CHAPTER TWO
Of Showers, Phones and THE Books
Once they drove into town, Dylis' face was almost slack with astonishment as she looked out of her window. It was as if she'd never seen a town before— or at least, a town like this.
"What is this place?" she whispered, and Will wasn't sure if the look on her face was awe or horror.
"Provincetown," William replied, drumming his fingers on the wheel. "Some people joke that this is the town where the first gay kiss took place." He cleared his throat at the obvious puzzlement on her face. "Just a… a random fun fact, I guess. Never mind."
She said nothing as she turned her head to gaze out of the window again. "Where are you taking us?"
"My humble home," William said and just as he said it, he slowed and pulled over in front of a house. "Actually, I, uhm, still live with my parents. But they're not home right now."
He got out of the car and opened the door to the passenger seat to let the two out. Dylis, with more struggle than she liked, got out as well and took a look at his home. "It is quite big," Dylis remarked, eyes flickering from the house to Will, who was already walking to the front door. She curiously took in his clothes and his hair, then took Ariel's hand and shushed the little girl as she started asking questions about where they were.
"You think so?" Will asked as he looked back with raised eyebrows.
He led them inside quickly, before anyone outside could see him walking with the strange dressed up girls. He closed the door behind him and wiped his feet off on the doormat. "We can book a hotel for you from here, it's usually not that busy around this time." When he looked up, he saw Ariel and Dylis both gaze about with interest and curiosity. It was like they'd never seen such a place before.
"Will? Is that you, sweetie?"
William looked up to the ceiling, exasperated, and then back at the girls with a sheepish smile. "Guess they're home after all."
Before they could say anything else, a plump woman with golden brown skin appeared in the doorway. William tried to ignore the way Dylis and her little sister studied her cautiously (and a bit rudely, in his opinion), and he faked a smile at his mother.
"Hi mom," he said. "I thought you'd be back by Wednesday?"
His mother sighed. "Well, you know me," she muttered, "can't stand doing nothing. Your father was getting bored as well." Her eyes then fell on the two girls he brought home. "Oh. Hello there," she said with a broad, friendly smile and walked towards them with a hand extended. "I'm Abigail Brooke, but you can call me Abby."
William watched Dylis look at the hand confusedly before taking it. His mom shook it, but as soon as she touched Dylis' hand, her eyebrows quirked up in surprise.
"Dylis," the blonde girl replied, not noticing Abby's reaction. "And this is my little sister, Ariel."
"Are you British? I've always wanted to go to England," Abby said. "Such a beautiful country. Oh, of course. I mean Great Britain is a beautiful country. I made the typical common mistake, didn't I? That's an awfully pretty costume you got there. Is it for that cosplay festival? Will, you're going, right?"
Will chuckled at Dylis' bewildered face and steered his mother away from her. "Mom, please, too many questions," he murmured. "Why don't you make some tea and get some cake or somethin'." She walked away with a dismissive hand and he shot an apologetic look to Dylis. "Sorry 'bout her. She always tends to be curious when I invite people over."
Dylis looked at him and smiled, though thinly and not entirely comfortable. "She seems very kind," she said with honesty.
William nodded, putting his hands in his pockets and then back out again, clapping his hands once before rubbing them together. "Well. Do you want to shower or something?" he asked. "You can borrow some clothes from me."
At this, Dylis looked William up and down, one eyebrow shooting up as she took in his clothing, but she said nothing. William decided to ignore the sceptic look on her face.
"What is shower?" she asked instead. She pronounced the word in a funny way, as if completely unfamiliar with the word.
William wanted to laugh and say again, 'very funny', but the look on her face was filled with such genuine curiosity and puzzlement that he couldn't bring himself to it.
Instead, he just shook his head and walked up the stairs, assuming they'd follow. He led them to the bathroom, not seeing how Dylis and little Ariel still stared around them. Little Ariel was pretty quiet all the time, making Will like the kid. He always hated noisy kids.
"So, this is the bathroom," he said, opening the door. The bathroom was pretty big, with a bath and a shower and a floor-to-ceiling-cabinet filled with his mom's make up and crèmes, and only one shelf with William and his father's stuff.
"This… is where you bathe?" Dylis asked, disbelief and slight horror on her face.
William nodded slowly, studying her face closely as she looked around. "Yeah. Do you want me to show you how it works?"
She nodded hesitantly, eyeing the shower like it was an alien machine. William walked over to the shower and explained her how to turn the shower head on, and which of the shampoo and soap to use. She actually started when the water fell out of the shower head, and she tilted her head as she tried to figure out where it came from. Then he grabbed towels for them and some clothes and hung them over the bath tub. He found a long dress in his mother's closet, which she'd bought decades ago, and for Ariel he found a plain hoodie that fitted her like a dress. It was a bit of a makeshift dress, even Ariel had to admit it, but it was either that a long T-Shirt with Nirvana on it.
"Do you need anything else?" he asked them when everything was settled.
Dylis started taking off her armour. "No," she said. "But you have my thanks. You are very kind, and I apologise for being so wary and suspicious upon our meeting."
William swallowed and smiled. "It's nothing," he replied. "I'll just, uh, leave you to it. If you need anything, give a yell and I'll— well, probably my mom'll bring it to you."
When he was downstairs again and walked into the kitchen, his mother and father were already sitting at the dinner table. "Hey, dad," he said. "How're you doing?"
"Fine, son," Hugh replied and leaned back in his seat. "So… those girls. What's their deal?"
William tried to look innocent. "What do you mean?" he asked. When his parents both looked at him with sceptical looks on their faces, he yielded with a sigh. "It's, uhm, a strange story, really. I have no idea how to tell you without you laughing at me— or them."
His mother gave a puzzled huff. "You're kinda freaking us out here, Will," she said.
"Okay," William said slowly and leaned forward, putting down the cake he was holding. "I was just driving home from Julian, and I'll tell you about him later, when suddenly they appeared on the road, on a horse. And that girl— Dylis— was acting all weird, eyeing the car like she'd never seen it before, and looking at the road in awe… I thought it was some joke, but she was literally scared of the car. Oh, and she had a sword."
Both Abby and Hugh's eyebrows furrowed in deep frowns, and the latter urged him to go on.
"She asked me where we were, and I said Provincetown, and she told me she'd never heard of it before. Which isn't that strange, actually" he added as an afterthought. "And then I asked her where she thought she was, and she named some weird place, a kingdom I guess, and when she clearly saw I had no idea what she was talking about, she said 'Middle Earth'. And I laughed so hard at that, but—"
He was interrupted by a shriek, followed by stumbling upstairs. Three pairs of eyes looked up at the ceiling, and a second later they all shot up in alarm. Will was already rushing to the stairs, but Abby stopped him. "Stay here, I've got it."
Will stayed at the bottom of the stairs, concern over his face, and was joined by his father. They said nothing, though Will saw from the corner of his eye that his dad's eyes flickered to him to look at him strangely.
"You're not pulling our leg, are you?" he asked his son as they went to sit at the table again.
"No!" Will said. "I'm not, really. It's what she said." He played with the table cloth. "And I don't think she's pulling a prank on us either."
"Maybe she's fallen off her horse and got a concussion or something," Hugh suggested, but Will wasn't so sure about that.
"Mmh, I don't know," he mumbled. "She didn't complain about her head hurting, and she seems pretty lucid, right?"
Hugh had to mutter his agreement.
A good fifteen minutes later, Abby returned downstairs, shaking her head with a pitiful look on her face. "She slipped. The girl is frightened," she mumbled. "Both are." She poured some still hot tea in a mug, and then some juice in a plastic cup. "She is… I understand what you mean, Will. She has this strange vibe. I felt it straight away when she gave me a hand."
"What's that supposed to mean, Abs?" Hugh asked her with a teasing grin. "Are you seeing auras again?"
She playfully slapped her husband on his arm as she went to sit next to him. "Oh, shut it," she said, rolling her eyes. "But I do think I'll have to look for my Tarot cards again."
William did his best not to snort. His mother used to be very into those kind of spiritual things— Tarot cards, reading tea leaves, astrology— and practised on him when he was younger. He always hated it, but there was a time when the whole neighbourhood knew about it and came by to have their lives foretold with cards. She hadn't practised for quite a while, Will now realised.
"You actually think they're from Middle Earth?" Hugh asked sceptically, not believing it for a second. "As in, Lord of the Rings Middle Earth?"
"No," Will replied quickly. "Well… I don't know. I don't think they're from around here. She looked at the car like she'd never seen the thing before. She was afraid of it. It was weird."
"So she could be either totally crazy and insane," his father wondered aloud, "or she's sorta speaking the truth."
William shrugged, but his mother sat down and shook her head. "She's not crazy," she muttered. "They both aren't. She had no idea how to wash herself in the shower. I had to wash them both myself."
"Or maybe it is memory loss?" Will suggested. "But like I said, she seems too lucid, too… sane."
When they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, they all shut their mouths and watched the two girls come off the stairs. They looked all freshened up, and less otherworldly in the clothes borrowed from Abby and Will. But they also looked… awkward. As if the clothes didn't suit them. As if they'd never worn such clothes before and were ill at ease wearing them.
"Come, girls," Abby said with a smile, "I made some tea for you. You can sit down here. Do you like sugar in your tea?"
Dylis sat down at the table and pulled Ariel on her lap. Even though she said Ariel was her sister, William couldn't help but think of her as a motherly figure for the little girl.
"Just tea is fine, lady Abigail," she replied gratefully, pronouncing the name a bit strangely. She either didn't hear Hugh's snort or decided to ignore it. "Thank you."
"It's alright," Will's mother said with a wave of her hand and a glare at Hugh, and put the tea cups down on the table. "And it's just Abby. None of the 'lady'-stuff."
"Oh. I had assumed… because of your spacious home…"
Now, Abby did chuckle. "If you think this house is big, wait until you see the ones at Pilgrim Heights Road," she muttered, but missed Dylis' incredulous look.
Will's father extended his hand to her. "I'm Hugh," he said. "It's nice to meet you, Dylis."
It was uncomfortably quiet for a while, and the Brooke family watched both girls sip from their tea cautiously.
"So, Dylis. William told me you're from Middle Earth?" Hugh asked.
Will choked on his coffee, nearly spilling coffee over the table cloth. "Dad!" he hissed.
Dylis put her tea cup down and gave him a surprised but pleased look. "Yes. Are you familiar with it?"
Hugh nodded, playing along. "Very familiar, yeah," he replied and earned himself a jab in the ribs from Will. Abby gave them both a firm, warning look, which made them both shrink in their chairs a little.
Dylis' eyes flickered from one to the other, her eyebrows pinched in a slight frown. "Then mayhap you know how to get there?" she asked. There was so much hope in her voice, Will couldn't help but wonder at that.
Hugh opened his mouth, but Will beat him to it. "What my dad means," he began with a stern face to his father, "is that we… once read about it. Can't remember where, though. Can you remember where you read it, mom, dad?" He shot his parents a pointed look, and both of them mumbled a 'no.' Will looked back to Dylis again, who only seemed a little suspicious. "I can't either, I'm sorry." He spoke slowly, then suddenly fast, as if making up sentences as he went. Should they just play along, or silence her madness? Was it madness? He had no idea.
Dylis made no show of her disappointment, keeping her shoulders squared, and kept her chin lifted even as she took another sip of her tea.
"Are you lost, Dylis?" Abby asked softly, her eyes wrinkling kindly in a smile.
Dylis seemed to think about the question. Normally, she would've thought it was meant in the literal way. But it was like this woman just added another load to it. Was she physically or mentally lost? "I… suppose so," she replied slowly. "One moment, we were chased by foul creatures. The next moment, we came out of the forest onto a strange hardened road."
Abby's eyebrows raised. "You were chased?" she repeated. She placed her lower arms on the table and leaned a bit closer. "Could you tell us what happened before you came here?"
Then Dylis drew a breath, a deep one, and started talking, albeit hesitantly at first. A few times, she paused her extraordinary tale to shush Ariel's murmurings of 'where is Aran? Where is Aranarth?', and Abby, Hugh and Will exchanged curious and confused glances.
And as she spoke, tears started rolling down her face, even as she tried to fight them back with all her might. She never cried. She loathed the fact that these people were seeing her as she cried. Abby reached out to her in motherly instinct, but to Will and Hugh, everything she told them seemed just so unreal.
As he listened, he constantly forgot that what she was telling them didn't make any sense. But Dylis spoke with so much emotion, so much anger at herself for having failed her 'duty' as she called it, that Will wasn't sure what to believe.
Dylis did not tell them everything. Her father told her that if she was forced to lie, she should not stray too far from the truth. So she told them Ariel was from an important, noble family, and she had vowed to protect her. She did not tell them the little four-year-old girl was, in fact, the princess of Arthedain.
Once she was done telling her story, there was a long silence. Abby, Hugh and Will took a few moments to digest the story, to process it, and Dylis almost opened her mouth to agree that it was indeed hard to believe, and that she'd just go if they wanted to. She wasn't sure what she would do if they'd indeed tell her to, but she knew she didn't want to burden these people who had been kind enough to let her in.
But Abby sighed softly and shook her head. Then she looked up at Dylis, gently. "I think it'd be best if you stayed here with us for a while," she said and laid a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out."
And even though Dylis hadn't known the Brookes for long, she couldn't help but sigh in relief.
o0o
Dylis and Ariel— and the entire Brooke family— had no way of knowing that 'a while' meant sixteen years.
The first week was rough. Ariel and Dylis had to stay inside, due to the difference in nutrition and lifestyle here. The girls had gotten quite sick from the food they had to eat— they seemed to eat anything with either sugar or salt. Though… the pancakes were delightful, Dylis had to admit.
Abby went shopping for them and came back with clothes more… appropriate than Dylis' armour and Ariel's princess-like dress, but she did try to keep the Middle Earth fashion in mind. These clothes felt strange to the girls' skin, the material itchy, but lighter in weight than the clothing they used to wear. Everything seemed to take some getting used to. Things were different here, Will explained when Dylis looked out of the window and saw a girl of her age wearing outrageously revealing clothes. Apparently, Dylis' way of living and her behaviour was something what was now considered out-dated and strange. Strangers didn't just nod at each other by way of greeting; when in groups and with mutual friends around them, they could just as well hug as smile at each other.
It was still absurd to the Brookes. They still had no proof whatsoever of the fact the girls were indeed from this fictional world. Every once in a while, Will or Abby would ask a few questions about their home, but Dylis never seemed to be inclined to talk about it much. Not when they would not answer her own questions, Dylis reasoned.
Where she had no clue about their home, the Brookes seemed familiar with hers. Or at least, that first day here, they reacted as if they recognised the name Middle Earth and Dylis could remember that Will knew of Arwen. So why was Will pretending he hadn't said that at all? What were they hiding?
It was exactly a week after their 'arrival', as the Brookes liked to call it in jest (not that Dylis knew about their little joke). "What is that?" Dylis peered curiously at the strange, black, rectangular thing in Will's hand. Her eyebrows shot up when the thing lit up, and he started pushing in tiny buttons on what seemed to be an extension of the thing. It took a while before she realised the lights on the thing reacted to the buttons Will pressed on.
She'd seen this thing several times now, but Abby always snapped at him to put it away whenever she was near. Now that Abby was at work and with her curiosity building, Dylis finally allowed herself ask the question she almost hadn't dared to ask.
Will chuckled softly as Dylis scooted over to him a little closer on the couch. "It's called a cell phone," he told her. "Look, I'll show you. You can do almost anything on this."
He then proceeded to explain calling and texting, and Dylis frowned in puzzlement. "So you can speak to anyone through this device?" she asked incredulously.
"As long as you have their number, yeah," he replied with a smile. "You know what? I'm gonna call Jake, a friend of mine."
He did something on the cell phone, too quick to follow for Dylis, and she listened as she heard a beep coming from the phone. She heard some sort of crunchy sound, and she jolted when she heard someone talk suddenly.
"Yo, man, what's up?"
Her eyebrows shot up in wonder. She looked at Will. He wasn't talking, and there was no one else in the room. Did the voice really come from this device?
"Hey, bro," Will said, talking to the device and not to Dylis. "I thought maybe we could hang out today. My niece is in town and I want to show her 'round."
It looked so strange, him talking to that thing. It was definitely convenient, Dylis had to admit. Back home, she had to wait days, sometimes even weeks before a letter would arrive, and then another week before something was actually arranged.
How handy this device would come in back home! Should there be any danger, one could immediately notify the other guards. Or during patrols, or even during battle when in need of aid!
The voice from the cell phone shook her out of her pondering. "Is she hot?" the voice sounded.
Will laughed loudly. "Fuck off, man," he replied, and Dylis scowled at his use of the foul word. That was language she'd hear in bars, used by the less eloquent of the city. Until now, Will seemed to be quite a decent man. For a while, she'd even wondered whether he was from important status, until Abby and Hugh explained they were far from rich and that nobility wasn't really 'a thing' here anymore.
"Hey, don't kill me for asking," the voice replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, where do we meet?"
"The farmer's market," Will said. "Around two o'clock?"
"Alright, see you then, bro."
There was some sort of click heard and Will looked at Dylis. "That's calling," he said with a sheepish smile.
Dylis frowned a little, utterly confused. "And the voice coming out of the cell phone," she said, pointing to the black device, "that was… Jake?"
"Yep," Will said, handing her the phone so that she could take a better look at it.
"Magic…" Dylis murmured, studying the cell phone.
Will looked at her, amused at the way she jumped when the screen lit up when she pushed a button at random. "Not quite," he said, watching as she put her finger on the 6, not knowing she was trying to unlock the phone. He took the phone out of her hands and quickly typed in his pin code. Then he showed her how to navigate. "It's more like technology, but you can call it magic if you want. Heck, even I don't know how it works exactly, and with me are lots of people. Except the guys who studied Computer Science and that sort of stuff."
Dylis blinked. "I have no clue what you are talking about," she then said.
"Yeah… uhm, maybe for the next time then," Will replied, stuffing the phone in his pocket. Then he stood up. "By the way, I'm taking you out of the house. You've been cramped up here for long enough."
Dylis clueless face from earlier transformed into a giddy one, a huge smile on her face. "Truly?" she asked, excitement coating her voice. She made to stand up, but then she suddenly frowned a little. "But what about your mother? She said I could go out when I was ready to go and that it wasn't the time yet."
Will nodded to side, considering. "Well… do you feel ready?"
A slow grin spread over her face. She nodded. "Yes."
"There's your answer," he replied with a smirk.
Dylis stood up then. "I am going to change," she said, heading to the stairs.
"Oh, Dylis?"
Dylis turned around to look at Will questionably.
He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking a bit awkward. "Please, don't…" he started hesitantly. "Jake is coming too and he can be quite the… flirt," he said, giving her a meaningful look.
Dylis smirked. "If I can handle an army of Orcs, then I can certainly fend myself against a flirt."
She turned and climbed the stairs, leaving William gaping at where she'd just stood. He'd never get used to that.
A little while later, the streets were crowded with people strolling along, buying vegetables and fruits, or just enjoying the early August sun. Will and his friend, Jake, were talking amiably, while Dylis was looking around trying to keep her awe from being too visible on her face.
Sometimes, Will would glance at her and think, "Wait 'till you see Boston or Manhattan."
"So, Dylis," Jake addressed and she turned her head to him as if he had just brought her back to reality. "Will said you live in Europe?"
Dylis, having practised the lie Will had told her to use, nodded with a smile. "Yes," she replied. "I live in Lindon with my aunt."
"London!" Will said quickly. "She obviously means London." He sent Dylis a warning look, and she nodded quickly.
"Yes, of course." She shot Will an apologetic look.
"You know, my aunt's sister-in-law," Will proceeded, gesturing overly enthusiastic to Jake. "She arrived yesterday."
Jake nodded. "So basically, your other aunt," he said to Will. If Dylis hadn't been great at acting, then Will most definitely was worse, because everything on his face betrayed he'd just been caught. "Is it aunt Jenna or aunt Elizabeth?"
William rubbed his neck, pondering how to answer that. He'd forgotten Jake had already met most of his family. Shit.
But Jake just laughed. "Whatever man, keep your secrets to yourselves." He turned to Dylis with a gorgeous smile. "Well, welcome to Provincetown. Like what you see?" The latter he said not with a smile, but a smirk.
Will slapped a hand over his face, rolling his eyes. He knew Jake was going to try and hit on her; that was what he seemed to do with every female present in his vicinity.
But of course, Dylis was too oblivious, thinking Jake merely meant Provincetown, not… the boy himself.
"I do. It is a… a lovely town, for sure," Dylis said, looking around at the many white and light blue painted houses once more. "Very lively." As if to prove the point, they walked by a bellowing man behind a stand with strawberries, who shouted about low prices and large quantity. Dylis jolted a little.
"City-girl, huh?" Jake asked with a grin. "How long are you staying?"
Dylis looked at Will, not knowing the answer to that question. "For a while," she replied when Will shrugged. "Not very long."
Jake furrowed his brows for a second at the devious reply, tilting his head to the side, but made no comment. Instead, he went to tell some strange story about his roommate, and he talked too quickly and with too many words she didn't know to understand and follow.
Dylis observed and processed everything she saw around her: the houses, the market, the people and the way they dressed and acted. She was somewhat surprised by the fact that some things weren't that different from her home. Just as in Arthedain and in most places in Middle Earth, the people here went to the market to buy fresh food, and people were friendly to each other, greeting each other and smiling.
Once they had walked through the whole market and Will had all the things he needed, Jake went home saying he had 'stuff to do'. To be honest, Will was pretty relieved. Jake had brought up watching Lord of the Rings together twice, and twice Will tried to dodge the subject and steer the conversation into another direction. Luckily, Dylis seemed to have no idea what it was and took no notice.
They headed to what was called a lunchroom, which Will explained as a restaurant for lunch. Most restaurants back in Middle Earth were part of an inn, but apparently that wasn't necessarily the case here.
"When we're home, I'm going to introduce you to pasta," Will said enthusiastically. "A life without pasta is… not a life."
Dylis chuckled a bit, but had no idea what pasta was. But behind that laugh, she lulled a particular word over and over in her mind.
Home. As much as she started to like the Brooke family and the town they lived in, she could not imagine herself calling this her home. Home was with her father in a house near the castle, where she'd gotten her first sword and where she'd made her first bow in the garden, and where she was gifted her quiver full of neat, sharp arrows for her 16th birthday. Where she'd trained day after day, determined to become the first female Captain of the Royal Guard, determined to achieve what her mother had almost achieved before she was slain in battle.
Provincetown, as lovely as it was, was not her home.
And she would find her way back to her true home.
o0o
Ariel and Dylis slept in the spare room. It had always been the room everything was put in when they didn't know what to do with them, so it was in a bit of a messy state at first. After spending a whole weekend of cleaning up all the stuff in the room (as well as having moments of 'there was my yearbook, I've been looking for it for years!' and 'what the hell is this thing?' or 'Mom, why did you put my gift for Mother's Day in a moving box?'), the room was finally cleared. Abby and Hugh still had a folding bed that they'd nearly forgotten about if they hadn't cleaned that room, and bought another for Ariel. It was a bit makeshift-ish, they supposed, but they finally had an idea as to what was to happen with their now useless shed in the backyard.
Thus, the Brookes started looking for ways to renovate the garden shed, but kept the project secret. They wanted to surprise Dylis, and from what they knew of her, they were sure Dylis would feel like she was a burden to them— which wasn't at all the case.
Abby had always secretly wanted a daughter as well as a son, but it never worked out.
Throughout the passing weeks, Dylis went out of her room more often, and her eyes were less regularly reddened and puffy. Taking her out of the house had done a lot good to her, Abby admitted to Will after learning of their trip to the farmer's market. Dylis was still having a hard time reconciling with the fact that going home wasn't on the planning anytime soon, but she finally seemed to be willing to explore the place she was in now. She started to genuinely become curious about Will and his parent's lives, and wanted to know about their ways and habits.
The next time they went out, this time to explore Cape Cod's dunes, she took Ariel with her as well. Will was glad to see the girls smile and laugh. He realised he'd never seen Dylis laugh wholeheartedly since her 'arrival' until then.
He also realised Jake came over way more often than he usually did, and he didn't like seeing him ogling Dylis every time she entered the room. He was sure to make that very clear to him (after which Jake suddenly had a lot to do— quite the coincident, isn't it?).
Slowly, Will introduced Dylis the concept of the different technologies. She was particularly taken with the camera, and then mostly the one Will called the 'older model'. She'd forgotten the camera's name, but it was the one that printed the picture a mere second after taking it. Something about being able to hold material memories appealed to her.
It made her wish she could've taken pictures of when her father first taught her how to hold a sword, or when her mother bought her a tunic and breeches instead of a pretty dress fit for a lord's daughter. It wasn't only those memories she wished she could've frozen in time— she wished she could look at a picture of her room, of the castle of Fornost, and of the rolling hills of the North Downs.
These wistful and melancholic thoughts would come and strike her in all the sudden, and it would make her smile falter for just the slightest, vulnerable moment, before she would shake it away.
The nagging of wanting to find a way back home would never truly leave her, no matter how long she stayed.
Ariel, however, became a girl of Massachusetts and slowly forgot what life in Arthedain was like. She forgot the faces of her parents, and she forgot her title as well as her country. She grew up as any other child in Provincetown did and when to kindergarten once Summer break was over. Dylis was against at first, since they had only been in Provincetown for a month, but Ariel already turned five at the end of August, and otherwise she might have difficulties making friends in primary school.
In kindergarten, little Ariel got along well with a young boy named Vincent. The more confident got around other children, the more she and Vincent played mischief. Dylis, despite becoming tired of getting both of them out of trouble, was glad the young girl was doing better every day.
Thus, Dylis relented and took it upon herself to bring her to and pick her up from school everyday.
She started feeling alone quickly: Will was studying in Boston now that Summer break had ended, Hugh worked at the medical sports centre, and Abby often came home late.
Having the whole house to herself, Dylis spent her time 'training' in the garden. As idle it felt to swing her sword through air instead of dummies, the movements brought her comfort.
One time, Will came home earlier for the weekend, only to find her in the middle of a choreography of stances and movements. This lead to Dylis almost cutting his hand off when he interrupted her without announcing his coming.
In hindsight, it was rather funny. Will had shrieked in such a high pitch that his voice wasn't the same the entire day.
She would spend her days reading books and watching movies Will had given her, and she went for a jog every morning to stay exercised, but she itched to do something, to have a purpose.
After talking about it with Abby, Dylis decided to look for a job. Abby and Hugh had to feed two extra mouths after all (of course, Will lived in Boston except for the weekends), so Dylis thought it only fair to help them a bit.
She applied for a job at the lunchroom Will and she went to regularly, and was accepted. It was less hard to adjust to the American work flow than she'd originally expected, since it reminded her of the Guard of Fornost in a lot of ways. It involved working hard throughout the days with only a short break for lunch— and sometimes Dylis didn't have a break at all.
As Captain of the Royal Guard, however, Dylis never stopped working until she was home. Even when walking home she'd still turn around to the castle if anything was amiss. She was used to working her… how did Americans say it? Ah. She was used to working her ass off. It was at the lunchroom where she met her new friend Hannah, a lighthearted but headstrong single mother of a two-year-old kid, from whom she learned cursing so colourfully without actually being foul in words.
It was midwinter when Dylis was surprised with a new floor plan of the garden shed. Abby and Hugh had spoken with an interior designer and told her that renovations would start as soon as spring sprung.
Dylis was close to tears when they revealed the plan, especially since they had kept to a medieval style with much wood and natural colours.
When spring finally arrived, renovations started. Dylis helped Hugh with re-painting the shed and its small porch while Ariel played outside with the wooden sword Will bought her a little earlier. These afternoons Dylis would fondly remember later on.
At the end of the season, it was furnished like a little studio spacious enough for Dylis to live in. Even though she had her own small kitchen, she still had dinner with the Brookes most of the time. Ariel lived in the studio as well, but later on, once Will permanently moved out to live in Boston, Ariel would take his room. But that would not happen as of yet.
It was the beginning of August when everything changed. Until now, the Brookes had done everything they could to prevent Dylis from finding out that her homeland was, in fact, a fantasy land. They still didn't know how to tell the girl that there were books and movies that spoke of her homeland's fall in great detail. It would crush her whole world if she found out, the Brookes knew this, and they decided that not knowing was sometimes better than finding out.
But they knew they wouldn't be able to prevent it forever. Even though they went as far as hiring a hacker in order to stop her from searching the internet for anything that had to do with Middle Earth, they couldn't stop her from going out when they weren't at home.
Dylis had gone to the local bookshop often enough, and now that Ariel's second birthday in Provincetown was nearing, she went to find her a suitable birthday present. Over the months, Ariel had developed a love for reading. Dylis was pleased to find out the little girl had the same imagination as her mother had. Oftentimes she'd found the Queen in her personal library, and she was often at the receiving end of the Majesty's mutterings about having been disturbed during her so-called 'quiet hours'.
Ariel seemed to love fantastical stories the most. It went so far that Ariel tried to take her favourite book (the one she read over and over again) home, even though it belonged to the school's library. One time, when Dylis came to pick her up, the teacher had stormed outside to the pair, ranting about how the cheeky child had stolen the book.
"I am disappointed, Ariel," Dylis had said as she crouched before the little girl after giving the book back to the red-faced teacher. "You want to be a princess, no?" Ariel nodded, staring guiltily at the ground. Dylis tilted Ariel's face up to have her look in her eyes. "Princesses don't steal, Ariel," she told her. "Rather, a princess gives. Tomorrow, you ought to give Ms. McKenzie a book of your own."
"But that's—"
Dylis levelled her with a stern look, and it was enough to silence the young girl. "We will choose a book together. It is best you apologise to her, and what better way than giving her something she will like?" Dylis said, straightening up and looking down at Ariel with a smile. "Come, let us go home."
Despite fearing that Ariel would become a thief later, Dylis knew what to give Ariel for her birthday then.
The bell chimed as she opened the door and went inside the bookshop. She couldn't recall the name of the book, so she went straight to counter right away.
It was the shop owner himself who stood behind it, and he had his back turned to her as he appeared to jot something down.
She cleared her throat.
"Oh!" the old man said as he turned around and smiled brightly at her. "I'm sorry, miss. Didn't hear you there. Can I help you?"
"Yes," Dylis said. "I'm looking for a book about four children entering a closet and arriving in a fantasy land."
"Ah, The Chronicles of Narnia," the man said, nodding as he walked from behind the counter. He waved a hand as to follow him, and Dylis did. "The books would be standing on Epic Fantasy shelves… here!"
He stopped before a particular shelf and gestured into its general direction.
"Thank you, sir," Dylis said with a smile.
"No problem, dear," the man said. "Now, I'd better get back to doing the bookkeeping." As he walked away, she could hear him mutter to himself about all the things he still ought to do, and Dylis chuckled quietly.
She turned back to the wasn't particularly fond of fantasy tales; if it were up to the writers of such stories, her own home would be a fantasy world. She preferred the romance stories (though no one would ever hear her say that out loud) and even more so the non-fiction books, so that she could learn as much as possible about the world she was living in.
She scanned the shelves to find the title of the book she looked for, her eyes casually falling on the spines before moving.
"Ah," she mumbled when she finally found what she was looking for. She took the book from the shelf and read the synopsis. She supposed it was a funny idea, but Dylis wouldn't be able to read it. Not when she had basically fallen into this world as well— and she had the feeling the story wouldn't describe the depression that came with arriving in a world entirely different than her own.
She sighed and shook the sudden sorrow away. Still skimming the titles for any other interesting titles (Ariel had given her own book away, so maybe she could buy another one next to this one), she started walking to another shelf.
But then a title caught her eye. She'd already moved on to the next one when she realised what the former one said. Her eyes flickered back.
Her mouth fell open as she read the letters. The feeling of confusion, wonder and excitement washed over, and she promptly let the book she was holding in her hands fall.
She was faintly aware of the shop owner saying that dropping a book was the greatest sin one could make, and she mumbled a 'sorry' as she picked her book up, all the while staring at the title that had made her world stop.
The Hobbit.
She gingerly grasped the book from between the others and looked at the cover. The Hobbit. Hobbit. A halfling. Little People, the King had called them, almost affectionate and protective of them. They swore allegiance to Arnor about 300 years ago when a large amount of them settled themselves west of the river Baranduin, and they often helped maintaining the roads between the Shire and Fornost. A resilient people, the Halflings were. She could remember when the King had organised a tournament that year for both Halflings and Men, and they had competed against each other for sport. It was with great resentment that the Men accepted their defeat, for Halflings were more keen-eyed than them.
Dylis turned the book over, utterly bewildered at the fact she found the name here, in a bookshop. She read the synopsis quickly, but froze immediately when she came across another name she was familiar with.
"Gandalf," she whispered, stunned. She looked up, her eyes wide and confused as thoughts whirled in her mind. How was this here? This couldn't just be a coincidence, right?
She paged the book and was overrun by an urgent feeling in her stomach. Misty Mountains. Elves. Dwarves. Elrond. Mirkwood. Erebor.
She felt sick.
Dylis felt completely, utterly nauseous.
Finally she had found what she had been looking for. Answers. Answers to the question of why Will knew of Arwen, why Hugh's eyes had lit up in recognition that day she explained what happened before appearing on the road.
But this answer was only met with more questions.
If they knew, then why hadn't they told her about the book? Why had they stayed silent? Why would they want to hide it from her?
She eyed the now empty spot in the row of books, then she looked to the book in her head.
J. R. R. Tolkien.
The other books that had stood next to The Hobbit were written by the same author, and she quickly read the other titles. The Silmarillion. The Lord of the Rings, which was either one big book or existed out of three parts. There were multiple parts of a series named History of Middle Earth, and Dylis took one at random.
She paged through it quickly, and grinned the more she recognised in the texts. Her mind made up, she brought four books to the counter, smiled at the man before going back to the shelves where she found the books, and then grabbed four more books. She almost forgot about the Narnia book for Ariel, and took that one as well to the counter. Luckily, she'd just received her monthly salary. It didn't matter to her that the books would probably cost her half of it— it was a worthy investment.
The man looked at her with an arch eyebrow. "Are you that bored, dear?" he asked her as he scanned each book.
Dylis smiled tensely and shrugged. "Found a new way to pass the time," she said.
"Well, you are in for a ride, for sure," the old man said with a chuckle. He put the books in two fabric bags as she payed, and handed them to Dylis. "These should hold them. Enjoy your reading."
"Thank you, sir," Dylis said. "Have a good one!"
She rather liked that phrase. It was very ambiguous, but everyone knew what was meant with it anyway.
She walked home as quick as she could. Her arms were straining from the weight of the books, and she grit her teeth in annoyance. She would have to work out more often. She wasn't looking forward to having to hold her sword up for as long as she could as training. The last time she had to do that was when she was four years ago, when she was sixteen. It was quite a boring way of training her muscles.
She saw Will's car on the driveway and clenched her jaw as she thought about confronting him. After hesitating for two seconds, she opened the gate leading to the garden in order to avoid him. She closed the door of her studio behind her and put the bags down on her desk.
Once she had gotten all of the books out of her bag, she stood there for a long moment, deciding on how to proceed.
A knock on her door made her head snap up.
"Dylis?" Will's voice sounded through the door.
She looked from the door to her books and to the door.
He knocked again.
"Come in," Dylis called to the door, crossed her arms in front of her and watched the door open.
Will stepped inside, saw her face, frowned, saw the books, and then raised his eyebrows.
"Oh." He looked at her sheepishly. "So you found out."
Dylis arched an eyebrow. "It appears so." She placed the books neatly beside each other. "It also appears I have been refrained from finding out." She shot Will a meaningful look, and he swallowed.
"Look, I can explain," he said lamely and dared to approach her even though he knew provoking an angry Dylis was a very dangerous thing to do. "It's a complicated story, actually…"
"I've got time." She waited and watched Will chew on the inside of his cheek. "Well then? Care to explain why there are books about my home?"
Will walked to the desk and looked at the books she bought. He sighed. "You know, it's a shame you bought these. I've got all the books in my room."
Dylis scowled at him. "Oh, do you now?" she said through gritted teeth. "Do you know how much effort I am putting in stopping myself from punching you right now?"
Will looked away, disturbed, and cleared his throat. "Anyway," he continued, "these books… they are considered fiction. Fairy tales. They are made up— or at least, that's what I used to think."
Dylis stayed silent for a while, staring at the book covers in front of her. "Made up?" she repeated, dumb-founded. These books… they are fairy tales? Fantasy?
Will's face softened. "Tolkien treats them as if it's history, though," he said. "He writes about important events like they really happened, and in the book says that someone from that time wrote the Red Book, or something, and that he is just the one translating the stories." He paused for a second, thinking on what he just said. "So maybe it has happened. Maybe it's not fiction at all, but people treat it as such because they think it's too fantastical to be true."
Dylis eyed him. "You're telling me that I'm— that you—" She stopped and took a deep breath in. "Are you saying that I came from the past? That my life is… well, history?"
"I'm not sure," Will said truthfully. "I mean, I think it could be possible that this was history…" He shook his head and grinned. "Who would've thought that this is real?" He took the book called The Silmarillion. "This should be the true Bible of the World, the Book of Creation. You are the living proof of it!"
Dylis frowned and lowered his arm holding the book. "Stop."
Will frowned and eyed her carefully, realising his gleefulness was a tad out of place. "Dyl?" he asked tentatively. "Sorry. I should've told you earlier."
Dylis hugged herself and shrugged. "What's done is done," she said quietly.
Feeling ashamed, he looked down at the books again and put The Silmarillion down. "What do you want to know?" he asked softly.
"Everything," Dylis replied simply. Then she looked at Will and there was a hopeful look in her eyes. "I want to know how this Tolkien knew about it. I must speak with him."
But before she could get too excited, Will held her back from walking out of her studio. "Woah, woah, wait a sec," he said, and Dylis eyed him curiously and annoyed. "I'm afraid that's not possible."
"Why not?"
Will bit his lip. "Because he's dead," he replied.
Dylis looked at the floor, downfallen. "Oh."
"Yeah." He shifted awkwardly, then looked at the books. "This book," he said as he took The Hobbit in his hands, "was the first that was published. It was brought out in the 30s. The Lord of the Rings was published in the 50s, and was very popular. There are several adaptations made, and the best known by far are the movies from Peter Jackson. Though… they're not very accurate.
But before I can explain you everything, I'm afraid you must tell me everything about your home. I'm not very familiar with… Arthedain you called it, right?" Dylis nodded. "I'm sure it must be mentioned somewhere, though."
Dylis looked at him for a long moment. "I trust you with this," she said at last. "You better not keep any— any information to yourself."
Will was quick to agree.
"Alright," Dylis said and went to sit down on the soft rug on the ground. Will settled down next to her. "What do you want to know?"
"Time, place, situation."
"I was born in the Third Age, the second day of what you call November, 1926," she started. "My parents are Lord Brychan, General of Fornost's Army, and Lady Meldiseth, Captain of the Royal Guard of the King and Queen. My mother died by the hand of a betrayer, who tried to harm the King. Afterwards, I wished to live up to her loyal reputation and become like her. I was tasked with bringing the royal children to safety, and…"
She went on to tell him about that day, but also about where she ought to have brought them. She told her about her visits to Rivendell, and about her father meeting the Shipwright of Lindon when Arvedui had just become king.
William was hanging onto her lips as she talked— not only because he had to figure out what period she lived in, but also because it was incredible to hear details he'd never read about before. It was still hard to believe that Dylis had really lived there, in that world he'd so often dreamed about living in when he was younger. She'd been there. She'd met elves— she'd actually met Arwen. She'd met lord Elrond, his sons, she'd even met bloody Gandalf.
She stopped then.
"Was that enough for you?" she asked, shooting him an amused look.
He jolted, as if only now realising she'd stopped telling her tale. He nodded quickly. "Yea— Yeah. I think I know how to do this."
He stood up and grabbed The Hobbit and the three parts of The Lord of the Rings. "These," he started, "happen in the future. In the far future for you, to be precise. This is about a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who joins a company of thirteen dwarves to take back the Dwarven kingdom named Erebor. In order to do so, they have to defeat the dragon Smaug."
"A dragon?" Dylis repeated, eyebrows raised. "Those creatures are mere myths."
"To Men," Will said with a shrug, though he was a bit stricken to hear her, of all people, say this. "To Elves they're history."
"I'm not very learned in lore and Elvish stories," Dylis admitted with a slight frown. "My father used to tell me tales when I was a child, but I forgot most of them."
Will, seeing the sudden sorrow on her face, quickly moved on and held up The Fellowship of the Ring. "This books is a little more, uh, significant," he said. "It tells the story about a Fellowship, who set out to destroy the One Ring made by Sauron in the Mount Doom—"
Before he could finish, Dylis had snatched the book out of his hands. She read its premise on the back cover, then opened it.
"You tell me this is the future?" Dylis asked, looking up at Will urgently. "The Dark Lord returns?"
Will took in the dread in her eyes, then back at the books he had with him. Suddenly this wasn't just a story anymore. There was a person sitting in front of him who had seen battle, who knew about darkness- real darkness— and who knew she wouldn't be able to get home anytime soon. Middle Earth was real. The Hobbit was real. Fuck it, the War of the Ring had happened— or would happen, in Dylis' case. Or had it already happened?
Whatever, the point was that it was real. This wasn't a story— it was history.
He looked at her gravely. "Yes, Sauron returns," he said.
Dread washed over her body as she gaped at him and the book she held. "What happened to Arthedain?" she asked.
"I'm… not sure, actually," Will said with a sigh. "I only know that in this book, there is no Arnor anymore."
"He won then," Dylis stated quietly, staring into the distance numbly. "The Witch-King of Angmar sacked Fornost."