Wild | Aragorn | On Hiatus

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was summer, and so the days were long and warm and beautiful. An elf had stretched out in the shadow of a tree, as it was nearing midday and so the sun was at its strongest.

She may have looked relaxed, but despite her appearance, she was alert. Always listening. She had to, as to be caught by surprise and visibly so could signal weakness. Concealed by her worn elvish cloak were an old short sword and a small knife. They lay there, waiting for an opportunity.

As the sun began to sink, and its power lessen, the elleth stood quietly. Food was on her mind, and so she returned to the small sheltered area where she had been camping for a short while. A clear river flowed nearby, which was clean, and home to fish which the she-elf had caught for food, which was the plan for tonight.

She did not own a rod, so she had to try and catch the fish with a net she had woven from grass. Every time she moved on, she would burn the previous net and weave a new one by the fire. The nets were never great, and didn't last long, which was ok as they were fairly easy to make and she never tended to stay in one place for long.

The sun was low in the sky now, and the air was cooling down, so the elf reached for her cloak on her way through her little "camp" to the river. When she got to the river she sat by the side and waited. And waited. She sat there, very still, until a fish slowly glided into view. When it stopped, the net was slowly put into the water behind it, as to not alarm the fish, until the whole net was submerged.

As she did this, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her sense of self-preservation screamed to turn around, but she did not. If there was indeed a presence there, then to let it know she knew it was there might not be the best idea.

With a quick and neat flick of her wrist, the net moved under the fish and then out of the water with a fish in it. The fish was gently placed on the ground, and she paused to feel the air shift and something behind her take a breath, before its head was bashed with a rock. The elf didn't enjoy this process, but it was more humane than letting the creature suffocate. She thanked the river for providing her with food as she moved to gut the fish, hoping that in ignoring the presence it would move on.

As she was gutting and cleaning her dinner, a voice alerted her,

"I've never seen someone fish like that with such skill."

She whirled round to point the filleting knife in the direction of the noise. Before her stood a man. She never let any being near her, save for two. And since she had not seen them for a while, she had not spoken for a long time, so she growled and snarled at the intruder.

The man watched as she slowly put the fish down, never breaking eye contact. What she did next surprised him, he saw her drop the knife, and as his eyes followed the knife, he heard a sword being drawn, and felt a point pressed delicately on his chest. As he quickly averted his gaze, he was met with a pair of angry, violet eyes. He went to step back, but thought better of it when the sword began to push slightly. Instead he drew a dagger as quickly as she had drawn her weapon, his eyes never leaving hers. He was not afraid.

"...Who?" whispered a hoarse voice.

"I can tell you when you stop pressing that to my chest," he indicated the sword by tapping it with his dagger.

The elf merely took a small step back so the sword no longer touched him. She looked up expectantly.

"I...am Strider," he stated, breaking eye contact for only a moment to sheath his dagger, in an attempt to show he was no threat. When he looked back up, he noticed that the violet eyes were no longer angry, or glaring, but they seemed almost sad upon knowing who he was.

"I think it is only fair that you now tell me yours," mused Strider.

That sentence caused the elf to put her weapon away, and turn to pick up her filleting knife and the fish. She walked away, back towards where she would sleep for one more night, and began to start a fire to distract herself from his question. It was a question that forever floated in her mind, long before meeting Strider, she always wondered, and never found an answer. She did not know her own name.

A name meant having an identity, a past, but she had none of those.

Once the fire was burning, and the fish thoroughly cleaned and cut in half, she tried to carefully cook the fish. She wasn't the best cook, and her food was almost always a bit burnt, but she did what she could to survive. But tonight, it seemed she was cooking for two.

In the end, the edges of the fish were a bit black, but she had managed to not set dinner on fire, which only happened occasionally. She pulled out a woven grass square from her small bag and put one half of the fish on it, setting it down some distance from Strider before scurrying back to the other side of the fire, trying to put as much distance between herself and the intruder. The elleth then sat and began to eat her half, every so often pausing to listen and make sure he hadn't moved any closer.

"Thank you. You didn't have to, you know."

"Iston." 

Strider made a small noise, so the woman looked up quickly, causing the hair covering her ears to move, slightly revealing her ears.

Strider watched her for a minute, her eyes had originally thrown him off, he had never seen violet eyes, but having now seen her ears and heard her speak in her natural tongue, his suspicions had been confirmed. She was an elf. But from where?

As the fire began to burn low, the elleth was struggling to keep her eyes open, despite knowing she had to stay awake to watch the intruder, she couldn't deny her exhaustion. She put the net she'd used to fish with into the fire before curling up in her cloak to watch the fire burn the net. There was a small part of her brain that felt, maybe, for tonight she was safe.

_

Hiya, so this is the first chapter. My account is still very small, with about 17 followers, none of which have ever really shown much interest in my writing, which is ok. Hopefully if I wait a little, someone will eventually find this and enjoy it.

Please let me know if you do enjoy, and if there's something you'd like to see in the future.

At the moment, I'm writing this to help with my obsession (when I get really depressed my brain puts all of the energy into an obsession to focus on to protect me from my thoughts)

I will continue this, hoping you'll read and enjoy

Translations :

Iston - I know