CHAPTER VIII – Going, Going, Gone

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lord of the Rings, to my great sorrow ;)

Enjoy this very new chapter, Emery and Ava are finally leaving Minas Tirith, but not without company...


Two weeks later, the girls were saddling their horses, ready to leave the White City. The weeks had been boring: the lessons were canceled because there were new visitors. There was simply no time for Emery and Ava. Three days earlier, Gandalf approached them with the sudden news that they'd leave today, and that they'd first go to a city in an area called Rohan. They would also be traveling with company, but who those people were, Emery and Ava didn't know.

"I can't believe we're leaving this place," Ava said a little sad, "just when we started adjusting to things here." Emery put her hand on her shoulder. "At least we're together", she said. Ava sent her a half-smile. Emery was more than glad Ava was here, she'd never been able to do this alone. She was in another world, but with her best friend on her side. "Whoever we're traveling with, though," she said as she looked around her, seeing a man standing at a horse. Her eyes widened when she saw two children saddling a pony. They were talking and laughing loudly. "With children?" she whispered confused and frowned, "are we traveling with a family or something?" Emery laughed. It's that she'd seen it in a book in the bookstore, otherwise she would've thought the same. "They aren't children," Emery explained quietly, "they're called Hobbits, I read about them in that bookstore. They're really small, about 75 centimeters smaller than the average human." Ava tilted her head a bit, curious. "Wow," she said, "that's really small."

Then, another men approached. "Is that also a Hobbit?", Ava asked and pointed her finger, making sure no one noticed. The man was also small, but wore heavy armor and… an axe? "I think that's a Dwarf or something, but I'm not sure", Emery said as she looked at the small man. He was a bit crummy, but looked pretty dangerous.

Emery turned back around to her horse. Arwen had said his name was Amir, and Emery liked it. She smiled. The day had finally arrived: Emery was this close to finding her mother.

Aragorn looked back as he rode out the gate. His wife smiled and waved. It was painful to leave Arwen's side, after finding her back again. But he had to, Middle Earth was once more in danger and he and his companions had to do this. He trusted Arwen with the city, she'd do more than well.

He rode in front with Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli on one horse right behind him, then Faramir and the Hobbits, followed by the girls nobody knew except for the King and the wizard. Emery and Ava felt uncomfortable, they were the only girls and they had no idea where they were going. It was a good thing they were able to control the horses, but their butts were hurting as hell.

"Do you know where were going, Em?", Ava asked softly.

"All I know is that we are going to a city called Edoras," Emery said and shrugged her shoulders, "but I have no idea where that is." Ava focused on the long way before her. They had no idea how to get there, and the thought of losing Gandalf and King Aragorn frightened her. "How long is the ride anyway?" she asked, but already knew Emery didn't know either.

"Edoras is the capital of Rohan," they suddenly heard from the man in front of them, "and the journey will be three days."

"Uhm, thanks," Emery said, but the man didn't bother to turn his head. Emery turned to Ava and lowered her voice, "three days?!" Ava took a deep breath. This will be a long journey.

Aragorn lifted his hand and stopped, just as everyone else behind him. Well, Emery and Ava almost crashed into the ponies in front of them. The men all looked around and glared at them. Emery caught the gaze of the blonde Elf she'd seen before, on the training grounds back in the city. "Sorry", she murmured embarrassed.

"It will be getting dark soon," he said as he turned his horse around to face the rest, "we will be setting up camp here." It was another thing the girls could check off of their bucketlist: sleeping beneath the stars. The men created a fire and the little ones started cooking. The girls felt useless, but there was nothing for them to do, even if they asked so. They sat down, close to the fire to warm up, and just stared in the distance.

"Do you want some?"

Emery startled, interrupted from her own thoughts. She looked up to see a Hobbit standing next to her, holding a bowl of soup. It was the first time she could study them, she already knew they had ginger-like hair and curls, but she was still quite surprised by their height. He repeated the question and she came back to the real world.

"Sorry," she said, "yeah, thanks."

The Hobbit gave it to her and sat down next to her. "My name is Pippin", he said with a weird accent. It sounded Scottish, even though that didn't exist here in Middle Earth. She smiled. "I'm Emery", she said and offered him her hand. Pippin frowned and looked at it. Emery chuckled. "You don't shake hands where you come from?", she said surprised. The Hobbit laughed, and shook her hands, but a little awkward. "Then where are you from, if I may ask?", he asked after the weird gesture. Behind the Hobbit, Emery caught the look of Gandalf, silently telling her to be careful. "I'm, uhm, from a village in Gondor. I grew up there, even though I'm an… Elleth… Anyways, it wasn't- I mean isn't that big. The hand shaking is… it's something I found out with my friend! Ava, here next to me", she said, proud of the way she took care of it.

Ava raised an eyebrow, but also shook her hands with the Hobbit. He grinned. "Well," he said, "it is a very nice gesture." Then he stood up in all the sudden and walked to the other Hobbit.

"Look Merry", he said and offered his hand. The other Hobbit didn't seem to understand and frowned at the hand. Then Pippin grabbed his hand and forced to shake it with his own.

Emery and Ava laughed at the sight of the two Hobbits. They didn't understand why it was so strange for them. Emery sought Gandalf's face, but he was talking to the Elf and Aragorn. The man who rode in front of them, was eating with the Dwarf. The two Hobbits soon joined the girls again. The second one introduced himself as Merry and shook their hands with a grin on his face. Ava thought they were brothers, but Merry and Pippin laughed at the thought of it. Apparently they were friends, even though they looked a lot like each other. Soon, the other man came over and introduced himself as Faramir. The five of them talked for a while, asking the girls what brought them to Lórien. Emery told them about the search for her mother, but didn't tell them the details.

Eventually, Emery's eyes we're getting heavy and she excused herself. Ava stayed, she was enjoying the company and jokes the Hobbits were making. Emery looked for a place to sleep, but her surroundings were completely dark, she couldn't see anything. She knew that they were close to the mountains, they had to follow them to reach Edoras.

She lay down, felt the hardness of the ground beneath her and knew it was going to be a long night. It felt like she was tossing and turning for hours. Here and then she got caught up in a world between being awake and asleep. She had lost track of time; unlike the others she couldn't guess out of the stars when the sun would rise. It could be midnight, it could be 03.00 AM, or it could be only minutes from dawn. Having enough of the hard ground, she sat straight up and looked around. A few feet away, she saw Faramir sitting against a rock. The fact that she could see the rock should mean it would be day soon, right? Faramir looked the opposite way from her, he was probably on watch, but she didn't know whether it was the first or the last.

Quietly, not trying to raise attention or wake the others up, Emery stood up and walked away from Faramir. She walked in the dark, and suddenly she felt the ground beneath her going up-hill. When she felt the ground flattening again, she stopped walking and gazed towards the mountains in the dark. The only source of light was the moon with the stars. She just stood there, thinking about home.

She closed her eyes, pretending to be in her living room again. In her mind, her mother called that dinner was ready. Finally. She turned off the television and walked towards the dining room. Her father and brother were already sitting at the table. Mom put the saucepan down and sat down as well. Emery smiled and settled down beside her. They talked about anything. Her brother whined about the fact that Emery had been singing the whole day, dad talked about how busy work was and so did mom. It was a typical evening, and Emery missed these typical evenings. Her mind wandered from the dining room to her bedroom. Her walls were painted in a soft brown color, giving it a rustic vibe. Just the sight of her bed made her comfortable: the many pillows, the plaid over the duvet, and even her stuffed animal she had kept since her birth. She would do anything to just lie down on that bed again, but she also wanted to find her mother. Her real mother.

Emery opened her eyes again. She felt her eyes watering, but blinked the tears away. She was not going to cry again. She noticed the mountains were clearer to see and looked behind her. She could see that the hill where she was standing was actually quite high, she hadn't noticed before. Luckily, she hadn't trailed off too much, she could still see the others sleeping. To her surprise, Faramir wasn't on watch anymore. The Elf was standing on a rock, cautiously looking around. She watched him curiously; she hadn't seen an Elf before. It was quite weird to see a man with such long hair. He had a firm posture, always standing straight up. He was tall, and most tall boys back home were slender and always had the tendency to walk gangling. Emery herself was tall too, about six feet tall. Still, she always forced herself to walk upright. Better slay it than fail it, Ava always said. She shifted and sighed, which apparently caught the Elf's attention. He turned around. How could he hear her? Did Elves have the ability to hear better than men? Even though it was still fairly dark, she could easily see his bright blue eyes. For a moment they just looked at each other, but Emery turned away, feeling awkward.

She took a deep breath, and noticed the sky was shifting from almost black to blue. Then, in the distance, the first rays of sun appeared behind the distant mountains. Sunrise. It was always such a beautiful sight. Slowly, the sun rose. Emery held her breath. Without the light of street lanterns and buildings, dawn was even more spectacular. Red and orange colored the sky and she was already looking forward to the moment the sun would set.


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