Chapter Four: It Finally Sinks In

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Lord of the Rings. But I have this ingenious plan involving hamsters dressed in tiny three piece suits, and a hundred typewriters. See, if I can get them to type Shakespeare before the monkeys can, I'll be bloody rich!

A/N: Okay, even with my mad procrastination skills, I finished this chapter. It wasn't easy either. I must have cheesed off some higher power, because my computer decided to die with my first try at the chapter on it on Thursday. But, having promised a chapter on Halloween, I put it off until around three on Sunday and finished it in one fell swoop. Yay for me! Oh, and there's gruesome details in here for my best amiga, Annalise!

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The first things that set Garnet on edge when she woke up were the smells. Instead of the usual smell of incense and dust prevalent the room she had shared with her sister years ago, this place had an odor of grass and sunshine. And for some unexplained reason, her sister, who had the habit of snuggling when cold, smelled of trees and forgotten places, instead of her usual brown sugar and honey. The arm wrapped around her was muscular and tanned, definitely not her sister's. Trying to remember what had happened, she finally added it all together.

Crap, it wasn't a dream… crappity crap crap. Her mind was racing, stopping at one particular memory. A kiss, a perfectly chaste kiss, but full of desire, stood fresh in her mind. Cursing very softly, she opened her eyes and glared at a grasshopper that had been staring at her awhile, wondering if she was a strange plant. She crawled out of the elf's embrace, making sure not to wake him.

Remembering there was a creek nearby, she crept around the sleeping figures and their mounts to the sound of running water, hoping that a drink would keep her hysterics down. It had worked before, and she hoped it would work now. She had heard Kansas was a great place, full of rural charm, but she sure as hell wasn't there, thank you very much Toto. Giggling to herself, she reached the brook and knelt down to get a quick sip, looking all the well like a doe, pricking her ears forward to find intruders before quenching her thirst.

She was frozen by her reflection, a strangely familiar face looking up at her. Her hair had grown by a foot at least since the two days she last looked in a mirror. Her glasses were gone, but she was able to see perfectly well. She looked like her mother, her mother who had been dead for years. She splashed the water and drank from it while the reflection was distorted. A new world meant a new start, even if it's only temporary.

Standing up, she a quail's nest only a few feet away. Being raised in North Carolina for her childhood, she knew a thing or two about tracking game and preparing it. Sure enough, she found the parent quails, which she left alone to care for the eggs. She followed tracks to a rabbit's hole, luckily finding a lone male instead of another family.

She made quick work of the animal, snapping its neck, avoiding its pleading eyes. She went back to the camp, making sure to be quiet. She found a knife in Legolas' pack. She skinned and jugged the rabbit expertly, keeping the pelt clean and drying in the sun. She went back to the stream to wash up and found a suitable stick for a spit on the shore. Returning to camp, she rekindled the fire and set the spit up between rocks. She buried the entrails, like giant worms, in a clear spot, leaving the real worms a treat to find.

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Legolas woke to the smell of cooked meat, a little dazed. He had woken from the most amazing dream. A girl he could love and would love him back was only the stuff of wishes and dreams. Opening his eyes, he was suddenly taken aback. The dream girl was right in front of his eyes. She hummed to herself and had her back turned to him. Oh, Garnet, you're real. If only the kiss had been. He knew it couldn't be true. The kiss had been too surreal to have been real, even if she was. He knew he would never have the courage to kiss her in real life, scared of what the others of his race might think.

Stretching quietly, much like a cat, he got up silently. Striding to the fire, he saw the source of the delicious smells of cooking meat. The remainders of a rabbit hung from a spit. The rest was cut and placed on a clean black cloth, taken from Garnet's loose shirt. She had also cut a strip and used it to loosely tie her hair, and was cutting the meat into shapes out of boredom. Littered around her were strands of grass braided together, bits of fabric cut from her shirt and breeches, as well as chunks of wood taken from the spit.

He chuckled, startling the woman in front of him. "I see that you can be destructive when you're not occupied." Garnet smiled up at him, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I'm destructive most of the time, but I'm worse when I have nothing else to do. The rest of the time, it's an accident. Now then, I suggest you eat. I had to do something to thank you for putting up with me." She held up a piece of shaped meat to him. It was a shape he had never seen, almost an arrowhead, the piercing point and two opposite edges for balance. But the edges were curved instead of the usual swift intake. For some strange reason, a warmth grew in his chest.

Garnet was busy taking stock of the food. She wanted everyone else to eat before she did, and she had already chosen their allotted shares. She wanted to make sure her failed experiments, one in particular, were in her part. Getting her first piece, she noticed that it wasn't she had planned on. She had lined the heart up so that it would be first, before the others could see it. In her destructive trance, she had only been half aware of her cutting this shape.

She had retreated into her mind after the drink had only added to the panic instead of getting rid of it. It was the next step in her calming process. Bed sheets, curtains, and disliked clothing had been put to the blade in this trance-like state. She had never been constructive enough to repair the torn and tattered remains, so she always had to replace them.

Now she looked frantically, trying to find the embarrassing food. She looked up, realizing where it had gone. Sure enough, the elf was eyeing the bite-sized piece, hesitating to eat it. Trying to redeem herself, she quickly teased the elf. "You know, I'm pretty sure that it won't do tricks, no matter how long you look at it. I can cook a rabbit, my mother made sure of that."

Legolas, quite embarrassed, stole an abashed look at the smiling girl a few feet in front of him. He nibbled at the meat, then started biting into it in earnest. He had been too worried about the council awaiting for him, and later his new companion, to hunt. He didn't want to sunder the holy rite of killing to survive with his paltry concerns. He hadn't known how much he missed the taste of animal flesh, until he had some. He nodded thankfully to the cook when he was done. A quick flash of a grin was flashed at him as she handed him another piece and indicated his pile.

When the group had finished chewing on their cloud and rainbow shaped rabbit nuggets, they cleaned up the camp leaving it as the had found it. Riding once more to the west, Garnet leaned back onto Legolas. She was sure that this much riding was going to give her bowlegs, but she still felt a thrill. She was on a horse for the first time, going somewhere she had never been. In her lap was the book, which had been too large for the pack. Inside the pages, something waited and planned.

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A/N: From now on, the A/Ns shall be called Sami notes, because I say so. I hope y'all liked this. I tried to lengthen it, but it's not the best, since I only had six days to write it. Please review and give me some pointers. As long as it isn't grammar, then I'll take your advice. When I hear whining about grammar, I makes my believe that my writing was so boring that you were checking if it should be 'lie' instead of 'lay,' instead of really enjoying the story.