By the river (Boromir and Elentari)

Boromir and the rest of the Fellowship had made it out of that accursed wood and not a moment too soon for the prince of Stewards. Honestly, that elf witch queen had rattled him far more than even facing down a Nazgul alone in Osgiliath. Although he supposed that part came with practice as he had had to do that almost three times now.

As he rowed the boat to the shoreline at Aragorn's signal, he couldn't help but glance over at the boat that bore Frodo.

And the Ring.

Of yes, the Ring of Power. It's very name conjured up images of Gondor either being destroyed in fire or raised high into legend by using the power for itself! But then... then he looked over at the boat that bore Elentari.

The witch who had comforted him in the forest of the elves and who had been doing much to drive away the influence of the Ring on his mind. To such a point where he was able to close his eyes and not think about the Ring.

Instead all he thought about as the boats touched shore was spending the night with Elentari.

Elentari smiled softly as she sat in the boat with Aragorn and the Halflings, it seemed like she could barely move away from them these days. It was quite sweet that they were so keen to be around her but she did have to remind herself almost constantly that despite their size, they weren't babies, they were actually fully grown men...and their attentions suddenly didn't seem so cute after all.

It was rather unfortunate that she couldn't be in the same boat as Boromir, they had become automatically closer after their night together in Lothlorien, however, she still had to protect his mind from the Ring's influence. It was something that she had come to be rather good at herself because she had to learn to deal with the intoxicating influence of the darkness on several occasions. The Ring, wasn't that much different.

As soon as the boats reached the other side of the river, after passing by the large stone statues of the past Kings, Elentari stepped out of the vessel after overseeing that the Hobbits had all gotten out safely. Sighing softly she looked around, deciding to take stock of the situation, it seemed to be unoccupied space...but there was something in the air that she didn't trust.

"We can set up camp here for a small while." she stated quietly "But only for a small while before we move to the other side of the river..."

Elentari rolled her eyes when Aragorn immediately countered what she had said without even checking it with her, honestly, she really didn't like that man. The sooner he learnt to listen to her the better it would be for the group.

Boromir had been missing being in the presence of Elentari but it had been decided that he should be the one to row the boat with Merry, Pippin and Gimli so he was in a different boat to her altogether and that was honestly a little bit saddening. He honestly hoped that it wasn't always going to be like this though. All these feelings... bringing him sadness at the smallest of things. They also brought him immense happiness though too so it would be worth it almost to him.

He listened while Elentari and Legolas advised that they should move quickly over to the opposite shoreline and frowned a little bit when Aragorn just as quickly dismissed their advise. The man was a brilliant soldier but he would never be a king if he was unable to listen to advisors who knew more about the situation than he did. Sighing a little bit, he moved to give Merry and Pippin a hand with their tent before he noticed something,

"Where is Frodo?" he asked, urgency creeping into his voice even as Aragorn and Legolas jumped into action to track the hobbit. He sighed a little bit as both members he got along with least left the budding camp, "Well... I'm sure they'll find him easy enough."

He gave Elentari and happy little smile and moved closer to her with a little bit of nervousness. Their night in the forest had changed things and it was taking some getting used to. He kissed her lightly on the cheek when the others happened to be looking away,

"I missed you." he told her honestly, "I... I wanted to be in the same boat as you but I guess it wasn't to be."

Elentari sighed softly and she leant against a nearby tree stump, before hopping up onto it and taking out her flask to sip from it. It was some sweet juice that she had taken from the Elves before she had left, she doubted that she would be able to have any more until their quest was over. Although she didn't very much like the Elven hospitality they had just received, it sure beat the hospitality they would be getting in Mordor...

As Frodo was announced missing, Elentari stood up and she swiftly picked up her staff to go and try and locate him with her magic but, with two of the prime fighters already gone...Elentari didn't want to take the chance and leave the camp very unprotected. Her senses were focused on the sense of unease that was surrounding the area, as she had found Legolas' had been.

Unable to stop herself smiling at Boromir's nervousness when he approached her, Elentari turned and pressed her own lips to his cheek in return for his own sweet kiss. To be honest she didn't care who saw them embracing like this, as consenting adults there was very little that could be said about it.

"I missed you too." she replied with a soft smile on her lips "I'm sure that we will have lots of time to spend together tonight though, at least, I hope that we will, although I can't shake this feeling that something is very wrong." Elentari admitted with a shake of her head.

Settling back down she grinned cheekily at Boromir; "Aren't you going to whip those Hobbits into shape with some more duelling lessons? They might need it with the journey that they have coming up."

Boromir was not as in tune with the air as Legolas and was nowhere even remotely close to magically inclined so he had not felt the disturbances that Elentari had felt. However, even Boromir was able to tell that the air was unnatural silent. The creatures of the forest were all quiet and that never happened unless something had disturbed them enough for them to vacate the area... something he had seen happen all too often when orcs were nearby. They were hardly gentle to the land they travelled over after all.

But when she smiled at him he couldn't help but smile back and suddenly the problems seemed to be diminished in size. When she kissed his on the cheek as well he smiled wider back at her, feeling a little bit silly for kissing her when no one was looking their way now. Why should they hide what they had? It could only be another bond for the fellowship after all,

"I'm sure that we will have time together as soon as we can rest peacefully." he agreed before nodding in agreement, his face slightly grim, "I'm not good with tracking and such but... a forest should never be this quiet."

He chuckled a little bit when she suggested that he give some of the little hobbits more duelling lessons. Calling Merry, Pippin and Sam over to him, he instructed them to begin cleaning their swords as he had taught them as he glanced over at Elentari,

"You just want to see Merry and Pippin take me down again don't you?" he teased her with a wink before he began to drill the hobbits on what stance to take, "I must admit... the hobbits are fast learners, are they not Elentari?"

Elentari couldn't help but smile when Boromir smiled, he was such a sweet and lovely man at heart and his playful smile was something that she hadn't seen a lot since he had become one of the Fellowship, and to be honest she was glad to know that she was the reason that he was now smiling so much and enjoying himself. She had freed him from the influence of the Ring, and from the Elvish Witch in the Lothlorien and allowed him to be himself.

"Let us stop talking of such things, we don't want to frighten the Halflings..." she smiled gently "For all I know it could be my old age catching up on me and I'm completely wrong about the whole thing, I hope that is the case truthfully."

As the Hobbits began to assemble their weapons, Elentari watched from her tree stamp, it was hopefully going to be rather amusing to watch them fight. Boromir would have to go easy on them again, and it was hard for him to fight people who were more than half of his size she was sure. They got into their stances and she laughed softly.

"Oh that was not my intention at all...I wouldn't want your manly pride to be knocked down even more notches than it already had been from the first time that had happened." Elentari giggled "They certainly are swift learners, soon they'll be giving you a run for your money for real Boromir." she teased "Maybe we should switch it up a notch and have me fight them next time around."

Rummaging through her backpack she smiled lightly and threw some salted pork and bread to Gimli, before having some for herself; "Mmmm lovely."

Boromir nodded a little bit as he smiled in return of her gentle smile. He did so love it when she smiled, it always made him feel much better knowing that she was smiling with him. And since it was happening more and more often since their night together, he was overjoyed to conclude that he might actually be the cause of it. It made him grin a little bit as well. If he could inspire such happiness in one so old and wise then he must be doing something right,

"Indeed, it scares them to know that there's only one breakfast in the day as opposed to their four or five." he joked with her, loud enough for the hobbits to hear before whispering just to her, "Just in case, I would think it best to have them warmed up and ready for combat..."

He smirked a little bit at her even as he began to playfully slap away the stabs and slashes of the hobbits. All the while he had his eyes half on Elentari and it was no doubt annoying the three hobbits that he was paying only half attention to them all attacking him as best they could,

"Oh keep laughing... but I'm sure that I'll find something similar that you've done in the past to have a good chuckle over." he teased her with a smirk, before batting away a strong attack from Sam, "Good form Sam, just remember to aim for the stomach, that's the highest point you can reach easily."

When it was suggested that they train with Elentari, the hobbits, strangely enough, all seemed to just opt out of fighting. He took it as a challenge to keep their attention on the fighting and was able to get more out of them,

"Well Elentari gets food... no food for hobbits until I have been forced to submit shall we say?"

Elentari couldn't help but think that the Hobbits were more intelligent than they seemed and they had more than likely cottoned onto the fact that there was something going on that wasn't exactly the best. Honestly she was still working on figuring out what was causing her these feelings, it felt like there was something shifting, something new in the darkness, and that could only be a bad thing.

Seeing as she knew everything and anything about dark creatures, it irked her that there was this one thing that she wasn't able to get.

"Of course, I mean look at all of the weight they have lost already, it can only be a positive thing I am sure of it. You will be muscled in no time instead of round and tubby, especially you Samwise." she stated teasingly, and she laughed at the response that she got which was about as venomous as a little teddy bear.

Looking once more around the woodland bank, she took off her axe and sword and laid them at her feet so that she could get to them quicker if she needed to spring into action.

The Hobbits had good form now that they had been threatened with not having any food, it was good motivation to be honest, there was nothing that Hobbit's loved more than their food after all, and seeing her and Gimli eating was adding fuel to the fire.

"It seems as if you have found a weak spot there Boromir, I think that is absolutely correct, no food until you manage to get Boromir down on his knees, then you can have some of this succulent, rich pulled pork and this fluffy wonderful bread..." Elentari taunted, her eyes flashing with warm mirth as the Hobbits threw themselves into attacking.

"Use your heads! Make sure you aim for the weak points, knees, back of the ankles, the stomach. Work as a team!" she instructed as she hopped off the rock and began to circle the group, the feeling of unease gently being forgotten, until she heard a cry of distress from the forest, and the sounding of what seemed like Legolas' elvish horn

"The others are in trouble, everyone grab your weapons and lets all stick together, nobody break away from the ranks!" Elentari instructed as she grabbed her axe in one hand and her sword in the other, waiting for the others to assemble "We stick together, there is safety in numbers."