Disclaimer: The characters are J.R. Tolkien's, not mine.
Rating: PG-13 – to be on the safe side, for fluffy, non-explicit m/m.
Summary: This story is about the beginnings of the fellowship. One-shot story, can be read by itself or as sequel to To Make A Choice. Much of it is Boromir's PoV. Very fluffy A/L.
Time: LoTR.
Author's note: This story is can either be seen as a one-shot standalone effort or as a sequel to To Make A Choice. This also means like in To Make A Choice, this includes m/m relationships. I have had the outline for this story in my head for a long time, and just had to get it out of my system before continuing with To Make A Choice.
There are no explicit or graphic scenes, it is all very fluffy. But you have been warned, if you do not like m/m or cannot cope with it, please do not continue.
This has not been beta-ed, all errors are mine. Please read and review, flames are not accepted.
Reviews are very important to me, they keep me going. So please take the time and write a brief review.
(Edited repost of this chapter)
Chapter 1 Inauspicious Beginnings
Boromir, son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, was cold, wet, tired and irritated, not necessarily in this order. Yet again, he wondered why he had agreed to go on this quest. He also thought about the last few weeks and his fellow walkers.
The company had walked for four weeks. It had rained most of the time and a cold east wind was biting through whatever clothing they were able to put on. In the first few days after leaving Rivendell, the younger hobbits had chattered away, curious about their companions and the lands they travelled through. But as they travelled on, even the hobbits' spirits were dampened, and by the fourth week everyone was trudging along, with their hoods up, trying to shelter against the wet and the cold.
After four weeks, relationships within the company had begun to form patterns. Frodo and Sam were inseparable, but Frodo was often withdrawn, saving his energy to resist the pull of the ring. Sam supported him as best as he could, making sure that Frodo ate, drank and rested.
Merry and Pippin always walked together. At first, both had been more than keen to investigate their surroundings, but the merciless cold had subdued even their lively spirits. At night, all four hobbits slept together buried in a big pile of blankets and furs.
Gimli, the dwarf, largely stayed by himself, although he made a point of taunting Legolas, the elf from Mirkwood. More often than not, Legolas would not reply but walk away, suppressing any sharp answer that might have come to his mind. Both Aragorn and Gandalf repeatedly chastised the dwarf to leave the elf alone, but these reprimands did not seem to have a lasting effect.
Aragorn. Boromir did not trust the ranger, finding it difficult to accept that this rather scruffy ranger who was on such good terms with the elves was the rightful king of Gondor. It had been Boromir's family who had defended and looked after Gondor for generations, how could this scruffy ranger from the north, who acted more like an elf than a man, claim the throne of Gondor? Aragorn often spoke Elvish with Legolas, whom he seemed to know well.
Boromir thought much about Legolas. The Gondorian warrior was both fascinated and repulsed by the elf. Beautiful, but cold as marble. Boromir had not been able to find out much about the elf, bar the fact that he was considered young amongst his people and hailed from Mirkwood.
Legolas had hardly spoken on the journey so far, saving his few remarks for Aragorn or Gandalf. Boromir admitted to himself that he resented this – if Aragorn was good enough to be spoken to, why did Legolas never speak to him unless strictly necessary?
One evening Aragorn had found a small hollow, surrounded by dense brushes on three sides and sheltered by a rock wall on the other. After a brief conference with Gandalf, he decided that the risk of having a small fire was worth the risk of being discovered – everyone in the company needed warm food, and an opportunity to dry at least some of their damp belongings.
The hobbits, Gimli and Boromir tried to find wood that was dry enough to burn without creating too much smoke. Aragorn and Legolas took their bows, each circling half of the camp to ensure they were alone and there were no traces of others. Having ensured that they were as safe as could be expected on this quest, Aragorn gave permission to light a small fire. Sam then cooked a meagre but deliciously smelling stew of whatever leftover food the company could produce, and everyone congregated around the fire for the meal.
Presently, everyone sat huddled into their cloaks, staring into the fire. As the embers died down, Legolas bent forward and pushed some more wood into the fire. As he did so, a small golden chain with an intricately crafted ring fell free of his tunic, glittering in the shine of the fire.
Pippin saw the flash and, always curious, asked: "Legolas, what is that for a ring you wear on your necklace?"
Legolas, unaware that his necklace had slipped out, quickly looked down on his chest and caught the ring in his hand. "This was given to me by someone who is very dear to me."
Pippin asked exitedly: "Have you got a wife? Or a lover? Does she live in Mirkwood? Is she beautiful? Do you have…"
Merry tried to stop his cousin. "Pippin, please …"
Pippin completely ignored his cousin. "… children?"
Legolas was taken aback by this barrage of assumptions and questions. "I am not married." He hoped this would close the subject, he really did not want to talk about his private life.
Pippin was not to be deterred. "Then who gave it to you?"
Legolas sighed. "Aragorn."
"Aragorn? Strider?" The surprise and incredulity in the young hobbit's voice was tangible. All eyes turned to the ranger who sat next to Legolas.
Legolas nodded.
"Why would he give you a ring?"
At this point, Aragorn, who had so far listened silently to the exchange, decided to intervene.
"I gave this ring to Legolas when we were both very young. We have known each other for a long time." He did not elaborate further. He and Legolas had agreed before the company set off to keep their relationship as quiet as possible to avoid any complications.
All of a sudden, Boromir narrowed his eyes. He had felt uneasy around the elf and the ranger since the beginning of the journey, and at this very moment his unease formed into a suspicion. He looked at Aragorn's hands. The ranger always wore a silver ring with a dark stone in the middle, the setting crafted beautifully as leaves.
"You are wearing a matching ring."
A stunned silence followed this announcement. Gimli and the hobbits stared at Aragorn. The ranger did not deny the statement.
Gandalf who had continued to suck his pipe, but otherwise listened silently, decided to put an end to this conversation.
"Aragorn and Legolas have been close to each other for a very long time."
Merry stared at the wizard. "You mean … really close?"
The other hobbits and Sam looked surprised, Frodo smiled. Boromir and Gimli looked disgusted. Aragorn put his arm around Legolas' shoulder in an affectionate gesture that neither really noticed, but that confirmed Merry's interpretation of Gandalf's statement.
Boromir broke the silence. Looking at Aragorn, he snorted: "You, you are a man, how can you lay with an elf, and a male one at that?" He looked horrified.
Both Aragorn and Legolas flinched at this outburst. Legolas' dark eyes flashed with anger. The elf opened his mouth to reply, then clamped it shut and got up quickly, walking away into the trees. His fists clenched so hard that his knuckles showed white. Aragorn was too shocked by Boromir's reproach to respond immediately.
But Gandalf did. "You fool! What have you done!" Gandalf thundered. Everyone else was quiet, even Gimli looked on in shock.
The wizard then said quietly to Aragorn: "Go, follow Legolas. I'll deal with the situation here."
Aragorn turned and followed Legolas into the trees. By now, anger had set in, and the ranger was so furious with Boromir that he was visibly shaking, but yet he did not want to do anything that he would regret later.
Boromir did not flinch and did not lower his gaze. "It is unnatural." With his statement, he left the circle around the fire, took his bedroll and withdrew to the margins of the camp.
The hobbits and Gimli looked at Gandalf, who looked at them with a sad smile. "This will take some working out. Go to sleep, all of you. I will take the watch."
Aragorn had followed Legolas into the trees. He found the elf, leaning against a tree, eyes closed. He, too, was evidently extremely upset. Aragorn embraced him and pulled him close. They stood like this for a long time in silence. Then the ranger kissed Legolas, gently at first, but soon more passionately. The elf responded, they had not had any privacy in all the weeks of the journey; and all of a sudden both elf and man were acutely aware of their own and the other's body.
"Estel, it has been so long …" Legolas said softly in Sindarin. Between themselves, they never spoke Westron, Sindarin was Aragorn's first language as much as it was Legolas'.
"I know. But if they found us here in an intimate situation, it would make a bad situation worse."
Legolas sighed. He knew that Aragorn was right. "What are we going to do? At the moment I am so angry with Boromir that I do not know what I will do when I see him again." This was a very unusual statement for the normally self-controlled elf.
"I do not feel much different. But he is part of this fellowship, whether we like it or not. He will have to accept us and somehow or other we all will have to cooperate for the best of this mission. This will not be easy."
"Perhaps I should not have come. We have always known that some men do not like relationships such as ours. Do you remember that incident in the Prancing Pony in Bree?" The elf was referring to the first time they had encountered hostility amongst men more than 60 years ago.
"Of course I do. And since then, we have come across it elsewhere. We have survived it all, and we will again. I need you, now more than ever." Again, he pulled the elf close. Even after knowing Legolas intimately for well over 60 years, their affection for and attraction to each other had not dimmed. Legolas relaxed into the embrace, closing his arms behind the human's back. The mixture of familiarity and comfort helped both of them to deal with the unpleasant scene earlier. Their eyes locked. A silent agreement passed between them. They would not try to hide their relationship any longer, the closeness of travelling as a group had rendered that notion impossible anyway.
When they returned to the camp, everyone bar Gandalf had retired for the night. Silently, Aragorn and Legolas moved their bedding together and Aragorn held Legolas in a close embrace all night, both enjoying the closeness that they had denied themselves over the last few weeks.
Boromir had moved as far away from the others as he could. He felt deeply ashamed of what he had done. He could not even say why he had reacted this way – after all, he was a warrior and it was not the first time he had come across males loving each other. This was not exactly his personal taste, but he had never really had any strong feelings about this before. He just could not work out what had made him react in the way he had.
The Gondorian warrior had curled up with his blanket, trying to pretend that he was sleeping but fooling no one. He knew that he would have to leave in the morning. After what he had done, there was no way he could stay. He would not be able to face Aragorn or Legolas again. In his mind he saw again the look of intense hurt, followed by anger, in the beautiful elf's face. Legolas rarely showed any emotion at all, until that moment Boromir had assumed that the elf was somehow 'above' ordinary feelings and emotions. But that moment had shown clearly that this was not the case, at least not where Aragorn was concerned.
Boromir scolded himself for not noticing how close the ranger and the elf were earlier. Looking back, it had been there all along. Legolas' outburst at the Council, the many times when there had been unspoken agreement between the ranger and the elf, the care with which Legolas made sure that Aragorn ate, drank and slept enough. The way they smiled at each other occasionally – discretely, but nevertheless full of gentle affection. Then the morning when Boromir had woken up early to find Aragorn kneeling behind the elf, braiding the other's light, long hair and talking softly in Elvish. The night when the Gondorian woke up and saw Aragorn slipping his arm around Legolas' waist whilst Legolas was on watch. He had wondered about this at the time but had been too tired to think about it then. Altogether, there had been dozens of small indicators that these two were more than friends. Boromir could not understand himself or his outburst. It was almost as if something had possessed him briefly and than let go again.
Ant then, all of a sudden, he knew. The ring. It could not be anything else. He had felt its pull all along, and he knew that it was altogether evil. It seemed to whisper things into his mind which were not necessarily untrue, but twisted.
At this moment, he became aware of steps stopping near him.
"Boromir, I know you are not sleeping."
Gandalf. Boromir respected the wizard, even if he found him unreadable and unpredictable. He heard the Istari's robes rustle and knew that Gandalf had settled himself next to him.
"Boromir, do not judge yourself too harshly for what happened earlier. It was not you who spoke but the evil of the ring, using some of your deepest fears against you and others. The ring can read our deepest fears and emotions, it seems that for some reason you feel threatened by a relationship between males, so the ring used this against Aragorn and Legolas. You should go and apologise in the morning. I know, this will not be easy."
The wizard stopped. Boromir sat up, slowly lifting his head to meet the wizard's eyes.
"How can I face them ever again after what I said?"
"You have no choice, Boromir, son of Denethor. You are also an honourable man, you can stand by your mistakes and try to make good. I do not say that it will be easy. But you must try, for your own sake and theirs."
Boromir sighed. He knew that this would be very difficult. And yet, it had to be done.
He looked over to Aragorn and Legolas. They had moved their bedrolls together and were sleeping curled up against each other. If it had not been for the fact that they were both male, Boromir would have found this evident affection endearing, as it was he could not help feeling slightly disgusted. How could someone like this claim to be the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor? And his lover was not even another man, but an elf!
But there was no help for it. Boromir decided that he would apologise in the morning.
TBC. Please review!