After a long hiatus I've gotten back into writing and this is the start to my new story with some of my OCs. Hope everyone enjoys it.


To Middle Earth I Go

The first thing she heard was birds. After a couple of seconds she heard what sounded like a river and the rustling of tree branches in the breeze. 'Ok this isn't too bad. I must of left that nature cd in the player before falling asleep. I really need to remember to shut that thing off before I sleep.' As she started to stretch, she realized she wasn't waking up in her nice king sized mattress back in her apartment, but on what felt suspiciously like grass. Still keeping her eyes shut, she thought of reasons why she fell asleep outside when she clearly didn't feel like she was hung over. Her mind slowly started kicking into gear and she remembered that she was on vacation in New Zealand as a belated birthday present from her friends. 'Ok no need to panic. I must have gone on a walk after dinner and when I took a breather must have conked out.' The only thing was she didn't exactly remember going out for a walk, but figured if she kept telling herself that then her mind would take it as the truth. Still sprawled on the ground she firmly stated to herself, "When I open my eyes I'll be able to see the hotel and be able to get the largest sized coffee they offer." When she peeked open her right eye she felt a small sense of unease since she didn't recognize the area. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she sent out a quick pulse of her aura to reorient herself and paled a little when she didn't pick up any signs of what should have been her hotel anywhere in a five mile radius of her location.

As much as she prided herself on her athletic abilities, she wasn't stupid enough to go further than her normal range in an unfamiliar area. Taking a quick inventory of herself she was happy to note that at least she would be able to comfortably move in her camo pants and combat boots. As much as she appreciated a good spa day like any other woman, she was able o rough it out as well as any guy. 'And my friends said nothing useful would come from attending summer boot camp all those years.' She felt her knife was attached to her belt and thanked herself for being paranoid enough to always keep it with her. The tank top she had on wasn't going to do her much good, but after a quick scan around the clearing she was in noticed her jacket with a small sigh of relief. "Ok. I've obviously wandered a bit too far, but logic dictates that if I follow the river I should eventually find a place with some people. I knew watching the Discovery Channel as a kid would be useful to me later in life. When I get back I'm so going to rub this in Kat's face." With a quick laugh she followed the river making sure to send out a quick pulse every couple of miles. The smile on her face dimmed after walking for around three hours with no sign of the hotel in sight. Closing her eyes she pictured a map of the area surrounding her hotel. She knew that there had been a river that passed the hotel since she could see it from her room and that if she was upriver from the hotel she would come across it by following the river's flow and if she was downriver then there was a small village about fifteen miles down. Since she couldn't feel the hotel from where she started and had walked over five miles without sensing either the hotel or village she was either a lot further downriver than she thought, or she was in major trouble.

"Time for plan B aerial inspection, which I was really hoping to avoid." Walking over to one of the trees she looked up and sighed before lifting herself up and starting the climb to the top. After ten minutes of mumbled curses her head managed to poke through the thick leave coverage and she was able to look around to try and get her bearings. Since she had memorized all the major geographical details in the area in case she decided to do some exploring, she figured she would be able to figure out where the hell she was and go from there. Squinting her eyes against the sun, she turned a full 360 degrees before blinking in slight confusion then doing a more frantic search hoping to find some identifiable landmark. 'Oh God.' She always knew something like this would happen to her someday. She supposed it was the price of being not normal. "Toto it looks like we're not in Kansas anymore" she mumbled under her breath.

Naomi prided herself in the fact the she didn't faint and kill herself once it clicked that she was no longer in New Zealand. As much as she was able of taking care of herself, she did enjoy getting in touch with her more feminine side once in a while and that was one thing that had been on her agenda this trip. Unfortunately, it looked like she wouldn't be able to do that for a while if at all. In fact, taking another look around, she didn't recognize any of the surrounding geography which concerned her since she had made it her personal mission to memorize the geography of the entire Earth was she learned that she had a photographic memory. Of course she had gotten the idea after watching all three of the Librarian movies, but wasn't about to tell her friends that. Kat and Anna always thought that it was cheating though since she was able to ace all her courses with little effort, especially those in which the majority of the subject was memorization of the facts. "Well at least I know where I'm not at, which is one step closer to knowing where I am." Closing her eyes and taking a calming breath to center herself, Naomi sent out a larger pulse and smiled in relief when she felt a group of energy that indicated a potential settlement of some sort. Looking into the direction of her reading she calculated the approximate distance and location before marking it in her mind. "And now onward to potential salvation! Well, onward once I get down without killing myself."

After carefully extracting herself from the tree she headed toward what she hoped would be a group of helpful, sympathetic townspeople. As she grew closer to the settlement, she was happy to note what seemed to be some type of well traveled woodland trail in the general direction of her reading. After twenty minutes of walking, she saw what looked like the entrance and with a smile on her face started to toward it while keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. Poking her head through the arch she noticed that all of the structures seemed to be incorporated around the forest rather than in it. The motif reminded her slightly of the gothic style, but lighter with softer lines and more curves. Naomi didn't want to just randomly wander around what appeared to be some type of courtyard, but at the same time she wanted to be able to interact with the people who lived there. Deciding that the lesser of two evils was to go inside and find someone rather than standing at the door like a nervous child, she walked into the courtyard and headed toward what appeared to be the main building. With the Mission Impossible theme song running through her head, Naomi sauntered toward the entrance just to notice that there were no doors to building, but a quick look showed that the rooms off the corridors did have doors.

Sending out a weaker pulse to guide her toward an actual person, she grimaced when she realized that several of the signatures she had seen had noticed her sweep and were coming toward her at a pace rather quicker than she was comfortable with. Relaxing herself into a basic guard stance with her back to the wall she awaited whatever was coming with more bravado than she was feeling at the moment. She didn't have to wait long before two men started to approach her. Analyzing the duo, she started with the man who appeared older, well he did have grey hair, that was wearing a grey cloak and robes and carried a staff that seemed to be more than just a walking stick. She noted for a man that appeared so old his aura was rather strong as if he used it more than a normal person. The other man appeared to be in his late forties or maybe fifties, she never was very good with guessing ages based on appearance, with long brown hair. The younger looking man was also wearing some type or robe, but his was more colorful than that of his companion. When she analyzed the man's aura she noticed something seemed off. As much as she was in tune with the supernatural, she had never felt anything similar to his aura before. It felt older than any human's she had felt, even the older looking man to his right that felt older than he looked too. While the brown haired male also had a strong aura, Naomi noticed that his aura seemed to be drawing the energy from the earth around him while the older man was powerful without any seeming connection to an outside source. From what little she actually remembered of her lessons that meant that the brown haired male had the home court advantage and probably would be able to use more advanced techniques faster and with less fatigue. She also noted what appeared to be five others spread out and hidden from the naked eye in case any assistance would be needed. That meant they weren't going to necessarily attack without first questioning her or unless she showed she was going to be hostile. She could live with that.

It was the older looking man who broke the silent staring contest. "Welcome to Rivendell traveler. I hope you do not find me rude, but may I ask what you are?" Naomi blinked. "Last time I checked I was a human female. Am I to assume that either you or your companion are not human?" 'Hah take that Anna! I so can play nice politician when I need to.' She watched both men blink in what she thought was surprise and glance at each other as if holding some silent conversation. For all she knew they probably were. She had met others who had the ability and she could do it herself if she really wanted to, but as Kat and Anna kept telling her she seemed to keep forgetting that she had to be careful of her volume since she tended to think loudly. In the middle of her musing, the other man spoke. "Rivendell is the home of the elves young traveler. I am Lord Elrond and this is Gandalf the Grey." 'Damn, definitely not in Kansas.' "Would either of you have heard of America by any slim chance?" 'Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say …' Gandalf replied for the two of them. "I am afraid I have not heard of such a land in any of my goings young one." With a quick glance at the man named Elrond, Naomi saw him nod at the other man's answer. Sighing forlornly she nodded her head. "I didn't think you would have, but better to be safe than sorry. I am Naomi Constantine. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintances." She glanced to where the tag-alongs seemed to be stationed. "I would also like to meet you guard if you're willing to call them out." Elrond raised an eyebrow in surprise, but nodded his head. "If I may ask, why are you garbed in the clothes of a man and what happened to your escort?" Naomi turned her attention from the newly revealed guard, which she believed to be elves from what the two men had told her, to Elrond. 'How to answer this without offending anyone or being forced into a dress.' "This is considered standard travel clothing for females from my homeland and as for an escort, I never had one. Not really sure what I would with one anyway. It is not uncommon for females in my land to travel unaccompanied if they have knowledge on how to defend themselves."


This is it so far. Let me know what you guys think :)