Chapter Fourteen – Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

"Are you okay, Jenna?" asked Darayne, after feeling her shiver.

"Yeah, I don't know, I just got the weirdest feeling...like, we're being watched or something..." she said, looking around nervously. "

Well, we are, Jen," said Estriel, pointing upwards and raising her eyebrows.

Jenna smiled, but kept looking round all the same.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by Estriel's exclamation of,

"Oooh! Look, there he is!" She was pointing to a small figure in the distance, walking unusually fast.

"Aragorn," muttered Darayne venomously.

"Don't sound so excited about it," said Jenna, turning around and smiling at him.

"So...what should we do...?" asked Estriel.

"Oh, so your ingenious plan didn't stretch this far, I gather..." Jenna widened her eyes at Estriel.

"Well...no."

"Well, we have three choices," said Jenna thoughtfully. "Number one, go up to him, and say "hi, we're coming along with you whether you like it or not." Advantages – it's the direct approach, and doesn't involve being stealthy..."

"She's not good with stealthy," broke in Estriel.

"I'm not good with stealthy," Jenna shook her head in agreement. "Disadvantages – he might a) attack us or b) say, "no you're not," which we don't really have an answer to...Number two – follow him at a distance. Advantages – It saves the whole confrontation aspect. Disadvantages – There's probably some stealth involved..."

Jenna paused and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Number three – have a picnic?" said Estriel hopefully.

"Not so much," said Jenna, sounding slightly disappointed herself. "I think...I think I vote two."

"Darayne?" asked Estriel.

"The second one. Definitely the second one," he said.

"Wimp," said Jenna, secretly glad that he was on her side.

"Well, then I guess my vote doesn't really matter," said Estriel.

"But..." said Jenna.

"I think that two's probably best. I mean, angering Aragorn...not the best idea, right?"

Jenna and Darayne nodded in agreement. "Okay then, so it's settled," said Jenna. "Let's go!"

They rode swiftly, but kept a sizeable distance between themselves and Aragorn. They followed him into the woods, which looked dark and foreboding.

"This is the old forest again," said Darayne. "By the time it is dark, we should have reached the centre. I know of a good place to fare the night."

Estriel tried to hold back a snort.

And failed miserably.

"Es!"

"Well, what are we, in seventeenth century France?" she laughed. "Fare the night..."

She snorted again. Darayne looked slightly offended.

The day passed without too many problems, excepting a little Estriel-fell- in-the-stream incident and a small slapping-Jenna-to-pay-her-back episode.

At sundown, Aragorn stopped.

"Thank the...Wait, we should probably be careful..." said Jenna, as she dismounted from the horse with Darayne's help. In other words, she tried to climb off, fell and was rescued just in time by a pair of strong arms.

"Graceful," said Estriel, having swiftly got off Meg.

They quickly and quietly began setting up camp.

"So, this means no fire, right?" asked Jenna.

"Yes..." said Estriel.

"Well, since we can't be warm and toasty, I think we should at least get to have chocolate!" she said enthusiastically.

"Ooooh!" exclaimed Estriel. "Definitely a good idea!"

Darayne, who was tending to the horses, looked around.

"Chocolate? As in that 'hot chocolate' which you previously mentioned?"

"Yes!" said Jenna. "Except that this won't be hot. But it's chocolate!"

She went over to her bag and rifled through it for a few moments before producing a large bar of Dairy Milk, slightly worse for wear, but still good.

"What possessed me to let you be in charge of the chocolate?" Estriel shook her head.

"Cute," sneered Jenna, as she sat down cross-legged on the ground.

Darayne and Estriel sat down either side of her as she opened the bar and broke a bit off for each of them.

"Well...cheers," said Es, and she and Jenna 'clinked' their bits of chocolate together.

They ate it slowly, showing surprising self-restraint, savouring each bite until it was gone.

Darayne looked delighted at his new discovery.

"It tastes so...so...wonderful," he said, finishing his last bite.

Estriel and Jenna smiled.

The next morning, Jenna awoke to find that the sun was just rising and, slightly more worryingly, that Darayne was not there.

"Darayne?" whispered Jenna, sitting up abruptly and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Gobaatoshleeep..." moaned Estriel.

"In case you hadn't noticed, someone's missing," said Jenna, suddenly wide awake.

A vague groan came from Estriel's sleeping back. Jenna slapped her.

"Whaaa...?"

"Es! Darayne's not here!"

Estriel reluctantly sat up and looked over at where Darayne should have been.

"Well, his stuff's still here," she said logically. "He's probably just gone...somewhere," she finished decisively, and snuggled back down into her sleeping bag.

"Well thank you for that, Sherlock..." said Jenna, feeling her sarcasm grow with her nerves. "What if...what if Aragorn found him? What if he got eaten by a wild boar? What if he got kidnapped by an orc? What if..."

"He's behind you, sniggering at how worried you are?" suggested Estriel, smiling.

Jenna looked behind her, and sure enough, there he was.

"I am sorry if I scared you, Lady Jenna, but I went to find this," he said, holding up a large handful of green plant.

Jenna looked unimpressed.

"It is a plant which grows in this area, which is good for the horses, and provides them with energy," he explained. "I thought that it would be valuable to us, as they will need to ride a lot today."

"Oh. Nifty," said Jenna, still bitter about him worrying her.

"Any sign of our Ranger friend?" asked Estriel, woken up now.

"He is beginning to wake," said Darayne. "He will probably eat and then set off."

"Oh, okay," said Estriel. "We should probably do the same then."

Jenna packed her and Estriel's things up while Estriel chose two breakfast bars each and some water for breakfast for all of them.

After everything was packed, they ate, all the time keeping an ear out for Aragorn's departure.

Eventually they heard him begin to leave, and so they mounted their horses and began that day's game of 'follow the leader'.

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