After their encounter with the wolves the previous night, the group packed their belongings while the sun bathed the country in its warm, golden light.

"No wolves nearby as far as I can see," Elena called from atop the hill from which she had a perfect overlook of the landscape.

Legolas joined her and cast a glance around as well. She watched him curiously and finally he nodded in confirmation. "I neither see or sense any wolves nearby. I suppose we can move on undisturbed for a while."

Together they walked back into their camp where Sam began loading his bags onto Bill's back. Elena watched him for a while and saw how tender he spoke and touched the elder pony. She knew it would break the poor hobbit's heart when they will reveal to him that Bill cannot enter the mine with them once they reached it. Maybe Sam already knew it and still pushed these thoughts away, ignoring them as best as he could. He seemed to feel a pair of eyes watching him and turned to look at her. The look in his eyes told her exactly that as he sent her a half-hearted smile. She provided him with a little smile as well before she turned to pick up her bags and strapped her bow and quiver onto her back and attached the sword to her hip.

After a quick breakfast consisting of some pieces of bread, cheese and tomatoes with a few slices of bacon which Pippin had prepared over the fire, they left their camp at midday. Their spirits were actually quite high on this day, for the weather had changed again. While it was stormy the previous day, the wind had turned now which caused the white clouds to break and give way for the shimmering clear blue sky above their heads.

Merry inhaled deeply. "Ah, that feels almost like back in the Shire."

"Yes, except this entire walking thing isn't quite my taste," Pippin replied and pushed some cheese into his mouth. He saw Elena watching him with a cocked eyebrow. "Second breakfast," he said and handed her some bits of cheese he had saved from breakfast. "Want some?"

She laughed lightly and lifted her hand. "No, thanks. I would never steal a hobbit's second breakfast."

"Though I would gladly share it with you. But if you don't want to, there is more for me," he grinned and continued to munch his cheese.

Elena shook her head in amusement and cast a quick glance at Boromir who was walking at her left hand side a few steps away though. She wondered if he was keeping his distance from her on purpose or if he wasn't aware of it. She thought back to their last night encounter and their little argument, though it wasn't that much of an argument at all. Had she hurt his feelings somehow? She couldn't rememeber what exactly she might have said to him. She was pulled out of her train of thoughts when Gandalf turned his head and called,

"We must reach the doors before sunset. Or I fear we shall not reach them at all. It is not far, but our path may be winding, for here Aragorn cannot guide us; he has seldom walked in this country, and only once have I been under the west wall of Moria, and that was long ago," he pointed south-east towards the shadow of the mountainside and added, "There it lies. When we left the pass I led you southwards, and not back to our starting point, as some of you may have noticed."

"And why did you do that?" Sam asked confused, leading Bill at his reins while the faithful pony trotted behind him.

Gandalf looked back at them. "Isn't that obvious, Samwise Gamgee? Now we have several miles less to cross, and haste is needed you all might know. And not let us hurry a bit!"

"Considering our luck, the gates are lost forever and unable to pass. Fine image being trapped between wolves and a wall," Boromir grumbled as they moved on.

"Maybe you should not give hopes up so quickly," Elena replied and caught his glance for a second before she moved on ahead to where Aragorn and Legolas were walking.

Gimli had decided to move to the front of the group now walking next to Gandalf. It was clear that the dwarf couldn't await to see the mines with his own eyes for the first time in his life after hearing so many wonderful stories about these prosperous halls. Even though the dark shadow still circled through his mind. The fact that no one had heard a word from his cousin Balin or Ori or any of the other dwarves who had settled there so many years ago for quite a long time now made him become a bit anxious as well. Mixed with his excitement, he couldn't quite contain himself and so his body was pushed forward mile over mile without a single sign of weariness.

"One thing is for sure...once a dwarf is running, he might not be stopped so easily again," Elena said after they had wandered for several hours and the sun was already about to sink again. It might be late afternoon and still there was no sign of any living being around, nor the path which would lead them to the gate of Moria.

"Still holding hopes high?" Boromir remarked with a side-glance at her and she felt the tease in his voice. Her mismatched eyes met his green-grey ones for a moment before a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"I do and it would be best you do, too. I am certain we will reach the mines by nightfall."

"Reaching the mines and being able to enter are two different pairs of shoes," he replied and broke their eye contact again, stepping over a root overgrowing the ground.

Aragorn turned his head to look at them for a moment, a light grin curled his lips as he met Elena's gaze for a second. She watched him questioningly which he only replied with a wink and turned his attention back on the road. He couldn't put a finger on it yet, but the constant squabbles between the Captain of Gondor and the blonde ranger seemed to become less heated and formed a more teasing manner. Like lovers would do. Though Elena would never admit it, but he could see that she enjoyed it very much. Both to tease and to be teased in return and he had the feeling that Boromir felt just the same. The problem was that those two were too much alike in certain ways, especially their thick-headed personality, that they would not see it unless you tied them together with a thick robe face to face and lock them into a room together. The image of that made him stiffle a light laugh before he stopped in his track as he saw the others in front of him do the same.

"Look!" Gimli called and pointed at something down the hill he was standing on top of. They hurried up to him and looked at the small empty riverbed he was pointing at. A relieved sigh escaped Gandalf as he said,

"Here it is at last! This is where the stream ran. Sirannon, the Gate-stream, they used to call it. But what has happened to the water, I cannot guess. It used to be swift and noisy. Come," he moved on. "We must hurry on. We are late."

"But we're hungry!" Pippin complained as they followed the trail for many more miles. "Can't we just stop for a little while, just an hour, to eat and rest?"

"Yes! He is right! You said it isn't that far anymore, so we can surely spare an hour for food and to ease our sore feet a bit," Frodo agreed and as he, the ringbearer, spoke, Gandalf finally stopped and sighed heavily.

"Hobbits," he simply stated and nodded with a wave of his hand. "One hour. Not a minute longer."

Thankful for this short time granted them to calm down a bit and fill their bellies, the Hobbits quickly covered the ground with a blanket and placed all kinds of food onto it. Everything that didn't need to be cooked over a fire. They had tomatoes, bread, some mushrooms, carrotts and cheese as well as some berries and nuts.

While they ate, Elena sat down on one of the boulders and pulled out the wooden Eagle she still had to finish. She began to carve a bit and looked over at the four Hobbits. Pippin caught her gaze and smiled brightly at her. Elena couldn't say what exactly it was about him, but she felt quite a deep connection to this particular Hobbit. Not in a romantic way, of course, but more like as if he was some kind of younger brother she had to protect. Then again, the same feeling came when she thought of Merry, Sam and Frodo as well. But still, Pippin was different and she knew that his part in this journey would be just as important as that of Frodo. Despite his quite chaotic and reckless nature. She looked down at the carved Eagle in her hand and smiled lightly. And all of a sudden, another idea came to her and she began carving again, more careful now.

"What are you doing?" Boromir asked curiously as he walked by.

"Psst..."she hushed him and concentrated on her work again, the tip of her tongue visible between her teeth. She felt his gaze still on her and tried to ignore him. If he caused her to destroy her work just because of his mere presence, she couldn't guarantee he would survive it.

Boromir chuckled lightly and shook his head before he left her again. Once she was certain he was gone, she looked up for a brief second and watched him facing his back at her. A lock of her hair fell into her face and she blew in an attempt to get it back into its original place but it didn't work. She placed the wooden Eagle back into her satchel and pushed the strand of hair back behind her ear. She would find another time to finish the Eagle.

"Smitten, are we?"

"What?" she looked around when Aragorn lowered down next to her with a cheeky grin on his lips.

"I just saw the look in your eyes and thought I should ask," he said amused and looked over at Boromir who spoke with Merry and Pippin.

"I am not smitten. I hardly even know him," she protested and shifted to sit cross-legged. "And besides that...we don't have time for such folly."

His eyebrows shot up as he watched her amused. "So, what you're saying is that if we would have time for such folly, you would consider it?"

She gaped at him quite dumbfounded, her mouth opened and closed while she desperately tried to come up with a clever remark. How could she overlook that mistake in her statement? She should have know that Aragorn would point that out and use it against her to tease her further. He was just like an elder brother would be, teasing his little sister when it came to such matters. While at the same time, Elena was certain he would warn her or protect her if she would ever fall in love with the wrong man. But Boromir seemed not to be such a man in Aragorn's eyes. She cleared her throat and pushed these thoughts aside.

"Oh, be quiet," she simply huffed and got up. She heard him chuckle lightly as she left him. According to the position of the sun, the hour might be over soon. Gandalf also prepared himself and shooed the hobbits to pack their belongings again for they would leave and soon they moved on, now eager to reach their destination.

The Mines of Moria.

Be prepared for the next chapter! It will be long and quite eventful! :)