The men sat quietly, restlessly. The last fight would start in less then a few days and here they were, sitting around a campfire in complete silence. The sound of squabbling brought the thoughts of Aragon, Gimli, Legolas and Théoden to a stop.
"Let me go, you filthy being!" a harsh voice had yelled.
"Stop right there miss!! What is a girl like you doing here?" This was one of the warriors, Théoden's warrior Grimbold.
"Girl?! Hah! I am already very close to losing my patience, and unless you want to wake up tomorrow finding yourself a eunuch. So I highly recommend you get your revolting self AWAY from me!!" This brought the attention of the attention of all the men (including Elf and Dwarf) to the small, cloaked being that was fighting the man who had a tight grasp on her wrist and was bringing her toward the group.
"My Lord," Grimbold began and then was cut off by a swift kick to the groin where he promptly fell over. The cloaked one stood up and stretched and surveyed her surroundings. She began to walk away after a moment. A gesture from the king made four men point very long swords at her and prodded the seething child back to the group.
"Who are you that disturbs us on this night we wish for peace?" Asked Théoden, his tone slightly agitated.
"Who am I?" The girl stated, and thought, "Why do you care to know?" She stalled, attempting to find an escape route. She caught the eyes of the dwarf sitting across the fire. His eyes holding awe and when he was about to speak she turned to him quicker then a whip "Hold. Your. Tongue." The men turned to Gimli who held her sharp gaze, bobbing his mouth open and closed like a fish. He didn't know what to say.
"You have come here, disturbed my men and you now threaten another?! We have NO TIME for this nonsense! Tell us your purpose or so help me-" Théoden was cut off by the girl, she threw off her cloak hood and watched the faces of those before her fill with emotions of awe. Before them was the most beautiful creature in the land. Hair of dark brown, eyes of deep forest green that shimmered with the light. Her skin was pale as milk, freckles dusting her face and arms. She looked very human, but also, not human. It was hard to describe what this being was.
"I am here," she began, her voice ringing clear to break the men of their stares, "because I must find Frodo of the Shire. Gimli, my good friend, where is he?" Gimli relaxed only slightly. She was speaking to him as a friend and that was a good thing. The two of them had been on shaky ground after her identity had been revealed to him.
He cleared his throat, unsure of whether or not she should be given an answer. "I do not trust you, Tatianya. Are you making mischief again?" He was brave to question her so. His heart broke into relief when she gave him a warm smile. He never knew how she'd react to some things.
"Hello Brother, how have you been fairing?" She knelt down and hugged her dear friend.
"Been better, how about you sister?" Now clearly, no one around the two understood what was going on between them. Legolas was the one to interrupt.
"Care to explain Gimli? You have a sister?" He looked the beautiful 'dwarf' over and arched an eyebrow, "one as pretty as this no less?"
Tatianya snorted, a most unlady like thing and spoke, her voice full of amusement, "Don't be a brown noser. It doesn't become an elf such as yourself." Legolas once again cocked an eyebrow,
"You seem to think I'm unworthy to give such a compliment?"
"No, I think you are too highly ranked to be giving away compliments to the likes of a dwarf's sister." He smirked, Aragon chuckled to himself as this unfolded. Aragon looked at her,
"This still doesn't explain…. anything. How care you related to Gimli? That doesn't even matter as much as why you need Frodo. And, who are you to expect we shall give you such important information?" He sat poking at the fire, his eyes never leaving hers. Tatianya stood and walked toward the fire, rubbing her hands together to warm them.
"I am not blood related to Gimli. Yes, he is my dear friend and we have been together long before he met you, but we have no relation. My friends all hated Dwarfs so I told them I was one, and Gimli was my brother. They stopped picking on him after that. No one crosses your older sister right Gimli?" She was given a grumble in response as Gimli sat back down, his face red. She laughed outright, which sounded like an angel's laugh. "As for Frodo? I have a gift for him, from Gandalf. I must give it to him as soon as possible."
The men looked at her with mistrust. She eyed them, each one carefully. "Look, I don't have much time. As fun as it is to play 'let's-be-uncle's-messenger-because-he-is-too-busy-to-deliver-his-own-damn-crap-to-this –Hobbit- while- he- spent- most- of- his- life- visiting- him', I still have duties I need to fulfill."
"Young one, you are confusing them." Gimli muttered. This was indeed true, the men did not understand what she was going on about, Tatianya sighed impatiently and drew from her sleeve a letter; she marched over to Théoden and shoved the letter into his hands. Startled, the Lord took the letter and read it over.
"She is not lying." He said finally, "This girl brings help to our young Hobbit, although I don't know where he is at the moment, you should tell her, Aragon."
"….. I don't trust you. Your eyes are filled with trickery." Aragon stepped closer and examined her face. A little too much for someone's liking.
"Well I don't trusty you either, so we are square. Besides, I live for trickery. I am the niece of Gandalf the White. A sorceress in training." She took a step closer to the man, soon to be king she knew, so that their foreheads were almost touching. She gave him a knowing smirk, "I live to trick. Such is my nature until I must fill the shoes of my uncle. And his feet are big."
Aragon took a step back and laughed. "Young one, I shall tell you where Frodo is."
That was the last time the three (Gimli, Aragon and Legolas) saw Tatianya until the Coronation, to which Aragon would be crowned king. The Coronation was about to start, Aragon wandered the halls looking for Gandalf. When he finally found the man he was walking in on a scolding, to his niece.
"Why, pray tell, did you put a curse on the crown Aragon is going to wear?" Gandalf rubbed his face in annoyance. "We won the biggest battle in our life time and you want to kill the man?!"
"Will you chill out? Seriously, I just put a tiny spell on it. No curse. He won't die. Well….. Unless you can die from embarrassment…" she trailed off in thought. "Here, you take a look at the spell." Before Gandalf had any time to react, the crown was plopped on his head and he started clucking.
"See? Cool huh?" Tatianya began to laugh. She laughed like an angel and stopped abruptly when she saw the look on her uncles face as he took the crown off a released the spell on it. "Uh oh" she ran, her uncle, most ungraceful like, chasing her around screaming bloody Mary. Anya (Tatianya's nickname), unknowingly ran straight into the soon-to-be-king and was lifted over his shoulder with a most indignant cry. Gandalf stopped in front of the King, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment.
"You let that trouble making brat down so I can give her a thing or two on RESPECT!!! You of all people should be openly willing to this because it was your crown she spelled!!"
"'She' is right here thank you very much. And you won't give me a thing or two; I have to get ready for the Coronation. Less then an hour away it is and here I am draped over some man's shoulder."
Aragon laughed and plopped Anya down on the ground, "That Man, you are referring to, is the soon-to-be-king. Go, get dressed and ready young one." She gave Aragon a hug and stuck her tongue out at her uncle before skipping away to get ready. "You know, when I first met her, she was very serious, now she seems like a happy child." Gandalf smiled lightly in spite of the girl.
"She is incredibly mischievous at times, but when it comes down to work, she is very serious. I don't know what to do with her. I took her in after the death of her parents and left her in the Shire while we carried out our quest. I did send for her when i was in desperate need for someone to give Frodo my gift. Such a reliable, grown up woman she can be sometimes. It's hard to believe she is the same one spelling the king's crown only a short while before his Coronation." He chuckled; Aragon looked at the Sorcerer,
"Why didn't you tell us about this child?"
"It was not important at the time. She needed to be safe; Frodo knows her well, along with Sam, Merry and Pippin. What a rebellious young thing she turned out to be." The two men shared a moment of silence before Gandalf spoke again, "Come now, this is not the time to be talking about my ward. Let us prepare. I know she would be most displeased with me if she came down all nicely dressed up. She loves attention, but when that attention is from young men staring at her in a beautiful gown she will throw a fit." Aragon laughed and followed his old friend, making ready for the final preparations.
The ceremony went off without a hitch besides the one fact that bothered Gandalf greatly. His niece was not in attendance. As the large group of celebrators walked into the dining hall for dancing and a feast, Gandalf went searching for Anya, who was in the kitchen, still in her tunic.
"Young lady, as much as the kitchen staff must enjoy your company," all of them gave him a look of 'do you really think we like her mischief?', "You must greet the king. It is your duty as one of his followers."
"But Uncle, I don't want to be seen in a dress. You know how they bother me so!" She whined as he chided her out of the kitchen and to her room.
"I know my dear. But now is the time to greet his majesty. Please clean up quickly and join us down stairs in that lovely dress I bought you."
"But Uncle!!" She sat on her bed, hands clasped together in a pleading way.
"Dear, do it for my sake. I am an old man, you are all I have for an heir and I want to show the world how wonderful you are. Please?" He clasped her hands and she gave him a look.
"……Fine, but only because you said please." She smiled and he gave her a beautiful one back.
"I always say please." He said at the door way before leaving Anya to change.
Tatianya sighed as her heels clicked on the marble floor. She walked through the hallway and contemplated running away before anyone could see her. Anya, as confident as she was, did not think of herself beautiful. This of course, was completely untrue to every other being to see her but she still thought otherwise. She paced back in forth in front of the doors before finally deciding to push them both open.
Gimli stood with the Hobbits, Legolas, Éomer, Faramir and a handful of other men. They laughed, drank and pointed out beautiful females to dance with (the Elves of the group more discreet with their thoughts of course), when the double doors that lead to the top of the stairwell to the ballroom opened.
Eyes widened. Everyone's attention stood still to the angel that entered.
Well, that's it. I was sick in bed all week when I decided to re-watch the LOTR trilogy. I then went to my favourite website (this one of course), to see if any fan stories had been posted. Guess I was right huh? So, out of COMPLETE boredom, I read a bunch and decided to write my own. Yes, how weird is it that a Naruto fanfic writer decided to do LOTR? No idea. I like writing it though. On thing I have noticed is the difference in weird phrases used to describe stories. So, if anyone AT ALL, would like to tell me what a "slash" is, or "Mary Sue", that would be greatly appreciated. BTW, no flames. Go crazy if you want to review my grammatical or spelling errors. But if you don't like the story, don't read it. I am very straight forward on that subject (I have had some pretty mean reviews when I first started out and didn't specify my 'no mean reviews' policy. Seriously, who wants that? 'This story sucks.') one way to make me saddened is by telling me how crap my story is. Please don't do it. If you want to give CONSTRUCTIVE (I'm being idiot proof here) criticism, go right ahead, I encourage it. This is what I do for you, the probably two people who read and review this story. You make my day. Thank you, I will continue, I REALLY hope you like it.
Thanks
MOMI