A Place Of Her Own
Chapter 14: Respite
A/N: Wah! Really, really, really, really sorry! Shaitan hasn't been doing his job properly and has been making me study
MATHS! WHIPCRACK NOW!
So.. hard! It's not fair. Also have recently begun a job (yay! Finally) and VCE studies have been catching up on me. I'm at the time where effort is needed. As well as my loss of interest in hotties. sob I don't know what's wrong with me! One day I'd wake up to Orlando Bloom on my ceiling and sigh with happiness and the next... I don't know. He's pretty but I just don't have any obsession! I am empty! Have so far been trying to fill void with manga/anime. Not working.
All right, let's get this thing on the road before I leave for Queenscliff and get into a major study spree.
(SHAITAN SNORTS IN BG)
The Ranger was crouched in the garden, one hand steading him, the other held up to his head. Iluvion and Boromir stopped short to observe the man.
"You're going to trust her with this maniac?" whispered Boromir.
"My Lord assured me he was one of the best... even to rival Aragorn."
Boromir snorted. It was not a feat he cared to think of as impossible.
The man slowly brought his head up and straightened from his crouch to face out over the valley. He unsheathed his sword and begun a series of offensive manoeuvres. His face remained calm as he moved swiftly to each position.
Boromir watched the man with growing admiration. At least Nat would be going with a Ranger who knew what he was doing.
Iluvion himself was a little doubtful of the man's abilities and the man's next few actions did not help.
The man begun to whistle. A jaunty little tune which his head bopped to as he completed each stroke as if he had some inner rhythm that only he could hear. A stamp of his foot punctuated his movements.
All of a sudden, the man moved out of his sword form and placed the other end of his sword in his left hand and begun to what Boromir and Iluvion would have identified as tap-dancing if they had ever experienced something akin to it on Middle Earth. Twirling the sword expertly in one hand, the man continued to tip his hat and whistle, again to some unheard music that could have only originated in the man's own insane mind.
Boromir was dumbstruck.
Similarly, Iluvion was thunderstruck.
And so while Iluvion was still smoking, Boromir stepped forward to introduce himself before the man got too carried away in their company.
"Err... sir?"
"Shhh!" hushed the man, still tap-dancing, "I'm not finished."
Boromir stepped back respectfully and hid his eyes as Iluvion stepped forward.
"Ah, you know that scouting trip with the girl my Lord talked to you of earlier?"
The man stopped so suddenly, Iluvion barely had time to step back as the man spun into his face, sweat droplets swung with him while the elf tried desperately to hide his distaste.
"Lord Elrond has told you of my mission?" he asked Iluvion suspiciously. His head darted to look around the elf at the puzzled Boromir.
"Luvion!!! Bor – bor – Boromir!"
The three all turned at once to find Thom struggling up the path.
"Wait up! I... I wanna say too!" Thom saw the Ranger stare at him expectantly and bravely stuck out his hand, "I'm Thom, who are you?"
The Ranger paused and seemed to try to look at Thom's hand at every possible angle before cautiously taking it in his own.
"I'm... Alexander."
"Cool! Teach me how to use a sword. Cos he won't." Thom pointed at Iluvion before turning back to Alexander and pouting.
"Stop it, we've already asked the Ranger enough, you shouldn't..."
"Nah, nah," the Ranger put up his hand, "I'll teach young Thom as soon as I get back."
"Where are you going?" asked Thom.
"I'm off tramping around as a guide to some mental..." Alexander trailed off as Iluvion and Boromir began shaking their heads emphatically behind Thom's wide-eyed face.
"Who's mental? What's mental mean?" Thom interrogated.
"No one and nothing that concerns you just at this moment, boy," muttered Boromir, taking him in hand. He shot a look at the elf, "I'll leave this to you."
Boromir and the boy began to walk off.
"Hey Thom!" yelled Alexander, "Call me Alex and don't worry about what I said earlier. Got that?"
"Yup!" grinned Thom as he was dragged away by Boromir.
Iluvion turned to Alex, appraising him as the man continued to wave goodbye to Thom's retreating figure.
"Well?" asked the Ranger.
"Elrond would prefer if you could leave... either tomorrow or the day after and..."
"What? I haven't any time to..."
"Prepare? All settled, my Lord assured me. All you have to do is accept," Iluvion told the spluttering Ranger.
"Well..."
"And I'll have you know that I don't care for your attitude towards Natalie. I..."
"She has a name then, does she?" mused Alex, "Your little princess, eh?"
Iluvion's tirade paused as he looked at Alex in surprise.
"She is not my anything. Keep an eye on her, she is important for some of us here in Rivendell."
"How important?" leered Alex.
Iluvion snorted loudly before leaving Alex alone in a huff.
Alex grinned. Now if only he could find this girl. She'd managed to elude him for the last two days he had been in Rivendell. Usually he would not stay so long in such a large place but Lord Elrond's hospitality had left no avenue for escape.
Boromir was at a loss. He was stuck with Natalie's little brother with nothing much to do.
Thom begun to skip in circles, making the older man dizzy and even more confused as to what to do with his young charge.
"Let's play that game again!" shouted Thom happily. He was attempting to stand on his head.
"I'd rather not lose to one who is such a beginner and at least 30 years younger than me, thank you very much, Thom," said Boromir crossly, he hadn't been joking with Nat when he'd told her of his loss.
Thom sighed.
"Then what are we going to do?" he whined, surrounding Boromir with his pleading expression.
Boromir tried to take a step back but Thom was determined.
"Teach me knives! Or... or maybe... archery! Or..."
Boromir was desperate now.
"Erm, have you ridden horses yet?" he asked.
"Ooh! Ooh! Yes, please! Let's go!" shouted Thom again, literally bouncing his way towards the stables, dragging Boromir behind him.
At the sight of Thom, most of the stable hands began to form a line in front of the stables.
"That boy," said the centre elf, pointing, "Shall not come any further."
The ultimatum was delivered with a certain kind of finality.
"Boromir..." Thom tugged at Boromir's sleeve.
"Has the boy..."
"He has entered only once, and that one time was enough for us to be wary of him. He bewitched the horses! They..."
Boromir held up his hand to show he understood.
"Could you just bring out my horse, then? I'll give the boy some lessons in handling the beasts."
The leader of the stable hands nodded to one of the younger boys who ran into the stables to fetch Boromir's mount. The remaining stable hands kept an eye on Thom, starting at any sudden movements from the boy.
A few minutes later, Boromir hoisted the boy onto the animal's back. The animal, remembering their earlier ride pranced nervously on the spot while Thom held on. Gradually, he and Boromir calmed the animal down before leading it down the path into the clearing below.
They found themselves in the midst of a confrontation between the hobbits (who had managed to find some ponies that would take two at a time) and Glorfindel with his patrol officers. Boromir was about to turn back when Merry spotted them.
"Thom! Thom! Over 'ere! Let's show these elves what we're made of, eh?"
Boromir tried to hold the reins steady as the horse sensed it's rider's excitement.
"Whoa, boy. You're not going anywhere just now."
"But they need me!" cried Thom, and gave the horse a slight kick that made it lead out of the capable hands of the heir of Gondor.
An exclamation of surprise escaped Boromir's lips as he fell on his behind in the mud.
Merry and Pippin whooped as Frodo and Sam turned their mount away from the ruckus and into the trees. The elves themselves had been about to get impatient with the hobbits when Thom burst into their group, frightening their horses and scattering them in all directions.
Glorfindel muttered something incoherently under his breath as he tried to bring order to his troops. Before wheeling off to gather than up, he favoured the chuckling hobbits a withering glance, which really only helped to encourage them further in their unruly delight.
Boromir shook his head and gave the commanding elf an apologetic look before chasing after Thom who was still guiding his horse around the clearing, cheering loudly.
"Thom!" he called when he finally caught up with the boy, "I should tell your sister about this. Do you know what you've done? Offending Glorfindel and his retinue?"
Boromir reached up and pulled the boy of the shaking horse.
"Look what you've done to the horse! The poor thing's completely drenched."
Thom looked up at his mentor sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again. It was only for a bit of fun..."
Boromir felt his anger fade away as the boy seemed close to tears. He thrust the reins of the horse into the boy's face.
"Clean the horse up, have one of the stable hands show you what to do. You're lucky I'm not going to mention this to your sister... but I'd expect a visit from Elrond or Glorfindel today."
Thom hung his head as he took the reins and led the horse back up to the stables. Boromir had to smile in spite of himself as he watched the boy trudge his way out of the clearing. The boy had spirit.
"Hey Boromir!" Boromir looked up to see Thom waving at him madly, "Thanks for letting me ride today!"
Boromir smiled grimly and gave the boy a little wave before wandering into the woods quickly.
Iluvion had gone quickly to see how Nat was feeling. He found her still in bed, huddled under the blankets trying to hide from the sunlight that streamed into her room from the open window.
Iluvion went to the curtains and pulled them shut, mentally abusing himself over leaving them open.
He went to the bed then, and looked down on the sleeping teenager, swamped in the blankets. He gently adjusted them, and moved her feet back under the covers. Pursing his lips he straightened her pillows and then left her in peace only to return with some breakfast. He woke her gently, helped her sit up and gave her a glass of juice.
"Go away."
"No, you must eat if you're going to keep your strength up. Or have you forgotten that you are going on a trip tomorrow?" he chided her gently.
"Tomorrow?" Nat yawned before grabbing a piece of toast.
"Hmm. Well, you seem to be feeling a little better now, at least. Alex agreed to it."
"Alex?"
"The Ranger that will be taking you out into the wild for a week or so."
"His name is Alex? That's a girl's name. I don't want to go..."
"Don't be so juvenile. You should be grateful he agreed to take you – he's new to Rivendell and doesn't know elves very well, so we couldn't be sure he would accept."
Natalie gave a snort of derisive reservations before going back to her breakfast enthusiastically.
"Don't forget that you did ask for some time out, and Lord Elrond has provided for you. It would be rude to refuse," Iluvion told her gently.
It wasn't fair, dammit. Why couldn't she just... Nat fumed silently and gave Iluvion a quick nod.
"Whatever. Where's Thom?"
"Thom is with Boromir, I believe."
An emanating shout from the clearing drifted up to their room.
"And that would be Boromir. I don't think he realised that Thom might be a bit of a handful."
"What got Boromir to take in Thom?" asked Nat, "Usually I have to give him a death glare to get him to help out."
Iluvion shrugged indifference and drew on his vast vocabulary by saying nothing.
"Do I need to organise anything? I hope you warned him that all I have are those dresses and socks," said Nat.
"Mm... all organised by yours truly so you have no need to worry. I'll bring up your gear early tomorrow morning – I have a feeling that Alex will want to leave before dawn."
"But what about Thom?"
"Catch up with him tonight at the farewell feast for the Fellowship."
"What feast? Fellowship?"
"My, you have been a bit out of it, haven't you?" Iluvion teased playfully, "No need to worry." He got up and moved swiftly for the door before Nat could get a hold of him.
"Hey!" yelled Nat, trying to get up, "What's with the...?"
"I'll see you tonight, Nat." Iluvion slammed the door sharply leaving Natalie speechless and frustrated on the bed.
A/N: How was that? Yeah? Sorry it's been so long. /bows apologetically/ Will try to get another chapter up as soon as possible over the next couple of weeks. It's just been so busy... reviews will help. Complete the circle... Read and... DOWN, I SAY!
/grins happily/ I am so glad that I finally got this up.