Author's Note: Ah, see, I'm already doing well with the timely updates.
As always, thanks so much for the lovely reviews, I'm glad people seem to
be enjoying the story already, that's always a good sign! And nope, I'm
still not Tolkien, I never made up any languages, and I receive no money
for this (sigh). So here you are, enjoy!
Chapter 3
Morning came and Gimli dragged open his eyelids, squinting at the bright sun that shone through his window. He debated on closing his eyes and rolling over to fall back asleep when a though suddenly struck him. The sun was quickly climbing its way out from the hills, it had been at least an hour since the sun had risen, and Legolas had not come to wake him. The elf was always up at the crack of dawn, prodding the drowsy dwarf to get out of bed.
Gimli sat up in bed, his mind still moving slowly as it tried to make sense out of what all that meant. Legolas had not come to wake him. He had said he would come to visit him first thing in the morning.
Wondering if perhaps something had befallen his friend, Gimli swung his legs over the side of the bed and climbed out of it, quickly dragging on his discarded clothing from the night before. When his clothing was situated, he went to the door and quickly made his way out of the room, striding down the hall towards Legolas' room.
He paused at the door and after a small argument within himself on whether to knock or not, he pounded his fist twice against the door.
There was no response.
Frowning, Gimli pushed open the door and peered in from the doorway. The room was empty.
Gimli was slightly confused at this fact, but told himself to think nothing of it. Perhaps Legolas had merely decided to go for a walk in the morning and would wake Gimli later. He knew Gimli did not rise as early as he did, perhaps he was just allowing the dwarf more time to sleep.
Gimli closed the door again and turned to go back to his own room. As he turned, he gave out a small yell and braked immediately, his pulse automatically quickening as he tried to avoid running into a body that was barring his way while his hand simultaneously went to his side for an axe that was not there.
It took him all of two seconds to realize that the one standing so closely behind him was the elf he was seeking. He struggled to regain his composure quickly and glared balefully up at Legolas.
Legolas was of course smiling.
"Having trouble finding your way back to your room?" the elf questioned softly.
Gimli gave a growl in response and stepped away from Legolas, allowing more room so he would not have to look so straight up. "I was having trouble finding the friend who seemed to have forgotten that he was to meet me in the morning."
A small shadow passed over Legolas' features.
"I apologize my friend," he said even more softly than before, "I imagined you would welcome the extra rest."
Gimli snorted. "Since all is well now and we have both found what was missing, I suggest we make our way to the dining hall and have our morning meal."
Legolas' smile spread slowly over his face again. "I always did think that the habits of the hobbits rubbed off on you."
Gimli scowled. "The appetite of the dwarf was established long before the hobbits," he declared.
Legolas smiled, "Of course." He moved to the side and gestured to Gimli with a sweep of his hand, "Shall we move to eat then?"
Gimli only grunted in reply and moved past the elf, automatically leading the way. But his feigned anger was given away by the smile he was trying to hold back, and the soft laughter of the elf following him let him know that Legolas was not fooled in the slightest.
They ate their breakfast quickly, with the bulk of the time spent by Legolas urging the dwarf to either eat faster or eat less. All Legolas ate for himself was a glass of water and some pieces of freshly made bread with fruit while Gimli dutifully ate what could have been the equivalent to a three course meal.
"Morning's meal is not the time for heavy eating," Legolas chastised Gimli, "it will drag you down for the rest of the day."
Gimli answered between chews and swallows, "You keep to your ways and I to mine and we shall see at the end of the day who comes out the better for it." Legolas laughed at the reply and the light banter between the two put Gimli in better spirits to see his friend thus. He was much more like his old self and nothing like how he had been the night before. Gimli hoped that whatever had been bothering him had been taken care of.
When Gimli was finally done with his meal, Legolas prompted the dwarf to go for a walk with him through the city and perhaps into the fringes of the borders of Ithilien. After much groaning on his part, of which he only did to annoy the elf, Gimli complied and resigned himself to a morning of following an elf around who exclaimed over every tree and tried to get Gimli to see the beauty in them all.
The two made their way out of the dining hall and then outside into the fresh air of the sunny morning. It looked as though it would be a beautiful day, and Gimli said as much.
"Yes," Legolas agreed before pausing and frowning slightly, "but the air is charged with something else."
Gimli was surprised at such an answer and turned to his friend to ask for an explanation, but he held his tongue when he noticed the elf standing still and straining his eyes to look off in the distance. Gimli looked out as well, but nothing seemed amiss to him, so he turned back to the elf to see if he could read what was happening through his expression.
"What is it?" Gimli finally asked after a few moments.
Legolas relaxed imperceptibly. "We shall find out soon enough."
Gimli looked back in the direction Legolas had been focusing in and noticed two riders coming towards them. They were riding hard and Gimli assumed they must be coming this way to bring some sort of news to Aragorn.
When they were within distance, Gimli held up his hand and beckoned them to stop. One of the riders noticed him and checked his horse, coming to a stop before the elf and the dwarf.
"Lord Gimli," he said, "do you know where the King is this morning?"
"He is most likely in some sort of meeting as always, what need do you have to see him?" Gimli answered.
The other man answered for him. "There has been a murder."
Gimli was shocked. These were peaceful times and there had not been any violent deaths since the War of the Ring. "How? Is the intruder still around?"
"We do not know any more than we have just told you. We need to report to King Elessar and have him decide if an investigation needs to take place."
Gimli nodded, "Of course. Come with me, I am sure I know where he is at the moment."
Gimli started to move back from where they had just come, and he noted vaguely that Legolas silently followed. He had not said a word yet about any of this and the men did not direct any of their questions toward him. In fact, the elf hardly seemed surprised at all, his expression unchanging even as news of a murder came to them.
Gimli led the small contingent through the winding hallways before stopping in front of a large door located on the left. He pounded on the door with his fist, as was his way of knocking, and stepped back expectantly. The door opened a few moments later and a wizened looking man peered out into the hallway.
"Step aside good sir," Gimli spoke immediately, "we have a matter that is most urgent and have to speak with the King."
The man looked unsure, but a voice behind him spoke up. "All is well Hirold, please let them pass."
Still looking suspicious, the door man stepped to the side, revealing Aragorn standing behind him. He smiled when he saw Gimli, "Anything that master dwarf claims to be important must be so."
"Aye," Gimli nodded as he pushed his way past the thin man and into the room, "but the news we carry is not well." Aragorn frowned but held his questions until all the men were inside the room and they had seated themselves at a large table that sat in the middle of the room. It was this room where Aragorn held most of his meetings, and he was thankful that it was empty at the moment.
When they were all ready Aragorn nodded at Gimli, "Tell me of what happened Gimli."
"As much as I would like to know, I will have to give leave to one of your messengers to speak, for they were the ones who brought us the news."
Aragorn looked expectantly at the man closest to him. "There has been a murder," the man said softly.
Aragorn's frown deepened. "Where?" he asked.
"Just outside of the city gates, on the fringes of Ithilien's forest." The other man spoke up in turn.
Aragorn looked puzzled. "Was there any signs of an intruder?"
At this the two men looked at each other and then one of them glanced at Legolas who was sitting silently at the far end of the table near to Aragorn. "Well my lord," the first man spoke up, "from what we could tell, it was the work of an elf."
That caused a reaction from Legolas. He sat up straighter in his chair and pierced the men with his clear eyes. "And how would you come to that realization?"
The man closest to him squirmed. "Well, it's simply a guess, but the weapon that was used was not of our make, and the lines were very neat, very efficient. It would be hard for a man to do such a thing without effort."
"So then it had to be an elf," Legolas cut off the man and filled in his sentence, his growing anger clearly writ upon his face.
Aragorn held up his hand, staving off the confrontation. "There will be no more said about who did it or how it was done until we conduct a formal investigation. I will have some men sent out now and they will bring back the body so that I can look at it myself. Having experience with both men and elves I feel I can make a clear judgement."
The men nodded before hastily excusing themselves, volunteering to gather a small group of men to go back to where they had found the body and scout the area before bringing it back. Legolas watched the men leave the room until the door closed, his eyes blazing upon their backs.
'Yet can you blame them for their conclusion?' Legolas' haunting voice was back, 'An assassin can hardly be satisfied any other way.'
Legolas sighed and shifted his gaze back only to find Aragorn staring intently at him. "Is everything well my friend?" he asked softly.
"Yes," was the simple reply.
When it was clear Legolas would not be adding anything more to his answer, Aragorn asked another question. "Has there been any reports of any rogue elves in the area?"
"I assure you it was not an elf," Legolas' voice was thin and his features taut.
Aragorn studied his friend with his dark eyes a moment longer before nodding. "I am sure you are right."
"They are afraid of what they do not understand," Legolas interrupted. Aragorn was slightly startled by his revelation, but more at the bitterness in his voice. He had never seen his friend in a state such as this, and it was proving to be bothersome. Gimli was surprised as well, the elf was hardly ever in anything but a good mood.
"I am sure you are right," Aragorn repeated again softly. And then they all fell silent as they waited for the unfortunate victim to be brought to them.
Chapter 3
Morning came and Gimli dragged open his eyelids, squinting at the bright sun that shone through his window. He debated on closing his eyes and rolling over to fall back asleep when a though suddenly struck him. The sun was quickly climbing its way out from the hills, it had been at least an hour since the sun had risen, and Legolas had not come to wake him. The elf was always up at the crack of dawn, prodding the drowsy dwarf to get out of bed.
Gimli sat up in bed, his mind still moving slowly as it tried to make sense out of what all that meant. Legolas had not come to wake him. He had said he would come to visit him first thing in the morning.
Wondering if perhaps something had befallen his friend, Gimli swung his legs over the side of the bed and climbed out of it, quickly dragging on his discarded clothing from the night before. When his clothing was situated, he went to the door and quickly made his way out of the room, striding down the hall towards Legolas' room.
He paused at the door and after a small argument within himself on whether to knock or not, he pounded his fist twice against the door.
There was no response.
Frowning, Gimli pushed open the door and peered in from the doorway. The room was empty.
Gimli was slightly confused at this fact, but told himself to think nothing of it. Perhaps Legolas had merely decided to go for a walk in the morning and would wake Gimli later. He knew Gimli did not rise as early as he did, perhaps he was just allowing the dwarf more time to sleep.
Gimli closed the door again and turned to go back to his own room. As he turned, he gave out a small yell and braked immediately, his pulse automatically quickening as he tried to avoid running into a body that was barring his way while his hand simultaneously went to his side for an axe that was not there.
It took him all of two seconds to realize that the one standing so closely behind him was the elf he was seeking. He struggled to regain his composure quickly and glared balefully up at Legolas.
Legolas was of course smiling.
"Having trouble finding your way back to your room?" the elf questioned softly.
Gimli gave a growl in response and stepped away from Legolas, allowing more room so he would not have to look so straight up. "I was having trouble finding the friend who seemed to have forgotten that he was to meet me in the morning."
A small shadow passed over Legolas' features.
"I apologize my friend," he said even more softly than before, "I imagined you would welcome the extra rest."
Gimli snorted. "Since all is well now and we have both found what was missing, I suggest we make our way to the dining hall and have our morning meal."
Legolas' smile spread slowly over his face again. "I always did think that the habits of the hobbits rubbed off on you."
Gimli scowled. "The appetite of the dwarf was established long before the hobbits," he declared.
Legolas smiled, "Of course." He moved to the side and gestured to Gimli with a sweep of his hand, "Shall we move to eat then?"
Gimli only grunted in reply and moved past the elf, automatically leading the way. But his feigned anger was given away by the smile he was trying to hold back, and the soft laughter of the elf following him let him know that Legolas was not fooled in the slightest.
They ate their breakfast quickly, with the bulk of the time spent by Legolas urging the dwarf to either eat faster or eat less. All Legolas ate for himself was a glass of water and some pieces of freshly made bread with fruit while Gimli dutifully ate what could have been the equivalent to a three course meal.
"Morning's meal is not the time for heavy eating," Legolas chastised Gimli, "it will drag you down for the rest of the day."
Gimli answered between chews and swallows, "You keep to your ways and I to mine and we shall see at the end of the day who comes out the better for it." Legolas laughed at the reply and the light banter between the two put Gimli in better spirits to see his friend thus. He was much more like his old self and nothing like how he had been the night before. Gimli hoped that whatever had been bothering him had been taken care of.
When Gimli was finally done with his meal, Legolas prompted the dwarf to go for a walk with him through the city and perhaps into the fringes of the borders of Ithilien. After much groaning on his part, of which he only did to annoy the elf, Gimli complied and resigned himself to a morning of following an elf around who exclaimed over every tree and tried to get Gimli to see the beauty in them all.
The two made their way out of the dining hall and then outside into the fresh air of the sunny morning. It looked as though it would be a beautiful day, and Gimli said as much.
"Yes," Legolas agreed before pausing and frowning slightly, "but the air is charged with something else."
Gimli was surprised at such an answer and turned to his friend to ask for an explanation, but he held his tongue when he noticed the elf standing still and straining his eyes to look off in the distance. Gimli looked out as well, but nothing seemed amiss to him, so he turned back to the elf to see if he could read what was happening through his expression.
"What is it?" Gimli finally asked after a few moments.
Legolas relaxed imperceptibly. "We shall find out soon enough."
Gimli looked back in the direction Legolas had been focusing in and noticed two riders coming towards them. They were riding hard and Gimli assumed they must be coming this way to bring some sort of news to Aragorn.
When they were within distance, Gimli held up his hand and beckoned them to stop. One of the riders noticed him and checked his horse, coming to a stop before the elf and the dwarf.
"Lord Gimli," he said, "do you know where the King is this morning?"
"He is most likely in some sort of meeting as always, what need do you have to see him?" Gimli answered.
The other man answered for him. "There has been a murder."
Gimli was shocked. These were peaceful times and there had not been any violent deaths since the War of the Ring. "How? Is the intruder still around?"
"We do not know any more than we have just told you. We need to report to King Elessar and have him decide if an investigation needs to take place."
Gimli nodded, "Of course. Come with me, I am sure I know where he is at the moment."
Gimli started to move back from where they had just come, and he noted vaguely that Legolas silently followed. He had not said a word yet about any of this and the men did not direct any of their questions toward him. In fact, the elf hardly seemed surprised at all, his expression unchanging even as news of a murder came to them.
Gimli led the small contingent through the winding hallways before stopping in front of a large door located on the left. He pounded on the door with his fist, as was his way of knocking, and stepped back expectantly. The door opened a few moments later and a wizened looking man peered out into the hallway.
"Step aside good sir," Gimli spoke immediately, "we have a matter that is most urgent and have to speak with the King."
The man looked unsure, but a voice behind him spoke up. "All is well Hirold, please let them pass."
Still looking suspicious, the door man stepped to the side, revealing Aragorn standing behind him. He smiled when he saw Gimli, "Anything that master dwarf claims to be important must be so."
"Aye," Gimli nodded as he pushed his way past the thin man and into the room, "but the news we carry is not well." Aragorn frowned but held his questions until all the men were inside the room and they had seated themselves at a large table that sat in the middle of the room. It was this room where Aragorn held most of his meetings, and he was thankful that it was empty at the moment.
When they were all ready Aragorn nodded at Gimli, "Tell me of what happened Gimli."
"As much as I would like to know, I will have to give leave to one of your messengers to speak, for they were the ones who brought us the news."
Aragorn looked expectantly at the man closest to him. "There has been a murder," the man said softly.
Aragorn's frown deepened. "Where?" he asked.
"Just outside of the city gates, on the fringes of Ithilien's forest." The other man spoke up in turn.
Aragorn looked puzzled. "Was there any signs of an intruder?"
At this the two men looked at each other and then one of them glanced at Legolas who was sitting silently at the far end of the table near to Aragorn. "Well my lord," the first man spoke up, "from what we could tell, it was the work of an elf."
That caused a reaction from Legolas. He sat up straighter in his chair and pierced the men with his clear eyes. "And how would you come to that realization?"
The man closest to him squirmed. "Well, it's simply a guess, but the weapon that was used was not of our make, and the lines were very neat, very efficient. It would be hard for a man to do such a thing without effort."
"So then it had to be an elf," Legolas cut off the man and filled in his sentence, his growing anger clearly writ upon his face.
Aragorn held up his hand, staving off the confrontation. "There will be no more said about who did it or how it was done until we conduct a formal investigation. I will have some men sent out now and they will bring back the body so that I can look at it myself. Having experience with both men and elves I feel I can make a clear judgement."
The men nodded before hastily excusing themselves, volunteering to gather a small group of men to go back to where they had found the body and scout the area before bringing it back. Legolas watched the men leave the room until the door closed, his eyes blazing upon their backs.
'Yet can you blame them for their conclusion?' Legolas' haunting voice was back, 'An assassin can hardly be satisfied any other way.'
Legolas sighed and shifted his gaze back only to find Aragorn staring intently at him. "Is everything well my friend?" he asked softly.
"Yes," was the simple reply.
When it was clear Legolas would not be adding anything more to his answer, Aragorn asked another question. "Has there been any reports of any rogue elves in the area?"
"I assure you it was not an elf," Legolas' voice was thin and his features taut.
Aragorn studied his friend with his dark eyes a moment longer before nodding. "I am sure you are right."
"They are afraid of what they do not understand," Legolas interrupted. Aragorn was slightly startled by his revelation, but more at the bitterness in his voice. He had never seen his friend in a state such as this, and it was proving to be bothersome. Gimli was surprised as well, the elf was hardly ever in anything but a good mood.
"I am sure you are right," Aragorn repeated again softly. And then they all fell silent as they waited for the unfortunate victim to be brought to them.