Another Life

by Corinder

When 'Wendy', an overweight girl with self-esteem issues, is offered another chance somewhere else, or drown, she takes the 'other chance' and wakes up, no memories, dragged into an adventure that she was never supposed to be apart of. This isn't as simple as it seems... whoever said Middle Earth in the middle of a war was going to be fun?

1. Becoming Wendy

An undertoe tugged at my feet, dragging me under in an explosion of bubbles, and with it, I felt everything I'd been carrying vanish from my arms. Briefly, just for a precious second, I burst from the water to gasp for air, and then was dragged under again, surrounded by debris. Rocks, leaves, sticks, entire fucking branches, someone's bike slammed into my side and I grabbed it in an attempt to dislodge it. Oh, I realised, it was my bike. My brand new one. I tried to drag myself and it sideways but there was no way I could save both of us.

The rivers had flooded. All of them, in fact, all over Brisbane. And I'd, like a stupid fool, decided that the river didn't look so bad and I could manage to get myself and my christmas presents across it. Easy. I surfed, didn't I? Okay, so that was when I was a kid, but still... no problem! I'd ignored someone's shout and tried it.

The river had swept me right off my feet, right over the bridge's railings, and here I was. Where, I wasn't sure, but I was in some pretty fucking bad trouble right now.

The river surged and screamed in my head, and I felt something very large and heavy graze my side, hit my head hard, seeing my own startled bloody reflection in some kind of mirror just for a moment, surrounded by brown water, bubbles and a bloody cloud. It was a car and I swore I saw someone inside it, heard banging, but then it was gone as the river tugged us apart again.

Then, suddenly, we were slammed together, my shoulder slammed hard into the side of the car. I saw it clearly now, now I was pressed against the door by the pressure of the currents, and saw a child's white face staring back at me through the glass. Trapped in the car. The car was almost flooded.

For another moment I was above water, seeing the dark red of the car's roof beside me, seeing it dipping dangerously low, and I gasped in both water and air, the pain of it searing through my chest. I grasped the edge of the car, fingers white with the effort of hanging onto the slippery metal, seeing glimpses of trees, of other cars, cars that the river must have dragged into the waters. How stupid I had been... if a car couldn't handle it, how could I? I felt dazed, my shoulder throbbed and barely worked, and the world darkened a little as my mind offered unconsciousness to escape from the pain.

The banging below me snapped my conciousness back to something. Something important. Something that had worried me and upset me. I could barely think, blood streamed over one eye and blinded it, and my left arm couldn't hold onto the car- it just hung limply as my shoulder throbbed. It took some precious seconds, as the car dipped lower, before I remembered her. The child! How the hell had I forgotten her?

I tried to grasp it with my left arm, the handle, but I couldn't get my fingers to move properly, and debris in the floodwaters kept crashing into my arm and body, jolting everything that hurt. She was still there, pressed against the window, like she was trying to go right through it. I tried to get the handle with my good arm, dropping into the water, clutching onto it for dear life. But the waters just pressed against the car, as it went forward, pressing the doors shut. Electric windows? Wind up? I didn't know and I doubted she could hear me. If it was a new car it was probably electric.

The front of the car was now completely underwater and I saw, with another jolt of shock, something there. A woman slumped forward, limp, her entire body underwater over the wheel.

Half blinded by blood, I tried again, trying to wedge my body between the car and the car door as I tried to open it, the pressure of the floodwaters cutting the edge of the door into me. An arm and hand grasped for me, trying to hold on, with much more strength than I'd have expected of someone that size. I tugged, pushed, tugged, and felt the child come free of the car as water surged in through the partly open door. Suddenly, we were free, and the car was gone. I didn't know where, if it had been swept away, if we'd been swept away, only that we were tumbling again in water filled with dangerous debris- myself and this child, her arms around my neck, legs around my waist, head buried in my neck. I couldn't find the car for her mother, if that was her mother, I couldn't even be sure the car was still floating.

All I could do was try and keep near the surface, so we could breathe, as I felt sharp pains, slashes, things hitting me as they went past. My lungs were almost always empty of oxygen and the world was again starting to darken, even with the child's life, and …

We got dragged into a stormwater pipe. I saw it briefly, this round grey pipe, before the blackness enclosed us. Before water enclosed us.

With one final gasp, I grasped onto the child, and prayed.

"Are you ready to die, in order to be reborn?"

I swore I heard them, voices, words echoing around. But I didn't know who. Something else hit us and then, suddenly, I couldn't fight it. My mind slipped away into the darkness.

Words filled my head, words that I didn't understand, and with them came the sense of being touched. Being held. A warm body, scented with a mild smell that might have been body odour without being the offensive kind. The splash of water.

Are you ready to die in order to be reborn?

The voice echoed again. I felt it. I felt the edge of life and death, as I felt the arms carrying me out of a river, felt the chasm and depth of death yawning there. Death was somewhere else. How? I didn't know. But death had no careful arms, had no soft voice, it only had darkness and cold water. It waited ready for me if I tipped towards it. But there was also life. I felt that too, felt it come with those arms and with an incredible amount of pain and uncertinity. There, in this choice of life, I was lowered onto something soft and damp, a motion that hurt me so much, that I heard myself gasp in shock. Somehow though I couldn't really …

Somehow, neither death in that dark water or life with the owner of those arms, I felt connected to neither, aware of bodily sensations that came with both, aware of sounds I made or tried to make, but … I hovered between.

Are you ready to die in order to be reborn?

A third time I was asked. And this time I knew it was the last time I would be asked. The last chance I would be offered before the choice was made for me.

Death. Life. I had a choice, whatever this 'reborn' thing was all about, and ...

"Y-es..." I heard my own voice answer, much clearer than I could have imagined, much louder. The answer was so easy to come up with, like I'd already decided, I wasn't ready for whatever lay beyond the darkness. Death vanished. Something surged through me, a shock of energy I couldn't understand, and...

Suddenly I was only aware of myself, lying on wet grass, pain from head to feet, eyes unable to see. Everything hurt. I felt paralysed. There were voices, feet, coughing somewhere else.

A hand brushed hair out of my face and I flinched.

"M'lady? Hen-ee-akh neen?"

The word seemed bizzare. Wrong. I couldn't open my eyes to glare at whoever it was. I felt confused, hurt, stunned, blinded, my chest was heavy, and I couldn't move.

"I..." My voice cracked. Okay. I couldn't talk either.

"Nen, hurry." There was a command to that, some guy ordering someone around, though the next statement really made no sense whatsoever. He spoke something else I didn't catch but I did hear the sound of a horse come closer.

I thought I smelt horses. I could smell it now and hear it, something nearby, but I couldn't bare to open my eyes. I smelt smoke too. Fire. Fish? Grass tickled my back, grass and something gritty, sand maybe. Dirt? I didn't care. God, did I hurt, I didn't care what it was. Why was I concentrating on dirt? I tried to move, only to feel a shock of pain run through my shoulder.

"Don't move. Wait." That man said softly, soothing, and I felt something lift off my chest. The weight gone, my lungs could expand a little more, and I felt a little better. "Take the human child, get her warm beside the fire."

Was I blind? Everytime I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't, and I felt panic rising. Something soft and damp dribbled over my face and I flinched.

"Just water to clean your face. Your eyes are held shut by blood."

Oh, that made sense. I supposed. How did that happen? Blood was usually meant to be inside the body, not holding eyes shut. I heard a flutter of words as the cloth, I had to guess that was what it was, moved over my eyes carefully. Another language. Pretty, sure, but it made no sense to me. They talked for a while and slowly, I found myself able to open my eyes, finding them meeting the concerned eyes of a grown man with long hair.

Somehow familiar. I wasn't sure how. But he made me want to giggle. I wanted to tweak his ears. Why the hell did I want to tweak his ears? I tried to sit up again, only to find his hand press on my good shoulder, a frown in his eyes as he stared down at me.

"Don't move. Stay still. Your injuries will need binding."

"Wa-" I coughed, a horse ugly thing compared to this pretty man, and something rose up out of my stomach. Water exploded everywhere, all over the place, up from my stomach and my lungs. All over me and the pretty man. Well, he'd told me to not move. I hadn't moved. I'd vomited.

Somehow he didn't seem the least bit fazed by the fact that someone had just vomited on him, he stayed put, and offered me something that looked kind of bladderish.

"Drink and move slowly." He offered, glanced over his shoulder towards someone, and spoke in that language again.

I drank. I was so thirsty. Once I'd drunk as much as I could, I shut my eyes, warmth flooding through my body. Whatever the drink was, it'd been good, the pain faded from my limbs. The sunshine eased me back into sleep.

This didn't last long. I woke, to find another pretty man bent over me, his teeth gritted as he tugged at something. Something wrapped around my arm and my shoulder. I flinched, shoving at him, making the man raise his eyes as if I was a naughty child. Weird. He didn't even bother hiding his dislike, this ugly look on such a nice looking face, as if he'd been asked to scrape poop off someone's shoe. I tried to push him back.

"I can do it." I muttered. "Whatever it is you're doing."

"He's tying your arm to your chest, to keep it still." The first pretty man, the blonde one, informed me. "Where are you from? Is it near?"

I had no effing clue. "I don't know."

"Your voice..." There it was again, that surprise flashing across his face, but it was gone pretty fast. "Not a tone we're used to. What's your name?"

Again, nothing. My mind drew a blank. I blinked in confusion as I tried to think, hissing in pain as the second pretty guy yanked hard on my arm, tying it firmly against my chest. "I don't- OW- know."

"Head injuries have been known to hide memories." The man, the one I'd woken up to, glanced away. "She, too, has no memory."

She? I stared in the direction he'd been looking. Some kid. I flinched again, as the man pressed against my shoulder with a long piece of fabric, trying to slide back.

"My apologies, M-lady." He didn't look that sorry. He didn't look that interested to begin with. The man glanced back at the younger man. More of the foreign language was exchanged between them.

Finally, the first man seemed to win, because he turned to me. "Horseback is not kind to that kind of injury. We have no time to stay with you, no village is close by, and so you'll have to come with us. The healers will repair this damage."

Another heated discussion, the two of them speaking about me all over again. It sounded heated. Were they arguing? I had the distinct feeling it was about me. And not in a positive way.

I stared around as they did, ignoring their dismissive way of talking about me as if I wasn't there, stared around for... I wasn't sure. A phone or something. Horses grazed nearby, more or less free of saddles, although one had several large packs of something on the back. I didn't see a car. I saw a bike though. My bike? They'd more or less attached it to the side of the poor horse, who grazed, as if this wasn't an unusual thing at all.

Besides this, there was nothing, no house. No road. A trail of sorts, kind of, as if people wandered along here from time to time. And the air was so clean, I didn't smell anything at all besides the musk of horses. The smell of wet grass. Maybe something oniony. Onion grass? A herb I was kneeling on?

I sat there, numbly, staring at the two of them. Pointy ears. Blonde hair. Bows. It seemed to be familiar, somehow, but I couldn't figure it out.

"Moving seems like a bad idea. Why not call an ambulance?" I muttered. I remembered that much, at least, that there were such thing as ambulances and that apparently injured people shouldn't be moved. I just received blank stares. "You know. So the injuries don't get worse."

They exchanged looks and the more friendly of the two said softly, "Another is needed nestad. Neither of us are a healer, M'lady, nor know of any better than that can be found in Ri-"

The second cut him off, muttering something, and this time I was certain I'd heard the word 'human' in amongst it. It had sounded kind of insulting too. Great. The girl clearly was apart of this argument, for both sides, because they kept glancing at her. At least she didn't get the 'shit on shoe' expression. He almost looked tender. Almost. So did asparagus till you tried to eat it.

"Who are you two?" And what was with their ears? Were they trying to look like elves? Problems with being human? I was too sore to care.

"Legolas Greenleaf." The first man informed me. He opened his mouth to continue, only for the other man to inturrupt, as if he couldn't help himself.

"Lord Legolas Greenleaf of the Woodland Realm. Prince, son of Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm."

"Okay, okay, I didn't need his entire bloody family tree." I muttered. Was that rude? Maybe. But then I paused. Legolas. Legolas. Why did this seem so familiar?

Somehow, this name put me into hysterics, which cut off both of them and baffled the two of them completely. I couldn't help it. I laughed my head off, however much it hurt, laughed till I couldn't take the pain of it anymore, and wheezed. Why was that name so hilarious? I had no clue. It just was.

This broke out a fresh argument between this Legolas and his ...friend. Legolas pointed at me, at something on the ground, and then at the girl.

"You have no memories?" He suddenly asked, glancing at me.

"None." Except that his name wanted to make me laugh all over again. It seemed totally unreal. I couldn't help it, I asked again, "You sure that's your name?"

"Very." He was deadly serious. Stared at me like I'd lost my mind. Then he turned to his friend and they resumed the argument. It wasn't aggressive, exactly, but Legolas seemed determined. Finally his friend seemed to let up and Legolas turned to stare at me. "You and this child will come with us to Lord Elrond."

A fresh wave of hysterics washed over me, startling them and waking the kid, who had been curled up beside the fire. I felt like I'd lost my mind somehow. Seriously. What was it about these names that made me want to laugh in their faces? I felt bad, especially when I saw the other guy frown, and tried to stop it. "So... sorry. Not sure why I'm laughing." I couldn't understand it. Part of me didn't want to get them angry. Part of me didn't want to laugh- it fucking hurt! And part of me just found it plain hilarious. I must have been going mad.

Maybe he wondered the same thing, because he said slowly, thoughtfully, "Your injuries may be affecting your mind. There are healers under Lord Elrond who may restore memory." Legolas offered. He turned to grasp a horse's bridle, leaping up on it like some kind of male ballerina, and glanced at his friend. A sharp order, in that language, made the other man sigh and come over to me.

"You ride that horse." He pointed at one of the grazing horses. I stared at it. It lifted its head, clear blue eyes meeting mine, and stared at me. "With the child."

Could I ride a horse? I didn't remember and I wasn't sure if I could stay awake long enough to stay upright. Before I could bring this important point up, I was helped to my feet, and felt my legs sway unsteadily. My head spun at the sudden movement and I found myself leaning on the unimpressed pretty man.

"Can you stand?" He asked.

I tried, found my legs more or less agreed with the idea, and made my way slowly to the horse. Stared at it. It stared at me. Huh. So. I had to get up there.

Hands hoisted me up, the unnamed man's slender frame hiding one hell of a lot of strength, and I found myself hoisted up. No choice but to try and get leg over back and sit there. The child was put in front of me. She looked like she was in pretty bad condition too, barely awake, blood plastered across her. Somehow this did kick me a little, make me a little more determined to try, because however weird this was turning out, she clearly needed a lot of help.

"My horse will carry you carefully." Legolas reassured me. "We are not three leagues from Lord Elrond's home. Sit, and let her follow us."

Oh, okay. That shouldn't be too hard. How far was three leagues? I shut my eyes as a wave of tiredness washed over me.

When I opened my eyes again, I was somewhere else, still perched on the horse as we rode. Legolas rode ahead, easily, like he was born there. I had to guess the horse behind me had the other guy. Forest leaned in, leaned across us, and I reached up with my good arm to touch the leaves gently.

It was while I was doing this that I caught sight of something. A river. Buildings. Statues.

This incredible place. Beautiful. I gaped at it, just before the trees covered the view again, staring down.

"Rivendell?" The word kind of drifted up into my head. I blinked, staring down. I knew that. This was Rivendell. How the hell had I known that? Maybe he'd said it. I wasn't sure. I passed out again, slumping forward, aware vaguely that there was someone nearby. I held on with whatever I could. The kid needed help. The kid needed help. Catching a glimpse of her, with her hair red with blood, kind of helped.

Sometimes I did open my eyes, slowly, finding myself still perched on the horse. The forest never really changed, not really, but we were moving pretty fast. It was so strange- I would shut my eyes, open them, and I'd feel as if we'd moved some distance but I couldn't figure out if it had been two metres or two hundred. A slope caught me, almost, caught me so unawares that I almost tipped forward off the horse only to feel something hoist me back.

"M'lady, we ride ahead. You will be well cared for. I will call on you when I have given my respect to Lord Elrond." Legolas spoke beside me, his hand on my shoulder, holding me upright. Grey eyes met mine, then across to someone beside me, and I saw an unfamiliar man with those same ears riding just a few inches beside me. Legolas spoke across me, "She speaks the common tongue."

"Does she?" Somehow this was not good news, apparently, because this other elf didn't seem pleased.

Okay, I muttered, though I wasn't sure if this was within my head or out loud. Did that mean he'd left me alone? But when I'd opened my eyes, I found myself on a different horse, leaning against someone, as the horse carefully moved along a road that cut down a slope. Weird. When had that happened?

"Stay still." A new voice warned softly. "The river will not be so kind."

I stayed still. I shut my eyes.

Dreams dogged me, mixed with the fluttering of my eyes and the sight of road and trees, dreams of things. Flooded rivers. Water. Drowning. Voices in my head, screams, crying. I wasn't sure what it was- it was a nightmare, and everytime I opened my eyes, it became too shadowy to really remember beyond the drowning But then, when I dreamed, this world with the pretty man seemed more dream than reality, and I couldn't figure out which was real. The flood or the pretty man in the pretty clean forest. It seemed like neither was real. Both were real.

My head hurt.

When I managed to really focus on the world, this time, we were crossing a river and a chilly wind had cut across my legs. It was now I'd only noticed that my pants and top were pretty badly shredded, and something was over my shoulders. A cloak. Huh. Fancy broach thing holding it there. I fingered it with my good hand, a little silver fern curled around something, till my strength couldn't hold my arm up. I shut my eyes again.

When I opened them, I was no longer on horseback, but instead in a bed.

Then I was in a bed. This confused me. Where had the river gone? The bridge?

I blinked up at the ceiling, staring at a carving of a woman bent over me, her face sad. Felt sheets. A face stared at me. Another face. Legolas, the pretty elf. Another face. A woman. Or was it a man? There were so many feminine longed haired people, I kept seeing them between sleep, that I was starting to get confused.

And then, suddenly, I woke. This time I was not disorientated. I felt strangely refreshed, awake, and safe.

It was cold. The sheets, beyond where my body was, were freezing. I stretched slowly, feeling strangely numb all over, yet somehow I felt okay. Wide awake. Sun cut across my bed, a warm sun, and a little man was staring in at me through the window, his jaw open. Cute, sort of, but no mistaking him as anything but an adult man. A man who couldn't be more than four feet tall.

We stared at each other for a very long time.

"Who are you?" He demanded, an accent mixing with clear curiosity, as his eyes stared from me to the side of my head. "What are you doing here?"

"Waking up." I sat up slowly, grasping the sheets just in time, staring under them. Where had my clothing gone? I was sure I'd had some. I was wearing some kind of dress instead. "Who are you."

The little man opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by someone's shout, someone not very far away.

"Pippin, where are you?"

"There's a human woman! Isn't it?" The little man, clearly Pippin, called back. He wandered in through the door and stared at me. "You injured? Are you a human?"

No, I realised, as I wriggled my shoulder. "Not anymore. Um. I think I was, but not anymore. What else would I be?" Besides a four foot man, apparently, but I was pretty sure I was safe with that.

Another little man ran in, staring at me with the same open curiosity, but he seemed distracted. "Come on, Frodo and Sam have vanished. So has Bilbo. They're up to something. That's not a human. Look. She's got ears. Um. Sorry, M'lady, but-" This second one was midway through a bow when he realised what Pippin was up to, because Pippin had just crawled onto the bed and stood there.

To my amazement at his lack of boundries and to the horror of his little friend, he reached out to push my hair back, and stared.

"There is! But it's not like the others. Are you half?"

"I don't know what you mean." I muttered. "I just woke up on a river bank. What do you mean, half?"

"You know. Half elf. I heard there were some." Pippin informed me. He flopped down on the bed, tugging something out of his pocket, adding, "It's okay, Merry. She's friendly."

"She's in bed, Pippin."

"She's dressed." Pippin retorted. He glanced at me. "And there's been visitors. I saw them. She was sick. You feeling better now?"

I glanced down again at the clothing. I was dressed, and not in what I'd been wearing on the horse, instead in some other thing. Looked pretty feminine. Silky. Dress that had some pretty amaing fabric. It went green one direction and blue in another. But … I had the distinct feeling I wasn't a fan of dresses.

"I feel okay now. No pants."

"Girls don't wear pants. If you feel better, you'll probably be hungry." Pippin informed me. He tugged something out of his pocket. Cheese? Bread? He slammed them together, tore a bit off, and held it out. "We can get more in the kitchen. The Elves don't ever go in. I don't think they eat."

"Pippin, come on." Merry glanced at me. My lack of anger at this visit must have been relaxing him a little. "We were doing something, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Pippin blinked and grinned. He stuffed half the remainder of his sandwich in his mouth, no small feat for such a small head, and chewed on it energetically. Within seconds it was gone.
"Frodo and Sam." He slid to the side of the bed, jumping to his feet, and his curious gaze kept shifting over me as I started to slide for the edge of the bed too. Suddenly he grinned. "You feeling like an adventure?"

"Pippin, we don't even know who she is." Merry muttered. He was slightly less trusting of me, I suspected, though nothing like that weird pretty man with Legolas. "Who are you?"

"I don't know." The memory of Legolas and his friend flashed through my head. I stared at them both. Slowly I stood up, testing my legs, finding each of them working fine. My head didn't hurt. "I hit my head. I don't know."

"She must be the woman who saved Daisy, Merry." Pippin rolled his eyes and wandered over. "You saved that little girl, didn't you? You want to come for an adventure? We can get food from the kitchen on the way."

My stomach rumbled and I flushed. Okay. I was a bit hungry, really, and I felt kind of restless. Besides- Pippin's grin was infectious. I felt my own face mirror it, which relaxed Merry more, his own face relaxing. I'd been in bed for ages, hadn't I? No one could blame me for wanting to have a walk.

Besides, someone had been nice enough to dress me up. I glanced around for something else though, feeling strange without pants, and saw my torn ones lying over a chair. Cleaned? Fantastic.

"Sure, why the hell not. Give me thirty seconds-" At their blank looks, I tried, "I mean, give me a moment, and I'll meet you outside."

They were gone pretty fast for such tiny legs. I yanked the pants on, torn or not, and immediately felt a little less naked. Dresses might be nice but pants kind of felt good. I went outside, bare feet crunching on autumn leaves, and stared around. Now. Little men... little men...

Merry and Pippin were leaning against the wall, Pippin again eating something else, and he brightened. "Great! Follow us."

It turned out that sneaking around an Elvish city, I had to assume that was after we passed the fifth Elf, wasn't so easy. Not with such a long dress. I took three steps before I decided I had to go back and change again, which kind of frustrated them. It took me some minutes though.

One door led to a row of amazing dresses, lined up, one after the other. I only stared at them for a moment before moving on, finding a door to another room, and an open drawer caught my attention. Those didn't look like dresses.

For a moment I fumbled around in drawers before I found something, some kind of tights which sort of fit, and a shirt which hung loosely. Men's clothing? It smelt like men's clothing, really, but who cared? Once I had a jacket thing and had my hair tied back, I felt kind of better. Did I dress like this normally? No idea- no memory surfaced to answer me.

They stared at me as I came out.

"You a man?" Merry blinked.

"A pretty man?" Pippin's eyes openly trailed down to my chest where, although the jacket hid it better, I still clearly had feminine attributes. "No, she's a woman."

"Wouldn't know it with that clothing." Merry said bluntly.

I didn't really care though. I did the buttons up on the jacket and shrugged. "Doesn't bother me what you see me as."

"Up to you." Merry turned. "Let's go!"

We snuck around between gardens, buildings, statues, which still wasn't easy. Elves. Good hearing. I thought that was the case, anyway, though I wasn't sure what had given me that idea. It was amazing though. I kept finding myself getting distracted by the incredible beauty of the place. The sheer amount of detail, care, and love that went into every path, into every bench, into the positioning of each tree and statue...

I wasn't the only one. Both of the little men kept gawking around too, jaws open, and our progress wasn't that fast. It was probably only Pippin's growling stomach that really kept them going forward and me with them. I suspected I'd get lost without them. I had a bad thought suddenly- what if they'd get lost too? This place was beautiful but a bit confusing.

"How long have you two been here?"

"A week." Pippin replied as he glanced back. I kept thinking of him as a child but he wasn't. He had lines in his face and signs of aging in his skin. But he had that childish thing in his eyes, this excitement, this curiosity that made him look younger. He might have been thirty in reality. I didn't know. He was gazing through a tree now, literally through a fork that was low enough for him to stare through, watching a group of Elven women dance and play without any interest or care in us.

"So, Frodo?" I stared at them as well. They seemed to like dresses. I had to admit- the dresses did look fun to twirl in. Pants were pretty boring with that. "Does he always hang around you two normally?" I could almost picture it. A third member to their little gang.

"No, he doesn't. But Frodo vanished in his best clothing. Merry saw him." Pippin informed me in a soft whisper. "Sam noticed too. Then Sam wandered off. We lost him."

"Who are Frodo and Sam?" I muttered. They blinked at me.

"Oh, yeah. You don't know. They're hobbits like us, from the Shire. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, his gardener." Merry let me know. He'd relaxed now and glanced over the arm of a female statue, gazing around slowly.

"Shire? Hobbits?" Gardener? I blinked at them. Somehow these words made me crave cheese but other than that, neither word really made much sense to me.

Pippin opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted. Elves wandered past and Merry covered his mouth. Armed Elves.

When they were some distance away along the path, Merry grinned. He had to be around thirty too, I realised, but he was like Pippin- everytime they smiled, or grinned, or got that look in their eye, they looked like teenagers. Naughty teenagers about to do something that would get them in a lot of trouble... and they loved it.

I suddenly wondered what the hell I'd gotten myself into by following these two. Oh boy. But their smiles were infectious and I couldn't help but smile a fraction too.

"We must be close." Merry decided, as he saw another pair of guards wander past, standing a little straighter.

"This way." Pippin decided, lowering down, and grabbing at me again.

We crept slowly along, trying to keep out of sight when we could, and trying to walk innocently when we couldn't get away wth it. This involved walking, smiling nicely, and Pippin nodding innocently at elves. Of course they noticed, of course they stared, but then they didn't stop us either.

"There's a lot of strangers around right now." Merry informed me softly after the third group of Elves let us wander past. "Kitchen."

He vanished into a doorway, Pippin moving to lean against the door, still looking as innocent as ever. It only took Merry a few seconds to come out with an armful of food, tossing me an apple and Pippin something that looked like a smoked leg. Chicken? Bigger? Who knew. I didn't know why but the idea that elves ate meat kind of surprised me.

They ate as we continued to creep around the beautiful city, between flowers, buildings, ducking away from guards and trying to smile their way past those who couldn't be ignored. I was offered a bit and only accepted the fruit. I wasn't hungry. I had this really bad feeling that I was doing something really stupid.

Finally we came up to a big wall, and we heard voices.

Pippin's hand flew to his mouth and he gestured for us to be quiet, kneeling down, peering through a curtain of ivy that dangled from the wall. From here, we caught the sound of voices, caught words being spoken. And as they were spoken, the most bizarre sense of Dejuavu struck me, like I'd heard them before. I could almost picture those speaking.

"...forces of Mordor at bay...by the blood of our people! Are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy...let us use it against him!"

"You cannot wield it. None of us can. The one ring answers to Sauron alone...it has no other master." The blonde man turned on the speaker. "And what would a ranger know of this matter?"

I was tugged over and Merry pointed at another little man, sitting on a chair probably made for much larger people than him,looking pretty out of place there. Legolas was there too, I noticed, with his not so friendly buddy. That cloak I'd had on while on the horse was on him now. I'd have to thank him later for the use of that. It must have needed a lot of cleaning with how muddy and bloody I'd been. Legolas stood pretty fast as the blonde man went towards his chair, just a step.

"This is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance."

Why did they keep mentioning who they were sons of? Did that really matter? I wasn't sure. I made a note to ask someone later. Right now I was confused about why they were arguing over a ring. Yet, it was so familiar. All of it. It felt like I'd already seen it, all of it, but …

"Aragorn? This is Isildur's heir?"

"And heir to the throne of Gondor." Legolas must have not had enough of the 'rubbing salt in wound', because he added, eyes fixed on the blonde man.

The dark haired man sounded kind of frustrated. "Havo dad, Legolas."

The blonde man scowled. "Gondor has no King. Gondor needs no king."

There was a pause as the men sat there, a kind of awkward pause, until the old man spoke up. I sat there on my legs, staring in, as they continued to have their meeting.

"Aragorn is right...we cannot use it."

"You have only one choice..the ring must be destroyed."

One of the small men with beard leapt up, axe in hand. "Then...what are we waiting for?" He charged for it with the axe, stricking it, and pieces of metal rained everywhere as the man was flown backwards.

I flinched, so did Merry and Pippin, as pieces of the man's axe flew past us.

"The ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom...only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor, and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this." The calm voice sounded familiar too, from someone blocked by the stone pillar of the wall, and I blinked.

It felt familiar. So familiar. Like I could just ... say the words with them. This entire thing. It felt like I knew exactly what they'd do as they did it. I opened my mouth, wordlessly finding myself saying the words with the blonde man, much to my surprise and the surprise of Pippin who seemed to notice.

"One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust...the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly."

Pippin blinked at me and I stared back at him, equally as surprised as he was, for I'd gotten every single word correct. Even the pauses. It was weird. Merry hadn't noticed, his eyes were on the meeting, and Pippin's eyes went from me to the meeting slowly as Legolas spoke again.

"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said? The ring must be destroyed." Lord Elrond? That must have been who was speaking.

The little man with the beard spoke up again. "And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?"

"And if we fail, what then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?" The blonde man clearly was not satisfied with this, he was almost ready to stand, I saw his shoulders tensing and bunching up as if he was seconds from standing all over again.

It wasn't just him though- everyone in that meeting, except Frodo, looked tense and angry, like they were seconds from punching someone in the face. The little beard man was the first to rise up though, fast, anger and resentment all over his face.

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an Elf!"

An argument broke out, people stood, voices raised.

"Wonder where Sam is?" Pippin said softly, pretty lighthearted for the moment, as he shifted closer to my side to see better. "Can you see him, Merry?"

"Shh, Pippin. We'll get caught." Merry hissed and nudged him

. A soft voice rose over the loud din of the arguments. Something about someone taking it.

"Frodo?" Pippin blinked.

"-ill take it." Frodo was saying, as the crowd turned in his direction, partly blocking him from view. "Though...I do not know the way."

The old man moved closer to where I had to assume Frodo was, though I couldn't see him now, voice pretty clear. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear." More movement, and another voice, the dark haired man. Son of... I didn't know.

"If, by my life or death, I can protect you, I will. ...you have my sword." I started to silently copy the words again, as they spoke them, and this time Merry did notice.

Pippin had elbowed him. But the words... I didn't understand it, but I knew these words. Legolas' voice came up.

"And you have my bow."

"And my axe."

"You carry the fate of us all, little one." The blonde man seemed to have calmed down as well. I could see him now, the crowd was clearing, see the little group standing around Frodo. "If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done." That was nice of him.

I wasn't sure why this bothered me though. Strange.

"Here!" Someone yelled.

"Sam!" Pippin exclaimed, spitting out bread as he did, and I saw half a loaf of bread still crooked carefully in his arm. Typical.. I was sure one of the elves nearest to us turned in our direction somewhat at that.

"Shhh!" Merry jabbed him, standing, like he was getting ready to run off. Pippin stood too, and I stood, my knees aching from kneeling on the cold stone.

" Mr. Frodo's not gong anywhere without me." This Sam decided, stubborn, standing near Frodo.

"No, Indeed...it is hardly possible to separate you...even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not." He sounded sort of amused. I felt kind of sick suddenly. Secret meeting? Oh crap.

Half an hour as their concious guest and I was already doing the wrong thing.

Merry jolted forward, suddenly, Pippin following him, one of Pippin's hands on my baggy shirt. His precious bread loaf crashed to the ground in his haste. I had no choice but to follow, not really, as Merry yelled, " Oi! We're coming too! You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us."

Legolas caught my eyes and I saw surprise, just briefly, flash across his face.

I flushed as I was dragged past a bunch of strangers, past this Lord Elrond dude, and stood beside the group, my knees suddenly weak. Oh man. These two might fit in a sack but me?

Pippin crossed his arms, somehow keeping a grip on my pants, though I wasn't sure why. If I tried to run I'd probably collapse. Crap. Crap. Crap... "Anyway...you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission... quest... thing..."

"Well, that rules you out, Pip." Merry grinned at his friend.

I felt Lord Elrond's eyes burning into me and I made myself look at him. Lord Elrond. Half Elf. Wife had been raped and sent to undying lands. Had a daughter and twin sons. Was a twin himself, his brother chose mortality, and had died hundreds of years ago. This information flashed through my head as our eyes met, and it felt like he'd known what I'd thought, because for a fraction of a second I was sure I saw surprise there. Shock even. I might have just imagined it though because then it was gone. He gazed over us slowly. "Ten companions ... so be it. You shall be the "Fellowship of the ring"

"Great. Where are we going?" Pippin grinned. Was he joking or serious?

I wasn't sure.

The meeting was clearly over though. I felt Legolas's hand brush across my back, as people started to move away, Frodo between the old man and the dark haired man. Pippin and Merry went to follow, with this Sam person, and I wondered... Lord Elrond stepped between me and them, his face kind of dark, and I felt Legolas move a little closer, just for a moment.

Then he was backing off too. Oh thanks, really.

"You and I should speak." Lord Elrond spoke finally.

No room for argument or discussion over this. He turned, glanced back, before I followed him silently into a nearby room. I had the distinct feeling that I'd overstepped my boundaries as a guest and done something really stupid. Crap. That was the last time I went on adventures with miniature men. Also, I really had to pee.

Peeing was forgotten as I was caught in an Elf Lord's eyes. He stared at me and I suddenly had the urge to duck for his couch, hide under it, and plea for sanctuary. Or something. I didn't even know my name and I was already in trouble?

"You're awake." He said, eyes fixed on me, but no warmth. "Have you regained memories?"

"No." Except, I realised, except about him. Memories about this elf person. Were they real or had my mind just made a whole bunch of stuff up? That was possible. "I don't really remember anything."

He moved to touch the table, barely leaning against it, and I caught a glimpse of a ring on his finger. Again, memories flooded my head, awareness of what that ring meant. Elvish Ring of Power. Water.

Lord Elrond's head turned sharply in my direction and I glanced away towards a pile of books, trying to look as if I hadn't been caught staring at his pretty ring.

"You know things you shouldn't." He stated, softly, stepping towards me. I wanted to step backwards but I felt rooted to the spot. Lord Elrond moved very close, his long robes shuffling gently in his movement, till he was just inches away.

"I don't know what I know." His height made it easy to avoid his eyes at this close range but it didn't help. I felt kind of nervous and the urge to pee came back again. "It just comes into my head. I don't even know my name and I don't know if things that come in are real or fake."

"You had foresight during the Council meeting." Elrond gestured behind me, and I turned, to see a mirror in the trees.

A mirror? It was held up by a female statue, who bent over beside it, her arm around it. I hadn't seen it while I was gawking at the meeting. I hadn't really thought about the pretty surroundings. But it was more or less half directed towards the stone area we'd been hiding in. Had he seen my reflection in that mirror?

Lord Elrond was quick to continue and answer my unspoken queory. "I watched you."

Ah. Bugger. I turned back to him and somehow brought myself to meet his eyes, half cringing before I met them, half expecting to be cut down or something. He just stared passively down at me. "I don't know what it is."

"No, and yet..." He reached up to touch my ears. My ears? Again? I reached up to touch it too, not entirally sure what he was so interested about. It wasn't an Elven ear. That wasn't what I found.

What I did find, to my horror, was that one of my ears was gone.

Gone.

I had no fucking ear.

I grabbed for the other one and found it there, more or less, but the top of it was weird. Catching another mirror in my sight, I headed for it, not caring how rude it was. What had happened to me? One ear was more or less gone. The other was there but the top of it looked like it had literally been cut off somehow. And I had a scar across the side of my face from that cut ear to my cheekbone.

"What happened to me?" I stared, heart pounding, trying to breathe. I felt kind of weird, faint, my head spun. Oh god. I was a freak.

"You were unconscious on the banks of our river, one day north. Lord Legolas found you and a child there, grievously injured, half-dead. My healers could not repair the damage to your ears but the scarring will fade."

How much was there? I hadn't really looked at myself before. Pippin, Merry and the council thing were completely out of my head now, I stared down at my arms. There were faint scars and stuff. "I don't remember how it happened."

"No." He said softly. I'd said this before. Of course he knew that. "Your kin is, therefore, unknown."

"Why, because you can't tell if I have pointy or round ears?" I caught Lord Elrond's face in the mirror's reflection. It was suddenly guarded and he turned to walk away towards a balcony, quiet. I felt like he hadn't dismissed me. Did he need to think? The news about my ears and body kind of flustered me. "I don't think I'm like you."

"No." He agreed, softer, staring ahead.

So I was probably human. What was the problem with that then? "So I'm probably human?"

"Yes. Although." He turned slowly. This time when he spoke, it was softer. "I've met or heard nothing of a human with the gift of foresight. They have no gifts remaining in their blood. They have become weak. You, whatever you are, are not a human. Not one that belongs to this world of Men. You belong to something else. Your face, your body, has been healed by means no Man in this world knows. Your body heals faster than most men of this world. Your blood contains something else."

This didn't answer any questions. It just raised more. Lord Elrond didn't volenteer any other information either, he just stood there, staring at me.

"So I'm special?"

"No."

Oh. That was a relief and kind of insulting. I shifted on my feet as his gaze swept up and down me. "You are different." For a long time we stared at each other, this Elf Lord and myself, until he changed the subject. "Your part in the Fellowship is not expected. I did not foresee your arrival, nor your part in this, and I know not what this means. But you are to go now."

"I don't have to." It kind of sounded like he hadn't wanted me in it, honestly.

"You became apart of it by will of fate, for reasons I yet do not understand." Lord Elrond turned to walk towards his table again, slowly, but I felt his attention was still on me. "Your foresight may play a factor. The Wizard Gandalf already knows of you. I have explained to him what you are and what you are not. If you have vision, if you have memory, you must confide in him alone. He will know what to do."

This was clearly an order and I had to guess one of the strange men was the wizard. But how had Lord Elrond already told him, when we'd come straight here? The more I talked to this Elf Lord the more I felt befuddled by questions. No answer he gave me satisfied me. "Who is he?"

"He is the elderly man. Tonight, at the feast, you shall meet each of the Fellowship and they in turn will meet you. Your name-" He paused softly, reaching down to take a book, shifting the pages slowly. "Is now Wenduin, maiden of the river."

For a long time he stood there quietly, before taking a feather, and dipping it in black stuff. Ink, I supposed, before he moved to write it down on a slip of thick stiff parchment. He handed it to me.

"Keep it with you. Keep it safe, Wenduin."

I held it, staring at it, kind of overwhelmed. Then I carefully slid it into a pocket. Lord Elrond suddenly smiled, a smile that shocked me, but it was gone for a moment.

"You will receive clothing more suited to your shape."

"But like this, yeah?" I muttered. "Not a dress?"

"Your journey to come will require more practical clothing, yes. Some dresses will be expected until then. The girl also asked for that clothing." He shifted back.

"How's the girl?" I felt bad suddenly. All I'd been doing was worrying about myself. She'd looked terrible!

"Very well. She recovered faster than you. I have made arrangements for her to be kept safe, out of sight, until this is done."

I blinked at him. Safe? "Why safe?"

"You and she were together and your knowledge, however lost to you now, is of great interest to any enemy between you and Mordor." Lord Elrond was speaking softly again. "Capturing her may bring you back, if she is seen as your daughter, and she would not survive what torment our enemies would use upon her. She remains guarded."

His words, although they had no actual detail, kind of made me feel sick. They'd capture her to try and get me back? Do nasty things? I was suddenly really glad it was some Elves that'd found me and no one else. This man, however much his answers only provoked questions, at least seemed to think ahead enough to know to protect her.

"She'll be safe here?"

"She will be safe." He nodded. "For a time. But the ring must be destroyed. No one will be safe if it is not."

And with that optimistic note I was dismissed.

I found myself dismissed into the care of a pair of maids, both Elven women, who took one look at my clothing and dragged me back to the room I'd woken in. Dragged probably was the wrong word, really, but they walked pretty fast and I was breathless by the time we'd made it back, from the paths that sloped up and down, and the stairs, my room some distance from everyone else.

We were only there a moment though.

"You are being moved into a safer place." One of the women explained as she folded up some things. "Closer to the rest of the Fellowship. First though, please change." She held out a light green dress as her eyes went over my masculine clothing again.

I was too oxygen deprived to argue, two Elven women dragging the clothing off, and saw for the first time what damange had really been done. I had scars all over me, bruises still fading, and my injured shoulder, although healed now, still was a nasty yellow-green shade where there must have been a lot of bruising.

"The scars will fade," The other maid, who I'd dubbed Maid B, said softly. She must have caught me staring at them. "Your ears will not grow back."

Duh. But I didn't say anything except, "Um. I need to... you, pee. Bathroom." Blank looks. "Relieve myself?"

A flash of understanding over Maid A's face made her smile suddenly and she pointed towards a door I had not yet looked into.

"A pot awaits you. We have a bath and a dress awaiting you in your new quarters."

So the green dress, I had to guess, was just to wear for the walk from A to B. Kind of pointless. I hurried into the tiny room and stared at the pot.

It was tiny.

God, how the hell did people live without toilets? Toilets? I had this memory of one. Big. White. Flushed stuff away. My first memory and it was of a toilet. This little pot, painted a pretty blue and white, seemed totally useless. I lifted the cloth off it, half expecting to see something nasty already inside, but it was shiny and clean looking. Okay. This wasn't right.

I tried to use it and almost tipped over, pants down, face red as I nearly knocked it over. Where did it go later? I was sure I'd half peed all over myself trying to get my aim right.

"Mlady? Are you all right?"

Bloody elf ears. They knew exactly how badly I'd done. My face grew warmer as I tried to stand. No toilet paper. Okay. How did elves smell so good? I hurriedly let them dress me, face red, aware one part of my now abandoned pants was kind of wet.

"Your leg must still be hurting." One of them said softly, understanding suddenly, and I didn't correct her. My legs felt fine. Great. Better they assume that than know I didn't know how to go to the toilet. "This is hwy you were slow."

"The bath has healing herbs ready." Maid A tugged the dress up my waist, ignoring my attempts at covering my boobs, and up my arms. "Do not be ashamed."

The dress was tied at the back and I wandered behind them, as they walked slower now, just wanting to get into a bath and feel clean again. This time luckily we'd run into no one, not Elf, not hobbit, not human, nothing. Once we were in a new room, this one a fraction larger than the last, I was taken into a tiled room where a steaming bath was waiting.

It was such a relief to be inside it that I almost didn't care that Maid A and Maid B insisted on remaining inside the room and scrubbing my back. Almost. But after a few minutes I grabbed the soap, a pretty organic looking thing that smelt like roses and had little seeds in it, and did it myself. They weren't deterred though- I suddenly felt fingers in my hair, grabbing it, washing it. It'd been so dirty and unwashed that I didn't argue.

"Your hair is beautiful." Maid A, I guessed from the voice, actually sounded surprised. Okay. It'd looked pretty grungy before, I had to admit, but it wasn't like that all the time. "But short." She added, quickly. She herself had long dark hair, so I guessed she wasn't used to the idea of shorter hair, it looked like she'd had hair like that for almost all her life.

"It will suit her journey better." Maid B agreed. Suddenly, she'd dunked water over my head, washing whatever soap was gone.

I let them stay there until the bubbles were fading, which were the only things really hiding my body, and when they were gone I stared at msyelf in the water. I wasn't exactly beautiful, not like those women, I was thicker bodied than them. Curvier. Sometimes I was mistaken for a guy with longer hair, sometimes, if I wore clothes that hid my shapes. I usually did- I'd always felt self concious about the curves, always felt like I'd needed to be thinner before I really 'showed off'. I must have lost a little weight though- my body wasn't as large as I remembered. Guessed lying in bed unconscious probably did a lot to help that.

I lay in the bath as long as possible, the warm water soothing me even as it cooled around me, staring at the darkening world outside. After some time I heard a knock and those women again.

"Mlady? The feast is soon and you're not dressed."

I got up slowly, as quietly as possible, attempting to hide this from them. They were not fooled, their bloody Elven hearing catching on, and before I could protest I was surrounded by the two again, covered in some soft fabric clearly intended for drying, something else rubbing at my head victoriously.

They fussed, made me rub stuff on myself when I refused to let them, some kind of lotion that also smelt of roses just faintly. Tugged clothing onto me, some kind of thing I guessed was underwear, leggings 'to keep warm in the night', a cream dress, ran a comb through hair. They kept my ears covered, I noticed, as they tried to do something with it. Something to do with braids or something. Any nerves I felt about this feast thing were forgotten, they were good at distracting me, tugging laces a fraction too hard around my waist, or around my wrists, shoes on feet, yanking tangles out of my hair. Elves were pretty, sure, but I was starting to see the downside of this- they were obsessive about it. I stood there for a good hour, perfectly still, as they fussed, and fussed, and fussed, and it was only when I was oiled, and combed, and tugged, and laced, and bejewelled, and fragrant that they backed off.

"Wenduin, daughter of the river, you are done."

It took me a moment to know the name as mine and I blinked, nodding, letting them lead me to some mirror. I stared at a complete stranger. Long wavy red-brown hair, surprised brown eyes, face glowing as much as those bloody Elf maids beside me, the cream and pale green silky dress making me look like I was almost glowing myself. Or was the lotion they'd made me rub on myself some kind of 'glow' thing? I wondered if I'd discovered the secret as to why so many Elves appeared to glow. I looked like a woman, every curve showed off by the soft silky fabric, and with the way it hung on me, my breasts looked incredible. Seriously. I wanted to touch them myself. It was amazing.

Then I caught sight of myself next to the two maids, both of them slender, a hundred times more feminine and beautiful than myself, without a blemish or a scar to them. My freckles, all over the place, my scars, my mutilated ears, compared to them.

I felt the awe of my reflection fade and saw myself once more as I usually did- an overweight girl with slightly more masculine features. One who now had scars to add to it. Sure, I had a pretty dress, sparkly jewels, but nothing much had really changed.

"So, feast?" I tried to say lightly.

"Yes, the feast. You shall sit with the Fellowship. No speaking is required of you-" I had to assume she meant I didn't have to make a speech, "-simply relax, eat, and speak with the Fellowship."

I hoped Pippin and Merry would be pausing between gulping food down. They were the only two I really felt comfortable with, besides Legolas, but the more I spent around Elves, the more separated I felt from them. He had helped me, that was nice, but I wasn't the same as him. Besides, he was some kind of Prince, and they were slightly overweight hobbits with curly hair. I could relate more to them. Maybe even enjoy food.

I'd stick with the little men. Hope they didn't get me into some other trouble. If they did, I'd … well, say no. Or something.

Swallowing, I let the maids lead me out into the darkness, trying to not freak out. This would be okay. Right? Feast, meeting strangers, wandering around in a dress, and then back to bed. How bad could this get, seriously?

The feast was, like Rivendell, visually spectacular. Great tables, covered in dark blue cloth, with banners flying around the hall. Elves everywhere in all kinds of garments. I had been awake for just a few hours and I was already so overwhelmed by this- all this beauty!- that I couldn't really take it all in.

The smells were amazing too. Food, flowers, musky woody scents, no one stank here. Wine, alcohol, and somehow the scent of water mingling over everything and everywhere. Creepers scaled each wall, each pillar, through the knotwork on the ceiling, and flowers cascaded from the edges of the room to serve as natural walls, some falling from the ceiling, everything perfectly positioned.

And the outfits. I could have stood there, gawking in the doorway, staring at everyone's clothing for hours and hours. Dresses, robes, jewellery, and the way it always seemed to move and dance on Elves just right.

But while I saw it, I felt a bit strange here, because there were mostly only Elves here. And they were aloof, barely noticing or paying attention to anyone not of their own, with the Fellowship being the only exception. I saw open hostility several times, just as I was shown to my seat, flashed in the direction of the little hairy men. Dwarfs, I suspected, though I wasn't really sure how I knew the name for them.

To my relief I was sitting beside Pippin, Merry on his other side, and he looked as gobsmacked and overwhelmed as I probably looked. He wasn't even eating that apple hidden in his lap yet!

"Hi." I offered. I actually surprised him, he jumped, stared at me for a few seconds, and the dots connected in the hobbit's brain. Messy ratty haired large woman, pretending to be guy, turned into clean haired large woman who was now clearly a woman.

"Oh, it's you! Hello." He grinned and gazed back to the room. "When do you think we'll start feasting?"

"Think we're waiting on the Lord Elrond, Pip." Merry replied from his other side. He'd leaned back in his chair to see me and was still staring, as openly at me as he'd stared at the Elves. "Definitely a woman."

"Yes." Pippin agreed. His eyes were back on the room now though.

I saw two other little men beside them, not bearded, but clean and curly haired. Frodo and Sam. They both looked kind of overwhelmed too, sitting there in nice but fairly simple clothing, cleaned up and totally out of place. Not far from them was the dark haired man. He looked much more at ease, talking with an Elf fluently in their language, already with a goblet of something in hand.

After a few minutes, once the sight had set in, I started to really take it in. We, the Fellowship, sat slightly separate to the majority of the feasters. They sat down below in a open area, one side overlooking the river, a good floor below us. There were half a dozen Elves up here, sometimes more coming or going up and down the stairs, but the seating arrangement was probably for just three or four extra people. There was also another Hobbit, an elderly looking man, who looked like he was half asleep already.

We too had an amazing view of the river but with a rail up, twisted or carved wood, and gauzy curtains waving backwards and forwards with the flowers from the vines on, over and between each one.

"Wenduin?" A voice asked, from my previously empty side, and I jumped to see Legolas sitting down with as much grace as any Elf here, maybe more so. Prince Legolas?

"Hi, um... Your highness?" I offered, and his lips twitched at that. "Prince? My Lord?"

"Just Legolas, informally. Which is what this is." His eyes swept over the amazing sight.

Could have fooled me, I thought to myself, staring back to the Elves. It felt about as formal as these things came. "What is formal for Elves?"

Another smile, amusement reaching his eyes, and he reached out for the goblet. Almost instantly someone was there to fill it. "There would be no other races, for one."

Ah, so that meant me too. Probably. I watched as I reached for a glass, some Elf woman quick to notice and get to my table before I even touched the smooth metal side, pouring something into it. What was it? I took a sniff and guessed it was wine but- "What's this?"

Legolas took it from me, taking a quick sip, and was quick to put it back down again. "Human ale."

"Ale?"

"You've never had it?"

"I don't think so." But then, I didn't remember, did I? I took the goblet back as he offered it and took a slow sip. It wasn't exactly nice and I put it down quickly, trying to hide my displeasure in case I offended someone.

"Lord Elrond has probably asked his servents to serve drink customary to each race. Ale is, as far as I know, most likely for the race of men unless from Rohan." Legolas sipped his own drink slowly, eyes shut, obvious pleasure on his face. I wanted what he was having. It looked great. "They prefer mead."

"Elves?"

He opened one eye to gaze at me. "Our own wine. Other races would be drunk much too quickly. This is imported from Mirkword, likely for myself."

That almost sounded like a challenge. Almost. I'd have to remember to take him up on that later when the feast was over. It bothered me though. "Don't humans drink wine?"

"Some do. It's not so common or well liked almongst the world of men." Legolas's eyes flashed to my ears, or where the hell they were supposed to be, and he asked softer, "Has Lord Elrond offered any insight into your mystery?"

"No, except that I'm not Elf, not human, and not special." I didn't mean to sound bitter but that was what I'd gotten from it and ...well, that didn't explain a thing to me.

It clearly interested him though, because he shifted in my direction a fraction, his eyes again doing one of those sweeping things over me. "Elven captives often have their ears mutliated as an insult by the Orc-kind."

"Do they?"

He nodded, and for a moment, the smile was gone. I saw something else, something darker, Legolas's lips pressing together for just a moment as if he was holding something back. Instead of answering my question he brought something else up. "Do you know any combat?"

Oh, I thought I saw where he was going with this, and I really wanted to get drunker before I confessed to this very big problem. So I shrugged offhand and turned to take the ale back, taking another sip, doing my best to ignore the offensive taste and smell.

A hand reached over me and grabbed it, the blonde man taking it, laughing. His bad mood from the Council was clearly gone and I wondered if he'd already been drinking. "Legolas, you're too serious for this. More importantly, does the Lady enjoy her ale. I know no Lady who ever has." He drank it with one swift drink as he sat down on Legolas' other side. I had to admit, when he was nice, he wasn't bad looking. A bit scruffy but … not bad looking.

He was clearly heard by more than myself and Legolas, because I caught the sudden flinch of the woman who'd served me, and felt bad for her. It wasn't like she'd know. If she had spent her whole life around Elves how would she know what human women liked?

"That was Boromir. What would you like, Wenduin?" Legolas gestured to the woman, shifting closer.

"Wine. Or, um. Water. Wine for later."

I saw his lips twitch again, just a fraction, and he shrugged as he turned to the woman and did that Elvish language thing with her. It was just a few moments before she'd returned with water.

The feast started not long after that, with food brought out, and I found myself with another problem. No memory of what I liked to eat meant I didn't know what to ask for. Did I like the roast pork? Did I like the fancy ...bread thing? Did I like sweet or savoury? And I was starving. I hadn't eaten all day. There was so much to choose from though, as if Lord Elrond had made a big effort in making sure all eating styles were complimented. Meats mostly for the Dwarfs, the Hobbits with pie and bread and cheese and god knew what else in those little jars. Jams? Chutneys? Who knew, they just piled it all on the pies and bread and went for it. Legolas, more of a vegetable man, but not as light an eater as I'd have thought given his tall slender physyiche. Boromir was a big eater. The dark haired man and the elderly man were the two that seemed to barely eat at all.

"Eat." Legolas commented when he saw I'd barely started into some kind of pie, chunk of meat and some vegetables. "You will need energy for what is to come."

I needed to loose weight for what was to come, I suspected, but that wasn't the issue. I was staring at the meat and finding myself kind of repulsed by it. It was a fricken leg. A leg! Okay, part of one, but it …

I went for the vegetables and avoided both the meat and pie. Couldn't touch them. The meat made me feel sick. I felt relieved when those were taken away and I was offered more vegetables instead. My water was replaced with something sweeter and warm, not alcoholic, maybe honey melted into hot water.

"Lord Aragorn's idea." Legolas informed me, softly, as everyone chatted happily and loudly around us. Everyone except Frodo and Sam, I noticed. "I heard him suggest it."

"I'll have to thank him. It's a bit cold for water." I admitted. The night had started to take on a colder edge, now that the sun had fallen, and I had started to feel a bit colder. Then, "Um, which is he again?" The wizard or the guy who was apparently an heir?

"The man with dark hair, who watches us now."

I turned to see him, Aragorn, lift his glass to us and nod slowly. Watchful eyes seemed to catch me and see right through me. I half wanted to ask him what he saw.

Instead, I went back to eating, quiet as everyone talked and laughed around me.

As the feast went on, the curtains between the lower level and upper level were closed, and I found myeslf in the small space with only the Fellowship, with Lord Elrond, two other Elves and the old Hobbit who was well and truly asleep now. Sweeter food came out, incredible looking food, flowers that were coated in crystallised honey and looked absolutely perfect, things I could only describe as cakes, sweet breads, fruits both raw and cooked, and the tables were taken away. Now there were no longer servants- the drinks were clearly 'self-serve'. Candles were blown out, leaving only a few remaining, and it became darker. Mood lighting? Oh boy.

I had to guess this was the part where we all mingled, drank, and bonded. Both the familiar faces of Pippin and Legolas vanished, suddenly, and I found myself with Boromir all over again as he brought me something else.

"Here." He offered and I sniffed it. Boromir grinned. "Tis only wine. Human wine. From Gondor. I thought you may like this better."

I tried it and had to admit, it wasn't bad, a sweet fruity thing that only had the slightest bit of alcohol. Boromir drank his drink as he stood beside me, towering over me somewhat, relaxed now.

"There were only meant to be nine in this brotherhood." He informed me, cheerful and relaxed, almost putting an arm over me. I could smell a little more alcohol on him now. He was probably half drunk already. "It is strange Lord Elrond allows you- such a soft woman. What are you? Elf-kind? Born of man? Perhaps a little of both? Are you one of the wizards? Or there to serv-"

Before I could answer, someone else was there suddenly, and Boromir's face darkened as he met the calm eyes of Aragorn. He muttered something about alcohol and vanished into the darkness.

"Serve?" I muttered. Did he just say 'There to serve'. What was he thinking, I was sent along to give them wine when they were weary, cook their dinners? Maybe. Maybe he thought I was serving something else.

"Listen not to Boromir- he has had much to drink." Aragorn's eyes were still on Boromir's back. "No one questions the will of Lord Elrond nor your contribution to the Fellowship."

"Whatever reason I'm there, it's not to serve you lot." I muttered.

"No, and should he press that issue, you need but call. Legolas watches your back." Aragorn nodded. "Boromir is a proud man, however, and has honour enough. I doubt he'd be a problem. Most likely the drink and food loosens his mind a little."

I kind of agreed. But just in case, I put that Gondor wine down, and went back for my water. As I did, I saw what Aragorn meant, because Legolas was still turned in my direction. Talking to someone, one of the elves with Lord Elrond, but his eyes flickered to mine as I turned around.

"He feels more responsible for you- having ofund you in such bad condition. Did you answer him about combat?" Aragorn had taken my arm and I found myself directed to a darker corner.

Before I could answer, Legolas had actually appeared, and I was cornered by the two of them. What were they doing? Working together? Given what Aragorn's question was I had to assume this was the case.

"I don't remember." I muttered. These three words were starting to bug me a little. "Remember?"

"Tis unlikely- few human maidens know the sword or bow." Aragorn frowned, meeting Legolas' eyes.

"Some Elven women do." Again I swore I caught Legolas' grey eyes go to my ears. It was like he wasn't totally convinced I wasn't Elf. Because I had glow-lotion on and the tops of my ears were missing?

"But I'm not Elf." I tried to remind him, half tempted to cover where one of my ears had been, and saw him shrug a bit. It made me self concious about them. Sure, maybe I sparkled a bit tonight, but I could still feel my uncertainty and doubt lingering in the back of my mind... about them, about my body, because I knew that I was the largest woman in the room. I knew that I'd been stared at more than once tonight.

"We leave the morn after tomorrow, just at sunrise. You will need to be tested. I need to know what equipment to get for you from Lord Elrond." Aragorn was still looking kind of concerned. "Better know now. The journey will require too much energy to carry the wrong weapon for your size."

Ow. I felt a bit awkward. Crap. As if this thing wouldn't be hard enough on them, now I was stressing them out? "Well, um. When do you want to test me?"

"In the morning. Tonight, we drink and dance and make merry." Boromir answered, cutting Aragorn off, dragging me under Legolas' arm. I was twirled around, his smile back, and found myself yanked backwards by Legolas. Boromir, however close to drunk he was, looked a bit put off by that and I kind of felt bad for the guy. He hadn't exactly given himself the best reputation at the council. He held up his hands. "I mean no harm."

Whatever he meant, he didn't come back near me all night, and I found myself dancing with an increasingly silly Pippin instead, before being led around and formally introduced to each member of the Fellowship. Gandalf, the wizard, the hobbits, the dwarf, everyone. Now that the 'informal' feast was over people were geninuely relaxed, Gandalf was sitting in a corner with the elderly hobbit smoking, the smaller hobbits were laughing and creating a huge dent in the display of sweet foods, also smoking here and there. It kind of smelt like weed, I realised, and was amused to see them a bit stoned.

Okay. So now I got why the hobbits were so cheerful all the damn time.

I made my way to the balcony to escape the smoke as it got late, and the room got smokier and smokier, clutching a glass of 'human wine'. Rohan, apparently, though there was no one from Rohan here. I'd asked just in case. Where on earth was Rohan anyway?

"I'll need to get a map." I muttered. Might be wise if I was wandering around this place. I yawned, tempted to crawl into bed, as I heard a voice respond.

"I will show you one before we leave." Legolas again, standing there on the dark balcony, completely unnoticed by me. I wondered if he'd thought I was speaking to him. He stepped closer, eyes on the horizon, but his attention on me again. If he was drunk I couldn't tell, though his hands trembled slightly, and the wine in his hands did not look like human wine. It kind of glowed, so much that the silver goblet it was in glowed with it, the rich dark red liquid moving of its own accord.

"Elves love glowing things, don't they?" I muttered, without thinking, and he smiled.

"Yes."

I saw the dwarf, Gimli, wander out. He took one look at Legolas and walked back in, with just a curt nod in my direction. That was interesting. "He doesn't like you?"

"Elves and Dwarfs have long had mistrust of each other. Many things have happened between us, as races." Legolas glanced back over his shoulder. Gimli was leaving for the night, it seemed, with an armful of food. "It is not easily forgotten."

"I think it takes two or three generations before war is forgotten so-" I wondered where I'd heard that. I couldn't remember.

"Then we have a great many years to wait." Legolas said softly.

"Might be a human thing." I offered. He kind of seemed downed by that. Woops. "You know. Elves might be-"

"Not so different than you might think. Our age makes us feel long seperated from the child-men of the world." He muttered.

"Child-men?"

"All men seem as children to us." Legolas turned to stare into the smokey room fully now, arm against mine in the cold air, staring inside. He stared at Aragorn and Boromir in particular. "So short lived, so little time, and dead before they've impacted their world. They seem to live only to create children before they leave again."

His words made me shiver. It made him seem old, ancient, really removed from me, from the others, like he was something else. "How old are you?"

Legolas blinked and smiled, standing, the spell broken. He looked thirty, to my eyes, but I suspected it was a hell of a lot more than that. He held out the goblet. "Here. Try this."

Oh god. Elvish wine. I took it and, his eyes fixed in mine, sniffed it cautiously. Berries. Spice. Pepper. Orgasmic ...sparkles. God, I didn't know how to describe this one.

"The silver proves there is no poison."

"That wasn't what I was checking. I was smelling it to figure out what it'd taste like." I muttered. Slowly I took a sip, tasting it, letting it roll around my mouth. Or that was the intention. The second it found my tastebuds it was an explosion of sensations. Not just taste, but smell, and touch, and even sight, I swore my sight just went sharper. Not that it hurt or anything but... I swallowed it before I could see Legolas' perfect pores on his damn perfect nose through a haze of orgasmic ...glowing wine. He laughed as I gaped at him. I held it out. Back to Rohan wine. "What kind of grapes make this!"

"Secret." Legolas smiled as he pushed the goblet back at me. "The first mouthful is the strongest. It grows softer as you get to know it."

Oh, so it wanted to move in before it settled down? I took another cautious sip and found he was more or less right. This time there was less vison altering going on. It was sweet, so spicy, and I did almost taste something like pepper, something that kind of bit into my tastebuds and hold on. It was cold but it felt... alive, for lack of a better word. Pleasure ran down my spine as I swallowed it, my back shuddering, tempted to shut my eyes. Oh god. This and a bath. And a massage. It left the tingling in the back of my throat, all the way to my stomach, and I swore I felt electricity go right through my boobs, feet, hands, and anything else that stuck out.

"You like it?"

I nodded, breathing out slowly, cheeks flushed. "You drink this stuff in public?"

I was rewarded with another of his soft laughs, his grey eyes fixed in mine, Legolas nodding. "We have less … what word can I use. Less fear of showing pleasure... than men. I have heard that Aragorn drinks this, but only with his lady."

"I can understand why." I stared at the cup. Two mouthfuls and I was already ...wow. What the hell did this do to human men if that was what it'd done to me? I stared around for somewhere to sit, suddenly, deciding I had to sit.

"Elvish wine! Merry!" I heard Pippin call, suddenly, excited. "I found it!"

Legolas muttered something in Elvish, stepping inside fast, but he was too late. Hobbits had found the special drink. Hobbits had drunk a glass each. I stared inside, amused and a little dazed. Pippin fell over, Merry stumbled back into Gandalf, some of the wine dribbling out of his now open mouth onto his once clean white shirt.

One cup did it. Even with Legolas and Gandalf hiding the wine, again, Merry and Pippin were gone. Stoned, drunk, they found a table and started to sing for anyone who'd listen. This included each other, so even when they were ignored, they danced and sang and knocked fruit onto the floor. It lasted for about ten minutes before Gandalf, Frodo and Sam helping, managed to hoist them up and carry them off.

I stood up on the balcony, drinking more wine as I stared down, watching as Pippin and Merry were carried and dragged away towards where they had to be sleeping, Pippin waving happily up in my direction. I wasn't affected.

Not till I drank a few more mouthfuls, and then I felt kind of weird, kind of dazed. The goblet was suddenly empty. I went for the Rohan wine, or tried to, but it was just dirt compared the orgasmic Elvish wine. Inside, Legolas had more wine, and I watched him drink it with a long steady drink. Several goblet fulls. Did Elves get drunk?

Legolas reappeared, but not before Boromir, and I had to admit dancing with him had suddenly gotten very fun. He knew how to do all kinds of old fashioned stuff. When I told him this, he looked kind of offended, informing me that this was the latest dance between man and woman in Gondor. Old fashioned dancing could be saved for the bed. He'd winked, reached out for a part of me that was not involved in dancing and...

That was when Legolas reappeared, like a flash, and I found myself again led away as Boromir laughed his head off.

I found myself led away towards my own room, Legolas calm, but his walk... a little off.

"Are you drunk?" I asked, bluntly, my words slightly slurred now. Oh. Maybe I was a little drunk. My own feet didn't seem to want to go the right pace either. I was lifted suddenly, Legolas picking me up like I was as tiny as those Elvish girls, and he stood there swaying slightly. He was either drunk or stoned. Aragorn wandered past, Boromir chasing after him, the two of them arguing about … I didn't know, stone or something stupid, I could barely understand either of them.

"No." Legolas missed the path and stepped into a pond, his hand not letting go of me fast enough, and the two of us crashed into the shallow water. He let off a string of Elvish, as we sat there hip deep in the freezing water, his eyes a little hazy.

"You are." I giggled, prodding him in the chest.

"I am... not. Here." I was lifted to my feet slowly in the water, and he tried to get up, but it wasn't working well. Legolas flopped down and stared at my legs, breathing hard.

A group of Elves passed by, suddenly, and he vanished under my skirt. They giggled at me, as drunk as I apparently was, one of the women already naked as she skipped past, an Elf man chasing after her, laughing as she fled with a squeal. What had Legolas said? Elves weren't as fearful of showing pleasure. It was pretty obvious there. They sang, ran, skipped, tripped over each other, and just got up and continued it. It was nice to see their shiny polished thing vanish... now they just looked like a bunch of very beautiful teenagers.

Still, I thought as I watched another trip over a tunic he'd stripped off and roll down a slope in his haste, they were very graceful fallers. Then I went bright red and tried to forget that I'd just seen an Elvish peepee flop around the Elf man's legs as he attempted to climb back up to his feet. And was that one of my maids, jumping on top of him, knocking him back down again? And how the hell did they still manage to look like glowing bloody alien ...humanoids, even when they were obviously drunk? I bet they puked sparkles and light.

It suddenly looked really fun to be an Elf. Seriously.

"Are they gone?"

"Uh huh. It's dark though. Anyone could be anywhere." I muttered, face burning, feeling Legolas emerge from under the soggy fabric. I tried to step, slippery ground nearly knocking me back down, Legolas arms around my legs the only thing really keeping me up. The world spun and I saw, or at least I assumed I did, the stars come closer to the world. Brighter. Shinier. "God, I shouldn't have drunk that. The stars are getting brighter. I'm hallucinating."

He just smiled and slowly stood up, nearly falling over, clutching hard to me as he tried to make it to his feet. "Well, you said it was dark. The stars listen to us."

"Us?" Oh here he went, with the Elf thing, I shoved him. Legolas clutched hard at me as he swayed, the two of us standing calf deep in the pond, his gaze turned up to the stars. "Hey, Elfy boy, I ain't an elf."

To my annoyance he responded in Elvish, leaning against me, swaying back and forward somewhat. I wanted to suddenly mess up his stupid perfect blonde hair. Where was Boromir with his gruff untidy look when I needed a real person to stare at? Legolas was looking increasingly glowy and perfect.

"Why are you following me around?" I muttered.

"I am responsible for you. I found you." Legolas shuffled slowly for the edge of the pond, dragging me behind, hands grasping for a tree that leaned nearby. He spoke to it as he leaned against it, eyes shut, relieved. "This tree is happy."

Tree? I stared at him, starlight all over him, and had a sudden insight. He looked like a fricken Pleadian.

Wait, what the hell was that?! Spaceship? He needed a spaceship. The man was an alien. I couldn't remember my real name but somehow I was remembering toilets and aliens? Great.

"You look like a Ple... Pleadian." I muttered, jabbing him in the chest, shutting my eyes. "You do. Where's your stupid spaceship?"

"Pleadian? What?" He flopped onto the edge of the pond, legs still in it, and I fell forward into his lap. Legolas seriously didn't seem to mind this right now, he held on to me, and the body heat kind of made up for the freezing air and water. Legolas was talking to me, asking me things, his stupid Elvish mouth doing that language again.

"I don't speak... I don't speak your alien tongue."

"Tongue?"

Hands grasped my head, suddenly, and Legolas's tongue was offered. What could I say? The alien had given me orgasmic wine, how could I refuse a tongue? We sat there, making out like horny teenagers, his breathing heavy. The controlled version of him had apparently gone on holiday with the sober version. Pleasure shuddered through me, as one hand ran down a bare arm, then inside, grazing over curves over the silky dress. I felt him shudder too, shifting closer,and suddenly he'd pulled my leg over him so I was straddling him. Slowly, almost shyly, I explored his face, his neck, finding the alien as responsive to my touch as I was to his... especially when I reached his ears.

"Elves ..." Legolas breathed against my lips, dropping his head, shuddering as my fingertips grazed the tips of his ears. "Do not fear pleasure." He murmered in Elvish against my throat, teasing it, a hand sliding up my dress. But there was one word, one word he kept repeating, and … I felt like it was a name.

It was only when I felt his fingers graze my ear, or lack of ear, that I felt some of my own common sense return. Crap. What the hell was I doing? I wasn't a whore and I was seriously drunk. Taking advantage of a drunk alien was probably very bad karma. Also, that name he was saying, it was starting to bother me. It wasn't my name.

I shoved his arm down, trying to stand, and he blinked up at me, confused. Legolas stared at me for some time, slowly, like I was a stranger until he seemed to remember who I was. Then regret flooded his face.

That somehow just hurt. Crap. Had he remembered how big I was?

"Mlady?" It was one of my Maids, the one that hadn't been half naked and drunk, and Legolas sat there. He didn't even speak now. He just looked regretful. I swayed, shutting my eyes, feeling ashamed. Of myself, of my fat body everything. Crap. I must have looked like a whore.

"I will retire. I am sorry." Legolas muttered, standing slowly, and headed off into the darkness, hands on trees, stumbling.

I was led back to the room, undressed, and crawled into bed. The warm pleasureable glow of that wine was gone now. It was just cold bed, cold sheets, and shame. Crap. Hello fellow Fellowship... here I was. The fat girl who apparently let anyone grope her after a glass of wine.

Wine that I needed to vomit into the pot.

I dreamt of tongues, of alien Elf men, dangly elf men's bits, and that voice. Dying in order to be reborn. Over and over. I wasn't sure where I was anymore. Dead, alive, it felt the same right now. I did not sleep well that night.

The night was terrible. No rest, just brief moments of sleep, between vomiting. Dreams. I swore I dreamed of the Fellowship, of horses, bizare looking humanoid things with pointy teeth and snake eyes, white hands, blood, a lot of violent things, but I could never put it together or make sense of it. Sometimes it got really out of hand- I saw some kind of old man, or was he a burning eyeball? I couldn't ever tell the difference, particually with how drunk the wine had made me, but there was always some glowing Elf woman inturrupting those dreams.

When I did wake, which felt like every ten minutes but was probably half an hour or more, I'd vomit into an always clean pot. The maid didn't leave my side for a moment. Was she even a maid, or just one of Lord Elrond's friends? Did Elves have maids? I was too sick to care. She was always there, her blonde hair tied back as far as she could get it, offering me water with herbs in it. At some point I realised that I was worse than hungover. It wasn't just being drunk. It was like being drugged. Like surgery, anesthetic, like I couldn't stay asleep but I couldn't quite wake up either.

That thought almost made me panic. For a while I lay there, half awake and half asleep, panic flooding me and making me want to scream. I couldn't. I screamed as loud as I could in my head, sure, almost convinced that this was it- that I'd spent the rest of my life in nightmares, vomiting when awake, totally trapped in a half asleep.

Then suddenly it was over, I felt better, and I really slept. This time no nightmares.

Scraping and cracking woke me up. One of the maids, the one who'd brought me home, knelt in front of a fireplace. Wood was arranged, a tiny flame starting to grow, twigs starting to catch. I groaned softly, the faint light of the fire already hurting my eyes, and shut them quickly. My head HURT. Some giant bolder was rolling around in it, squashing brain, eyes, sitting on spine...

"Drink this." She was there in seconds, holding out a cup, and I grasped it. "Quickly."

I drank quickly. Almost straight away, I wanted to puke it back up, it tasted like charcoal. It looked like it too, when I stared at the bit remaining, like she'd just fed me a whole bunch of charcoal.

Then, the nausea vanished, and with it, the crazy headache.

"Oh, of course." I muttered, shutting my eyes, relief flooding me as the hangover vanished. If Elves got drunk on wine that strong then naturally they'd have discovered a treatment. Or the wine would loose popularity fast. "Is that what Elvish wine does at the end?"

"No." She replied softly, reaching out to take the cup, and offering a damp cloth. "That's what poision does at the end."

"Bugger." I groaned, softly, rubbing my head. What was it? "Anyone else?"

"No." She responded. "And it was badly done. You would be dead if they had put thought into it."

I sat up slowly, trying to ignore the remains of the headache or the aftertaste of the 'cure', trying to get hair out of my face. I'd puked on the dress and she'd stripped it off. Course, I only realised this after I'd sat up, half my body exposed to the cold and to her view. Face reddening, I tugged sheets up.

"Um, thanks." I tried, as she stood up, the polished Elvin woman thing almost gone. She looked slightly tired. "For ….you know. Always being there."

"I am your healer. I am bound to heal your body and mind, until it is strong for the journey." For a moment I really saw her, not just as a pesky maid, but as an incredibility beautiful Elven woman, long blonde hair, glowing skin, with no trace of tiredness or irritability. She was distant, but not too much, and however she pretended to be relaxed, I sensed she was watching and listening to everything my body had done. "I would have you rest longer but Lord Aragorn insists you come now, however weakened."

That sounded kind of suspicious. Had Aragorn or Legolas done it? Poison the woman and see how bad she was, at her worst, so they knew how to protect her if bad shit exploded? I'd have to kick one of them in the balls if I found out they'd done that to me.

"What's your name?"

"NAME. There is a bath waiting, some simpler clothing near it, and Lord Aragorn is not far. You will see him easily enough. I must check on my sister." She bowed, a quick one, before heading out.

The sun hadn't even risen, I realised, and immediately felt grumpy and tired. But not at her. Whatever I was grumpy about, which seemed to be being woken up by Lord Action Man before sunrise, it wouldn't be at her. However little she liked humans she'd been beside me the entire night, while her friends frolicked, fucked and drank. That always said a lot about a person.

I stood up slowly. Every muscle in my body was tired, ready for more sleep, but legs held and I wandered slowly, sheet wrapped around me, for where I could see a steaming bath already waiting. Like before, herbs floated inside it, but these were less fragrant. The warm water did help bring strength back.

The sound of something caught my attention as I lay there, and I shifted to the other side of the bath, staring over. The bath was close enough to an open window for me to see down. Some hundred metres or more away I saw them. Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas. They were probably training- they were moving, sometimes a sword would catch the soft light of dawn, more or less ignoring one another. Crazy men. Didn't anyone sleep around here? Or was this an ego thing? Who could get the least amount of sleep and train the hardest was the biggest man.

We were leaving tomorrow. I wasn't even sure where we were going yet, something about Mordor, and that meant nothing to me. I didn't even know how we were getting there. Horse? Carriage? Flying... um, Elf? I sighed, shut my eyes, and floated for a few minutes more before grabbing the soap.

Clothing turned out to be leggings, a shirt, and a tunic that probably went over the shirt. It was still feminine enough, there was some kind of embroidery, dragonflies and fish, but it was subtle. And it fit properly. Belt. Belt had some kind of loop or hook that was empty. Was that for a sword? Oh man, this was getting serious.

Boots didn't fit that well though, my feet were too wide, and I left them behind.

I found my way down to the three men, a pretty straightforward staircase and path, and came out to the sound of 'clunk' as Gimli, who must have appeared, sank his axe into a target the rough height and size of an elf.

"You're here." Aragorn called. He gestured to an arragement of weapons. "Choose."

Sword, sword, small sword, big sword, axe, bow, um... another bow. Another bow. More swords. They kind of looked the same to me. I glanced at Aragorn for a hint, then to Boromir, avoiding Legolas' eyes as memories of our last encounter flooded my head. What had I been thinking? Or him? Stupid Elvish wine. It'd practically made me orgasam with two mouthfuls. Should have known it was bad news the second it'd done that.

"Well?" Aragorn prompted.

"Um." I went for a smaller one. The second I had the sword in hand, I caught some kind of flash, and suddenly I was sent flying back, sword flying out of hand, as Aragorn crashed into my blade with his one. I fell hard on my ass and caught Boromir snickering. Stupid old fashioned dancer. I stared around for the blade, as Aragorn approached, his sword up.

He'd shattered the stupid thing with one blow. It lay in pieces and I had a bleeding hand where part of it must have cut into me. Aragorn came closer, and closer and... held out a hand. I got up, cringing as my sore bum protested.

"War is no place for a woman." Boromir muttered, shaking his head, turning back to his training pole thing.

"And rose pink dresses are not clothing for a man." I retorted, scowling at his back, clad in a very pretty looking rose pink tunic that fell to his knees. He didn't turn around but he stiffened.

A hand on my uppar arm made me stiffen. Legolas stood there, somehow silently stepping in, his hand gently squeezing my arm. It took me a few moments to know what the hell the man... erm, elf... was doing with my arm. He stared at it thoughtfully. "There is muscle here."

Aragorn checked the other arm, though slower, checking me first for unspoken permission. I sighed and let him. He nodded thoughtfully and reached out for a different sword. "This is the length of your arm and narrower. You may move it easier."

If he said so. I lifted it and when he did a sudden 'Crash into your sword with mine' thing, this one at least held. Except that his blade slid down, very fast, nearly crashing into my hand. In fear I dropped it and backed right up into Mr. Pleadian Alien's toe.

"Do not fear the sword. This will protect your hand." Aragorn picked up my sword and touched the guard. I felt stupid. Of course it would. But he added, "But you move quickly."

"Very." Legolas agreed. I saw no hint of pain on his face but that must have hurt.

"Sorry about your toe." I muttered.

"Sorry about my behavior." He shifted closer, voice barely audiable, before moving back to where he'd leant a bow on the side. Legolas held it out. "Try this."

I picked it up. This felt better. I kind of felt awesome, no better way to describe it, as I pulled the string back to my ear. I kind of knew this action. I also remembered the physical sensation of my poor boob being squashed by rebounding wire, somehow, I half expected it. This would be a problem.

"That explains the muscles." Aragorn's smile appeared somewhat as he stared at me. "You must know a bow well to pull that one out."

"Why?" Okay- it was a bit tough to tug out, but it wasn't that bad. I released the tense wire again. When I was offered an arrow, a target some distance away, I re-drew, and suddenly changed my mind. I turned to Boromir, more confidant about this than anything in my life, and sunk an arrow in a tree just a foot from where he'd been standing. The guy almost peed his pants. I would have laughed but the string rebounded straight into my boob. Ow. Ow. Ow. Luckily, Legolas and Aragorn was too focused on Boromir to notice.

Boromir noticed. To my surprise, he neither laughed or got angry at me, but shook his head, turning his back back to me. Was that him saying he thought it was a fluke or … him saying he trusted me? God, the man had some mixed messages. I couldn't figure out if he was an arrogant jerk or a good guy who had a big ego.

"Because that bow is made for a man's arm." Aragorn shook his head slightly, meeting Legolas eyes, that smile there. "Not as big a problem as I suspected."

"What about the hobbits?" Legolas asked.

"I have seen them in battle. They are not skilled but have much energy. We need only instruct them a little, as we travel. Here." Aragorn held out the smaller sword for me. "Some more with this, and then we rest."

Some more turned out to be training through breakfast, which was fruit, and then for several more hours till it was almost lunch. Pippin happily informed me of this, of when meals were about ready, he and the other three hobbits wandered in and out. I wasn't sure about how good they'd be at fighting but no one seemed to expect them to train so … they were either really good, or it was the tall people and the dwarf who were expected to protect them.

By the time lunch rocked up, I was craving another wash, sweat pouring down me, breathing coming in quick deep gulps, cursing my love of cupcakes and sweet iced coffee. Funnily enough I was also craving these things and cursing Elves for loving fruit way too much.

Luckily after lunch, I was left alone, and got the afternoon to wander around on my own. Mostly it was around the room, a nap, staring out the window, watching people walk past. Elves, really, I didn't really see anyone else. I guessed the rest of the Fellowship was doing their preparation thing.

When I tried the bath again, I found it still steaming hot, and figured out how the hell that worked by checking underneath. There was a fire going, mostly coals now, and the bath was just on top of it. How the metal didn't get hot... I didn't know... but I had to admit my sweaty smelly body appreciated it.

I sat on the bed, staring out the window, legs warm under the covers as the chilly wind drifted past. It was surprisingly boring, doing nothing, and I stared around. It gave me time to think though.

When Legolas appeared, I had to admit I was expecting it, and he knocked, that controlled face still on.

"No Elvish wine?" I tried to joke and he shook his head, a trace of amusement there, but hidden so damn well.

"No. I came to appologise again. When Elves drink-" He sat down, slowly, leaving some good two feet between his leg and my legs in the bed. "-we tend to take pleasure in … well, each other. I am not so used to human needs of a woman."

"You accept I'm human then?"

"No. But you do not have memories." His answer kind of infurated me, really, because how different from his Elf chicks did I have to be? Legolas didn't give me much chance to respond because he added, "I have only met men. I learnt the ways of Dwarf. When I-" He shifted, slightly, and fixed his eyes on his hands. "If I, or any in the Fellowship, forget ourselves, you need but object and none will push. The sensitivity of a maiden must not be harmed."

I wasn't entirally sure I was a maiden, not after the way I'd felt last night after that wine, but I didn't correct him. Women probably got married before sex around here. Unless they were Elves, then they apparently got drunk and had orgies, or something like that. Made out. I sighed and saw him frown, somewhat.

"My lady?"

"Honestly, call me-" Um. What was my name again? "Wendy."

"Wenduin?" Legolas blinked. "You mean Wenduin, yes?"

"Yes. That's another way to say it." I kind of felt better about Wendy- it seemed easier to remember and I was sure I'd heard this name before somewhere.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Not exactly. I still don't really know where we're going." I responded, honestly, and saw his spine straighten.

"A map. I will bring you the map. I will return." Legolas stood and vanished through the doorway, without another word. He returned within ten minutes and sat back down, spreading a cloth map out, shifting sideways to face me. "This is where we are. Here, close to where I found you. This is one path, and..."

And there, he pointed out several different routes, cities, and for the first time I felt like I kind of knew what the hell to expect. The map was kind of familiar somehow though.

He was strange like this, after I'd seen him all drunk and ...octupus handsy... this composed face. Voice. Kind of distant, cold, but not unfriendly. Just not the same as last night.

"So, that's where we're going?" I pointed at the area surrounded by an almost perfect square of mountains. "Only one way in? Or … over these mountains."

"They are inpassable. There may be others. I know none but Gandalf the Grey has much experience." Legolas shifted slightly in his seat, the only sign he was uncomfortable, adding, "This is not going to be a safe journey."

"Or a short one." If we were crossing right across this land.

"No." Legolas agreed.

We sat there quiet for a long time before, just for a moment, he smiled a little and pointed out a different area. A bunch of handdrawn trees.

"This is Mirkwood. This is my home."

"Is it beautiful?"

"Yes, in its own way." Legolas nodded slowly. "Though, not safe. There are dangers. The forest is sick in places. But I love it."

For a moment I saw it, that softness back in his face, that distant look in his eyes as if he could see his home through the ink drawn trees, as if he was back there. I had to admit I liked that side of him. The polish perfect alien Elf thing lessened somewhat.

He reached for his chest, almost unconsciously, fingering something. I saw it. A silver leaf, delicate, with a flat light green space where small shapes were drawn into the green ...stone? It was large, long, caught the light easily.

"Is that from Mirkwood?"

Legolas glanced down at it and then to me. He shook his head. "No. This..." He hesitated. Lifted it and slid it down the front of his shirt. "Is from a woman."

A woman? Had to be the one he'd … that stupid name he'd murmered. I suddenly felt the old resentment come back from last night. An Elf woman, most likely, and probably very open to the idea of him sleeping with others. Still, that wasn't what I was into, whatever I did or didn't remember.

"It's pretty." I muttered. For a moment longer we sat there. Then smething did occar to me. "Hey, what haappened to the bike?"

"The ...what?"

I described it as best I could. "Wheels, long, narorw metal..."

"Oh. Objects found with you are in there." Legolas pointed at something. A cabniet I hadn't opened. Honestly, I hadn't opened anything in here, it didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. He stood up and went to it, opening it, the bike there with it. "What is this for?"

"For riding. Like a horse, but ...well, it doesn't need feeding. I bought it because-" Something came back to me as I spoke. I rememberd it, Christmas, shopping, anxiety. It was my christmas present to myself. I was determined to loose weight. "I bought it because I wanted to loose weight."

"Why?" Legolas turned to me, staring at me, honestly looking surprised.

"You know. Because it's... better?" I stood up slowly, wandering over to the closet, bare feet cold on the tiled ground. I lifted the bike up from where it'd been stored and checked it. There were dents all over the metal but nothing serious looking. "Looks like someone bashed it."

"You remember buying it?"

"Yeah. I remember that." I could picture it so easily. Walking around the shopping centre, arms aching from carrying heavy bags full of presents I meant to wrap and post, trying to do exercise by refusing to use a shopping trolley. I'd been doing it for ages, I thought, but I couldn't remember much else. Just this ...this hour. "I was buying presents for people. I was going to wrap them and post them."

"What is ...post?"

"Send them. I lived far away from my family. I was sending presents to everyone." I couldn't quite remember who though. Family, kids, I just couldn't remember who. I went to the closet and took objects out. Some of them I knew, a water stained box with a kid's teddy inside, looking pretty saggy and tired. Who was this for? Legolas took it as I went for the next item, a book, also water stained.

"Everything's gotten wet." I muttered.

"Lord Elrond dried it. Is this a bear?" Legolas stared at the bright green teddy in the box, holding it up, confused.

"Yeah. A teddy."

A squeak from the teddy made Legolas openly flinch, dropping it, suddenly with a knife in his hand as he narrowed his eyes at it.

"Relax, it's just a toy. See?" I bent down, taking the teddy out of the ruined cardboard, and squeezed the tummy. It squeaked again, little plastic eyes lighting up, making Legolas step backwards.

"It is posessed."

"It's not posessed. It lights up. Squeaks. It's a children's toy." I had a sudden idea, and with a grin, flung the teddy at him the second I'd squeezed it. He had shoved it back with lightning reflexes, still staring at it with his frown, clearly still uncertain.

Other objects. Crystals. I lifted the bag of crystals up. It was another present for myself, these things, and I felt kind of relieved to find them. I smiled as I held them up to the light, the heavy bag of semi-precious gems glinting. Amythist, Labordorite, moonstone, a little garnet, a quartz point, cytrine... amongst others. None were missing either. "I bought these for me too."

"Jewels." Legolas left the teddy where it lay and stepped closer. "You wore many."

"Did I? Where are they?"

"Here." Legolas went for a wooden box I did not reconie and opened it. A few rings, a few necklaces, beads, he lifted them out carefully and held them out. More crystals. "More jewels. Some I do not know."

"Um, yeah." I did kind of recognise them. Not as much as I did the objects though. I took them and fingered them. So many crysals. Why did I have so many? Maybe some were going to be presents. Maybe I'd worn them to keep them safe. Or maybe I liked jewellery. I had to admit, I hadn't minded being bejewelled last night for the feast, that had been great fun.

We explored the objects a little longer, some of them not mine, but trash. Plastic bottle. Pieces of glass in a basket, a lot of them, and Legolas reached down to pick it up.

"I would like to use these pieces, if you've got no use, my sister would love these."

"Broken glass? For what?"

"Glass is costly and difficult to make of such quality, even for Elves." Legolas fingered the broken pieces with a kind of affection I couldn't feel. Seriously. They were just broken bottles and stuff. "Some are very fine. This-" He held up a large shard, almost as long as his arm, and turned it. One side of it was tinted. "-is not something I have seen before."

"What are you two doing?" Pippin wandered in at that, nearly into the glass, blinking as Legolas was quick to pull him backwards. "Wh... is that glass?"

"What's the big deal?"

"It's thin. Really fine." Pippin seemed almost in awe by it too.

"I think it's from a car window." It didn't seem that special to me, not really, but then how much glass had I seen around here? Nothing, really, not even a glass jug. "Is glass special here?"

"It is a closely guarded craft." Legolas lowered it so carefully.

"Well, you can have it. What would your sister do with it?"

"She has long wanted another window, but my father has refused, for fear of spiders or orcs capturing her. This glass can be crafted into artwork for a window of metal and glass." Legolas stood up. He had that soft look in his face again, the same one he had in his eyes when he'd talked about Mirkwood. "I can send it home with my friend."

Pippin picked up the teddy and grinned at it, holding it up, squeezing it. The squeak didn't frighten him and he didn't seem the least bit worried about the glowing eyes. "What's this?"

"A child's toy from Wenduin's world." Legolas replied as he glanced back at the teddy. He clearly was more interested in the glass shards than the teddy but Pippin seemed to be amused by it, squeezing again and again, holding it up.

"How does it work?" He asked lightly.

Merry's voice called and Pippin blinked, staring back, calling, "In Wendy's room, Merry!"

"What you doing in there again?"

"She's got toys!"

Merry appeared pretty fast, at a half run, and the green teddy was shoved in his face. He grinned at it. "It's a bear!"

"Feel how soft it is, Merry, and look!" Pippin squeezed it again, grinning, as the squeak and glow reappeared.

Merry reached out to touch it, wonder in his face, no trace of fear. He touched it. "It's glowing."

"Told you she's an elf."

Oh god, here we went again, and this time it wasn't Legolas. Legolas almost looked smug, almost, but maybe that was just my projection onto him again. He stood there, arms across his chest, something in his hand. A book?

"Pip, Frodo's looking for us. He has food."

That got Pippin's attention. He turned to me, "See you tomorrow!" and vanished with the green teddy still in hand. Maybe he was just a child. Sometimes I wondered.

I expected Legolas to go too but he didn't. He turned, heading for that storage space, hands reaching out for the bike. Slowly, eyes on it, he ran his hands over it.

"What?"

"It's well made. I do not know the metal."

Oh man, this again. There was a lot he didn't know. I was tempted to say this but instead, I decided to show him, the silly room was big enough for a circle or two. Legolas backed off as I went closer, watching me, raising an eyebrow as I got on.

A few laps, and I stared back at him, half hoping to see him gape or something. Nope. Perfect expression. A mild sense of curiosity, maybe, but nothing more. "Like a horse." He said softly, thoughtfully, reaching out to take the handles.

"Yes. See?"

"I will try this." Legolas didn't ask. The second I was off it, he tried, and ...fell straight over sideways.

I wished I could have said he'd lost his perfect hair or something but … he looked as good as ever, even on his side, with a yellow bike between his leggings.

"Balance. You need to move to balance it."

Legolas stood up, not even with a trace of awkwardness, and started again. This time he got it, so fast, that I felt a tinge of envy. How did Elves do everything so well?

"This is... not something I have heard of." Legolas finally stopped, sliding sideways off it easily, and stood up. "Will you bring it?"

I suddenly wondered how good an idea that'd be. I didn't really have much experience on it, except for ...well, except for straight sealed sidewalks, and that was mostly when I'd been a kid. This bike idea had been an impulse thing after I'd seen my own reflection. "I... I guess. But are you riding?"

"Not that I think...?" There we go, I wanted to say, no. Still I couldn't quite say no. Would that be weird? To take a bike? Probably. "I don't know it'd work. Really. Mountains."

"Yes, without a horse, these wheels..." Legolas said softly. He stood up suddenly, glancing over his shoulder. "I must go. I will see you in the morning."

"Not going to be at dinner?" I asked, before I could think, and flushed somewhat as his eyes caught mine.

"We eat alone tonight and prepare. I will see you in the morning, before the sun rises."

I was woken early the next day by my friendly pair of maids. Healers. Whatever they were. Dazed, sleepy and a little confused, I found myself wandered into one last bath. This one had a strong fragrance. I sat in it, half asleep, as they wandered around with fabrics. Objects. It took me ten or more minutes before I really got what these things were, and another five minutes before I started to care about the fact that I was naked in a bath with a couple of Elven women with perfect bodies wandering around me.

"Do you want these?" They were holding the bag of crystals up, and the jewellery, and I stared at it.

"Um. I guess so."

I tried to cover myself with bubbles and flowers as they walked around, dropping some stiff fabric stuff on the bench nearby, or in a small pack. A very small pack. How much stuff could they really put in there?

"My Lady. It's time."

I got up slowly, grabbing for the fabric, only to get surrounded the second I was out of the bath. Some kind of underwear thing. Sheer Leggings that clung to my legs much more than I really liked and that covered my feet as well. Cotton shirt. What surprised me though was what came next, some kind of thin leather thing, something that squashed boobs down to half their size. Then, a tunic, which was also kind of stiff around the chest.

"What's this?"

"Armour, light."

It was a little heavy, I noticed, but it wasn't that bad. I flexed my body slowly as I stared at it. I could move pretty much as good as ever in this stuff.

The blonde Elf woman, Maid B, smiled somewhat. "Elven armour is designed to allow the body to move. Lift a leg."

I stared down and saw a second pair of leggings. Stiffer. Thicker?

"More armor?"

"No, but protective."

The leggings were helped on, not that I really needed it with the flexibility of the chest stuff, and they covered the sheer ones beautifully. Wool maybe? Dark grey. Boots were offered and I hesitated.

"The last didn't fit..." I muttered.

"We know. We measured your feet when you slept last night." Maid A shoved one on my foot, quickly,

What! A tunic was shoved over my head, the sides laced up, a light brown that had light blue scrolling along the edges. It was pretty but kind of rough, the fabric more tough than pretty, and I noticed the fabric was kind of slippery. "Waterproofed?" I guessed.

"Yes." Arms up.

I blinked, I'd thought that'd been it, but no. Something else was dropped over my head and there was something strapped...

"What's this?"

"To protect your chest from the bow. And this," A belt was looped over the tunic, "Is for the sword."

I was starting to feel heavy now. Everything felt thick, kind of warm, and I had this bad feeling that after a day of walking I'd reek. Damn. Stop complaining! This was special! Hadn't Boromir said there was only supposed to be nine? Even more was put on, long thin tube things around my wrists, a thicker leather again. To protect my wrists? Um, okay.

"Um, so..." I said softly. "Thanks. For helping."

"It's our duty."

Oh, okay. Something over my shoulder got my attention. It was long and it had arrows. Oh, it was a quiver. Something heavy was dropped on my hip, just as the sun burst into the room, covering us in golden light. My sword glinted up at me. My sword! Wow. I gaped down at it.

This was really happening.

"Wenduin, here." A strap was offered to me. Before I knew it, something else was on my back, and I felt something near it. One more quick glance over my shoulder confirmed it was the pack and the bow.

"If you need the bow, simply tug it, it will come free."

A necklace was dropped over my head. It was made from one of the crystals, amethyst, and I fingered the pretty little silver chain. Had it had a chain last night? I didn't think so.

"We had it created into a necklace for you." Maid B smiled a little. "To stay safe."

It suddenly occurred to me that I didn't know their names yet, these maid women, but just as I opened my mouth to ask...

I was being led forward. Out the door, where Gandalf was waiting, leaning somewhat on his staff.

"It's time." He smiled, holding his arm out, and glanced back. Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry were close behind, all of them dressed and ready as well. "Come."