They did pass. Gandalf didn't. Neither did the Balrog. Maya felt frustration over the scene, even though she knew the ending. It wasn't as easy to change movied from the inside as one would have thought. You had to be a Maxine to kill off Sleeping Beauty. Maya was decidedly not Maxine.

The scene was a blur as they made it to the other side, the whole group falling into angst. Ami was shooting her pissed-off looks, so Maya returned the quiver to Aragorn, on the other end of the line.

"Are you hurt?" the king of Gondor asked her, although he looked like he was far away in his mind.

"Not really" Maya shrugged "I'm just not especially good with women."

Aragorn followed her gaze to Ami, then back to her.

"But... you are one."

"Oh do shut up."

The group moved on and scenes changed. More angst. No midnights. Trees changed around them too and turned to gold, and there was eerie music on the wind.

"We are being watched" Maya noted, not like she really cared at this point if the canons heard her or not. The elves could punce out at them whenever they fancied.

And they did. Elves. Yadda yadda. This was the part with exposition, mainly Frodo development, and more exposition. Dark queens, the temptation of the ring... they didn't say much as the scenes shifted over them like golden sunlight falling through tree boughs bending in the summer breeze. Amelia, especially, didn't say anything to her girlfriend.

Finally, it was time to leave the elves. She was glad to be done with them.

"Yay. Time for overhead shots of boats on water..." She sighed to herself. This movie was way too long for its own good.

The elves were positively annoying. And very blonde. One good thing that came out of this part of the movie though: there was another midnight. Gawain was glad to be back in his male form for what was to come, even though he was getting some strange looks from some of the elves, men and women alike. Ugh.
Ami was still not talking to him, and the rest of the group was too occupied with admiring blonde hair and golden trees to bring up the topic. When it was time to leave, since they did not participate much, Ami and Gawain had to leave the forest without magical gifts. Oh well.
And then came the river. They were not even in the same boat. Gawain would have worried if he did not know the story; but because he did, he knew the orcs were only going to appear out of thin air when the group had put to shore.
More river.

And more river. And more.

Really? Could there be any more river?

Why yes. Yes, there could.

This was usually the part where she went and got a drink of water when they watched the movie. Or played some Pokemon. Or got distracted in one of any hundred plus ways.

The boats sailed on.

Gawain was slowly falling asleep, and losing his sense of time. How long had they been in the movie? Couldn't be more than thee real time hours, still it felt like several days. He was so ready to get out of this story.

But it was not over yet.

Rwoing between two gigantic, actient, majestic stone kings, the group finally put to shore. Gawain helped them drag the boats up and settle down, and looked around for Ami. Sulking or no sulkng, they both knew what was coming next.

Walking to her side, he pretended to make some small talk.

"Frodo's gonna be off soon" he said quietly "So is Boromir. What's the big plan?"

"All that time on the boat was great for thinking..." She said. Her eyes shifted towards the group not too far off. Some were still setting up camp. Soon, Boromir would pull Frodo off. And then all hell would break loose. That's what Gawain was asking about. Too bad for him, Amelia wasn't one to give predictable replies. "You need to stop being so overprotective. I can handle myself. You're my boyfriend, yeah. But seriously... in a fight, that could get in the way."

She crossed her arms. She wasn't looking at him while she talked. Hadn't he figured out why she'd been mad at him, after all this time?

>>"All that time on the boat was great for thinking... You need to stop being so overprotective. I can handle myself. You're my boyfriend, yeah. But seriously... in a fight, that could get in the way."

Gawain blinked at her. Not like he did not see this coming, but still, it kind of shocked him that she did not see his side of the deal.

"Overprotective?!" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief "Ami, we were fighting a freakin' Balrog! What part of that is being too protective?!"

She said she could handle herself. He was pretty sure she was serious about it too. And she was getting pretty good in fights and missions. Still.

"As for getting in the way" he huffed, folding his arms "Ya're a pretty good fighter, Ami, but ya're not that good. I still outrank you, both on the team and in training. And unless I am absolutely sure ya're not gonna go off and get your ass killed, I'm not stayin' out of the way."

Okay, that did it. Pulling rank. And not seeing her side. Had he even been listening to her before?!

Bam!

There.

She dusted off her hands. "That's the second time I've shoved you with my powers when we weren't in a training session," she stated hotly. In one quick move, she'd forced him backward with a pair of semi-transparent palms against his chest. A foot had hooked behind his ankle, tripping him up real good. "I told Gandalf we were gonna run from the Balrog, idiot. I was planning to stagger him with one arrow, maybe two, then run. It might have slowed him down enough to save Gandalf's ass before he threw it away!"

Gimli glanced over at the two of them getting heated. He rolled his eyes as he unrolled his bedding bundle.

"Do we need to throw down, Gawain? I know your rank is important, and I'm not planning to second-guess you in a raid, but seriously. I can't have you dragging me around every time you think I could get hurt!" It threw off her game, got in the way, AND... it made her look bad. She was planning on going Murphy-grade badass here. Messing up that just was not cool.

>>"That's the second time I've shoved you with my powers when we weren't in a training session."

Oh it was on now. The shoving was unexpected, damn the semi-invisible hands. Gawain tripped, caught himself on one hand and rolled to stand back up and face her again.
Yup, she was pissed.

>>"I told Gandalf we were gonna run from the Balrog, idiot. I was planning to stagger him with one arrow, maybe two, then run. It might have slowed him down enough to save Gandalf's ass before he threw it away!"

"Well, he did. It's not like that wasn't supposed to happen." he huffed, folding his arms again. Sure, saving Gandalf would have been a big golden star on their story, but since the movies were completely separate, they would not be able to follow the story through anyway.

>>"Do we need to throw down, Gawain? I know your rank is important, and I'm not planning to second-guess you in a raid, but seriously. I can't have you dragging me around every time you think I could get hurt!"

"In fact I can, that's exactly what being a team leader means" he shot back at her, the threw his arms up. "Fine, do whatever you want. Your game. I told you I got no clue what happens if we die in here, the rest is your call."

You can never win a fight with a girlfriend.

The others were staring now, questions in their eyes. How one could stuff so many questions into an eyeball, she didn't know, but they managed the task. They managed it just fine.

She did not back down. She was adamant in this regard. Even though, yeah, he only really wanted to keep her alive, and yeah, going to Murphy levels of pride led to not wanting to take a simple hand up, or huffing and puffing every time Mr. Gentleman opened a door. And yeah, that might have been cool and in charge and control freak enough to be nice in a book... but in real life, maybe she was just pissed and not thinking straight.

But dammit, she wasn't going to back down!

With a huff, she turned. And bumped right into Aragorn's chest...

"Um. Hey."

"We need to talk," his eyes fell to her face. A hand went to her arm, and suddenly she was being led to the LoTR camp. And all the fellowship's weapons were drawn. What the hell?

Enter Aragorn, stage left. Gawain almost smirked at the notion that Ami was being dragged by someone else for a change, but the smirk soon disappeared when he saw the rest of the team. Oh hell. She was really, really, really good at getting into trouble.

Following close behind the King and his girlfriend, Gawain kept an eye out for the orcs. They were obviously near enough to attack Frodo and Boromir any given minute now. Whatever they had in mind was going to be lest of teir problems very soon...

Frodo and Boromir hadn't even broken off from the group yet. This was bad. The entire script was suddenly off.

"Talk about what...?" Amelia trailed.

She DID NOT like being manhandled like this. Even by someone as rugged as Strider. ... If Gawain knew she'd thought that, he'd probably have put an arrow in the King's back.

"You," he said. He swung her and let her tumble into the middle of the group. They stood around them. The hobbits looked scared. Aragorn narrowed his eyes and drew his sword, pointing the tip her way. "Gandalf may have trusted you, but all this talk. You talk as if you know what is to happen. And too loudly. And nobody yet has explained how your companion does whatever foul magic it is he does."

He could be buddy buddy with the guy for only so long. Somehow, suddenly, something had changed. But what, Amelia wondered. But what?

"I think they haven't been straight with us," Legolas said down the shaft of an arrow. His elf eyes were trained on her partner as all the others focused on the girl.

"And if they knew what was to come, why did they not stop it?" Aragorn continued.

Gimli's grip on his axe tightened. As did Frodo's, on the ring.

Boromir, oh Boromir. He was the first to outright say it. "Perhaps they've been biding their time. Waiting until our numbers had dwindled in order to take the ring!"

Amelia literally facepalmed. She may have been scared and at swordpoint, but the gesture felt it needed doing. And do it, she did.

>>"You. Gandalf may have trusted you, but all this talk. You talk as if you know what is to happen. And too loudly. And nobody yet has explained how your companion does whatever foul magic it is he does."

Okay. One: the dude was pointing a sword at his girlfriend. So not cool.
Two:

"Foul magic?" Gawain piped up "It's called gender shifting, idjit, and I ain't doing it on purpose..."

>>"I think they haven't been straight with us,"

>>"And if they knew what was to come, why did they not stop it?"

>>"Perhaps they've been biding their time. Waiting until our numbers had dwindled in order to take the ring!"

"All right that's quite enough" Gawain marched up inside the circle to stand next to Ami. He wasn't standing in front of her, that was a plus. On the other hand, they were in a circle. Not really a place to shield someone from harm.

"We have been stopping stuff from happening, thank you very much." he folded his arms again. He did not have a weapon, that's why. "Noticed any giant slimy water monsters at the gates of Moria? No? You're welcome. It's not our fault Gandalf didn't listen. Ami tried to warn him."

And this, kids, is why we call the good guys Lawful Dumb.

That arrow Legolas was keeping ready? It never stopped focusing on Gawain, even when he stepped into the circle. In fact, it kept its focus right on his back. All Legolas needed was a reason.

Gawain was trying Logic. But Logic was not applicable when the One Ring was messing up the entire cast because him and Amelia had botched things up by breeding suspicion in the core group. Their in-fighting certainly had not helped, nor the loud spoilers. Pretty much, everything about it had been a terrible idea.

Aragorn didn't stop pointing his sword. Now, he pointed it up at Gawain, though.

"Speak reason," he calmly said. "I would hate to have to clean my blade."

Things looked bad. When things looked worse, that's when the orcs attacked. It pretty much made the scene.

Gawain was painfully aware of the arrow pointing at his back. At this range, even the stupid elf could not miss.

>>"Speak reason. I would hate to have to clean my blade."

"Here is reason for ya, your highness" Gawain sighed, glaring at the king of Gondor "Hear that?"

Hear what?
Exactly. The forest was dead silent. Not a bird, not a rustle of leaves.

"We are about to be ambushed. Now you can debate over hurting us, or you can let us help you kill some orcs and keep that" he nodded at Frodo "safe. All cards on the table. We are on your side, and you would not survive this fight without us. Do yourself a favor, and be wiser than Gandalf for once. Listen to us, not the thing that is trying to make us turn on each other."