Author's Note: This story is based mostly on the book, but for its own purpose I've twisted a part of the beginning of it with the movie. I've also edited it a bit again for the story's purpose, but it isn't in the movie. Don't worry: it's not Arwen ^_^!! Oh, and some light profanity may occur at some point in the story, but that is currently unforeseeable. There will be no more author's notes until the entire story is done.
Disclaimer: No, sorry, I don't own any of these characters, except for Aragollowen. Rae is a real person so I can't exactly own her!
Part 1
Rae Meaker had a bit of a love/hate relationship with her life. During the school year anyway. During fifth and sixth periods (P.E. and math), she tried to hide herself beneath the other students and their achievements. She wasn't exactly smart, and wasn't exactly athletic. You may ask where the love part of love/hate comes in.
The love part came after school, on weekends and even during spare time at school, when she would read the wonderful books she found in various places. She had read all kinds of books in her fourteen years of life, from classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame to popular books like Harry Potter.
These books were her life, and nothing else in the world mattered to her. She had no friends who lived in her tiny town. It's not that she wasn't pretty, or that she had some sort of attitude problem, but when you move into a small town like Foresthill, California, you don't exactly become popularity queen by spending your free time on the playground reading. Six years ago, she and her parents had moved to where she now lived. She had one friend back in Lake Oswego, Oregon where she had spent the first eight years of her life, and the two of them hardly talked anymore, simply because it was expensive to call and visit.
Her mother had liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy when she was Rae's age and was always trying to get her to read them, but Rae just never picked it up. It just seemed like such a large project to her that would require spending more time reading it in one sitting then her current amount of homework allowed her each night and her current amount of school work allowed her in class.
But then summer came. Now since school was out she had all the time in the world to read the trilogy. She had no idea that that book would change her life forever.
When she started reading, she fell completely head over heels in love for Frodo before she had even finished chapter two. She thought about him constantly. Something about him just drew her to him, and had fallen in love with the little hobbit from the big book.
I suppose that is how this all got started, her falling in love with Frodo, because when she was reading the scene at Weathertop when Frodo got stabbed, her heart was torn in two at the thought of the pain her beloved was feeling, and suddenly, she was in the story! She was kneeling beside Frodo on Weathertop, still wearing her white Gap jacket, red t-shirt, jeans and blue Doc Martens.
She didn't notice that she had been transported to this world. All she was worried about was Frodo. Apparently, that's all Sam was worried about too, because he hardly noticed that there was a strange human girl bending over his master and fretting about him just as much as he was.
Rae frantically tried to think of something she could do to help Frodo, but nothing came to mind. She ended up crying out just as Strider turned to tend to Frodo and saw her there.
"Who are you?" he said to her, and she looked up and suddenly realized where she was. She had read enough sci-fi to know that when some one is transported to another world, it's best not to try and explain their world to inhabitants of this one, so she didn't bother.
"My name is Rae, daughter of Mike," she said, "and, I-I heard screaming, so I came running to see if there was anything I could do to help."
Strider looked her up and down, "Is anyone with you? Are you traveling on foot? Where in Middle-earth did you find those clothes?"
"Em, no, you're traveling on foot, why can't I and I got them mostly at the Gap."
"Of Rohan?"
"No, of Roseville."
"Oh.... Where?"
"I'm sure this conversation is very engaging," Merry said suddenly "but in case you haven't noticed, Frodo is terribly hurt!!"
Rae swore and turned back to the hobbit. Strider then turned to him as well. He examined the wound and shook his head.
"This is beyond my skill to heal. We must get him to Rivendell." He picked Frodo up and took him over to Bill. He looked at Rae. "You wanted to help? Well you can watch Frodo, and you had better make sure that he does not fall of that pony or you will suffer some very serious consequences that I'm sure Sam here would be happy to fulfill. We must get moving. Hurry!" With that, Rae ran off on an adventure that then none of them could possibly foresee the end of.
***
Four or five days later, they were passing through a forest when they heard at least ten horses following them, one with light hoof falls, the others sounding sinister. The nearer was the lighter horse.
"That doesn't sound like a Black Rider's horse," Rae said, squinting in the distance to try and catch a glimpse of it. But Strider had stooped to the ground and cupped a hand to his ear, with a look of joy on his face.
As the clippity-clip of the horse drew nearer, Strider sprang from the ground and dashed to the horse. Rae, who was quite positive that Strider had all of a sudden lost his mind, left Frodo to Sam and dashed off after him. The rider increased his speed and met Strider more than half way.
"Aragorn!" he called to Strider from the seat of his dazzling white horse, "Who do you have in your party? I ask you this question because there are all nine of the Ringwraiths behind and closing fast!"
"We have the Ring-bearer, Glorfindel," Strider said, "and he has been attacked and is in dire need of the healing hands of Elrond. Can Asfaloth carry him to Rivendell?"
"Can I go with him?" Rae said suddenly, and the two looked at her. "Frodo is in no condition to fight if need should arise, and I would never let anything happen to him. You know that Strider, please let me go." She looked at the man imploringly. Something in her eyes made him think that she would be a help to go, because he said
"Yes, you can go. Use Frodo's sword if needed. Now take him on the horse and go."
"Thank you Strider, thank you!" She nearly hugged him, but at that moment it just didn't seem appropriate. She ran back to Bill and took Frodo. Sam glared at her.
"You had better take extra good care of my master out there Miss Rae, or you will hear about it."
"I know that Sam," she said, and, smiling grimly, carried Frodo to the horse. Glorfindel was whispering something to Asfaloth, and then looked at Rae.
"Are you ready?" he said and she nodded. She placed Frodo on Asfaloth and climbed on behind him, with a little difficulty because there was no saddle or stirrups. As she was safely seated, Strider looked up at her.
"Get across the Branduin. When you're on the other side, the Riders shouldn't be able to get you." Just then, they all heard a terrible screech that sent shivers down their spines.
"Noro lim Asfaloth!" Glorfindel shouted to his horse, "Noro lim!" At that, Asfaloth was off like a shot into the forest.
Riding the horse proved even more difficult than she had thought, but she managed to hold on to Asfaloth with her left arm around his neck and on to Frodo with her right around his waist.
The forest sped by at such a pace that she couldn't see anything clearly, and she just hoped that the horse knew which way it was going because she certainly did not.
Suddenly, something black to her left was going at the same pace that Asfaloth was. She looked at it. It was a black rider, reaching for Frodo. She turned to her right. There was another one! She looked behind her. No less than seven other riders were pursuing them.
"Noro lim!" she said to the horse, and it complied. She got maybe two minutes ahead of the riders and was soon to the river Branduin. They also reached the river, but not until she had reached the other side. They screamed at her, and she quavered. She turned back to face them and her face grew hard. She reached her left hand under Frodo and drew his sword from its scabbard. Those riders would have laughed if they could. Then she shouted at them.
"Darkness of the Enemy!" she cried, holding the hobbit's sword aloft, "Hear me and know that you are facing good that surpasses your evil! Flee in fear! For behold! If you step any farther you will be in the waters of the Ford of Bruinen!" They really did laugh. They approached her.
"Stay back!" she cried, brandishing Frodo's sword at them, and her eyes began to tear, "Stay back!" Suddenly, they heard a rumble, and a great wave crashed down the river. When Rae looked, she could have sworn she saw a great many watery horses with riders of mist, and the wave washed the Nazgûl down the river, and she could see them no more.
***
When she arrived at Elrond's house in Rivendell, an elven woman with dark hair was at the door.
"I am Arwen Undómiel, the lady of Rivendell. Who are you?" she asked Rae.
"Who I am is not important right now," Rae replied, "but I ride Asfaloth, the horse of Glorfindel, and this Hobbit is Frodo Baggins of the Shire, the ringbearer, and he is hurt badly." Arwen gasped.
"Carry him." she said, "Come with me. We must take him to my father. Quickly." She ushered Rae into the house.
Feverishly, Frodo stirred and awoke. He looked at Rae and she saw his eyes open.
"Where-"
"Shh," she said, "We are in Rivendell. I'm taking you to him now. Don't speak!" He fell back into his tortured sleep and her heart fell back into its tortured state.
***
When Elrond had healed Frodo as best he could at the moment and had him placed in a room, he spoke to Rae.
"We have you to thank for getting Frodo here safely, Rae," he told her, "and I will offer you one favor in return."
"You mentioned a council to be held to discuss the fate of Frodo's ring," she said, "and I would like to attend."
He thought for a moment and shook his head.
"I fear that I cannot." he replied, "You are not a person of Middle-Earth, I can tell, and because this meeting discusses the fate of Middle-Earth, it would be inappropriate for you to go." She wanted to cry and scream until he let her go to the council, but she knew it would get her nowhere. She stood up straight, nodded, and left the room. A female elf met her at the door and took her to her room.
***
There she cried as quietly as she could, but it must have been loud enough for any one in the hall to hear because an elf entered her room.
She had long light brown hair and her eyes were brilliant blue. She wore a light green dress and her hair was in four braids on top of the rest of her hair. She stood next to Rae's bed and it took Rae a second to realize she was there. When she did, she turned to the elf.
The light streaming through the door illuminated the pity in the elf's face. She sat down next to Rae on her bed. Pity was a look that Rae could read well, because she often saw it in the faces of the teachers at her school.
"Elrond won't let me go to the council," she told the elf, "because I'm not from Middle-Earth."
"That's not why," she said after some thought, "It's because you're a woman. He wouldn't let me go either. My husband will be arriving soon. I'm hoping he can get me in, but my hopes aren't high. Don't worry. You'll think of something. Now go to sleep; things are usually better in the morning." She left the room and closed the door behind her.
Rae sat alone in her dark room for a moment and then went to the door and opened it. She called down the hall to the elf.
"Hey! Where's the bathroom?"
***
REVIEW!!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: No, sorry, I don't own any of these characters, except for Aragollowen. Rae is a real person so I can't exactly own her!
Part 1
Rae Meaker had a bit of a love/hate relationship with her life. During the school year anyway. During fifth and sixth periods (P.E. and math), she tried to hide herself beneath the other students and their achievements. She wasn't exactly smart, and wasn't exactly athletic. You may ask where the love part of love/hate comes in.
The love part came after school, on weekends and even during spare time at school, when she would read the wonderful books she found in various places. She had read all kinds of books in her fourteen years of life, from classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame to popular books like Harry Potter.
These books were her life, and nothing else in the world mattered to her. She had no friends who lived in her tiny town. It's not that she wasn't pretty, or that she had some sort of attitude problem, but when you move into a small town like Foresthill, California, you don't exactly become popularity queen by spending your free time on the playground reading. Six years ago, she and her parents had moved to where she now lived. She had one friend back in Lake Oswego, Oregon where she had spent the first eight years of her life, and the two of them hardly talked anymore, simply because it was expensive to call and visit.
Her mother had liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy when she was Rae's age and was always trying to get her to read them, but Rae just never picked it up. It just seemed like such a large project to her that would require spending more time reading it in one sitting then her current amount of homework allowed her each night and her current amount of school work allowed her in class.
But then summer came. Now since school was out she had all the time in the world to read the trilogy. She had no idea that that book would change her life forever.
When she started reading, she fell completely head over heels in love for Frodo before she had even finished chapter two. She thought about him constantly. Something about him just drew her to him, and had fallen in love with the little hobbit from the big book.
I suppose that is how this all got started, her falling in love with Frodo, because when she was reading the scene at Weathertop when Frodo got stabbed, her heart was torn in two at the thought of the pain her beloved was feeling, and suddenly, she was in the story! She was kneeling beside Frodo on Weathertop, still wearing her white Gap jacket, red t-shirt, jeans and blue Doc Martens.
She didn't notice that she had been transported to this world. All she was worried about was Frodo. Apparently, that's all Sam was worried about too, because he hardly noticed that there was a strange human girl bending over his master and fretting about him just as much as he was.
Rae frantically tried to think of something she could do to help Frodo, but nothing came to mind. She ended up crying out just as Strider turned to tend to Frodo and saw her there.
"Who are you?" he said to her, and she looked up and suddenly realized where she was. She had read enough sci-fi to know that when some one is transported to another world, it's best not to try and explain their world to inhabitants of this one, so she didn't bother.
"My name is Rae, daughter of Mike," she said, "and, I-I heard screaming, so I came running to see if there was anything I could do to help."
Strider looked her up and down, "Is anyone with you? Are you traveling on foot? Where in Middle-earth did you find those clothes?"
"Em, no, you're traveling on foot, why can't I and I got them mostly at the Gap."
"Of Rohan?"
"No, of Roseville."
"Oh.... Where?"
"I'm sure this conversation is very engaging," Merry said suddenly "but in case you haven't noticed, Frodo is terribly hurt!!"
Rae swore and turned back to the hobbit. Strider then turned to him as well. He examined the wound and shook his head.
"This is beyond my skill to heal. We must get him to Rivendell." He picked Frodo up and took him over to Bill. He looked at Rae. "You wanted to help? Well you can watch Frodo, and you had better make sure that he does not fall of that pony or you will suffer some very serious consequences that I'm sure Sam here would be happy to fulfill. We must get moving. Hurry!" With that, Rae ran off on an adventure that then none of them could possibly foresee the end of.
***
Four or five days later, they were passing through a forest when they heard at least ten horses following them, one with light hoof falls, the others sounding sinister. The nearer was the lighter horse.
"That doesn't sound like a Black Rider's horse," Rae said, squinting in the distance to try and catch a glimpse of it. But Strider had stooped to the ground and cupped a hand to his ear, with a look of joy on his face.
As the clippity-clip of the horse drew nearer, Strider sprang from the ground and dashed to the horse. Rae, who was quite positive that Strider had all of a sudden lost his mind, left Frodo to Sam and dashed off after him. The rider increased his speed and met Strider more than half way.
"Aragorn!" he called to Strider from the seat of his dazzling white horse, "Who do you have in your party? I ask you this question because there are all nine of the Ringwraiths behind and closing fast!"
"We have the Ring-bearer, Glorfindel," Strider said, "and he has been attacked and is in dire need of the healing hands of Elrond. Can Asfaloth carry him to Rivendell?"
"Can I go with him?" Rae said suddenly, and the two looked at her. "Frodo is in no condition to fight if need should arise, and I would never let anything happen to him. You know that Strider, please let me go." She looked at the man imploringly. Something in her eyes made him think that she would be a help to go, because he said
"Yes, you can go. Use Frodo's sword if needed. Now take him on the horse and go."
"Thank you Strider, thank you!" She nearly hugged him, but at that moment it just didn't seem appropriate. She ran back to Bill and took Frodo. Sam glared at her.
"You had better take extra good care of my master out there Miss Rae, or you will hear about it."
"I know that Sam," she said, and, smiling grimly, carried Frodo to the horse. Glorfindel was whispering something to Asfaloth, and then looked at Rae.
"Are you ready?" he said and she nodded. She placed Frodo on Asfaloth and climbed on behind him, with a little difficulty because there was no saddle or stirrups. As she was safely seated, Strider looked up at her.
"Get across the Branduin. When you're on the other side, the Riders shouldn't be able to get you." Just then, they all heard a terrible screech that sent shivers down their spines.
"Noro lim Asfaloth!" Glorfindel shouted to his horse, "Noro lim!" At that, Asfaloth was off like a shot into the forest.
Riding the horse proved even more difficult than she had thought, but she managed to hold on to Asfaloth with her left arm around his neck and on to Frodo with her right around his waist.
The forest sped by at such a pace that she couldn't see anything clearly, and she just hoped that the horse knew which way it was going because she certainly did not.
Suddenly, something black to her left was going at the same pace that Asfaloth was. She looked at it. It was a black rider, reaching for Frodo. She turned to her right. There was another one! She looked behind her. No less than seven other riders were pursuing them.
"Noro lim!" she said to the horse, and it complied. She got maybe two minutes ahead of the riders and was soon to the river Branduin. They also reached the river, but not until she had reached the other side. They screamed at her, and she quavered. She turned back to face them and her face grew hard. She reached her left hand under Frodo and drew his sword from its scabbard. Those riders would have laughed if they could. Then she shouted at them.
"Darkness of the Enemy!" she cried, holding the hobbit's sword aloft, "Hear me and know that you are facing good that surpasses your evil! Flee in fear! For behold! If you step any farther you will be in the waters of the Ford of Bruinen!" They really did laugh. They approached her.
"Stay back!" she cried, brandishing Frodo's sword at them, and her eyes began to tear, "Stay back!" Suddenly, they heard a rumble, and a great wave crashed down the river. When Rae looked, she could have sworn she saw a great many watery horses with riders of mist, and the wave washed the Nazgûl down the river, and she could see them no more.
***
When she arrived at Elrond's house in Rivendell, an elven woman with dark hair was at the door.
"I am Arwen Undómiel, the lady of Rivendell. Who are you?" she asked Rae.
"Who I am is not important right now," Rae replied, "but I ride Asfaloth, the horse of Glorfindel, and this Hobbit is Frodo Baggins of the Shire, the ringbearer, and he is hurt badly." Arwen gasped.
"Carry him." she said, "Come with me. We must take him to my father. Quickly." She ushered Rae into the house.
Feverishly, Frodo stirred and awoke. He looked at Rae and she saw his eyes open.
"Where-"
"Shh," she said, "We are in Rivendell. I'm taking you to him now. Don't speak!" He fell back into his tortured sleep and her heart fell back into its tortured state.
***
When Elrond had healed Frodo as best he could at the moment and had him placed in a room, he spoke to Rae.
"We have you to thank for getting Frodo here safely, Rae," he told her, "and I will offer you one favor in return."
"You mentioned a council to be held to discuss the fate of Frodo's ring," she said, "and I would like to attend."
He thought for a moment and shook his head.
"I fear that I cannot." he replied, "You are not a person of Middle-Earth, I can tell, and because this meeting discusses the fate of Middle-Earth, it would be inappropriate for you to go." She wanted to cry and scream until he let her go to the council, but she knew it would get her nowhere. She stood up straight, nodded, and left the room. A female elf met her at the door and took her to her room.
***
There she cried as quietly as she could, but it must have been loud enough for any one in the hall to hear because an elf entered her room.
She had long light brown hair and her eyes were brilliant blue. She wore a light green dress and her hair was in four braids on top of the rest of her hair. She stood next to Rae's bed and it took Rae a second to realize she was there. When she did, she turned to the elf.
The light streaming through the door illuminated the pity in the elf's face. She sat down next to Rae on her bed. Pity was a look that Rae could read well, because she often saw it in the faces of the teachers at her school.
"Elrond won't let me go to the council," she told the elf, "because I'm not from Middle-Earth."
"That's not why," she said after some thought, "It's because you're a woman. He wouldn't let me go either. My husband will be arriving soon. I'm hoping he can get me in, but my hopes aren't high. Don't worry. You'll think of something. Now go to sleep; things are usually better in the morning." She left the room and closed the door behind her.
Rae sat alone in her dark room for a moment and then went to the door and opened it. She called down the hall to the elf.
"Hey! Where's the bathroom?"
***
REVIEW!!!!!!!!