Aragorn walked over to where Gimli sat cleaning his armour. Silently he sat down beside him. Without any lead in he said softly, "you're a woman." Gimli looked up, wide-eyed.
"That's ridiculous. What makes you think that?"
"Let's walk," replied Aragorn. Gimli set down his armour and followed Aragorn as he walked back into the trees. Once they were out of sight of the rest of the fellowship, Aragorn motioned toward a fallen tree and they sat down, both staring straight ahead. "Gimli is your brother's name, is it not?" Aragorn began. Gimli stayed silent. "I've met your father before," he continued. "At the time he had two children, one boy, one girl." He turned and stared intently at Gimli. "If I remember rightly, that young lady seemed particularly adventurous. I believe she once swapped clothes for a day with her brother." The corners of Gimli's mouth twitched upward in remembrance. After a moment of silence, Aragorn returned his gaze to a distant tree as he said softly, "your secret is safe with me."
"Why?" Gimli asked.
"Why won't I tell the others?" Gimli nodded. "It's not my secret to tell. I assume you have a fair reason for disguising your sex and it is not your fault that I figured it out."
"Do you think any of the others will figure it out?" Gimli questioned.
"Legolas, perhaps." Aragorn thought for a minute. "He's met dwarves before. Boromir is too preoccupied with trying to gain the Ring. Frodo is sick with worry and the others are busy protecting him." He counted on his fingers. "I'm not sure about Gandalf." He looked back at Gimli and grinned. "Gandalf might know but is too preoccupied trying to stop everyone from killing each other. Don't worry about it. Save the stress for after the war." The grin faded and he looked back through the trees.
"Do you really think that we can win this?" Gimli looked up at Aragorn, the fear evident in her soft brown eyes.
"I have to believe that we will," he said. "I have to have hope that day by day we are making progress. I may not be able to see it every day, sometimes it might feel as if we are going backwards, but in the grand scheme of things it must make a difference. Just as the insignificant act of a bird dropping a seed can give way to a magnificent forest, so too do our small actions play a role in Manwë's great plan." He stopped. "I have hope because without it, I am nothing."
