Disclaimer: You recognize it, I don't own it.
A/N: Please forgive me for my horrible Quenya. And no, Janet didn't find the Quenya dictionary site until after this adventure began, and therefore never learned it. And there's just one more chapter after this! *excited squeal* AND…. 100 PAGES!!!!!!! (actually 105 right now and it's not even done yet…YAY!)
Without a true leader and only a small number of tribal chiefs to lead the army in the attack, they were quickly defeated. The chiefs spent more time fighting over who was in ultimate control than leading their troops. There were very few casualties, none to the orcs as they were quick to fall into their civil wars after one of the chieftains killed another for dominance. The only major casualties were those who had fallen to the two Nazgul who had attacked, both swiftly taken out by Aragorn and Gandalf. The only real task the army performed was to drive the orcs back far enough so that they would not litter the immediate area of Minas Tirith with their bodies. It was ridiculous and a joke to have even prepared for, and was soon being made fun of to soon be forgotten.
By the time they returned, Nicole had gotten Louise to melt down the ring. It had taken all of her strength to do so and she was resting again, though this time in a much deeper slumber, to regain her strength. A weight that they had not before noticed seemed to lift from Aragorn and the end of their Nazgul problems ended.
Leigh and Kathy talked frequently with Liz, trying to remind her of her life before in their own world. It was a very difficult task to do, they found, as she would continuously nod and say that she understood, though in truth nothing was sinking in. Everyone had tried to pitch in with the effort, but none seemed to work. She just could not understand how there could be another world that she was originally from where there were no elves when she was clearly one.
Within a week Leigh was up again and Kathy was hobbling around with a staff to help her walk. They were making plans to return to Mordor and find the gate where the girls could return home, but this was not the wish for all of them. Janet, now finding that Legolas returned her feelings did not want to leave, though he would never be able to marry her. Only females had the option of giving away their immortality and their relationship had been doomed to end from the start. The two had begun to spend more time together and getting to honestly know each other.
Nicole hardly got to see the light of day any more, busy predicting for the King of Mirkwood who was not yet convinced that she could perform the feat with only a few small factors. She noticed a change in her ability, not having to actually figure out mathematically every time to figure out what was about to happen. Now, it came to her more like a vision or a feeling that something was going to happen in a given amount of time. Only for the long term predictions would she have to do any sort of problem solving, and she saw problems for herself in the future should she go home.
"I can't wait to get home," Kathy proclaimed at dinner one night. "Apparently I have about three months left if I stay here because of my leg, but they can fix it back home. They kept telling me I wouldn't live, like I need to hear that! Especially when they should know I'm not even from around here."
"I miss home," Leigh said. "I wonder how long we've been gone, and if anyone even tried to look for us. Not like they would actually find us, but still. Then again, I got out of a Chem. test that I didn't study for, which is good. Imagine all the make up work we'll have to do when we get back."
"I miss Julie and Maria," Louise said, naming her older and younger sister respectively. "My mom's probably going to be pissed, though. Oh well, it's not like any of us actually expected for any of this to happen when we started. I should only be grounded for a year."
The hobbits were chuckling a bit beside them. "You are much like us on our first venture out into the world," Pippin said. "Unless you have relatives like poor old Bilbo had, then you're returning to a fine place. You don't have to worry about your homes being taken over when you return, or having all of your possessions sold at an auctions because you were proclaimed dead."
Ruth, however, had promptly covered her ears again. "Don't tell me! I don't know that part yet!" She looked up sheepishly to the rest of them at the end of her outburst and uncovered her ears to hear their good natured laughter. They then proceeded, everyone who knew the story helping, to tell Ruth and those who did not know it the tale of both the Hobbit and what happened after the War of the Ring when the Hobbits returned home and had to take back the Shire.
Nicole puzzled for about five minutes before she went to sleep that night over just where the location of the portal back home and began to rue the trip. She had figured out what was going to happen when she returned. She would be able to predict things in school her grades would go up, sure, but there were other complications. She would know about world disasters and robberies before they happened and would tip off the authorities. Eventually she would be adopted by the government unwillingly, under the guise of a scholarship, so that they could always have an alert system for disasters. She did not want that to happen, though she knew it probably would.
Ruth, Leigh and Louise were up late that night talking as well in Leigh's room, about all of the things they missed about home and were going to miss about Middle-Earth. They even went through what they were not going to miss, such as school and orc raids, laughing about how things in both places seemed so similar some time.
"Hey, Vilya?" Ruth asked, suddenly remembering the ring on her finger. The would surely not be able to take them out of their own world. "What's going to happen to you when we leave?"
We will return to the Grey Havens anew and pass from the world into the forgotten, Vilya answered. Much to their surprise, all present heard the ring in their minds. Thank you for enabling us to go through the world once more and giving us importance.
I will not just lay down and return, Nenya guaranteed. I was able to bring us out of the havens once and I shall do it again. If you decide to return, that is your own choice. You do belong there technically. But I will not simply return to those boring Havens.
It was not so bad, Narya said. It is pretty enough and besides, they will have blocked off that escape route and you will not be able to trick that creature again. It was nice to have been back and not had that old coot as a master, so I will retire peacefully.
"So once we leave, you're going to just be gone and never return?" Louise asked for clarity.
Nenya let out a humph, so Narya answered. No, without a master we cannot remain. Simple luck brought us out of the Havens before and we will not be able to escape again.
The three girls exchanged looks, feeling a sudden guilt for having to leave the rings in a place that they did not want to be after all the help they had given over the time they had spent here. This also reminded them of the power that they would lose when they returned, the loss of the ability to control the elements they had found. They slept with many things on their mind that night.
Liz was moved back into her room the next day, though no one knew quite how long she would remain there. To keep herself busy, she offered to look after Eldarion for the day, as those who knew her seemed to have difficulties talking to her. Eldarion, though, was amused with the way she talked and worked to mimic her technique, much to the annoyance of his other caretakers. Arwen had managed to teach him Elvish under the noses of the tutors trying to make him learn each page of every charter ever written, it seemed, and he had learned now how to use that knowledge to his advantage.
"I do not believe this was the best way for him to practice his languages," Arwen said seriously, gaining the approving nods of the upset tutors who Eldarion had confused this day. Arwen herself, however, seemed quite amused.
"But if amin nowa through every beth, Eldarion naaya e'rashwe so many times by sii," Liz said in her own defense, playing along with the queen and letting her languages flow into each other to annoy the tutors. "Besides, tanya naaya no fun."
"Well, you should at least try to think through your words before you speak," Arwen said. She glanced sidelong at her son, smiling to tell him that he was not in any trouble, and neither was Liz. "But I know how much trouble he can get into if you are not quick enough to catch him. I believe that you have good reason for proceeding as you have. Now run along both of you and have your fun. I must speak with your tutors. Eldarion, please refrain from speaking Quenya."
The pair exited the room in seriousness as though they had just been scolded for doing something and quickly dissolved into giggles once the door closed behind them. "We should go and find Ruth and Leigh," Eldarion suggested. "Then we can all go on a quest to find the treasure of the Misty Mountain."
"Maybe lye quest naa utu them," Liz suggested.
"Then let us begin our quest to find them!" he declared, leading the way. They stopped many times along the way, Eldarion finding the need to explain what had happened on previous occasions when he had traveled certain parts of the 'wilderness' they were searching through. They picked up Sam, Merry and Pippin along the way and worked hard to avoid the evil troll, Gimli, and his devious henchman, Legolas, the elf of fate. They asked directions from Celebwen, the silver maiden of the lake and Kathy the kind who had to go quickly on her way soon after. After much deliberation, they decided it best to scoot past Mithrandir, the wise man because he did not seem to be in a good mood, and if he was bothered in a bad mood he would change you into an orc. Eventually, upon the urgings of the hobbits, they made their way down to the kitchens for a quick snack before continuing on their way.
They came to a long strip of hall that the hobbits warned against entering with tales of many dangers. After much persuasion, they came to a compromise where Liz went first to investigate and see if the mysterious predators were present and posing a threat.
She crept along the wall quietly, enjoying the hunt, even if the dangers were only in their heads. This was the most fun she had had since she had awoken a little over a week ago. People had been worrying over her amnesia, trying to make her remember things that she could not. It was almost as though this loss of memory should be bothering her.
"Okay, you do realize you have this horrible habit of not speaking in English, right?" a voice said from behind one of the doors further on. Liz listened intently to it, knowing only the girls who seemed to know her well spoke like that.
There was a tense pause and a frustrated sigh before anyone continued. "She was under Radagast's mind control for too long and now she will probably never get her memory back," Gimli said. "Now, how are we going to go about destroying the one ring? The task fell to the ring bearer before…"
Liz slipped behind a table, still playing the game, and signaled for the others to advance. She could hear the quiet arguing over the best way to dispose of the ring this time for good, and she began to wonder about what they had said about her memory never returning. "There's dagora orquae in there." She indicated the door where she was currently eavesdropping on and they quickly proceeded on.
By the time Eldarion had to go to dinner then to his tutors, they had nearly forgotten what, or rather who, they had been questing for. Liz tried to talk to the hobbits, to tell them what she had heard and to ask why they had not been present when Frodo had, but they did not answer because they did not understand half of the message.
They ate dinner with the King and Queen that night, the entire Fellowship present. They informed everyone that was not already aware that in a weeks time, they would venture back into Mordor to dispose of the rings and send the girls back home. They talked excitedly, telling everyone what they would all be doing when they got home, but many of them were hiding their indecision of whether or not to return.
"Amin can't feitha," Liz said. "Ta sounds like an yamen'seasu."
"One language, Liz," Kathy reminded her. "One language."
"Sorry," Liz said apologetically. She though a couple seconds before speaking again. "Am I actually going to have to relearn how to speak properly? Doesn't anyone speak Quenya in that world at all who I can talk with? I really don't want to frustrate anyone by having them re-teach me."
"I believe that you have already past the point of frustration with them," Frodo pointed out.
Liz regarded him and said, "Ta iltyara llie rashwerim. Llie naa mellonamin." She smiled sweetly to her friends who were certain that she was doing this for their annoyance. Which, of course, she was.
"Why do we even bother?" Ruth asked no one in particular, her hand remaining on the forehead in which she had slapped.
"She said that you did not mind because you were her friends," Legolas translated for them. A few of their sour looks softened slightly and shook their heads at her, seeing that, despite her memory loss, she was the same as she had always been, except for the fact that she had found a new way to do so.
The week passed far more quickly than any of them had anticipated, all of the girls having to say their goodbyes to their friends that they had made. The elves which had been staying there had left a day before them, making their way back to bringing Rivendell back to it's former glory, and that meant one less day to spend with some of their good friends.
They had intended on setting off in the morning, though they did not until after their midday meal. Their horses carried them swiftly over the plains to a safe haven for them to rest in during the night. The inn was small and had hit rough times in the face of the orc troubles, so they were more or less alone there.
The girls chatted well into the night, something that had become a common theme amongst them, talking about their reservations about going back but never being completely honest about them. They warned Kathy and Liz about Mordor and how fierce the orcs could be, especially those which had been genetically altered.
"Portkey," Liz said out of the blue, in the middle of a description of the orcs that would not die. Thinking through her words carefully again, she explained. "We could just use a portkey to get where we are going, and then there wouldn't be all this hassle over running into all of the orcs. Just show me on a map where we have to go."
They presented this idea to the rest the next morning, though some somewhat grudgingly. The idea was accepted eventually for convenience and the fact that none of them wanted to travel through the orc lands. They ended up buying a table from the owners of the inn, finding it the only thing that was large enough for all of them to crowd around and get a hand on it.
"Frodo, Sam, you both should stay here," Liz said. "You went insane last time because of the ring, you might do it again. Besides, I'm the new ring bearer, apparently, and I should be able to handle it." She smiled reassuringly. They eventually agreed that it would be best and took a seat on the chairs, bidding the girls a fond farewell and luck in all of their future ventures.
Before anyone could become moved any more by the moment, the portkey took effect. They landed very unceremoniously on the floor of Radagast's study where they had met and defeated him only a couple of weeks ago. The pile of wood chips that was once his staff still rested by the now overflowing basin under the dripping faucet.
Gandalf and Aragorn moved the stone block from it's place in the wall and motioned for Liz to be quick about taking it. Curiously, she reached in and brought the thing close to her face, studying it a moment before pocketing it. "So, manke naa the portal?"
"Through there," Nicole replied, pointing to the door that led to where the story sessions took place. She was slowly learning a few of the words that Liz kept falling back to, as were the rest of them. "There's another door after that and that's where the gate is. If we take the ring through to our world where there is no magic, it will never trouble anyone again."
Single file and moving more slowly than they thought they would they made their way through the room into the near blackness of the final one. Louise let the fire of Narya show them the way, quietly assuring the ring that she would not hand it back over to Gandalf when she went through.
The room was empty and looked as though it was made and promptly forgotten about. Cobwebs laced the corners and rats scuttled away from the bright light. In the center was a large hole in the floor with a slight light pulsating out of it as well as a great heat. In it ran a lava flow, though it was a fair distance beneath them.
"That's the portal, isn't it?" Kathy asked, figuring with their luck it couldn't have been so easy to leave this place. She clutched her staff for support and found her leg once more bothering her.
"Yeah," Nicole replied. "How are we- oh," she said, remembering the vial Galadriel had given her resting at her side. The liquid within was by no means at rest now despite her steady hand, anxious to be released and perform it's task. "This should also send the rings back to where they belong as well," Nicole said, loosing the stopper on the vial.
Though the vial stayed upright, the silvery liquid came out and spread itself over the surface of the hole, blocking out the light of it while giving off it's own to supplement for it. As Nicole put the vial down, the girls said goodbye to the Fellowship which most of them had become a part of, trying to hold back tears over losing close friends. Janet managed to steal a kiss from Legolas before they circled the hole now covered by the silver.
The stood facing in, holding each other's hands, both for moral support and so that all of them would go through without backing down, even if they wanted to. Putting aside all of their fears and reservations about returning, and all of the unnecessary hardships that were sure to follow, they took a deep breath and counted to three. At the last number, they jumped in and were swallowed below the surface of the silver pool.
The fall seemed to last forever, much unlike their last experience, and they heard voices around them. They were pulled from each other, the linking of hands separated, and they all fell into blackness.
Kathy awoke in a white room with curtains pulled around her. Her leg was in a cast and she wore a regulation nightgown. The smell around her, however, told her where she was and she did not like it at all. Hospitals were among the places that she feared since her experience when she was little.
Her mother came in a few minutes later, looking relieved at the sight of her. Behind her was a doctor and what looked like newspaper reporters. One took a picture from over her mother's shoulder as her mother dipped down for a hug at seeing her little girl all better.
"What happened?" she asked anxiously, the reporters behind her either scribbling down notes or recording it on a tape. "After all these months you just appear at school unconscious. I'm so glad to have you back. What exactly happened to your leg?"
Smiling at that she was home, and hopefully going home very soon, she replied, "I picked a fight with a Nazgul and I wasn't paying attention. It's so good to be back."
"Where did you go?" Asked one of the reporters, ignoring the venomous look he received from her mother. "And what happened to all of your friends? Why are they not with you and are still missing?"
Kathy gaped at the man. "You mean they didn't get back?"