Athëa - Queen of the Savages

In the Snow

The elleth opened her eyes. She was lying in the snow, with the harsh wind thundering frosty snow in her face. She moved to stand up, but fell right back down, every inch of her body aching. She forced herself to her knees, and looked around for any sign of the man.

She found his shield lying a few feet away from her and hurried to the spot. While franticly digging in the snow, she almost started panicking, until she saw his almost blue colored hand sticking out of the white surface. She pulled Boromir's limp body out of the snow.

"No, Boromir please" she said pleadingly while cupping his cold face.

She looked around and spotted that there was an opening in the side of the rocky mountain. Athëa lifted the man and wrapped his arm around her neck, so that he was hanging from her back. She found herself being pulled into the deep snow by the weight of the unconscious man, as she dragged him to the cave.

The wind did not reach the inside of the cave, and she sighed of relief that the storm no longer smashed on her skin.

Athëa put the man down, leaning him against the cave wall. She put her ear to his mouth, and smiled at the sound of his soft breathing. He was still alive, but his temperature revealed that this would not last long, was he not heated.

She looked around to see if there might be any wood or anything for her to start a fire - there was not. Only the bare stone walls and the cascading snow in the opening of the cave.

She hurried to remove her weapons and unbutton her tunic. Straddling the still unconscious Boromir, she opened his jacket to reveal his bare chest. She leaned in onto the man and wrapped her arms around him, until she could feel his frozen chest on hers. She rested her head on his, listening to his alarmingly irregular breathing.

******

Legolas held his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. The fellowship hadn't made any stops before reaching Hollin, and now the ellon was sitting on the rock from where he had admired Athëa from afar, not long ago.

"Our purpose of the fellowship is not over, though the fellowship is no longer whole, my friend", Gimli said reassuringly while standing in front of Legolas with two bowls of soup. He walked over and seated himself on the rock next to him.

"You should get something to eat, laddie. It won't be long before we have to continue our travels", he carried on, handing one of the bowls to Legolas.

"What purpose is there, when we can't even get over these mountains, without loosing two of our companions!? And to snow none the less! How are we supposed to destroy the one ring, when we can't even protect each other!?", Legolas yelled, while knocking the bowl out of Gimli's hand.

They sat in silence for a moment, Gimli looking a bit surprised at the ellon's outburst. He stood up and picked up the bowl of the ground. He looked at it and found, that a mouthful or two of soup was still in it. He walked back to the angry ellon and handed him the bowl.

"You are right. This is a much more suitable amount of food, for a picky eating woodland elf", Gimli said, nodding his head and handing the bowl to Legolas once more.

Legolas scoffed at the dwarf's remark and looked up at him with an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me, Gimli. It's just that almost my entire life, I have been longing to know, what happened to my mother all those years ago. I had finally found the one who knew the answers to all of my questions, and I let her go before I even had the chance to ask her", Legolas looked down at the almost empty bowl in his hands.

But deep inside Legolas knew, that was not truly the reason why he was so angry with himself. He loved her. He loved Athëa, and he hadn't even told her. And now it was to late.

******

The heat was getting back into Boromir's chest, and he began to regain the color on his face. Athëa looked intensely at the man, her hands still on his bare back under his clothes. His breathing had become more regular. He was no longer in danger and now all she had to do was wait for him to wake.

She pulled herself up from of his lap, and saw him shiver, from the cool air falling upon his bare chest, in the absence of her warmth. She turned away from him to button her tunic.

"What happened!?", Boromir exclaimed surprised, looking at the elleth in front of him, and down at his own bare chest.

"Don't flatter yourself!", Athëa said harshly, though relieved that Boromir was awake. "I just didn't wan't you to die on me."

Boromir furrowed his brow and looked around the cave walls surrounding them.

"You saved my life", he pointed out surprised.

"Very good young man. Now are you able to make yourself decent, or do you need help for that as well?" she responded patronizing, covering her eyes with one hand.

Within a second Athëa found herself pinned against the wall, with Boromir's knife to her throat.

"I should kill you now, you don't have your friends to protect you, Savage!", Boromir spat in her face.

Athëa looked at him calmly. "It is as if you forget, that it was not our companions who saved me from your stupidity the last time", Athëa responded, gently poking Boromir with the knife she had to the side of his chest.

Boromir exhaled and let go of his grip. Her kindness and forgiving nature, confused his hate towards the savage in her.

"And trust me. I would have killed you long ago, had I not been cursed with these friendly feelings towards you", she continued sheathing her knife.

"Alright 'friend'", Boromir said sarcastically while buttoning his jacket. "So how do you suppose we get off of this mountain then? It is not like we have the best experience, with the snowy storm outside?"

"I think this might be our best option", Athëa said looking at a crack in the stone wall. "It looks as if it leads to a narrow hallway, but we need to be carefull. It seems to be pitch black, and we have no way of knowing what dangers lurks in the dark of the mountain", she ended, disappearing in the darkness.

Boromir stood in the cave for an moment, and took a deep breath, before following the elleth.

"This wouldn't be one of your elven traps, now would it?", he said.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. I am a savage, remember?", she responded smiling.

"As long as you keep your so called 'friendly feelings' towards me in mind", he said more nervously than intended. The darkness was blinding him, and he was now feeling his way forward, not being able to see nor hear the elleth in front of him.

He panicked when loosing his foothold, and felt his heart in his throat as he crashed to the ground. It felt like the echo on the cold stone walls went on forever, from the sound of Boromir's sword and shield landing on the rocky floor.

Within less than a second he could feel Athëa's comforting hand on his shoulder. They sat there in silence, listening to the sounds of drops of water running down the walls.

"It does not seem that you have awoken any threats with your racket", she whispered in his ear while helping him up.

She looked into the scared eyes of the otherwise brave man standing in front of her. It was apparent, that his eyes did not see her in the darkness and she couldn't help but sympathize with him. 

"Maybe it's best if you put your hand on my shoulder and let me guide you", she said acknowledging.

"Well...", he replied. "I guess it would be wise of me to make use of your elven sight. I believe I can wait and kill you, till we get out of this mountain."

She could see him smile in the dark.

*********

THANKS FOR READING!! :-D

Sooooo? What do we think of the new relationship between Boromir and Athëa?

I know that Boromir isn't exactly the most beloved character of LOTR, but I believe that he is just a big misunderstood softy ;-)

Please like and comment etc! :-)

"And that's how the Lembas crumbles"

- nindeanin