Hope - A Lord Of The Rings Chronicle

I Hate Being Sick

Aragorn awoke, and marvelled at the scene before him. Legolas had fallen asleep, Raina's head resting on his lap, her sighs and breaths echoing along the corridor. Watching the scene before him the two of them so peaceful and in love, well, they reminded him of him and Arwen. Well, what him and Arwen used to be like.

Aragorn sighed, eyes cast down to the floor. Truly, he was happy for his friend, but at times all him and Raina served to do was to remind him of Arwen, and what he had lost.

And what could've been.

But, that was for another time. They were trapped in the mines, orcs and goblins hidden in secret places, and with an ill company member. Him and Arwen could wait. The ranger stood up and began waking up the four hobbits.
"Frodo? Merry? Sam? Pippin?" He shook them all gently, carefully minding their legs. "Time to get up."
"Oh!" Gandalf groaned, leaning heavily on his staff. Aragorn moved to help him upward.
"Thank you." Gandalf smiled.

From beneath the two, Legolas was also stirring. He yawned gently, looking upward at them expectantly.
"It is time to leave." Says Aragorn and his friend nods
"I will wake her."

While Legolas proceeded to do so, Aragorn moved on to the only one who seemed to have trouble waking up every morning.

The dwarf.

Despite the ruckus that had happened in the middle of the night, Gimli still slept soundly, as if this had been the bedroom of a king rather than the wasted mines.
"Gimli?" Aragorn shook him gently, but when the snoring continued he tried harder. "Gimli!"

This was very bad. Even Raina was awake now. At this rate, Gimli wouldn't hear a pack of orcs, even if they were right in front of him. Aragorn sighed.
"Sam?"
"Yes?" The hobbit came up to him.
"Get me my water." Sam retrieved the bottle quickly, and Aragorn opened the cap with his teeth. Carefully, he allowed the water to trickle over the dwarf's face.
"Huh!" Gimli woke up with a shock
The first thing he registered was the water over his face.

"Elf!" He roared "If this is one of your-"
But he stopped short of complaining when he noticed it was Aragorn who was in front of him, closing the bottle.
"Aragorn..." he began in surprise, looking toward Legolas who was now helping Raina to sit up. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It is time to leave," the Ranger said standing up "I could not wake you."
"Well," Gimli jumped upward "Well, why did you not call louder? Rather than pouring ice cold water down my beard! Do you know how long it took to dry?"
Aragorn smiled to himself at the dwarf's concern for his facial hair. He grabbed his pack and slung it around his shoulder
"Any louder and the whole corridor would have been surrounded."

The Ranger passed a tired Boromir, rubbing his face, and came a few metres from Legolas wo was hunched over Raina, bow in his hand.
"Legolas?" The elf's head turned back at the sound of his friend's voice. He saw him discreetly stroke Raina's cheek, before he made his way over here.
"How is she?" Aragorn asked his friend, looking toward the incredibly drowsy young woman, whose hands were gripped by Merry and Pippin
"Not much better." Legolas replied, worried "I don't know if she can bare the journey."
Aragorn sighed.
"And now, with no way back, we cannot leave her with a healer. What to do?" He pondered, tapping the hilt of his sword.

Yes. Now all they could do was wonder, what to do.

****

Legolas had woken me up this morning, and after a few moments of fatigue had seized me, all my ailments returned with a vengeance, bringing tnew comrads. My nose was less runny, by throat was aching and my voice was hoarse when I answered him. I felt freezing cold, as if I was stuck in the antartic rather then the underground mines, and my head ached with the effort of staying awake. I hated being this way, feeling like such a burden, but at the same time, all I wanted to do was to return to my sleep.