Chapter 5.

littlemsstrawberry Why do you want Sophie to be with Faramir? XD

No one's ever asked for a Faramir romance! Ahhh the possibilities…

Really, the whole entire reason I wrote this story is centered on a single scene. Just one extremely major thing. But now that I'm getting into the story more, the idea of it is heartbreaking to me and I don't know if I can do it anymore!

What am I rambling on about, you guys don't know what I'm saying!

Anyways, I'll guess we'll just have to wait and seeeee.

I don't own Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a genius, and it all belongs to him, or whoever he left the rights to. His son, perhaps? I'm definately not making any money off of this, and I certainly don't intend to.

(Sophie)

"Well, Gandalf. Fancy seeing you after FIVE MONTHS!" I stood outside of the door to Meduseld, tapping my foot like an impatient mother as the old man rode up in his little wagon.

He got out of the wagon and approached me, a bright smile on his face. "Oh, hello, Sophie! I almost did not recognized you!"

With a roll of my eyes and a deep sigh, I turned away from Gandalf and began towards the door of Meduseld. "Don't remind me."

Since falling into this world, I've changed quite a bit, physically. Unfortunately, I was still short. Asides from that, my hair was a lot longer, down to the middle of my back, and thanks to the lack of hair-straighteners, it had this nice curl to it. That was my favorite part; my curly hair. Seriously, if I would have known how pretty it could be naturally back in my world, I would've grown it out a long time ago. I'd lost most of my excess weight, but I still had one of those cool bodies like the chicks in those renaissance paintings. The only difference is... I'm not nude.

I had to adapt to my physical maintenance using the limited resources I had. Women didn't really shave here, so I had to learn how to shave with this little knife Eowyn gave me. She insisted that it should be used for self defence, but at the moment my looks were more important. Also, there was no real makeup here. Sure, they had a little blush and powders, but those were rare and extremely expensive, so I went natural these days.

What of Collin? Well, if I could find him, I'd give you a good description.

I let out a frustrated sigh and turned another corner. Still no sight of him. Turning to Gandalf, I shrugged. "I have no idea where he is. He was just here a minute ago!" Collin had a bad habbit of wandering off when you need him.

"Not to worry, Sophie. We'll stumble upon him sooner or later."

A sudden idea popped into my head. I knew exactly where he was. I t ook hold of Gandalf's arm and nearly dragged him out of Meduseld. When in doubt, go to the training grounds.

And what do you know? My sneaky little friend was already sparring with Eomer. Even though he'd only been training for a few months, Collin was actually becoming a pretty decent swordsman. He absolutely loved sword-fighting, and made it a point to practice at every free moment he had. Of course, he still had a long way to go, but there was no doubt in my mind that he could hold his own against a few orcs. Evidently, those things weren't the brightest crayons in the box.

Theodred had even offered him a spot in Rohan's armies. Of course, that would require more training. Thankfully, though, he declined, knowing that making such a commitment would tear him away from me more than we'd like.

Eowyn stood off to the side, filming Collin spar with her brother. As Gandalf and I approached, she turned the camera on us, a bright and excited smile lighting up her face. "Is this not the best invention you've ever seen? Truely, it is a beautiful thing. You can capture memories and rewatch them whenever you please!"

A loud thud came from the sparring area, and we turned to see Eomer laying on the ground, Collin's sword at his throat.

"Eowyn, did you get that?" Collin turned to us, glowing with pride. His smile widened when he saw that Gandalf and I had joined the party. "Well look at you, Gandalf! You look great, and your hat's as blue as ever!"

Collin looked a lot more like a man than he did before. Not that he looked wimpy before, because that's not the case. What I mean is, he looks a lot more rough than before. His eyes were as blue as ever, and he had insisted on keeping his faux-hawk, insisting that he didn't feel right without it. There was just the slightest HINT of a beard covering jaw. I emphasize on the word HINT because I don't want you to think that he's got a full-fledged beard going on. Collin understood that big beards only got in the way, and were not worth the maintenance. Even though Theodred and Eomer were trying to get him to grow one, but I'm convinced that they were born with beards.

Ha! Little babies with beards.

Anyways. Back to Collin.

So, my dear friend has always been strong. I mean, seriously, the guy scaled the wall of my house countless times. But, now that he's training with medieval weaponry, his body has gained a lot more lean muscle, and he looks far more hardcore now. It's safe to say that he's already stolen the hearts of quite a few girls here in Edoras, but the poor girls never got any attention. He just wasn't interested.

Gandalf noticed the changes, and gave Collin a firm pat on the back. "Well, Collin. You could pass for one of us now. That is... if it weren't for that odd hairstyle of yours..."

Collin swiped a hand over his hair and smiled proudly. "Yepp! Gotta love it! So, Gandalf, what brings you back to Rohan?"

"Pack your bags, children. We're going on a trip."

Finally! I can actually see more of the world!

"Awesome! Where are we going?" Please be Gondor. Please be Gondor.

Gandalf's face grew soft, like he was remembering a fond memory. "The Shire."

Collin's eyes went wide with excitement. "Little people, woo!"

.

"What do you mean, you're leaving?" Eowyn was going crazy with panic. I don't blame her; she's got to fend of Grima by herself, now.

"Eowyn, I really am sorry. But I need to get out and see the world!"

Eowyn feigned offence and crossed her arms. "Is Rohan not good enough?"

Sigh. I should've known she'd go there.

"Eowyn, you know it's not like that. I love Rohan, but there's a whole world out there. I don't know where I want to live out the rest of my life, yet. I'm only nineteen. I need to get a feel for this world before settling down."

All was silent for a moment, and I thought that I had finally won, but then my friend spoke up again. "Eomer will not be happy to hear of your leaving... He's quite fond of you, you know."

Ouch. Low blow, Eowyn.

Of course, I had a hunch that the young warrior liked me. Don't get me wrong, he's super awesome, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a little thing for him. Still, I just wasn't feeling it. I was nineteen, and I'd only been in this world for five months. Not enough time to know what I want.

I let out a sigh and turned from my packing to face my friend. "I'm not going to be gone for forever, okay? I'll be back as soon as possible. Besides, I don't think we're going to be gone for long. Gandalf said something about his friend's birthday, and from what I gathered, Gandalf doesn't stay in one place for too long." Eowyn looked defeated, so I gaver her a small hug. "Don't worry, Eowyn. We'll be back before you know it. Go hang out with Lyfides and Byrde. Grima won't bother you with them around."

She smiled and nodded. "If you don't return soon, though, I will not be pleased. Just keep that in mind."

"Of course!"

The last thing I wanted to do was tick Eowyn off.

(Kristy)

Preparations for Bilbo's party were in the works, and everyone was going crazy planning courses and ordering barrels of ale.

Ale. Not my favorite thing at the moment.

You see, I told myself countless times that I wasn't going to drink. BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TEA. Honestly, what kind of bar doesn't have tea? It's nonsense!

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't walk home alone in the dark! They wouldn't leave! I was thirsty! Ahhhhh...

Okay, I suppose that it'd be best for your sanity if I started from the beginning.

It was your average day. The sun was shining, hobbit children were running around laughing, it smelled pretty nice, too. Those flowers are strong! Anyways, Merry and Pippin had come over for their weekly visit, and evidently they had this 'crazy' night planned. So, my thoughts were, this is the Shire, what could possibly go wrong?

A lot.

For the first portion of the day, we sat around and stuffed our faces, while playing this odd game that I guess was the hobbit equivalent of poker. Not so bad, but then Merry announced that we were to go to the Green Dragon! I'd heard them sing their little drunken song before, so the Green Dragon wasn't an unfamiliar name to me. So we mosey on down there, and I'm assured that there will be nonalcoholic drinks there, because as we all know, I don't drink.

The little stinkers lied to me. I asked for a tea, and they laughed in my face. So I asked for water, and they were OUT! OUT OF WATER! The substance we need to live! So, I figured that I'd just walk down to the stream and drink some fresh water. Of course, it just wasn't my night, because Frodo's jerk cousin Lotho decided that it'd be funny to pee upstream so that all of his pee would just flow my way. Angrily, I walked back to the bar and decided that I'd just sulk in the corner until my friends pitied me enough to take me home.

They were already a little off their rockers.

Okay, I'll just sit and wait. How much more could they drink? Let's just put it this way... It's a wonder as to how these hobbits have never heard of liver failure. Well, we were there for quite some time, well past sundown, and I was beginning to get thirsty. A bar maid offered me a glass of ale, and I had three options. Drink Lotho's nast pee water (it'd be clean by now, but just the thought sickened me), drink this ale, or die of thirst.

Hmmm. I think I'll take some ale!

Well, the ale wasn't so bad, so I had another glass. Then another. Hey, another won't hurt... Oh, yes it will!

I woke up the next morning, the sun beating down on my face, all four of my hobbits curled around me in a drunken slumber. Thankfully, we were all fully clothed, but there was another slight predicament. We woke up in Farmer Maggot's fields.

You see, Merry and Pippin weren't on good terms with dear Farmer Maggot, and thanks to them, I wasn't either. I shot up and set about trying to wake my friends. Key word: trying.

They wouldn't budge. The most I got was a snort from Pippin and a sleepy confession of love from Merry. Sam confessed his love, too, but to his dream Rosie Cotton. Frodo was perfectly still, and if I didn't know him better, I'd say he was dead.

Of course, fate thought it'd be funny to throw Farmer Maggot into our little party. I could see his giant sickle over the high crops, and began to frantically kick at my friends.

"Get up, fatties! Quick!"

Still, nothing. A better idea popped into my head.

"Look, over there! Mushrooooms!"

Pippin was the first up, taking off in the direction I was others followed him after seeing Farmer Maggot's giant sickle coming closer and closer.

So, add all of my exciting adventures up with my massive hangover, and we're good!

Oh yeah, and I threw up on Bilbo's feet.

(Sophie)

"I spy... With my little eye... Something blue!" This is my way of dealing with long, boring trips.

"Collin's eyes." Gandalf hardly had any excitement in his voice at all.

I threw my apple core at the old man, but it just flew right over his shoulder.

"I think Gandalf's done with I spy..." Collin sat next to me in the back of the wagon, hardly able to fit with all of the fireworks Gandalf was hauling around.

I let out a frustrated sigh and banged my head against the side of the wagon. "Well what would you suggest?"

Collin closed his eyes and put on his 'classy pondering' face. "I know!" His eyes shot open, and a bright smile blew up on his face. "Let's play the ABC game!"

Sigh. I looked around at the open plains surrounding us.

"Good luck with that."