Defender of Lorien

Camping, Sword Training, Snowy Mountains, and Racing to the Sun

Aragorn was in charge of trying to organize where everyone was to sleep that night, "Okay, the hobbits should sleep closest to the fire with Gandalf. Boromir and Gimli will be second nearest to the fire. And then Legolas, myself, and Anya will sleep under the trees for warmth."

"Wait, don't you think that it would be best that the lady get near the fire as well, she could freeze to death," Boromir said. This slightly annoyed Anya, as most men thought she was a weakling and couldn't take care of herself.

"I will be perfectly fine under the trees, thank you very much," Anya said for herself, then went to work setting up her blankets for sleep. Boromir shook his head in confusion as everyone else situated their sleeping spots for the night.

After this, Aragorn went off into the woods with Boromir to kill a deer for dinner. While the men were looking for a deer, Anya also went off into the woods, but to find some berries and other eatable plants for herself and Legolas to eat, as they didn't eat meat like the others. Looking around, she found wild berries and a pear tree, one that produced very small pear but that were still eatable. When she met back with Legolas at camp, he had been fortunate enough to have found an apple tree and a bushel of strawberries.

Looking at how many berries the two had been able to pick, Anya decided that there was enough there to make into a special juice and still leave enough for the elves to eat. Grabbing out a small jug from Sam's pack, Anya placed the cleaned berries into it and began mashing them to get the juice from them. By the time the men returned with a small yet good sized buck, Anya had made a delicious juice.

Aragorn skinned the deer and began to butcher it, making Anya feel a little sickly at the sight of it. Even though she had fought in battle before to protect her home land, it still sickened her to see an animal of the forest killed and skinned, but she didn't say a word of her feelings to the men as they began to cook the meat. Looking over at her cousin, she saw that he felt the same way, as he set aside the apple he had been eating and closed his eyes.

The smell of the meat floated over to Anya, causing her to gag. At the sound of her gagging, Aragorn turned around and looked at her.

"Oh I'm sorry my friend, I'd forgotten about you and your feelings about eating meat," Aragorn apologized. Boromir looked at the two elves in disbelief.

"You elves do not eat meat?" he asked. Anya just shook her head and looked away from the campfire.

"Elves have no taste what so ever," Gimli taunted her, "they don't even drink malt beer." Anya just shook her head and couldn't help but let a quiet laugh escape her lips.

"I think I'm going to bed down for the night," Anya said. Before getting up from her eating place and walking over to her bed, she gave the hobbits the juice she had made and instructed them to share with everyone. Legolas followed her over to her sleeping spot and sat next to her, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. Anya's eye also closed soon after his and slept, and once again had the nightmare of being in the forest when some form of evil slipped into it. And just as last time, Legolas awoke her before she could turn to see what was behind her.

*~~~~~~~~~~~*
They had been traveling for three days now and the weather had remained pleasant. They had been making good time, so Gandalf decided to let them relax. Well, actually, not everyone relaxed. Aragorn had suggested that he, Boromir, and Anya should give the hobbits blade lessons. They all decided that Boromir should start off by showing Merry and Pippin the basics of yielding a sword. The hobbits already had swords, as Aragorn had supplied them with blades on their journey to Rivendell.

"Be sure to keep your feet moving," Boromir coached them. Anya was sitting next to Frodo as Boromir continued to train Merry and Pippin. As she sat there Sam came up with a plate of sizzling sausage and other assortments of meat. Even thought the smell of cooked meat sickened her, she stayed in her spot and acted as if the food didn't bother her.