Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Blue Yonder ❯ Reminders of Home ( Chapter 41 )

Disclaimer: I do not own and will never own (darn) any of the Tolkien characters.

Wild Blue Yonder

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Chapter 41 - Reminders of Home

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Morning came with a trill of birds and a glow of sunlight bathing the room in its brightness. Motes of dust sparkled through the trail of sunlight that fell from the partial opened window. Rain sleepily stirred in the bed, one hand reaching out to find the cold empty space next to her. Her eyes popped open and she sat up to look about the room, neither Legolas nor Nanook were anywhere to be seen. Realizing by the amount of sunlight pouring into the room that she had slept much later than normal. She sighed in delight as she stretched her arms high over her head, her back arching and popping audibly before she retracted her arms. Sitting up and sliding to the edge of the bed her bare feet finding the cool floor, she stood and walked over to the window.

Looking out over the busy street below her, she silently watched as the multitudes of people scurried along carrying parcels or pushing small wagons with goods to be bartered. A soft knock at the door drew her attention away from the scene. Turning she hurried across the room, pulling the door open slightly conscious of the long tailed shirt as her only clothing.

"Yes," she asked, looking in askance of young lady standing in front of the door. She was dressed in a plain brown dress with a long white apron tied about her waist.

"My Lady, I have your bath as was requested," said the young lady, who curtsied shyly to Rain.

"I didn't order a bath." Rain replied, a frown creasing her brow, though a bath at this moment did sound wonderful.

"One of the gentlemen with you ordered it for you my lady," the girl replied.

"Oh, well then by all means please come in." Rain said, pulling open the door.

She caught sight of two burly men behind the young lady and pulled the door back to stand behind it as they carried in a large bathtub and several large steaming buckets of water, which they emptied into the tub. She continued to stand behind the door, peaking out and watching as the men continued to bring in the buckets until the bath was three quarter full and a hazy steam drifted up from the tub. She nodded to them as they passed her, both dipping their heads and tugging at imaginary caps in acknowledgement.

Rain closed the door, leaning back on it as she stared at the inviting steam that swirled up from the tub. She pushed off from the door, intent on enjoying the first hot bath that she had in a long time, when she realized that the young woman was still in the room with her.

"Will there be anything else that you will need my lady?" the young woman asked as Rain turned towards her.

"Yes, does this inn have a laundry service?" Rain asked, suddenly aware of the aroma that was rising up from her shirt and realizing that all of her clothing needed to be washed.

"Yes my lady," she replied.

"Great, I have some items that will need to be washed." Rain said as she strode across the room to her bag. Flipping it over, she opened it and dumped the contents out onto the bed. Pulling together the loose, dirty clothing she came across her BDUs. Lifting up the shirt, she grimaced at the large tear in the shoulder. Galadriel had offered to dispose of the torn clothing, but she couldn't just toss it out. It was one of her only reminders of her home so far away from here.

"My lady, I could mend that rip if you would like," came a soft voice from behind her. Rain turned around, the shirt clutched to her chest as she looked into the young woman's brown eyes.

"You can fix it?" Rain asked softly.

"Yes my lady, I can have it back to you before you finish bathing," she replied with a light smile.

Rain nodded her head and returned the smile, "That would be good, since it is the only set of clean clothing that I have left." She handed the shirt and the rest of the dirty clothing over to the girl, including the shirt she was wearing. She wrapped a towel around her body and watched as the girl quickly scampered from the room. Happily she walked over to the tub, dropping the cloth from about her body and stepping into the steaming water. She sighed in pleasure as the hot water lapped up around her shoulders, soothing aching muscles from their long journey.

Quick spit baths from canteens or shallow creeks had not been enough to satisfy her. The luxury of laying back in a tub surrounded by hot water was one of the many things that she had so missed on this trip. Not that she wasn't used to being deprived from bathing like this, remembering her deployment to the desert where water had been rationed and showers were not long enough. However nothing beat the feeling of soaking in a hot tub of water.

She relaxed in the water until it began to chill about her body. Sitting forward she quickly unplaited her braid and began to wash her hair and body. Standing up, she squeezed the excess water out of her hair and reached for the towel, wrapping it around her dripping body. Stepping out of the tub and onto the hearth rug, she briskly rubbed the dampness from her skin and wrapped the towel around her wet hair.

Striding over to the bed, she rummaged around in the gear strewn across it until she found her undergarments, tee shirt and BDU pants. Slipping on her clothing, she bloused her pants over her socks, not putting her boots on at the moment. Reaching up she started towel drying her hair as best she could before she dropped the damp towel on to the floor and reached for her brush.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her brushing and she found that the young woman had returned as promised with her mended shirt. She left quickly leaving Rain to look down at the shirt clutched between her hands. The tear had been mended so well that you barely see where the material had been torn. Walking back to the bed in a slight daze she automatically resumed brushing her hair, her fingers nimbly smoothing tangles from the long black tresses.

Still on auto-pilot, she unconsciously plaited her hair into a thick braid and pined it up to the back of her head. She picked up her boots and laced them tight about her ankles before pulling on her shirt, rolling the sleeves up around her elbows. Sorting through the clutter of items on the bed, she found her beret and stuffed it into a side pocket before gathering the rest of the items to place back into the bag. A soft sound caused her to turn around and found that Legolas was leaning back against the closed door to the room.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, slightly startled from his sudden arrival.

"Not long," he replied, pushing up off of the door and striding across the room to stand before her, taking in her appearance. "You're wearing your clothing that you arrived in."

"Yes, I haven't anything else that is clean," she said, looking down as she unconsciously fiddling with the tail of her shirt. "The young woman who brought my bath was able to mend it. I take it was you who ordered it for me."

He reached out and tipped her face up toward him, bending forward at the waist to drop a light kiss on her nose before he replied, " Of course, I was sure that you would enjoy one."

"Thank you," she replied softly. He reached for her hand, and she left him take it not expecting him to pull her forward into his embrace. She found herself falling forward and reached out a hand to brace against his chest. When she looked up into his eyes, they were darkening to the color of twilight sky. Deep inside of her a familiar heat flared to life, and she told herself to pull back, that now was not the time for them to become intimate. But she couldn't move, mesmerized by his heated stare.

His head moved closer and suddenly his lips brushed against hers. He claimed her lips, brushing lightly across their soft texture exploring the warmth of her mouth as she opened her lips to his invasion. One of his hands came up to press against her spine between her shoulder blades, kneading the skin though her shirt lightly. His other hand cupped her hip, pulling her flush against his body.

He moved his mouth away from her lips and planted a teasing kiss to her chin. An electric jolt flashed through her at the erotic touch, answered again by another kiss caressing her jawline. His lips slipped upwards to nip at her earlobe and she couldn't hold back the moan that escaped her throat. Flickering impulses leapt beneath her skin and she struggled with the need to sag into him.

He returned his attention to her mouth again, he took advantage of her gasp to delve into her mouth, his tongue circling, stroking and teasing hers, nipping lightly along the crease of her lips. She relaxed her fingers, which had been balled up into fists against his chest, and slid them upwards to encircle his neck. She gasped slightly as the hand on her hip moved to the small of her back, pulling her tight against his lanky frame. His tongue circled hers, stroked hers, and teased hers.

Sensations crashed over her in a wave of longing as she struggled to match him stroke for stroke. The firm heat of him, the textures of his mouth against hers, the sweet taste of his kiss overwhelmed her. A sudden knocking at the door startled them, causing them to draw back and stare dazedly at each other.

"Rain. . .Legolas, are you in there?" came Elrohir's voice through the pounding.

Legolas sighed heavily, leaning his forehead against hers. "It always seems to happen that we get interrupted, doesn't it. Especially by Elrohir," he whispered huskily.

She looked into his passion-clouded eyes and smiled wryly, "Yes, it does. One of these days we are going to have to tie him up, aren't we."

He leaned back, a mischievous grin spreading over his face to match hers. "Why not now?" he replied.

"Oh you," she said as she stepped back from him, playfully swatting at him as she walked over to the door and wretched it open.

Elrohir, hand held in mid air to knock again, fell forward into the room. He looked up to find Rain standing over him with her hands on her hips, an amused expression on her face. "Hi," he said sheepishly, sitting up and rubbing a hand on the back of his head. "Um, Gandalf sent me up to find you two. The courier just arrived back with a message from Gimli."

"That quickly, hmmm, he must be bored without me around." Legolas said cheekily, striding across the room to look over Rain's shoulder at him.

"I wouldn't know," huffed Elrohir, picking himself up off of the floor and dusting off his pants. "I'll meet you downstairs," with that said he turned and left the room. Rain turned to grin up at Legolas, who also was sporting a large grin.

"Rather testy isn't he?" she said as she stepped out of the door, watching as Legolas closed the door behind them.

"Hmmm," Legolas murmured, walking down the hallway to the staircase. Rain eyes followed him before she hurried to catch up with him. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they turned and entered into the bar. Gandalf, sitting with his back against the far wall, was smoking his pipe and shuffling several papers before him. Elrohir was sulkily sitting next to him, his chin propped up on his hand. Nanook, however when he saw Rain and Legolas, bounced excitedly across the room, jumping up and down around their feet.

"You goof." Rain said with a short laugh, kneeling down to rub the ecstatic dog behind the ears and dodging his wet licks.

"Ah Legolas, you're here. Good," Gandalf said, pulling the pipe from between his lips.. "Gimli has already responded to your message you sent this morning. He says that he will meet us here tomorrow night."

Rain felt a thrill of excitement at the prospect of meeting the dwarf. Having read Tolkien's books, as well as countless fanfics, she knew that Gimli and Legolas had a very unique bond. She couldn't help but wonder how closely he would resemble the image of him that she'd created in her mind's eye. Rain looked up and stood, walking over to sit directly across from the pair. Legolas sat next to her, his knee deliberately brushing against hers. She frowned over at him, watching as he unrepentantly continued to play with her knee as he responded to Gandalf.

"Good, that will give us time to replenish our supplies and rest before continuing on with our journey."

"I could definitely use an additional set of clothes and some other miscellaneous items." Rain said, moving her knee away from Legolas's teasing touch. He was still in a flirty mood from them being interrupted a little while ago.

"Then its settled, we will pick up what supplies we need and then meet back here for dinner." Legolas said as he stood, reaching down to grab Rain's hand and pull her up out of her seat.

"Hey, wait a minute." Rain said as he dragged her from the room and out into the street. Nanook trailing behind them, his tail wagging madly and his eyes gleaming with amusement. Breaking his grip on her hand, she pulled out her beret and jammed it over her braid. Legolas watched, his eyes twinkling as she huffed and set out up the street, her back stiff and unyielding. Jogging quickly up behind her, he matched her stride as she walked toward the center of town, following the crowds.

"Are you angry with me?" he said gently, his eyes watching her stiff shoulders and back.

"No, however I would like to be include in on some of the plans without being summarily yanked out into the streets," she growled. Legolas took a large step in front of her, blocking her path and causing her to stop and look up at him.

"I'm sorry, I will try to remember to ask next time," he said, his voice contrite.

"It's all right, next time ask me instead of yanking me around." Rain said as she looked up into his beautiful blue eyes. Sometimes it was nearly impossible to stay angry with this man, exasperated yes, but angry no. She smiled softly as she said, "Shall we do some shopping, my dear elf."

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A/N: Some break in the journey and the heat is building, again. . . What is with Elrohir always interrupting our pair? Are they ever going to get some time to themselves? Stay tuned to find out.

Thanks for reading ~ DBZ Vegeta