stones.
"How were we supposed to know they could see it!?" Pippin argued between gasps for air. "You never told us we shouldn't anyway!"
"I THOUGHT it would be COMMON SENSE!" Aragorn snapped. "Be quiet there's something in the clearing up ahead."
"They're stone trolls!" Merry exclaimed once they reached the clearing. He knocked on one with his fist. "They must be the ones that tried to cook Bilbo and the Dwarves!"
"Never mind that now." Aragorn said, setting Frodo down on the ground. "Stay here, DON'T light a fire, and guard Frodo! Sam, you come with me."
"Where are we going?" Sam asked, reluctant to leave Frodo's side.
"To look for athelas, kingsfoil. It will slow the poison." Aragorn replied the raced off into the forest.
As we all know, Arwen appeared, swiped Frodo, and rode off to Rivendell. I would tell you about the lovely route that the four remaining hobbits ended up taking, but it wasn't exactly very pleasant (Aragorn was still annoyed about the incident at Weathertop); So I'm going to simply skip ahead to Rivendell.
"Wake up you bloody loony." Tersa said, poking at Frodo's hand lying on top of the coverlet. "I don't even think you're sick anymore, I think you're just ignoring me." She poked his hand again. "Come on, just do SOMETHING! Twitch, blink, move a finger, something besides breathe!"
"You do realize that will do absolutely no good, do you not?" Gandalf asked, walking in and sitting down on a chair beside the bed. "He is not going to wake up simply because you told him to, Tersa Took."
"Well I figured I might as well try. Sam's been depressed all day because he hasn't woken up yet." Tersa frowned, poking at Frodo's hand again. "Even I'm starting to worry about the annoying little bugger."
"Glad to know you think of me so highly." Frodo said with a weak smirk, opening an eye. "Could you stop poking at my hand please?"
"You could have woken up sooner and I wouldn't have had to sit here and poke at your hand!" Tersa laughed. "It's good to have you back I suppose, at least Sam won't be worrying constantly now."
"Mr. Frodo?!"
"Right on cue." Tersa sighed to herself as Sam ran over to the bed.
"You're awake Mr. Frodo!" Sam exclaimed happily.
"Nice to see you too Sam!" Frodo grinned, sitting up a bit.
"Sam was by your side everyday." Gandalf said, smiling.
"And he dragged either Pippin, Merry, or I down to see you at least once each of those days." Tersa said with mock irritation. "He didn't believe us when we said you'd eventually wake up."
"You did not say that! You were ranting on about how he was probably going to never wake up until we went to go destroy the ring without him so he'd get out of a job!" Sam glared.
"Bah. You must have misunderstood me." Tersa sniffed, crossing her arms. "You should get your ears checked."
"What-?!"
"They're already beginning to sound like they're married." Frodo laughed quietly to himself then went to sleep, leaving Tersa and Sam to their fight.
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