Chapter 1.
I sat down in my cozy brown chair, exhausted. I was ready to settle down and watch Lord of the rings in a marathon yet again. They were my favorite films. My cocoa with tiny marshmallows and cream was warming me as I drank it. The sensation of the heat was so good. My work at the library was done and I had rushed home to put on my red sweat suit to watch the films. The suit fit to my golden Rubin ring that I found today, no one seemed to have lost it so I took it instead. I know it wasn`t the best ideal idea, but if someone reported it missing I would return it gladly.
The elves were my favorite characters, there was something so pure and magically about them, and of course the elvish language was interesting as well. I could never imagine how Tolkien created all of it, let alone the language.
I woke up from a horn, crap I had fallen asleep while I was watching the film now I had to rewind it. I saw a man in front of me; he had blond hair by the looks of it. The vision was blurry so I had to focus hard, it was probably my friend harry. I tried to stand up on my feet.
"Easy there, you hit your head pretty hard as you were standing in the way of some orcs" The man said to me " I was hunting some orcs you see , they are dead now. We are living in a perilous time; one should not wander alone, especially a woman without weapons. "
That was definitely not Harry by his voice and when I focused I saw someone I did not expect to see. It was Legolas. I looked around; I was not in my home anymore. The landscape was beautiful; it was green and yellow fields with white flowers, and nothing else in sight.
"Are you lost? You seem very confused. I am Legolas Greenleaf from Mirkwood" he asked me, I just started at him and scanned him with my brown eyes and pale skin. He had his blonde hair straight with braids on the sides, and one in the back. His eyes blue and the clothing's were grey.
"Come with me, I was on my way to Lothlòrien to a meeting with Galadriel and Celeborn," I just nodded in reply. He stepped on a hill and observed the area. "The trip will be in two days if we're lucky. Can you speak the common language? Do you understand me?" He asked me, shaking me softly and innocent to trying to get an answer out of me. I nodded once again; I was also feeling scared as well as confused. Was I just dreaming? But it seemed so vivid.
I had many questions to ask but they all stopped at the tip of my tongue, something held me back of speaking but what? As we were walking I could see Legolas glance at me sometimes, worried maybe? Or confused perhaps? I tried to say something, but only a whining noise would come out. He stopped, surprised.
"So there is a little life in you after all. Take your time, I know you are probably scared of something; I do not know of what but I'm telling you, you have no reason to be. I will protect you, that's a promise." He spoke calm and slow as to reassure me that I shouldn't be scared, and pushed my small bangs aside of my curly brown hair that reached to my waist. I had let my hair grow too much that they had been damaged at the ends. I smiled at him, feeling a little better but still unable to speak.
"You are wearing strange clothes, my friend" he pointed out to me; a small laugh escaped my lips. "You have a beautiful laugh, if only one could imagine how your voice sounded like" He said wondering. This was all so surreal to me. He kept on going "Come, we have to reach those caves in an hour" He pointed to a few big rocks ahead of us, I looked but I could barely see anything. "Elf eyes" I whispered, laughing quietly for myself. "Did you say something?" The elf asked me, I shook my head in reply.
My head rested against a cold stone with grass to comfort my head. It was cold. Now I had time to think, how could this have happened to me? I had too many flaws. I was not in great shape; I was normal but a bit chubby around my stomach. I don't run fast, I certainly didn't have any talent.
I turned around and saw Legolas in trance as the elves called it, his eyes open. Legolas was my dream back on earth or wherever I came from. He was so beautiful and pure, so innocent. I had to find out why this happened to me, I was determined about that. Maybe Galadriel knew why. In despite of all I`ve ever dreamt of, this is not what I imagined. This feels confused and empty, even in the presence of others, Legolas more specifically. I shook my head like I was trying to shake the thoughts out of my head and I slowly fell asleep.
I felt someone shake me lightly as to not harm me. I didn't want to go to work at the library today, I was too cold and sore and I just had the weirdest dream.
"I'm so sorry to wake you but we have to be feed and keep going" Legolas said to me, I groaned. This had not been a dream after all. All I wanted was to return to my home, where I was safe and comfortable.
I stood up and stretched. I look confused at a grey blanket around me; I had not slept with a blanket.
Legolas must have seen my baffled look. "You shivered and you looked cold. I thought you might have needed the blanket" he explained with a half hearted smile.
I sat down around the fire to keep me warm, Legolas handed me some bread.
"Lembas?" I questioned him, my voice sounded weird and I coughed a little. He looked startled, with his mouth hanging open.
"Yes they are, did you finally decide to talk?" he smiled at me and handed me some water to clear my dry throat.
"Don't get too used to it" I chuckled "I need answers from Galadriel; she might know why I am here. You see I don't know why I ended up here, it's all so confusing. Sorry I can't tell much about my life, I can't remember anything." The last part was a lie; I did remember my home, back home from where I came from. I remembered everything. I lied because I was too scared he might do something to me if he found out where I came from, therefore it was better to wait until I could talk to Galadriel. She was one of the wise elves after all. He nodded in understanding.
"Does the beautiful young girl have a name?" He asked me and took a bite from his lembas.
"Kierra Dawn" I answered and took a sip of water.
The morning sun had not fully risen from the mountains; it must have been very early at dawn. He took his bow behind his back and put the fire out and motioned for me to come along. I took the blanket around me to keep me warm and followed him.
The horizon was beautiful this early at dawn and it made me feel good and refreshed. It was like camping with friends. Camping was in my family, but I didn't often see my parents, they live in Alaska, far away from my home in New York. I am a lonely child. They were sad when I went with my friend Harry to New York. Now I might never see my parents again, I sighed by the thought.
"Is something upsetting you?" Legolas asked and stopped walking.
"I was just remembering my parents" I explained, smiling trying to show him that everything was fine.
"I thought you couldn't remember anything from the past?" he asked confused this time.
"I don't, I just remember a few pieces" I told him and stopped smiling. I felt guilty for lying to him. We kept on walking. None of us broke the tense silence that lay over us.
"Hide" Legolas yelled at me and pushed me down under a stone. I looked up from the stone confused and scared.
"Wait here" he said before he sprinted towards a gang of orcs.
"You will never have the power of the lands" he proclaimed and shot an arrow against one of the orc standing nearest. I watched as he fought. One of the orcs stopped fighting, and smelled the air.
"You are not alone, elf" the orc stated, trying to find where the scent was coming from. I tried to move and breathe as little as I could while I was backing further away down under the stone, quietly. I held my hand over my mouth and turned around and screamed. At the corner of my eyes I saw Legolas fight the few orcs that was still left.
One of the orcs was standing over me and he looked nasty. I backed away from him, but cut myself inside of my hand palms on the side of the rock. It hurt. He was about stake me with a stick, the stick looked like it was cut from an elder tree, it still had a few leafs on it. He stopped suddenly looking blankly out in the air and he fell at the side of me, there was an arrow in his back. I looked up and I saw Legolas, behind him were the orcs that lay dead on the ground.
"You're bleeding" he stated and tore up a piece of clothing he found from his green backpack. He folded it around my hand and smiled. I couldn't deny it, the pain was excruciating, it hurt a lot worse than you would imagined otherwise.
"Thank you for saving my life" I thanked him and he gave a little smile back to me.
"If we keep going the whole day, we would be able to come in to Lorien by nightfall. Are you up for it?" he asked me, looking at my wound to be sure.
"Yeah, I should be able to" I smiled a little and we continued walking. It was quite hard to keep up with him, at some point he started running.
"Who is this?" an older looking elf with blonde hair asked Legolas with a few others behind him, and he pointed his arrow at me.
"I come in peace" I defended myself but felt idiotic. It was like I was talking to aliens, but then again they were other creatures than humans.
"Be quiet, young girl" He spoke calmly, took down his bow and turned to Legolas and spoke in the Elvish tong. The rest of the elves were still pointing their arrows at me. At the corner of my eyes I saw both of their blue eyes staring at each other as it sounded like they were discussion something, someone.
It bothered me that I couldn't understand what they were saying. What would they decide to do with me? I waited patiently as my heartbeat was beating fast. The elf Legolas was speaking with looked familiar and then I recognized him, it was Haldir. I looked at the other elves; the two other blonde elves standing closest to him would probably be his brothers Rùmil and Orophin.
"You will come with us, Galadriel awaits you" Haldir lead the way and the rest of us followed. We walked up the hill; it was getting darker by the minute as we were heading to the center of Lorien. The place was more beautiful and breathtaking than the films, for one thing I could feel the gold grass beneath my feet and I could see everything around me. There were places built up and beside the trees where we could walk, spiral stairs and white platforms. I could see elf houses up in the trees and a few of them looked at me with curiosity. It seems like we were going towards the mighty tree fortress of Galadriel and Celeborn. I was also afraid as we got nearer the tree, would I finally find out the truth?
"Greetings, Kierra Dawn from the future" Galadriel said calm to me and turned around to face us all. The others looked surprised and a few of the guards whispered things I couldn't understand.
"Silence" she ordered them, louder this time but still calmly. The crowd that still remained became quiet. The ladyship was beautiful herself, her golden blonde hair hang long and soft down her white lace dress.
"I have foreseen your meeting; you will have a great purpose here. But I must tell you; by you coming here was an accident. You were not to live this faith, and I'm sorry about the sorrow and burden you will soon bare." She looked a bit down, like she was sad and knew what was coming for me. At the corner of my eyes, down from the tree I saw the mirror of Galadriel. It was a silver basin of water used by Galadriel, which could show her events in the past, present or even the future. I guessed she had looked in that, in order for her to know about me.
I was shocked of what she had said, my face couldn't show any expression but inside I was screeching "why me?" over and over again.
"You have found a tool that brought you here" She said her lips never moving and I remember she could read one's thoughts and give information through her mind to yours. You could never see or hear into her mind, it was one way communication only. Her eyes were settled at my left hand and I felt my Rubin ring getting heavier around my ring finger.
"It was no mistake that you found it by the books where you work, someone intentionally placed it there" she said out loud this time.
"Who placed it there? Anyone I know? It's not my friend Harry right, because he's the only one I know and he wouldn't do that" I was panicking and the words were coming out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"You can sleep now my dear, it's been a long journey for you, we will talk tomorrow instead" she motioned an elf girl that looked like her but a younger version to come forward.
The elf had golden blonde hair down to her waist and a gorgeous long light blue satin dress with darker blue sleeves. She looked at the age of me, perhaps a bit younger.
"This is Elbithia, she will show you to your room" Galadriel said, Elbithia smiled and took my hand to guide me to my room.
I searched for Legolas as I was walking away from the others. When my eyes found him, his expression surprised me. Legolas met my eyes and when he looked at me he seemed to be upset, for what? Elbithia poked me by the sleeve and I shook the thought away and left with her. We walked inside the most beautiful and simple room I've ever seen. It was settled in the tree. There was a white and gold bed with a gold folding screen and chair in the corner of the room. Since it was settled in one of the trees in Lothlòrien, I decided to call it my little tree.
"Here is your bed" she said with such clarity in her voice and handed me a dress. "I shall come and get you as the sun rises. Sleep well Kierra Dawn" she spoke with graciousness. She must have been raised well.
"I must return back to Galadriel and Celeborn, my parents" My mouth hang opened "Your parents?" I said a bit hesitant. Nothing of her had been mentioned, not in the books nor the films.
"Yes, I am the heritage of their legacy. If something should happen to one of them I will rule with the one left or rule aside with my husband Caius if none of them should survive"
"May I ask how old you are?" I asked her with curiosity.
"I am 1754 years old. I am quite young despite my parents; they are thousands of years older than me"
"Immortality" I whispered to myself amazed, but she heard it perfectly well.
"I shall leave you alone now" She said and curtsied like I was someone important, before she left me with a great deal of information that I would dwell on. As I hit the white sheets I blacked out, I was quite worn out from today and everything that had happened.
I woke with the sunlight in my eyes; I had slept in my old clothes.
"I have clear water; you should clean yourself after your journey. Galadriel awaits you" Elbithia's voice startled me. I jumped out of bed as she walked back to the mighty tree fortress. I went behind the gold wire folding screen and freshened up, and looked in the mirror. The green velvet gown I was given the other day hang loose and nice around me. I tried to do something with my hair, a braid at the side but it didn't look good on me so I tried to tie it in a knot, but that didn't look good either. I decided to keep my hair loose and curly. One of the things I missed now was my make up, I looked very pale. I stepped outside and saw Galadriel by the river. I walked down to her and curtsied.
"I have requested to speak with you, you must know about the danger." She spoke looking in front of the river.
"What kind of danger?" I asked her.
"I know you know about us in the future, about the war of the one ring that will be coming. No other than you know that we are real and more than just a story. Where you come from, you have books about us and ways to watch us. Tolkien was a prophet, he thought he was the creator of us but he was not. I do not wish for you to tell anyone what will happen, because it will have extremely consequences if you do. You are a human with no training or experience of self defense. We will make you a warrior." She looked at me and continued.
"You will train with Haldir, one of our superior warriors. He will teach you how to use a sword, the bow and arrow and to use knives" She let me process the information, I watched the River and thought of it all. What extremely consequences? How could I become a warrior? How could I learn to handle weapons? Why did it have to be Haldir? Couldn't it be Legolas? I had all of these questions in my head but I was too afraid to ask some of them.
"Time will tell and you will see." Galadriel explained to me. "I see you have an interest for elves, in particular Legolas. He will leave today." She informed me.
"Leave, why?" I questioned, looking surprised, where would he go?
"He will leave to Rivendell very soon at the request of his father, I thought you knew this" she said.
"No I didn't know. Him and I didn't speak very much. He saved my life, I owe him everything" I said whispering the last sentence.
"Do you still wish to speak with me, or am I free to leave?" I asked, wondering if I could go to see Legolas before he left. She motioned for me to leave and smiled. I curtsied once more and left in a hurry towards Legolas at the end of the forest.
"Legolas" I yelled after him and he turned around, still looking angry and upset like the day before. He kept on walking.
"Wait, I wish to speak with you before you leave" I told him. "I didn't know you were leaving, lady Galadriel told me just a few moments ago" I grabbed his hand but he pushed it aside.
"Why should I listen to you, all there is coming out of your mouth are lies." He was yelling quietly and I ignored the few looks of certain elves. It was not common for an elf to yell at people. "Lies?" I questioned, my focus was only on him.
"You were dishonest with me, you told me you couldn't remember anything from your past. I know now that I shouldn't have trusted a human so rapidly. What reasons did you have to lie to me?" he seemed to be rather more upset than angry now.
"I was scared, and by the thoughts that you could maybe leave me alone if you found out where I come from were scary. I couldn't have made it out there by myself. "
"Do you really think that I would leave you to yourself if I found out? Is that how you think of me?" he asked me, still upset. My explanation seemed dull now, and realized that lying to him was wrong.
"Is there any way you could forgive me?" I asked, almost pleading. He took a good look at me before he left, my questioned unanswered. I felt a light hand on my shoulder.
"Do not worry about him; you need to separate the emotions from yourself. Come, it's time for your training with Haldir. I will be there with your training the first few times. You and I will be great friends" Elbithia told me, smiling slightly. She danced lightly through the forest dragging me with her.