Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own anything that is obviously Tolkien's in this story. I claim my OC's only and admit to playing unashamedly in this wonderful sandbox of imagination. Thank you.

Also note that there is mild language in this chapter. Be advised. Lol.

Prologue/Chapter 1:

In rural Ontario, the topic of 'the weather' has a time-honored place of importance in the conversations of farmers, which is why it is only fitting that we begin our story by discussing said topic. After all, it does begin on a small farm… with the weather...

The weather was downright nasty, though not in the least bit unwelcome by the local farmers and Emily did have to agree that the rain was something to greet with joy after such an abnormally hot spring. However, she really wished that it hadn't been during the four days she was home alone or that the worst storm of the season hadn't hit. Not only that, but the storm had finally blown in off the Great Lakes at about the same time she had to do the barn chores.

Dark storm clouds rolled overhead and flashed with light. The wind howled, ripping leaves and branches off the trees as though the world was having a temper tantrum. Emily hurried through the downpour of rain towards the barn and tried not to think about tornadoes.

Usually, if someone else was home, like her mum or dad, or occasionally one of her two older siblings, then she wouldn't even worry about the storm. In a weird way, having someone else around to worry about the weather and bad storms made her less anxious. In truth, she actually really loved storms most of the time.

The wild, fierce beauty of them made her hair stand on end, filling her with wonder at the thrilling forces of nature.

But, this was not the case now.

Right now she was just a worried fourteen-year-old trudging alone through a violent storm and trying to be a responsible adult while her parents were gone. She didn't have time to enjoy the storm. What if something went wrong?! What if the barn's roof blew off? What if the barn collapsed!? Would it catch fire if it was struck by lightning? Probably...

Oh, shut up, you idiot! Dad says it isn't helpful to ask 'what ifs' and if we are going to survive the next few days we need to grow up!

Resolutely ignoring the prickling sensation of foreboding in her gut, she made it under the overhang where three horses were looking at her distastefully. They were quite obviously displeased over having to stand outdoors and she was late feeding them.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry! Just wait, you'll be inside in a moment." Emily said in her best business voice. It made her feel more confident when she talked a loud and pretended she was calmer than she really was.

She moved towards the door to unlatch it, only to note that the hook was not in its place.

"Lady...have you been opening doors again?" The girl scolded. The issue was swiftly dropped when a gust of wind shook the entire barn and Emily thought she heard a weird whistling and ringing noise. The horses snorted, quivering, and pawed the ground, ears flicking an indication that they too had heard the noise.

Freezing, the teen's instantaneous thought was, 'Oh crap! Tornado!' But then the faint noise faded away again and then there was nothing. The beasts calmed down again with the departure of the sound and then just stared at the door of the barn with interest. It was easy for Emily to assume they wanted in, so she warily pushed the disconcerted feeling in her gut aside and slipped through the door into the barn.

"No! Lady! Oohff!"

Lady, her large pushy mare, tried to shove in as well, nearly knocking Emily over as she attempted to barge past. With great effort, Emily caught the big mare by the nose and then sternly urged her backward again, smacking her great chest a little so the large creature would pay attention to her. This was an ongoing battle between them. You see, Lady was the top boss of the little herd and was used to throwing her weight around. Literally. She was big, she knew it, and Emily knew it. In truth, the girl was actually a little afraid of the horse when they were on the ground. Being pushed around by a horse is scary. It had to stop.

"You have to wait, now don't be so rude!" Emily snapped, forcing her fear to become irritation, though on the inside her heart was clenched.

The mare obliged with some reluctance, and then backed out again under the overhang. Emily sighed with relief as she pushed the door back in place and moved to turn on the lights. They dimly lit an open area in front of the horse stalls and it would take a few minutes for them to warm up.

Humming contentedly to ward off the growing unease she felt, Emily set about opening up the stall doors in order to see what was needed in terms of bedding.

A strange noise stopped her in mid-step. There was a soft rustle of straw from the end stall.

Rats, or a raccoon. Better grab the pitchfork just in case.

It is a well-known fact that raccoons, when cornered, can be very vicious and Emily felt better knowing she had some sort of weapon to help slow it down a bit. It wasn't like she carried the family rifle around when she did chores, and even then she wasn't comfortable with it. Generally, she left the gun-slinging to her dad or brother.

Nerves on the edge of having a breakdown at this point, Emily cautiously swung open the last door and froze, staring at the dark, huddled mass in the corner of the stall, trying to make out what it was.

She released a sharp squeal of fright when it moved. Leaping back, she brandished her pitchfork with panic until she caught a better glimpse of what the 'thing' was as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.

It was a child! A young boy, in fact, of about six or seven years. He was dressed in the most unusual attire, as though he had just come from a medieval fair or Halloween party. His dirty chin-length hair definitely looked the part, anyway.

As he gazed at her with wide, tear-filled grey eyes, not making a single peep, Emily stared at him in shock. She didn't have the slightest idea how to respond as she returned his frightened gaze with her own wild look.

Suddenly, his eyes flicked away to look with obvious horror past her left side and he cried out quickly, "Lok ot" in broken English.

Emily spun round to see the biggest, most disgustingly hairy spider she had ever seen in her entire life. Its body was the size of an Old English Bulldog and with the legs, it looked twice that size.

Uttering a wild scream, she danced backward. Then she went numb with shock as she backed away towards the little boy against the wall, all the while holding her pitchfork ready in front of her with both hands tightly clasped around the handle.

The spider skittered forwards, clicking its pincers and making an awful hissing noise. Emily yelp-screamed again and the little boy whimpered, hiding his face as the nightmare approached.

It was then that Emily finally realized it was up to her to do something. She briefly glanced down at the kid and had felt her mind go blank. At that moment a mix of maternal fury, fear, self-preservation, and a LOT of adrenaline, kicked in and suddenly Emily was acting.

Lunging forwards, she pounced at the spider and drove the pitchfork through its body several times with a roar of horrified revulsion.

Each stab made a sickening crunch, and the spider screamed with piercing cries until it finally died.

When, at long last, it stopped moving, Emily found she couldn't stop herself from stabbing it through a few more times just to be sure, as her feral panic continued to dictate her movements. Finally, she stumbled away from the body, shaking from head to foot and feeling incredibly nauseous.

She promptly proceeded to throw up all over the concrete floor.

When she finished emptying the contents of her stomach, she stumbled back again and fell against the wall beside the boy, whom she was only just aware of at the moment. Emily was shaking so violently she could hardly breathe and her vision was spotty. She couldn't think, and now she couldn't hear properly.

Gasping for breath she tried to gain control as she forced her head between her knees and closed her eyes tightly, struggling to calm down.

Ohshitohshitohshitwhatthefreakingshitishappening!

A touch on her hand made her flinch and gulp air until she realized it was just the boy slipping his little hand into hers. Gradually, as she came back from the edges of passing out, Emily was aware that he was talking to her in a very odd, but beautiful language. She was pretty sure it wasn't a language of the known world...

What the heck is going on! Who is this kid? Where did he come from!? WHY IS THERE A GIGANTIC SPIDER IN THE BARN!

What logical explanation could she find? Genetic experiment? Time rift? Other worlds? It took a bit to accept these possibilities.

Lifting her head slowly, she glanced at him again, meeting his worried gaze and nearly giving a hysterical laugh at the ridiculousness of her needing to be comforted by a child! She should be the one looking after him, not the other way around! Then again, she wasn't much more than a child herself realistically.

"Are you ok?" she croaked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and casting a quick glance at the dead spider. The boy also looked at the spider, and then shivered as he looked back at her with serious grey eyes, making no move to answer. Emily tried again, only slower.

"Are you hurt? Do you even understand me?"

His brow furrowed in concentration, then he shook his head and said softly, "Speak- not –tongue?"

Emily took a deep breath and replied, "But, you do understand?" to which the little boy nodded slowly and then made a motion with his hand that Emily understood to be 'just a little bit'.

She ran her fingers through her hair and took another deep breath.

Well, that's convenient. At least I don't have to try and deal with him not understanding me...

"Right. Ok, um...ok." She struggled to put some kind of order to her thoughts. "Ok...first thing is... first...we need to get rid of that...thing...just in case...I mean, it can't stay there...we need to get rid of it. Yeah" said Emily decidedly, as she struggled to her feet. Like flushing a spider down the toilet so it doesn't magically come back to haunt you, or somehow crawl out of the tissue you used to kill it, Emily just HAD to get rid of this awful thing! The boy followed her as she edgily skirted around the dead spider, and grabbed a few old feed sacks to put the thing in.

Now that it was dead and all curled up, the spider was small enough to shovel into the bag, not that Emily wanted to touch it even with a shovel! There wasn't any way around it though, because she needed to get rid of it. The thought pounded in her traumatized brain like a drum.

Burn it! Make sure it can't ever walk again or hatch babies or anything else!

Holding the bag open at the same time as using the shovel to pick up the spider proved to be difficult, but the little boy surprised her by taking the bag and helping to keep it open. From there the pair of them went out the side door of the barn and headed to the burn pile. It was an old metal barrel they sometimes used to dispose of small loads of brush. With the help of a little gasoline (which was very, very carefully used, I might add), the bag and spider burned fast despite the rain. Thankfully, the storm had mostly blown over leaving things still and wet. Standing at a distance under the shelter of a small drive shed, Emily and the boy waited for it to be safe to leave the fire.

The whole thing still felt so unreal to Emily as she stood staring at the flames and pungent black smoke. How could any of this be happening? By this point, she was numb and still very much in shock.

After a while, the boy spoke.

"Estel." He said the word firmly.

"What?"

He looked up at her solemnly, motioned to himself, and said, "Estel."

"Your name is Estel?"

He nodded and then looked at her with stern expectancy which made her want to laugh. Pointing to herself she responded by saying "Emily," which seemed to satisfy him. She was amazed at how calm he was now that the spider was dead, and how undaunted he was about moving and burning the body. The boy appeared to be handling things better than she was! How embarrassing was that!? He had a very tough and brave exterior that was way beyond his years, but there was a flicker in his eyes that told Emily he was still very afraid and vulnerable. This made her selfishly feel better since it meant she wasn't totally alone in feeling so overwhelmed by everything.

Eventually, when the bag of spider remains was nothing but ash, they went back to the barn in silence to finish the chores. Emily was on a hair-trigger since she didn't know how many impossible spiders there could be. Estel seemed to pick up on the fact she was worried about more of them and managed to tell her there had been only one.

The chores went quickly, not that there was much to do in the first place. They rented out the land now that both her parents were too busy with their other jobs to have livestock of their own. There were only the horses to care for, which seemed to help make the little boy less afraid for a while. Even though he never said a word to her, Estel followed Emily silently like a shadow, mimicking everything she did with the hay, bedding, and water, it was clear that he was very taken with the beasts. He whispered to them a few times in his strange language, petting their noses gently and almost smiling. All three animals loved him immensely and even seemed to 'talk' back to him when he spoke, nickering and nosing ever so gently at him over the doors of their stalls. Emily was a little jealous.

Once the horses were happily munching their food, Emily took Estel to the house to feed him and try to get them both cleaned up a bit. She had no idea what to do with him. It wasn't like she could call the police. What could she tell them? 'Oh hello, a little boy dropped through a rift in time or space and brought a giant spider with him?' They wouldn't believe her, and she had destroyed the body of the spider. She didn't regret doing that, and something told her in her heart she shouldn't call the police or anyone. Something told her to wait, so she did. At very least her parents MIGHT believe her story when they came home and they would figure something out. Really though, it was debatable if they would believe it or not. Her dad was a cop and her mom an ER nurse, both working in very logical and rule-driven fields. Would they accept her at her word if she told them of the giant spider, something that she had no proof of now that it was burnt?

Having no answers, Emily focused on what she could do instead.

"Ok. I hope you are ok with dogs...old Nixie here won't hurt you...and then we have two cats...so I hope that isn't going to be a problem either...Mayhem and Hobbes...I guess I can re-heat some leftovers for us to eat..." Emily rambled as they came in the door and were greeted by a large, gentle golden retriever. Estel thankfully seemed to take even more comfort in the animals than he had the horses, instantly sitting on the floor with Nixie and hugging the hairy beast for a bit while the dog smelled him all over. At first, Emily worried the poor kid had finally succumbed to shock given how long he clung to the dog while Emily stood there awkwardly waiting, but he finally rose and followed her through the rest of the house.

While Emily reheated some dinner on autopilot, Estel wandered about staring at everything in open-mouthed amazement. Clearly, he had never seen half of what is considered to be old technology, let alone new technology. The oven seemed to amaze him greatly. Then he played with the light switches for ages until Emily couldn't take it anymore and showed him something else to play with. After a bit, he just curled up on the couch and stared at the wall. Hobbes, an enormous cat, came to snuggle with the small human and yet again he held the creature closely, leeching the comfort from the warm fur.

Emily wondered if she should give him a hug or something. She decided against it. Who wanted a strange person to hug them?

It was hard to convince him to eat something, not that Emily could really blame him. She wasn't crazy about eating herself, so after they had both struggled through some of the meal, she gave up and let it go. He fell asleep on the couch shortly after with Hobbes in his arms and Nixie at his feet leaving Emily to watch over him and wonder.

That night was rough; for both Emily and Estel. Night terrors woke the boy several times, and the first time he was disoriented, calling out in his strange language for someone specific. When Emily finally calmed him enough to see that he was safe, but still not home, the poor child had burst into tears and thrown himself weeping into her arms where he stayed for a long time.

After about the third time he woke crying out, Estel seemed reluctant to go back to sleep again and Emily was briefly at a loss of what to do. In the end, she settled for singing a few of the songs her mother used to sing to her when she was little. Halfway through 'Hush-a-bye Mountain', he drifted off again.

Gradually, he slept more soundly and Emily herself fell asleep on the other sofa, only to find she was having nightmares too, making it Estel's turn to reassure her. He woke her the first time, shaking her gently and calling her with soothing tones. After she convinced him she was fine and got him to go back to sleep, she was never asleep deeply enough to not wake herself. By the time dawn was painting the horizon, Emily was finished trying to sleep and decided to make tea in the kitchen.

Just as she was putting the kettle on, she heard a sound from the garage. Like the mandoor had just been closed quietly.

Heart pounding, hoping it was just her imagination, Emily grabbed the first thing she saw, a frying pan, and moved towards the second door which led to the garage, listening intently. Before reaching it, the handle moved jiggled and Emily realized with horror she had forgotten to lock it.

Biting a sharp yelp back, Emily leap away from the now slowly opening door

Don't panic. Nevermind...Panic sounds good right now! Yes...panic...definitely panic!

Not waiting to see who came through the door, Emily turned and ran back through the house. There wasn't time to use the phone to call for help and she's left it upstairs anyway. There wasn't even anytime to get out of the house and run away!

Flying without even consciously thinking about what she was doing, Emily relied entirely on instinct. She skidded into the living room where Estel was, waking him as she came flying in. By that time she could hear Nixie barking and growling at the intruders. Emily grabbed Estel and dragged him into the nearby closet with her, closing the doors quietly. She silently motioned for him to stay behind her and held her frying pan ready, peeking through the crack in the door so she could monitor the room.

Nixie stopped barking and Emily felt a dreadful fear quell her gut over how the loyal guard dog had been silenced. Was she dead? Silence filled the house, broken only by the occasional light creak of the old wood floors under someone's weight as they crept around.

Minutes passed and the suspense became unbearable.

Finally, just when Emily was beginning to think maybe she was mistaken and that there were no intruders, three strange-looking people entered the room noiselessly, making her heart stop. They carried longbows, swords, and wore impressively intricate armor. Two of them looked identical, with stern faces and long raven brown hair held back with delicate braids that came neatly around pointed ears. The other had equally long and brilliant golden hair, pointed ears, and piercing blue eyes.

The moment they entered the room, they froze and listened.

Now, Emily was certain she was being extremely quiet and she couldn't hear a sound coming from Estel, so when all three heads snapped towards the closet in unison, you could appreciate that she jumped out of her skin.

One of the dark hair ones bent his bow towards the door while the other moved quickly to one side of the door. The golden-haired one stared at the door with his sword held ready, face set with grim determination.

Emily held her breath, debating several things at once in her head with lightning speed. One: Who in the world were these people and where did they come from? Two: Did they mean to kill her and Estel? Three: Was it better to at least try and go down fighting with a frying pan or beg for mercy?

Images from the movie Tangled flashed through her mind and she felt the weight of her ridiculously dangerous situation.

I don't the first thing about fighting, and they look terrifying...but if they are going to kill you anyway, you may as well make it hard for them right?...how comforting...on second thought, I might be more of a beggar...

After a brief moment, the golden warrior spoke authoritatively in the same strange language that Estel had been speaking in. Emily had no idea what he said, but Estel gasped slightly, peeking around her to see through the crack, his whole body quivering. Reading his body language as fear, like her own, Emily was about to whisper some word of comfort or false reassurance when all at once he launched himself past her out of the closet with an enthusiastic cry.

"No, Estel, wait!" Emily called anxiously as she moved to follow, trying to jump forwards to stop him only to find an icy blade centimeters from her throat.

"I would not move if I were you, girl." said the one detaining her in a deep and dangerous, yet beautiful sounding voice. It was the other dark-haired one and she stupidly disregarded his warning not to move when she turned her head slowly, eyes traveling up the blade past his arm to his face. His hard grey eyes cut through her so sharply that Emily's eyes filled suddenly with unshed tears of fright at what she saw there. Like the spider, everything about this creature was impossible. This being was old, though his face was ageless to her eyes. Were it not for the long years evident in the grey orbs, Emily won't have realized how old he must be. Even more disturbing was the ethereal energy radiating off of him. Everything about him screamed 'not of this world'.

The creature's eyes widened slightly at her fearful gaze, then his own cold steel gaze softened with a flash of compassion and settled to merely a stern look that still managed to frightened her.

Emily's frying pan slipped from her limp hands and fell to the ground with a ringing clang, drawing the attention of Estel. Prior to looking back at her and seeing the sword at her throat, the boy had been enthusiastically embracing the other two people (who seemed just as relieved and ecstatic to see him) babbling excitedly in his strange tongue.

Exclaiming something loudly to the one holding the sword, Estel ran forwards, took her hand, and put himself between her and the strange warrior. As the being lowered his weapons with a curious expression, Estel appeared to be explaining who Emily was and what had happened. When he finally stopped speaking, the golden-haired one addressed her with great gentility and kindness.

"It appears we owe you a debt of gratitude, my lady." He said, his gentle voice coming to her like a soothing balm over her fear of them. "We thank you from the depths of our being for protecting Estel and ensuring his well-being. We deeply regret frightening you. Please accept our most sincere apologies for our harsh treatment of you!"

And with those words, all four males, including Estel, bowed to her deeply with their right hands over their hearts.

Bewildered, Emily just stumbled back from the person closest to her, heart pounding loudly in her ears, and stammered, "S-sure."

They inclined their heads in acknowledgment gracefully, and the twins(or that is what Emily assumed they were) each offered her a small, pained smile of regret that was most apologetic. It wasn't until thinking about it later that Emily realized how badly they had felt for scaring her so much, and it wasn't until they had left that she noticed her entire body had been shaking.

"We shall take our brother and go now." Announced the twin who had threatened her, making her flinch violently when he began to move forwards to the others. "There is very little time in which to return to our own world. They can only keep the portal open for so long."

Blinking, Emily was still trying to process what was going on. Her poor brain wasn't sure how much more of this weirdness it could take! Everything was happening so darn fast!

They spoke rapidly with Estel, who looked both relieved and downcast. The boy looked at Emily, lip trembling, and then rushed to her, nearly knocking her over with a big hug. He smiled sadly up at her before he departed quickly with the others leaving Emily in stunned silence, for she didn't dare follow at that moment.

By the time she shook off the feeling and ran out the door to see where they went, they had gone without a trace, leaving Emily with a bunch of unanswered questions and wondering if she might have hallucinated the whole thing.

She never did tell her parents of her strange tale. Each moment that passed left her more and more convinced that maybe it never happened. Little did she know, it was just the beginning and that if she had said something after that day, this story might have turned out much differently.