Disclaimer: I only own Danielle. Middle Earth and everything else in it belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien.
"When can we start?"
"Now, if it pleases you."
Danielle spent the next hour and a half under Legolas's instruction. The first twenty minutes were dedicated entirely to posture and holding the bow and arrows correctly. He continually had to remind her to hold her elbow higher, but he eventually deemed her ready to try shooting her first arrow.
It did not go smoothly.
She had trouble pulling the string far enough back to give it much power. Still, she gave it as much effort as she could, and Legolas was exceedingly patient with her. Danielle knew she had a lot of work to do if she was going to even have a chance of defending herself, so she was going to have to get in better shape. At the end of the lesson, when she handed the bow back to Legolas with her aching arm, she resolved to spend every morning trying to build up whatever muscle she could.
Danielle spent the rest of the day attempting to acquaint herself with the strange world she'd landed in. She asked Frodo to tell her where he came from, and his eyes lit up as he told her about the Shire and Bag End. Merry joined in to tell her about the pride hobbits take in good food and comforts. This led to an hour-long discussion on the history of their families, which she had trouble following.
She did take particular interest when they retold the story of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins, and how he was yanked from the comforts of his home and unexpectedly found himself on an adventure. She'd already heard this story, but only in regards to the Ring. Danielle couldn't help but identify with Bilbo's situation. Any of the hobbits, actually, must be feeling the same sense of being in over their heads, and for that she could relate to them better than the other members of the fellowship.
On through dinner, Danielle learned about the music and folklore of Middle Earth. Music, it seemed, served more of a purpose than it had in the twenty-first century. In Middle Earth, songs told of real chronicles, praised leaders, and recorded the passage of time. It was significant for altogether different reasons. She made the mistake of telling my new friends this.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked. "You never had stories in your music?"
"Well, sometimes there are, I guess," Danielle said, pensive. "I can't really generalize to all music where I'm from because there is so much of it, but some of the most popular songs have no real meaning or purpose other than to sound good. Some are only meant for dancing and others are just silly."
"Like what?" Merry asked.
"Yes! Please sing for us! We would love to hear some of your music!"
Danielle laughed as she thought how the hobbits might react to some of the more sexual songs that were popular, but thought better of it. It would be difficult to think of a song that wasn't full of pop-culture references or modern phrases and terms. People in Middle Earth might not be able to understand the music, anyway.
"Oh no, no thanks," she said as her laughing calmed. "I'm not much of a singer." She had also noticed that people in Middle Earth were much more comfortable breaking into song than she was used to. She managed, instead, to convince them to sing some of their favorite songs from when they were growing up.
As the evening settled in, Danielle sat in the company of the hobbits and the rest of the fellowship around a crackling campfire. Legolas was fastening feathers to a new set of arrows while Aragorn sharpened his sword and some daggers. Gimli and Boromir lounged on a boulder by the fire as they puffed on their pipes.
"You have yet to tell us much about your home," Merry said.
"You're right, I haven't said much," Danielle said. "I can't really figure out how to tell you about it because I can't tell how Middle Earth and where I'm from are related."
"But you are from Arda, are you not?" Legolas.
"I'm sorry?" she said, not recognizing the name.
"Arda is the name given to this world."
"Oh. We just call it 'Earth'... but I suppose they are the same thing. I don't know. I can't tell because I've seen living things that look a lot like what I've seen growing up, and yet none of this could have existed where I am from. There is all this... magic here. Or we would call it magic, at least."
"What 'magic' do you refer to?" Legolas asked.
"Well, I'm pretty sure Galadriel read my mind yesterday. That's impossible where I'm from. I suppose we have been developing some technology that can help us figure out what is going on in someone's mind, but that is far less reliable." Danielle knew a little about EEGs and fMRIs, but she held back from explaining them. She had seen no signs of electricity so far, and so assumed that the people of Middle Earth would not understand her if she tried to explain how one can measure the activity of neurons.
"Where I'm from," she continued, "scientific discoveries have helped us to invent technologies that accomplish some pretty remarkable things. I suppose some of our technologies might seem a little like magic, but it's all explainable."
Danielle explained that wizards, elves, and spells were nothing more than the material of stories from her childhood. She explained that modern-day technology allowed people to communicate with people on the other side of the world instantly, and travel thousands of miles in a single day. She tried to convey that although some of these inventions made life easier, some of them caused problems like pollution or social isolation. Some supported the health of others while others were detrimental.
And then there was the internet. Danielle had trouble explaining how many people had unlimited information available to them at their will. She explained that she could learn about anything she was interested in, from the origin of the universe to how to make paper from scratch as easily as she could read a book off of her bookshelf. This detail is what really captured the interest of a few members of the fellowship.
"What other information can you find?" Sam asked.
"Well, you're a gardener, right? I could use the internet to learn what time of the year to plant anything I want and how to care for it. I can find ways to keep insects from eating it and learn the ingredients to make a fertilizer to help it grow better." Sam's face filled with wonder, and more questions followed.
Aragorn listened while he worked, but refrained from asking questions until those about the internet and its many uses died down. By then, he had finished tending to his weapons and equipment, and had packed everything away neatly. Then, as everyone else prepared to go to bed he asked a question from across the campfire.
"What was the last thing you remember before you woke up in Moria?" He was looking at Danielle with increased curiosity, not that he was no longer tending to his weapons.
"I'm not sure," she said. She had already thought about this a good deal, but she could not come up with anything significant. "I can think of a few things that happened shortly before, but I don't know the last thing that actually happened. The last thing I remember is going to bed."
"Had anything unusual happened that day?"
Danielle paused and tried to recall the details. "I'd had a long day at work. I was starting to get sick by the end of the day, so as soon as I got home I got ready for bed and went straight to sleep."
"And then you awoke in Moria."
"Well, that is all I remember," she said as her fingers absently traced the cable patterns in her sweater, "but these are not clothes I would wear to bed." Danielle must have gotten up the next day, but whatever happened during that time was lost.
"I see," Aragorn said, and then fell silent for a moment. "Perhaps you would like to learn to fight with a sword as well as a bow."
She wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to prove herself capable of joining the fellowship, and so she nodded. "Yeah, if you think that'd be helpful that'd be great."
"I do. There may come a time when you will be faced with close combat. A sword would suit you better at such a time."
Danielle was much more intimidated by the idea of fighting with a sword. She was not sure she could match the strength of male soldiers in close combat, but she knew Aragorn was right.
They established that she would have her lessons in the afternoons, allowing her a break after her lessons with Legolas.
Everyone else had already excused themselves to go to bed, and Danielle decided it was time for her to follow in suit. She first took a detour to the creek to splash herself with some water. As she dipped her hands into the frigid creek, she thought about, of all people, Aragorn. He was puzzling. He was clearly a leader, and a compassionate one at that. He had stood up for her from the beginning, after all. She was starting to notice a pattern with him, though. He tended to hold back more than the others. She wondered if he had been particularly close with Gandalf.
The water was almost cold beyond comfort when Danielle splashed it on her arms and face, but as her skin warmed back up she felt serene and refreshed. She hoped this would help her get a better night's sleep than she had the previous night.
Danielle looked forward to the idea of sleeping in a real bed as she walked back to their pavilion. There, she could see Boromir sitting up in his bed, his eyes in a trance as he appeared deep in thought. When Danielle climbed under the covers, but before she rolled over to block out the world around her, she realized something else. He was actually looking at something. Or someone. Directly in his line of vision lay Frodo, who appeared to be examining something small as he held it close to himself. The Ring.
She could not see Boromir's expression in the darkness from this distance, but she was unsettled by his interest. Either he didn't care if anyone could see the way it caught and held his attention, or else he wasn't fully in control of it.
She pushed the thought away. Boromir had sworn to protect Frodo and the Ring, but she tucked the observation away to consider it some other time, quickly falling asleep.
