I woke with a start, the moon shining through the uncovered window the only illumination, the small fire having burnt out hours ago. The night gown Eleanor had leant me was damp with sweat and my breathing came in harsh pants. The details of the nightmare slipped away like water through cupped hands but the overriding ideas remained. I had been so adrenaline fatigued last night that I had no dreams but I had not been so lucky tonight.
I wondered if Aragorn had returned. I had gone to bed not long after he left and hadn't heard him come back. I briefly considered going to check, partly just for the comfort of a familiar face after the nightmare but quickly decided against it. I doubted anyone would appreciate being woken in the middle of the night for no good reason (I personally didn't appreciate it even if there was a damned good reason!). And there was the matter of this place being "respectable". Getting caught would be bad. I had just turned over and was attempting to go back to sleep when there was a knock at the door. I stiffened,
"Who is it?" I called out, sitting up and trying to stop my voice shaking.
"Aragorn," came the soft reply. I breathed a sigh of relief and got up to unlock the door. I opened it and peaked my head round, hiding behind the door. My night gown was quite thin. He looked concerned. "Are you alright? I heard you call out. Then harsh breathing." I blushed, not realizing I had made a noise. He had obviously jumped from his bed and grabbed the knife which was clasped in his hand because of it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just had a bad dream." His face relaxed and became slightly sympathetic.
"You need not apologize, Lily. Nightmares are extremely unpleasant. I understand. Are you alright?" I nodded and stared fixedly at the ground, feeling tears prick my eyes. Honestly, twice in twenty four hours was ridiculous. I felt him hesitantly place a hand on my shoulder. "It will take time to get passed what happened. You are doing remarkably well." I sniffed.
"Thanks," I muttered. There was silence. "I'm scared. Being alone in the dark…scares me," I finally admitted. I just didn't like it. I never had, for various reasons, nightmares being just one. But now it was intensified.
"I hope you do not think me too presumptuous," he started haltingly, "but if you wished it, I could stay, just until you fell asleep?" I looked up at him.
"I don't want to keep you from your bed."
"Would you like me to stay?" he persisted. I looked at the ground again and nodded shyly. "What about the owner…" I trailed off.
"He will be none the wiser," he stated gently with a soft smile. I gave a small smile in return and stepped back to open the door fully and allow him to enter. His hair was tousled, much as I imagined mine was and he was barefoot. He smiled and gestured for me to get back into bed, pointedly not looking at my thin night gown, while he pulled the chair from the corner closer to my bed.
He took a seat as I lay down and pulled the blanket back around me. He smiled down at me before starting to sing softly. It was a beautiful melody, almost sad, though I did not understand the language. "I will have to ask him about it tomorrow," I thought as my eyes quickly grew heavy . He had a nice voice. Deep and full of expression. As I started to become dozy I reached for his hand, wanting the extra comfort. After a few seconds I felt him curl his fingers around mine. I sighed contentedly and allowed myself to be swept away by the tendrils of sleep pulling at me. Just before I succumbed completely I could have sworn I felt soft lips pressing gently against my knuckles. But the next morning I swore blind it was a dream.
When I awoke sunlight was streaming in. The first thing I noticed was the empty chair sitting next to the bed. I smiled. I presumed he hadn't moved it back for fear of waking me.
I rose from the bed and stripped off the night gown then moved to the large jug of water Eleanor had dropped off last night and used the cloth beside it to wash away the traces of my nightmare. I put on the dress from last night and decided to check if Aragorn was in the dining room. I figured that there might be breakfast there.
Sure enough he looked up as I opened the door. The table was set with porridge and fruit. He stood up as I walked over and greeted me with a smile.
"Good morning Lady Lily," I frowned at the title but let it slide, "How did you sleep?" he asked as he once again pulled my chair out for me. I could get used to this.
"Well, thank you." I answered assuming he was discounting the little 'episode'. "I hope I didn't disturb you too much…"
"Of course not. I can quite easily get by on much less sleep." He was quiet for a moment. "I was just about to come and wake you before breakfast got cold." I smiled and we started to eat. I had never been a huge fan of porridge but this was alright, especially with the fruit.
"I have to get some supplies today," he started once we were done. "Would you like to accompany me or stay here?"
"I'll come," I said immediately, not fancying being stuck in here all day.
"Good," he replied, "We will leave as soon as you are ready."
"Wait, what about the hobbits. Don't you have to look for them?" I couldn't believe I had just uttered that.
"I do not fear for them if they arrive by day. If they arrive by night, that is when they may need my help." I nodded, slightly confused but accepting anyway.
We left straight away. The morning air was fresh, but promised a warm day ahead. We moved around various shops and picking up various bits and pieces. One of the shops we entered sold weapons. He got a handful of short swords for the hobbits.
Aragorn also selected and bought a small dagger, quite pretty by the standard of lethal weapons. To my surprise he handed the package to me outside the shop. I stared at him.
"It does not do for anyone to be unarmed in these times," he explained. "You can put it on or conceal it later as you wish, but keep it with you at all times." I spluttered.
"But, but you can't give me this! I already have no idea how I'm going to pay you back for the inn and everything else! Besides I don't even know how to use it!" I was pretty sure you just plunged it into the guy but I didn't know if I could actually do it. Even the orc… The thought of actually hurting someone like that wasn't pleasant.
"Please do not worry about it. I neither ask nor expect any payment, nor should I accept it!" He looked faintly insulted. "And do not worry. It does not take great skill to use," he said with faint amusement, " unless you are throwing it. I want you to have at least some way of defending yourself, should I not be there. I would give you a sword but I assume you have never used one and it would be frowned upon for a woman to carry one."
After a while we stopped at a small shop selling hot pies and got lunch, before flopping down on a patch of grass to eat. "Strider" was no joke! I practically had to jog to keep up with him!
"If you would like, we could go for a ride this afternoon? Obviously we could not go far, but you could see a little of what Middle Earth is like?" I nodded enthusiastically. Staying outside sounded good. He grinned briefly and I decided it suited him. He rarely gave more than a small smile, always looking solemn. I didn't quite dare to bring this up though.
We made our way back to the inn, receiving a few glares from the patrons and owner and went upstairs. Aragorn put away his purchases while I figured out what to do with the dagger, eventually settling on foregoing the belt and strapping it to my inner ankle where it was concealed by my dress but in easy reach. It would take some getting used to though.
I hovered in the hallway, waiting for him and when he appeared we went downstairs and out to the stables where Aragorn saddled Annael and put something into the saddle bag.
"If you were to sit in front of me you could see more. Inexperienced riders generally prefer to sit behind so they can hold on but I promise you, you would be quite safe. I would not let you fall."
"Alright then," I agreed warily. He boosted me into the saddle as before but this time swung himself up behind me. One of his arms slid around my waist from behind then he nudged the horse forward. Once we reached the outskirts of the town, leaving through a different gate this time he pushed her to a gentle trot. I scrambled for something to hold onto, one hand catching his leg, the other the arm wrapped around me. He laughed.
"Trust me," he whispered, close to my ear. I let out a breathe then slowly released my death grip. It was quite beautiful out here, all green and woody, with flowers dotted about. As we went further, the trees thinned out completely, giving way to a wasteland.
"This was once part of the old kingdom," Aragorn stated softly. He tightened his grip on my waist and without warning spurred the horse into a gallop. I shrieked and grabbed on again, although if he decided to let go it probably wouldn't have kept me on. My hair whipped around in the wind and I suddenly regretted forgetting to grab my hair ties as I was leaving work. We followed the line of the forest for a few minutes until we came to a pretty glade on the edge of the trees.
He pulled Annael to a sharp halt in the glade and I tried to get my breathing under control. He jumped lightly to the ground and turned to me expectantly but I didn't move, still focusing on recovering. I took one last deep breathe then threw my leg over the saddle and slithered somewhat less gracefully to the ground, fairly certain my legs would have given out if Aragorn hadn't caught me. I felt a little dazed. I was shaken out of it by the sound of Aragorn laughing. I attempted a glare, but I was slightly worried it looked a bit dopey.
"I have never seen anyone react to riding like this! I apologize. I would have warned you but I did not think you would agree. I only wanted you to experience it fully as most find it quite enjoyable." I glared as he tried to stop laughing before giving up and flopping onto the grass.
"You're right," I relented, "It was fun, just a bit unexpected! Knocked the wind right out of me." I said with a grin.
"I am glad you can appreciate it," he said moving to retrieve something from the saddle bag. Once he found it he held out his hand and pulled me to my feet before unwrapping it to reveal one of the bigger swords he had gotten earlier. He offered it to me, handle first and I took it, a bit bemused.
"What's this for?" I asked. Probably a stupid question, but hey…
"The women of Middle Earth are not taught to fight, as a general rule. However our path to Rivendell is likely to be fraught with dangers." I looked at him, slightly alarmed. He smiled grimly before continuing. "It is not easy to even swing a sword if you have never handled one before. I doubt the hobbits will have much more experience than you and I would wish for you to be able to defend yourself if the need arose, particularly if I am not there or am distracted. If you are agreeable, I will teach you a few basics?"
"Ok," I agreed, "But I should warn you, letting me loose with a sword probably isn't the best idea! I'll probably wind up hurting someone I shouldn't!" He chuckled.
"I will do my best to teach you how not to do that. It should not cause anymore harm to your ribs, but we can stop if they begin to pain you." I nodded. The magic cream he had found seemed to be keeping the pain at bay.
"I don't know if I could actually use it to…kill someone anyway," I admitted quietly.
"I hope you will never have to," he said solemnly. "It is not easy, especially at first, but you must remember it is usually them or you and those you are protecting." I nodded, understanding his logic.
So he set about teaching me how to hold the sword, how to stand, how to swing it without falling over… Then he moved on, teaching me some basic defence blocks, trying to make sure I kept moving at the same time. And then a little about finding opportunities to attack and how to go about it. He was a good teacher. Patient with my mistakes (which were many!), even when I slipped and nicked his finger he just waved off my frantic apologies and was free with praise if I did something right.
After at least a good three hours he called a halt and I collapsed flat onto the grass, breathing hard. That was tough. I was fairly fit, but mostly through running. That gave me stamina but upper body strength wasn't my strong point. The sword wasn't as nearly heavy as it could have been but my arms still ached.
"You did well," Aragorn stated. I flicked my gaze to him, to see him looking down at me approvingly, "You listen well and learn fast. You would be a good pupil. I would enjoy teaching you." I blushed, absurdly flattered by this.
"Thanks."
"You still have a way to go but hopefully you will be to hold off a foe until I can get there." I nodded.
"Are you going to tell me what these dangers are?"
"Soon," he said, "Once the hobbits arrive. It is not a pleasant tale and I have no wish to tell it more than once."
"Fair enough," I agreed.
"I will keep your sword for now, but I will return it to you as soon as we leave Bree." He put the sword away and produced a water skin, squatting down to hand it to me. I drank gratefully, tired from the workout and fairly certain I was starting to smell. "Are you ready to go back?" he asked once he had taken a drink as well, though he didn't appear at all affected by the exertions. Git…
"Yep," I said accepting the hand he offered to drag me up. We got on Annael who had been placidly grazing for the last few hours before he said,
"How fast would you like to go?" I grinned.
"Fast." I heard him chuckle and braced myself as he kicked the horse to a gallop. It was an addicting feeling, the speed and the wind. We slowed as we turned back into the trees.
"I'm going to have to learn to ride properly. I never realised how much I would enjoy it!"
"It's quite easy once you have had some practice. Here, take the reins." He spent the ride back showing me how to guide her and control the pace, letting me nudge her onto a gentle trot.
I was no master swords(wo)man or rider but I was a damn site better than a few hours ago.
"Thank you," I said sincerely as we approached the stables. "You're a wonderful teacher."
"You are too kind, my Lady," he replied. I swear he sounded embarrassed. He's very hard to compliment!
And even in front of the stable hand it's back to 'My Lady'!
A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long but various aspects of real life have an annoying way of disturbing the fun! Will try and get a few more chapters up in the next few weeks before it intrudes again! Thanks to everyone who's been reading/following/reviewing/enjoying etc. And Merry Christmas!