Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Not even the quotes.

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"Friendship is Love without his wings" – Lord Byron

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The moon had grown dark twice when they began to head back toward Rivendell over the Misty Mountains. A thick snow was falling as they climbed and Annowe dreaded the cold and snow.

Unlike Legolas, she could not walk on top of it but sank down to her knees in it, making for exhausting and slow travel.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate the cold?" she asked him as she was slogging her way though a particularly deep snowdrift. Thankfully, it had stopped snowing and the sun was out, but it wasn't warm enough to make it melt.

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the drift. "But it is just frozen water," he told her. "You're at home in the water, aren't you?" He smirked playfully.

She stopped in her tracks and gave him a look that would have frozen Mount Doom but he just laughed at her and walked away. He found it amusing to tease her at times.

"You hateful devil!" she hissed at him and threw a handful of snow at the back of his blond head, catching him squarely on the neck.

He slowly turned around and tried not to smile at the sight of her, half covered in snow with the color high on her cheeks and her eyes narrowed as she drew herself up to her full height. He couldn't resist baiting her and enjoyed their sparring matches.

"Am I supposed to be intimidated by this show of force?" he asked sarcastically, his lip quivering with the repressed smile.

She bit back her own smile. "If you had any sense, you would be, my pointed eared friend," she warned.

He raised an eyebrow at her and returned her volley of snow, hitting her in the chest.

She stared at him incredulously. "You realize that I am going to spank your behind for that," she said and shook her finger at him as if talking to a disobedient child.

For an answer, she received another volley of snow in the chest. With a shout, she grabbed a handful of snow and hurled it at him. He ducked and the snow whizzed over his head. She threw another and then leaped at him, but he nimbly sidestepped her and she landed face down in the snow with a grunt.

"Now you've done it," she threatened.

"You have to catch me first," he taunted, making a show of turning his back to her and walking slowly away, tossing his head in defiance.

She grinned at the impressive view she had of his backside as he sauntered off before she slowly got to her feet, plotting her revenge on the little monster.

He managed to stay just out of her range until the sun began to set. He slowed down, searching for a place to spend the night. Suddenly she was upon him like a tigress, knocking him into the snow with a shout of victory and scrambling to hold his flailing arms and legs still so she could rub snow in his face.

He tried to roll away but she clung to him like a burr, pulling him back down into the snow and sitting on his chest. They wrestled for several minutes, he trying to escape from her clutches and she trying to stuff as much snow down his tunic as she could.

Laughingly, he called a truce. He had forgotten how strong and determined she could be once she sat her mind to something. Reluctantly, she released him and he rolled into a sitting position facing her. She was smiling smugly and he couldn't help but grin back at her.

"I guess this is camp for the night?" she asked, looking around to find shelter.

"There is a small cave just over this next rise," he pointed in the direction of the setting sun. "I saw it earlier before you attacked me."

They got to their feet and walked the short distance to the mouth of the cave.

"I didn't 'attack' you," she told him, plopping breathlessly down on a rock.

"What do you call that, then?" he wondered, looking around for anything to start a fire with.

"Defending myself," she said simply. "You mocked me and needed to be taught a lesson."

He gave her The Look that few males could ever master, causing her to clap her hands and laugh with delight at him. The tips of his ears turned pink at her compliment and he turned away from her before she could see the longing in his eyes.

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