[Note] I have added a cover to this story. It's not the final thing, but I realize that the appearance of a sylvari is…quite important in terms of the interactions she has with the Ents so :D. The link to Laethe's appearance is also here: i47 . tinypic 10nx301 . png

[Disclaimer] Lord of the Rings is a work of Professor J.R.R. Tolkein, as is the world of Middle Earth. The original languages of Middle Earth are also Tolkein's, but the continued development of the languages for common use is the fandom's. The Sylvari and Guild Wars-esque concepts are the property of ArenaNet and NCSoft. Laethe, however, is my own created character within the work of Guild Wars 2. I do not, in any way, own anything except the composite customization of Laethe.

A Meeting of True Sentience

The horrible silence continued. Laethe felt a sudden emptiness in the corner of her mind where the Dream used to be – as if what was once living there was now in a stasis. What did this mean? All too soon, the silence of her mind was replaced with a cacophony of noise. Another part of her mind suddenly flashed to life. It felt like the connection she had to the Pale Tree but less important and there was more than one. What was this? Laethe tried to send something along the links, but only heard a deep rumbling voice say '…Ennnnt…' before she collapsed.

…

Darkness. Not just behind her eyes but as if it was everywhere. As Laethe slept unconscious the new links solidified in her mind, whispering of the things they knew. The other ends of the links sensed Laethe's pain of losing the Dream. They sensed a kindred spirit in this curiously shaped plant, and knew that her mind would collapse if not connected to the world in some way. As she slept she dreamt the history of Arda, from the first song to the acts of Saruman in recent months.

Her dream-self saw the rise and fall of Sauron, dodged the dream-orcs patrolling the edges of this forest (Fangorn, her mind provided), heard the first languages given the trees – memories of fae-like folk (Elves, the links whispered) talking in the boughs of the forest first in a soft, musical language then in the harsher common tongue. And so she too learned the languages, and in turn she shared her creation and the New Krytan language through the links. She learned of the tree herders; their older days where they kept the forest back and tame. She learned of the lost Entwives and her heart ached for them. And like how she was born in Tyria, Laethe woke into nightmare: the groan of trees pulled away from their deep roots, the industry (quite like the Black Citadel of the charr she had heard about!) of Orthanc, the change of Saruman from good to twisted, and the recent visit Gandalf paid Saruman from which he had yet to return.

…

Something tinged at the edge of the links on her mind, her new 'Dream'. There was an undercurrent of fear in each of these venerated tree-herders. They loathed orcs, but at the same time could not prevent their charges – age-old trees that once knew Saruman as friend – from toppling into the bowels of Orthanc to contribute to the Uruk-hai army. An call made it clearer in her mind; just as the Sylvari had been born to Tyria to fight against the elder dragons, she was brought here with a purpose. These Ents did not travel far beyond their borders. They could not. Not with their tree-like structure and slow, thudding steps. But she, she was Sylvari – almost human. If she could perhaps make the world understand the plight of Fangorn Forest and the magnitude of Saruman's treachery…

Laethe woke up.

She was lying at the edge of a clearing overlooking Orthanc, propped against a tree trunk. The white wizard's tower rose above gray fumes, and the edge of the forest was at least two acres less than what she saw in the Dream. "…She...has…slept…for….two…sea…sons….." She turned around to see a council of sorts behind her. To anyone else, the creaking of old trees would be a threatening sound, but Laethe heard nothing but warmth and concern.

A wise oakish Ent began:"…We…have…spok…en…to……you…as……best…we……can…young…syl…va…ri…." and the oldest-looking took over: "…and…in……turn…we…have………se…en……the……world…of…your…or…i……gin…." before realizing that time would be wasted if he kept speaking in Entish. Switching to Westron, he spoke again: "I am sometimes called Treebeard. The council of Ents has been called to discuss your appearance, so like our own but more human. Harrumph. And so for a season we forged bonds in your mind and learned of you. Harrumph. It was decided very un-hastily that you shall become our human-speaker (A/N He means ambassador, but I doubt any Ent would know that much vocabulary) to the others. We have found you travel faster and are more human-like. Harrumph. So go, little Entling (term of endearment), and do what you will. I shall tell my brethren that they can disperse once more. And," here Treebeard lowered his voice, "If you see any Entwives…could…?"

"I shall tell them of Fangorn Forest if I see any." Turning to the gathering of trees, Laethe spoke "…Thenk…yu…fr…tek…ng…" - she cleared her throat and slowed down the speech more - "…care…of…me…for…these…sea…sons…."

After enduring some more endearing thumps on the back for her recovery and over-enthusiastic branches ruffling her hair (leaves), Laethe asked Treebeard if Gandalf had yet to reappear from the Tower of Orthanc (No, he hadn't) and decided her first course of action would be to rescue the Grey Wizard.

[Notes] Yay! The story will start moving towards what we are familiar with now. Let's see how a MMORPG character ("Thief" class, "Rogue" or "assassin" for people who don't know what "Thief" is.) fares in rescue missions.