Rebuilding the King.

Chapter six: Journey to Rivendell

Elayna's POV.
As we walked away from the troll statutes I make a point of hanging back with Pippin, who being the shortest of our group was always the last. "Elayna are you ok?" Pippin asked me. "I'm fine... Why?" I ask him. He shrugs his shoulders. "Just with Frodo being brought off by that elf lady, and then you looked horrified when you walked away from Strider, I just wanted to see how you were," he tells me. I stare straight ahead at Strider who was pulling Bill's reins as he walked in step with Sam. "I will be much better when we are in Rivendell Pip," I say seriously as I look back to him. We continued to move on our journey for another four hours before we stopped to rest. I was taking a drink when I felt somebody stand beside me. I looked up into Striders face. "Are you ok?" he asked quietly. I just nodded my head. "About earlier, I apologise, I just needed to stop you freaking out. We needed to move," Strider explains. I get to my feet. "I would have understood but I have never been away from Frodo for even a day, now I will not know if he's even alive for practically a week. Forgive me if I'm freaking out," I hiss as I push past him to get to Pippin. He grabs my arm before I took a step away from him. "If all turns out well Arwen will send horses for us, we shall be there soon," Strider tells me and I freeze. "Well then let's pray that Asfaloth can carry your girlfriend and my brother to safety before he dies," I spit and wrench my arm away from him. Then I make my way over to Pippin and Merry. "I'm going to kill him," I mutter. Pippin and Merry laugh as Sam saunters over to us. "If we want to get to Rivendell he needs to be alive Elayna," Sam tells me. I just huff and pout.

Within an hour we were moving again. I hung back and walked in step with Pippin and he was telling me stories of all the pranks that he and Merry have pulled and at one stage I had to completely stop in order to keep laughing. When we stopped for the night I purposefully took to sleeping the furthest away from Strider. The next two days followed much of the same pattern. However on the second night I got up and ordered Strider to sleep. He thinks he is invincible but neither I nor the boys are any good with a weapon so he needs to be rested. I must have dozed off at one stage as I woke up to hot breath on my arm. I opened my eyes and came face to face with a horse and three beautiful ponies. Arwen must have sent them but what does that mean for Frodo? I stand up as I stroke the big horse. I am not afraid of horses in general, I'm just afraid to be on them since Frodo pushed me off one in the Shire. It happened years ago but I still remember the excruciating pain in my leg after I broke it so I'm still scared to get on one. "Hey there beautiful boy. What are you doing here?" I coo to it. Attached to the saddle is a note addressed to me, it says;
Frodo is fine,
these horses will carry you to Rivendell, we shall expect you soon,
Arwen.

It was as if a weight was lifted off my chest. My brother is fine. I pick up a long stick and walk over to Strider remembering what happened the last time I tried to wake him. I started poking him with the stick and when he woke he pulled it so hard that he pulled me onto him. I yelped as I landed on top of him. "Umm, horses! Frodo is fine they made it back to Rivendell," I tell him as my blush gets darker and I hand him the note as I push myself up off him. He tells me to wake the hobbits as he reads the note. As I wake them I'm thinking on how I'm going to last on a horse when I freaked out as I was sitting on Bill. When the boys were awake and they spotted the horses they were happy as they had been complaining about their feet being sore. As we loaded up Bill with the packs both Strider and I froze. There was a pony for each of the hobbits but there was only one horse! I was ready to walk, even though I had no idea where I was going. I was bidding the boys farewell when I was suddenly lifted off the ground and deposited in front of Strider on the horse. I start to panic and try to get down, but then Strider puts one arm around me as he holds onto the reins. He looks to make sure all the hobbits are on their ponies before he kicks the horse into a trot and the I can hear the ponies follow. "Stop I need to get down I can't," I say as I squirm and wriggle to try and get off the damn horse. "It's ok, I won't let you fall," Strider whispers into my ear as he tightens the arm he has around me. I hear some awe's behind us as I sit still and ask, "How did you know?". He chuckles gently and says, "Frodo!". Ahh!

We were told that being on the horses meant that we would make it to Rivendell by nightfall tomorrow if we rode through the remainder of the night and all the next day. I was up for it and so were the hobbits. Mainly just so I could bathe properly, I'm sick of freezing cold streams! At some point my body relaxed as I realised that Strider would not let me fall off the horse so I ended up resting back against him. The gentle motions of the horses movement eventually lulled me off to sleep. Well, that and the fact that Strider was humming away happily into my ear. I had a very odd dream! I dreamt that I was in a white city wearing a wedding dress. I could not see whom I was supposed to be marrying but apparently it was a big deal! There were people everywhere, but just before I saw my groom a Nazgúl swooped down from the sky and carried me off. I woke with a start and saw that it was drawing near nightfall. Up ahead in the distance I could see some lights, we must be close to Rivendell! I was so happy because sitting on a horse for hours lead to... You guessed it, a numb bottom. Within the hour we were riding over a bridge and into the city of Rivendell. As soon as we were in the courtyard Strider dismounted and immediately helped me off the horse and helped me steady myself.

"Mae govannen(well met). I am Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. We have been expecting you Miss Elayna! Lindir, make sure the others are shown to their rooms. I shall be taking Miss Elayna to see her brother," a very regal looking elf said. As I said goodbye to the boys and thanked Strider I followed Lord Elrond. He stopped just outside a room. "He was very close to death when he arrived here. He is recovering but he has not yet awoken, I know not when he will, but fear not he will! You may assure yourself that he is ok and then I will show you to your chambers. If there is anything further I can do for you please ask," Elrond tells me. I walked in and over to the bed. Frodo looked healthy and I signed in relief, I also cried a little. When Lord Elrond showed me to my chambers I stopped him just outside the door. "Excuse me my Lord, it is a very unusual request but is there any chance I could be trained to use a sword? I felt so useless back at Weathertop and perhaps if I hadn't of been, Frodo might not have gotten hurt," I explain. He seems to think about this for a moment and then he agrees. "Sleep well Elayna, tomorrow you will begin, it will not be easy and it may not be for you but we shall have someone coach you! Langnir taught my daughter, Arwen, he will be assigned to you. I will have someone leave some clothes out for you, rest well," Elrond says with a smile as he turns and walks away down the halls. I enter my chambers and take note of nothing other than the bed, which I collapse onto and immediately I am asleep!

____________________________________________________________Hey guys,

You know the drill,

Laters,
~Annacricket