Chapter Fourteen - An Interlude
It was almost a full month after the incident with the Reaper Elite. They had yet to encounter another Reaper, or even an Orc for that matter, but it just made them grow wary. They had covered a vast amount of ground, considering how large their party was. According to Anex's calculations and Tan's report on the terrain changes, they would reach Mount Gundabad in another month and a half. The area they were currently in consisted of mainly trees, which they remarked was odd because they were supposed to be getting closer to mountain ranges and the ground was too rocky for trees to grow normally. But still, trees grew in abundance, stretching high overhead.
Auron had agreed that Legolas and Caled would now spar with the Guild, though they had yet to figure out what the two could do for the others. Both had made great progress in such a short time.
It was during a sparing session that Caled asked something that had been on hers-and Legolas'-mind for quite some time. "Aurora, what do you do for the sparring?" she said after a session with Clad, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
Aurora looked up from the pot she was stirring over the fire. "Eh?" she said, blinking.
"Well," Caled said, "Dias said that that you were for dodging or something like that."
"Evasiveness," Dias supplied.
"Right, but I've never seen you in a session before. So, what do you do?"
Aurora glanced at Auron, who shrugged. She grinned, standing up. "All right, then," she said, dusting off her skirt, "come here."
Caled stood as well, collecting her dagger and whip. Aurora stopped her by saying, "No, you don't need those just yet." Puzzled, Caled followed her out into the clearing they had been using as a practice area. Aurora took her by the shoulders, moving her to a certain spot. "Don't move," she instructed. She then walked backwards, counting the steps to herself until she was a ways away.
By the campfire, Legolas cast a look at Dias. "What is she doing?" he said.
Dias held up a hand to stop him. "Just watch," he said with a crooked smile, "you'll find this interesting."
"Ready?" Aurora called.
Caled shrugged. "I guess."
"Before you start," Darin suddenly spoke up, a scheming smile on his face, "may I suggest something?"
"Go ahead," Aurora answered.
"Since it is her first time against you, Aurora, why don't we give her a partner? It only seems fair."
Aurora thought about that. "Why not?" she said. "Who did you have in mind?"
"Denya."
"Huh?" Denya said, jerked out of her nap on hearing her name. "Whazzup?" she said sleepily.
"You're partnering with Caled for training," Aurora said, rolling her eyes.
Upon seeing that it was Aurora she was facing, Denya became fully awake, wiping the drool from her mouth and saying, "Sure, I'm itching for a fate worst than death." Caled gave Denya an alarmed look. Denya waved it off, coming to a stop beside her. "Hope you're good at lateral movements," she said under her breath.
"All right," Auron said from the sidelines, "the object is to run down there without getting hit and tag Aurora. Nothing more. Start when you're ready."
Caled for the life of her did not understand what was going on, but complied, running at a moderate pace. Denya snorted, crossing her arms behind her head. "Better be faster than that!"
Before Caled could inquire what she meant, her eyes caught something sailing in the air towards her. Upon reflex, she jumped out of the way. It was a small, brown bag tied off with a thin cord. It struck the ground, the bag busting open. A white, powdery substance spilled from it. Caled winced, covering her nose. "What is that?" she gasped, gagging from the stench.
"That," Denya said, pulling her out of the path of another one, "is 'a fate worse than death'. Herbal and medical mixtures in a very unstable bag, each with their own unique torture. Touch even a partial of it, and it'll still affect you."
"What do they do?"
"Depends," Denya said, pausing to sidestep another one, "could be anything from foul-smelling to a really bad rash and everything in between. And Aurora only gives you the bloody cure if you tag her in under a minute!" she added, glaring at Aurora, who smiled innocently, tossing another bag at them. "Better start running!" she told Caled, jumping up to avoid one.
Caled nodded, rolling to the side. She stood, running. She ducked several more, getting closer.
"Hmm," Aurora said, "pretty good. Try this!"
Without warning, Aurora flung her hands out, multiple bags flying from her hands. Some of these bags did more than just spill themselves when they hit the ground. They exploded.
Caled let out a startled yelp, barely escaping a particularly close blast. She took a breath, and rushed, zigzagging across the clearing. She used the smoke and dirt the explosions caused to hide herself when she could. She was in range. She leapt, flipping in the air. She reached out to tag Aurora, a triumphant grin on her face.
A brown bag suddenly collided with her face, the dusty brown power spilling all over her. Caught in mid-air, Caled could not see to land. Denya groaned, knowing she would hate this, and caught her, holding her breath against the smell. Caled coughed, her lungs protesting the substance and its smell. The others burst out laughing at the looks on their faces.
"Not bad," Aurora said, dusting her hands off. "But you still need practice."
"You think?" Caled hacked, glaring at Aurora.
"Gah!" Denya exclaimed, trying to fan the stench away. "I'm gonna make you pay for that Aurora! Gimme the cure!"
"Nope!" she said, skipping out of Denya's reach. "You didn't tag me!"
"But I wasn't being tested!"
"Doesn't matter!"
"AURORA!" Denya screamed, chasing after her. She was cursing fluently in all forms of language, demanding to have the cure. That went on for a few hours, ending when Aurora returned to the safety of the camp and Denya trudging behind her, grumbling. She snatched up her pack, saying to Caled, "Come with me."
Seeing that everyone was suffering from the stench, now doubled with Denya's return, Caled did so. She followed Denya a little ways into the forest, not noticing just how far they were from the others until they finally came to a stop just before a sudden growth of thick underbrush, blocking whatever was behind it from view. "What are we doing here?" she asked, glancing back at the way they had come.
"Well," Denya said, dropping her pack and going through it, "Aurora doesn't know this, but I got a little wiser after being caught several times by one of her powder-bombs. The last time I was able to get the cure, I saved half of it." With that, she drew out a vial, half-filled with a clear fluid. "And, while chasing her, I found this." She motioned with her head towards the underbrush.
Curious, Caled walked over, parting the bushes. She gasped. Before her was a huge, natural hot spring. Boulders surrounded it, making it look like a pool, with several more submerged in the misty waters. "Whoa," she breathed, the heat the water gave off becoming very tempting.
"Yeah," Denya said, coming up beside her. "I was gonna go by myself, but then I remembered you had gotten hit too." She twirled the vial in her hand, saying, "Just give this a second to work, then we can get in." She uncorked it, turning it over. She tossed the vial into the woods, running her hand through the water to mix it up. A strong, herbal scent started to waft through the air.
"Smells like roses," Caled said.
Denya made a sound that was a combination chuckle and snort. Her green and blue eyes stared at her reflection in the water as she said, "It ought to. It's made from one of the strongest scents you can find: a silver rose."
Caled blinked. "She was able to get a hold of one?" she questioned. Silver roses were known for their beauty and exquisite smell but they were extremely rare. The chances of finding even one were very slim.
"A few, actually," Denya said. "Every year, Aurora travels through Middle-Earth, restocking her herbs and seeing if there's any new method of healing she doesn't know of. She even visits the forest of Fangorn every now and then. It's ready," she stated, standing up to undress.
"Wasn't that a little bit cruel?" Legolas asked.
"Nope!" Aurora said, grinning from her place beside Dias. She was making a few more of the bags, carefully measuring the mixtures. "They need to learn!"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to have to be careful if I ever have to spar against you."
"At least you can learn from others' mistakes so you don't make them yourself," Auron said, smoking his pipe.
Conversations flew over the area as another pair began to spar, the time passing both slowly and swiftly. The sun began to make its descent before they realized it. Dias restarted the fire, humming a soft tune to himself. Aurora's ears perked, recognizing the song. She grinned, bumping her hip against his as he sat back down beside her. He merely smiled, drawing her into his arms and whispering to her.
As the others gathered around the fire, their words washing over Legolas. For the first time, it seemed, he realized the diversity of those around him. No one, not even Auron and Aurora, were alike. They came from different places, different times. They spoke with different accents and phrases. They had different temperaments. Different choices of weapons and fighting styles.
So different, it seemed almost surreal that they were a group. That they were even comrades.
A cup of strong wine was held under his nose. Rali smirked as Legolas jumped in surprise. The Half-Dwarf motioned for Legolas to take the cup. "What troubles you, Legolas?" Rali asked, politely ignoring the stunned look on Legolas' face.
Legolas drank the wine, noting that it must be one of Aurora's concoctions because of the strange yet pleasant aftertaste. He swallowed, debating whether or not to voice his thoughts. Then, focusing his eyes on the dark liquid in his cup, he said, "I was…wondering about the Guild."
Everyone looked up from their various places, curious. "What about us?" Tan asked.
Legolas shifted underneath their gaze. Taking another draft of the wine, he said slowly "I was wondering 'how.' How exactly...did you came together? How did the Guild form?"
"Ah! This feels great!" Caled sighed, dunking her head below the steaming water. She popped back up on the other side of the spring.
Denya sighed in agreement, having found a comparable spot to rest while letting the water soak into her skin. She had decided not to swim around for two reasons. One: Even though when a girl travels for centuries with a male dominated group and modesty does not all ways come first, she still had some decency and respect for other's privacy. Two: She did not want Caled to notice a few things.
Denya made a face, sinking down until the water rose just under her nose. Her hand touched her left shoulder, feeling the rougher, thicker skin that traveled down to the small of her back. She forced her mind to turn away from thoughts of the day she had received that scar...
"It's been so long since I last swam," Caled mused out loud, floating. "Brings back memories..." She abruptly stopped, splashing her face with water. "Don't dwell on that," she ordered herself quietly.
"What kind of memories?" Denya asked, having heard the last sentence and it catching her interest. When Caled did not answer, Denya knew she had put her foot in her mouth again. She was surprised, however, when Caled's head popped up on the other side of a relatively small boulder set into the water beside her. Denya frowned, noticing that until then Caled had kept her distance and always made sure only her head was out of the water. A small voice in Denya's brain wondered what Caled was hiding beneath the water.
Caled propped her head on the rock's surface. She was silent for a while, eyes studying the water. Then she said, "If I tell you...do you swear you won't tell any of the others?"
Denya frowned, saying, "I'll swear."
"No one?" Caled pressed, a sudden flash of fear in her eyes.
Denya gave her a look. "I thought you guys had patched things up?" While Denya still made her obvious advances on Legolas, she was well aware of the growing attraction Caled had for the Prince of Mirkwood. The only thing that kept Denya from bringing her advances to the next level was that she did not know how Legolas felt about Caled. Despite the fact she greatly irritated the other girl, Denya thought of Caled as friend.
"Well," Caled said, running her finger on the stone, "he said he was sorry for whatever it was he had done that made me mad. It's just that for a second I read his mind, though I didn't mean to. But, what I saw..." Caled powers had been developing at a quick pace and now she was for the most part in control, with the occasional slip up.
"See something dirty?" Denya teased.
Caled's already heated skin turned a darker shade of red as she stuttered, "N-No! Of course not! He would never do that!" She shook her head, getting back on track and said, "I didn't really see anything. I—I can't read that far. All I can directly read are emotions."
Denya frowned. "But what about Micha? You read the activation word for the Viewing-Globe from his mind, right?"
"Only because he was mentally screaming in fear that you would figure it out."
"All right, so you read Leafy's emotions," Denya said. "Why should that scare you?"
"It was strong, like I could physically feel it," Caled tried to explain, though words really could not. "I...I think it was like a mixture of hope...and fear."
"Hope and fear? Odd combination."
"He was hoping I'd accept his apology," Caled went on, "but at the same time, I think he was afraid the chance I'd turn it down in his face." She shrugged. "Anyway, don't tell," she said again her eyes pleading with her Elven friend. In the month that had transpired-though she got mad whenever Denya wound openly flirt with Legolas-she and Caled had become really close, closer than Caled had even thought she could with an Elf.
"I swear," Denya said seriously.
Caled took a breath, still unsure of herself. She had never told anyone of her past, even Gandalf did not know the whole truth, just bits and pieces of what he had seen in her mind. Maybe, she thought, I should just tell her of the tower….that should be enough…yes…
"Why do I hate Elves?" Caled said at last, not looking at Denya but focusing on the trees just behind her. "Because I was once at the mercy of Elves." She shivered despite the heat of the water. "I still have nightmares."
"You wish to know how we formed?" Auron repeated. He chuckled, "Such a thing comes with a heavy price: the words we speak will not leave this campfire. We must have your promise."
Legolas nodded. Even as he did so, his mind raced. He recalled one of the visions Meryl had showed him. Had it just happened? Could he be sure?
The others exchanged looks, with the exception of Darin, who stared intentionally at the fire, avoiding everyone's eyes. Aurora made a face when she saw that. "Darin," she said in a warning tone, tossing a bag carefully between her hands.
He shot her a look, saying through gritted teeth, "Do what you will, I don't care anymore!" He then turned his gaze on Legolas, who was shocked at the intense emotion he saw there. "Just keep in mind," Darin said, "I'm no longer a part of Mirkwood. I'm not one of your subjects, so you cannot order me. Understand?" He said the last sentence as he gripped his Bo, telling Legolas that he meant it.
"I...understand," Legolas said, more questions running through his head.
"Very well," Anex said, straightening. "Get comfortable, because this will be a very long tale."
Silence fell over the spring for what seemed like hours, though it was only seconds. Denya's eyes were wide, disbelief running through them. Caled stared at one spot in the woods, her clenched fists so tight they were shaking.
"I don't know what do say," Denya said at last. "Wow...no wonder you hate them."
Caled nodded stiffly.
Denya nodded. "If I would've known even half of that, I wouldn't have asked." She let out a breath, shaking her head. "You know," she said after a moment of silence, "it's been a while since I met someone who also had nightmares of the past."
At first, Caled did nothing. Then, she raised her head, frowning in puzzlement. "'Also'?"
Denya nodded. A half-smile ghosted across her face, sadness dulling her eyes. "If you think about it…you could say that was when the Guild began. After all, we weren't the Thieves Guild at first. We didn't even have a name. We just…were." She drew her knees to her chest, balancing herself on the submerged rock under her. Her arms hugged her knees and she rested her chin on them. "Clad and I were the first—if you don't count Auron and Aurora; after all, they're brother and sister. It was so long ago…"