Darkness prevailed. Legolas, Chewbacca and Lowie could see pretty well, being of elven/wookiee descent, but the others could barely see where they placed their feet by the low light Gandalf's staff produced.
Gimli, however, was in his element. Despite the fact that he tripped all the time over rocks, he was overjoyed to be in the dwarven caverns. Having gotten over the masses of dwarven dead, he chatted happily about mining processes to anyone within ten feet of him. The Jedi and the hobbits, bored beyond all reason by the merits of pickaxes vs. pointed sticks, walked at the back of the group, accompanied as usual by Boromir.
"So, my mushroom pie didn't work because I needed more yeast? Makes sense. Also, my crusts were never flaky like you describe, but kinda chewy and hard..." Pippin nodded, walking on Boromir's left.
"Aye. Y'need tons of yeast to make the crust rise properly. And don't knead it too much, that's where the tough-ness comes from." Behind them, Jacen and Jaina grinned at each other.
"Who knew they had pies in common? How's soldier-boy's blaster training going?" Jacen asked. It had been his idea to have Boromir interact more with the hobbit group, since he hadn't really talked to his sister or Zekk for days.
"Oh, he can hit a target pretty well now, if he put his mind to it. However, he still gets distracted by movement and shiny things. You remember yesterday, Tenel Ka was just quick enough to deflect the bolt headed for Frodo's chest. I think it was the ring. Too shiny for our boy to ignore." Jaina smiled at her protege, who was now asking Sam about the conditions needed to grow melons in Minas Tirith.
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That night, three days into Moria, Gandalf got lost.
So, the fellowship, with only a small bit of grumbling, put up the tents and lit a fire for dinner. Meals where, unless Aragorn or the Jedi managed to hunt something, an amalgamation between dried trail food andwhat little of theFalcon's food packs Han had scrounged. Pippin and Merry complained daily about themselves losing 'so much weight our clothes are falling off'. On the second night into the mines, Pippin was only kept decently clothed by Anakin's quick reflexes when Pippin tried to make a point. The hobbit found his pants held up by the force, much to the relief of everyone. The rest of the fellowship tried not to complain too much, but in truth, they also wanted very much to get out of the caves and eat something more substantial and less dehydrated.
Anyway, back where I was... Yeah, they were lost. Gandalf spent the evening smoking, staring at the walls and muttering to himself. Frodo tired to go get some sense out of him, but came back to the fire looking panicked and gibbering about 'Nasty creature. Follows when it shouldn't...'. With Aragorn on watch, the rest left the wizard to his mutterings and went to the tents.
In Jacen's tent, he and Tenel Ka changed and slipped into sleeping bags. After the first week, they had zippedtogether the bags, and slept together. Jacen sighed as he coiled his arms around his beloved.
"These mines are cold. I do hope we clear them soon, I wish to see sky again." Tenel Ka shivered at the thought of many more days in the mine.
"Well, Aragorn mentioned at dinner that we must be about two days form the other side. So long as we don't come across any orcs or goblins, that is." He kissed her forehead. "Besides, with our combined strength as a group and the advanced technology of blasters and lightsabers, we should be fine. Sleep, my cold warrior!" She grinned against his chest, where he couldn't see, and they succumbed to sleep. Talon cheeped sleepily from his perch on the top of the tent.
Anakin and Tahiri slept as soon as they lay down, exhausted form the walking and trying to teach Merry and Pip some swordfighting. Sometime during the night, they curled reflexively together.
The hobbits shared a tent, and since Pippin had stolen the flask of holding form Leia when she wasn't looking, they spent the night playing strip-drinking-go-fish. Suffice to say, Sam was the only one sober, fully dressed and punched unconscious from continued 'punch Sam in the face cause the bas'erd won again'.
Boromir, Gimli and Legolas shared another tent and traditionally started their night by fistfighting over the pillows. Aragorn had moved out of this tent, driven by Legolas's goading about his manly odour.Legolassucceeded in gettingthe fluffy pillow again with his patented 'Elven groin punch and hit-the-dwarf-with-the-frying-pan-I-stole-from-Sam' move. With Boromir gasping from yet another hit to the 'Horn of Gondor', Gimli snagged the adequate pillow, leaving the moaning man with the thin, lumpy pillow. The three then slept in two heaps of hair, and one delicate blond angelic form.
Zekk unbraided Jaina's hair, a habit he had picked up over the past days, and talked of their trainee.
"When d'you think he can have the blaster at night? There's a chance we could be attacked..." Jaina snorted.
"Hopefully never. I know of their fights for the fluffy pillow, and giving him a weapon that can cause bodily harm is not among the most intelligent ideas. If we get attacked, I'll be able to arm him before any harm to come to him." She shook out her hair. "Thanks, love. Much appreciated." Zekk leaned in for a kiss, his eyes darkly glowing.
"Think they'd hear us?" He pointed outside. Jaina smacked his arm.
"Ew, no! My father is just next door!" A muffled yell confirmed this. Zekk smiled, and gathering Jaina into his arms, they snuggled under cover.
"Whatever, Mela. Tomorrow we move our tent farther." She looked at him oddly.
"Mela? What's that mean?" He chuckled.
"It means 'Beloved'. Got it from Legolas." Jaina sighed, melting into his arms.
The droids shut down near the tent circle, and the wookiees slept on the high rock outcroppings. Aragorn snored on watch, and Gandalf muttered. All was... well.. Not fantastic, but I guess it was... ok..