Chapter 1. Lost in Middle-Earth
I was sitting in my tiny living room watching "The Return of the King". I started with the first film right after returning home from college, and now, long after dark, I have made it to the last one. The dusty mirror on the side wall, right by Orlando's poster, reflected my unkempt room littered with discarded clothes, empty Coke bottles, popcorn bags, empty pack of cigarettes, hamburger wrappings and occasional beer cans. There was also my own reflection – that of an overweight young girl, neither pretty nor ugly, with watery-blue constantly unfocussed puffy eyes, slightly greenish complexion and lanky brown hair in need of grooming. Maybe this unflattering image was the reason why I rarely dusted the old mirror.
Watching the three Lord of the Rings DVD's has become my favorite past-time ever since my friend Lucy presented me with the whole set on my eighteenth birthday. Since then, we had rarely met outside the college, as I absently declined all the invitations to parties and to theaters and hurried home to watch the movies, to read LOTR fanfiction and to dream of falling into Middle-Earth.
This evening, as usual, I was daydreaming (or, given the late hour, was it "nightdreaming"?), mindless of the steady drone of the movie soundtrack turned to low volume out of consideration for the neighbors on the other side of the thin wall.
In my dreams I was a gorgeous Elven lady with voluptuous body, creamy skin and cerulean eyes, clad in amethyst velvet dress with while silken sleeves. I was walking among the mallorns of Lorien in a company of the lovesick Prince Legolas who looked exactly like Orlando Bloom. He put his elegant long-fingered hand on my shoulder, making me pause on a tiny bridge spanning a narrow stream. "Laurindella, my sweet love," he whispered huskily and claimed my rosy lips in an ardent kiss. A wave of happiness washed over my body which in the world of the living was stretched on a sofa wearing a sweaty T-shirt and faded jeans and hugging an almost empty Coke bottle. I closed my eyes in pure bliss and drifted off to sleep…
I woke to the bright sunshine steadily baking my face. The sun was right overhead - so I had to close my eyes and turn onto my belly to survey the surroundings. I was lying on a small hillock – and all around me was a sea of long green grass intermingled with white and yellow flowers. On my right there flowed a wide river, glistening in the sun like polished silver. On my left was an endless line of white-capped mountains, seeming eerie and unreal in the distance. "Misty Mountains!" I whispered, not daring to believe my luck. I was in Middle Erath – for what else could it be?
Giggling, I sprang up – and here my excitement evaporated. Oh, gosh! I was still myself – as far as I could see - the same plump sorry figure, Amanda Smith, not Laurindella Arwendomiel I longed to be. I touched my ears, my face – and could detect no change at all. Tears sprang to my eyes and I nearly wailed in misery. Moreover, I was still in my old clothes that I never donned outside my apartment. The T-shirt had a faded picture of Legolas on it – and how was I supposed to explain it when I meet him? Discarding the thing was out of the question – I had no other clothes. Surprisingly, my old Reebok jogging shoes that I had left under the sofa made the trip with me and were now lying in the grass not far away. I sat down and put them on. At least I won't be obliged to walk around wearing only socks – a comforting thought, for walk I would have to, given as there was not a single house in sight.
I stood again surveying the landscape in search of some clues. I had no idea where I was and where I was supposed to go. Normally girls stuck in ME never have this problem – all land quite close to Rivendell as a rule. But it didn't look like Rivendell at all – there had to be trees there. Same applied to Lorien. If anything, this plain looked like Rohan – but I have never read a single fic with a girl landing there! Whoever organized my "trip" did a lousy job, blast him/her/it!
The next thought made me shiver in hot sunshine. What about the current TIME? What if I have landed in ME long after Leggy had departed for Valinor? Or maybe he was not yet born, ancient in years as he may be? I shook my head and tried to calm down. Surely it must be the right year – everyone lands in ME the right year, the year of the movie, in time to join the Fellowship and to become the Tenth Walker. Most arrive specifically for the Council of Elrond, which was…ahem… sometime in autumn: I remembered the golden leaves in the lush gardens of Rivendell. However, there was not a single yellow leaf, not a blade of yellow grass around me – it looked like high summer. Here was rose-bay blooming along what looked like remnants of an ancient stone wall, there were bluebells and snapdragon just like those around my granny's farm. It looked like July to me, but of which year?
Standing there under the blazing sun and looking around helped little: it only made me thirsty. I picked up the plastic bottle lying at my feet, finished what little Coke was left inside, and determinedly walked in the direction of the river.
"Hang on, Leggy", I thought, gritting my teeth. "Sooner or later I will join you and together we will save the world!"
TBC