Chapter One: Lost in the Twilight Hall, Part One
"Take me away/To a place I've been/In another life/ In another world/…./Look behind the mirror/I'm lost in the twilight hall/Once I'll be back for a moment in time/ It's when the mirror's/ Falling down…"-Blind Guardian
For someone who'd been feeling sleepy all day, Eldarion was really quite awake in the middle of the night. Everyone else in Caras Galadhon had already gone to bed, refreshing themselves for the long journey to Imladris they would begin in the morning. Only the half-elf boy remained awake, a victim of the insomnia of the hectic mind. His day had been unusually brain-numbing; any day with his great-grandfather was, especially now that his great-grandmother had departed for other lands. Lord Celeborn and most of his household would leave the Golden Wood for ever the next day, choosing not to live in a place so full of the memories of the Lady they had lost. In a generous gesture, the King and Queen of Gondor had sent many of their own court to help with the endeavor, including the fourteen-year-old Prince. They thought getting out of Gondor for a time would be good for their son. They thought he would learn about his elven heritage. They thought it would be an interesting experience.
Eldarion lay in the dark, miserable and restless. Spending time with Elves always made him restless, searching for a part of himself that didn't quite exist, an Elvishness that always eluded him. His eyes were better than most humans', but not as sharp as Elves'. His hearing was keen for a Follower's, but deaf for a Firstborn's. His right ear was rounded; his left ear tapered to a point. Half-elf, Eldarion would think, looking in the mirror on his bedchamber wall. Ha ha. Iluvatar's up there laughing at me. It wasn't that he wanted to be an Elf. He just didn't like feeling inferior.
He stood up, lanky angles straightening and stretching. His mother's slender build plus his father's long shanks made for a rather awkward adolescent structure. In Gondor, whenever he couldn't sleep, he would always take a walk. The night air and the cool stone buildings gleaming faintly in the moonlight made for a peaceful setting, and he could usually relax enough to fall right asleep. But this was Lothlorien. He barely knew his way around. Stepping lightly so as not to step on any slumbering Elves, Eldarion gingerly made his way to the hole in the talan and climbed down.
The moon shone silver on the forest floor, lighting his path as he roamed aimlessly, mind racing along. He missed Minas Tirith, his friends, his parents. The pace in Lorien was easy, relaxed. Eldarion needed things to constantly be happening. There was always something to do in the White City. Everyone was busy there…including his parents. He ruefully recalled how he had taken his leave of them: his mother had hugged him, kissed him on both cheeks, then ran off to see why the Lady Eowyn was making such a racket in the kitchen. His father had clapped him on the shoulder and told him the palantir was focused on Lothlorien, in case anything should happen. Then he too was off, peasants standing in line to bring complaints and messages to their King. If he's been watching, it's been the most boring thing he'll ever see, thought Eldarion. Nothing but Celeborn, and boxes, and leaves.
He looked up and saw that his wandering feet had taken him to a place he had never been before. To his left, a pool of water glimmered faintly. Straight ahead, a basin lay sunken in a pedestal. Galadriel's mirror, he realized. Empty now, ever since…she left. I guess it wouldn't work now anyway.
Still, it fascinated him. I wonder…could I see the City? What everyone's doing? Or could I see the past, the War of the Ring? I'd like to know what Frodo looked like. And then, even further back….I wonder if Luthien really looked like my mom.
Without knowing exactly what he was doing, he stooped and picked up from among the fallen leaves a pitcher, dipping it into the crystal waters of the pool. It couldn't hurt to try it out, he reasoned. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And if it does…who knows what I'll see? Morgoth, Numenor, Turin Turambar, Gandalf…me. Me as King? I wonder if I'll make a good King. I wonder if I'll have a son, and if I'll send him away with just a pat on the shoulder because I'm too busy to say anything meaningful.
He filled the basin with water, heart beginning to hammer a little. The future suddenly seemed frightening to him, the past too broad to fully comprehend. "Show me my parents," he whispered, begging whatever latent spirits might still be dwelling in the mirror. "If you still work…that's all I want to see, really." He leaned over and looked in.
A face peered back at him, youthful and curious but disappointed. "Just my reflection," he muttered, but as he spoke the surface of the water darkened, rippled, and he found himself indeed looking at the two people the world knew as King and Queen of Gondor but he called other names.
"Dad?…Mom?" His father's hair was short and his face cleanshaven, but unmistakable. He and Eldarion's mother were strangely attired, and they sat in an alien room, lit by lamps with no discernable flames.
Eldarion leaned closer to the pool to get a better look at the room. The white jewel he wore around his neck swung forward and lightly brushed the surface of the water. Instantly the whole picture went black, and the water began to smoke. Eldarion tried to step back, but some invisible force had a hold of him and sent him moving still forward. He barely had time to take a breath before toppling headfirst into the Mirror, feet knocked out from under him.
He was drowning in a black hole, sputtering and flailing out as he spun head-over-heels in the pitch-dark water. The Mirror seemed to have grown, and he was immersed in its inky depths, uncertain as to which way was up and coughing in panic and confusion. Dimly he became aware of a light dancing in front of his eyes. He wildly kicked towards it, moving sluggishly through the water for all his efforts. Then suddenly he had found the surface, and his head exploded out of the water, eyes closed as he spat and choked on the dark liquid.
"Hey, you! Get out of my pool!"
Blinking and still sputtering a bit, Eldarion opened his eyes. He was not at the Mirror any more. Not even close. The body of water in which he now tread was large and square, with smooth sides made of some hard unfamiliar surface. The water tasted funny, too: it had a tang to it not present in the waters of Middle-earth. Swiping shaggy bangs out of his eyes, Eldarion looked up at the girl who'd yelled at him.
She stood on the threshold of a largish building made out of red bricks, in a door that slid to one side to open. Her plaid, pleated skirt barely reached her fingertips and her jacket was made of a leather darker than he had ever seen, but what caught his attention most was her hair. It was shorter than any girl's hair he knew- and any boy's too, for that matter. It was also spiky and bright purple.
Her eyebrows were brown, though, and she had one cocked in annoyance as she crossed her arms and yelled at him again.
"What's the matter, you deaf or something? I said get out! We don't allow strangers to swim here, and if you're friends with the Benmirs next door, they're on my list, buddy! Only Carey and his friends are allowed!"
"Sorry," Eldarion yelled back, swimming over to the side and thinking fast despite all the confusing new things around him. "I guess I fell in."
"Huh?" The girl clapped a hand to her forehead. "Crap. You don't even speak English. You haven't got a clue what I'm saying."
"Yes I do!" retorted Eldarion as he clambered out of the pool, then realized something. The purple-haired girl was speaking a different language, not Sindarin or Westron or even Quenya (of which his fluency was limited), but he could somehow understand her. When he talked, however, he was answering in Westron. I don't get it, he thought. I don't get anything! Obviously I'm not in Middle-earth anymore, at least not any part of Middle-earth I've ever heard of. But I can understand the language? I just don't get it…can I speak her language?
"I…I do too know what you're saying. But I am…not from here." Was that right? I spoke it, didn't I? I spoke…Anglush or whatever. English.
The girl snorted, a very unladylike gesture that shocked him, but only mildly in comparison to the other surprises. "Duh. What, are you a runaway from the Renaissance Fair or something? I mean, what are you wearing?" She sighed. "Forget it. Just get out."
Eldarion did a courteous little bow. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry to disturb you. It shan't happen again." Eager to be gone, he jogged past her around the building and onto what he supposed was a road, then screamed in spite of himself as something barreled past, blinding him with a brilliant light and nearly deafening him with a piercing cry. He lost his balance in shock and fell, quite unelvishly, onto the grass in front of the girl's house.
She appeared behind him, having heard both the noise and his startled yell. "Yeah, genius, that's why they tell you to look both ways before crossing the street. You could get hit by a freakin' car."
Eldarion couldn't understand all of what she said, but he could tell by her tone she'd insulted him. "I told you I was a foreigner. How was I supposed to know the animals here moved that fast?"
"Now you're just kidding around with me. Don't play dumb; you're in no position to act like that. I could call the cops on you." She pointed at him. "But I won't. Not unless you don't get off the property in ten seconds. Ten."
Eldarion stood still, not sure what she was counting for. "Um, what?"
"You heard me. Nine. Eight."
"Yes, but I didn't understand."
"Seven. Six. Five."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Four. Three."
"I am a prince, you know, and I order you to stop and tell me what's going on." He regretted it the instant it left his mouth. People who flaunted their status and used it to bully others had always disgusted him, and here he was, acting like a total snob. "Sorry."
"Two. One." She looked at him. "Zero. Go."
He didn't move. The purple-haired girl looked at him quizzically; her clear blue eyes grew wide. "Oh my God. You really don't have anywhere to go, do you? You really are lost." Her gaze softened a little.
"I told you. I arrived here…rather suddenly and against my will. I don't have any clue what I'm doing here, I want to go back where I was before, and I apologize for pulling rank on you. I want to get as far from here as possible, preferably Gondor. Can you help me?" Eldarion added the question halfheartedly, not sure it would do any good but needing all the assistance he could get.
"So what you're saying is, you just moved here, you didn't want to, so you're running away in protest? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" The girl fiddled thoughtfully with her ear, and Eldarion realized she had two small gold hoops sticking through each lobe. Yuck, he thought, then focused on what she'd said.
He pursed his lips. "Yes," he replied finally, "I'm a runaway."
Surprisingly, she seemed to like his answer. "Cool. Rebelling against the system, huh? Nice. You coulda been a little more prepared, though. I mean, what have you been eating? And how far have you come?"
"A very long way," Eldarion answered truthfully, ignoring the food question as all that had entered his stomach recently was some of her pool's strange-tasting water.
"Huh. Well then, guess you need someplace to stay, vagabond boy. At least you made it further than the kid next door-who has every reason to run away, too. I mean, look!"
Eldarion looked. A sign in front of the house to the right said "Beware of Dog," only someone had scratched out "Dog" and written "Children" in messy black ink. "I..ah..see."
"Yeah. Not counting the dog, cuz there is a dog, there's seven kids in that family, the Benmirs, and they're all nuts. They think that just because their dad is this fancypants, big-deal jeweler they can get away with anything. But their dad's the nuttiest one. Anyway, Carey-that's the kid's name, or his nickname anyway, his real name's some huge unpronounceable thing-one of his older brothers taught him to drive, even though Carey's just fourteen, you know? Well, he's fifteen now, but anyway last year he goes to try the car out, and he wrecks it in—are you ready for this- their freakin' garage! And his brothers are laughin', well, four of 'em are, anyway: the oldest was freaking out and one other's always off in la-la poet land with his garage band, but Carey's totally flipping out so we hid him here. Figured the last place anybody'd look would be next door. Turns out it was the first place. Oh well. But we do know how to hide kids here, me an' Andre. Andre's my brother. We're twins. Like two of the idiots next door."
Eldarion blinked, then said slowly, "Um…why are you telling me all this?"
"Oh. Huh. I don't know." The girl laughed suddenly. "Sorry. One minute I'm yelling at you GET OUT and the next I'm telling you the story of my life! Jeez! Like you care."
"It was…very interesting. But I just don't see the point."
"The point? Oh, the point. Yeah. The point is, you can stay here tonight. In Andre's room. That's where we put Carey. He's cool with that sorta stuff; nothing phases him. Andre, I mean. Not Carey. Carey's a hothead. But there I go again. What is wrong with me?"
I think you like this Carey Benmir, that's what, Eldarion commented in his mind as he sifted through her response to get the general message. He got it. "Well, all right, if your parents don't mind…"
"Mind?" The girl laughed again, almost scoffingly. "Dude, they won't even know. They're out at some movie, won't be back till eleven at least. Score one for me if I can hide you for a night. They think they know everything, but I got 'em beat. Usually. You just can't let them see you. Especially my dad; he's a counselor, and he'll start analyzing you inside and out first glimpse he gets of you. My mom, though, will probably just impale you. She fences."
Eldarion only understood two parts of the sentence. "I fence. But I don't want to go sneaking around someone's…"
"You won't be sneaking! You're a guest. Most Honored Guest, Mister….what did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't. It's Eldarion. Eldarion Telcontar, at your service, milady." He bowed again.
She took his right hand and shook it, startling him for a second. "Ruki Stewart. Let's get you bunked!"
"Until the bulb burns out, it's going to do that every time you flip the switch," Andre Stewart told Eldarion in a monotone from where he lay on the bottom bunk of his bed.
Eldarion flipped the switch on the wall. All of the lights in Andre's room winked out. He flipped the switch again. They came back on. "How does it work?" he asked, fascinated. "Magic?"
"Electricity. Duh. Don't you have electricity at your house?"
"No."
"Do you live in a barn or something?" Andre, though his words were incredulous, still managed to sound bored. Eldarion wondered vaguely how he could be the twin of someone like Ruki.
"No, I live in a castle. A tower, really. It' s a little hard to describe. A city."
"Naturally. You probably don't have indoor plumbing either."
"Indoor what?"
"Toilets. Ruki showed you the bathroom, didn't she?"
"Yes, and I wondered how you carried the bathwater from your artificial lake all the way up those stairs to the bathtub."
Andre sighed. "Forget it. Just turn the light out and go to bed. My parents will be home soon."
Eldarion flipped the switch one last time. "Incredible," he muttered to himself as darkness filled the room. "I wonder if we could do that in Minas Tirith." He felt his way to the ladder of the bunk bed and climbed up. "Good night, Andre. Thanks for letting me have the top bunk of the barracks."
"It's not a barracks. Go to sleep. You have to leave here before my parents wake up in the morning."
"Don't worry. I will." And where will I go? Jump into the water and hope it takes me home? Wander this world aimlessly, saying, "Could someone please point me in the direction of Gondor?" Try to contact someone—how?
"I'll find a way," he whispered. "Everything will be fine. It'll be…cool."
But that was only his way of telling himself not to cry.
Eldarion woke later in the night and found he had a problem. He lay in the dark for five minutes, trying to think of something else, but when the problem didn't go away he swung his torso down over the side of the bed and, as his pendant bumped into his nose, poked the sleeping Andre in the arm. When the boy grumpily awoke, Eldarion found Ruki's brother did look a little like her-when he scowled. In fact, if Andre's red-blond hair didn't flop into his face and was purple, it would be a near-perfect match.
"Wha' is it? 'Sit it time for you to leave? Go."
"No. Andre…where did you say the outhouse was?"
"The bathroom is the second door down the hall to the left. If you need further instructions, you walk in,…use…the shiny white thing, then push the lever. There will be a big scary noise. Then you wash your hands in the sink by turning the little plastic knobs and go back to bed. Good luck." It was remarkable how Andre could deliver such a sarcastic speech without a trace of emotion in his voice. Andre rolled over, back to Eldarion. "Oh, and my parents are probably home."
"I'll be careful." Stealthily Eldarion crept out of the room and followed Andre's instructions to the letter. "So that's indoor plumbing," Eldarion remarked, appraising the white chairlike object and watching. "Very nice. Clean. Less disgusting work for the servants." Just to be certain he understood, or sort of understood, how the contraption worked, he pushed the silver lever again. "The water swirls around and…cleans it out. I wonder where the pipe goes?"
Satisfied with his little adventure into the world of sanitary waste disposal, except maybe for the matter of where the pipe led, Eldarion left the bathroom. He took about two steps before his half-elf ears alerted him of movement. Quickly he turned around and was nearly blinded by someone shining a portably light in his face.
"Aah!"
"Hey! Who're you!"
Eldarion blinked, clearing his vision of dots and specks. A woman clad in garments similar to those Andre had changed into prior to retiring for the night stood shining a light at him. She looked very very surprised…and very very familiar. He gasped incoherently for a couple of seconds as she roughly grabbed his arm, shaking her long blond hair out of her face as she did so.
"La…La…Lady Eowyn!"
a/n: Hey, look, it's me, starting another story before finishing the post of the last one. Oh well. I can manage two. Anyway, hi and thanks for reading! I have a lot of disclaimers/pseudo-disclaimers for this story:
Many of the characters are either taken directly from or inspired by the works of JRR Tolkien
The plot for this story was inspired by the (excellent) fanfics "Hour of Our Meeting" and "A Feanorian Christmas" (see my Favorites for links; if they aren't both there, they should be)
I ripped the name "Ruki" (but not the entire character…it's a different girl with the same sort of punk streak) from Digimon Tamers
"Andre" is the name of the lead guitarist for Blind Guardian (the lead singer's name is in my own, original, not-a-fanfic-in-(almost)-any-way-shape-or-form story which will probably never see publication, Internet or otherwise, due to how long it's taking me to finish, but nobody cares about that…Ruki's babbling streak is based on my author's notes tendencies)
When I draw these characters (and I do a lot of that), the drawing style (and I guess a little of the plot too) is based on the manga "The First King Adventure"
I did not invent cars, I did not discover electricity, and I did not invent indoor plumbing.
I think that's it for now, except…I have a bunch of chapters written/planned so far for this, but I need songs to title the "Parts" with (there's three chapters per part, it makes more sense if my pictures are included but hey, doesn't work that way) and things for Eldarion to do/experience. So…where should he go? What should he do? Should Ruki dye her hair a different color? Should she dye Eldarion's hair a different color? Drop a review and give me your ideas! I am open to suggestions! (Well, most anyway…) Thanks again for reading, and I hope you come back.