*Muses are currently seated around TV, #3 is knitting as his work only comes around when reviews are being made, Head Muse (HM) is watching Double Jeopardy and getting every question right, as usual. #2 is basking in his new found abilities and being ignored like always and #4 is moping coz he once was the sole inspiration for Vana's stories,*
#4: I still don't believe I didn't do this. What is coming over me? Have I lost my touch or…
#2: Oh get over it, it's my time to shine.
#3: Did someone say something?
HM: I dunno…What is Mount Rushmore.
#3: Damn he got it again.
#2: I don't care if you ignore me, I've got a story to do *prances off and is ignored*.
#4: Was that a breeze?
HM: I dunno…What is The Indies
#3: Damn man, you got it again.
HM: Naturally
Vana: I need help, who will help me.
*#2 comes back and takes her arm, leading her back to the computer where writer's block is cured. She ignores him*
Vana: Great, now I can work again.
*Writes more of the story and posts it, hoping convo does not enter site…damn, too late.*
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Disclaimer: I still don't own 'em, please take me seriously when I say this coz some don't and I get flamed saying 'Legolas this' and 'Haldir that'. Come on, you really think I could write Tolkien? I think not, he's WAY too good, I just use his people and manoeuvre them, hee hee.
Summery: It is no longer in 1st POV, that was just seeing into a deep and tired mind. Now we introduce Undying Lands and the others.
CHAP 1
Nenya had been dormant for millennia, its powers diminished since the destruction of the One Ring as it had been a type of master, an unwanted source of the power it could wield. But something was happening, something was changing and she could feel it, it literally throbbed with foretelling and woe.
Galadriel was confused at her findings, she had only kept the ring on her finger out of habit, not that it was totally necessary but she simply used it as a reminder of what once was. Now the light had come back, it was throbbing with heat and she knew it meant of some change, some great upheaval was about to occur. It was worrying her and she hurried along the corridors of her dwelling place, hoping to find a messenger to send to Elrond and the great Maia, but she was pleasantly surprised when the two spoken of were seen hurrying towards her, possibly having knocked down the doors in the process.
"Fair Lady, there is something brewing in the air! The rings are…"
"I know Elrond, the wind has been fierce and it told me long before the ring did. Do you have any idea what it could mean?"
"I do not, but maybe…"
"Neither do I Elrond, I may be eternal and wise, but this is far beyond my knowledge and by all logic, it shouldn't be happening." Olórin scratched his chin and the two elves could see him flickering in and out of focus, it still unnerved them that he could exist in two planes of existence at once since coming here and it usually happened when he was thinking hard. The "man" had long since discarded his old disguise and now stood tall above them, his completely ageless face only given substance by the physical stubble he let grow there. Being a Maia spirit he had re-adopted his old existence since leaving the mortal Middle Earth and he no longer represented the old man he had been for millennia, one could say he looked like a middle aged elf.
"I have long since passed Narya on as you already know, but where it is now I can only guess it is calling to it's brothers, and that is what you are sensing." He looked the two elves over and they both looked down at their hands, a blue gem on Elrond's finger and a white one on Galadriel's, the lights from both were pulsing and were making the elements water and air writhe around them in a frenzy of activity and pent up energy.
Suddenly Galadriel noticed something.
"Elrond, you are drenched with water. Why are you dripping over my floors like that?" she raised her eyebrows as he responded.
"And likewise with you fair lady, but in your case you look like you have been through a hurricane."
"It is the rings, their power is not being controlled and it is being let out against each other in the crudest form possible, the elements will continue to rage until a solution is found. Until then we must search for the brother ring, I still have no idea how this came to be but…" he stooped in mid sentence and the other two looked in surprise as his face became white, draining of what mortal fluids he still owned. "Oh no." he whispered and Elrond leaned over to him.
"What is it…?"
"Who did I give Narya to?" More of a statement then a question he looked upon the other two to answer him and Galadriel spoke first.
"Thranduil, but then he handed it on to…"
"Legolas." Elrond finished for her and they too became white.
"He is in danger then?" Galadriel wrung her hands and looked to the Maia yet again for answers.
"I do not know, but I sense he is well. Being a bearer he leaves a certain aura about him that lets another bearer know what is happening, another bearer of the same ring of course."
Just at that moment Olórin vanished, making the two elves flinch a little at his unexpected departure but they were used to it, and simply waited for him to return. Within a few moments he did, holding a limp figure in his arms and walking past them into a room, still coming back into focus as he did so.
"Is that who I think…" Elrond started, as they followed him into the room and watched him lay the still figure upon the bed in there.
"Yes, it is and do not worry. I simply sensed something was amiss and arrived just in time to catch him as he fell of a cliff. He should be more aware of the dangers, but it can be forgiven, the landslide was not be expected."
"It is ironic that he should decide to injure himself the moment we speak of him." Galadriel smiled wryly and pushed some dirty strands of blond hair from the elf's face, a large bruise appearing on the side of his temple. Then she moved down to his hand and gasped.
"It's not there!"
"What's not there?" Elrond followed her eyes and hissed. The ring he had been entrusted with thousands of years before was no longer present on his finger, though they knew before he left to travel to the north to live in Formenos that he always wore it, no matter what. He then looked at the fair face and sighed, he still looked exactly the same as when he had last seen him, just before Haldir had got it into his head that he wanted to leave and return to Middle Earth, or simply plain 'Earth' as it was called now. But there was something different, not too noticeable unless one looked closely as Elrond did now, his extensive experience in healing giving him an upper hand in providing a diagnosis.
"He is aging." His voice was bland and the other two nodded in agreement.
"I can only assume this has been happening for some time now, and that the effects are slowed dramatically because it is not intentional." Olórin waved his hand over the face and the bruise yellowed and disappeared. The elf stirred and opened his eyes, seemingly confused until he saw the Maia and relaxed.
"Ah, long time no see, Mithrandir."
Olórin smiled slightly, Legolas had not been one to accept change so readily and keeping his old name had almost been an imperative to his still young mind, though he was well over the age of young. He watched as the elf pulled himself up on his elbows and peered around the room before his gaze came back to rest on the Maia.
"Am I to guess that YOU have brought me here, and now you wish to discuss something very important?" he was just short of grinning as the three aged beings stared at each other in bemusement, he knew the signs and now he was working on them, it had happened often enough before.
"Yes, how did you know?" Elrond's eyebrows rose as a snicker ensued from the slightly younger elf.
"Call it an extra instinct if you will."
He laughed softly again, then suddenly frowned, the expression creasing his features as he seemed to stare beyond them into nothing, but at the same time be staring AT something that simply was not there. He then started to look unusually frightened and he clenched his fists, mouthing words like "no" and "help". Finally a single word came from his lips and he wrapped his arms around himself, drawing his knees up and still staring wildly.
"Haldir."
"What was that?" The sharp voice of the Maia brought Legolas back to his senses and he looked around, seemingly relaxing again as his eyes took in the familier surroundings once more. Not the stark nature and the darkness he had just seen, not the cruel world with it's screeching noises and strange flying beasts above him, not the black men converging on him and forcing him to flee before them. He saw and felt none of the terrifying things that had just flashed into his mind, but he had seen one thing just before he became aware again, and that had been Haldir.
"Haldir is in trouble." He simply stated and three previously confused faces turned grim, all pondering over this new information.
"He has the ring, doesn't he Legolas?" Olórin peered at him and the elf nodded, biting his lower lip as he thought deeply.
"I gave it to him just before he left; I thought that because the power was diminished he should have it to remember…me." He let the others ponder over this for a moment before he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, a very familier defiant fire burning in his eyes that took a lot to wash out.
"I'm going back, to find him and get him out of that place." The two elves looked slightly surprised at this statement, but the Maia looked as though it were the very thing he knew Legolas would say.
The elf continued. "Middle Earth is no longer what it used to be, it has become dark and filled to the brim with evil. The very air has become a poisonous fume and there are endless wars, ever going and you know this." He looked them each in the eye, daring them to contradict him. When they didn't he cleared his throat and declared again.
"I am going to find him, or he will die and…the ring will be lost." He added, possibly to add more sting to his words. No one dissuaded him and he walked to the door before stopping and turning around. "I will get there whether you help me or not, Mithrandir. But I will get there."
"Very well, Legolas. But the world has grown, it may take you an age to find him." He laid a hand on the determined elf's shoulder and looked into the icy blue depths of his eyes.
"Then an age I shall seek."
TBC
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A/N: Thankyou to those who reviewed.
Story Reader: Thanx tons
Taith Ant: It IS novel seeing it first person, and I have no idea where it came from either.
Goldleaf: I too sometimes feel like an elf in the modern age, kinda makes sense for me coz I'm so outta synch with everything. Same with you? Hee hee, thanx.