Chapter 7: The talk and tour

Frodo led Lara down a set of stairs and turned left walking into a corridor in which mouth-watering aromas filled your nose.

"I suppose we're near the kitchens?" said Lara.

"Yap, in fact they are right there" Frodo pointed towards an arch on the left side of the corridor.

They walked in through the arch and asked for two cups of tea and some fruit. Frodo then led Lara to a small table on a balcony looking out onto the valley. Lara quietly sipped her tea and then picked up a red apple and bit into it marveling at the delicious taste and juice of the said fruit.

"I see you have found your way to the kitchens, Lady Croft" boomed the already familiar, laughing tone that belonged to no other than Glorfindel. Lara turned and gave him a halfhearted glare. "No need to get offended my Lady, I'm just here to say that Lord Elrond requested you met him in his study" said Glorfindel though there was a thread of seriousness in his voice. 'Just great…' thought Lara out loud however she said "Lead the way" waving her hand to Frodo as a good bye.

After many gardens, balconies, and four sets of stairs they ended up near a beautiful light wooden door. Glorfindel knocked slightly on it and the answering "Come in" opened the door and led Lara inside the beautiful study. Shelves upon shelves of various books and scrolls lined three of the huge room's wall the other of which seemed to be covered with transparent silk curtains that moved lightly in the morning breeze. Behind the curtains were glassless windows that looked out onto the bridge leading to Imladris and the gardens of the city. The rest of the room consisted of a classy desk next to one of the windows with scrolls lying all over the surface (at this Lara smirked never imagining Lord Elrond as a messy type) a few chairs and beautiful Persian like rugs lying on the stone floor.

"Miss Croft" at this Lara's eyes came upon Lord Elrond himself and she did a polite nod "I called you here so that you could explain your sudden appearance and to see what roll you are to play in this."

"I am aware of this my Lord." She said trying to be as polite as she can. It's not every day that you get to meet one of the elven Lords.

"Now why don't you begin your tale Lara? Tell us the truth for it will be for the best" it's only when Gendalf spoke that Lara actually noticed him.

"Alright, I promiss to tell you the truth, and please as bizarre as my story might sound try to not interrupt" Lara fixed the three occupants of the room (Glorfindel stayed because he was interested, and Elrond didn't seem to tell him to leave so, why pass on the chance?) with a stern glare, at their nods Lara continued "You see I come from a different world. It's called Earth. We don't have different races of peoples, there are only Humans and we hardly have any kingdoms. I am a know Tomb Raider by hobby. I find artifacts and relics that interest me, there other people who do that only they mainly do it for money" at this Lara had distaste written all over her features. "Now, on my last adventure I found a round stone with strange runes on it. The runes did not belong to any of the languages of my world yet they seemed familiar to me. After I looked at them it suddenly hit me, I find the familiar because they belong to one of my favorite novels: The Lord of the Rings. What you have to understand is that in my world, you are all from books written by J.R.R. Tolkien, so basically you are characters that no one thought existed. This whole story is already written down and I know what will happen to you all." At this everyone present gave her a wide eyed look, before they could say anything however Lara raised her hand "You promised not to interrupt. Anyways, as I was saying I took out a book of mine that had the Sindarian alphabet written on it and translated the runes, I ended up getting this poem" she quickly wrote it down on a piece of parchment in Sindarian and gave it to Lord Elrond. "It opened a portal and then I found our dear hobbits, the rest you know…" Lara trailed off waiting for them to get it all into their heads.

The only person who seemed unaffected by her tale was Gendalf. He only nodded sadly which caused Lara to worry.

"So what you're saying is that you already know of all the events which are to happen?" asked a bewildered Glorfindel for once with no trace of humor on his face. Lara nodded and looked at Elrond who was studying the poem she gave him.

"Hmm… Gendalf if I am not mistaken this is the *Lost Soul* poem." He said passing the piece of paper to Gendalf.

"What does that mean?" inquired Lara.

"That means only that there is no known way of bringing you back." Said Gendalf confirming Lara's fears.

"Bloody hell, great Croft… out of the times not to listen to Hilary" she murmured to herself and shook her head.

"I am truly sorry that we can't help you," said Elrond with real sorrow on his face. "However would yo consider helping us?" everyone in the room seen a light come to Lara's eyes which wasn't there before and a smirk replacing her frown.

"Now how is your wound doing?" he inquired. Lara looked at him like he was mad for a second than began to laugh. "Way to change the subject, my Lord" said Lara when she calmed down. "But I'm fine, thank you for taking care of the wound and I suppose that it will hurt when I'm near the Nazgul? And on the day I got stabbed?"

Elrond nodded sadly, "Well Lady Croft, I am holding a counsel, as you probably know, and I would like you to be present. However I must ask you if you are ready with the prejudice you will be met with? Estel and the hobbits have told us that you can hold your own better than some of the males but the other peoples coming to the council will be very… how should I put it? un-understanding." He finished and saw the look on Lara's face and had to suppress a smile at the determination he saw in her eyes, even though her overall expression was still with that laughing smirk.

"Oh, I think it's about time they learn," she answered. "I will be attending"

"Great then, the counsel is tomorrow at noon. Please join us for dinner today; you will be required to wear a gown for the dinner. For the counsel you can wear whatever you wish." With that all the people present stood up and Glorfindel led Lara out of the room.

"They will never know what hit them," said a laughing Gendalf when the two left to Elrond.

"Indeed, I just hope she really is as strong as Aragorn said for all our sakes."

Lara was led back to her room by Glorfindel as the two talked about fighting and archery.

"You say that you're a good archer?" asked Glorfindel, stopping at the door that led to her room.

"Are you questioning my capabilities my Lord?" was Lara's answer (please note that the last part was said very sarcastically).

"Like you say: I don't believe it till I see it." He smirked.

"My dear Glorfindel, looks like I've rubbed off on you," smirked Lara. "Tomorrow, eight o'clock, we see who's better."

"Better at what my dear?" he wriggled his eyebrows in a very suggestive manner.

Lara was very much unaffected by that and decided that two could play at that game. She came closer to him and licking her lips with an innocent face came and whispered into his ear "Archery." Then laughing walked into her room but not before hearing Glorfindel's laugh and answering "Your on Croft!".

'Well he definitely is a great friend, too bad he isn't part of the Fellowship' she thought laughing to herself. Now, Lara definitely did not like Glorfindel, nor he her for that matter. Quiet honestly they felt like brother and sister with each other, which was one of the reasons that they became so close in the mere hours that they knew each other.

When Lara was alone in her room she remembered her backpack and weapons. Deciding not to call anyone yet, she looked around her room and found the said objects lying against the wall near the balcony arch. She examined her weapons and noticed that even her guns where there and yet again wondered why no one asked her about them 'Must be luck' she thought. Then she picked up her backpack and headed towards her bed. Sitting down on the rug next to it and leaning against the bed, Lara opened her backpack examining for the first time what Hilary put in there.

It was all the usual stuff like spare clothing: three T-shirts, three long sleeved shirts, two pairs of trousers like the once she was wearing before, two pairs of shorts, swim suite (which Lara had to laugh at), and extra underwear, with a pair of flip flops and boots. Next was the medi-pack and ammunition (which was also strapped in huge amounts to her belt) with a grapple, binoculars, and a couple of granola bars. Her sonar system PDA was included as well as a photo.

The photo caught Lara by surprise. She took it out and examined it. It was taken at her seventeenth birthday 'party' which included her, Hilary, Bryce, and Alex. The scene captured might have been the best day and moment of her life. It was her and Alex sitting laughing at Bryce who was tripped into the pool by Hilary. They were all still teenagers there the eldest being Hilary who had turned nineteen just two months ago. 'We look so happy…' she thought and felt tears swelling in her eyes. The realization suddenly hit her: she will never see them again. Alex was dead, Bryce and Hilary where at home waiting for her to return when she never will…

Lara was about to put the picture back into the bag when she noticed writing on the other side of it:

Dear Lara,

Well we all know that you will most probably never return from that adventure of yours. Sorry for keeping you from entering that portal, I just did not want to lose such a great friend. Bryce says 'Hi' and take care. Remember never to say never!

May we meet again,

Hilary.

If Lara wasn't crying before she definitely was now. Clutching the picture to her chest she lowered her head and gave in to the quite sobs that were wrecking her body…


Alrighty... Ya, say it, crapy chapter but i wanted to put an emotional angle just slightly... Anyways, thank for your reviews and support! Please tell me if i need to correct something :) R&R!