Through the Dark
by SkyFire
For disclaimer, see part 1.
A/N: 1)Okay, I just re-checked the timeline for LotR. Nooooo! Well, I can only say I know when I
want him to give birth, and to make it fit, I'm going to have to stretch out the timeline a bit.
So, it'll be about a year between them leaving Lorien and kicking Sauron's disembodied flaming
eyeball back to wherever, ok? ;o) It seems much more believable to me that way as well; I know
that I could walk very far in a day if I wanted to, but they zigzag the south of Middle-Earth, go
all over the place, and are all done in a bit over a month? I just don't know about that.
2)Sorry it's taken so long for this chapter to be posted. The plotbunnies just got distracted
with my other fic and couldn't think of how to continue this one. They're still stuck, so it'll
probably be a while before the next update as well. *sigh* Why couldn't I get the *constantly-
working* plotbunnies? ;o)
3)A huge, Balrog-sized thanks!!! to everyone who reviewed! ;o)
*****
Through the Dark
by SkyFire
Part 9
The members of the Fellowship had been startled to see Celeborn sleeping in the pavilion with
them when they awakened the morning after Legolas had been moved, but had since grown used to the
silver-haired Elf's company. They had also learned that he had a wicked sense of humor
underneath the calm facade, and also that he was not nearly as unapproachable as they had at
first thought him to be. He was still away most of the time, attending to his duties as Lord of
Lorien, but yet he returned every night and spent some time speaking with them before seeking his
rest.
For the rest of their stay in the Golden Wood, the members of the Fellowship only occasionally
saw Legolas, for he was often away with the healers or the Lady Galadriel, learning more than he
ever had wanted to know about pregnancy. Occasionally, he joined the company for a meal, but he
still slept elsewhere, for he was still taken daily by the morning sickness.
The rest of the Fellowship spent the time in Lorien recovering from their hard journey and the
loss of their guide, and resting up for the next leg of the Quest.
A month had passed in this way since they had come to Lothlorien, and finally it was time for
them to continue on their way.
They were given boats and other supplies by the Galadhrim; cloaks, blankets, lembas, ropes.
Legolas was given a special batch of lembas because of his condition; his was colored red and
contained spices and herbs to soothe the stomach and other ills, as well as the same ingredients
the normal kind of waybread had. Galadriel also gave each member of the company a gift suited to
his needs. Legolas was happy with his gift of bow and arrows of Galadhrim make, as well as the
soft grey Elven-cloak, though he blushed a brilliant red when Galadriel also gave him a book
about Elvish pregnancy. Aragorn blushed the same red when Galadriel also gave *him* a copy of
the same book, as well as another one of midwifery information.
Finally, once all the gifts were given, the eight remaining members of the Fellowship got into
the three grey boats they had been gifted with and pushed out into the river, then left Lothlorien
behind. Aragorn shared his boat with Frodo and Sam, Boromir shared his with Merry and Pippin,
and Legolas shared his boat with Gimli and the majority of the Fellowship's baggage.
They paddled down the river until they reached the Anduin.
Aragorn was somewhat startled when Legolas' boat nudged his slightly from one side. "Legolas!"
he said, "you're too close. Move further out."
The Elf did nothing, his boat nudging Aragorn's again.
"Legolas!" Aragorn said in budding frustration. He looked back to where the Elf sat in his boat,
saw him sitting there, staring blankly ahead, oar across his legs, out of the water. Gimli was
sitting very still in the boat, seeming barely daring to breathe, his face a sickly shade of
green. His eyes were clenched shut, his teeth were gritted and he wasn't even muttering about
the Elf's steering. "Turn aside!"
Again Legolas did nothing, his boat continuing to follow Aragorn's too closely.
Then the Ranger noticed that Legolas did not seem to be moving at all. "Legolas?" he asked.
There was no reply. He had not expected one, knowing now what ailed the Elf. "Boromir! Come up
on the Elf's other side. We'll trap his boat between us and guide it to the shore!"
Soon, the three boats were beached once more, after only a couple of hours travel. Aragorn went
over to where Legolas still sat up in the boat, oar across his lap, deep in the realms of Elven
dreams.
"What is this, Aragorn?" Gimli asked. He seemed much recovered now that his feet were firmly
planted on solid ground. "What ails the Elf now?"
"Nothing, Gimli," came the reply as the Ranger flipped through one of the books the Lady had
given him. He found the page he was looking for, nodded as he read. "It says in here that he'll
get tired easily for some time, and sleep much. That must be what happened."
"Sleeping while paddling a boat is not a good idea, my friend," the dwarf said. "Perhaps one of
the boat-handling hobbits could switch places with me and paddle the Elf's boat, leaving him to
sleep as long as he likes."
Aragorn nodded. "Yes," he said. "Merry! Take over the paddling for Legolas on that boat. For
we must keep going, but he can't stay awake long enough."
Merry nodded, went to take the paddle from the Elf. After nearly five minutes of prying at the
slender fingers, Merry conceded defeat. "Strider! He won't let go of the paddle!"
At last, everyone was sorted out again, and they were once again ready to depart. Legolas hadn't
awakened the whole time. The Ranger had placed the Elf carefully in the bottom of his boat,
covered gently with a blanket, nestled cozily among the baggage.
***
It was in the afternoon when Legolas awoke. He was much embarrassed at having fallen asleep,
even more so at being forbidden to paddle for fear that it would happen again. Muttering quietly
to himself about paranoid companions, he settled back down in the boat and began to read some of
the book he had been given, nibbling on one of his special lembas. His eyes grew wider and wider
the more he read, his face paler and paler. Then his eyes started to glaze again and he was soon
lost once again in dreams, much to the amusement of his boat-companion.
Their progress down the river was also slowed by the discovery of yet another unpleasant fact:
Gimli suffered most horribly from motion-sickness from the rocking of the boat, and proclaimed
loudly to anyone who could hear that he was certainly about to die, that dwarves were allergic to
moving bodies of water, and couldn't these dratted boats go any slower and smoother?
For Gimli's sake, as well as that of the peacefully-sleeping Elf, Aragorn decided to stop and
make camp several hours before he had planned to.
As they set up camp that afternoon, Aragorn could see that their trip down the Anduin was going
to take a lot longer than any of them had foreseen.
TBC...
Poor Gimli! ;) Poor sleepyhead Legolas! Not much went on in this chapter, I know, but hopefully
it'll get better next time. Ideas/suggestions are always eaten up by plotbunnies, especially
when their author is running out of things to torment the poor Elf with! Help!! ;o)
by SkyFire
For disclaimer, see part 1.
A/N: 1)Okay, I just re-checked the timeline for LotR. Nooooo! Well, I can only say I know when I
want him to give birth, and to make it fit, I'm going to have to stretch out the timeline a bit.
So, it'll be about a year between them leaving Lorien and kicking Sauron's disembodied flaming
eyeball back to wherever, ok? ;o) It seems much more believable to me that way as well; I know
that I could walk very far in a day if I wanted to, but they zigzag the south of Middle-Earth, go
all over the place, and are all done in a bit over a month? I just don't know about that.
2)Sorry it's taken so long for this chapter to be posted. The plotbunnies just got distracted
with my other fic and couldn't think of how to continue this one. They're still stuck, so it'll
probably be a while before the next update as well. *sigh* Why couldn't I get the *constantly-
working* plotbunnies? ;o)
3)A huge, Balrog-sized thanks!!! to everyone who reviewed! ;o)
*****
Through the Dark
by SkyFire
Part 9
The members of the Fellowship had been startled to see Celeborn sleeping in the pavilion with
them when they awakened the morning after Legolas had been moved, but had since grown used to the
silver-haired Elf's company. They had also learned that he had a wicked sense of humor
underneath the calm facade, and also that he was not nearly as unapproachable as they had at
first thought him to be. He was still away most of the time, attending to his duties as Lord of
Lorien, but yet he returned every night and spent some time speaking with them before seeking his
rest.
For the rest of their stay in the Golden Wood, the members of the Fellowship only occasionally
saw Legolas, for he was often away with the healers or the Lady Galadriel, learning more than he
ever had wanted to know about pregnancy. Occasionally, he joined the company for a meal, but he
still slept elsewhere, for he was still taken daily by the morning sickness.
The rest of the Fellowship spent the time in Lorien recovering from their hard journey and the
loss of their guide, and resting up for the next leg of the Quest.
A month had passed in this way since they had come to Lothlorien, and finally it was time for
them to continue on their way.
They were given boats and other supplies by the Galadhrim; cloaks, blankets, lembas, ropes.
Legolas was given a special batch of lembas because of his condition; his was colored red and
contained spices and herbs to soothe the stomach and other ills, as well as the same ingredients
the normal kind of waybread had. Galadriel also gave each member of the company a gift suited to
his needs. Legolas was happy with his gift of bow and arrows of Galadhrim make, as well as the
soft grey Elven-cloak, though he blushed a brilliant red when Galadriel also gave him a book
about Elvish pregnancy. Aragorn blushed the same red when Galadriel also gave *him* a copy of
the same book, as well as another one of midwifery information.
Finally, once all the gifts were given, the eight remaining members of the Fellowship got into
the three grey boats they had been gifted with and pushed out into the river, then left Lothlorien
behind. Aragorn shared his boat with Frodo and Sam, Boromir shared his with Merry and Pippin,
and Legolas shared his boat with Gimli and the majority of the Fellowship's baggage.
They paddled down the river until they reached the Anduin.
Aragorn was somewhat startled when Legolas' boat nudged his slightly from one side. "Legolas!"
he said, "you're too close. Move further out."
The Elf did nothing, his boat nudging Aragorn's again.
"Legolas!" Aragorn said in budding frustration. He looked back to where the Elf sat in his boat,
saw him sitting there, staring blankly ahead, oar across his legs, out of the water. Gimli was
sitting very still in the boat, seeming barely daring to breathe, his face a sickly shade of
green. His eyes were clenched shut, his teeth were gritted and he wasn't even muttering about
the Elf's steering. "Turn aside!"
Again Legolas did nothing, his boat continuing to follow Aragorn's too closely.
Then the Ranger noticed that Legolas did not seem to be moving at all. "Legolas?" he asked.
There was no reply. He had not expected one, knowing now what ailed the Elf. "Boromir! Come up
on the Elf's other side. We'll trap his boat between us and guide it to the shore!"
Soon, the three boats were beached once more, after only a couple of hours travel. Aragorn went
over to where Legolas still sat up in the boat, oar across his lap, deep in the realms of Elven
dreams.
"What is this, Aragorn?" Gimli asked. He seemed much recovered now that his feet were firmly
planted on solid ground. "What ails the Elf now?"
"Nothing, Gimli," came the reply as the Ranger flipped through one of the books the Lady had
given him. He found the page he was looking for, nodded as he read. "It says in here that he'll
get tired easily for some time, and sleep much. That must be what happened."
"Sleeping while paddling a boat is not a good idea, my friend," the dwarf said. "Perhaps one of
the boat-handling hobbits could switch places with me and paddle the Elf's boat, leaving him to
sleep as long as he likes."
Aragorn nodded. "Yes," he said. "Merry! Take over the paddling for Legolas on that boat. For
we must keep going, but he can't stay awake long enough."
Merry nodded, went to take the paddle from the Elf. After nearly five minutes of prying at the
slender fingers, Merry conceded defeat. "Strider! He won't let go of the paddle!"
At last, everyone was sorted out again, and they were once again ready to depart. Legolas hadn't
awakened the whole time. The Ranger had placed the Elf carefully in the bottom of his boat,
covered gently with a blanket, nestled cozily among the baggage.
***
It was in the afternoon when Legolas awoke. He was much embarrassed at having fallen asleep,
even more so at being forbidden to paddle for fear that it would happen again. Muttering quietly
to himself about paranoid companions, he settled back down in the boat and began to read some of
the book he had been given, nibbling on one of his special lembas. His eyes grew wider and wider
the more he read, his face paler and paler. Then his eyes started to glaze again and he was soon
lost once again in dreams, much to the amusement of his boat-companion.
Their progress down the river was also slowed by the discovery of yet another unpleasant fact:
Gimli suffered most horribly from motion-sickness from the rocking of the boat, and proclaimed
loudly to anyone who could hear that he was certainly about to die, that dwarves were allergic to
moving bodies of water, and couldn't these dratted boats go any slower and smoother?
For Gimli's sake, as well as that of the peacefully-sleeping Elf, Aragorn decided to stop and
make camp several hours before he had planned to.
As they set up camp that afternoon, Aragorn could see that their trip down the Anduin was going
to take a lot longer than any of them had foreseen.
TBC...
Poor Gimli! ;) Poor sleepyhead Legolas! Not much went on in this chapter, I know, but hopefully
it'll get better next time. Ideas/suggestions are always eaten up by plotbunnies, especially
when their author is running out of things to torment the poor Elf with! Help!! ;o)
