At first, the water remained still, but then, ripples began to undulate inside it, and an image began to appear. Frodo leaned closer. Sam's face looked up at him from the water. Frodo contracted his eyebrows. Sam stuck his tongue out at him, then disappeared to be replaced by Merry, Pippin, and Legolas. The three of them appeared to be standing in some random field somewhere and were whispering amongst each other. Frodo distinctly heard Merry say, "One, two, three!" and each of them looked up at Frodo, shaking their heads at him in unison.

Frodo looked up at Galadriel questioningly, but she merely nodded at the mirror. He looked back into it. It was now showing the Shire, but an unrecognizable one. It was dark and there were fires everywhere. Orcs were running around, chasing screaming hobbits. Frodo gasped. The image changed again to show Sam walking dejectedly in a line of hobbits, all of whom had their wrists tied together. Orcs were walking alongside the line with whips, cracking them at the hobbits randomly.

A final image took place: the eye of Sauron. Frodo felt the ring being pulled towards the basin as though by a magnet. Voices filled his head-again-and he tried to back away from the mirror.

"Peek-a-boo!" a voice hissed. "I see you…"

"No!" Frodo cried, and fell backwards onto the ground. He scrambled to his feet, peering cautiously into the mirror. It was now back to normal and looked completely innocent.

"So…" he said slowly. "Would you like to tell me what exactly that was all about?"

"No," Galadriel answered cheerfully, "but I will anyway. You see, Frodo, this is basically what'll happen if you don't destroy the ring, what the mirror showed. Everyone will hate you and Sauron and his creepy little cronies will take over the world. Not to put any pressure on you or anything!"

"Yeah, thanks for that," Frodo growled. He sighed deeply and his shoulders slumped. "I can't do this," he whined. "It's too heavy…uggghh……"

"Poor you. Your life is so hard," Galadriel said sarcastically.

"Hey, lady," Frodo said with the air of a desperate person who has suddenly gotten an idea, "would YOU like the ring? I could give it to you………raspberries…………"

Galadriel gave a freaky grin, her eyes widening. She took a few slow steps toward Frodo and put her hand over the ring, which sat in his palm.

"Instead of a dark lord, YOU WOULD HAVE A QUEEN!" she yelled. She suddenly began to change. She grew taller and her eyes were practically popping out of her head. She was floating about an inch off the ground, her arms outstretched at her sides. She was not smiling maniacally, but baring her teeth, like a threatened dog about to attack. Frodo took a few frantic steps backward, then promptly fell over again. He was very good at that.

"A QUEEN, I TELL YOU! A DAMNED QUEEN!" she raged.

Anne Rice fans: Dude, there's already a book and movie about this. Except it's Queen of the Damned, not A Damned Queen, but have it your way.

Galadriel suddenly dropped back to her usual self. She was breathing rather hard as she stood there, gazing at the ring that had fallen on the ground.

"I have passed the test," she stated calmly in mighty contrast to her ten-seconds-ago self. "I will diminish, and go into the West-"

"Across the seeeeaaaaaa-" Frodo began to sing.

"No! Not that song!" Galadriel spat. "But, yeah, as I was saying, I will go into the West, and remain Galadriel."

"You do that, scary-elf-lady-that-while-I'm-intimidated-by-you-I'm-also-kinda-getting-the-hots-for," Frodo said as he sat on the ground.

"Will you keep the ring and do the task?"

"……"

"'Cause if you don't find a way, no one else will…I don't know why, considering there's loads of other people out there that have triple your I.Q. at least."

"Okay, okay! I'll do it! Just don't make fun of Frodo's I.Q. anymore!"

"And now you're referring to yourself in third person…how interesting…"

"I'm going to bed!" Frodo snapped. He stood up, picked up the ring, and stomped away…

The fellowship was getting ready to leave in the morning. While the others were packing their things, Boromir was sitting on a rock, lost in his own little world. In fact, it is called Boromir Land. It's right next to Oompa Loompa Land.

"C'mon, Boromir," Aragorn said as he walked by. "We need to get moving."

"Yeah," Boromir muttered absentmindedly. Aragorn sat next to him and put his arm around his shoulder. Boromir looked up at him sharply. "Um, what are you doing…?"

"Consoling you," said Aragorn brightly. "These borders are well protected, you know."

"Yeah, you told me that last night."

"So why are you all mopey?"

"'Cause my dad's a bastard to my brother."

"That it?"

"Nah, just trying really hard not to wallow in self pity about things the way Frodo does."

"Oh. Okay! Well, get up and get going then!"

Before boarding their funny little Elven boats, Galadriel gave them all gifts. She gave Frodo a nifty flashlight; Merry and Pippin some daggers; Sam some lembas bread ("One bite is enough to fill a grown man's stomach!" she advertised); new arrows for Legolas; a cool hunting knife for Aragorn; nothing for Boromir, 'cause he sucks; and some armpit hairs requested by Gimli. The fellowship thanked her, then divided into their three boats. Aragorn, Frodo, and Sam got in one together; Boromir, Merry, and Pippin in another; and Legolas and Gimli shared their own. They began to paddle along the river. Frodo looked over his shoulder at Galadriel. She had her hand held up high, the palm facing out.

"I used to be a crossing guard!" she called out to them. Frodo nodded, and resumed facing the front.

After a while, they approached a pass between two very tall, old, and noble statues. They both had their hands out in the same way Galadriel did.

"The Argonath…" Aragorn breathed in awe.

"Stop!" gruff voices issued from both of the statues. "In the name of love! Before you break my heart…"

"Dude, they sing," Gimli said.

"Hell yes!" said Aragorn excitedly as their boats drifted past the statues. "I've always wanted to look upon my old kings!"

"If Aragorn starts singing love songs I may have to borrow Legolas's bow and shoot someone," Pippin murmured darkly to Merry, who nodded.

A log floated past their boats. A creepy little voice from somewhere near it said, "I am SO damned sneaky!"

"Hi, Gollum," Legolas called.

"Dammit," the voice said. There was a splash and the log floated away, this time with no one attached to it.

The fellowship turned their boats to shore once they came to the Falls of Rauros. They all began to climb out of their boats and unload their things. Legolas stood on the edge of the woods and looked sharply at the woods on the opposite bank. He then walked up to Aragorn.

"We should go," he said quietly. "A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near. I can feel it!"

Aragorn gazed at Legolas with mild concern. He clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Remember the talk we had about the monsters in the closet? This is just like that. There is nothing bad in the woods. It's only your overactive imagination."

"Hey, guys," Frodo said, "I think I'm gonna wander off, okay?"

No one seemed to have noticed. Frodo turned away, and walked into the woods. He walked off for a while. These woods were quite calm and peaceful. He looked interestedly at some extremely large statue heads that were sticking out of the ground. Really, it was like a museum.

He hadn't even heard it coming…hadn't heard the sound of footsteps that maybe could have warned him to prepare himself or flee, but he hadn't heard a sound until it was too late……

"Hello, Frodo," a menacing voice said cooly behind him. Slowly, Frodo turned around.