Chapter 5

Hilo my lovelies! Sorry for the non-meatiness of the chapter, so think of it as a salad before the main course:) I am now putting thoughts in italic. Cheers!

Olivia POV

I woke up next morning to the sound of snoring. That's weird, Lily doesn't usually snore. While getting out of bed, I noticed the hobbits sleeping in my younger sisters' beds. Yes! It wasn't a dream! On most mornings I would try to go back to sleep, but today I got out of bed and quietly walked to the kitchen. Breakfast might be a problem, we didn't have enough cereal for so many people. So I did the only thing I could do, open all the cabinets at same time and stare at them. No ideas. I backtracked to Lily and I's room to ask her.

"Lily. Lily. Lily! ...Ugg." She just woudn't wake up. "Oh! Pancakes!" I jumped up and went back to the kitchen, looking for the giant bag of pancake mix we barely ever used. "Here we go." I heaved the bag out of the cabinet and set it on the counter with a thump. Hmm, how many? I looked on the bag and inspected the label. Two-Hundred! Wow, I don't think I need that much. Again I backtracked to Lily and I's room and jumped on her.

"Mmmvvvvwwaaahhuuhhh." She rolled over and fell silent as I made a face and walked back to the kitchen. I finally decided on 80 and poured almost half the bag into a really big mixing bowl.

Aragorn POV

We trooped into the kitchen, famished and drenched from the morning's dew. The serving maids tittered and laughed, I felt strangely embarrassed. My companions laughed with them and fell easily into conversation. I did not. Until Laeriel emerged from the bustle of cooks and knelt down to get a better look at us.

"My! By the stars of Elbereth, you're soaked!" She exclaimed in scornful, but motherly elvish. She glared at my two play-fellows.

"For shame! Cylleruion and Eruvadhor, where have you dragged poor Estel this time!"

"Only to the eastern ridge," Cylleruion explained humbly. He had brilliant golden locks that gleamed only slightly less brightly for the damp. He was also a head taller than I was. He continued, "Estel wished to see the sunrise, because of the tale Glorfindel told this yester-eve."

"Well, you should not have done so without first asking the lord Elrond, or me."

At this she scooped me up in her arms and held me tight. Eruvadhor giggled silently. I glared at him.

"The poor dear could catch cold!" At this she felt my forehead anxiously.

"I'm fine, nana," I mumbled, feeling smothered.

"You look tired."

"I'm not!"

"But of course he is tired," Said one of the maids in passing, "He is still asleep!"

"Asleep!?" cried another, as she then stepped closer and peered into my face, "Ha! Indeed he is! He is dreaming!"

"Dreaming?" wondered Cylleruion.

"Dreaming!" Eruvadhor cried with glee.

"Dreaming!" sang another maid.

"Dreaming! Dreaming! Dreaming!" They chanted.

"Dreaming...Dreaming―" I woke with a start. At first I was at a loss as to where I was. Then a wondrous smell wafted into my senses. Boromir stirred on the couch across the room from me.

I watched as he sat up slowly, yawned and stretched. He glanced about, (much as I had done,) and seemed to remember where he was. Suddenly he lifted his nose in the air, as a hound does, and inhaled deeply.

"Ahh... What glory is that?"

I stood. "What say we find out?"

Olivia POV

I heard the soft pitter-patter of hobbit feet as I poured the batter onto the griddle.

"Morning." I said.

"Good morning! Are those fry cakes?" Replied Pippin.

"Why yes they are. Here, make yourself useful." I handed him a spatula and motioned towards the griddle. Merry dragged over one of the chairs from the table and the two of them scrambled up into it.
Merry looked askance at the mixing bowl.

"Oh! That can't be all that you're cooking!"

"This is almost twice as much as we need-"

"We'll starve to death," Pippin moaned.

"No you won't! This is almost twice as much as we need for everyone to have five. You'll be- HEY!" I had turned away from the bowl so I could speak to Pippin. In the split second that my back was turned, Merry had crept onto the counter behind me and dumped the rest of the pancake mix into the bowl. "What the- Ugg! Seriously! Now I'll have to measure out more water." I enlisted Merry and Pippin to help keep track of cups of water I added. Sam piped up,

"Fry cakes?"

"Hello Sam. Yep, they're almost done. Not."

"Well, can I help?"

"Yeah sure." He immediately began suggesting this or that spice, and dashing about from cupboard to cupboard, appearing to be in his element. Fifteen minutes later a tower of pancakes loomed above us. As we stared up in awe at what we had accomplished, Aragorn and Boromir stumbled in from the living room, still bleary from staying up last night.

"What... Is... That?" Asked Bormir. Aragorn simply stared.

"Pancakes. And I suggest you dig in before these hobbits eat them all." Gandalf was smiling broadly.