A Cold Heart Warmed: Part III
by Pharassero
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Kalay woke up to the sound of knocking at her door, jumping out of bed she yelled a quick reply. " Ok..I'm up just a minute..." she thought as she rushed to get dressed, She slung her pack and quiver over her shoulders, sheathed her sword on her belt and buckled her crossbow in as she ran to the door. She was just getting th last strap in place when her head met a rather unyeilding surface, looking up she found herself once again staring into Legolas' blue eyes.

" Hmph..some guard I am, I oversleep and then run into you because I'm not paying attention," she pouted for a moment, but Legolas just grinned.

" Don't worry, I'm not hurt by that litte bump. I'm sure you'll do fine once we are one our way. Come on, you didn't wake up, Gimli is still asleep. Boromir is just rising too." He turned and walked out slowly, with Kalay following him a bit confused.

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By the time thay arrived at the horses, Aragorn, the Hobbits, Gandalf and Boromir were there waiting with the pony. Gimli could be heard grumbling all the way down the steps, stumbling a few time and complaining about elf craftsmanship. Once the party was all together they said their farewells and headed out. Gandalf had made a course for them across stony hill and mountains. The going was a bit rough on the Hobbits, and Kalay felt a little sorry for them. She was glad for a rest when they stopped to set up camp, she chose a high stone behind Gandalf as a lookout. She thought she saw an odd black cloud headed their way, and just at that moment so did Legolas, with his better eyes he could tell almost immediatly what it was. Everyone was ordered to hide, some jumped under rocks or brush, Kalay, However fell backward off of the rock and into a bush. She stayed very still, until she heard the others calling her then she popped her head around the side of the rock much to the amusement of some.

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On their way again the group made for the Caradhras Mountains. The snow was deep and made slow going for everyone in the group except she a Legolas. He sank not at all and she only sank in to her ankles quickly hopping back out. They were making steady progess until a storm kicked up and made them nearly blind. Gandalf shouted that it was the work of Saruman, he was trying to bring down the mountain on us. Kalay thought as another blast of icy air hit her in the face. Gandalf tried to turn the spell around to no affect, he was still chanting whe a huge portion of the mountain collapsed and buried everyone. Legolas was the first to poke his head out of the snow, he pulled Gimli out much to the Dwarfs dismay by his hair. Kalay dug her way out and climbed back up looking for the others, reaching down she could just grab Pippin's shirt who had a hold of Merry. Pulling them both out, she made sure they were ok. They couldn't continue on this route, so it was decided by Frodo that they would go through the mines of Moria.

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They climbed down off the mountain and found a safe place to make camp for the night. Kalay helped gather wood and then hunt for small game. After everyone had eaten, they convinced Aragorn to tell a story. He told a good tale to warm the heart and calm the mind.

"Kalay, why don't you play us a tune or two?" Legolas asked, looking pleadingly at her.

"I'm..sure they don't want to hear my horrible screeching...." she was a bit nervous about playing in front of others but Legloas finally convinced her. She played a merry tune that she had made up, soon everyone was tapping along to the music. They sang and talked well into the evening until Gandalf told everyone they should get a good nights rest for tommorow could prove dangerous. Watches were agreed upon and everyon went to bed, Kalay chose to sleep near Legolas lest anything attack in the night.

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