Pippin looked up at the sound of a key turning in the lock.
"Merry! You're back!" Pippin enthused, abandoning his book and jumping up from the bed to greet his lover with a kiss.
"How're you feeling, Pip?" Merry asked, cheerfully accepting the proffered peck.
"Mmm..." he stole another quick kiss before replying, "Much better now, thanks. Where have you been all afternoon?"
Merry laughed. "I told you, I went riding with Eowyn." He slowly sank into the desk chair with a groan. "She's teaching me."
Pippin blinked in puzzlement. "But you already know how to ride."
"I can ride the little ponies at home, but not the big horses, like the polo team uses."
"Oh no," Pippin frowned, "Don't tell me you're actually going through with this?"
"Of course I am," Merry said dismissively. "Did you know Eowyn's uncle is the coach for the polo team? She's gonna introduce me! They've opened up the team to all races, not just the Big Folk, so I might actually have a chance!"
Pippin crossed his arms across his chest, his expression unreadable.
"What's wrong, Pip?"
"Promise me you'll be careful," Pippin said softly, almost plaintively.
Merry rolled his eyes and heaved an impatient sigh. "I will."
Pippin sat down suddenly on Merry's lap, causing Merry to wince in pain. Pippin's eyes flashed with anger, and he jabbed Merry's chest with his finger as he spoke. "I'm SERIOUS. I don't know why you're so set on doing this polo thing, but if you get hurt just 'cause you're trying to prove something--"
"I'm not trying to prove anything!"
"Whatever!" Pippin threw up his hands in frustration. "But if you get hurt--"
"Pippin, I WON'T!"
They stared at each other in tense silence for a few moments, until Pippin finally sighed in resignation. "Just be careful," he began softly, "if not for yourself, then for me." He leaned in close to wrap his arms around Merry's neck, scarcely noticing the way Merry hissed or the way the muscles in his neck and jaw suddenly tensed. "Because I'm not gonna be your nursemaid if you get thrown from a horse and break your neck."
"Hmm. Pity that. No sponge baths, then?" Merry inquired with a pained grin. He moved slightly in the chair, trying to surreptitiously shift Pippin's weight to a more comfortable position.
Pippin leaned in closer, pressing himself fully against Merry and twining his legs around the back of the chair. "No," he whispered into Merry's ear, "No sponge bath. But perhaps a tongue bath." He traced the silhouette of Merry's ear with his tongue, pausing to suck at the pointed eartip. Encouraged by the gasp of pleasure this seemed to provoke, Pippin rocked against Merry, a gentle push of hips.
Merry immediately tensed, his hands clenching into fists behind Pippin's back. "Ooh! Ow! Ow! OW! Pip! Please! Getoffgetoffgetoff!" Merry yelped, pushing Pippin off roughly.
"What the bloody hell's the matter with you?" Pippin demanded indignantly as he picked himself up from the floor.
Merry stood slowly, with a loud groan. He was surprised to see Pippin's confused, hurt expression. "Oh, Pip, no. Love, it's not you. I'm just a little...owww...sore from riding today. I think I overdid it."
Pippin pouted. "See? You haven't even tried out for the team yet, and you're already hurt. This is a bad idea, Merry."
"Nonsense," Merry scoffed. "I just haven't gone riding in a while. It'll get better." He wrapped his arms gently around Pippin and kissed him on the temple. "Don't worry about it."
Pippin frowned, still unconvinced, but wrapped his arms around Merry's waist and laid his head on Merry's shoulder. "So what're we doing tonight, Mer?"
"I know what we're NOT doing tonight," Merry groaned.
"Very funny."
"I dunno. Wanna go out?"
"Nah," Pippin shook his head. "I've had enough partying for one week." He shuddered, remembering the hours spent crouched on the cold tile floor of the dorm bathroom the night before. "Let's stay in."
"Sounds good to me, Pip. What do you say to a movie in the basement TV lounge? It's Saturday night -- the lounge will be dead."
"Not my first choice for a Saturday night date," Pippin chuckled, "but it'll do, under the circumstances."
****
True to Merry's prediction, the basement TV lounge was deserted. Merry and Pippin claimed the entire couch, moving and exchanging cushions until they could finally sit comfortably, without sinking into a hole or getting poked by an errant spring.
The ancient relic of a television only received one broadcast station, which showed a badly-dubbed Dwarf martial arts film. Merry turned down the sound and they provided their own dialogue, laughing until they were breathless. When the film was too awful to be saved even by that, they ignored it entirely, spending long minutes kissing in the flickering light of the muted television, hardly moving in each other's arms. After a time, Pippin settled comfortably on the battered couch, his head in Merry's lap, dozing as Merry resumed his commentary on the film in a soft near-whisper.
***
Gandalf leaned back against the wall of the basement and took a long satisfying puff from his pipe. “Old Toby,” he heard Bilbo mutter as he too indulged in a heady drag, “the finest weed of the South Farthing.”
Trust dear Bilbo to find a place on campus for them to indulge in a few pipe-fulls, without the bureaucrats and students glaring and pointing to No Smoking signs. But down here, in the basement of the liberal arts building, where no administrators ventured, there was no policy. And if the area smelled a little of smoke, well, that could be explained by the impressive and incomprehensible heap of dwarvish machinery that filled most of the campus plant room.
Gandalf felt as comfortable here as he would in Bilbo’s home, which was really to say, fine if he didn’t move much. The plant was dwarf-sized, which made it roomy for Bilbo, but an obstacle course and a concussion waiting to happen for the wizard. So he stayed right where he was, finishing off another bottle of hobbit ale and watching Bilbo blow an impressive smoke ring. Inspired, he took a long drag and carefully formed a lovely Rohirrm ship of smoke to sail through the ring.
Bilbo grinned, flushed with his share of the ale that they’d polished off, “Gandalf, my old friend, this will be a night to remember. And I say we break out the good stuff!” The spry old hobbit bounced up, wavered slightly, and headed around a machinery consol to a hiding place. “I’ve got a few bottles of the old wineyard left back here. . .1296, very good year. Almost as old as I am.” He strained to lift the large wine bottle.
Seeing the familiar Baggins label, Gandalf’s mouth watered. And if this was some of Bungo Baggins’ stock . . .
“It was laid out by my father. What say we open one?” Bilbo produced two wine glasses and set to removing the cork. But the ales were working against him and he couldn’t pull the cork free.
Wavering a bit himself, Gandalf stood up to intervene. Bilbo playfully turned away and wrapped himself around the bottle as if to protect it from his friend. Gandalf sighed, “I’m trying to help you.” Instead, he smacked his head into a beam. Bilbo winced in sympathy and handed the bottle over.
Rubbing his forehead, the wizard reached across the consol, trailing the sleeve of his robe over the array of buttons and levers. He tucked the bottle under his other arm and gave a mighty pull. The cork came free with a pop! that almost masked the sound of his sleeve ripping. One of the many acid-eaten holes of his stained robe had caught on a lever, pulling it down as the cloth ripped. Bleary-eyed, Gandalf had just enough time to read and translate the dwarvish label, “Campus-wide,” before . . .
*WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*
***
Legolas was back in the Rangers in Mirkwood again, in charge of evacuating a group of school children. The only problem was that he was a child himself, with no tools or weapons. And no matter which way he led the children, impenetrable spider webs blocked their passage.
Legolas was growing frantic, unsure of how he was going to get the children to safety, when an alarm sounded. He leapt out of bed, searching for something to fight the spiders with, and it took him a moment to realize that it had all been a dream.
Except for the alarm. Barely audible over Gimli's snoring, a fire alarm sounded in the dorm. Legolas glanced at his clock -- not quite three a.m. -- and silently cursed whomever had scheduled a drill for this time.
Legolas threw on the jeans he'd been wearing the day before and headed for the door, but something didn't seem quite right. Stopping to listen, he realized Gimli was still snoring away in the lower bunk.
<<I should just let him burn,>> Legolas thought caustically, returning to the dwarf's side to try and wake him.
Legolas could not believe how soundly Gimli slept. The elf tried shouting, but his calls could scarcely be heard over the blaring fire alarm. He then threw the covers off of Gimli and began shaking the dwarf's shoulder. Unfortunately, Gimli was only wearing boxers, and the shaking caused a settling of the flap, exposing more than Legolas had cared to see.
<<I wonder if that image will replace the spiders in my nightmares,>> Legolas thought with acridity as he averted his eyes and continued to shake the dwarf.
But nothing seemed to work. Even sprinkling water on his face didn't rouse him.
<<I can't just leave him,>> Legolas thought, once again cursing the Housing Board for making them roommates.
****
The shrill scream of the alarm jolted Pippin violently from his slumber. He sat bolt upright, his heart pounding, and saw Merry, also shaken into adrenaline-fueled alertness by the painfully loud klaxon.
"What IS that?" Pippin shouted, pressing his hands to his ears.
"Look...over there," Merry tapped Pippin on the shoulder, then pointed to an alarm panel on the wall, upon which a small strobe light was flashing.
"Anyone down here?" a voice called out, just before Lila Banks, the girls' RA, appeared in the doorway of the lounge. "C'mon, you two, we're evacuating the building! Out out out! Now now now!" And with that, she disappeared again.
Pippin stood up and made his way to the door, not even noticing that Merry wasn't beside him until he was already halfway up the stairs. He sprinted back down to the TV lounge, where Merry was struggling to extract himself from the couch.
Pippin offered his hand, and braced one foot against the frame of the couch to pull Merry up.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Merry groaned loudly, his face contorting in pain.
"Are you okay?" Pippin shouted over the alarm, brows furrowing in concern.
"I'm...unh...fine. Owwww...just stiff. Need to...nnnnnh...stretch my legs is all." He straightened slowly, groaning at the effort.
"Come on, Merry," Pippin said impatiently, taking Merry's hand, "We need to get out of here NOW. There might be a fire."
Merry nodded assent, and allowed Pippin to slowly lead him up the stairs and out of the building. As they made their way outside into the autumnal night, Pippin gave his hand a quick squeeze and murmured an apology before hastily dropping it. They walked together to the central courtyard of Four Farthings, Pippin purposefully slowing his pace to allow Merry to limp beside him.
****
The fire alarm sounded in the still of the night, a sudden strident scream. Eowyn shot out of bed staring in panic around the room until she realized what the sound was. Grabbing a robe from her closet and her room key she hurried out the door to find the hall full of bleary-eyed students all stumbling toward the exit doors. Joining into the press of hurrying bodies, she kept an eye out for Eomer. Around her Eowyn could hear the other students complaining as they spilled out onto the lawn in front of Edoras Hall.
“I sure hope that there’s an actual fire,” a male voice rose above the murmer, “Cuz this is a lousy, stupid time for a DRILL.” Several voices assented with the speaker then someone else shouted out.
“Look, the other halls are evacuating too! Maybe it’s a campus wide drill?”
“In the middle of the night?” a female voice asked uncertainly. “Why would they have a drill in the middle of the night?”
Eowyn was wondering the exact same thing.
***
Faramir rolled over uncomfortably on his mattress. The shouting match coming through the thin apartment walls hadn't been pleasant, but at least he'd been able to put a pillow over his head and pretend it was the TV. But the shouting had now been replaced by the steady, rhythmic sound of creaking bedsprings, and there was no way Faramir could possibly fall asleep now.
<<Surely they won't last long at that pace,>> Faramir assured himself. But the constant arguing must've been a power aphrodisiac for the rhythmic creaking continued on and on and on.
Finally, sighing, Faramir crawled off his mattress and went over to the window, hoping that the fresh night air would clear his head. Breathing in the sweet autumn fragrances, he leaned his head against the window frame and closed his eyes, silently praying that his amorous neighbours would finish so that he could finally get some sleep.
With his eyes closed, he slowly took in the other noises of the night. The distant hum of traffic from the freeway. The chirping of crickets. A distant alarm.
Faramir's eyes opened as his mind worked its way around the last sound. <<That alarm is coming from campus,>> he realized, suddenly awake. <<And it sounds like more than one alarm is going off.>>
Without thinking, Faramir quickly threw on his clothes and ran out into the darkness, not even noticing that the neighbours' bedsprings had finally grown silent.
***
Gimli awoke dizzy and disoriented. Opening his eyes, he saw only a bare muscular back disappearing into a waistband.
"What the...?!" he asked, squirming and trying to right himself, almost causing Legolas to drop him.
"Careful," Legolas scolded, kneeling down and setting the dwarf on his feet on the cold wet grass.
"What on middle earth do you think you're doing?!" Gimli bawled, still not quite awake.
"Rescuing you from the fire alarm," Legolas said matter-of-factly, gesturing towards the dorm where the alarm was still sounding.
"Well, why didn't you just wake me up instead of playing fireman?"
"Believe me, I tried."
A group of girls nearby giggled, and Gimli looked down to find he was clothed only in a thin pair of boxers. "You could've grabbed some clothes so I wouldn't be standing here half naked," he snapped, flushing embarrassedly as he tried to make sure everything important was covered.
"YOU could've woken up and dressed yourself," Legolas said dryly. "I guess we both have some room for improvement."
Gimli growled at the elf but didn't have a good retort. After all, Legolas could've just left him behind to burn.
<<Speaking of burning...>>
"Where's the smoke?" Gimli asked, staring at the building.
Legolas shook his head, his blonde hair glowing in the moonlight. "There doesn't appear to be any. Alarms are going off in all the other dorms as well. It must be a false alarm or some kind of drill."
<<I was carried over an elf's shoulder for a DRILL?!>> Gimli thought bitterly, shivering in the night air.
***
One could scarcely guess that the crowd of hobbits gathered in the courtyard had been called out of their dorm rooms for a fire alarm. The atmosphere was light and carefree. Most of the students gossiped or told stories, and some hobbits even took advantage of the impromptu gathering to sing songs or dance. Pippin noted with a smile that Fatty Bolger had brought his guitar with him, and he recognized the meandering melody of a Hole Dwellers song.
"Hoy! Lads!" Frodo called from where he sat alone beneath a chestnut tree.
"So what mischief have you two been up to?" Frodo asked with a smirk as Pippin sat down near him. Merry remained standing, though he leaned his back against the trunk of the tree.
"Nothing," Pippin replied casually, picking up a chestnut from the ground and idly turning it in his fingers. He tossed the chestnut to the ground, then looked up at Frodo and grinned wickedly. "Unfortunately."
Frodo laughed. "That's not what it looks like from here, Pippin! Have you looked in a mirror?"
Pippin hands immediately flew to his face. "What?"
Frodo leaned in close, making an exaggerated show of examining both sides of Pippin's face. "Hmm. Parallel horizontal lines pressed hard into one side of your face...and I note your companion is wearing corduroy slacks."
"Why didn't you tell me, Merry?" Pippin swatted at Merry's knee.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Pip. I guess it slipped my mind, what with the EARSPLITTING ALARM and all!" Merry laughed as he playfully nudged Pippin with his foot.
"And you..." Frodo turned to Merry, giving him a scrutinizing once-over, "You are limping and seem to be in quite a lot of pain. One might wonder what happened to make you limp like that," Frodo teased. "And THAT'S an interesting stain." He jabbed at a damp spot on Merry's thigh, drying to a whitish color against the dark brown corduroy.
Merry rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Frodo."
"No," Pippin chimed in cheerfully, "come on, Merry." He erupted into a fit of giggles.
Frodo chuckled and tapped his own nose with his forefinger. "He's got it."
Merry laughed despite the blush creeping across his cheeks, and Frodo motioned for him to have a seat. Biting his lip to keep from groaning in pain, Merry sat down on the ground next to Pippin.
"Hoy, why aren't YOU embarrassed, you arse?" Merry asked incredulously, cuffing Pippin on the shoulder.
"Why should I be embarrassed for drooling in my sleep?" Pippin grinned, winking at Frodo knowingly.
"That explains the stain," Frodo deducted, "but what about this mysterious limp, Mer?" He turned to Pippin, laughing. "What did you DO to him? Do I even want to know?"
"Well," Pippin began, "it's a long and sordid tale..."
Merry sighed in exasperation. "I went riding today!"
"Riding?" Frodo asked in disbelief.
"I'll say!" Pippin waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Insufferable Took," Merry murmured, but he smiled fondly.
"Insatiable Brandybuck," Pippin countered. Frodo nearly choked with laughter.
"Quiet, you," Merry covered Pippin's mouth with his hand, then turned to Frodo. "Horses. I'm in training for the polo team."
Frodo opened his mouth to make a comment, but a chorus of raucous cheers on the opposite end of the quad distracted his attention.
"Hey everyone, I rescued the important stuff!" a voice called out from the doorway of North Farthing, and several hardy hobbit lads rolled out a large keg of ale, followed by a lass hefting several bags full of plastic tumblers.
The assembled residents of the Four Farthings roared their approval, lining up to sample the brew.
"Well lads," Frodo grinned, "shall we?"
Pippin grinned impishly. "Race ya!" And he was on his feet and in line before Merry even had a chance to complain about his unfair advantage.
***
“Hey! Sis!” Eowyn heard a familiar voice shouting behind her. Eowyn turned around with relief to see Eomer running up to her along with one of his friends, Hama.
“Come on,” Eomer said taking Eowyn’s hand. “Let’s get out of this mess. There’s a clearing over under those trees where we can be out of the way, but we’ll be able to see when they start letting people back inside.
The clearing was a pleasant spot with a stone table and benches and a few lanterns on poles that cast a gentle glow. Eowyn recognized most of the people standing around as friends of Eomer from the polo team.
“Where’d you go running off to, Eomer?” one of them asked.
“I had to rescue my sister,” Eomer answered, giving Eowyn a teasing smile. “Hey, everyone, this is my sister, Eowyn.”
The group smiled and nodded to her and someone moved to make room for her on a bench. “Thanks,” Eowyn said through a yawn and sat down.
She felt Eomer sit down next to her and lean over to whisper in her ear, “Nice pajamas, sis!”
Eowyn glanced down at herself and groaned. She’d forgotten that she was wearing a pair of her brother’s old pajamas that he’d outgrown. More specifically the ones printed with little polo ponies. Self-consciously she drew her robe closer around her in an attempt to cover the pajamas.
“I may decorate like a twelve-year old girl, but you dress like a twelve-year old boy!” Eomer said, poking her in the side.
“Ha, ha,” Eowyn replied. “Why are you so cheerful, anyway? Weren’t you sleeping when the alarm went off?”
“Nah,” Eomer said, “Most of us here were at a strategy meeting.”
****
Faramir didn't realize where he was going until he found himself outside Edoras Hall. <<You're pathetic,>> he told himself even as he searched the crowds of sleepy students for Eowyn.
He finally caught a glimpse of long strawberry hair and turned just in time to see Eowyn take Merry's hand.
<<I should've known she'd be fine,>> he thought bitterly as he watched the couple walk over towards a group of friends sitting at a stone table. <<She has her boyfriend to look after her.>>
Faramir watched as they sat down next to each other on a bench, not even recognizing that he was staring, merely mesmerized by her presence. He saw Merry lean over and whisper something to her, and she instantly turned red, pulling her robe closer around her.
<<He was probably making a comment about what she's wearing,>> Faramir thought, suddenly flushing as his imagination eagerly filled in what he couldn't see beneath her robe.
He watched them for a moment longer before slowly becoming aware what he was doing.
<<I'm turning into a stalker!>> he realized, quickly averting his eyes and hoping that no one had noticed. <<I've gotta get out of here now!>> He turned, planning to head over to the MEN House to see what Boromir was up to, when someone else caught his eye.
The guy was just now coming out of Edoras Hall, even though the dorm had presumably been cleared a while ago. He seemed to stick to the shadows, as if not wanting to be seen. And he had a half-grin on his face, a look of perverse satisfaction that made Faramir shudder as he wondered what exactly the guy had been doing to elicit such a depraved smirk.
Faramir was suddenly overcome with shame and humiliation. <<*I* probably looked like that when I was staring at Eowyn!>> he realized. Mortified, he hurried off into the night, hoping that no one had noticed him.
***
Legolas wandered aimlessly through the groups of students standing around in pajamas and robes. It was a nice night out with a little nip of autumn in the air, and Legolas wished that he'd brought his skateboard out with him. <<But I was too busy carrying Gimli,>> he reminded himself.
And he'd expected everyone to give him grief about carrying the dwarf out, but instead people were treating him like a hero. He'd had numerous girls come up and shake his hand, telling him how brave he'd been. <<And it's not like I really saved him from anything,>> Legolas thought. <<If these people knew the things I'd done in the Rangers, they'd be REALLY impressed.>>
"Leggy!"
Legolas saw Arwen and Aragorn approaching and wandered over to them. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked.
"We were just gonna ask you that same question," Aragorn said. "Was that a DWARF I saw draped over your shoulder?"
"Yes, it's the latest fashion," Legolas joked, and Arwen giggled.
Aragorn teased back, "I thought you weren't supposed to carry them after Labor Day."
Legolas shook his head. "See? My fashion sense is always a season behind."
"Well, your fashion sense is dead-on this evening," Arwen said, trying not to stare at his buff chest. "I must say, Leggy, I'm liking the bare-chested look. You should go shirtless more often -- the girls will thank you for it." She noticed Aragorn giving her a look and quickly added, "Not me, of course -- just the other girls."
Legolas blushed. "I was too busy trying to wake up my roommate to finish getting dressed."
"Then I guess we owe him our thanks," Arwen teased, and Legolas smiled despite himself.
***
"Man, if I were you, I would so be hiding under a rock right now," Mori said.
"Me, too," Gurin agreed, yawning. "How could you let that skinny-ass elf boy CARRY you?"
"Especially naked," Doin pointed out, having lent Gimli her leather motorcycle jacket to cover himself up.
"I told you -- I was asleep," Gimli said. "I didn't MEAN to be naked."
"I meant HIM being naked," Doin corrected, gesturing across the lawn to where the shirtless elf was talking with some friends. She then smiled, adding, "Not that I'm complaining."
"Dude, your face was practically in his ASS," Mori said. "He's never gonna let you live it down."
"WE'RE never gonna let you live it down," Gurin corrected, elbowing his friend.
Gimli rolled his eyes. He was glad that the lamppost nearby was burnt out so that his friends couldn't see his red face.
<<He should've left me to burn,>> Gimli thought. <<Burning would've been better than this.>>
<<Because they're right -- I'm never gonna live this down.>>
***
“A strategy meeting for the polo team?” Eowyn frowned at her brother. “Why would Uncle Theoden call a meeting in the middle of the night?”
“Shh, not so loud,” Eomer hushed her. “It was a secret meeting.”
“Are you planning something that’s going to get you in trouble?” Eowyn asked, suddenly worried.
“No. I’m planning something to help save the polo team and, hopefully, our Uncle, too. I can’t help it if it happens to get me in trouble.” Eomer said seriously.
“You think that our Uncle needs saving?” Eowyn was confused. “What exactly is going on?”
“I can’t explain anymore right now,” Eomer said looking around significantly. “Promise me you won’t breathe a word of this.”
“Of course I promise. But I don’t understand what you’re being so secretive about – “
“Stranger approaching,” Hama interrupted them suddenly.
A female RA that Eowyn recognized from her brother’s floor walked up to the clearing. “It was just a false alarm,” she said to the group. “Can you help me let the other students know that we can go back inside?”
“Sure,” Hama jumped up. “I’ll go with you.” As the two were heading out of the clearing Hama turned to wink at Eomer and gesture at the female RA.
Eomer laughed as Eowyn said, “What was that about?”
“Hama’s had a crush on her since last year. He keeps hoping that she’ll notice him, poor guy. Makes a fool out of himself most of the time.” Eomer stood up, “Well, we’d better get to bed. Come on.”
Eowyn was quiet on the walk back to her room, thinking about what Eomer had said. She had left Eomer at the front doors talking to one of his friends. He’d waved goodnight to her and she continued up the stairs by herself.
Letting herself into her room, Eowyn noticed a red envelope laying on her bed. Feeling a prickle of fear at the back of her neck, she picked it up and opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper with hand printed words in red ink. The writing was messy, but readable, and the letters were all different sizes, as if someone had tried to disguise their hand. It read:
I hunger to taste your lips…
To tear the clothes from your body with my claws
And see your white skin…
I watch you day and night
And know that soon I will possess you…
I hunger to hold you down against the ground
To make you feel the agony I feel for you…
When I enter you, you will desire me as much as I desire you…
Eowyn realized that she was shaking as she finished reading the note. She instantly dropped it and moved as far away from the piece of paper as the room would allow.
Although the note wasn’t signed, Eowyn knew without a doubt that it had been written by Grima, He must have used his key to come into her room while everyone was outside for the fire alarm. And if he would do something like that, Eowyn wondered, how many other times had he used his RA key? The words, ‘I watch you day and night’ passed before Eowyn’s eyes as she sat staring at her door. In a sudden movement she leaped up and secured the night chain on the door, her heart hammering in her chest like a cornered rabbit.
She had to think! She was certain that the note had come from Grima, and yet it would be impossible to prove it without a signature or identifiable handwriting. She could go to Eomer or Theoden, but what could they do? And they were both so protective of her, that their reaction could easily be violent. And what if Theoden decided to send her home? Squaring her shoulders against her fear, Eowyn decided that whatever happened, she was NOT going home. There was no way that worm, Grima, was going to take away this opportunity and freedom. She was staying at the University and she refused to be intimidated!
Still not wanting to go near the bed knowing that Grima had touched it, Eowyn sank onto the floor in the corner. Eventually she fell into a half-sleep, sitting up with her legs crossed in front of her, watching the door through the remainder of the night.
***
"Did you hear about the chaos over on the campus?"
Sam jolted awake at the sound of the deliveryorc's voice and quickly thrust his hands back into the greasy lukewarm water, trying to pretend that he hadn't been sleeping and desperately hoping that his boss hadn't noticed.
"What chaos is that?" Nellekh asked, walking through the dimly lit kitchen to the delivery entrance.
"Apparently some alarms, or actually ALL the alarms, on the campus went off, and the students were forced to leave their dorms and go outside in the dark. I saw them as I drove by, all hanging around in their Gap pajamas and Abercrombie and Fitch robes."
Nellekh laughed. "Serves them right, the little snobs. Them college boys oughta know what it feels like to stay up all night just to make a living. Isn't that right, Gamgee?"
"Uh...sure," Sam said, quickly turning back to his dishes. <<I hope the alarm wasn't serious -- I didn't hear no sirens, so hopefully nothing burned down or nothing, 'cuz that would be terrible.>>
<<'Course, waking up to an alarm at 3am must've been terrible, too. I hope Frodo's able to fall back asleep all right,>> Sam thought as the barmaid brought in yet another stack of dishes and dumped them in his sink.
***
The engineer shook his head as he walked up the stairs of the liberal arts building. The dwarf couldn’t understand what had caused the malfunction of the fire alarm. The equipment had performed perfectly at the last inspection just before school started. There was no way the lever could have just slipped from metal fatigue. And what puzzled him the most was the scrap of stained gray fabric that he had found caught on the lever. If he didn’t know that no one else had access to the plant, he’d have sworn that someone had been down there. But who could have gotten past the door’s locks?
***
From their perch on the hillside, Gandalf and Bilbo watched the dwarf depart. “To our savior from that horrible din!” Bilbo toasted the engineer with the Shire’s finest in a rescued wine glass, “May he find those young rogues who tampered with his machinery. I mean, really, students these days, always in trouble.”
“Here, here,” Gandalf agreed, meeting Bilbo with his own glass. His eyes followed the dwarf to his car and narrowed when he saw the small engineer toss what looked like a piece of fabric into the passenger seat. Perhaps it was time to think about some new robes . . .
***
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