Chapter 4: At Least We're Getting Somewhere…

Laurel

Well, this has been quite chaotic, do you agree? I personally do. Let's recap, shall we? Well, first off, my psychologically insane friend enjoys corrupting nursery rhymes, and has apparently showed a caring, maternal side. I…. did not expect that. Normally she'd never do that. Even when her younger brother broke his frickin' leg she didn't care. She just told him off for climbing onto the.. well, it was a pretty dumb thing for him to do. Also, Ari has a crush on Aragorn. Didn't expect that, either. She'd always said it was Frodo she liked, but I guess that now that we're really in the story… things change? I don't get it. It's not like I get straight A's in Psychology or anything. Does this even have to do with that subject? Getting way off topic here… So, Ari was helping me walk while my jelly legs failed to support me. Because I'm that much of a wuss. I hate fighting. As in, if I were in the middle of a huge battle, I would scream until my lungs shriveled up, then proceed to run away. Far. Far. Away. What had I been thinking when I made that wish with Ari?! Insert awkward cough here. Ahem. I should get on with the story.

"Ari… I think I can walk by myself, now, thank you very much. I've been thinking that for a while now, as a matter of fact," I said weakly, looking at my friend.

She rolled her eyes. I had been repeating my pleas every half hour, and she had learned not to trust them.

"Not a chance in hell, my friend," she said, smirking at me.

"Why do you always have to play the hero?" I complained, "You always did this at home…"

She snorted.

"Hey, you're the one who suggested we come."

I sighed.

"I didn't-well.."

She smiled triumphantly.

"You were stuttering, my lady?" she joked.

I groaned.

"You know that I suck lemons at verbal wars."

"And that's why I always win."

"Miss Laurel? Lady Ariana?" Pippin called from up ahead, "What are you two arguing about?"

"Things that you shouldn't be listening to, Pippin. No eavesdropping, please," I replied.

' Sam seemed visibly shocked by the mention of eavesdropping, probably because of the incident in Bag End. 'I ain't been dropping no eaves, sir!'. One of my favorite quotes. Heh.

"This is our business, not yours," Ari added.

"And don't call us 'Miss' or 'Lady'. Just Laurel and Ariana will do."

Pippin nodded, then looked forwards again.

Skip a while… skip a-wait! Stop there! Yes, there! No, not there! Right now! There we go! Where Sam and Aragorn are going to find the Kingsfoil! Great! So, there we all were, worriedly watching over Frodo. Ari had picked up some suspiciously sharp rocks along the way to wherever the f- we were, and was placidly tossing one from hand to hand.

"Do you think that Frodo will make it till Rivendell?" I asked, gently placing my hand on the ailing Hobbit's forehead.

He was extremely feverish, and his eyes were an unnaturally bright neon shade of blue.

"If we make haste, Mi- I mean, Laurel," Pippin said.

I suppressed a giggle, thinking about how Pippin and Merry meet Treebeard. I bet that he would say otherwise. I glanced at Ari.

"Why do you have those sharp stones, Ari?" I asked.

"Defense, Laurel. I'm very good at throwing sharp objects, so they're my ideal weapon," she explained, catching the rock in her hand and twirling it, seeming bored.

I nervously regarded the object in question, afraid that it might miss her hand and instead get me…. I am really paranoid, aren't I?

"Sometimes I worry about you, Ari," I muttered.

Ari suddenly stopped passing the rock to and fro and stared in the distance at something. I followed her gaze and saw Arwen approaching us. I smiled a bit, knowing that she would help Frodo. I glanced in the direction that Sam and Aragorn had gone in and saw them approaching. Skip some stuff… stop right where Arwen is taking Frodo away. Ari had stopped tossing the rock and was watching, a hint of tears in her eyes. I ignored Sam's next line, it was just too depressing to think about it. The next five days were long, laborious, and kind of boring. Although, it was pretty cool when Ari managed to kill a squirrel with one of her stones. She has a good aim, and that scares me. Why, you may ask? Gee, she's well-practiced with throwing sharp objects… WHO WOULDN'T BE SCARED?! Anyways, we reached Rivendell after hours upon sleepless hours of walking. I used to run track, so I was used to the self-exertion, but Ari wasn't. When we were led to our room, she nearly fainted on her bed. I just laughed and sat down on mine. She looked up at me.

"How are you not tired?" she panted, still trying to catch her breath.

I giggled some more.

"I used to run track, remember?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"Oh, yeah.. our old lives seem so far away to me now, like they were just a dream…" her voice trailed off as her eyes drifted to look at the ceiling, "I'm not sure if it all really happened, Laurel…"

I sighed.

"Maybe it all really was a dream, Ari. An amazing, beautiful dream… Where we don't have to fight for our lives every day, and we have the advantages of indoor plumbing."

A grin spread across her face.

"Yeah, maybe, Laurel. You know that poem by Edgar Allan Poe we read in school? The one that hardly anyone understood?"

"You mean 'Dream Within a Dream'?"

"Yeah… I understand what it means now.."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. The narrator doesn't know whether his life really happened, or if he was just dreaming… and his lover or something always told him that he was living a dream."

"Makes sense."

She splayed her arms out so that her hands dangled off of the edges of the bed.

"We've always been living a dream, Laurel. Everything that happened to us, never really happened. At least, not exactly."

I frowned.

"Huh?"

"Well, you see, we're all really sleeping throughout our lives, and-"

"Okay, enough with your conspiracy theories, Ari. You're going to make my brain explode."

"Can you two lower your voices? We're trying to get some rest," Sam complained.

I glanced back at him.

"Sorry, just having an existential discussion here," I apologized.

"We're trying to figure out if our lives are really dreams."

"What?"

"Long story."

"Well, can you talk about it quietly?"

"Of course, Sam."

He was lowering his head back onto his pillow when he stopped abruptly.

"Oh, who is this… 'Edgar Allan Poe' you mentioned?"

Ari and I froze.

"Well… he's a poet… and an author.."

"And…"

"I've never heard of him."

Ari swallowed. We were so dead.

"Erm… Well…" I stammered before bursting out, "He's not from this world and neither are we! We're from another world where this world doesn't exist and you are all fictional characters and.. and.."

I took a deep breath.

Ari took over, "We don't belong here. The only reason we are is a wish. On a shooting star."

"You probably think that we are completely out of our minds…" I grumbled.

Sam shook his head.

"I believe you."

"You do? Wow. I didn't expect you to say that," Ari said in shock.

"Neither did I, Lady Ariana."

I laughed softly.

"Now that we have that out of the way, we won't have to explain any odd behavior. Although we'll have plenty to talk about with Strider and the others."

"I guess so," Sam said.

Ari smirked.

"Well, if we want to wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow, we should get some sleep!"

"I agree," Sam said.

"I second that!" I added.

Ari shot me an evil glance.

"Hey, Laurel, you're a good singer. Can you sing that lullaby?"

I blushed.

"I'm not that good, Ari…"

"I would like to hear, as well."

I groaned inwardly.

"Alright…." I cleared my throat then began to sing, "Go to sleep… and good night…"

Sam sat there for a moment in awed silence, then set his head on his pillow. A few minutes later, when I was done with the song, I could hear him snoring softly. Ari was already asleep. I sighed, wishing that I had a good book, then laid down and curled up into a ball. I fell asleep immediately, five days straight of walking nonstop finally taking their toll on me. I knew full well that this might be the last time I slept in a real bed for a long while.