A/N: Sorry you guys that it took so long. I'd love to thank my beta reader and all you lovely revewiers out there who've been patient. Here's the chapter and don't forget to review at the end!
Into the Forest
"Bring her to us."
The lone Uruk-hai which headed the fifty some odd orcs hissed venomously. The creature held up a sword great in length and predominately sharp. The sun glinted against the blade held high in the air. The orcs behind their leader snarled, wanting nothing to do but destroy the two beings in front of them. They were on the opposite side. They were of no use to Saruman.
They were not the being the orcs were sent to retrieve.
Upon seeing the army they had been after, Legolas wasted no time in pulling an arrow from his quiver and notching it onto his taunt bow string. He did not hesitate in his actions and once the urk-hai had spoken, he realized the arrow sending it whizzing into the creature's throat. This simple but deadly action sent the orcs into an uproar and before anyone could comprehend, the small battle had begun.
The dwarf roared with delight and launched himself forward into the battle. It was just what he had been craving. To destroy more than a handful of orcs would do him some good and it was much of a change from all that running he had been having to endure for the past twenty four hours and then some. Gimli noticed briefly his elven companion firing off arrows. It was not his style of fighting at all and this he thought. Gimli was the type who liked to get his hands dirty.
Legolas had witnessed the urk-hai go down with no struggle and then came forth the orcs. He made a quick estimate of how many there could have been and dealt out more arrows to his foes. It would not take them as long as he thought. The army was not great in size and should luck be on their side, they would be rejoining Aragorn and Amara by nightfall. When it was apparent that arrows would be of no more use to him, he discarded his bow for his twin blades and took to more aggressive fighting.
The mud, as Amara and Aragorn had predicted had worked geniusly. The troop of foul creatures had suspected nothing and appeared notably taken aback when a dwarf and an elf had approached them instead of the woman they had expected. Legolas sliced his blade into the orc that had attempted to ambush him from behind and wondered how Gimli was fairing. At the time he was not within eyesight. He had no doubts that Gimli was well capable of taking care of himself.
It was soon that the evidence of a battle was spread over the earth's floor. Orcs upon orcs were scattered around the elf and dwarf. It was only then did Legolas find Gimli. The dwarf was hunched over and wiping his axe clean of darkened blood. Oddly enough, there was an estranged smile on his face which was evidence enough that he had enjoyed what had happened. The majority of the time Legolas found dwarves to be odd creatures but strangely interesting to him. Was his dislike for dwarves beginning to disappear, he wondered?
Once more the air had gone quiet, the battle before had evaded the air and replaced peace with unkind shouts and moans.
"Gimli," Legolas sheathed his blades and walked in the direction of the dwarf.
Gimli looked up from his axe and saw the elf walking in his direction. "Did that not amuse you lad? Perhaps we should find more of these retched creatures to cast down."
"We need to begin heading back. Aragorn and Amara could be in need of us."
Gimli disregarded what the elf had just spoken. To be honest, he was not looking forward to more running which he had no doubt that the elf was going to make him do. In his opinion, Legolas' head was only being filled with images of Amara. Gimli knew that Legolas only thought of her; he only hoped that it would not do him in.
"There has to be more around here somewhere."
"Gimli." Legolas' tone was on edge and warned the dwarf not to push him too far.
"Aye, I know. I do not think Aragorn and your lass need us a great deal." Gimli began trekking in the direction that they had come in. He grumbled a few other things but quickly over came the emotions he felt. Legolas walked a ways ahead of him. His strides were long and quick. The dwarf was only too glad that their journey had not been too long to reach the enemy.
Gimli took a stab and breaking the silence between the two of them. He had never been one for the quiet. "What are your plans after saving Middle Earth from its impending doom? Perhaps..."
Gimli could not believe he was about to suggest this but he was slowly beginning to find the elf not so bad to say the least. He eyed the elf who kept his gaze ahead.
"Perhaps, if you are tolerable I shall take you to the Glittering Caves and show you some fine dwarvish architecture."
That made the elf laugh, but Gimli had no idea as to why. He muttered something along the lines of blasted elves. "I'll have you know that dwarves are greater architects than you sodding elves."
Legolas raised his eyebrows and looked down at the elf. "Really now?"
Gimli only scowled as a response.
"Perhaps, I will take you up on that offer. Any architecture that can rival that of the elves is worth seeing."
Gimli laughed heartily. He had never in his entire life thought of traveling with an elf. He had found the race, like all of his people, to be rude and unbecoming. It was a hatred that had spread through generations through both races. Now that Middle Earth was on the brink of destruction, such things as grudges seemed trivial and unimportant. It was time for it all to come to an end.
Merry and Pippin were generally astonished at the fact that a tree big in size had sprung to life before them and unknowingly saved them from what could have been a horrible plight. Already, they had been through enough to last each of them a life time and a tree that spoke in a gruff slow manner was not making anything better for them. They were grateful for the rescue though. The tree had introduced itself as Treebeard, which was simple enough.
Pippin looked to Merry and was nervous to see his friend looking at this Treebeard with curiosity and interest rather than fear. He had noticed that this journey had changed his friend. He was no longer mischievous and bright with wicked ideas. Before he would let Merry get too close to this great tree he would find out whether it was of good intentions. They could not afford to be deceived during this time.
"And whose side are you on?"
Merry found the question that was posed from Pippin a rude one but it was a smart question seeing as they had never encountered one of these creatures before. The two of them waited for an answer patiently. Deep inside they knew that Treebeard couldn't have been evil. If he had been on the opposite side, he would have killed them by now and not the orc.
"Side? I am on nobodys side because nobodys on my side, little Orc. Nobody cares for the woods anymore." Treebeard said this extremely slowly.
Pippin was slightly appalled that Treebeard thought of him as an orc, one of the foulest creatures in Middle Earth.
"We're not orcs! We're hobbits," Merry said before Pippin had a chance to open his mouth.
Merry didn't want Treebeard to get the wrong idea; he was in fact holding them well above the ground. With a simple action, they could be sent spiraling down to a very painful if not deadly fall. Pippin glanced from the ground to Treebeard.
"Hobbits? Never heard of a Hobbit before. Sounds like Orc mischief to me!" Treebeard tightened his hold on the two hobbits and squinted his eyes, daring them to tell more lies. It was apparent then that Merry and Pippin did not have to fear falling to their deaths, but rather being squeezed to it. Both of them grunted in pain.
"They come
with fire, they come with axes. Gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking,
burning! Destroyers and usurpers, curse them!"
It was
apparent that Treebeard had heated thoughts of orcs. Memories of what
had been performed by them came back to him. Merry and Pippin were
more than eager for him to see the difference between orc and hobbit.
They did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever he was going
to deal to his enemy. Treebeard walked at a steady slow pace but the
strides he took were more than great and whatever destination he was
walking to, they would get there in no time despite the slowness.
"No, you don't understand. We're Hobbits... Halflings! Shirefolk!" The desperation in Merry's voice was sheer and evident.
"May you are and maybe you aren't," Treebeard said. He was not too convinced but he knew of only one who could clear up this fog. "The White Wizard will know."
The hobbits' blood ran cold at the mention of the White Wizard. No good could come out of the mention of the White Wizard. It was the White Wizard that was the cause of most of this. Pippin gave Merry a worried look and then looked back to Treebeard knowing exactly what to think of him. At the mention of the White Wizard he knew that Treebeard could not be any good.
"Saruman," Merry whispered.
Everything halted and Treebeard dropped them not so gently before a white lighted being. Merry and Pippin looked up to view what they thought to be their end. The being bathed in white light stepped forward and the light faded enough where the hobbits could see who it truly was. Broad smiles were brought onto their faces at the realization of who stood in front of them. It was not Saruman as they had anticipated for a short term it was-
"Gandalf," Merry said softly. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?
"But, but how can this be?" Pippin stood and dusted his seat off; his eyes never wavered from Gandalf. The wizard looked as if death had never touched him. He looked better than before if anything. Gandalf was dressed all in white, his robes appearing clean despite the fact they were in the middle of the dirtied woods.
"You were dead. We saw you fall."
Gandalf bowed his head. He understood their confusion but had little time to clear it. He wanted to get the hobbits somewhere where he knew they would be safe. His story, which was a great one, he would have to cut short. Indeed he did miss the small creatures that possessed such a wonderful personality, but things were beginning to become more difficult and much more complicated. This journey was becoming more and more dangerous and to put it quite frankly, there was no place for a hobbit.
"I shall recount to you my story but I will leave out certain details due to the lack of time."
He ignored the confused stares that still came from the two. And Gandalf began his more than interesting tale of how he cheated death. He smiled lightly at Merry and Pippin's facial expressions when it came to certain parts of the tale. Ah, yes he missed being in the company of hobbits dearly. Once he was finished, he looked to Treebeard and gave a small smile.
"My friend, they are of good."
Treebeard let out a sigh that sounded more like a deep groan than anything.
Merry and Pippin
then engulfed the newly acclaimed White Wizard into a grateful hug.
Gandalf patted the two of them with a smile. He was not sure how he
was going to deliver the next news. So quickly after their meeting he
was to tell them that they had to leave, that their assistance was no
longer needed. Gandalf looked at Treebeard and he caught on without
the use of words.
Merry and Pippin released the wizard and both
were about to voice how glad they were to see him when they saw a
certain look in his eyes. Something was wrong.
"My dear hobbits, Treebeard will take you back to the Shire. It is there that I would like for you to remain."
"What?"
Pippin looked over at Merry. He had thought he would have been relieved to be going back home, but he was not in the least. Pippin was a bit upset to, but at the mention of his home he could not help but be eager to go back. They felt as if they were being cast aside during the most important of times.
"Please," Gandalf raised a hand, attempting to make this as pleasant as it could possibly be. "No arguments. It will be safer for the both of you if you returned to the Shire."
Without any more words, Treebeard scooped the two hobbits up once more and bid farewell to the White Wizard. Merry shouted Gandalf's name with frustration but could do nothing more.
/
Amara paced back and forth, her arms crossed over her chest. Near bye her brother sat crouched and looking into the afternoon sky. It only nerved him a bit that Amara would not sit and wait and instead resorted to walking the same path back and forth. Ever so often, he found himself watching her steps. After she had begged him to wait for Legolas and Gimli to come back before going off into the forest, he could nothing but give in, though he did not know why. Perhaps because it was that he had a weakness for his kin or perhaps it was odd face Amara had made after she asked.
He did not know what it was exactly but he disregarded it.
"They should be back soon," he offered.
Amara stopped pacing and looked at Aragorn. She hadn't been worried about Legolas and Gimli at all. In fact, she had no doubts of their abilities and knew that they could take very good care of themselves. She had been thinking about herself. As selfish as it sounded it wasn't really.
Her thoughts just drifted to home much she wasn't a dork anymore, at least not in appearance. She could see without her glasses, which were broken somewhere in Moria. Her braces had come off after graduation. Her only symbol that was left of her dorky appearance was the retainer that she dared not forget to wear at night. She still held onto that, thanking the gods that at the time she had came to Middle Earth it had been stowed away in her pocket.
But with all the
outward accessories that deemed her a dork gone, she was still one by
heart and would always be.
As long as she still daydreamed of
complicated math equations and wondered what would have been on
television had she still been in her world, she'd always be one.
Amara smiled at Aragorn, seeing as she could do nothing else. Legolas
and Gimli had gone off to fight a band of orcs and that in itself was
time consuming. She never expected for them to come back within an
hour or two.
I know was all she said. Amara had wanted badly to wait for them but began to thank maybe Aragorn and herself should just carry on. After all, they had split up so they could get more than one thing accomplished. It would be the smartest thing to do. Merry and Pippin were out there and maybe if they went in they could catch up with them before they joined Treebeard. She could join them. Amara had always wanted to see a giant talking tree.
"Aragorn," she called.
"Hmm?"
"We should go. We should go before the sun goes down."
Aragorn looked at Amara. He stood up and asked if she was sure of this decision. "I have no problem waiting."
"If the sun goes down we will have no way to see into the forest."
She was right in every way. Their priority was to find Merry and Pippin not wait on Legolas and Gimli to come back. He nodded and turned to face the forest that seemed to breathe a life of its own. Amara came to stand next to him and together they made their way into the forest. Amara's stomach felt tinges of nervousness. She knew that it was quite stupid to feel this way, it was only a forest, but there seemed to be something different to it. The trees weren't ordinary trees it seemed to have aura and something Amara knew very well, emotion. As if picking up on his sister's thoughts, Aragorn began to explain the forest.
"Fangorn forest. The trees have a life of their own."
Amara gulped feeling creeped out. Were the trees going to spring to life at any moment? Were they speaking amongst each other? She was supposed to have some elven abilities but apparently listening to nature was not one of them. Thinking of Merry and Pippin she made her steps more determined.
Aragorn felt something in the air and held out his hand to make Amara slow her pace. He searched around them for any signs of unusual activity. When none came fourth, the two moved forward.
"It feels odd," Amara commented.
Aragorn stayed quiet, knowing full well what she meant. It did indeed feel odd, as if something wasn't exactly right. He glanced down, a tracker's habit and found tracks, lightly embedded into the earth. He furrowed his brow, trying to make out whether they belonged to human or orc.
"There's hardly any air in here." Amara kept her arms crossed over her chest and looked up at what would have been a blue sky had not tree branches and leaves not grown over in such a complicated way that it blocked the sky. She felt the urge to turn around and wait like she had planned.
"Maybe we should go back and- and wait for Gimli and Legolas to come back?" She tried to swallow but her mouth had gone dry.
It sounded like an idea Amara would have had but Aragorn knew she did not mean it. As they progressed further they felt a strange presence. Amara could feel nothing more than that. There was no emotion in the air other than that. She fought the urge to grip onto Aragorn's sleeve and instead unsheathed her sword. She felt more comforted with a blade in her hand. Amara put one foot in front of the other almost robotically.
Behind her she
felt a breeze of air. Feeling more frightened than ever on the inside
she took a glance behind her and was greeted by more greener.
Nothing. It was souly her imagination. She breathed in little relief.
Amara could have almost close her eyes but didn't. She felt a hand
place itself on her shoulder and she jumped almost a foot into the
air, dropping her sword and almost letting a yell escape her lips.
Amara whirled around and faced not more forest but Legolas. She
thought about scolding him for sneaking up on her but thought against
it due to the look on his face. He did not seem too happy to see her.
His lips were set in a frown and his eyes were serious.
Aragorn,
at hearing his sister gasp, whirled around with his sword drawn. He
made to sheath it when he saw that it had only been Legolas.
"I suggest you keep your sword drawn."
"Why? Where is Gimli," Aragorn asked.
As if on cue Gimli came panting into view, his axe held up ready for a fight. Legolas gently pushed Amara behind him and retrieved and arrow from his quiver, notching it he spoke quietly, "The White Wizard approaches."
Aragorn raised his sword, now understanding what he had felt. "Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us."
Tension began ebbing its way into the atmosphere. Everyone waited for the inevitable. Amara did not bother to pick up her sword, knowing like she always did. Saruman could not possibly be in this forest, he was too busy trying reign in on everyone else to be bothered with a forest. She shook her head, trying to decide whether or not to inform them that this was not something they should worry about.
"We must be quick."
"Aragorn, you guys listen it's-"
Gimli barked at her to be quiet. Amara glared at him and decided to let things be. In a flash, the three spun around in a swift attack. Legolas shot off his arrow and Gimli hacked forward with his axe, both of which were deflected by the White Wizard. The handle of Aragorn's sword turned red with heat and he dropped it. So much light was coming forth from the being that the four of them had to shield their eyes.
'Sunglasses would have been appropriate,' Amara thought.
Legolas felt that Amara's safety was in jeopardy. This was thee White Wizard. The one who wanted Amara as a pawn to perform his evil biddings. He made to grasp onto her arm, to protect her from the wizard should something horrible happen, but Amara only made matters worse by stepping closer to the wizard. He suddenly thought her daft and unintelligent for her action. Did she not know how critical the situation was?
"You are
tracking the footsteps of two young hobbits."
The deep voice
bellowed through the forest. It sent shivers up her spine as she
stopped right before the tall white figure.
"Where are they!" Demanded Aragorn.
"They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?"
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
Amara waited for the unveiling patiently, knowing full well who it was. Gimli, for a split second took his eyes away from the figure to see Legolas stalk past him and grab hold of Amara pulling her a good distance from the figure. Surprisingly to the dwarf, she went without protest, her eyes still glued to the figure. The light began to slowly dim to the point where they no longer needed to shield their eyes and then the light was gone.
Aragorn whispered, "It can not be."
"Forgive me," Legolas spoke. He and Gimli both bowed before Gandalf. "I mistook you for Saruman."
"I am Saruman. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been."
Aragorn was lost for words. He knew what he had seen back in Moria and it did not add up to what was before his eyes. "You fell!"
"Through fire and water," Gandalf recounted. He told the tale of battling the Balrog until the both of them ended on the side of an icy mountain. Darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead and everyday was as long as a life-age of the earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done."
Aragorn still found himself in awe. The story of the newly acclaimed White Wizard had been an immensely incredible one. "Gandalf," he muttered.
A cloud of something appeared in the wizard's eyes at the mention of his name. "Gandalf? Yes... That was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name."
Amara smiled and cleared her throat. "Enough with this already. Gandalf's alive and everybody's happy go lucky. Now can we please just, I don't know, leave this place. I don't want to be rude or anything, but it's sorta creepy in here." Amara whispered the last part and looked around. She wondered whether or not the trees caught on to that.
Gandalf laughed heartily. "Amara my girl. I see you've a bit of light in you yourself."
Amara looked from Gandalf to herself and then to Legolas. "You can see that, really," she asked Legolas.
" I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide."
They began to walk through the forest with Gandalf the White leading the way. The pace was quite fast and as Gandalf walked he spoke. He threw a grey cloak over his white one. Obviously he did not want to reveal himself to the world as of yet. He explained to them that Edoras was their next destination. Apparently, something was going horribly wrong with the king there. Aragorn and Gandalf chatted amongst themselves loudly. Amara enjoyed listening but had other things on her mind.
"Where's Merry and Pippin."
"They are quite safe my dear. I had an ent friend of mine see after them. A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days. The ents are going to wake up ... and find that they are strong."
Gimli groaned, "Strong? Oh, that's good!"
"So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf. Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be. "
After awhile they made their way from the enormous forest and Gandalf stood before them all and let out a piercing whistle. A beautiful white horse appeared and galloped towards them. Amara squinted her eyes so she could see the creature better. It looked all too magical for her.
"That is one of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell."
"Shadowfax," Gandalf called him. "He's the lord of all horses and he's been my friend through many dangers."
And to Amara and Aragorn's delight the horses that had been given to them followed after. Amara was delighted that she did not have to walk but disappointed that she would have to show her inability to ride a horse.
"Why couldn't Middle Earth have cars," she muttered.
Apparently she was not the only one looking forward to having to ride a horse for Gimli was muttering right along with her. Aragorn eyed the two of them, not understanding why their moods had taken a plummet.
"What is plaguing the two of you?"
Both Gimli and Amara launched complaints about horses. Their complaints tangled in with each other so not a word they spoke could be understood. Aragorn regretted even asking the question. He rubbed his temple and shook his head. Gandalf had already mounted his horse and was now smiling down at all of them.
"We will fix this right now. Amara you ride with me and Gimli you may ride with Legolas."
Amara opened her mouth to protest. "Why can't I-"
"Not now," Aragorn spoke, his tone meaning the riding arrangements were final. With help from her lovely brother, she had mounted the horse and was off riding in no time. Gimli had found his spot behind the elf irritably. Amara looked longingly at Gimli thinking of a way to get the dwarf to trade places with her.
"It will not happen," Aragorn said, sensing her thoughts.
Amara rolled her eyes.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in conversation between the small group. Things of what was to happen, what had happened and general things were discussed. It was relaxing just to talk and become reacquainted with the wizard again. It was something Amara missed alot. She focused on the motion of the horse and listened to Gimli explain how much he missed drinking ale. Apparently he missed it so much he'd kill a whole fifty patrol of orcs. It really didn't mean much because Gimli loved to kill orcs.
Amara glanced over at Legolas and watched how he began to glow ever so slowly as the sun began to sink down. She missed being close to him and seeing as her brother was being stubborn by not letting her ride with Legolas, he made things even worse. She stared at his features, thinking of how handsome he was. Seemingly he caught her stare because he looked past Shadowfax and into her eyes. The elf gave a light smile.
He felt like he had not smiled at her in ages. Once there was a period where things settled down a bit, he promised himself he'd spend more time with her.
Gandalf bid Shadowfax to stop. They had been traveling for some time now and it would do them no good to keep going through the darkness. "We set up camp here and continue at sun rise."
Gimli happily
jumped from the stead ignoring the offers of help from Legolas. The
dwarf announced that he was off to gather firewood. He had to shake
off the embarrassment he'd been feeling ever since he sat atop the
horse. Horses were not for dwarves.
Amara dismounted from her
brother's horse with the same disgrace as the dwarf. She might have
had a touch of elf in her but that must have discluded gracefulness.
Aragorn merely laughed at her as she rubbed the spot on her legs she
had fallen on. Sending a glare Aragorn's way, she took her pack from
her back and threw it on the ground. Once her feet had hit the
ground, she felt more tired than anything. The amount of stress she
was undergoing finally was catching up to her.
She didn't even feel like she had the strength to help gather wood for the fire. Gandalf stood beside her and clasped a hand around her around her arm. She figured he must have sensed how tired she was because he looked at her sympathy. Gandalf knew that she had finally accomplished putting up her mental walls, preventing her from feeling everyone's emotions. He recalled the night when he had been trying to penetrate other's walls so that she might get a feel of their emotions. The memory made him smile a tad.
"Get some rest, you will need it for tomorrow."
All the empath could do was nod. Amara wandered over to Aragorn who had taken it upon himself to start dinner. He was fumbling through the small set of pans he had brought when she went over to him.
"I'm going to go to sleep so good night."
Aragorn looked up at Amara and stopped his fumbling. He saw that she was tired looking so he nodded without protest to having her miss a meal and wished her a good night. Gimli came back and dropped his collected pile of firewood before the ranger and grunted about how dark it was getting. Amara sighed and went off to get her sleeping roll. Once she had retrieved it, she laid it away from the fire so that no light would bother her slumber. Unrolling it, she barely noticed Legolas come from where ever he had been with an arm full of wood.
She went back to straightening out her sleeping roll.
Legolas arranged his portion of wood around the just beginning to spark fire. Gimli was slowly but surely getting the fire up to pare. Aragorn was busy gathering what little ingredients he had left to make some soup of some kind. Every now and then, he would order Gimli to hurry with the fire. The dwarf would only mutter responses. Legolas walked over to Gandalf who had taken to sitting on a fallen log and was now smoking his pipe. Gandalf looked up at the elf when he sensed him coming and smiled at him.
"Legolas, come sit with me." He moved over to make room for the elf. "I know you're not one for many words, but I wish to know how you fare."
Legolas gave a brief grin. "Fine given the circumstances." He stared up at the sky bright with stars.
Gandalf nodded at the elf's response. He expected the short to the point answer from him. Legolas had never been one to share what was really on his mind.
"Where may I ask is Amara?"
Gandalf blew a puff of smoke from his mouth and gave a sideway glance at the elf. You did not need to read minds to be able to know what he was thinking of.
"Of course you may ask. She is some feet over there away from the camp. I believe she was dreadfully tired."
Legolas said his thanks and got up. He wished to tell her good night if anything, before she drifted into slumber.
"You know she is special that woman is." Gandalf's voice floated back to him, softly. "You hold on to her." Gandalf did not need to tell him that, for Legolas had already felt it.
Gandalf looked to the east, his mind drifting away from Legolas and into thoughts of his own. This was when Aragorn decided to join him. His pot of soup was already on the fire. He had nothing left to do but to wait and listen to the snores of Gimli who had already gone to sleep by the fire. He sat next to the wizard and was quiet for some time. "The veiling shadow that glowers in the east takes shape. Sauron will suffer no rival," Gandalf whispered after a while. "From the summit of Barad-dur, his Eye watches ceaselessly. But he is not so mighty yet that he is above fear. Doubt ever gnaws at him. The rumor has reached him. The heir of Numenor still lives and an empath of the same lineage are in existence."
Aragorn face
Gandalf knowing what he was about to say was the pure truth, the
truth he had not wanted to face fro some time.
"Sauron fears
you, Aragorn and he fears your sister. He fears what the two of you
may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He
will use his puppet, Saruman, to destroy Rohan." Gandalf put his
pipe away to focus more on the topic he was speaking of. "War is
coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first
challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is
enslaved; it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Théoden
is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose."
Gandalf shook his head at this and stared hard into Aragorn's eyes. "But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest."
Aragorn began to feel that maybe he had made a mistake in separating from Frodo. Maybe he would have been better off had he not left him? His only prayer was that with Sam, the two of them had each other to keep safe. "Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone."
"He's not alone. Sam went with him."
Gandalf could have roared with happiness. So Sam had gone with him. He wouldn't put a thing passed that Sam. He could not let Frodo brave such dangers alone. "Did he? Did he indeed? Good. Yes, very good."
Legolas sat by Amara's bedroll and watched her even breaths. She lay flat on her back, but did not appear too comfortable. Like Gandalf said, she had appeared tired and in need of rest. He got to her too late to tell her good night so he sat content with just watching her. Gladly this night she did not snore, something he remembered she did when he had visited her world. He swept a hand threw some of her loose locks.
Her hair wasn't as soft as he remembered it to be. It was probably due to the fact that she hadn't been able to wash it for awhile. When she shifted slightly in her sleep, he quickly pulled back his hand so that he did not wake her. She settled back into sleep seemingly, as she laid still once more. He brought his finger to feel the curve of her ear, which was so different from his own. The elf found her interesting. She was so much different from his own kind.
"You'll have all day to touch me tomorrow. I'm trying to sleep," Amara mumbled.
Once more, Legolas pulled his hand from her. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to wake you."
Amara sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily to get a clearer vision of Legolas. "How could you not wake me with all that curiosity?" She shook her head but smiled. "It's funny because I'm supposed to have a bit of that old fashion elven light in me but I'm always so sleepy."
Legolas frowned, "Perhaps, your body needs time to adjust." It was all that he could offer as an answer.
Amara nodded and without warning hugged Legolas. He welcomed the gesture all too much. He enjoyed feeling her against him. It gave off a sense of security and made him feel whole. Legolas smiled more wide than he had in a while. The heat in her body radiated against him which was all too comforting. Legolas did not want to release her but he knew she must be rested for the morning. He made to release her but she did not let go.
"Amara, you should sleep now."
When she did not respond he looked down at her to find her already in the land of slumber, her arms wrapped loosely now around his waste. Sighing, he shifted into a more comfortable position and let her rest there in his arms. Legolas dipped his head down and kissed her gingerly on the forehead.
"I love you," he whispered before running his hand through her hair once more. He looked to the stars and wished that they would burn as bright as they did forever.
