Rise (Lord of the Rings)

21 - A Safe Haven

I could see the sunlight peeping through my closed eyelids the next morning. I smiled, grateful that the sun decided to join us this morning rather than the clouds, rain, or some other form of horrible weather. I sighed through my nostrils, curling my body tighter together.

Suddenly, the light vanished.

"Time to get up, young Hobbits," Gimli boomed.

I groaned, covering my eyes with one hand. "Gimli, you're standing in my sun," I mumbled.

"You better get up before Aragorn sees you. You don't want him to wake you."

Grimacing, I opened my eyes, yawning. I supported myself up with one elbow, realizing that whatever gap Merry and I had had between us last night had disappeared. Speaking of Merry, he didn't look too pleased either with the rude awakening. Even though his eyes were closed, he frowned.

I looked at Gimli, who was smiling under his facial hair. I blushed, looking away.

Gimli walked off, just as Merry was sitting up. "You're up?" he asked me.

"You didn't hear me complain to Gimli?" I retorted, grinning. "Come on, if I'm up, you should be too."

Merry helped me to my feet. I brushed off my dress, making me realize just how messy I really was. The black blood of Orcs was stuck in my dress, tainting its beautiful color. There was still a tear in one sleeve where the arrow had pierced my arm. The blood had dried around the wound, the wound itself looked nasty.

"How bad does it look today?" Merry asked quietly. It must've been rhetorical, because he examined my arm. "We've got to get this helped soon before it becomes infected. If we get to where Aragorn wants us to go, maybe you can get some help there."

"I hope so." I looked on as Aragorn and Legolas were talking in hushed tones, Boromir and Gimli were getting the others up.

Today was going to be another long day, and the first day without Gandalf leading our way.

"What is it?" Merry's voice snapped me out of my dazed state.

"Nothing." My gaze went to him. There was something in his eyes that told me he didn't believe me. "Stop staring at me like that. It's unnerving."

"I will once you tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong, Merry." I ripped my arm out of his grip, wandering away from him, hoping he didn't pursue. He had had enough to deal with from me from last night, I couldn't burden him with any more of my emotional baggage. He didn't deserve it.

Everyone seemed to have a slow start this morning, except Aragorn. He made sure all of us were up and had no second thoughts about collapsing back to the ground and taking a nap. He led our little party minus one onwards.

No one had elected a leader of the Fellowship; the position had always been taken up voluntarily without question. First Gandalf had filled the role, and now Aragorn was his successor. It made me wonder who the candidate would be should we lose our new leader.

The Fellowship passed over patchy grasslands and even crossed a river. Nobody spoke. What was there to talk about, really?

The only way I could make time pass was if I let my mind drift elsewhere while my feet continued to pull me along with the rest of the Fellowship. I tried to focus on positive images to help brighten my spirits. It wasn't easy when you're just coming from a traumatic event that only happened yesterday.