Braids, socks and Middle Earth: A hobbit Fanfiction
QUICKIE A/N: Hi all! Yes this is my first ever fanfiction and I'm a little nervous about it (I've read so many amazing ones and they've just inspired me to attempt to write my own!) but hopefully you enjoy :) Tell me what you think, give me as many pointers and tips as you see fit!
DISCLAIMER: I, most regrettably, do not own anything to do with the amazing work of the brilliant Mr Tolkien or Mr Jackson nor do I have any claim to it (other than my unwavering love and faith.. if that makes sense)
CHAPTER 1:
Despite it being the middle of summer, the Victorian Alps persisted to have what seemed to be a permanently cool temperature. However, the queer weather did not bother Averie much, as she had been born and raised in the climate of the high country. Said female was currently laying in her bed, staring blankly up at the wooden roofing of her bedroom. She glanced at the digital clock on her desk, the red numbers laughing at her inability to sleep. It was almost two o'clock in the ridiculously early morning, and from when she had laid down her head to sleep four hours ago, she had not so much as batted an eyelid.
Averie frowned at the ceiling; if she was to follow her normal routine she would be sleeping now and would wake in two hours. She wasn't sure why sleep had evaded her this night, perhaps it was because she was slightly worried about her father- She'd heard that someone wouldn't sleep if they were worrying- but she knew that he would be alright, he always was. He had descended down from their mountain home along with the company of Uncle Seb that evening and, like always, the two would be visiting the local pub. If his brother was with him she knew her father would be fine and would return to her in the morning hung-over and cursing the persistent light of the sun.
Averie sighed after looking at her clock again, it was now two o'clock exactly and she had decided that she would most definitely not be getting any sleep. She threw off the thick cotton blankets and heavy duvet and swung her legs over to the side of her bed, her socked feet almost touching the cool wooden floor. Goosebumps spread across her skin, it was colder than she thought.
She walked over to the window and studied the area; from what she could make out in the dark morning there was a soft icy gleam to the grass. Frost wasn't uncommon in summer so she didn't think much of it walked over to her cupboard. Although it was cold Averie didn't feel like going to the trouble of venturing through her cupboard with a size and unpredictable nature similar to that of Narnia. If she dared to expedition through the unruly environment of her wardrobe she would most likely become trapped in there for all eternity.
Averie opted for her tattered pair of originally black converse and her favourite oil skin jacket worn over an oversized white t-shirt and black cotton pyjama shorts. On her way out the door she quickly grabbed her thick woollen beanie from the floor and was pulling it over her braided hair as she walked through the old wooden house and to the front porch.
She shivered slightly and hugged herself and after looking out into the thick forest of trees for several seconds, made her way over to her favourite tree. The Eucalyptus tree was a broad, sturdy tree that towered over the others in the area. She smiled as she ran her hand over its white bark, unsurprised to find it still smooth regardless of its seemingly eternal life, she hadn't climbed it in ages. Averie jumped and clasped her hands tightly around the lowest branch and pulled herself up high enough to swing her legs of the thick branch. She climbed higher through the tree and its clumps of branches, determined to reach the top. The morning dew had caused her to lose her footing several times but, thankfully, her arms would always quickly shoot out and cling onto the some part of the tree, preventing her fall and possible death.
By the time she had reached the top of the tree she predicted it was roughly close to three meaning that the sun would be up very soon, if she looked hard enough she could make out slivers of orange and pink streaks beginning to break upon the glistening trees and rocky hills. She sat on the sturdiest branch she could find, there were some a tad thinner than the one she was on at the moment but she didn't feel like risking her life to test the strength of a branch. It was a 20 foot drop to the ground and Averie had decided that she'd much rather look at the ground than be dead on it.
Her legs hung freely from the branch as she pondered through her memories. She smiled lazily when she remembered Uncle Seb teaching her curse words, words that young ladies should not know, and the shade of angry red her father had turned when he picked her up early from her first day of school, he had been asked not to bring her back until the following week. She'd had a soapy mouth for at least a month.
The loud chatter of birds had brought her out of her reminiscing. A small blur of motion flew past her head and landed on her branch. The sudden surprise had caused her heart to flutter and lose her balance but she quickly regained it. "Rude" she grumbled as she glowered at the Kookaburra. The bird however, was perched closely to her side its eyes latched onto hers. At first she thought of talking to the bird but quickly ended that trail of thought, she may have been tired but no so deliriously much as to start conversing with an overly bold bird.
She sat staring at it with an unimpressed look hoping it would move so she could get down and start her day but he remained still on the branch, the cheeky bugger looking at her almost mockingly. She was sure if he had eyebrows they would most certainly be raised back at her. Just before Averie's patience had ended the Kookaburra broke the staring contest with a strangled retch, and finalised it by leaving her with a regurgitated breakfast on her hand. She stared at the bird in silent anger "You fucking little shit" Her dark, low growl must have somehow registered with the kookaburra that if he didn't flee immediately he would be fed to a cat.
Once the bird had left she wiped the remnants of half-digested insects (or at least that's what she told herself the grey clumps were) onto a nearby branch and began her descent. The sun was beginning to rise, covering everything in soft light and warmth. Her feet were surer and steadier on the way down, the feel of the tree coming back to her.
The newly found familiarity had given rise to the notion that she could go faster down the tree. At first it was a good idea, in fact a great idea. She was loving the feeling of excitement as she pushed herself to practically glide down the tree. Oh yes it was great fun, until she misplaced her right foot. To this day the last thing she was able to recall was the deep rumble of a foreign voice.
The bright morning sun shone through the window and onto her face, the sensation of warmth slowly causing her to wake. At first she didn't open her eyes and just smiled into the softness of her pillow, she was too comfortable to even care that she had most likely slept in. Her father could chastise her for it later if he wanted. She was in a lazy bliss, even considering going back to sleep but then something clicked within in her mind. Dad wouldn't let me sleep in this late ever. She frowned, her eyes still closed. Even if her father was experiencing consequences of drinking from the night before he would still be awake, and in this situation who would be dragging her out of bed. Her bed was another thing that was beginning to concern her. Originally she thought she had slept strangely and her mattress felt odd underneath her- as mentioned before her process of though was slightly disorientated- but as she forced herself to focus on the feeling of the surface she realised she was not in her bed at all.
Her eyes snapped opened. She was most definitely not in her bed. She sat up quickly and instantly regretted it. Her head throbbed in pain as did the rest of her body however, she took no notice of the condition she was in, but to where she was. She was in a forest of scattered trees that she had never seen before, nor had she ever encountered any of the other various plants she saw. Even the grass was different; it was a thicker, brighter version of the mountain grasses she was familiar with. What is going on?
And then she remembered the fall. Irrational thoughts plagued her mind and soon quick harsh breaths were trembling through her shaking body. Oh god I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. She ran her hands over her braided hair. I'm never going to see anyone again. Not dad, not uncle Seb, not anyone. She clenched her fists tightly together, her short finger nails managing to dig into the palms of her hands. Somewhere in the midst of her hysterical thoughts, something clicked. Pain.
She forced herself to slow her breath and open her hands, staring at the crescent dents she had inflicted on her palms. She could feel the small sting they left. Pain she thought again. If she was dead she wouldn't be able to feel the pain, would she? She took a deep breath. If she was dead she wouldn't be breathing. Heck if she was dead she wouldn't be thinking!
Even now that she had managed to pull herself to her senses and establish that she wasn't dead, she was still utterly confused. If she wasn't dead or comatose (She had ruled it out of her list of possibilities also) that means that she had been physically taken from her home and left in a forest that was most likely not even in Australia. However, Averie had decided not to spend too long pondering on questions that probably wouldn't be answered, or at least they would remain answered until she found people. But to do that she would actually have to get off the ground and go look.
When she first attempted to get to her feet gravity had decided to screw her over and land her on her back with a soft thud. Thankfully her second attempt was successful, although she did stagger on her feet a few moments before her hand reached out to a nearby tree for support. The slight heaviness of her head, inability to stand straight and a very noticeable headache confirmed her suspicions of a concussion.
She shook as she slowly transferred her entire weight to her feet, but she gritted her against the twinges of pain and continued. She knew this wouldn't be the hardest part of her day. Averie assessed herself; her clothing was a little damp but, other than the loss of her beanie, was the same; she had a few bruises forming on her legs, torso and mainly back but nothing felt broken. Overall all she could have been worse.
Now she had to figure out there the hell she was. Averie, despite her small stature, never had issues with climbing trees. However, she'd never attempted to climb one whilst being concussed, bruised, and battered. It had taken her roughly an hour to find a tree low enough for her to climb with ease and another to actually reach the top. It was a slow and painful process but as she did before, she gritted her teeth and continued.
When her head broke through the canopy of leaves she'd had to place a hand over her eyes in order to see without being blinded by the mi-day sun. If she wasn't annoyed with the world she would have acknowledged the beauty of the landscape around her; hundreds of different shades of green spread over everything she could see, and if she concentrated enough she could make out a distinct and straight patch of brown roughly three kilometres, or at least she had estimated. It wasn't much evidence of a road but she had no other signs of civilisation. She made her way down the tree and began off in the direction of the possible road as quickly as she could in her injured state.
Averie was beyond annoyed. She was furious. The concussion had started to dull but the aches all over her body had only increased. As a result, her fastest pace was a stiff limp. At first her bearing was the sun itself as it had been in direct line with the road but the sun sunk lower in the sky as she stumbled through the woods, meaning that every twenty minutes she would have to stop to climb another horrid tree and reset her bearing. The only good that had happened so far was that each time she looked the brown patch looked more and more promising as to actually being a road.
For two gruelling hours she had been focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and, of course, what she hoped was a road. The routine had moulded itself into her mind and had made her oblivious to much that was going on around her, apart from avoiding a few larger sticks or the occasional hole. When she did suddenly looked up from the green foliage a thin stretch of rich, reddish- brown dirt presented itself in the near distance. She awkwardly sprinted towards the patch of soil, almost tripping over herself when she came to sudden halt.
The road proved to be more of a small trail than a road, but still she smiled, the top-soil of the track was disturbed, usually indicating one thing. Tracks. She crouched down to examine the dirt closely and she was right. It was challenging to decide what had made the tracks as there were so many possibilities, but after further inspection she had decided that they were created by a species of horse, most likely ponies. Her eyes flitted about as she studied the small indents of rounded hooves; they were in a haphazard form of a line, obviously following the trail; amongst the smaller hoof- prints she could single out larger ones, a horse probably; and the left side of the tracks were deeper and slightly scooped out, revealing to her the group was travelling In the left direction.
After her pondering and guessing, she had predicted a few scenarios one of which being that a person, most likely on the horse, was moving a string of ponies through the area. There were many possibilities but whatever the actual situation was it didn't bother Averie. As long as get home, she thought to herself. She slowly stood up from her crouching position and shook out the cramps in her legs. After glancing at the sun she estimated a few hours of daylight were left.
She began her unsteady quick limp and followed the path left. The tracks had been quite fresh and if she hurried she might be able to find their source, even on her unsteady feet.