Wow! I didn't know getting things up during the summer was going to be so hard! Don't worry, we'll be posting more though! Reviewers...

BlackRose- Now I can review to both of you! Er...LOL!

JustMe- You'll just have to wait and see!

Gina- Lucky little...have fun in Georgia (?) ! I'll have lots of chappies! Send me some pictures and lets try and continue to keep in touch, okee-dokee! LOL!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Disney song in here and am not trying to infringe anybody's copyright or anything. I am just trying to entertain people here so don't sue! Of course, if you did sue, we would win, because we have Kelsey on our side and I typed up all these disclaimers. So there! Dont sue. Haha. don't sue . . . as in don't be a Mary-Sue. Meep. Yeh . . .

Songs, Songs all around! (as opposed to drinks all around)


The River Anduin . . .

Day Three


Mandy's PoV

"Why do we have to get up so early?" Kelsey complained. "I usually sleep twice this late."

"I'll row till lunch for you," I volunteered.

"Um . . . that's okay. I'm not that tired."

"Lady Amanda, you should not overexert yourse–"

"I'm fine, Leggy, see? I can walk and everything." I heaved myself up, took a step and . . . fell over.

"Right," Pippin whispered.

"You cannot stand, Lady Amanda, let alone, walk. I will carry you to the boat and tie your boat to Gimli's and mine. That way, you will just have to use the paddles to avoid small obstructions."

"Mandy," Kelsey looked at me warningly, "we have to plan 'you-know-what.'"

"Oh!" Nicole's party—I'd forgotten about that. "I'm sorry, Leggy, but Kelsey and I have things to talk about—girl stuff."

"I understand . . . perfectly, Lady Amanda, but I would like to point out that you . . . speak so . . . so loudly and clearly that secrecy is near impossible between you two."

"Don't worry—we'll whisper!"

"That's what I am afraid of, Lady Amanda."

"Oh . . ." Kelsey pushed our boat out. "That's okay, Legolas. Mandy will be quiet." She and Legolas helped me in. "We will be fine. The Iroquois are not helpless."

I was surprised that she remembered the name we'd given to Elrond . . . Wait. She hadn't even been there. How did that work out?

"Kelsey, how did you know our name?"

"Nickel . . . or was it Allie? Well, somebody told me."

"Okay. Where's my paddle?"

"Here you go." Kelsey climbed in, handed me a paddle and retrieved her own. We began to paddle with Kelsey singing: "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder! Climbing high into the sun! Here they come, zooming to meet our thunder! At 'em boys, give 'er the gun! Down we dive, spouting our flame from under! Off with one heckuva roar! We live in flame or go down in fame! Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force!" She had done it for some choir something or other in eighth grade, and I was amazed that she still remembered the words.

We paddled a bit but made sure to remain behind the Fellowship. The trees that had been present before, unnoticed by us even though they had been there for two weeks, faded away to brown wastes on our right—quite similar to my backyard when our pool was being installed. On the left there was a forest of reeds.

"Just think of the reed fights," Kelsey mumbled wistfully, balancing her paddle on her lap while unpacking our lunch—pita bread, salsa for me and some freaky brown stuff for Kelsey called humus. It looked nasty.

We ate quietly and the Fellowship seemed uneasy. They really needed to lighten up tonight. The lack of trees must have had something to do with it.

"Let's play cards, Kelsey."

"Mandy, please, use your mind—I know you have one—and think. Can we effectively play cards when our paddles are on our laps and we are using our hands to eat?"

"Yeah . . . use your teeth!"

"Gross!"

"Gross!" Merry echoed.

"Stupid Hobbits . . . precious," I mumbled as I looked behind me at a floating log. "Hi, Gollum." The log vanished. "Gosh, he's grumpy," I huffed. Stupid Smeagol.

"Mandy?" Kelsey looked at me oddly.

"What?"

"Was that you talking about a precious?" Kelsey accusing glare had been activated.

"No, that was Gollum. I said hello, but he swam away."

"Sure, Mandy, sure."

"It was!" The Fellowship twisted around to look at us.

"I thought you were going to be quiet, Lady Amanda," Boromir called out.

"Sorry, people."

"'Sokay, Mandy!" Merry yelled to me but the others silenced him. Gosh, what was wrong with these people?

"Mandy, what songs should we sing?"

"Hopeless romance songs."

"Well, 'Never Alone' by Barlow Girl isn't romantic, since it's talking about a relationship with God, but I think it would be a good one to sing."

"Sure, just remember—it has to be a song Nickel likes."

"She has it on her mP3."

"I guess she likes it, then."


Kelsey's PoV

A Few Hours Later . . .

We docked our boats by a particularly large clump of reeds. Various members of the Fellowship collapsed, others began to start a fire, prepare food—normal camp stuff.

"Hey, Aragorn?"

"Yes, Kelsey?"

"Could you make a fire for me—a little separate from the others—to prepare something?"

"Of course, Kelsey. Do you need a cooking fire or a fire for light?"

"Cooking, please." I began to unpack a variety of cake supplies and pans. Aragorn built the fire as I had requested as I poured eggs, canola oil, water and two Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mixes into a glass mixing bowl and then into two cake pans. I then placed the pans into two large, cast iron skillets, covered them with lids and set them over the fire. Next, I got out two sticks of butter, two sticks of cream cheese, two teaspoons of vanilla and 7½ cups of powdered sugar for the icing. Nicole's birthday cake was begun. Too bad she wasn't here to enjoy it.

A little over half-an-hour later, I removed the skillets from the fire, took out the pans and let them cool for about five minutes on a cooling rack. Then, I removed the cakes and set them to cool. I then combined all of the afore mention items for the icing in another glass mixing bowl with an electric beater until it was the smooth. The only problem was, every time I would incorporate more powdered sugar, it would poof and the Hobbits, of course, would cheer and say, "More! More! Do it again, Kelsey! Do it again!"

Once the icing was completed, I frosted the cake and dyed the remainder of it purple and used it to add accents to the cake. Finally, it was completed. Then the music.

"I need Nickel's mP3 and a set of speakers that hook up to it."

My bag produced the needed items, and I hooked them up. With the volume on its highest setting, I scanned down Nicole's songs until I found one. I pressed play.

If there's a prize for rotten judgement
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history, been there, done that!

Who'd'ya think you're kiddin'
He's the Earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden
Honey, we can see right through you
Girl, ya can't conceal it
We know how ya feel and
Who you're thinking of

No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no

You swoon, you sigh
why deny it, uh-oh


It's too cliche
I won't say I'm in love

I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when you start out
My head is screaming get a grip, girl
Unless you're dying to cry your heart out
Oh


You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feeling
Baby, we're not buying
Hon, we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When ya gonna own up
That ya got, got, got it bad-

Nicole sang this all of the time and it was most certainly annoying. Suddenly, a not so gorgeous singing voice filled the air.

No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no

Give up, give in
Check the grin you're in love

This scene won't play,
I won't say I'm in love

You're doin flips read our lips
You're in love

You're way off base
I won't say it
Get off my case
I won't say it

"I love this song!" The voice returned to singing.

Girl, don't be proud
It's O.K. you're in love

Oh
At least out loud,
I won't say I'm in love

"Hey, Kelsey!" Mandy called. "Meagan's here!"

"What?" I jumped up. "Meagan!"

"Kelsey! Why are you playing our song?"

"I just randomly picked it from Nickel's mP3."

"Oh . . . Why?"

"It's Nickel's birthday, and we're having a sing-off!" I announced.

"What did I just hear?" Aragorn came over, followed by the rest of the Fellowship.

"It's Nickel's birthday! She can drive now!" Mandy exclaimed.

"Drive?" Gimli asked.

"Uh . . . Never mind," Mandy subsided to mumbling.

"People!" Meagan pounced, pinning Boromir in a huge hug. "People!"

Aragorn drew his sword. "What devilry is this?" CRASH!

A huge bang echoed through the clearing. Aragorn dropped his sword. I grabbed my cake and bag. Meagan clambered on top of Boromir as Mandy jumped onto Legolas.

"Another Balrog?" Pippin inquired.


I love these long chapters we're doing now. R&R people!

Another long one, people! Ooh! And it has a cliffie! --The Editor

Cliffies! I love that song. And Ms. Piccolo has arrived. Mandy, make a Meagan doll.