The Fellowship of the Doctor

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Meriadoc Brandybuck and Perigrin Took perched side by side on a low stone wall, short legs and hairy feet dangling carelessly above a sheer drop of hundreds of feet down to where the waterfalls crashed into the rocky riverbed below. Elrond had warned them about the dangers of falling; that not even the healing powers of the elves could help them survive the drop, but Elrond was off with Gandalf tending to Frodo's wounds, and the others were too preoccupied to notice much of what Pip and Merry got up to. For the better part of the day the two had wandered around the expansive elven stronghold, nicking food when they could and trying to befriend the elves, who smiled at them in a silent, amused sort of way before going quietly about their business. Finally they had settled on the wall, Pippin munching on an apple as Merry sighed and leaned forward as much as he dared without losing his balance.

"I'm bored, Pip. Where is everyone? What's Strider up to?"

"Dunno. I think I saw him go off with Arwen a while ago. Whaddaya think is up with those two?"

"All I know is I've never seen so many meaningful glances in such a short period of time!"

"I'll say. I'd reckon about three glances per minute at this rate!"

"If not more!"

Pippin grinned and took a bite of his apple, but Merry's face clouded.

"Pip?"

"Mmmf?" Pip answered, mouth still full.

"Do you think Frodo is going to be ok?"

Pippin swallowed, looking suddenly serious.

"I don't know. I'm glad he's awake now but... that was a bad wound. I've never seen anything like it."

"Me neither."

They lapsed into an uncharacteristic silence, each remembering the horrors of Weathertop and the fight with the Nazgul king. Then Pippin grinned and tossed his half-eaten apple up in the air, catching it as it came down.

"But of course Frodo will be fine. He's a Baggins! If they've got nothing else they've got longevity, those Bagginses!"

"What's a Baggins?"

Startled, Merry whipped around towards the stranger's voice and fell backwards, crashing onto the stone floor of the balcony. Pippin, less lucky, choked on a bit of apple and, in an attempt to cough it out, lost his balance and began to topple forward over the rail. Merry cried out in horror and flung himself towards his friend, knowing there was no way he'd get to Pippin in time, sure that, as Elrond had warned them, Pip's body would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. But in a blur of tan and rainbow the stranger leapt over the rail, holding on to it with one hand as the other clutched the terrified Pippin by the suspenders.

"Sorry! Sorry! So sorry! I've got you though see? Didn't mean to scare you like that. Thank goodness for suspenders, eh? Dead useful! And cool! This lot made fun of me when I got them but you never know when they'll come in handy! Speaking of handy, could someone give us a hand here? Yaz? Ryan? Graham?"

As she spoke three other figures appeared as if out of nowhere and began to haul her and the still terrified Pippin back up over the railing. Pippin toppled onto the ground next to Merry and both hobbits sat, panting and stunned, looking up at the woman peering down at them with interest. She was flanked on one side by another, younger woman and a young man, roughly the same age; and on the other by a much older man.

"Hi there!" said the first woman, grinning broadly. "I'm the Doctor. This lot here are Yaz, Ryan, and Graham. My friends and I are strangers here and we were hoping maybe you could help us out, like for example, telling us where here is and who you are and if anything unusual is going on that we should know about? Oh and sorry again about nearly scaring you to death. Literally."