(A/N - Heylow everyone. I hope your Thanksgiving was surperbly turkyfied with a great dessert to go with it! Mine was okay. I had a whole nine days home from college, but I did sli[p and fall at work Friday night taking out the trash, and a I really really really sprained my wrist (I still think it's broken). However, I still need to move it a bit, and typing isn't too high impact. So! Here's another chapter from my lost archive! Enjoy!)
. Reviewers .
x) Erin - Yes, I do love writing the flashbacks, and a lot of people like how they tie into the story! I'm glad I had done it! Thanks for the review! Read on!
x) Elwing-Evenstar - Eh, I didn't make the music department and it was a big blow, but I've decided to stop lying to myself and admit that I'd rather do English Ed. At least that way all of my writing builds up towards something! Glad you liked the last chapter and hope you'll like this one even more! Thanks for reviewing!
x) Jack.Sparrow.1245 - Thank you! I have to be careful how much I weave, though; the story is about the focus on the hobbits in the War, not just Angie! Thanks for that and for reviewing, and I hope you like the next chapter, too! Enjoy!
x) Padme4000 - Aww, thanks! Well, here's another to read twice! I hope you like it! Thanks for the review!
x) bdrake07 - Of course Pippin never stops thinking about food, lol. It's Pippin! Thanks for reviewing that last chapter, and have fun with this next one!
x) jeny gryffindork. - Lots more Angie and Frodo to come! (especially if I ever get the chance to continue this story!) Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy the next chapter!
x) jenaalissa - Good luck with your story! I have never heard of the Outsiders, but I shall look it up now! Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy!
x) Katherine-The-Crowned - Glad you like the flashbacks! I love writing them, haha! Thanks for the review, too, and read on!
- Dis/Claimer -
. Chapter Nineteen .
.. The Council ..
Angie was officially fifteen years old, Shire reckoning.
Her day was slow to start (given it had just got done raining all night), but the enthusiasm rose steadily. She walked alone down to breakfast in the Hall where she found her friends already eating, and a special place was set just for her between Merry and Pippin. Frodo sat on the other side of the table smiling as they continued to eat breakfast together after Merry and Pippin's overly buoyant rendition of the Birthday Song. Of course, they sang the lyrics of old:
'Ha! Hey! To you I say,
Another time you've passed this day;
Eat your fill, dance, and play,
On your merry merry merry merry day!
We'll sing this jolly tune to you,
As you start this year a-new;
The sun is out, the sky is blue,
Merry merry birthday to you!'
Merry's mother told them after their loud celebratory breakfast that they were to be in the gardens that night at nine o'clock, and immediately ideas of a party went about their heads. Angie was actually excited about the idea.
As the morning grew hot, Merry and Pippin were naturally driven to go out and enjoy the nice weather despite the muddy puddles scattered every few steps. Soon, a game of chase was taken up, and Angie was creeping slowly through the foliage in search of one of her three friends so she might have her turn at running. She wanted to run to begin with, but Merry had to be the sunspot of the morning and say that the birthday girl should be the first to chase. Well, when she found him, she would show him how fast he'd better run...
It was silent. Nothing to her right, but a leg was disappearing into the trees on her left. She smiled and chased after it. Pippin, if she was not mistaken.
She flew into the bushes jumping over a fallen log and lots of twigs to catch up to her prey. Within a second or two, she was right behind him with a mischievous grin she had inhereted from countless adventures with Merry and Pippin. Pippin looked back at this moment, his eyes going wide. He tried to speed up, and Angie did so with a simple laugh.
"Run faster, Pip!" she hollered.
He responded with more speed and labored breathing. Angie kept after him, waiting for him to burst, when a hand suddenly jutted out in front of Pippin, grabbed him, and pulled him aside off the path. Angie kept running as she looked back to see Frodo as his rescuer, but she did not see the large mud slick in front of her.
She slipped, face first. The soft, disgusting ground met the front of her, and she slid a good six feet before stopping. Angie was exhausted and in shock. She slowly sat up on her knees, hearing the laughter behind her from Pippin. The front of her dress was ruined and soaked through while mud slid and dripped out of the hair that hung in her face. She felt like crying in the middle of that mud puddle; her birthday and she falls into a mud hole. Her dress was destroyed, her hair was brown instead of red...
Feeling foolish and very depressed suddenly, she hung her head lower in embarassment. Then, slowly, light came through her curtain of wet muddy hair, and Frodo's clean, apprehensive face peered inside with a little smile of guilt. She looked away, feeling very embarassed. Frodo lifted her hair a little more to see her better.
"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.
Angie shook her head, just barely. She felt Frodo still looking at her, and soon, his gaze wore her down. She heaved a tearful sigh.
"Look at me," she said miserably. "It's my birthday, and I'm... covered in mud..."
"Oh, come on," Frodo said. "You aren't going to let a little mud ruin your day, are you?" he asked.
Angie gave him a level look, seeing his expression fitting her situation entirely wrong. He was only doing it for the best, though, she supposed.
"A little?" she repeated.
Frodo couldn't help but allow his smile to grow and a laugh to come out. "It doesn't matter how much mud you've got on you," he said, "because you're still the same underneath it."
Angie smiled a little as Frodo laughed again.
"You see?" he said. "Same smile."
She looked at her muddy hands in her lap, feeling her smile want to go out of control.
"How about you get cleaned up for tonight?" Frodo asked her, still holding the section of messy hair up. "I'm sure you have another dress to wear, and maybe I can see your smile better without all the mud after a nice bath."
Angie nodded. Frodo pushed the portion of her muddy hair behind her ear, and Angie did the same on the other side to see better as she gave Frodo her hand and he pulled her up. He slipped a little but regained his balance and she stood up beside him. He looked over at her, but a wallop of mud hit his face, followed by Angie's laughter. He shook his head until most of it was gone, and then he took his free hand and wiped spots out for his eyes. Angie was shaking mud from her hand as she laughed, and he looked insulted.
"Come on, Frodo," she said. "You're the same hobbit underneath it all." She reached over with her finger, put it to his cheek, and dragged it across his face, over his mouth, until a large white semicircle was on his face. He spat the mud out of his mouth and looked back over at her as she tried to contain her laughter again.
"Look at that smile," she said jokingly. Merry and Pippin appeared as laughter spilled out of Angie now, and Frodo still looked completely shocked and confused as to why there was mud all over his face.
"What happened to you?" Pippin laughed.
"Did you have an accident?" Merry asked.
"I think he did," Angie said, glancing over at Frodo before laughing more. When he didn't reply, Angie started trudging forward out of the mud. "Come on. Let's get out of this mess."
x x x
A few minutes later, they were coming up the path to the Hall as they customarily did after a long day outside. They approached the fork that turned into the only path leading to the Hall, and Angie stepped forward. Her eyes were forward, but she heard a cart. A carriage? Something with wheels...
She looked over to her right, and right next to her coming from the other path was a large cart holding a load of what looked like colorful logs. The driver of the horses (gosh, they were big!) was a very tall man with a long beard and a blue pointy hat. Angie had never seen such a peculiar thing in all her life! But the hat and the man she could've sworn were so familiar to her.
Frodo, Merry, and Pippin had stopped with her, but the cart rolled along. Their eyes stayed on it with curiosity, and-
"Look! There they are!"
Angie couldn't believe what she saw or heard; Sam had turned around in the cart and pointed at the four of them, and it was his voice. It was Sam! But Sam was back in Hobbiton... Then, Bilbo turned around! Bilbo! Angie's face lit up with excitement and disbelief, and she raced for the cart with the boys in the follow. She made a leap for the cart and made it, Bilbo reaching out to steady her. Pippin did the same, but Frodo and Merry just walked behind, not feeling up to such a stunt at the moment. Sam and Bilbo looked at Angie perplexed, and she just now remembered that she was covered in mud.
"My dear, is that you?" Bilbo asked.
"Yes," Angie said. "Our game, yet again, got a little too fun, as you would say."
"Fitting statement for the way you look," Bilbo said with a laugh. "And what happened to you, boy?" he asked, looking passed Angie and Pippin to Frodo's muddy face on the path. Bilbo looked just as amused as he did confused.
"You can blame her for my appearance," Frodo said, nodding up to Angie. Bilbo just laughed.
"Sam! You're really here!" Pippin said from next to Angie on the cart.
"I am!" Sam said happily. "I can hardly believe it myself!"
"There's so much to show you and tell you," Angie said to him quickly.
"Oh, he'll have the time," Bilbo said.
"He will?" Merry piped up from the path.
"Yes he will," Bilbo confirmed, "because Samwise is staying until you return to Hobbition next summer."
All of the young faces sprouted smiles, including Sam's. "And there's lots to tell you, Miss Angie," he said. "Well, Happy Birthday first off, and no, your mother hasn't left your hole yet, but I'd imagine she'd realize you're gone by now."
Angie laughed, thoroughly enjoying the news.
"Don't forget about these," the tall man in the blue hat said, passing Bilbo and Sam a large covered basket. Bilbo took it, smiling knowingly at them, and then he uncovered it. Before her, Angie's eyes took in the basket filled with ripe strawberries. Pippin's mouth began to water, and he closed it, immediately reaching for some. Bilbo pulled it away, and Merry and Frodo were now genuinly interested in getting on the cart.
"Well, I'll be sure not to do that again," Bilbo said, setting the basket out of sight. The boys' eyes stayed on the direction the basket had gone in, however. "Those are for later," Bilbo said. "Big party tonight! Our Miss Ridell has fifteen years now!"
"Is that why you've come?" Angie asked, smiling.
"Could you think of any other reason?" Bilbo asked her. They both broke into laughter together, and he said, "There's no reason better, and we'll leave it at that!"
"Bilbo, who is that?" Frodo pointed to the tall man in the blue hat. Bilbo smiled and leaned forward, and the small hobbits did so with interest.
"That," he said, "is Gandalf the Grey."
"You mean... from your stories?" Merry asked. "That Gandalf?"
"The same," Biblo said, happy to see them looking at the wizard in wonder. Suddenly, the blue hat turned, and a long beard came into view. Angie, Merry, Pippin, and Frodo were in shock; he was the wizard from Bilbo's stories!
The wizard winked at them playfully before turning back around leaving questions furiously buzzing in their heads.
.. x x x ..
Things, as they customarily are after someone's return to everyday life, were cheery with reunions for Frodo. His friends were so relieved to see him up and walking, the wound no longer taking center stage as much as it had been. Frodo was much relieved himself to see that Gandalf was all right after not meeting them at Bree, but Gandalf told them that even his words were not certain in this time that they shared with the Ring. It didn't leave Frodo feeling too comfortable for things had almost always been certain to him, but again, spirits around the Elven haven were lifted dramatically with Frodo's unlikely rising.
A feast was held that evening in his honour, and Frodo attended in fresh new garments with Gandalf to lead him through the vast halls. Many races had attended for there was some order of business to be taken care of the next day, but Frodo did not know the nature of the subject, nor did he care to at the moment. He sat and enjoyed the feast with Angie opposite him at the table telling him all about the doings of their journey since he had last been awake. He was full of interest as she spoke of Arwen (who was at the head of the table with Elrond), evading the Riders to Rivendell, and Bilbo.
Frodo was ready to question her more when the feast was dismissed, and the guests were redirected to another part of the House called the Hall of Fire. A large, warm fire was built in it, and the other lights were dim; Frodo immediately felt calm. The room had an underlying lull of peaceful thoughts to it, and the the room was famous for songs and tales. Angie and Sam stood with him as the room steadily filled with the content feast attendees.
After a few minutes, Frodo caught sight of a silhouetted figure by the fireside. "Who is that?" he asked curiously.
Angie's eyes narrowed as she leaned closer, and a smile came to her. She turned around to Frodo, took his hand, and she led him and Sam over to the sleeping figure with delight.
"What are you doing?" Frodo asked, trying to pull back. "I only inquired who he was!"
"You know who he is, Frodo," Angie said. She halted him in front of the figure, let her hand slip out of his, and stepped aside with a beaming smile as he inspected the figure. In the middle of his process, though, Angie accidently knocked over the figure's drinking cup, and it clanked loudly on the floor, sending the figure in the chair shooting awake.
He sputtered and blinked and coughed, trying to regain his sense of reality, and when the firelight properly hit this dark face, Frodo's eyes widened in amazement.
"Bilbo?"
The aging hobbit looked up and studied Frodo. He looked at Angie and Sam as well, but he really concentrated on Frodo. His confusion melted into happiness, and his arms outstretched more eager than ever towards his nephew. Frodo laughed and fell into them laughing.
"Frodo, my lad," Bilbo sighed. "So you have got here at last."
Sitting up, Frodo asked him: "Why weren't you at the feast? I've missed you so much!"
"I'm sure these two have told you I have been to see you daily since your arrival," Bilbo said, nodding to Angie and Sam, "but I've been sitting and thinking! And it has been so rewarding! I've put my entire adventure to song."
"Have you?" Angie asked excitedly. "Can we here it?"
Bilbo agreed, and, with the help of Strider, they sat around him and listened with much interest as if they were young and in Bag End again. Tales of their recent journeys were exchanged; how Bilbo had made it from Hobbiton to Rivendell and how Frodo had done the same. The three young hobbits told Bilbo of all the doings in the Shire in turns and together. Talk was cheerier and lighter than Frodo's memory could recall for a long time, and it almost felt as if nothing had happened. He even forgot about the Ring during his hours in the company of his friends and uncle.
But drowsiness soon set in, and Bilbo noticed it before any one of them would acknowledge it.
"At last, I think, you have all lost your vigor," he said amusingly late after the Hall was decently empty.
"Tired, yes," Frodo said. "But vigor, no! I would very much like to stay and talk with you for many more hours, Bilbo."
"So would I," Bilbo said understandingly. "But it is difficult to keep awake here, until you get used to it. There will be plenty of time for us to talk again. You are still in the early stages of healing a wound that should have killed you, so you will not be leaving any time soon."
"He's right," Sam said. "Besides, there's a Council tomorrow, I hear, and it is only your first day awake."
Frodo glanced over at Angie who looked to agree with them also, and at this, he rose with them, and each of them bid Bilbo a good evening, and they went to their rooms for a night of well rest.
x x x
Unlike Frodo, Angie awoke late the next morning. It was nearly half passed ten in the morning, and once dressed in another provided garment from their hosts, Angie wandered through the quiet halls of the House. No one was to be found, and Angie began to wonder if she was in fact still sleeping.
Until she passed over the porch at the back of the house.
Many people of different races were gathered there, and Angie suddenly remembered them talking of a Council the previous night. Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Strider, and several other people she had met the night before were there. She leaned out curiously against a beautiful stone pillar to try to hear any of their conversation, but it was unsuccessful from the height of the balcony. Then, a thought dawned on her - where were Merry, Pippin, and Sam if they weren't with the Council?
As she walked off to find them, she looked out at the landscape again. They were probably wandering through the land at this moment without her, and a small feeling of offense passed over her. It came and went briefly, and she decided just to catch up with them.
Her path took her by the arch that lead to the meeting on the porch. As she walked by, she spotted the very two she was after. Merry and Pippin were on either side of the arch, each clinging to a pillar with their necks craning out to listen. At this, Angie walked up quickly to Merry and struck him lightly on the shoulder, and he turned around, seeing her in surprise. He grabbed her sleeve and pulled her down, shooshing her.
"Taken up eavesdropping again, have you?" she asked sarcastically.
"Old habit," Pippin whispered from across the opening. "Couldn't resist."
"Where's Sam?"
"Out there," Merry said.
"I didn't see him," Angie replied, trying to look for him amongst the part of the group she could see.
"No, there," Merry said, poitning to a collection of shrubs.
Angie bent her brow. "He's there?"
Merry nodded.
She dismissed the strangeness of the situation. Obviously, Merry and Pippin were jealous that Sam had gotten the better of the two places to listen in on the Council, so she went along with it.
"What have they been talking about?"
"What they're going to do with the Ring," Merry said. Angie was silenced at the dark subject brought up when her mood was so lifted in this place, but Merry continued. "They say the only way to get rid of it is to take it to Mount Doom in Mordor and drop it in the fires there."
She was getting a sinking feeling in her stomach; the convesation reminded her of the one she and Sam had listened to a few weeks ago to under Bag End's windows between Frodo and Gandalf. The subject kept coming up more frequently, and it was bothering her.
"Why? Can't they break it?"
"No. It has to go into the fires from which it was made, or so I've been hearing," he explained.
"Oh. I remember that..." she said uneasily.
"They've been arguing over who's going to take it there, though," Merry continued. "From what they've been saying, it's going to be tricky with avoiding the Riders and other spies. I guess there's armies coming out of Mordor for it now, too, so whoever does it gets to go around that."
"And who is taking it?" Angie asked.
"I will take it!" a voice cried out amongst the shouts on the porch suddenly.
Silence follwed, and Angie, Pippin, and Merry looked out curiously at the familiar voice. In disbelief, Angie saw Frodo standing in front of these many peoples agreeing ot take the Ring to Mordor. Her heart skipped a beat, and she briefly felt light-headed. Surprise was ruling over all of her emotions at that moment however, and she turned to Merry.
"He can't go to Mordor!" she whispered in outrage and fear. "He's still healing! If they send him out now, the riders will find him!"
"Well he's not going alone," Merry said, watching other people line up with Frodo as Sam popped out of the bushes now to rush in. "Especially not without us."
She was now beginning to understand as Merry stood up from beside her.
Frodo was taking the Ring to Mordor.
"Wait!"
"We are coming, too!" Pippin shouted as he and Merry ran out.
And she was going with them.
Angie, feeling very torn with an inevitable sense of loss overtaking her either way, ran out immediately after them without a word (her entrance was drawing enough attention!). She stood between Merry and Frodo as neatly as possible, and Frodo eyed her as Merry and Pippin made it clear that they were coming.
"What are you doing?" he whispered to her.
"I'm coming," she said, avoiding eye contact with him.
"But-"
"Ten companions," Elrond's strong voice suddenly said over them all with thought. "So be it!"
Angie felt the finality in his voice remind her strongly that for a while she was not going to be returning home so soon as she had wanted so much. Plans for her jam shop, tending to her strawberries, enjoying the green of the Shire... She would still be in the company of her friends at least, but it was different when they stood together on the brink of a war they knew not the full magnitude of. This was easily the most difficult thing to do, but also just as easily the only thing she could do.
And she most definately wasn't going back to the Shire without them. She left the Shire with them, she was going to Mordor with them.
Her longing for home was only going to get worse.
She lowered her head as he deemed them the Fellowship of the Ring, and her hopes temporarily vanished and were replaced with the task of helping Frodo on his road to Mordor.
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