AN: Short, I know, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of things. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing original. That being said, on to the good stuff.
Jan 11/12
I hate snow. The California girl in Dawn had delighted in seeing the strange white fluffy cold stuff, but after a day of walking in it, enough was seriously enough. Legolas scouted ahead of the group, light on top of the snow, Dawn's muttered "And I hate you, too," causing him to look back and grin. Dawn was never a burden to the Fellowship, but she complained with the best of them, although since she did it so low that only he could hear, Legolas suspected that it was just her way of entertaining herself.
Dawn, being near the front of the group didn't hear Frodo slip, but the resulting commotion drew her out of herself and back to the situation at hand. Looking back, she couldn't help but shudder. Frodo had dropped the ring... and Boromir had picked it up.
"Boromir?" Dawn could hear the nervousness in Aragorn's voice as he carefully walked up to the Man, who had a look of almost childlike wonder on his face.
"It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing... such a little thing." Aragorn's hand crept slowly to the hilt of his sword as he urged Boromir to return the ring to its rightful bearer. Boromir looked on as if in a trance and Dawn sighed in relief as he looked up. "As you wish. I care not," was his careless reply as he returned the ring, ruffling Frodo's hair in passing. It was calling him, the ring, and Dawn could only pray he resisted it. They needed him.
The struggle through the snow continued as the Fellowship moved further along the mountain. Dawn had started counting her steps to stay awake. Her toes were numb, her hands were frozen and she knew, she just iknew/i that her nose was doing a stellar Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer impression. So engrossed in step-counting was she that she failed to notice Legolas's sudden stop and barreled right into him. Sure that he would tease her, she looked up only to see him motion for silence. He was listening, then Gandalf was chanting and whatever was going to happen, it wasn't going to be good. I hate snow. And then the mountain fell down around them.
When Legolas had finally managed to dig Dawn out of a snowdrift, the first thing she heard was yet another... discussion... between Aragorn and Boromir. "We must get off the mountain! Make for the gap of Rohan and take the West road to my city."
"The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard," Aragorn countered with a shake of his head. Gimli jumped in, "We cannot pass over the mountain. Let us go under it. Let us go through the mines of Moria."
The three turned to Gandalf to decide, not noticing the uneasy look on his face. "Let the ring bearer decide," he said, refusing to lead them to a place that held so much danger. Dread curled its way through Dawn's heart and into her stomach at Frodo's answer. The Mines had Gandalf worried. Sunnydale Survival tip No. 4 Or was it 6?: If the person with the power was worried, you should probably be pretty darn terrified. "Oh, baby," she whispered quietly, placing her hand over the slight curve of her abdomen, "what the hell are we walking into?"