Aragorn awoke to the smell of grass and sunshine in his face. Grass? Sunshine? Where was he? He opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground apparently in what appeared to be a meadow in the forest. With a frown he sat up. As he saw his companions regaining consciousness around him, it all came rushing back to him. Talumë. Where did she send them? When did she send them?he added mentally. If indeed she had sent them back to the First Age. How could they find out about that?
"Where are we?" Arwen whispered, trying to maintain some order with her hair.
"I don't know," Aragorn replied. "Why are you asking me?"
"Talumë did speak to you alone," Arwen pointed out. "I assumed she was telling you where she was sending us. And when."
"She sent us to the First Age," Aragorn informed her. "This is the time Sauron travelled to, though not the exact place. She sent us to the first Keeper of Time. She seemed to think we would need further guidance when we arrived."
"She was probably right," said Arwen. "Do you know what we are supposed to do to save Arda?"
"No." He did not like to admit it, but they had hurtled headfirst into an unknown situation. Aragorn would normally consider all his options before plowing ahead, but Talumë had told them that this was the only thing they could do if they were going to do anything at all.
Aragorn stood up, offering Arwen a hand. She took it, rising gracefully to her feet.
"Well, Leader?" said Elrohir with a teasing grin."What is our first plan of action?"
"Talumë mentioned a Keeper of Time that preceded her," Aragorn answered. "We should look for them."
"Because we know exactly where we're going," Elladan said sarcastically.
"I never said that," Aragorn retorted.
They were silent for a moment. The only sound was the wind blowing through the trees and distant birds greeting the new day.
"Maybe we should eat first," Pippin said hopefully. "Then we'll be thinking a bit more clearly."
Aragorn broke into a smile. Trust a hobbit to think of food at a time like this. But then, the Ranger reasoned, it wasn't a bad idea after all, if they knew where to find food.
The answer to this last problem came almost immediately as they heard a soft singing voice approaching. Some distance away another voice was calling. At last a young girl with a wild mass of auburn curls burst out of the trees carrying a sagging basket. She shrieked as a dark- haired figure grabbed her around the waist and whirled her around playfully. Neither seemed to notice they had an audience.
"Alvain!" she gasped. "I am a delicate young woman that should not be subject to such roughhousing!" Her attempt at sounding serious failed as the dark man burst into laughter.
"Delicate!" he laughed. "My sweet thorn, surely you jest!" Another spin sent the contents of the basket flying everywhere.
"Alvain!" she scolded. "Pick those up at once or I will not invite you to breakfast!"
"Ah, flower, why do you torment me so?" he murmurred.
Suddenly the two noticed they had company. "Friends of yours?" the girl asked.
He did not answer, instead drawing a sword. "State thy business!" he demanded.
At his reaction, the girl dropped her basket and withdrew two glittering daggers from hidden sheathes in one swift movement, her jade-like eyes stone cold.
Aragorn slowly stepped forward and raised his hands to show they were empty. "We mean you no harm," he said. "We are merely looking for someone who can help us."
"What sort of help do you need?" the man said suspiciously.
"I am afraid we are looking for a specific person," Aragorn replied. "A man called Thelmo. Do you know him?"
The two exchange a brief look. "Who wants to know?" the girl asked.
"My name is Aragorn. We have been told that Thelmo can help us."
An unspoken message seemed to be exchanged between the two strangers. The girl sheathed her daggers and retreated into the forest without another word.
"She will find Thelmo," said the man. "Then we shall see about you."
"Do you know what you are doing?" Arwen whispered.
"Talumë was very specific about what I had to do," Aragorn replied.
No one dared to move while the man had his weapon at the ready. While it was true that they probably could have taken him, Aragorn believed the man was a friend of the Time Keeper. They could not afford to do anything to deepen his mistrust of them.
After what seemed like ages, the girl returned at last with an older man. This one had the same jade-like eyes as the girl, though his hair was straight and silvery blond in color. He had not the pointed ears of an elf, but similar to an elf he did not look old but it was apparent he was much older than he appeared. He surveyed these strangers with a sharp eye, then turned to the girl and said, "Tell your father we have guests. Alvain, escort her home." The two younger strangers disappeared into the forest, with a little hesitation on the man's part.
The older man turned to the company and said," I am Thelmo. I hope Alvain and my granddaughter did not harm you?"
"Not at all," Arwen assured him.
Thelmo nodded in satisfaction. "Perhaps you would like to stay with my family until you have resolved your problem?"
"That would be most generous, if we aren't intruding," said Arwen.
"Ah, but you are intruding," Thelmo replied. "No one is allowed in here without express permission from me or my family. Until we find out how you got here, I cannot allow you to leave. There is no way out of here without an escort from one of us, so do not try it."
"You aren't afraid we might try to leave by force?" Legolas asked curiously.
Thelmo smiled. "This forest protects us; it guards our privacy fiercely," he said. "The trees themselves will come alive if any one of us is in any remote danger. No, you will not be leaving without our knowledge or consent. Even my granddaughter is capable of defending herself. Follow me."
They silently followed him into the forest. "You still know what you are doing?" Arwen whispered.
"Peace," Aragorn replied. "Just trust me. We are in no immediate danger apart from the circumstances which sent us here."
At last Thelmo stopped before another clearing. There was a fairly small cottage before them and a stream bubbled nearby. Aragorn wondered why Thelmo offered them shelter if he had so little room. Then he saw a similar cottage a couple meters away.
It was to the cottage further away that Thelmo headed. "Wash up for breakfast, then come inside," said Thelmo, gesturing toward the stream.
He went inside and at last Legolas spoke. "This isn't some sort of mistake? Talumë didn't send us to the wrong place, did she?"
"The fact that we did find Thelmo, the First Keeper of Time, tells us that we are in the right place," Aragorn answered. "He is the man Talumë told me we needed to meet. Give your names, but do not tell these people anything else. Talumë told me how to get them to trust us, and until they do, our quest is delayed."
They went inside the cottage. The outside looked simple enough but the inside was a different story. Everywhere they looked was some sort of timepiece, and no two looked even remotely alike. There were sundials of different sizes and colors. Hourglasses sat at intervals throught the room they were in. Clocks hung all over the walls. The room was very loud due to the ticking of multiple clocks.
"No, no, no! Never linger in the Room of Doom! Into the dining room with you!" the red-haired girl appeared and grabbed two of the hobbits and pulled them into another room, obviously expecting the others to follow.
She led them into the dining room, where a large table was sitting. There was a skylight directly over the table, and sunlight filtered through it onto a sundial."Sit!" she ordered, before disappearing through another door.
The company complied amid unmasked looks of bewilderment.
"Odd folks, aren't they?" Pippin ventured.
"Don't be rude, Pippin!" Merry hissed.
"They are different," Legolas conceded. "But there is nothing wrong with that."
Thelmo came in with four plates of food laden with sausage, bacon and eggs. Behind him, similarly burdened, came the dark-haired man and another man younger than Thelmo. Judging by the mop of auburn curls on his head, this was without a doubt the girl's father. The men set the dishes on the table and sat down. Since Thelmo made no move to make introductions, they all sat studying one another. The dark-haired man narrowed amber eyes suspiciously at the newcomers, whereas there was a thoughtful look in the red's blue eyes.
Finally, the girl came in with a tray laden with- "Biscuits," she said disdainfully. "I would have made our usual morning apple cakes but someone made me lose the main ingredient." She glared in the direction of the dark-headed man.
The object of her displeasure widened his eyes innocently. "Why, who could have done such a terrible thing?" he asked in a shocked voice. A look of feigned comprehension crossed his face. "The Willow-Witch! It must have been she!"
"We have guests," Thelmo reminded them.
The two fell silent and she sat down next to her companion.
"Perhaps you should introduce yourselves," Thelmo suggested quietly.
Aragorn cleared his throat. "I am Aragorn," he said simply. He pointed to each of his companions in turn. "Arwen and her brothers, Elladan and Elrohir. Legolas. Gimli. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin."
Thelmo frowned. "That does not tell us much about you," he said.
"It will have to do until we are able to discuss the reason for our being here," Aragorn replied.
Thelmo's mouth tightened, but he did not comment. Instead he made introductions of his own. "I am Thelmo, head of this family," he said. "This is my son and heir, Mendesur. The little spitfire is his daughter and our pride and joy, Ellira. The miserable excuse for a bodyguard is Alvain, who is a horrific failure if he lets his charge run in the midst of potential danger."
Alvain flushed and suddenly seemed interested in his plate.
"He was very protective of your granddaughter," Arwen offered.
"As he should be," said Mendesur. "The fact is neither of them pay near enough attention to their surroundings until it is too late."
"There isn't much danger here, Father," Ellira retorted.
"Do not underestimate the Willow-Witch! She grows stronger every day!" her father snapped.
"Please don't argue in front of our guests," Thelmo said quietly. The two fell silent immediately. "Ellira, what do you sense about our new friends?"
More silence as jade eyes scrutinized the intruders. This was the first time she had paid more than a passing interest to the strangers. "They are hiding something," she said at last.
"Thank you for enlightening us, Oh Wise One," Alvain said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We couldn't have found that out without the use of your special gifts."
"Quiet!" Mendesur said harshly, as Ellira turned from the guests to glare at Alvain. "We need a little more information, dear, so we know how to treat them," he said gently to his daughter.
Ellira turned back to eyeing the guests. " They need to do something," she frowned. "It is important."
"That is something they can tell us in good time," Thelmo said softly. "Look for their intentions."
There was a long pause. Aragorn felt a faint presence brush against his mind. Arwen's hand found his, telling him she, too, felt it. Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir stiffened, and Gimli frowned. The hobbits merely looked confused.
"They mean us no harm," Ellira said at last.
Thelmo nodded in satisfaction. "I surmise you all felt that encounter," he said. "Some are uncomfortable with telepathy, so let me inform you that Ellira cannot access your mind. She is able to sense feelings, emotions and such. She has deemed you no danger toward us."
There was silence as hosts and guests alike absorbed this information. Then Thelmo broke the silence. "So what are you doing here?"
Aragorn debated with himself and figured there was no time with the present and besides they were wasting precious time. "We were here by Talumë, Keeper of the Third Age." He then sat back to see the impact those words would have, and he wasn't disappointed.
Alvain paused for a brief moment between bites. Mendesur's eyes widened. Ellira froze with her fork still in her mouth. With some difficulty, she removed the fork from her mouth and forced herself to swallow the food with such effort Aragorn was afraid she would be sick. Mendesur and Ellira shot questioning looks at Thelmo, who carefully avoided their gaze.
"Where did you hear that name?" Thelmo said quietly.
Alvain looked up from his plate, appearing to finally realize something serious was happening.
"She introduced herself to us as such," Aragorn answered. "She believed you could help us, so she sent us here. She told us you were the Keeper of the First Age."
Mendesur cut in before Thelmo could speak. "Wait just a moment. If Talumë, who you claim is the Keeper of the Third Age, did indeed send you, then that means you hail from the Third Age, thousands of years into the future."
"That would be correct,"Aragorn stated, trying to keep his tone polite. Talumë had told him it wouldn't be easy, but he did not know it would be this infuriating. So many lives were at stake, and yet these Time Keepers were more concerned about how they came by the name of Talumë and where they came from, or to put it more accurately, when they came from.
"Who sent you here?" Thelmo demanded. "And I want the truth!"
"I told you Talumë sent us here from the Third Age," Aragorn enunciated slowly, as if he was speaking to a difficult child.
Thelmo's eyes flashed angrily. "That is not possible!" he thundered, rising to his feet.
"We would never allow it!" Mendesur snapped.
Alvain frowned and pushed back his plate. "Am I missing something here?" he asked. "Because I understood that past Time Keepers would not have any control over their successors."
Arwen spoke up. "That is not the issue," she realized. She glanced at Ellira, who had remained silent throughout this exchange. She addressed Mendesur and Thelmo, already knowing the answer yet asking anyway for the benefit of the others. "Who is Talumë?"
"Why would a Time Keeper send anyone back in time?" Mendesur asked, ignoring Arwen's question. "It is against the Code to do so unless the world was in danger."
"Talumë is not a Time Keeper!" Thelmo insisted.
"Who is Talumë?" Alvain repeated Arwen's question, observing that the two were deliberately ignoring it.
Mendesur glanced at Thelmo. "The damage is done," the First Time Keeper said through clenched teeth.
"Talumë," said Ellira, speaking up at last, "is my secret name. Until now, only my father and grandfather knew of it."
Author's Note: I had meant to make the Company's time among the Time Keepers into just one chapter but the story began to take on a mind of its own. I promise Aragorn's companions will have more voice later, but for now he has to serve as spokesperson.