Wild | Aragorn | On Hiatus

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

4 days. 4 days to the other side.

That was what Gandalf had said. But Nínimiel had no idea how long it had been since he'd said that. They'd been walking for...hours? Nights? Days? So long. They hadn't stopped much...so they couldn't have been walking for days, could they? But they'd stopped for once for a longer rest, was it morning?

Conversation was minimal, and whispered, but Nínimiel did not speak. No. She was scared, and felt trapped, but above all she was angry. By the Valar, she was so angry. He knew! He knew she didn't want to come to this forsaken place! But he dragged her into this dungeon, because he was saving her life, and now she was walking near him because he was safe, but that did not mean she forgave him. Valar no! She would not be the first to speak, nay, he would have to seek her forgiveness first. Childish? Absolutely.

She wished she'd never followed him to Bree. She would be with Beorn by now, curled up warm in his homestead eating cream and honey with him. But instead she was cold, and still bloody soaked despite her dip having been at least hours ago, with no cream or honey in sight.

Yes she was angry, but for a moment she forgot about that because there were so many wretched stairs. So many. They just went on and on and on! Why did the dwarves need that many stairs!? The Fellowship went up stairs, down stairs, round and round stairs, along corridors and then up or down or round even more stairs.

The stairs were very dull, and very frustrating. So much so she'd almost forgotten why she was angry. Ah yes. Aragorn. He brought her here, to the dark place, the cold and damp place, the place that smelled funny and had rather a lot of dead things and so many damned stairs!

She wasn't sure how he had been capable of such a flagrant misuse of her trust, but didn't have much time to ponder, as the stone around her opened up and the Fellowship strode out into a cavern, with a ravine alongside their path. The walls seemed to have sparkling veins that twinkled just a little in the light of Gandalf's staff. The wizard paused for a moment, tracing one such vein, before his hushed voice echoed in the long abandoned cave.

"The wealth of Moria was not in gold, or jewels, or even in iron which they had much of. No, it was Mithril."

He moved his staff to illuminate the great ravine, and it sparkled as though it had not seen light in decades. And it shined in the darkness with the light of twice the stars in the sky and for the first time, Nínimiel didn't feel tense. The shine showed her that there is beauty even below the earth. Maybe the mines weren't so bad, and if she'd never come down here, she would never know of the stars embedded in the mountains. 

Gandalf talked about how Bilbo had a Mithril shirt, a gift from Thorin. It was worth more than the Shire and everything in it. But Nínimiel did not understand the value of money, it didn't make sense to her, bartering made more sense.

They carried on through the glittering cavern for some time, maybe even a day, before they took rest for the evening. They made no fire, Gandalf dimmed his staff but did not diminish the light completely, and set a watch, hoping nothing would find them.

Nothing did. And when they woke, Sam did not cook breakfast as he had the past few months and it was all very dreary. Nínimiel still felt cold, and damp and so very grumpy about the whole situation, and she hadn't rested much - having been too cold to even doze for much of the night...or whatever time of day it had been. She had shivered quietly to herself after having to leave her lovely winter coat.

Before entering the Mines of Moria, and before Gandalf (Frodo) had solved the puzzle that was the door, Gandalf had instructed everyone to leave their heavy winter clothes. Because they wouldn't have Bill, they could only take what they could carry, which needed to be food, weapons and dry clothes, as well as bed rolls and a few other things. They needed to be as quick as they could be, so the first things to go were the fine coats given to them in Imladris.

After a cold breakfast, they were off again, on what Nínimiel had decided was the 3rd day.

_

She's completely glossing over the fact that Aragorn dragged her down there

This is a short one, but you'll forgive me right?