I gained consciousness again; but still could not see as there was a big, very bright light above me. The sun? No, it was night, there could be no sun.

Shadows, silhouettes of three tall people showed up against the light, and I could not understand their language. They were talking, whispering... standing tall above me, obviously talking about me as I could see that from time to time, one of them pointed his finger at me. The language seemed familiar to me, even if I did not understand the meaning of their words.

"Chris?" I tried to cover my eyes with my hand, making it possible for me to look at those people talking about me. The first thing I could stare upon were these shoes that one of them wore.

Never in my life had I seen such craftsmanship on leather. The leather was etched, embroidered, cut and stamped, and looked like...

...leaves. Leaves wrapping around the foot.

I stared at this leather artwork in disbelief. I looked up and saw these long, slim, yet muscular calf that came from the shoe; wrapped in greenish, beautiful cloth, and even if I came over many various types of weaving in my life as a seamstress, I had never seen anything like that before.

"What the...?"

The sun over me came to my eyes again, when I removed the protective shield of my hand in surprise about the shoe and calf.

The three looked at me, still I could not see them as they stood right before the sun.

Sun? It was night when I fell off this tree! How could there be sunlight? There was no logic in this and that confused me. Maybe I'm dead. Or I am dreaming, I thought.

"Do you understand me?", one of them asked with a dark voice and an accent that I could not define, and reached down to offer his hand for me to get up.

"Yes, I do... what is this here? What language were you talking? And where is Chri..."

This was the moment that his shadow covered my face, so that I could clearly see his, and I felt as if someone had laced my corset so tight that I could never breathe again.

The first thing I saw were the eyes. A deep, unnatural shade of blue, which reminded me much of the blue eyes that I had seen in the movie Dune. The skin was absolutely even, no pore was visible, and it was covering an unnatural beautiful, even face.
The hair, combed back, was almost white, with a slight hint of gold. If it had not been for the dark, yet firm, voice, I would not have known if I was looking at a male or female. The beauty of this face took my breath, and I could not stop staring at him, even if he looked at me as if I was the shit he had just stepped into; with highly raised, arched eyebrows and a cold look from his dark blue eyes.

The beautiful, dark sensual, and still strong and commanding voice spoke to me again. Never, I thought, never have I seen such perfect teeth.

"Who are you? Where did you come from, and what are you doing here?"

"I have - fallen off the tree...", I replied slowly, and pointed behind me, turning half around to show the tree. To my surprise, the tree that was behind me was even huger and taller than the one that I remembered to have climbed on. Well, maybe I was wrong, it was night when I climbed on that tree...

...and then I saw the foliage. This was definitely no oak foliage. This was something that I had never seen before. The leaves were thick and huge, almost had the size of a magazine, and looked like pale green velvet. I picked up one that fell to the ground, examining it. It felt alive, and warm. Not cold and lifeless, as I was used from foliage that has fallen from a tree.

"What is this? What kind of tree is..."

I turned around to him while speaking, looked at him. And my eyes got caught by a detail they missed the last time when studying his face.

The ears.

The ears were pointed up, in a slight curve. I blinked. This cannot be, I thought. Chris is playing a bad, bad joke with me.

"OK, folks", I said, unsure, shivering, frozen, and took a step back. "What is going on here? Where is Chris?"

The tall Elf tipped his head aside, then exchanged some of these words in the strange language with his companions.

"You fell off a tree?"

"Yes, that tree", and pointed behind me.

The three were discussing in their own language again, and now I saw the bows and weapons they carried. No, I thought, this cannot be. I fell right into –

"What's your name? Who are you?" was the only thing that I could ask. My brain seemed to be stirred up with a mixer.

"My name", the Elf replied, "is Haldir, and you are now in the Golden Woods of Lothlorien. You are a Border Crosser, meaning you have crossed the border between your world and our world when you fell off the tree."

I felt dizzy, very, very dizzy; and the ground beneath my feet did not stable any more.

The last thing I saw and remembered were his raised, arched eyebrows, with the arrogant look of the deep blue eyes below them, before I fell to unconsciousness into the soft, fallen leaves of a mallorn tree.