I was gonna give this story a little break, but since I got reviews, I felt a little evil leaving you with that cliff hanger. So now you know- REVIEWS=UPDATES. Okay?

Enjoy, please review!

Chapter Sixteen

Jam waded over to his sister. He saw the tears welling in her eyes and hung his head. "Oh, my god!" he whispered.

"MERRY!" Pippin cried, and he began to wade towards Ello.

Ello burst into tears and Jam put his arms around her.

"You can save him, Ello." He whispered and Ello cried harder.

"I was too slow." She whispered.

"No! You know CPR. You can save him but every second it gets less likely." Jam edged.

Legolas hung his head, and Gimli was in shock. Pippin was almost at the leiveia, and there were hot tears running down his cheeks from the looks on their faces.

"I'm not any good! I'll just fail!" Ello burbled

"No! Do you want Pippin to be like this forever? Do you want Merry to stay dead? You have the power to reverse it!" Jam murmured in her ear.

"No, no! Fine. I'll try." Ello sighed and wiped her eyes, scowling at her brother as Pippin came over and found Merry unconscious. "Gel, I'll need that big cabinet thing. I'll need you to hold it steady."

"Merry," Pippin whispered, unable to believe his eyes. He desperately grasped Merry's hand and his heart stopped beating as he felt the cold, still stone like wrist that just couldn't be Merry's. "Merry, Merry?"

"Pippin, I need your help to save Merry, if that's at all possible. I must be mad! You have to help hold this steady. Okay..." Ello heaved Merry's body onto the chest, pulled herself out and leaned over Merry. She thumped twice on his chest, first forcing the water out of his lungs.

Then she took a deep breath and placed her palms over his heart. She began to form a steady beat.

Éomer watched in confusion. What was the girl doing? Some sort of funeral custom? Death rights? He watched in shocked astonishment as Ello leaned down and touched Merry's dead lips. At first it looked like kissing, then like she was blowing air into his mouth!

Ello stood back quickly when she heard a small cough. She squealed, and Merry began spluttering and coughing. Pippin's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Merry began breathing heavily.

"Merry, Merry!" He gasped. Merry groaned and his eyes fluttered open. Pippin scrambled onto the chest wobbling it perilously. He slipped off back into the water and grasped Merry's hand.

"I did it!" Ello squealed, "I did it, I did it! Jam, you were right, I did it!" she flung herself into Jams arms and he tumbled backwards.

"Hey, watch it, laser brain!" He laughed, but he wrapped his arms around her.

Ello heard another groan, and looked and saw Merry begin to talk to Pippin.

"What happened? Oh, my head!" He moaned, blinking rapidly and unconsciously gripping Pippin's hand harder.

Ello laughed, glad he was alive, and hugged Gel tightly too.

"Where're the twins?" She asked, and Jam looked at Gel, who opened his eyes wide.

"Incoming!" He laughed as Ello flew down and a blur hurtled over her head. The blur was actually two twins, seven years old, and little over a foot tall. They were exactly identical; with big blue eyes, cute little perfect features and blonde hair that fell over their eyes.

"Ello!" One of them shrieked. He turned around and dashed into Ello's arms.

"Hey, Harvey." She grinned, and Harvey looked surprised.

"We haven't been able to tell the difference between them at all. Harvey's mischief has flourished." Gel explained.

"Well, it's easy when you've looked after them for seven years. Harvey's the one who's over exuberant, and Isaac's the scared one who isn't sure if I'm me. Sure it is, Isaac, it is me. I know that you were the one who broke the radiator last January, and you still owe me for covering that up." Isaac's tiny face split into a grin and he bounded into Ello's other arm. Gel and Jam helped Merry and Pippin back to the horses.

"What was that?" Aragorn asked calmly as Éomer's eyes bulged out of his head.

"Gel's the clever one, he knows how it works. I only know how to do it." Ello said before her brothers could answer, and Gel dug her in the ribs.

"It's called CPR; it just gets the heart restarted, and gets air back into the lungs. It's basically a way of bringing someone who has almost died back." He explained.

"And, Ellora, who are these fine people?" Théoden asked.

"Oh, right sorry, these are Jam, Gel, Harvey and Isaac. They're my brothers. You knew, Gandalf." Ello looked at Gandalf accusingly.

"Of course. I found them while riding to Éomer; they were lost and confused. They followed you, Ello."

Ello looked at Gel in surprise and he rolled his eyes. "What'd you expect, dummy?"

Ello stuck her tongue out at him, and Théoden summoned another horse (which fit all the Evans' on) and the party slowly made their way back to Edoras. Ello wrapped her arms around Isaac and felt more at peace than she had ever in her life.

Frodo and Sam trekked through a beautiful wood, following Sméagol.

Suddenly Sméagol ran ahead.

"Must have the precious!" Gollum hissed. "We kills both hobbitses and takes the precious for ourselves!"

"No, no, too risky, too risky!" Sméagol hissed.

"Or we could let her do it! Yes, let her do it!" Gollum hissed back

"Yes! She could do it!"

"Sméagol! Where've you got to now?" Sam cried. "I told you, Mr. Frodo. I told you he-"

"Come, hobbitses! This way, no time, no time!" Sméagol cried, giddy with glee that soon the hobbits would be dead and the precious would be his.

Éowyn looked down from the gates of the golden hall. She looked up in delight as the Isenguard party rode through the gates. She greeted them well, and when Ello introduced her brothers, Éowyn immediately found a bed for the exhausted twins, who only came a few inches above her shins.

That night there was a party celebrate the victory at Helms Deep.

"Tonight we remember those who shed their blood so that we could live. Drink, to victory!"

"TO VICTORTY!" the echo rumbled around the room. Pippin felt very small, as did Merry, and Jam, Gel and Ello. Then Merry offered to sing, and he and Pippin scrambled onto the table and began to sing a cheery song of the Green Dragon.

"Any news of Frodo?" Aragorn asked Gandalf quietly.

"Not a word." Gandalf murmured.

"What does your heart tell you?" Aragorn pressed and Gandalf sighed.

"That Frodo is alive. And that day by day he grows closer to Mordor."

Legolas walked up to a bar where Éomer was explaining a game. "No pauses, no spits."

"And no regurgitation!" Gimli chuckled.

"So it's a drinking game?" Legolas enquired.

"Last one standing wins!" Said Gimli, as he reached over and took a mug of ale.

Legolas shrugged and reached for a pint

.

The song finished and Ello stood up. "Can we try?" She asked and the men scoffed as she and her brothers came into view.

"What harm can it do?" A joyous soldier chuckled.

Jam hopped onto the table and Gel and Ello followed.

"Don't Stop Believing, Glee style and dancing?" Jam asked in one breath.

"Sure!" Ello grinned and as Jam and Ello began their duet and Gel began street dancing and chanting underneath them at the same time.

The men were dumbfounded and sat there astonished

"I feel something," muttered Legolas and Éomer raised his eyebrows, "a slight tingling in my fingers."

Gimli gurgled. "It's the dwarves that go swimming with little hairy women!" then he collapsed.

Legolas shrugged. "Game Over,"

The hobbits and the leiveia took it in turns to sing amusing songs for the men.

"Ah," Galas chuckled after Gel and Ello's duet of the song Master of the house from Les Misrables. "That was good. Aragorn tells me that your kind also can easily make you cry with their singing." Galas pressed.

Jam opened his mouth but Ello got there first, singing softly. Soon Jam and Gel caught on, and they sang together, in the parts used for the charity single of everybody hurts;

Galas sniffed, "'At was beautiful." Ello gave a small bow and smiled wearily.

She yawned and then blushed scarlet as a couple of the drunks began to laugh.

"Don't you be mindin' them, missy. You look dead on your feet. You boys, get your sister to bed, what's wrong with you." Galas grinned as Jam and Gel looped their arms under Ello's and began to drag her away. They left the party and were halfway back to the room when Ello gasped.

"Crap!" she said loudly.

"What?" Gel asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...but...if the movies are all already out...well things turn out okay, but...we're here and things have changed already. What if everyone dies because we came?" Ello's voice was verging on hysterics.

"Hey, shush, shush. It'll be okay." Gel murmured.

"But I told Frodo that people were in trouble. What if it stops him from concentrating properly? I have to go, to Frodo and Sam. I will See where they are and open a rock path to where they are! Please, we don't need to tell anyone." Ello's voice was level but pleading as she stared at her older brothers. Jam opened his mouth but Gel silenced him before he could begin.

"She's not going to listen," he turned to Ello, "How long do you need?"

"How long do you need for what?"

The leiveia whirled around to see Aragorn standing behind them

"Um,"

"Ello's going to go see Frodo!" a small voice piped up.

Ello looked down to see Harvey standing underneath her. Harvey had scratched Isaac on the face the previous day in a play hustle, which made it easier to tell the twins apart.

"I woke up and heard you talking." He explained.

Aragorn sighed, "it's a good idea, but Gandalf would say it is too dangerous. Go. I will explain it to Gandalf. Are you sure you will be okay?"

Ello smiled. "Piece of cake."

Aragorn looked at her in concern. "Come back in eighteen hours." He walked back to the party.

"Don't leave again, Ello. I get scared when you're not there." Harvey sniffed.

She knelt down and looked him in the eye. "I've gotta go. But you'll be okay. Jam and Gel will look after you. And I need you to make sure Isaac's okay; you know how he gets scared..." Harvey nodded knowingly and she gave him a big hug.

"You sure about this?" Jam asked as Ello gathered her hair back into a ponytail

"110%"

"Good. I hope you know what you're doing."

As a four they crept outside, to the rocky outcrop at the end of the palace. Ello stared at the rock intently for a second, until a giant crevice opened in the rocky mountain.

"Good luck." Gel whispered.

Ello blew her brothers air kisses and crept into the inky blackness that closed behind her as if the rock had swallowed her whole.

Frodo was on watch. He shivered. Everything was getting to him. Worry for his friends; Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli...Merry, Pippin...and the girl. Ello. He thought of her almost as often as he thought of the ring that dominated his thoughts. He missed the strange girl who just popped into his life for a few days more than he missed the Shire.

Suddenly Frodo tensed, he could sense something, and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. But they had scouted out the cave, it went back a few metres and it was empty.

"Frodo?" the voice was less than a whisper; it was a breath on the wind. But it came from behind him. It sounded like...but he was too sure that he was dreaming to turn around. Until it came louder.

"Frodo? Is that you?"

Frodo whirled in amazement, standing in front of him, was Ello.

Ello took a slow step forward, and with a small noise of joy she tripped over her feet and into Frodo's ready arms.

"Ello? I don't believe it!" he laughed as they clutched to one another.

Ello took three deep breaths to steady herself, as they drew apart. "Are you and Sam okay?"

"I suppose so. If getting closer to Mordor is 'okay'." Frodo sighed and Ello stared at the floor miserably. "Are you alright? Are Merry and Pippin..."

Ello smiled and the sight of it melted Frodo's fears. "They're fine. We're all fine. My...somehow my brothers followed me here. I don't know if that's good or bad. And...I...I missed you two a lot."

"How did you get here?" Frodo asked breathlessly.

"I...I have these...abilities. I can do things...split rocks into paths leading exactly where I want to go. I can see things that are happening somewhere else, or have happened, or sometimes that will." Ello said in a small voice. Then she cleared her throat. "So, what've you been doing?"

Frodo scowled. "Nothing exiting."

Ello grinned slightly. "So tell me, how old are you?"

Frodo's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What?"

"You never told me about yourself. I want to know." Ello opened her eyes wide at Frodo.

He laughed. "I'm 34 years old. Just over mature for a hobbit; you leave tweens at 33. How old are you?"

Ello pursed her lips. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"I'm fifteen," Ello said.

"What?"

"I told you that you wouldn't believe me. Where I come from sixteen isn't that young."

Frodo smiled. "But still a child?"

Ello frowned. "Not really. From thirteen to nineteen you're a teenager, between child and adult."

"Like tweens, but slightly younger?"

"Uh huh."

"So, how long have you got here? What took you so long coming back?" Frodo asked.

"I have eighteen hours. Things kept coming up, event after event after event. I'm sorry." Ello looked at the floor shamefully.

Frodo beamed, "I'm glad your back, however long it's for."

Ello smiled and sighed.

"What's wrong, are you alright? Has something happened?" Frodo grasped her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm okay, nothing has happened. I just...in eighteen hours I have to leave again. And I don't want to. Leave you and Sam I mean." Ello sniffed involuntary. "Sorry, I shouldn't be such a baby, I-"

"Ello," interrupted Frodo, "I wish you could act your age. I wish you could have a chance to stop having to act so much older. I just wish...I wish you could be able to go home, to live in peace. You don't deserve this..."

"Frodo, stop. No one does. Not you, not me, not Sam, not Aragorn, not Merry, or Pippin- no one, okay?"

"But you're so young-"

"Frodo, I'll be okay." She looked him in the eye. "I'm not that young. And I can take care of myself."

Frodo just shook his head.

"Where's Sam?"

Frodo gestured to the corner. "Sméagol's hunting. He'll be back in about ten minutes."

"Okay,"

"Sing something." Frodo pleaded.

"What?"

"To pass the time. Please?"

Ello smiled and started softly singing May it Be, ironically (though she only chose it for its soothing melody) a song that Enya sang for the Fellowship of the Ring, and for the first time in possibly weeks, Frodo smiled.

"Master!" Came a shocked squeal from the cave entrance, and Sam woke up immediately.

"What's going...Ello?"

"Hi, Sam." Said Ello, smiling sheepishly.

"What, how..." Sam stuttered as they embraced quickly.

"I had to come and tell you that everything is okay. And, if it's okay, accompany you for about a day?"

"Yes!" Frodo and Sam cried in unison. Sméagol crept carefully forward.

"Hello, Sméagol. Are you being good to master?" Ello murmured. Sméagol nodded vigorously and Sam made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. Sméagol glared back and Frodo sighed.

"Stupid fat hobbit has to go!" Sméagol muttered under his breath, so low that only Ello heard. She dropped to her knees.

"What did you say?" she whispered, and Sméagol looked scared.

"Nothing, nothing!" he squawked.

"Don't you lie, you dirty little scumbag!" Sam yelled, lunging at Sméagol.

"Hey, hey!" Ello shouted. "You too have serious problems. Sam, try to look at things from his perspective."

"No one could do that!" Sam spat.

"Yes, no one understands poor Sméagol."

"If you had let me finish! Sméagol, look at it from Sam's point of view."

Sméagol shook his head and Sam grunted angrily.

Frodo sighed heavily.

"You should try living with four brothers." Ello muttered and Frodo chuckled quietly.

"Come, come, hobbitses, we are close, very close. Come now, no time, any more time!" Sméagol urged, and Sam grumbling to himself, Ello helped the hobbits pack up their small camp.