Annamariah: A newcomer! Oh bliss! Oh joy! Oh wonderfulness! Thank you! And please keep reading and reviewing and you'll find out if your guesses are fulfilled or not!

Elvin BlueEyes : Thanks for your review, ( Snodgrass here bye the bye) Of course it was a good chapter there always good chapters!

Ellinde: What a compliment! I am quite flattered! "blushes" Of course Winkle does help sometimes, but I am the master mind behind all the really funny parts.

Winkle: "Now wait just a second there Bud! I do tons of the work while your e-baying and cursing the world with the sight of your ugly suits!"

Snodgrass: "They're not ugly! They're works of art, and you're just jealous because I'm a better dresser than you are."

Winkle: "You want to bet on it?"

Snodgrass: " Oh it's on now!"

Winkle: " We'll be right back folks. We're going out to the street to settle a little disagreement, so enjoy the chapter while you wait."

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Chapter 10

Getting to Know You Messin' about in Boats

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Emily's POV

Caras Galadhon, the heart of elvendom on earth. A land cloaked in a continual mist that soften every kind of light. Here the morning was a pale and gentle yellow, the colors accented by the golden color of the mellon leaves. A warm dew rests upon everything and glistens in the early light of dawn.

Now is the time when all is reborn and clean, when life is fresh and untainted by the troubles that weighed us down the day before. From my talan I see the boats and the Fellowship just waking and getting to the docks, they are leaving today. The hobbits are stumbling around in sleepily daze, as Aragorn is helping the elves as they pack the boats, and as yet the Lord and lady have not made their appearance.

I lean in my window carefully because elven windows don't have glass and it's a long way to the forest floor. I have never felt so unhappy, I was watching the fellowship getting ready to leave and I was too sick to go with them. Even my sister is going, we had talked about it and decided that just because I couldn't go was no reason that she shouldn't carry on. I would meet up with them later, the Lord Celeborn assuring me that their riders were the fastest in the world.

Ugh!

The thought of riding any where is not very settling to my tummy. I think I have got passed the barfing stage and have entered the "I am too tired to move or breath" stage.

I can see that Legolas ,Gimli, Barbie and Boromir have joined the group, and their arrival is quickly followed by that of the Lord and Lady's company bearing the array of gifts. I won't bore you by mentioning what everyone got because you all know what is was anyway. But I will say that they gave Barbie a tiny set of chain mail just her size and a bow to go along with it.

She was so pleased that she hugged the Lord and Lady right then and then. I think they were a little surprised, because no one ever just hugs the two most powerful elves in middle earth like they were parents or something. I could tell they didn't mind and Galadriel even patted Barb's head in that sweet motherly way she has.

I turned away because it was hard enough to know they were leaving without watching them do so. I was going to sulk in my bed and cry myself to sleep if I could.

However, Galdor robbed me of my pity party by suddenly swooping into the room and carry me down to say Good-bye. He said that I was no longer infectious and that I could at least be there when they left. I wasn't exactly in my prettiest state although Barbie later told me I "looked ravishing in that just woke up kind of way" whatever that means!

Anyway she showed me her bow and arrows and the belt Haldir had given her for being such a cutie (Okay yes I added that, but that's the only reason I could think of.) The hobbits showed off their daggers and the veil of light and everything else. And get this I watched and saw Galadriel give Gimli the three strands of hair!

She had a maid pull it out and bind it up in a little gold locket type of thing and he wears it under his ugly chain mail and armor. He really looks quite horrible without his helmet by the way.

Boromir came up to me and asked if I was feeling any better and I said yes.

And he said "That's good."

And I said "I suppose so and I'll miss you."

And he said "He'd miss me to and to take good care of myself."

And I said" I would" and we were totally awkward with each other !

It was the most stilted conversation in the history of man. I have never felt so tongue tied in my life! I wanted to say a million things to him.

I wanted to tell him that he should stay away from Frodo and not lose hope and that he was a great and noble man. I wanted to tell him not to die and I wanted to tell him I loved him.

Now don't go "Here we go again another Mary sue falling in love with the only member of the Fellowship to die!"

I didn't love him in the sense of romantic love, rather in the weeks we had spent together I had grown to know him as a person and friend . And like any other friend I loved him and didn't want anything to happen to him.

I wanted to tell him all these things, and throw my arms around him and make him stay so that he wouldn't die or be tempted by the ring anymore. but I didn't, instead I said the usual things. I showed him the ring and thanked him saying that I would take good care of it and to let me know when he wanted it back.

"I want you to keep it Emily, to remember me by till we meet again." he touched my hair, kissed my hand, and was gone.

They got into their boats and were pushed away by the elves on the shore. Barbie was with (and I'll bet this'll be a surprise.) Legolas and Gimli and she called back a causal good bye. Galadriel began her singing and it made the whole scene so surreal like it wasn't really happening at all. It also had the combined effect of making me fall asleep so I didn't watch them until they were out of sight.

I can't tell you how much I regret that.

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Barbie's POV

"Adios amigos!" That was my epic goodbye as we pushed out in our boats. I hated prolonged farewells. They usually ended up involving handkerchiefs, and I didn't happen to have one on hand at the moment. Figures. I have my bow, armor, neat belt, and I don't even have a handkerchief.

By the way, did anyone ever tell you that wearing chain mail can be hot? Especially when you're paddling about in a boat, with no nice trees for shade. But I wasn't about to complain. Heck, at least I was going with them. Emily had to stay behind, and suffer the tender mercies of our dear Galdor and his wife. Besides, Gimli had armor and a huge beard to deal with, and he never said anything.

Our team was the fastest. I say this without boasting, because we were. Aragorn seemed fine with going at a sane, steady pace, so he was always somewhere around the back. Boromir however, could not seem to get the hang of it, and was always drifting off to the sides, where the current was slowest. And it was just too fun to go sailing by, while he was messing about with his oar.

"Hi Boromir!" I called out one time, waving cheerfully " Isn't this fun!" ( Insert steely Gondorian glare)

"You--haha--having trouble with your--heehee--boat there?" Gimli said, laughing in a very smug fashion.

"You shouldn't be so nasty Gimli. I'm sure those hobbits are quite heavy. Especially after they absconded with some of our supplies," said Legolas, shooting annoyed glances their way. They just laughed, which didn't last very long after Boromir "nudged" them with his oar. Ha!

The really cool part came at late afternoon, when we hit some white water. This time it would probably have been wiser to stay around the edges like Boromir and now Aragorn were doing, but we surged right into the thick of it, paddling like we were possessed.

There was one dangerous time when Gimli was sure he'd lost his axe overboard, and he threatened to strangle Legolas if it was, but the elf was "saved" when we found it in the bottom of the boat. What was funny then was that despite the fact that they were in much safer water than us, Merry and Pippin screamed the whole time we were in the rapids.

Maybe it was just a little too fast for them.

After awhile though, racing got boring, so Frodo proposed that we sing something. The little devil on my left shoulder whispered "Hey, Barb, why don't you teach them etc, etc."

The angel on my right muttered frantically " Don't! Are you trying to drive us all insane?" I decided that since I had listened to my angel enough lately, I would teach them "that" song.

"Hey, I have good one! It even involves drinking! But not that kind," I said, trying to look innocent. No one said "don't" (except for my hysterical angel) so I began.

"One thousand bottles of POP on the wall, one thousand bottles of POP! You take one down, pass it around, one thousand bottles of POP on the wall! Nine hundred nine and ninety nine bottles of POP on the wall, nine hundred and ninety nine bottles of POP, you take one down, pass it around, nine hundred and ninety nine bottles of POP on the wall!" I stopped, and looked around.

"All you do is sing it until you reach one!" I said. Gimli and the hobbits thought that this was a very good song, although while hobbits had nine thousand nine hundred and ninety eight bottles of ale on the wall, the dwarf had nine hundred and ninety eight bottles of beer on the wall.

So we sang that song, and had lots of fun that way. Though I do think around seven thousand three hundred and sixty five bottles of pop/ale/beer on the wall the others started to hate me.

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Emily's POV

I thought that now I was better then I would be able to do something interesting. You know like take a peek in Galadriel mirror. But what was I doing a few days after the Fellowship had left? You guessed it, the thing that Elven females seem to do most in a time of crisis…..embroider! I was sitting a beautiful craved embroidery hoop in my hands using a golden needle and embroidering in the Lady's garden.

"Be careful that you do not snag your needle on that loop of thread Miluiel." Galadriel directed. She always used my elven name, that is pronounced "Mil-wel-el", I found it a little annoying because I never remembered it. I mean, I have been called Emily all my life and to suddenly be called "Miluiel" is not easy to keep in mind.

Especially when we were watching the Galadhrim practicing with Lord Celeborn, I was itching( not literally) to be down there with them having my moment of glory like my sister. But instead I was embroidering a belt.

Granted it was a very gorgeous belt, it was a heavy white brocade and I was adding real elvish designs in a weird kind of clearish silver thread. It looked silver on the fabric, but in the air it was see through. Anyway it was very pretty and every here and there I added a white bead.

"Miluiel, you may go if you wish. I understand if you would prefer to watch the guard." she finally said.

"Thank you My lady." I set down the hoop and ran off arriving just in time to see Lord Celeborn challenge Haldir to a one on one dual. This was just too good to miss!

They stood facing one another their long elvish blades held loosely in their hands. Lord Celeborn was left handed and so that was a little different but I recently read that someday the world would be ruled by left handed people. I mean elves too.

They changed stance and slowly delicately circled each other in the intricate movements of a fencer. Than Haldir struck out and they parried back and forth, up, down, to the left and to the right. It was a gentle fight at first was polite jabs and a few sneaky tricks but pretty much boring after the initial exchange was over.

Pausing Haldir said "Shall we speed things up a little?"

"As you wish." was the cool answer.

WOW! I mean like totally WOW! I never saw them move clearly after that. A whirl of metal and snap of clothe was all that I could truly hear or see. Clash after clash and even a few sparks flew: and they must have done something amazing because all the soldiers exclaimed over a special kind of flip that Celeborn did with his sword. I could never do that, but then I haven't been practicing for thousands of years.

And they kept it up for another twenty minutes! For Pete's sake they weren't even breathing hard! I was seeing for the first time the marvel of the elven physiognomy, their bodies built to last the ages and never die.

It just wouldn't do if they got winded in a major "Battle-of-the-Prides" in Caras Galadhon, the two most beautiful of the elven guys in Middle Earth were in a fight to the (pretend) death. I loved it! Galadriel showed up and began cheering her husband on, the Galadhrim were teasing Haldir about the fact that no one was here to route for the Marchwarden so…..You guessed it, I did!

"Go Marchwarden! You rock dude! Go go go go go go go go! Yahoo! Go Marchwarden! Go Haldir!" I yelled over the din of clashing swords.

I got a couple of odd looks, but by this time I didn't care, I was in the thick of it. And it worked…I think because in a minute they were locked in a tight press with their blades jammed together so their faces were inches apart. To get out of this you had to be stronger then your opponent so you could shove them away and attack again.

I turned to the Lady and lowered my voice just a little so the Galadhrim could still hear me.

"I am sure that your fair husband will win my Lady, after all no one else could defeat the mighty Marchwarden."

This comment had the twofold affect of making Haldir attack harder and Celeborn to resist more. They were a perfect match like the armies during the Schmalcaldic War( and it was a real war folks, I'm a history major) they were so perfectly matched that no one ever won. And finally that's what happened they both conceded the point, but neither one let up the pressure of his sword. So slowly they backed up and bowed.

"Another good match Warden ." said the Lord offering his hand.

"Indeed, although next time I will win." returned Haldir smiling.

And then the party broke up and we all went back to our separate chores. Lord Celeborn inspected my work and praised the technique in the beading. I think he was just being nice, because although I had done this kind of work before it didn't come close to the exacting stitches of his wife.

"You cannot expect to be perfect the first attempt you make my dear." returned the Lord as he handed me the belt back. (Yeah he could read minds too, not speak into them just read them. What am I saying? "Just read them!" like that happens everyday.)

Anyway,( and boy do I use this word a lot!) I went back to work all the while wondering if the Fellowship would meet up with the orcs in Movie time line or in Book time line. I worry too much.

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Barbie' POV.

Elves get revenge in the nastiest ways. And they still manage to look innocent while they're doing it. I only knew he was doing it on purpose because of the way his right eye crinkled at the corner. After we had finally sung it down to one bottle of pop/ale/beer on the wall, Legolas said he wanted to sing something. Feeling rather guilty, and paying attention to my faithful angel, I said that would be great.

Did you know that the Lay of Nimrodel, or song, ballad, whatever has sixty three very long verses, that you sing very slowly to get the right effect? At least, that's what he said.

It was very beautiful, and so was his voice, but around the sixteenth verse it was starting to sound like I'd put one of Enya's songs in the CD player, and pressed "Eternal Repeat." I was beginning to hope that he would, sooner or later, reach the part that he was too moved to go on or whatever rot J.R.R.T. said in the books, but he never did.

It seemed to go one forever--and ever---and ever--and--you get the picture. In any case, the whole thing seemed rather suspicious when the song ended very suddenly, around the time we passed around dinner ( lembas, of course). I suppose it's too much to expect him to try and sing with a mouthful of saw-dust. At least, that is what it tasted like to me, Eloise--I mean, Barbie. How those things happen….In any case it wasn't that bad, just a little blah. This is coming from a girl who puts Italian dressing on everything except oatmeal.

We kept sailing for some time after sunset ( something about being not wasting valuable time) and wow was I starting to get tired. So I sang a little song to myself, like that badger, Frances or whatever her name is.

"Just keep sailing, just keep sailing, what do we do, we sail, sail. Oh ho, ho, ho I love to sail. When you waaant to sail you sing and---" and then I ran out of words because we all know that Marlin shuts Dory up at that point of the movie.

I think it was kind of a mistake to recall something about home. I suddenly missed Emily with a vengeance. With her around it was always about sister power, and two are better than one. Now---I was that inferior one, a single girl stuck in the midst of eight guys. But I didn't cry. I didn't have a handkerchief, and I was not going to be wimpy.

When we finally came ashore for the night, I was exhausted. And I wasn't exactly expecting my legs to crumple under me, and go tumbling in the shallows either.

"I guess I'm just not used to boats," I said, and shrugged. Boromir looked amused at this, so I gave him my much practiced Elrond/Haldir glare. He just glared back, and we were in a fair way to start a staring match, when I decided I was just too tired to care about it, and looked away. At which he offered me his hand, and helped me up. That stupid angel was very busy heaping those proverbial coals of fire on my head after that.

When we all crashed for the night, I didn't want to sleep near the guys (I mean, I'm discreet. Besides, who the heck would want to sleep near a bunch of sweaty guys? Of course, Legolas didn't sweat, but he made like a bird and slept in a tree anyway.)

And I picked a nice private spot right by the river under a weeping willow. I think they were a little worried about that ( my sleeping away from them, not sleeping under a weeping willow, stuff about safety in numbers) but hey, that was just too bad for them.

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Gollum/Smeagol's POV

Smeagol: Quietly...quietly .They hears us.

Gollum: Not if we are quiet my love.

Smeagol: That shadys willow looks nice and darky deep shadows.

Gollum: We will see if the nasty hobbit is alone.

Smeagol: "He never is precious….oh quietly! Ah! ……what is it?

Gollum: "It's a girl…..the little girl that helps guard the precious."

Smeagol: " It's a long time since we seen a ….girl isn't it. She's very….soft "

Gollum: "Is Smeagol becoming a softie hobbit?"

Smeagol: " No…not…Smeagol hates the nasty fat hobbits and men……..the elf…we don't like to think of."

Gollum: " Then go and get the precious back!"

Smeagol: "No the man..the ranger is awake, he will see us and kill us!"

Gollum: " Then let us go. We will have to try when the hobbits are alone. What are you doing?"

Smeagol: "The girl's cheek is very soft….and smooth…like the precious."

Gollum: "The precious is more beautiful then any nasty girl…come away my love, into the water."

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