Mae Govannen and a happy New Year!

After mulling it over for ages (as you´ve undoubtedly noticed, and I´m sorry for the long wait!) I finally decided that this is as far as I want to take it, so here is the final chapter. Radagast might return in one of my stories, however, as I have taken a liking to him.

Thank you for reading and reviewing, you´ve been great!

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Chapter 9: Old Habits Are Hard To Break

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Aragorn silently got up and stoked the fire, for the air had cooled down considerably. When merry flames started to spread their warmth, he returned to his bedroll and laid down again. He had recovered amazingly quick once he had been awake, due to Legolas´ and Radagast´s good care. At one point, he did not want to keep the wizard from sleeping in his own bed any longer and insisted on sleeping on his bedroll, just as Legolas had been doing during the previous days. Despite the elf´s protests and the wizard´s repeated assurance that he did not mind, the Ranger prevailed.

He stared into the semi-darkness and found that he was looking forward to leaving; not out of ungratefulness, but because he felt the urge to move, to be outside in the fresh air. He had been living in the wilderness for so long that if felt strange to be inside all the time.

Legolas and he had agreed to leave on the following day; Radagast would accompany them for a while. The wizard had pointed out that the Orcs were likely still near and that it would do him, Radagast good to get out and about once in a while anyway.

The snow had receded considerably, but probably for the last time until the winter would really set in, so they had no time to lose.

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They set out to a clear, cold day a few hours later; the feeble sun cast the morning in pale golden light. While Radagast was locking the hut, Legolas looked from Aragorn into the sky: "I have always liked winter´s colours", he said.

Aragorn smiled: "I know. I have seen you spending hours just marvelling at the snow and the sky." Legolas was about to answer when Radagast joined them: "I am ready", he stated. "That way!"

Elf and Ranger exchanged a look.

"He does remind me of Gandalf sometimes", Legolas murmured. "Do you not think the same?"

"That way", Aragorn mouthed silently instead of an answer and nodded into the direction Radagast had taken off to, then with a barely subdued grin he turned to follow the wizard.

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A fair amount of the snow had melted during the past days; the rest of it had frozen over repeatedly, leaving the ground slightly more uneven, but Radagast and Aragorn therefore did not sink in very often, which made it easier to get along.

It was still cold, but the icy wind had ceased; all in all, the conditions for traveling were much more favourable than before.

The three of them proceeded very cautiously nevertheless: every so often Radagast would stop and listen intently, whereas Legolas was running back and forth as a scout would do, using his ears and eyes to find out if anyone was following or ahead of them. Aragorn was looking around for any suspicious tracks, but the few he found had been caused by animals.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so they even dared to light a small fire when they finally settled to rest for the night.

They took it in turns to take watch, but the night was uneventful.

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"How did you sleep?", Legolas asked Aragorn on the following morning. The elf´s voice was casual, but the Ranger knew his friend too well to be deceived by that: "Yes", he therefore replied. "Having an undamaged cloak, thick gloves and a scarf and furthermore being sound and well-fed helps a lot."

Legolas could not but grin: "Good. So you did learn a lesson here!" Which earned him a snowball in his face.

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After two more days, they finally left the mountains. Radagast wanted to turn north here, muttering that he had some business to tend to.

"We are very grateful for all that you have done for us", Aragorn said and bowed his head. "I wish we could reciprocate your kindness."

Radagast smiled: "Just stay out of trouble", he said, "that will be reciprocation enough."

He winked and turned to go.

Aragorn and Legolas looked after him for a while, for some reason bereft of words. When they finally sought each other´s gaze, they smiled.

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The End

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