"If we continue at the pace we did today, we'll reach Amon Hen tomorrow afternoon," Aragorn said, contentedly smoking his pipe. "We'll stop early, get a full night's rest, then start early the next morning. If all goes well, we'll reach Mordor within a week."

I nibbled on a bit of meat, not finding this news terribly appetizing. Of course, since the incident with Boromir, I hadn't been terribly hungry anyway. Beside me, Legolas finished his portion of lembas, his wary blue eyes scanning the woods. He'd taken off his boots and stretched his legs out toward the fire, letting his socks dry.

Gimli was stared out at the darkening sky, also smoking. The Hobbit rascals were already fast asleep, Samwise was bedding down, and Frodo sat off to the side, seemingly lost in thought.

"Sleep." I startled at Legolas's gentle voice. He touched my arm and added, "Tomorrow will be a long day. You will need your strength."

I nodded, and scooting over a few feet, I grabbed my cloak to use as a makeshift bedroll.

Legolas frowned. "You need not distance yourself thus."

I hesitated, glancing at the rest of the company. Aragorn, Gimli, and Frodo observed silently, and unless I was mistaken—Eru, please let me be mistaken!—Aragorn was hiding a smirk behind his pipe.

I pushed my heart into its cage and slammed the door. "I know," I replied. "But I would like some personal space."

Legolas's eyes drilled into mine, searching. Finally, he gave a single nod. "Of course."

I tucked my cloak around my legs, then laid down on my stomach, using my arms as a pillow. It was pretty comfortable, except that with the sun gone, the temperature was dropping. Quickly. Maybe I should've accepted Legolas's offer, for the sake of pure convenience. But now that I'd put the distance between us, I couldn't just change my mind.

So I rolled onto my side, pulled my knees up to my chest, and resolved to tough out the night.

* * *

My own shivering woke me up.

It was completely dark, and the fire had gone out. I couldn't feel my toes inside my boots, and when an icy wind flew up from the river, my teeth began to chatter.

A touch to my arm made me gasp softly, but it was just Legolas.

Just. Ha.

He didn't say anything, just slid underneath my cloak and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warm chest. I was too cold to resist. Burrowing even closer to him, I placed my frigid hands on his tunic, soaking up what warmth I could.

Legolas's hand covered one of mine, taking it off his tunic and guiding it beneath the hem and onto his warm stomach. Shivering with the sudden heat, I let my other hand follow. Legolas's arm curled around my back again, and I instinctively burrowed my face into his neck.

I was too sleepy to enjoy those fleeting moments the way I should have.

* * *

I became vaguely aware of someone standing directly over me. I frowned and blinked. A gentle hand touched my shoulder. "Legolas, Eda, it's morning."

The arms keeping me toasty warm unwrapped themselves, and Legolas sat up. Suddenly cold, I clung to his chest with a little whimper.

Aragorn chuckled and backed away. "I'll give you two a moment before I wake the others."

Legolas smoothed a hand over my messy hair, then gently detached my hold. "Alright, let's get ready to go."

I sighed, but obeyed. Aragorn soon woke the others, and while Samwise relit the fire and prepared our breakfast, the rest of us loaded our supplies into the boats.

We ate in silence. I caught Boromir watching me a couple of times, but I didn't say anything. I didn't need to. Legolas's sharp blue eyes took in everything.

I was relieved when we separated into our boats and left. Gimli graciously requested the middle seat in the boat, explaining that he hadn't slept terribly well last night. I shrugged, taking the seat at the front of the boat.

This was considerably different than sitting in the middle. Because, unless I felt like riding the prow astride, I had to face the others in order to get any footspace. And even that wasn't so bad; Gimli was willing enough to talk about whatever I wanted to hear about. But when Gimli wedged his girth underneath the middle bench to get some shuteye, that left Legolas and me alone with Gimli's logsaw snores.

At first, I gazed off into the woods along the shore, pretending Legolas wasn't there. But my heart was forming a secret alliance with my eyes, and they'd somehow struck a deal where I ended up glancing at Legolas every thirty seconds or so. Legolas met each glance with a wry smile, and I would look away again, pretending it hadn't happened.

At about mid-afternoon, I decided to do something with my horrible hair. I'd thrown it up into a loose braid the night before we left Lothlòrien, and hadn't thought to do anything with it until now. Now, entire locks were falling out, making the braid look more like a squirrel's tail than the beautiful hair I wished I had.

I sighed. It's rough being half-Dwarf.

I began the long process of taking out my braid. And it was a long process. Because my hair tangled as I unbraided it. When it was finally out, I ran my fingers through it a few times, then began a fairly simple updo that would more or less get my hair off my neck and out of the way. I also made sure the braid was nice and tight, so I wouldn't have to deal with it again for a few days.

Honestly, I didn't even know why I hadn't chopped it all off and bought a wig like rich ladies wore.

My traitorous eyes wandered to Legolas. He calmly met my gaze, then openly stared at my despicable hair.

"Yes, I know, it's awful."

Legolas smirked. "It's unique."

"And a blessing," I said. "That is, for everyone else who doesn't have to live with it."

This earned a full smile. "In texture, your hair appears much as Thorin's did. In color, it is almost as dark as your father's—but in the sunlight, it shines red, like Tauriel's."

I gritted my teeth and looked away. It was official. I was going to chop this crap off, first chance I got.

"Amariel."

My eyes found his, without my permission. Legolas cocked his head to the side, studying me.

"It's such a beautiful name," he said at length. "I will call you whatever you wish, but I cannot fathom why you would prefer your Dwarvish name."

I tore my gaze away and watched my fingers intertwine in my lap. "Eda was Granny Dìs's nickname for me, and what I was known as in the streets of Dale. But...when I was presented in the Court of Erebor, I was introduced as Amariel—since that was the name my mother had chosen. Word got out that an heir had been found, and that their name was Amariel. So...going by Eda has always been safer."

"Yet Haldir called you Amariel," Legolas challenged.

I nodded reluctantly. I didn't want to tell him the story...but with Gimli asleep, we were as alone as we were going to be—probably for some time.

"I met Rùmil first," I began. "Naturally, I introduced myself as Eda, and it worked out, as he didn't particularly care who—or what—I was. Our friendship was tough at first, because I only knew the bare minimum of Quenya to scrape through a basic conversation. But Rùmil was patient with me, and taught me as much Quenya as he knew how. And it was enough. Then I met Haldir."

I swallowed. This was where things got sticky. "I immediately knew who he was; Rùmil had told me about his brother becoming marchwarden, and I saw the similarity between them. My goal was to climb the ladder to Galadriel and eventually assassinate her, and I knew Haldir was my best bet. But I realized that Haldir would never let something so obvious happen under his watch, unless he were blindsided with love. And I knew he would never allow himself to entertain feelings for anything but a pure-blooded elleth."

I closed my eyes, remembering that day so clearly. "Betting everything on the likelihood that Wood Elves would pay little attention to the matters of the Dwarves, I introduced myself to him as Amariel. I told him I was an elleth from the far east, thus explaining my poor Quenya and short stature.

"And from that point forward, I led a double life. To Rùmil, I was Eda—funloving, easygoing, and an affectionate friend. To Haldir, I was Amariel—serious, cunning, and a quick student in weaponry and hand-to-hand matches.

"That, in and of itself, wasn't so bad. But when Rùmil began to develop feelings for me..." I shook my head. "I needed his help, and I was afraid to refuse his attentions. And when Haldir started showing interest in me..." Shamefully, I met Legolas's gaze. "I entertained them both. Rùmil by day, and Haldir at night." I looked away. "The rest, you know."

Legolas frowned, his gaze dropping to the water as he rhythmically paddled. A long moment passed in silence—save Gimli's snores. Finally, Legolas said, "Eda—Amariel—have you...I mean, are you...did you ever..." He grimaced. Finally, he looked me in the eye. "Are you still...pure?"

I squirmed. It should've been funny. Legolas was so obviously uncomfortable with the topic that I should've gotten some payback out of it. But...I was uncomfortable, too.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. Thank Eru Illùvatar and the Valar above that I didn't have to lie this time.

Legolas gave a sigh of relief, but he eyed me warily. "That was hardly an emphatic answer."

I played with the hem of my shirt. "There were a couple of times that I almost...umm...did it."

"With whom?" Legolas questioned. His casual tone didn't fool me in the slightest.

Eru, this was embarrassing. I cleared my throat. "Well, uhh...first it was Elrohir." Legolas's paddle pattern faltered. I swallowed hard and spat the rest out. "Then it was Elladan."

I swear, I could practically hear his wordless mental exclamations. A long moment passed, then he said in an overly-calm tone, "Do you make a habit of entertaining brothers simultaneously?"

I scowled. "Elladan and Elrohir were not simultaneous. They were ten years apart, for your information."

"I am suddenly very grateful to be an only son," Legolas murmured.

My heart gave a painful thump at his words. My mind, ever the snide one, didn't miss the opportunity to gloat. He didn't mean anything by it. Nothing positive, anyway.

A shrill whistle from the front of our caravan drew my attention to Aragorn. With one hand, he motioned for us to steer the boats to shore. Up ahead, the river dropped away into a thundering waterfall.

Legolas promptly altered the boat's course, and as we glided toward shore, he reached beneath his seat to retrieve my new swords. He leaned forward to hand them to me across the length of the boat. "Put these on, and don't take them off."

I carefully stood, balancing in the moving boat, and followed his instructions. "Okay. Why?"

A frown marred Legolas's smooth brow. "Something sinister approaches; I know not what. Nor can I tell when it will arrive. But I would not have you caught off guard."

I nodded, then turned to gaze at our campsite-to-be. Old, moss-covered statues stood guard around crumbling structures of all sizes. Whatever this place was...it welcomed us with all the warmth and comfort of a mausoleum.