Katarina was singing and dancing in the streets of Sicily with her two brothers and the other residents of the vibrant city. Everyone was smiling and laughing as they celebrated the arrival of another baby in the community. Alessandro Donato tried to get Katarina to dance with him more than once that night but she knew that her best friend, Carissa Benedetta, would be upset with her. She has been trying to gain his attention for the past three years, but the man will not give up on Katarina and the fact makes her more than a little uncomfortable. Aragorn stepped out from behind the Leonoras' house and walked to her, leading her away from Alessandro and toward the most remote part of the city. His dark hair was partly tied back so she could see his beautiful eyes shining at her with love and admiration. She raised herself onto her tiptoes so she could bring her face closer to his until their lips touched; he gladly accepted her, pulling her as close as their bodies would allow and deepened the kiss. His hands gently tugged the straps of her dress down her shoulders slowly, kissing the skin he uncovered. She pulled him closer, allowing him to lift the hem of her dress to slide her black lace panties off of her and lift her to the wall as he undid his breeches, readying his member to enter her. . . .
"Katarina, wake up! Wake up!" Someone shouted anxiously, shaking her shoulders vigorously while not applying enough pressure on her upper arms to hurt her.
"Mmh, what? What's wrong?" Katarina asked, jumping into a sitting position.
"You were not waking, my lady. When you did not respond to my attempts to rouse you, I feared that you had passed in your sleep. Please forgive me, I was only trying to help you." Legolas finished with a little shame, for it was inappropriate to be in such a close proximity with a lady as he had been when he was trying to rouse her unless they were married, she was his mistress, or they were family. He did not want to upset her if she thought the same way he did about personal boundaries. The last thing he needed was her thinking he was about to rape her or make her his mistress for the remainder of the voyage without her consent.
"It is alright, my lord. You were worried about my health and that alone is very sweet of you." She replied kindly with a gentle smile. "I hold no ill will against you, dear Elf, for I know you hold no ill will against me."
A joyful smile graced his heavenly face and his eyes lit up at her quiet reassurance. She patted the top of his hand playfully, glad to see that he was cheering up a bit. She started to giggle at his confused expression, their eyes met and held. Boromir scoffed, breaking the small moment between the two and drew attention to the duo from Aragorn and Gandalf. Katarina blushed and looked at the ground in embarrassment while Legolas bowed his head respectfully to the three and hurriedly left to gather herbs from the forest.
Merry and Pippin walked over to Katarina, grinning like a couple of drunken fools. "Good morning, my lady. How did you sleep?"
"I slept very well, thank you Pippin. And yourself?" She replied politely.
"Very well, my lady. But I daresay I am starved this fine morn."
Chuckles could be heard around the camp at the young Hobbits' statement.
Katarina shook her head at her dear friend. "I do believe that dear Sam will have our breakfast ready before long. We must practice patience my dear Pippin. For in life not all the things we wish for happen immediately, they take time to happen and sometimes longer than we would like. But the point is, dear Pip, patience is a virtue and good things happen to those who wait long enough."
"What?"
"It is something that we say from my world. It is very common in my country."
"That's preposterous! I will not listen to any more nonsense from a rude, smelly, indignant, undisciplined child that knows not what she speaks of!" Boromir sneered in disdain.
"I know more in my little finger than you do in your tiny, insignificant brain!" Katarina retorted heatedly.
"How dare you call me dumb? I am far more educated than some grimy, disgusting peasant like yourself!"
"Better to be a peasant than some bone headed aristocrat that cannot tell a horse from a long haired rat!"
"Better to be a bone headed aristocrat than a smelly, uneducated whore!"
"Boromir! That's enough!" Aragorn commanded angrily, glaring at the Gondorian seated across from him.
Merry and Pippin glanced between the two Men anxiously, hoping almost desperately each would not draw his sword on the other. Katarina went to the Hobbits and touched each of their shoulders, looking between the warriors nervously. She did not want Aragorn to get hurt because of her pride and reckless words.
She sighed in relief when Gandalf intervened, to say he was furious would be a major understatement. The sky darkened and thunder sounded in the distance, he seemed to grow taller and his voice boomed dangerously as the thunder. "Cease this nonsense at once! There will be no fighting in this camp!"
"I'm sorry, Gandalf."Aragorn replied quietly.
Katarina eyed Boromir angrily, refusing to believe anything he said but the thoughts boiled her blood like a stew on a fire. A silence ensued, where she had time to get angrier and angrier at the sexist Gondorian pig. They glared at each other from across the campfire, eyes blazing with fury. Legolas chose this moment to return from foraging in the forest with a bag of herbs. He looked around the camp, sensing the tense air surrounding Fellowship and wondered vaguely what had happened in the short time he had been gone. "What has happened? What has made Katarina and Boromir glare at each other so?"
Aragorn glanced between the Italian young woman and Gondorian soldier for a moment. "They have had another . . . disagreement, a fiercer disagreement than the last argument they had."
"And did our wildflower strike back as fierce as he?"
"Aye, that she did laddie. That she did." Gimli grumbled from his corner of the camp.
"How do you think we should go about de-thorning the rose, Gimli?" Legolas asked with a smirk.
"I know not, laddie. I know not if ya can . . . and to be honest with ya I would not want to try."
Aragorn chuckled heartily at this. "But dear Gimli, you never know what may happen until you try. Don't you agree, Legolas?"
"Aye, mellon nin." He replied, glancing at Katarina as discreetly as possible under the circumstances.
She was singing softly to herself in her natural language, watching Merry and Pippin dance around in circles around the fire with their bowls on their heads. He listened to her tinkling laughter, noticing the light in her eyes as she smiled at the Hobbits, wishing they would shine at him like that. The Elf Prince was entirely unaware that someone else was caught by her charms, for a certain dark haired Ranger was indeed intrigued by the foreign beauty and her kindness towards the Hobbits. That night both males dreamt of the beautiful maiden, though the content of their dreams differed immensely, their interest in Katarina was equal.
In Legolas' dream she was singing to him in a beautiful meadow of wildflowers. "Venite il mio amico e unirsi a me, in un viaggio attraverso il mare. Non so dove andremo, tutto quello che so è quanto voglio sfuggire a questo mondo di violenza. Vieni con me a un campo d'oro, circondato da cumuli di grano tenero, per quanto possiamo vedere. Vieni con me attraverso l'oceano di sogni e dimmi cosa c'è nel tuo cuore! Prego, ti prego, vieni con me."
Meanwhile, in Aragorn's dream Katarina was dancing for him, and somehow they ended up in Rivendell. He didn't mind since he loved the Elven city dearly and he could share it with the beauty by his side. She would sing and dance to Elvish crowds by the fire and enchant them with her flowing language. She would wear flowers in her hair, and help everyone who needed a hand because of her kindness and willingness to assist.
The night wore on and none of the Fellowship was aware of just how much the foreign beauty was affecting two of the most resilient warriors of the group, nor how they would in turn affect her.
Translations
Vieni mio amico e unirsi a me in un viaggio attraverso il mare. Non so dove andremo, tutto quello che so è ciò che voglio sfuggire a questo mondo di violenza. Vieni con me a un campo d'oro circondata da mucchi di grano, per quanto possiamo vedere. Vieni con me attraverso l'oceano di sogni e mi dica cosa c'è nel tuo cuore! Ti prego, vieni con me-Come my friend and join me on a journey across the sea. I do not know where we will go, all I know is what I want to escape this world of violence. Come with me to a field of gold surrounded by piles of wheat as far as we can see. Come with me across the ocean of dreams and tell me what's in your heart! Please, please come with me
A/N: I know it feels like these chapters are getting shorter and I'm really sorry! I've been running out of material per chappy. I've been trying not to give too much away while at the same time give you a good lengthed chapter. Thank you to my beta PhoenixNimbus.292 for correcting grammar errors I missed. You made this story a lot more understandable!