~*~Chapter 4~*~
Aragorn groaned as the room slowly came into focus. He blinked slowly, trying to clear his blurry eyes. He felt the presence of another in the room but was not surprised by it; his father seemed to always be in the room when he was sick. Either him or one of his brothers, possibly even Legolas since he happened to be here at the time.
"So you are finally awake?" came the somewhat gruff voice that had Aragorn confused for a moment before his groggy mind remembered the voice.
"Mithrandir?" his voice was hoarse and he sighed, "When did you get here?"
"Not long after you passed out."
"Passed out? Oh… how long have I been unconscious?" the man struggled to pull himself into a sitting position, wincing as it pulled on his wound.
"About three days."
Aragorn groaned, "Is that why I feel so weak, I hate that…"
The wizard smiled, "I know you do."
Aragorn managed to pull himself up and glanced around, "May I ask a question?"
The wizard's eyebrows rose and Aragorn took it to mean yes.
"Why are you here?"
"I had come to take you with me on a trip to The Shire, I have a feeling you will need to get to know it, possibly something or someone in it. I was going to visit a friend of mine."
Aragorn grinned, "Bilbo? But… the Shire-folk are wary of us…" he cleared his throat with a smirk, "'big people.'"
The wizard nodded with a smile, "That may be so but Bilbo now enjoys his adventures every once in a while, I believe he would enjoy another one soon."
"So… what does that mean?"
"It is about time I visit him again, I suppose we could just have one of his small adventures in the forest surrounding The Shire."
Aragorn nodded slightly, "But that does not solve the problem of them being wary of… well me."
"I want you to see the lands and I am sure you would enjoy seeing them, you can stay in the back of my wagon."
Aragorn nodded then smiled, "I suppose we wont be leaving for a while?"
"Whenever you are ready to go, I have time and will not push you until you are ready."
Aragorn seemed to ponder this for a moment, "Hmm, fake sick, get pushed by a wizard… I hate being sick."
Gandalf shook his head, "I do not think it will be long before you are ready, Legolas will be coming with us."
Aragorn cocked his head to the side, "Why is that?"
"I will need help watching you."
"One wizard and one elf will not be enough to keep a proper watch on *this* human."
Aragorn looked at his father, "How about a wizard an elf and a hobbit?"
Elrond shook his head, "*Nothing* is enough for *you*."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"A bad thing if you don't want me to worry all the time, a good thing if you are looking for an injury."
"Ah, 'tis a good thing then."
Elrond shook his head, "If you purposely went to look for injuries we probably would not be having this discussion."
Aragorn shrugged, "Fair enough."
At this point three elves rushed into the room and grinned when they saw the man up.
Aragorn's eyes widened, "Uh oh…"
He got himself ready to be squished but was saved by his father as the elf gave the three 'the look' and they shifted slightly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"How are you?" Elrohir asked almost immediately.
"I'm fine."
Legolas shook his head, "No really, how are you?"
Aragorn rolled his eyes, "No really, I'm fine. I'll admit the wound is sore but I really am fine… apart from being a little tired."
"Sleep then, we will see how you feel in tomorrow," Elrond said, laying a hand on the man's forehead.
Aragorn glared, "Don't you try that on me… I hate it when you do that…"
Elrond just shook his head, "Sleep."
It was almost a command and Aragorn immediately began feeling more and more tired, "Evil elf…" he managed to mutter before falling asleep.
Elrond smiled and left the room.
The twins grinned, "He *hates* it when ada does that…" // dad //
Legolas smirked, "I don't doubt it."
The three went to leave but Gandalf held Legolas back for a moment.
"We are to be going on a little trip after he feels better and I would have you come to help keep an eye on him."
Legolas smiled, "He will need more than one eye watching him…"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aragorn woke the next day and glanced out the window, he then proceeded to groan, - 1 o'clock? I hate it when I sleep in… evil elf…-
Gandalf looked over his horse and sighed, one of his two horses had gone lame over the ride to Rivendell and was not ready to be pulling his cart. It might be a while before they could go.
He was looking over his other horse when Aragorn showed up in the stables.
"How are you this morning?"
"Quite well thank you," he glanced at the way the wizards horse was standing, "he is lame. We will not be leaving anytime soon?"
"Not likely… unless I can find a replacement for the time."
Aragorn thought for a moment, "My horse has been trained for this…"
Gandalf looked over at the man, clearly telling him to go on.
"We could use her. She would do it if only to prove she can do anything yours can," he said with a smile.
The wizard nodded, "That sounds good…"
Aragorn smiled, "So… now when are we going?"
"Do you feel ready to travel?" he already knew the answer.
"Of course!"
"Then we leave in two hours."
Aragorn blinked, surprised by that but shrugged and smiled, "Should I tell Legolas?"
"Aye, you do that and get ready to go."
The man turned to go find said elf and pack.
He got to the elf's room quickly and knocked on the door, hoping he was in there.
Legolas opened the door and blinked, "Should you be up?"
Aragorn rolled his eyes, "Pack up, we leave in two hours."
Legolas blinked, "So soon?"
"I was surprised too."
The elf shrugged, "I'll only be a minute, meet you at the stables?"
Aragorn nodded and entered his own room.
It only took him five minutes to pack what he needed and head to the kitchen. He quickly packed what he would need, knowing at some point they would need to go hunting. He shrugged, if they went through Bree they could pick something up there.
He then went to find Elrond in order to tell him what was to happen.
"Ada," he said as soon as he found him, "We are to be leaving in an hour and a half." // dad //
Elrond looked at him and sighed, "Legolas is going with you?"
"Aye."
"I will send message to Mirkwood to inform Thranduil as to where his son is going."
"Thank you."
Elrond nodded.
Aragorn smiled and went to find his weapons.
He entered his room and quickly grabbed his sword, bow and quiver before heading outside.
Once he got outside he quickly ran to the stables, slowing to a fast walk just outside the doors. He smiled at Legolas as he opened the stall door for his mare, which came out eagerly.
She snorted and shook her head before prancing out of the stables, ready to do whatever task was set before her.
Aragorn then led her up to the cart and let her examine it. She seemed to know what she was supposed to do when she saw the other horse that was hooked up to the front of the cart. She walked up and stood herself beside the other, a light gleam in her eyes that told Aragorn she wanted a challenge and was ready to do this.
The man carefully put on her harness, glad she didn't decide she didn't like it and patted her on the neck.
He looked over at Gandalf and smiled. He was ready when they were.
They climbed up onto the seat and headed for the gate, leaving an hour before they expected to. Aragorn said a quick farewell to Elrond and the twins who were waiting at the gates and they were off.
A/N
Did I surprise anyone? ^_^ I'm not sticking with what I had originally… it would end up too much like my last story. I'm sorry I'm not good at writing wizards, just not my thing… sorry!! Hope y'all liked it!
SilverKnight7- *Sniff* Okay… ^_^ I'm glad u liked it. Sorry about my last thing… I was… in an odd mood… ^_^ that's what I blame everything on… ^_^ hope u enjoyed this one!
leggylover03- I figured you'd like the last one ^_^. And don't worry, more pain 2 come! ^_^
Aut-of-Mandos- Because your reviews kinda confused me, (and 'cause I've always wanted too) I finally read The Silmarillion! Now yur reviews make sense! ^_^ great book. Sad so few people actually understand it… ^_^ Manwe does rock! Mandos and Lorien are great too, but Varda, Nienna and Yavanna are my favorites. Hope you liked!
I'm going to cry… half my reviewers left!!!! :'( So sad… well, I hope the nice people who continued reading enjoyed it!! Well, sorry I've been taking so long! That's probably most of the reason too… well, I'll TRY posting sooner. Hope you liked!
PLEASE review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Namaarie!
~Elenmeoi