[the guy who be short]

Car in one hand, ferret in the other, Queen Quon marched towards Orodruin. They were making wonderful progress - Queenie was marching along the side of the road, positively zooming in comparison to the traffic on the roads.

Fléin, relaxed, laid back in his chair, and in Dwarf form, sighed. "This is amazing. Who'd have thought it would be possible to tame a gigantic ape from a savage island with no experience or understanding of the English language? And that it would fall in love with a creature a fraction of its size? Ha, quite funny really, isn't it?"

Wilhelmina muttered something about Hollywood and the unlikeliness thereof. "And I'm dreading separating the two once we get there..." she finished.

The conversation lapsed into a somewhat pleasant silence. Though Wilhelmina seemed worried, Fléin had no bright ideas to contribute, so he relaxed. The gentle swaying of the car was soothing, the pace incredible, the sandstorm was dying down, love was in the air, and, perhaps most importantly for the Dwarf, they weren't using any fuel at all. All that siphoning for nothing... And they had hardly touched their store of money, either - at least, he hadn't touched his, and all Wilhelmina had bought was a little hose.

He closed his eyes and nodded off for what seemed like only a few minutes before his eyes opened suddenly, cymbals clashed in his ears, and his sense of relaxation disappated in an instant. The sky was screaming in rage - the cymbals were thunder - not good, he reflected, at this height.

Fléin suddenly noticed that Wilhelmina was screaming something into his ear, but he couldn't hear a word of it. He motioned this to her. She responded by pointing out at the ape - invisible through the driving rain, but he must have been there - and then at her hat. Mr Swanky was stuck out there.

White light flooded Fléin's brain. The following roar was nothing compared to the squeal that rose from Wilhelmina, though. The car started - falling? Falling?! Queen Quon had been struck by lightning! His sight returned slowly, confirming the fact that they were falling towards the earth - the ape, too, was collapsing in front of them.

Wilhelmina continued screaming - Swanky! Swanky!, he could make out the words now, but a fresh roll of thunder cut off her squeals once more. Her face streamed as if she were outside. Only now did he somewhat appreciate how much that ferret had meant to the woman, her only friend throughout years of Mordorian life; now, falling, perhaps struck, in the hands of an ape.

An almightly crash as they hit the ground, Fléin's face struck the steering wheel, and pain shot through his face. White light - brighter than before, closer, the storm was upon them! - a boom from the back of the car, smoke, an explosion, flame in the driving rain, and Fléin passed out into blissful unawareness of the Hell around him.