Please see chapter 1 for any disclaimers.
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Ch. 5 Deep Thoughts and Dark Discoveries
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It seemed to take Gandalf and Aragorn an eternity to come to some sort of conclusion. Sitting in the snow as they all were, every second seemed to feel like an eternity, a bone numbing, and ice chilling eternity. But finally, as the two turned around, it became apparent to all that they had made up their minds. Karla could only hope that, whatever that decision was, it had something to do with a roaring fire and a hot meal
Hot fire? After all that time Karla was beginning to wonder if she would even know what a roaring fire and a hot meal were. Then again, Karla would also settle for just being warm again. Never in all her life had she ever felt so cold. It sure gave new dimension to the cold of the Prairies. But as Aragorn and Gandalf bent to pick up their packs, it became apparent to everyone that there was to be no rest, and even more disappointing, no fire for them just yet. Even Bill the pony seemed to look longingly at their small spot of shelter (if shelter is what they could have called that spot) before letting Sam lead him on.
But after a spell of walking even the air seemed to lose some of its coldness. In actuality, the cold began to take on a whole new dimension, as though the air itself had a life of its own and was encouraging the company onward. But onward to what Karla had no notion. The only thought in her brain was that she must move onward, one step after another. To cease moving was to cease being. Yet as she walked Karla could almost hear the wind talking to her. Did wind talk? Somehow, as cold as she was, she was sure she heard the voice of the wind calling to her, inviting her to rest a bit before moving onward. The wind would keep her safe and warm while she took just a little rest.
And rest would have been so nice; Karla had to agree with the wind on that. Just a short respite before tackling the next step, a quiet respite in which to catch her breath (if anyone could still breathe in all that cold air). Yet some part of her mind was still conscious of the fact that they all had to keep moving. By that point she had no notion why, just the knowledge that she must not stop walking.
Suddenly a strange noise caught Karla's attention. Why that noise was any different than any other she couldn't have said, but something about it made her stop and look up, wondering what was going on. It was almost as if there was a voice on the wind calling, not to her that time, but in a strange language that Karla had never heard before. Was that possible, Karla had to quickly wonder to herself? But then again, if the wind could have a voice, it must have been possible for that voice to have a language all it's own. Shaking her head, Karla could only wonder at the strange thoughts that were running around in her head. Wind that had both a voice and a language? What would she think of next?
But just as she had stopped moving, so had the rest of the Company. It was almost as if everyone, to a person, had reacted to some predetermined, but consciously unknown, signal that one of them gave. No word had been said, and yet, as one, they all stopped and looked up, waiting for something to happen. Just when Karla was about to think that it was simply the wind whistling against the rocks, although it sounded more like some strange creature howling, it happened.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, stones began to fall out of the sky. Watching as the stones rained down, as though they were thrown directly at the Company, Karla was amazed that she had the peace of mind to move closer to the cliff face, moving herself away from the edge, lest one of the rocks hit her and knock her over the edge, and thus into an almost certain death.
It took her a few minutes to realize that not only were the stones not falling from the sky, but that they were, in fact, falling off the cliffs above them. Everyone had also moved closer to the rock face and that it was probably less her powers of observation and more someone giving her a brief shove, that had caused her to move closer to safety. But in the same breath, she also knew that there was nothing safe about where they were standing, not that anywhere on that mountain felt particularly safe. Humans (and hobbits by default) were not meant to be that high in the air. That was a proven fact as far as Karla was concerned. If people were meant to be high up it wouldn't hurt so much when they fell.
"We must rest." So saying, Boromir turned to Aragorn, as if waiting for him to dispute that statement. "There are fell voices on the wind and those boulders were aimed for us."
"But it is just the wind, and there are evils older than Sauron on this mountain."
"And that was just so comforting a thought," Karla couldn't help but respond after Aragorn's uplifting statement.
She must have said that out loud and a bit louder than she would have liked if the swallowed laughs that almost didn't escape Legolas' lips were anything to go by. Then again, looking at Legolas and giving him a brief and hidden smirk back, it was nice to actually feel like a part of the group, something that Karla really hadn't felt since finding herself lost in Middle Earth.
Swaying on her feet, Karla was caught by the similarity to the events that happened in the movie to the events she just witnessed. There was something oddly familiar about it all, and yet she still couldn't picture it from the movie. Was she going insane? Was the cold finally getting to her? Somehow she couldn't even recall the movie. Her brain was so cold that it felt in permanent bewilderment. Nothing was making sense. She was even beginning to wonder if a place called Earth really existed and if she really was from Canada. Stranger things had happened before (like being transported into a novel she had never read???). All she really knew for sure was that she had to keep walking, endlessly walking.
Amazingly, though, it seemed to be doing the trick. The cold wasn't really as bad as it had been. If she had the wits about her to think about it, she would have thought that it had actually been getting warmer. It was a nice feeling, considering that that was the first time she had felt even remotely warm since starting that climb up that God-forsaken mountain. Then again, somehow that just seemed wrong to her. Should she have been feeling warm? Either way, she was, and that was all there was to be said about it.
It wasn't until she turned her head to look over at Frodo and noticed him lying down in the snow that the danger in their situation struck her. Some slightly defrosted part of her brain finally registered the threat of hypothermia. While Boromir was shaking Frodo awake Karla was trying to assess if she really was suffering from it or not. She just didn't feel cold enough to be suffering from hypothermia. Shouldn't the sufferer feel cold?
All that thinking was just making her head spin. What she really needed was a nap. Then she would wake up back in her bedroom and all this mountain climbing stuff would be a bad dream easily forgotten. She wasn't really a hobbit anyway (was she?). Following Frodo's lead, she decided that a nice nap in the warm, snugly snow would be just the thing to help her get her strength back and revitalize her for the remainder of their journey up the hill.
"…This is going to be the death of the halflings!" From somewhere off to the side of her, Karla vaguely remembered hearing what sounded like Boromir's voice calling out to some anonymous person as rough hands began to shake her awake.
"Just a couple more minutes, mom. It isn't time for school yet, anyway."
"I don't know about this school thing, master hobbit, but it is walk or freeze for us now," a rather gruff sounding Gimli replied, looking as though he was trying to stifle a small laugh.
"Huh?" Although she was now back on her feet, somehow the information still wasn't making it's way to her brain. Didn't everyone know about school? And what was all this talk about freezing? She was finally feeling nice and warm.
"The middle of a snow drift is not the best place to be taking a nap, master hobbit. Best to wait till we make camp somewhere."
The next minutes (or was it hours?) flew by like a blur to Karla. One minute she was being forced to her feet and the next someone is pouring the most amazing liquor down her throat. Suddenly all drowsiness and fatigue left her and she finally felt able to keep going. But much to Karla's delight, Gandalf finally relented and let them make a fire. But that warm respite didn't last long. All too soon they were on the move again.
It wasn't long before the Company ran into another snowdrift.
"We'll never be able to get past this one," Karla couldn't help but say out loud, getting nods of agreement from the other Hobbits as well as Gimli. It seemed for once that Gimli had to suffer the same disadvantages as the hobbits.
"Well, when brains are at a loss, bodies must serve, as they say in my country." And with that, Boromir enlisted the help of Aragorn, and together they moved to clear a path for the others to follow. But, while she had expected Aragorn to take the lead, as he had done so many times on this journey, it was Boromir, the slightly smaller, yet definitely broader of the two, who took the lead, working to clear the worst of the snow.
While the rest of the Company did various things to fill time, waiting for Aragorn and Boromir to return, Karla sat staring down the path that the two had made. Suddenly, while looking in the direction that the men had gone Karla was suddenly struck by the knowledge that, for all intents and purposes, Boromir's days were numbered. That is to say, each step they Fellowship took away from Rivendell was one more step closer to the moment when the orcs, or whatever they were, killed him and then took Merry and Pippin (or was that she an Merry?).
Thinking about that, Karla couldn't help but wonder if she should tell Boromir about what she knew of what lay ahead. Then again, would he even believe me, she couldn't help but wonder to herself. It wasn't everyday someone claimed to know the future, at leave from her experience.
While the debate raged within her, Aragorn and Boromir managed to clear a path past the long, deep snowdrift that had been ahead of them. And soon, Karla found herself on Boromir's back, being carried down through what was left of the snowdrift.
That would have been the perfect opportunity to tell Boromir all that she knew, and yet still he hesitated. There had to be consequences of her telling, of that she was sure. It was just not so clear what the consequences might be. Would it change things? Had they already been changed enough by her just being there that it didn't matter? More than once while he was carrying her, she almost blurted out the fate that awaited him. And yet, no matter how much she wanted to tell him, something always held her back.
When they had reached the end of the snowdrift, Boromir placed her gently down, ordering her to stay there with Merry and Legolas as he and Aragorn went to retrieve Sam, Frodo, Gandalf and Gimli.
Watching as Boromir quickly walked away, a feat that amazed her all the more considering how exhausted he must have been after clearing away so much snow, Karla was amazed that he could be the same man so thoroughly taken over the by ring later on. When he was carrying her, he had been all care and consideration, taking care not to jostle or hurt her any more than necessary. That, she had to admit, was characteristic of the entire journey with him so far. Even though it was apparent that Aragorn didn't completely trust him, to her he seemed so much the stereotypical chivalrous knight.
"I wonder if warning him of the power of the ring would lessen it's affect on him, at least enough to allow him to fight it off?" Being careful not to be heard, Karla couldn't help but muse out loud to herself. It was a habit she had picked up when she was much younger, and something she had been unable to rid herself of.
"What holds your attention so thoroughly my young hobbit?" Turning her head Karla was able to see how intently Legolas had been watching her. With his elven ears she hoped that he hadn't been able to hear anything. But by the look on his face, it didn't seem that he had. At least that was what she was willing to believe.
"I was just wondering about things."
"Things?" Merry echoed, sounding quite intrigued.
"I was just wondering how much of who we are is simply a part of our nature or how much is based on the choices that we make."
"What do you mean?" Looking entranced, Legolas moved closer to Pippin to hear what the young hobbit had to say.
"It is like the story about the frog who, thinking that it would be safe, agreed to give a scorpion a ride across a lake. When they had reached half way across the lake, the frog felt a sharp sting and turning, saw that the scorpion had stung him. When he asked the scorpion why he had done it, as they would now both drown, the scorpion's only reply was that it was in his nature."
Merry looked completely shocked at the depth of Pippin's question and could do nothing more than simply gawk at him as though he were some kind of alien or something. And take that Merry, Karla couldn't help but want to say. She was sure that Pippin was a lot more intelligent that Merry, Sam, or Frodo gave the young hobbit credit for. And as long as she was he, then he would act that way too (at least she hoped she did).
Legolas, on the other hand, seemed to take Karla's query with extreme seriousness. And after a short pause, which seemed to take an eternity from her point of view, he finally answered.
"I think it would have been best if you had been able to ask Mithrandir this question, but since he is not here, I will do my best to answer.
"Although our nature can affect some of the choices that we make, I believe that it is our choices that affect our nature, and not the other way around."
"Really?" Quite shocked with that revelation, Karla was gratified to se that Merry looked just as surprised as she felt. "How can our choices affect what is in our nature to do?"
"Climbing this mountain we have had to ration our food, so we do not run out before we reach the other side, right?"
"That is true."
"Did you ever think about simply eating all the food that we packed and hoping that we got to the other side before we ran out?"
"Not really. I have thought about having more to eat, like having a real breakfast, but not of eating down our reserves, just in case we got snowed in or something."
"Exactly. Our choices define what is in our nature to do."
"I hadn't thought of it that way."
While Karla would have liked to have been able to ask more, it was at that moment that Boromir, carrying Sam, and Aragorn, carrying Frodo, came into the clearing where the three were sitting. There were quickly followed by Gandalf leading Bill, upon which Gimli sat looking none he worse for wear, if a little disgruntled for having been forced on pony back.
Contemplating whether or not to tell Boromir of what lay ahead for him, Karla thought further about the road that lay ahead of them: the Mines of Moria.
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TBC