The sun shone mockingly from above, giving off the pretense of warmth while snow still coated the ground.

With numb hands, Reyna continued the monotonous process of cleaning the driveway; an unnecessary feat, unfortunately, for the only car there had its engine half-frozen.

With a dull scraping sound, the shovel pushed the rest of the snow onto a pile that had not been there only a few minutes before, a mark of the work Reyna had been doing.

The handle slipped out of the girl's hands as she collapsed onto the snow. Overdramatic? Possibly. But then, in her neighborhood, Reyna was indeed known as the one with the love for drama.

It took a few seconds before Reyna shot up, her raven-black hair flying behind her.

"Stupid… Cold… Snow…" She muttered fiercely as she brushed the offending frost off her neck.

She paused for a moment.

And then, with almost uncanny comedic timing, it began to snow again.

Deciding she did not want to deal with the snow again, she called her job finished and tramped up to her home.

The aroma of cookies welcomed her as she came in. Reyna shrugged off her thoroughly soaked jacket and boots, and then wandered into the living room.

Needless to say, she crashed on the sofa and grabbed the TV remote, immediately flicking through the channels.

Nothing pleased her. With all the annoyance of a teenager, she slumped down, narrowing her eyes at the smiling man who was apparently selling a new hot cocoa mix.

She didn't like hot cocoa when she didn't have it in her hand. Still scowling, she bypassed that channel and studied the next one.

At the moment, it was a commercial, but judging by the guide, there was a movie next. Shrugging, Reyna got up and walked over to the kitchen, the image of fresh popcorn tantalizing.

Exactly three minutes and twenty-one seconds later, she returned with a badly burned batch of popcorn and practically melted onto the couch. She crunched a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

Lord Of The Rings…

Finally, the movie was on. Surprisingly, Reyna had not watched this, as she was in fact a fanatic of all Tolkien works.

With a slight smirk, Reyna reflected how this day had gotten better in five minutes.

The opening credits… Reyna waited. And tapped her foot. And ate some popcorn.

And then, a bright light crowded her vision, just as the first visual came on-screen.

~Sun and Moon~

Reyna's eyes blinked open, and she felt an enormous cramp in her side. To add to that, a cut on her hand bled sluggishly.

Where am I?

The last thing she remembered was chewing one last piece of popcorn. She looked around at the untamed forest that surrounded her. The cheerful burble of a stream completed the image of an Amazon forest—but this was most definitely not an Amazon rainforest. There were no frogs.

Seriously. Where am I?

She stood up, wavering slightly on rebellious legs. Only then did she realize that there was distant hoofbeats, coming closer with the second.

Being as ill experienced as she was, she shouted and waved her arms in the direction of the sound.

In this case, it worked for her.

A tall man, black hair long and wild around his face, sat astride a powerful stallion.

Only now did it occur to Reyna that she might have made the wrong decision.

The man sat forward and squinted at the girl.

"What would a lady like you be doing out here in these woods? It's dangerous."

"Er—" Reyna looked around hopelessly. "It's a long story… and I don't even know the half of it… please don't ask."

The man shrugged. "No matter. You seem human… Here." He reached out and pulled her up into the saddle.

"What be your name, lady?"

Reyna, bemused, stuttered a bit as she hastily answered, "R-Reyna… And you?"

The man spurred his steed forward. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn."

Reyna immediately tensed up. "Is this a joke? Where am I?"

The man looked back, and in his gaze there was no hint of lying.

"I know of no word called joke. Please enlighten me upon its meaning." He stared forward again. "And there are only two countries here, Valinor and Middle-earth. And since we are most definitely not on Valinor, I think you can count on being in Middle-earth."

Reyna's jaw dropped, and she fainted, half-falling off Aragorn's horse.