Avadis - A legolas story (slow moving!)

Chapter 16 - Going downhill

Avadis and the hobbits walked over to a dell called Derndingle, where every Entmoot is held. By the time they had arrived, all of the Ents had finished gathering together. Looking around, Avadis recognised most of them, but many she had not seen in a very long time. Many of them nodded their heads in her direction when they recognised her, and then began to stare at the two small hobbits standing next to her. She could feel Merry and Pippin move slightly closer to her, and in response, she reached her wings out behind her to try and shield them from some of the Ent's glaring eyes. "They do not mean to scare you" she whispered to them, "they are just curious."

"Curious that we are orc most likely" Merry said, staying close to her side.

"Treebeard!" Avadis called to the old Ent who was stood in the corner talking with a birch tree. "Can we get this thing started?" 

Without even having to looking at them, she felt all of the eyes of the Ents fall onto her. Treebeard groaned slightly then cleared his voice, "Of...course... yes yes we... must begin."

"Good!" Merry whispered to Pippin, "they're finally going to do something."

"Avadis... and hobbits... you cannot be in... the Entmoot," Treebeard said, many other Ents nodding their heads in agreement, "you must... stay... over there." He pointed his arm across to a large tree that had rooted across from the dell. Nodding with respect, Avadis turned and walked over, gently dragging the hobbits along before they began another argument. 

"I have done what I can" she said, sitting with her legs crossed on the grass, twirling strands of grass between her fingers. Opposite her, Merry sat and stared over at the Ents, who were gently swaying back and forth in their circle. 

"Oi! Merry! Up here!" Pippin called, and Avadis looked to see him dangling from a high up branch. Laughing, she stood up and flapped her wings to push herself up into the tree, landing neatly on a branch nearby. "I wish I could do that" Pippin said with wonder in his voice. 

"So long as next time you do it further away" Merry called from below, and Avadis realised she had knocked him over into the tree roots. "Sorry!" she yelled down through fits of laughter. 

...

Day turned to night, and the Ents were still standing in their circle. Avadis had left the hobbits with the Ents to fetch their sleeping bags and some food for them while they waited. Despite the hobbit's best attempts at redirecting the meeting, the Entmoot was still due to last well into the night. 

Walking back to where she had left her hobbit friends, she laid down their belongings only to discover they were nowhere to be seen. In the distance, she could see the Ents still in deep discussion, but she could not find the hobbits. Where could they have gone? she asked herself, spinning in a slow circle to survey the tree tops. Just when she was about to give up, she heard a very muffled sound come from deep under a nearby tree. Walking closer, she heard the noise again.

"Avadis!" Merry's voice called out under the moss. "Help!"

"Ahhh, so that is where you are" Avadis smilled, then rested her hands on the bark of the old tree, reciting the words Gandalf had taught her many years ago, "my friend you should not be waking. Eat earth, dig deep, drink water and go to sleep"

 The tree began to unravel its roots, revealing the two hobbits that were tangled up inside them. Scrambling out, they both were muttering something under their breaths. They were lucky they were taken by one of the slower trees, she had dealt with far more aggrivated tree roots in her time. Avadis stood back with her arms crossed looking down at them, raising her eyebrows with amusement. "Care to tell me why that happened?" she asked them.