Fan Fiction ❯ Wild Blue Yonder ❯ Rivendell and Elrond ( Chapter 7 )

**REVISIED**

A/N: Whew that was a close one. They finally left, but I am under strict orders that I if I mess up again they are coming back. So, without further ado - I do not own, nor will I ever own the Lord of the Rings or any work by Tolkein. <sneaks a peek over the shoulder ~ I just wish I did> ~DBZ Vegeta.

Wild Blue Yonder

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Chapter 7 - Rivendell and Elrond

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A light breeze accompanied by the soft trilling of birds awoke Rain the next morning. Shifting slowly, taking in her surroundings, she found that Nanook was lying across the top of her feet. The morning sun shone brightly across the clearing, the light dappling the trees with its golden glow.

Sun. Morning. Bolting upright suddenly, dislodging Nanook off her feet, she bounced up, looking around the clearing until her angry gaze encountered the blonde-headed blockhead.

"Legolas. . ." her shout echoed across the clearing, startling birds out of the nearby trees and the three elves to jerk suddenly at the sound. Legolas winced visibly at the furious expression across Rain's face. Elladan and Elrohir both chuckled at the sight of the cringing elf as Rain stormed furiously across the clearing and stood towering over him.

"Did I not clearly remember someone, who resembled myself, telling you last night to wake me up for my turn to watch." she snapped, her tone low and commanding.

"Rain, I told you last night that you need not worry about taking a shift with Elladan and Elrohir here." he countered back briskly, trying not to let her tone intimidate him. The last time he had heard a tone of voice like that was when his father caught him sneaking out of the palace as a very young elf.

"That doesn't matter, I am a part of this team and as a team we work together. Everyone pulls his or her own weight. Next time I expect this not to happen again, do you understand.," she said, growling through the words slightly. "Now, when are we leaving for Rivendell?"

Legolas looked up at Rain, contemplating his answer to her since he was still smarting over her words. "We discussed it last night after you went to sleep. We'll leave within the hour. Will that give you enough time to get ready?" he said politely.

"I can be ready in fifteen minutes. Whenever you gentleman are ready, just let me know." she answered smartly, ignoring the hurt in his eyes. 'He deserved the ass chewing he had gotten. She had thought they had worked out their differences already.' she thought as she turned away and strode quickly back across the clearing to pack up her gear and deal with her braid.

Legolas winced inwardly as he caught the sympathetic expressions on Elladan and Elrohir's faces. Ignoring their expressions, he stood up and walked resolutely over to his pack and picked up his bow and quiver, before quietly slipping into the forest.

Elrohir sighed, concerned as he watched the angry elf disappear into the trees. Legolas may look tough, but he knew that he had a soft heart that could be hurt easily. His eyes slid back across the clearing towards the woman who had just soundly told Legolas off. She was seated next to her green bag, quickly re-braiding her long black hair. Watching as she tied off the end of the long braid and pinned it up along the back of her head, he stood up and walked towards her.

"Lady Rain," he said heatedly, "was is really necessary to treat Legolas like that? He was only concerned for your welfare." She looked up to find his gray eyes boring relentlessly into her green ones. Sighing exasperatedly, she stuffed her brush and excess gear into her A-3 bag before standing up in front of the dark haired elf.

"Lord Elrohir," she started, "I want you to know that I understand that he was trying to be noble and let me rest, but that is not the point here."

"And what was the point, to embarrass him or to hurt him." Elrohir interrupted as he snarled back at her, starting to get angry with this woman.

"Neither." She snapped back, her tone turning frosty. Startled, he took a quick step back as he looked into her flashing eyes, which had turned almost deep emerald shade, her ire rising quickly.

Advancing on the startled elf, she poked him hard in the chest as she stated, "He may have been trying to be kind, but I am a part of this group and I will not be treated like a hot house flower that needs to be protected every minute of the day. We worked this out several days ago and just because two other "men" have arrived does not give him license to turn his back on my abilities. You may be elves but that does not make you superior to me. Granted you have better hearing and eyesight, among other things, but I have abilities that I bring to this group. I will not be treated as an inferior because I am a human and a woman."

Huffing angrily, Rain turned away from Elrohir and snatched her bag up off the ground. "Which direction is Rivendell?" she growled.

"Huh, what?" Elrohir stammered at her, his mouth gaping

"Which direction is Rivendell?" she asked again

"The road is about a mile to the west and then its half a day journey to the north along the road. Why?" he asked confused by the sudden change of subject.

"Fine, see you on the road." she said as she quickly turned and slipped quietly into the trees surrounding the clearing, Nanook close to her heels.

"Lady Rain, wait." Elrohir called out quickly, and would have followed her but for the hand on his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, he came face to face with Elladan.

"Let her go." he said. "Orcs don't travel by daylight, so she should be all right. Come brother, help me pack the gear and break camp before Legolas returns." Elrohir watched as his brother turned and strode back over to the pack and began to gather them. Sighing, he looked back to where Lady Rain had disappeared before joining his brother.

He empathized briefly with Legolas, having also been a victim of Lady Rain's wrath, before another, more worrisome thought filled his mind. Lady Rain's anger would be nothing compared to Legolas' when he found out that Elrohir had been the cause of her angry departure from the watchful eye of the group.

Several times throughout the night he had caught his old friend's gaze wandering to where Rain slept peacefully. He'd seen the curiosity mingled with something much more dangerous cross Legolas' face. Elladan had noticed his distraction as well, and had warned his brother, with a mere glance, not to mention it.

'Yes, Legolas is going to be furious,' he sighed to himself as he slowly began gathering his belongings.

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Legolas sat on a large boulder, looking out over the small stream he had found after stomping out of camp almost an hour ago. He knew that he should return so they could leave, but his mind kept playing the scene over and over in his mind. He should have known better than to let her sleep, but she had looked so peaceful that he hadn't the heart to wake her. As it was Elrohir, Elladan and himself had stayed up all night catching up on lost times. It had been almost twenty years since he had last been in Rivendell and then it had been for the Ring Counsel. He had not been able to spend any time with his friends then and been busy with matters in Mirkwood since his return from the destruction of the One Ring.

Sighing, he stood up, knowing that he needed to get back. He picked up his bow from next to the rock and set off for the camp. It hadn't taken him very long before he slipped in between the trees to find Elrohir and Elladan seated next to their combined packs in the nearly pristine clearing. Looking around, he noticed that Rain was no where to be seen and even her bag was gone.

"Where's Rain?" he questioned the two brothers, looking concerned.

"She left almost an hour ago. Not long after you left camp." Elladan said as he stood up, picking up Legolas's pack and holding it out to him. "We have been waiting for you to return so we could catch up to her."

"What, you let her leave!" shouted Legolas. "Do you have any idea what you have done!"

"What do you mean? We should catch up to her quickly since she is only a human and cannot move as fast as we can." Elladan said, quirking an eyebrow at Legolas' panicked tone. His gaze slid towards Elrohir, whose face bore an expression of confusion. During the time they had waited, they'd had a rather heated discussion over Legolas' reaction to Lady Rain's unexpected departure. They had finally acknowledged Legolas' growing attraction and had steeled themselves for an explosion of anger once he realized they had allowed her to go off on her own. Neither were prepared for his frustrated resignation.

Sighing heavily, Legolas shook his head at Elladan naiveté. "You don't understand, she is just as fast as Aragorn. She kept up with me for three days with no problem and I didn't travel slowly either. We will be lucky to catch up to her before she reaches Rivendell" He rubbed his brow in frustration, "We have to go now and pray we catch up before she hits the guards." With that statement, he snatched his pack from Elladan's hands and sprinted off towards Rivendell.

Elladan looked quizzically at Elrohir, who shrugged back, silently saying that he wasn't sure if Legolas was joking or not. They both turned and shouldering their packs, dashed off after the others.

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Rain hummed softly to herself as she slowed down from her patterned run. She had been travelling for several hours now and had decided to take a break. Feeling a weight press against her leg, she looked down to find Nanook leaning against her, panting heavily his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

"Are you thirsty, Bup-pup?" she asked, watching as he tiredly wagged his tail at her comment. "I'm sorry that we didn't take a break earlier, but didn't it feel good just to be by ourselves."

Dropping her bag down, she sat on a log next to the road and opened it up. Reaching inside she dug out her bottle of water and her mess kit. Unstrapping the kit, she took the shallow plate out and poured half her water in it before placing it in front of Nanook.

"Here you are, drink up. That's the last until we reach another stream." she said as she raised the bottle to her lips and swallowed half of the remaining water. Looking up into the sky she saw that the sun was nearing the halfway point. 'We must be near Rivendell by now.' she thought. Standing up again, she stretched her arms high above her head, easing the aching muscles in her back from caring the A-3 bag.

Retracting her arms, she sat back down and drank the rest of her water, before stowing the bottle back into her bag. With a sigh, Rain admitted to herself that she had indeed felt exhilarated as she had run down the path, half of her focused on the road ahead, the other half straining to hear the sounds of light footsteps closing the distance behind her. But after a while, she had begun to miss Legolas' light chatter, his many questions about her world, the soft cadence of his voice.

Somehow, she sighed deeply, he had gotten to her, despite her best efforts to keep her distance. Leaning over to pickup the plate that Nanook had been using, she became aware of the low growl that he was emitting. Looking up out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was staring into the brush behind her, his hackles raised and teeth beginning to bare. Before she could turn around and confront the presence behind her, she felt a sharp tip of an arrow pressed into the back of her neck.

"Don't move." came the voice behind her. "And if you value your life, tell your animal to back off."

Damn it, she had let herself become distracted. "Down Bup-pup." she commanded quietly, while raising her hands slowly so the person behind her could see them. "I mean you no harm. I am traveling to Rivendell with several elves."

"If you are traveling with elves, where are they?" came the voice again.

"I left earlier than they did this morning. Elladan and Elrohir were going to wait for Legolas to return before following me." she stated calmly.

"You are traveling with Lord Elladan and Lord Elrohir, along with Prince Legolas, a likely story. Get up and turn around." Snorted the voice behind her. She stood up slowly and turned around. In front of her was another elf, this one dressed in what looked like a uniform, with his bow pulled back, the arrow pointed directly at her head. His dark brown hair pulled back into several braids and his brown eyes glaring down at her.

"As you can see I am no threat to you." she said quietly as she prayed he didn't think her gun was a threat.

"Angainor, bind her. We will take her to Lord Elrond. He will know what to do with her." said the elf before her. Before she could react, her wrists had been grabbed from behind and bound swiftly. Jerking her roughly around, she saw another elf, dressed in the same manner of the other one, just before she saw a fist come crashing down and darkness enveloped her.

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She came to slowly, he mind fuzzy about the details of what happened. She reached out her senses, keeping her eyes closed, tying to identify where she was. She was warm and laying on something soft, the texture like silk under her fingers. A light breeze played through the room, she could hear curtains being tugged by the wind. A smell of water and pine drifted hazily about the room. Opening her eyes, she took in the light color wood along the ceiling. Shifting slowly, she sat up, groaning as the movement caused her head to ache. Placing her hand to her head, she began to look around the room, only to stop on the elf sitting in a chair next to her bed. His was older than any of the other elves that she had met, but just as handsome. His black hair was pulled back and flowed down his back, except for two braids that fell forward across his chest. His gray eyes where full of benevolence and humor, reminding her remarkably of Elrohir. In fact, he looked a lot like Elrohir and Elladan. 'Could this be their father?' she thought.

"Welcome to Rivendell, Rain Clearwater. I have been expecting you. I am Lord Elrond."

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A/N: There you go, a much longer chapter as has been requested, and I expect from here on out they all should be longer (don't quote me on that, but I will try). Well, we finally made it. Rain is in Rivendell, but where are the others. Will Legolas be upset at the brothers for letting Rain get hurt? Let me know did you like it?