Title: Miles to Go

By: Ring Red

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! *sniffle*

Rating: R

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Chapter Three

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One decision of the council was that scouts would be sent out to prepare for the journey to come. This meant months of waiting and more planning before they actually set off. It did not sit well with Buffy. She stood pacing back and forth in front of her sisters in their room in Rivendell. "Why can't they make up their minds already? Are they following the books or the movies? This is getting old."

Willow shrugged. "Looks like a little of both. I've seen things in the movies that aren't in the books and visa versa."

Buffy huffed and plopped down into her chair. "This waiting sucks."

Dawn smirked. "You just don't like having to stay in Rivendell with a bunch of elves for a few more months." Buffy glared at her.

Willow was still pondering the differences she'd noticed so far. "Most of Elrond's speeches at the council went mostly with the movie, but Legolas didn't explain about losing Gollum in the movie. Merry and Pippin followed Frodo and Sam to the council in the movie, but they didn't here or in the books. Boromir was pretty close to how I remember him in both with his being tempted. Hey, I wonder if it was Arwen or Glorfindel that went out to meet Strider and the hobbits?" Willow trailed off as she noticed her sisters staring at her. "What?"

"I was whining." Buffy explained. "I didn't want a rundown of each discrepancy."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "You kind of slipped into Babble Land there, Will."

Willow flushed. "Sorry."

Buffy sighed. "No, it's no big. I've been comparing them too. I think we all will until this is over." She stood again and faced them with a new resolve. "Okay then. We're stuck here for a while. We might as well put the time to good use. Let's go make friends with the hobbits or something."

Dawn smiled dreamily. "I could make friends with Aragorn."

Willow snickered. Buffy rolled her eyes. "Do I need to bring up Arwen again? Besides, he's out scouting."

Dawn stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "What about the twin sons of Elrond?"

"Also scouting," Buffy told her as her lips twisted into a sneer, "and their elves."

Willow grinned. "Very hot elves." Dawn nodded in agreement.

Buffy glared at them. "All elves are hot. They'll still elves."

"But they're different elves, Buffy." Willow argued. "These didn't shoot you or try to run you out of their forests. They're a completely different family."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, "they have brown hair." Buffy and Willow shared a glance. Then they both looked at Dawn. Dawn rolled her eyes. "What?" Buffy and Willow collapsed into giggles.

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The next few months passed quickly and peacefully. Buffy, Willow and Dawn did indeed make friends with the hobbits. To her sisters' great surprise, Buffy also made friends with some of the elves. It seemed that most elves truly did not believe that women were incapable of being warriors. Buffy found some pretty decent sparring partners among the Firstborn of Rivendell. She still didn't like elves as a whole, but she was willing to make a few exceptions. Buffy even allowed a few of her new Elven friends to train her in using the longbow. The slayer had never had the need for that particular weapon in the past, but with her ingrained ability to use any weapon she so chose she soon held her own against most of her trainers.

Willow and Dawn, for their part, spent more time with the hobbits and one particular elleth. Dawn befriended Arwen, though she was careful not to discuss things about the elleth that she shouldn't know. Her theory was that she couldn't continue lusting after Aragorn if she learned to like his one true love. It worked for the most part, but she could be excused if she still sighed over the future king every once and a while. He was still one fine hunk of a man. Willow found she lost her heart to the little ring bearer. His story was so sad and she knew that he would never walk away from his journey the same happy young hobbit that he started it. Frodo did not deserve his burden and Willow couldn't help being reminded of a young Buffy forced to be the slayer with the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. Willow promised herself to ease the first stretch of his journey as much as she could.

Finally the scouts all began to return and the time of departure drew near. It was late December when the fellowship finally loaded their gear and said goodbye to Rivendell. They were to leave under the cover of darkness and travel as far by night as they could to avoid being seen by spies of the enemy. A small group came to bid them farewell, though it was no merry parting, and then they were off and the true adventure had begun.

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The fellowship moved slowly but steadily through the night. The first stretch of their journey was not pleasant, but dreary and long. During the day they took what sleep they could and tried to remain hidden from the view of any spies along the path. The biggest complaints came from the hobbits. This was surprising to some. The two men, the elf, and the dwarf kept looking to the three sisters for their complaints. The sisters refused to comply and simply pressed on. They knew what lay ahead and whining would not prepare them for it. Gandalf watched the males reactions to the sisters with a hidden smile. There was some amusement to be had, it would seem, even in these dark times.

As the group drew to a halt and prepared to sleep away another day, Dawn looked to her sisters with a sigh. "This sleeping all day's gettin' old. I'm starting to feel like a vampire."

Buffy just shrugged and prepared her pallet. "Nothing new to me. I'm a night girl, myself."

Noticing Dawn's glare at the older brunette, Willow reached out to squeeze the younger girl's shoulder in sympathy. "I know what you mean. This is like back in high school when we patrolled all night and went to classes all day."

Buffy looked up with a grin. "And Xander and I slept through most of the classes and copied our homework from you."

Willow shared her grin but then both sisters fought a wave of sadness and longing for their best friend. Dawn watched their faces fall with a surge of panic. She struggled for something to say to brighten them up. All they needed was to start balling in front of the guys. She opened her mouth without a clue what to say. "Uh...well..."

"What is this high school you speak of?" Dawn's savior came in the unlikely form of a dwarf. "A place of learning of some sort?"

Buffy and Willow snapped out of their thoughts and faced the dwarf. Willow explained. "In our world they had three stages of primary education, Gimli. You spent the first six to seven years in elementary school, the next three in middle school, and the last four in high school. High school was when the students were teenagers and starting to find themselves."

"Or in our case saving the world on a weekly basis." Buffy jumped in with a smirk.

Gimli stroked his beard and took a seat beside them. "Hmm...fascinating. Did you really save your world during these years?" His eyes twinkled as he spurred them deeper into conversation and Dawn beamed a thankful smile in his direction.

Buffy nodded. "At least five, maybe six times by graduation."

"Really?" Pippin, the most curious of the hobbits, moved over to join them. "Did you hear that Merry? They saved their world at least five times."

"Did they?" Merry questioned as he scampered over and looked the three sisters over. "Did you face any dragons?"

"Five times before graduation," Buffy corrected, "and no we didn't face any dragons."

The hobbits slumped down in disappointment.

Dawn grinned at Willow and Buffy. "But the big huge Mayor Snake Demon was almost like a dragon."

The hobbits perked back up. "What's a Mayor Snake Demon?" Pippin asked them eagerly.

Buffy sighed and looked around her. Willow and Dawn both looked ready for some storytelling. Gimli, Merry, and Pippin looked eager to listen. Sam and Frodo were walking over now to see what all the fuss was about and she could almost swear Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas were listening in from their positions across the way. Gandalf grinned at her from up ahead. She shrugged and decided what the hell? "Well, it all started when we found out the Mayor of Sunnydale, our hometown, was evil..."

Almost an hour later, the tale was coming to an end. The three sisters had passed the dialog around throughout and paused every now and then to explain some Earth word or invention that the Middle-Earth group didn't understand. Gimli, Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo were enthralled by the tale. They leaned forward for the conclusion eagerly. Even Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas had given up all pretense of not listening to watch the sisters' expressions as they spoke. Gandalf was thrilled. The members of the fellowship were finally pulling together.

"And then I ran like hell out the back exit and dove outside before Giles blew the explosives. The high school and Mayor Snake Demon went BOOM!" Buffy finished with a grin. "It was wicked cool!"

Willow nodded in agreement. "They were still picking up pieces of crispy Mayor two years later."

Dawn shook her head and laughed. "My sister is really hard on high schools. First she burns down the gym of her old school, then she blew up her new school at graduation, then she blew up mine when we destroyed the Hellmouth and kicked some First Evil ass." She looked to Buffy. "Are you really surprised no one else wanted you for their school councilor?"

Buffy stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "I was a good councilor."

Both Willow and Dawn snorted.

Buffy glared at them. "I was!"

Her sisters burst into laughter and soon after the rest of the fellowship followed suit. Most were not completely clear on what the purpose of a councilor in a school would be, but the slayer did not strike them as the best person for the job. Diplomatic she was not.

When the laughter finally started to settle down Merry and Pippin requested to hear about what this First Evil thing was and how they'd kicked its ass. The three sisters were debating whether or not to oblige them when Gandalf took the decision out of their hands. "No more today, my dear hobbits, for you will need rest to continue our journey tonight. You can request another tale from our three sisters tomorrow and I'm sure they will oblige you."

Merry and Pippin looked back to the sisters eagerly. Buffy nodded her assurance. "Totally. We'll start at the beginning. Tomorrow we'll cover 'The Harvest'."

"No fair!" Dawn pouted. "I can't tell that one. I didn't know about you being slayer then."

Buffy snorted. "You didn't exist then." Dawn glared at her slayer sister and Willow giggled. Buffy rolled her eyes. "It's not like you haven't heard them all enough times to tell them in your sleep, Dawnie. We'll let you have your turn."

"I dunna see what's so fascinating about a harvest," Gimli muttered.

The hobbits, who hailed from the Shire where the harvest was a very important event each year indeed, turned to glare at him.

Buffy just smirked. "That depends entirely on what you intend to harvest."

Gimli's bushy eyebrows shot up. "Such as?"

"Oh...oh..." Dawn hopped up and down and raised her hand eager to spill the beans.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her younger sister's antics. "Take it away, Dawnie."

Dawn smiled widely and leaned toward their audience for effect. "Blood! They were going to harvest blood!"

The hobbits jerked back in shock. Gimli's eyes lit up with interest. Buffy and Willow shared a grin. They were hooked.

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End of Chapter

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Ring Red