Author's Note: This fanfic takes place in February of the year 2004. All three movies have been released, so don't be surprised if I use them, though the plot of the story will follow book canon as strictly as I can manage it. All five girls in this story are real people whom I have worked very hard to portray correctly. They have all read and approved every chapter that I post. Also, the capital letters at the beginning of a paragraph mark a new section in the story. Apparently, ff.n's formatting doesn't like skipping spaces between sections.
Welcome to Middle Earth
GANDALF made his way slowly up the cold stone stairs to his room, leaning heavily on his staff. He was weary, more weary than he had felt in a long time, in both body and heart. The four-day ride to Minas Tirith had not seemed to tire Shadowfax, but it had been hard on both hobbit and wizard—much as he wished otherwise, Gandalf still possessed the body of an old man, with all its inherent weaknesses.
But he had little time to rest. Sauron's forces would besiege Minas Tirith any day now, and the city was woefully unprepared. The people knew this; he had seen it in their eyes as he guided Shadowfax through the many levels to the Citadel. And their lord had given up hope when they most needed it.
Gandalf could understand Lord Denethor's despair; at the moment he was rather tempted to give in to it himself. All that he had worked for in the many centuries he had spent in Middle Earth was coming to a head, and he could feel the reins of control slipping from his grasp. He hated waiting, after he had set all his plans in motion, watching to see if they would come to fruition, or if something he hadn't anticipated would doom them to failure.
Frustration welled up inside him, and he knocked harder than necessary on the door to the room he shared with little Pippin. When no one answered, he quietly opened the door and peered inside. The bed was empty; Pippin was still with Denethor, perhaps. Good. That would leave him time to think in peace. The hobbit was dear to him, but sometimes the exuberant and utterly inexhaustible curiosity of youth became difficult to bear, especially when one needed time to reason out a plan of defense for one of the most important battles of this age.
But after an hour of silent contemplation that yielded nothing more than crumpled sheets of parchment with discarded battle plans, Gandalf longed for something to break the silence. His concentration was scattered, his mind slowed by weariness.
Suddenly an idea came to Gandalf. He sat down on the cold stone floor, cross-legged, his hands resting on his knees. His staff he set beside him, and then he began to call to the Valar, his masters, pleading with them for some guidance, some spark of wisdom that he might kindle into a full-fledged plan of action.
"HEY Erin, you got the CD player?" Kavila called as she dropped her backpack on the gym floor and started toward the locker room.
"Yeah, and my CDs!" Erin answered as she raced to catch up to her friend. "You?"
"I've got my CDs. I even brought some of my Indian music." Kavila answered as she reached her locker.
"Great! See you out there in a minute!" Erin dashed around the corner to her own locker, where she quickly changed into the black pants and shirt required for dance class.
Every six weeks in dance class the students were required to break up into groups and choreograph a dance. Today was the first day of their newest assignment, the day they picked out their music.
When Erin returned to the gym, she found all four of her friends already discussing potential songs. Adrienne sat against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, her long, wavy brown hair reaching most of the way to the floor. Sarah sat next to her, legs crossed, straight brown hair falling about her slightly stocky form. Kavila sat across from Adrienne, her much darker skin contrasting with the tan-colored gym floor, dark brown hair that seemed almost black pulled back into a tight ponytail. Quiet Megan sat across from Sarah, reddish-brown hair tied up in pigtails, sunbrowned skin reflecting her Mexican ancestry.
It only took half an hour to pick out music. With another ten minutes to go until it was time to change out of their dance clothes, the girls began to do what any teenage girls do when they have a few free moments: chat.
"Guess what you guys," Erin exclaimed. "I got 234 points last night at my archery league!"
"Um, is that good?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, since I only missed one target the whole night and I got a bullseye!" Erin answered, clearly very happy. "Hey, you guys wanna come shoot with me sometime? I missed it last week, and I've got to go to the archery range and do a make-up this weekend."
"No, thank you!" said Kavila. "I'll come and watch, but I won't shoot. I don't like pointy things! Besides, I'd hurt someone."
"No you wouldn't," replied Erin, rolling her eyes. "They make sure it's very difficult to purposefully hurt someone."
"I'll come!" Adrienne volunteered excitedly. "When?"
"Yeah, I'd go! Sure!" Megan and Sarah said.
"Great! When can you guys do it?" Erin asked.
"I've got color guard practice on Saturday," said Adrienne.
"Cross-country meet Saturday," said Megan.
"Work on Saturday," said Sarah.
"I've got a dance performance on Saturday, but I'm not going anyway," Kavila said.
"Well," laughed Erin. "I guess that rules Saturday out. What about Sunday?"
"Afternoon's fine," said Sarah and Megan. "I've got church in the morning, though." Sarah continued. Megan nodded.
"I'm so glad I don't go to church," said Adrienne, and Erin nodded emphatically in agreement. Both were atheists, and quite proud of it.
Suddenly Sarah spoke up. "You guys, I think we better go change."
The others looked around, startled to find the gym completely empty and silent except for the muffled yells coming from the locker room.
"Ah…yeah. Good idea—" Megan started to say sarcastically, but was cut off as she and her friends were suddenly enveloped by white light. It seemed that she could hear voices calling in the brightness, singing a song whose melodies were so ancient and timeless they struck a chord in the very heart of her being. There was a moment of weightlessness, drifting in a cloud of dazzling light that she could see even through closed eyes, and then it was over. She felt cold floor beneath her again, but something told her it wasn't the gym floor.
When she opened her eyes, the first thing Megan noticed was the expressions of surprise all four of her friends wore. The second thing she noticed was the dim lighting, which she quickly traced to a single…burning candle? Where the hell are we, she thought as she looked around with wide eyes, taking in the stone walls and medieval-style furniture.
Suddenly she felt the weight of someone's gaze on her back. She realized with a start that her friends were all staring at a point behind her, and turned hurriedly around to meet a pair of wise grey eyes. They were set in a wrinkled yet kind face, blank with surprise, framed by long locks of white hair and a white beard. He wore voluminous white robes bound by silver clasps. At first glance the man almost looked like some kind of white-haired monk, sitting in a position of meditation.
"Who are you?" Megan heard Adrienne ask in a choked voice.
The man stared for a moment longer before replying in a deep, raspy voice, "I am the wizard Gandalf."
"That's not possible!" Kavila burst out, arms waving with enthusiasm as she spoke. "Lord of the Rings is just a book! It's not real! It's a made-up world! You're an…an actor or something!" she concluded with a nervous laugh.
"My lady," Gandalf replied in a soothing tone. "I know not of what you speak. Middle Earth is quite real, and you are most definitely here."
"Oh my god, you guys, we're in The Lord of the Rings." Erin said, grinning dazedly.
"You are not in the Lord of the Rings, you are in the city of Minas Tirith," Gandalf corrected with a puzzled frown. "The Lord of the Rings is a person, not a place, and one you should not speak of."
"Then...the Dark Lord hasn't been defeated yet?" Erin asked, with a hint of hopefulness in her tone. To participate in the War of the Ring would be the fulfillment of every dream she had ever cherished since she had read the Lord of the Rings novels.
"No." Gandalf studied them carefully for a moment before continuing. "The siege of Minas Tirith is about to begin."
"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields." Erin said softly.
"Whoa, slow down, what is going on? What is this Battle of the whatever Fields?" Kavila said, brow knitted in confusion.
"The big battle at the pretty white city in the third movie," Erin clarified.
"Oooh, okay, now I'm with you," Kavila exclaimed.
"What is a…movie?" Gandalf asked.
Erin considered for a moment. "Ah…it's a special kind of play. Do you have those here?" she asked, and Gandalf nodded. "Um, well, it's like a play, except…more life-like…oh, I can't explain it," she concluded, grimacing in frustration.
Gandalf looked at them all with a critical gaze. "You are not from any region of Arda, are you?"
Erin glanced at her friends as if seeking permission to continue. Everyone nodded at her. "No, we're not. We're from a world we call Earth. It's…very very different from Middle Earth. We've always thought of places like this as just places in our imagination. We never dreamed they were real." Gandalf seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment.
Adrienne glanced about the room before asking in a low voice, "What of Frodo?"
Gandalf gave her a sharp look, pulled out of his trance by her question. "What do you know of him?" he barked.
Adrienne looked surprised at his harsh tone. "I know that, ah, he was sent on the Quest to…" she looked at him for permission to continue, and he nodded. "to destroy Isildur's Bane."
"How?" Gandalf asked, addressing the entire group.
"There are some books, in our world," Erin began, and a couple of her friends rolled their eyes, no doubt thinking of the many times she had become embroiled in long discussions on this very topic. Erin was easily the most knowledgeable of them when it came to Lord of the Rings. "They tell the events of the War of the Ring and much of the previous history of Middle Earth." She glared at Kavila, who had been rolling her eyes. "See, that was short." Then she turned back to Gandalf, adding, "Kavila hasn't read the books, but I think everyone else here has." Gandalf nodded.
"Do these books of yours tell how the War will end?" he asked.
Erin smiled a little. "They do. But they seem to have been written before the end was determined. Who knows whether they will prove true or false?"
Gandalf smiled back, but his smile was tinged with sadness. "Forgive me. I am merely searching for a spark of hope in these dark times. It seems that they are few and far between."
Erin glanced at her friends, noticing for the first time that their backpacks had arrived with them. "Maybe we can help," she said. "What's the situation?"
Gandalf looked hard at her, as if judging her strength. Erin had to remind herself that women of this time were not as equally regarded as in the 21st century. "The army of Minas Tirith is unprepared for the Orc assault." he finally said, shoulders drooping a little with weariness and despair. "Their lord has already abandoned hope, and the people are not far behind." He seemed to leave unsaid the admission that he too was nearing such a point.
"How many men are there?" Adrienne asked, beginning to catch on to Erin's idea.
"Less than five thousand. Few of the outlying countries have answered the call to arms," Gandalf sighed regretfully. "The Dark Lord's army numbers in the tens of thousands. The men of Gondor are not weak, but they haven't the strength to withstand such an assault."
The girls considered this, all deep in thought. Suddenly an idea occurred to Erin, a thought tugged from the depths of her memory. "What kind of war machines have you got?"
"A few simple catapults." Gandalf replied, regarding her suspiciously. "Why are you asking all of this?"
But by now Erin was too excited to notice his suspicion. "Kavila, do you have your Physics book?" she asked.
"We don't…oh, we do have our backpacks! Yeah, it's in here…" Kavila dug the textbook out of her backpack and passed it to Erin, who handed it to Gandalf. The wizard rose and moved to the desk, and Erin followed him.
"This might give you some ideas on how to improve those catapults. It's a book on Physics, which is…ah…definition, Kavila?" Erin turned back toward her friends.
"The study of movement and force as governed by mathematics," Kavila rattled off.
"Thank you," Erin nodded at her, then turned back to Gandalf, who was already flipping through the pages. "If you need help, you can talk to Kavila, she'll do her best to explain it to you."
"Me!" Kavila exclaimed from behind me. "I don't even get it all!"
"You're the only person here who's taken the class." Erin retorted.
Kavila gave her a sour look, forced to concede the point. "You could have at least asked me," she mumbled.
"And would you have agreed?" Erin asked pointedly, but with a teasing smile on her face.
Kavila burst into indignant laughter. "Did you hear that?" she asked the others. "Did you hear that? Erin Warford, you're so mean to me!"
"Whatever," Erin replied absentmindedly as she came and sat back down with her friends. They were all busily examining the room, marveling at the beautiful décor. The legs of the desk and the bedposts were expertly fashioned, and a white tree was elegantly carved into the headboard of the bed. There were colorful tapestries hung on the walls depicting historic scenes, a few of which Erin found she was even able to identify.
Suddenly Gandalf stood up, yawning. "I fear, my guests, that I am quite exhausted. It is rather late, and I must leave early tomorrow morn."
Sarah's face suddenly took on a worried expression. "Um, you guys, where are we going to sleep?"
Gandalf answered her. "Tonight you may have my bed. I shall be comfortable enough on the floor, but I deem that you are not used to such rough accommodations." He waved off the various protests. "Fear not, tomorrow I believe I can find you a room. Yes, I shall arrange that tomorrow. I must speak with Denethor at dawn, but I will return before noon. Do not leave the room until I return."
"We're going to need a lot more than a room if we're going to stay here," Sarah said, practical as always. "We don't have proper clothes, we don't have any money…"
"Yes, but come now, enough talk. Now is the hour for rest, and tomorrow will be time enough to discuss further." Gandalf said. He spread his cloak on the floor, using his pack as a pillow, and prepared to lie down.
The bed was large, but not large enough for five girls to sleep comfortably, and so they spent a few minutes working out sleeping arrangements. The girls pooled together their collection of jackets and sweaters, and removed a blanket from the bed. They managed to make room for two people to sleep, albeit slightly uncomfortably, with bundles of clothing as pillows and the stone floor as a mattress. After much arguing and repetitions of "No, I'll be fine, I'll sleep on the floor" it was decided that Kavila and Erin would take the floor, and the other three would sleep in the bed.
Just as they were curling up on the bed, the door creaked open. Everyone including Gandalf looked up with alarm, but it was quickly replaced by relief as a three-and-a-half foot tall Halfling stepped inside. All five girls sat up abruptly, faces set in expressions of shock and wonder.
Gandalf rose and embraced the Halfling, ruffling his honey-brown curls affectionately as he noted the Halfling's soldierly uniform. "My dear Peregrin, you seem to have had quite a day," he greeted.
But before the hobbit had a chance to tell Gandalf anything, multiple squeals broke out from the back of the room. "OH MY GOD! IT'S PIPPIN!" The hobbit turned, a puzzled look on his face. "It seems you also have had an interesting day, Gandalf," Pippin said as he regarded the five strange girls.
"Ah yes, I forget myself. Some introductions are necessary!" Gandalf exclaimed.
"It seems all of you know me, but I shall say them anyway. Peregrin Took, hobbit of the Shire, at the service of you and your family," he bowed.
Adrienne leapt off the bed and offered Pippin her hand. The hobbit took it, bewildered, and Adrienne shook it heartily. "Adrienne D. It's a pleasure to meet you, Pippin!" she exclaimed.
The poor hobbit looked a little dazed by her enthusiasm, and more so after the other four girls had introduced themselves in the same fashion. Erin, the last to shake hands with him, laughed as she stepped back. "Forgive us our excitement. We have read of Halflings, and of you, but this is our first time actually meeting a hobbit."
Pippin chuckled. "It would seem you know more of me that I do myself. But I fear you have confused me with another of my family, perhaps. No one has ever written of me. This is my first adventure."
"Um, well, it's a bit of a long story, but basically we aren't from Middle Earth. In our world there are books about this War and about Bilbo's adventure. So we know a little bit about you and the Shire," Erin answered with a smile. Pippin's confusion and wonder were plain on his face.
"And you can explain more tomorrow morn," Gandalf said firmly. "Pippin, be a gentlehobbit and let the ladies have the bed. You can rest on the floor beside me."
"Gentlehobbit!" chuckled Adrienne as she climbed back into the bed. Then Gandalf blew out the candle, and all turned their attentions to finding sleep.
ALL except one, whom sleep eluded. Kavila lay still upon the makeshift bed, trying not to wake Erin with her movements. But though her body was motionless, her mind was whirling with thoughts and questions.
Foremost on her mind was a single question: How did we end up in Middle-Earth? And just in the nick of time to help with the Battle of the Pelennor Fields! It was all very suspicious, frankly. I'm going to wake up any moment now, in my own room, in my world. I'll laugh so hard at myself, laying here thinking it's all real. But some instinct within her told Kavila this was no dream, and she wouldn't be waking up any time soon in her own room.
Which, in Kavila's eyes, left one utterly implausible answer: magic. All her life Kavila had known with undeniable conviction that magic was not real. It was the subject of fairy tales and fantasy novels, not reality. Yet now, if her senses were to be believed, that conviction had been struck down at its very core.
She thought back to the strange events of their "magical" transportation here. The rush of white light, the strange song. None of it made sense, no matter how many different ways she tried to reconcile it with what she knew of reality. She could feel despair closing in, and a homesickness deeper and more painful than anything she had ever experienced. At least if she was in her world, she could go back to her parents at any time. But Kavila suddenly realized, with an ache that brought tears to her eyes, that she would most likely never see her family again. If no one knew how they had arrived here, no one could get them back.
When sleep finally found Kavila, the tear-trails were still fresh upon her cheeks.