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Chapter 4
The Journey
The first day of their journey was uneventful and somewhat subdued. Both of her fellow travelers were solicitous of Anayah's every need, offering her water when they rested and helping her rise after sitting on the ground. Even in their conversations, they showed her respect they believed was befitting of both her rank and gender. At first, she accepted their attention, but after the one-hundredth time she was called "My Lady" and "Princess," she finally lost her temper.
"Will you two please STOP it! I am not some delicate little thing that breaks easily and I do NOT enjoy this formality nor do I WANT this formality and, at this point in our journey, see NO need WHATSOEVER for it. Do I make myself perfectly clear? And if EITHER of you are having trouble understanding me in the Common Tongue, I can also repeat what I have said in Sindarin, Quenyan, Teleri or even Khuzdul (Dwarvish language)!"
Very wisely, Chubby ran into his carrier, Shakir disappeared when the tirade began and Elias folded his ears back along his head and looked in the opposite direction.
Both Aragorn and Legolas, surprised and somewhat chastised by her outburst, grew silent. It wasn't until Chubby poked his head out of his carrier and gave a delicate squeak as if to ask if all was well once again, that the others saw the tension leave the she-elf's shoulders. When they finally stopped for a late afternoon rest and a meal, still feeling somewhat uneasy, Anayah sat apart from the others, lost in thought. Aragorn and Legolas ate their supper quickly, as it had been a long and trying day and they were all tired and ready for a rest. On her way to refill her cup with hot tea, Anayah made a point of walking passed her brother. Without saying anything, she paused and laid a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up into her eyes, he found they were smiling at him. He laid his hand over hers and it was at that moment they both knew that an apology had been given and accepted.
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As evening approached, everyone started to settle down to rest. Legolas gazing up at the stars in quiet contemplation while Aragorn sat with his long legs in front of him, soaking up the warmth of the fire and smoking a leisurely pipe. Suddenly, he felt a small pebble hit him in the chest and when he looked up, he found his sister looking at him intently. Legolas, noticing the subtle exchange, tried to see what had alerted the two. Following her gaze, both elf and man saw that Shakir, sitting on the lower branch of a tree, had extended his wings in an attack posture and was staring at the edge of the forest.
With a hand signal from Anayah, Chubby ran into his carrier and Shakir took flight, the color of his body blending well with the darkening forest. Without seeming purposeful in her movements, she then moved herself closer to her sword while Legolas placed his hand on his bow and Aragorn stared into the darkness, trying to see what the falcon had sensed. There was movement.
"15?" He asked Anayah quietly.
"Yes, that is also what I count. Brother, I follow your lead."
"Then let's do this." Was his reply.
The three jumped to their feet and faced the direction from which they knew their attackers would come. They were fully prepared when, just seconds later, a group of Orcs burst into the clearing. The fierce battle was on and if either Legolas or Aragorn had any doubts regarding Anayah's ability to take care of herself, the thought soon fled from their minds.
She drew the first Orc towards her by standing, sword tip pointing toward the ground. Then, when the Orc charged her position, thinking her an easy target, she shifted her weight, brought her sword up, both hands tightly gripping the hilt, and let the Orc impale himself. After withdrawing her sword and kicking the twitching body aside, she sliced upwards, disemboweling the Orc running behind the one she had just killed. Seeing the ease with which she had dispatched her attackers, the rest of the Orcs became more cautious realizing that not only the male elf and the human were to be considered as formidable adversaries, but the she-elf was to be considered formidable as well.
Legolas fired arrow after arrow with deadly accuracy into the advancing Orcs while Aragorn, master swordsman that he was, killed his share of the Orcs with ease - 15 Orcs was not a significant number to any of them.
The fight was soon over leaving the three combatants standing in a clearing, surrounded by dead Orc bodies. Anayah stood over the last Orc she had killed, and in a move that surprised everyone, kicked the dead creature in the head while muttering, "Filthy creature."
Aragorn and Legolas flinched as they heard an audible crack as her foot met with the Orc helmet. After hopping up and down on one foot for a moment, muttering some very unladylike curses, Anayah suddenly froze, taking the weight off her injured foot and resting it on her sword. When she had finally mastered both her emotions and the pain, she turned and faced the others.
"Ok guys. Lesson number one - how not to break your toe by kicking a dead Orc in the head!"
The others didn't know what to do first, laugh or be concerned. It was Legolas who rushed to her side and after effortlessly scooping her up in his arms, carried her back to the fire while she batted at his arms and demanded that he put her down. As Aragorn started to unlace her boot, she started to protest once more.
"Estel, I do not need taking care of for it was my own stupid fault that I was injured." Her brother continued to unlace her boot without acknowledging her comment. "Quit already - I can take care of myself."
Finally, with a sigh of exasperation, he looked up at her.
"Anayah, stop it. We fight together and we take care of one another and do not consider any injury to be insignificant and tend all wounds as quickly as possible. You are going to have to learn to accept help and since I am a healer and I am here, that help is going to come from me. That is my first lesson to you – so now sit still and let me finish removing your boot."
Legolas chuckled a moment.
"Anayah, one of these days you are going to have to ask your dear brother to tell you the story of how he had to learn the very same lesson."
Thinking on the elf's words, she was silent and continued to look at Aragorn with a somewhat puzzled expression on her face. When she looked at Legolas, he just smiled and winked holding her gaze for a moment until she felt herself blush.
Her attention was forcefully brought back to her foot when Aragorn finally eased her boot off and the resulting pain ran right up her leg to her knee causing her to gasp and reflexively reach for her ankle. Aragorn held her foot gently until the pain spasm stopped then frowned when he saw that the toe and surrounding areas of the foot were already turning dark with bruising.
Aragorn looked up at his sister with just a hint of a grin. "I think that it is safe to say that your toe is indeed broken."
"Oh this is just great!" She said, covering her eyes for a moment. "I can see it now. Hello Uncle. Hello Anayah. How was your trip? Oh, it was fine, thank you for asking. Oh, by the way, Uncle, I broke my toe being stupid. Could you please fix it for me? Am I ever going to make a great first impression!" She threw her hands up in mock-exasperation and very real embarrassment.
Aragorn and Legolas could contain themselves no longer and burst into laughter which continued until they were both breathless. When they once more got themselves under control, they looked at Anayah. She was staring at them, arms crossed and one perfect brow arched in what would soon be known as her own version of "the look of doom", which sent both elf and brother into another fit of laughter.
Aragorn cleaned the foot and applied a splint to protect the toe and when he had finished, all three then spent some time cleaning and caring for their weapons. Anayah used a whetstone to smooth out the small nicks and imperfections then restored the keen edges of the blade to their original razor-sharp condition. After gazing straight down both edges of the sword for a final inspection, she put both the cleaning cloth and whetstone down then looked at the others who had also been cleaning their weapons. She had been so intent on caring for her own sword that she had not noticed when her brother had approached. She jumped slightly, when she saw him sitting on his heels, not more than three feet away. Anayah was keenly embarrassed that she had not heard him approach.
"Geeze, Estel, you are sneakier than I am!"
He smiled in response.
"I had not noticed before, the blade ... it's black ... is it obsidian?" Aragorn queried.
She handed the sword, hilt first to her brother so he could look at it.
"No. Actually it's made of a specially processed steel although exactly what that process is I do not know. By whom it was forged I am not at liberty to disclose although I can tell you that there is no better swordsmith anywhere. The sword's name is Guruthos and he was a gift to me from two very dear friends. Estel, on another matter, I did not know how to bring this up, but I would feel very uncomfortable staying here tonight with all these dead bodies lying around. Do you think maybe we could ride straight through to Imladris?"
Handing her sword back to her he answered. "I was about to propose the same thing - that is, if your foot could take the journey."
"My foot will be fine. I will just put a foot warmer on it and rest it lightly in the stirrup."
Aragorn turned to Legolas.
"Legolas, how would you feel about riding straight through to Imladris? If we travel at a steady pace, we could be there by tomorrow afternoon. That storm is coming on a little faster than I expected and I, for one, would much rather be in front of a warm fire at home when it hits than on the back of a horse, out in the open."
Legolas nodded. Though he was rarely bothered by the cold like his human friend, the group was now traveling with an injured member and it would make more sense to try and outride the storm than get caught in it and have to seek shelter later. With everyone agreeing, they broke camp, loaded the horses and continued their journey.
TBC