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Ch 4  High Hopes

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Karla had never felt so cold in all her life.  One would think that living on the Prairies, and the Northern Prairies at that, a person would get accustomed to the cold.  It isn't like that could be considered a moderate climate or anything.  But even that was no preparation for the cold she was facing.  And it wasn't just the cold that was the problem:  it was all the consistent walking.  Trudging through snow that came up to her waist, teeth chattering, toes numb, and everything else exhausted beyond belief, she couldn't believe that she had consented to climb a mountain.  Then again, it wasn't like she had much of a choice; she had to mentally remind herself.  In all truth, she hadn't really signed up for this job anyway.  But one of the good things about all that snow is that there was no way to look down.  She, at least, could live in relative ignorance about just how high they were actually climbing, not that she was afraid of heights, per se.  No, she wasn't afraid of heights, but she sure didn't like them, and with a great passion.

But the more the fellowship walked the higher they got.  Soon it was hard not to be aware of how high they were.  Everything, from the altitude, to the air, to the biting cold (as if it could get any colder, huh?) was a constant reminder of the fact that they were climbing a mountain.  As subtle as they were, even all those things were easy enough for her to ignore.  As a river of snow came cascading down the mountain, in what looked to Karla, like an attempt to bury the Fellowship, she was made frighteningly aware of just how high they had climbed.

"Ok," Karla quietly coached herself, "we are not that high up.  I can handle this."  And taking a deep breath, she tried to reassure herself of that actuality.  But by taking in such a deep breath of such cold air, all she could do was choke on the cold, as the frosty air entered her tortured lungs.

Managing to get herself under control she quickly looked around to see if anyone else had noticed her embarrassing episode.  Since no one else seemed to have stirred in the lease bit, she felt safe in assuming that no one was aware of her discomfiture.   But the higher they seemed to climb the more Karla kept telling herself.  "Don't look down.  Just remember, don't look down."  And luckily for Karla, she could still not see down the mountain.  "And if I don't look, it won't hurt," she carefully said to herself, not caring if anyone else heard.

Gimli, who must have over-heard Karla's grumbled ranting was in complete agreement with the sentiment.  "The tops of mountains are no place for Dwarves or Hobbits."    And looking over at Gimli, who said nothing further, she was glad that at least one other person felt the same way she did.

With the snow swirling around them, cocooning them in an icy blanket, Karla was constantly aware of the futility of trying to get over the mountain.  At that moment she would have laid odds that Everest would have been an easier climb, not that anyone there would have known what she was talking about.  But something of those tortured grumbling must have come out of her mouth, for Gimli was in compete agreement with that as well.

"There is no way we'll make it over this accursed mountain," he commented back to Karla, knowing that she was the only person close enough to hear him.  With the wind and snow blowing as heavily as it was, it was hard to hear the person next to you, let alone anyone any distance away.

" I know," Karla couldn't help but agree.  "We'll be trapped for sure, especially if the snow gets any worse."  Having been forewarned by the movie, Karla knew exactly how this ill-fated expedition was going to end.  She only hoped that she didn't give too much away with her comment.  But since Gimli didn't seem to think anything of it, she guessed that it was just as logical coming from a hobbit from the Shire as it would have been coming from a man from Gondor.  But looking up, Karla couldn't help but notice that the wind seemed to be picking up.

As if aware of the ramblings going on in her mind, another river of snow came cascading down the mountain directly in front of the fellowship, barely missing Gandalf and Aragorn, as they were out front, trying to clear something resembling a path for the rest of the group.  As the snow cleared from that last attack by the mountain Karla could see what looked to her like Gandalf and Aragorn arguing.  Because of the distance, not that they were that far away, she had difficulty hearing what they were saying, but the snippets that came her way, carried on the wind, made it obvious enough that they were in disagreement on whether to continue up the mountain or go back down.  The thing is, it seemed to her that Gandalf was the one who wanted to go down the moutain where was Aragorn was the one who seemed to think that everyone should continue up.  "Odd, wasn't it the other way around?"

"What was that, Pippin?" 

"Huh?  What did you say, Merry?  I couldn't hear you over the wind."

"I thought you were talking to me Pip.  You seemed to be saying something."

"Oh, that.  I was just wondering if this means we can turn around."  Hoping that sounded close enough for Merry's sake, Karla mentally chastised herself, reminding herself to keep her mouth shut.  If she couldn't do that, soon everyone would be looking into locking her up in a rubber room (although she wasn't sure if they had rubber rooms back there or what they did).

"I know Pip.  If we keep going the way we're going, we're going to be a bunch of Hobbit sized snow drifts come morning."

Looking over at Sam and Frodo, Karla could see that all the Hobbits were in much the same predicament.  Their lack of size, coupled with their lack of endurance (although that had been increasing in leaps and bounds since the whole adventure began) was beginning to take its toll on them.  Sam, Frodo, and Merry looked about as bad as she felt, even if the heights and the thought that they could fall off the side of the mountain at any moment, didn't seem to bother them any.  But that was to be expected, Kara had to remind herself.  Since they were close to half the size as the humans or the elf (who seemed to have all the luck), they had to work twice as hard to get through all the snowdrifts, even with Aragorn clearing a path for them.

Waiting for Aragorn and Gandalf to come to some sort of conclusion to their disagreement, Karla couldn't help but wonder if the movie and the book were ever going to converge again, or if her being there had changed things irreparably.  The further along the adventure she went, the more she became aware of the facts that events were happening that were completely different from the movie.