Disclaimer: I own nothing of Tolkien's, that is all.

Chapter Quote: "What is your name?"

Chapter Two

Awakening

You know how you feel groggy when you first wake up in the morning? Well... I didn't feel like that... it was different somehow. My mind was all fogged up, not groggy per say, more like someone had thrown a blanket over my senses- confusing me. My body ached with a foreign pain, and I my head was ringing. But nothing felt familiar to me... not the sun on my face or the rustle of wind through the trees.

Sun? What had happened to the man silhouetted by the moonlight? What had happened to the darkness of my autumn night? It was full daylight now... and I was in a forest of some kind. But I couldn't recognize the trees... and the sun was hurting my eyes. I winced. I could hear Talorta whinnying somewhere nearby, I could hear the pound of his hooves as he nervously struck at the earth.

Gritting my teeth, I rolled over- moaning as my movements jarred my injured body- especially my shoulder. I glanced at it as I propped myself up as far as I could. I felt dizzy as I saw blood seeping into the earth. My blood. I had to resist the urge to vomit.

I looked up weakly, looking for any sign of help. That's what I needed most now... help. I could feel myself growing weaker and weaker as I lay there, helpless to my fate. Talorta was galloping in and out of the trees, I was laying in a clearing of some kind... a clearing with tall grass and surrounded by trees with beautiful blue and white flowers.

Talorta sprayed my face with dirt as he skidded to a stop before me and whinnied again. I closed my eyes, listening to him paw the earth as he tried to understand where he was. You won't leave me... will you boy? I thought. Was I to die out here... alone?

I laid back down, settling into the grass and letting the contentedness of the forest settle over myself, calming my panic. Would my life be ended here, now... so abruptly? I wanted to protest, to fight this... this weakness that tempted me with every second of life I possessed. It wasn't fair... I was young still... my life lay like an open book before me... a book with blank pages. But Zach had died hadn't he? Had he deserved his fate? I closed my eyes, blinking back tears as I tried to imagine my brother's face.

Talorta whinnied again, and I could feel the vibrations in the ground as he darted off again... back and forth, weaving in and out of the tree line...

... back and forth...

"Oh sweet Uru... Cudir!"

I woke up again with my head hurting worse then before. Startled by the sound of strange voices, I jolted awake and tried to jerk myself upright. My reward was a sharp bolt of pain that struck me helpless, and I could do little more then moan and shudder as I felt a cool hand on my forehead.

"Is she alive?"

"She's bleeding badly... we need to get her back to the village.."

I couldn't hear Talorta anymore... had he run away? Had he left me here? I felt tears burn in my eyes at the thought. Was he dead... was I dead? Thousands of unanswered questions plagued me... but I lacked the strength to discover their answers. And, just then, I wanted nothing more then to remain there forever. It would be so easy... enticed one side of my mind. What are you holding on to?

"She's waking." Said the voice closest to me, and I felt hands slide under my body. I tried to weakly jerk away, but found my efforts thwarted by a body unwilling to cooperate. I opened my eyes to narrow slits, two men were hovering over me. They were dressed in strange clothes... like something from medieval times. Only they were in colors of light browns and greens, I tried to pull away from them again. I came from a rural area... but I could think of a 101 horror stories from the cities. Who are you? I tried to pull away... but I found that they... him... was simply stronger. I looked up weakly at him as he lifted my body effortlessly.

But I wasn't... afraid. He was different... like this place. I had no words to say, and my vision was blurring badly as the pounding in my head grew worse. I tried to get a glimpse of his face, but all I could manage was a glimpse of grey eyes. Bright, kind, grey eyes. He whispered to me in a language I couldn't understand, but I felt calmed somehow, and I let myself go limp in his arms.

I heard Talorta now, he nudged me with concern as the man carried me to his side. I wanted to tell my baby that I was all right... that we were all right. That everything was going to be all right. But it wasn't... and I had no way of knowing what would happen next. I was too weak now even to move my weary limbs. "Talorta." I murmured and I felt the body holding me pause.

"Is that his name?" He asked me kindly, his voice was accented slightly- but not in such a way that made it difficult to understand. It only made his voice all the more beautiful- musical if you will. I could make little sense of my situation now, and I wondered if the he had understood my fleeting nod to confirm his question.

"You will be all right now." He said quietly, "What is your name?"

I could feel myself drifting off into a darkness that had seeped into my consciousness... and I found I could barely mumble my name before it overtook me.

"Victoria." I mumbled. "Victoria Nightengale."

I can remember sitting before him as we rode away on his horse. He bade me to sleep as we rode into the thick, green woods. So I did, and I found myself too weak to protest as he pressed a hand to my shoulder, holding my life between his fingers.

Wake up Victoria... wake up.

The sun felt so warm on my face and Zach's laughter had filled me with a sense of contentment I hadn't felt in a long time.

Wake up,

But I didn't want to wake up... I didn't want anything to change. I would just go on with my dreamworld... and no one would ever die.

Ever.

When next I awoke, someone was bathing my arm. It was a woman, tall with dark hair that met with her small, delicate waist in a shimmering cascade. Her hands were gentle, and her continence serene. She smiled at me as she caught my curious gaze... and it was then I noticed that she had pointed ears.

I blinked once or twice, a thick bandage had been tied tightly about my head. And I found that while I didn't ache so much as before, I still felt very, very tired. I looked around, I was in a large room of sorts. There was a fire roaring on the wall closest to me, and it warmed my bare shoulders as she pressed cool compresses to my skin.

I was laying in a bed in the northern end of the room, or so I assumed it was. It was decorated sparsely, but not poorly. It reminded me somehow of home. In both east and west walls there were windows.

She smiled, "Feeling better?" Her voice was sweet and soft, melodic. Can a musical voice be described as having an accent? Her eyes were depthless blue. They were not like normal eyes, bright and young. They were old... older then the oldest trees back home on my farm. They held no past... no future... no memories. They just were... like they had just always been. Like the sea.

My throat didn't feel so dry now, and I closed my eyes briefly before I answered. I felt so relaxed, nothing in the world could have troubled me just then. "How long have I been sleeping?" I asked quietly, testing the words on my tongue which had been ill suited for talking last time I had been awake and aware.

She looked up for a moment, counting, "Nearly a week I should think. You were very ill."

My eyes widened. A week! Where was I? I felt a rush of panic and I jerked under her touch. Unnerved, I tried to sit up, but she firmly pressed me back down, to... well, whatever I was laying on. It felt like a bed. Nevertheless, it raised both my pride and my anger considerable. Who was she to order me around? I felt dizzy again and my head started to throb.

"No Victoria, you must rest." She said firmly, she gently caressed my cheek- soothing my quick-tempered emotions. "None of that."

I glanced at her in surprise, my anger fading as I gazed up at her. "How did you know my name?"

She smiled again, "Faerlain told me when he brought you here."

"Faerlain?" The name was foreign to my tongue. It had a strange sound... well suited to the strange voices of this people but it tasted different in my mouth. I was starting to feel drained again, and any energy I had moments before seemed to have evaporated.

"Yes iell... it was he who found you in our forest." She shook her head as she gently pressed a crisp, white bandage to my shoulder. "Humans never do heal quickly... the recovery is always so painful."

My mind kept flying from one thought to another and her answer satisfied me in the mean time. What I knew so far of this place was that 'Grey Eyes', as I think I remembered him, had a name. Faerlain. I looked up at her again, "Who are you?" My mind tried to connect the dots of my present predicament. "And where am I?" My gaze touched the tips of her ears again and I frowned.

She smiled, "My name is Mirlaic... and you are in the village of Gilloth." She gestured with her free hand. "This is my home... I am the healer here."

I'm not a stupid person by far... and she was wearing strange clothes too. A gown made of dark brown material unlike anything I had ever seen... and the name of this place didn't ring a bell either. "Gilloth?"

"It is a small village. I am not surprised you do not know it. Few have ever heard of it, and even fewer have ever been here. But we are a good village, good people. If it helps, we only a few hours away from King Thranduil's palace- on the Eastern borders of Mirkwood."

My mind swirled with all this information, it was like a dream. Even now I wasn't sure that it was at all true. Where was I? Where was home? Where were my parents? I tried to concentrate on tangible things, I could feel myself fading. "Talorta...?"

"Your horse? He's fine. Resting comfortably in the stables, as you should also. I'll get you something to eat and then you should sleep. You are still far too weak for all this worry."

Above all else I did not want to rest or eat. But the lady was so kind and patient. I was tired... and arguing required too much energy. So I found myself obeying her wishes and I soon fell back to sleep with the sound of her humming a gentle melody that sounded like wind in the trees and the patter of rain.

A/N: And here's chapter too. As you've noticed, I've booted out Aragorn from the original and put in Faerlain and Cudir. The beginning chapters are going to be very similar to the originals, I'll be mainly delving away from my original story line somewhere after chapters 9 and 10. Enjoy!

TO BE CONTINUED...