Hey y'all! Enjoy!
Sapphire:
It turned out that dinner was slightly burnt. Alright, VERY burnt... And it was my fault, because the hobbits had forgotten to watch the food while it was cooking, being distracted by my display with Boramir and all.
I chewed on my burnt sausage thoughtfully, and tried to ignore the silent stares aimed my way. Gandalf broke the uncanny silence by saying, "Well, Sapphire, my friend, it is certain now, that you are what you say. A female Ranger you are indeed..."
I nearly snorted at how wrong he was, but I managed to keep it in. Legolas frowned ever so slightly, but I was the only one who noticed.
Aragorn was giving me these strange glances, and I hoped that he wasn't like, falling in love with me or something. He was freaking engaged already! Besides, I didn't even like scruffy men. Legolas was WAY hotter. And it was clear that the elf prince barely trusted me, and he certainly didn't LIKE me! He was disturbed by me! Just great...
Boramir had resumed training the hobbits, and I sat watching, as the sun slowly began to descend.
"One, two, three, four. Good!" Boramir was saying to the hobbits, as they did their best to deflect his blows. He was actually praising the hobbits, after what I had done to him. I had actually taught the dude respect! I grinned, very proud of myself indeed.
Then, just as in the movie, he accidently grazed Pippin's hand with his wickedly sharp blade, and Pippin cried out in anger and shock. The hobbit's immediate response was to slug Boramir in the gut, as hard as he possibly could with those flimsy little arms. Boramir recoiled, and the two troublemaker friends took advantage of this, simultaneously tackling the man.
They wrestled with him, tried to keep the much stronger man to the ground, and Pippin cried, "Get him!"
Merry responded, "FOR THE SHIRE!"
I giggled, and Aragorn chuckled as he looked on as well. Suddenly, I remembered what happened next. My eyes turned to the sky, and Frodo followed my gaze to the "wisp of cloud"
"What's that?" he asked the person nearest to him, which happened to be Gimli. Gimli raised his eyebrows, and giving the hobbit a strange look, said confusedly, "What? That? That's just a wisp of cloud!"
"Traveling fast, and against the wind..." muttered Boramir. And when he said that, I couldn't help myself. I was scared that Legolas wouldn't react fast enough, and they would see us. They did have good eyes, being birds and all. Before I could stop the words from slipping out of my mouth, I had shouted,
"Crebain from Dunland! Hide!"
Unfortunately, Legolas shouted out the alarm at the exact same time as me, our voices becoming one for a second. As everyone dove for cover, we looked at each other in shock. Well, I wasn't really shocked, but he certainly was.
We ended up in the same bush, with Frodo and Gimli as well. Frodo was pressed up against my shoulder tightly by Gimli, who barely could squeeze into the bush. And that of course, squished me up against Legolas. Awkward...
My left shoulder was pressing up against his back, my cheek lodged up against his quiver and bow as he peered out of the bush, watching the ugly black birds fly over. A second passed, before we both shifted uncomfortably, trying to make more room between us.
Finally the Crebain left, and everyone let out sighs of relief.
"It is safe now," Legolas breathed, and we clambered out the bush. The others emerged from behind various rocks and bushes nearby, brushing the dirt and leaves from their clothes. Pippin grimaced, and pulled a rather large spider from his hair as he emerged from a rock outcropping with Sam and Aragorn.
That night, we slept under rock outcroppings just to be safe, and Legolas took first watch. I crawled under a one of the ledges with Pippin and Sam, knowing they would be the easiest to sneak away from. I also made sure that they were a good ways away from where Legolas was keeping watch.
That night, I forced myself to stay awake until everyone had fallen asleep but Legolas, and then crept out from under the rock overhang. I had stolen a shirt, sewed the bottom shut, and filled it to the brim with food, and put it in my bag. Tada! Now Julia would have an impromptu bag. I also had swiped an extra bedroll for her, and managed to get my hands on two elvish daggers.
Once a little ways away, I whistled the four note tune, and a few moments later, it was repeated. Good.. They had made it safely...
The three emerged the brush, and a boulder nearby stood up and shook itself off.
"Did you bring food?! I'm absolutely starving!" cried Julia, and I shoved the shirt full of food into her hands. She stuffed two rolls in her mouth instantly, and I laughed, "Slow down, you're going to give yourself a stomachache. You have to ration it, we're going to be walking for a long time..."
"You mean, I'M going to be walking for a long time," grunted Peter.
"Oh, right, I forgot you were going to carry them..."
"Yeah, turns out, wargs can go really, really fast!" said Julia, grinning madly.
"Well, it's cool, as long as you guys are able to keep up alright. Oh, and Torzhug, Jewel, I managed to swipe some elvish daggers for you guys," I said, handing them both a shiny blade.
"Sweet! I've always wanted to have a real knife!" cried Julia, twirling the blade and nearly chopping off her thumb.
"Careful with that!" I warned, "Only use it if you absolutely have to,"
"Oh, right," Julia said glumly, putting the knife in the sheath I had stolen with. Tyler did the same, and then I was off, headed back to the others.
As I crept back under the rocky overhang, Aragorn suddenly called out from behind me, "And what might you be doing, wandering around at night?"
I winced. I had forgotten to check if it was still Legolas on guard. Aragorn was sitting in a different spot, hidden in the shadows. I attempted a smile, "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."
I was surprised at how calm I sounded, and it seemed to convince Aragorn.
"I see...I would warn you against wandering alone at night though. If you were to fall in a hole, or be ambushed by wild beasts, we would not know of it until it was too late. It would be wise to stay with the group."
"I suppose... You need not worry about me though... Do remember, I have traveled alone all the way from the lands South of Gondor, alone."
Aragorn chuckled, "How could I forget? Forgive me, my lady, the idea of a woman becoming a Ranger is still foreign to me."
"It's fine, I get that a lot," I said, "If you don't mind, I think I might be able to sleep now. Wake me when it's my watch."
Aragorn nodded, and I snuggled back into my bedroll. The second I shut my eyes I was out cold.
Sapphire:
Needless to say, I slept like a rock. When I woke, it was morning, and I realized that Aragorn had did my watch.
I yawned loudly, and trudged out. Sam was preparing a cold meal, and Aragorn was waking Frodo. Then, I realized something very important. Okay, not really, but it was going to be a pain to wake up Merry and Pippin, if they didn't smell breakfast cooking. So I snatched two rolls, went back to where Merry and Pippin were still zonked out, and plopped the rolls down right in front of their noses.
Half a second later, the hobbits were up, gobbling up the rolls like they hadn't eaten in a week.
"Is this it? I can't live on a roll a day!" cried Pippin, and I sighed, "There's more outside Pippin, those were just to wake you up."
"Good, because I'm starved," said Merry, and the pair ran out to gobble more food.
We pretty much just had bread and some salted meat strips, because everything else would have to be cooked, and we didn't want the Crebain to see the smoke from a fire. So, in general, breakfast was pretty miserable, and freezing. We were nearing the mountains, and the road ahead was starting to slope upwards. We were headed to the pass of Caradhras, which, unfortunately, I knew wouldn't work. Julia and I had silently agreed that they wouldn't even bother, and would just stay at the bottom waiting for us to come back. I wished I could do the same, but how could I possibly not come?
I sighed, dreading the long and pointless trudge through loads of snow. This was going to suck...