Merry removed his pipe from his mouth with an air of amazed astonishment. "Why, it's smoke, it is!" he said, now seeming completely delighted. "How about that, then!"

Something wrong? Elizabeth supposed that yes, there was...but what was she to say? Yes, I happen to be completely smitten with a man other than the one I'm promised to marry. Not likely. "No," she replied abruptly. "Nothing."

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Gimli stood near Boromir and Aragorn. He agreed with the man of Gondor, and was very interested in how Aragorn would respond.

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Barbossa fought his instinct to wince by sneering in response instead, then turning away and muttering something about insufferable idiots.

"We have no more evidence that they are spies than we do that they are innocent," Aragorn replied firmly but quietly, holding up a hand to placate his companions. "I only wish to hear more of their story so that we may determine if they are a threat. Gandalf, do you believe there is a chance that they are telling the truth?"

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Gandalf sighed deeply, and his eyes closed as he concentrated for a moment iin his thoughts.

"Truthful they may be, but there is something I do not like in them. I foresee danger, for us all, but especially for Frodo. Keep him away from them."

He nodded to Aragorn, as if to say this responsibility was his, before he turned to Boromir and noted as patiently as he could...

"It is not the Dark Lord's way to send his spies in such a manner; do not trust them, but do not fear them either. Aragorn is right in not turning them out. I suspect foul play, and it could be they are just as innocent as us."

Boromir nodded, hanging his head, with a foul look on his face. But only for a moment, before he got up and strode away to see what the newcomers were about.

Sam crept up behind Frodo with an amazed look on his face, and stared at the pirates for a few minutes before breaking his gaze. He pointed to the pistol that was in Jack’s belt.

“What do you think it is?” he whispered hurriedly.

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"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Gimli frowned as his listened to Gandalf, but nodded when the wizard was finished. "I'm still keeping an eye on them." he said in a low voice, and moved to where he could just that.

"Only remember that by acting suspicious, you are telling them that we have cause to be suspicious. We have nothing to hide, but do not mention It," Aragorn whispered as a last piece of advice before settling down among the rocks. "Our provisions are not much, but they will hopefully suffice," he said more loudly, now addressing the newcomers. "Once we have eaten, we will hopefully clear everything up."

"M'not hungry," Barbossa instinctively muttered, waving away a proffered piece of bread. He briefly considered just explaining the curse immediately and not having to deal with it later, but quickly dismissed the thought. Too complicated to explain to someone who had never even heard of the Caribbean. Instead, he lied. "I ate shortly before our...arrival."

Merry winked over the bowl of his pipe, happily smoking. "Sorry Pip, this is all I've got." Then his face took on a thoughtful sort of mien and he leaned close, momentarily removing the pipe from between his teeth. "Bet you old Gandalf has some left, though."



Elizabeth shrugged silently. She couldn't say with honesty that the prospect concerned her unduly. Warmth seemed peripheral over these strange new circumstances, and surely someone would have an extra blanket, if it cam to that.

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"The ground," Aragorn replied simply, fetching his pipe out of one the sacks and settling down on the rocks. "And the weather for the time being is mild enough that we shouldn't need to worry about staying warm. As begin to climb higher tomorrow, we may have to use our heavier cloaks, but for now we should be perfectly fine as we are."

While Aragorn and the Whelp discussed these highly pertinent matters, Barbossa continued to observe Frodo's actions disinterestedly. Anyone else might have found a wide-eyed, half-sized man with mood swings and an apparent jewelry fetish to be quite odd, but given that he himself became an undead skeleton in the moonlight and hadn't eaten anything in nearly a decade, it would seem a bit hypocritical to so quickly judge others by their little quirks...unless that other happened to be Jack Sparrow. Then, anything and everything could and would be held against him. But that was another story altogether.

"P'raps ye'd best start by enumeratin' upon exactly where we are," he suddenly spoke up. "We told ye where we came from. Now where did we come to?"

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