Legacy of the Dispossessed {DISCONTINUED}

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

"No," I said, adamantly shaking my head. "Absolutely not."

"It is the only way," Legolas insisted once more. "We need all the speed we can get."

"Do you not trust yourself even around these small boats?" Aragorn called over from the riverside. He and Boromir were pushing the three small boats into the water. "Afraid you'll get an urge to burn them?"

"I'm afraid I'll get an urge to burn you, if you do not shut up!" I snapped at him. "Legolas - bad things have happened to me on boats. I... Do not like them."

"You can ride with me," he offered. "Our boat has a spot open. We can easily fit you."

I sighed. "Thank you."

Aragorn was right. Well, partially. I did not like boats because they reminded me of everyone I'd lost. Everyone that had died in the First Kinslaying. I winced, forcing the memories back, and turned to Legolas. "I've never ridden in a rowboat," I admitted.

He raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought that someone this old would have." Legolas took me by the arm and led me to the water. I frowned. Was he teasing me?

We sloshed into the water, my heavy surcoat weighing me down. I eyed the boat. It was grey, a color that would camouflage well, and had a prow like a curved swan's neck.

A curved swan's neck.

Fire.

Fire was everywhere.

Burning, eating, destroying.

Prows of white ships stood proud through the blaze.

Prows tipped with curved swans' necks.

I blinked, shaking my head. Nope. Not today. No flashbacks, please. I eyed the boat, then swung a foot over the side. The moment I put my weight on it, it tipped over and dumped me into the water, trapping me underneath it. I emerged from the river very wet and very, very frustrated. "Blrgh," I eloquently said, spitting out water and some mud. "Eurgh."

Aragorn was quite obviously trying not to laugh. Boromir was failing. "Was someone going to tell me?" I demanded.

"No," Legolas said with a small smile. "I wanted to see if you really knew." I glared at him and he burst out laughing. "Look... You sit in it first, like this" - he sat in the boat, maneuvering his center of weight inside first - "and then you lift your feet in." I looked slightly skeptical. "Come on, it's not that hard!" He beckoned at me. "Or I could carry you if you wanted..."

"No!" I hurriedly said, wading through the water. "Nope!"

Legolas grinned as I carefully sat down on the boat. He held my shoulders and said, "Good, now the legs."

"I know," I griped, leaning back against him (to keep my balance, of course) as I swung my legs over. "Good?"

"Good," he agreed, with a hand still on my shoulder. "Except you've gotten water into the boat."

"It's not my fault that I'm this wet," I muttered, motioning to my soaked clothes.

Legolas raised an eyebrow. "Actually, it technically is, but let's not go there. Now, carefully, move forward a bit..." With his help, I moved forward from the back (which I learned is called the stern). Once I was seated, Gimli quite effortlessly got into the boat and we were off, rowing down the center of the Anduin.

"Let me take a turn," I offered.

Legolas turned toward me and raised an eye. "Are you sure?" He raised the oars out of the water with a dull splash. "They're heavy."

I gave him a look. "I can handle heavy," I promised. "Really."

Legolas nodded and we began the process of switching spots in the boat. It was narrow, so there was lots of awkward bumping into each other as we tried to a) switch places, b) not fall into the water, and c) not tip the boat over. Legolas and I could both swim, of course, but I presumed that Gimli couldn't, and even if he could, his heavy armor would drag him down. Oh, and we didn't want to get wet, either. It was February now, and the weather was still as cold as it had been in January.

I eventually settled into the spot at the stern of the boat and picked up the oars. Legolas was right, I realized after starting to row. They are heavy. Of course, it wasn't the oars themselves that were heavy, as they were elf-made. But the weight of the water they were pushing certainly was.

I glanced at the horizon. We would near the end of our journey tomorrow, at the Falls of the Rauros. Tomorrow, in the late morning, we would pass the Pillars of Argonath and camp at the edge of the Falls in the evening. And then, the thing I dreaded most: another fight between Aragorn and Boromir on deciding which way to go. Great.

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A/N: Sorry for the short chapter and the long time between updates everyone! I've had a hard time getting inspired for this recently.

Oh, by the way, I forgot this wasn't Sword and Arrow and nearly made Aragorn and Boromir have some fluff and make up after their argument- argh.

Oh, and all Silmarillion fans go listen to the Oath of Feanor by Phillip Menzies on Youtube, it's what I was listening to while writing this.