It was still dark out when Emma woke up. She was not normally a morning person but nothing about her current situation was normal. She couldn't hear cars driving outside, Mrs. Jensen's cranky dog barking through the wall, or the sound of her upstairs neighbors throwing around their furniture liked they seemed to do every day. What she wouldn't give to hear that damn dog bark right now. She would buy him all the treats and apologize for all the evil things she had wished on him when he was barking at four in the morning.

Emma tried to organize all the things she knew in her head about her current situation. It had been Thursday night, she'd been driving home from the library, she remembered worrying about an exam the next morning. Had she been distracted? It was later than she usually left so there hadn't been much traffic, but she saw a man-Gandalf- dart in front of her car and swerved to avoid him, her car tumbled over and then she woke up here. Gandalf had brought her here, he implied that he knew how to send her back though he wouldn't because she would be in danger from Sauron. He hadn't mentioned Saruman; did he know about his betrayal yet? What part of the story did she land in? And which version? She had only seen the movies; she wasn't sure about what was left out but she was sure it was a lot, those books were thick.

Okay, okay. Gandalf is traveling alone to Rivendell so that means the fellowship hasn't been formed yet. The ring is either with Frodo in the Shire or in Rivendell, it's not clear if Gandalf knows Frodo has the ring, just that he was surprised that I knew who Frodo is.

Whenever she was, it was at the very beginning of the story and if things happened the way they happened in the movies, it would be months before Frodo delivered the ring to Mordor. Gandalf couldn't send her home until then, both because he has better things to do (like save his entire world) and because she wouldn't be safe until Sauron was defeated. That meant that Emma was stuck in this world for several months at least, if not years. This was all assuming, of course, that she wasn't eaten by orcs in the meantime.

Shit. Okay, well I can do this, I can do this. What do I know about Rohan? Rohan, land of the Horse Lords, Eowyn is from here, the King is being controlled by Grima Wormtongue and Saruman, the people are being raided and there aren't enough supplies. At some point the prince dies and Eomer is exiled with all his men. Gandalf frees the king then the king, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas take the people to Helm's Deep and they barely win versus thousands of orcs.

Eomer is exiled. Crap. How are Eomer and his men going to protect her from Saruman and Sauron when he gets exiled? As she started to spiral into her own pit of existential dread there was a sharp knock at the door and Emma jumped.

"Umm...come in," she said.

The door opened with a creak and Sinead entered, followed by a young girl, probably 14 or 15.

"Ah, so you're awake."

"Yes," Emma didn't know what else to say but she added a weak, "good morning."

Sinead put her hands on her hips and gave her a long look, then she shrugged in the direction of the girl, "this is Carling, she'll be your maid until you leave." Carling gave a clumsy curtsey.

"Oh! That's very kind Sinead, Carling, but I really don't think that's necessary."

"It's the Master's order. Besides, you don't look like you've ever cleaned a chamber pot in your life," she took Emma's hands, they'd seen better days but they lacked the calluses of ones who'd seen years of hard labor, "and someone will need to help you dress," this time she nodded to the corset Carling was pulling out.

"Oh well then, thank you Sinead, for everything. And you too Carling."

"It's just my job," Sinead said, as she turned towards the door, "breakfast is ready when you're dressed." With that last word, she was gone. Whelp, she hates me.

"So, Carling, it's nice to meet you," Emma smiled and held out her hand. Carling eyed it, she seemed confused about what to do next. Maybe handshakes aren't a thing yet? She curtseyed, right? Emma decided to try her own clumsy curtsey instead.

"Oh, my lady, you do not need to curtsey to me," Carling rushed to say, "it is nice to meet you too."

Emma giggled awkwardly, it was obvious that they were both painfully uncomfortable. Carling had never been a handmaid before and Emma had never had a handmaid, neither one knew how to proceed. Emma supposed that since she was older, she should take the lead.

"Right, well then how about we just throw out the formalities while we're in here?" Emma leaned in conspiratorially, "I won't tell if you won't," she winked.

Carling laughed and nodded.

"You can call me Emma and please no curtsey's I beg of you," she continued.

"Yes, my la- I mean, Emma," Carling replied.

Emma smiled, "I have to be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing today. I'm from Bree you see and it's very different there."

"Well Mrs. Smith- Sinead that is- says I need to help you dress for breakfast. She says the Lady Eowyn's dresses probably won't fit you so I'll have to try to adjust them a bit until we can get you to the seamstress to make you some new ones. Then I think Lord Eomer wanted to speak to you."

"Right. Right. And, I know this is super awkward but...about bathing and...the chamber pot..." Emma winced as Carling started to turn red and giggle.

"Don't you worry about that my la- I mean, Emma, just do your business and it'll be handled."

Emma nodded, she felt humiliated but at least she knew what she needed to know, she hoped Carling wouldn't go and tell all the other maids that she barely knew how to use the bathroom here.

Carling helped her into the ugly olive-green dress. It was much too long, it seemed that the people of Rohan were larger and taller than average back home, or at least much taller than Emma. Carling tried to hem it at first but it was so long some of it had to be cut, she hoped Eowyn wasn't too fond of that dress. The rest of the dress was still loose but at least she wouldn't be tripping over herself, new dresses all of a sudden became a priority for her. I don't have any money. That's another problem. She was completely penniless, homeless, helpless. She depended entirely on the kindness of Eomer and the Rohirrim. While she appreciated how she had been taken in, even if it was begrudgingly, she was all too aware of how vulnerable she was. She didn't like the feeling.

When Carling had done as best as she could with the tools given, Emma thanked her and turned to walk towards the door.

"Actually," she paused, blushing, "I'm so sorry Carling but could you help me find the dining room?"

"Dining room, my la- Emma?"

"The room where the meals are served?"

"Ah, in the hall then. Yes, follow me," Emma followed after Carling, not wanting to hold up the morning any more than she already had.