Gimli stood facing the door, unsure if the feeling in his stomach was worry, fear, or just nervousness about the coming events. He had volunteered himself as member of a search party for the missing elves, including his close friend. He pulled the strings of his legging and tied the tight against his skin. He tucked in his undershirt, and then slipped the leather tunic over his head. The tunic was something all members of the group were being made to wear, a safety precaution. Gimli hated it, as he looked around for his shoes he muttered to himself about elf people, and how strange they were. He bent over, hating the feel of the leather restraining his movements, and laced up his boots. He stood up, and grabbed his belt, he tied it around the edge of the shirt, as he had been told not to leave much that could be caught on a branch, another reason he was in leather instead of his usual chain mail. Gimli clipped his axe onto his belt after stopping to examine it just one more time and threw his pack over his shoulder as he headed out the door of the quest chamber.
He made his way down the hall counting the doors to his right, his way of avoiding the embarrassment of getting lost. Something Legolas had suggested after Gimli had spent close to four hours wondering about the lower corridors and getting more and more lost. A search party had been organized then too, the members a little less eager to help, it took close to two hours to locate him. This did not help to improve his relationship with the other elves, including Thranduil, who Gimli tried hard to get to respect him.
After he had walked past five doors he stopped at the entrance to the prince's chambers, knocked just in case, and let himself in. He had never been inside Legolas' private rooms and was amazed at how decorated it was for someone who did not much like extravagant things. He stepped inside to the brightly lit lounge, looking around at the well carved furniture and the marble fireplace with vines full of flowers carved into them. Above the fire place was a picture of a beautiful woman with dark hair and blue eyes, a woman who looked very much like the prince. Gimli made a mental note to tell Thranduil that his son had the same lime green cat eyes as he did.
Gimli opened the pale green door closest to the fire place and found a lightly decorated purple and gold bedroom. The walls where a light heather, the bed a darker purple, the curtains and almost black purple. The wooden furniture was all light oak with bronze handles and trim. Most of the carved decorations where leaves and trees, while most of the items on the desk had more variations between leaves, trees and animals. He smiled to his self as he thought about how his friend hated to be dirty, and how much he would complain about being dirty. Gimli found the wardrobe and pulled open the doors open by their bronze branch looking handles, finding a pair of brown legging and a grey shirt he stuffed them in his travel bag. As he was leaving Legolas' room to meet the others in the search party he stopped and grabbed a dark grey cloak, shoving it in his bag along with the other clothing.
As he stepped into the court yard he squinted against the bright sun, because of this he did not see the king approach him only noticing him when he stepped in front of the dwarf. "Our group has been waiting for you for five minutes dwarf, the agreement was you could come along if you followed all orders. I will allow you this mistake, but do not let it happen again, son of Gloin." The king scolded the dwarf, his feet apart and his hands on his hips. His sun shone gold and a halo of light surrounded his head from where the sun was streaming from behind his head. He was trying to make the eyes he shared with his son appear angry, but all Gimli saw was worry. His outfit was all black and looking around the king Gimli noticed that all the others of the search party were also clad in all black, and wondered if he had missed that order too.
Gimli looked down at his self, he would stand out like a dwarf among elves in his light blue tunic and brown leggings, and then he smiled to the king and shrugged. "I wasn't informed of the dress code." The king sighed and began walking back to rejoin the group, Gimli started after him. "I was grabbing some clean clothing for your prissy spoiled son!" He called out loud enough for the king and the warriors to hear. The king ignored him, as did most of the warriors but some gave small smiles and laugh to each other. Gimli guessed these were Legolas' friends or something like that.
He stayed toward the back of the group, and kept quiet as they all began to move. When they walked past the stables Gimli thought is was a mistake so he sped up to come beside the king. "No horses' mighty elf king?" He said jokingly, but received nothing but a quick angry side glance. When after a moment Thranduil had not yet answer Gimli tried again, this time in a serious manner. "Wouldn't we get to Legolas quicker if we road to where he was patrolling last?"
At this the elf king looked to him and shook his head. "We will enter the forest soon. I'm going to have to ask you to be as quiet as you can, follow all orders as soon as they are given, and keep your eyes open for any sign of trouble." Gimli opened his mouth to speak, but the elf king cut him off. "I am completely serious Master dwarf, one mistake on any ones part and we could all end up dead. Then we would be no help to Legolas." After he had said this he turned and walked backward for a few moments while he spoke to the other thirteen or so of the group in elvish.
Gimli again fell back to the end of the group as they headed into the forest and the demeanor of the entire group changed completely, no one spoke, no one made a sound. As it grew darker and darker Gimli could not even hear bird or animals. He looked up and saw a dark green canape of leaves hanging as far as he could see, with spots of sun coming through in very few spots. The farther they walked the more self-conscious Gimli became, he felt like he was stomping and breathing hard compared to everyone else. He had a feeling of wrongness in his stomach; he looked around more worried than before, which of course made everything seem to move. Gimli gasped and turned around quickly as he could, pulling his axe free, after he had felt something brush his shoulder. His axe met the sword of the elf king with a loud clang, as the Thranduil laid his hand over Gimli's mouth to prevent farther noise.
The elf put his mouth close to Gimli's ear and whispered softly; Gimli felt his warm breath against neck and tried to keep from flinching. "Do not worry as much as you are, we are not too close to danger. The movements you see are animals called monkeys; they are nothing to fear, more so something to laugh at. When Legolas is found he would be happy to show you one up close." The king drew back and smiled at the dwarf, patted his shoulder with his hand and made his way to the front of the group, where he continued to lead them on.
Gimli looked around at the trees, trying hard to see one of these animals. He could remember only once hearing that word before; when Legolas had asked Boromir a question and he had replied with a stupid answer Legolas had asked him if he knew anything, or if he was as smart as a monkey. None but Gandalf, Strider and the tall brunette had understood or laughed.
The forest grew darker and the little amount of sky that could be seen between leaves was growing dimmer, the temperature had also dropped to a cool chill. Gimli wrapped his cloak tighter around himself; though he hated to admit it the leather tunic was very warm, so really only his arms and legs were cold. As the wind blew harder Gimli continued to trek behind the group, slowly falling farther behind without noticing until Thranduil called the group to a halt for the evening.
Though they did not start a fire, or make tents, the rest was greatly appreciated by Gimli. He sat beside the others more toward the center of the group they quietly spoke to one another in elvish for a while before on next to him turned and put his mouth close to the dwarf's ear and whispered. "Half of us will stay awake and watch for half the night, then we will switch. You're in the second group, so try to rest well." As he pulled back he smiled and patted Gimli's shoulder, the moved to the outside of the group and sat with his back to the rest who had moved towards the center. Gimli watched the others settle down, and was pleased to see Thranduil was in the same group, though he did not agree much with him, it comforted him to know someone with him. He smiled to himself and laid down, looked up at the canapé of leave swaying lightly in the cool breeze. His smile faded as the trees reminded him of the nights next to and in Fangorn, Legolas telling him of his home land and how the trees whispers would sometimes keep him awake entire nights, his worry for Legolas began to grow. He should have come back, he should have been safe. This was a time of peace after all. Wasn't the world supposed to be a safe place for now till the end of time?
Gimli closed his eyes and curled to his side, laying his head on his folded arm, he willed himself to calm his thoughts and drifted into a light sleep.