Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's too expensive, but any who want to contribute to the cause are always welcome to!

It was the day after the death, and everything had managed to become worse. Nightfall had soon come after I bid Katie farewell, and the woods would have been pitch black if not for the stars above. I had not managed to get a bit of sleep and had spent the night sitting at the mouth of the cave that saved me the day before. By morning my mouth seemed dryer and my stomach was growling so loudly that I was amazed the creatures did not return. But I managed to ignore it.

Mostly.

I walked silently away from the clearing a little after sunup, taking great care to not look back. I would not look back, for I knew that if I did my will to go on and find safety would disappear, and I would be as empty as my sister within days. And she was so empty…

I slapped my hand irritably; I could not think on such things now, I had to survive for god's sake! And lord only knows it was going to be hard enough without dwelling on... that.

After a bit I started to become curious and slightly worried about where I actually was. I only knew as much about living in the wild as I had seen in Survivor (my parents loved the show and we had only one television), and I must admit that would not help me all too much here. This was going to be difficult to say the least…

oOo

"Savannah you really need to shut up, you're annoying."

"Well look who's talking." I replied irritably to my newly created imaginary friend

"Hey, I'm not the one being all depressing." My eyes narrowed at this.

"And I'm not the one who could just disappear." I smiled happily for the first time since I came to this god forsaken place at the thought of this possibility. My answer was greeted by silence, for a bit at least.

A few moments later the imaginary idiot spoke up again "You really should watch where you step you know."

"And you really should watch-" my words were cut off as I suddenly tripped on a particularly large rock and fell face first into a small pond, imaginary idiot disappearing a split second before my vision was blurred by the murky water.

"What the fuck!" I screamed, or at least tried to. But under the circumstances my mouth was too dry to let me do anything more than croak out a few words, so I had to settle for that. There was also the fact that my head was underwater. That didn't help with the whole using an understandable voice factor too much either.

I quickly lifted my head out of the water, gasping for breath as I attempted to clear my eyes. I sat there sputtering for a bit while sitting on my knees waist deep in water, and then my vision began to return although my eyes still stung immensely.

I looked down at the slightly stiller water, my eyes widening at what I saw as I momentarily forgot the stinging pain inside them. My reddish brown hair now was so dirty it nearly looked black, my skin was scratched up and any uninjured part was so pale it seemed near translucency, and my greenish eyes were almost completely red where there was once before white. Also my jeans looked disgusting, and my pale blue long sleeved tee had a huge bloody rip on the left sleeve that revealed a nasty looking gash on my skin from where I had been cut by a particularly evil thorn bush yesterday. My feet squished around in the muddy ground below the water and I shuddered at how they must look, and how they would feel after I got onto dry land now that I had actually thought of them. I cringed inwardly at the extra pain I would soon feel.

I sighed and made to get up, but something stopped me. Something cold, hard, pointy, and sharp. I turned my head to look behind me and came face to face with a very nice looking (in more ways than one) man. What could I say? I've been guy deprived for near three days and I'm fourteen, my way of thinking at the moment should be quite self explanatory.

But this man was very odd looking compared to most I have seen. He must have been at least six feet tall, and was dressed in an assortment of greens and browns with some oddly bright silver armor on also. The strangest part was the man himself though. He had hair dark brown hair, regal features, and such strange silvery-grey eyes… they were beautiful, but they were also full of sadness, the kind that never leaves no matter how much you laugh, love, and forget what caused it originally. And the man seemed almost to radiate importance. Not purposely I believe, just naturally for who he was.

'Or maybe I should say 'what he was' instead…' I thought as my forehead wrinkled in confusion. His hair was partially braided back, revealing his ears which I was now focusing on. His two pointed ears.

"Jesus Christ…" she whispered

Just at that moment the weird human thing's eyes revealed what would probably be the closest thing they ever showed to shock. His sword was moved away a few inches, but not quite enough for Savannah to feel completely comfortable (not that she would have if the sword was thrown to the ground and broken in half but either way).

"Naun Raunsúl (I am Raunsúl)." said he with a melodic yet powerful voice "I eneth lín a thelion (Your name and purpose)?"

I stared up at him in confusion "Excuse me sir but uh… do you happen to know English by any chance?"

"Mana len pedi (What did you say)?" he replied in confusion but in the same voice as before

I did not reply… I didn't know how.

"Tolna nin (come with me)." he said in resignation to the fact that we obviously could not communicate

Within moments I was brought to my feet, still sopping wet, and hands bound behind my back. It was all done before I could protest (not that I wanted to or could since I was now quite weak, and wherever I was going probably supplied food and drink… hopefully) and soon we were making our way through the forest in an entirely different direction.

"Where are we going?" asked I half frightened, half resigned, and all worn-out

He seemed to catch my meaning and replied swiftly "Imladris."

My eyes widened and he seemed as if sense the fact I recognized the name and was shocked, but said naught of it weather he did or not.

'Besides,' I thought with a sort of crazed laughter going 'Imladris is real in Arda…'

"Arda…" the meaning of the word I had just thought hit me hard right then.

Raunsúl looked at me oddly, but decided to ignore it. Jesus fucking Christ, what had I gotten myself into?

Name Definition:

Raunsúl- wandering/stray wind