Strider glanced impatiently at the door. He was sitting in the courtyard rifling through his pack, double checking he had every thing he needed. Healing supplies (lots of them), cloak, change of clothes, lembas bread, water...
He replaced everything carefully and stood up, stretching. It was well past dawn, but there was no sign of either of the twins yet. Trust them to sleep in on a day like this.
He had only been at Imladris for a day, if that, yet already he was ready to return to the wilderness. His bed was simply too comfortable for his taste, and the corridors echoed suspiciously. He much preferred being out on the road.
He sighed as he strode briskly around the courtyard, loosening his muscles, and looked over at the horizon where the sun was only just beginning to emerge over the tops of the trees. Perhaps "well past dawn" had been a slight exaggeration.
His patience, such as it was, was rewarded when the door swung open suddenly, and Elladan and Elrohir emerged. They both carried packs and wore comfortable traveling clothes.
Elladan glanced over at Aragorn and the corner of his mouth twitched- "Eager to get going, brother?"
"Enjoy your beauty sleep?" Aragorn shot back.
"Enough" Elrohir interjected, heading for the gate "We need to get going soon if we wish to scout out these orcs soon, especially as we are traveling on foot."
They had decided to forgo riding on horseback in exchange for the stealth of walking, as this would enable them to more easily observe the orcs unseen, and to quickly escape to the trees should it become necessary.
Elladan followed after Elrohir after only a quick glare in Aragorn's direction, a promise that their conversation would not be forgotten anytime soon. Aragorn just smiled as he trailed behind his two elven brothers into the surrounding woods.
The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully as the three of them moved quickly to find the place Aragorn had last seen the Orcs. The journey that had seemed to take such a short amount of time when he had been dreading his destination now felt considerably longer. Not that he minded much, with both Elladan and Elrohir to keep him company.
The two elves in question were currently in the middle of an argument about exactly whose fault it was that Glorfindel found out that it was the twins who had let dozens of rabbits loose in his room.
"It was all your fault! Perhaps if you had not suddenly developed a taste for carrots several days earlier- stealing whole armfuls from the kitchen- he may never have known!" Elrohir exlaimed.
"I think not, brother!" Elladan retorted "I believe it was the fur all over your so-called 'elegant evening attire' that tipped him off!"
"Oh no you don't-" Elrohir began his response, but Aragorn was no longer listening.
'Had there ever been any doubt it was them?' Aragorn wondered silently. He seriously doubted that there were any other elves Glorfindel had even considered blaming for the incident. He knew better than to voice this thought out loud though, for then what had been simple bickering between the twins would turn into an altogether unholy alliance against Aragorn. It had taken him many years to learn this, but the lesson finally stuck.
He was rather tired, he reflected, more so than usual since he had pushed himself rather hard at the beginning of his journey to reach Imladris. He didn't want to be away from the rangers any longer than necessary, and had only spent one short night in The Last Homely House before he and his brothers set out to search for the orcs. They had occupied most of the day searching for tracks, after they had climbed the steep path up out of the valley. They had found some old remnants of a trail, some distance from the beginnings of the track into the valley. This trail was somewhat confused though and had been washed away in part by rain, preventing them from following it to its source.
His thoughts were interrupted when the sky growled its dissatisfaction, and Aragorn noticed that dark clouds had moved in while he was distracted by the twins antics and his own musings.
Elladan glanced at the sky and half-smiled "We should find shelter for the night. I know it is only early evening yet, but we wouldn't want any humans present (who shall remain unnamed) to catch cold due to such unfortunate weather circumstances!" his voice was unnaturally cheery as Aragorn glared at him.
"Just because Elves can't become ill, doesn't mean they should flaunt it in front of other clearly more inferior races." Aragorn grumbled. He would never trade his humanity to become one of the Fair Folk, but there were times when being human seemed cursed inconvenient. He did, however, thank the stars every day that he had some elvish blood in him, and could heal more quickly from wounds and the like.
Elrohir glanced over, smirking, "We are not flaunting it per se, merely making sure you are aware of your own shortcomings. We wouldn't want you to become too egotistical. That's why you have us!" He seemed altogether too pleased at the prospect of ensuring Aragorn remained humble.
"I don't think there's any real concern of that happening." Aragorn remarked wryly, reflecting on his time in the camps of his people. If ever there was a place to humble a person, that was it. They could be dirty, unpleasant places- crowded, and full of the wounded and ill. They were filled with those lost to despair and suffering, fully aware of their lot in life.
Elladan and Elrohir sobered instantly, seeing the look on Aragorn's face, and knowing he had faced danger and very real reminders of his mortality without them with him. They exchanged a glance, full of sorrow and pain, then quickly turned away.
"Be that as it may," Elladan continued as if nothing had happened "We should start looking for a place to stay while we wait out this rain. Are there any caves about?"
Elrohir frowned in thought "I believe there is a shallow one up the road a bit. It should serve our purposes, for this rain does not promise to be a full-fledged storm."
Elladan glanced at the sky again "I believe you are right brother, let us make for this cave then!"
They quickened their pace in anticipation of the rain, and hurried towards the cave. Before they reached it, fat drops of rain began to fall. Slowly at first, then faster and faster it came down. The three tall figures moved swiftly and silently through the downpour, but were soon drenched.
Before too long they reached the place where the cave was, yet all of them paused for a moment on the road nearby. What had once been a shallow open cave, a perfect refuge for travelers, was now -quite simply put- a pile of rocks.
"Well this looks... lovely" Elladan commented "Quite cozy in fact."
"That is one way of putting it." Aragorn agreed.
"I could have sworn..." Elrohir trailed off sheepishly. "I suppose I did hear something of a cave-in around this area not too long ago. Several dozen years perhaps?"
"It doesn't matter" interrupted Elladan "We will have to find another place to find refuge from this wretched rain. Are there any other caves nearby? Or places to seek shelter?"
"It has been many years" Elrohir murmered "There may be another a little cavern nearby, but I... I do not think it will be large enough. Perhaps a tree could provide some shelter for...?" He trailed off.
The reason for his sudden lack of ability to form coherent sentences was identical to him in face and stature, and staring in askance at the pouring sky. Aragorn was fairly certain he was muttering something along the lines of "Why, oh Valar help me, why was I cursed with such idiot brothers."
Elladan then looked meaningfully at the ground beneath even the largest, leafiest tree. "Does that appear dry to you?" He asked Elrohir pointedly.
Elrohir sighed "Yes, well, what other options do we have?"
Elladan then looked pointedly at their human brother, who had already begun to shiver slightly from the cold rain (despite his best efforts to hide it), before he moved his gaze back to Elrohir. "I believe we need more shelter than a tree would be able to give us. Especially considering there are Orcs about as well, somewhere. Otherwise we may as well continue walking throughout the night, and may indeed be better off for it."
Aragorn sighed wearily. He had traveled far to get to Imladris and had not gotten much rest the night before, preoccupied as he had been with talking to his two elven brothers.
"A tree would be fine, I swear it. I am not as fragile as you may think, and can afford to spend a night out in the rain!"
The two of them whipped their heads around toward him and quirked an eyebrow simultaneously. One day, Aragorn would have to ask them how they did it. Probably not today, he decided.
