Another Life

Chapter 13 - Lothlorien

I didn't let Boromir drift away. Instead, I moved closer to him, refusing to let him do his sulk thing. It seemed stupid, childish, and he seemed to appreciate it. Legolas wasn't far off though, he didn't seem to trust him quite so much now, maybe the talk of marriage had annoyed him.

Still, despite the struggle I kept catching in Boromir's eyes, he seemed to still be around, and no one else seemed to be as worried. Lothlorien kept us in this state of calm, peace, that a day or two would pass and we'd barely notice. Aragorn kept us up to date with the Orc slaughter outside Lothlorien, keeping us focused, and we sat around waiting for the elves to clear the way for Frodo so he could safely get out of here again. It was a beautiful cage we sat in while we waited.

I also was starting to suspect that Sam was in love with Frodo. Big time. All those deep stares, the touches, the constant presene, it was adorable and kind of obvious. But then Frodo would mention some hobbit lady and Sam would get flustered. So I wasn't sure about that one.

Legolas was shirtless. One of my hickies was proudly on display on his ab. I stared and felt something hit me across the head.

“Focus!” Boromir snapped, as he almost cut into me again, and I blinked and tried to re-do the footing. “Don't point your feet where you're going.”

It was one of his things he had been trying to drill into my head for days now- to always step in the wrong direction. The idea was that it'd throw any orc or bad guy off. I pointed my feet left, they expected me to go left, and then I'd go right. It made sense but it was a hard habit to get into. I started again, grasping the sword in my sweaty palms, aware that my sexy lover Elf was standing right there with his shirt off. Oh sure, everyone was here, Gimli sharpening his axe, the hobbits sitting in a half circle on the soft grass, Aragorn sharpening a dagger.

“And move!” Pippin called, halfway through a mouthful of something, only to get shvoed to his feet by Aragorn. “I'm eating elevensies.” Somehow he managed to look offended, almost, that Aragorn would dare move him during such a clearly important meal.

“Sword out, Master Took.” Aragorn pulled his own sword out slowly. Then he met Legolas eyes, who smiled, and moved to attack Pippin from behind. Pippin yelped as something hit him across the head, the back of Legolas knife, spinning. “And watch your back.”

Aragorn moved away while Legolas took over the training.

Another crash sent me sprawling, almost, and Boromir raised his hands in defeat. “You are not here today, are you?”

Not really. I smiled sheepishly. “Um.”

“Then we do this tomorrow.” Boromir shethed his sword and glanced towards where Merry was sitting. “Do you-”

“Nope!”

“Not tomorrow.” Aragorn said. He sat down slowly with his sword still out. “It's safe.”

Legolas and Pippin froze. We all turned to stare at Aragorn, who had pulled out a stone, and was running it slowly across the blade of his long sword.

“It is safe?” Legolas asked quietly. He met my eyes. This meant no more fun naked time, not really, we were back to work. Frodo had gone quiet and pale.

“As it'll ever be. At dawn we will be leaving by the river. Tonight, we must make sure we get a full night's rest-” I swore his eyes went from myself to Legolas, but it couldn't be that he knew, could it? “-and to repack our packs for the journey.”

“We should air them out now then.” Boromir looked almost glad to be going. He was practically grinning compared to the sombre look on his face for the last few weeks. “Let them dry properly.”