The Fellowship departs from Rivendell. They travel through the woods, over open plains and hillsides. They pause on a hill in the wild. Gandalf looks over where the Fellowship has stopped, "We must hold this course west of the Misty Mountains for 40 days. If our luck holds the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there, our road turns east to Mordor."
Boromir spars with Merry and Pippin, tutoring them on sword fighting while Sam cooks food and Aragorn watches. "Two, Three, Four, Five. Good, very good." Boromir swings his sword, taking a step back. Aragorn notices Pippin's stance, "Move your feet." Pippin does as Aragorn says and moves. "That's good, Pippin," Merry mentions.
"Thanks."
Boromir addresses Merry, "Faster."
"'Anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way round. Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome." Gimli suggests, gazing at the wizard who sits there, smoking his pipe, "No Gimli, I would not take the roads through Moria unless I had no other choice."
Legolas notices something amiss and looks intently toward the South. Willow walks up to him, "What is it?" She hears Pippin shouting something about the Shire. Legolas's eyes narrow, "I'm not sure..." Sam takes notice of Legolas' observation, "What is that?" Willow's eyes widened, as did Legolas's. Gimli glances at the black cloud in the sky, "Nothing, it's just a whiff of cloud."
"It's moving fast... against the wind." Boromir realizes the trouble that flies in the sky. "Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas shouts. Aragorn jumps up, "Hide!"
The Fellowship scrambles to gather their things. Sam puts out the fire. Legolas grabs Willow as they hide behind rock outcroppings and under bushes. Just then, a flock of black birds rushes overhead, cawing loudly. They circle the hill, then turn and fly back Southward. Legolas had Willow pressed against his chest as the black birds flew off.
Gandalf crawls from his hiding, "Spies of Saruman! The passage south is being watched. We must take the Pass of Caradhras." He turns to the snowy mountain with a grim look. Willow and Legolas stand up and glance at each other.
The Fellowship climbs the snowy slopes of Caradhras. Willow sees Boromir in front of her and Pippin next to her. Perhaps she can distract Boromir from seeing the ring. Carefully, Desert grabs a handful of snow and throws it at Boromir, hitting him in the back of the head. "Ooff!" He turns around to Pippin and Desert, "Which one of you did that?" Pippin looks at him in confusion, "What?" Desert shrugs, "Don't know what you're talking about."
Boromir frowns and turns around. Desert smirks, holding another snowball. She aims again, hitting Boromir. The man stops, bends down, then stands back up. He glances over his shoulder at the two. Before Pippin can register what happened, Boromir throws a snowball, hitting the hobbit in the face and knocking him down.
Desert broke into laughter, only to get hit in the face as well, "Ahh!" Legolas was watching with amusement. Desert grabs another snowball and throws it. It sails in the air, Boromir ducks, and it hits Legolas in the arm. Willow gasped as Legolas stood there. Boromir glances between the two with a smirk.
WHACK!
Desert gets struck by Legolas in the chest, knocking her to the ground. The Elf bursts into laughter as she slowly sits up, stunned. Boromir also laughed until Pippin hit him in the face with snow, resulting in him falling as well. "Don't worry! I'll defend you!" Pippin cries out, throwing snow at Boromir and Legolas. Desert turned behind her and grinned, "Mission accomplished for now." She ponders to herself. Frodo had lost his footing and fell, rolling down the slope towards Aragorn. He stands up and looks for the ring. He spots it not far from him and picks it up.
Boromir didn't see it.