Somewhere Over the Rainbow

No One Controls Destiny

Aisling followed Haldir's lead as he slowed Gwaedal down to a trot. They had been riding fairly hard for the last couple hours - well, truthfully the last few days. It seemed that he was just as eager to get to the safety of Lorien as she was. Though she told herself it was because of orcs and not because of what happened the day they nearly kissed. Even though everything had been normal and about the same, she could feel a slight underlying tension that hadn't been there before.

Maybe she should just force him to talk about it?

No, she couldn't do that. Because what if he was feeling something more towards her? She couldn't have that. No, it was better that they stay friends and friends only. And they could do that as long as they didn't acknowledge the obvious draw that was between them. Ignore it until it went away, and all. And Aisling was sure that would be easier once they got to Lorien and not constantly around each other.

He would go back to his job guarding the borders and she would... do something. She wasn't sure just what yet, but she was certain that she could find something useful to occupy her days while she was stuck here.

"So, not much farther, right?" she asked, glancing over at him and desperate to try and break the silence.

It was the first thing either had said to each other since they set out after a short lunch break. Granted with the pace Haldir had set, it wasn't as though they had much of a chance. It was hard to talk while maneuvering a galloping horse through the increasingly more rough terrain.

"Should not be longer. I suspect we can be a decent way into the mountains before we must stop for the day," he said, not looking at her as his eyes scanned the forest slope around them.

The terrain was beginning to get rockier and more inclined even though they had been heading upwards since that morning. Aisling knew that Lorien was just on the other side of the mountain, so hopefully that meant only a few more days on the road. She was beginning to think they had gotten extremely lucky so far. No more encounters with orcs.

"So, this whole unrest thing... how did it start?" she found herself asking. Probably wasn't the best thing, considering she very well could end up with nightmares about it, but hey, it paid off to be informed, didn't it? And so far she still had no clue exactly what was going on.

Just that packs of orcs were randomly traveling around the land and attacking people. And things were unsettled. There had to be a reason why.

Haldir glanced at her, his usual unreadable expression on his face, though Aisling knew by now this is what he did when he was contemplating something. He then looked away.

"Thousands of years ago, a dark lord came into power. Sauron. He intended to destroy Middle Earth and take it as his own," Haldir began. "He was once a Maia - a spirit that descended to help the Valar create Arda. But he followed another into darkness - the first dark lord Morgoth."

He glanced over at Aisling, likely to see if she was following.

"Okay, so long ago there was this bad dude named Sauron who followed this other bad dude. Bad things happened. Got it," she said, knowing it was incredibly simplistic. A flicker of a smile came over Haldir's face, but he nodded and looked away.

"It is said that he was once not wholly evil. Middle Earth had seen much destruction after Morgoth and at first he wished to help rebuild the land. But then darkness took over. He began to amass large armies of orcs and trolls, corrupting the minds of men. He sought to win over the elves as well, but some did not trust him - Lord Elrond, Lady Galadriel and Gil-galad, High King of Noldor were some," he said.

"Wait a minute, Elrond and Galdriel have been around that long?" Aisling interrupted, her eyes wide. She knew elves were immortal, but he was talking about a really, really long time ago. "Were you there for that?"