Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Blue Yonder ❯ Is There Life After Death? ( Chapter 46 )

Disclaimer: As I have stated before and will continue to state, I don't own the characters from the LOTR, however I do own my characters.

Wild Blue Yonder

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Chapter 46 - Is There Life After Death?

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The silence of the room was almost deafening as Elrond closed the door softly behind himself, the trio stunned by the revelations that he had told them over the past hour. Elladan leaned limply against the balcony doorframe, starring off into the darkness outside, as Arwen curled up into Aragorn's arms. Arwen shifted slightly to look up into her husband's pensive face. A face that normally could hold back the emotions that may rage within, but tonight he looked as scared as she felt.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered softly, one hand coming up to grip at the collar of his shirt tightly. He turned his head and looked down at her, gathering her closer to him as he shook his head.

"I don't know this time, I think that we are just going to have to trust in fate and Lady Rain," he replied, his voice unable to remain steady as his worry seeped though him.

"That's preposterous!" Elladan snorted furiously, pushing up off of the doorframe and stalking angrily back and forth across the room. "Why do we have to trust someone who has no ties to this world and who couldn't care less what would happen to it!"

"You're not being fair, Elladan." Arwen said gently, "Just because Lady Rain is not from here doesn't mean that she will not care what would happen to us."

"Besides, our brother and Legolas are with her. Surely she will become fond of them and want to save them." Aragorn answered, praying to himself silently that he was correct in his assumptions.

"She is a disagreeable woman, you saw how she treated Legolas before they left. You even saw how she was cold to Arwen that same day and you want me to put my faith and life in her hands." Elladan roared.

"That is enough brother, you must calm down. This will do us no good." Arwen said sharply as she broke free from Aragorn's embrace and stood, advancing on her irate brother. "You are going to have to trust in what our Father and Grandmother are doing. They know what is best for us and we must support them wholeheartedly."

She reached him and gently placed her hand in the middle of his chest over the top of his racing heart. "Believe in Lady Rain, she will not let us down."

Elladan looked down at his beautiful sister and sighed resignedly. "You had better hope that she doesn't. Because if she does, I will not wait for the prophecy to come true for us before I kill her with my bare hands."

With those words spoken, he wheeled on one heel and left the room, the door slamming shut behind him. Arwen stared after her brother, dread welling up within her chilling her to the very bone. She felt Aragorn's arms come up around her waist and she turned in his embrace, leaning into his strong arms, praying silently that everything would be all right.

~*~

When Rain finally returned later that afternoon, she was carrying several small packages and the purse that hung from her waist was considerably lighter than it had been when she had left that morning. Entering the inn, she turned to head towards the stairs when she heard her name shouted out. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Elrohir waving enthusiastically from within the bar, gesturing for her to join him.

She turned smiling at the elf, who apparently had recovered from his hangover, even though he still sported a doozy of an abrasion on his chin. She walked into the bar and almost decided then and there to turn around and return to her room when she saw who else was sitting with Elrohir. It was the entire group including one, as of yet unforgiven dwarf. She however, was one known to stand up and face her antagonists, continued on toward the group, a familiar sarcastic grin pasted across her face.

"Good afternoon gentleman," she said brightly as she dropped her packages on the table and slide down onto the bench to sit by Gandalf. Legolas looked disgruntled that she chose not to sit next to him, his feelings flashing painfully clear across his face before he school it to a pleasant expression. Plainly she was still angry with him from this mornings encounter with Gimli.

"Pleasant shopping, my dear," asked Gandalf kindly, his eyes twinkling as he pulled the long pipe from his mouth, a ring of white smoke curling up to circle about his head.

"Yes, I found several delightful shops today and even found a wonderful armory, where I procured myself a set of long knives," she said happily as she reached across the table to open the larger of the packages. The group leaned forward expectantly as she opened the package to reveal two beautifully sheathed curved knives, reminiscent of the blade that Aragorn wore, only slightly smaller and more delicate looking. The handle grips, a deep burnished ivory color with dark gold accents, were curved to fit snuggly within her hand, and the blade as she drew if from its sheath was a highly polished silver, with what appeared to be ancient runes etched along the blade.

"May I see that Rain?" Legolas asked suddenly, wondering if his suspicions were correct as he looked at the blade within her hand. She eyed him slightly, before turning the blade and holding the handle out towards him. He took it from her, their fingers brushing slightly and he almost dropped the blade as a bolt of lightning seemed to race up his arm from the contact. Looking quickly up into her eyes, he could see that she felt the same effect and her eyebrows were drawn pensively together over her green eyes.

Their eyes stayed locked for a short moment, before he slowly drew his gaze away from hers back to the blade in his hand. Staring down at the runes, he frowned as they seemed so familiar to him, yet he could not place where he had seen them before.

"Quite a good find, if I say so myself. They must have been very expensive," Elrohir said as he leaned over Legolas's shoulder to look down at the blade in his hands.

"On the contrary, I got them for a steal. They were in the back of the armory buried under a pile of rusty chain mail. The shopkeeper seemed very eager to part with them," she replied, looking amused as she remembered the almost pathetic expression on the man's face as he tried to get her to depart his shop.

Elrohir looked up at her and saw the wicked twinkle that sparkled in her eyes before he commented, "What did you do to the poor man Rain?"

She attempted to look innocent, as she brought one hand to her chest and said, "Mwa, I did nothing to the man. He just seemed eager to have my departure once I had been though almost every inch of his store. I swear the man followed me around like a lost puppy, thinking that I would hurt my little self on any one of the numerous sharp blades he had in his shop."

"Right, and it wouldn't happen to be that you decided to be your usual charming self, now wouldn't it." Elrohir coughed, hiding his laughter. He watched as one of her eyebrows shot upwards as she glared at him. Unable to hold it in any longer, Elrohir leaned back his head and roared with laughter. Rain looked over at him and sniffed before turning her head to hide her grin that threatened to split her face.

Legolas watched the interplay between the two before reaching forward and resheathing the knife. He knew that it would take some time before he worked out the riddle of the runes on the blade, but he knew that it would eventually come to him. He cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention, before he turned towards the shorter man sitting next to him.

"I believe that Gimli has a few words that he would like to say to you Rain."

"Aye laddie, that I do." Gimli said as he looked across the table at the dark-haired lady sitting across from them. Her eyes, simmering with a well-placed anger, looked back at him causing a slight shiver to race down his spine. He hadn't been this nervous even when he was faced with the hoard of Uruk-hai at Helm's Deep, and at this moment he almost would rather be facing such a hoard than do what he was about to do. He cleared his throat, one hand coming up in a fist at his mouth as he looked abashedly at Rain.

"Legolas was quite right this morning when he laid into me about being cooped up in mountain for so long that I have forgotten the basics in even common courtesy. I would like to sincerely apologize to you for my earlier comments this morning," he said, his voice steady as he looked directly into her eyes.

Rain looked over at the shorter man, trying to judge if he was honest in his apology or if he had been put up to it by the other to maintain peace within the group. The look in his eyes showed a genuine regret for his actions and she decided in that instance to give him a second chance, however she would go about it with a wariness. She shot a look over at Legolas and saw the hopefulness in his eyes that should would forgive his best friend.

Sighing lightly, she stuck out her hand to Gimli, "Well, I'll let it pass this time, but the next time..." she trailed off, her eyes beginning to glitter madly. Gimli looked up into those wicked eyes and grinned himself, he could tell almost immediately by her expression, that she was someone he was going to enjoy getting to know.

A large smile crossed his face and he began to laugh as he said, "Great, now how about a round of drinks, my treat." He looked confused by the groans that echoed from the two male elves and the slightly green look to their skin at his comment and Rain's wide grin, before asking "What? Did I say something wrong?"

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of laughter and tales and Rain was pleasantly tired as she flopped down onto the bed. Legolas and Gimli had remained behind, with the excuse that they had so much time to make up for, and had bid her a good night. Legolas had stood quickly before she had left and had taken her hands into his as he bent forward to whisper his goodnight in her ear. She knew that she must have flushed from the heat of his breath against her skin, by the way Elrohir had snickered as he walked past her.

Of course, that had necessitated the need to thump him soundly on the back of the head and chase him up the stairs, laughter ringing out from behind them.

Sighing, she rolled up and leaned down to unlace her boots, happily toeing them off and wiggling her toes. She stood up and crossed the room to her bag, pulling out the new nightshirt she had purchased the other day. Slipping into the long-tailed garment, she pulled the lantern down from the ceiling and blew out the flame, plunging the room into welcomed darkness.

She was tired, but pleasingly so, not the exhaustion she had been feeling since she had arrived in this strange land. Walking back across the room, she grateful slipped beneath the covers and closed her eyes. Morning would soon come and they would once again be back on the move, yet at least this time it would not be so far to travel.

Try as she might, her mind refused to let her rest, spinning madly over the journey thus far that she had taken. It seemed so long ago that she had just been getting ready to leave for work and she wondered idly what her supervisor, commander and co-workers thought when she didn't show up for guard mount that morning. She was never late and rarely ever took anytime off without notification.

She frowned at the implications that spiraled through her mind, if she was to return home she would be facing serious punishment for desertion of duty. She'd be lucky to even see daylight again, they would be so fast to throw her into prison. Knowing that she wouldn't get any sleep now, she threw back the covers and padded softly across the room to stand at the window, looking out into the moonlight expanse.

This was how Legolas found her when he returned to the room several hours later. He quietly shut the door behind he before he slipped across the room to place his arms about her waist.

"What's wrong, Rain?" he whispered softly, his face coming down to nuzzle against the side of her neck.

"Nothing, just thinking," she replied back, in an equally soft tone. She unconsciously leaned back into his warmth, soaking in the feeling of his hard muscled length against hers.

"Thinking about what?" he said, leaning back to turn her around in his arms so that he could look down at her. Her face tilted upwards, the moonlight turning her skin a pale creamy white, that almost begged him to touch but he held back knowing that she needed comfort tonight, not passion.

"What will happen to me when I return to my world," she said as she leaned forward and buried her face in his shoulder. Her words froze him to the core, `Return to her world!', his mind shouted. He didn't want her to leave him when this quest was over, so dear she had become to him. He gently ran a hand up and down her back, trying to find the words that seemed stuck in his throat.

"Everything will be all right in the end, I promise," he finally said, after several minutes of trying to talk, the dread of her leaving him still lingering heavily on his mind. He leaned back again and looked down at her, seeing the tiredness that graced her face. "Let's get some sleep and worry about this later."

She nodded softly and pulled back from him, walking to the edge of the bed and laying down her back to him. He quickly stripped down and slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight against his chest. He could only pray that she would come to see this world as her home and that she belonged here with him.

~*~

A/N: Rain a little melancholy and the group will be leaving tomorrow to continue upon their journey, however, what will be in store for Rain and Legolas's romance and what is Legolas's sudden interest in her new-found weapons. The next chapter should fun. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review. ~DBZ Vegeta

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