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-Ana

Chapter 2

In Which I Learn That Someone Messed Up Tolkien's Masterpiece

. . .

Last Chapter:

Even more WTF was what he did next. In one fell motion, he stuck his sword point into the ground and knelt before me, bowing his head reverently. "Long have I awaited the day of your coming, my lady."

Oh. Shit!

"Wait, what?"

So much for eloquence.

. . .

"I am not your lady," I said, almost angrily. "I am not anybody's lady. Arwen would be pissed that you called me that. You could have said 'Lady Marilyn' or 'Marilyn' or just MJ! Which frankly, I prefer anyway, but nobody asks me, do they?" I huffed. "Don't get me in trouble with the elves right off the bat. I'd like to get to know them before I trample on any established relationships."Yeah, I knew that whole pretty and well-spoken façade wouldn't last long.

But to my surprise, Aragorn looked up, suppressing a smile. "You're as effervescent as I expected, Lady Marilyn. My apologies if I have offended you by being too formal—it appears that you are from a society where people are less stately when addressing those one respects." And he rose, sheathing his sword in one deft movement. He seemed amused.

Dammit. I hate amusing people.

Also, I felt really stupid after my outburst.

Double fail.

"Although," Aragorn/Strider continued, "I fail to see why Lady Arwen would be upset with my choice of words. From the way you phrased it, I would think that you believed her to have some kind of hold on me."

"Uh, no shit, Sherlock," I said, giving him an incredulous look. "You two are like, the most melodramatic couple in Middle Earth right now, remember?"

His brow furrowed. "Pardon me?"

"Yeah, sure. Play Mr. Innocent." With an exasperated sigh, I went right up to him (he was about three short steps away) and with my free hand (I was still holding my bloody sword covered in orc guts) I reached around his neck, feeling for the slender chain of the Evenstar.

But all I found was bare skin, and the frayed edge of his collar.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "No," I whispered. "This...this is fan girl material. Not Tolkien canon." I looked up at him. "Did the chain break? Did you take it off for some reason?"

Aragorn/Strider (No, I STILL couldn't make up my mind) raised an eyebrow. "What do you expect me to be wearing, Lady Marilyn?"

"Oh my gosh, stop," I said bluntly. "I hate being called Marilyn. Just call me MJ. And the Evenstar, what else?" Then I paused, slightly annoyed. "Please don't answer me with a question. It's getting old."

"I...don't understand," he said carefully, "why I would be wearing the emblem of her Ladyship's immortality. That is a gift to be given only to the one she chooses to love."

I gave him a meaningful look.

He literally blushed. "So that is what you meant by 'established relationships'."

"Uh huh," I said, deciding to walk away to clean my blade. Smears of gore were hardly lovely to look at, and anyway, my arm was tired enough without having to hold my sword longer than necessary. Plus, shit was getting awkward. I had just gone hot all over realizing how casually I had put my hands around the neck of Isildur's heir.

I had found a nice clean patch of grass and was just inspecting the weapon for any stray nasties when I saw the shape of Aragorn/ Strider coming up behind me reflected in the blade's surface.

Aw nuts, I thought. Enough of the double name garbage. "What would you like me to call you?" I asked, not turning around. "I have told you my preferred name, yet I do not know which name you favor." There was that ME speak again. Jeez, it was like I was getting a dual personality. I wondered if it was something in the air.

"Whichever pleases you...I am sorry, but I find it difficult to call one so beautiful something as common and plain as MJ," he said. Damn him, he kept making me flush annoying shades of pink. It was really getting on my nerves.

"Don't...you get flirty with me, mister!" I said, rising and whirling to face him. He caught my wrists and held them, my sword still clenched in my left hand. I scowled.

"Why not?" he said in a lower voice, and I swear, my stomach tied itself in knots at that growly tone of his. The next second, I got more irritated...probably because I resented how he was affecting me. "I fail to see why you would object, if you spoke the truth when you said that you are not anybody's lady."

I couldn't believe this. "Seriously? Dude, we just met! And anyway, if I'm single, and if—IF, mind you!—I am as 'beautiful' as you keep gushing about, then haven't you considered that I might be single for a reason?"

"Your temper is no reason for you to be on your own."

"I valardamn didn't mean my temper!" I stomped my foot, feeling terribly childish. "I meant maybe I want to be single! I'm a loner; and I'm good with that, thank you! Now let go of my wrists!"

"And if I don't?" He seemed to be enjoying this; I couldn't tell if it was because he just liked messing with me or if he was genuinely attracted to me. It didn't really matter much to me in the moment; I was getting flustered from the close proximity and singular attention from the eyes of my personal hero. "I would be interested to see what a woman so skilled with a is blade capable of."

"If you don't, I will be forced to use a disarming trick known to every woman, not just a skilled swordsperson," I countered. Inwardly, I was cheering at how someone finally thought my swordplay was sexy. Then I wondered if he had meant that in an innuendo type of way. Then, I felt uncomfortable with both of those thoughts.

"Well?" He quirked an eyebrow. Ugh, this guy.

"I will get you in the one place you are not defended, man," I said tiredly. "Don't make me knee you in the nuts. I'd prefer not to have the image of you rolling around on the ground imbedded in my mind for the foreseeable future."

But instead of looking afraid, Aragorn just laughed. Yes, I had settled on Aragorn; otherwise later I would have to switch from calling him Strider, anyway. "As you wish."

I found myself liking the guy, quite without any conscious decision of my own. I thought maybe he was just likable...but then I remembered most people didn't get along with him. I guessed that my own somewhat antisocial tendencies made me appreciative of his.

"How long have you been in Middle Earth?" he asked me, as I sheathed my sword.

"I wouldn't say longer than half an hour. Why?"

He furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "I set out from Rivendell a fortnight ago, awaiting your arrival. Gandalf the Grey sent me to search for you in these woods...it was he who deemed the time right for the prophesy to be fulfilled. I for one was glad to hear it." He gave me another of those odd looks, kind of like the one Gandalf had given me but less fatherly. A lot less fatherly, and a lot more something else.

"What prophesy?" I asked. "And Gandalf was the one who found me, a little ways back in those woods over there." I pointed.

"Gandalf found you?"

"Yeah. Then he disappeared on me, just when the orcs arrived. It was great," I said, rolling my eyes. "But before that he told me I had a destiny here, and that I was something called 'The Shooting Star'. What did that mean?"

Aragorn's face grew distant, and his eyes softened. "I am not the one who should tell you that," he said. "You must speak to Lord Elrond of this thing."

"Okay then." I sighed. "You say you left Rivendell a fortnight ago. Is that how long it takes to return there?"

"No." He shook his head, but it looked like it was more to clear it then to indicate 'no'. "I wandered much to find you, before I came upon the band of orcs. It is unnatural for them to roam so far north."

"Not in these times," I said grimly, remembering the dismal details of Tolkien's work. Was it really true that his books were no longer valid here? He had made no mention of a prophesy concerning anyone named Marilyn, nor of any 'Shooting Star'. Considering this, I wondered how much of the plot I had missed so far. "What is the date, in Shire reckoning?"

He gave me a funny look before he told me.

I sighed in relief. "Then it hasn't begun yet. I've made it in time." But that also explained the lack of the Evenstar. Arwen hadn't given it to him yet. Frodo was still safe in the Shire...for now.

Or...was he?

Damn plot twists.

"What do you mean, 'in time'?" Aragorn asked me. "And why do you ask for the date in Shire reckoning?"

I thought a moment before carefully replying, "That too must be explained by another". What? Gandalf had told me to say nothing of what I knew, and I wasn't about to disobey a wizard, for cripes sake!

He nodded in understanding, and looked to the east. "If we set out tomorrow morning, we should reach Rivendell in a week's time."

"That fast?" I said, alarmed. "Walking? My legs aren't as long as yours, you know."

Aragorn smiled. "No, fair one. We ride to Rivendell. I would not think of pressing you at such a fast pace on foot. Come," he said, and led me back into the woods. "We must move away from this place. Then we will make camp for the night."

So I went with him. This, after all, had been part of Gandalf's instructions.

It was after dusk now. We walked past lots of dead orc bodies, and I realized why we were moving. Yuk.

Wait...did I just say yuk? I thought. I never say yuk.

Too girly.

"You have much skill with a blade," Aragorn said, breaking my train of thought. "I wonder what you are capable of with the bow you carry." I could tell he was trying to make small talk. Small talk wasn't something I usually did, but he had picked the right topic.

"Thank you," I said. "I put a lot of practice into my craft. I'm actually a bit famous for that, in my world. Archery and swordsmanship, I mean."

"Then it is well deserved," he said, and I felt a tingle of pride in my chest.

Oh, yeah. Validated! Take that, mom and dad.

"Please, won't you tell me of your home?"

I jumped a little. "Oh. Okay." I hesitated a second, before deciding not to actually talk about my family. That was a whole mess of ugly I didn't want to get into. "For starters, my skills aren't something a lot of people in my world have anymore," I explained. "Most weapons are much more deadly, and mechanized. I live in an age of industrialism and industry. We are polluting the world we live in; many plants and animals have become extinct through our carelessness."

"Similar evil festers in Middle Earth even now," Aragorn said grimly. "Are there no elves in your world, to stop this?"

"No," I said quietly, squinting as I felt the dark getting in my eyes. "There are no elves. I doubt there have been for many thousands of years. Only men remain, and they do not appreciate the beauty of nature as they should."

"They?" Aragorn repeated. I could see his sideways look, even in the thickening dusk and tree cover. "You are human." He paused. "You do not feel yourself a part of that society."

Wow, insight much?

"No." I sighed, and scowled. "I am alone there." I paused before adding, "That is why I do not regret my being brought here. Here, I have a chance to belong. I have not had that in my own world."

"Most things noble have died out," Aragorn said ruefully. "But there is always hope."

I laughed at this. "Estel," I said, recalling the elvish word for hope.

Aragorn whipped around to face me. "What did you say?"

"Estel," I repeated, then laughed again. "Sorry. I wasn't laughing at the idea of hope, I just forgot that was your name too."

"You speak elvish?" He asked, surprised. "And once again,you know much that cannot be accounted for, my lady. No one outside of Rivendell knows me by that name."

"No. Well, a little...and that's another thing I can't explain to you."

With a nod of understanding, Aragorn led me further into the wood. "All will be revealed, when we reach the house of Elrond," he said. "Doubtless you have many questions...already some are in my mind as well." And he fell into a thoughtful silence.

At this point, I did a spectacular face plant into the dirt. Oh yeah, go MJ. Classy.

Aragorn was there in an instant, helping me up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure. I wanted to take a closer look at the ground...see if there were any bunny trails..." I knew I was blushing. Shit.

Aragorn was unconvinced, and just flat out knew better. "Oh really?"

"Damn you," I said irritably.

"To where?" He was smirking at me.

"Oh shut up," I said, trying to push past him in the dark, and stumbling again. He caught me, and pulled me upright—bringing me a little closer than he needed to.

"Where did that warrior I saw earlier go?" Aragorn asked mischievously. "Now I only see a lovely woman blushing like a new bride, and tripping over her own two feet."

"There was a tree root there," I insisted, "and I don't think you can see any more than I can in this light. I am normally light on my feet, even in the dark. I even snuck up on a deer once, and pet it before it ran off."

"I see." He took my hand in a way that was almost a 'may I?' "I'd hate to see you fall again."

"I can handle it." I looked at his hand cautiously. "And better not...like I said, Arwen—"

With a roll of his eyes, Aragorn tightened his grasp on my hand—but this wasn't like Gandalf's grasp either. It was firm, but gentle. And very warm. "Lady Arwen is like a sister to me. The only established relationship you would be disturbing would be one of friendship...and doing something so simple as taking my hand to avoid stumbling is not capable of breaking such a bond."

"Oh." I was shocked for a second, before I muttered, "Hear the fan girls go wild, while I'm roasted by the purists." But it was so dark...oh how I wished for my Maglite. "Well, lead on then. The blind leading the blind. Fabulous."

I didn't say more. So far, Gandalf had dropped me in Middle Earth, Aragorn and Arwen weren't an item, and I was somehow important.

Someone was seriously fucking with Tolkien's world, alright.

And I was a part of it.

Sneak Peek:

Chapter 3: In Which I Impress A Ranger, and Age Eighty+ Years, and Fall Prey to a Curse

Now, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I am very good at camping. It's all those solitary trips into the National Forest, I swear. I can build a fire out of anything. I can hunt my own dinner (yes, killing animals is very different from killing a person.) I can find potable water, and eatable plants without eating something that will kill me. And I know how and where to sleep to not be eaten by wild animals (or orcs.)

So when I heard we were camping in the forests, I was actually pretty thrilled. I was eager to prove my worth in this world, and I was in my forte in the great outdoors.

Please oh please take the time to review! I can be nonchalant about them, but they really do mean the world to me (: I will post Chapter 3 AS SOON AS I get 5 reviews. Even if get them tonight, I'll post it! It's already written...yes, I'm bribing you guys. Sorry.

Le hannon (Thank you)!