Disconnected

Chpt 10.

            "Damn it," I said, and searched desperately for someone who didn't want to sleep.

            I spotted my father on his way to the rooms as well.

            "Dad!" I yelled and ran to catch up to him.  "Dad, you're not going to bed are you?" I asked, thinking I already knew the answer.

            "As a matter of fact, Jonny, I am.  Tomorrow two very important Elves arrive and to talk about the treaty.  It's very important."

            I looked at him confused.  This answer surprised me, not because he was blowing me off for sleep, but because he is no longer nocturnal.  I could see that in his eyes.

            My mother can go for weeks without any sleep, and I need very little.  But my father has always needed a good day's sleep, never at night.

            Then I realized something that I should've noticed before.  "Dad, why can you stay in the sun?" I asked.

            "A spell Jonny," he said sleepily, then showed me a ring on his left hand, "Your mother is very powerful," he yawned and left me to ponder the night away.

            "So am I," I mumbled and made my way in the opposite direction.

            I wandered outside and again took in my surroundings.

            I could hear a waterfall somewhere close, remind me to go looking for it, and the peaceful breezes flowing through my hair threatened to take me away.  So I had to force myself to sit on a nearby bench.

            The only lights I could make out were blocked by brush.  The only signs of human life I could hear (even with my enhanced hearing) were muffled voices, and laughs of people who did not want to sleep yet.

            I curled my legs up to me and hugged them against my chest.  I then looked up at the stars.

            I held my breath, there are so many of them, so bright.  I never saw them in L.A. or Chicago, or New York.  We (me and my mother) always moved to big cities.  It's harder to find me when They have to sort through many other pathetic life forms, and it normally takes years before They find us.

            But this, these wide-open spaces.  I like this better.  I've always felt suffocated and lost in the bigger cities.  Here, I felt as if I was home.

            My neck grew tired and screamed at me in pain from craning it towards the sky.  Slowly I leaned back and laid long ways on the bench.  The knot in my hair dug into my scalp, so I undid the braid and ruffled my hair out.  Then I relaxed into oblivion, although I was still awake.

            As the sun rose I heard the clip-clop of horses hooves, and the merriment of song.  When they stopped they were seemingly next to me, but I did not move my face from the sky.

            "Jonica," Elrond said surprised, "Have you stayed up all through the night?"

            I smiled and turned my head towards him and played with my necklace.

            My look was so bright and relaxed, I could tell that he was surprised I could ever be so peaceful.

            "Could I get some pants, please?" I asked then added, "I'm gonna go riding," as I looked back at the cloudless sky.

            Elrond said something to another person on a horse, and she said something back.

            "What language is that?" I asked, curious.

            "It is Elfish, my lady," said a blond elf standing on the ground.  He wasn't dressed as the elves of Rivendell or (as I have seen) Mirkwood.

            I sat up, my mess of dirty blonde hair fell over my face, and I pulled it away.  "I'm Jonny," I smiled and sat cross-legged to see them.  There I saw the most beautiful woman in the entire world.  She seemed to glow, and I wished with all my heart that she wasn't an elf.

            The two on the horse (the ones Elrond was talking to) bowed their heads.

            "This is the Lord Celeborn, and his lady Galadriel.  I am Haldir.  We have traveled far from the land of Lothlorien," said the elf that talked to me earlier.

            "To meet your father," added Galadriel.  "You, I cannot read," I heard her voice inside my head.

            "That's because I'm blocking you," I said back.

            A look of utter surprise and confusion came upon her face.  "Are you not a child of man?" she questioned out loud.

            "Kinda, my heart beats if that's what you're asking," I replied.

~*Technically in the books the Elf's didn't go to help at Helmsdeep, so technically Haldir isn't dead.  And he's one of my favorite character's…as well as Faramir, Gimli and of course Legolas.J*~