Chapter 5

Rain, Rain, Rain

When Sasha woke up the next morning, she found herself lying on the ground under an enormous tree , covered with the cloak. Legolas was leaning against the trunk of the tree, frying some sausages and looking out at the sheet of rain driving on the road.

"I don't fancy being out in that lot," said Sasha sleepily.

"Well, you will have to," replied Legolas, turning over the sausages with a knife. "If we continue riding today as quickly as possible, we will reach Rivendell by mid afternoon."

"In the rain?" Sasha wailed, sitting up and wrapping the cloak around her shivering shoulders.

Legolas turned towards her, his face determined. "If we wait for the rain to subside, we could be delayed by three days; these rains often last that long, or longer."

"But I'll be soaked!"

"So will I," replied Legolas calmly, turning away. Sasha got up and went over to sit next to him.

"Here," she said, handing him the cloak. "You look cold." He accepted it gratefully, and she scooted back until she was leaning against the tree-trunk next to him.

"I think you should know," she said, turning toward him, after a few minutes of silence, "that I am always in a bad mood when I get up in the morning. It wasn't anything against you."

"I understand," said Legolas. Suddenly he rose, and stretched. "We should get going soon," he announced. "Do you want some of these sausages?"

"Yes please!" exclaimed Sasha. She hadn't realized it, but she was famished, and as Legolas put out the fire, she rescued the three sausages and stowed them in a pocket of the cloak.

"Have you eaten?" she asked, biting into one.

"Yes," replied Legolas, his eyes twinkling. "I was up before dawn." She chose to ignore the jibe at her sleeping habits, and shivered.

"Then let's go, so we can be out of this awful rain!" she exclaimed, mounting on Feäros. Legolas climbed up behind her, wrapped them both in the cloak, then nudged the horse into a gallop.

The rain pounded on the road, making it almost impossible to see anything. The road, landscape, and sky all blended into one sheet of grey, and Sasha was starting to get tired of being wet. It wasn't until early afternoon that Legolas jumped down and led Feäros over to a tree. He held up his hands, and Sasha slipped easily off the horse's back, into Legolas's arms, and on safe, solid ground. They sat together beneath the tree, and shared what little food Legolas had in his pack: two apples, water, the last two sausages, and a wafer each of lembas, the Elvish waybread.

When they were through, Legolas got up and walked out into the rain and refilled the skin of water. The rain was coming down so hard that it took only a moment before he came back and replaced the skin in the pack. "Come on," he said, helping Sasha up, "we've got to go. We should be at Rivendell by sunset, if we leave now."

"Oh, all right," Sasha sighed, remounting Feäros. "Let's go."

A/N: Think something's gonna come of it? Who knows? Sasha herself says that the way we're writing this fic, it's going to come out like a soap opera. Don't like, don't read. ;-P