When they woke at dawn the next day Artemis was already up and making breakfast. She had thick slices of bread in a frying pan with chunks of the middle torn out. Eggs fried in the hollows and she laid slices of cheese over them which started to melt around the edges. "There's tea in the pot." She said motioning to a pot sitting on a flat rock near the fire.
Blinking sleep from her eyes and rubbing her face a bit to help her wake up, Adessa nodded and pushed hair out of her face. She didn't want to wake Legolas right away and slid out carefully from his arm, which he had draped over her all night and pulled out cups for everyone.
"Thank you for preparing breakfast, we usually eat dried fruit, and bread and cheese while we're riding to save time in between stops." She said quietly.
Dividing up the tea amongst them, she then proceeded to take a small bowl and fill it with water. She took a rag and some soap to clean off her face before drying it and rinsing out the bowl and rag. Putting these aside, she took a tea cup to Legolas's sleeping form and gave him a gentle shake on the arm to wake him. When she beheld his beautiful blue eyes, she smiled most lovingly and offered him the tea.
"Good morrow my love."
He sat up and smiled kissing her gently before accepting the cup. Gandalf hobbled to the fire and sat as close as he could without sitting in it. "Artemis has very strong ideas on the proper way to eat. We eat what she calls 'a real meal' twice a day. Breakfast and dinner. She'd do a hobbit proud if she only cooked about 4 more meals a day."
Artemis stuck her tongue out at him and put the fried egg in its bread casing on plates and handed them around. "You need fuel to function."
Adessa looked at the strangeness on her plate, but didn't object to it. She actually found it to be delightful and eagerly consumed her breakfast, using the piece of bread that would have been the center of the slice to mop up the egg yolk when it broke. Once they finished their plates, she took them to the nearby stream they had conveniently camped beside and washed them. Using a rag to dry them again, she gave them back to their rightful people before tying up her own saddle bag and finishing her tea quickly.
"How much further do you think we have Legolas?" She asked, gently throwing Summer Breeze's blanket and saddle onto his back and tightening the girth strap firmly. The saddlebags latched in snugly and then she finished her work by putting on his bridle and tucking in all the strips of leather properly.
"Two weeks at the least." He replied coming over to help her mount. "So long as the weather holds."
Gandalf mounted his horse and looked up at the sky but shrugged and turned his horse back towards the road. "Then I suggest a brisk pace to challenge your guess." She said with a smile, giving his hand a quick squeeze before tapping her heels and clicking with her mouth to get Summer Breeze moving forward.
The days stayed clear if cold and they moved at a better pace than Legolas had thought possible even with Artemis's insistence on eating a real meal in the mornings which delayed them by about a half hour every day. They were within a day's ride of Lothlorien when night fell and they had to make camp for the night. Artemis was chopping meat into chunks and rolling it in sale breadcrumbs as the moon rose higher and a dubious Gandalf looked on. Adessa looked up at the night sky and watched the stars twinkling overhead before the moonlight shone through the trees. She started to feel the need to stretch her wings again and stood up from her sitting position by the fire. Walking to the nearest tree, a thick and towering Oak, she gently touched it's bark, it's tough outer skin rough beneath her fingers. Still she looked up at the moon in wonder and her wings fluttered more aggressively.
"I'll be right back..." She murmured almost as if she was in a trance and leapt up, alighting into the tree branches above their campsite.
She flew up high and vanished into the upper foliage, climbing ever higher until she flew out of the foliage completely and hovered several paces above the treetops. The moon was bright and bountiful, filling Adessa with its enriching energy and radiating around her slender form. Her wings caught the light and made them sparkle, but she didn't notice, her eyes were still fixated on the moon. She flew up high and vanished into the upper foliage, climbing ever higher until she flew out of the foliage completely and hovered several paces above the treetops. The moon was bright and bountiful, filling Adessa with its enriching energy and radiating around her slender form. Her wings caught the light and made them sparkle, but she didn't notice, her eyes were still fixated on the moon. After a time she felt refreshed and returned to the treetops, alighting to the ground again and eyes bright. By the time she got back to the campfire, dinner was already starting to smell good and she felt her stomach give a gurgle of protest. She looked around to see if anyone noticed and covered her stomach with her hand and smiled.
Artemis was just putting little fried nuggets of meat onto plates with bread and fruit and telling Gandalf not to be so fussy. "You eat Hobbit food don't you? Well this stuff would make a Hobbit swoon with delight." She handed Adessa a plate. "Now if I just had some Barbeque sauce…"
Taking her plate and looking at the strange food, Adessa thanked Artemis and gave her a quizzical look.
"Barbeque sauce? What is this sauce in which you speak of?" She asked curiously, laughing a little afterward about her Hobbit comment. "Hobbits would swoon even more if there were great heaps of food to be had Artemis, they can store food in their stomachs to last them until supper which comes after dinner."
Artemis chuckled. "It's a tangy sauce made with tomato paste, vinegar and spices. I'm sure some enterprising Hobbit will think it up someday and make loads of it."
She started munching on her fried meat nuggets leaning back against a fallen tree they were using as a windbreak and fuel source. "Did you have a good flight?"
Taking a very timid bit of her meat nugget, Adessa's features contorted with delight at the flavor that burst into her mouth. Like breakfast that first morning, this meal was also surprisingly delicious and she was deeply enjoying herself. She noticed Legolas wasn't eating any meat and smiled at him while he munched on some fruit instead.
"I did, whenever the moon is high I feel so alive with it's enriching energy. I have never really understood it myself, but it's always relaxed me." Adessa replied, finishing her second meat nugget and licking her fingers before picking up her next one and chewing on it. "You wouldn't happen to know why, would you Artemis? Do Faeries have other abilities other than flying and preserving flowers?"
Artemis blinked and stared at a nugget in contemplation for a moment. "I didn't know Faeries could preserve flowers…" She mused. "In my world the Fae have all sorts of powers but here in Middle Earth I have no idea. I didn't even know they existed in Middle Earth to be frank." She looked at Legolas and frowned. "If you aren't going to eat them why didn't you say something?"
"I did." He muttered. "About the time you decided to start serving meat at every meal and you ignored me."
Artemis snorted and held out her plate. "Give them here. Its no wonder you're so damned skinny, surviving on lawn clippings all day." She grinned to take some of the sting out of her jab and split his portion of the nuggets between her, Adessa and Gandalf who was happily devouring his.
She turned her attention back to Adessa. "Honestly the way I've had to figure out most of my powers so far is trial and error… with a dash of prior experience tossed in mostly at random. Up until here anyway when Gandalf was on hand to teach me how to now blow anyone up."
"Unless you count those unfortunate frogs." Gandalf added.
Artemis actually flushed a little and laughed. "You're never going to let me forget that are you?"
He popped a nugget into his mouth and merely smiled. "I must apologize, I should have also mentioned that Elves don't eat meat." Adessa said quietly. "After living amongst them for a while, I learned a lot from just observing them and naturally picked up the habit of eating like they do... which of course there's nothing wrong with that. I guess I didn't realize that I liked meat until now."
She gave Artemis a small smile and then put her hand on Legolas's arm to comfort him a little. The last thing she wanted was for he and Artemis to get into a tizzy about something so small and insignificant as meat. Artemis shook her head and grinned. "Oh he knows I'm just giving him shit. You can tell look, he's trying not to smile." She pointed a slightly greasy finger at Legolas and she was right, he had a tiny smirk quirking his lips.
Artemis set her plate aside and wiped her fingers on her pants. "Lets see, the Faery here in Middle Earth must be an offshoot of the same force that brought the Elves into being."
"Eru Ilúvatar." Legolas inserted sitting forward. "The Creator of all."
Artemis nodded. "Thanks. I know the basic histories but not all the names and details."
"I'm impressed you know that much." Gandalf replied looking thoughtful.
Artemis shook her head at him. "I've told you before I am not going into how or why I know so much about Middle Earth, I get the feeling I'm doing enough damage just by being here. Anyway," She turned her attention back to Adessa. "If they were created in tandem with the elves to watch over the Trees of Valinor it stands to reason that to a certain degree They would have similar powers. Agelessness, preternatural agility, immunity to toxins and the like and a certain ability with magic. You'll probably have to try different things and see if anything sticks."
Adessa gave her a nod and then looked at her hands, feeling them pulse faintly with a warm power.
"I think that will be something to try in the morning while we're moving toward Lothlorien." She answered softly with a smile, eager to experiment with any abilities she may have with magic. "Better to have our wits about us when delving into those arts. Good night all, pleasant dreams."
She tilted her head and let out another yawn, trying to hide it behind her hand. Quickly cleaning and drying off her plate and putting it away, she patted Summer Breeze's neck and then returned to her spot by the fire. Settling down on her blanket, Adessa gave Legolas a quick kiss and draped her cloak over her body, her back to the fire. Her head resting on her arm and the other lay on the blanket by her face. Slowly her eyes grew heavy with sleep and soon enough she had slipped into the world of dreams.