O' weary traveler || lotr ||

19

I failed my math exam ;~;

They slowed from their jog once they reached a path within the thick woodland, now traversing along flatter land Ithil took on a slower pace to allow his exhausted body to rest.

No words had been exchanged between the raven-haired elf and the blonde elf since Gandalfs.... demise

Nor any words from the raven-haired elf at all (seeing as his throat felt like it was on fire from overuse)

But he listened in content silence to Gimli's spiel about the 'witch of Lothlorien' and his 'ears of a hawk and eyes of a fox' that was obviously largely untrue.

Suddenly from out of the blue (or rather the trees as Legolas and Ithil had spotted them seconds before) came dozens of elves, each holding a drawn arrow to the fellowships head.

Legolas, who had seen them quickly enough to draw his bow, realised with disappointment that they could kill him easily before he released a single arrow and so lowered the weapon in surrender.

Ithil despite seeing them around the same time as the blonde (and having enough time to also draw a weapon) remained calm and unmoving, even when an arrow was placed under his chin.

The rest of the fellowship seemed startled at this unseen threat.

An elf, the captain, steps forward

"The dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark." he barked, but despite his harsh words a small smile broke across Ithils face

"Haldir!" he called despite his screaming throat (evident in the way his voice breaks)

The captain, Haldir, whipped around suddenly before returning the smile and motioning for the archers surrounding his friend to lower their bows.

"Ithil," he said smile turning into more of a grin (very uncharacteristic for him)

--------------------------------

It was night before they reached where ever Haldir was leading them, Ithil hadn't spoken a word to his old friend since their greeting and instead stuck next to Legolas.

He would have to wait until he could speak normally before catching up with his friend.

They stood on the border of Lothlorien when Haldir turned to them again.

"Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion (welcome Legolas son of Thranduil)" he said to Legolas doing a common elvish greeting gesture

"Ithil,mellon-nin (Ithil, my friend)" he addressed the raven-haired elf beside him.

"Govannas vîn gwennen le, Haldir o lórien (our fellowship stands in your debt, Haldir of Lorien)" Legolas speaks for both of them, Ithil nods slightly to further empathize his point.

Haldir then turns to Aragorn, "Aragorn in Dúnedain istannen le ammen (Aragorn of the dúnedain, you are known to us)"

"Haldir" Aragorn offers back with a nod mimicking his brothers.

"So much for the legendary courtesy of the Elves! Speak words we can also understand!" demands Gimli who looks rather annoyed at the special greeting the elves (and Aragorn) got.

Haldir looks over at him with disdain, "We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days." he said.

Gimli huffs in annoyance before replying, "And you know what this Dwarf says to that? Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul! (I spit on your grave!)"

Ithil pushes a hand to his mouth to stifle a giggle at the dwarf's insult, But Aragorn seems to not find it so funny,

"That was not so courteous." he scolded grabbing Gimli by the arm, however, Haldir seemed unfazed simply moving on to examine the rest of the fellowship.

His eyes fall on Frodo and he recoils, "You bring great evil with you." he said, "You can go no further."

And with that he simply walked away, leaving the fellowship stunned and the other hobbits glancing at Frodo warily.

With a sigh Ithil marched after him dragging Aragorn along by the arm, the 3 spoke in hushed elvish words that Ithil couldn't recount to you even if you asked but what he could remember was that every so often Legolas (who was the only member of the fellowship who could understand what was being said) shot him concerned glances.

This went on for a while before conversation ceased and Haldir walked up to Frodo again. After a while he said,

"you will follow me."

To be continued