The Tragic Misadventure of Sonia Perkins.
Disclaimer:
I don't own anything belonging to J.R.R. Tolkien or Peter Jackson and his crew.
Summary:
Sonia Perkins believed she was living in reality. When she wakes in Middle Earth she finds out that 'Earth' was just a figment of her imagination.
Following half a year, The parents Sonia had just begun to remember are snatched from her desperate grip, their faith worse than dead. Renna, her sister, is left to pick up the pieces as the girls are left isolated. Thankfully, Gandalf has a different plan in store for the sisters as they find out that they aren't the only ones lost as they join a company of Dwarves, a Hobbit and a wizard to slay a dragon and reclaim a homeland.
Authors Note:
The Introduction will be narrative until present time, then we'll switch over to Sonia POV.
Chapter 1: Sonia Perkins.
A thick fog rolled in over the River Nore, windows and cars were coated in a layer of frost. It was a classic Irish morning in the small city of Kilkenny. Sonia yawned, weaving her way through her sitting room passing her mother fervently carrying a kettle to the car. For those of you who may have lived in a hot climate for all or most of your life; her mother is not offering the car a cup of tea or bringing the kettle around with her for the day. The purpose of the kettle is in fact to melt the layer of ice on the car windscreen.
After inhaling a few spoonfuls of her bowl of porridge, Sonia walked steadily if not lazily down the sidewalk from her front door to where her family parked their cars. The dry patch on the tarmacadam left by her dads car reminded her of last night. She had always loved the rain but every once in a while, something about the cloudburst pelting off the windows, the roof tiles, its force combined with the pitch black of night and the knowledge that all of her family were fast asleep something about that made her feel vulnerable. She lay wide awake that night long after it had stopped.
"Your hair looks like you drove backwards through a ditch Sonia! Didn't you brush it when I told you!" scolded her mother dropping the kettle in the hall. She grabbed a brush that had been conveniently left on the table in the hallway before joining Sonia in the car.
The car journey to school was short. Consisting mostly of Siobhan (Sonia's mother: lovely woman) chastising Sonia for getting up late. And in turn that caused them to be three whole minutes behind schedule which of course meant they were caught in the early rush-hour traffic. The last thing on Sonia's mind was the time as she stared back at her mother, she studied her face. They had the same straight nose, the same dark,dusty blue eyes and the same oval faces. Kicking open the door of their dark grey Volvo saloon and hoisting her school bag on her back, Sonia exited the car with the routine "bye, love you" answered by the "love you too, have a good day".
Judging by the strained expression that overcame her face and the apprehension in her steps, you would have thought she was advancing against her own good judgement to the gates of Hell. The dark-haired girl bit her lip she wasn't late, she never was, not that she was particularly punctual herself but her mother started work an hour before Sonia was due in class.
Her hand closed around the ice-cold door handle as she pushed through. Her steps echoing through the white corridor. The usual students were already seated chatting in the hall. Her breathing grew ragged and her heart-beat raced as she closed the distance between herself and the small crowd quicker than she would have liked. Hoping she could get past them without someone starting small talk or deciding it's absolutely hilarious to acknowledge her existence. Be still my beating heart she thought to herself letting out a shaky laugh. Those ignorant to the ways of individuals suffering from social anxiety probably thought it best that she be admitted to a mental asylum.
With a few quick strides and avoiding eye contact she was almost at the school bathrooms. The school had recently installed fire safe doors. Despite looking all new and clean they were like standing stones on a hinge. It had its pro's though. Besides the obvious one of it being fire safe, Sonia had never seen a class of students all come together as effectively as they did trying to push the class room doors open. With a bit of added strength she pushed the heavy door open and entered a cubical. She locked the door and slumped against the wall waiting until the first bells signalled the start of class.
It wasn't that Sonia didn't like (all) the other girls in her year, or that some didn't like her for that matter. Socializing just never came naturally to her. In her mind she was the living epitome of Tony Stark. Unfortunately she had an awful habit of coming across a lot more like Castiel on supernatural.
Her headaches had been getting worse and more frequent. Her mother had sent her to the doctor that weekend. He had been nice and she'd instantly liked him as she noticed the framed poster of Led Zeppelin behind his desk, but there wasn't much he could do but recommend some sleep.
A sharp pain in her right temple came over her suddenly. It had her head moving to the left abruptly as if someone had hit her. The pain cascaded down her face as she hit the ground. She was on the verge of screaming out in pain when a violent flurry of wind seemed to lift her from her feet until she was knocked back on a hard flat surface.
Scanning over herself quickly she did a double take. Her denim skinny jeans were about a foot too long for her and her gray converse were now big enough for her feet to slide out easily. Her black t-shirt and green plaid shirt were hanging from her frame like Harry Potter.
She felt around her face suddenly self-conscious. Everything seemed to be normal except her hair was definitely a lot thicker, her eyebrows were unkempt and her ears felt slightly larger than she remembered. Sonia clambered to her feet looking around in an odd mixture of astonishment and fear. She wasn't in her school anymore, or even anywhere she knew of in Kilkenny. Her eyes were drawn upwards to the stars in the sky, they were different, she wasn't even in Ireland. Her home, that little Island of the coast of Europe.
She had been lying on what looked like a stone table layers of what looked like animal furs. She blanched at the thought. Candles had been set into finely carved stone pillars that formed the circular outdoor room she found herself in. The floor littered with semi-rotting autumn leaves. Her bag was still clutched in her hand, looking around she noticed another bag it was more like a leather satchel like the ones she'd seen in her history books.
She sat up hurriedly and moved towards the bag as quietly as she could. It was a dark brown leather pack. Undoing the clasps she opened it up to look inside. An outfit around her size was inside, it was made of some combination of fabric and animal skins dyed a faded blue. Off-white fur-lined the inside of the jacket, a dark brown cloak buttoned to it and a pair of dark brown boots were placed neatly at the bottom of the bag. Gloves and several other smaller items had been in pockets within the bag.
Sonia looked at her surroundings it was very late in the night, she didn't see anyone not that she expected too. The coat looked a lot warmer that her shirt she mused as a cool breeze went up her spine.
Stooping she rolled up her skinny jeans thankful that they at least fitted her in width, She pulled on the leather boots from the bag after removing her converse which were a slight bit too large for her now. She tucked in her t-shirt and removed her baggy plaid shirt and replaced it with the jacket from the bag.
Content with her appearance she straightened up and looked around. Her breath caught in her throat as young woman with blonde hair took slowly climbed the few steps that led to the elevated area. She held a lantern in her hand, stepping into the candle light. She lifted her eyes to meet Sonia's as if sensing her presence. Her face took on a mixture of alarm and cheer as she smiled widely her eyes welling up with tears.
"Sonia!" she shrieked dropping the lantern. Unmoved by the shattered glass she rushed forward and threw her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're back" she breathed.
The sun had not yet come up that morning. Despite the downpour Gandalf could see the sky begin to lighten due east but it would be an hour or two yet before sunrise. News had traveled fast of the Cold-Drake that had laid the great dwarven city of Carasheim to waste, It was one of the Dragons of Angband that had no power of fire or flight.
Anything within a short distance was left motionless, forever confined within ice.
Rain pelted down from dark clouds above as his bay horse pulled to a stop. He was a few metres from the towering ornate iron gates of Carasheim. Gandalf recalled his last visit, he remembered colourful markets, dwarven children playing, the smell of freshly baked pastries, and laughter danced through the air.
The White Counsel had requested his last visit. A curious girl had seemingly appeared from another world. Her clothing was not of Middle Earth and she spoke of things no-one in middle earth could even begin to understand. He had found out however, that was not the case at all.
Strong winds now whistled through the air disrupting the falling torrent before it hit the mud-spattered ground.
Dismounting, he noticed as expected a cloaked figure slumped against gates. Another figure was pacing nearby. No matter how futile the action would be; for two young dwarves, they remained guarding the people who were quite literally frozen in time within its walls. Defending them from any who would wish to harm or loot the city. The cloaked figure had not looked up at the sound of hooves, but stayed firmly guarding the city of her ancestors.
A long thin sword caught the moonlight through the downpour as the second turned. She watched Gandalf approach, Her light blonde hair stuck to her wet face.
His voice was soft as it carried through the wind to their ears,"Sonia, Renna daughters of Gynna! Lay down your weapons friends, I come with wholly good intentions."
The blondes voice sharp as she spoke "And what exactly would that mean Tharkûn. You are late." The last part said with bitterness as she turned her back on him again.
"Hold your tongue sister." hissed Sonia from her position by the gate. "It is not his fault that this happened"
Renna whirled on Sonia "You're right for once. It's yours. If we had been here then maybe we could have done something!"
"This fate was inevitable and there is nothing either of you could have done to prevent it!" He shouted gruffly "You should count yourself lucky that you are not frozen along with your kin!"
Sonia lifted her head as her teal hood moved back to show her pale face. Eyes gazed back, vacant with a reddened outline that could only be caused by shed tears. She stood. Walking towards Gandalf, her voice slightly more civil than her sisters "Why have you come"
"My dears, I am looking for someone to share in an Adventure"
Renna turned her head towards them her dirty blonde hair dragging up into the violent flurry of wind. A look of kindling interest on her face.
Sonia's dark eyebrows furrowed together partly because of the gale as she considered Gandalf's words.
"What kind of Adventure Gandalf ?" asked Sonia.
He wrapped his cloak around himself tighter "Perhaps we should go somewhere inside, this requires a lot of attention."
She nodded in agreement. After a few moments in a quiet corner of an otherwise crowded tavern they sat around a wooden table. A single candle placed at the center, its flame danced playing with the shadows on the walls behind them.
"You are aware of the rest of your kin, are you not?" He began.
"Do you know of a way to reverse this-" said Sonia urgently, looking around to see if anyone was listening in.
"He means the Dwarves of Ered Luin" whispered Renna vehemently.
Sonia sat back from the table obviously not enough information to contribute to the conversation.
"Thorin son of Thrain, King under the Mountain has requested that I find the remaining members of his Company."
"What would a son of Durin want with us?" appealed Renna idly.
"Nothing, Nothing my dear. Thorin knows not of who I will find. I merely believe that both of you will make valuable additions to his company"
"We owe them nothing besides how do you know they will accept our help" answered Renna,
"Because Thorin Oakenshield and his kin will not be aware of your prior social position. Dwarf women are not abundant to the south of Middle Earth therefore your presence won't be entirely rejected"
"Women are not expected to fight in the south" interjected Renna
"That's a relief" muttered Sonia receiving a swift kick under the table.
Renna sat up straighter "What would we gain from this"
"I can't promise you will gain anything, but what you do gain is up to you" He pushed back his chair and studied their expressions. "I do recommend you take my offer" He said making his way to the door.
The rain had now stopped and the sun was beginning to rise. The sky was a vivid mixture of Oranges and pinks between the retreating clouds.
Sonia squeezed through the door before it shut behind him. "Where?, Where do we go, like if we take your offer ?"
Hopefully that painted a clear picture of Sonia's personality. The next chapter will be introducing the company so please read! It takes a while to get into writing comfortably so I'm sorry if the first chapter seems a bit off.