A/N: Hey all! Thank to those who have added Starlight to your Favorites list! and thank you to Nymiriel for another wonderful review! Just as a reminder, I post every Sunday, the time of the day varies though, so don't forget to Favorite & Follow to receive notifications for when the next chapter gets posted! Don't forget to Review as well! I love reading all your thoughts and if you have questions, I would be happy to answer them!

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Namárië,

Tasarin

Chapter 19: Caradhras

"Well if that isn't a plague and a nuisance!" Pippin grumbled for the fifth time in a row; still stuck on the fact that there would be no more fires for the rest of the day. With the amount of sighing and moping, you'd think the hobbit had lost a beloved friend...Then again, the hobbits treated mealtimes as borderline religious events. We had left the hill of holly's behind the following morning. A cold snap had rolled in through the night, bringing back the dreaded east wind down from the very mountain we were to be climbing.

I had slept very lightly that night. Not only were Gimli's snores difficult to sleep through, but so was the unison of chattering teeth from the hobbits. I stretched as I sat up in my bedroll and looked over at the hobbits. All four of them had drifted and huddled together in their sleep into a little hobbit pile.

"Did you sleep well?" Legolas asked pleasantly from behind. I stood up and turned, not even bothering to cover my grimace. He laughed.

"Did you sleep?" I mirrored his question and he laughed harder and shook his head.

"I've found with the coming of many ages, that I do not require as much sleep as I used to."

"That sounds wonderful! Can I do that?" It's not like I will be catching any decent sleep anytime soon. A thought whispered in the back of my mind as I stole a glare at the still snoring dwarf.

"You will, in time. Mayhap after your first century?" He said the last part more to himself as he looked off into the distance. I stifled a groan and stooped down to pack my bedroll and gear.

…

With the lack of fire, breakfast and lunch returned to the meagre rations of dried meats and stale bread with a few apples to share amongst the party. We left around noon, or at least what I thought was noon. The sun hid behind a grey and overcast sky that perpetually covered the land in a bleak and cold light. Fog clouded our full view of the mountain, but through parts of thinning fog, I could see the classic white of snow. Although I couldn't feel the cold, my heart pained anxiously for what the rest of our party would be enduring on the climb.

At one point, before we started to climb, Boromir suggested collecting wood for fires so they wouldn't freeze up on the mountain. Gandalf agreed-although he seemed very apprehensive to- and each of us carried as much wood as we could. We started our climb with a quick pace set by Aragorn, and the mood of the company felt light and confident in the strides our company made at first, but before long, the mountain path rose steeply, slowing our progress down drastically.

The small path twisted and turned precariously, seemingly dropping off and disappearing completely under fallen rocks or debris. In those many moments, we had to stop and wait for Aragorn to scout ahead for the path. Before long, we would find the path again and continue.

It grew dark very quickly and soon, we were plunged into the dark of night; not even the moon could peak out of the clouds to light our path. With such low light, it was difficult for even me to see very far ahead. By midnight- at least I thought it was midnight- Gandalf claimed that we had reached the knees of the mountain. Our path that had been carved into the mountain had opened out into a narrow cliffside road. On one side, the daunting sheer cliffs of the mountain rose up invisible in the fog, and on the other, a cavernous open maw; no doubt a deep abyss of darkness.

I refused to look down into the darkness. I had never had any fear of heights, but walking this close to the edge was making me reconsider my fears. I felt disoriented as I clung to the rock face. Legolas walked behind me, catching hold of my elbow whenever I seemed to teeter closer to the edge with a sudden gust of wind.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it started to snow. Big globs snow fell slowly, but before long, it had turned into a blizzard. I couldn't see my own hand in front of me, and I would have felt completely alone and lost, had Legolas not kept a firm, but soft grip on me.

The falling snow had blanketed and silenced all sound for miles of our journey, yet now there seemed to be all sorts of dark noises blowing past my ear in the wind. At first I had thought it was just the wind, but with each step, a feeling of dread seeped into my veins. I stopped and leaned back into Legolas; his broad chest warm against my back as he leaned into me.

"Do you hear that?" I asked in his ear as he bent over me. He was quiet as he listened, his cheek rested against mine for a moment, before several loud ear splitting cracks and rumbles sounded on the cliff above us. I looked up just in time to see a shadow just several feet above before, like lighting, the world and snow flurries whirled around me and my back pressed hard against cold jagged stone.

"Hold Strong! Something evil is trying to bring down the mountain upon us!" Legolas yelled over the sound of crashing boulders and snow to the others of the company. He held me close to him as a torrent of cold snow covered us.

For several heartbeats, I couldn't see anything in the pitch blackness of the snow on us. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I gripped Legolas' tunic tightly. Snow invaded my nose and mouth and my lungs burned for air to breath. Legolas moved quickly, clawing a way out of our snowy prison and I joined him, completely panicked and gasping for air as we finally broke through the snow.

"Calm, Mellon, calm." He held me close in a hug, caressing the length of my hair and whispered over and over. I hadn't even realised that I had been shaking.

Legolas led us closer to the rest of the fellowship and we all huddled together under a covered part of the cliff face. It wasn't really a cave, but it did cover us from most of the wind.

"We cannot go further tonight. Let those call it the wind who will; there are fell voices on the air, and those stones were aimed at us." Boromir bit out and glared out into the abyss where the boulders had fallen.

"But what can we do?" Pippin cried, his voice cracking as he shivered, before leaning closer to Merry and Frodo.

"Either stop where we are, or go back. It is no good going on. If I remember rightly, this path leaves the cliff and runs into a wide shallow trough at the bottom of a long hard slope. We should have no shelter there from snow, or stones- or anything else for that matter." Gandalf rested against the wall of the cliff leaning heavily on his staff. Aragorn nodded slowly in agreement.

"And it is no good going back while the storm holds. We have passed no place on the way up that offers more shelter than this cliff-wall we are under now." Sam glowered up at Aragorn's words.

"Shelter!" The blond hobbit muttered darkly, "If this is shelter, then one wall and no roof make a house."

"Regardless, Master Gamgee, we cannot do anything but wait for the storm to pass before we can decide whether to brave the ever changing weather further up the pass, or to turn back. I suggest we try to conserve our strength," Gandalf looked down at the hobbits, his weathered blue eyes filled with sadness, "and warmth." He added after a moment of silence.

…

For a time, we all hunkered down against the cliff-wall, and although there was a brief respite from the snow and wind, it wasn't long before eddying wind currents brought snow fall to our little makeshift resting area.

I sat between Legolas' legs and against his chest, still shaken from what had happened. His arms were wrapped loosely around my shoulders in comfort. In the back of my mind, I found it interesting how quickly we had become friends. I don't know what I would have done had Legolas not been there to move me out of the way; I shuddered at the thought and his arms tightened around me.

I watched as the hobbits tried to fight off sleep, but one by one, each could no longer hold their eyes open. Legolas stiffened as he watched with me.

"Aragorn, they must not sleep!" He called over to the Ranger.

"Boromir, help me wake the hobbits. It will be their death if they sleep now." Quickly, Aragorn and Boromir roused to hibbits awake. The Gondorian shook Frodo awake roughly as he had done to the other hobbits. Slowly, their eyes cracked open blearily.

"This will be the death of the halflings, Gandalf!" Boromir said stiffly, eyeing the hobbits with worry. It was the first of any emotion for others that I had seen in his eyes for his travel companions. Perhaps this big bad Gondorian could have love in his heart for others that just himself.

Gandalf lifted his pack and searched in it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a leather skin and handed it to Boromir, "Give them this. Just a mouthful each-for all of us. It is very precious. It is Miruvor, the cordial of Imladris. Elrond gave it to me at our parting. Pass it round!"

And so the flask was passed around until it was given to Legolas who took a small sip before glancing at me wearily and placing it into my fingers. I sniffed at the lip of the flask in suspicion; I hadn't ever had any alcohol or spirits of any kind, and considering that I was still not of legal age for drinking on earth, I really doubted that an elfling of middle earth was allowed to drink either.

I lifted the flask to my lips and took a sip, instantly surprised by the light fruity flavor that slipped like velvet over my tongue and down my throat. Warmth radiated pleasantly all the way down to my stomach. I looked up into Legolas' eyes, who was watching me with a slight smile playing at the edge of his lips. I cocked an eyebrow and smiled at him, unable to hide the sudden lightness I felt in my mood.

…

Gandalf allowed us to start a fire, and although it was nice to finally have some warmth, it didn't last long. Fortunately, the last bundle had finished burning right as the grey of dawn was lighting the sky around us. As the darkness of night gave way to bleak greys and whites, it had been decided that we would turn back down the path that we had come to find another path. The wind was calm as well and it seemed that at least the weather had turned to our favor.

Of course it was easier said than done. Not even a few feet from where we had huddled around our campfire, lie a barricading snow wall that left us snowbound with little options than to just barrel through.

"If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might make a path for us." Legolas smiled hopefully at the wizard who just glowered back at the prince.

"If elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the sun to save us," Gandalf said wryly before continuing seriously, "But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn snow."

"Well, when heads are at a loss, bodies must serve, as we say in my country," I rolled my eyes at Boromir's words. How fitting they were coming from a man as burly as Boromir. He was cut and chiseled like a body builder! "The strongest of us must seek a way!" Boromir finished and turned to Aragorn with a cocky grin.

"Then let us force a path thither, you and I!" Aragorn grinned back and both of them began plowing a path through the snow. They seemed to be locked in a competition to see who could clear snow from their paths the fastest. I snorted. Always a competition!

It didn't take long before the men seemed to tire themselves, but still worked hard to clear a path in the chest high snow. I looked up at Legolas who was watching them with a clear smirk on his face before he met my gaze. Something danced in the silvery blue depths of his eyes that stole my breath for a moment before he turned to the rest of the fellowship.

"The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: Let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or snow- an elf!" He grabbed my hand quickly and jumped up onto the bank of snow, easily pulling me up with him.

"Farewell! I go to find the sun!" He called back to Gandalf who was shaking his head with amusement before he pulled me along into a run. I couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up my throat as we passed the unhappy and glaring men. Legolas gave a gentle wave with a dopey and lazy smile to the laboring men, that made me giggle even harder. Soon enough we were ahead of them. We slowed to a walk and laughed with each other at the faces they had made.

This was the most fun I had had so far since we had started the journey. I couldn't tell if it was from the elven spirits, but I felt a warmth in my heart upon seeing Legolas smiling down at me.

"How are you faring, Mellon?" He asked and gave the hand he held a gentle squeeze. I had forgotten and looked down at our linked hands curiously.

"I am well! And you?" I couldn't help the sudden feeling of nervousness that I felt. Usually we had the others with us, but now alone together, I found myself at a loss for how to act around him. Legolas made me feel different, but I just didn't know what kind of different it was.

"Quite well!" He laughed and looked on ahead to scout; perfectly content on holding my hand and walking by my side. He suddenly lifted a finger and smiled a triumphant grin, "There! Do you see it?" I looked in the direction and found that the heavy snow sloped down and began to be more sparse along the road in the distance.

We walked a ways until we made it to the end of the snow bank and sat together among some rocks to wait for Boromir and Aragorn to catch up. We fell into a quiet for a while, before Legolas turned to me.

"I find that I am rather curious to learn more about you, Lady Tori." My heart thudded unevenly at his sincere tone of voice and I glanced over at him.

"What did you want to know?" He pursed his shapely lips and looked up at the clouds while he pondered. I felt my eyes drawn to his face and I watched him before he finally met my eyes again.

"Let's start with the simple things! What is your favorite color?" I chuckled.

"That is simple! Hmm," I looked around as I thought. I had never had a favorite color before, but perhaps it was about time to choose one? My eyes were only met by the boring color of whites and browns, and I frowned distastefully at it. No, I didn't like those colors much right now. I looked back up into Legolas' eyes. They were a beautiful shade of pale blue against the dull backdrop of our surroundings, "Blue." I said finally; Like your eyes I amended in my head.

"You seemed like you were in deep thought over something so simple to answer." He teased and I pushed at his chest.

"Shut up!" He chuckled, "What's yours?" I asked, digging one of my toes around in the snow, mixing it with the dirt beneath.

"Blue" He answered almost immediately, his tone catching my attention.

"I would have thought green was your favorite color!" I laughed at his grimace.

"My name may mean 'Greenleaf', but that does not mean that I have to be partial to the color. Do you know how many times I had been teased as a child because of my name?" I laughed and he joined me.

"No indeed. What parent names their child 'Greenleaf Greenleaf?"

"Not you too!" He groaned, but his eyes were smiling.

"You seem all out of sorts My Lord Greenleaf Greenleaf!" I smiled slyly at him and he grimaced. I opened my mouth to continue teasing, when he covered it with his hand.

"Please, stop." He frowned fiercely. I froze the second that his skin touched my lips. His sharp eyes held mine and I couldn't look away. The look in his eyes softened and he released me from his gaze, lowering his hand and looking back towards the way we had come.

It grew quiet between us again, but then suddenly Aragorn and Boromir came into view, trudging a trail through the last bits of the heavy snow. Legolas popped up from the boulder he was sitting on and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the men.

"Well done! Now I will go tell the others!" We both laughed as a string of curses sounded loudly behind us.

…

After telling the rest of the company the hopeful news, Legolas and I carried the bags over the snow while Aragorn and Boromir carried the hobbits through the snow trail. We waited patiently with Merry and Pippin who were the first to be brought through. They both idled around, kicking small stones and shuffling around, before a gust of wind would send them into a fit of shivers. They hunkered down beside Legolas and I and waited.

After a while, Boromir returned, leading the group with Sam on his back. Gandalf led the pony Bill with Gimli huffing on its back at how ridiculous it was to be carried by the beast and Aragorn in the rear with Frodo on his back. Before the Ranger had let Frodo down, snow and rocks from higher up avalanched down and blocked the way we had just come from.

"Enough! Enough! We are departing as quickly as we may!" Gimli spat at the offending snow and boulders with frustration.

As if in response, the frigid gusts of wind and snow let up. It seemed like the mountain was once again peaceful and content, knowing that we had given up traversing through its pass. We trekked down the slope of the mountain slowly, for the hobbits moved with clumsy and cold limbs. Caradhras had won against our wills and stood a triumphant proud spire in the bleak early morning light.