Thank you to my reviewers Puffgirl1952 the 2nd, jshaw0624, dragon slayer bye the book, RedBear5 and Guest. You're awesome!

0o0o0o0

Haldir felt slightly uncomfortable as he stood beside the small camp, waiting. It wasn't the presence of the men, the hobbits or even the dwarf that caused this feeling. It was more because of the woman he was waiting for. She'd been in the bath house for quite some time now. Apparently, she enjoyed bathing quite a bit. The company had been in the city for three days now and she was finally being summoned by the Lord and Lady of the Wood. When they learned that Gandalf had intended for her to come here, it became important for them to see her. As he understood it, she was still weak from her wound. The Marchwarden knew he would either have to help her walk or carry her.

If he were honest with himself, it was because she looked so much like her that left him uneasy. Her voice was slightly lower, her hair color was so much darker except for the streaks of silver blonde and her eyes were a mixture of hazel and green that was both foreign and familiar. Haldir shook his head. There was nothing for it.

When the woman finally emerged, she was clothed in another borrowed dress. It was a sky blue that had shorter sleeves than some dresses did and was so long on her that she held great big bunches of it in one hand as she walked so that she wouldn't trip. Haldir had heard the Gondorian captain had suggest that she take her knife and cut the hem to a better length but she had flushed and said that she couldn't do something so rude to something that didn't belong to her.

"It doesn't belong to me, so I don't get to decide what to do with it," she had said before going off to her bath. He'd been too far away for them to see at the time, being high up in the boughs of the tree. He was on his way down to retrieve her and now that she had finally returned, he was able to carry out his duty to his Lord and Lady.

"Lady Danielle," Haldir greeted coolly. She seemed slightly startled, as if she hadn't noticed him there.

"Haldir, right?" she asked with a little hesitancy. She'd been calling him Headache in English for the last few days and he'd been a good sport, especially since he didn't know what it meant. Legolas had chuckled at the nickname for a couple of days before coaching her on his real name. She still called him Headache when she thought he was out of earshot. Which wasn't often, though she didn't know that.

"The Lord and Lady require your presence," he said smoothly. She looked up at the tree they were likely to climb and gave a deep sigh of resignation. "I will assist you."

"Haven't you guys heard of elevators?" she asked sullenly as he offered his arm to her. He gave her a confused look while Legolas, who was nearby, gave a small smile. She'd explained the concept to him once. It both fascinated and amused him that mortals were so innovative, yet so lazy where she came from. He could see the benefits of such a device but knew people would become complacent, as they already had in her world.

Danielle shifted so that she was leaning slightly on the elf as he guided her up the stairs. They stopped once to let her rest. The second time, Haldir just picked her up wordlessly amidst her protests and carried her the rest of the way. By the time they reached the top, she was glowering at the side of his face with her arms crossed over her chest and he was successfully suppressing the amused smirk that wished to break across his face. Some of the things she'd said when he picked her up were absolutely ridiculous. Apparently, having a father that stinks of elderberries was supposed to be some kind of insult. Haldir quite liked the smell of elderberries. And he wasn't sure exactly what a hamster was but he was positive his mother didn't resemble one in the slightest.

When he set her down, she glared at him as best as she could. He had brought her to some kind of study where there were four chairs surrounding a table. There were a few small bookcases strewn about the room, a couple of comfortable looking chairs and a fireplace, which really blew Danielle's mind. A fireplace in a tree. Not gonna touch that with a ten foot pole. She waited for him to glance at her or to leave but he was stoic in appearance as he waited with her. Already bored and slightly impatient, Danielle decided to see if she could make the Marchwarden blush. Or get a headache. It was the least he deserved for making her head feel like it was being run over by a train for the first couple of days she'd been there, she reasoned.

She decided that a song would be the best route to go. So far, the only music she'd sung to the Company had been of innocent natures and fun beats to work with while she figured out the best approximation of that song in Westron. Of course, Legolas knowing English had made some of that easier. But it also made it more difficult in other respects. Once or twice before they'd reached Moria, she'd let the elf peruse the music on her phone after a good charge and in one instance she had left it on shuffle when she let him listen to it. That had resulted in some embarrassing questions regarding some of the songs he'd had the... pleasure... of hearing. She hadn't been able to stop blushing when he delicately asked in English, "What is a thong? Why would someone want to see it?"

Even more embarrassing? "What is a minute man? What does he do? Is there some task he is unsuited to?"

The brunette still had trouble with speaking whenever he would bring that question up. She got the feeling that he continued to ask because it got her flustered. She had refused to answer the Minute Man Question, as she had started to call it. But the thongs? She had quite enjoyed his blush when she explained that it was a type of undergarment worn only by women and exactly how it fit, what it did and did not cover and why women wear them. The pure shock and disbelief on his face had been worth every second of her own discomfort.

"Haldir? Have you heard any of the songs of my people?" she asked innocently.

"I have heard a few songs of men," he answered stiffly. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was up to something.

"Not just songs of men," she laughed with a shake of her head. Danielle wondered where the Lord and Lady were. They had wanted to see her so badly but now they were late? "Songs of my people. Where I'm from. I don't think any of the hobbits have been running around and singing them, have they?"

"I know not," he replied.

"Well, while we're waiting... I thought I'd sing one. If you don't mind, that is."

"I care not," his drawl was all she needed to start. He was starting to sound irritated.

"Well, a Scotsman clad in kilt left a bar on evening fair!

And one could tell by how we walked that he drunk more than his share!

He fumbled round until he could no longer keep his feet,

Then he stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street!

Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh!

He stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street," Danielle wanted to giggle with glee at the slightly bored look in the Marchwarden's eye.

"About that time two young and lovely girls just happened by.

And one says to the other with a twinkle in her eye,

'See yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built?

I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt? Tee hee!'

Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh!

'I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt!'" she sang that with a little giggle on the end, one hand covering her mouth as though she was about to tell a secret that was meant to be kept.

"They crept up on that sleeping Scotsman quiet as could be," she grinned and made a shushing sound with one finger to her lips as she slowly crept towards him. She'd wandered to the other side of the study, oblivious to the fact that there were two amused elves that stood in the doorway. Haldir had not noticed them either. His eyes were suddenly fixed on the woman, though you would not have been able to decide if the stare he was giving was amused, disgusted or interested. Or, perhaps it was all three?

"Lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see!" as this part was sung, she pantomimed lifting a cloth up. However, she lifted the imaginary kilt hem by about a foot and gave an exaggerated gasp of surprise.

"And there behold, for them to see, beneath his Scottish skirt,

Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth! Oh!" she placed the back of her right hand against her forehead as though she might faint and took an exaggerated step back. Haldir raised an eyebrow and attempted to quell the rising color in his cheeks.

"Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh!

Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth!

"They marveled for a moment..." at this, she paused and looked amazed, giving a breathy sigh. Haldir's ears were beginning to burn at the tips. This was not an appropriate song for any woman to be singing. "Wow...! Then one said, 'we must be gone!'

'Let's leave a present for our friend, before we move along!'

As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon, tied into a bow

Around the bonnie star, the Scots kilt did lift and show, woo!

Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh!

Around the bonnie star, the Scots kilt did lift and show!

Now the Scotsman woke to nature's call and stumbled towards a tree

Behind a bush, he lifts his kilt and gawks at what he sees

And in a startled voice he says to what's before his eyes,

'O lad I don't know where you been... but I see you won first prize!' Woo!

Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh!

'O lad I don't know where you been but I see you won first prize!'"

If the color red that Haldir had turned during the song didn't have a name, Danielle decided it should be named after the very elf that produced it. She couldn't help but laugh at the way his mouth opened briefly and then shut as if he didn't know what was meant to come out of it. He opened it again and then shut it swiftly again. Then he bowed slightly to the two elves that had been silently bearing witness to the strangeness that was Danielle Barr and her mischievous side that had come out to play.

Without having to walk constantly, she was becoming a ball of energy that she didn't know what to do with and since she didn't have any big speakers to attach to the phone, now that it was completely charged again, she couldn't feel comfortable with playing some music and dancing to one of the old routines she had recorded on the device. She had to get her kicks somewhere.

She also needed to remain distracted. She'd been so awed and amazed by wondrous realm she'd been in that she hadn't had time to think about Gandalf dying until that morning. It had struck her like lightning when Sam had casually asked her how she was doing. At first, she was about to say that she was fine. Then, this ball of pain welled up in her throat and choked the answer before it could emerge. She just gave a thin smile and nodded, trying to swallow it back down. It didn't work. When she was given a new dress for her to wear that day, she took the bundle and silently trudged to the baths. She was a little stronger now. It was the blood loss that was making her tired.

In the bath house, she climbed into the steaming waters and the pain that welled up inside just burst forth. She sobbed, arms wrapped around her middle in an attempt to pull those emotions back into her core and hide them. It didn't work. Danielle leaned her head against the edge of the spring and let go of all the weight that was sitting on her heart. She belatedly realized that she was crying not just for the loss of the old man that had become a dear friend to her in so little time; she wept for the family she hadn't seen in such a long time, for the life that she wasn't sure she'd ever see again. She wept for all the pain and suffering she'd endured since her arrival in this world, for the pain and suffering she'd endured even before then. A dam had broken and everything was flooding out in that quiet, private space.

She cried for so long and so hard that when she finally had the sense to actually bathe, her fingers had turned to prunes and her hair had tangled itself in the water as it floated around her. It took her a good, long while to get the knots and snarls out again, to feel like she could get out of the water without shattering into a million pieces. She had dried off and stared at herself in the mirror for a while before braiding her hair back. When she'd arrived back to the camp with the company, she had been in a world of her own, trying to think desperately of what she could do to make the thudding pain in her heart go away. Then she saw Haldir.

Now, as she stood before the Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel once again, she couldn't find it in herself to be embarrassed by her display. She'd meant to make the stoic, strange elf that stared at her blush and had accomplished her mission. Now, she would see if there were any answers for her. Judging by the look in their eyes, they knew something about why she was here, if not how, and when she could go back home. That was something that she looked forward to quite desperately. She enjoyed the new friends she'd made but Danielle hadn't enjoyed the fire monsters and the wolves from hell. She wanted to go home.

It didn't matter that this was the most exciting, amazing thing she'd ever done in her life. It didn't matter that being with the group of men, hobbits, one elf, one dwarf and a wizard had been the most fun she'd had in a long while that didn't make her heart ache or cry because of past memories. It didn't matter that she'd enjoyed adventure stories similar to this in recent years. Mind you, those were romance novels that had bare-chested muscular men staring off into the distance with smoldering eyes... Intense blue eyes instantly came to mind and she shook her head. Nope. Don't do that to yourself. You're going home. She looked expectantly at the two elves, sure that this was going to be a meeting she'd never forget as she gave a slight but respectful bow in their direction. Be nice to your hosts and your hosts will be nice to you.

0o0o0o0

The pale, angry woman that Haldir deposited back in the camp a few hours later very nearly had steam coming out of her ears and it was her rigid posture that prevented the hobbits from coming near her. They had seen such a posture on Gandalf when he was very cross; even Pippin didn't dare to approach. He might have been the dullest knife in the drawer about some things but on this? He was not going to be the sacrificial lamb that attempted to bring her out of her foul mood.

"Nothing they can do..." she muttered as she clenched her fists and then relaxed them. "This is my world now...? What the actual fuck?!"

She kicked her pack on the ground with as much viciousness as she could muster. It didn't fly far. Danielle didn't even look at the hobbits.

"Danielle, are you all right?" Boromir asked softly as he came back to the camp. Clearly, this was the wrong thing to say or do because instead of a response, she just glared angrily and stomped off. The Gondorian was completely confused. He was certain that he hadn't done anything to incur her wrath and he had only just come back from the training grounds where he'd been going through the sword positions and techniques he'd learned since he was a boy. Glancing towards the hobbits, they gave him a sympathetic look.

"She was just with the Lady Galadriel," Sam explained. "I reckon it wasn't good news."

Boromir nodded. That would more than explain the attitude she had. The man could tell by how she stalked off that she was not to be trifled with and that she needed a few moments to herself. With that knowledge, he sat down and went about sharpening his sword. His time training had alerted him to some dull spots and nicks from Moria and he had no intention of letting a dull blade slow him down during what may yet come.

It was during this time that Danielle, who was quickly tiring after her theatrics, realized that she had not paid attention to where she was going when she stormed away from the camp she had been sharing with the others. She was lost and she wasn't going to let her angry pride be damaged by stopping someone and asking for directions. Instead, she kept her angry huffing and puffing as she attempted to storm off further in a direction that looked somewhat recognizable. The fact was that she just hadn't been in the Golden Wood long enough to know what was supposed to be recognizable and what was supposed to be off limits. And she was approaching an area that was most definitely off limits.

Thus, when two blond elves dropped from a hidden talan above her without even a warning, she yelped and fell flat on her backside with a bright red flush of embarrassment and misdirected anger. The two elves that had suddenly blocked her path were very similar in appearance and it took her a moment to realize where she'd seen them before. It's Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum! Danielle thought as she raised an indignant eyebrow. They were the elves that had been carrying the litter she'd laid on for most of the journey to Caras Galadhon. As she remembered it, they were the younger brothers of Haldir. Orophin and... what was the other one's name? Oh, yeah. Rúmil.

"You could at least say something!" she growled as she got back to her feet. They gave her an amused look. They tried to speak to her in Sindarin but the blank look she gave them indicated that she had no idea what they'd just said.

"Our Westron not fluid," Rúmil said brokenly but he grinned and bowed slightly to her in a playful manner. This just served to irritate her at the moment. She was trying to be angry, damn it! She had every right to be angry.

"Fluent. The word is fluent," she bit out. Normally the young woman had quite a bit of patience. She was completely out of it at the moment. She wanted to go home. She had always thought going on some kind of adventure would be fun when she was a kid. Children tend to forget that adventures can be dangerous. A friend had died. She'd been injured. She was changing. That was the most terrifying part of Danielle's adventure. She was becoming something different than she was before and she had no idea what that meant.

"We keep safe. Woods safe. No leave woods now. Yrch out woods," Orophin stated and then pointed at her. "You back. Go."

Danielle suddenly felt like a defiant teenager and proved it by crossing her arms and sending up the most haughty look she could to them both. She was not in the mood to be trifled with and when she was in a bad mood or didn't get her way, she tended to be more like an angry child than a grown woman.

"I don't feel like it. I'm sick of being told what to do and I just want to be left alone."

The two elves glanced at each other. Neither one had more than a tentative grasp of Westron but they had the gist of what she was saying. Unfortunately, she couldn't go any further. She was already on the inner border of the woods. The two of them had been watching her for the last few days while their brother attended to some business. They were astonished by how much of a resemblance there was between this woman and the one they knew so long ago. Her hair was much different in color and texture, her eyes were a different color as well but her facial features? They were mesmerized by the similarities.

In fact, most of the elves that had seen her had taken to gossip. Some whispered that it was just a disguise. Some claimed magic and sorcery was to blame for the closely matching features. But those who had met her and had been around her would quietly testify that the physical similarities were not the end of this story. She was much shorter than her. But the personalities? The sudden quips that left her companions stifling smiles or struggling to swallow their drink rather than spit it out in shock? The fact that she had gotten their older brother, the Marchwarden of Lothlórien, to turn into a wordless tomato with a song was already spreading amongst the ranks and that had happened perhaps two hours before. She had such pull, long ago.

They were broken from their inner musings when the woman began to walk around them.

"Not safe," Rúmil tried again as he gently grabbed her arm. She huffed angrily but didn't resist. She was spent. "Come."

"Nothing is ever safe," she muttered as they gently led her back the way she came. Danielle spotted a garden that she hadn't noticed on her first angry stomp session and pulled her arm from the elf's hand. The brothers looked at each other briefly as she walked over to a set of benches that were ensconced in a thick patch of flowers that Danielle couldn't even name. They were yellow flowers that looked like little starbursts. The brothers stared at her for a short time before deciding that she probably wanted to be alone. That was why she'd stormed away from her camp, wasn't it?

0o0o0o0

Aragorn was the one to find Danielle many hours later. When she hadn't shown up for lunch or dinner, the hobbits, Merry and Pippin particularly, had been ready to launch a rescue mission of their own. It was the promise that Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas would go looking for her that had kept them from what surely would have been an impressive campaign of terror against the elves that they would have come across. Legolas had commented that it was likely that the two would have made it a priority to search every nook and cranny of the kitchens and food stores for the woman. Sam might have been interested in helping them.

When the ranger discovered where she was, he wondered why no one had deigned to tell her that it was Galadriel's private garden that she was currently intruding on. Then, he wondered if Galadriel had ordered that everyone leave her be there. She was sitting on a bench that was surrounded by élanor flowers. It was a beautiful area that had many kinds of flowers but that particular area was filled with the élanors. She seemed entranced by the delicate little buds and the soft yellow petals.

"Élanor." Danielle's head snapped up in surprise. She'd been sitting by herself, mulling over her meeting with the rulers of this wood and what it all meant. She hadn't been bothered since she sat down and hadn't even realized that night had fallen.

"What?"

"Tis the name of the flower."

"Oh. That's a beautiful name. It's actually a name that many women have back home," she answered as she resumed her study. "But it so much prettier when it's said in that pretty language you and Legolas speak."

"Do you not speak it too?" Aragorn asked quietly as he came to sit next to her. She rolled her eyes.

"I wish. I don't think I could say anything in that language that would sound even close to what it should," she laughed as she fingered one of the flowers before gently picking it and bringing it to her nose. It smelled so sweet, it made her giddy.

"You spoke it not one week ago," he pointed out. She scoffed.

"Yeah and not one week ago, I was suffering from a poisonous wound. I was delirious. I probably said a lot of things. Doesn't mean I know what I was saying," she shook her head. With a deep sigh, she looked up to the canopy above her. The world around her was glowing softly.

"You said some things that were most decidedly not random, Danielle."

"You know, there's an animal back home called a chimpanzee. It's a pretty smart animal. Scientists have proven that humans are only different than them because of a difference of about .02% of our DNA. That's stuff in the blood," she explained at his slightly confused look. "Anyway, it was shown that if you give enough of them this device called a typewriter that eventually, with enough random touches to the device, they could type out the complete works of a great writer named William Shakespeare. Doesn't mean that they knew what they were doing. It was all random."

"If it was all random, my lady, then why did you say that you were in torment? That you were in hell?" Aragorn ventured further, his keen eyes watching her carefully. That question made her go rigid. She looked over to him with slightly haunted eyes.

"I said what?"

"You told Legolas in Sindarin that you were in torment, that you were in hell. You told him that you were being tortured by someone in the darkness."

The ranger watched her reaction carefully. Apparently, something about that upset her greatly. Gently, he placed a hand over hers. She had let her eyes drift away from him but they snapped back to him at that moment.

"What ails you?" he asked quietly.

"I... I've been having nightmares..."

"About...?" he gently prompted.

"It started out with a room. A room of stone that was dark and moist, like with a dungeon. And there was a voice speaking in this guttural language... It said it could see me the first time I had it..." she looked at him with tired eyes. "Galadriel knew about the nightmares, Aragorn. She talked to me about them when I met with her today."

"What happened during that meeting? What did she say?"

Danielle's thoughts drifted back to the meeting, as they had been since she'd sat down.

"Haldir, you may leave. We will call for you when it is time to return her to the camp," the elleth said with an amused smile on her face. Lord Celeborn was amused as well but did a much better job of hiding it. Only the slightest quirk of his lips indicated his thoughts on the scene they had encountered. The flushing Marchwarden bowed stiffly and left without a word. He knew that the elves posted as guards just outside the study had heard everything and as soon as he passed them with the blush he had yet to control, he knew they would be spreading the word. Haldir was sure he was never going to live this down.

It was just a matter of time before the ranks were whispering about this. Thankfully, the only ones who would be brave enough to mention it to his face would be his brothers. He prayed fervently to the Valar that this particular nugget of information would pass them by. It was a foolish prayer. He knew it even before he made it.

Meanwhile, Danielle and the Chernobyl Twins, as she wanted to call them now, were quietly looking each other over. Galadriel hadn't tried to look into her mind again, of that the brunette was certain. She had a sneaking suspicion that she would have had another nosebleed or worse if she had.

"Tell me, child, how you came to be in this Company?" Lord Celeborn asked sagely. He gestured to one of the comfy chairs that adorned the room. Danielle didn't need to be asked twice. She sat down and was pleased with how soft it was.

"I was caught in a flash flood while I was out camping. I was supposed be meeting with my parents and we were going to spend a weekend out in the wilderness. I was swept out towards the river and when I woke up, I was lost. I thought I was still in Michigan but I wasn't. I lost most of my food supplies and was injured. I was nearly dead by the time they found me. I'd been lost and starving for nearly a month. It was pure luck that they found me when they did," she began. "They fixed my wound and fed me. I didn't understand a single word anyone was saying until they started teaching me Westron. And then Gandalf..."

She choked on the name for a moment, the memory of his fall against that fire monster overwhelming her again. She bit her tongue until she tasted a bit of blood before she could speak again, though she had to swallow a bit before she did.

"Gandalf did something to make it easier for me to learn, I guess? I'm not sure what he did but it hurt. A lot. And then I started learning Westron a lot faster."

"What of the nightmares?" Lady Galadriel asked suddenly and Danielle froze.

"What nightmares?" she asked slowly. The knowing look she received made her want to wither away. She swallowed thickly and looked down. "Oh... Those nightmares..."

"Yes."

"They started up after I met up with the guys."

"What do you see?" the question Danielle wanted to ask was why this elleth was even bothering to ask? She'd seen into her head enough to know she was having nightmares. Couldn't she just hit the rewind in there and see for herself?

"I see a dark room. It changes every time. First, it was just smelly and scary with a scary voice speaking. Then there was a chair with chains and blood. Then... I was in the chair. I was the one chained down. I... I was being tortured for information but..."

"Go on." It wasn't prodding, the way she said it. It was like she was getting the woman to admit to something she didn't want to admit to.

"I wasn't the one talking," she said suddenly. "It wasn't me. It was someone else. I was just along for the ride."

"What information was being tortured out of her?" Lord Celeborn asked softly.

"I don't know. She never told them anything. She was there for so long... and never told them anything. She even told them to just kill her and those she loved because she wouldn't say a word."

This gave the two elves in front of her pause. They looked at each other in such a way that Danielle was sure that some kind of special, psychic communication was going on between the two of them. They turned to look at her in unison and it was just creepy for her to see. She had to stop herself from giving an involuntary shudder.

"Was there anymore to these dreams?" Danielle was starting to get pissed. They were more interested in her dreams than helping her find a way home? Than telling her how she even got here? What the actual fuck?

"Yeah. I got to be there, front row and center, when I had a nightmare about being gang raped by a bunch of filthy orcs and monsters. Except it wasn't me. It was her. And she was so torn up inside and out from it that she didn't stop bleeding for hours and hours after they were done. And she was dying. I could feel myself dying. And then just as I was about to be rescued, I woke up. Now, you want to tell me what the hell is so damn interesting about my dreams when I'd really just like to know how I got here and how I can go back home?"

Both elves in front of her paled at the description she'd just given them of the last nightmare she'd had. She felt that if they wanted to know her nightmares, now they did. She wouldn't bother to tell them about the good dreams she'd been having since she got here. They didn't deserve that just yet. Galadriel seemed to be the first of the two to regain her voice.

"Child, we know not how you came to be in Middle Earth. We have never heard of such a thing, of people coming from other worlds to this one. You are a part of this world now. It is your world now," the elleth said softly but with an air of authority.

"No. Sorry, wrong answer. But you do get this lovely teacup as a consolation prize. I'd like the correct answer, please. How did I get here and, more importantly, how do I get home?"

"My dear child... There is nothing we can do to help you. The power of the Elves cannot send you back to the world from whence you came. What forces brought you here are beyond our ability to counteract."

"So, what? I'm supposed to just accept that I can never go back? What exactly am I supposed to do while I'm here, hm? I don't have any trade skills. I can knit and crochet and sew but the first two on that list are strictly scarves and blankets and hats, okay? I barely put hats on that list as it is because they come out extra big and rarely how I like. And sewing? I made a skirt for my mother once and she said it was the thought that counted. Let's not even mention other household stuff. I'm terrible at keeping things clean. So, I guess domestic stuff is out, right?" she was fuming as she got on a roll. The last sentence was dripping with sarcasm.

The elves sitting before her were serene and simply watched her as she stood up and walked over to the fireplace. Her anger was rising fast and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to contain herself for too much longer. "So, what about positions outside of the home? Oh! Right! Forgot! In this world, women that aren't elves are basically baby machines that only do the domestic stuff. Right. So, my options are pretty limited here, aren't they? Either become a baby machine and clean the house or clean the house and become a baby machine. Oh, what will I ever do?"

"You could stay here, in Caras Galadhon."

The suggestion threw her for a loop. She turned and gaped at them for a good, long minute.

"Stay here? With the elves?"

"You would not be expected to simply become anything other than what you would choose to be." The sentence from Lord Celeborn seemed oddly loaded and from the strange looks she was receiving from both of them, they were hinting at something but Danielle was too furious to even bother with thinking about it or asking.

"So, instead of looking for a way home, you would have me stay here and do... whatever I felt like doing?"

"Yes." It was a straight up invitation to pure laziness and the freedom to do whatever she wanted. It was like winning the lottery. Except she didn't feel like this was a win. Oddly enough, she felt like this was the lure to some kind of trap and she didn't want to touch the cheese, for fear of springing the trap into action. She suddenly felt uncertain about everything. Except her anger. That was the only thing that remained clear to her. She was still absolutely pissed that they couldn't or wouldn't help her find a way home.

"I'll... think about it," she responded with an effort to be diplomatic. She couldn't make her hosts mad after only a few days. That's a really bad move, first of all. Secondly, she wanted to stay with the fellowship. She knew them and trusted them. She didn't trust these people yet. They hadn't earned it. The conversation turned to other things after that, but Danielle was still fuming by the time Haldir came and picked her up. Literally. Without her permission.

Aragorn listened intently to the story. He'd been lurking in the trees when she'd initially been brought before the Lord and Lady and had been there still when Haldir had returned her. Legolas had been in the camp when Haldir had taken her for the meeting but had been bidden to visit with friends of his father shortly afterwards, so he had not been in the camp when she'd been returned.

Gimli had missed the fact that she'd been returned as well because he'd decided to do some training with axes and throwing axes. Aragorn had seen Boromir head early that morning into the training fields with his word to practice. He'd seen the slightly confused and crestfallen look on the man's face when Danielle had given him that glare. It had been a powerful glare, at that. He would have guessed it would normally cause the subjects of it to burst into flame.

"Why did you say nothing of these nightmares?" he asked gently. Danielle's hazel eyes went to the ranger. The troubled look in them returned.

"It's just stress. That's all. I'm sure of it. I mean, who wouldn't be stressed when they get tossed into another world, right? And not to mention orcs! Those things look like walking scar tissue," she shuddered at the memory of the orcs and goblins from Moria. "And remember the wargs? Yeah. I think it's all stress."

"Danielle..."

"Look, I'm really tired and irritated. I've already talked about the nightmares with Galadriel and I just rehashed it with you. Do you mind if I get some rest before I have to talk about it again? Please?"

Aragorn looked at her evenly for a moment. Although they had not spoken overly much during the time they'd traveled together, he had come to think of her as a little sister in some ways. At times, she was obnoxious and unruly. But she was still young and this journey had taken a toll on her. Especially her time out in the Wild alone. For someone as ill prepared as she was when she arrived in Arda, he couldn't help but to admire her tenacity and her will to survive. Nearly a month with hardly any food and an injury was impressive. Slowly, he nodded.

"Very well. But we will speak of this. And if there are any nightmares in the future, I would ask that you at least come and speak with me of it. I would have my friends rest easy, if I can help them."

Danielle heaved a small sigh of relief before she smiled at him. "Fine. I promise. Thanks, Aragorn. I really appreciate it. Now, where is camp again? I kind of stormed off and I have no idea where I am right now."