Disclaimer: Well, last time I checked, I don't own LOTR and I certainly didn't get it for my birthday, so I guess all I can do is whine about it for now. Tee hee.
A/N: Oops. Forgot something in the last chapter…I had two asterisks by the name Corin and the little French phrase and I forgot to do a little explanation thing…
*= I hate naming the Rohirrim. They've got Elvish, Dwarvish, and Hobbit name generators, but nothing for the Rohirrim. Anyway, the name Corin was taken from As You Like It by William Shakespeare, which I have never read. Coincidentally, this is also the same play where I got the name Celia. Even more ironic is the fact that there is a character named Orlando…
**= I don't actually speak French; this translation is from a translator site, so forgive me if it's grammatically incorrect.
Chapter Thirty-One
After Gimli and I spent five productive minutes trading insults and accusing each other of being terminally idiotic, Aragorn decided that he had had enough and separated us with a friendly threat and a well-placed glare in my general direction.
"We do not have time to linger," he warned through clenched teeth as I smiled innocently in his direction and seriously thought about throwing something at Gimli who was glaring at me and most likely plotting his future revenge. I got quite a nasty little shock as I realized that his vengeance could be in the form of revealing my deep dark secret to Legolas, thus completely ruining my life.
I silently hoped that he was in a semi-good mood this morning.
"Haley, stay here and help Legolas prepare the horses for today's journey. Gimli…" He gave the scowling dwarf a look. Gimli grunted. "…you'll come with me. I have some business to attend to." Gimli grunted again and began to shuffle out the doorway, giving me one last glare as an afterthought. "And Haley," Aragorn added, raising his eyebrows in warning, "try not be too much of a nuisance."
"I resent that," I replied, narrowing my eyes slightly. Aragorn gave me another look before following Gimli's retreating form out the door. I sighed irritably. "No one respects me…" I muttered to no one in particular. Legolas laughed softly, hiding his smile with the back of his hand. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, you're supposed to know everything, Elf-Boy, so you can figure out what we're supposed to do." Legolas smiled softly and stopped a passing stable hand. He made a few inquiries while I busied myself with petting a grey horse softly on the nose, whisking away the occasional fly.
"We can take these three horses on the end," Legolas informed me a moment later as the stable hand continued onto his current task, which was, unfortunately for him, mucking out one of the empty stalls. "I am assuming Gimli will not want to ride his own horse," he added.
"Yeah. I think that's a good idea," I replied, pushing off from the stall I had been leaning against and falling into step beside Legolas. "Although, it'd be kind of funny to watch…" I continued as he unlatched the stall door of a beautiful chestnut stallion with a splash of white on his nose. He led the horse out of the stall and I soon found myself standing face-to-face with a big horse. It was slightly intimidating, to say the least.
"Here," said Legolas, handing me a mass of leather cords that appeared to be a bridle of some sort and a large hunk of shaped metal that appeared to be some sort of protective plate for the horse's face. Needless to say, I hadn't the slightest idea what to do, and Legolas had occupied himself with putting the saddle on and didn't seem very aware of my predicament. So I stood there for about five minutes, trying to figure out which end was which and how exactly I was supposed to get the damn thing on the horse.
"Are you in need of assistance?" I looked up to find Legolas standing with his hands folded over his chest and a bemused expression on his face. I rolled my eyes.
"No, I'm just doing this for my health," I replied sarcastically, trying to untwist one of the cords that I had managed to turn into a mass of knotted leather. He gently took the bridle from my hands and began to quickly work out the various tangles I had created. Within seconds he had cleaned up the mess I had made and was demonstrating how to put it on properly. I watched carefully and actually got one of the buckles latched correctly. I felt very proud of myself until he picked up the little faceplate thing and began to attach it to the bridle via a very complicated process that completely boggled me.
"What on earth are you doing?" I asked as he secured another buckle into place.
"Bring the second loop around," he directed as I fumbled with the cords. "No, the other one…no…here." He came up behind me and brought his arms around so that they were resting on mine. He began to gently guide my fingers through the various loops and buckles, but all I could concentrate on was his warm presence on my back and arms, the way his breath would tickle the back of my neck and ears and give me Goosebumps. I was surprised that I didn't pass out or start giggling like an idiot, or even both (although I'm not sure it's physically possible to do both, but you never know).
"Like that…" He moved my fingers to secure the buckle and stepped away. I suddenly felt colder and incredibly disappointed that such a nice moment had to end so suddenly. I made an attempt to conceal the crimson blush that had since attacked my face and peered pensively at his handiwork.
"I still don't get it," I said a moment later, with the hope of maybe getting another lesson, but unfortunately for me, Legolas decided it was a lost cause and demoted me to simply putting on the bridle while he did all the hard work.
My thoughts on this were as follows: Dammit.
A/N: Super short chapter, I know, but I felt that this one stood best on its own. You'll also notice I didn't include the whole Éowyn-kicks-Aragorn's-butt-in-swordfighting-and makes-a-statement-for-women scene. It's one of my favorites, but I felt it would be best left as is. I did that for three reasons: 1). I felt that it was really mostly about the relationship between Éowyn and Aragorn, and I kind of wanted to keep private without Haley intruding, 2). There wasn't really a reason for Haley to be there at that time…I mean, she's not in the real story, but this is fanfic and I won't get into that, LoL, but I didn't feel it effect her enough so that it was necessary for her to be there, and 3). I thought since Éowyn and Aragorn were having a private moment, it's time for a Legolas/Haley intimate type thingy to set the stage for…future events (insert evil laughter here).
A new chapter will be up VERY SOON!