Stella woke early, watching as Aragorn packed his bags and dismantled the fire from last night. She was still hungry but didn't want to seem like a burden for bringing it up. She quickly rummaged in her bag before pulling out an apple; she smiled as she bit into the fruit giggling as the juices ran down her chin. He looked at her. She smiled sheepishly as she wiped her chin before looking up at him again
"Would you like one?" she asked holding up another apple, they were meant for her horse, Ares, yesterday but clearly that wasn't going to happen now. He accepted the apple still looking at her.
In the light of day she could see him better and realized that this man more than looked like he stepped out of another century, he personified "the dark ages" right down to the sword strapped to his hip. He caught her staring and immediately moved to cover the hilt. "What's with the get-up man?" she questioned pushing her fear of the man to the back corners of her mind. He looked at her confused "your outfit and weapon choice," she clarified she knew hunters sometimes used crossbows, or even knives, but a sword? He did not answer at first.
"You do not have to fear, I am not going to hurt you. My sword is intended only for those that pose a threat." He says in a soft voice. Stella just nodded and decided not to push the subject.
They set off in the direction that Aragorn had pointed towards last night walking in silence. Stella wasn't used to the amount of walking that he required of her, taking many swigs from her metal water bottle thankful that she had brought two. She shouldn't be so tired, she kept thinking, she was a competitor at the top of her game. She started her morning at five o'clock every morning to work out and train with Ares.
She thought about all of the responsibilities that she had walked away from when she asked to accompany Aragorn, those thoughts kept her busy for most of the day and she examined her surroundings. She had no idea that the woods went back this far, they had walked all day up and down hills and still she could not see an end to the woods. Finally they stopped once it became too dark for either to see much further than a few feet.
They fell into a similar routine as the previous night Aragorn gathered the firewood while Stella started the fire. They just sat there again looking at each other in the small amount of time that they had know one another Stella had come to understand one thing as an absolute fact, Aragorn was not a talker. Stella on the other hand loved to talk just to fill time; sometimes she caught herself talking to empty rooms. "So what's in Bree, I have never even heard of it?" she questioned
"Hobbits, two of them, I was sent to give them a message and escort them to Rivendell" he looked at her with such intensity that she had to look away.
"Oh, and what is a hobbit?" she asked hoping that her next question would not be laughed at "and what is Rivendell?" he looked at her disbelievingly but answered her questions without laughter.
"A hobbit is a small race that typically dwelt underground, believed to be related to Men, and Rivendell is and elven dwelling. I am surprised you have heard of neither," her looked at her again expecting more questions.
"Hobbits? Elves? Next you are going to tell me dwarfs are real too!" she exclaimed. This time he did laugh, a deep sound that sounded rough from disuse.
"Dwarfs are very real, Stella, how is it that you could live in Middle-Earth without knowing of these races?" he laughed. Stella's mouth had dropped, 'this man must be playing a joke on me, and what is Middle-Earth?' rather than sound like an idiot for the second time tonight Stella contented herself that once they had gotten to Bree everything would make itself clear to her. The next thing out of Aragorn's mouth shocked her once again he had his own questions.
"Stella, may I ask you something?" he asked tentatively as he watched her rummage around in her bag for something.
"Technically you already did but, shoot." she murmured looking for that damned protein bar she knew she had in her bag. He ignored her snarky comment.
"Your dress is unlike any I have seen on a woman, and your accent is peculiar, I do not mean to offend but how old are you?" at this Stella looked up confused, the search for the protein bar forgotten, couldn't he tell, she was always trying to look older than she was but he could ballpark it, couldn't he?
"I'm twenty, I just had my birthday last week." She smiled "and how old are you?" she asked with a smirk, she guessed around thirty-five, forty at max.
"Eighty-seven" he said with a completely straight face.
"Liar," Stella smiled, he looked affronted
"I assure you I am not lying," he said with a furrowed brow, confused as to why she would not believe him. Stella saw that he was being serious her mouth dropped open for the second time that evening. She buried her face in her hands.
"What is my mother going to say about this one!" she exclaimed "of course I can always just distract her with the stories of elves and dwarfs and hobbits before I slip in the fact that I am traveling with an eighty-seven year old man that I knew for all of half an hour!" she murmured more to herself forgetting present company.
Aragorn looked at the girl with amusement as she began looking through her bag again still talking to herself.
"HA" she exclaimed holding two things in her hand. She messed with one of the things before setting it on the ground a loud noise erupted from the small devise. It took him a moment to recognize that the noise coming from the devise had a beat; it was a song, with a harsh beat and a woman yelling. To his surprise she began singing as well, the same song as the devise. At first he was thrown by the small devise making such a loud noise and then he listened to the words it was talking about an old man, hitting on her.
He was confused the song talked of many things that he couldn't understand, so he gave up on trying to understand and rather focused on the girl. She was still sitting although she had started to sway in time with the music and she was smiling, she looked relaxed. She sighed and giggled as the song came to an end and pressed something on the devise causing the music to stop.
She looked at him with a small grin, "sorry," she said, though not looking it "it's just this joke I have with my friends, I tend to attract the older set so they made this my theme song, you know the song that defines me." She murmured "not that I think your putting the moves on me or something, I mean that song its just a joke," she paused at a loss for words, just starting to wish she had never played the song. All she wanted was to diffuse some of the tension she had caused by asking him his age. She looked up at him and was happy to see that he did not look mad rather he seemed amused with a small smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm not offended, I did not even understand most of it, you need not be embarrassed" she smiled at him glad that he had not taken offence to the vulgarity of the song, she might not have known him for very long but she knew enough to know that he probably wouldn't appreciate it. "You should go to sleep soon we will leave again early,"
Stella nodded she was tired. She opened the protein bar she had found and broke it in half she handed one half to him not sure how he could have gone on for so long without eating. 'He's probably just more used to this than you are' she thought as he regarded the protein bar with skepticism, Stella took a bite and looked at him he looked delighted 'chocolate protein bars, the way to every mans heart' she thought with a chuckle.
It was not long before she fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Stella awoke to the smell cooking, looked around and saw Aragorn sitting over the fire, cooking. This surprised her; Aragorn seemed more like the type that would expect food on the table rather than the type to cook it. He looked at her and smirked, she assumed that she had a bad case of bed head. Looking in her bag she found a brush and released her long blond locks from the loose ponytail and began the arduous task of untangling the mess and braiding it before wrapping it back into a bun that sat high on her head.
She greeted him with a small smile and a wave before sitting back at the fire looking at what he had prepared, meat, lots and lots of meat. She tried to hide her grimace but he saw, he always saw the emotions that so well played upon her face.
"Is something wrong?" he asked concerned.
"No, no" she hastily replied "it's just I haven't eaten meat in five years, I worry about my reaction" he looked at her questioningly.
"I have never heard of a woman abstaining from meat, I believe you will have a hard time finding food here that will suit your preferences," he looked at her worriedly. She just smiled at him, determined to enjoy the experiences she was facing.
"It's okay, I can eat it just don't be offended it I only eat a little" she managed to grin. He laughed and handed her a small portion of meat on a plate. She thanked him and began to slowly chew on the meat trying to ignore the protests from her stomach. She managed to eat about half of her serving before she became full and gave the rest to him. She began putting her things away taking off her left boot to remove a rock and grabbing her riding jacket out of her bag because it was shockingly cold and she had nothing else.
He looked at her for a while when she was getting dressed and realized that she was used to waking up with the dawn and the strenuous amount of exercise, and she could do it with a gracefulness that he had only seen in that of the elves. She had so reminded him of an elf with her near silent movements, he had forgotten his hunger assuming she would mention her hunger when she needed. It was not until last night when she had shared with him the delicious treat that he had remembered his hunger, and then she confesses that she does not eat meat, another trait that she shared with the elves. It was a true shock that she had never heard of the race she had so much in common with.
As they began their walk again it was at a much more leisurely pace he began to question her on her life before this "adventure" as she so excitedly phrased there walk through the woods. Just when Stella had answered the last questions she though she could handle before yelling at him to 'mind his own business' she saw it, a small grouping of buildings making up the town Aragorn called Bree. He stopped her there looking at the small town and looked at her with all seriousness.
"It is imperative that you address me as Strider whilst he stay here," she saw the serious in his eyes and simply nodded "and perhaps it would best if you were not to talk to anyone" he said as an afterthought. At this Stella scoffed 'as if' she thought but Aragorn continued, "the people of Bree are kind however they would not be understanding of your comments nor your strange accent." Stella paused 'it would be similar to school' she thought wryly as they walked down to the town and entered through a gate and to an inn called 'The Prancing Pony'.