"Elvish"

"Eazur"

"English" a.k.a. Common Tongue

'Thoughts'

Chapter 10: When I Look to the Sky

The fellowship walked through the woods with Aragorn and Legolas leading, both on guard, this may be the borders of an elvish kingdom but they could still be ambushed by foul creatures. Boromir and Estella brought up the rear, Estella's breathing returned to a somewhat steady pace, though her wound still bothered her. She was trying to keep it steady after overhearing Aragorn tell Boromir to keep an eye on her.

"How –" Boromir started before Gimli grunted and started talking not too quietly.

"Stay close you hobbits! They say there's a great sorceress lives in these woods, an Elf-witch of terrible power. All who look upon her, fall under her spell…" Gimli said giving a brief pause for dramatic purposes. "…and are never seen again." His voice was sombre, the hobbits looked around wildly and Estella shook her head at the story.

Frodo stopped walking a few steps ahead.

"Frodo?" Sam kindly asked while placing a hand on each of Frodo's shoulder. Frodo simply shook his head and started walking again.

"As I was going to ask-" Boromir tried again.

"Well, here's one Dwarf she won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox!" Gimli said while gripping his axe. Boromir groaned at the second interruption.

"How are you feel-" Boromir tried asking for the third time.

Suddenly the fellowship found themselves surrounded by elves pointing arrows at them. Estella glanced at Boromir who had an exasperated look on his face. One elf came forward.

"The Dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark." It was clear that whoever this was, he was the leader of this group, Haldir the Marchwarden of Lórien.

"Haldir of Lorien, we come here for help. We need your protection" Aragorn spoke while fisting a hand above his heart and bowing, an elvish form of greeting. Haldir returned the gesture.

"Aragorn of the Dúnedain, you are known to us." Haldir greeted, he then looked at Legolas and preformed the gesture again, also receiving one in return "Welcome Legolas, son of Thranduil."

"Our Fellowship stands in your debt, Haldir of Lórien." Legolas said.

"Lady Estella, welcome back." Haldir nodded at her, but instead of the typicall greeting gesture, they braced their arms in a typical 'warrior' greeting.

"Haldir, my friend, it's good to be back." Estella answered a small smile on her face.

"So much for the legendary courtesy of the Elves! Speak words we can also understand!" Gimli muttered and angry scowl on his face as he glared at Haldir.

"We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days." Haldir said curtly, his face was neutral, but you could see that he was not amused by the presence of the dwarf.

"And you know what this Dwarf says to that? Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul!" Gimli growled out also spitting on the floor to reinforce his words. Estella winced at the insult and Aragorn also grabs Gimli's shoulder and giver his a stern look.

"That was not so courteous." Aragorn stated before sending an apologetic look to Haldir.

"You bring great evil with you" Haldir stated while looking at Frodo, who looked away soon after they made eye contact. "You can go no further." Haldir told Aragorn.

Aragorn, Legolas and Estella went to Haldir to convince him to let them into Caras Galadhon. They told him of Moria and the corrupted wolves from the Emerald Wilds. Haldir would argue back, this went on for several minutes before Haldir changed his mind. He walked over to the rest of the fellowship with a not too happy expression on his face.

"You will follow me." The others sighed in relief and picked up their thing before following the elves.

They walked for some time before they came across a clearing and around the trees there were winding staircases that led into the buildings that were nestled amongst the branches. Haldir led them up one of the stairways until they came to an arch, which had more stairs through it, and at the top of these stairs there were two thrones.

Once the fellowship stopped in front of the arch, a bright glow started making its way to them. Once they were close enough, the glow dimmed and revealed the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien. Aragorn, Legolas, Estella and Haldir bow deeply at them. Haldir then backs away from the group until he stops near the staircase.

"Nine there are here yet ten there were set out from Rivendell. Tell me where is Gandalf? For I much desire to speak with him." Lord Celeborn spoke. The Lady Galadriel looks into Aragorn's eyes and obtains the answer.

"He has fallen into shadow. The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail to the ruin of all." She said while looking into each of the fellowship's eyes. "Yet hope remains while the Company is true." She said while looking at Sam and sending a kind smile his way. She looks up at the others again. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight you will sleep in peace…" She gestures to Haldir to lead them to a place where they could stay.

Estella makes eye contact with the Lady of the Wood and briefly hears a whisper in her mind 'We will talk soon.' Estella nods and bows before following after her companions.

The fellowship was given an area where they could stay on the ground, it was a smaller clearing then the one they had first seen, and was near the river. The hobbits were settling down in between some roots, Aragorn was smoking his pipe, Gimli was sleeping in a corner, Boromir was sitting on a rock gazing into the river, Estella was sitting next to Aragorn sketching, and Legolas was walking with a pitcher of water, which he places on a small table. In the distance a song was being sung by the tinkling voices of the elves.

"A lament for Gandalf." Legolas commented, closing his eyes briefly to admire the beautiful melody. Merry looked up at the treetops.

"What do they say about him?" He asked curiously

"I have not the heart to tell you. For me the grief is still too near." Legolas responded before moving to sit on one of the roots and make more arrows, since he was running out.

Gimli let out a loud snore and Aragorn shook him awake giving him yet another stern look. He then walked over to Boromir who hadn't moved for a while

"Take some rest. These borders are well protected." He said while sitting near the Gondorian. Estella tuned out their conversation and looked towards the edge of the tree line, where Lady Galadriel walked by, she noticed Frodo look in that direction as well before he got up and followed.

Estella looked down at her notebook and sighed, she drew the hall from Moria and described the battle as well as Gandalf's encounter with the Balrog. She glanced around, the fellowship planned to stay here for at least a week before continuing on their journey. She put her notebook in her pack and lay in a comfortable position for the night.

When Aragorn returned he noticed that the lady was using her cloak as a pillow and had nothing to cover herself with. He placed his own cloak over her and watched as she snuggled into it, he chuckled but stopped abruptly when he noticed what he had done. He sighed and walked to his pack before falling asleep, his thoughts still on the lady huntress.

The next morning Estella woke up to the sunrise. She noticed that Aragorn had placed his cloak over her as a blanket; she figured it out once she noticed that he didn't have a cloak on while he was sleeping a few steps away. She walked over and draped the cloak over him before walking over to the river.

From the bankside of the river she could see the whole area the fellowship was allowed to stay in, she stopped near the water and took off her boots before dipping her feet in the cool water. Enjoying the peacefulness of the early morning.

She sat on a rock, her feet still dangling in the water and leaned back on her arms and gazed at the sky, watching the clouds drift by. Her breathing had already gone back into a normal rhythm and her old wound simply stung. She groaned when she remembered that Aragorn was most likely to inquire about it soon and so made a mental note to avoid the ranger for the next few days, in the hopes of him forgetting about the scene outside of Moria.

But obviously, fate had other plans.

"You're up early." A voice sounded from behind her. She jumped and quickly looked at the man who approached her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I thought you would have heard me." He said before gesturing to the spot on the rock next to her. She patted the space and looked at the sky again.

"You're up early as well." She stated while leaning in back again.

"I woke up to someone draping a cloak over me." He said giving her a pointed look.

"Ah, thank you for that yesterday." She had a kind smile on her face, and Aragorn couldn't help but admit how beautiful she looked.

They sat in silence watching the clouds drift by. Estella unconsciously rubbed her old wound as her thoughts drifted to a darker corner of her mind. Aragorn, who had been thinking of how to approach the subject of her injury without making the lady mad, took notice of the movement and decided to be direct about it.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"Estella…" His tone was a warning and his face stern. Estella groaned, no way she could escape this now.

"It's an old injury and when the troll shook me it simply pulled at the scar too much." She said, she could tell it was a lame excuse but if she told him the extent of the injury he would not be happy that she kept this information from them.

"Then let me have a look, perhaps there is something I can do?" Aragorn offered, Estella but her lip in thought. The wound she had looked like any other wound though it did leave traces that it once had been poisoned.

"Alright." She said hesitantly. She lifted her left hand to the collar of her tunic. "I was stabbed in a battle many years ago by a poisoned blade. When the blade was removed it scratched and made the wound a bit longer than a normal stab wound." She told him as she pulled it down until it exposed her collarbone. Aragorn sucked in a breath as he noticed the scar that went from under her collarbone down to the valley of her breast; he quickly looked back to where the scar ran parallel to her collarbone, which is where she had been stabbed before the blade had cut the line down.

"When was this? It doesn't look too recent, but if it was causing that much discomfort it either didn't heal well or is newer than it seems." Estella shook her head.

"It's an old wound, I have had some breathing problems every now and then"

"You should have let me know sooner. Promise me that you will tell me if it starts bothering you and if you are having trouble breathing." Aragorn fixed her tunic and held her hand in his. She wouldn't look him in the eyes, she felt guilty that she was hiding part of the truth from him. "Promise me that you are not making this sound less serious." He said, using one of his hands to lift her chin, so that their eyes could meet.

"I promise, there is nothing more to it and that if I feel anything I will let you know." Estella said, Aragorn looked into her eyes for a few more second before nodding, satisfied with her answer.

They continue to sit in silence after their talk as the sun rose higher in the sky and as their companions awoke for the day.

.: AN :.

Translations:

Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul! - I spit upon your grave!

Hello!

I have just posted a poll to find out if Boromir should live or die. I have ideas for both 'paths' but I can't seem to make up my minds about it. I'm posting it now to give enough time to receive feedback and by the time I have to decide (not next chapter immediately, but the one after that) I already have enough votes to decide. If you want to wait for the next chapter to make a choice than that is fine as well, since next chapter will be a 'random' one with some added scenes and none from the actual timeline.

Thanks you for reading!

xx

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