Buffy sat on the forest floor, dumb with shock. 'Lego Man', as Buffy had begun to mentally refer to the Elf, was attempting to explain the realm of Arda to her, but she could barely comprehend anything he was saying. She was still trying to process the concept that she had somehow been transported to a different dimension, or possibly a different planet.
After her stunned reaction to his revelation that she was now standing in a place called 'Middle Earth', the Elf had questioned her about where she had come from.
"Can it be that you are alien to this world, Lady Buffy?" he asked in bewilderment.
"I'm thinking, yeah," she replied after a moment. Buffy could only stare at Legolas, alarm evident in her features.
"Then where did you come from?" Legolas inquired softly, not quite believing it was possible that other worlds besides the ones he knew existed.
"Uh," was all that Buffy said for a moment, and then she shook herself out of her stupor. "I live in Sunnydale, California." She let go of her last hope that her answer would spark some recognition in him when she saw his blank expression. "That's in the United States," she added desperately, "of America. Which is on the continent of North America, which is on the Planet Earth, which is in the Milky Way Solar System, which is-" Buffy paused, not knowing how much further she could go from there. "Which is nowhere near here, I guess," she concluded dejectedly, and sat down heavily, a dark cloud of gloom settling over her.
Legolas paused for a moment, then squatted down and tried to look Buffy in the eyes. She seemed to be oblivious to his presence, and he was growing concerned.
"Do you not recall how you came to be here, then?" Legolas asked, but Buffy did not reply. "Lady Buffy," he called softly, his brow furrowing.
"Huh?" She seemed to awake from her trance. "Oh, no, I don't. I just woke up, and here I was," Buffy explained, and she met his eyes. Legolas grew more troubled at all the grief he saw in her green gaze.
"Are you quite well?"
Buffy stared at him and smiled bitterly. "Oh yeah, just peachy," she replied. "I'm thrilled to be yanked around to different dimensions on a whim. It's my favorite thing to do besides being branded with hot irons," she quipped sarcastically, standing up and moving away from him to lean on a tree.
Legolas started at the cynical tone of her voice. He watched her brood against the tree, staring into the distance. As he started to speak to her again, he was interrupted by a loud snort from Gimli, who had, at last, begun to stir himself.
At the noise, Buffy turned her gaze sharply to the Dwarf's form. "I was wondering whether or not your friend was still alive," she remarked apathetically.
"Eh? What?" Gimli grumbled as he turned over, and opened his eyes. He sat up when he saw the object of their curiosity was up and about. "Oh, you're awake, lass!" Gimli rose to his feet, and bowed low. "Gimli, son of Gloín at your service, and who might you be?"
"Hi," she replied blandly, and looked away. Gimli was startled at this blatantly rude reaction to his attempt at gallantry. He looked at the Elf, who glanced at him apologetically, and motioned him to his side.
"Forgive her lack of manners for the moment, Master Dwarf," Legolas said in undertones. "It seems our new friend has been thrust into our realm from quite a distance, and is completely at a loss as to how or why."
Gimli's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he looked at the lady again. "A mystery indeed," he remarked. "Sorry I am to hear that the lady is so mislaid. It cannot be easy to suddenly be in a strange land all alone." He shook his head gravely.
Buffy felt guilty for dissing the little guy before, but in the state she was in, she was finding it difficult to function. She turned around and sighed listlessly. "Look, I'm sorry I was rude just now," she offered. "I'm just so tired of-" A lump caught in her throat and she broke off and looked down. "I'm just so tired," she finished quietly.
"Well, then!" Gimli exclaimed so loudly, she jumped. "Sounds like you could use a bit of breakfast, lass. Some Lembas bread ought to make you feel a little better, and then we can try to help you, wouldn't you say, Master Elf?"
Legolas, who had been quietly observing Buffy's distress, looked up sharply at his friend's suggestion, and agreed with him wholly.
Buffy, whose stomach made its emptiness known to her at the mention of food, asked curiously, "Lembas bread? What's that?"
"The waybread of the Elves," Gimli explained as he rooted through his pack. "Normally never given to mortals, but since I am keeping company with an Elf these days, we have a supply handy."
"Since you are weary in heart and body though, lady, we would be happy to share some with you, as well as some of the dried fruits and meats we brought," Legolas added, and he joined Gimli in the setting out of provisions. Buffy's stomach rumbled even louder, and she made her way slowly over to the companions, where Gimli held out something wrapped in a packet of leaves to her.
"Go on," Gimli coaxed. "'Tis very tasty, even though it was made by Elves," he said, and chuckled at his little jibe. Buffy took the packet, and unwrapped it to reveal a yellow, crispy looking cake.
Legolas frowned at the Dwarf and said archly, "It holds many beneficial properties as well you know, Gimli." He turned to Buffy with a smile, and boasted "One being that only a small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man."
Buffy looked at the bread doubtfully. It seemed too light to be able to fill her up, no less satisfy someone like Xander, who had the capacity of a Hoover vacuum. "What's in it?" she inquired. If what they told her was true, she figured it probably had a high fat content.
Legolas smiled. "It is ever kept secret, by the Yavannildi, Lady Buffy. Elven maidens of Yavanna, one of the Valar." Buffy just looked more confused, so he assured her, "It gives strength to those who eat it. Try some," he encouraged gently.
Buffy shrugged. Did it really matter if she gained a few? No doubt she'd be walking it off afterwards, anyway. She broke off a small piece and placed it in her mouth. She looked up in surprise when she discovered she liked the taste. Kinda like cornbread, she thought, and took another bite.
Legolas tried to suppress a smug grin when he saw her face lighten a little with pleasure. He picked up another packet of waybread for himself, and was about to give Buffy another fact about Lembas, when he turned to see that she had polished off the entirety of the two cakes she had been handed, and was brushing the crumbs from her hands.
"That was good. Got anymore of that stuff?" she asked, somewhat cheekily. She was a little astonished to find that her spirits had lightened a little, and her body felt much less lethargic than before. She stifled a laugh when she saw Gimli and Legolas staring at her mutely.
At last, Gimli recovered from his shock, and laughed, "Certainly, lass. Always liked a woman who could eat like a man."
Legolas intercepted the waybread before Buffy could take it from the Dwarf, however, stating that they had only brought enough for the two of them, and hadn't expected any company. "For we do not know what we are to do now that you have joined us. Our journey may take us farther than we expected and we may run out of provisions if you eat like Gimli," Legolas said, not unkindly, and the Dwarf in question chuckled.
Buffy frowned at his implication that she was some sort of glutton, but he ignored it and continued to speak.
"If we are to assist in finding your way, perhaps you could tell us what happened to you before you found yourself in Middle Earth," Legolas suggested. "I realize you do not know how you got here, so it must not have been your intention to do so."
"No, it sure wasn't," Buffy agreed forlornly. "I had definite plans to stay just where I was." She blanched at the irony of that statement, considering she hadn't wanted to be back in Sunnydale at all.
"Do you remember what happened?" Gimli asked.
Buffy wracked her brain, trying to recall the events prior to her waking up in the forest. "I had come home last night after meeting with a…friend," Buffy's spirits fell a bit, recalling her reunion with Angel. It had been a very awkward and sorrowful encounter. Angel had been so happy to see her, and she had thrown herself into his arms, seeking comfort, but she was unable to find any. Not that Angel hadn't been his loving and compassionate self, but Buffy couldn't seem to jolt her deadened emotions as she had hoped to do. He knew something was terribly wrong, but Buffy didn't enlighten him as to her whereabouts in the afterlife. It was almost as if he hadn't wanted to know, and she pulled away from him, ending the meeting abruptly.
Buffy shook herself from her dreary thoughts and continued, "Then I went out for a patrol- uh, stroll." Whoops, she thought. Let's not reveal too much about our nighttime activities, Buffy. After all, as kindly as these two were behaving toward her, she didn't really know anything about them.
Buffy mentally recounted her steps after she'd left the house the night before. She'd gone to Spike's cemetery first, seeking his company. He hadn't been in his crypt, so she'd done a quick sweep of the grounds before heading out through town, and to the warehouse district where her friends told her vamp activity had been growing. After dusting a nest of vamps, she'd gone to the next graveyard, a newer one. Sunnydale was running out of room, and a new plot of land had been designated for burial grounds. Buffy thought that was unnecessary, seeing as how roughly half the graves in town were empty due to newly born vampires having vacated so many of them over the years; but then again, the town's authorities were most likely keeping that fact covered up nicely by pretending those empty graves were happily occupied. She remembered thinking how much easier her job would be if people just cremated their dearly departed. Anyone who had been turned would be taken care of right away, and she could work on reducing the number of already established vampires in town. Then, maybe, she'd have a little more free time, and she could rest. Her heart had constricted, thinking of the rest she'd been unjustly robbed of, and her thoughts had turned maudlin.
Soon after her resurrection, Buffy had been ready to commit suicide on the very tower she'd jumped from, but Dawn had arrived, and they'd both been in danger of plummeting from the rickety structure. Buffy's instincts kicked in, and saving her sister took priority. After that, Buffy had been so disoriented and blank inside until the next day, when she had to make her friends believe she was okay. As she sat on a tombstone, she pondered the consequences of taking her life, but she was so unsure that the results would be positive. Would she go back to where she'd been, or would that send her soul to some kind of purgatory? Either way, her friends would probably just yank her back out again, she remembered thinking bitterly, and so what would be the point?
Her recollections became fuzzy after that, and she could remember nothing more. Looking back at the Elf and Dwarf, who were waiting patiently for her to answer, she shrugged. "I don't know. I remember going out, but nothing unusual happened," For me, that is, she mused. "Then it gets blurry all of a sudden, and there's no memory there." She stared at the ground, frowning in frustration. No doubt the Scooby Gang back home would be on the case, as soon as they realized she was missing. Poor Dawnie, she thought. Her sister must be frantic. Her friends would likely have no reason to think she'd fallen into another dimension. Buffy didn't know if some demon had done this, or if any traces of her were left behind, or if any spell existed that could locate her. They'd be at the Magic Box sooner or later, deep in research mode, and who knew how long it would take them to come to the right conclusion?
Nope, Buffy concluded to herself. I'm just gonna have to try to get some help from someone here. In a moment of odd humor, she pictured herself in a pair of ruby slippers, chanting "There's no place like home, there's no place like home," over and over until she woke up in her own bed, her friends surrounding her. "I went to the strangest place," she'd say. "And you, and you, and you were there," Of course, she hadn't met a scarecrow that reminded her of Xander, or a Tin Man, or a witch-
Buffy's thoughts came to a halt. Do they have witches here? she wondered. It was likely, since they had elves. "Um, do you guys know anything about magic?"