DISCLAIMER: Why do I have to do this every single time? Everyone that comes here already knows that I earn nothing whatsoever from writing this.
Holly: Will you just get on with the story?!
Sheesh! What side of the bed did you get up on?
Holly: The side you pushed me off of!
Ohhh... That's right. Heh heh... It was an... accident?
Holly: Like I'm buying that. An accident. What an excuse. *continues to mutter*
Excuse Holly while I get on with the story. She's feeling kind of grumpy today.
Holly: You would too if you smashed your head on something every time you had a dream!
Fair enough... Well, on with the story you've been waiting for!
oOoOoOo
The first thing that woke me up was the blinding light that stabbed my eyes as soon as I opened them. The second thing came into my view as I eventually became used to the light. It was a blurry figure to begin with, a black form with no shape at all. I looked at with squinted eyes for a moment and thought, 'A man that isn't my brother, is standing over me.' After that realization I immediately screamed, and jumped out of the bed I was lying in, falling onto the floor with the gracefulness of a swan. *cough*sarcasm*cough*
Immediately after impact with the floor splitting pain shot from my side to my head making me clutch my head in utter agony.
"UUUUUUUUUUUHHH!" came my moaning from the floor.
"Holly. Can you hear me?" I ignored the voice but it continued, "Holly, you need to get back in bed. You are very unwell."
All traces of my fear having been erased by the pain, manifested as anger at that last statement. I looked at the still blurry man kneeling beside me, "You think?!" I half yelled then once again him my head in my arms, "Whoever you are, go away!"
"You don't remember me?" he said with confusion and concern.
I sighed in annoyance, "Well how can I recognize you when my sight is all wanky wonky?!"
"Wanky wonky?"
"Blurry!" I yelled back. "And if you want to keep your eyes, I suggest you leave me to die in peace!"
"You're not going to die." he stated plainly.
"Well it sure feels like it!" I huffed in return then groaned again afterwards.
I heard him sigh, "Will you a least drink this?"
I looked from under my arms and saw a slightly less blurry version of the man holding what appeared to be a cup of sorts, "What it is?" I asked skeptically.
"An herbal tea. it will help with your pain." he brought the cup to me a little.
I hesitantly sat up and took it from him. 'I am thirsty.' I thought. I brought the cup closed to my face so I could examine what was inside. 'It looks like normal tea. Hot tea that is.' I gave it a whiff, 'And it smells like normal tea.' I tasted it and immediately cringed, 'It isn't sweet tea that's for sure. At least the heat seared my taste buds from the first sip.' I reasoned.
After that thought I drank the remaining contents and felt my head slowly stop spinning and my pain eased significantly. My sight cleared enough to see and I looked up to the man only to see a very concerned Estel.
"Estel?" I asked.
"Yes." he nodded.
I looked back to the cup, "What did you put in this? I think I'm hallucinating."
"What do you mean, you think your hallucinating?" he questioned.
I stared off into space and said more to myself, "I didn't wake up in my dorm. This was supposed to be a dream."
"It's not a dream. I can assure you that I am real." he assured.
I looked back at him, "Prove it then."
He tilted his head at me, "What?"
"Prove to me that you are real and that this isn't a dream." I set the cup down onto the stone floor and crossed my arms.
He leaned back and was silent for a moment, "Tell me. Have you ever experienced pain in any other dream than this one?"
"No..." I said slowly.
"Then this is reality." he confirmed.
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Oh really now." I stood and walked around him and out of the open door.
I heard him rise and quickly walk after me, "What are you doing? You should be resting. You sustained critical wounds from fighting. You shouldn't be able to walk in at least a week!"
"I'm looking for a book. And to answer your worries, I feel fine." I answered over my shoulder.
In the hallway outside my room I saw Legolas, leaned against the wall holding a book; pretending to not know we were there. I quickly went over to him and pulled the book down to my eye level and looked at the script, "and Bard struck down the Dragon with the black arrow that his forefather had made, and Smaug was defeated."
I let go of the book and stepped backwards a bit. I stared into space before saying, "Dang it!" then muttering, "Stupid dreams, with their stupid fights, and their stupid people that make stupid life choices." I crossed my arms and glared at the opposite wall.
"Excuse me?" came Legolas' affronted voice from behind me, "We make stupid life choices?"
I sighed, turned to look at him, and smiled, "I was talking about myself. Ok?"
"How have you made stupid life choices?" Estel asked.
I turned to him my smile completely wiped off my face, "For getting my skull cracked open every time I come here!"
He sighed, "Speaking of that, you should go back to bed and rest. I don't want you to over exert yourself. You lost a lot of blood yesterday."
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows, "I'm going to ask you a very important question, Estel. A very important question." I then pointed to myself, "Do I look like I care?"
He opened his mouth but didn't speak out of sheer disbelief.
"No. No, I do not care. So please just leave me alone while I figure out a way to get home." I walked around him and was about to go into my room when Legolas' voice came to my ears again, "Where do you live?"
I turned around again, "The United States of America."
"In all of my years of existence I have never heard of such a place." he said confused.
I gave him a blank stare, "How could you have missed it? We have an ego bigger than the continent we live in."
"That would explain a lot." he stated.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" I said raising a brow.
He casually returned to his book, "Nothing."
I narrowed my eyes at him before trying again to go back to my room, but another louder voice broke the perfectly good silence.
"Well I see the young lassie has awoken!"
I winced as Gimli's voice made my head start throbbing again.
"How are you feeling?" he said in his Scottish accent.
I sighed, "Well I would feel a whole lot better if you would stop yelling."
"Yelling? Who is yelling?" he said in the same tone.
I frantically gestured to him, "You! You are!"
Estel quickly cut in and placed a hand on Gimli's shoulder, "Perhaps you and Legolas should go for a walk."
"Ah." Gimli said, "Well Legolas, I suppose we should be getting gone. I don't think the healer likes our company!"
"I certainly don't." I muttered.
Legolas closed his book and looked at me with a smirk, "What was that?"
I smiled sarcastically back, "I said, I don't like your company."
He laughed, "You are the prickly one indeed." Then stood to his full height (which I notice was about a foot taller than me) and walked past on down the hallway to Gimli, "I believe you wished to show me a project you've been working on?"
"Ah Yes!" he said, "It's not fine tuned yet, but it'll get there."
"I will see you at the meeting tomorrow." Legolas said to Estel before turning to me to give me a bow of the head, "Lady Oak."
I raised an eyebrow at him but he laughed again and set off with Gimly who's ramblings I could hear way after they disappeared out of sight.
I looked to Estel, "Thanks for that."
He nodded to me, "You are welcome. It's one of the perks of being a healer. No one wants to disobey me."
I knew that remark was aimed at me but I dismissed it with a simple, "Nice try." as I walked into my room again.
Now that my mind was free of any distractions I finally took notice of the place. The overall look of it was beige. Which was mostly because of the stone walls. At the wall to the right of the door was the bed I had been lying in. I looked to the left (in front of me) and saw a tall window that had been opened to let the cool spring breeze float in.
I walked over to it and immediately regretted looking out. The window was right on the edge of a wall that fell thousands of feet down before coming into contact with a plateau town of sorts. To say the least I stepped a few feet away from the ledge before I felt safe. I've always had trouble with heights, and this was just too much.
Once I was safely a yard away from the drop, I looked directly out of the window to see rolling hills and plains leading up to black hills on the horizon that were outlined in the setting sun. 'Now there's something you don't see every day.' I thought, 'Happy hills meeting morbid mountains.'
"I have never heard of your country either," Estel's voice came from the doorway, "but perhaps you will be able to explain soon."
I stepped away from the window some more before turning to him, "What do you mean?"
He smiled, "A lot of people want to meet you, and I myself wonder how a mere human has survived for so long."
He saw my confused face and gave a chuckle, "Perhaps this will make sense on the morn. Good night, lady Oak."
"It's not night yet." I said while pointing to the setting sun.
He smiled, "You need plenty of rest to help you heal. Do not get out of bed again." he said with authority.
I sighed, "Fine."
He nodded and went out closing the door behind him.
After a few moments I looked at the bed, 'Maybe I'll go to sleep here and wake up back at college.' I thought.
I left the window and walked over to my bed. It was only then that I realized I wasn't in the clothes I had on originally. A white night dress had replaced the fighting clothes I had worn the day before.
I sighed, "I will find out who changed my clothes," I muttered before climbing onto the bed and sliding into the sheets, "and I will make them wish they'd never been born."
As soon as my head touched the pillow I felt the weight of my tiredness. I yawned and curled deeper into the covers.
'Think of home. Home sweet home.' I thought to myself, and I fell asleep doing just that.
But it's just a testament to my luck that it didn't work.
oOoOoOo
Change of plans, there will be another chapter or two. I'm having trouble seeing how far I want this to go.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for adventure!
Another disclaimer: This isn't going to be a Leggomance either. Sorry to dash all of your hopes and dreams like that, but it had to be done.
