Chapter 3: The night be dark and jolly
There was a great silence around the camp of the travelers. The only sound was the soft bubbling of the cooking pot and the occasional dripping of molten grease from the swine on the spit. Both hobbits were sound asleep after the long journey, even though they had not eaten yet. A rarity. Gimli and Faramir had just come back from hunting and were so tired that even the dwarf had shut up and was now laying down on the soft forest floor.
"… The food is almost ready." Aragorn said. He spoke softly, for he did not want to wake the hobbits. There was an awkward silence when nobody answered. Aragorn broke it by turning the spit. It made a loud scratching noise.
"Huh, what, food?" Merry sat up and gave his younger cousin a poke with his elbow. "Pippin, dinner is ready!"
"Let me sleep some more…."
"Food! Pippin, F. O . O. D!" Merry spelled. "You told me how hungry you were before we fell asleep, you can't just sleep through it now." He pulled his cousin up by the arms and blew in his face.
"Hmmwhat? Oh, dinner is ready!" Pippin rubbed his eyes and muttered a 'thanks' to Legolas, who handed him his plate.
"Now that we have all woken up, I have something to tell you." Aragorn said. He sipped from his soup. " Although the forces of Mordor have been wiped out, many people are still on their side. One of the greatest forces are the Harad. During the five years after the war, Gondor has carefully started to trade with them again and this road, the Harad road, is their trading route. " he spoke calmly, to let the words sink in. "We are only halfway through South Ithilien, so there is no danger yet, but be prepared." Pippin gulped down his soup nervously.
"I am always prepared!" Gimli laughed. He gave the small stack of axes next to him a loving glare and petted it. "Who wants to get to you, young master hobbit, first has to get past me!"
"The very reason we took you with us." Faramir joked.
Aragorn looked at the jolly bunch and happily laughed with them.
"I thought I was your friend!" Gimli objected, not understanding the joke.
"No, you are my personal bodyguard." Legolas replied with a straight face.
"That better be a lie, elf!" Gimli roared. Then, he started to laugh. Even on Legolas' face a thin smile was visible.
Aragorn was mesmerized by his friend and found it strange, that an expression could change so much, with so little effort. Legolas' usually nearly emotionless face became like that of a god, with his silvery blonde hair framing it. This look was something that belonged to an elven face. It was the first thing that made him fall in love with Arwen, too. However, he had never noticed that his friend could have the same charms as an elven woman.
"Your soup is getting cold, Aragorn."Legolas suddenly said.
Aragorn quickly ate the rest of his food and hid his face behind his bowl for as far as he could. He had been staring at his friend without even noticing, but he, on the other hand, had been noticed doing so.
"I will stand guard for the first few hours. Who's after me?" He said quickly, to distract the attention.
"I will! I just slept, so I just need a little more time…" Pippin said, before letting himself roll on his side and fall asleep almost immediately.
"I think the hobbits will need all the time they have to sleep." Aragorn corrected him. "I will see who is awake when it is time to shift."
The moon was still shining bright and risen high when Aragorn felt the first signs of sleepiness. Being a king had done him no good. As a ranger who traveled the woods, he had been able to stalk prey for hours, or wait for an opportunity to sleep safely, but now, his body had grown lazy.
"Isn't it about time you go to bed, my friend?" A velvet voice startled Aragorn. His silver haired friend was sitting upright under his blankets.
"For how long have you been awake?"Aragorn asked.
"Long enough to notice that your eyes are closing slowly. You have fallen asleep twice, but did not notice. Shall I take over the duty?" Aragorn blushed slightly in shame. Everything was so obvious to his friend. And his friends… He wanted them to know last, that he was growing older, weaker and tired.
"…It is fine."He replied. He saw Legolas raise his brow, but the elf asked no questions.
"Have my blanket." The man said. "Or else you will turn cold. Tomorrow you have to be awake and as alert as a squirrel. Have you felt how the ground is shaking?" Aragorn lay his head on the ground and listened. As his friend had said, a low thumping could be heard, along with a loud scratching noise.
"…It might be a caravan, but they are with many people. I heard carts as well as hooves."
"You are right" Aragorn said. "Tomorrow we warn the others."
"I shall keep my eyes and ears open."Legolas said with a nod. "If they are coming for us, we will know. But at least I have not heard Elefaunts. It is no great army coming this way. Is that enough of a reassurance to put you to bed?" Aragorn sighed, but gave his friend a dashing smile.
"For once, I will listen." he said.
"Good." Legolas replied, looking into the distance. When Aragorn had settled under his blanket, he turned to him briefly. "Sweet dreams."
Aragorn looked up in surprise. "… Yes, thank you." He said, a bit slowly. What was it, with this elf, that made him stumble over his words? He rested his head on the soft forest floor after realizing he had been staring at his friend's back again.
When he woke the following morning, it was because of heavy footsteps nearing his head. He sat up too quickly in shock and grabbed for a sword that was not even there.
"Wow, wow, it's just me." Faramir said quickly, taking a few steps back. "Your ranger skills are still honed I see. It's time to wake."
"Good morning I suppose." Aragorn muttered, raking a hand through his hair to comb out the worst of the knots. He was surprised to see all of his companions up and packing. How could he, of all people, have slept through all the noise? Speaking of noise…
"Legolas, my friend, have you defined the nature of the footsteps yet?" He asked his silver-haired friend, who was standing a few feet to his right, hoisting his baggage over the back of his horse.
"It was but a caravan." Legolas replied. " They were with more people, but closer than we estimated, so they passed by this morning at an early hour. I am surprised you slept through it, it woke even Gimli."
"Yes, me too…" Aragorn decided it was time to get to his feet and start packing as well. He ripped off a small piece of his lembasbread and stuffed it in his mouth as a poor substitute for breakfast. He rolled up the blanket and handed it to Legolas. "Here, this was yours wasn't it? I haven't unpacked mine, sorry to let you sleep without a blanket."
"I slept under your blanket. I hope you don't mind."Legolas replied, refusing to look Aragorn in the eye, but accepting his blanket and stuffing it in the bag that was not on his horse yet. "I put it back in your bag already- and I saddled Brego."
"Oh I- well I was about to, but you saved me a lot of trouble. Thank you." Aragorn said. He looked at the brown horse, the only horse trustworthy enough to not have been tied to a tree. All of his bags had been packed and indeed a saddle already rested on the horse's back. "You are far too nice to me."
"Should I be less nice than?"Legolas joked. He grinned in a very… unearthly way. Showing white teeth and slightly narrowing his eyes. Aragorn realized he found it charming and stared at his friend with his mouth agape for a short moment.
"If being this nice is what you are, who am I to change you? I think we all like your company this way." He said, turning his head away.
"Chitter-chatters! We are ready to go. Are you?" Gimli yelled, riding in inpatient circles on his horse.
"Yes, in fact we are." Legolas replied a little too quickly. Aragorn narrowed his eyes when his friend rushed away and mounted his horse at such a speed he almost stumbled, but he shrugged. He did not know what to think of his friend's behavior and so, he thought nothing of it. He mounted Brego calmly and joined his friends.
"Well, I suppose it is time to go…"He muttered. "To the south."
(A/N):
It has been a while, but here is the chapter. Please tell me if I have made a mistake, English is not my native language.
