Disclaimer: Hmmm....let's try a poem today:
I don't own a thing,
Including Lord of the Rings,
So sue me if you choose,
But the case you will lose!
A/N: This chapter, Chapter Ten, is also known as Chapter "Hey! Ten, get it? That's the NEW and IMPROVED Fellowship number!" cleverly named by Reikon. So this chapter is therefore dedicated to her and Haldir because he always seems to make appearances in her reviews.
Chapter Ten: So It Begins
(AKA "Hey! Ten, get it? That's the NEW and IMPROVED Fellowship number!")
We walked the entire day, barely stopping at noon to eat. By the time night began to close around us, I was nearing physical exhaustion for the first time in Middle-earth. I nearly inhaled my dinner, not bothering to join in the quiet conversations around me. Legolas and Aragorn had been assigned watch for the night, so after I cleaned up the remains of my dinner, I brought out my sleeping roll, wrapped it tightly around myself, curled up against a nearby rock, shut my eyes, and let my mind wander as I had been accustomed to do in the absence of real sleep.
I had my eyes shut for all of five minutes when someone gently shook my shoulder. I opened my eyes to find Legolas sitting patiently beside me.
"I put all my stuff away, I swear," I explained to the Elf. "And if we're missing any food, you ought to be checking with Merry and Pippin."
"Sindarin," he reminded me. I heaved a long sigh.
"Could it wait?" I asked. "It's been a really long day and my feet are seriously killing me." Legolas shook his head patiently.
"It will take but a few moments of your time," he explained, tugging gently at my arm. I sighed, muttered a few curses under my breath, and crawled out of the warmth of my sleeping roll, sliding a cloak on over my shoulders as an afterthought.
However good his intentions may have been, Legolas managed to increase my dislike for language that night. I suppose I wasn't too helpful, as I spaced off at least five separate times when he was diagramming sentences, meaning he had to repeat everything he had just said. In addition to my general incompetence with the language, Legolas was ridiculously patient with me, even more so than Elrond. This proved to be a bit of a hindrance, as the only thing that stopped him from going on was the fact that it was growing too dark to see the paper he was writing on. Well, perhaps there was some exaggeration on my part, but at least he let me go. I crawled back into the sleeping roll and shut my eyes before he could change his mind.
The night passed slowly and rather uneventfully. Being confined to the indoors for all of my nights in Rivendell, I was not used to the eerie sounds that accompanied the night. Crickets, owls, foxes, and mice were just some of the disturbances that caused me to sit upright and look wildly around, half expecting an armed warrior to pop out from behind one of the trees. The third or fourth time this happened, Aragorn told me to relax and if there was any trouble, he would be sure to wake everyone up. I think it was more for his sake than mine that he told me this. I tried to relax and ignore everything after that, but once I stopped paying attention to the animals, I started noticing that the trees and stars were talking and whispering amongst themselves. It was significantly easier to ignore these things when I was in Rivendell or occupied by walking, but now that I was unoccupied by any task other than getting some rest, they all seemed pretty chatty. Eventually I was able to grow accustomed to it, or at least block most of it out, but not before repeating "shut up, shut up" constantly in my head.
Dawn finally came and as soon as the sun had risen fully above the horizon line, I got up and put away my sleeping roll. Upon rising, I realized that my legs were incredibly sore from yesterday's excursion and my back and neck ached from lying on the ground all night. I stretched and hobbled out of the campsite in search of water. I found a small spring not too far away and washed my face and hands after refilling my canteen. A small cluster of sweet smelling herbs grew around the edge of the water, so I clipped a small sprig. Upon returning to camp, I asked both Sam and Aragorn whether or not they were poisonous. After determining that they were not, I chewed quietly on the leaves, muttering about the lack of toothpaste when anyone asked.
The days began to pass quickly, melting into a long line of long periods of traveling marked by somewhat insignificant conversation. I grew less anxious as the days passed, falling easily into the routine of travel, and not quite as paranoid when the night rolled around. My leg muscles slowly grew accustomed to the increased activity and while my back and neck remained stiff in the mornings, I grew used to the sleeping conditions and was able to recover more quickly as time passed. Sindarin, unfortunately, continued throughout this time, and while my improvement was minimal at best, Legolas remained encouraging and patient throughout the entire ordeal, which is a credit to his character. He was relatively easy to get along with and didn't seem to mind overly much when I chose to walk with him and ask questions about Middle-earth in general (which, I'm sure got rather repetitive).
Gimli, however, was a completely different story.
I normally tried to avoid him because he had a short temper and carried a sharp ax. However, it seemed to me that despite my efforts to avoid him, we usually ended up arguing about one thing or another. Generally, it was something inherently stupid that we both felt passionately about. Our altercations usually ended with the intervention of Aragorn and Gandalf, and sometimes Boromir. It was amusing to a certain extent, seeing as I could probably sit on him and do some severe damage, yet he saw himself as this fierce warrior who would stop at nothing short of killing me. He reminded me of an aggressive toy poodle that constantly launches itself at people's pants legs and expects to do serious injury. However, I couldn't pick up Gimli by the scruff of the neck, call him a "bad Dwarf", and lock him in a crate with a muzzle. Not if I wanted to live. I did bring it up with Aragorn, who ignored me.
Despite the fact that he did not necessarily agree with my standpoint on Dwarf control, I liked Aragorn. He was somewhat aloof for the first part of our journey, but he grew much more personable as time passed. He was rather mysterious, like a conventional movie hero with a shady past, but I suppose that made him more intriguing. The knowledge and skill he possessed was remarkable, one of the most admirable qualities about him.
In contrast, the hobbits were the easiest to get along with and also the most transparent. I don't mean that in a negative sense—it was just easier to tell what they were feeling, which was refreshing when most everyone else insisted upon being secretive. Merry and Pippin were the most jovial, while Sam was the most optimistic. Frodo was the quietest of the four, and was sometimes a little moody, which is understandable, given the amount of pressure he was under. However, he never used that as an excuse to justify his actions, nor did he let that mar any attempt at being kind to anyone else. He was quite an amazing little fellow—you don't meet people like that often.
Of the nine companions, I knew Boromir the least well. His behavior at the Council had negatively affected my opinion of him and I initially labeled him as haughty and slightly arrogant, which I later realized was unfair of me. However, despite his somewhat smug words, he did prove to be a noble man with a bit of a soft spot, especially for the hobbits. Although I found him agreeable, there was still something about him that struck me as odd, a brief glint in his eye that just seemed slightly out of place. It would be gone from his countenance before I could give it proper consideration. It was not until later that we would all discover what it was. Until then, I remained unsure and slightly cautious around him.
I think that Gandalf was really the one who kept the Fellowship going in its early days. He was liked by everyone in the group, and served as both the mediator and leader. I always felt reassured in Gandalf's presence, as though he had made a silent promise to take care of everything that might go wrong. There was a drawing force about him, something that made you crave his presence. It was for that reason that I spent so much time listening to him after dinner. He was a treasure trove of stories and he had the ability to captivate even those who had sworn off fairytales as childish.
Although Gandalf was well-liked for so many reasons, it was not until we stood at Khazad-dûm that I realized why he was so special to me.
He was like the grandfather I never had.
A/N: Okay guys, this is the end of the first installment of the revised TTAE. Let me know what you think. I will go through the same process with chapters 11-20 and get them up ASAP. Sorry for the long delay—I've been terribly busy with school ending and finals and whatnot. Thank you for your patience! Review and let me know how these new chapters are.