When the Worlds Cross
By Heather and Jane
Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its peoples belong to the great J.R.R. Tolkien. Mia, Rowan, and Randy belong to us. Any and all similarities to real life events/people are pure coincidence—unless they appear with permission.
Summary: The quest and battle for Middle-Earth is over. Now, what do about the romance, and the heir of the throne of Gondor…
Authors' Notes: co-written between Jane and Heather, two Lord of the Rings fans that are trying to keep true to the story. First part more movieverse than bookverse, but will soon go to bookverse. Credit to Heather's father and our friend Wesley as story consultants.
Warning: Heavy spoilers for Return of the King.
References to fairy tales and Star Wars in this chapter—and no, not in the same context.
Reader thanks following chapter.
Chapter Fourteen
Time to Celebrate
~*~*~*~
Rowan woke to a well-lit room—that is, to say, she woke from a foggy sleep and immediately shut her eyes when she registered the light was a bit on the bright side. Warning labels should be put up—hey, wait a moment, she thought, sensing someone else present in the room. "First off," she said, half asleep, "Who's there and where am I?" She thought about it for a second before whoever was there could answer. "Wait, don't tell me…I'm in Ithilien, right?"
"Quite right," said a very happy voice—one that Rowan instantly recognized as Legolas'. That woke her up. She sat straight up and goggled at the elf prince, who was sitting in by her bed, looking quite patient and cheerful. "I am glad to see you finally awake, Rowan."
"Legolas…" She was trying to think of something smart to say. "I…how did we get back here?"
Legolas frowned slightly. "You do not remember?"
"I…I remember going up the mountain and…watching Mia try to tackle Randy—wait, she did," said Rowan, grinning as she remembered that event. Legolas muttered something about 'that explains it', but he didn't elaborate. "Then I ran after them, 'cause she was getting her butt kicked—" She stopped. "Oh, dear God."
"What?" said Legolas, alarmed.
"I killed him. At least, I think I…" Rowan shoved the covers off of her (noticing that she was in a dress, of all things—someone was going to be seeing their ancestors soon) and started to get up. The sudden throbbing pain in her leg stopped her. "Ow! What in the—"
Legolas leapt to his feet and put his hands on her shoulders. "Do not try to move just yet," he warned her. "Your wound has not yet healed." Rowan looked at him blankly, not quite remembering what she had been wounded from. Well, obviously the fight with Randy, but what did he do? He had the blade, which he managed to totally screw up on Mia—I cannot believe he did that—and… "The Morgul blade. Mia was quite insistent that you be treated right away—you were singing 'songs better left to three-year-olds' and seeing strange colors."
Ooh, that's right… Rowan grimaced. "Well, thank you Mia—where is she, anyway?"
"Watching the hobbits, of course, though I think she went out to speak with Merry and Pippin." Legolas looked at her seriously. "What were saying about killing?"
"Randy. We were fighting and I killed him. He was all Nazgul, but he was still…Randy. I mean, he looked at me and he looked like Randy and…he's a jerk but I've known him for years and—" Rowan paused, blinking away the stinging in her eyes. Then she frowned. "Hold it. He disappeared."
"He lives still?"
"No, I mean his body disappeared. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi's, whoosh—you have no idea what I'm talking about."
"No," said Legolas ruefully and knelt down by the bed. "But I think I understand that you are wondering if you could have done something else." Rowan nodded. "He would have killed you, would he not?" Rowan shrugged, knowing that Randy had probably been corrupted enough to do just that. If he hadn't been corrupted, I bet he would have just bashed us on the head and that would have been that. But he was and…that's how it is, I suppose. "You did what you had to do to protect yourself and your friends."
"And Gollum." Rowan almost added 'don't-say-it' on automatic before remembering that Mia wasn't present.
Legolas looked mystified. "You will have to explain why exactly you were pressed to do so—" He stopped and turned towards the door. "Mia and Gimli are arguing," he said.
"About what? And what's Gimli doing out there?"
"I asked him to keep watch for a bit, since Mia wandered in at one point asking if I was going to 'pull a Prince Charming on Sleeping Beauty'," Legolas told her.
"That's it, she's dead too."
The voices were getting loud enough for Rowan to hear them as well.
"…all right, but if she's not awake, then go back to the hobbits and if she is awake, go back to the hobbits!"
"Thank you, master dwarf," said Mia's voice dryly as the door opened. She poked her head in, took in the tableau of Rowan sitting on the bed and Legolas kneeling next to her, and gave them a thumbs-up. "You go, girl! And you too, dude. Bye!" She scampered off.
Gimli looked in. "I think I will take my leave," he said wisely, and closed the door.
Rowan muttered, "Oh, that was fair."
"They left," Legolas pointed out, still looking at the door a bit worriedly. "That seems fair enough."
"She called you 'dude'," Rowan muttered.
"Not the first time." WHAT?! Rowan decided that it was time to have words with her friend, and Legolas turned to face her, smiling. "The first time was when I asked her to explain the rather odd 'Prince Charming' statement."
"Oh."
"Funny, I meant to ask what parent would name their child that."
"Don't ask us, ask the fairy tale authors—"
Legolas ignored that response (Rowan suspected that he'd already gotten it) and added, "I received a completely different tale. And then I wondered why I did not act on it."
"Because you were waiting for me to wake up?" Rowan teased, grinning.
"Perhaps," Legolas replied with a matching one.
It was only logical that they start kissing at this point, and Rowan felt very glad to be obeying the rules of logic. She pulled back and remarked, "I think I'm awake now."
"Very amusing," Legolas said before he kissed her again.
~*~*~*~
There was a knocking at the door. Gandalf turned to it and smiled. "They are awake," he called, and turned back to the heroic hobbits. "There was another who wanted to be sure that you are well, the both of you. Except there were a great many—"
Frodo felt a stab of hope in his chest. He did not remember what had happened on Mount Doom very clearly (Gandalf said that time would clear that problem up) but knew that Mia and Rowan had been present. Sam had smiled knowingly at that as well.
The door flew open and Mia raced in. "Oh, good!" she said, a smile lighting her face.
"Mia!"
Gandalf murmured, "Yes, I think that's her name…" but they didn't pay him much heed. Mia had somehow managed to cross from door to bed in less than an instant and was hugging each hobbit in turn. "You are certainly doing much better!"
"I wasn't that hurt," Mia pointed out, releasing Frodo, but leaving her hand on his arm.
"Not hurt! Miss Regan…Mia," Sam corrected himself when she shot him a frown, "what about your eye?"
What?! Frodo did a double take and saw that Mia's right eye was surrounded by black and blue bruises. "Mia, what happened?"
"Randy."
"And what happened to him is Rowan's business to tell," Gandalf added when Sam and Frodo started to speak at the same time. "When she feels up to telling it."
"Definitely," said Mia almost cheerfully. "All I did was tackle the lunkhead."
"Are you all right?" Frodo asked worriedly.
Mia smiled. "Perfectly fine. It doesn't hurt anymore. Well, except when I blink."
"Then do not blink."
"Easier said than done, Master Baggins," she said with a teasing grin, and moved her hand to touch his. His hand with only four fingers, of course—Frodo waited for her to say something. She did not disappoint. "And it is a mere trifle—you have a greater sign of your bravery."
"Bravery?"
"Yes," said Sam and Mia sternly.
Gandalf coughed. "I would…take heed of their words, Frodo." Frodo shot the wizard a suspicious look, and then turned to Mia, realizing she had not said a word about Gandalf's return. Or had she been expecting it? I think that she had! What else did she expect? "Though I am sure that the hobbits would much love to speak with you, I believe it is time that you checked in on your friend?"
Mia glanced absently at the clock. "All right. I'll give them two more minutes."
Them? Oh! Frodo and Sam exchanged knowing glances. The gardener hobbit asked, "Did Miss Aran wake up at last, then?"
"Yeah, without the wake-up prescribed by fairytales—all right, all right!" said Mia when Gandalf shot her a stern look. She squeezed Frodo's hand lightly and grinned at Sam before turning towards the door. "I'll go. I'll interrupt the party. I'll…trip over my skirts as I'm leaving. That's why I don't WEAR these things…"
Frodo looked at Sam. "How interesting that her free-flowing talk hasn't changed that much," he remarked, and his dear friend nodded. "And how did she escape so lightly?"
"I do not know," said Sam. "But I am glad that she did, because she helped make sure that you arrived here safe, Master Frodo."
"As am I!" Gandalf announced, startling the hobbits and reminding them of the fact that they must soon get up. "Now, to meet the day and the public that awaits so impatiently the destroyers of the Ring of Power…"
Frodo hoped there wouldn't be very many speeches to that effect out in 'the public.' It would become a bit embarrassing after a while.
~*~*~*~
The days that followed were filled with celebration, reunions, and honoring of heroes. Rowan and Mia managed to stay out of the main part of those who were honored, out of a lingering worry about the 'sacred storyline' (Mia got a good wallop over the head for that one) and the feeling that they weren't as heroic as the hobbits or Aragorn and his army. Gandalf made sure that the two got an honorary mention. "If it pleases you," he said beforehand.
Mia and Rowan exchanged looks before shrugging and nodding to the wizard. "We can live with that," said Rowan. "And fine, Mia, go talk to the 'Knights of the Mark.'"
"No, I just want to tell them not to talk to what's eye-level for them." Mia grinned before slipping off into the crowd.
Gandalf shook his head. "I wondered which one of you would make that comment."
Rowan looked at him suspiciously. "What—" she started to ask, but heard Legolas and Gimli calling her name. "I'll finish that later. See you." She walked off, with barely a limp (and not tripping over her skirt) and Gandalf watched with a smile.
Merry and Pippin were doing quite well and wished to tell everyone of their adventures—when not performing their duties as Knights of the Mark. Pippin did spare a moment to ask Mia, "Whatever happened to your eye? And where?"
"Randy punched me and it was over at that big volcano," said Mia nonchalantly.
'You went to Mount DOOM?!"
"Yes, and my feet are killing me."
Pippin gave her a look. "You are being far too casual about this. According to what Sam has said, Rowan doesn't speak about what happened that often."
"I wasn't present at the actual…er, and…and it's a long story and you're one to speak about being casual!" said Mia indignantly. Pippin started laughing, much like he had before the quest, and she glowered at him. He wasn't extremely surprised.
On the eve of the first day, the tales of each adventure was shared between the remaining Fellowship under the trees of Ithilien and nobody was surprised to see Mia trying to explain what Ent-draughts were to Sam and Frodo. Rowan felt a bit reluctant to share the story about how she had stopped Randy, and kept the story fairly short.
Frodo said, "I am sorry you had to do that to your friend, Miss Aran."
"So am I," Rowan muttered, leaning against Legolas. He smiled at her.
"One does things that they wish they did not have to in a war," Gimli told Rowan.
Mia was frowning to herself. "I could have sworn that only Jedi disappeared," she muttered.
"Look, can we change the subject?" said Rowan, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
Legolas looked at her in alarm.
"Of course!" said Sam hastily. "Ah, whatever happened to the Nazgul?"
"They disappeared—and that one that traveled from the future imploded, along with its strange steed," Gandalf reported.
"Imploded?"
"Collapse on itself," Mia replied, giving Merry a look. "And that works out quite nicely."
"It does."
"So when do we get to see Aragorn become king?"
"When we're done telling stories, young Mia!" Gimli replied.
She gave him a look. "Like how you kept score during battle?"
"How did you know about that?!" the dwarf exclaimed over the hobbits and Rowan giggling. Legolas looked torn between amusement and surprise.
Gandalf shook his head, hiding a smile.
The next day, they began preparations for the coronation ceremony of Aragorn (also known as Strider the Ranger) and in the City of Gondor, the heir of Isildur's line was crowned King by Gandalf. And then he began to dispense of fairness and justice to his people.
Two days after Aragorn became King Elessar of Gondor, Rowan and Mia were walking down one of the halls in the city, where windows looked to the outside. Mia happened to look out musingly and she stopped short. "Oh, good grief."
"Your shiner doesn't still hurt, does it?" Rowan asked in exasperation.
"No, but Arwen and the rest of the elves are early, looks like."
What? Rowan scrambled over to the window and looked out. Oh, good grief, they are early! "Does the rest of the Fellowship know?" she asked. Mia shrugged. "Come on!"
"It's too early to be running!" Mia yelled after her, but sighed and started running anyway.
Thankfully, Frodo and Gandalf had noticed, and were both quite pleased that the girls had thought to give warning.
Aragorn and Arwen were married soon after. Mia started to murmur something about it taking long enough, but Frodo elbowed her and she shut up before Rowan had a chance to say anything.
~*~*~*~
One of the following evenings (that was filled with celebration and recounts of the journeys that it took to get through the war), Mia bowed out of the late night conversations, and didn't bother asking Rowan if she was tired—her friend was a bit preoccupied with the Prince of Mirkwood—and headed back to her room. "Keep an eye on them, would you, Master Gimli?" Mia asked in a mutter as she passed Gimli.
The dwarf nodded. "Would think of nothing else, Miss Regan."
"Thanks and it's 'Mia.'" You'd think they'd have learned that by now, Mia thought wryly as she walked through the halls of the main building of the City of Gondor. I've only corrected half of the Fellowship a million times—and I am grateful for that. She knew all of her friends were now safe. How odd, she thought, at one time, all these people were just characters in a book to me…and now, they are my friends. It was a rather spooky thought.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost bumped into Gandalf. She blinked. "Gandalf, why aren't you exchanging stories or telling Legolas not to brag about how many Orcs he shot?"
"I had to speak with someone," replied Gandalf, looking amused. He turned somewhat serious suddenly. "My dear Mia, what a trial you have been through. But you have done well."
"I could not have done it without Rowan," replied Mia automatically.
"Ah, yes, the brave young Rowan…" Gandalf looked like he had a lot more to say. Mia looked at him expectantly but he shook his head. "…but I must be on my way. We will talk later." He continued down the hall. Mia watched him go, a slight frown on her face. He WOULD be enigmatic at this time.
"Mia? Is that you out there?" a small voice called from a nearby room. It was Frodo.
What's he doing NOT at the party? Mia shook off the question, guessing that the late hour had zonked more than one hobbit, and glanced in the doorway. "Yeah, it's me."
"Would you please come in?"
As if Mia could refuse. She walked in. "It is good to see you well again," she said. "If I haven't already said that before a million times."
"I suppose so, yes—and not a million times, just fifty," Frodo told her with an impish glint in his eyes. She shrugged, smiling. "I'm just glad it's over." He then got a better look at her and his eyes widened. "Mia, isn't your eye getting better? It's been a while!"
Mia shrugged slightly, moving away from the door and standing by the wall. "Oh, it's not a problem—I asked Gandalf earlier today and he said it would be fully healed within a day or so. Doesn't even hurt much anymore." A bit of a lie but at least she had proof that she had done SOME fighting. For a while, she'd actually felt useless on the quest. "How about you?" She nodded at his hand.
"It's odd not to have all ten fingers, but I will be fine," he replied, looking a bit sad. Then he looked up with a tiny smile. "That was very brave of you to follow myself and Sam."
"Oh…" Mia shrugged modestly. "I couldn't have done it by myself. Besides, Rowan saved my life about a million times."
"Mia, would you come over here? I can barely see you from here." She moved to the foot of his bed, getting an extreme sense of déjà vu. I better not do a face plant on the floor after this… "It's good to know that you and Rowan are all right…she is all right, isn't she? I saw that she was still limping…"
"Oh, yeah, Rowan's fine," said Mia, choosing to mention Rowan's lingering phantom pains, thanks to the Morgul blade, later. Or perhaps never, letting Rowan do the talking for once.
Frodo nodded and looked serious. "There is something I did not fully understand—Gandalf said that you had a purpose in following us, but then Rowan interrupted him with the comment about the horses," the former Ringbearer said, and Mia shifted a little. She could see where this was going. "Why did you follow us?"
"Um, we had to keep Smeagol alive until you got to Mount Doom." Mia shrugged when Frodo gave her a sharp look. "I'm SORRY but if that was what got the Ring destroyed according…never mind! But that's why."
"I'm not angry," said Frodo with a smile. "Gandalf did say even Gollum had his part to play."
Mia moved to the side of the bed and gave him a hug, not even bothering to correct him on the late Smeagol's name. Frodo was a bit startled, but returned the hug and only became uneasy when she started hugging him a bit tightly.
"Mia…um…"
"I'm sorry," she said, releasing him and sitting back on the bed. "Well, not really, but you know. It's just…I'm glad to see you smile."
"Oh. Well, it's easy to smile when you're around."
At that, Mia blushed.
"I'm sorry, have I embarrassed you? I did not mean to. It's just that I'm so glad this is all over and everyone's all right." Frodo paused for a moment. "I'm ever so tired."
"Should I go?" Mia asked, concerned.
"No, no, I'd like you to stay," said Frodo hastily, reaching out and touching her hand. She blinked at him. "Could you…could you stay with me until I fall asleep?"
The request caught Mia off guard, but it wasn't as if she could refuse. "Of course I can," she said. A moment passed before she said, "Er, could I move so my back's leaning against the wall? I have the feeling that I'm a bit unbalanced."
Frodo nodded, smiling again. "All right," he said and moved over a bit, nearly laughing as Mia raced to half-shut the door and back to sit at the head of the bed, leaning against the headrest. "It seems as if you're trying to do everything for me at this moment."
"You said you were tired," said Mia, managing not to blush.
"Oh, I am," Frodo told her with a smile before settling back against his pillows and closing his eyes. Feeling a bit awkward, Mia reached around his shoulders and hugged him lightly before leaning back against the wall.
For the next few moments, Mia stayed like that with Frodo, her arm as a support to him. She had intended to sneak out (as per usual) after he fell asleep, but she was more exhausted than she'd realized. Both hobbit and human slept soundly through the night.
To Be Continued…in Chapter 15, where we see what happens next to Mia and Rowan. Please leave any form of commentary by clicking the little box below.
Yavanna – thank you, glad you thought that bit was funny (last minute inspiration, actually!), and we hope that your wonderings were answered. *grin* and you're welcome.
Midnight – oh, thanks, and you're not dull. We're glad you want to read more!
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