Hello and welcome to part one of the Flitting Through Pages Trilogy!

I wish to inform you, dear readers, that I have read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I am well-versed in the lore and hope to bring more than just another 'OC Falls into Middle-earth' story to the table. This project is being written with an outline and with excessive note taking. Updates will come as they come. I wish I could update regularly but, I cannot. And I will not make promises that I cannot keep.

This is an OC falling into Middle-earth and I know there are far too many of them out there. However, this only drove me to write a story that brings respect and consideration back to this particular idea of story-telling. It's a friendship/adventure driven story that focuses more on character development than actual plot. After all, dear readers, you already know the plot. That's not why you're here. You love the characters and the personal trials they go through. That's who keeps us coming back: Bilbo, Thorin, The Company, the Elves, Gandalf, ect.

Join me as we follow Catelynn Martin as she undergoes a life-altering journey that will challenge not only who she is, but perhaps, more importantly, who she is not.

Flitting Through Pages:

A Reader's Odyssey

Book I

Chapter One

Of Editors, Publishers, and Sisters

"We regret to inform you, Ms. Martin, that, as we have read and analyzed your manuscript, we have found that your creative views do not quite suit the needs of Morton Publishing House. However, we have compiled a list of other publishers who may, or may not, find your work acceptable. We wish you the best of luck, elsewh-"

"I'm sure you do." The young woman grumbled bitterly as she angrily pressed the delete button on the confounding machine.

Automatically, the device skipped to the next message.

"Catelynn Jocelyn Martin! Answer the damn phone already! I've been trying to reach you all frickin' day! Do you know how long-"

The young woman let out an exasperated huff and threw out a hip as her sister continued to rant on and on about her lack of communication skills; complete with a few snide insults to her sanity and intelligence. In truth, she had been in a meeting with her editor for the better part of the morning and had switched her cell off in order for the discussion to remain uninterrupted. It had ended up being a very long and unproductive affair which left the young woman tired, frustrated, and now quite peeved.

"-not to mention the fact-"

Cate placed a hand to her waist and began to drum her fingers against the hemline of her jeans. She was quite accustomed to her sister's tendency to lecture. Particularly on issues such as her constant habit of stating the obvious or blurting things out without fully thinking the words through. She was also prone to bouts of forgetfulness, though thankfully the subjects tended not to be ones of too great importance. They mostly gravitated around things like how much of a certain ingredient was required in a recipe or where exactly did she leave her copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? On top of which, as an added bonus, she did not possess a single, graceful bone in her body and that by itself was enough cause for her sister to tease.

"-The point I'm trying to make here is that as soon as you get this, you get that ass of yours in gear and CALL ME!"

Beep!

And thus the message, which more closely resembled a tongue-lashing, ended. Cate heaved a great sigh, ran the palms of her hands down her face, and groaned. Even after that long winded tirade, she was no closer to discovering the reason behind it and nor was she looking forward to calling back. On the other hand, judging by how irate her sister had sounded, the call was due to either a rather stressful day at school, some sort of idiot who had ruined her day, or Cate herself had inadvertently done something she honestly couldn't recall.

She did remember to return the Blu-rays, right? Was there an errand Abby had wanted her to do? She had picked up the art supplies last week and dropped them off at the studio the other day, so that wasn't it. Christ, she didn't need this mayhem on top of everything else.

Taking a deep breath to settle her fraying nerves, Cate deleted the rant and was relieved to find it the last of her missed calls. She stood there a moment in front of the machine and briefly debated whether or not to throw the confounded device out the nearest window. After another moment of contemplation, she decided the thing wasn't worth the trouble.

In need of some peace and quiet, she spun on her heel and made her way out of the little foyer. She passed the living room and didn't so much as glance at the bedroom, instead opting for the comfort of the second bedroom. In actuality, it wasn't a bedroom at all. It was a room that happened to house a bed as an afterthought.

The room itself was small yet, beautiful and elegant. Three of the four walls were covered by a trio of ornate, hand-carved, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves craved from dark cherry wood. Of all Cate's possessions, it was the shelves which held the most monetary value in her entire home. Aside from the vast amount of books, of course. Money, in the end, had nothing to do with why she loved them. Knowledge, in her opinion, was the greatest gift anyone could receive or give and Cate pursued it with passion that border-lined obsession. Her parents had been reading to her before she was even born and that is where she believed the love of books began. She could read simple words when she had reached the age of three but, when you're so young, you prefer the story read aloud. The very first book she read by herself (aside from Dr. Seuss) had been Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Cate gazed around her library and smiled. This was her dream, her passion. Maybe one day, just maybe, she would be able to place a work of her very own on these shelves. For the past year, she had been attempting to do just that.

"Meow."

She glanced down only to find her orange tabby, rubbing his furry face up and down her left leg. She smiled warmly at the furry creature and leaned down to gently pick him up.

"And what," She began teasingly, rubbing her nose against his own as he made himself comfortable in her arms. "do you want, hmm? It's not time for dinner yet."

"Reow!" The tabby replied, his big golden eyes glinting brightly.

Having raised this particular ball of fluff herself, she knew exactly what the cat had meant by his last vocal exclamation.

"You're gonna have to wait for dinner like everyone else, Kyo-kun." She warned sternly, giving the cat a hard look.

Kyo just tilted his head to one side and blinked.

Please! His eyes seemed to plead.

She rolled her eyes at his antics and set the young tabby back on his paws. "The answer is still no. Now, go find your sister and play."

Cate on the other hand, had to find out what was so important that it warranted the tongue-lashing of the century. She shooed Kyo out of the library and closed the door to ensure the cats didn't try to spring a surprise attack on her. Pulling out her cell, she pressed her Abby's icon and waited for the line to connect; settling herself in one of the armchairs and propping her feet up on the worn coffee table. She quickly ran a hand through her hair and sighed again for what had to have been the tenth time today.

Finally, the phone picked up and her sister's voice flitted through the other end. "Finally! What the hell have you been doing all joor?! I thought Wednesday was your day off?"

Choosing to ignore the use of Cybertronian vocabulary, Cate grimaced at her sister's biting tone and pinched the bridge of her nose in order to remain calm. Once she was certain she wasn't going to snap at her, she replied tersely, "I had a meeting with Ava. It wasn't supposed to take all morning but it eventually ended up that way. I turned my cell off so we could work things out without any distractions."

"Oh." All irritation and impatience left her sister's voice. When she spoke again, it was a bit guarded, as if she was stepping into a rather touchy subject. "How'd it go?"

Cate sighed once more, cursing the fact it seemed to be the only thing she was capable of doing since she left Ava's office. "As well as to be expected. She keeps trying to get me to approach this from a different angle. Says that the reason none of the publishers want the manuscript is because I need to change the perspective."

From the other end, Abby made a deep snorted noise that gave off the impression Ava didn't know shit. "The perspective's fine Cate. There's nothing wrong with it. Ava doesn't know jack-"

"Abby." She warned gently, cutting her off before she had the chance to get going again. She didn't need this. "I know, but that doesn't change the fact none of publishers want the story. I just got a message from Morton Publishing. They basically told me in so little words the story doesn't 'suit their needs'; if I'm going by exact words."

"Well screw 'em!" Her sister's voice snarled angrily through the phone, the sharpness of her words creating feedback. "They just can't handle the new ideas, that's all! I mean, it is different but that's what makes it interesting!"

"I don't think that's the problem, Abby." Cate mused, throwing a leg over the arm of the chair. "I think it's because of the lack of romance. The main character gets thrown into a completely different world and while there's plenty of drama, she doesn't really 'fall' for anyone. Instead, she does everything she can to get back home and resists the temptation of falling in love in a place she doesn't belong. Plus, I made some of the writing dated from the natives perspective. I don't know, maybe its the style I wrote it in that puts the publishers on edge."

"They just don't know a good book when they see one." Abby grumbled so low, Cate almost didn't catch it.

Suddenly, there was the sound a door being slammed from the other end of the phone followed by the unmistakable ruckus of objects being tossed about.

"Abby," She drawled cautiously, eyebrows furrowing at the abrupt racket. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing really." Came her sister's rather poor attempt of an excuse. Was that a hint of guilt in her voice? A red flag instantly went up. Abby wasn't one to feel particularly guilty about anything.

"Riiiight." Cate drawled incredulously, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and secretly praying she wouldn't have to go over to fix another dent in the drywall. "And I'm a mountain troll. What in heaven's name are you doing over there?"

The reply came so fast that she could only discern one or two of the words. She blinked rapidly in the effort to sort out what exactly was said but, after several seconds of having little idea of it's content, Cate merely replied with an intelligent, "Eh?"

"I'm getting ready for Bot Con." Abby alliterated, sounding as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Cate gave herself a mental smack. She had all but forgotten about the Transformers Convention. Her eyes drifted over to the rather large calender that hung above the tiny bed across the room. There, in Wednesday's date, in large red, permanent maker, read:

BOT CON

Flight leaves 10:45 am

Meet Abby at Airport at 10:00 am

Due to all the chaos surrounding her book, she had placed the convention on the back burner. That had been two two weeks ago. Now with the convention was three days away, she didn't know what to do. She still had an interview with another publishing company the day after they were supposed to leave (why had she scheduled it then?) and, now that she thought about it, Ava had said something today about someone who could help reassess her work. The past two weeks had been filled with nothing but long meetings, denied contracts, and shouting matches with Ava.

She was at the end of her rope with all the roadblocks that had come up with her book and wanted nothing more, at this point, than to throw the entire manuscript into the living room fireplace and watch the flames devour it. She had enough of it. In fact, maybe it would have been better if she hadn't wrote the damn thing in the first place.

"Cate, you still there?" Abby's rather concerned tone brought her out of her self-loathing and returned her to the conversation at hand.

"Ya," Cate sighed, rubbing her temple with her knuckles in the hope to stave off the mounting headache that was coming on. "I'm still here."

"Don't tell me you can't go."

Even she was twenty-four, currently working as a manager for a local restaurant, in the middle of writing a book, and Abby was still in college working on a degree in graphic design, they still made time to spend with each other. In fact, it was when things got too hard, whether it be for one of them or both, they would go out and enjoy themselves. Living two cities apart hadn't really changed things (Cate lived in Salt Lake while Abby boarded in Orem) and she had really been looking forward to the trip as her plane ticket was not refundable.

Cate had organized the whole trip in the first place and she hated to let Abby down, but she didn't think this was the best of times to be going out of state for a Transformers Convention. Especially not with the trouble surrounding her book and the vast number of publishers who kept refusing to give it a chance.

"I don't know Abs," She said slowly, trying her best to remain somewhat confident in her decision making. "With all the meetings, publishing issues, and . . ."

She paused. She actually never got around telling Abby about the likely possibility of completely rewriting the book; stripping it down to its bare foundations and reconstructing it. Well, if it came down to that, Cate may as well scrap the whole story and try to come up with something else altogether.

"And what, Cate?" Abby pressed."What happened? And don't tell me it's nothin' 'cause you're a horrible liar."

She flinched, immediately wishing she hadn't said anything. If Abby didn't know, she wouldn't be disappointed when the book failed.

"Well," Cate began carefully, not wanting to rouse her sister's ire anymore than it already was. "There's a chance that I may have to redo the book, entirely."

For several long, agonizing moments, the deafening silence from the other end was the only response. Fearing that Abby might have hung up out of sheer anger, Cate checked the phone. No, she was still connected.

"Please, tell me you're not serious."

"The possibility is looking very likely right now."

"Cate, you can't be serious!"

"Granted, I'm all for it either but-"

"But-!" For the first time in her life, she had actually rendered her sister speechless, confused, and tongue-tied all at once. "All those months of rough drafts! The fifteen million or so notebooks of plot developments, the character bio's, the dialogue . . . ! You-! You've put so much into this! You can't just - you've spent too much time correcting every little thing, perfecting every detail! And- and you're just gonna give UP?!"

Cate felt her temper rise and immediately jumped to the defense. "I didn't say I was giving up! I said there's a chance the book may have to be rewritten in order to be published!"

"And you're just going to go along with it?!" Abby bit back harshly. "Just do what you're told?! Let the world tell you how and what to write?! That's not the sister I know! The sister I knew wouldn't give a damn what the world thought, as long as she stayed true to her work! 'Cause she doesn't know the meaning of giving up! It's not a word in her vocabulary. At least, it wasn't the last time I looked. But maybe that's changed now, eh?"

She sat stock-still in her armchair, dumbstruck by her sister's outburst. Several seconds ticked by.

"You're right of course," Cate relented, a wide smile breaking across her face, even if her sister couldn't see it.

It was silly of her to be thinking of giving up so soon in the game; getting published was tricky. It was a long hard road and not everyone would be in favor of what she had to say. But, she could do it. She had her sister who, despite her excessive teasing, tendency to slap her upside the head, and the occasional insult, always believed that she could be a great author. As long as she gave it everything she had. As long as she persevered. As long as she stayed true to what she had to say.

"Of course I'm right!" Abbey huffed (Cate could just imagine her puffing out her chest in a show of pride). "I'm the voice of reason, remember?"

Soon the conversation escalated in playful jokes and jibes at the others expense. This went on for a better part of thirty minutes before Abby expressed that she had dinner plans with her college drama team, who were going out to celebrate their latest success in the play Antigone. Cate smiled and wished her a good night out and warned her not to drink too much (like that was ever going to happen, Abby couldn't stand the taste of the stuff). After wrapping up the good-bye's and the talk-to-you-later's, Cate hung up and slumped rather profoundly in her chair.

She hated the fact she couldn't go to Bot Con with Abby but the sooner she worked things out, the better. She was getting tired of dealing with editors and publishers. All she wanted was some good news on the subject but that was in rare quantity these days. Luckily, she had decided to take some time off from work at the restaurant to settle the affairs with her book and for some added down time. She sure as hell felt like she needed a vacation. Perhaps she should just take some 'me' time in town. But, what to do? She wasn't in the right mood for working out though, she did need to slim down a bit and lose some of that belly fat but she would worry about that later. Well, there was always-

From the other side of the library door, a chorus of meows and yowling signaled that it was four o'clock. Time to feed the furballs.

Heaving another sigh, Cate reluctantly got up and strode to the door. "Alright, alright already! I'll feed you. For goodness sake you two, you act as though I've never fed you a day in your lives!"

Revised 2/19/16