~Memories~

By Ola

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A/N~Sorry for this chapter being so short. I'll post the next one tomorrow. Mmm, don't have anything else to say, except: thanks so much for the reviews, and enjoy the story!  (comments at the bottom)

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Part 27~

She fell…and drowned her right shoe in the cold water up to her ankle. A hot wave of fear went through her body and her heart thumped against her chest. She quickly scrambled out of the shallows up on higher grounds, her face turned toward the rushing water, eyes wide at the prospect of what could have happened. Easy heart. Don't burst…I still need you. She had to sit down for a moment, her hand on her stomach, until she recollected herself enough to head back, her wet boot making unpleasant squishy sounds every over step.

She forgot her earlier worries until she reached the inn. She could clearly hear the shouts a few yards away. Her face paled. What is it? It's not because i…told someone about…me, is it? She could clearly hear two distinctive voices. And she knew the owner of both. Something crashed tot eh floor. As she ran closer, she began hearing the words themselves, and not just indistinctive jumbles. She ran faster.

"…river!"

"What! You f@#%*&$ idiot! He doesn't know how to swim!!!"

The door banged open.

"Yes I do."

The room fell silent. Only the trickle of water from the gutter could be heard. She glared at the two young men and at the broken table.

"Lan…" her eyes fell on Sindarin.

"What? WHAT?! What do you think you two were doing!?"

"I…"

"No. NO! I don't want to know!" she turned her back to them. Jack, a black eye already puffing, and somewhat unsteady on his feet, sneered at his opponent. Sindarin was about to give him one last punch, to lay the bastard on the floor and call it a day, when he heard Lan's slow growl. "Do not do that unless you want me to stop talking to you." With that, she did leave; they heard her light footsteps going up the stairs, then a door banged shut. It opened a few seconds later; a few more steps down the hall and back, and another bang loud enough to rattle the picture frame that hung above the fireplace.

In the silence, someone coughed, a chair scrapped on the stone floor, someone else began to talk. Jack half-sat half-fell into the closest chair he could find. Sindarin glared at him for a moment before he too turned around and walked out of the room…into the rain.

He stood outside, as the rain soaked his clothes, turned his hair a darker shade of red, and chilled him to the bone. Then he kicked a stone and strode away up to a tree from where he could see the entrance to the inn. He slumped down against the trunk and buried his hands into his hair. A gray form in a gray world. Even his hair lost its bright color through the curtain of once again thickening rain.

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He stood outside the door for a long time, cursing himself for being afraid to come in and confront her. He knew she must have heard his footsteps on the creaking floor boards. With a sigh, he turned the knob and entered the room with eyes downcast.

"I'm not sorry. I won't apologize for fighting with him." he glanced up at her, fond her looking at him, and went back to watching the floor.

"At least you're honest." Another glance. She sat cross-legged on the bed, still watching him. He shivered, and took his wet shirt off, as he tried to suppress a sneeze. "What happened down there so that two of my friends beat each other into a bloody pulp?"

"A friend? Is that all I am to you now?"

"It's not what I meant."

"It's what it sounded like." He knew he was angering her further, but her couldn't stop himself. He already hurt too much; from the fight as much as from what he had done to her.

"What do you think you are doing, you idiot?" he was startled into looking at her when she whispered and her voice broke. He was even more surprised to see tears in her eyes. He opened his mouth…and sneezed again. The floor creaked, and he felt a towel being draped across his bare shoulders. And then a hug. "Why did you do it Si?" she whispered.

"I couldn't find you. I asked him where you where. He wouldn't tell me. I got worried…" he didn't know whether she would accept his embrace, so he let his hands hang at his side. He heard her sigh.

"How long will I have to tell you that I can take care of myself?"

"For the rest of my life," he said softly, finally deciding to put his arms around her. When she didn't pull away, he hugged her closer and hung his head on her shoulder, breathing in her scent.

"I'm still mad at you," her voice came out soft and muffled, and it tickled his chest. The stomp of her bare foot on the floor was barely audible. He leaned a little bit away from her and looked into her eyes, his own filled with sadness.

"Lan…I am not worthy of you."

"I think I should be the judge of that." She finally kissed him. They undressed; she dragged him into bed, lay against him, and warmed his cold and shivering body with her own.

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A/N~ yea, err, well, Lan does like Sindarin, and she just couldn't find it in her to ignore him completely =)

-cassie bear- sind? Hee hee, cool nickname. Well, jack –the poor fellow- didn't know how …together…they were. And anyway, he's shaych, so don't worry.

-falcon rider- hee hee, glad you find it amusing =)

-trina ti- sorry for the choppiness, but that was the only way I could think of to convey both scenes at the same time (to make it a little more suspenseful). Mmm, is there anything I could do to make it better?

-M'shara- yea, he does overreact, but that's because he loves her so much and is afraid to loose her. (Maybe I should send him to a psychiatrist, or a relationship councilor, eh? Lol) =)

*note to self: go back and add something about Sindarin's wrist sign*   (whenever I'll have time. Which may be some while from now)