Thanks to the following reviewers of Chapter 1: CAH, Telcontar Rulz, Joee1, Mirwen Sunrider, Opalkitty, windwraith, and fair rider. I am delighted to receive any and all responses, whether reviewers are logged in or not. If you do happen to be logged in, I will use the reply feature to get back to you.
The incident in which the elfling Anomen accidentally sets Erestor's cloak on fire may be found in the story "Really Bad Eggs."
Chapter 2: To Build a Fire
Aragorn, crouched in the prow of their vessel, whooped as they drove the boat forward, and Legolas laughed at his exuberance. At this point, the Bruinen's meandering course had taken it to the foot of the Misty Mountains, and the narrow channel was bounded on each side by rocky walls that rose high above the paddlers.
Aragorn whooped again as the boat careened past a boulder, and he raised his paddle above his head in triumph. Then his whoop changed to a gasp of surprise as the paddle was nearly knocked from his hand. Sitting in the stern, Legolas yelled in alarm as he saw the cause for the near accident: a crossbow bolt had been driven into the paddle's blade. But Aragorn hardly needed any warning, for a second bolt whizzed by him and imbedded itself in the gunwale. At the same time, a bolt nicked Legolas' vambrace, and yet another passed through the hood of his cloak.
Man and Elf flung themselves into the bottom of the boat. They had floated into an ambush—although, Legolas reflected, it was better that they had floated into one rather than walked into it. He knew how it must have been: a band of Orcs, emboldened by their nearness to their dens in the Misty Mountains to which they might quickly retreat in case of serious resistance, had staked out a position at a spot where they thought travelers were likely to portage. Aragorn and Legolas had foiled their plan by choosing to attempt the rapids, but now the disappointed Orcs were raining missiles upon their hapless prey, who had no choice but to run this gauntlet of enemy archers.
Judging from the number of bolts that now fell upon them, it was a large force. Their foes were hidden above the canyon's rim, firing down from above, and the Elf and Man had no hope of picking them off with their own bows. They remained hunched down in the bottom of the boat, springing up from time to time in an attempt to fend the vessel away from rocks. At last, however, the inevitable happened. They fetched up against a boulder and the boat slewed to one side, then tipped over, throwing both Legolas and Aragorn into the water. From one point of view, this was not a bad development. It became difficult for the Orcs to target them as they tumbled about in the roiling water, and the water blunted the force of any missiles that did come their way.
The water carried them downstream a considerable distance. Both Aragorn and Legolas knew better than to waste their strength in an attempt to battle their way out of the current. Instead, they allowed themselves to be swept along until the river widened and the current grew less powerful. At last they came in sight of a sand spit, whereupon rested their overturned boat, and they swam toward it. Arriving at this tiny peninsula, they crawled out of the water and sprawled upon the sand, panting and gasping.
Legolas was the first to recover. He pushed himself up on his elbows, raising his head from the sand and looking about. At least, he thought to himself, they likely were beyond the reach of the Orcs, who would not venture far from their lairs in the Misty Mountains. Then, too, they had fetched up against the western shore of the river, and Legolas doubted that the Orcs would cross the icy waters of the Bruinen to search for their prey.
Legolas raised himself into a seated position. He was soaked, of course, but, Elf that he was, he did not feel chilled. He looked over at Aragorn and with alarm remembered that his foster-brother was not so fortunate. Shivering violently, his knees drawn up and his shoulders hunched, the young human lay on his side hugging himself. "Estel," Legolas called. Aragorn looked up. His lips were blue. Still, the Elf was relieved that his friend had responded promptly and, indeed, that he was shivering. 'Amongst Men', the Elf thought to himself, 'it is a very bad sign when a Man is cold past shivering. Nonetheless, I must find some way to warm him. Once night falls, it will grow all the colder'. Legolas gazed about, seeking some means by which he might light a fire. Both he and Aragorn carried flint and steel and a small quantity of tinder. The latter, however, would have been soaked when the boat overturned, and everything on shore was sodden from the recent rains that had caused the river to run so swiftly. Legolas knew he would have great difficulty striking a blaze using his fire-making kit. He could fashion a bow drill, Legolas thought, but, again, lacking tinder, how was any spark thus generated to be nursed into a flame? Legolas glanced up anxiously at the sun. He had no more than two hours to kindle a blaze before the sun should set. Deciding quickly, he judged that the bow drill would be best. Sparks could be struck more swiftly with flint and steel, but with the drill the wooden base itself would grow hot and might be coaxed into burning even in the absence of tinder. Legolas arose to look about for materials from which to make the bow drill. 'In my pack there is some twine that would suit', he said to himself.
Swiftly he strode to the boat and opened his pack, which with Aragorn's had been wedged under the wooden braces in the bottom of the boat. He reached into it and retrieved a length of twine. Then he looked about for three pieces of wood that could be fashioned into the handhold, spindle, and bow, as well as a fourth piece that would serve as the fireboard. Soon he had fashioned what he needed, and he set to work. Ai! So soaked was the wood that even after a half an hour had passed he had not succeeded in kindling a blaze. He looked up anxiously at the sun. It had been hidden behind clouds, but now the cloud cover had begun to break. Legolas welcomed its warmth but wished it had shown itself earlier. 'Had the sun come forth even an hour ago, perhaps it would have dried the wood sufficiently so that I might have gotten it to burn. Now only a half hour of sunlight remains, not enough to serve. If only there were some way to capture the power of that orb."
Suddenly he remembered an incident that had occurred soon after his arrival in Rivendell, when he had been a little elfling. He had been in the garden with his tutor Erestor, who had shown him a curved piece of glass that made objects look larger. As the elfling had played with this intriguing toy, a beam of sunlight had passed through it, falling upon the cloak of the tutor, who, lulled by the warmth of the day, had fallen asleep. Suddenly a puff of smoke had arisen from the cloth, and then all at once Erestor's cloak had been on fire. The blaze had been put out quickly enough and Erestor had been unharmed, but now Legolas realized that the long-ago misadventure might be the key to saving Aragorn's life. He leaped to his feet and hurried back to the boat.
Aragorn turned his head and watched the Elf with scant interest. He saw Legolas prying the top from the crate. "I suppose," the human thought dully, "that he is checking whether the goblets have survived the accident." When Legolas returned bearing a goblet, the human was confused. "Are we to have a dinner party? But we have no wine? One needs no goblet to drink river water. I hope Legolas did not hit his head upon in a boulder as we passed through the rapids. He acts as if he has a concussion."
Aragorn grew even more confused as Legolas knelt before the pile of twigs and tried to angle the goblet so that a beam of sunlight would pass through it and strike the fuel. Dissatisfied with the results, the Elf struck the goblet upon a rock and sorted through the shards. At last finding one that he thought would suit, the Elf held it up to the sun. The light from the sun passed through the curved glass and its focused power shone upon one small twig. As Aragorn watched bewildered, a wisp of smoke arose from this tiny piece of wood. Then, to his amazement, he saw a tiny flicker of flame. Legolas nursed the flame, feeding it small pieces of wood that would dry quickly. Soon, however, the fire was large enough so that he could safely feed it larger pieces of damp wood. The resulting fire was smoky, but it provided warmth, and that was all Legolas wanted. He helped Aragorn remove his soggy garments and then urged him to huddle as close to the fire as he could bear. Then he removed his own damp clothes and spread both his and Aragorn's over bushes. When he had finished, he noticed with relief that Aragorn already looked a little better. His lips were not so blue, and he was not shivering as violently. Encouraged, the Elf returned to the boat to retrieve both his and Aragorn's packs. He dumped their contents upon the ground and sorted through them. Such foodstuffs as would spoil as a result of their dunking he used to improvise a dinner. The rest he placed near the fire to dry.
After they had eaten their rather peculiar meal—Legolas had made a sort of pudding out of their sodden bread—Aragorn looked as if he were fully restored. The two stretched out beside the fire and idled away an hour in talk. Soon the discussion turned to the method by which Legolas had kindled the fire.
"I wonder," speculated Aragorn, "why you even bother to carry flint and steel, Legolas. This manner of lighting a fire requires much less effort than striking stone against metal!"
"To speak the truth, Estel, I had forgotten all about the power of glass to kindle a flame. Even if I hadn't, I doubt if I would have gotten into the habit of carrying a piece of glass about. Kindling a fire in this fashion only works when the sun is visible; flint and steel works at all times—if the wood be dry!"
"Perhaps we ought to carry both."
Legolas shook his head. "If we carried every tool that might be useful at some time, we would be heavily laden indeed! It is best to carry only that which is likeliest to be of use—and generally that would be the flint and steel, I reckon. Although," he mused, "there may come a day when flint and steel will not be the first choice of either Man or Elf. Mithrandir says that someday everyone will carry about little sticks no longer than a toothpick and that fire will shoot out from the ends of these sticks."
"Ah," Aragorn said wisely, "so we shall all possess tiny wizard's wands."
"Apparently so. He also says that another way that folk shall kindle fire in the future is by carrying tiny little vessels not even a quarter the size of one's palm. With one's thumb one shall flick a lever, and fire will burst forth."
"Carrying about fire in a tiny vessel," marveled Aragorn. "Truly the wonders of the future shall exceed any of these days."
"Yes," Legolas agreed thoughtfully, "I suppose our folk and our customs shall seem ever so ordinary to people in the ages to come."
The next morning, Legolas went down to the boat and carefully checked it. It seemed to have sustained little damage. Legolas bailed it, pushed it into the stream, and paddled it about for a while. Satisfied, he again beached it and returned to the camp, where he found Aragorn nursing a cut finger. He had used the shard of glass to rekindle the fire but had nicked himself in the process.
"Another good reason to stick to flint and steel," the young human observed ruefully. "Metal and rock do not shatter."
Legolas smiled his agreement and shared in the breakfast that his friend had prepared. Afterward they donned their clothes, which if still damp, were at least not sopping. Then Legolas used a rock to pound the nails back into the top of the crate containing the remaining goblets, and they resumed their journey, drifting lazily down the river for a time before again taking up paddles. "Legolas," Aragorn said as they drifted, "do you suppose Galadriel and Celeborn will notice that there are an odd number of goblets?"
"I am sure Galadriel will observe that a goblet is missing," shrugged Legolas, "for nothing escapes her notice. I doubt that she will mind, however. She will pass it off graciously by saying that it was very thoughtful of Elrond to send an odd number of goblets in case one should later be broken."
"And Celeborn?"
"Celeborn has ever been austere. He would not see the need to have any extra goblets at all. One has only one mouth; thus one needs only one drinking vessel. Those would be his sentiments, I am sure."
"I am glad," said a relieved Aragorn, "as I should not like to displease the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien. I should like to remain in their favor always! 'Twould be a pity to lose their regard on account of a broken drinking vessel."
"Well, you won't," Legolas said firmly. "You'll see. We shall deliver the rest of these goblets without mishap, and the Lord and Lady will be pleased with us."
And with the confidence of the young, the two friends picked up their paddles and blithely pressed on.