A/N One idiot down, one to go. FEELS FOR EVERYONE. Elven magic guys, it's the good shit. You learn stuff.
They set off at a swift pace, descending down an old broken road from the gate. It was nearly a mile before Josephine was able to take stock of herself since the fight. She borrowed one of Pippin's spare handkerchiefs for a gash on her arm that was still bleeding sluggishly. He tied it off as they walked, not having a moment to stop as they followed Aragorn's long strides.
She wasn't the only one to come out a bit more bruised and battered. Sam had a cut along his brow that had clotted but seemed to be bothering him and Frodo clutched his arm around his ribs where the troll had pushed the spear. They may have needed to reach Lothlorien before nightfall but the Hobbits were falling behind. She moved up the line to get Aragorn's attention.
"I think you should check on Sam, he's really pale."
He turned around guiltily, just then realizing he'd neglected them. "I am sorry my friends, so much has happened this day. A little further on there is a place where we can rest for a time. Come, Boromir, we will carry them."
It wasn't much longer before they came to a stream hidden from their path by fir trees. They didn't have a lot of time to spend but there was enough to build a fire. He was pleased to find Sam's wound wasn't as bad as it looked and told him to bathe it once Gimli had finished boiling the water.
Plopping down by the fire Josephine pulled open the hole in her ruined sleeve to finally inspect the cut on her arm. Picking at the knot Pippin had tied she took off the handkerchief and hissed at it pulled free. The blade must have glanced off her bracers, as the score in the new leather showed. The wound just missed the crook of her elbow and glanced up towards her shoulder. Most of it was superficial too from the look of it, which was probably why it had been able to go untended for this long without losing too much blood. The handkerchief was soaked through though, from the center of the cut where it was the deepest.
Aragorn had been tying off bandages to pad Frodo's bruises from the troll when he saw Josephine removing a bloodied handkerchief from her arm. He truly had been blind to everyone since Moria if he hadn't even checked on her. He finished Frodo's bandages a moment later and made his way over to her with more supplies. "You should have said something, I didn't realize you'd been wounded as well." Kneeling he took hold of her wrist and moved her arm so the afternoon light made it easier to see.
"I didn't even notice at the time, things were too chaotic. No orc poison, right?" She asked nervously, remembering now that there was more to worry about than just infection.
He looked carefully, masking his fears of the same until he was sure. "There is no sign of it, and I would be able to tell by now if there was." Carefully he widened the tear in her sleeve so he could clean the wound. "You fought bravely."
"It's a start at least. How-" she hissed as he poured water over the wound and the sting took her by surprise. "I know you're not okay right now, even if you're doing a good enough job of convincing the others." She'd been about to pose it as a question, but she already knew he'd try to downplay it, if she admitted to it at all. "Is there anything I can do?"
She was safe and well and speaking to him now. What else could he dare ask to make their dark days better? "Nothing more than what you have already done." He sighed. "And I would ask how you fared if I did not think you would lie to sooth my concern." Picking up a roll of bandages he began wrapping her arm, fingers as gentle as they'd been back in the wilds when she'd taken ill.
"There's enough for you to worry about, especially now. I'll be okay." He had to lead the Fellowship now, he couldn't be two steps behind her making sure she didn't trip on rocks. The illusion of Rivendell had to go, she might be able to pretend she could still lean on him like before but when push came to shove she had to do it herself. It was no wonder she felt the way she did about him after everything that had happened before they left, but there were more important things now.
His gaze softened. "My concern for you is not something I can help and it is no burden, Josephine."
"Aragorn." Legolas interrupted from the edge of camp. "The sun is westerning, we must hurry."
They quickly doused the fire and left, keeping the same steady pace Aragorn had set earlier that day. Legolas sprinted ahead as they reached the tree line and Josephine felt her body relax as they crossed into the forest.
Until they left Lothlorien, they were safe and Josephine was more than ready for it. She'd begun counting down in her head, waiting for March 25th when it would all be over. It had only been four months since she wandered away from her house, but god it felt like a lifetime ago. If at the end she was sent home, how would she cope? There wouldn't be anyone she could tell and what if she'd been missing for that long for her family? How would she explain it? The thought of going home again scared her, strangely enough. Frodo's words from his monologue at the end of the movies came back to her. Would there really be any going home, even if she walked through that door again?
Maybe Lothlorien was just making her pensive. Perhaps it was best to just set aside any hope of going home. Or maybe the best thing to do was just not think about it until the war was over. Gimli gave her enough of a distraction to push the questions aside and she keyed in as he warned them all about the woods.
"Stay close young 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…and are never seen 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!" Elves appeared from the trees with their bows drawn and Josephine smiled. Now they could rest.
They slept that night on the flets the march wardens had up in the trees. Haldir promised them passage to Caras Galadhon after a lengthy argument with Aragorn. Josephine slept hard, closing her eyes one moment and opening them to dawn the next. She hadn't had any dreams and because of that she counted herself lucky.
They barely talked as they went on, sleeping the next night in another group of flets. The next morning they were all feeling much better, two solid safe rests and whatever magic Lorien held were doing their work.
Lothlorien brought peace, but in a different way from Rivendell. It was wilder and more knowing than the valley. Beautiful but somehow dangerous, though not to them. Midday they paused and Haldir called for rest.
"Behold! You are come to Cerin Amroth. For this is the heart of the ancient realm as it was long ago, and here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was built. Here ever blooms the winter flowers in the unfading grass. Here we will stay awhile, and come to the city of the Galadhrim at dusk."
The Fellowship threw themselves into the grass, soaking up the sun after so many days underground. It was winter in Lorien, but she couldn't imagine spring or summer could be any more striking. She was glad she was there, lucky to be able to see the woods when the gold leaves were still on the trees.
"Come." Aragorn said, taking her hand. "It would be a loss for you to come this far and not stand upon Cerin Amroth."
They walked up the grassy hill, through lines of trees with white bark and then mallorn trees that stretched up beyond anything she'd ever imagined. She brushed her hand against the bark of one as they passed and had to pause. The feeling of its bark was so…alive. She wasn't sure any tree would seem real to the touch again after this. With reluctance she let herself be led away.
Everything was more potent and more clear. The colors of the grass at their feet and the smell of the flowers was almost tangible, solid like the trunk of the tree she'd touched. Was this the way things were in the earlier ages? When there had been less evil and the Elves were young?
Aragorn let go of her hand when they reached the top, giving her the space to wander the small clearing. She looked up into the leaves with a kind of wonder that felt familiar, like the whisper of a joy she'd forgotten a long time ago.
When she turned back to Aragorn her breath caught in her chest. He wasn't the same now either. He seemed younger and less weary, his clothes were lighter in the sunlight and his eyes shone. Any doubts she had about her feelings were gone, dissolved in the clarity of where they stood. It wasn't a shell of admiration from years ago, or a connection built out of need and fear. Beyond everything else, all questions she wanted answered and all places she could go, all she truly wanted and needed at the end was him. Only him. She didn't understand how that was possible, how it could become so obvious so suddenly. But Josephine was in love with him and there was no chance of explaining it away anymore.