Disclaimer. I own Snodgrass's soul, although I haven't told him that yet. Somehow I get the feeling it just wouldn't go over too well. But other than that, I own nothing, except my own genius for writing. Ha
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Chapter Six
The Original Cold Mountain and Walking!
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Barbie's POV.
This time (how come I am always the one the Valar seem to single out for "special treatment") when I woke up, I saw Sam leaning over me, watching me as if he expected me to do a trick or something.
"What are you doing Sam?" I croaked, my voice low and harsh, gosh my throat was sore! I must have sounded worse to him than I did to myself because he jumped a little as he realized that I was awake.
"Gandalf said that someone should stay with you, so I said I would," he explained. He was such a nice guy. (Note. "Guy" is an all encompassing term. It can mean; human, elf, dwarf, wizard, and/or hobbit.)
"Well, thanks," I said, sitting up on the couch. The air was thick and muggy, and the darkening sky outside heralded a coming storm as well as the approach of evening.
How long had I been…out? That really is the wrong term, I had been conscious, I knew something had happened-but as with other things, I cannot remember what it was. I gave up trying a long time ago.
"Where is everyone else?" I inquired, the house seemed unusually quiet and still. And empty. You ordinarily do not get that feeling in a house with eleven people in it. Actually, P.T. Barnum's is more what it feels like.
"Gandalf left for some peace and quiet in the woods to think, Aragorn and Legolas are standing guard outside, Boromir is…somewhere and the rest are down the hall," said Sam in one breath. I decided to check out what Emily was doing, and went to her room. At first I was confused. She was rummaging around her drawers, packing her college backpack, and looked up when I came in.
"Oh, hi Barb you're awake," she said. "You're ok, right?"
"Yeah, actually, I'm feeling much better," I said. I did too. I had no idea why, but whatever happened seemed to be more beneficial than otherwise. "By the way," I went on "What are you packing for?"
"I have no idea," she said.
"Come again?" I said. Is it just me, or are people acting weird around here?
"See, Gandalf said that we could be….leaving tonight, and that we needed to be ready. What I mean is, I have no idea where we are going, or what we need to be "ready" for." she said, poking some more things into her bag.
"So you're going to try and be ready for anything?" I queried.
"May as well be. I mean, I have no idea what he is planning, but I have the feeling that it's not going to be a excursion to McDonalds."
And, as it not surprisingly turned out, it wasn't.
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Still Barbie's POV
"We are going to Middle Earth tonight?"
Gandalf had come back, and he had just finished telling everyone that "Oh hey chap's! We are going to get back to home not so sweet home if we fail at our quest tonight!"
Maybe he didn't he use those exact words, but it came darn close to it. Gandalf was about to say something, when Aragorn interrupted.
"Neither of you are going anywhere. You are women, and we cannot bring you on such a dangerous quest." What a kind, wet blanket was that future king. Gimli and Legolas both nodded in agreement. Well, thanks a lot you two!
I looked at Emily, we were all gathered around the kitchen table. If they went without us, I was seriously going to murder someone.
Boromir stepped forward, looking from us to the other members of the Fellowship. "I see no reason why they cannot come. They have both proven themselves as brave and loyal to our cause. Both Lady Emily and Lady Barbara risked their lives for us, almost total strangers." he said, and oh how I wanted to cheer right then. I managed to restrain myself.
Gandalf looked at both of us, and then just to Emily.
"If you and your sister wish to assist us on this quest….then I believe that you ought to make your own decision. Be warned, this is not a pleasure trip. We are on a dangerous mission, which Sauron is doing his best to hinder. And he will target anyone who helps us. You have already seen what happened to Lady Barbara."
"When he said that, I had to wince inwardly. Emily may not be a coward for herself, but she wouldn't want to put any of her younger brothers or sisters in danger.
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Emily's POV
Your sure as heck right I wasn't! I thought maybe I could go for a while and come back but not my sister. She was almost killed and I was not about to take any more chances with her. She, unfortunately was not a cat, and she couldn't risk dieing again.
"I don't think that would be such a hot idea for you to go Barb." I said trying not to see the look of disappointment that crossed her face.
"But Em! This is the chance of a life time and I want to go! Please!"
"Please, Lady Emily, she was so brave in helping us! And I am sure you would both be safe in our circle." said Pippin giving me his puppy dog eyes. (Darn it! Don't look at me like that!)
I felt myself weakening and when Frodo and Sam stepped forward and clasped Barbara's hands in their own and asked for her please to go too . I had it, the icing on the cake came when Merry took my hand and Boromir put his arm around us that I gave in totally.
"Okay we'll both go!" and I shot a look at the frustration of Legolas and Aragorn.
"Very well than get anything you need and hurry we have very little time." said Gandalf and everyone scurried around grabbing weapons and backpacks.
We went out into the suffocating weather and the gloom of black clouds over head looked decidedly unnatural in every way. The flash of lighting in the low clouds made a thrill of fear run through my spine, Gandalf raised his staff high in the air and said something in another language.
Immediately a strong wind whipped up and we all stared at the raised staff as in began to glow and shine in the darkness of the night. It was doing strange things to all of us, Legolas's eyes had a weird black cast to them and Aragorn seemed to grow in stature. Gimli was not affected by the light but he gripped his axe tightly.
The hobbit's gathered around Boromir and I, and Barbara seemed to glow in the light just like Legolas did. It was so strange the wind blowing in an almost vicious way as if it would knock us to our bottoms.
Then Gandalf held up his hand and as the gray sleeve fell away a ring with a red stone was revealed and joined in the light of the staff. It merged and in a brilliant flash the world around us vanished!
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Emily's POV
It was cold, cold, cold, cold! And I couldn't breath! I was surrounded on all sides in a smothering whiteness that chilled me to my bones. I struggled in the stuff realizing that it was snow and suddenly a pair of arms grabbed my flailing ones and I was yanked clear of the snow.
Into the freezing cold wind that buffeted the ledge that we stood on. O my gosh! we were standing on a narrow ledge hundreds of feet in the air! I looked through the blinding snow and wind, but it was impossible to see anything but what was right in front of you. In front of me was Aragorn.
"Where is Barbara?" I yelled and the wind snatched the words away and Aragorn shook his head because he couldn't hear me. Press my mouth against his freezing ear and I shouted again " Where is my sister?"
He pointed and I saw Boromir hauling her out of the snow as Gandalf pulled a mass of shivering hobbits in the shelter of his voluminous grey robe. I saw Legolas peering through the air and heard him yell something to Gandalf, I waded through the stuff until I was beside Barbie. I pulled my backpack off my back and brought out a pair of gloves for each of us.
"I don't think this was such I good idea." I screamed at her but again my words were lost in the swirling wind.
We huddled to gather in a miserable group some what shielded by the stoat body of Bill the pony. (Yeah! Where the heck did he come from?) Anyway we tried to give the hobbits the most cover because they were more variable to the cold then we sturdy (Go Edain!) humans were. Legolas stood in the cold out right because it really didn't bother him. In our own freezing misery it was a disgusting sight to see him standing there as if we were having a day at the beach!
No really, he was a reassuring presence as we sat there waiting for the wind to die down. It seemed to go on for hours and hours and I couldn't help but watch the hours pass in a slow march of minutes. I couldn't feel my toes after a while and was getting worried, when suddenly the wind disappeared and the air cleared to a brilliant blue sky!
We unfolded ourselves and dusted off the snow that had become lodged in every crease of our clothes. The ranger and elf scanned the path that would lead us out and saw that it was clogged with snow and ice like everything else.
"What shall we do Gandalf? asked Aragorn as he came back with the report. Gandalf considered the landscape silently and said. "There are two ways open to us the path through Moria and the Gap of Rohan."
Barbie and I looked at each other and silently mouthed the words " There is no Gap in Rohan, false advertising!" and we broke into unexplained laughter. The others looked at us and unsure of why the shivering hobbits began laughing too.
It was absolutely stupid to be laughing considering where we were, but it was a real mood lightener. Unlike the message from Aragorn that he, Legolas and Boromir were going to have to go off to plow through the snow to find a way out. We watched as they went and boy! Did they ever make the best looking human plows I had ever seen.
Of course the elf just ran over it all, but there I'm putting too simply, watching someone walk on top of snow is like watching someone walk on water for the first time.
"I'm off to find the sun!" he called cheerfully.
Stupid elf.
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Barbara's POV
Watching Legolas actually run on top of snow was fascinating! I mean, in the movies it's cool too, but you know it's just another cheap trick conjured up by Peter Jackson or one of his cohorts.
But this was the real thing, and it just seemed impossible that he was doing this! Of course, it's hard not to feel somewhat envious when you have to trample through it like an ungainly Oliphant. Did I ever mention how clumsy an elf can make you feel. I didn't?
Well, they can make you feel really clumsy.
At that point, I was more concerned with just keeping going. Gimli was literally dragging Emily and I through the snow in miniature snow plow mode. Hey, he's short, but he has sure got a pair of arms on him and nobody is going to toss this dwarf.
Watching the Nine Walkers in their element was quite interesting; they were more relaxed, not so tense. They kept a sharp lookout ( what else was Legolas for) of course, but they seemed more at home. I suppose back at the house they could only think of their own home, and the unfinished quest. Here they knew exactly what they were about, and it showed.
One thing that really drove me crazy was the singing. Ok, I am not a singing person. I like musicals, and will occasionally sing, but sometimes it's nice to have some peace and quiet. Which was not what I was getting on the trip.
Gandalf. " La, la, la, old ancient ballad only a wizard would sing, la, la, la."
Aragorn. " La, la ,la, something elvish, la, la, la."
Emily. "La, la, la, I learned this song in five minutes, la, la, la, something elvish."
Legolas. "La, la, la, I sing only in elvish, la, la, la, dwarves can't sing, la, la, la."
Boromir. "La, la, la, Westron is so much better, la, la, la."
Gimli. "La, la, LA, something Dwarvish, la, la, la."
Pippin. "La, la, la, I'm singing what I always sing, la, la"
Sam. La, la, la, what he said, la, la la."
Frodo. La, la, la, something unintelligible, la, la, la."
Merry was the only one who sided with me. I mean, sure, he liked singing, but apparently not while wading through hobbit tall snow.
"Um, I don't want to be a stick in the mud, but will you guys can it for awhile," I requested, politely I thought. Emily glared at me.
"Just because you can't sing doesn't mean that we have to stop," she said, and went on belting out some Dwarvish marching song. I had to admit, she was pretty good. Gimli apparently thought so, and roared right along with her. He had a strong, rough bass voice that could carry a tune very well, despite certain persons comments.
"Pippin, would you please shut up." said Merry, not restrained by any thoughts of politeness. Pippin smiled brightly, and went right on, hitting a high clear note that made me cover my ears.
"Ow! Don't do that - you." I protested, and as Merry, I was blithely ignored. I'm not always such a grump though.
My side was beginning to ache, and I thought I could feel the bandages loosening. I wasn't about to say anything about it though, and contented myself with tossing the occasional snow ball our aspiring American Idols ways. After I missed one of them again, Merry sighed, and quickly made a snowball himself.
"Now watch," he instructed. He took a step back, aimed carefully, and fired, It hit a la, la, laa-ing Aragorn right on the ear, who jumped, and yelled. It didn't stop there either, because then it proceeded to slip down the inside of his tunic. It had been a nice, wet one too. Merry and I exchanged gleeful high fives while Aragorn looked sulky, and Boromir laughed.
"Good one brother!" I said, snickering. The look on Aragorn's face had really been priceless. Merry looked momentarily confused at me "brother-ing" him and then grinned.
"You're not so bad either "sister" "he said, and then we both shared a secret grin. Y'know, people just don't give Merry the credit he deserves. He's one smart little guy.
"Something, something, I can't remember exactly what he was singing, something," sang Aragorn, Gee, this guy just never gave up did he.
But after awhile, as we all got more and more tired, the singers shut up, except Boromir, who had a mellow tenor and sang about cool things, like-war-and-battle-and Gondor. He also sang in English-Westron, whatever floats your boat-which was a definite plus.
It helped us all keep walking, and gradually the snow began to thin out, until we reached the timber line, where we reached a small pine forest. We were all pretty exhausted, and like tired trees ,collapsed wherever we happened to fall.
Gimli gathered some firewood, and we all gathered around it's comforting flame, except for that elf, who always seemed to "walk on his wild lone."
Actually I was somewhat glad for this fact. Ever since the attack, I had felt incredibly uncomfortable around him. I didn't know how to say thank you, and besides, it felt like I had something of his that didn't belong to me, something private and personal. It helped though. If ever I felt tired, or like just sitting down and sleeping, the heck with the quest, the necklaces cool weight against my chest drove me onward, reminding me what someone else had sacrificed for me.
But right now, I was just glad to sit down and not move or think at all. Aragorn-good old (well, he is eighty seven) Ranger that he is- patched us all up. The driving ice had cut across our skin like prickling knives, and we had all had our share of tumbles, again excepting that disgracefully agile elf.
The poor hobbits just couldn't seem to get warm, huddling as close to the fire as they could without actually burning themselves. The fire itself had lit with difficulty, sputtering a little on the dampish ground. Finally Gandalf poked it about with his staff, and something happened, because the wood caught fire like there was no tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, wizards are a tough group. I mean, for three hundred years-give or take a few-old he kept up as well as anyone.
While our "Good Old Ranger" made dinner, or supper whatever they called it, I straightened up my hair. It had been braided around my head a-la mounatinesque girl earlier, but now it hung down my back in wet, miserable clumps. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I keep my hair long. It wasn't quite as long as Emily's yet (hey, she had a six year head start) but it sure was a nuisance to have dripping down your back.
Using my fingers, I tugged impatiently through the tangles until Emily handed me a brush from her backpack.
"Thanks," I said, and again began attacking my hair. This seemed to amuse Emily, who sat and watched me.
"You're not fighting a battle Barb," she said finally, laughing at me. Grr. I hate being laughed at.
"Well, you might-give a poor soul-a hand then," I said exasperatedly, hitting a particularly nasty snarl. She took the brush, and began running it through my hair from scalp to bottom. Five minutes later and tangle free, I turned to her.
"How on earth did you do that?" I asked, frowning. She began braiding my hair, and leaned close to my ear.
"It's the power of--- the strawberry bubble bath," she whispered, and we both collapsed into giggles, puzzling Gandalf, who was listening to our conversation. Nosy.
Nosy or not I was ex-ha-us-ted, and too tired really to care.
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Emily's POV
The night fell in quiet twilight and soon the hobbit's weren't able to keep from nodding sleepily over their bowls of stew. I took the food away as Aragorn and Boromir settled the tired little guys in their bed rolls. It was really sweet to see how gently the men carried the tiny hobbits to bed, as if they were their own children.
Legolas was roosting in a nearby tree to keep watch through the night. I know, we always heard that elves don't sleep but they do! They just don't need sleep as often as we do and as freaky as it sounds, they do sleep with their eyes open. That creeped me out, but after a few days I began to get used to it.( Did I just type that?)
Anyway, everyone was bedding down for the night and only the rustle of wind in the trees disturbed the calm evening. In our time the country was the only place you could really see the stars in their full splendor because of all the electric light that came from the surrounding airports, cities and towns. However, out here in the deep forests of Middle Earth where, as yet, electric lights didn't exist, the stars were the kings of the sky. Just out the fire light Barbie and I lay on our backs gazing into the depths of space and pointing out the star formations that we knew.
"There's Orion's belt and there's the great bear!" I said as I pointed to the different stars. A sleepy " uham" came from Barbie's sleeping bag and I knew I was pretty much on my own in looking at all the stars.
But, I couldn't sleep after all we were in Middle Earth! For lord's sake! ( Oh what a terrible pun!)
"You should rest my Lady" this from a grumpy Gimli who came over to check on us. We had insisted that we sleep a little away because the Fellowship was made up of nine members only. We weren't about to become the Fellowship of the Eleven or something dumb like that.
"I know, but I'm too excited to sleep! We're really here and I just can't believe it!"
To Gimli, who had lived in middle Earth all his life this meant nothing. It was always as it should be and only our presence made things uncomfortable, for despite his compliments to me earlier he still disliked us and wished us gone. He was such a cutie!
"You don't know what it's like to live here and you should not treat it as a pleasure trip young miss." he said as he lit his stinky pipe and blew a cloud of blue smoke into the night.
"Did you …coughcoughcough… have to smoke that thing?" I asked waving the smoke out of my face.
He chuckled deviously and said " We're allowed to out here young miss and you don't have right to stop me."
"And you don't have any right to stop me! Na na na na na na!" the elf mimicked from his perch in the elm.
"Stuff it elf or I'll stuff it for you!" and Gimli waved his smallest axe threateningly at the tree.
"Oooh! I am so afraid! Save me Lady Emily please! Master Dwarf have mercy on your poor servant too foolish for his own good and wise beyond his years!"
I laughed into my sleeve as the dwarf went and began shaking the tree and saying " I'll show you who is wise and who is foolish you pointy eared pixie!"
I gasped at the boldness of the dwarf and remembered that even though they were small dwarves were quite powerful and could take out an elf if forced. A hoot of laughter came from the tree and a rain of leaves fell as Legolas climbed higher out of Gimli's reach.
"Will you two shut up! We are trying to sleep !" called Boromir grumpily from the fire.
Aragorn said " I second that, we have far to go tomorrow and need to rest in preparation so go to bed!"
A another round of giggles came from Legolas, Gimli and I before we sobered up and I rolled into my sleeping bag. Over head the stars twinkled and shone against the pitch black sky. I folded my arms under my head and sighed. Life was good for the present at least and I was with good friends on the adventure of a life time.
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Still Emily's POV
The next morning Sam woke me in the wee hours of dawn to help him cook breakfast and in the chilly dew we gathered up some wood for the fire. Legolas was still in the tree and singing quietly to himself and I hummed along under my breath as I made some pancake batter.
Yes, you heard that right, pancake batter, you didn't go on these long treks across half the world only to live on bread and beans. So we had a fresh supply of everything we needed for pancakes, but butter and syrup. See we ate them dry and rolled a few sausages into it like a kind of lumpy sandwich. It was fairly bland but we had plenty fresh water to wash it down with from the creek that flowed by us.
The rest of the Fellowship still slept but they would be awake soon, the smell of food being the universal call of the wild.
"Sam, did you now where the spatula is? I can't find it in any of the packs!" I said rummaging around in the hide backpacks that surrounded the fire.
"I used it to shovel snow last and lost it in the drifts when we left the mountains Emily, sorry."
"Great! Now how am I supposed to flip pancakes without a spatula?"
"Why Miss Emily! Surly you've flipped a cake in just the pan itself?" he looked truly shocked when I shook my head.
"I didn't think people really did that kind of thing Sam, can you?" I asked interested now.
Sam smirked and taking the famous frying pan by it's worn handle he poured a bit of grease into the bottom and a perfectly round circle of batter. It bubbled up and the edges grew crisp.
"Now watch closely it takes a special flick of the wrist and .."
The pancake flew up and landed with a flat "Plop" into the pan.
"Bravo Master Samwise! Bravo!" I clapped.
He blushed a deep red and said " Sure there's nothing to it. You try it now if you like."
I did but the first few fell into the fire, then the dirt around the fire and on the rocks in the fire. It was a mess and I finally left the rest of it to Sam. I went to get more sticks and wandered off passed the sleeping ranger and captain. They looked so peaceful in their sleep, Aragorn slept on his back an arm thrown over his eyes and he was snoring softly! I wonder if Arwen knew that he snored? Hmmm.
Boromir was on his back as well but his head was propped on his arm and his arm rested lightly on his sword. He wasn't sleeping very well the last while and as I gazed at his sleeping form I remembered that he was going to… But I wouldn't think about that now, maybe the fact that we were here would some how change things enough that it wouldn't happen like that.
"Good morning Mistress Emily." said a cheery voice. I jumped up feeling foolish at being caught gazing into the sleeping faces of the men. Unfortunately I don't blush prettily, I just look guilty or so my sister says.
"Good morning to you to Gandalf, I hope you slept well?"
"As well as can be on the ground with a hundred little bumps and rocks poking into your back." He sighed and lowered himself onto a rock by the fire.
"I'm getting too old for this kind of thing." he said as Sam handed him a pancake.
"You're not old Gandalf." Sam said as he flipped another pancake into the air. Only it didn't come back down, Sam twisted around to see that Pippin had it in his little greedy hands.
"My thanks Sam" he said as he crammed the thing into his mouth.
"That was for Gandalf, Pip, not you!" Sam said reprovingly. It didn't seem to bother Pippin though and he shrugged his shoulders by way of an apology, since his mouth was full of pancake.
I poured some water for everyone and the rest of the group slowly wandered over rubbing sleep from their eyes. Frodo, I noticed didn't eat very much, but faithful Sam made it his personal duty to see he ate at least three pancake sandwiches. It may seem like a lot, but considering how much the hobbits ate, it was a pittance.
Soon we packed up the camp and Aragon dosed the fire with a bucket of water. We were ready to go, Gandalf went in front as always and the hobbits, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir and Aragorn followed in that order. I held Barbara back and we walked about a quarter of a mile behind the group, they had originally balked at this idea but we were not going to be part of the group. It was the NINE walkers, not nine walkers and two extra girls in tow.
And so we walked and walked, and around noon for a change we walked some more. The ground was at least soft for the time being and we walked in the cool shade of the tall pines. Barbara was grumbling a little because her side hurt, but the aspirin I gave her didn't seem to help much.
We didn't stop until 2:00 in the afternoon and then we weren't going to stop for long since we had to get to the doors of Moria by night fall. Legolas pulled a little pouch from his belt and said he was going to make lunch. He winked at Aragorn and they shared a smile of two people who are enjoying a private joke.
He went to the creek at we had followed and filled a cup with the icy water. Then as we watched curiously he sprinkled some of the powder from the pouch in to water and stirred it.
"Here Frodo you go first, drink the whole thing down and you'll feel much better." The elf held the cup out to the ring bearer.
"Thank you" he said and took a huge mouthful and swallowed it. A surprised expression came over his face and for the first time in a long time he smiled.
"Why Gandalf it's like a full meal in one gulp!" he said in a astonishment.
Legolas and Aragorn exchanged the super secret smile again and we passed the cup around to each one. When it came to me I gulped it and as it slid down my throat, I thought it tasted kind of like cold tea made out of popcorn. It wasn't bad though and it did leave me feeling revved and ready to go.
However, Aragorn suggested we rest for a half hour at least and so everyone went about doing what they called rest. The elf went for in the woods to do whatever elves do and the rest of us sat around on bumpy ground.
The smokers (which meant nearly everyone) whipped out their pipes and continued giving themselves lung cancer. I wandered over to Boromir to chat because he was the only one not smoking. He was sitting against a tree with his eyes shut, I sat down and he cocked an eye to see me grin back.
"You have rather a good voice Mistress Emily, are you the bard of your homeland?" he asked drowsily.
"Heavens no!" I replied, I knew then that if I wasn't careful I would become a singing Mary Sue, the most hated of all Sues.
"I simply enjoy annoying people with my bad habit of breaking into song at inopportune moments."
He chuckled and peeking at me again said suddenly " Just how old are you anyway?"
"21"
"Really? I would have guessed you were younger then that. Surely you should be married by now?"
"Honestly what is it with people and thinking a girl should be married just because she's twenty one? I had enough trouble with that from my parents, you would think a sin not to be married at my age."
"I didn't mean to imply that you were an old maid Emily, I was surprised because the girls of Gondor are usually married before twenty."
"Well I wasn't raised in Gondor and I don't mean to marry until I find someone I love enough to spend the rest of my life with."
"That's wise, in fact that is why I have not married myself. It would seem we are two of kind Mistress Emily."
"Then lets shake to not marrying because other people think we should!"
We shook hands and I felt the rough scrape of his callused palm against my own. But I suppose your hands would be rough if you were a soldier. He smiled at me and I realized that he wasn't too bad. But I felt the moment go on a little longer than I thought wise and so I extricated myself on the pretext of finding Barbie.
However, we couldn't find her or Frodo, and I had the horrible thought that maybe she had tried to take the ring! Thankfully my fears braved to only be fears and not reality, because the elf returning from his "solitary elven wanderings" said " I found them!"
We came over to where he was pointing and saw the sweetest sight I had ever seen. Fordo and Barbie lay curled up next to each other on a mossy bed in the only spot of sunlight that was available. They were covered with the elf's gray cloak and snoozing away as if the day were endless.
"We'll just leave them I think" said Gandalf smiling in fatherly fashion at the two.
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Barbie's POV
By the time that we stopped for the afternoon, I was exhausted. I never knew how much walking could really hurt. So after "lunch" (I'm still trying to figure that one out) I tried to find a nice comfortable spot to rest up before we had to continue. Continuing. What a ghastly word.
I found a beautiful sunny little spot right in the middle of a clearing, all grown over with lush, thick moss that seemed to beckon to me. I sank down on it's soft surface, reveling in the velvety feel of it on my skin. I closed my eyes for a moment feeling sleepy. Verrrrry sleeeeepy.
When I opened my eyes, Frodo was sitting next to me, and I jumped a little.
"Oh, hi." I said awkwardly. I had actually never been with him alone, someone was always along to "watch over the Ringbearer" and now I had no idea what to say.
"It's beautiful here isn't it," said Frodo, laying back on the moss. Apparently he wasn't scared of me or anything, which made me feel more relaxed. I mean, yeah the Ring is powerful, blah, blah, but why would I want to take over the world? Doesn't leave enough time for reading or writing.
"Uhum. Perfect place for sleeping too," I commented, reclining beside him. "But I suppose we couldn't. We'll probably be leaving soon."
Frodo looked at me, and his eyes were twinkling a little.
"We won't sleep. We'll just-rest," he said, grinning, and I grinned back.
"Right. Not sleeping. Just……resting," I said drowsily, my eyes already fluttering closed.
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Still Barbie's POV
I woke to the sound of heavy breathing, and some shuffling noises.
"Shhhh! You'll wake them up!"
That was Merry's voice. More sounds of heavy breathing, and then sounds of someone tramping away. Frodo opened his eyes, and we both sighed regretfully.
"I suppose we ought to get up," I said, stretching, and yawning enormously.
"I suppose," agreed Frodo. We rejoined the others by the stream, and I felt a little guilty. Had we held up the others by falling asleep? If we had, nobody said anything, and Gandalf just shook his head like we were a pair of three year olds.
Maybe "continue" wasn't such a bad word after all.
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Elvin Blue Eyes : Snodgrass here! (And you do not! I repeat do not own MY soul WINKLE!) Thank you for such a lovely review! It brought tears to my eyes! So few people think that any one needs or deserves to go to M.E and for you to say they should was such a sweet thing to say! Bless you!