There And Back Again?

By Thalia Weaver

Disclaimer: Not mine. Nope.

Chapter Three: Riding To Edoras

Water was being poured over my face. Cold water. I opened my eyes gingerly, expecting school to be starting any minute and Bob to be sputtering anciently outside my door. The sight that met my eyes, however, was a blonde man staring bewilderedly down at me, holding a bucket of water. I gasped and sat up, utterly confused for a moment.

Then memory came flooding back, and with a sinking feeling I realized that I had wet my school skirt.

Mom is going to be mad at me, I thought distractedly, before remembering suddenly that my mother was…not only thousands of miles away, but an entire universe away…and all my friends…I was suddenly encompassed by a terrible feeling of utter loneliness.

"Maiden? Are you all right?"

The voice of the blonde man jolted me back to reality, and I snapped my eyes back to him. He looked to be about forty, with a kind face and long greying hair, hidden by a tall helmet emblazoned with galloping horses.

"Er…yes…I suppose…" I answered, my mind reeling crazily with the fact that I was in Middle-Earth. In Middle-earth. Middle-fucking-Earth. Rohan. I was in Rohan.

"What do you here in Rohan?" came another, harsher voice. The speaker was a taller, (though still blonde) haughty-looking man, with a high forehead and a hooked nose. I gulped.

"Er…um…I…actually," I hedged, unsure what to say, then stopped in shock. What I had been speaking…whatever it was…had *not* been English. Not English at all. It was a rolling, earthy language, and they had spoken it too. It must be…Rohirric, I thought. I guess whatever magic transported me here covered syntactical differences too- there's no way they'd be speaking English here… I gulped again. I was still stranded in a foreign society with no friends or companions whatsoever, and I didn't know anything.

He mentioned Thengel, so this must be pre-LotR. They wouldn't be as suspicious then…oh God, think, think, think…what's a plausible story…maybe I should just tell the truth? But how can I?

"I…I do not know," I finished finally, opting for the non-answer. "I think…I must have hurt myself, for I cannot remember anything."

"Know you even your name?" The haughty man asked, his voice slightly gentler.

"Thalia," I answered softly. "But that is all I remember."

The haughty man sighed, turning to the warrior who had woken me up. "Eothir, we cannot take an addled lass with us on our travels," he said. "It would not be proper. There are wagging tongues in Edoras."

The first man- Eothir- looked me up and down, and I drew back self-consciously. "I had best take her to my sister's house," he said finally, turning back to the other man. "If she does not remember her kin, then there is no one for her here. We cannot leave her to die."

"You must go, Eothir," the haughty-looking man remarked. "We cannot afford to lose more than one warrior, and you know your sister better than the rest."

Eothir looked slightly angry, then resigned. "Very well," he replied, sighing.

I looked blankly at them, unsure what this meant. Eothir perceived this and turned to me.

"I will take you to my sister's home in Edoras," he told me gently. "You will stay with her, until your memory returns, or your kin come to find you. Do not fear, lass- Thalia," he corrected himself, my name sounding odd on his tongue. "Now the horse of Eonhyr will come to use again, though its rider be of a different sort."

I smiled hesitantly, and swung up onto the horse with the ease that can only come from spending a month or so smashing your butt every day in riding camp, though I was hampered by my long skirt. Eothir smiled encouragingly, and wheeled his horse around. I followed his lead, keeping all my concentration on keeping the horse under control- the mares in Stratford Riding Camp were not the best preparation for Rohirric warhorses!

I was riding to Edoras.