Disclaimer: You recognize it, I don't own it.
A/N: This is taking longer to finish than I thought it would. *shrug* I'll get over it. And for reference to those who wish to know, Good Magician Humphery is from the Xanth series by Peirs Antony. Told you I'd get another chap up before Monday.
"O Elbereth, I have chills run up and down my spine every time I look at that girl," an attendant said when Nicole and Gandalf came in and inquired about how she was doing. "Are you certain that she is alive at all? She has not stirred since she came and I am unsure if she breathes still."
"Then perhaps you should go over and check once in a while," Gandalf suggested. "Ah, Gimli and Legolas, what has brought you both here?"
"As much as we adore our families," Legolas said, "we can only take their questions for so long. Sometimes I begin to wonder how so many arguments can occur over so little a thing."
"He told his father he had fallen in love with Janet," Gimli supplemented. "Apparently he does not like her because she is too, what was it, wild? It was as though he actually paid mind to who his son had interests in."
Legolas shot a cold look at his friend, silently telling him to shut his mouth and never to open it again. "What has brought the both of you here? You said yourself, Gandalf, that there was little that we could do for her."
"But I thought of something that might work," Nicole informed them. "You guys didn't have this to try." She drew out the chain with a single jewel resting on it's length she had wrapped around the neck of Galadriel's vial, he one that formerly kept Liz safe from Radagast's doings before.
They moved over to Liz's bedside and saw the shadows pass in and out of her clear white eyes that seemed to almost be looking through the ceiling above her. Her hand was cold when Nicole touched it and she was indeed barely breathing. The expression on her face was blank and vacant of any feeling or emotion.
"What are you doing?" Pippin asked, peering over the edge of the bed and barely able to see what was happening. "Did you think of something to bring Liz back?" Growing frustrated, he stood on a chair at her bedside to get a clear look at what was happening.
"We'll see," Nicole said, putting the item around her head until it was securely on. A few seconds past in tension, everyone waiting on baited breath to see if it worked and did not lose hope as they slowly ticked by.
Liz's eyes closed and they almost let out a triumphant cry, except for that there were many sleepers about them. She squeezed her eyes tightly before opening them again to the light, looking up at the people standing over her in confusion, revealing the brown eyes that she was born with. "Vendui," she greeted before noticing an immense pain at her hip and let out a cry of pain.
"She's back!" Nicole said in quiet triumph to the rest. "But she's still speaking in Elvish."
"It is odd," Legolas stated quizzically. "Before she spoke solely in Sindarian, and now she greets us in Quenya. Perhaps something has happened."
"Amin sorry, nan who are llie?" she asked curiously, wondering if they were here to help her or just to visit what she figured might be the Hospital Wing of a school or castle. Feeling the spot where it hurt immensely once but was now just a sharp pain every once in a while due to the numbness, she found that she had no bone there. She looked around the room and found a small bottle in arms reach. "A, Skelegrow," she said, happily taking the bottle and drinking it down. She made a sour face as she put the bottle back down on the table, not particularly happy with the taste of the medicine or the fact that it was taking effect almost immediately.
Gandalf took the bottle and let a drop of the liquid fall onto his finger, finding it a thick white and pasty substance where before there was water. He looked to the others gathered there very seriously. Nicole seemed in a minor state of shock, but did her best to surpress it. "I believe there have been complications," he stated plainly. "But we should discuss them elsewhere."
"Liz, we're going to go now, all right?" Nicole told her. "Just call for someone and tell them to ask for us, all right?"
Liz nodded her understanding and smiled. "It was nice elea lle au. Maybe lle can visit after amin alae back nnaramin." She then rolled over and began to try to sleep through the pain of the medicine on top of the pain of the wound.
"What did she say?" Nicole asked once they were out of earshot.
"First, she asked who we were," Legolas said. "The next one was a mention of something called 'Skelegrow' and the last said that maybe you could visit again after she grew back her bone. Again, she spoke all Elvish in Quenya. I am beginning to wonder what has happened."
"Maybe that isn't what we should be worried about," Nicole suggested. "Why was she still speaking in Elvish at all? Isn't she supposed to be completely fixed now?"
"Isn't who supposed to be fixed now?" Frodo asked, Merry and Sam at his side. All of them had changed back into regular clothing from their orcish ones and no longer had the marks of Mordor dirt smeared on them visible.
"Liz is awake," Gimli replied. "She is, however, still speaking partially in Elvish and it seems that was not supposed to happen. She can learn to tell the difference between the two in time, so I see no problem. What has brought you all here?"
"Visiting with those wounded by the Nazgul," Merry replied. "Moral support from us who have had to suffer through it before. So Liz is back and partially 'fixed'. Where ever did you think of such a term? Oddly, I do not see everyone present, though we know that Kathy and Louise are in no shape yet to go for a visit. Were there any other complications?"
A wary look passed between Legolas, Gimli, Pippin and Gandalf as though they were trying to discern whether or not to voice it, but it was Nicole who spoke. "She doesn't recognize us, and I don't think she remembers anything." She let out a deep sigh. "And there's going to be a Nazgul attack at the East wall in about ten minutes. I'm going to find Louise and see if she can melt this ring so we can deal with that problem, unless you have a solution, Gandalf."
"My Father will be looking for you as well," Legolas warned. "He has heard of your successful predictions and is determined to use them to his best advantages in the upcoming battle."
"That's not all he'll be asking about," Nicole assured him with an innocent smile. "He'll also be asking about other things, like Janet. Who knows what could happen. Can someone well known around here come with me? I don't think Louise is well enough yet and they won't exactly let me try to melt the ring in a smith shop. They don't seem to let girls do anything around here."
Merry went to her side and accompanied her our of the gardens. "Don't bother telling the others she doesn't remember," Nicole said as she left. "It's better if they figure it out on their own!" As the waving hand passed out of sight, conversation resumed amongst the remainder of the group.
"If she cannot remember, then is it really wise to send her back?" Frodo asked. "Especially if she is a wizard. She said herself many times that there is no magic in her own world."
"She survived long enough without it," Gimli pointed out.
"Didn't Nicole say that one of them Black riders was coming at us from the East?" Sam asked, cutting in worriedly.
"I shall go and dispose of it before it causes us any difficulty," Gandalf said. "And do not worry of the fate of others much longer. When the time comes and they cannot decide themselves, then it will be chosen for them by one who knows what is best." With that, he departed. Slowly after that, they each separated off on their own ventures about Minas Tirith, learning what they could of what had been happening and what would soon occur with the last of the orcs of Mordor marching at them without a leader.
The next day they all went to visit with their wounded friends after a long rest and bath. Leigh and Kathy were awake, chattering amongst each other when they arrived. It seemed that there was a new arrival with a thick veil of rumors about them had been moved there next to them this morning and no one had seen them at all. Kathy and Leigh were creating theories on them.
"It's a countess turned assassin after she murdered her husband who was conspiring with Radagast," Kathy told them. "We figure that she's half something to be able to have the knowledge to actually kill someone in a position of authority, because it's almost impossible to find a properly trained girl who isn't at least half something else. We can't tell what yet, though, because those curtains they keep up around her don't exactly make for the best window."
"These two would have been helpful as fellow prisoners," Pippin said lightly to Louise and Janet.
"Oh, you two should know that Liz is no longer in her trance," Frodo put in. "She was brought out of it yesterday and apparently is starting to speak-"
"Ya naa there?" a familiar voice from what seemed like ages ago asked from behind the curtains. "I thought someone quene essaamin."
"What?" Janet asked. "Can't she just speak in one language? What is quene essaamin?"
"It's basically 'said my name'," Legolas replied. "I believe I know who the new arrival is, now, however." He went over to the curtain and asked, "Liz naa essaamin?"
"Yes," the voice replied, though a little unsurely. The curtain was drawn away by a mysterious force, revealing a girl sitting up in her bed and looking curiously to the group. "Quel amrun," she greeted cheerfully, scanning them and recognizing a few faces from yesterday. "Lle naa well today?"
"You have eyes again!" Leigh squealed, happy to see her friend well again. "And what? I just understood 'well today.' I thought you stopped speaking in Elvish."
Liz looked at them carefully. Thinking carefully and trying to sort through her vocabulary she said, "You know me, I just get a little confused sometimes. And yep, my eyes are back." She smiled, trying to hid the fact that she had little to no idea what this girl was talking about.
Liz stayed pretty quiet as they all talked to her, trying to make a mental note of which name belonged to which face and speaking only after carefully deciding whether or not they would understand each of her words. They even told her a bit about herself, about what had befallen her before she had awoken in this place. This was good, as she was beginning to think that she was supposed to be a student at a place called Hogwarts or a guest of Good Magician Humphrey and about to do her years service.
Finally, she thought she had gathered enough by watching them and listening to them all to try and deepen her knowledge of what might be. "How long have you and Legolas been together, Janet? I cannot quite remember." She had chosen her words very carefully, ensuring that none of them went into 'Elvish' as she talked, though she had no idea of the difference.
"Been together?" Janet asked, astonished at the question. She almost loosened her grip on Legolas' arm as she stared blankly at her. Sure, she had been obsessing over him since she had arrived, but she had not actually been 'with' him at all.
"Llie yuuyo obviously mela ilye n'at," Liz said defensively. "Amin just thought…" she let it trail off, unsure what made sense to whom but not really caring. She knew she had been caught by the astonished look of the girls who she only now knew by name, despite that they seemed to have known her for far longer than the day she knew them.
"You don't remember anything, do you?" Kathy asked, the first to voice that she had caught on.
Liz's eyes fell and she shook her head no. Thinking through her words again she said, "I have no clue what any of you have been talking about. I am sorry. I just don't remember anything since when I woke up yesterday and a lot of stories."
"We should go," Aragorn said, having just conversed quietly with one of the healers. "They need their rest and we still have to get rid of the ring and prepare for tomorrow."
They departed, leaving their wounded allies in the Houses in a partially shocked silence. How could she have led them to believe for so long that she still had her memory fully intact? And they had believed it for so long. The girls were almost kicking themselves for missing it, but they knew there was little they could do besides trying to spark her memory somehow. Maybe she would remember everything once they returned home to their own world.