Chapter Three: Sputtering Torches
The first sign of how long they had been in the cave was the sputtering of a torch. Gimli looked up, and saw that it had almost burnt out. Suddenly the awareness of time that had vanished with Eldarion's innocent delight in the cavern came rushing back, and the dwarf almost groaned aloud. Originally he had planned for their exploration of the cave to be a full day's event, and had placed several extra torches around for when the first started to dim. The pack on his back even had a light lunch that he had intended for them to picnic on in an adjoining room of the caverns; it had a formation that was so table-like the dwarf had always pictured someone (perhaps Aulë) dining on it. But after Legolas's bought of fright, he had changed his plans. Instead, he had decided to only show Eldarion enough to satisfy the boy, and then get his friend out of here.
But joy and delight were contagious, especially when the feelings came from Eldarion. Time had slipped away from Gimli, and a short time had turned into two hours. Abandoning the crystal pool in which he was showing the young prince the ceiling of the cavern above their heads, he suddenly announced, "all right, that's all the time we have. Come along, lad; go stand by your uncle while I put out these torches."
Eldarion's face fell into disappointment and he sighed a sigh so ponderous it surely came from a much older and more suffering breast, but he did as he was told. Legolas tried to catch Gimli's eye, but the dwarf carefully ignored him.
"I'll just extinguish these a moment, then I'll lead you back out, lad," he said, pretending to be reassuring Eldarion, who seemed to have no fear of either darkness or caverns. "Just stay there by the tunnel, I can find you in the dark." In reality, he was speaking to the Elf, and they both knew it. Only the boy was oblivious to the subtle signals being exchanged, but he was so overcome with awe that they could have spoken plainly and he still would have paid little mind.
Torches now dark, Gimli joined his friends unerringly in the pitch-blackness. Firmly placing a hand on Eldarion's shoulder to steer the lad out of the cave, Gimli waited until he felt Legolas's hand to move. What he felt first, however, was a light whisper in his ear, so quiet that even the echoing cavern could not amplify it.
"What do you think you are doing? It is not yet noontime," the Elf hissed.
Gimli tried to direct a scowl at his friend. Knowing that he could not keep his own words from reaching the sharp ears of the boy, the dwarf replied as if he were simply telling Eldarion what their next event of the day would be. "We'll start you on that campfire a bit sooner, I think, lad," he said casually. "That way if it takes a long time to light, we won't be waiting on our dinner. Instead of just lighting it, however, I want you to know how to build the thing from scratch. You can borrow one of my axes."
"Really?" The boy's eyes had lit up so brightly you could hear it in his voice. "Oh, Uncle Gimli, can I really? And if I get it lit in time, can I help look for the game for dinner? Please? And—and can you teach me another song, Uncle Legolas?"
"Of course," the elf replied, voice carefully pitched to disguise any discomfort he felt at being in the small, dark space. "We shall do our best to keep your day so filled you will drop to sleep before the moon has fully claimed the sky." Unspoken but not unreceived was the thought that they would have to make it a very interesting and busy day to make up for the abbreviated visit to the cave. Gimli shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing. Cave or no cave, the lad would have fun, they would see to that—and it would be fun that would not put the elf through any ordeal more horrific than trying to hunt with a human child in tow. But, of course, the elf would see to it that Gimli suffered far worse for his change of plans. He was surely already plotting something fitting, the dwarf knew—perhaps scavenging for fruit in the trees, which the two half-monkeys would toss down to their disgruntled companion below. Which was still a sight better than forcing said companion to join them in the trees. He sighed.
Gimli had a feeling that Eldarion would not be the only one tired this night.
Reviewer Responses for Chapter Two
—Thank you everyone who reviews! If I don't give you a specific comment, please don't be insulted! It just means that your review needed no comment other than a BIG grin on my part—I love reviews! It makes my whole day whenever I see a new one!—or that I can't comment on it for some reason. I don't know if that last bit will apply in this fic, I just thought I'd mention it in case so I don't have to later. But I appreciate them all!—
Malara – hee hee, glad I could amuse you. Maybe someday I'll write a fic about the banishments... I think Eldarion's somewhere around six. I figure he'd be a little more mature for his age than most kids, but also a little "younger" in a lot of ways because both of his parents age so slowly and even if Arwen is mortal now, he's bound to have picked that up. Okay, now that we've had our elf-beating session for the fic...Rhys takes Malara's carrot—then thinks better of it Lots of things she could have grabbed would have hurt lots more than a carrot. And I'm only beating Legolas up mentally this fic—well, okay, he does get a little hurt later but it's not in a torture manner...shuts up quickly before she drops too many hints
Alma's Muse – the fact that Legolas goes into caves because of Gimli, and that Gimli goes into forests because of Legolas, speaks volumes for their friendship, but I think sometimes it gets taken for granted. It doesn't necessarily mean that they like it, just that they'll do it for each other. Don't worry, we'll have plenty more of Legolas's fear of caves coming up shortly! wicked grin
Quiet Infinity – thanks! All I'm going to say is that you'll see more of both Gimli tearing up and Legolas enduring caves before I'm through, much more! I hope you enjoy the rest of it.
Deana – actually, the posts on this one are going to come quickly (for a while at least) because I have a good bit of the story already written. I'm just double-checking that there are no more changes I need to make in the chapters before I put them up, because it's so annoying to change anything once you post it. I'm so glad you like it!
I didn't really intend to do these, but Malara's review was too good to pass up responding too, and if I answered one I figured I ought to answer them all! – So you can either thank her, or blame her, 'cause either way it's all her fault! Heh.