The Fellowship

By

LordHelen

I wake up and stiffen. There is something cool beneath me. It might be marble, or glass, or even the smoothest of stone. This is odd because I had fallen asleep in my crude stone basement with an old and ripped pillow and a thin blanket.

I sit up and look around. The room is white marble, I deem. The marble swirls like ice cream up into pillars holding a smooth and bare roof up. The floor breaks off ahead of me into three steps that end in a courtyard. To my right and left are identical hallways that immediately curved inwards. Behind me is a wall.

Natalie is propped up on a pillar and Sarah is spread out across the middle of the floor. They are also waking up. My two best friends.

Sarah has a long curtain of gold hair that falls to her hips in curls. She has sporty blue eyes in a beautiful face. She has high cheekbones and a soft, slightly rounded chin. Her forehead is not short or particularly long and her nose is simple and straight. She has a definite hourglass figure and is incredibly tall for her age of sixteen, pushing 6'3" at last count. She is naturally a cheerleader, so she generally wears tight t-shirts and very short shorts. When she becomes head cheerleader at games and practice times she would wear an even shorter skirt and a shirt without sleeves in the black and gold of our school.

Natalie has a light brown tint to her skin, proof of her family's long history, dating back to her grandmother in some Native American tribe. I can never pronounce the name, and I certainly can't spell it. She also has a long curtain of hair, but in a deep black. Her eyes are chocolate brown set in a heart shaped face. Her chin has a soft point and her nose is petite and very slightly hooked. Only someone who knows her as well as I do could see it. She is definitely not a cheerleader, not even close. To be a cheerleader calls for some sort of athletic ability. She has none, except she loves running track. She keeps setting and then breaking the school record. She is incredibly short, 5'2". She generally wears faded jeans and loose long sleeved shirts. On the track she trades those for a white t-shirt and light shorts.

I myself am nothing exceptional. I have brutally murdered my hair, cutting it so it barely reaches my ear and dying a dark, (but not navy), blue streak through the center. I am creamy white, rather than tan like Sarah, and almost have an hourglass figure. I am just far enough away to slip from hot to cute. I am average height for a sixteen year old, 5'4". I have no freckles, but my nose was too small and my amber eyes were always narrowed. I usually wear long, ugly green coats to cover what I wear underneath and especially to cover my hand.

Sarah is now wearing an emerald green dress with darker green vine embroidering on the sleeves, hem, and bodice, with lighter green leaves sprouting at intervals. Her dress pulls up a little to reveal emerald slippers glittering as light bounces off tiny emeralds sewn to the shoes.

Natalie wears a pure white shirt covered with an equally white tunic, both of which are big enough to easily hide the fact she was a teenage girl. She wears what looks like brown leather pants with a matching belt. She has no shoes.

I myself wear a similar outfit. My shirt reveals no sign that I am a girl. My belt holds a plain black sheath with a plain black sword handle sticking out, three gold dagger sheaths with gold dagger hilts sticking out. Only one dagger is accented with amethysts while the other two are similar, with sapphires and then rubies. I also wear thick, black boots.

"Where are we?" Sarah whispers, looking around. She is still lying down, her gold hair spread out across the floor. "Wait! I know where we are! It looks like that big castle from the movie…um…"

"Rivendell, Sarah." Natalie offers, standing up. She touches the marble pillar, a look of fascination on her face. "And it feels kinda…real."

"Rivendell! That's it!" Sarah sits up and plays with the hem of her dress. But neither of them is asking the right question.

"But why are we here?" I ask loudly. Natalie looks up, and then frowns. Her forehead creases. Her thinking face.

"I don't know." Sarah shrugs, unconcerned.

"How are we here?" I voice the other important question. Sarah shrugs again and glares at her dress.

"The important thing is why are we dressed like this? I absolutely loathe long skirts."

"That's important? We have just entered a book and you are concerned about your clothes?" I ask softly. "Why?"

"I just like being dressed my way." Sarah sniffs. Her eyes light up suddenly. "You may be right, though. If this is the room I think it is, than the Council is out there. We are so close to little Sam!"

"Oh, and Pippin!" Natalie adds, smiling wide. They both have dreamy fan girl looks plastered on their faces.

"No! We are not going to do one thing!" I hiss.

"What? Why?" Sarah says angrily.

"We are in a book, girls! There is a certain way things must go, and our very presence could upset the balance! If we let on we know about them and what's to come, we could end up killing everyone!"

"You're not even a little curious about Legolas?" Sarah says deviously, smiling at the blush that creeps up my neck into my cheeks. She has named my crush of the whole series.

"No, n-not at all." I answer. Her smile widens. "So what if I am? At least I know I can't do anything about it! Sarah, Natalie, we won't even be able to see them for that long."

"Why not?" Sarah asks immediately.

"You don't mean you intend to go on the quest?" I gasp, staring at her in horror. I know my tall friend is rather adventurous, but this is plain idiocy.

"Of course I do. I've always dreamed of meeting Sam!" Sarah smiles.

"But we would all die if we went on the quest!" I say.

"Says who?" Sarah glares down at me. She is usually very happy, but my negativity seems to have an alarming effect on her.

"Says me! Don't you realize it? Not one of us can use a weapon, we could hardly eat wild berries and sleep on rocks for any length of time, and we all hate Boromir!" I answer. The last one is to try and remind her why she doesn't want to go.

"So? We can learn and endure." Sarah says.

"Yes, we could. I don't hate Boromir…that much." Natalie says, taking a moment to decide if she did or didn't.

"Oh, and which one of you is going to throw the Ring into Mt. Doom?" I demand. I wince at their hurt expressions, but I simply cannot let them get hurt. I love them far too much for that.

"Doesn't the Fellowship split at…at…" Sarah frowns, trying to remember the name.

"Amon Hen, Sarah." Natalie supplies again.

"Yes, Amon Hen!" Sarah says triumphantly. "Who says we have to go anywhere near Mordor?"

"Oh, yeah, I'd much rather get kidnapped by orcs or run across miles of Rohan to end up in two big battles and talking to dead men!" I answer.

"Brianna, I'm going whether…or…not…" Sarah slows her speech and drops to the ground. She grabs her head, fingers splayed on each side.

"Sarah!" I drop and drag her up. She is dead weight. "Sarah!"

"Incredible…" Sarah breathes. "Absolutely…incredible."

"Sarah, what are you talking about?" Natalie asks, grabbing her other arm. Sarah seems able to stand on her own, but I won't let go until I am sure she won't do that again. It appears Natalie agrees.

"Frodo is going to take the Ring!" Sarah says breathlessly, trying to walk forward. We hold her tight.

"We knew that already, Sarah." I say patiently. I reach up and try to feel for head bumps, but she shakes me off.

"I know, but I saw it. I could feel them all. Frodo was so confused and scared. Boromir was…well, too proud to be scared. Sam and Pippin didn't know what was happening very well. It was…so amazing."

"Pippin? You saw Pippin?" Natalie asks excitedly.

"Guys, are either of you planning on asking how Sarah had a vision?" I ask.

"Oh, simple, really. When we came into this dimension, the change turned our forms. Sarah was changed into an elf, it appears, and it looks like I was changed into a hobbit. That's why I have no shoes. Bri, it looks like you were changed the least. You're a human." Natalie explains. I suspect she had come up with this while Sarah and I fought.

"Okay, if you're right…Sarah will have wicked aim and I'll be easily corrupted." I grimace at the thought of corruption. Fear begins to rise, so I press my scarred hand against my leg. The pain controls the fear. "Natalie, you'll eat a lot."

"Thanks." Natalie says dryly, giving me her best fake glare. It is pretty convincing until she ruins it by winking.

"Bri, I just remembered what I was saying." Sarah says. "I'm going whether or not you say I can. Don't you want to come with me? Make sure I don't go to Mordor?"

"You wouldn't dare." I growl, glaring at her. She knows how much her safety means to me. She smiles and shrugs. "Fine, I'll go. Happy?"

"YES!" Natalie and Sarah shout. I pull my sword out slowly so as not to fumble it and sneak behind Natalie. I shear her hair off until it is rather short.

"BRIANNA!" Natalie yells, grabbing at her shortened hair. She looks like a boy now.

"I had to, Natalie! Remember, this is the time where most girls stay at home at times of war. I would do the same for Sarah-"angry sniff-"but she's in a dress."

"FINE!" Natalie yells.

"Shh!" I order, staring at the entrance to the courtyard. "Come on." I whisper, leading them out to stand behind a pillar outside in the courtyard. The fighting has begun. Everyone is standing and yelling at each other. My eyes stray from the people to the pedestal that holds the Ring. A voice seems to whisper in my head something I can't understand. It is a foreign language, but it is all I can hear.

"Bri, are we going?!" Sarah shakes me hard and I blink. It is quiet and the Fellowship is lined up. Everyone is present. Have I been staring at the Ring that long? I nod and Sarah, without waiting for Natalie or me, steps out and walks toward Elrond.

"I will go!"

"Why would you like to go, fair lady?" Elrond says, composing his face. He must be mad his secret council was not secret.

"I can see the future. Can you tell me this would not be useful on such a quest?" I almost laugh at the way she puts her hands on her hips and gave the lord stare-for-stare.

"Well, of course it would be useful." Elrond says, staring back calmly.

"Me too! Me too! I want to go too!" Natalie calls, running forward. She trips over her own feet, catches herself, and walks up. I shake my head.

"Very well. What are your names?" Elrond says.

"She is Sarah and he is Nate." I say, walking forward. "My name is…uh…" I panic and make something up quickly. "Brine."

"I assume that you will want to go as well, uh, Brine." Elrond grimaces at my poor name.

"Yes." I say quietly.

"Then I now deem you twelve the Fellowship of the Ring." Elrond announces. Then it hits me and I feel winded. I just joined the Fellowship. I just sentenced myself. I'm going to die before I'm seventeen.

I would like to add a disclaimer. I do not own anything so far except the girls, it all belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien. I own nothing at all.