The old ways

"Legolas?" Gimli watched the absent face of his friend, to him it seemed he remembered something very pleasant, for his face was lit with a silent joy and his eyes were glittering mischievously in the darkness.
It took the elf a second to register the sound he had just heard, recognising Gimli's voice. He blinked once and turned to the dwarf.
"Well?" Gimli sounded a little impatient.
"Haldir helped me to dry off and escorted me to my talan."
"Oh, sure! Were you at least holding hands, I mean....you don't honestly want to tell......" Legolas raised his hand and silenced the dwarf. "Did you hear that?" he whispered and quickly stood to scan his surroundings. Only a low whining of the horses was to be heard, but suddenly he spotted a hooded figure huddling along behind some trees leaning heavily onto a staff. "Aragorn, quick! The was an old man. I believe it might have been the white wizard."
Aragorn was up in a shot and helped his friends to have a look around. Suddenly Gimli called out "The horses! The horses are gone!"

The horses were gone and so they had to make their way into Fangorn on foot. Gimli was complaining constantly about all trees, roots and dried leaves on the ground, for they were only invented to make life harder for dwarves. In search of the two young hobbits, they encountered a hooded figure moving towards them. Weapons were rendered useless and to their surprise and joy, the cloaked man revealed himself to them as their old and long missed friend Gandalf. He told them about Merry and Pippin, but urged them on to come with him to Edoras, their help was needed there more badly and that the hobbits were quite safe.
As he called for his friend Shadowfax, Aragorn , Gimli and Legolas were happy to see that their horses were not lost but following the theitheitheir horse master.
On their ride to Edoras, Legolas noticed glances of deep thought on him and every time he turned to look at Gandalf, the old wizard only smiled a little at him and looked away again.

Deep in the Lorien woods the Lady Galadriel was holding a counsel to decide how to further act on the increasing threat from Mordor. The people of Rohan were in grave danger. Her mirror had clearly shown her a long and hard bloody battle which no one would survive if the elves didn't send reinforcements. She had also seen the three members of the fellowship, but their fate was uncertain.
Galadriel called on her best warriors to volunteer for this mission to relive the old alliance between men and elves.
She noticed Haldir's eyes scrutinising stare on her, but she ignored it for the moment. Haldir stepped forward and bowed his head slightly. In a quiet voice, meant only for her he addressed her "My Lady. Has the mirror shown you anything of my husband? Please I need to know."
Galadriel looked him deeply into the eyes "Not much, I am afraid. I only know that he will be at the Hornburg. But his fate is uncertain." She smiled slightly.
Haldir took a step back and squared his shoulders "I will lead the troops, my lady!"
She shook her head ever so lightly, trying to persuade him not to go, but Haldir nodded once more and turned to his arche
Mo
More warriors than expected had decided to join their leader and now everybody was quickly gathering their needed weapons and armour.
Galadriel stepped up to her marchwarden, laying a soft hand on his arm. "Please, Haldir. Don't go. I have a bad feeling about this battle, I fear for your safety. "
"My Lady, you know I have to go. I need to be near him. Maybe it is my presence that changes a possible fate. I can not risk to loose him!" Haldir's voice sounded distressed.
"But what will happen, if you are placing yourself under an irresponsible risk?"
"That is a risk I have to take. I fear that he needs me. I fear that something might not be alright with him." With that Haldir nodded courtly and turned to his archers.
In the early morn they left Lorien to begin their long march in direction of Rohan.

The reception at the golden hall Meduseld, was not what Aragorn and his company had expected. After they had handed over r wer weapons and were led into the main hall, all of them discovered that King Theoden was obviously not himself. Gandalf had to use vast amounts of his powers to free the king from Saruman's grasp, turning him into the man he once was.
A short while later, Gandalf and Theoden had engaged in a long and rather fruitless discussions about the upcoming war. Gimli sat happily at one of the large wooden tables and dug into the first decent food they had for a long time. Aragorn, wlrealready had eaten some bites, enjoyed his pipe and listened to the older men argue. Legolas leaned against a tall pillar behind Aragorn and had difficulties to hide his disgust. The little puffs of smoke emitting from Aragorn pipe, had the most annoying habit of always drifting in his direction. He could feel his stomach clench, when at the same time it craved for food. Until now he declined several offers to eat something. He hated eating when someone was not participating and watching him. He hardly noticed Aragorn making some remarks on the discussion, so occupied he was with his own dilemma. After some time, he couldn't hold up the pretence any longer and he slowly circled the table until he stood in Gimli's back, from time to time nicking a piece of cheese or bread from the dwarf's plate. To Legolas' incredible luck the dwarf was already satisfied or he would have encountered a rather upset dwarf, willing to fight for his food. So all that he encountered was a broad grin from his friend, who pushed the plate a little to his right, so the elf could get to it a little easieasier, without making it too obvious.
Gandalf and Theoden left the three fellowship members alone to venture outside to the grave of Theoden's son Theodred, leaving it up to Lady Eowen to show them to their quarters.