What if Boromir Lived Longer? (Complete)

Chapter 9: Where are They?

Chapter By: Pippin

Aragorn and Legolas were talking in Elvish a little ways away from Pippin. Occasionally he would hear names like,

"Boromir," "Merry," and, "Gimli,"

He even heard his own name a couple times. It was clear they didn't want Pippin to know what they were talking about since they were talking in Elvish. They probably just didn't want him asking any more questions or to get him worried.

Pippin was by the edge of the river watching the silhouettes of fish pass by. It was peaceful, but nerve wracking at the same time. They had made it to the end of the river, but neither Merry, Boromir, nor Gimli were in sight. Pippin felt a lot better and the soreness in his body had almost left.

Pippin: Story time!

Pippin thought back to that night when Aragorn had given Pippin some advice about missing Merry. So Pippin thought back to when him and Merry where in the Shire and what they did when they were hungry; which he was right now. Back in the Shire, Merry and Pippin would go fishing sometimes. Merry taught Pippin how to make a good fishing rod and he remembered how to make one still. Pippin had never been good at fishing, maybe because he wasn't that patient like Merry could be.

The first time Pippin had ever caught a fish was last year, but the fish had gotten away since he pulled too hard on the fishing rod. Ever since then, he had just watched Merry who was a great fisherman.

Pippin stood up and walked around looking for the supplies he needed. He walked around and found a thick stick that couldn't bend easily or break in half; it was perfect. He set the long solid stick down where he had been sitting and walked to the shallow end of the river. The shallow end of the water was in-between his knees and ankles. Putting his hands into the water felt super cold, but he pulled up some mushy mud and some hard clay. Merry had told him that mud and clay where good at holding things together. He needed a large amount of it too, so he walked back and forth with handfuls of mud and clay back to his stick that would be the rod.

Aragorn looked over once to see what Pippin was up to, but decided he shouldn't ask and went back to argue with Legolas. Pippin pulled off three lose strands of thread from his pants and braided them together. Then he tied it to the end of the tough stick. In the Shire they used actual string or thin yarn, but there was nothing like that where he was now. He was far from the Shire, his home.

After that, Pippin stuck some mud and clay around the tied thread for extra support. It would need to dry now, so Pippin placed his creation in the sun. The sun had just risen so it would take even longer for his creation to dry.

Now that the rod was complete, he had to make a hook and bait somehow. After a long while of looking, he found a perfect stick that was shaped like a mini banana and it wasn't bendy at all. He tied it to the other end of the breaded thread and added some mud and clay to it too for extra support.

There was still some extra clay, so Pippin sculpted a small ball of clay to look like a fish. He took the Lembas bread out of his pocket and rubbed the clay fish onto it. The clay picked up some of the crumbs and then Pippin put the bread away and stuck the bait onto the banana shaped hook. Who knew if the fish would care for elf bread, but he would soon find out after it dried.

Merry would sometimes put on a reel, but other times he wouldn't. It all depended on if he could get his hands on the right supplies or not. Pippin couldn't remember how to make the reel anyway and he didn't have the right supplies either, so he decided it was fine without a reel.

The rod would take a while to dry since the sun had just risen. Aragorn, Legolas and Pippin had walked through the night and only had a little sleep when Pippin asked for a break, so he was very tired. He laid down next to the river in the shade and listened to Aragorn and Legolas voices getting quieter and quieter and then nothing as he slipped into a deep sleep.

A/N: I tried putting a drawing that i drew into this chapter, but it didn't work. It was a picture of Pippin's fishing rod that he made. I thought it would be better if you guys could see a visual, but i guess its okay.

The reason why i made Merry be good at fishing is because in the Lego Lotr wii game i have played, Merry is the fisherman:-) But actually in real life Dominic Monaghan (Merry) hates fishing.