THE FORGOTTEN

May the Games Begin

Authors note: Well, here it is. I ... never mind. You can tear me apart on my grammar and spelling, but please don't be to cruel about the rest! Glad to hear my psycho dream didn't scare everyone off! BTW. D

As they rode down the trail towards to Imladris, the elven singing only got louder. Just listening to them helped her learn more elvish and more songs. How odd this was, she found that if she just listened to elves she would learn more. There was something very strange about all of this...

Jennifer had remembered reading about the elves singing in the trees when Bilbo and the Dwarves came to Imladris many years ago, and wished she could have heard it. Now she was, and enjoying it greatly.

As they rode down into the valley, the singing continued. She heard them say a few times that she was a strange girl with a strange name, but she ignored them with a smile. A few of them started singing greetings to the elven prince and joke that he was the greatest elf in all of Middle-Earth. Legolas just smiled and bowed his head to them with feigned pride. Who knew elves would joke so much!

They finally made it down into the heart of Imladris and Lord Elrond was there to greet them. They dismounted and Elrond said, "Welcome to Imladris Prince Legolas, Ellindë, Thinhen, and Jennifer."

"Greetings Lord Elrond," Legolas said. "We have come bearing news from my father King Thranduil."

"All news will be told later at a council. It shall be held some time in October," Elrond informed.

"Very well Lord Elrond. That is not all we are here for however," Legolas said.

"I know. I was sent a dream telling me that a human child was to come to Middle-earth."

"Were you told nothing else?" Legolas asked.

"Nothing else."

"Well," Legolas began. He looked at Jennifer and she pulled her hair behind her ears. Elrond saw they were pointed.

"I see," Elrond said.

"There is more," Legolas said. Elrond arched an eye brow and told the other two elves where their rooms were. Ellindë went happily to his room while Thinhen went to take care of the four horses.

Legolas and Jennifer followed the Lord Elrond to his study. He told them both to be seated on a couch while he sat in a chair across from Jennifer. He asked both of them to tell him every minute detail about the dream, and about the dream itself and about how they felt during the dream. Legolas kept saying that he felt tired and weary, while Jennifer kept saying that she felt like she was playing a defensive game of chess. Elrond sat in thought for a moment then asked if she would mind his trying to get into her head. She said no.

"If the strain becomes to much, tell me," Elrond said.

Before she could think twice she felt a mental attack.

A fierce mental game ensued. Legolas could see both of their faces. Elrond wasn't straining much, but Jennifer was a little. She could feel that the elven lord was holding back. Each time she successfully blocked an attack, he would attack from another direction with more strength than the last time. It was like playing chess. Elrond reached a point where he thought he had victory -until her mind went blank. There was nothing. Legolas could see that her face went blank. Her eyes stared into emptiness. She looked like a corpse sitting there with its eyes opened. Elrond withdrew and a second after he did, she awoke.

"You are strong-minded Jennifer. I did not expect it to be quite that hard. Very good maneuver at the end as well. I didn't know if you knew how to do that."

"Thank you," Jennifer wearily replied. "Did you learn anything?"

"You definitely have elvish blood… high elvish blood. Whether you are a high elf, one of the Noldor, or Eldar, I do not know. There was something else as well that I found that I think could be something else."

"Istari?" she asked wide eyed.

"Perhaps, but I think if anything it would be Maia."

Jennifer sat there, looking at the floor in shock. Sure, she could accept the fact she had fallen into Middle-earth, she could barely accept the fact she had elvish blood, but she could not accept the fact that she was part Maia. That did not seem possible to her.

"In any event," Elrond continued, "I think we should do this at least once a week. I think that perhaps you were brought here to challenge someone's will, and if not it is a mental exercise that will be worth doing."

"Do you mean you think I am to challenge...?"

"No, not him. I think he would be to strong for you. Perhaps the lord of the Nazgul, but I do not know."

Her eyes grew wide. She didn't believe any of this. She was convinced now that she must be asleep.

Elrond didn't have to be in her mind to read her thoughts. "It is no dream Jennifer. You are here. This is real."

She took a deep breath. "Okay," she thought to herself, and then said out loud, "In that case, Lord Elrond, there are some other things you must know."

Elrond just looked at her, patiently waiting for her to begin. She told Elrond all about the books and everything else.

"So," she said finishing up, "I know what is going to happen from now until everything is over, for good or ill."

"You have not told anyone what will happen, have you?" the elven lord asked.

"Oh no, Lord Elrond. I decided it would be best to let things play out as they should."

"Very good. Now, if Legolas and you wish, I will show to your rooms."

"That shall not be necessary, Lord Elrond. I know where they are," Legolas said.

"Then I shall see you both later," Elrond said.

Legolas and Jennifer stood up, bowed, and went off to their rooms.

"So Legolas, how do you know where our rooms are?" Jennifer asked.

"I know because I have had the same room every time I've come here."

There was a pause, and then Jennifer asked, "Do you know Aragorn?"

"Yes I do, I have met him several times. I usually call him Estel. Why do you ask?"

"I am just curious," she replied. They talked casually until they reached their rooms. Her room was next to his, again.

She went into her room and the first thing she saw were three wide open windows. The one in the middle was a door, but she didn't find that out till later. The curtains were white and tied with golden ribbon. A large bed was just to the left. Against the wall to the left were a wardrobe and a closet. On the far right corner was a desk with chair, and a fire place with a chaise lounge in front of it, (elves had a thing for chaise lounges didn't they?) and against the near right corner was a corner table and chair. Against the right wall were a dresser and a closet. A large cream colored rug was in the middle of the floor. The walls and the floor were a lovely off white color. She loved it. Everything was bright and airy. As she looked around she noticed that there were several lanterns and candles and lamps all about the room. She loved it!

She went over to the wardrobe and found a summer green dress. Next to it was a dark purple velvet dress. Its sleeves were purple velvet as well until right above the elbow; from then on down the sleeves were a flowing white material. Around the neck and elbows were a silver ribbon with fine embroidery; a belt was made of the same materiel. It was beautiful! The third dress was colored off white with elaborate embroidery, and it had a royal blue robe that went over it. They were beautiful! She put on the green one and looked at her reflection in the mirror on the inside door of the wardrobe.

She suddenly felt very tired. Elrond had worn her out. She flung herself onto the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Legolas was next door standing on his porch, enjoying the afternoon sunshine. He had been there many times before. Each time he went, he stayed longer than he should. Imladris was not just a haven for way worn travelers, it was a place of rest for the elves as well. Legolas found it a wonderful place to recover from the stresses of the years. He visited Imladris once every one hundred years. The three thousand and seventy-five year old elf hadn't broken his pattern until the last seventy-five. In the last seventy-five years he had been there ten times playing messenger. He didn't mind at all.

The shadow in the east had been bugging him and all his kin for quite some time now. Aragorn's visit last year hadn't brought any comfort either. He gave a sad sigh. His thoughts turned to Jennifer.

"Poor girl," he thought. "It must be difficult for her. Taken from her world, then all this happening, and how young she is! To us she is hardly more than a toddler, to humans she is just out of child hood, and to the hobbits she is still a child! She is so young, and yet, she doesn't seem as young as she did when she came. She seems older now. It must be hard for her."

He had no idea. It was very strange. She could tell that she was half elf at times, yet she was still very human in many ways. She was starting to wonder if this was how Elrond felt at first. Well, when she was awake anyway.

Legolas had a tree growing right outside his room. He had watched it grow for years. Now it was an ancient and strong tree. He climbed up onto the railing of the porch and grabbed onto a branch. He pulled himself up and started climbing the tree. When he reached a lofty bough, he sat down with his back towards the trunk and gazed out. How peaceful it was in that tree top, how beautiful was the song of the wind in the leaves. How lovely the sound of elven voices were as they drifted past his ear.

Suddenly he heard someone moving. It was someone in a room; it wasn't his room, so it must have been Jennifer. He scrambled down the branches until he came to one that stuck out over her porch. He saw her get up and start wandering around. He jumped onto the marble porch and knocked on the big glass door. She saw him and opened it.

"What are you doing out there?" she asked.

"I was climbing the tree until I heard you get up," he answered. "Now that you are awake, would you like me to show you around?"

"No thank you. I've always preferred exploring on my own. You can come along if you like. I'd enjoy the company."

"Very well," he replied. Jennifer and Legolas started wandering the halls of Imladris. She threw open doors, looked in, and then would leave unless something caught her eye. After an hour and a half she decided it was quite enough exploring for one day and would leave the rest for later. After all, there were thirty five days till the council.

"There is one room, Jennifer, that you shall not find on your own and I would not have you miss," Legolas said.

She followed him through several halls and corridors, up a few stair cases and then to some half forgotten corner with a door and a window. Legolas opened the door and let her go first. Inside the door was a tall winding stair case. Jennifer and Legolas climbed it all the way to the top. At the top was a trap door. Jennifer opened it and climbed into the room.

It was an open room with a couch and a small fireplace on one wall, but the rest was all open. The roof went out several feet from the walls on all sides, permitting no snow or rain to get into the room. The breeze drifted through and it smelled lovely. All of Rivendell could be seen from this tower.

"Legolas!" Jennifer gasped. "This is beautiful!" Even more so than usual for the setting sun was shining upon the place. The trees looked like they were consumed in a green fire, the river looked like glass, the snow on the mountains shone like polished silver, and the voices of the singing elves rose to their ears to make it perfect.

"I knew you would like it," Legolas grinned. He loved seeing her smile. She stood for nearly ten minutes saying nothing, just gazing out at the landscape that spread before her. After a time they started talking about this and that, exchanging stories about their youth. After a few good laughs they heard the supper bell ringing.

That night as Jennifer lay in bed she thought over it all. It still didn't seem possible that she would be half elf and half Maia. That would mean she was just like Luthien! She dwelt on that thought until sleep stole over here.

It was October the tenth. Glorfindel had been sent out of Imladris yesterday. Jennifer had been practicing that mind game (I guess you would call it) with Elrond, once if not twice a week since she had gotten there. Her mind was getting stronger every time they played, nay, every day! By this time Jennifer had thoroughly explored Imladris and knew it quite well.

On this particular day, she was in a strange mood. She had an unquenchable desire to shake things up around there. Not to much, just a little bit. It was after lunch, by quite a few hours, only two and a half hours till supper, when she tackled Legolas. Well, not literally!

"Legolas, do elves ever play games?" she asked.

"Yes, you should know that by now. Besides that mental game, we play chess and..."

"No, not that sort of game, I mean a running sort of game."

"Like a foot race?" he asked.

"Sort of. I was thinking more along the lines of freeze tag," she said with a grin.

"Freeze tag?" he asked with a puzzled look.

"Yes. Say we have nine people playing, three of them would be the freezers and six would be the runners. You decide how long you want to play, and then the freezers count to twenty while the runners run away. Once the freezers have counted to twenty they run after the runners. If a freezer tags a runner, then the runner must stop (or freeze) in whatever position they were in. Now, a runner can be unfrozen by another runner. Got it so far?"

"Yes," he slowly answered.

"Okay, now pay attention because here is where it gets tricky, if a runner is frozen three times, then the runner becomes a freezer. Now, there are two ways the freezers can win, the freezers can either freeze everyone at once, or at the end of the time to play if they have the most people freezing or frozen. The runners can only win if they have more people than the freezers do when the time runs out. Get it?"

"I think so," the elf replied.

"Do you want to play?" she asked with a grin.

"I do not think it would be much fun with only two of us."

"Well, do you think we could convince some other elves to play?"

"Perhaps. Every once and a while the elves will play a large scale game, but that is very rare now."

"In that case, I'll tackle Ellindë and Thinhen, and if they agree, we will scatter and ask the elves in the east and north gardens. You can ask the elves in the south and west gardens."

"Very well," the elf said with a grin. This was going to be interesting at any rate. Soon enough there were seventy five elves gathered in front of the large fountain in the center most courtyard. Jennifer stood on the edge of the fountain and explained the game. After getting thirty volunteers to be freezers, she concluded.

"Now, remember, everyone is to gather back here when the supper bell rings. Ready, set, freezers, start counting!" she said. The runners ran off.

Once the freezers said twenty the fun began. You have never seen such a sight! Seventy five elves were running through gardens and hallways, climbing trees, swinging and jumping from branches, running on the edge of fountains and yelling at each other with playful yells.

The game continued on until the supper bell rang. Elrond had it rung a little early so that all the elves would have a chance to clean up. The elves gathered themselves around the fountain where the game had started.

"Now, all the freezer elves go to my left, all the elves that were frozen when the game ended in the middle and all the runners on my right if you please!" Jennifer said. The elves did so, and Legolas and Ellindë helped Jennifer count. In the end the freezers won.

Seventy five laughing elves were dismissed to go pluck leaves and twigs out of their hair and clothes before supper. Jennifer and Legolas walked back to their rooms and exchanged notes on the game. With a laugh they separated and went into their rooms.

A few minutes later Jennifer had changed into the purple dress. There was a knock on her door.

"Come in!" Jennifer cheerily called.

The door opened and in walked Legolas. She looked over and noticed he was wearing a silvery robe, and a silver circlet.

"You look very handsome this evening Prince Legolas," she complimented.

"You are looking quite lovely this evening yourself Lady Jennifer," he replied with a smile.

"Lady Jennifer?" she asked with a grin.

"Yes, you are deserving of that title," he informed her with a large grin. After a moment he added, "Have you thought about changing your name?"

"Changing my name? Whatever for?" she asked.

"I suppose I just thought you would want to change it, seeing as you are an elf and Jennifer is a human name," he answered with a slight blush. "I haven't offended you have I?"

"Of course you haven't offended me!" she kindly reassured. "Remember, I do not offend easily." She smiled. "I just never thought about it. It would be fitting to do so, I would imagine."

"What do you think you would change it to?" the elven prince asked.

"Oh, please! Do not leave that up to me! I am horrible at naming things!" she paused, "Why don't you give me a new name?"

"Me?" the elf questioned as if he did not believe his ears.

"Yes you." She looked him in the eyes. "I would not have anyone else give me a new name."

"Then I shall give you a new name. May I have until after supper to think of it?" he asked.

"You may have a week if you need it," she answered.

"Then let us go to supper," he said offering her his arm. She accepted it and they walked down to supper together.

Authors note: So? How bad was it? I know, I made the elves look a little childish, but I couldn't resist the temptation! Read and Review please!