Spots close tomorrow!

Right! Spots are officially closed, and here is the first part. When speaking of myself (Gandalf, in other words), I use the third person (so as to be able to heap myself with praises, hehe). Thank you to everyone who joined, and thoughts will be very welcome.

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Part 1.

Gandalf looked around the hall. "Who will help me?" he repeated.

Flamarestii, a pretty teenager with astonishingly golden eyes, gasped at the idea. "I'll come," she said instantly, her head raised with the moonlight striking golden sparks from her eyes. And, "So will I," Echo Hallowswift and Darkvine said in the same instant, coming forth from the shadows next to the bookshelves.

"As if I could miss this chance!" Peregrine exclaimed, her slender figure outlined against the long window.

Artemis slung a light gray cloak, with an aura of mist and adventure hanging about it, around her and stepped forward silently, catching and holding the magician's gaze.

Hex, Lupine, and Scuttles offered to come too, and Poinsettia, who had been hesitating, felt the spirit of adventure rising up in her too, and knew suddenly that she couldn't miss this chance. And Amethyst and Jay, who had been rewatching the LOTR movies (naturally), glanced at each other and accepted Gandalf's offer.

WildSong had been sitting by one of the windows, her pale hair like a sheen of silver moonshine in the white light. Now she rose, with a careless toss of her head, and, taking down one of the Tolkien books, opened it to a map of Middle-Earth. The moonlight fell, blindingly white, on the page. WildSong looked up at Gandalf. "I suppose I'll come," she said.

So there they stood, a little band of adventurers, ready to risk thier lives for the friends who had been locked behind the pages of books for so long. Gandalf looked around and nodded. "Right," he said. "Now, I'd like to get down to business matters: are you ready, if you aren't ready, why aren't you ready, and so on. And, what's most important: we're leaving."

Lupine glanced around at the others and drew a little fluttery breath. They were in for it now. They could not turn back. They were going to Middle-Earth, to all its beauties, all its allurements, and all its dangers. They were going to see elves, dwarves, and maybe goblins and dragons. Her brown eyes shone with excitement that could not be kept back, and she slipped a muted gold cloak over her green dress. Adventure awaited.

Gandalf turned toward the window, his own black cloak blowing back on the wind. Not, there was no window there. It was shifting, surreal hills and mountains - their first glimpse of Middle-Earth.

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In a flash of Gandalf's blue light, the entire hall had disappeared, and now the CBers were making their way through a moonlit forest. "It's so amazing to be actually seeing it," Lupine breathed, unable to overcome her amazement. "To be seeing Middle-Earth, I mean."

"We've all seen it in the movies," Jay pointed out.

"But that wasn't half so real," Lupine said dreamily. "They were probably all filmed in some place in California anyway."

"Actually, I think they were filmed in New Zealand," Hex corrected absently, looking up at where the branches of the trees made leafy patterns against the star-swept sky.

"Whatever. It's all the same thing. But this - " Lupine spun around, her head lifted. "This is Middle-Earth."

Darkvine, overhearing this, paused and looked around. Yes, it really was true. Then she went over to Gandalf, who was leading them through the forest. "Gandalf," she said, "where in Middle-Earth are we?"

"Almost at Bag-end," Gandalf said surprisingly. "It's just a little way ahead - over The Hill, if you remember."

Flamarestii laughed. "Of course I remember," she said. "How could I ever forget?"

"But if we're at the time of Legolas - will Bilbo actually be there?" Amethyst asked.

"Of course Bilbo will be there," Gandalf said crossly. "Why else would I be taking you there?"

"But then we wouldn't really be at the time of LOTR and Legolas," said WildSong. "Tolkien didn't mean them to be all mixed up together."

"I'm not responsible for what Tolkien thinks," Gandalf said, more crossly than ever. "We're going to see Bilbo, and you're also going to see Legolas, eventually."

Aw, I'm glad you like it, Flamie! :)

@everyone, thoughts are welcome - also if you don't like something in the story, please tell me.

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Part 2.

They came over a grassy slope - which, the chatterboxers realized, had to be The Hill itself - and came in sight of a round green door. Scuttles hesitated, amazed. So they were really about to meet their first Middle-Earth character? No, actually. They had already met Gandalf. But that, somehow, was different...

Gandalf led them down The Hill and knocked at Bilo's door. At first there was no answer, but when he knocked a second time the hobbit came to the door. "Hello!" he said. "Oh, it's Gandalf. That explains it, then. I thought to myself, What respectable person would come knocking at my door at this hour? No one, of course. But if it's you it's only natural. What are all those humans doing here?"

"We're friends of Gandalf," Echo explained, and added with a giggle, "So Gandalf isn't a respectable person?"

"No, not exactly," squeaked Bilbo. "But then neither am I - after that adventure with the dwarves. But gracious, what am I doing reminiscing about old times and you on the doorstep? Do come in - oh please wipe your feet on the mat please - Gandalf hasn't! Well I never! Like him, that. There, now we're settled." He had led them into the dining room, where a fire was blazing brightly.

Scuttles sat down on one of the chairs - rather small chairs, and in fact a rather small room, but it couldn't be helped. Gandalf had taken the chair at the head of the table, but he was still standing up. "First of all," he said, "you must know what you're letting yourself in for. In the wilds of Mirkwood and in the depths of the Misty Mountains, bad wizards and goblins and monsters are trying to take control of the seven elements: water, wind, fire, earth, sky, ice, and sunlight [Frozen vibes? idk]. They are trying to find the seven jewels that hold the magic of these elements inside them, which lie somewhere on the outskirts of Mirkwood. If we cannot find them first, the evil creatures will use them to take over Middle-Earth. Will you promise to do all you can to save this realm of fantasy?"

For a second there was silence. Then Artemis lifted her head proudly, the firelight casting an amber glow on her features and dark hair. "I promise, yes," she said, and realized that her voice was echoed and strengthened by the voices of all the others. Every one of the CBers had promised. The call of adventure was too strong for them not to.

A little later Bilbo took them to their respective bedrooms, and they fell asleep in the moonlight to dream of elves and dwarves and dragons.

The next morning, Gandalf woke Peregrine at dawn. As she yawned and sat up, rather stiff from sleeping on blankets on the floor (that being the best Bilbo had been able to provide for her), Gandalf smiled mysteriously. "There's someone here who I think you might like to meet," he said. "Help me to wake the others. Bless me, humans sleep forever, don't they?"

"Who do you suppose it can be?" Darkvine exclaimed when Peregrine had woken her up and told her what Gandalf had said.

Peregrine shook her head. "Gandalf didn't say."

"Do you suppose it could be Legolas?" Darkvine asked slowly, a little smile playing about the corners of her mouth as she thought of the good-looking wood-elf, son of Thranduil the king of Mirkwood, the one whom no one else could ever quite replace.

"Or Tom Bombadil?" suggested Hex, coming out of her room to join them.

"Come on," Poinsettia said boldly, leading them into the living room.

Standing within it was Gandalf, talking to another man - no, not a man, an elf - with a wise, strong face that looked as if it knew how to be merry too, and long robes of green and gold. No, not Legolas, Darkvine saw with disappointment.

Elrond.

Gandalf beckoned them in impatiently. "Come in, come in," he said. "This, of course, is Elrond from Rivendell. He'll give us horses and help."

"But does he know aout the danger?" Artemis asked hesitantly.

"I do," Elrond replied. "Gandalf told me, and before he fetched you I promised him my help."

"And we're setting off for Rivendell today," Gandalf added, "so do hurry and eat breakfast."

The sun had broken through the delicate aurora by the time they set off, and lighted their path with unequalled splendor. Elrond had brought horses for all of them, and he and Gandalf were riding ahead, leading the way to the Edge of the Wild, and the Misty Mountains, and Rivendell.

Whee Bilbo! I love the way you portrayed him :)

btw, are you someone writing under an alias or is Gandalf your CB name?

This is fabulous so far! I can't wait to see what happens next :) I've never seen the idea of sunlight being one of the Elements before, that's a very cool addition! And I agree with Amethyst, your portrayal of Bilbo is spot-on.