Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Blue Yonder ❯ Stacking the Deck ( Chapter 44 )

Disclaimer: As I always say, I don't own LOTR, I just own the characters of my creation.

Wild Blue Yonder

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Chapter 44 - Stacking the Deck

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Sunlight blazed through the open window, illuminating the figure sprawled across the bedding. A groan filtered up as the light crept across his face, worming its way pervasively though his closed lids. Rolling over, he flung one arm out feeling the empty space beside him.

Just outside the door, Rain nudged it open a crack with her toe and peered through the opening. She'd seen him fight a variety of monsters, but she had never seen Legolas look so awful. His usually creamy, light skin was actually a pallid gray, his angular cheeks seemed sunken and his long pale tresses were knotted and gnarled. He looked like he had just fought the worst battle of his life ... and lost.

As she opened the door, his eyes opened a crack moaning as pain slammed through in his head. His hands came up to clutch at his aching head as she walked into the room.

"Good morning sunshine," she called out in a disgustingly cheerful voice. "Rise and shine, I brought you lunch."

The smell of the food caused a rebellion within his stomach. Normally, he would have found the aroma of eggs, salt pork and fresh bread rather refreshing as a morning meal, though Elves could live on little else than Lambas bread. But even the thought of that made his weak stomach roil and he bolted from the bed and towards the basin on the dresser. Heaving, he proceeded to empty the pitiful contents of his stomach. Leaning weakly against the wall he slid down, closing his eyes and praying for death to come swiftly.

"Here." Rain said softly as she held out a small damp cloth to him. He opened his eyes and looked up into her concerned face, before his took the towel and wiped his mouth. The awful taste still lingered, along with the pounding in his skull.

Rain reached down and helped Legolas to his feet, guiding him slowly back across the now darkened room. He sighed softly as she helped him sit down on the bed.

Taking pity on the pathetic figure he posed, sitting there so forlornly on the bed, Rain smiled gently and rummaged around in her bag.

Legolas watched her curiously as she pulled out a small vessel, which she set on the bed, and a hair brush.

"You're a prince," she said softly, "so we can't have you looking like a vagabond."

Legolas grinned weakly thinking to himself that he was less like a prince and more like a vagabond than she thought. Looking at the brush in her hand, he realized that he hadn't felt anyone work with his hair, besides himself, since he had been a young elfling, so many hundreds of years ago when his mother would brush his hair for him. He suddenly yearned for the attention, craving the feel of her strong fingers.

"May I?" she asked, holding one of his tangled braids in her hand. Too flustered to speak, he merely nodded mutely.

Expecting to feel the same relaxation he'd felt at his mother's attention, he was shocked to find his body tightening unpleasantly in certain places, as her nimble fingers quickly unwound the braids. He closed his eyes and tried to lower his raging heartbeat as she gently pulled the bristles through his hair.

When she had removed all the tangles and knots, Rain couldn't help but give into the curiosity that had plagued her since the first time she'd read Tolkien's books. Walking around and kneeling at Legolas' feet, Rain looked up and gasped in awe at the sight of him, his long, silken tresses free of the braids, flowing over his broad shoulders in a flaxen cascade.

"You're beautiful," she whispered as he opened his sky blue eyes and looked at her. Groaning with desire, Legolas leaned forward and reached for her. And his world tilted and tumbled around him.

"Whoa!" Rain steadied him carefully, reaching for the vessel she'd deposited beside him earlier. Twisting off the cap, Rain tapped two aspirin into her palm.

"Take these," she said as she turned and picked up a mug of water handing it to him with two small white oval objects. He looked curiously at the tiny items before looking back up at her.

"They will help with the pain and sickness you are feeling," she said reassuringly.

"Thank you," he croaked, his throat still raw and sore from last nights drinking. Downing the two pills, he finished off the entire mug of water before attempting to place the empty container on the table next to the bed. Rain's hand stopped him as she took the mug from him, refilling it and placing it back into his hand. He looked up in askance as she motioned him to drink it down.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to do the fancy braids that you do in your hair, only just the standard ones like I wear," she said ruefully. Legolas smiled gently, handed her the mug and quickly did the intricate braids. When he was finished, Rain nodded in approval before handing the mug back to him.

He sipped slowly from the mug as he watched her move about the room, gathering up equipment and parcels that had been delivered the night before. She was dressed once again in elvin clothing, the dark pants tucked into her high boots. Her dark green vest, that Elrond had given her prior to leaving Rivendell, covered a soft cream-colored shirt.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked croakily. He coughed lightly and struggled to clear his throat of the rawness that seemed to pervade it.

"It is well into the late afternoon, Elrohir is still passed out in his room," she said, as she looked up from the pack she was bent over. "Gandalf collected him from the floor last night after we left."

"The floor?" he said, a bemused expression crossing his face as he vaguely remembered Elrohir landing on the floor after hitting on a blond.

"Yep, `Ro needs to remember that not all long hair belongs to women." Rain chuckled over the memory.

"Huh, long hair?" asked Legolas, a confused look flittering over his face briefly.

"Well, he decided to try and cozy up with a long-haired blond at the bar last night and found out the hard way that is was a man." Rain chuckled mischievously. "It was rather a rude awakening when you have a fist planted square in the face."

"Oh," he said stymied, not really remembering much past Mithiand passing out. He looked up as a plate was shoved under his nose and he grimaced slightly before taking the plate. Sighing, he resignedly began eating quietly, praying that he would be able to keep down the food that was being placed in his protesting stomach.

"I'll have to say, I haven't had that much fun in years," she said as she moved around the room, packing the gear that they had purchased the day before. "It seems like forever since I just got a chance to kick back and relax."

"You call last night relaxing?" he said, taking a bite of the food on his plate before grimacing and putting it on the table. There was no way his stomach was going to stand for anything right now.

"Yes, being able to get together with people you care about and having a good time is something I would call relaxing." Rain said as she looked up at him from where she was kneeled on the floor. He watched as a soft smile crossed her face, a faraway gaze to her eyes.

"The last time was where my friends and I got together just before they left for their new assignment. We sat around in their backyard, talking and drinking and having a grand old time," she sighed softly as her expression became wistful, "I haven't talked to them since they left. I wonder how they are doing?"

"Was your life always so lonely?" he said softly.

She shook her head as she stood up and crossed over to the bed. "No, I just don't have many close friends. Acquaintances yes, co-workers yes, but close friends..." she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. She smiled down at him ruefully, "I am just a hard person to like."

He reached out and took hold of her hand, pulling her down beside him and wrapped a long arm about her shoulder. "I like you," he said, leaning over to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"I know, but you're biased," she chuckled softly. He could see, however, that the laughter in her voice did not reach her eyes. Just as he was about to say something a loud shout from downstairs interrupted him.

"Legolas...where are you laddie?" came the rough sounding voice. Legolas bolted up from the bed and dashed to the door, flinging it open to shout down the hallway.

"Gimli?"

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A pair of pale heads, one the color of moonlight and the other the color of the sun, were bent over several parchments spread out over the table when Elrond opened the door to his study. The lighter-haired of the pair looked up and motioned for him to look at what they were studying.

"The last message you got from Legolas said that they had arrived in Laketown and were awaiting the arrival of that dwarf friend of his, correct Elrond," he said, gesturing toward the map laid across the table.

"Yes Thranduil, they were going to replenish their supplies before they pushed on for the Lonely Mountain. He sent a message to Gimli to meet them, since the mountain is his realm." Elrond said, smiling gently at the aggrieved expression on Thranduil's face. He still could get over that fact that Rain had managed to bypass all of his sentries when she had snuck out of his kingdom.

"It shouldn't be much longer, Thranduil. Legolas will take care of Rain and they shall be fine." Elrond said, as he placed a placating hand on his shoulder.

"The most critical part of the journey has arrived. Their conflicts must be resolved, for trust is the essential element in the retrieval of the key." Galadriel said, her eyes distant and farseeing, "Only their trust in one another will keep them from harm."

"I am sure that all will be fine, Galadriel." Elrond said gently, "they hold the fate of us all in their hands. We can do nothing but wait. Valar help us."

Elladan straightened from his hunched position next to the window, feeling guilty for eavesdropping on the elders conversation. Turning he quietly slipped away from the window and into the foliage that surrounded his home, his mind trying to process what he had heard.

Turning onto the path, he walked quickly toward the gardens in need of a quiet location to process his thoughts, when he almost ran into another body.

"Elladan, watch were you are going," came the sharp retort, and he looked up quickly to find his sister and her husband.

"Arwen, I am sorry I was distracted," he said, looking abashed.

"Why were you distracted, finally found some young elf maiden you fancy?" Aragorn teased.

"No, I was just think about what I just heard." Elladan retorted, before snapping his mouth shut at his slip.

Aragorn's eyebrow arched upward at his slip of tongue and looked pointedly at him. Elladan sighed, knowing that he had been caught.

"Well, I sort of overheard father talking with King Thranduil and Grandmother." Elladan started. He looked over at his sister and winced. Her arms were crossed over her chest and a furious expression was on her face.

"Were you eavesdropping again, Elladan! You know what Father will do to you if he finds out," she said harshly.

"I know Arwen, but it was about Rain and what is going on," he said quickly, trying to forestall an outburst from his temperamental sister.

"Well, what was said," she asked, looking madder by the minute.

"They are in Laketown and Gimli is supposed to be meeting them so they can head out for Lonely Mountain." He said quickly.

"And that was all?" Aragorn asked gently, trying to calm his nervous brother-in-law.

"No, but I really didn't understand what they meant by the last part." Elladan said, a bewildered expression crossing his face. "Father said that they held the fate of us all in their hands."

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A/N: I know, a transitional chapter...not much action per say, but crucial to the plot. Gimli has arrived, the elders are worried, and Elladan, Aragorn and Arwen are bewildered. Oh what a tangled web we weave...Stay turned as the next chapter shan't take as long to complete.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review. ~DBZ Vegeta

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