For anyone who is reading Elemental Propriety, I have not abandoned it, I'm trying to work out some serious writers block, so I started this, lost it, and am now rewriting it as well. P: ah well... Hope you enjoy it. It came to me after suffering a sever back injury horseback riding. Also! If you notice spelling/Grammar, please let me know so I can fix it. :D
A humid breeze wound its way through the tall prairie grass singing humorously between the brittle brown stalks, taking little notice of a woman that had flattened a good proportion of its playground. The woman too seemed oblivious to the cool wind that was pulling at her hair and exposed skin as she lay unconscious amongst the dying winter grass. However a large black cricket did take notice of the woman, for she was currently laying on his home, and this did not please him. Anxious to have the large being removed from his abode he hopped cautiously up her arm and though her hair to settle impatiently on her cheek. Still she did not stir from her slumber, resentfully the cricket strummed its long leg against its wing admitting a loud alarming chirp. Startled, the woman sat bolt upright dazed by her rather rude wake-up call. Quickly she expelled the black cricket from her being while screeching in displeasure.
Rather ungracefully she got to her feet and surveyed the landscape around her. Immediately to her to left were a range of treacherous looking mountains, looming in the fading evening light, settled into the foot hills was a rustic building, or maybe a settlement. To her right was nothing but vast plains, unyielding and barren. Feeling quiet amiss the woman turned in a full circle. Certainly she did not remember being in the country, let alone this a secluded part of it, nor did she remember how she could have gotten here, and now that she thought about it she wasn't even sure who she was. Did she have a name? An address? If she did she could not recall it by any account. The only thing she could remember was a largely populated city and an extraordinarily tedious desk job that dealt with medical transcripts. Brown eyes searched endlessly for something that was familiar to her, a tree, a brick, a building, but nothing in the fresh, empty land sparked a memory. Something rational inside her told her to stay calm and find the nearest people, that they could help her, thank the lord that there was a settlement in the west.
Turning herself to face the shadowed mountains she watched the sky turn from rosy velvet to a churning cauldron of ominous premonition. A storm was coming. Sighing heavily the woman started toward the flickering lights of the settlement. As she climbed uphill she found that she had been in a small valley and the sight that met her as she crested the hill chilled her to the bone. Miles in the distance she could make out the form of a marching battalion, numbers in the thousands, of creatures she could not identify, but was sure that they were no humans. An icy wash engulfed her stomach and she turned and ran for the sanctuary of the rustic building in the west. The mountain foothills quickly erupted around her, closing in on the path to what she could now tell was some sort of castle. A lonely turret rose from the mountain itself puncturing the sky with abandon. As she closed in the woman could tell now, the lights she had seen were in fact dozens of flickering torches. She found it immensely odd that she couldn't quite place the feeling that this was somehow wrong. That everything around her was oddly refreshing, new, and untouched by civilization. But who was she to say what was wrong or right? She couldn't remember her name.
Cautiously she climbed the inclining bridge to two large wooden doors, nervously she twisted the sleeve of her black shirt between her fingers before raising her fist to knock on the door, but suddenly she dropped it. Was she too knock courteously upon these huge doors or was she to simply fling them open and waltz on in? Before she could raise her hand again she heard and shout and the doors were opened. The commotion on the other side of the doors that greeted her startled her more than her morning wake up from the cricket. Men dressed in complete armor were milling about, the sliver of blades flashed against the dark and the muffled sound of speech wafted about.
Suddenly a roguish looking man clad in brown leather pulled her inside the walls of the keep.
"What are you doing outside of the walls?" He asked as she yanked her arm away from him. It seemed he was taking in her clothing for it was nothing like his. Her tunic was of a soft material almost softer than something of the elves. Her leggins were of a strange blue material that seemed unforgiving.
"Where am I?" She asked quietly taking in the splendorous hubbub of the building.
"You are at Helms Deep, m'lady, in Rohan," the man said cautiously cocking his head to the side.
"Oh," She answered. That told her nothing.
"What is your name?"
"I- I can't remember," Something clenched within her at the admittance that she didn't know her identity.
"Aragorn, what is this, why is she not in the caves with the others?" Another man with a thick beard and unseemly hair approached them looking arrogant yet very paranoid.
"Take her there Hama, she has lost her memory," Aragorn said quietly to the other man as the woman watched young boys, no older than 13, carrying swords nearly bigger than them. Hama gently took her by the arm and guided her to the caves where she found herself beguiled even more by the poorly dressed women and squalling children.
!
On the far side of the keep wall the cold and stoic Marchwarden of Lorien watched with his keen elven eyes as the woman crested the hill in the distance. For a brief second he considered alerting someone until he realized she was but a woman. Broader in stature and taller than even most human women she was solid. Her long brown hair was knotted around broken stalks of prairie grass and her unusual clothes were smudged with dirt. She had a kind face with large eyes that searched every surface, taking in every detail. Amused by the sudden appearance of the woman, Haldir watched her make her way across the plains stumbling every so often. Naturally the clumsiness of humans did not amuse Haldir in an appealing way but more in a sardonic way. He found them in general a useless and destructive race, few found exception in his eyes, Aragorn was one of them. Still maliciously amused he watched the woman hesitate at the gate and found himself wishing it had been his woods that she had wandered into.
!
The caves were damp and crowded smelling of mildew and human odor. The woman, feeling very introverted found herself an unoccupied corner at the base of a stalagmite and folded her knees up to her chin. She found herself in a very vulnerable position, she was trapped with no one to speak to and nothing to keep her mind occupied so she began to think. She quickly found that she was not a person who should be left alone with her thoughts. Questions that she could not possibly answer ran through her head one after the other, chasing each other though the vast space that was left empty in her mind. Years, faces, and names she couldn't place swam in and out of her subconscious, a name would surface but the face was absent and vice versa. It was enough to drive someone to the brink of insanity.
"Would you like some broth?" A tall woman with a curtain of blond hair had approached the woman and was holding a wooden bowl of steaming liquid out to her. Not feeling hungry the woman started to refuse but the bowl was forced into her hands.
"I don't believe we have met before," Said the blond haired woman settling to the ground. "I am Eowyn."
"Its nice to meet you," the woman said sipping at the broth. Immediately she spit it back into the bowl. It was the saltiest thing she had ever tasted. "Em, hot..." she lied at the cross look on Eowyns face. The expression softened slightly.
"Do you have a name?" She asked almost impatiently.
"I'm sure I do, but I can't seem to recall it at this particular moment." Another cross look greeted her. "I've lost my memory." Instantly the cross look fell and was replaced by pity.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that was very imprudent of me."
"Don't worry about it," The woman insisted a slight smile lifting her full lips. She set the bowl of broth aside and laid her head on her knees. Uncomfortable with the silence that had encased them, Eowyn rose to her feet and wandered farther along, tending to more of the women and children.
Suddenly a loud rumbling shook the cave, pebbles and dust fell from the stalactite covered ceiling, a woman cried out and hugged her children closer to her, somewhere across the cave a child wailed loudly and the sound hit the woman sharply in the head. The cave vanished and was replaced by a green law in fall, a beautiful little girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes danced around her, laughing melodiously, the sound echoing in the cavern of her mind. This was replaced suddenly by the same child screaming loudly, and the sound of metal crashing into metal. Her vision cleared as quickly as it had fogged over, her closest neighbors and Eowyn were casting her apprehensive looks, she must have cried out. Who was the crystal eyed little girl?
Emotionally and physically exhausted the woman brought her head to rest upon her knees again and willed the thoughts from her mind. Soon enough blessed nothingness consumed her.
The sound of many feet padding down a well trodden path was what woke the woman, if it had not been that, then surely the dreams would have woken her soon enough. She had dreamed of the little girl and an older woman, her mother maybe? Shaking the sleep from her head she stood up, inadvertently spilling the bowl of broth in the process. She looked around guiltily to see if anyone had seen, luckily for her it seemed they had not. Everyone was slowly making their way out the cavern doors. What ever threat had befallen these people was over, a great sense of relief was tangible even to a blind man.
Slowly the woman followed the crowed out of the caves and into the bright morning sunlight. It smelled of death and blood. In the vast valley large columns of putrid black smoke rose to meet the bluebird morning. A clear cold breeze blew down from the mountains casting the scent into the east and relieving them of the horrid stench. Feeling awkward and misplaced the woman wandered the keep walls until she came to a door that opened to a grand hall. It was dark and cool inside but smelled worse than it had outside. She watched the tunic, leggin, and jerkin clad men tending their fallen brethren and felt a strange twinge of pity. Why had this sad fate fallen upon these people? Why was she there to witness it? She didn't quite fit into this place, she knew this wasn't her home. Yet she didn't know how she had gotten there, if she was there, she must be there for a reason, wasn't she? And why couldn't she remember anything? Feeling her breath hitch the woman made her way over to an unoccupied bench and sat down. The open window allowed a soft wind to lightly caress its way into the room and calm her nerves. For several minutes she stared blankly out the window thinking of nothing. The utter nothingness that consumed a large portion of her mind was easy to get lost in. The breeze changed slightly turning colder and more incessant, a whisper seemed to float upon it, but the woman could not make out what it was say, only felt the urge to look into the darkest part of hall.
There laid out on the long tables, like the other injured soldiers, were four fair haired men, though they were kept in solitude from the others. Carefully, as if a misstep on her part would bring the entire building crumbling down, the woman weaved her way though the tables until she was standing inches from the men. As she looked closer she realized that they were not men at all. They were taller, fairer, and had strange pointed ears. Something invisible tugged her down the tables until she was standing over a broad shouldered being. He was turned on his side, his entire torso and his right arm wrapped in snow white bandages, stained by crimson. His blond hair fell lifelessly down his back and over his face. Careful, that she shouldn't wake him, she pushed the silken strands away from a handsome face.
It was unfair, she though, that a race so elegant, even in slumber, should be injured. Hesitantly she reached out her hands hovering so close to his wounds that she could feel a faint thud of a heartbeat. Unsure of what she was doing she closed her eyes and let herself mentally assess the wounds, in one shocking moment she found herself in a hospital ER, the terrifying sounds of people screaming, crash carts being used, and a panicked babble filled her head an instant before she felt her hands catch fire then a terrible ripping as her arm was sliced from the inside, the molten fire traveled up her arm and to her back where the illness tore its way free down the majority of her spine. She felt the use of her legs leave her before she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.