Chapter 7


Thanks for all of your awesome reviews!

Took me a while to update, but here we are!

P.S. Lord of the Ringses does not belong to me... No matter how muches we wants it. Right, My Precious? *Begins talking to self*

Enjoy!


Legolas, Boromir and Gimli watched as Aragorn's figure slunk from the clearing, shoulders slightly tense from scolding them. It was almost comical how serious she could be while covered head to toe in puddle-muck.

Of course they all knew she was right, but they hated to admit it, especially after that infuriating human just gave that speech that made them feel like the gunk on her tunic. It would make it seem like they weren't the ones coming up with the idea if they readily agreed, and both of the two beings were too stubborn to admit the future human king's words actually moved them at this point in their acquaintanceship.

Gimli made an attempt to fold his chubby little arms across his barrel chest several times, before finally settling with his fists on his hips as he looked away from Legolas with an indifferent frown on his lips. Legolas stood with his hip jutted to one side, hair spilled over the shoulder nearest the dwarf as though it might act as a curtain, blocking out the inferior dwarf from his vision.

They stood like that for several minutes in stubborn pride with only the sounds of Boromir readying the sleeping mats and the hobbits' snores as background noise. The Gondorian had long since given up watching the entertainment, choosing instead to sleep. They had a long day ahead of them if they ever wished to make it to the mountains.

"Well," Gimli said, breaking the silence while running a contemplative hand through his scraggly beard, flexing his flashy muscles proudly as he did so in what looked like an animalistic attempt at dominance to a passer by. Legolas merely snorted at the dwarf's attempt to show off. "Perhaps Aragorn does have a point," Gimli finally stated when he was finished preening in his own dwarvish fashion.

Legolas shifted, letting the star light from the gap in the trees filter down onto his skin and give him an almost ethereal glow. The dwarf would never be able to outmatch him in handsomeness, that was for sure- though he doubted the dwarf would even stand a chance against him in a fair fight. "Aye, we should put aside our differences to settle at a later date," he grumbled in a somewhat begrudging tone.

Another long silence ensued as they eyed each other skeptically. Even the surrounding wildlife seemed to quiet at the tense conversation. Legolas couldn't even sense it, which he found slightly off putting. Generally nature was not as in tune with the squabbles of travelers unless they considered it a threat. Perhaps the growing threats of darkness was enough to silence natures noises in modern times though, so he dismissed it.

"That settles it then," Gimli finally agreed. "But that doesn't mean we have to start- dare I say it- being friendly with one another!"

Legolas and Gimli shuddered at the same time, though seeing as how they faced opposite direction in that moment, they had no clue how similar they were responding.

"Goodness, no!" Legolas half spluttered, mixed with melodic chuckles. "As soon as we are finished protecting the hobbits we may go back to our strong dislike for one another."

Gimli nodded. "Agreed. If Aragorn thinks we can be friends then he is crazy! What self-respecting Dwarf is an elf-friend?" He chuckled, turning to face the elf, elbowing the other slightly to bring him in on the laughter.

Legolas joined in willingly. "Exactly my point! And what kind of Elvish prince makes a bond of friendship with a dwarf of the Lonely Mountains?" He paused to ponder for a moment. "Not one who wants to live if my father still holds his grudges, that is certain."

Gimli narrowed his eyes at the elf. "My father would chop off my head if I made Thranduil's spawn anything more than a traveling companion," he agreed, a biting edge to his voice.

The two eyed each other, all laughter gone from their faces, the air suddenly growing heavy as it seemed to weigh down with years of tension and a generation of misconstrued hatred.

"For the hobbits," Legolas finally bit out through clenched teeth. He really didn't like this one bit, but then again, if they were ever going to travel so near the enemy's gates they needed to stop getting into such heated discussions. It was bound to draw attention to orcs, goblins and perhaps even a troll or two if they grew as spirited as they had earlier that day. Thankfully, they were to far from Isengard or Mordor to cause too much of a ruckus with their arguments, though there was always a possibility that a spy of Sauron or Saruman would overhear them. They really needed to tread more softly.

Gimli thrust his hand out in agreement. "For those blasted little creatures."

Legolas stopped himself from retorting with a- 'You're not much taller.' Mostly because he had just finished shaking the dwarfs much smaller hand. As a prince he would hold himself to much higher standards than the dwarf, even when he doubted a dwarf would be able keep his word.

Another thing that kept him from retorting was the sudden sound of splashing water meeting his elvish ears from the nearby brook. It seemed to be so much louder to his keen senses with the sounds of the night-time creatures being so terrifyingly absent.

Without even hesitating, he ran off into the woods after the sound, knowing exactly who it was. Knowing humans and their poor eyesight, he suspected Aragorn ran off in a fit of rage after the confrontation and forgot about the stream in her emotional turmoil. With Legolas's luck, Aragorn fell in and was drowning, leaving him all alone to face Elrond's wrath.

When Legolas withdrew his hand from the dwarf's dirt-covered mitts and charged into the brush in the same direction that Aragorn had gone, Gimli looked on, slightly bewildered at his sudden movement. His hearing was nowhere near as good as the elf's , and he was not as in tune with his surroundings as the elf was, mostly due to his many years working with tools and machinery in echoing caves. Gimli simply stared after the elf as he dashed into the bushes like a maniac. He decided that elves were odd creatures, and perhaps it would be best for him to get his rest rather than try to understand their motives or belittle them any further. He twaddled over to his sleeping roll and readied himself for a good night's slumber.

Legolas ran through the woods, chest hammering at the thought of Aragorn dying so close to Elrond's home- and within the first day of their quest no less! He strained his ears, listening for the sounds of the mortal's flailing, which became steadily louder as he moved along the water's edge.

When he finally found her, he froze on the bank in confusion. He really wasn't sure what he was seeing, but the water seemed too shallow for her to be drowning. He stood back, utterly befuddled and watched until he could completely comprehend what he was witnessing.

Aragorn had yet to take note of Legolas on the shore, that much was obvious from the way she continuously dove beneath the water, popping back up a minute later, gasping for breath, then falling beneath the shallow depths again with a cough and a splutter.

If she was swimming then she was doing a terrible job of it. It was a skill Elrond obviously neglected, that was certain as Legolas watched her jerky movements. She did not have the grace of an elf. It was almost painful to Legolas's senses to watch her puttering around in what may have been a romantic, moonlit setting had she not looked like a drowning cat. He smiled slightly to himself, being thankful that Aragorn would at least not smell as bad come morning.

Just as he turned to leave something caught the light of the moon that made him freeze. The head that had surfaced for breath looked like Aragorn's, what with the uneven dark hair, but when the moon hit its face, it looked... almost rotten. He blinked disbelievingly for a moment, squinting, but in another second the head had fallen below the surface of the water with a soft grunt.

He stared at the water, which had turned unsettlingly still after the head had fallen below the water. He waited, not believing his eyes. Obviously it was a trick of the moonlight reflecting off of the water. There was no way...

Suddenly a hand flew from the water, and Legolas could not deny the fact that the hand was gnarled, off green, and gripping a flashing knife. It was only visible for a moment before it plunged beneath the surface, making Legola's heart constrict.

He reached for the knife on his own belt, freeing it just as a large cloud of murky darkness began stretching over the clarity of the stream. He hoped against all odds it was simply murky water, and not blood. Still nothing moved, so he waited.

And waited.

Legolas swore under his breath when a dark-headed body surfaced on the bank at other end of the stream, pushed there by the current of the water. He wearily approached it, gripping his weapon in hand firmly, preparing himself for an attack should the other body appear.

Once he waded across the river he slowly bent to his comrade's side, moving to turn her still form over. It was obvious from the way she was positioned face down in the mud that she was most-likely dead. He was too late. And Elrond would have his hide. What an anti-climactic way to go for the both of them.

He was so busy thinking about if Elrond would make good on his word that he did not hear the rippling of water behind him.

"Don't move, or I will plunge this knife between your shoulders," a horse voice growled behind the prince menacingly.

Legolas nodded his head in understanding, raising his hands in surrender only to feel his own knife being ripped from his grasp. It did not matter, though. He had its twin still safely tucked away in his belt. When the opportune moment presented itself, he would strike. He was already at an advantage seeing as how they stood in the shadows of a tree. The creature would not be able to see him nearly as well as an elf would with his years of training.

"How did you come by this knife?" The creature queried, an edge of anger seeping into the strained voice.

Legolas simply did not answer. The orc deserved no answer. It would die soon anyway.

As soon as the creature went to ask a second time, pressing deeper into Legolas's back with a blade, he swiftly bent forward, hooking a leg around the monster's to trip it back into the water it was previously fighting another in. It fell easily enough, with a slight gasp while Legolas spun and pounced on top of it- blade at its throat while dark hair fanned out in the stream around the moon-lit face of his attacker. He was seconds away from slashing his blade across its throat, which nearly begged for death in the way its heavy breathing pressed his knife further into the skin.

There was a moment of silence, mingled with heavy breathing as Legolas continued to sit atop his captive in the shallow water, staring down at its face. Legolas immediately stopped his attack and gaped in horror at who he nearly decapitated as the body continued to thrash beneath him, struggling to free itself from yet another attacker.

"Aragorn?" He gaped in awe. The sound of his voice, thankfully, was enough to make her stop her struggles and squint up at him while her eyes adjusted to the dark, then widened in shock and recognition. "But- but the blade- the body on the shore!" He sputtered, pointing at the body behind them.

Aragorn was less than pleased at the sight of the elf on top of her. "YOU!" She shouted, only to end up coughing in the elf's face at the strain it caused on her vocals. "You were the one standing over there, watching as that orc tried to kill me? Valar, I should have known," she groaned dramatically, slapping his loosened grip from her wrists.

Legolas winced. She must have seen his figure at some point during the struggle. "You sound terrible," he commented, trying to redirect the conversation to little avail.

"Do I?" She groused, easing up onto her elbows while the elf slowly rose from her aching form. "I inhaled quite a bit of water, was nearly choked out at one point, and just had you sitting atop me, so it is no surprise to me that I am not up to your obnoxiously high, elvish standards." She rubbed her neck soothingly.

She nodded at the body bobbing on the shore, "That was a dead orc that you must have mistaken me for," she grumbled. "I was able to pull my knife out of my boot last second, but he nearly had me. The thing took me completely by surprise, but it seemed to be traveling by itself. We are lucky for now, but we must tread softly." She eyed Legolas wearily, "I trust that you have made amends with Gimli?"

He suddenly realized that the orc may have been following them in the first place due to their many loud and violent outbursts along the road, as he suspected this may have happened sooner or later should he and Gimli continued their fights. Aragorn's attack may have been his fault completely for not working things out sooner, as he should have, he thought grimly. This entire scenario might have been avoided had they just stopped bickering. Worst of all, it was someone completely uninvolved in their dispute that ended up attacked by the monster.

Though, it also explained why the forest had been unusually quiet earlier. Now that the orc was defeated the crickets seemed to be chirping again and nature's natural balance had been restored. Legolas mentally scolded himself for not noticing it earlier.

"Gimli and I have made an agreement to stop arguing for the good of the company," Legolas said stiffly, taking in Aragorn's sagging, shivering form with a critical eye. It was a cold night, and while an elf's form was impervious to changing weather conditions, humans seemed startlingly affected by them. "Let's get you back to camp and warm you up. You will be no use to the company in your current condition."

She nodded and let Legolas lead her away from the dead orc's body. "I do have one question, though," she grumbled, looking up at the elf in puzzlement.

"What?"

Her glare could have bored a hole in the side of his head. "Why did you not come to my aid? I nearly died," She hissed.

It was one of those questions he knew he could never answer the truth to, else they would never speak civilly again. Who wants to be told that they mistook them being brutally murdered for a simple attempt at swimming. Before he knew it a lie was spilling from his lips, "I doubted my ability to strike the correct one of you. It was hard to determine which was which when you were beneath the water."

Aragorn nodded, though it was obvious she doubted him. "So you simply let him kill me, then you would kill him. That is a very good plan, actually, except for the part where I am dead."

Legolas sighed, knowing this was going nowhere fast. "Fine, in truth I thought you were attempting to swim, which was horribly confusing because of the jerking movements, flops, and flips. It looked very odd, but... then I caught sight of the discolored hand."

He looked over at Aragorn, whose face was devoid of all emotion while she stared at him. Then she burst into laughter.

"Peace, Aragorn! You'll set another orc on us with all of you ruckus, and I won't feel a bit guilty this time!" Legolas tried to quiet her.

"This really shouldn't be funny," she gasped between hacking her abused throat and laughing so hard she began retching up the water she had swallowed earlier that night. "But it is," she garbled.

"Quiet," Legolas hushed. "We are nearing the camp. You will wake the others at this rate."

"The only reason you stood there so long, watching me get murdered, was because you were passing judgment about what a terrible swimmer I was- while I was getting killed!" She wiped the tears forming in the corners of her eyes away with shaking palms. "Oh, if I had not been in need of some laughter just now, I probably would be extremely furious with you."

Legolas nodded, leading the shivering woman into the clearing filled with the sleeping beings of all kinds.

"I must make a confession then, seeing as how you are being so brutally honest with me," Aragorn admitted in a hushed tone, nodding solemnly at the elf in mock sincerity. "While I was being drowned, I just barely made out your figure standing there watching and I thought you were a second orc come to assist the first, which was why I was so concerned when it seemed to be carrying your blade." All laughter and amusement seemed to vanish as she recalled her worst fear. "I thought it must have killed you and taken it, and possibly killed the others!" She shivered, though she was uncertain whether it had anything to do with the weather at that point.

Legolas scoffed at her unwarranted conclusions. "I am far better looking than an orc! And an orc would never be able to kill me."

"Sure, sure," Aragorn teased, shaking off her sudden bout of worries.

Being covered with nearly frozen, soaking wet clothes was probably another thing saving Legolas from Aragorn's wrath, as she was shaking so hard that he doubted she could get her body to function properly even if she did want to throttle him for nearly letting her die. He quickly rested a steady hand around her waist and began leading her closer to the fire as Gandalf quickly approached them, apparently the only one of their group still awake.

"What happened?" He said sternly, running the warming light at the tip of his staff up and down Aragorn's body. "Explain!" His voice cracked like a whip as his angry eyes turned on Legolas full force.

Legolas shrunk back slightly, but managed to hold his ground as he adjusted Aragorn's weight against his side as she leaned further into his body heat when a cool breeze passed through the trees. "There was an orc. Aragorn killed it, but we must be more careful and move faster. I fear there may be more enemies near." Legolas clipped.

Gandalf's brow furrowed as he looked down at Aragorn. "Is this true, child?"

Aragorn nodded hesitantly, "Aye."

Gandalf let out a breath that he had been holding. "It is as I feared. We must move more swiftly if we hope to get to the pass before being caught by more evil, and double our efforts if we hope to reach the mountain pass before it is covered with snow." The wizard turned away from them, "We have a great many things working against us, let us not add young Strider's health to the list. I will keep watch for the remainder of the night." He smiled and winked at the Human before departing through the foliage.

Aragorn's face reddened at the terrible nickname Gandalf used in occasional jest, which had originated on the tip of a rather rude villager's tongue. Normally she did not mind when people called her by that name, but Gandalf had been there when the man had made it, claiming she 'walked like a woman on long, womanly legs, so he would call her Strider.' The man was outrageously drunk at the time. Obviously she had long since stopped walking like a woman, even though her legs- as Legolas had pointed out- were slightly more slender and shapely than most. But the name stuck in the small town she frequented for Ranger duties. Thankfully, with some help from the wizard the nickname never completely disappeared, but the reasoning surrounding it changed to something much more obscure and less embarrassing. Gandalf had yet to let her live that incident down, and part of her suspected that the name was so long-lived because of his meddling.

She nodded to nobody in particular and headed over to the dozing pony, which still held her traveling pack to find her extra clothes, and hopefully even a jerkin. Her fingers were so numb from the cold dip in the water that fumbling with the knots on the bags seemed to be doing nothing more than irritating the animal they were tied to. She let out a frustrated growl, shocking the poor beast from its sleep.

"Need help?" Legolas offered, snaking an arm around the irritated warrior's form, ignoring the fact that her clothes soaked his own as his steady frame enveloped her dripping, shivering one.

"If you want to help me, let me get out of the way first," She grumbled, dropping her arms to her side helplessly with a slight blush rising to her face at the sudden heat. She refused to admit that it had anything to do with his closeness, nor the warmth that spread through her body where his torso touched her back. The breath on the nape of her neck only felt so good because she was so extremely cold, she decided. Also, her heart was merely beating so fast because of the fight she had just gone through. It certainly had nothing to do with the elf, grinning his sultry smirk behind her.

She watched at his nimble fingers quickly untied the pouch from the pony with much more grace than one would expect from such a menial task. "Do you Mirkwood Elves know anything about personal space?"

Legolas responded by dropping the bag on her lap, pulling away, and rising to his feet, which caused her to recoil in shock at the cold air. She gasped in surprise and hugged her bag closer for comfort and warmth.

Legolas gave a large, toothy grin as he looked down at the uncomfortable warrior, chuckling under his breath in amusement. "I merely thought you may require assistance, seeing as how you are cold enough to freeze the Eye of Sauron from where you stand."

She slowly uncurled herself from the ground to stand, now taking notice of how filthy her clothes were becoming again. "I am going just behind those bushes to change into something less soaked," she ground-out before storming passed him.

He smirked impishly as she passed, taking note for the first time how disheveled she looked in her baggy, water-logged clothes that hugged her lean, feline form. It was very obvious that she was not a normal man beneath her tunic, as her chest bandages seemed to have unraveled slightly in the attack. "Perhaps you will need my assistance disrobing?" Legolas teased, causing her to blush even redder in embarrassment that she tried to hide. "Though, it seems the orc has already helped you enough."

She looked down in the direction that he pointed, quickly hugging her bag to her chest when she noticed her state of undress. "I- I require no help, thank you!" She stumbled over both her own words and her feet as she quickly ran from the clearing, changing in a record time, just in case. Legolas was choking on silent gales of laughter. He was no longer going to be able to seek out the dwarf for amusement, but this human was bound to be an entertaining creature during the course of their ventures. And he was already tricked by Elrond to keep an eye on its well-being. He was just going to have to make the most of it.

He looked around the camp at the still sleeping figures of his comrades as he made his way to his spot. Really, they could sleep through just about anything.

Little did he know that one of the six figures huddled in the clearing was very far from sleep, as he had been lying on the ground, feigning slumber in hopes it might simply happen upon him. After overhearing so much strange conversation between the elf and man, he would be up late into the night, trying to decipher the true intents of the parties involved.

And why it looked like the elf was embracing the human from behind when he opened his eyes for a moment.

At times like these, the figure really hoped that he was simply sleeping and this was all a dream, because this could spell disaster for their quest. He scrunched his eyes as hard as he could when he heard Aragorn re-enter the campsite and make way to the nearly burnt out fire.

It had to be a dream. With luck, he wouldn't remember a thing about it in the morning, and he would be well rested.

Sadly, few amongst the Fellowship were blessed with much luck.