Is it better to have thoughts in 'single brackets'? or in italics? I can't decide for myself. Also, I've been doing my chapters in bite sized chunks of about 600 – 1000 words because that's what's easiest for me and it allows me to update more often but I think it might be annoying to read like this, in which case, I'll change it. What do you think?
Just a little revision; I gave the good elf doctor a name. It just seemed rude and completely un-elflike for him to not introduce himself.
Chapter 3: Elves, huh?
In her dreams, Siobhan heard the soft chanting of melodious voices that filled her heart with gladness and she was comforted. Her head felt filled with a warm, liquid light that gently brought her out of the darkness of her slumber.
She awoke, taking a moment to asses her surroundings before she opened her eyes, Siobhan noticed the cool feel of a silk nightgown against her body, the supple softness of the down duvet that covered her and the pungent smell of herbs in the air. Her heavy eyelids fluttered open to see that she was in a soft canopied bed with the curtains open on the left side. She turned her head to the side to see a kind looking man sitting beside her, wearing strange robes. He was fair haired, fair skinned and quite beautiful. Though he seemed to be quite young, he had an air of age and wisdom about him that seemed to conflict with his outward appearance. He also had a faint glow surrounded him. 'Must be the concussion,' Siobhan thought to herself.
"Welcome back miliady," the man smiled down at her in a soft, musical voice. "My name is Nenril, I have been caring for you since you arrived here last night."
'He articulates his words carefully,' Siobhan mused. 'This is obviously not his native tongue.' Her eyes assessed the man sitting next to her. She noted his striking blue eyes, his perfect skin, the long pale hair that was tucked behind his ears. She started as she noticed that his ears came to pointed tips. "You're an elf, aren't you!?" she blurted out, then blushed, quite embarrassed that first words to the stranger were such utter nonsense.
"Yes, I am," the man, no, elf smiled at her again.
'Omigod, he just said that he's an elf,' Siobhan's thought to herself.
He looked quite amused. "We are all elves here in The Mirkwood Forest."
"Elves, huh? Of Mirkwood?" she repeated the oddly familiar name to herself. Recalling the spiders in the forest, she suddenly remembered. "Mirkwood . . . as in Middle Earth?" Siobhan asked, in a slight state of shock at her realization that she was in Tolkein's imaginary world.
"Yes, of course . . ."
"This is real, isn't it?" Siobhan interrupted in a small, terrified voice. "I'm not going to wake up and find that this was all just a horrible nightmare." She was beginning to panic.
"I am afraid not, my lady." The kindly elf reached out a hand to give hers a reassuring, if awkward, pat. "Though I must say, you are healing quite nicely, for a human. You should bee up and about in a day or two and I expect you to make a full recovery within a few months."
As he droned on about how she was lucky to have been rescued in time, Siobhan was thinking furiously. 'Tolkein didn't make it up,' she wondered. 'It really exists. It's no wonder it all seemed so real, no wonder the story was all so complex and historical and . . .'
"Milady?" the elf repeated for the third time. His voice was starting to worry. "Are you in much pain?" He leaned over her and looked into her eyes.
"Yes," she answered truthfully, nodding her head and lowering her eyes. She could feel the pain in her shoulder grow and diminish in time with her heartbeat, though she hadn't wanted to say anything.
"Well then, I would like you to drink some of this herbal tea I have prepared for you. It should take the worst of the pain away."
He turned to his side where a small table was set up and poured a small cup of the steaming hot liquid. He carefully handed it to Siobhan and watched her as she sipped the drink carefully.
When she was finished, he stood and gathered up his materials. "You should rest now, milady," he said to her in a stern voice that gave Siobhan no doubt that those were a doctor's orders, not to be trifled with. "I shall return later in the day to check up on you and to change your bandages. Do try to get some sleep. You've had quite and ordeal."
"Mmm," she nodded in the affirmative. Satisfied at her response, he smiled at her one final time and then closed the curtains about her bed and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Now left to herself, Siobhan sighed audibly. "What is this madness? Middle Earth?" she muttered to herself. "How in the seven circles of hell did I get here?"
She thought hard, trying to remember the events just before she woke up in the forest and found, to her dismay, that her recollection of that time period was hazy and distorted. 'When was the last day I remember?' she thought to herself. 'I don't know' was the best answer she could come up with.
"Okay then, so I'm in Middle Earth," she returned to a topic that wouldn't distress her so much. "I wonder when? I mean, Tolkein couldn't have written about stuff that hasn't happened yet, right? So this must be after the War of the Ring. But if so, why is the Mirkwood Forest still murky? It should have returned to normal once Sauron was defeated, and the elves should have all left for the West. But what if . . ."
Her thoughts were slowing down as the herbs began to take effect. Thinking was beginning to feel like wading through muck and, try as she might, she could not seem to keep her eyes open. "I suppose I'll just have to ask someone tomorrow . . ." Siobhan mused and then closed her eyes to rest. Once again, she had sweet, happy dreams though she could not remember them when she woke.
Unbeknownst to Siobhan, she was not alone in her room. There were keen elvish ears listening to her sleepy monologue, and they were quite confused with what they heard.