A Middle Earth Quest
Chapter 3
Disclaimer- I don't own any LOTR characters, nor the idea behind the park...duh, da-duh, da-duh. Oh, and any middle earth names seen from here on out, I got from the name generator on barrowdowns.com. I don't own anything, so don't sue me.
A/N - You people suck... well, not really. I guess this is the crossover section, and not many people frequent this region of FF.net, so I guess few reviews are to be expected. But not even one new one? Whatever. Now all you people who didn't review last time have to review this time, please!
Mel turned and stormed out of Owen's office. She was pissed. She had been trying to tell him his perfect little dream was doomed to fail if he didn't give her charges a task for weeks now, but until this morning's confrontation he had refused to listen. All he cared about was making more money, as if he didn't already have enough, and his stupid population stats, she fumed. Oh, well, she had finally brought the problem to his attention and he had listened to her. It only took me blowing my top, she thought bitterly as she reached the road leading to Hobbiton. She stopped a second and took a deep breath.
"Okay, Mel," she said to herself. "Calm down, it's being taken care of. Calm down, now you have to visit the hobbits. Focus."
Finally she smiled. Visiting the hobbits was always a delightful experience. True to their character selves, they were entirely content, happy, easy-going little things who delighted in eating, dancing, gardening, and blowing smoke rings from their pipes. And the nine hobbits currently living in Hobbiton were all very different in personality, making each visit a unique and memorable one.
Off to her right a nightingale chirruped a greeting to its mate as it flew into the trees. Mel stopped walking; the nightingale had reminded her of something. Turning off the main road, she headed for a storage shed near the maintenance entrance of Hobbiton. She always brought the hobbits gift when she visited them, and this time she had almost forgotten. Unlocking the doors she went inside the dimly lit shed and grabbed the nine items she had left there a week before. Then she left, relocking the door behind her, and headed back to the main road, humming a hobbit tune as she went.
Reaching the maintenance gate, she swiped her employee access badge and entered into the beautiful region of green rolling hills and sweeping gardens. Hobbit holes lined the dirt road she walked on, and lovely gardens of flowers and vegetables growing intermixed grew along the outside of the hobbit's homes. Mel loved Hobbiton more than any other area of the park. It was by far the most beautiful and the most welcoming of them.
When the road turned and began to go uphill, Mel left it and climbed up the larger hill to her right and headed toward a giant oak tree sitting right in the middle of the hill. It was the favorite spot of the oldest hobbits, who would sit under the boughs of the oak and blow smoke rings into the wind and watch the sunsets. And the two youngest hobbits would often shimmy up the trunk and play all day in the branches, playing tag, or keep-away while their "parents" tended the garden or did whatever else. Mel envied them, the hobbits. They were so free, and lived so simply. They grew all their own food, and thought nothing of what they didn't have. It was like a dream, and Mel wanted desperately to be apart of it.
As she crested the hilltop, she saw that Anson Green and Seredic Proudfoot, the oldest of the nine, were already there, sitting under the tree and smoking. Mel smiled to herself, it wasn't even one in the afternoon and they were already at it. The two of them waved and called out a greeting, and she heard two little screams of delight. Then Estella and Dudo, the youngsters, came running over the other side of the hill screaming her name. She dropped down to one knee and laid her gifts on the grass in time to hold out her arms and catch the two young hobbits as they threw themselves at her, laughing. The three of them fall over in a heap, Estella and Dudo giggling and searching her pockets for goodies.
"Mel, Mel," Estella cried. "Where are our goodies? Did you bring us anything?"
"Yeah, Mel," Dudo chimed in. "Did you bring us anything?"
Mel sat up and put her hands in the air as sign of surrender. "Yes, yes," she said, shifting the little ones over beside her. "Of course I brought something. Don't I always?"
"Yes," they both said sheepishly.
Mel stood up and brushed off the leaves and grass stuck to her, and then picked up the fallen gifts. "Well then," she said playfully. "There's nothing to worry about. Now lets go sit under the tree with every one else, where it's nice and cool." The little ones nodded and scampered off to the tree. Following, Mel saw that the other five hobbits had appeared and were waiting on her. She picked up her pace.
A minute later, when she arrived underneath the huge oak, the last five hobbits rose to greet her. Camilla Baker, Mentha Bolger, and Hamson Brown all shook her hand and bid her a good morning. Then Adelard Bushey, the second youngest female hobbit, presented her with a daisy chain. Lastly, Pippen Took wished her a good afternoon, then threw his arms around her waist, as that was all the higher he could comfortably reach. Mel laughed and pried the goofy hobbit off of her and sat down.
All ten of them were silent for a minute, then Adelard ventured a question. "So, what did you bring us this time, Mel?" she asked quietly. Mel smiled and began separating her pile of gifts up amongst the eager hobbits.
"Here you go Dudo," she said, starting with the youngest. She handed him a little paper kite, complete with a ribbon tail and three little yellow, blue, and green bows. Next she pulled out a light yellow stuffed teddy bear with a bright blue ribbon tier around its neck. She gave it to Estella, who grabbed it up and hugged it tightly to her little chest. Mel laughed and patted her on the head, then moved on.
When everyone had their gifts, they all settled down in the shade, and Mel began to ask questions. "So," she said. "How have you all been? Have you had any problems? Any fights? Are you all happy?"
Seredic, the hobbits unofficial spokesman, cleared his throat. "We've all been just fine here," he began. "And we're perfectly happy living here in the hills, making our living from the earth. And we're very grateful to you for all that you've done for us, and for giving us a safe place to live."
Mel smiled. She was relieved to hear that they were still happy. It had been about three months since she had been able to find time to come down and visit them. "Have you had any problems, or complications?" she repeated.
Seredic shook his head. "No, not anything pressing. One of the cabbage gardens started to mould, but that was because Pippen over watered that patch then forgot about it for a week. But everything else is just peachy. We all get along nicely here."
That was good to hear, at least there were no fights, or any bad
blood between any of them. In a way, Mel felt guilty, and sorry for them, which was the reason she always brought them gifts, and was always so nice to them. The hobbits were so unimposing, and kind, and simple, and she felt guilty for having had a part in their creation. They were more or less engineered animals in a fancy zoo. And on a deeper level it made her sick. She was relieved to hear that they were still content and harbored no resentments towards her. She would have felt personally responsible had they had the same malcontent feelings the dwarves and elves felt.
Mel decided to venture out and seek the answer to the question that had haunted her visit here. "Um, Seredic? I was wondering, if things were to go... wrong, and the elves or dwarves came to you, and asked you to help them overthrow the men of the village down the road, would you help them?" Inwardly Mel flinched, and Seredic looked a little taken aback. He sat there under the tree for a moment and smoked his pipe before answering.
"Why? Is there trouble to come soon?" he asked worriedly. Mel quickly shook her head.
"Oh, no. Well, at least not yet. The elves and the dwarves are not nearly as good-natured as all of you are, and they are beginning to grow discontent. But my question was merely hypothetical," she answered. Seredic visibly relaxed.
"Well, that is not so good to hear," he said slowly. "But I think that we would not help them if we it was an option. Certainly we would do nothing to harm you, for you have been so nice to us. But we have hardly ever seen any of the men of the village. We have no wish to do harm to anyone, we just want to stay here and live." The others around him murmured their agreement. Then the second great weight on Mel's shoulders lifted. She only had to alleviate the discontent among two species, and they only had to worry about two races rebelling.
"Oh good," she said. "I didn't think you all would, but I just wanted to make sure." She paused for a second and smiled warmly at them all. "Now how about we go pack a picnic and have some fun, instead of sitting here and felling depressed?"
Mel's suggestion was met with great approval and Mel and the nine hobbits got up and headed toward the hobbit holes to pack a picnic. An hour later Seredic and company had all forgotten about Mel's somewhat disturbing question under the tree. The group spilt into two teams and began to play kickball. The had a grand old time, until Mel declared, to much protesting, that it was time for her to leave. She had stayed far later than she had intended to, and she needed to get back and tell Owen that they would have no problems with the Hobbits. Besides, she needed to get to work figuring out what to do with the elves to keep them happy. It was time to get back to work, the time for fun was over.
A/N- Hmm. I was going to have another part in this chapter, but the whole hobbit interview got far too long, and would have been at least twice as long as it is now had I put in the other half. So it gets broken up into two chapters, darn. Oh well, hopefully the next chapter is better than this one. Oh, all you who make it this far in reading this have to review now. I told you that at the beginning of this chapter. So right now, go down to left hand corner of the screen and submit a review. You know you want to. Please!!! Stay tuned, the next chapter should be up soon.
Disclaimer- I don't own any LOTR characters, nor the idea behind the park...duh, da-duh, da-duh. Oh, and any middle earth names seen from here on out, I got from the name generator on barrowdowns.com. I don't own anything, so don't sue me.
A/N - You people suck... well, not really. I guess this is the crossover section, and not many people frequent this region of FF.net, so I guess few reviews are to be expected. But not even one new one? Whatever. Now all you people who didn't review last time have to review this time, please!
Mel turned and stormed out of Owen's office. She was pissed. She had been trying to tell him his perfect little dream was doomed to fail if he didn't give her charges a task for weeks now, but until this morning's confrontation he had refused to listen. All he cared about was making more money, as if he didn't already have enough, and his stupid population stats, she fumed. Oh, well, she had finally brought the problem to his attention and he had listened to her. It only took me blowing my top, she thought bitterly as she reached the road leading to Hobbiton. She stopped a second and took a deep breath.
"Okay, Mel," she said to herself. "Calm down, it's being taken care of. Calm down, now you have to visit the hobbits. Focus."
Finally she smiled. Visiting the hobbits was always a delightful experience. True to their character selves, they were entirely content, happy, easy-going little things who delighted in eating, dancing, gardening, and blowing smoke rings from their pipes. And the nine hobbits currently living in Hobbiton were all very different in personality, making each visit a unique and memorable one.
Off to her right a nightingale chirruped a greeting to its mate as it flew into the trees. Mel stopped walking; the nightingale had reminded her of something. Turning off the main road, she headed for a storage shed near the maintenance entrance of Hobbiton. She always brought the hobbits gift when she visited them, and this time she had almost forgotten. Unlocking the doors she went inside the dimly lit shed and grabbed the nine items she had left there a week before. Then she left, relocking the door behind her, and headed back to the main road, humming a hobbit tune as she went.
Reaching the maintenance gate, she swiped her employee access badge and entered into the beautiful region of green rolling hills and sweeping gardens. Hobbit holes lined the dirt road she walked on, and lovely gardens of flowers and vegetables growing intermixed grew along the outside of the hobbit's homes. Mel loved Hobbiton more than any other area of the park. It was by far the most beautiful and the most welcoming of them.
When the road turned and began to go uphill, Mel left it and climbed up the larger hill to her right and headed toward a giant oak tree sitting right in the middle of the hill. It was the favorite spot of the oldest hobbits, who would sit under the boughs of the oak and blow smoke rings into the wind and watch the sunsets. And the two youngest hobbits would often shimmy up the trunk and play all day in the branches, playing tag, or keep-away while their "parents" tended the garden or did whatever else. Mel envied them, the hobbits. They were so free, and lived so simply. They grew all their own food, and thought nothing of what they didn't have. It was like a dream, and Mel wanted desperately to be apart of it.
As she crested the hilltop, she saw that Anson Green and Seredic Proudfoot, the oldest of the nine, were already there, sitting under the tree and smoking. Mel smiled to herself, it wasn't even one in the afternoon and they were already at it. The two of them waved and called out a greeting, and she heard two little screams of delight. Then Estella and Dudo, the youngsters, came running over the other side of the hill screaming her name. She dropped down to one knee and laid her gifts on the grass in time to hold out her arms and catch the two young hobbits as they threw themselves at her, laughing. The three of them fall over in a heap, Estella and Dudo giggling and searching her pockets for goodies.
"Mel, Mel," Estella cried. "Where are our goodies? Did you bring us anything?"
"Yeah, Mel," Dudo chimed in. "Did you bring us anything?"
Mel sat up and put her hands in the air as sign of surrender. "Yes, yes," she said, shifting the little ones over beside her. "Of course I brought something. Don't I always?"
"Yes," they both said sheepishly.
Mel stood up and brushed off the leaves and grass stuck to her, and then picked up the fallen gifts. "Well then," she said playfully. "There's nothing to worry about. Now lets go sit under the tree with every one else, where it's nice and cool." The little ones nodded and scampered off to the tree. Following, Mel saw that the other five hobbits had appeared and were waiting on her. She picked up her pace.
A minute later, when she arrived underneath the huge oak, the last five hobbits rose to greet her. Camilla Baker, Mentha Bolger, and Hamson Brown all shook her hand and bid her a good morning. Then Adelard Bushey, the second youngest female hobbit, presented her with a daisy chain. Lastly, Pippen Took wished her a good afternoon, then threw his arms around her waist, as that was all the higher he could comfortably reach. Mel laughed and pried the goofy hobbit off of her and sat down.
All ten of them were silent for a minute, then Adelard ventured a question. "So, what did you bring us this time, Mel?" she asked quietly. Mel smiled and began separating her pile of gifts up amongst the eager hobbits.
"Here you go Dudo," she said, starting with the youngest. She handed him a little paper kite, complete with a ribbon tail and three little yellow, blue, and green bows. Next she pulled out a light yellow stuffed teddy bear with a bright blue ribbon tier around its neck. She gave it to Estella, who grabbed it up and hugged it tightly to her little chest. Mel laughed and patted her on the head, then moved on.
When everyone had their gifts, they all settled down in the shade, and Mel began to ask questions. "So," she said. "How have you all been? Have you had any problems? Any fights? Are you all happy?"
Seredic, the hobbits unofficial spokesman, cleared his throat. "We've all been just fine here," he began. "And we're perfectly happy living here in the hills, making our living from the earth. And we're very grateful to you for all that you've done for us, and for giving us a safe place to live."
Mel smiled. She was relieved to hear that they were still happy. It had been about three months since she had been able to find time to come down and visit them. "Have you had any problems, or complications?" she repeated.
Seredic shook his head. "No, not anything pressing. One of the cabbage gardens started to mould, but that was because Pippen over watered that patch then forgot about it for a week. But everything else is just peachy. We all get along nicely here."
That was good to hear, at least there were no fights, or any bad
blood between any of them. In a way, Mel felt guilty, and sorry for them, which was the reason she always brought them gifts, and was always so nice to them. The hobbits were so unimposing, and kind, and simple, and she felt guilty for having had a part in their creation. They were more or less engineered animals in a fancy zoo. And on a deeper level it made her sick. She was relieved to hear that they were still content and harbored no resentments towards her. She would have felt personally responsible had they had the same malcontent feelings the dwarves and elves felt.
Mel decided to venture out and seek the answer to the question that had haunted her visit here. "Um, Seredic? I was wondering, if things were to go... wrong, and the elves or dwarves came to you, and asked you to help them overthrow the men of the village down the road, would you help them?" Inwardly Mel flinched, and Seredic looked a little taken aback. He sat there under the tree for a moment and smoked his pipe before answering.
"Why? Is there trouble to come soon?" he asked worriedly. Mel quickly shook her head.
"Oh, no. Well, at least not yet. The elves and the dwarves are not nearly as good-natured as all of you are, and they are beginning to grow discontent. But my question was merely hypothetical," she answered. Seredic visibly relaxed.
"Well, that is not so good to hear," he said slowly. "But I think that we would not help them if we it was an option. Certainly we would do nothing to harm you, for you have been so nice to us. But we have hardly ever seen any of the men of the village. We have no wish to do harm to anyone, we just want to stay here and live." The others around him murmured their agreement. Then the second great weight on Mel's shoulders lifted. She only had to alleviate the discontent among two species, and they only had to worry about two races rebelling.
"Oh good," she said. "I didn't think you all would, but I just wanted to make sure." She paused for a second and smiled warmly at them all. "Now how about we go pack a picnic and have some fun, instead of sitting here and felling depressed?"
Mel's suggestion was met with great approval and Mel and the nine hobbits got up and headed toward the hobbit holes to pack a picnic. An hour later Seredic and company had all forgotten about Mel's somewhat disturbing question under the tree. The group spilt into two teams and began to play kickball. The had a grand old time, until Mel declared, to much protesting, that it was time for her to leave. She had stayed far later than she had intended to, and she needed to get back and tell Owen that they would have no problems with the Hobbits. Besides, she needed to get to work figuring out what to do with the elves to keep them happy. It was time to get back to work, the time for fun was over.
A/N- Hmm. I was going to have another part in this chapter, but the whole hobbit interview got far too long, and would have been at least twice as long as it is now had I put in the other half. So it gets broken up into two chapters, darn. Oh well, hopefully the next chapter is better than this one. Oh, all you who make it this far in reading this have to review now. I told you that at the beginning of this chapter. So right now, go down to left hand corner of the screen and submit a review. You know you want to. Please!!! Stay tuned, the next chapter should be up soon.