I took the back position of the Fellowship to make sure we weren't attacked from behind, not that it was a problem since we had just left Rivendell.
Gandalf took the front of the line, followed by Legolas, Gimli, the hobbits and our pack pony Bill, Boromir, Aragorn, and then me.
Gandalf was the apparent leader, so he told us the course we would take.
We were headed towards the Gap of Rohan, south of the Misty Mountains, and then we would go straight east towards Mordor.
So we traveled with the mountains to our left shoulder and moved towards the south.
Gandalf told us to make an early camp.
All the experienced travellers, in other words, everyone except Gandalf and the hobbits, wanted to push on until dark, but Gandalf wanted to ease into hard travel for the ones less accustomed to it.
Since Gandalf always used his horse to travel places, we knew he was speaking for the hobbits and himself.
Though I loved riding, I was still fit enough for any sort of travel. I still wished I could ride Firefoot, but he had been left behind in Rivendell.
We camped on a crumbled old rocky ruin, basically huge boulders amongst patches of grass, a little preview of what Rohan would look like for the people who had not been there before.
Hobbits are known for their love of food, so we put them in charge of meals.
After an amazing, but early supper, Boromir decided to teach the hobbits how to swordfight. Frodo and Sam respectfully declined and sat eating leftovers and watched, but Merry and Pippin jumped at the opportunity to learn.
Aragorn sat and watched with the other hobbits, smoking and commenting sometimes on the action.
A few yards away, by the campfire, Gandalf sat smoking and thinking. Gimli was sharpening his axe a few feet away.
Legolas and I had taken the first watch. Though my eyes were beginning to lose their avidness for seeing far away, I always volunteered for watch, probably because I was antisocial.
Legolas stood on a boulder, facing north where we had come from, standing very still like a perfect, beautiful statue.
I stood on another boulder not too far away, but facing south towards the Gap of Rohan.
We were both a few yards away from where Gandalf and Gimli sat.
Though my eyes were bad, my ears had made up for it by having such keen hearing that I could hear for almost a mile away.
Elves are born with amazing eyesight and hearing, but not humans.
Since my hearing was so good, it wasn't hard at all for both Legolas and I to hear the conversation that followed.
Gimli walked over to Gandalf and sat next to him and spoke. "If anyone asked my opinion, which I note that they're not, I would say we're taking the long way around. Gandalf, we could go through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome."
The Mines were underneath the Misty Mountains, and it was where dwarves had mined for jewels and treasures in the mountain.
Gandalf shook his head.
"No Gimli. I would not go through Moria unless I had no other choice."
I didn't hear the rest of the conversation because I saw something in the distance, coming from the Gap of Rohan and moving towards us.
It was a dark cloud of....something and was moving towards the camp and against the north wind.
My eyes couldn't see well enough for me to sound an alarm, so I had to ask the only person nearby who had the perfect eyes.
"Legolas? Could you come over here and see what this is? I can't quite make it out." I said, half-scared of what he might do.
He gracefully bounded onto my boulder and looked to where I was pointing. He was so close that I could feel warmth radiating from his body. Why did I always get distracted when I'm around him?
I focused, and looked again, squinting my feeble eyes.
By then, everyone except the hobbits had taken note of my alarm and were murmuring amongst each other, but I focused on Legolas' face.
"What is it?"