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Sapphire:
The next morning we only had lembas bread. So breakfast consisted of one bite. Man, lembas did taste good though. I had gone through one piece of lembas bread in the last two days, the slightly less than consumed by Merry and Pippin. What? I needed my strength!
"If you eat much more than that you will become sick to your stomachs," Legolas warned.
"What? It tastes good!" Merry mumbled through a particularly large mouthful. Frodo and Sam were eating about as much as me, and I wanted to tell them to slow down on the lembas bread. No wonder why they got sick of it! They would be having nothing but lembas bread for weeks after this and they were already gorging themselves on it.
Pippin jumped into the boat and leaned back, full and content, "I haven't been this stuffed since Rivendell. Although these things do take the fun out of eating. What I wouldn't give for one of Bilbo's seed-cakes!"
"Or some ale from the Green Dragon!" Merry said morosely.
"Or some pipeweed!" Pippin groaned, "I ran out back in Rivendell!"
"Aragorn has some, why don't you ask him?" I said, regretting mentioning it as soon as the words left my mouth. Goodness gracious, Pippin was addicted to pipeweed and he was the equivalent of about fifteen, sixteen. However, apparently Pippin had already thought of this, "Aragorn's pipeweed is too bland, and Gimli won't share his!"
"Good for him..." I muttered under my breath as I rowed. They told me about more of their exploits. That night we landed at an island in the middle of the river. Boromir turned and was looking at something as we set up camp. A small log floating downstream...and there was Gollum. It was my first glimpse of Gollum in person. He looked so sad and wet. So desperate for the Ring...
Aragorn grumbled, "Gollum. He has tracked us since Moria."
Gollum coughed his throaty cough, "Gollum!", realizing he had been caught.
"I had hoped we would lose him on the river. But he's too clever a waterman." Aragorn muttered, staring at Gollum in distaste.
"Of course he's a clever waterman! Don't you remember Gandalf said he used to be one of the River-men on the Brandywine?"
"No...I had forgotten about him...that..." Aragorn said, and I realized I shouldn't have brought up Gandalf.
"Have some food Mister Frodo," Sam said, trying to hand a chunk of lembas bread to the hobbit.
"Alright," said Frodo overly cheerily, taking the lembas bread. Sam wandered off. I racked my memories and recalled that he was supposed to go, "No, Sam," and then Sam would say, "Don't think I haven't noticed you're not eating or sleeping" or something like that. I had cheered up Frodo TOO much! What if he didn't leave because I made him feel more secure? What if Boromir didn't even try to take the Ring?
But then I saw his eyes. He wasn't really happy, he was just trying to make Sam feel better. I saw a steely resolve glinting in his eyes. I sighed. So he was going to leave. Good.
Sam noticed when he didn't actually eat the lembas bread.
"Mister Frodo, go on, eat," he said.
"I'm all right," Frodo said.
"But you're not! I'm here to help you. I promised Gandalf that I would." Sam said. They were back on movie script again.
"You can't help me, Sam. Not this time...Get some sleep."
Sam left sadly and I followed him over to his blankets and set down mine.
"Hey Sam..." I said, sitting down and realizing suddenly that he was crying silently. I was startled. I put my hand on his shoulder but he stayed turned away from me.
"Don't you take anything that Frodo said to heart. He needs you, more than you could ever imagine," I whispered. Frodo came over after a few minutes and laid down his blankets. He laid down facing the fire where Boromir and Aragorn sat. Legolas was keeping watch from the only tree on the island, and Gimli was already asleep. The other hobbits...where were Merry and Pippin anyway? I shrugged it off and watched the dying flames. Suddenly Boromir spoke out to Aragorn, seemingly following movie script as usual, "Minas Tirith is the safer road. You know it. From there we can regroup...strike out for Mordor from a place of strength."
Aragorn turned at looked at him incredulously like, You're still going on about this? He said firmly, "There is no strength in Gondor that can avail us."
"You were quick enough to trust the Elves. Have you so little faith in your own people?" Boromir asked angrily. I wanted to snort at that, clearly Boromir had no idea that the man sitting before him had been raised by elves. I glanced behind me and caught Frodo watching them argue. I sent him an encouraging look and he smiled grimly at me.
" "Yes, there is weakness. There is frailty. But there is courage also, and honor to be found in Men. But you will not see that," Boromir said, his angry growing steadily. Aragorn just looked sad.
Aragorn turns away, but Boromir grabbed his arm and turned him back to face him. "You are afraid! All your life, you have hidden in the shadows!"
Aragorn looked irritated now, but Boromir continued, "Scared of who you are, of what you are."
Boromir released Aragorn's forearm and sighed, and Aragorn stalked off, looking very mad. Suddenly he whirled back around and cried, "I will not lead the Ring within a hundred leagues of your city!" He then laid down far away from the others on his bedroll and watched the water flow past the island.
Boromir looked very insulted and stormed off to his bedroll and placed it as far from Aragorn's as possible. The other side of the island. I huffed, "They're acting like little children!"
Frodo laughed dryly. Suddenly, water was splashed on Aragorn and Boromir simultaneously from behind rocks nearby and they yelped rather girlishly. Boromir cried, "How dare you!"and Aragorn huffed, "You terrible rascals! Get back here so I may smite you down!"
There was giggling from behind each rock and Aragorn lunged behind his rock and brought out a shrieking Pippin. Boromir glared at his and a not-ashamed Merry raced out. Pippin and Merry stepped up to me and took a bow. Aragorn and Boromir grumpily sat back down but I could tell they were less stressed than before. I grinned and high-fived the halflings. The whining men had been punished sufficiently.
"We got them good didn't we?" Merry whispered.
"Yeah! Did you see the look on Aragorn's face?!" I giggled.
"They were not expecting it in the slightest!" Pippin grinned.
"You two would make good Weasley twins," I commented and when I received confused looks I just laughed, ruffling their hair, "Go on, get some sleep."
The next day I took in the beauty of aquamarine water as we glided between walls of rock. The only sound was the flowing water and the splash of the oar in the water. I sighed, Middle Earth had hidden beauties everywhere, from the snowy tips of soaring mountains to the gently flowing rivers and sloping valleys.
Suddenly, we rounded a corner and I gasped despite myself. We were finally here!
Aragorn inhaled sharply and tapped Frodo on the shoulder, "Frodo, the Argonath! Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old. My kin..."
I whistled, impressed. These were the biggest statues I had ever seen. How on earth had these Middle ages people build TWO statues bigger than the Statue of Liberty out of solid rock?!
There was whispered elvish in the wind, and I realized that the statues were probably made with magic. Still...impressive...I rowed with one hand and took a photo while everyone was still ensnared.
As we rowed closer, I had a stupid idea.
"Hey Pippin, could I borrow your dagger?" I asked.
"Uh...sure. Why?" he asked, unsheathing the weapon and gingerly handing it to me.
"Oh, I just want to do something real quick here," I said. When we got near to the feet of the Argonath, I turned and came to a stop beside the one on the right's big toe. I held on with my left hand and used my right to carve:
SAPPHIRE WAS HERE
I grinned evilly, and let the hobbits see.
"Sapphire...was...here..." Pippin read aloud, and Merry asked, "Why is it in all big letters?"
"Because it's easier to carve stuff in all uppercase," I explained, and giggled, "I just graffitied a national monument...I am so evil!"
"You what?" Pippin asked confusedly.
"Nevermind, lets catch back up with the others," I said, realizing I only had a few hours left with the hobbits and Boromir.
We stopped before the Falls of Rauros and Aragorn said, "We will rest here and replenish our strength before we go on. "Well, I'm not tired yet, just hot. I think I will go swimming," I said. In reality, I wanted to stand at the top of the Falls of Rauros. I would swim to the giant rock jutting up and splitting the falls in two, and climb to the edge on it. It would be super cool! I could get a picture too! Or a video!
"You can swim?" Aragorn asked, very surprised followed by a "WHAT?" from Boromir and Legolas raising his eyebrows. I remembered that it was fact here that women couldn't swim. In fact, most everyone couldn't swim. The water was considered a dangerous place.
"I do not doubt that you have the strength to swim, however, it is a very bad idea to swim here. The Falls of Rauros are just past that peak. The most majestic falls in all of Middle Earth," Legolas whispered, "I wish I could see them,"
"Ha, the Fall of Rauros look puny compared to Niagara Falls!" I laughed, "Height, they're about the same, but width...Niagara wins three times over!"
"Niagara Falls?" Gimli asked.
"Yeah, where I come from," I said.
"How large are they?" Aragorn wondered,"
"Well, like I said, about the same height as the Falls of Rauros, but way wider. Well, one of them is actually only 50 feet across, but..."
"One of them?" Merry asked.
"Well, yeah, they all come from the same river. Niagara falls is the collective name for three waterfalls: Bridal Veil Falls, American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe falls is the biggest, with over three thousand tons of water going over...every second...and hitting with 280 tons of force! You know what? As someone once said, 'Numbers and words cannot convey the majesty of Niagara falls'
"How do they know how forcefully the water hits the bottom of the falls?" Legolas asked.
"Where I come from, we have a tool that allows us to do that."
"And to measure the amount of the water as well?" Legolas asked.
"Well, yeah..." I muttered, hoping he would quit asking about modern technology.
"I see..." Legolas said.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go change, so,"
"We will leave you be so you may bathe," Legolas said, the others turning to leave with him. I realized they thought I was going to skinny dip. "Uh, you can stay if you want, where I come from we have something called a bathing suit that you wear when you want to swim with other people."
"So it is typical for people in your culture to swim? Even women?" Aragorn questioned, eyeing me doubtfully. Typical. Women can't do things like men, bla, bla, bla.
"Yeah, we even build pools of water and call them swimming pools. People hang out there during the summer."
"Why do you call it a bathing suit if you just wear it to go swimming?" Merry asked.
" I can't answer that one. I have no clue," I said, going behind a rock outcropping to change into the full piece bathing suit that Julia had brought camping. We were roughly the same size, and she hadn't worn it yet, so I considered it mine for now! I stepped out from behind the rock outcropping and everyone who looked up from whatever they were doing immediately turned bright red to the tips of their ears and looked away quickly. I realized with a snort that they were not used to seeing people wearing nothing but a bathing suit.
"I would appreciate it if you would cover yourself more adequately Lady Sapphire!" Boromir said through gritted teeth.
"I am covered!" I said, "Geezum, you act like you've never seen a woman before!"
"I haven't!" Gimli grunted, "But I like it!"
I face palmed, "Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! Did he just say that? Please tell me he did not just say that!"
"He did," Legolas confirmed.
"Well, I'm not swimming in my clothes, so you're just going to have to deal. I'll be underwater most of the time anyway, I swim underwater. I pulled out my goggles and slipped them on my face.
"What are those?" Boromir asked suspiciously and I grinned, "We call them goggles!"
"You can see through them?" Boromir asked.
"Yep. They press to your face and don't let in any water so you can open your eyes underwater."
"Really?" Pippin cried. "Could I try them?!"
"No you nitwit, you don't know how to swim!"
"Oh...right..." Pippin said sadly.
I waded into the water and found the current wasn't too strong. The water felt great on my hot, sweaty, and grimy skin. "Hey Aragorn, I saw you could swim! Come on! It feels really good!"
Aragorn declined despite my begging. I decided I would have to make him come in. I said, "Well, it's your funeral," and before he could respond, I splashed into the water and started swimming further out. I dove underwater as Legolas called out, "Lady Sapphire, it would most likely be in your best interest to... Thanks to my large lungs, I was able to stay underwater for quite some time. I waited and counted in my head.
10...13...15...18...23...34...37...39...45...55...
I saw Aragorn swimming clumsily through the water to come rescue me and I popped up, hardly breathless, and tackled him.
We went down with a tremendous splash and we sank to the bottom, the current tugging at our hair and his thoroughly soaked clothes.
He pushed me off of him and came up sputtering, gagging on water. He started swimming back to shore.
I giggled, and swam after him, passing him quickly. I called back to him, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you swallow some water? My bad! I guess you men just aren't used to women being able to swim. Oopsie!"
He glared at me, stepping back onto land dripping everywhere and looking completely humiliated. He seemed to realize this was my way of getting revenge for his sexist comment, and sighed, "Now I am wet. If orcs attack, do you expect me to be able to defend you in wet garments?"
He began wringing out his soaking clothes and I said, "Can't you just change?"
"No. I own but one set of garments."
"Geez man, no wonder why you smell!" I said, shaking my head. "I packed five pairs."
"How can you fit five pairs of clothing in that tiny bag of yours?" Boromir asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Ah..." I muttered, realizing I had trapped myself.
"Well...it's magic."
"Magic," Boromir repeated.
"Yes, it is actually empty all the time. You put stuff in it, it disappears, you think about it, and it reappears. Like I said, it appeared in the Mirror."
"I don't believe you. Show me," Boromir grunted.
"Boromir. That was unkind," Aragorn scolded, "Who can we trust if not each other?"
That brought about dark thoughts. We couldn't trust Boromir. Well, actually I could...I could trust him to keep the story on track by trying to take the one Ring from Frodo. I could see how he looked at the hobbit nowadays. He was planning it. Right now actually.
"That would be quite handy," Gimli noted.
"You're so lucky! I want a magical pack!" Merry complained.
"Backpack, actually," I corrected.
"Backpack," Merry corrected himself.
"I don't get why it has an S made out of diamonds. Wouldn't it make more sense to be made out of sapphires like your sword pommel?" Pippin asked.
"No silly. One, the sapphires would not stand out against the blue fabric, and two, these are not diamonds. They're little pieces of stuff made of the same stuff as this, "I said, pointing at my goggle.
"Oh...So we can't sell them and be rich?"
"No Pippin," I laughed.
I swam a bit more after showing Boromir how my magical backpack worked and then dried off by the fire. I changed back into my clothes and came back just as the bad scene began. Boromir was already gone, getting wood, and Frodo would be soon after for an entirely different reason.
"We cross the lake at nightfall. Hide the boats and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the north," Aragorn declared, still damp, but thankfully not soaked. I couldn't imagine him having to fight with dripping wet clothes. That would be very bad. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid idea, and kind of mean. Oh well, what's done was done.
The others started to make camp and Gimli sat smoking. At Aragorn's words, he cried "Oh, yes?! It's just a simple matter of finding our way through Emyn Muil? An impassable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks! And after that, it gets even better!"
Pippin looked up, alarmed, and Gimli continued, "Festering, stinking marshlands, far as the eye can see!"
""That is our road. I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf," Aragorn said calmly.
Gimli looked very offended, "Recover my...Phrrr..."
Legolas, who had not spoken for almost a day, said to Aragorn, "We should leave now."
"No. Orcs patrol the eastern shore. We must wait for cover of darkness," Aragorn said, his resolve firm.
I overheard Gimli saying to the Pippin, "No dwarf need recover strength! Pay no heed to that, young Hobbit." Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Frodo packing extra lembas into his bag quietly. My heart ached for the poor hobbit that thought he had to go alone to Mordor.
Legolas looked nervously into the trees. He turned back to Aragorn.
"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near… I can feel it." Legolas whispered.
Merry returned from collecting firewood and said, "Where's Frodo?"
Man, that hobbit was sneaky. Even I hadn't seen him slip away, and I was watching for it. I had gotten distracted by Aragorn and Legolas. Mostly Legolas though. XD
Sam woke from a half-sleep with a start, "Frodo?"
Aragorn's eyes locked onto Boromir's shield and horror filled his eyes.
"We must find him!" Sam yelled, seeing the Gondorian shield as well. Why had the dude left his shield behind?! He always wore it on his back, and when he most needed it, he left it behind. I sighed, it's not like he knew, and besides, his death was a key element in the story.
What was I thinking?! He was a human being, not a fictional character! I couldn't just say he had to die for the sake of a story.
Well...I suppose...he had to die...for the sake of the people of Middle Earth...yeah... I supposed that would be okay for him. He would like to die a noble death right? I sighed and followed after the group, which quickly ended up splitting up to look for the missing Ringbearer and the Gondorian. I have not a clue why, but I followed Aragorn. We came upon Frodo and Aragorn called, "Frodo?"
Frodo yelped, "Huh?" turning around and looking frightened that we had discovered him so quickly, then recovering and saying morosely, "It has taken Boromir!"
Aragorn did not look surprised, but said sternly, "Where is the Ring?"
Frodo looked terrified and scrambled back, "Stay away!"
"Frodo!" Aragorn cried and Frodo stopped.
"I swore to protect you!" Aragorn said, exasperated.
Frodo considered this, and asked with steely determination, "Can you protect me from yourself?"
Aragorn looked saddened by this.
"Will you destroy it for me?" he asked Aragorn. Or at least I thought he was asking Aragorn, until he held out the ring to me.