Before the Crebain (Gimli and Elentari)

Elentari had rode with the Fellowship as they had stated they would towards the Gap of Rohan, they would hopefully take that path towards the South, and from there head to Mordor. It was longer than going through the mines of Moria but, it would mean that they would avoid passing through the graveyard that it had become, with both the Goblins and the Balrog to consider, this route was far safer even if it did take longer.

Closing her eyes as she eventually came to a stop on her horse mount, she took a moment to take in the air, there was no evil here, no darkness. Or, there wasn't any here yet at least. That was good, it meant that they could afford to have a rest before they continued on, the Hobbits although sweet and gentle were not the best of companions for a journey such as this.

Their complaints for second breakfasts and suppers were getting insufferable, and they had only been gone from Rivendell for a day or so.

As she clambered down from the horse, she tied it to one of the bushes nearby. Already the Hobbits were off trying to cook up some food, which she would happily have some of when it was done. Running her hands through her hair, Elentari was a little bit annoyed she hadn't been able to take her Fell Beast, it would have been quicker that was for sure.

Sitting down on one of the rocks, dressed in her tight black leather armour once more, she placed her staff on the rock next to her, as she gazed up into the sky above. Her gaze was drawn to Gimli, as he argued with Gandalf about the route, he wanted to go through Moria, and upon hearing this sent Gandalf a firm and hard gaze. They were not going through there under any circumstances.

Gimli had to admit that as nice as it was to be away from the kingdom of the elves, it was worse to be strapped to the back of a wild animal like a horse. It was a killer beast gods-damn it! A horse could kill a dwarf with just one rearing of it's burdened back and Gimli hated that about the damned creatures. That and they moved far too fast for his liking. He was a natural sprinter like most dwarves and he didn't like all this speed all the time.

He had to admit that it was good that they had the Hobbits with them because it gave him a good excuse to rest and to be off the damned horse. They were easily tired, much more so than he was and he just shook his head a little bit. They would make poor warriors but they were great to have around with you. Especially that Merry and Pippin duo, they made sure the company was never without a good song.

With his horse now stationary, Gimli took the chance to jump off the troublesome beast and he sighed with relief when he landed on the solid, unmoving, ground. He sighed a little bit to himself before taking his canteen of Dwarvish mead from the saddle bags. Sighing happily as the alcohol touched his tongue, the moaning of the Hobbits for more food was easily drowned out.

He didn't know why Gandalf didn't want to go through Moria - The man was being incredibly tight lipped about his reasons. As far as Gimli knew, there were no good reasons to avoid Moria! Deciding to get a second opinion, he moved over to Elentari,

"Hello there Elentari!" he greeted her, offering some of his massively strong alcohol to her, "I was just discussing our route with Gandalf. It would be easier to cut through Moria I say."

Elentari smiled softly when she saw Gimli coming towards her, the dark thoughts were purged from her mind but she thought that they weren't going to be gone for long. She could tell that he wanted to talk to her about the reason why Gandalf didn't want them to go down into the mines of Moria...it was a debate in her mind whether she should tell him the whole truth, to just hint and allow him to guess for himself, or if she should keep her lips shut like Gandalf.

As he approached her, and spoke about what she thought he was going to, she had to hold back a sigh. The light breeze tossed her hair back from her face allowing her dark black eyes to be seen more clearly, they were framed with more black make up, making them seem larger and more deep than they truly were.

"Hello there Gimli!" she smiled warmly, taking his drink and sipping from it, blinking at the strong taste but, she had plenty of dwarf mead in her time, it was strong but nothing that she couldn't handle "Thank you very much, it has been a while since I have had mead quite like this, perhaps I should venture into the company of dwarves again."

Eventually she decided she could think about the subject no more, and, she thought that she should ignore the death glare she was being sent by Gandalf and would go with the approach of merely giving Gimli a little bit of information that would hopefully give him some idea of what was going on, of why they weren't going to take the pass of the Mines of Moria.

"Gandalf and I both agree, we should not go into the Mines of Moria." Elentari smiled gently "I know better than most the darkness that resides in that mine, I believe it would be a wise course of action to avoid it at all costs, unless we have no other choice. It is a fierce and large force, something not even I or Gandalf could easily contain."

Gimli saw how her expression changed to a negative one as soon as he voiced his question. It quickly became apparent that she was going to decline answering his question in much the same way that Gandalf had just done. It was honestly rather infuriating that neither of them seemed to trust him enough to give him their actual reasons. Surely they had good reasons but he wanted to know what those reasons entailed rather than just being ignored!

He smirked a little bit when she didn't gag or spit the mead out like most non-dwarves did when they tasted the brew. After all, it was strong enough to knock a Hobbit out with just one mouthful. Merry and Pippin had been all too eager to try it and hadn't asked for his permission. He knew what they'd done seconds later because they were out cold and snoring their heads off,

"Ah you're very welcome! I'm just glad I can share it with someone and not have them curl up into a ball and complain of poisoning!" he joked a little bit before grinning widely, "If you would want to then I'm sure I could scrounge up some other Dwarves to accompany us."

He could see the reluctance with which she answered and the answer itself was, to him, needlessly cryptic. After all, what was there that both wizards combined couldn't contain easily? He didn't want to know but he was sure that the dwarves would be able to keep it at bay,

"Well you should be thankful that my cousin and his fellows reside there then!" he told her with a small grin, "He'd keep the evil back I'm sure of it!"

Elentari merely took another sip of the drink before handing it back to Gimli, she was glad that her heart had not become closed to dwarves after what had happened with Thorin, she thought that it might have done and since she had just stepped out of her exile this was the first chance she had to speak and work alongside a dwarf. It was a pleasant surprise to her that she was able to work together well with Gimli, and even, preferred him above others.

"I have drunk many dwarvish meads in my time, although not quite as strong as this, you must be in dire need of comforting, or, in dire need of warmth to carry such a brew with you instead of water." Elentari teased with a soft smile on her lips as she gazed out towards the sky ahead, it was beautiful and clear ahead of them but, to the west it was clouded with snow.

At the idea that the cousin would keep the evil back, Elentari had to keep herself from telling Gimli the truth outright, he was family to the deceased after all and he had every right to know without her having to lie and keep secrets from him. Yet if she told him, he would insist on going to the mines, the very place that she had no intention of allowing any of their companions to go.

Knowing better than any what was down there.

"I am certain that he would do so for as long as he could." she stated with a slight smile "But with the increased magical presence of both me and Gandalf, I fear that the darkness would be too tempted to lay dormant any longer, that is why, we should keep from the mines, I hope you understand mine and Gandalf's decision."

The darkness, now there was another reason Elentari wanted to stay from the mine. It would be too tempting for her also, not to capture the Balrog while she was down there, to do so she would put everyone in danger when there was no need, and their mission was more important than her needs.

Gimli chuckled a little bit and took a swing from the canteen when she handed it back to him. She had had more than what most humans ever dared to drink and that would stand in her favour to be sure. This mead was strong enough that even dwarves would comment on how strong it was. For her to withstand it was rather impressive he had to admit. It came as little surprise though since she had spent a lot of time in the company of Thorin,

"I imagine the company of Thorin would have brought many different kinds of Dwarf mead with them on their journey." he agreed with a little bit of a chuckle before rolling his eyes slightly, "Between complaining hobbits and the damned evil horse I've been strapped to? It's a wonder that I don't have anymore on me at the moment to be honest!"

Gimli had every confidence in his cousin. They had fought stray orcs and goblins together and the two of them had even managed to bring down a cave troll with each other's help. He was damned sure that he could handle any un-named darkness that the wizards were so worried about. He laughed a little bit at her choice of wording,

"Ah my cousin will be holding it back even as we speak I tell you." he assured her with a smirk, "But I guess I can understand not giving the darkness the temptation, even if it would be dashed upon the rocks of their defences!"

He grinned a little bit, having convinced himself that at least his cousin would still be fighting. And fighting was one of the things that dwarves loved above all else.

Elentari smiled softly at the memories that she had shared on the rare occasions she had accompanied Thorin in person as opposed to in his dreams. It had been a fun event on all of the occasions she could be sure, and she was certain it had to do with the amount of Dwarvish mead that was being circulated around the small gatherings that she attended. It was enough to even make the surly prince contented and a little less cold when it came to socialising.

Unable to stop herself from laughing softly at his comments about the Hobbits and the horses, she couldn't help but think back to her mount, she missed it dearly because she normally took it everywhere with her, without it she feared that her image was sorely diminished.

"If everyone had taken to my idea we would be at the Gap of Rohan by now." she smirked "But noooo, the men and Hobbit's didn't want to ride upon a Fell Beast. What a waste. How many times can you say you have rode on the back of such a creature?"

Her heart could not bare it to tell Gimli about the fate of his cousin, he would find out soon enough she supposed, when this quest was over. If he survived. Of course, Elentari had already made herself a silent promise that all of the Fellowship would survive, even if she did not in the process. Such fine people were rarely seen in one companionship.

"It is not only the darkness that would be tempted." she admitted, her voice far away as if she wasn't fully paying attention. Elentari as soon as she realised what she had said blinked and ran her hands through her hair, such a power was calling to her to possess it...perhaps Saruman was right, perhaps she could not fight against the darkness as she was so consumed by it.

Throwing a rock, quite violently at that in her anger, Elentari turned towards Gimli with a cold flint to her eyes; "How is it these people do not fear me?" she asked quietly "Why is it that you do not fear me?"

Gimli hadn't spent a lot of time in the mead halls of Moria and the other dwarven kingdoms if he was honest, he spent a lot of his time hunting down and killing orcs and goblins who had taken up residence in former dwarven mines. It was a boring and repetitive job in some cases but thankfully none of the truly large dwarf settlements had fallen to the hordes of orcs and goblins that threatened to make their way through the entire dwarven world at any moment. But it was impossible for it to happen to places like Moria he knew so he was contented in that,

"Yes well a horse is evil but that thing would have likely tried to eat me for fun!" he complained jokingly before nodding a little bit, "It would have been a lot faster I suppose. Same if we had used the Eagles that Gandalf is famous for. I meant surely, we should fly to Mordor if we have this much air support?"

There was something that she wasn't telling him about the mines and about the darkness and the nature of the threat. All of these things tend to be rather important when you have a cousin who was in the mines and was likely trying his best to fight this darkness that even two powerful wizards were afraid of. He raised an eyebrow at her comment about temptation,

"Are you referring to Boromir?" he asked, a little bit confused, "I know he has trouble with the Ring but surely that's much more powerful than the darkness in Moria?"

He raised an eyebrow before answering her gently, "They don't fear you, I don't fear you, because you've let me see you working hard to fight the darkness. I'm not afraid of you because I believe that we are friends."

Elentari thought that it would be a good idea to fly to Mordor but apparently that would attract the attention of the eye too much, and if they fell from the sky there would be no survivors, the ground was longer but surely they could take some of the journey in flights instead of just walking the whole way? She was also unhappy with the way Gandalf seemed to be the default leader of the group...she was just as powerful as he, she thought with a pout.

"That is my opinion, or at least take some parts of the journey in flights." she smiled lightly "For example, we could take the last stretch in flight, to avoid having to go over the marshes, it would be a lot safer and a lot faster, but, apparently it is not to be." Elentari shrugged with a good natured smile, she was sure she would take much content in being right when the time came.

When Gimli asked if she was referring to Borimir she smiled wider and shook her head, her gaze which had been fixed on a distant cloud was snapped back to him, it had a rather sad quality to it. Sighing softly she thought that she had better set Gimli straight, Boromir would have no interest in the being in Moria, only someone like her would find it tempting.

"I am referring to myself Gimli, I covet dark objects and dark creatures, and there is no creature darker than that which sleeps in the mines of Moria. I could not trust myself not to try and capture it for my own..." she stated with a sigh "It is a weakness of mine, like it is a weakness of dwarves to covet objects of value."

His answer, although comforting, only made her smile ruefully as she stood; "We shall see if my fight is strong enough towards the end." sending him a small smile backwards as she walked towards the Hobbits and their food, Elentari tried to put her mind on more comforting matters.