"The night was as black as the inside of a cat."

― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

8. Where the Light Does Not Shine

Gandalf made his staff shine faintly or it would have been impossible to continue. The steps were made for dwarves and therefore low, for which the hobbits and Kat were grateful, but they were slippery and the walls on either side of them slightly moist, emitting a moldy cellar smell. They had to walk slowly and look carefully where they put their feet – or paws.

Kat walked with the hobbits, who were miserable. Pippin clung to Merry and both of them looked exhausted, struggling to lift one foot after another. Sam cried quietly, worrying sick about the fate of poor Bill among the wargs and lake monsters, and Frodo was trembling from delayed shock after his near-monsterfood experience.

Kat could not do much except be there, for what it was worth, stroking herself against their short legs whenever she could. She wondered what the monster had been. A colony of snakes? A giant octopus? Perhaps a hydra from the Greek mythology? Anything seemed possible in this world.

At the top of the stairway they took a short break to eat a little and take some Miruvor – the last that was left in the bottle, unfortunately. And then they continued, not wanting to waste time resting.

The air further inside was warm but still damp. The darkness was beginning to grate on Kat's nerves now, she had become used to her night vision but here it was too little light even for her. Sure, her cat's eyes came with drawbacks, she had noticed the colors tended to be a bit less bright and she was terribly nearsighted – but that was not very different from her human self. Without her contacts on she could hardly see who was in the back row of her classroom.

She wondered how dwarves managed to live all their lives like this. No fresh air, no plants, no vitamin D. It could not be healthy. Maybe that was why Axe Guy was grumpy? Though, she had to admit, since they came here he had been so cheerful she could have changed her internal name for him to Happy.

The mines were a maze. With every few meters they passed openings on the sides, sometimes with long corridors, sometimes with stairways leading up or down. Thankfully Gandalf always seemed to know where to go or they would have been lost in no time. The road was worn with many cracks and holes in the ground, some so wide Kat had to jump over them – and the hobbits too. Most were shallow, but at one point there was one over two meters wide and they could not see how deep it went – there was just darkness below, and the distant sound of running water.

"What do you think lies down there?" Pippin mumbled to the other hobbits.

"More monsters, perhaps..." Frodo swallowed.

Kat edged herself closer and peeked down. She felt a surge of nausea and an irrational worry that she might accidentally drop something important into the chasm – even though she obviously was not carrying anything.

"I can't jump this," whispered Pippin.

"You can. I'll catch you," said Merry, who was already on the other side.

Boromir squatted beside Kat. "Shall I carry you? This is no safe place for cats."

She gratefully climbed onto his broad shoulder, rubbing her nose against his neck as thanks.

"It is no safe place for humans or hobbits either," he added.

"Meow," she agreed, careful not to look down when he stepped over the fissure.

"Or elves," mumbled Legolas, gracefully joining them.

Pippin remained a long time, shuffling his feet, obviously gathering courage to jump but too proud to ask for help. At that moment he looked very young with his large, worried eyes in that small face, surrounded by a mat of curly hair, and Kat's heart went out to him. Through Legolas the hobbits had once told Kat their ages, and she recalled that Pippin was not even in his majority yet, which would be when he turned thirty-three. Compared to humans, that meant Pippin was still only a teenager.

Why had they brought him on the quest? He should have stayed at home, hanging out with friends, playing football or Monopoly, dating a girl – or whatever hobbit teens did in their spare time. Instead here he was, risking his life in a dark mine, shortly after almost freezing to death, fighting bloodthirsty wargs and witnessing his friend getting caught by a lake monster. Even if he came out of this alive he would probably suffer for it mentally later.

Being a teacher in a school where the major part of the students had parents born outside Sweden, many of them having come as refugees from war, Kat had met her fair share of traumatized children. They might look normal and act normal most of the time, but there would be moments when their past experiences shone through, when they became distant and disconnected – or sometimes aggressive for no apparent reason. Kat remembered a girl of ten or eleven who would obstinately refuse to sit at the outer row of desks in the classroom. It turned out her former school had been bombed and several children died – those who had sat near the windows.

As for herself... Kat had already been shot by a gunman and the recent events had shaken her terribly as well – and they had not seen the end of this quest yet, there could be more dangers ahead. Would this mission affect her afterwards too? Most likely it would, and if so, in this world there were no therapists who could help her.

At last Pippin made the great leap and the other hobbits cheered enthusiastically.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Merry gave him a half-hug.

"Easy for you to say who's tall. But I'm short and could do it anyway." Pippin grinned proudly.

Kat smiled inwardly. Merry – tall?

When the company continued their interrupted journey, Kat slowly became aware of a new sound behind them; a faint patter of feet. They did not sound humanoid – they were too light for that. Could it be a large rat?

The thought made Kat hungry, to her embarrassment. So far she had managed to avoid catching and eating rodents, but with the meagre meals she was given, the temptation was getting stronger by the day.

The next time she heard the sound was when they halted temporarily to cross another hole – a narrow one this time, thankfully. The feet stopped shortly after the Fellowship did, as if their owner did not want to come too close and be seen. That was too sentient behavior for an animal. Were they being followed by someone?

Do you hear footsteps? she asked Legolas, but to her surprise he did not reply. Had he not picked up her thought? She turned her head to check if he had lagged behind. No, there he was, walking with Aragorn in the rear. He looked a bit grim but otherwise normal.

Legolas? she tried again. Hello? Can you hear me? LEGOLAS! TALK TO ME!

He did not react at all. What was happening? Was Legolas' ability to communicate with animals not working underground? But he had spoken to her shortly after they had been trapped in here, so that could not be the case. Had their connection somehow become seared? If so, would it ever return?

Feeling cold despite the stuffy warmth of the cave, Kat realized how completely dependent she had been on the elf to be her voice and how helpless she was without him. Some mysterious creature was following them but now there was no way to tell anyone. What should she do?

Before she could figure that out, they had stopped again. They were at a crossroads and in the front Gandalf scratched his head under his blue wizard's hat. For the first time the old man seemed unsure which way to take.

There was some talking, and Gandalf decided they might as well rest a while here. He estimated it was midnight outside.

Beside the road they found an old door and behind it a chamber, which Gimli figured could have been a guardroom. The hobbits were so eager to go inside that Gandalf had to push them back and scold them for their careless hurry; the chamber could be dangerous, he must go first.

It was lucky he did, for in the middle of the room was a round hole, an old well by the look of it, one easily missed in the darkness. Just imagining a hobbit falling down there made Kat shiver as she slowly crept forward to peek.

Like with the wide chasm before, the depth of the hole seemed endless, and again Kat's stomach lurched uncomfortably. Why did she do this to herself? She had always hated heights and yet here she was, standing at the edge of a bottomless well for no reason. Quite the masochist.

Pippin stood on all fours beside her, looking down as well. He picked up a pebble.

No! she wanted to scream, but of course she could not. Wincing in frustration Kat could only watch as Pippin reached out and dropped it.

The small stone fell for a long time until there finally was a distant plop as it struck water far, far below. The sound bounced and echoed up between the narrow walls.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf growled. "Throw yourself in next time!"

Everyone listened anxiously in the silence that followed. Had they been discovered?

Then they all heard it: a knocking. Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap. It reminded Kat of Morse code, and she had a horrible suspicion this was exactly what it was. A signal.

The knockings went on for a short while before the silence resumed.

"That was the sound of a hammer," murmured Gimli.

"I do not like this." Gandalf glared at Pippin, his bushy eyebrows drawn together. "You may have disturbed something that should have been left alone."

As punishment for his foolishness, the wizard assigned the first watch to Pippin. The young hobbit morosely went to sit by the door, resting his back against it to make sure nobody could enter unaware, while the rest of them prepared their bedrolls.

Gandalf's staff light winked out and he lay down to sleep. Once more, compact darkness surrounded them.

Kat curled up in Pippin's lap to offer him some comfort in his penitence, but she could not relax. Her inability to talk with Legolas worried her to no end, and in addition she kept straining her ears to hear if something climbed up the well to attack them. As if all that was not enough, she could not stop thinking of the mysterious footsteps. Every little sound from her companions made her jump.

Pippin too seemed nervous, he was taut as an elf's bowstring and she could hear the quick beat of his heart. She tried to calm him by purring and kneading his thigh, but when he stroked her back in response she felt his fingers tremble.

After a while, Gandalf stirred in his blankets and came to join them.

"Have some sleep my lad," he said kindly. Apparently he had not been able to fall asleep, so he figured he might as well do the watching himself.

Pippin gratefully scampered off to his friends but Kat remained with the wizard. He was smoking, and despite the heady smell she was reluctant to leave the faint red light his pipe emitted.

Gandalf reached out to stroke her for the first time she could recall. "My friend... I think there is one who needs you," he murmured in a voice so low she had to strain her ears to hear. "The elf cannot sleep either."

She buffed her head against his hand as an indication she had understood, and followed her nose to find Legolas in a corner in the far end of the chamber.

She hesitated in front of his silent form. What could she do for him when they could not talk anymore? But perhaps her purring would help him relax – at least that always worked on Boromir and the hobbits.

When she jumped into his lap, Legolas started in surprise. Then suddenly she heard his voice in her head again, and she could have cried with relief. It still worked! Their link was not gone!

What... Oh, it is you. You should not... I mean, it is not proper for a lady to sit in my lap like that.

Thank God you are back! Kat reached up to rub her head against his chin, revelling in his familiar, comforting scent. You did not reply before. I was so scared.

I had not thought... Oh dear. My apologies. I shut the environment out. It was so silent in here; no living things, no plants, no animals. I could not stand it. He hesitantly enveloped her in his arms. Can I really hold you? It feels wrong.

Yes! By all means, yes!

Letting out a long, shaky breath, Legolas lay down, spooning Kat with his body while pulling his blanket over them both. She felt him bury his nose in her fur. I have missed this, he admitted.

Me too. Look, Legolas... I'm sorry for before. I kept teasing you and I shouldn't have. No wonder you got upset when you realized I'm a woman for real.

Did you think I was angry with you? Not at all. He hesitated, and then continued: I am not used to such frankness, but to be honest I... well. I find it refreshing, actually. I would not want you to censor yourself for my sake.

Really?

Really.

They were silent for a while, except for Kat's steady purring. She contemplated telling her friend about the footsteps, but when she realized how badly he was affected by this place she was not sure she should worry him further. Perhaps it was not even necessary? The Fellowship could not do much about it, even if they knew they were followed. They already were cautious; always on edge and alert. Gandalf, Boromir and Aragorn had walked with drawn swords all the way here.

I cannot stand these walls, Legolas thought bleakly. It feels like the weight of the entire mountain is pressing down on me.

Do you suffer from claustrophobia?

What is cla... whatever you said?

The fear of narrow spaces.

I am not afraid, he thought quickly, stiffening behind her.

No?

He was silent a short while and then she felt him relax. Well perhaps a little. But it makes no sense. I know the mountain will not crumble down upon me, why should it? It has stood for millennia. And besides, I live in a cave, I should be used to this.

You live in a cave? I thought elves were like... nature people. I would have guessed you lived in a tree.

I wish. She felt him smile; his face still pressed against her fur. Then he began to describe his home, situated far north from here at the edge of a vast forest commonly known as Mirkwood. In Legolas' childhood it was named Greenwood the Great, for back then it had been a wonderful place, wild but beautiful with its ancient trees, many creeks and moss covered glades full of shy flowers and tasty berries. But then Sauron's evil minions had settled there and darkness had spread to the extent it was no longer possible to live safely above ground. In the end Legolas' father had to delve an underground city for his people.

Still, my home is very different from this place, he thought. It is spacious and bright, with many lanterns whose light is magnified by silver trees and a ceiling inlaid with quartz and rock crystals. And in addition there are channels to lead sunlight inside. I do prefer roaming the forest but I never feel this way in my father's halls.

It sounds amazing. Silver trees and crystals! Maybe I can visit you there someday.

I would like that. When all this is over... He sighed longingly. No more Sauron. No more shadow. The forest safe again... I could show you my favorite trees. He sounded on the verge of sleep and Kat turned to rest her head against the crook of his neck. Soon his breathing was calm and regular.

When all this was over. She looked forward to it.

A/N:

Cuddles are among my favorite things to write! I hope you like to read about them because I just can't help myself! 

About measurements: Since this is written from Kat's perspective and she's a Swede, I use the metric system in this story. There will be meters, kilograms and Celsius degrees all over the place. If you are unfamiliar with those – put the numbers in Google and you will get them converted. As for this chapter, I did the math for you – a meter is 3.3 feet and it was over 2 m so the chasm they jumped was around 7 feet wide – which is a little more than the height of Aragorn (who was 198 cm or 6'6)!

Image Credits:

Screenshot from the Lord of the Rings movies.