Misted Shadows

Lothlórien (11)

After waiting for a few minutes, Haldir agreed to lead us to Lothlórien. The catch was, we were to be blindfolded on the journey there. This upset Gimli a bit, but he quickly agreed. The other elves then grabbed a black cloth from somewhere and tied it around our eyes.

Our hands were placed on their arms and we started to walk. It was a very odd feeling, not knowing where you are going and having to place your trust in someone you don't know. I felt like I was going to trip on every little stick that hit my foot, but I didn't. The guides must have led us on the smoothest path ever, because I rarely felt any bump the whole trip.

We walked for quite a ways, until we were stopped and the blindfolds were taken off. It wasn't a big shock to my eyes, since it was still night time. I rubbed them and looked around like everyone else did. We had stopped at a set of watch towers. They were quite a distance in the air and settled between two very tall trees. It was actually kind of scary. They were only supported by the branches on the trees.

I heard Haldir say from the front of the line that we would stop and rest here. I looked back up at the buildings and saw how small they were. How were all we supposed to fit in those? Haldir then called out who would be sleeping where. The Hobbits and Legolas would be sleeping in one hut and the rest in the other. I breathed a small sigh of relief, because I was not going to be sleeping without Aragorn.

As we climbed the ladders one by one, I could feel in my bones how tired and sore I was. As soon as we made to the top and into the huts, I plopped my bag down and sat down on the nearest blanket. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt someone sit down beside me. I didn't even need to open them to know who it was. I just simply scooted closer and laid my head on him.

He gently woke me and said, "We can lie down you know?"

I opened my eyes and blushed.

"Oh, forgot about that," I said with a slight giggle.

I scooted off the blanket and pulled a couple pillows next to us. He stood up, set his bag down next to mine, and got ready to lie down next to me. This was actually kind of awkward, because while we were doing this everyone else in the hut was pretty much staring at us. I was just about to change my mind when he pulled me down to him and surrounded me with himself and a blanket.

I looked straight into his eyes and felt safe. I felt like I had just come home from a long day at work. I snuggled in closer to him as he lightly kissed the top of my forehead. I felt my eyes slowly shut and the quiet world around me faded.

I awoke to a scuffle outside the tree hut only a few minutes later. Everybody was asleep, but the noise was coming from the other building. I looked up at Aragorn and saw that he was fast asleep. I crept out from beneath him and wandered outside of the hut without waking anyone else.

As I was peering down the ladder, there was a tap on my shoulder and I flinched. It was Haldir.

"What is that down there?" I asked.

"I think you know well enough who that is. He won't bother anyone up here. Go back to sleep," he said with a slight smile.

I went along with what he said and crept back into Aragorn's arms. He shifted, peeked at me, and pulled me in closer.

"Where did you wander off to?" he whispered in my ear.

His warm breath sent shivers down my spine as I said, "Thought I heard something, but I'm not going anywhere now."

I felt him smile into my neck as he slowly let out a long yawn and kissed the nape of my neck. This made me squirm and giggle a bit. I could tell that he liked it, but we were both too tired to continue on with anything else. My eyes started to fall down and the world around me turned black. I fell into a deep slumber. I really needed this rest. My whole body ached and now, it was like I was sleeping on a cloud.