The Mothermaiden

[Lunaestrella]

Well, if boyfriends were elves, then I might just consider it. Humans stink and are stupid. They are ignorant mortals, children for an elf like me

[Triptune]

Yeah. I get irritated with humans all the time, but some people are awesome. Elves make me VERY happy, however. And that is putting it lightly. Once you start, you just can't stop.

[Lunaestrella]

Elves are the best. If it wasn't for Legolas, where would they be? Who would have shot the watcher, who would have killed the cave troll? Who would have killed the Fell Beast?! Who would have killed the wargs? Who would have killed millions of orcs in loads of battles?! Who would have taken down a war oliphaunt single handed? Who would have surfboarded down the stairs of Helm's Deep?! Come on humans... stop being useless

[PhoenixReborn]

Ssoooooo happy to hear what people think! And its been sooo long, and its one in the morning, and i say, "OUT WITH THE BREE CHAPTER ALREADY!" So here goes!

Chapter Nine
Bree

Exaughstion weighed heavily on Thea's mind. She could hardly follow a line of thought to its end, and the freezing rain didn't do much good. There were a few questions from a rather cross gatekeeper, and then Tom left them to find the Prancing Pony. The people everywhere were...big. Big people, big horses, big doors, big houses. But it was so odd, so big, that in Thea's mind she knew...

I belong with people like this.

They asked a few men where to find the Prancing Pony, and sure enough, but two lefts, a right, and a left from the gates, hung a the welcoming sign of the Inn. Soaked to the bone, the company quickly hurried in. The air was a foggy warm inside, smelling of well cooked meat, and ale, and pipeweed from all corners of Middle Earth. She tossed back her cloak hood, revealing her golden locks. Frodo was introducing himself to Barliman Butterbur, the inn keeper, as Master Underhill, and quickly told the tale they had spun as an explaination of their presence out of the Shire. Butterbur offered them hobbit-sized rooms, but they denied them for the time being.

"We are friends of Gandalf the Grey," said Frodo, his voice seeming small amongst the Big People. "Can you tell him we've arrived?"
"Gandalf the Grey?", Barliman's great brows furrowed, then rose with a smile as he recalled the face, "Ah! Gandalf! Elderly fellow, big grey beard, pointy hat."
Frodo nodded, and smiled, relief flooding his face. Not that it would last long.
"I've not seen him for six months," said Butterbur.
Frodo's smile dropped. His dark eyebrows knit with worry, his blue eyes filling with silent dispair. Thea's heart reached out to his, tring to calm the fear inside of him. Butterbur had turned away to other business. As a single tear dared slip from Frodo's blue eyes, Thea wiped it away with a delecate hand, for a moment, cradling his face. Frodo's eyes cried quietly to her, and she hugged him for a moment, kissing the top of his head. He was like a little boy who ran away with his friends, and was too far from home to turn back. 

"Avo osto, Iorhael. Hebo estel," she whispered the words to him. "Gandalf is wise. He will come in his own time."
He looked at her, smiled, and kissed her cheek, whispering back, "Aniron gwanna, Nenethiel. Im gosta."
Thea took his hand, seeing as that was the only comfort she could give him for now. She ignored Merry and Pippin's stares, as they had not known about Frodo and Thea's love for each other. 

As Frodo discussed with them and Sam what to do next about waiting for Gandalf, Thea looked around the room, smiling at the few similarities between this and the Green Dragon back home. Her attention was drawn by a smaller room that came off the main tavern. It had no door, but she suspected one hung there once.  Ever few moments, a puff of pipesmoke came from it, sometimes in rings. Her vision shifted, becoming shaky. She saw blue-grey eyes, wise and far seeing, she saw the green-sheathed sword at the mans side. She saw his hands, the right fore finger bearing a silver ring with writhing serpents and a blue stone. She saw the blode elf, her brother, Legolas, in a clearing amongst a host of others, their faces clouded. He said proudly, "This is no mere Ranger, he is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir to the throne of Gondor."  
 
Then it all was gone, and Thea stumbled a little with the suddeness, the words still ringing in her ears;
 
 He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn......no mere Ranger...

Frodo placed a steadying hand on her back, "Are you alright?" his blue eyes edged with concern.
She shook the fog from her mind, "Yes. Yes, I'm fine." she blinked her dark blue eyes for a long moment, "Hungry?"

Sam and Frodo went to find a table, while Merry, Pippin, and Thea piled five plates with chicken legs and pork, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, gravy, and asparagus, not to forget the fourth-pints of ale. When they returned to the table, Thea sat across from Frodo and Sam, Pippin at her right, Merry at her left. They ate quickly, for the food was good, and they savored the ale, for it was well-brewed. Pippin and Merry were off for another fourth-pint when Thea shared an Elvish tune;

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
    O Queen beyond the Western Seas!
O Light to us that wander here
    Amid the world of woven trees!

Gilthoniel! O Elbereth!
    Clear are thy eyes and bright thy breath!
Snow-white! Snow-white! We sing to thee
    In a far land beyond the Sea.

O stars that in the Sunless Year
    With shining hand by her were sown,
In windy fields now bright and clear
    We see your silver blossom blown!

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
    We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
    Thy starlight on the Western Seas.

Silence filled the tavern, save the clear elven voice of Thea. Tears glistened in her eyes as she sang the last verse again, this time her elf-ears hearing the quiet refrain of the Ranger who was a King.

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
    We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
    Thy starlight on the Western Seas.

As she finished, there was a moment of silence, then a roaring cheer. She blushed, and smiled, looking down at the table. She looked up at Frodo, only turning a deeper shade of red seeing the pride in his eyes. After the cheers stopped, he shared the Merry Inn song, about the cat with the fiddle, and after him, Sam, Merry, and Piipin jumped up on the table to dance along and chant the song of the Green Dragon. The merriment and singing went round the smiling room. And with singing came drinking, so Merry returned to the bar. When he came back, the tankard he carried was almost as large as he was.

Pippin's eyes widened, "What's that?"
Thea laughed, "Steady on, Pip, it's ale, not a woman."
Frodo and Sam snickered at the comment, so did Merry, who replied, still in awe of the monstrous beverage that waited on the table before him, "This," he licked his lips. "Is a pint."
The way he said the words was so ridiculous, Thea, Sam, and Frodo burst into hysterical laughter. 
Pippin had eyes only for the pint, "They come in pints?" 
In reply, Merry shoved his face into the foam coming from the tankard.
Determined, Pip glanced at the rest of them, "I'm getting one." he scampered off.
"Let him pay for it." muttered Thea with a smirk, downing the rest of her half pint. 
"You've had a whole half already!" Sam called after him. 

Merry was busy with his drink, so when Frodo asked Thea what Mirkwood was like, she openly drew out what she roughly remembered of the courtyard, and what the grounds would have looked like from above. When she finished, she left Sam and Frodo to look it over, and went to find Pippin.

Her little brother was sitting on a stool at the bar, a good portion of his pint of ale missing already. There were men circled around him, and Thea was wary of a few of them. Her attention was peaked as she heard one of them say the name "Baggins".

"Baggins?" said Pip, his mind clearly dulled by the ale. "Sure I know a Baggins!"
In a silent panic, Thea stepped forward, interrupting him, "Aye, we both knew a Baggins. Drogo Baggins, and his wife, Primula."
Pippin was confused, but the mention of his cousins made him sad, so Thea knew he would play along just fine.
She continued, "They went out boating quite a few years back. The boat sank. They died." Her heart beat steadily, sure and glad she had dodged the arrow of their questions. "Come on Pip, take your ale and come back to the table." Still minorly confused, Pip took his ale, slipped off the stool, and followed Thea back. Merry had finished his pint, and smiled at the return of his friend, but before he could say a word, Thea silenced him with a stone cold glare.
"Peregrin Took what in the name of Tinuviel the Fair was that?" She asked him, infuriated.
"They asked if I knew a Baggins. What harm would it do to say aye?" he replied, shrinking back in his seat, avoiding her firey blue eyes.
"Pip, you could have just destroyed every single thing we are fighting for here." she sighed, calming herself, not explaining to Frodo or Sam what had happened. "I understand you weren't thinking. But if you hear the name Baggins, from now on, you don't know anyone by that name, you hear?"
Pip nodded silently, sipping his ale.

Frodo was staring in the direction of the small room where the Ranger sat. Sam followed his gaze.
"What is it?" He asked.
"That fellow there has done nothing but stare since we arrived." Just as he finished his sentence, Barliman walked by. Frodo got his attention, "Excuse me, that man there, whats his name? Who is he?"
Butterbur looked up, then quickly turned back to them, "Him? He's one of them Rangers. What his right name is, I never heard."

He is Aragorn...son of Arathorn...

"But around here, he's known as Strider." The inn keeper hurried off, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.
"Heir to the throne of Gondor...no mere Ranger..." Thea hadn't even realized she whispered the words when Sam looked questioningly at her.
"What did you say?"
She shrugged, "I didn't say anything."
Frodo furrowed his brow, "Yes you did. You just whispered something."
Thea pretended not to know what they were talking about, which she had gown to be very good at, and in the days to come, she'd get better. "I swear I didn't say anything."
They shrugged and forgot about it, and Thea turned around, looking at Strider. She attempted to speak through her eyes, telling him she knew who he was. His cloak hood shadowed his face, so, though it frustrated her, Thea decided he hadn't seen her.

When Sam and Frodo had buried themselves in serious conversation, and the silly foolishness made its way back into Merry and Pippin's conversations, Thea slipped off to the little room wherein the Ranger sat.
"The say the heirs of Gondor have gone like the tide." She said simply.
Under the shadow of his cloak, Aragorn smirked, "The tide returns." He shook her hand. "They also say the princess of Mirkwood was never born. They say she is a myth."
Thea's eyebrows raised in amusement, "They really say that?"
Pulling back his hood, Aragorn shrugged, "The men do, not the Elves." He drew from his pipe, sending the smoke in silent rings, "I am Aragorn."
"I know you are, my lord. And I am Nenethiel. But please, do not feel as though you must call me that. Since i came to the Shire I have been called Thea." She smiled at him.
"And how does one come to know my name without ever hearing it from my own mouth, Nenethiel?" Mused Aragorn.
"One has the gift of forsight."
"I see...and what would bring an elf and four hobbits to Bree?"
"That which cannot be said here. How fare the moons, the suns, and the stars?" She spoke the elvish Code of Trust in the Plain Speech.
"They sail, the shine, and draw the tide beaneath the eyes of Elbereth."
Thea stood, "Then may the Valar keep you, Aragorn. We shall again speak soon."

----------------------------------------------------------
Elvish translation;
"Fear not, Frodo. Have hope"
"I want to leave, Thea. I am afraid."

[Lunaestrella]

There are no words that can describe this...BAAAASHSHSALAONOEOANASSSSSHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
*ends caps abuse*
It is our precioussssss!!!!!
*faints*

[PhoenixReborn]

Steady on, mate! The next chapter should cover the night in Bree, after the rest of the hobbits meet Aragorn, the morning in bree, getting Bill YAY BILL!, and the first part of their trek to rivendell

The chapter after that should cover amon sul

[Lunaestrella]

Yesh, yesh, yesh! I can't wait!
I love Bill I've always said that there are ten members in the Fellowship, not nine. Bill is the one that takes all their luggage, after all!

[PhoenixReborn]

Ah, but now youll have to say there were eleven, counting Nenethiel ^^

[Lunaestrella]

Ah, yes. I almost forgot! How could I?!
Eleven... no, wait. TWELVE!! Because I'd be the twelfth member of the fellowship I wish...

[PhoenixReborn]

Elrond liked that there were ten of us, people at least. He said that it was wise, and left the Nazgul outnumbered.