We finally caught up to Peony today. We stopped early and set up camp so that Strider could go hunting. While he was gone, we found some tubers growing wild in the thickets that we cut up and cooked with the rabbits he brought back. Then we finished off our meal with wild berries. Strider thinks our food supplies may run short. Although we're less than 200 miles from Rivendell, it may take us several weeks to arrive since we must go across country. We cannot travel by road and hope to elude the Black Riders.
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As soon as the daylight was full, they had some hurried food and packed. It was impossible for Frodo to walk, so they divided the greater part of their baggage among the four of them, and put Frodo on the pony.
..They started off in a southerly direction. This would mean crossing the Road, but it was the quickest way to more wooded country. And they needed fuel; for Strider said that Frodo must be kept warm, especially at night, while the fire would be some protection for them all. It was also his plan to shorten their journey by cutting across another great loop of the Road: east beyond Weathertop it changed its course and took a wide bend northwards.
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"It's impossible to have Frodo without Sam, or Sam without Frodo. They're like two halves of one heart..."
"If your hurts grieve you still and the memory of your burden is heavy, then you may pass into the West..."
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