A/N: I don't own any of the Lord of the Rings characters, or the story line. However I do own Leila and her friends.
Gandalf looked about the group before him, two elven women, two dwarves, and three human women. "Three in your company bear three special treasures. The three rings of time- the past, the present, and the future. These rings are known to very few and no one fully understands them. Now evil is once again rising in Middle Earth. For this reason the rings will be sent to another place."
"But there are seven of us here. What do we have to do with this?" Yeti, one of the dwarves, asked.
"I have ulterior motives," Gandalf admitted. "This little trip will also be a starting point for a new understanding between the races."
"What do you mean?" Elayna, the eldest of the elves and bearer of the ring of the future, asked with a frown.
"The long going feud between the elves and dwarves is going to end." Gandalf said.
"Going to end?" Leila, the other elf and bearer of the ring of the past, asked.
"Yes," said Gandalf. "It will cease, reach a point of termination, come to a stop…"
"Thank
you," Elayna stated. "I think we understand."
"Yes, we understand end, but
how is it going to end?" Leila asked.
"I am sending two elves and two dwarves into a world unfamiliar to you all," Gandalf explained. "Either you will learn to overcome your differences and get along…or you will kill each other."
"A strong possibility," Elayna glared at the two dwarves.
"Option two would be easier." Leila said also glaring. "It would be more fun too."
"Bring it on she-elf," Garin, the younger of the two dwarves, growled.
"Enough!" Amaryllis, one of the humans and the bearer of the ring of the present, yelled.
"Thank you," Gandalf smiled. "You humans will also need to learn how to deal with elves and dwarves."
Amaryllis looked about the group and she saw the long running hatred between the races. "What are you going to tell our families?" she asked.
Gandalf fell silent for a time.
"Oh, this is reassuring," Elayna muttered sarcastically.
"Can't we say good-bye?" Amaryllis asked.
"No," Gandalf said quietly. "I'm sorry. It would be too risky. Most of them don't even know about the rings and it must stay that way."
"When do we leave?" Leila asked.
"Now," said the wizard.
"How do we get there?" Yeti asked. "Better yet, how will we get back?"
"How you get there is too complicated to explain," Gandalf replied. "You will return when I call you back."
"Will we retain our present forms?" Leila asked.
"No," Gandalf stated. "Where you are going there are no elves or dwarves. You will all appear as humans. Your names may have to change slightly as well. Don't worry. It will all seem natural to you."
"Well at least its not dwarves." Leila whispered to Elayna.
She tried not to laugh…then they heard Garin whisper, "At least it's not elves."
"I heard that." Leila said in a low cruel tone. Garin gave a low growl and brandished his enormous battle axe.
"Everyone, stand in a circle!" Gandalf snapped, ending the fight before it started. No one dared disobey him.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
Leah sat straight up in bed. "Oh man…that was weird!" she thought. Her phone started ringing. She looked over at her clock and groaned. It was 1:30 am.
"Hello?" she asked in a groggy voice. "You do know its 1:30 in the morning. So this had better be important."
"No it's not," the voice of her cousin, Elayna said cheerfully at the other end. "It's 2:30."
"Maybe where you live…so what up?" Leah asked starting to wake up.
"Nothing really," Elayna answered. "I'm bored. Its finals week and all my finals are done."
"So when you gonna be home?" Leah asked "How long can you stay?"
"My parents are coming tomorrow," her cousin replied. "I'll be home for a month!"
"Sweet! I'm off from tomorrow until January 13th! We're gonna have to get together." Leah said now fully awake.
"Yeah…shoot!" Elayna exclaimed. "Hold on." Leah could hear mumbling in the back round. When Elayna returned, she was a lot quieter.
"I thought all the RA's would be asleep by now," she muttered.
"We in trouble?" Leah asked. Both girls were in college, Elayna was in Lower Michigan; Leah was living with her parents in the UP.
"No, just me," Elayna, the elder of the two, said. "It's only 5 bucks."
"What's only five bucks?"
"My fine for being too loud."
"Dang! I'm glad I'm at home! Did I tell you that I'm going to Northern soon?" Leah was attending a community college and was able to live at home.
"Yeah," Elayna answered. "WOW! It's getting late…I need to finish packing! Mom and Dad will be here in a few hours!"
"OK, call me when you get here. And we'll get together." Leah said, "I have one more exam tomorrow then I'm done. So I better get to sleep …Laters."
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
"So," Elayna said later that week, "When's Yeti coming up?" She and Leah were at her parent's house. Their parents were out together, so the girls were alone.
"Don't know...I'm pretty sure he'll be up tomorrow sometime." Leah replied.
"Then he'll be here in time for the movie?" her cousin asked.
"Should be…Jasmin and Deanne are coming to my place after they get out of school. Amy's gonna meet us there." Leah said.
"Sweet!" Elayna exclaimed. "Is Gary coming, too?"
"Last I heard. You never know with him though." Leah said. Gary was Leah's unpredictable younger brother.
"True," Elayna suppressed a yawn. "Ah…what time is it?"
"About quarter after two." Leah said as she stretched.
"I need to sleep," her cousin said. She curled up on the couch. "Good night."
"Me too. Night." Leah said and snuggled down into her sleeping bag on the floor.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
Elayna stood on a balcony, looking out over the valley of Rivendell.
"My father is sending me away," she said sadly.
"Why is that? There is no danger here." Elladan asked her quietly. Elayna sighed.
"Evil is increasing in Mirkwood," she said. She turned to him.
"And…I don't think he's ready to give me up yet," she said, looking down and blushing. Elladan slowly moved closer to her, soon he was right beside her.
"When do you leave?" he asked softly.
"Sometime tomorrow," she replied. "Gandalf will be coming for Leila and me."
"What does Leila have to do with this?" he asked, because he was unaware of his father sending his youngest sister any where.
"All I know is that we're going anyway," Elayna replied, turning her back to Elladan for she couldn't bear to see the look in his eyes. "I don't know when we shall return…if ever…"
"You are going into the west then?" he asked. He placed his hands on Elayna's shoulders and turned her to face him. She closed her eyes and didn't look up.
"I don't know," she whispered, fighting down tears. She did not want him to have to see her cry. He pulled her gently to him and held her. He rested his head on the top of hers and breathed in her sweet scent. Elayna could no longer hold back her tears. She clung to him as she silently cried into his shoulder.
Leila stepped on to the balcony. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" she asked.
Elladan and Elayna immediately separated. Elayna's tears shut off like a faucet.
"Oh don't stop on my account," Leila said with a big smile on her face.
"Excuse me," her brother said. He bowed to Elayna, who was looking out over the valley again, and glared daggers at his sister before returning to the house.
"Did I interrupt something?" Leila asked innocently.
"No," Elayna stated coldly.
"OK," Leila said quietly. "I think I'm going to retire now…see you in the morning." She said and returned to the house.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
Elayna woke up suddenly. She lay on the couch with here eyes wide open.
"That wasn't just a dream…" she muttered to herself. "That was a memory!"
"What? You say something?" Leah asked from the floor.
"A dream I just had," Elayna said a bit louder. "It couldn't have been just a dream…"
"A memory?" Leah asked, propping herself up with her elbow.
"It had to have been!" Elayna sat up. "I was in a beautiful alpine valley. You were there…and so was a man, but we weren't human. We had pointy ears like Vulcans on Star Trek."
"That sounds about like mine. But Gary and Ryan were in mine too. They were really short and they had long beards." Leah said "There was an old guy there too…he said something about calling for us…I have no idea what it means though."
"I was saying good-bye to the man in my dream," Elayna said quietly. "You seemed to be connected to him somehow. He looked like you a little."
"Like me how?" Leah asked, she sounded very hyper…which she was.
"Like…I don't know! Like how Gary looks like you."
"That's scary! Another Gary!" Leah said.
"No," Elayna laughed. "I liked this one…an awful lot it seems."
"Hmmm…let's finish this later." Leah said snuggling back into her blankets.
"I suppose," Elayna stated, lying back down…but she didn't really sleep the rest of the night.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
"This movie is gonna be awesome!" Jasmin exclaimed as the small gang entered the movie theater. "I can't wait to see all the Orcs and fights! Oh! And that hot elf in the previews! Ooo! Peanuts!" she stopped at the concession stand.
"Ummm Jas, how much sugar did you have today?" Leah asked.
"Just a two liter of life blood (Mt.Dew)," she said. "Come on! I don't want to miss the previews!" Elayna laughed and shook her head.
"She's your friend," she said as the group sat down. Although they all sat in one row there was almost two distinct groups. Gary, Yeti, and Elayna sat at one end and mocked the previews, while Leah, Jasmin, Amy, and Deanne got in a peanut fight. As the previews ended so did the peanut fight and the mocking.
The movie began in elvish…and they all shivered.
"This is eerie!" Elayna whispered to Leah.
"Yeah, it's almost as if I knew what she was saying, before they translated it into English! You know like I had heard the language before." Leah whispered.
"I…I need to go for a walk," Elayna stated. She was shaking and growing pale.
"I'll come with you." Leah said, her voice was shaking so much it was almost cracking.
They walked out to the lobby in silence. Before long, the rest of the group joined them.
"Boring movie anyway," Gary muttered.
"And why is that?" Leah asked.
"It was jus a bunch of midgets!" He replied as they all gathered in a circle.
"Except for one old wizard who's just batty!"
"Batty, Master Garin?" Gandalf said, amused. "How so?"
"Ga…Gan…Gandalf?! I'm soo sorry!" Garin stuttered. Gandalf laughed.
"Don't worry, my dear dwarf," the wizard said. "I am not angry. You memories were changed when you entered the other world. You couldn't have remembered me."
"What memory changes…would our rings cause us to remember things?" Leila asked Gandalf.
"Why do you ask?" he said with a thoughtful frown.
"Well…the other night I dreamt about the day we left." Leila said.
"So did I," Elayna added very quietly.
"Really," Gandalf pondered, "very interesting."
"Leila!?" came Elrond's voice from behind them. "Where did you come from?"
"Father!" Leila said happily. "Well…um…you see…there's a perfectly good explanation for all this…Gandalf?" Gandalf looked like he had a lot of explaining to do.
"I never said she was going into the west," he said with a half grin on his face.
"Indeed you did not." Elrond said. "Leila, take our guests to the house. I wish to speak with Gandalf."
"Uh oh…" Yeti muttered under his breath. They all followed Leila leaving Gandalf and Elrond to discuss their business.
As they walked down the halls they passed two male elves with long black hair. Elayna briefly made eye contact with one of them, and then quickly looked away, blushing slightly. Leila smiled broadly at both of them as they passed.
"I saw that," Leila whispered to Elayna.
"You saw nothing," her friend hissed.
"My aren't we touchy tonight." Leila said as they left each of the group at a room.
"I am sorry," Elayna apologized. "I'm just tired. And…well…good- night, Leila."
"Good night…" Leila said as she left for her room.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
"You're back!" Arwen smiled as her sister entered their room.
"Yea, I'm back." Leila said as she flopped down on her bed. "Why is everyone acting like I've been gone for years? I've only been gone for four years."
"Four…" Arwen looked confused. "Try fifty-four, dear sister."
"Fifty-four!" Leila exclaimed. "I had no idea! So, how is everyone?" she asked trying to change the subject.
"Quite well," Arwen smiled. "There is some trouble, but Father won't discuss it."
"How is Aragorn?" Leila asked. Arwen smiled shyly.
"He is well," she said, suddenly bashful.
"You're keeping something from me." Leila said, looking at her sister.
"You must swear not to tell Father!" Arwen said with a twinkle in her eye. She sat on the edge of her bed.
"Have I ever told any of our other secrets? But if you insist …I swear." Leila said.
"I have given him my troth," Arwen whispered gravely. "Father does not know of this yet. I fear it would break his heart."
"You did what?" Leila said in shock. "If Father knew, it would break his heart. But if you love Aragorn that much I can see why you did it." Arwen smile sadly.
"I hoped you would," she replied. Their bedroom door suddenly flew open as their brothers entered.
"Leila!" Elladan smiled, enveloping her in a bear hug. "You're back!"
"Elladan!" Leila said happily returning his hug. Tears began to build up in her gray/green eyes.
"Where have you been?" Elladan's twin, Elrohir, asked their youngest sister.
"I was in another world. I had no memory of this place or you for four of their years." Leila said. Her siblings looked at her as if she were crazy.
"Well," Elladan said after a long pause. "Gandalf was involved in it…"
"So have you talked to Elayna yet?" Leila asked her brother.
"Uh…" Elladan stammered, "well…what…why would I talk to Elayna?"
"Oh please…I'm not blind! I know about you…she even admitted to dreaming about you while we were away." Leila said with a huge grin on her face. Elladan seemed to be desperately searching for a way to deny it.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He stubbornly maintained.
"Oh come now…" Leila said "I'm tired so if you don't mind I wish to go to bed now…good night."
"Good night, sisters," Elladan smiled. He left the room, followed by Elrohir.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c
Elladan and Elrohir walked down the long hall in silence. Elrohir knew exactly where his brother was going and that he probably wanted to go there alone, so he followed him.
"Why are you following me?" Elladan asked coming to a stop.
"I'm not," his twin replied in self-defense. "I'm just going wherever it is that you're going."
"Not you're not." Elladan insister.
"Yes, I am," Elrohir stated.
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"What are you two fighting about?" Aragorn asked walking up.
"Nothing…no you're not!" Elladan stated firmly.
"Aragorn," Elrohir smile sensing an ally. "Don't you think we should all meet our guests?"
"Yes, I believe we should." Aragorn said. Elladan shot Aragorn a betrayed look. Aragorn laughed.
"It won't be that bad, my friend," he said quietly. "I promise."
"I thought you were on my side! I support you with Arwen." Elladan said quickly as they reached Elayna's room.
"Trust me," Aragorn said softly with a wink. Elrohir lightly knocked on Elayna's door.
"One moment," her gentle voice said from within. They stood and waited patiently until Elayna opened the door.
When she did, she was in a shimmering white elven gown. Her curly, strawberry blonde hair hung around her face like a halo. Her bright green eyes widened slightly when she saw the three of them at her door.
"Welcome to Rivendell, Elayna." Aragorn said politely. "We just came to say good night, and to make sure everything was to your liking."
"Thank you," she smiled with a gracious bow.
"We've all missed you since you went away," Elrohir said, jabbing his brother slightly.
"Ah…yes we have…Aragorn could you and Elrohir see to our other guests? I'm going to stay here for a couple minutes then retire for the night as well." Elladan said.
"I think you should meet the other guests as well," Elrohir said. "Unless of course, you have some reason for wanting to stay."
"He doesn't need to give us a reason. Come on Elrohir." Aragorn said grabbing Elrohir by the arm. "Good-night Elayna."
Elrohir was dragged away under protest. Elayna blushed as she and Elladan were left alone.
"Won't you come in?" she asked, opening the door wider.
"Thank you." He replied entering the room. "How have you been?" he asked trying not to show he was nervous.
"I have been well," she smiled, nervously playing with her hair. "And you?"
"Worried…happy…and um…wow." He stuttered. Elayna looked bashfully away and laughed.
"I feel like a silly mortal school girl," she laughed. "I…I missed you."
"And I you." He whispered. Elayna stepped a little closer to him.
"Maybe…do you think…" she stopped with a sigh. "My father still sees me as his little child."
"Does he? I see…a beautiful woman who is unafraid to speak her mind…and stand up for her friends. You know it took someone special to leave everything she knew and enter a world where the only one she knew and trusted was her best friend." He said wrapping his arms around her. Elayna relaxed.
"He will never give us permission to marry," she sighed. "Not for a million years."
"Maybe I could speak with him…"Elladan suggested.
"You will have to eventually," she stated.
"I know…" Elladan was interrupted by a knock at the door. Elladan quickly pulled away and move to the window, while Elayna went to the door.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you," Elrond said, "but I'm looking for my son, Elrohir said he was speaking with you."
"Father?" Elladan said from the window.
"I wish to speak to you and your brother alone," Elrond explained. He looked at Elayna and then back to Elladan.
"Do you have anything you wish to tell me?" he asked. Elayna looked at Elladan.
"No," Elladan said softly. "Not yet."
"I see," Elrond smile gently. He put an arm around both of them.
"Have patients my children," he said. "I will speak to Thranduil on your behalf."
"Thank you." Elladan said gratefully as he moved to go. "Sleep well Elayna."
"Sleep well," she smiled as her future husband and father-in-law left her room.
Well that's chapter one…Hope you like the story. ^_^ Don't forget to Review