Disclaimer: Ah one, ah two, ah one, two three four!

Gimme a break, gimme a break,

break me off a piece of that multi-million dollar enterprise!

No? Oh well.

No Tolkien ownership for me. But I own other stuff! Like, a dog, for example!

A/N: I'm trying to churn these out faster. I DO have four other stories to write, ya know.

Here's where everything from "A Wizard's Plot" is explained, for those of you who haven't read it. I tried to summarize! Don't hurt me if its too complicated!

PS: I re-worked this chapter after the wonderful advice of my dear friend, Cait. Thanks! I swear I'll return your Amazing Skirt someday!

3

Sarah flicked a shaving into the fire. Whittling calmed her down, not that the droning repetitiveness of riding across bare land for weeks on end wasn't calming enough. It wasn't the journey that troubled her- it was the destination. And night was not the most soothing time to think of such things.

"You know what, Alder? I really do miss my brother. You'd like him- he's really nice if you give him a chance. Just a little shy. He's really smart, too, and he can play the piano better than anyone I know. What else can he do? Hmmm, let's see… he can sing, and sort of act, and basically he's just an all-around nice guy. Of course, like every other nice guy in the universe, he was cursed with being an idiot." She laughed quietly to herself, but Alder said nothing.

The fire crackled, and after a long pause, Sarah went on. "He's an idiot, well, about honor and family and all of that. That's what happened, I guess. He had to go and fall in love, so he felt responsible for this elf Narin, and he had to go off and marry her. No, I know what you're thinking. She wasn't pregnant. Ryan is WAY too chivalrous to get himself into that kind of situation. He was just doing what good guys do- taking care of her. But I don't like her a bit, and there was no way I was moving to Rivendell. Elves don't really like me- I'm too crude. I just don't belong there."

She spit reflexively into the dirt. "So we parted ways. When we get to Rivendell, Alder, it'll be the first time I've seen him in almost a decade. Yeah, I know, that's a long time. I really wish we'd have stayed together. I can think of more than one time when I said, with my back against a wall, I-wish-Ryan-were-here."

A shape was forming in the wood- Sarah wasn't really trying carve anything; she just went with the grains and the feel of the wood. "Do you want to know about Ryan and I? Okay, I'll tell you." She continued without even taking a breath. "Ryan and I are from this place called America, you've probably never heard of it. Heh. Well, we were walking to Ryan's car one day after rehearsal- we're both actors, but you don't know what that is either- and this hobbit named Pippin appeared to us. No, I'm not crazy, and we weren't seeing things. Pippin gave us two warnings- first, I must never leave Frodo, and second, Ryan must protect me. Yeah, I know, see how that worked out? We did exactly what we shouldn't have done."

She rubbed her eyebrow with the back of her hand, and went on. "Then out of the blue, we got transported here. Really! It's true! I fell into Aragorn's stuff- you don't know who he is, but you will, trust me- and Ryan fell almost on top of Samwise Gamgee, who's a hobbit like Pippin. After a while (and, I admit, a lot of help from Gandalf and Aragorn) we figured out that this little ring here-" she held up the hand holding the knife, so that the ring gleamed in the light of the fire. "-was the cause of all the trouble. Its called the 'Phenilring', and Saruman the White created it out of the Phenilstone, which yep you guessed it, contains the power of the soul of the earth. Very, very powerful stuff going on here. So the ring has the power to control time, or at least those who wield it do. That ended up being my brother and I."

She sighed, remembering. "Its complicated, but I'll try to hash it out for you. This is how things went: Gandalf saw a vision of the future in which my brother and I, through the Phenilring, were involved in the triumph of evil in Middle-Earth. Scary, eh? So he took the Phenilstone and gave it to Saruman, who happens to be secretly evil. Talk about irony. Saruman created the Phenilring by transferring the power of the Phenilstone to an ordinary ring after the fall of Sauron. But he was whipped by Gandalf and couldn't wield it. So the ring ended up in the hands of the King- Aragorn! That's right, did you guess?"

The wood in her hands felt smooth. She turned over the block and started on a different angle. "Aragorn used the ring to go to the future, my time. Sort of. He chose to start as a child, born of a woman in the future. He grew up and wrote about the War of the Ring and all about hobbits in these books called The Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion, and the Hobbit, and a bunch of other ones. He did this 'cause he knew that the ring would be passed down from his line, and he wanted his descendants to know what they were getting into with the ring. Eventually, according to legend, the children of Númenor were supposed to the ones involved in this whole thing. And Ryan and I are Aragorn's- or, Tolkien's, as his 20th century name marked him, grandchildren. See how it all fits?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, not everything fits. See, this-" she made a face, "-elf, Narin, is somehow connected to the Phenilring. Everywhere- that is, 'everytime' it goes, Narin goes. So she fell in love with Ryan and sucked him away from me, the nasty little- oh, sorry. I get carried away sometimes."

Flick, flick, flick, more shavings into the fire. "So we have to, somehow, figure out how to stop all this from happening. I did get two clues from the future, but I have yet to figure out either of them. First, I did once travel to the future, and I'm pretty sure I saw what was going to happen to all of us. But, darnit, since the Phenilring matches every act of evil with an equal act of good (how annoying, right?), it was wiped from my memory. I have flashes in my mind, sort of pictures of what I saw, but I can't make out their connection or meaning. Its terribly irritating.

"Secondly, my future self came and visited me right before I left Hobbiton, where the Hobbits live. She- well, I- tried to tell me, or myself, whatever- Um, okay. I tried to tell myself how to resolve everything, but I died first. Not me, the future me. I know, confusing. Just consider yourself lucky you're not me, eh?" She laughed and nudged him gently.

"So I am alone, besides you, Alder, and I have no idea what to do about the ring or the stone or evil Saruman or anything. And the quest has already started! Frodo (that's another hobbit) will be in Rivendell by the time we get there! I'm pretty much stumped."

Sarah looked at what had come of her block of wood. She ran her fingers through the grooves, breathing in and out once, before she could look back at the fire. It was a crude human figure. But, strangely enough, Sarah had carved it without hands.

"Hmm. I didn't even notice."

An owl hooted, and snapped her out of it. "Well, my watch is almost up, buster. I'm going to wake you up now, and let's hope you aren't too grumpy. I'm tired, and you've been sleeping for four hours!"

She shook Alder gently, and he sleepily opened his eyes. "Ah, oh, is it my watch?"

"Yes. I'd like some sleep. I don't think anything will happen tonight."

"All right, Lady Sarah. Sleep well."

Sarah nodded, and was quickly dreaming, regardless of the lack of pillow, blanket, or pajamas that she had enjoyed so much back home- in Colorado. Sarah hadn't slept in pajamas in seventeen years.

Alder sat there quietly for a moment, making sure she was asleep. When her breathing became deep and regular, Alder nodded to himself. "You are the strangest of things that I have met on all my travels, Sarah Dean. I stand by my word, and I swore to protect you. Now that I know you are descended of a Ranger, one of my brethren in fact, I double my vow. You see, Strider told me to find a woman like you, watch after her. I believe you are the woman I have been searching for. But, of course, wiser men that I have been fooled by dark ways, so I will fast stay silent. Let us pray that you rest well, that we make good time, and that I am better at recognizing when one is asleep than you are."

~~~ That was a short chapter. On to Rivendell!!!

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