And now, I'm an Elf

A History Lesson

I was still steaming from the previous night.

"I think I know when I'm in love." I told Legolas.

Now, I'm left steaming on top of Treebeard, Merry sitting on the branch above me, and Pippin on the one below.

Both of them had asked if I was okay. I must've been acting angry...

When we got to a clearing, Treebeard put us on the ground. Merry and Pippin were asleep, and I faked it.

"Sleep little friends," He hummed. And at that I fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Manwathiel! Pssst!" Whispered a voice. Tapping on my shoulder. "Hey, are you awake?"

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "I am now..."

Pippin's eyes glittered. "Look. At. This."

He grabbed me by the hand and yanked me up. Dragging me behind him, he walked to a tinny little spring.

"The water makes me taller!" He whispered, ecstatically. He grabbed the pitcher made of stone and dunked it in. When it was full, he took a huge gulp and settled himself comfortably on a patch of moss.

"Now," Pippin said contentedly, "tell me the rest of the story."

"Sorry?"

He rolled his eyes. "Y'know! How the world started." He leaned back and took another gulp of water.

I smiled and said, "Where did I leave off?"

Pippin waved his arm. "Somewhere around the singing Angels."

"Okay, uh, well. What would you do if you sang with a ton of people who sounded exactly alike?"

"Uuuuh... Sing louder?"

"Mm... Close. Melkor wanted to have his own song. So he made one up."

"Smart guy!" Pippin laughed and sipped his water. "Rrrreerrn."

I stared at Pip.

Pip stared at me.

And we both laughed our heads off.

"What was that?" Pippin giggled. Do people giggle an entire sentence? Well, Pippin can.

Pippin stood up carefully. "What are you doing?" I questioned.

"A performance!" Pippin said, gleefully. He cleared his throat.

"There is an inn-"

"Wait- where did that come from?" I asked.

"We were talking about singing. And I love to sing!"

I nodded. "Oh, of course!" A thought occurred to me. Does Pippin have A.D.D.? My dad does, and he can't stay on one topic. Hm...

"May I go on?"

I smiled.

"There's an inn, a merry old inn,
Beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
The Man in the Moon himself came down
One night to drink his fill.
The Osler has a tipsy-"

"Pippin?"

Pippin froze, as if he thought Merry wouldn't see him. After a while, he said carefully, "Cat,"

There was a long, awkward silence, until Pippin wrecked it with an "Arnnnnnnr." He cleared his throat.

"So Merry! I had this dream! You guys were in it, so I wanted to wait till you got up to tell it. It was wonderful! We were-"

"What was that sound?" Merry challenged, accusingly.

"What sound? Rrrrrrnnn!"

"That one!" Merry pointed a finger at Pippin.

I tried hard not to laugh.

"Oh, I was just, um, stretching. Nnmrrrrr." He smiles innocently.

Merry hmphed and looked around. "Where's Treebeard?"

Pippin shrugged. Merry looked to me. I shrugged. He sighed. So did we. Pippin Rrrrnnned. Merry's head snapped in Pippin's direction.

He narrowed his eyes at Pippin. "You look... Taller."

Pippin looked around, as if Merry were talking to someone else. "Who, Manwathiel?"

"You! You're taller!"

"Than what?" Pippin replied, dumbly.

"Than ME."

"I've always been taller than you." Pippin answered dismissively, taking another swig from the Ent water.

"Pippin," Merry said in a mock patient, scolding tone. "Everyone knows, I'm the tall one, you're the short one."

Pippin smiled innocently and took a big gulp of his drink.

"There's something not right here..." Merry said, in a serious tone. Merry's eyes flicked to the water and then to Pippin. Recognition crossed Merry's face, and he snatched the water from Pippin's hands and desperately drank some.

"No!" Pippin yelled going after him, trying to pry it back. "Stop that's mine!"

"Finders keepers!"

"I found it! You took it!"

"So?"

"Give it-"

"Sharing is caring!"

"You took it!"

"STEALING IS CARING, TOO!"

"Stop! Treebeard said- Treebeard said-"

"Don't care-"

"-it's only for uh,"

"For hobbits named Merry Brandybuck!"

"No! For Tooks!"

"Fool of a Took!"

"NO QUOTING GANDALF!"

"Guys get off each other!"

"It's my turn!"

"To what- be tall, you've always been tall!"

"Stop, someone will get-"

"GAAHHH!" Merry shouted, dropping the water and trying to pry his foot from a root. "It's got my leg!"

"Merry!" Pippin was stuck as well. He fell over struggling.

"AHHH!" I shouted. The tree was squeezing my calf, pulling me down. I clenched my teeth and screamed through them. I tried pulling my leg out, but it just scraped my skin. I fell to by butt and felt a root grab me round the waist, and another one at my elbow. I struggled and struggled, but I only managed to hurt myself more. It pulled me further, down and down until everything was black and I couldn't breathe. My lungs were crushed, my mouth covered, my stomach squished. This was the worst pain I had ever experienced. I was sure to have a broken rib, best case scenario. Then, everything went still, including me. Spots appeared in my vision and I knew I was about to black out.

The last thing I heard was a very muffled, "Manwathiel?"