[Kalimac]

Hooray, Merry and Eowyn and Faramir have all woken up - of course it's ALL due to Mr. Witch-Doctor sprinkling crushed athelas on them, nothing to do with actually getting some rest and food - and now the rest of us poor sods are off to be killed in Mordor. Merry has really lost it, doing his whole "woe is me" routine because he can't come along. And they call me Fool of a Took! Fool of a Brandybuck, more like it; they're giving him the choice to stay in bed and relax and he wants to throw it away! Not that I get a choice or anything. Wanted to say "Merry, for silver penny I'll trade places with you, OK?" but Gandalf and Aragorn were right there and I didn't want to get another smack in the head with that wizard staff. I think Merry's coming round though, at least the first thing he asked when he woke up was where he could get a smoke. Typical Merry. Well, he's not getting any of MY Longbottom Leaf, I can tell you that.

On the other hand, at least we'll be going somewhere. What with Merry and Eowyn and Faramir all mooning around wishing they could come and die heroically with us, and that Ioreth yammering on about how the athelas was really her idea, Mordor isn't looking so bad. Maybe I can "get lost" on the way there, or something...