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this'll only take you an hour & a half out of your life:
“Do you mind?” Estella, the hobbit, pulling her pack away from her curious, little, hobbit cousin Jade.
“Sorry, Estella. I saw something shiny in your pack! I wanted to find out what it was.”
Grunting, Estella pulled out her beautiful leaf-shaped necklace from her pack to show Jade how “shiny” it was. “Are you happy now?”
“Oh! What? Did you say something? I was just admiring your necklace leaf thing.”
“You’re hopeless, Jade. You know that? You have a really bad memory. I showed you this like 4 days ago when we were traveling through Buckland!”
“We traveled through Buckland?”
“Just forget it, Jade. yawn I’m tired from all this walking in the woods and all.”
“Yeah. Me too, but we still have a long way to go, and it’s still sunny and warm outside, and walking is a great way to get exercise, and… Estella! Are you listening to me?”
Lying her head down on the nice, soft grass underneath the huge tree that stood beside them, Estella said sleepily, “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”
“Oh! Good! Now where was I? Um…what was I going to say? I forgot! Oh well.”
Suddenly, the cousins heard a deep rumbling noise from above them. It was talking to Estella, “Ow! Watch your head!”
Estella awakened from her short nap very startled, “Oh! Sorry ‘bout that! Who are you? Show yourself!”
Suddenly, the tree that stood beside them was now walking and talking like a person right before their very eyes!
“I am Mire, that is what my friends call me for short. My full name is very long indeed and could take years to say my full name. My name grows every single day that I live. Now don’t be hasty, but I should be asking you little ones the same question.”
Jade was so excited to see such a thing that she just went right along telling him everything, “My name is Jade, and this is my older cousin Estella. We are hobbits looking for our friends, and…”
Mire cut her off by saying, “Now, now, Mistress Jade. Don’t be hasty. That is my motto. Actually, that is every Ents’ motto thanks to Treebeard.”
“Who?”
“Treebeard is the elder of the Ents. He says ‘Don’t be hasty’ as his motto. Now it’s every Ents’ motto thanks to him.”
“Sounds like a great guy. What are Ents?”
“Well, I’ll tell you on the way.”
“Where are we going?”
Without warning, Mire grabbed the two cousins and put them on his shoulders. “Where do you want to go?”
“North!” both cousins said in unison.
Before Mire started to walk toward the north, Estella almost forgot something! “Stop, Mire! Stop!”
“What is it, Mistress Estella?”
“My pack! My pack! You cannot forget my pack!”
Mire slowly turned around, picked up Estella’s pack, and put it in her arms.
“There you go!”
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome.”
As Mire was walking towards the north, the whole way, Mire was talking to Jade about Ents and their history since Jade was so curious and fascinated. Estella was already asleep because she was tired of listening and the sound of Mire’s voice made her fall asleep. It was getting dark when Mire finally finished his talk about Ents.
Jade asked Mire, “Um…do you know where we are exactly?”
Before Mire could answer, he pulled back some bushes and before them was a beautiful waterfall and a huge rock. All the trees of the forest were circled around this site and what do you know! Come to find out, “Mistress Jade, this is my humble home!”
“Wow yawn, it’s so beautiful!”
Mire knew she was tired and Estella was already asleep so, he set the cousins down on cool, damp grass beside his waterfall and gave Jade a drink and a pat on the head.
“Mistress Jade, I bid you sweet dreams. It is time for a good rest.”
“Goodnight, Mire. Sweet dreams.”
“You also. Goodnight.”
Jade laid down on the grass beside her cousin, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
________________________________________
Morning had begun as Jade and Estella were waking from their much needed rest. As always, Estella wakes up first. “yawn Huh? Where am I?” Estella looked over at Jade, still in her little dreamland world, and wondered how she got to where she was lying. The last thing she remembers is riding on an Ent’s shoulder. “Ah! Now I remember! I rode on Mire’s shoulder, and I fell asleep on it.”
“Oh, yes, indeed. That would be my shoulder, Mistress Estella.” Mire was over at his waterfall having a refreshing drink of water. “How was your rest?”
“Oh! It was wonderful! I desperately needed that very much, and so did Jade!”
“I can tell.”
“Should I wake her up and tell her we need to go on?”
“Why on middle earth would you want to do that? She needs that rest just like you did. Let her sleep.”
“Aw! I want to wake her up so I can start eating! I’m starving! And we never eat before the other person. It’s like a promise that we made to each other.”
“Well, don’t be hasty. Come over here with me and have a drink.”
“I think I will. Thank you.”
You could tell that Estella desperately wanted something to drink. She drank that water like she had been in a desert for one week without it!
Finally Jade woke up feeling refreshed. “Good morning, Estella. Good morning, Mire.”
“Good morning,” Estella and Mire said in unison unaware that they did.
Reaching into Estella’s pack that laid beside her, Jade pulled out some bread. “Come on, Estella. Let’s eat! I’m starving!”
“Same here!”
They started to eat the bread that was left for them. Unusually, Jade offered a piece of her bread to Mire. As you might have guessed, Mire refused to take it. “Oh no! I don’t want it! It’s all yours.”
Jade just put it in her mouth saying, “Suit yourself!”
“Jade! Ents don’t eat!” Estella whispered to Jade.
“Well, I didn’t know! Gosh.”
“grunts You’re hopeless, as usual,” Estella said almost to herself.
“I heard that!”
“I know! I wanted you to hear it. Do you think I was talking to myself?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
So, the cousins’ conversation ended at that, and there was total silence while Estella and Jade were eating, and Mire was still drinking from his waterfall. All you could hear were the gulps of food and water from the three. Mire broke the silence a minute later.
“So, where did you say you two mistresses were going again?”
Jade spoke up first. No surprise there. “We’re just walking around trying to find our friends.”
Estella didn’t agree. “No we aren’t! Who gave you that idea? We are going North to find our friends because that’s where the War of the Ring was held. They were in it. We’re hoping that they are still there and that we can catch them before they go anywhere else. So we are going as fast as we can. It’s almost been a week after the War, but we have no doubts that they will go anywhere else.”
You could tell that Mire was very interested in this subject. “Interesting. Very interesting,” Mire said with a puzzling look on his wrinkled face and putting his fingers in the shape of an L under his chin. “I’ll have to tell the Entmoot about you two mistresses.”
Jade was confused. “What’s the Entmoot?”
“The Entmoot is…”
Mire was interrupted by Estella who thought that she could tell Jade about the Entmoot better than Mire. “The Entmoot is basically a bunch a different kinds of Ents who come together, hang out, and just talk.”
“Ahem.”
“Oh! Sorry ‘bout that. You were saying?”
“Thank you, Mistress Estella. As I was saying, the Entmoot is a gathering of different kinds of Ents such as the Pine, the Oak, the Birch, and many more that I cannot say at the moment. Treebeard is also there to accompany us.”
“I thought Treebeard was just an ordinary Ent.”
“Well, he’s kind of like the leader of the Ents because he is the eldest. Anyway, the Entmoot come together for one reason and one reason only. They only come together when there is trouble or someone has a problem.”
Jade was surprised and shocked that Mire would say that. “Then why did you say that you were going to tell the Entmoot about us when they only get together when there’s a problem? Are we in some kind of trouble? Are we troubling you? Is there something wrong with us? sniff”
“Oh! Did I say the Entmoot? Oh no! I didn’t mean that! Silly me! What I meant to say is that I was going to tell the ENTS about you! Not the Entmoot. Sorry ‘bout that!”
As Jade was wiping the tears from her eyes and the sweat off her forehead, Estella was putting her hand on her forehead to signify to Mire the international sign for “DUH!” and “Why me?” The sign could also signify the international sign for “Idiot!”
There was silence for a moment, but Jade soon broke it. “Well, Estella, we should be going.”
Mire was upset, but he knew this wouldn’t be goodbye forever. “I suppose you mistresses should be finishing your journey to find your friends. I am wondering. Who are your friends?”
Jade was about to blab away, but before she had a chance to say anything, Estella covered Jade’s mouth with her hand and whispered to her, “Don’t even think about it.”
Estella turned to Mire. “Um…we’d rather keep that a secret. You know, for security reasons! Hehe.”
“Yes, I understand completely. Now, run along.”
“Aren’t you coming with us?”
“What? You want me to come with you?”
“Of course! You’d be lovely company!”
“Well…”
Estella and Jade couldn’t take it anymore. “C’mon!”
“Well, if you’re so desperate, I guess I’m coming.”
“Yay!”
So, Estella grabbed her pack, and Mire grabbed the two cousins and put them on his shoulders. They were off!
________________________________________
The three travelers were getting bored after walking for almost 3 hours listening to the sounds of the forest creatures surrounding them. They could hear birds chirping, squirrels rattling the leaves of the trees as they climbed them, and hawks flying over them.
As you might have guessed, Jade spoke up first. “Um…I’ve been thinking…”
“That’s a first,” Estella said interrupting Jade.
Before Jade could start talking again, she glanced over at her cousin and grunted very loudly, “As I was saying, I’ve been thinking. Where are we? And I’m hungry!”
“You’ve been thinking about that this whole time?”
“Well, yeah! I don’t know where we are, and I’m hungry!”
Grunting, Estella pulls out the leftover bread from breakfast that is half eaten and gives it to Jade.
“Are you happy now?”
“Hey! This is half eaten! Do you have anything else in there?”
“Nope. We ate it all!”
“Stupid me!” Jade said to herself hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand.
Estella grabbed her wrist before she hurt herself. “Why are you hitting your head? You’re going to hurt yourself, and you’re not stupid!”
“Um…you might want to think twice about that.”
“gasp Oh my Gosh! You’re right for once!”
“Thank you! Hey wait…hey! That’s mean!”
“Yeah. Whatever. Anyway, I want you to do something for me.”
“What? What? What is it?”
“Could you please for just five minutes just shut up?”
Estella couldn’t hear her answer to her question because Jade was mumbling it while her head was in her hands, and she was crying her eyes out.
Estella didn’t really care and turned her back on Jade while she was still crying.
Mire finally spoke up after his long silence. “Now, now, Mistress Jade. Don’t cry. You are not, as you middle earth folk say it, stupid. And that comes from my one and only heart.”
Jade stopped crying so much and looked up. “You mean it, Mire?”
“Yes, I positively mean it, Mistress Jade. Mistress Estella, apologize to Mistress Jade for your rude content.”
Estella turned from her rude position to her sorry position and looked at Jade with her “sorry eyes”.
“I’m sorry for what I said. I should have thought twice before I said that. Do you forgive me?”
There was a moment of silence, but Jade spoke up. “Of course I will! What do you think?”
“Thanks, Jade.”
“Anything for family!”
“Then will you be quiet for me?”
“For what just happened, yes. For saying what you said in a rude way no, but I’ll do it anyway.”
“Thanks.”
“Your welcome.”
Mire was touched at what just happened right there, right then on his shoulders.
Then it was back to silence and back to listening to the birds chirp, the squirrels rattling the leaves, and hawks above them.
________________________________________
It was getting dark and Jade was getting hungry again. “Estella, I’m hungry.”
Estella checked her pack to see if she had some more bread. “Oh no! I’m sorry, Jade, but it looks like we ate all the food.”
Mire had an idea. “Maybe I can give you some food from the forest. I hear that they are the best in middle earth!”
Jade was confused, as always. “What are ‘they’?”
“The fruit trees, of course! Um…that’s really the only thing I can think of that you would like to eat around here.”
“We can’t just eat fruit all day!”
Estella disagreed. “Um…Jade? You might want to think twice about what you just said there. Actually, you CAN eat fruit the whole day. It is possible. I heard that an elf ate fruit for a whole month for all their meals!”
Jade was speechless. All she could say was, “Wow…”
Mire was interested in the subject. “Where did you find out about that? I’ve never heard such a thing!”
“Oh! It was just a rumor! No biggie!”
“Hmm. Well, do you two mistresses want some fruit from the fruit trees or not?”
Jade was the first to speak. No surprise there. “Yes! Yes! Yes! I’m starving here!”
Estella whispered to Jade, “Stop being rude to Mire for the last time!”
Jade just got into her sorry position. “Sorry, Estella.”
“Don’t say sorry to me! Say it to Mire! He’s the one you should be sorry for.”
Jade turned to Mire. “Sorry, Mire, that I was so rude to you.”
“Apology accepted, Mistress Jade. Now, up ahead is an abundance of fruit trees. There we shall rest and eat.”
“Sounds good to us! Right, Estella?”
Estella looked at Jade with an “obvious” face. “Of course!”
________________________________________
Mire plopped the two cousins down in a wide-open field filled with tall grasses and flowers and fruit trees surrounding them. “I’ll go get you two something to eat, mistress-shirelings.”
With that, he wandered off.
“I hope he hurries up. I’m hungry,” Jade said impatiently while sitting down and pouting.
“Jade, you told me that already!” Estella said doing the same thing.
“And I’m tired.”
“You told me that, too!”
“And I miss Merry and Pip.”
“Yeah. Me too, Jadie, me too.”
Suddenly, a pile of fruits lay before them. Mire had come back with an assortment of fruits. Jade and Estella just sat there like they didn’t know what to do. Mire spoke up. “Well…”
Suddenly, without warning, Jade just starts grabbing fruits and tearing them up into shreds with her teeth like a wild animal! Estella soon joined in.
Mire wanted some rest from walking this whole way. So, he decided to just go to bed because it was already sunset. He walked over to the corner of the fruit trees and slept while the girls ate.
Before long, the pile of fruit was gone. Jade spoke up. “sigh That hit the spot! But something’s missing. Hmm. What could it be? Do you know, Estella?”
Estella was pondering over the subject, and then a thought came to her mind. “Yes! Yes, I do, Jade. We’ve been forgetting to have tea again. I think I have some in my pack.”
Estella reached into her pack and, sure enough, there was a lovely pink and blue flowered teapot filled with tea and two teacups to match.
Jade was hopping up and down for joy. “Yay! We have tea! We have tea! Pour it for me! Pretty please?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever,” Estella said while pouring the tea into one cup and giving it to Jade.
“Mmm. It’s so good! And refreshing! Don’t you think so?”
“Hey! I haven’t even poured mine yet!”
Estella quickly poured the tea and had a sip. “Mmm. It is good and refreshing!”
“Told you so!”
“Um…Jade? Tea is always good. Unless you put other ingredients in it or something like that.”
“That could happen.”
“It could.”
There was a moment of silence while they were drinking their tea. Estella noticed that whenever Jade had the chance, she would look towards the north into the distance of the sunset. Estella knew that she missed Merry and Pippin very much. She felt the same way.
“I know how you feel,” Estella said putting her hand on Jade’s shoulder. “I miss them too. Don’t worry. We’ll get there in no time! No time at all!”
Jade answered in a quivery voice, “I hope so.”
________________________________________
The next morning, Estella and Jade were to be found lying in the tall grasses asleep. As you already know, Estella woke up first. The side of her head was laying on the earth’s surface, which was, as you might have guessed, dirt. Her long blonde hair lay on her face as she was waking up.
“Phtt! Phtt! Yuck! My hair’s in my face again! Grr you blonde hair!” Estella said sitting up.
She tried to brush her hair with her fingers, but that hurt too much. She tried just wiping her hand up and down her hair to get all the dirt particles out of it, but that didn’t work either. She just got mad and grunted.
“I’ve had it with my hair! I wish I could cut it, but it’s so beautiful and flowing and shiny and soft and… oh! I’m not going to cut it! That’s ridiculous!”
“That would be ridiculous!” Jade said sitting up.
“Have you been awake all this time? What all have you seen?”
“I’ve seen enough already!” Jade started to crack up, but was interrupted by a slap on the side of her arm by Estella.
“Hey!” Jade said as she slapped Estella on the side of her arm.
Estella had a stern look on her face. “Why you!”
Those were the words that started a slap-on-the-side-of-the-arm fight. They kept fighting and fighting until unexpectedly, Mire clawed through the fruit trees to stop the slap-on-the-side-of-the-arm fight.
Jade looked up at Mire like she had never seen him before; she was in awe. Estella also looked up but in an “embarrassed” face. Surprisingly, Estella spoke up first since Jade was still in awe.
“Oh! Mire! You’re awake! Hehe… So, uh…what have you been up to? Hehe… Yeah.” Estella hung her head a little bit to show Mire how sorry she was.
“Now, now, Mistress Estella, it is not you, shireling, who should be sorry. It should be I for interrupting you two mistresses’ conversation! Now, go on with what you were talking to each other about. I will be on my way to the fountain to get a drink of water. Carry on. Don’t be hasty!” Mire said turning around to walk through the fruit trees once more.
Jade shouted, “Wait!”
Mire turned around towards Jade.
“I want to come with you, Mire! It’ll be loads of fun!”
Mire smiled a small but noticeable smile, picked up Jade, and put her on his left shoulder.
“Don’t forget me!” Estella shouted to Mire.
Again, Mire smiled a small but noticeable smile, picked up Estella and her pack, and put her on his right shoulder.
Mire turned back around towards the fruit trees and clawed his way through until finally, they were at the nearest fountain.
As they were nearing the fountain, Jade noticed two small figures crouched down by the fountain.
“What’s that?” Jade said pointing at the two small figures.
Estella was puzzled. “How am I supposed to know?” Estella said scratching her head.
As they got closer to the two small figures, they could now see who they were.
“Look, Estella, it’s Frodo and Sam!” Jade said pointing and bouncing up and down for joy.
“Mr. Frodo! It’s our friends Estella and Jade!” Sam said while standing up.
Mire smiled at the site of this reunion. “I’m going to have a drink. Talk and drink with your friends, mistresses. Don’t be hasty!” Mire said putting Estella’s pack, Estella, and Jade on the ground. Mire walked to a clear spot where he was to drink.
“Who’s your friend?” Frodo said while standing up.
“Oh! Sorry ‘bout that! His name’s Mire. We just found him on the way,” Estella said.
“On the way where?”
“Towards the north.”
“Where towards north?”
“To where the War of the Ring was held. Duh!”
“Oh right! I’ve forgotten. For some reason, I keep forgetting things now. I was once a good rememberer, but now I forget everything.” Frodo hung his head in shame.
“We think he got hit in the head or something during the War of the Ring,” Sam said leaning over to Estella and Jade. “I think he has short-term memory.”
Frodo shouted, “I heard that!”
Sam hung his head in shame. “Sorry, Mr. Frodo, but you really have lost some of your memory.”
“Well, then. If you think I have short-term memory, then you’ll have to test me!” Frodo said confidently.
“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” Jade shouted jumping up and down and raising her hand up in the air.
“All right, Jade. You can test me, but keep the questions simple, please,” Frodo said.
“Okay! Ready? Here’s your first question: When you were in the War of the Ring, who was your guide that died during the War?” Jade asked Frodo.
Frodo looked at Jade in a puzzled face. “Huh?”
“Aha! You DO have short-term memory! This proves it!” Sam said pointing at Frodo.
“Um…Sam? I have to ask at least one more question to prove that he has short-term memory,” Jade said putting her hands on her hips.
“Okay. Here’s your last question: Hmm. Aha! I’ve got one! Who is that Ents’ name?” Jade said pointing to Mire.
Frodo had a puzzled face. “Uh…oh! Oh! It’s on the tip of my tongue! Um…”
Jade was about to say something but was interrupted by Frodo. “No! No! Don’t tell me! Um…”
Sam whispered to Estella, “Told you.”
Estella whispered to Jade, “This is gonna take all day. I just know it.”
“You think?” Jade whispered back to Estella.
________________________________________
It was getting dark and all the travelers were hungry sitting by the fountain.
“Got any bread?” Jade said to Sam.
Sam checked his pockets. What he found was what Jade didn’t really want him to find.
Holding it up, Sam said to Frodo, “Hey! Look, Mr. Frodo! It’s the bread from last week from the War of the Ring! Remember when we were starving and those nasty Orcs were trying to eat it first? Then, all of a sudden, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli just jumped in front of us and fought off those Orcs! Or do you not remember because of your short-term memory?”
“Eww!” Jade said followed by Estella.
Frodo had his back turned to all of them. He didn’t answer.
Sam leaned over to Jade and Estella and whispered, “Do you think he’s possessed by the ring?”
Estella looked at Sam with her “obvious” face.
“Obviously! He’s not talking to us, and back then like every single minute of the day, he was holding that thing!” Estella said putting her hands on her hips.
“Yeah! What she said!” Jade said standing up doing the same thing.
Estella just looked up at her and Jade sat back down again.
“So, have you been gardening anymore?” Estella asked Sam.
“Oh. Gardening. How I miss gardening Bag End!” Sam said almost crying.
“I guess I could take that as a no.”
“Oh no! I’ve been gardening sometimes but it’s just not the same as Bag End. That was my favorite place to garden. I remember when me and Mr. Frodo were about to go on our journey and Mr. Frodo let me garden Bag End one last time. I thought of it as a sort of goodbye to Bag End.”
“Aww! That’s so touching!”
“Yes. I miss Bag End so much. You know, I think me and Mr. Frodo will go back to Bag End one day. One day where we can just ponder at all the memories.”
“You know, you would make a good writer. I just know it!”
“You think?”
“I sure do! Don’t you think so, Jadie?”
Estella turned around and Jade wasn’t paying attention, as usual, but again she was looking towards the north thinking about Merry and Pippin. Estella tapped her on the shoulder.
“What?” Jade said while turning around towards Estella.
Estella gave out a grunt. “You’re hopeless.”
Sam interrupted. “Hey! That’s my line!”
“Sorry ‘bout that! I use that line all the time.”
Suddenly, Sam sees Mire running toward them.
“Jade! Estella! Watch out!” Sam said waving his arms up in the air.
Finally Frodo turned around to watch.
Mire looked as if he had seen a ghost! He was running out of breath.
“Mire! What’s wrong?” Jade said standing up again.
“I hear something breath close by! breath I think breath it might be breath Orcs!” Mire said panicking.
“Orcs?” they all said in unison.
“Yes! Orcs! breath I hear the rattling of weapons breath and the sounds of wargs. breath I’m pretty sure breath it’s a group of Orcs!
“But first, I think you should take a drink a water? You’re out of breath, for Pete’s sake!” Estella said standing up.
“You’re right, Mistress Estella. Maybe it is just my imagination.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out!”
Sam looked frightened. “You mean…”
“Yep!”
“We’re gonna…”
“Yep!”
“Into…”
“Yep!”
“Oh great.”
“Don’t worry, Sam. We’re just going to peek around a little bit to see if Mire’s hearing is correct or wrong. C’mon! Don’t be afraid! Are you chicken?”
Jade interrupted Estella by clucking like a chicken and making her arms into wings. “Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!”
Sam hung his head. “All right. I’ll come.”
Estella shouted, “Yay!”
Jade was still just clucking away like she wasn’t paying attention like she usually does.
Estella grunted. “Stop, Jade!”
Jade just laughed like she meant to do it. “Oh! Sorry ‘bout that! Um…I meant to do that! Hehe…”
Estella looked at her in her “obvious” face. “Sure you did.”
“Yeah huh.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yeah huh!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Yeah huh!”
“Nuh uh!”
Sam interrupted. “STOP FIGHTING!”
Both girls said to Sam, “Sorry ‘bout that!”
“Uh huh,” Sam answered while standing up and turning around to Frodo.
They all looked at Frodo, and by the look on his face, he was laughing through this whole thing.
“C’mon, Mr. Frodo. Let’s go kick some Orc butt!” Sam said holding out his hand to Frodo.
Frodo took Sam’s hand and stood up. Estella, Jade, Sam, Frodo, and Mire were on their way to kick some Orc butt!
________________________________________
As the five of them were reaching their destination, Jade could hear something in the distance like mumbling.
“Estella!” Jade said in a whisper.
“What?” Estella answered also in a whisper.
“You hear that?” Jade cuffed her right hand and put it behind her right ear. Estella did the same.
“I don’t hear anything, Jade,” Estella said to Jade. “You must be hearing things.”
“Who’s hearing things?” Frodo interrupted.
Estella whispered to Frodo, “I think Jade is overreacting again.”
“Ask her what she’s hearing,” Frodo whispered to Estella.
Estella turned back to Jade. She asked her, “What are you hearing exactly?”
Jade answered, “It’s like a mumble. I hear people talking, but I can’t understand what they’re saying.”
“Jade, you’re just overreacting again! C’mon. We got to kick some Orc butt!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure! What am I here for?”
“To look for Merry and Pip?”
“grunt Just forget, Jade. C’mon.”
Jade had a puzzled face and didn’t know what to do. So, she decided to just forget it and think about fighting the Orcs instead of hearing voices.
“What was I thinking? Fighting Orcs are more important than trying to figure out what I’m hearing,” Jade thought. “Estella was right. I’m overreacting. Okay! Let’s kick some Orc butt!”
Frodo walked silently behind the others as they neared their destination.
Sam was shaking in his knees.
Mire was still panicking.
Jade was still trying to figure out what she had heard.
Estella was in front of the group focused on what they had to do.
“Wait! Do you hear that?” Mire said stopping the group and cupping his unseen ear. The others did the same. “The sounds that I heard a while ago. They’re still here!”
“I can’t hear them. Can you, Jadie?” Estella asked Jade.
“No, I can’t hear them either. Either Mire is imagining things or I have REALLY bad hearing,” Jade answered.
Mire heard the sounds again.
“They’re coming from behind these trees,” Mire said pointing to where he heard the sounds.
Estella and Jade started to pull back the trees, but Sam suddenly blurted out, “No! We can’t. It’s…it’s…uh…. really scary. Yeah! That’s it! We just can’t!”
“Can’t what?” Jade asked Sam.
“We can’t investigate the sounds cause…well…”
“C’mon! Out with it!”
“Well…to tell you the truth…I’m…uh…afraid of Orcs and I’m scared that they’ll beat us to death or something.”
“That’s it? That’s why you stopped us?”
“Well…yeah!”
“I don’t buy it.”
So, Estella and Jade continued to pull back the trees and before them is what they would have never expected.
________________________________________
“Legolas! Aragorn! Gimli! You’ve come back from the War of the Ring! Oh! I’m glad you guys are all right,” Estella said running over to them and each giving them a hug.
“Watch out for my axe, young lady! It’s got the blood of Orcs hanging from its blade!” Gimli said holding up his axe.
“Eww!” all the travelers said at once.
“Why are you all out and about?” Legolas asked.
“Why, we’re going to where the War of the Ring was held,” Estella answered. “Have you seen Merry or Pippin lately?”
Legolas turned to Aragorn and whispered in his ear. Aragorn did the same. Legolas turned back to Estella.
“No, Estella, I’m sorry. We haven’t seen them since…well…I quite don’t remember, but I’m sure you’ll find them sooner or later wandering around the forest.”
Aragorn spoke up. “Who’s your friend here, Jade?”
Jade pointed to Mire. “Oh! Him? His name’s Mire. He’s an Ent that we met while on our journey. He’s gonna be with us through this whole time trying to find Merry and Pippin.”
Mire looked puzzled. “Your friend’s are Merry and Pippin? Wow! You must be thrilled to have friends like that! They accompanied Treebeard in the War of the Ring! They’re famous around the forest.”
Estella glared at her cousin.
“Oh great! Now he knows who we’re looking for! grunts Why did you have to blab?” Estella said giving Jade the evil eye.
Jade looked down at the ground with a frown on her face. “Sorry, Estella,” Jade lifted her head. “But I can’t help it! I mean I blab all the time! I think I was born that way.”
“Either you were born with it or not, you still can’t blab like that!” Estella said still giving Jade the evil eye.
The two cousins looked around and everyone was in silence during the conversation that they had with each other.
Gimli looked confused. “Were you not supposed to tell your Ent friend that Merry and Pippin were your friends?”
“No, Gimli, we wanted to keep that a secret because Mire wanted to eat them alive. Of course we’re not supposed to tell other people who are friends are! Do you not keep your private life to yourself?” Estella asked Gimli.
“Well…I…uh…”
Aragorn stood before Estella. “He has been blabbing away about his life since the War of the Ring first began! Make him stop!” Aragorn said dropping his sword to the ground and waving his arms up in the air.
There was silence for a moment but Sam soon broke it.
“Well…uh…shouldn’t we be going now? It’s getting quite dark.” Sam said looking up into the purple and orange sky in between the trees. Everyone did the same.
“This looks like a nice place to set up a camp site,” Legolas said still looking up into the sky. “Let’s rest here for the night.”
“I agree, Master Legolas,” Mire said nodding his head.
“Aragorn, find some wood. Gimli will chop it up to make some firewood.”
“Yay!” Gimli shouted.
“Mire, find us some food. Estella, clear a spot for all of us to sleep. Jade, uh…”
Jade looked up at Legolas. “Yes?”
“Uh… help your cousin.”
“OK!” Jade said skipping over to Estella.
As all of this was going on, Legolas stood there, made sure he looked good for the ladies like he always does, put his hands on his hips, and gave everyone a big, flashy smile that ANY girl would fall for.
It looked like everything was going as planned, but they didn’t know what was going to happen to them in a matter of minutes.
________________________________________
At this time, everyone gathered around the campfire and ate their fruit. Estella and Jade remembered to have their tea while having theirs.
Jade flipped back her short, brown hair and turned to Legolas.
“Legolas?” she asked him.
Legolas looked up at Jade. “Yes?”
Jade put her teacup down.
“Isn’t this lovely? Sitting by the campfire?” Jade said gazing into Legolas’ eyes.
“Uh…I guess,” Legolas mumbled while eating his fruit.
Jade gave out a huge sigh while still gazing at Legolas.
Estella leaned over to Sam and whispered, “Do you think Jade likes Legolas or something?”
“I bet she does!” Sam shouted not knowing that he did.
“Shh!” Estella said, but it was too late.
Everyone stopped eating and stared at Estella and Sam still leaning over to each other.
There was silence for a moment, but then everyone started eating again.
Mire was standing over the travelers as they were eating.
“I think I’ll be going to bed now,” Mire said turning around towards the forest.
“Goodnight, Mire!” everyone mumbled while still eating.
A few minutes later, they were all done eating and dived into conversation.
“So, Legolas, how was the war? Was it what you were expecting or better?” Jade gave out a little giggle while turning over to Legolas across the campfire.
“Um…it was probably what I expected, but I didn’t kill as many Orcs as Gimli did. Gimli?” Legolas turned to Gimli.
“Yes?”
“How many Orcs did you say you killed in the war?” Legolas asked Gimli.
“Oh, about 43. I only killed 1 more than Legolas here. I thought he was going to kill more than me! So, we made up a contest on who kills the most and it was me, luckily,” Gimli nodded to Jade.
“Cool, I guess,” Jade said.
“Listen, everyone! Listen!” Legolas shouted standing up and clapping his hands. “It’s getting late and I propose we go to bed.”
“yawn I agree,” Estella said sleepily.
“Someone put out that fire!”
“We don’t have any water!”
“Well, I’m sorry but, Estella, may we use your tea?”
Estella pulled out her flowered teapot, having a frown on her face, and handed it to Legolas.
Legolas grabbed the teapot.
“This is for our safety,” Legolas said opening the top of the teapot, pouring it over the fire, and handing it back to Estella.
“Goodnight, everyone!” Legolas said leaning against a tree.
Jade heard some rustling in the bushes behind her, but she ignored them thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her again.
Estella lay down on her stomach and prayed a simple prayer. She clasped her hands as she said this prayer, “Please keep Merry and Pippin safe, and keep my friends safe as we try to find Merry and Pippin, and keep Jade safe; especially Jade.”
Estella opened her eyes, laid on her back, and looked up into the stars. She watched the smoke of the recently burning fire rise above them and reach for the stars as they were rising until they reach Merry and Pippin. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
________________________________________
During the night, Legolas would wander around the campsite to make sure they were all safe. What he didn’t know was that a couple of nasty Orcs were watching his every move behind some bushes. Occasionally, Legolas would hear or see something, but he would ignore it thinking it was his imagination.
Legolas wanted to make sure Mire was all right. So, he set off into the woods.
This was the perfect chance for the Orcs to come out.
While the Orcs were hiding, they came up with a plan to kidnap one of the travelers as they slept. They picked the youngest one: Jade.
So, they came up from behind the bushes and sneaked over to where Jade was sleeping.
They gently picked up Jade like a rag doll and slowly walked toward their camp. Luckily, Legolas didn’t catch those Orcs and no one woke up, but when Legolas came back from checking on Mire, he found that Jade was missing.
He woke up Aragorn and Gimli to tell them what happened. Legolas pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the others a note for when they woke up.
Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli went through the night to find Jade and to catch whoever captured her.
*****
Meanwhile, the Orcs were now almost running towards their camp.
“The boss is gonna LOVE this,” one of the Orcs said with an evil smile on his face.
“I agree, Lucir. He’ll be thrilled!” the other Orc said carrying Jade on his shoulders.
They pulled back some trees, and they were finally at their camp.
Orcs were running around like crazy, but all the other Orcs stopped and made a passageway for the two Orcs to come forth toward their leader. The two Orcs were shushing all the passing Orcs so that Jade wouldn’t wake up until she was chained.
Their leader appeared before them, and the two Orcs kneeled before him.
“Oh, Kirtz, we present you with our latest findings,” Lucir said while the other Orc handed their leader with Jade.
Kirtz looked mad, but then calmed down and told his gollum servant to chain Jade up.
“I should punish you two for bringing me this weak and scrawny food. We need big men! That’s the kind of food we need! Are you mad? Well, I’ll punish you later,” Kirtz said handing Jade to his servant. “But at least we have food. Off with you! I’ll call you two later.”
The two Orcs stood up and snarled at him and Kirtz snarled at them back.
Kirtz’s servant chained Jade to a tree while she was still asleep. As the gollum servant walked away, he shook his head in shame.
What Jade didn’t know was that right beside her was the two people she was looking for for the past week: Merry and Pippin! They were chained to a tree as well.
“Pippin! It’s Jade! Look!” Merry said shouting to Pippin.
“Why, it IS Jade! Is she unconscience?” Pippin asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
Merry kicked Jade’s leg, but nothing happened. Merry kicked her again, and all she did was move a little.
“Maybe she is unconscience,” Merry said turning to Pippin, but Merry was wrong. Jade started to wake up.
Jade gave out a big yawn and opened her eyes. She started to look around and she didn’t know where she was. She looked down at herself and realized that she was chained to a tree. Her heart was thumping wildly.
“Where am I?” Jade said to herself.
Merry spoke to her. “Your at an Orcs’ camp.”
Jade turned towards Merry and Pippin, and she had the most surprised look you’ve ever seen.
“Oh my Gosh! Merry and Pippin! You’re OK! Well, not really,” Jade said laughing with her friends.
Pippin turned to Jade. “We thought we’d never find you! We were looking for you and Estella this whole time, but then one night we got captured by Orcs again, and here we are now! I guess you were captured too, right?”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. Well, that’s kind of weird because…well…WE were looking for YOU!”
*****
Meanwhile, the sun was rising as the morning was beginning. The weary hobbits awakened to find their beloved friends and family missing.
“Sam! Frodo! Jade’s gone!” Estella shouted.
“Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli are gone as well!” Sam said picking up a note on the ground.
Frodo looked over Sam’s shoulder to look down upon the note that Sam was holding. “What’s that, Sam?”
“It’s a note from Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli!” Sam said as Estella was walking over to him to also look at the note. “It says here that while Legolas was checking up on Mire last night, Jade was kidnapped! Now, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli are off to find the people responsible for Jade’s kidnapping.”
“But how did the kidnappers get passed Legolas with his keen eyesight and sharp hearing?” Estella asked Sam.
“I don’t know, but since Jade has been kidnapped, do you think the kidnappers have a secret hideout or something that’s close by? Can they hear us? Are they listening right now?!”
“Sam! Calm down! Get a hold of yourself!”
“I just hope we find them again. We’ve been looking for them for a long time now, and all this time we only got to spend a day with them,” Frodo said looking down putting his closed fist on his chest from habit of having the ring hung around his neck.
There was silence for a moment.
Estella spoke. “Hey! Where’s Mire?!”
“Don’t tell me he got kidnapped too!” Sam said glancing over at Frodo.
Frodo smiled and giggled. “What are you looking at me for? I don’t have anything to do with it!”
Estella shouted, “Cut it out, you two! Now, let’s go find Mire!”
“Ok…” Frodo and Sam said hanging their heads and following Estella into the woods.
________________________________________
Gimli sat down on a rock moping and wining from walking so much. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were still looking for Jade. Aragorn said they were on the right track, but Legolas and Gimli thought wrong.
“Maybe we’re going the wrong way,” Gimli said looking up at Aragorn who was standing with his back facing Gimli. “I hope you know where we’re going, Aragorn, or we’ll be lost in these wretched woods forever!” Suddenly, they heard a grumbling noise coming from the trees.
“Oh! I meant, we’ll be lost in the most wonderful woods in middle-earth! Hehe…” Gimli said.
“Aragorn, what if the Orcs are moving their camp? Would they suspect us coming?” Legolas said walking over to Aragorn.
“Stop asking me these types of questions! I told you already. Don’t ask me questions I don’t know the answer to! But, I can tell you this,” Aragorn said looking into Legolas’s eyes. “I know we’re on the right track even though you and Gimli think I’m out of my mind. I can hear them pounding against the ground. I can smell the odor of them. It’s like I already know where they’re hiding! Don’t worry, Legolas. We’ll be fine,” Aragorn said putting his hand on Legolas’s shoulder. “Besides, I like wearing Gimli out. It’s very hilarious. You should try it sometime.”
Legolas gave out a small laugh. Aragorn did as well. Gimli questioned their laughter.
“What are you two laughing at? Is there something on my face? What is it?!” Gimli said now almost shouting.
Legolas and Aragorn were still laughing now even harder. Gimli still couldn’t figure out why they were laughing. So, he just sat there on his little rock and pouted having his arms folded neatly and tightly snug against his round body still thinking that there was something on his face.
_________________
Merry - This, my friend, is a pint.
Pippin - It comes in pints?! ... I'm getting one.
*+*+*+*
Clubs joined ~
Crazy Dom Fan Club, Meriadoc Brandybuck Club
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