Another Life

Chapter 6- Hiking

Deja vu. Major Deja vu.

I stared around, yawning, occasionally flexing arm or leg. I just couldn't get over this 'leather armour' thing. Around me, Elves were gathering, and somehow today I was a little less dazzled. Only a little less. Elves were Elves.

It did help that the dwarfs were also there, I thought quietly, shifting once more in the boots. Nice. Comfortable boots. Sexy boots. Well, okay, not sexy. But comfortable. Once more my eyes went from the dwarfs, gathered in a semi-sheltered area, to the Elves, and saw that they were visually separated from one another. Neither seemed to want to spend too much time with the other. In fact, I noticed as my eyes went past the Dwarfs, they were all packed and ready to go.

Must have only been here to farewell Gimli.

Frodo stood a little separate from the others, uncomfortable, back in those clean linen things. None of the hobbits in fact, I noticed, were really wearing any sort of armour. Swords, yes, but nothing else. Only the big strong men were bothering at all- both Aragorn and Boromir had the chainmail stuff under their shirts. And out of those two, only Boromir had good looking fabric, the kind of stuff I suspected belonged on someone with a lot of money. Did that mean he was rich? Aragorn, who was supposed to be some high lord or something, just had plain clothing. It was almost rougher than the hobbit's simple clothing. Older, clearly, with patches and some repaired tears. Funny outfit for someone who was supposed to be special.

Come to think of it... I didn't really know a lot about any of them, except for Legolas.

I gazed upwards, tucking my hands under my armpits, admiring for one last time the beauty of this place. Oh sure, I'd made fun of it and the elves but... the stone arch, the way the creepers grew across it, the trees healthy and without a mark on them, no illness, nothing.. as if the Elves had created this place in partnership with the trees, and the birds, and the animals, creating a safe place for all things to grow.

That was probably impossible, really, but it looked that way.

Lord Elrond moved out slowly, a smaller gathering of women not far behind, one of them with her eyes fixed on Aragorn. That was interesting. I had no time to ponder this, however, because Lord Elrond had started to talk.

“The Ring-bearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On you who travel with him no oath nor bond is laid, to go further than you will.”

His eyes scanned over everyone at this, I knew that, but somehow I felt this was directed to her quite a bit. I hoped. Some part of me was still uncertain about this. Still not sure about it... apprehension dogged at the back of my mind, like I already knew how fucking tough it'd be, even though it currently just sounded like a hike past a few baddies, to drop a ring into some lava.

I couldn't even understand why the ring had to be destroyed. I tried to look brave, fearless, swallowing, tempted to say 'Hey, actually...'

“Farewell. Hold to your purpose. May the blessings of Elves and Men and all free folk go with you.” Lord Elrond waved his arms at us, dismissing us or something. I caught the movement beside her- Aragorn and Legolas bowing their heads, and suddenly wondered if this was something I should do. Curtsy or something. The moment had passed though.

Gandalf said softly, “The Fellowship awaits the Ring-bearer.”

Frodo turned slowly, uncertainly, and so I took the cue and turned too. Did he know where 12 were going? I hoped so. But I suddenly felt kind of sorry for him, especially when I heard him whisper to Gandalf for directions.

The sense of deja vu held for a long time, right until they were up on the hill beside Rivendell, and I glanced backwards the second I felt the feeling of 'been here, done this' vanished.