Roni woke up with a smile on her face. Her smile grew as she stretched and yawned, remembering the dreams from the night before.
'What a night.' she thought to herself. 'That was one of the best two-day birthday parties I have ever had.'
She got up out of bed and wrapped her dark green robe around her before sliding on some slippers and trudging out to the livingroom. Amy was in the same spot she was in when Roni got home last night. The only thing missing was Viggo. You see, when everyone left, Amy found a few interesting things of Viggo's and he had come over to get them. He was still there, trying to remember what had happened to his watch, when Roni got home. Roni ran a hand through her hair as she walked over to the fridge, grabbing a glass of tea and the box of CornPops from the top. She sat next to Amy, who was already dressed and ready to go.
Amy was looking over a paper schedule for their day and mumbling. "Touch ups on Bag End, more work on Hobbiton, and make sure the spot for Mount Doom is right." She sighed. She seemed to do that a lot of late.
She turned to Roni. "Remind me never to take on another project like this ever again." She got up and went into the kitchen before she could reply.
Roni mumbled, "whatever", before heading back into her room to put on a pair of dark blue jeans, an orange fitted tee, and an off-white button down with the sleeves folded over once. She slipped on a pair of comfortable tennis shoes, slapped on some make-up and threw a fedora on before heading back into the kitchen to drink some tea. Then, she went and brushed her teeth and grabbed a CD from her room. She grabbed her purse, laptop, Palm Pilot, and some more tea before grabbing Amy and heading out of the door.
They listened to Maroon 5 as they drove to one of their on-location spots, where they were to meet P.J. and their Rohan-master, Karl Urban, who played Eomer. Once there, PJ gave them the news that made Roni's heart drop. Edoras, the area that housed The Golden Hall was terribly out of the way, set deep into the mountains. The only way to it was as the cast and crew did. Helicopters.
Amy looked at the helicopter. She hated heights. She had taken the plane over here, but she had not had to look out the window then. This time she climbed in and sat all the way in the back, looking down at her lap. As soon as the others were in, she heard the engine start and the blades start to turn. She held tight to her own laptop as they took off.
Roni sat nearer to the front of the helicopter, after making sure that Amy would be alright. The blades beat the wind around them, stirring the grass on the ground as they rose higher and higher. Finally, they were in the sky, and New Zealand had never been more beautiful. The trees whoosed by them as they headed towards snow-capped mountains, the crisp air was pummeling her face, and she could hear a voice in the headphones attached to her ears.
"Gorgeous, ain't she?"
She turned and nodded her head at Karl. He just smiled, then looked out of the other side. They flew for about thrity minutes before PJ tapped on the pilot's shoulder. He took us down and landed the plane, turning off the engines, and telling us to let the blades stop before getting out.
Amy placed her feet on solid ground and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up from the ground and was greeted by one of the most beauitiful sights she had ever seen. The Golden Hall stood on its hill, and behind it, rose the mountains capped with snow.
"Pictures do not do this justice." She said. She pulled her hand-stitched cloak close as the wind picked up.
"Careful up here, the wind can be a mite strong." PJ cautioned them as they started for the hill.
"Only someone who has never watched extras on the DVD's would not know that." Amy said under her breath. Her words were lost in the wind.
Roni pulled her dark blue knitted ski cap over the tips of her chilled ears, then shoved her gloved hands in to the pockets of the thick windbreaker PJ had kindly provided for her. She couldn't talk her eyes off of the Golden Hall, her breath coming in short gasps. Finally, once they reached the crest of the hill, she couldn't take it anymore. She broke out in a brisk walk, that turned into a jog against the wind, dying to get closer, to touch it. So, she did. She reached the gates first, and pulled her gloves off, running her bare hands over the work and craftsmanship laid into the tall pillars of stone. Roni pressed her cheek against the cool rock for a moment before her eyes caught something that she had to do. She released the gate and went up the steps to the hall itself, feeling as Aragorn in the third movie, when he charged up these stairs to alert Theoden of the beacons being lit. She raced to one side of the impressive front entrance, then stood stock still, feeling the air rush by her, whipping some of the shorter strands of her hair around her face. She wished she had on a dress, so that she would look like Eowyn, and not just feel like her. God, this place was magnificent...
Amy watched Roni running like an idiot. But hey, how many people wanted to do just what she had done? Amy, ever practical, kept her pace at a brisk trot along with the others.
"Is she always like this?" PJ asked.
"Sometimes she worse." Amy replied.
"How can you work with her?" was his next question.
"Oh, she's just here to keep an eye on me. I do most of the work, and she drives me around." Laughing at this, they walked into the Hall. She rubbed some feeling into her fingers as they sat at the tables, getting ready for their meeting.
Roni followed them inside, still riding high on the feeling of playing Miranda for a moment. The rest of the group, Amy, PJ, Karl, and the pilot, who turned out to be Bernard Hill, took seats at the tables. She opted to instead run up to the throne. She crept up the stairs, halting inches away from the throne, her fingers over the golden base. She felt eyes on her, and she turned to see Bernard staring at her. She raised her eyebrows slightly. She couldn't touch his throne without his permission, even if he didn't sit in it anymore, and it had belonged to the Weta Workshop, and now, her and Amy. He nodded inperceptively. Roni sighed and tip-toed the last few inches, hovering her fingertips over the lavishly craved wood, covered in gold leaf. She carressed the mane of one of the huge horses that made up the armrests. Slowly, she moved up the seat, not quite believing that she was touching this briliant work of art.
Amy put her computer on the table and punched up the plans for the park. "I'm sure you all know where this is supposed to go, but we need to know if it will fit." She hit some buttons and a 3-D image started to rotate. "This is the fake hill that's being built." She went on to tell how big the walks would be, what would be offered on the Rohan part of the park, and how things would have to be shifted if their measurments were wrong.
Roni slid into the plush cushions on the throne, then interrupted Amy's discussion. "Hey, Amy! Do me a favor and come be Wormtongue!"
Amy was thrown off a bit, but recovered fast. "I will not put myself that low!" She yelled back. After more laughter, they returned to their planning. Roni was left pouting on the throne.
Roni got up and wanted to go exploring, but figured it was high time for her to get to work. She went over to the table and had a seat next to Karl, because he was the cutest guy in the room. Sorry, Bennie and PJ. She stared at Amy's laptop, then pulled her booksack off her back, and got hers out. She opened the program she had written for the park, which was a birds-eye view of the whole park, at that moment. She turned it so that everyone could see it, and told how the Rohan section would be situated, along with exactly how much room the whole section had been alotted. She was just getting to the part about what would happen should any problems arise with fitting everything in when the huge oak front door swung open with a cold, angry gust of wind.
Amy turned quickly to see Aragorn striding in.
Wait, it couldn't be Aragorn....no, it was only Viggo in his old costume.
He stopped short and looked at everyone seated at the table and turned red. "Sorry." He mumbled. "I just wanted to relive the moment."
"Don't worry." Amy said. "Roni was doing the same thing just a moment ago." She seemed to be thinking for a moment. "How did you get here?" She asked before Roni could launch into her story.
"Took the usual way up." He said. "There is only one way up here, you know."
"Well, might as well join the planning team." PJ said, and everyone shifted so he could sit. Viggo walked over and sat beside Amy.
"Hey, sorry to keep you up til midnight." He said.
"I woulda been up til then, anyway, waiting for Roni." She explained.
"Oh. Well, I'm still sorry."
Roni had closed down the park program, seems how no one was listening to her anymore anyway. She sighed, same old story. Just as soon as she started to convince people that there actually was a brain occupying the space between her ears, something happened and she was either interrupted, or a cute guy came along, or she just got tired of talking about important stuff. So, she started on a game of Solitarie that lasted until the group started to pack up. She caught up to Aragorn...ummm, errr, I mean, Viggo, and asked him a question that had been on her mind since Amy told her about finding the Shard of Narsil in the couch.
"How long have you been doing this, Vig?"
"Huh, wha do you mean?" he stammered.
"How long have you been dressing up in the old clothes and coming back to the locations?"
He took her arm and held her back. "Don't tell anyone...my shrink says it is separation anxiety. Says I can't let it all go, but PJ thought that I was over it. Been doing it for almost a year now. Ever since I found someone who would fly me up here, and keep it secret."
She looked at him in the eyes, and smiled, "Don't worry about it, Vig. I understand completely. I couldn't help myself from doing it, and I wasn't even in the movie, or around it for that long."
"Thanks, Roni. You have no idea..."
"No problem." she stopped him just before they walked out of the door. "Now, for my next question..."
Viggo raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"How long have you liked Amy?"