AN: I'm sorry it took so long to update, bot it's back :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognise
Chapter 9: A meeting with an elf:
Eustace's P.O.V
Eustace and Jill had been with the hobbits and Strider three days now. Eustace had begun to wonder how far it was to Rivendell. He wasn't complaining, at least not as vocally as the hobbits, they didn't seem to be used to walking at all. In fact Frodo had told him that the Hobbits never really left the Shire, which was apparently where the hobbits lived, and even then they only went as far as Bree. Eustace had laughed at that- then had to explain why he thought it was funny. Explaining that in his and Jill's world Bree was a type of cheese had been quite an amusing conversation. Then Jill pointed out that there was a town called Cheddar, and a place in Yorkshire called Wensleydale. Then Eustace remembered a tale that cousin Edmund had told him, with Lucy chipping in, about a talking horse called Bree. But the tale of King Cor, back when he was prince Cor and escaping Calormen on a talking horse named Bree- by Jove it took some time to tell.
Even still the walk to Rivendell was taking longer than he had anticipated, the way Strider had talked about it, Rivendell seemed to be just two or three days away, but apparently they had only just passed halfway. Eustace was now curious as to what Striders job was- that he was used to travelling such long distances. The walk wasn't unpleasant though, especially when the last adventure Eustace had been on was over a moor in the snow for miles and miles. There was a reason that only the giants could stomach living there, and it wasn't just that they aren't the brightest bunch.
Eustace was just wondering whether there were any moors like that in this world, and he was about to ask Strider when he heard the sound of a horses hooves. Strider stopped walking and turned toward the sound, drawing his sword from its sheath, and Eustace mimicked him, causing Jill to grab her bow and notch an arrow. The hobbits all crowded behind the three humans, as the horse entered the little clearing the seven of them were in.
The horse came into the clearing with a woman who reminded him of Ramandu's daughter, she had the same otherworldly beauty, which Strider seemed to like judging by his welcoming smile, but Eustace would rather have someone less intimidating, like Jill. Jill could be intimidating when she wanted to be, and she was pretty, well it wasn't like he had been looking at her like that. At school there were plenty of other girls who his dorm mates would talk about. He realised that there were girls who were prettier than Jill, but she was easier to talk to, and around her he almost felt like he was in Narnia again, she made him a better person and stopped him slipping back into his old bratty ways.
The horse had stopped, and the woman slipped off next to Strider, the two immediately talking in a musical language. Eustace walked over to Jill as she shrugged in confusion; then Eustace felt his face heat up as he recalled his previous thought, he looked back to the mysterious woman and noticed her ears were pointed. "By Jove" he murmured, "Is she an elf?"
"She must be, but not like the elves in our world, or at least the tales of elves in our world. But then I suppose if your cousins meet Father Christmas in Narnia, the there might be little elves that actually exist somewhere. This lady looks more like the tales of the Fay in our world. A little like the Queen of Underworld."
Eustace frowned and looked down at her "Though it seems like there's a magic in her, it's cleaner than the Queen's, like the air in Aslan's country. She reminds me of Ramandu's daughter- you know- Caspian's wife."
"I wouldn't know I never met the lady, though now you say it, there was a slight difference in Rillian to Caspian, at least when I saw Caspian when he was old, that difference could have been from his mother, and she was the Star's daughter wasn't she. I guess this elf lady does feel a bit like that."
"I wonder why she's here."
Strider was explaining something to the elf lady judging by the confused look on her face, but as they were still talking in that strange but beautiful language, and then the lady turned to look at Jill and himself, her eyes searching and Eustace felt, were he still as he was before his first trip to Narnia, that he would not have been able to meet them.
The lady came over to the two of them, now speaking English, or as the hobbits called it, common. "Strider was telling me that you jumped in front of the ring bearer, and were injured by the sword of the ringwraiths, yet were healed by a magic cordial. May I ask where you received the cordial?"
Jill stepped forward "It was given to me by Aslan, and before that had belonged to Eustace's cousin Queen Lucy, according to the man she received it from; it was from a fire flower grown in the valleys of the sun. If that helps?"
"I have never heard of this Aslan, though the name is a wonderful one, ringing with good magic, nor of these fire flowers, but it is indeed a useful thing, should in heal so grave an injury." Jill smiled at the elf lady, and gave a little curtsy. Eustace couldn't help but think she looked nicer than the lady when she smiled. Not as beautiful, no, but much nicer.
The lady got back on her horse, but apparently the ringwraiths were catching up with them, and as they could sence the ring, the lady suggested that she take Frodo with her on the horse so as to outrun the ringwraiths and get to Rivendell faster, and also draw them away from the rest of the group so they could reach Rivendell safely on foot. Frodo agreed with the plan, as he didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of the ringwraiths after him, or at least the ring that he was carrying.
As Frodo and the lady rode of Eustace frowned, "For Pete's sake, we don't even know her name!"
Strider grinned back at him. "Her name is Arwen Undómiel, lady of Rivendell."
