A/N: just to remind, in case you've forgotten, anything from the mind of Tolkien is his and his alone. I like to borrow, but never steal. Lin is mine. The idea is mine. The situatioins are mine. Are we clear on this? Geez, I hate being so possessive, but sometimes ya just gotta. If you like this, let me know. If you like anything written at this site, let that author know. Lifeblood, folks. And now....
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Time and Space
Chapter 10
The road sped past as we continued on our escape, though I wasn't paying much attention to it. My thoughts kept circling around what to do. Perhaps England wasn't the answer. The complexities involved of getting Legolas onto the airplane would be completely overwhelming. Add to that his "luggage", read arsenal, and it would be damned near impossible.
No, it seemed the only thing we could do was try to contact Aragorn himself, if he was still alive. That meant finding a telephone number. That meant finding a computer with the Internet to find that phone number. My hope was to find a contact on the website. Stupid for not looking before we left, I chastised myself.
I rotated my hands on the steering wheel.
"You are still troubled."
Legolas had been eerily silent during our ride. I jerked back to the here and now when he finally spoke. "Huh?"
"You are worried."
I took a deep breathe. "Yes, I am."
"Perhaps if you share some of your burden, it will be easier to bear."
Looking at him, those crystal blue eyes, the fine features, the now perfect hair, my heart stopped. I held his gaze a long time. Too long. The car veered onto the shoulder. With a quick pull, we were back on the road, luckily with no one on it to run into. I then decided to pull over, more gently this time. I shut off the engine, released the steering wheel and sat.
Sitting there, the afternoon sun pouring in, I stopped. I mean, I really stopped. My heart didn't flutter because of Legolas or his incredible beauty, but by the entire situation I was now in. He wasn't human. He wasn't even of this time. Either one of those would be extradordinary on its own, but together? It went beyond absurd.
Legolas continued his silence. He merely gazed at the farms around him, occassionally glancing up at a flying hawk or at a rabbit darting through the fields. How could he sit there so calm as though this was nothing out of the ordinary? This whole thing was so beyond ordinary that reality took a left days ago. So where did that leave me?
Purposely, I removed my seat belt, opened the door and got out. Walking along the road, I stopped about a hundred feet from the car. I just stood there, my arms limp at my side, facing out into the rows and rows of freshly furrowed fields. I was breaking down and I knew it. But how could I not? I was giving up everything I worked and struggled so long and hard for, and for what? What did I really intend to do? Go with him? Return back to where ever, whenever he came from? Absurd! This went way beyond incredible.
But I couldn't blame him. Legolas. He had his mission: find his friends and return home. What then of me? What was to happen to me when he left and I remained with the broken pieces of my career?
I just didn't know what to do.
I didn't hear footsteps. I didn't see anyone come to me. But I heard the light whisper in my ear. "You are not alone. You will never again be alone. Trust in that. Have faith that things will play out as they should."
Slowly blinking, I looked to where the voice came from, but found no one. I fully moved in a circle, but could not find anyone who said those words. Legolas remained in the car, unchanged. Yet, it was not him who spoke to me. It had been a woman's voice. But there was no woman to be found.
I remained motionless for some time. A passing car forced me back to reality and I headed back into my own. Legolas still said nothing. Putting on my seatbelt, I was about to start the ignition when he spoke. "When Arwen spoke of her decision to give up her immortality, I could not fathom why she would choose such a fate. To live, grow old, become frail. These were burdens and tortures to which I would not so quickly dismiss. Yet, to her, they were not sacrifices. When questioned as to why she would give up all that is Elvish, she only replied that she had found love." He paused before continuing. "She was no longer alone. In Aragorn, she found faith. Her destiny was to be at his side sharing all that was life." He looked at me, his eyes once again penetrating my own. "She said to have faith that things would play out as they should."
He ended his story, but we both knew what he was really saying. I needed faith, to believe that I was doing the right thing, no matter the consequences.
"Our paths were meant to cross, Kaitlin of Men. Thus, our fates are joined. You know this to be true."
I did, but I needed reassurances. "How can you be so sure?" Tell me that everything was going to be okay. Tell me that I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life. Tell me!
He leaned towards me. "I make you this promise. When Aragorn is reunited, you will understand. When you see and feel the truth of my words, you will be certain of your choices." He sat back in the seat, once again looking at the fields. "Our path is set before us. Have you the courage to see it through?" His gaze once again held mine.
He believed. He believed so strongly that this is what we were meant to do. It was enough. I turned the key and engine sprang up. "The sooner we continue on, the sooner you can keep your promise."
I caught a light smile as I turned to pull out back onto the road. I was satisfied for now.
We stopped in the next town for the night. Though it wasn't dark, we were both anxious to begin finding Aragorn. Asking at the front desk of the motel, we found the local library. Thankfully, it had the Internet. Quickly logging on, I found the site again and began searching. Legolas was hunched over my shoulder, his eyes wide at the amount of information scrolling past him. Even though I was sure he couldn't read English, the images jumped out at him. Sketches, drawings of his home filled the screen. He reached a tentative hand out, but stopped short of touching the monitor. It was as though he didn't quite believe what he saw.
Finally, I found a contact page. I rolled my eyes. It was for e-mail only. This was difficult. E-mail was completely unreliable. We would have no idea if Aragorn himself checked his mail, if it was still active or when it would be replied to. This all assumed that the address was legitimate in the first place.
Taking a chance, I placed my hands on the keyboard, ready to compose the message, then stopped. I looked at Legolas. "What am I supposed to say?"
He only looked at me inquisitively.
"If this address is real, he probably gets hundreds of messages from people. How will this one be any different?"
Legolas was slightly confused. "Merely tell him the truth."
"It's not that simple." I stared at the screen, the cursor blinking before me. "I mean, I can't just go and write 'Hi. You don't know me, but you probably know my friend very well. Remember Legolas? Well, he's here with me.' He won't believe it."
Finally understanding my problem, Legolas paused. "Perhaps if you write of something only he and I share."
That would work. He then told me of a time at Lord Elrond's (still didn't know who he was) when Aragorn was not yet a man.
"Yes. He will know it is I." He crossed his arms over his chest.
I finished the note saying to please call us at the motel under the name Marie Jones. I didn't know if anyone would be looking, so I figured a false identity would be suitable. Hitting send, we then began the waiting game.
I flipped through the pages of the old magazine in the motel room. Legolas continued to stare out the window. Neither of us wanted to say what we were both thinking. If this didn't work, finding Aragorn was going to be a thousand times more difficult. The mere thought of it gave me a headache.
But then what? Did Legolas think that simply finding Aragorn would magically transport him back home? The odds of discovering...Stop that! I mentally yelled at myself. Focus on the here and now.
"The stars are different here," Legolas' soft voice said. Seeing his reflection in the window, I could see a mix of sadness and joy. The stars brought him happiness, but such foreign ones as these only reminded him of how far from home he was.
"Why don't you go outside for a bit?" I offered. "Clear your mind."
Still standing by the window, he shook his head. "No. I wish to wait here. I do not wish to be far when Aragorn contacts us."
"I don't want to sound negative, but he likely won't call tonight. England is five or six hours ahead of us. It's still early morning there."
He faced me. "He will contact us. You must believe." He resumed his stargazing.
I wondered who he was trying to convince. I resumed my perusal of Good Housekeeping.
Having received no phone call during the night, I headed back to the library. Legolas was quite hilarious when I taught him how the telephone worked. He couldn't understand how you wouldn't have to yell into the handle to get people to hear you. I didn't bother explaining that sometimes people were thousands of miles away.
Opening up my e-mail account, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest when I saw a reply to our message of the day before. Quickly opening it, I read:
Ms. Jones,
This is the estate for J.R.R. Tolkien. We would like to thank you for your interest in Tolkien lore and myth. You may purchase the following books and related material at any bookstore or on-line...
I couldn't believe it. Not only had the message not been read, it was replied to with a standard form letter response. No thought. No attempt to read the message. Just a stupid, computer generated generic reply.
Legolas was not going to like this.
Slowly, I made my way back to the motel. This was not going to be a good day, I could just feel it coming. Grabbing the door handle and inserting the key, I could hear someone speaking from inside the room. Quickly entering, I found Legolas with his back to the door and the telephone to his ear. Guess he did figure out how to use the phone without yelling.
It was then that I noticed that he wasn't speaking English. I had no clue as to what he was saying, but something about it was familiar, as though I'd heard it somewhere else. Moving to face him, I found quite a shocking sight.
To be continued...
A/N: just a little upgrading to the story. I foresee that I might get another chapter done this weekend (curses to the drab weather here). To those who have reviewed, thank you so incredibly much! Yeah, broke 100 reviews!!