Chapter Nineteen: Departing Lothlorien at Last!

DISCLAIMER: Okay, writing these disclaimers is getting awfully redundant. I don't own anything!

Brief Recap: They. Are. Leaving. Lothlorien. Wait, did I hear that right? Yes, I did! They're leaving! Finally!

Random Quote: "Those who danced were once thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

As the Silverlode River carried their small boats downstream, Adonnenniel sadly fingered the sword Galadriel had given her. It was a beautiful sword, engraved with a design of bright jewels but simple at the same time. It reminded her of the beauty of Lothlorien, and it made her sadness because of leaving resurface. Before they had left, Galadriel had given everyone in the Fellowship some sort of present. Adonnenniel came close to giggling when she thought about what she had given Estela: An Elvish history textbook. Go figure.

But just as soon as she thought it, her sadness waxed again. Departing Lothlorien was the most depressing thing Adonnenniel had done in a while. She could feel the gloom surrounding their departure. It was palpable, and affected everything she thought. Can't wait to kick Sam's butt at sword fighting again. No, wait, we're leaving… I bet if I asked nicely they'd give me dragon fruit with breakfast instead of just with dinner… No, wait, we're leaving… I wonder if Haldir's hair ever gets frizzy…No, wait, we're leaving…

Aside from wishing she was back in Lothlorien, Adonnenniel was uncomfortable in other ways as well.

To put it mildly, she had a bit of an aversion to open water, boats, and enclosed spaces. And these boats were just freaking uncomfortable. Adonnenniel was awkwardly wedged between Sam and Frodo, with Merry and Pippin squeezed in behind them. Ahead of them in another boat, Aragorn and Boromir had one all to themselves, and behind her, Legolas, Gimli, and Estela were scrunched into a third one.

I wonder how Estela's doing with Legolas, she thought, remembering her sister's distress yesterday. She looked behind her, and saw that her sister didn't look too uncomfortable. Estela was sleeping, her head resting on Legolas' back. Adonnenniel snorted and rolled her eyes. I guess they made up, she thought sardonically. My hunches about the giggling were so spot on.

Though it appeared that her sister had made up with Legolas, Adonnenniel was still kind of annoyed with Aragorn and Legolas for clandestinely agreeing to leave her and Estela behind. As it turned out, they hadn't actually discussed the decision with the rest of the Fellowship. Though when she thought on it more, she begrudgingly figured that Legolas and Aragorn had had good intentions. They didn't want to put her or Estela in danger, and they didn't want them to endanger the quest. But that just wasn't fair. They weren't totally useless. For starters, she was pretty good with a sword. And Estela knew everything that was going to happen.

Adonnenniel sighed. She understood why they had done it, but it still bothered her.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it. It was making her more tense by the second, and this train of thought was so not helping her other, more immediate problems. As in, stomach problems. If she remained on this boat for much longer…Well, let's just say that no one else would want to be on the same boat as her.

Adonnenniel glanced around the boat. Or as much as she could glance while wedged tightly between the hobbits. All of them looked forlorn and weary, and hadn't spoken since they had left Lothlorien. As the hours wore on and they still did not speak, she became increasingly annoyed with the silence, but didn't talk because of how depressed everyone looked.

As the day wore on, they passed into what Frodo told her was the Great River, or the Anduin. The green trees surrounding the riverbank slowly gave way to a brown and withered land. They continued heading southward until nightfall.

Estela woke with a jolt. She had been having a nightmare that she could not quite remember on waking. She was pretty sure it involved something to do with a fire and burning books. For a moment, she was confused, not quite sure of her whereabouts. She heard running water, felt a slight jostling beneath her, and realized she was leaning against someone's back.

She screeched and jerked back in surprise, nearly toppling backwards out of the boat. The person in front of her grabbed her tightly by the waist and pulled her back before she fell into the river. It was Legolas. He looked at her oddly.

"I…I forgot where we were," she sputtered. "I…I had a…a bad dream."

"What was your dream about?" he asked quietly. Estela looked around and saw that some of the group had turned around to look at her. Aragorn quirked an eyebrow at her.

"It was about books," she whispered. "They were burning."

"The idea of burning books frightens you?" he sounded amused. "What books could possibly be so precious that you would wake in such a manner from dreaming of their destruction?"

"Well," she said defensively, "The Harry Potter books for one. Except I have two copies of most of those…See, my dad wanted to read them the night they came out at the same time I was." Estela laughed. "We used to race through those books, trying to see who could read them faster. I always won," she grinned. "But there's also Wuthering Heights. And I guess even A Tale of Two Cities. I wouldn't want to see that burnt, even though the Manettes annoy me and it's about men getting themselves killed for love."

"Men killing themselves for love?" Gimli grunted from the front of the small boat. "Not my forte."

"Yeah, me neither. But I went through some demented phase in seventh grade in which I thought that kind of thing was romantic. I even named one of my horses after Sydney Carton." Estela laughed again, randomly remembering how Adonnenniel had made fun of her horses' names so long ago in the stables. Gimli and Legolas fell silent, not quite sure how to respond to this.

"Estela, look!" Legolas said suddenly, somehow sounding excited and forlorn at the same time. He motioned in front of them. Her eyes widened with amazement. Two enormous rock statues stood on either side of the river. Estela knew that they were carved images of the ancient Kings. They loomed over the boats with power and majesty.

"Long have I desired to look upon the Kings of old," Aragorn said. The Fellowship stared at the stone figures, enraptured by their grandeur, as the river lead them through a narrow gap between the statues.

Yet it was just then that Estela remembered what was about to happen. The Fellowship was about to break.

Being in Lothlorien had been like stepping into a dream in which nothing could go wrong. But now she started remembering all the horrible events that were to come. She looked at Boromir, two boats in front of her, and felt an overwhelming sadness consume her. She still vowed to keep that promise. She was not going to let him die.

Adonnenniel was sick.

"Ugh," she groaned, clutching her stomach as the small boat was rocked by yet another wave.

"First time on a boat, eh?" Pippin asked.

In response, Adonnenniel leaned over the side of the boat and deposited her dinner into the river.

"You alright there?" Merry asked, sounding concerned.

"No…" she said weakly. "Remind me to never get on a boat again."

"Sorry, m'Lady, but I reckon we will be on this boat for quite some more time," Sam told her.

Adonnenniel groaned. "I would really love some gum right now. Mint flavored. My mouth tastes like…Well, you probably don't want me to describe it."

"What is gum?" asked Sam.

"Hmmm…How do I explain that?" She laughed briefly. "Do you guys have tobacco here?"

"Yes," Pippin chirped.

"Okay, well then imagine tobacco that's easier to chew, and tastes like mint leaves."

Pippin seemed to contemplate this. "It sounds unnatural," he said after a moment. Suddenly, the boat hit a particularly large bump in the water.

"Uh oh," Adonnenniel groaned. She leaned over the side of the boat again.

For the rest of the boat ride, she tried to just focus on breathing and ignoring her stomach. She managed to snag a few hours of sleep, but the majority of the time was spent with her bent over the edge of the boat. When they at long last rowed over to the shore and disembarked, Adonnenniel flopped down on the ground and landed facedown.

"I am not moving," she declared sullenly.

"What's wrong?" Estela asked, approaching her.

"Boat plus me equals bad," she whimpered, her voice slightly muffled.

"Oh. Sorry," Estela said sympathetically. "If you have to hurl, then don't do it near me."

"Jeez, thanks…"

Ten minutes later, Estela felt fear rising within her. She watched as the Fellowship settled down and ate. She stood off to the side, and watched as Boromir vanish into the recesses of the forest. Five minutes later, unnoticed by anyone else, Frodo also left their camp. Estela bit her lip to prevent herself from saying anything. She sat down on the ground, and closed her eyes, waiting for someone else to notice their absence. She did not know how long she sat there for, but after a while she felt someone's hand clasp down on her shoulder.

Estela jumped, and backed away. Startled, she looked up and saw it was Legolas.

"It is just me, Estela," he said, sounding concerned. "You have been sitting here with your eyes closed for quite some time. Are you alright?"

Estela stood up, brushing herself off. "I am fine." Her voice cracked, and even as she said it she felt herself shaking. Her vision wavered, and the forest seemed to sway.

Legolas held her arm to steady her. "Please tell me what is troubling you," he said, staring at her intently. She looked at him directly, and his eyes bore into hers in a probing and concerned way.

And then that was when Merry spoke.

"Where's Frodo?"

Legolas' eyes widened. "That's what was wrong," Estela whispered. She looked away from him, and then that was when she realized that Frodo was not the only one missing.

"Where's Adonnenniel?" she said frantically, the awful possible repercussions of her absence dawning on her.

Without another word, Aragorn dashed into the forest. Everyone else sat in stunned silence for a long moment, and then Gimli and Legolas ran after him. Estela weighed her options, knowing full well that if she left she would become entangled in the battle that was about to ensue. But it was her fault that her sister had vanished. She should have been paying more attention. Making a snap decision, she grabbed Adonnenniel's sword from off the ground and sprinted after them.

Adonnenniel was lost. She had walked off to try and find a quiet place to use the bathroom, and then afterwards realized she had no idea where the heck she was. She had walked around aimlessly for a while, trying to find her way back, and now she was really lost. Adonnenniel sighed, and sat down in a deep hollow in the ground off to the side of the main cluster of trees. She gave up on the idea of using the bathroom, and started thinking about how even if she weren't lost, then using the bathroom would be difficult. Was she supposed to dig the hole first and then do her business? Or pile dirt on top of it? And how would she even do that without some sort of shovel?

But despite her bladder needs, the fact remained that she was utterly lost. In a forest, too. All of her instincts screamed not good! Horror movies she had seen back home clearly indicated that a pretty girl hopelessly lost in a forest usually got shishkabobed. Or went through an epic chase scene, conveniently stumbled on a hot guy who saved her, had a steamy scene with said hot guy, and then got shishkabobed. Neither prospect sounded appealing. And in Middle Earth, she was more likely to get killed by some freaky magic than ax men or serial killers. And there would certainly be no hot guy involved.

Adonnenniel sighed, hoping that if she just stayed here than someone would eventually stumble on her. She remembered when she was a kid, her father would always tell her that if she got lost, to stay in the same place until someone found her. She figured that applied here as well.

A cell phone would be pretty handy right about now, she thought errantly. Her thoughts began wandering. Dang, cell phones would have totally killed the whole plotline of this thing. They would've killed the plotline of anything, come to think of it. Like, in Romeo and Juliet she could've just texted him and been like 'hey romeo, i'm not dead just faking so dont freak out. see ya in mantua, ily =).

A faint noise abruptly interrupted her inane thoughts. Distant rumbling reached Adonnenniel's ears, followed quickly by battle cries and the sound of sword fighting. Then she heard a much closer and sharper noise. A rustling in the trees and the sound of scurrying feet filtered through the forest. She leapt up, fear pulsing through her.

"Estela?" she said fearfully.

Two figures emerged from the forest and ran straight at her.

Coming Up Next!

Sorry, I really don't want to spoil anything by even hinting at what happens next!

...Review?