Okay people, this is the second chapter!

I'm sorry that it wasn't up yesterday, it would have been, but I couldn't access the internet. Not I know that this chapter may be a little boring, but this is necessary to the plot. Otherwise, they may never get to Rohan! And that might not be good...

please excuse any mistakes in this chapter, cuz this chapter i didn't have a beta for.

Okay! so on with the story!

Seyona opened one bleary eye and looked around.

Then she sat up surprisingly fast, and took in her bedroom. Or lack thereof.

Where were they? Her eyes swept the unfamiliar landscape and took in everything, form the river nearby, winding it's way between the hills down towards the mountains, to the long windswept grass blowing gently in the cool breeze.

Gently she shook Nicola.

"Nicola? I don't think we're in apartment 6b anymore."

"What do you mean?" asked Nicola curiously, her voice still hoarse from the sleep.

"Um… well… look at the ceiling for instance."

"What about it?" asked Nicola, her eyes not quite fully open yet.

"Its not there."

Nicola's eyes flew open, and she too sat up faster than you'd expect one would be able to after having been out cold no more than a couple of minutes ago.

"It's not there. Where is the ceiling?"

Seyona shot Nicola a look. "How am I supposed to know?" she tucked an annoying length of hair behind her ear. "Besides, I don't think that question is the right 'where' question. I mean, where on earth are… we…"

She trailed off at the look on Nicola's face.

"What's wrong?" asked Seyona, a hint of panic on her voice.

"Your ears…" came the soft whisper, and Seyona automatically raised a hand to the side of her head.

"What about my ears? What's wrong with them?"

"Um…" Nicola had gone a bit pale. "They're pointed."

Seyona felt for the tip of her ear, and sure enough, it was true.

"Do you think yours are too?"

Seyona watched Nicola raise a shaking hand to her head, and stiffen. Seyona looked at her questioningly, and Nicola gave a short nod, by way of answer.

"Are we elves?"

The two fell silent for a moment. Then Seyona spoke up, voicing a thought she had been entertaining for a few minutes.

"fire an arrow at me."

"What?"

"you heard me. I just quickly want to try something. Just use the blunt one, and don't pull it back too hard. And if it makes you feel better, aim it for my thigh."

Nicola nodded, beginning to understand her friend's request. Gently pulling the archery set from Seyona's pack, she aimed it gingerly at her friend's thigh. She looked up at Seyona's face, and nearly panicked. Her eyes were shut! But as Nicola watched, Seyona opened one eye and gave a reassuring smile and a nod.

She let the arrow loose, and watched in horror as she realized her aim had been totally off! The arrow, although blunt was headed for her friend's heart.

She stood frozen to the spot, unable to move, her mouth open in a silent scream, the arrow inches away from impact…

And Seyona, eyes still tightly shut, side-stepped the arrow faster than the eye could quite see. She grinned.

"Yes! I knew it would work! Nicola! It's true! And not just the ears! The hearing and the sense of touch and smell, and the movement, too fast for the eye to see…"

Nicola said nothing, not that she needed to, but ran and gave her friend a long hard hug.

"Come on." Said Seyona at last. "We should search for some sort of village. They might be able to direct us to a familiar landmark."

Nicola nodded. "At least we're getting the hike we wanted!"

They both started to laugh and then just as suddenly as she started, Nicola stopped, and when she next spoke, it was slightly rushed as though she was trying to get all of the words out of her head rapidly, but was almost visibly restraining herself from going too fast.

"Seyona? You know the river right?"

"Yes, I know the river. Not personally though."

Nicola smiled faintly before taking a deep breath and continuing, "You remember how in history most cities are built alongside rivers? I mean, London, Paris, Ottawa, Washington DC, and so on. What I'm saying, is that we might have a better chance of finding civilization if we follow the river."

Seyona sat for a moment looking at her friend with amazement. Nicola had away of looking at things though rose tinted glasses, and had often daydreamt or sketched in the middle of class. Sometimes it seemed to Seyona that she had wrapped herself up in a cocoon of stories to lessen the cold logic of the world around her but sometimes her mind had these moments of hard logic, and she would voice an idea which would usually turn out to be correct. It paid to listen to her when those moments came.

"Wow."

"Yeah. I mean, have you ever noticed that? Even some of the minor cities!"

"No, no. I mean, I didn't know that you paid attention in history!" she grinned, mischief twinkling in both eyes. She tucked an annoying lock of hair behind her ears, "so, genius, upstream or downstream? 'Cus I haven't the foggiest idea."

"How 'bout… upstream?"

"Very well. Upriver it is."

And with that, the two of them started to fight their way slowly through the long, flowing grass.

After several hours of hacking though the thick grass, Seyona decided enough was enough. Giving her pack to Nicola, she took a run at the nearest hill, not stopping until she reached it's summit, where upon she marvelled that not only could she reach the top at a run without breaking a sweat, but also that she could see for miles and miles. She had to show this to Nicola. She ran down and grabbed her pack.

"Come on! I have to show you something."

"What?"

"Just come"

A minute or so late, Nicola understood why.

At the top of the hill you could see for miles. It was breathtaking. The river continued to snake across the land, almost as though confused in which direction to turn.

As she looked, she could see a thin veil of mist shrouding the land, and obscuring it slightly, making the land seem all the more mysterious, and adding to it's amazing beauty. A forest began off to her left, and spread out at far as the eye could see, and off in the distance there were mountains, putting a boundary on the view.

"what's that?" Nicola heard Seyona ask, but she was still distracted by the sheer beauty of this place and by it's enormity.

"hmm?"

Seyona rolled her eyes.

"Look, could you at least pretend to listen to me? Give my confidence a small boost? Anyways…" she continued on, trying to ignore the glazed look that Nicola was currently carrying. At least she was trying. "there's this spot on the horizon, I can't make out what it is. I think it just may be the village we're looking for."

At these words, Nicola suddenly snapped back into reality.

"Civilization? really? You found it? At last! Where is it?"

"welcome back." Said Seyona dryly, "as I was saying, I think that the small speck on the horizon over there might just be a village. I'm not sure, but it's our only chance."

After another few hours of walking, the small speck came in to view as a city surrounded by a fence and the only apparent way in seemed to be a gate in the front.

It was strange, mused Nicola. As far as she knew, no city had had gates on it for a while. They used to have them, but in the past few centuries the need for them had been erased. So this was probably some educational thing for kids to get them to see what life used to be like.

As they neared the gates, a voice called out "halt! Who goes there? What is your purpose in Rohan?"

Wait…Rohan?

"we are but travellers, looking for a city." Answered Nicola, "But first, we were wondering if we might stay and replenish our supplies and perhaps get some directions to civilization. We are hopelessly lost."

"history geek." Muttered Seyona from the corner of her mouth.

"shut up."

The man on top of the tower started talking again, "we may be able to admit…" but he died off, hearing the sound of approaching hoof beats and Seyona burst in to giggles as she heard the man whisper "what now?" sounding very exasperated.

Three horses rode up to the gates, and Seyona suddenly froze. Not because two of the four riders were incredibly handsome, because they were, but because Seyona could name every one of them. She nudged Nicola.

"um, Nicola…?"

"hmm?" Seyona could tell that Nicola was trying to figure out who these people were portraying. Possibly some travellers, also looking for a city. Funny though, she couldn't see any tour guides, school buses or any thing else of that sort.

"you know how I said that we weren't in 6b anymore? I don't think we're even on earth!"

Nicola looked confused for a moment, "what do you mean?"

Seyona took a deep breath, and took the plunge, "I think we're in The Two Towers!"

oooo...

A cliffie! A think...

Um...

Okay!

Shout outs!

ElvishKiwi: Thank you! I have to say though, although they will not join the fellowship there is a high chance that they may fall in love with one of them. I will try not to mary sue it though. Thank you for the review, I love reading reviews when people write and say they love them, so thank you!

FebruarySong: Thank you! May I just take the opportunity to say how much I love your story? I love your story! It is the best. Thank you for the review, I'm very happy to hear that you liked it, so thank you!

Okay people, you know what to do! Review!