Chapter Three is here folks!
Please see the end notes of the chapter for comments and notes.
- Alex.
The next morning dawned too soon for my liking, Lindir and Erestor where in my room helping me pack my stuff in the backpack that Erestor had procured for me, so far my underwear and extensive collection of black leggings had been packed, along with a couple lightweight sweaters that could be folded into tiny little things, while searching in my suitcases I had found several packs of tampons and a large ziplock bag, I smiled as I packed them tightly under my underwear at the bottom of my backpack.
Lindir supplied me with two pairs of elven made boots, one, which I put on immediately, and the spare ones I folded and put them inside my backpack, also Lindir gave me a pair of bracers that he tied over the sleeves of my sweater, and Erestor gave me a belt in which I could hold my sword. In the end I was wearing a black pair of leggings with a black pair of boots and a green oversized sweater that could pass off as a tunic. I also asked Lindir to braid my hair into a relaxed braid, and he did letting a few strands of hair to fall freely around my face.
He and Erestor both hugged me goodbye as I was going to grab my backpack, Lindir had added a thick blanket to it, mumbling about cold weather, I had smiled; I had gained two mother hens. I hugged them again before walking out of my room towards the courtyard. Legolas was already there and he greeted me with a smile.
"Are you scared?" he asked after a few minutes, I nodded.
"A little bit, yes, but someone very dear to me used to tell me that fear often make us give the best of us, so its okay to be scared as long as we don't let the fear consume us" I said with a bittersweet smile, I remembered how dad used to sit on the edge of my bed and tell me the exact same words when I was younger and then again when I had grown, oh how I missed him and mom.
"Very wise words" conceded Legolas; I nodded.
We stood there as the others arrived, Aragorn greeted the both of us as did the hobbits, Gimli grunted a greeting and Boromir just stood in the sidelines staring warily at us, Gandalf then arrived with Elrond along with the other elves that were going to see us go, Lindir and Erestor waved at me from their spot in the crowd, I smiled at them. My eyes scanned the crowd for the familiar golden hair, but he was not there, and I couldn't help but to feel a sudden twinge in my chest tugging at it. I mean I knew we had fought and that I hadn't seen him since, but I had the smallest hope that perhaps…
Elrond said a few words of farewell and we officially started our journey, before walking through the arch that marked the entrance of Imladris I spared a glance back and he had arrived there, and was watching me with a sorrowful expression, I looked away before I decided to do something stupid. And so we walked. And walked across 'not-new Zealand', in our spare times, Aragorn would continue to train me with the aid of Legolas, and sometimes with the input of Boromir, who was slowly growing on me, perhaps I could save him from his horrible fate?
"Lady Alexandra have you travelled this road before?" asked Pippin one day as we walked, I smiled, it was the first time one of the hobbits had spoken directly towards me.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you master Pippin, but I was not born here in middle-earth" I answered, he seemed surprised "And please call me Alex"
"Where were you born, Lady Alex?" he asked again, I could tell that the others were also interested in my answer.
"I was born in Valinor and raised by the Vala Nessa, then when I was old enough I was moved to a secure location where I could grow safe of the horrors of the world" I explained carefully, Pippin nodded.
"That is why you were wearing those weird garments when we found you" said Merry, I laughed.
"Yes, I had attended a gathering the night before and I got here with no warning, I forgot to apologize for not being dressed accordingly" Aragorn laughed in the distance.
"You didn't looked sorry enough when Lord Glorfindel found us in the borders of Rivendell" said Pippin; I stiffened at the mention of goldilocks.
"Well, he had not been polite to me either and I was wet, tired and hungry" I defended myself, Pippin smiled content with my answer, but I could see that Aragorn had noticed my change.
We kept walking and making small talk, even Gimli joined sometimes, the hobbits were very interesting and funny creatures. At night when we stopped Merry and Pippin usually sang different songs about different things, honestly there was almost a song for everything. Aragorn often joined with songs about the ranger way of living or some elven song, Legolas had his own repertoire too.
Aragorn often walked at the same pace as me, and I found myself thanking the Valar that they had decided to turn me into an elf, because otherwise, I would have probably died of exhaustion, but elves had different metabolisms and endurance, which made us very resilient and extremely hard to tire from simply walking, besides Legolas had showed me a neat trick that allowed me to sleepwalk, obviously every time I did it I had to tell a member of the fellowship so they could guide me. It was two weeks after our departure that Aragorn approached me with the subject of Glorfindel.
"I decided to give you time to approach one of us with whatever is bothering you, but you didn't, and I hope that I don't have to explain to you what happen to elves when they succumb into their grief" he told me sternly one night while we took the first watch.
"They fade," I murmured feeling like a child.
"Yes, they do, so now you're going to tell me what has been bothering you and why lord Glorfindel has something to do with it" he demanded, I sighed in defeat and proceeded to tell him everything that had transpired between me and Glorfindel, Aragorn was a good listener, I decided after pouring my heart out to him, he ended up holding me tightly as I cried recounting the fight I had had with Glorfindel.
"Do you think he was right?" I murmured softly after a few minutes, my head resting on Aragorn's shoulder while I hugged my legs up to my chest.
"No, I don't think you are a burden to us" he said, "I think he is scared"
"Scared? Of what?"
"Of loosing you to this war, you have to remember who he is, what he has lost in the course of time" he justified, I sat there in silence going over his words inside my head.
"But he just met me, and not in my best day, mind you" I argued; Aragorn chuckled.
"Love is strange like that"
"Love? You surely must be joking" I sounded outraged.
"Do you not believe in love?" he asked, and I had to stop myself from answering too quickly, based on my last experience with men, I could honestly say that I did not believed in love, not anymore at least.
"Would you still believe in something even though you been hurt countless of time because of it?" I said bitterly, Aragorn stayed silent for a few minutes.
"I would" he answered at last "I would because wanting to find and to be with the right person would keep me going"
"Then consider yourself a lucky one if you have found love, not all of us do"
Aragorn chose not to comment after that, we ended our watch and woke Legolas and Boromir for the second watch, that night I went to sleep with less weight upon my shoulders and perhaps a little bit of hope, not that I was going to tell anyone anytime soon. Next morning woke up early and started walking immediately, Aragorn kept sending concerned glances my way, which I ignored pointedly and attempted to make small talk with Gimli, the dwarf explained to me in excruciating detail how mining worked, I had been bored to hell but now I could tell five different ways of mining and more than a hundred ways to die while doing it so.
We had come to rest upon some rocks, Pippin and Merry were sword fighting with Boromir while Aragorn gave them pointers, Sam and Frodo were eating, and I was standing next to Legolas who was overlooking the mountains, it was too peaceful when I suddenly remembered which scene was this one exactly, the birds from hell were about to attack, I tugged on Legolas tunic, and whispered my concerns to him, he was immediately in attention until he spotted them, everyone rapidly looked for a place to hide, Legolas grabbed my arm and pushed me under a bush with him. We waited there in silence until those dammed hellish birds left. Then we walked out of our hiding places and awaited for Gandalf's orders although I already knew that we were going to try Caradhras and then Moria, not that I could start babbling.
Caradhras made me feel like if I had been trapped in the movie Frozen, I was waiting for Elsa to jump out of nowhere singing 'Let it Go' or for Legolas to suddenly start turning everything into ice. Again I thanked the Valar for being an elf, because as the others walked through the snow, Legolas and I padded softly on it. The cold was almost unbearable but I supposed that elves felt the cold differently, I was currently wearing my favorite fuzzy leather jacket, it looked like Chewbacca on the inside and like a cool leather jacket on the outside, and it had a hoodie! Another one of the things that I had packed in my backpack.
"There is a foul voice on the air," said Legolas, I looked at him then turned to Gandalf.
"ITS SARUMAN" he screamed, and like in the movie giant pieces of rocks fell to our side, I grabbed Legolas arm, as he was the closest to me.
"I'm getting the vibe that someone doesn't like us" I murmured under my breath, Legolas heard me and raised an eyebrow.
"HE'S TRYING TO BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN," bellowed Aragorn while clutching a pair of hobbits "WE MUST GO BACK!"
"NO!" Answered Gandalf and started chanting in that weird language of his, my grip on Legolas tightened, then we heard it a crack and all that snow falling on us, Legolas grabbed me tightly and pushed us against the mountain so we wouldn't fall.
Legolas and I were the first to get out of the snow; I was shivering as the snow had found its way under my clothes, not funny. The fellowship discussed our next move and Frodo decided on the mines. The walk to the mines was done in silence, I was still shivering and the fog did not help, at all. In retrospective the entrance of the mines was creepier than in the movie and as we walked I eyed the lake warily, I accidentally stepped on a branch that creaked and I almost ended up on top of Boromir, Legolas looked at me with a confused expression.
"This place creeps the hell out of me," I told him as I separated myself from Boromir, who seemed a bit flushed.
"I do not like this place either," admitted Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf started talking about dwarven doors and how they were invisible. Legolas and I were not amused.
"If we don't find it we could go back, find another path, a lighter, happier path" I said as Gandalf found the goddamned door "Think about it, a path filled with unicorns and butterflies"
"What is an unicorn?" asked Legolas mildly interested. And so we both sat on rocks and I proceeded to explain to Legolas what a unicorn was, using the theory of narwhals and horses.
"They usually too prefer the female touch and some only the touch of a virgin female" I explained, Legolas seemed a bit deflated by this.
"They sound like truly majestic creatures" he said, I nodded, we then heard rustling, they had opened the door, the joy, Legolas and I stood up and walked to the entrance.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Now as for the reviewers.
Thank you very much for taking time to review, we writers love feedback as much as we love writing because it helps us develop as writers, any feedback whether is positive or negative is good feedback.
Guest Reviewer Amethyst said that she pictured Glorfindel as male model David Boals, I went and googled the guy and can say that he would be a good Glorfindel model, really go check him out, and if you have anyone you picture Glorfindel after be sure to share it with me and the rest of us,
Happy day/night/evening!
