Disclaimer: I, FindaHappyPlace, do not own anything correlating to Lord of the Rings, it belongs to J.R.R. Tolkein
Chapter Two
One my twentieth birthday I celebrated on my own by going to the local bakery and treating myself to a double chocolate chip cupcake. It was a great day. I beat my record on the rock wall and got an "A" on a Biology test. My acting partner waved at me while I was in the cafeteria making a cup of coffee.
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When I awoke finally, I expected to wake up to the acidic burn of artificial hospital lights, my families excited faces, and the steady beep of hospital machines. I didn't receive any of these things. When I awoke light did burn my rested eyes, but it was natural sunlight seeping through the room I was in. I was not in itchy stiff hospital sheets, but in supple linens on a soft comfortable mattress. I appeared to be unharmed, the only wound was my head, and it was wound tightly with thick gauze. Worst of all. I was alone.
I leaned up and placed my bare feet on the cool stone floor, every thing around me seemed beautifully crafted and open, there was no doors or windows, to block out the fresh air and sunlight. Thick nets were wound up along the side of the building, they were probably used to keep out bugs at night. The whole building appeared to be built around and along the trees, like a large tree house. A large tree trunk actually was growing in the room through the floor and out the ceiling.
I was clothed now, in a soft linen gown in an off white color. I fit me loosely and reached my ankles. I leaned over the balcony railing. We were plenty high up, a good three stories at least, and I immediately noticed that there was a cinder block type wall leading directly down to the ground, with excellent footholds. I lifted one leg over the railing and tried to scale over in an attempt to get out of the strange place. I had no idea as to where I would go, but I felt that I needed to find answers, and alone in a strange room was not where I need to be. I had one hand gripped on the railing of the balcony and I tried to snag my foot into one of gaps were the mortar was not. My bare foot slipped into the slight fissure as I heard voices in my room. They immediately realized I was not where I should be.
I hastily moved over to where I could climb down, and as quickly as I could in bare feet, shimmied down and over, underneath the balcony were they could not even hope to see me. I saw shadows appear above me. To my horror, they called to someone below me. I turned as best I could to see two men below me with looks of intense amusement gracing their features. I looked at them silently pleading that they would not say anything.
There were two, one with blonde hair and fair features, he reminded my of the male version of my roommate, the blonde bombshell, and he seemed to have stolen my costume when I played Mercutio in a play during my senior year at high school. The second man was dark haired and had an olive toned complexion, he also wore strange clothing and a sword was at his side.
"Estel! Legolas! The mortal girl has gone missing! Have you seen her?" a man called out to them. The dark haired man smiled.
"No, Lord Glorfindel, but I am certain that she is going to be found hanging around amongst the shadows," he called back to the man leaning on over the balcony, from where I was, I could see golden hair draping over the balcony.
"Well if you spot her, Gandalf and Lord Elrond would very much like to speak with her."
I hung onto the wall, my fingers steadily becoming more numb, and as I waited for Glorfindel to leave I let what I heard hang around me like my brother's bad cologne. There was to many oddities occurring in the past two minutes than anything I had ever experienced before. These men, speaking of mortality as if it were something they didn't experience, wearing clothes that I wouldn't even wear to a Renaissance Fair, carrying swords like I would carry a handbag or backpack. I stayed there, but I never heard him leave. I hung there waiting, I looked up and the shadow was gone.
"Lady, you can climb down now, but I highly recommend you are careful, for I very much would not like to explain you falling to Lord Glorfindel!" spoke the dark haired man again. I suppressed the need to give him one fingered salute, and then I climbed down the wall as if it were nothing. I ignored the fact that the top of my toes were now raw and sore. I leapt from the wall and landed into the soft grass. It must have been early, the grass was still cool and damp with dew.
The two men approached me. I stood on the balls of my feet, I was willing to run at a moments notice. The blonde man spoke to the other in a strange foreign language. It was unnerving, knowing that they were talking about me. I felt my head begin to throb again.
"I am Estel, and this is Legolas. Do not fear we shall not say anything to Lord Glorfindel, for I can sympathize with your need to escape him." he told me. Legolas did not speak, I began to wonder if he had any clue as to how to speak English.
"My name is Sharana."
"Where do you hail from, Lady Sharana?" Legolas asked me. His voice was soft, but he had an edge under his voice that bothered me. I did the only rational thing at that moment. I bolted into the woods as fast as I could.
What I didn't expect was hearing them laugh. I almost stopped, but decided against it. I ran, and ran as far and as fast as I could. When my lungs were aching and my legs were to heavy to move, did I cling to a tree and breathe the pain out of my lungs. I was dizzy again. My eye sight was growing blurry.
"You know, I don't believe that you are the smartest mortal I have ever met." a voice said above me, and hanging directly in the tree that I was clinging to was Legolas. I turned to try and run again but I ran directly into the broad chest of Estel.
"Come Sharana, I think its time you visited Lord Elrond." Estel grabbed my arm and Legolas walked in front of us. I had the distinct feeling that I was walking myself to the gallows.
