The road continued to wind its way through the hills. The scenery never changed. Bags formed under Lárien’s eyes; she began to nod off, the gentle rocking of her ride drawing her towards sleep. Once she nearly fell off the pony; Eärendur, riding beside her, put his arm out and put her aright. She had smiled, a weak smile laden with weariness. Now he rode beside her, in case she were to fall again. The sun began to slowly set, far to the west, its light dancing over the curving buttresses alight with waving grasses. They passed an abandoned cart full of spoiled fruit. The occasion made them hungry, and they stopped to eat a quick supper before heading out once more. Eärendur planned on stopping once the sun fell. The road wound around a hill and rose up another; along the road were several ivy-draped trees, their gnarled limbs casting silhouettes against the bright orange sun slipping away. The moon began to shimmer above them, stray clouds passing over; a few stars began to shine, the brighter ones first, then the dimmer. Constellations came into view.
Cresting the hill, Eärendur saw the road go down the hill and pass over a small ravine cut through twin hills, a small creek running through it. “We’ll sleep there tonight,” he said.
They tied their ponies to lifeless trees overhanging the bank. Eärendur went through a bag and unrolled several blankets, handing them to Lárien. They laid them out beside the rocks and lied down. Lárien wrapped her arms around Eärendur as he pulled a woolen blanket over them. She kissed his neck sweetly and closed her eyes. Eärendur laid there, staring at the mosaic of twinkling stars above, listening to the gurgling creek.
He had though Lárien had fallen asleep, but then she spoke: “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “My mind was… vacant. I’m tired.”
“Do you know what I was thinking?”
He turned his head, grinned at her transcendent profile. “Please enlighten me.”
“I was thinking, ‘This is nice.’ Laying here. With you. Beside this creek. Under a canopy of stars. We don’t see the stars much at home… I mean, where home used to be. But here… They’re… indescribable. And I was thinking that one day, we’ll have a nice little cottage beside a creek just like this, and we can lay out under the stars together. Every night.” She took up his hand under the covers and squeezed. “Does that sound nice to you?”
He kissed her sweetly on the forehead. “’Nice’? No, not ‘nice.’ Wonderful.”
She squeezed him tight. “I think we’re at the beginning of something good, Eärendur.”
“Me too,” he said, his heart leaping with joy at her words. “Me too.”
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