Chapter 2
*(Author's note: ok, the first few paragraphs after the break sound really cheesy, but just keep on reading: trust me, it gets better.) ; )
SO IT WAS DONE; THE GIRL HAD GOTTEN THE DREAM. GALADRIEL COULD FEEL OVER THE OCEANS AND PROTECTIVE BARRIERS OF THE LAND OF THE ELVES, ALL THE WAY INTO THE CHANGED WORLD, THROUGH THE CONNECTION SHE HAD SHARED WITH THE CHILD'S SOUL SHE COULD FEEL THE FEAR THAT THE GIRL FELT AS SHE FELL BACK INTO FORGOTTEN MEMORIES. GALADRIEL PITIED THE GIRL, FOR EVEN THE MEMORY WAS A TERRIFYING ONE AND PERHAPS SHE COULD HAVE USED A HAPPIER ONE FOR THE FIRST OF THE DREAMS, BUT IT WAS DONE NOW. AND SHE WOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM ALL SOMETIME: SHE HAD TO AT LEAST HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER BEFORE SHE CAME BACK. BUT GALADRIEL TOLD HERSELF THAT SHE WOULD SEND HER A HAPPIER MEMORY NEXT TIME. IT WOULD NOT BE GOOD TO SEND HER ALL THE DEPRESSING, PAINFUL MEMORIES AT ONCE.BETTER TO SEND HER A MEMORY OF PERHAPS WHEN SHE HAD LIVED WITH HER FATHER IN THE SHIRE BEFORE SHE HAD LEFT WITH HER FRIENDS.
GALADRIEL FELT THE GIRL WAKE UP AND QUICKLY PUT HERSELF INTO THE TRANCE THAT BROUGHT HERSELF TO THE GIRL'S BODY... SHE WAS I A ROOM, LIT ONLY BY THE PALE MOONLIGHT THAT SPLASHED ACROSS THE BED COVER AND A BIT OF THE FLOOR. SHE WAS COVERED IN A COLD SWEAT AND TREMBLING ALL OVER IN FEAR. A HEAVY NECKLACE BUMPED HER UPPER CHEST TWICE AS THE GIRL SAT UP QUICKLY.
Galadriel pulled herself from the trance. Good. The girl had remembered the dream after waking and she would not have to waste time transporting the memory again. The lady stood and looked around the dark room; it was too late to go and se the rest of her plan in action. It would have to wait.
* * *
Aaron Harrison had a swell life. Looking back on the lifetimes he could remember, he was in one of the best ones right now. Save perhaps his first, when all this had started happening, he could barely think of better lifetimes. He was royalty twice, though once he had not come into his full inheritance, nor had barely anyone known who he was until he was over 80.But that was beside the point, in that life he had been more than a normal man: that was the life time that had started everything. The lifetime before the fading time. In that life time he had done so much more than in all his others put together. He had saved the world (in a manner of speaking, it was actually others, but he had played a major role in the protection of the ring bearer.for a time at least.)
He sighed and walked across the huge living room in his house in Seattle Washington, to where his huge windows look out onto the Puget Sound below. He studied the water sparking in the early morning sun closely, then looked out over the water to the place where he knew there was mountains, and rainforests.beauty beyond imagination. A place of his past. The old forest that had been a major landmark in his first life, and the creatures that lived inside had saved his life and many more. But now the Ents where long sleeping and their bodies where simply huge trees that towered above the other, especially covered in moss compared to the other trees in Olympic National Park. Aaron could always tell when he got near a sleeping Ent: he could feel their lingering magic that no other human could quite feel. It would tickle the back of their mind and if they where alert enough to sense it, they would not be able to quite grasp it. It had happened often when Aaron walked with friends in the forest, they would feel this tickling, and ask him if he felt it as well. He would shrug and smile behind their backs. Only his many years in his lifetime before the fading time brought him the ability to know what this was. Or perhaps now that he had read the Lord of the Rings books and he remembered his past it all became easier for him to feel this power.
He was perfectly happy: he was the vice president to a large building company, lived in what he thought the idea place from all his travels around the world in his many different lives, and was engaged, ready and looking forward to a perfectly happy marriage. But something was bothering him today. And today of all days! It was Saturday, Saturday was a happy day to sit at home and rest before the long week to come. But his mind was not at ease. Something was going to happen: he could feel deep inside him; as if one nerve was tingling with anticipation. He paced back from the window and towards his large couch, where he stretched out completely and pressed "power" on the remote. He casually flipped thought the channels, passed the news, the "rugrats", some little kids band called the Wiggles.nothing worth watching was on at 9:30 on a Saturday morning. What to do, what to do? He glanced at the clock as he turned to T.V. off; 10:04. he had the whole day ahead of him, what was he going to do with it? he considered taking a ferry across the Sound to the park, but that would take a good part of the day to get there, leaving him barely any time to do the thing he loved to do there: take his time and enjoy the silence of his memories. He could stay late, but the ferry did not go all night, and he had to be up early to see Grace in the morning. No, today was not the day.
Aaron was leaning his head back against the arm-rest of the leather couch, when suddenly it hit him: he was being called. His eyes shot opened, but then closed again, going into a magic trance. He could not tell who this was from, but he could tell where it was from: the faded lands?! Who was trying to contact him from there? He let himself fall deeper into the trance, opening his mind to who ever was trying to call him.
"Aragorn?" A familiar voice, lost from centuries of other lifetimes to him, rang though his head.
"Lady, what is it?" he asked, wondering why on earth the Lady Galadriel wanted with him.
"The time has come." She said. For a moment Aaron pondered what she meant, then he realized; but no, not yet! It could not possibly be so soon. "Yes. It has come sooner than I expected, and it is time to find her."
"How do you know? What has happened so far?" Aaron asked franticly.
"I do not have the time to tell you now, is it not just enough for you to know that you must find her, as quickly as you can?" The lady asked, impatiently "This could mean the end of the Elves, you must hurry!"
"But where is she? How will I possibly find her?" Aaron asked hopelessly.
"She does not know who she is, but she will not be that hard to find: she will look much like she did when she was in the body of a Halfling, and the same age as when she left, though, as you know from all your life times, there will be obvious changes. But you must find her! This is the fate of the Elves! You must find all the members of the Fellowship currently in human bodies in the changed world, and all the others who where closely tied with the quest. Do you know any of them?"
Aaron felt himself nodding, then remembered the lady could not see him and said "Yes, I am here in Seattle, Pippin is currently a High School Science teacher in Minnesota, Merry is currently living in Thunder Bay Canada, and I have never met him, but Tom (that's Pippin) says they know each other quite well. Are there any others?" he asked. He had never met any of the other past members of the ancient Fellowship in this life, or perhaps.
"Yes, two others that I know for sure, Arwen is in a body somewhere in the Changed world, and young, about the girls age and so is Samwise Gamgee."
Suddenly, Aaron knew. It was so obvious. He should have known. Jamie. His young niece, Jamie from Duluth Minnesota. He had always known she was from the magical world, but never from where. It made so much sense. But did she know? How many people would have had to explain the past to? But of course, since the first movie came out, everyone was bombarded by Lord of the Rings things these days, she may have begun to remember.
"Then you think you may know Arwen?" Galadriel asked, using her mind- reading powers again.
"Yes. I believe I do. But I have never heard of nor seen Sam in this life."
"Then you have one more person to find; Samwise will be a vital person in this quest."
Aaron sighed: this might be harder than he thought. "Are there any other ways that might aid when we look for them?" he asked, hoping that there was just another way to help in the finding of the girl.An then he had to find Samwise.Argh
"Yes, in fact, I've just remembered: she will have a ring. Quite like the Ruling Ring, but there will be obvious differences; I have not seen it though, so I can not say exactly."
"Anything else?" Aaron hoped there was at least one more, obvious thing to help them.
"Yes, one more thing: it will take a good bit of magic that you must call up, and it may be hard, since you have no magic in your current body: you will have to call what is left from past lifetimes deep within you. But what you must do is put yourself in a magical trance and concentrate very hard on finding Daisy. If you have brought up a strong enough trance, your senses should be transported to her body, you will feel, smell, taste and see what she is feeling, smelling, tasting and seeing. In other words, the only ways that show you are not actually her, are that you will not control her body and you will not be able to read her thoughts."
"Alright." Aaron said, thinking hard about what the lady had said, determined to remember what to do.
"This is where I leave you. Hurry, please. Once you find her, you must tell her what really happened, and make her believe, then you will find what you need to do. Oh, and today, at 3:30, go the to Seattle air port, terminal number 34. You will meet someone there who is another vital person in this quest. Fare thee well Aragorn." and the connection was broken. Aaron tried to hold the magic link that held their minds together over all the oceans and magical borders that protected the faded lands there by his mind alone, but since there was so little magic in him, it soon became tiring and he had to let it go. He felt it slip from his mind in a fraction of a second, only to be lost on the winds of the Sound outside.
Then he turned his mind to other things.it was time already?! How many lifetimes had it been now?? Aaron could no longer say, but it had been thousands and thousands of years since the first quest. It was before men began to count time and before the first recordings where lost. It was right before the Elves left for the Grey Havens, and all the magic had slowly gone with them. Aaron had lived so many lifetimes.he had so many different names.so of these lifetimes he could remember, others, he was oblivious to what he had gone through in the past. But this was the lifetime. This, almost perfect one was the lifetime he would have to go through it all again.But then the thought came to him, how was he supposed to do this? How was he going to find one girl that looked sort of like the Daisy Gamgee that he knew thousands and years ago? She could be living any where in the world! She could live in France and not ever speak the same language! She could live in Afghanistan! Then Aaron thought of it.he would look in her body, like Galadriel had told him to, he would surely know what county she lived it.and who knows: someone might even say her name. That would narrow the options down quite a bit. But then they still had to find Sam.he refused his mind to think about that now: he must concentrate on what needed to be done first.
Aaron lay his head back down on the arm-rest of his couch, closing his eyes and forcing himself to go into a magical trance. It was not easy: even when he had been Aragorn, with the little magic and Elfish blood in him, he had had problems calling up magical trances, and now he had to try even harder, for the power lay deep within him, virtually untouchable. But he had to try: he had to know where to start. So as he forced his mind in to a magical trance, he kept the thought Find Daisy.Find Daisy... running though his mind loudly. Suddenly, he felt himself in the trance, with a final shout of FIND DAISY he felt it suddenly: he was there.
He was suddenly in the body of a young girl, probably about fourteen years old, just as she was waking up. The morning was quite cold, mainly due, Aaron noticed, to an opened window in the corner of the room, near the ceiling. The girl had goose-bumps all over her body, yet for some reason Aaron felt they where not completely because of the cold winds: the girl was terrified. But why?
AARON COULD FEEL THE FEAR WITHIN THE GIRL, AS WELL AS THE NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING. "IT WAS JUST A DREAM. JUST A SILLY DREAM THAT HAPPENED TO HAVE CHARACTERS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS IN IT ." SHE WHISPERED, TRYING TO CALM HERSELF. THEN GALADRIEL MUST HAVE SENT HER A DREAM OF HER PAST LAST NIGHT. AARON THOUGHT. "BUT IT WAS SO REAL." THE GIRL SAID QUIETLY, TRAILING OFF.
SUDDENLY, AS IF SHE HAD COME TO A DECISION ABOUT SOMETHING, THE GIRL STOOD AND WALKED THROUGH THE ROOM, ALL CHILLS AND WINDS FORGOTTEN, TOWARDS THE HUGE BOOK SHELF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM, NEAR THE WINDOW. SHE STOOD ON TIP-TOES (THOUGH IT WAS BARELY NEEDED, AARON NOTICED, SHE WAS TALL) AND SCANNED THE TOP-MOST SHELF OF THE BOOKSHELF UNTIL SHE FOUND THE BOOK SHE WAS LOOKING FOR. AS SHE HASTILY GLANCED AT ALL THE TITLES OF THE BOOKS, AARON NOTICED SHE WAS A HUGE TOLKIEN FAN; SHE MUST HAVE EVERY ONE OF HIS BOOKS! AARON THOUGHT. WELL THAT COULD MAKE IT EASY FOR US, IF SHE KNOWS MOST OF THE STORY ANYWAY. THEN HE WENT BACK TO PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT SHE WAS DOING. SHE HAD PULLED OUT A RATHER OLD AND TATTERED COPY OF THE TWO TOWERS (AARON HAD SEEN A MUCH BETTER, HARDCOVER COPY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHELF) AND WAS QUICKLY FLIPPING THROUGH PAGES UNTIL SHE FOUND WHAT SHE WAS LOOKING FOR: PAGE 444, UNDER THE CHAPTER "THE URUK-HAI". AARON COULD NOT HELP BUT SHAKE HIS HEAD (THOUGH NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE GIRL, MAYBE IN HIS OWN BODY IN SEATTLE WASHINGTON, BUT NOT HERE, WHERE EVER THIS GIRL WAS): WHY HAD THE LADY CHOSEN THIS MEMORY, FOR AARON KNEW EXACTLY WHICH ONE IT WAS SHE HAD GIVEN HER.SMALL WONDER THE GIRL WAS TERRIFIED. HE SECRETLY HOPED THE LADY WOULD HAVE MORE SENSE NEXT TIME AND WOULD CHOOSE A HAPPIER MEMORY.AND NOT THE LAST ONE, NOT UNTIL THE VERY END, IF AT ALL.
The girl was looking quickly down the page, her eyes skimming over the words, then stopping to read "the night was cold and still" Then "'They'll wait for the sun curse them!." Then (a few pages later) "The cries of Grishn'akh had roused the Orcs. From the yells and screeches that came from the knoll the hobbits guessed that their disappearance had been discovered: Ugl'uk was probably knocking off a few more heads."
The girl, paused, astounded and scared. No, more than scared: terrified. She looked up and out the window to a huge pine tree, but not really looking at it, her eyes just landed there. "Word for word." Aaron distinctly heard her mutter under her breath "Even I don't have that good of a memory." she whispered faintly.
But the connection was fading.she must be far away Aaron thought.and then it was gone.
AARON THREW HIS HEAD BACK AGAINST THE SOFT ARM-REST, BACK IN HIS OWN BODY IN HIS OWN HOUSE. THAT WAS ONE OF THE WEIRDEST THINGS THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME, HE COULDN'T HELP BUT THINK. BUT HE HAD LEARNED A FEW THINGS: (1) THE GIRL LIVED IN AMERICA, OR SHE LIVED IN A PLACE WHERE THEY SPOKE ENGLISH AND SHE HAD AN AMERICAN ACCENT, (2) SHE HAD READ THE LORD OF THE RINGS BOOKS BEFORE, AND SHE KNEW THEM WELL, AND SHE ALSO LIKED TOLKIEN'S WORK, BY THE LOOKS OF IT, AND THAT (3) AARON WOULD HAVE TO BUILD UP HIS STRENGTH IN ORDER TO STAY IN HER BODY FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES: IT HAD TAKEN SO MUCH JUST TO GET INTO THE TRANCE, THEN TO HOLD IT.IT WOULD BE HARD.
But now he knew a thing or two.and at least he could get started. But for now he would lay here and take a little nap until 3:30.that magical use had most certainly worn him out.
* * *
Christine woke in the cold. The window of her room had been left opened and a cold wind had seeped its way though the screen. For a second she forgot why she was so scared. For a moment she wondered why the slightest feeling of sweat lingered on her body. For a second she was pretty darn happy, just a bit curious, but then it all came back and she felt her heart sink. At that same moment, she felt as if something new had just entered her body and was sharing it with her. But she only noticed it for a fraction of a second, then it was over and she was herself again, worried and confused.
SUDDENLY, A NEW IDEA CAME TO HER.SHE HAD TO FIND OUT, REALLY.(WELL YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS HERE FOR ABOUT 2 PARAGRAPHS, SO I WILL SPARE YOU THE BURDEN OF READING IT ALL AGAIN AND GET BACK IN WHERE AARON/ARAGORN HAD JUST LEFT HER BODY)."WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?" SHE ASKED, SOFTEST AND FAINTEST OF ALL.
"Christine! Phone!" her older sister, Alex called her from downstairs. "I know your awake, I just heard you running around! Come on; it's Flo."
Christine sighed. "Great." She said under her breath and took off at the run down stairs. Flo never liked to be left waiting, and she had probably been on the phone a full 15 seconds as of now. Flo was Christine's best-not- so-much-anymore-friend. Flo went to a big expensive privet school in the wealthy part of Duluth that Christine's family could never afford, and Christine went to the public school in Two Harbors, the smaller town just north of Duluth. Even since they had gone their separate ways in 7th grade, they had never quite been in close contact and their friendship had just made an awesome crash downwards after that. Before they changed schools they where virtually inseparable (thought they where quite different) but time and new friends had taken their toll on the friendship and now it was slowly but surely falling apart like an old brick, just baby crumples that became huge and soon its completely gone. Currently it was at the stage where the crumples where not anymore small, but not huge enough to kill the brick. Christine took the stairs three at a time then skidded onto the cold tiles of the kitchen in her bare feet and grabbed the phone from her sister's hand, all but forgetting the odd dream for the present.
"Hey." She said into the phone as she sat down and grabbed an apple from the basket on the table. Alex walked by and sniffed her then quickly drew her nose away "Ugg, what where you dreaming about last night; you where talking in your sleep when I came to bed about Pip or Merry or something totally weird like that and you stink from sweat! Take shower!" "Shut up." Christine said away from the receiver to her sister.
"Hey girl!" Flo said back. "What up?"
"Umm, nothing. What are you doing up so early?" everyone that knew Flo knew it was one of her famous traits to stay up much later than any normal person unless they where a graveyard-shift security guard and not to wake up till 3:30 at the very earliest. But a glance at the clock on the microwave told Christine it was only 11:06, and what was very early for Flo.
"My mom woke me up for no apparent reason whatsoever and now she wont let me sleep so I figured I would call my best bud!" Flo was a normally hyper person, but this was a little much, Christine thought.
"Oh, that's great." Christine fought to hide the lie in her voice, she didn't want to talk to Flo at all, and Flo was most certainly not her best bud. Christine had decided to actually make herself known when she went to High School, so she would not limit her best friend to a girl that bossed her around and went to a big privet school that was a 45minute drive away, and that was when traffic was good. She didn't have any best buds at the time, but she certainly knew she was doing better than Flo who had three boyfriends and no close friends that where actually girls. But Christine had decided long ago not to bring this up.
"So, wanna play today?" Of course, Christine thought now that we have not talked in forever you want to become best friends again because you are not off making out to one of your boyfriends; typical.
"Sorry, but I've got plans already with my friend Jen. We are going to the mall together today." Christine thought it was a pretty good lie off the top of her head.
"Great! I'll get my mom to dive me in and we can meet there! Hold on, lemme ask." a pause. Christine crossed her fingers and hoped Flo's mom would say no.A groan. Yes! Christine thought. "Well, never mind my mom said she cant. Sorry."
"Oh that's fine!" Christine tried not to sound too happy. "Well, I gotta run. Talk to you some other time."
"Right. Call me babe." Flo's disappointed voice came back and the click of the receiver told Christine it was alright to be happy again.
"What did she want?" Alex asked from where she was making waffles across the kitchen as Christine put down the phone.
"To go to the mall or something." Christine answered pulling up a stool and throwing the last bit of the core of the apple in the garbage. "You had better give one of those to Me." She pointed at the waffles.
"You just ate an apple!" Alex demanded.
"Ya, well I have a big appetite." Christine answered smugly to her sister who still had some baby fat in the stomach area. Eating was a second nature to Christine, yet she still was as flat as a board.
"Stop stating the obvious." Alex glared back at her sister.
"Waffles!! Waffles!! Waffles!! Waffles!! Are they done yet Alex?" Amy, the youngest of Christine's three siblings ran in to the room, skidding on her stocking feet.
"No. Five more minutes." Alex answered.
"Ok. Call me!!" She ran out of the room again to watch her cartoons, being 5 and still loving them. Christine often joined her for the fun if she woke up early enough of Saturdays, but today she was not in the mood at all, all she wanted to do was be alone and think.
"Go try to wake John up, ask him if he wants a waffle." Alex said.
"Ya, like he will get up at 11 for a waffle." Christine said as she stood. Her fifteen year-old brother was impossible to wake up before 1 in the summer; even if there was an Earthquake, a tornado and a tsunami all at once, he still wouldn't get out of his huge water bed. But at least the trip up and down the stairs would give Christine some time to think and ponder over her strange dream.
* * * Frodo Baggins walked alone across the room he had suddenly found himself in, towards a chair, closely observing everything around him. He felt so small compared to all the big people walking about him, glancing at him, their eyes laughing hysterically at him. Of course he had gotten used to being around all the tall Elves of the Unchanged land centuries ago, but then he had known almost everyone, and no one had pointed at him there and whispered to a friend near by. He quickly moved into a chair in a rather quiet corner. He had a bit of a job getting into the chair and when he was finally settled his short legs where far from touching the ground and he felt oddly like the young boy that sat with his mother a few seats over. But he was not laughing hysterically and pointing at himself. He felt his stomach tie in a knot. What was he doing here?! In the Changed world after so many centuries living quietly with the Elves! There was no one here he knew. No one he could talk to. And it was obvious to him he was an outcast. People where still pointing at him or glancing at him sideways and up from their big dull white pieces of paper covered in a tiny black print Frodo could not read. Suddenly the dry voice of a woman ran though the huge building around him, "Last call for people boarding flight number 63 for New York City." Frodo sat bolt upright, looking around for the person who had a voice so loud. But no one around him had appeared to have just yelled, and it had to have been someone near him, and most certainly the woman had been near him. "I repeat, last call for people boarding flight 63 for New York." The voice echoed thought the huge building. And yet no one had yelled or even made a sign to acknowledge the sound of the voice.
Frodo glanced around him again. How long will I have to wait? He thought. So many strange things where around him. He glanced at the rather uncomfortable chair he was sitting in. It was made of some black material that sounded kind of hollow when he rapped his fist against it. But it was most certainly not wood, like all the chairs from the lands of the Elves where. The legs of the chair where made from some shinny, cold material that reflected the finger that Frodo held up so he could touch it. But the chair was far from the only strange thing in this large place, everything around Fordo, down to the very clothes the big people where wearing was strange, new and quite frankly terrifying for this small hobbit. (But I will save you the pain of explaining all of them to you since you are probably all quite familiar with them, since I'm going to guess you live in the same world as me and you know by now the chair was made of plastic and the legs where made of metal. Anyway, to continue.)
Suddenly, a vaguely familiar voice cut through Mr. Baggins' thoughts and made him look up suddenly. "Frodo?!"
Frodo looked up and saw a man rushing towards him, not looking at all familiar to him, but Frodo guessed that since he was jogging towards him, and he was calling his true name, he must be the man he was looking for. "Frodo?" The man said again, coming closer. Now he was gathering even more odd looks from the crowd around them. Frodo stared at the man jogging towards him uncertainly for a moment more, but the man got close enough and the gray of his eyes reminded Frodo; "Aragorn?" He whispered in shock, just loud enough for himself to hear.
"Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?" the man Fordo had known thousands of years ago said as he approached Frodo "Oh," he added "call me Aaron, it will make people wonder if you call me Aragorn."
Frodo wondered about this for a moment, but all thoughts where quickly dashed from his mind as he answered "Aaron's" question "Well, the lady thought it would be better to send one of us Hobbits rather than an Elf, since we knew the child so much better, and Bilbo is not much better off than the last time you saw him, so she had me come. But I am still not exactly certain what I am supposed to be doing here. The lady said you would explain things to me." he looked up at the man hopefully. "Of course, and you must tell me everything about the distant lands, but not here. We will draw to much attention if we start talking of such things here. Come with me, my car is in the parking lot outside."
Frodo jumped down from the chair he was sitting in, glanced around at all the people glancing at them like they where insane then followed Aaron towards the long halls of the huge building he was in, trying to think of what a "car" and "parking lot" could possibly be.
*(Author's note: ok, the first few paragraphs after the break sound really cheesy, but just keep on reading: trust me, it gets better.) ; )
SO IT WAS DONE; THE GIRL HAD GOTTEN THE DREAM. GALADRIEL COULD FEEL OVER THE OCEANS AND PROTECTIVE BARRIERS OF THE LAND OF THE ELVES, ALL THE WAY INTO THE CHANGED WORLD, THROUGH THE CONNECTION SHE HAD SHARED WITH THE CHILD'S SOUL SHE COULD FEEL THE FEAR THAT THE GIRL FELT AS SHE FELL BACK INTO FORGOTTEN MEMORIES. GALADRIEL PITIED THE GIRL, FOR EVEN THE MEMORY WAS A TERRIFYING ONE AND PERHAPS SHE COULD HAVE USED A HAPPIER ONE FOR THE FIRST OF THE DREAMS, BUT IT WAS DONE NOW. AND SHE WOULD HAVE TO SEE THEM ALL SOMETIME: SHE HAD TO AT LEAST HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER BEFORE SHE CAME BACK. BUT GALADRIEL TOLD HERSELF THAT SHE WOULD SEND HER A HAPPIER MEMORY NEXT TIME. IT WOULD NOT BE GOOD TO SEND HER ALL THE DEPRESSING, PAINFUL MEMORIES AT ONCE.BETTER TO SEND HER A MEMORY OF PERHAPS WHEN SHE HAD LIVED WITH HER FATHER IN THE SHIRE BEFORE SHE HAD LEFT WITH HER FRIENDS.
GALADRIEL FELT THE GIRL WAKE UP AND QUICKLY PUT HERSELF INTO THE TRANCE THAT BROUGHT HERSELF TO THE GIRL'S BODY... SHE WAS I A ROOM, LIT ONLY BY THE PALE MOONLIGHT THAT SPLASHED ACROSS THE BED COVER AND A BIT OF THE FLOOR. SHE WAS COVERED IN A COLD SWEAT AND TREMBLING ALL OVER IN FEAR. A HEAVY NECKLACE BUMPED HER UPPER CHEST TWICE AS THE GIRL SAT UP QUICKLY.
Galadriel pulled herself from the trance. Good. The girl had remembered the dream after waking and she would not have to waste time transporting the memory again. The lady stood and looked around the dark room; it was too late to go and se the rest of her plan in action. It would have to wait.
* * *
Aaron Harrison had a swell life. Looking back on the lifetimes he could remember, he was in one of the best ones right now. Save perhaps his first, when all this had started happening, he could barely think of better lifetimes. He was royalty twice, though once he had not come into his full inheritance, nor had barely anyone known who he was until he was over 80.But that was beside the point, in that life he had been more than a normal man: that was the life time that had started everything. The lifetime before the fading time. In that life time he had done so much more than in all his others put together. He had saved the world (in a manner of speaking, it was actually others, but he had played a major role in the protection of the ring bearer.for a time at least.)
He sighed and walked across the huge living room in his house in Seattle Washington, to where his huge windows look out onto the Puget Sound below. He studied the water sparking in the early morning sun closely, then looked out over the water to the place where he knew there was mountains, and rainforests.beauty beyond imagination. A place of his past. The old forest that had been a major landmark in his first life, and the creatures that lived inside had saved his life and many more. But now the Ents where long sleeping and their bodies where simply huge trees that towered above the other, especially covered in moss compared to the other trees in Olympic National Park. Aaron could always tell when he got near a sleeping Ent: he could feel their lingering magic that no other human could quite feel. It would tickle the back of their mind and if they where alert enough to sense it, they would not be able to quite grasp it. It had happened often when Aaron walked with friends in the forest, they would feel this tickling, and ask him if he felt it as well. He would shrug and smile behind their backs. Only his many years in his lifetime before the fading time brought him the ability to know what this was. Or perhaps now that he had read the Lord of the Rings books and he remembered his past it all became easier for him to feel this power.
He was perfectly happy: he was the vice president to a large building company, lived in what he thought the idea place from all his travels around the world in his many different lives, and was engaged, ready and looking forward to a perfectly happy marriage. But something was bothering him today. And today of all days! It was Saturday, Saturday was a happy day to sit at home and rest before the long week to come. But his mind was not at ease. Something was going to happen: he could feel deep inside him; as if one nerve was tingling with anticipation. He paced back from the window and towards his large couch, where he stretched out completely and pressed "power" on the remote. He casually flipped thought the channels, passed the news, the "rugrats", some little kids band called the Wiggles.nothing worth watching was on at 9:30 on a Saturday morning. What to do, what to do? He glanced at the clock as he turned to T.V. off; 10:04. he had the whole day ahead of him, what was he going to do with it? he considered taking a ferry across the Sound to the park, but that would take a good part of the day to get there, leaving him barely any time to do the thing he loved to do there: take his time and enjoy the silence of his memories. He could stay late, but the ferry did not go all night, and he had to be up early to see Grace in the morning. No, today was not the day.
Aaron was leaning his head back against the arm-rest of the leather couch, when suddenly it hit him: he was being called. His eyes shot opened, but then closed again, going into a magic trance. He could not tell who this was from, but he could tell where it was from: the faded lands?! Who was trying to contact him from there? He let himself fall deeper into the trance, opening his mind to who ever was trying to call him.
"Aragorn?" A familiar voice, lost from centuries of other lifetimes to him, rang though his head.
"Lady, what is it?" he asked, wondering why on earth the Lady Galadriel wanted with him.
"The time has come." She said. For a moment Aaron pondered what she meant, then he realized; but no, not yet! It could not possibly be so soon. "Yes. It has come sooner than I expected, and it is time to find her."
"How do you know? What has happened so far?" Aaron asked franticly.
"I do not have the time to tell you now, is it not just enough for you to know that you must find her, as quickly as you can?" The lady asked, impatiently "This could mean the end of the Elves, you must hurry!"
"But where is she? How will I possibly find her?" Aaron asked hopelessly.
"She does not know who she is, but she will not be that hard to find: she will look much like she did when she was in the body of a Halfling, and the same age as when she left, though, as you know from all your life times, there will be obvious changes. But you must find her! This is the fate of the Elves! You must find all the members of the Fellowship currently in human bodies in the changed world, and all the others who where closely tied with the quest. Do you know any of them?"
Aaron felt himself nodding, then remembered the lady could not see him and said "Yes, I am here in Seattle, Pippin is currently a High School Science teacher in Minnesota, Merry is currently living in Thunder Bay Canada, and I have never met him, but Tom (that's Pippin) says they know each other quite well. Are there any others?" he asked. He had never met any of the other past members of the ancient Fellowship in this life, or perhaps.
"Yes, two others that I know for sure, Arwen is in a body somewhere in the Changed world, and young, about the girls age and so is Samwise Gamgee."
Suddenly, Aaron knew. It was so obvious. He should have known. Jamie. His young niece, Jamie from Duluth Minnesota. He had always known she was from the magical world, but never from where. It made so much sense. But did she know? How many people would have had to explain the past to? But of course, since the first movie came out, everyone was bombarded by Lord of the Rings things these days, she may have begun to remember.
"Then you think you may know Arwen?" Galadriel asked, using her mind- reading powers again.
"Yes. I believe I do. But I have never heard of nor seen Sam in this life."
"Then you have one more person to find; Samwise will be a vital person in this quest."
Aaron sighed: this might be harder than he thought. "Are there any other ways that might aid when we look for them?" he asked, hoping that there was just another way to help in the finding of the girl.An then he had to find Samwise.Argh
"Yes, in fact, I've just remembered: she will have a ring. Quite like the Ruling Ring, but there will be obvious differences; I have not seen it though, so I can not say exactly."
"Anything else?" Aaron hoped there was at least one more, obvious thing to help them.
"Yes, one more thing: it will take a good bit of magic that you must call up, and it may be hard, since you have no magic in your current body: you will have to call what is left from past lifetimes deep within you. But what you must do is put yourself in a magical trance and concentrate very hard on finding Daisy. If you have brought up a strong enough trance, your senses should be transported to her body, you will feel, smell, taste and see what she is feeling, smelling, tasting and seeing. In other words, the only ways that show you are not actually her, are that you will not control her body and you will not be able to read her thoughts."
"Alright." Aaron said, thinking hard about what the lady had said, determined to remember what to do.
"This is where I leave you. Hurry, please. Once you find her, you must tell her what really happened, and make her believe, then you will find what you need to do. Oh, and today, at 3:30, go the to Seattle air port, terminal number 34. You will meet someone there who is another vital person in this quest. Fare thee well Aragorn." and the connection was broken. Aaron tried to hold the magic link that held their minds together over all the oceans and magical borders that protected the faded lands there by his mind alone, but since there was so little magic in him, it soon became tiring and he had to let it go. He felt it slip from his mind in a fraction of a second, only to be lost on the winds of the Sound outside.
Then he turned his mind to other things.it was time already?! How many lifetimes had it been now?? Aaron could no longer say, but it had been thousands and thousands of years since the first quest. It was before men began to count time and before the first recordings where lost. It was right before the Elves left for the Grey Havens, and all the magic had slowly gone with them. Aaron had lived so many lifetimes.he had so many different names.so of these lifetimes he could remember, others, he was oblivious to what he had gone through in the past. But this was the lifetime. This, almost perfect one was the lifetime he would have to go through it all again.But then the thought came to him, how was he supposed to do this? How was he going to find one girl that looked sort of like the Daisy Gamgee that he knew thousands and years ago? She could be living any where in the world! She could live in France and not ever speak the same language! She could live in Afghanistan! Then Aaron thought of it.he would look in her body, like Galadriel had told him to, he would surely know what county she lived it.and who knows: someone might even say her name. That would narrow the options down quite a bit. But then they still had to find Sam.he refused his mind to think about that now: he must concentrate on what needed to be done first.
Aaron lay his head back down on the arm-rest of his couch, closing his eyes and forcing himself to go into a magical trance. It was not easy: even when he had been Aragorn, with the little magic and Elfish blood in him, he had had problems calling up magical trances, and now he had to try even harder, for the power lay deep within him, virtually untouchable. But he had to try: he had to know where to start. So as he forced his mind in to a magical trance, he kept the thought Find Daisy.Find Daisy... running though his mind loudly. Suddenly, he felt himself in the trance, with a final shout of FIND DAISY he felt it suddenly: he was there.
He was suddenly in the body of a young girl, probably about fourteen years old, just as she was waking up. The morning was quite cold, mainly due, Aaron noticed, to an opened window in the corner of the room, near the ceiling. The girl had goose-bumps all over her body, yet for some reason Aaron felt they where not completely because of the cold winds: the girl was terrified. But why?
AARON COULD FEEL THE FEAR WITHIN THE GIRL, AS WELL AS THE NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING. "IT WAS JUST A DREAM. JUST A SILLY DREAM THAT HAPPENED TO HAVE CHARACTERS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS IN IT ." SHE WHISPERED, TRYING TO CALM HERSELF. THEN GALADRIEL MUST HAVE SENT HER A DREAM OF HER PAST LAST NIGHT. AARON THOUGHT. "BUT IT WAS SO REAL." THE GIRL SAID QUIETLY, TRAILING OFF.
SUDDENLY, AS IF SHE HAD COME TO A DECISION ABOUT SOMETHING, THE GIRL STOOD AND WALKED THROUGH THE ROOM, ALL CHILLS AND WINDS FORGOTTEN, TOWARDS THE HUGE BOOK SHELF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM, NEAR THE WINDOW. SHE STOOD ON TIP-TOES (THOUGH IT WAS BARELY NEEDED, AARON NOTICED, SHE WAS TALL) AND SCANNED THE TOP-MOST SHELF OF THE BOOKSHELF UNTIL SHE FOUND THE BOOK SHE WAS LOOKING FOR. AS SHE HASTILY GLANCED AT ALL THE TITLES OF THE BOOKS, AARON NOTICED SHE WAS A HUGE TOLKIEN FAN; SHE MUST HAVE EVERY ONE OF HIS BOOKS! AARON THOUGHT. WELL THAT COULD MAKE IT EASY FOR US, IF SHE KNOWS MOST OF THE STORY ANYWAY. THEN HE WENT BACK TO PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT SHE WAS DOING. SHE HAD PULLED OUT A RATHER OLD AND TATTERED COPY OF THE TWO TOWERS (AARON HAD SEEN A MUCH BETTER, HARDCOVER COPY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHELF) AND WAS QUICKLY FLIPPING THROUGH PAGES UNTIL SHE FOUND WHAT SHE WAS LOOKING FOR: PAGE 444, UNDER THE CHAPTER "THE URUK-HAI". AARON COULD NOT HELP BUT SHAKE HIS HEAD (THOUGH NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE GIRL, MAYBE IN HIS OWN BODY IN SEATTLE WASHINGTON, BUT NOT HERE, WHERE EVER THIS GIRL WAS): WHY HAD THE LADY CHOSEN THIS MEMORY, FOR AARON KNEW EXACTLY WHICH ONE IT WAS SHE HAD GIVEN HER.SMALL WONDER THE GIRL WAS TERRIFIED. HE SECRETLY HOPED THE LADY WOULD HAVE MORE SENSE NEXT TIME AND WOULD CHOOSE A HAPPIER MEMORY.AND NOT THE LAST ONE, NOT UNTIL THE VERY END, IF AT ALL.
The girl was looking quickly down the page, her eyes skimming over the words, then stopping to read "the night was cold and still" Then "'They'll wait for the sun curse them!." Then (a few pages later) "The cries of Grishn'akh had roused the Orcs. From the yells and screeches that came from the knoll the hobbits guessed that their disappearance had been discovered: Ugl'uk was probably knocking off a few more heads."
The girl, paused, astounded and scared. No, more than scared: terrified. She looked up and out the window to a huge pine tree, but not really looking at it, her eyes just landed there. "Word for word." Aaron distinctly heard her mutter under her breath "Even I don't have that good of a memory." she whispered faintly.
But the connection was fading.she must be far away Aaron thought.and then it was gone.
AARON THREW HIS HEAD BACK AGAINST THE SOFT ARM-REST, BACK IN HIS OWN BODY IN HIS OWN HOUSE. THAT WAS ONE OF THE WEIRDEST THINGS THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME, HE COULDN'T HELP BUT THINK. BUT HE HAD LEARNED A FEW THINGS: (1) THE GIRL LIVED IN AMERICA, OR SHE LIVED IN A PLACE WHERE THEY SPOKE ENGLISH AND SHE HAD AN AMERICAN ACCENT, (2) SHE HAD READ THE LORD OF THE RINGS BOOKS BEFORE, AND SHE KNEW THEM WELL, AND SHE ALSO LIKED TOLKIEN'S WORK, BY THE LOOKS OF IT, AND THAT (3) AARON WOULD HAVE TO BUILD UP HIS STRENGTH IN ORDER TO STAY IN HER BODY FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES: IT HAD TAKEN SO MUCH JUST TO GET INTO THE TRANCE, THEN TO HOLD IT.IT WOULD BE HARD.
But now he knew a thing or two.and at least he could get started. But for now he would lay here and take a little nap until 3:30.that magical use had most certainly worn him out.
* * *
Christine woke in the cold. The window of her room had been left opened and a cold wind had seeped its way though the screen. For a second she forgot why she was so scared. For a moment she wondered why the slightest feeling of sweat lingered on her body. For a second she was pretty darn happy, just a bit curious, but then it all came back and she felt her heart sink. At that same moment, she felt as if something new had just entered her body and was sharing it with her. But she only noticed it for a fraction of a second, then it was over and she was herself again, worried and confused.
SUDDENLY, A NEW IDEA CAME TO HER.SHE HAD TO FIND OUT, REALLY.(WELL YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS HERE FOR ABOUT 2 PARAGRAPHS, SO I WILL SPARE YOU THE BURDEN OF READING IT ALL AGAIN AND GET BACK IN WHERE AARON/ARAGORN HAD JUST LEFT HER BODY)."WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?" SHE ASKED, SOFTEST AND FAINTEST OF ALL.
"Christine! Phone!" her older sister, Alex called her from downstairs. "I know your awake, I just heard you running around! Come on; it's Flo."
Christine sighed. "Great." She said under her breath and took off at the run down stairs. Flo never liked to be left waiting, and she had probably been on the phone a full 15 seconds as of now. Flo was Christine's best-not- so-much-anymore-friend. Flo went to a big expensive privet school in the wealthy part of Duluth that Christine's family could never afford, and Christine went to the public school in Two Harbors, the smaller town just north of Duluth. Even since they had gone their separate ways in 7th grade, they had never quite been in close contact and their friendship had just made an awesome crash downwards after that. Before they changed schools they where virtually inseparable (thought they where quite different) but time and new friends had taken their toll on the friendship and now it was slowly but surely falling apart like an old brick, just baby crumples that became huge and soon its completely gone. Currently it was at the stage where the crumples where not anymore small, but not huge enough to kill the brick. Christine took the stairs three at a time then skidded onto the cold tiles of the kitchen in her bare feet and grabbed the phone from her sister's hand, all but forgetting the odd dream for the present.
"Hey." She said into the phone as she sat down and grabbed an apple from the basket on the table. Alex walked by and sniffed her then quickly drew her nose away "Ugg, what where you dreaming about last night; you where talking in your sleep when I came to bed about Pip or Merry or something totally weird like that and you stink from sweat! Take shower!" "Shut up." Christine said away from the receiver to her sister.
"Hey girl!" Flo said back. "What up?"
"Umm, nothing. What are you doing up so early?" everyone that knew Flo knew it was one of her famous traits to stay up much later than any normal person unless they where a graveyard-shift security guard and not to wake up till 3:30 at the very earliest. But a glance at the clock on the microwave told Christine it was only 11:06, and what was very early for Flo.
"My mom woke me up for no apparent reason whatsoever and now she wont let me sleep so I figured I would call my best bud!" Flo was a normally hyper person, but this was a little much, Christine thought.
"Oh, that's great." Christine fought to hide the lie in her voice, she didn't want to talk to Flo at all, and Flo was most certainly not her best bud. Christine had decided to actually make herself known when she went to High School, so she would not limit her best friend to a girl that bossed her around and went to a big privet school that was a 45minute drive away, and that was when traffic was good. She didn't have any best buds at the time, but she certainly knew she was doing better than Flo who had three boyfriends and no close friends that where actually girls. But Christine had decided long ago not to bring this up.
"So, wanna play today?" Of course, Christine thought now that we have not talked in forever you want to become best friends again because you are not off making out to one of your boyfriends; typical.
"Sorry, but I've got plans already with my friend Jen. We are going to the mall together today." Christine thought it was a pretty good lie off the top of her head.
"Great! I'll get my mom to dive me in and we can meet there! Hold on, lemme ask." a pause. Christine crossed her fingers and hoped Flo's mom would say no.A groan. Yes! Christine thought. "Well, never mind my mom said she cant. Sorry."
"Oh that's fine!" Christine tried not to sound too happy. "Well, I gotta run. Talk to you some other time."
"Right. Call me babe." Flo's disappointed voice came back and the click of the receiver told Christine it was alright to be happy again.
"What did she want?" Alex asked from where she was making waffles across the kitchen as Christine put down the phone.
"To go to the mall or something." Christine answered pulling up a stool and throwing the last bit of the core of the apple in the garbage. "You had better give one of those to Me." She pointed at the waffles.
"You just ate an apple!" Alex demanded.
"Ya, well I have a big appetite." Christine answered smugly to her sister who still had some baby fat in the stomach area. Eating was a second nature to Christine, yet she still was as flat as a board.
"Stop stating the obvious." Alex glared back at her sister.
"Waffles!! Waffles!! Waffles!! Waffles!! Are they done yet Alex?" Amy, the youngest of Christine's three siblings ran in to the room, skidding on her stocking feet.
"No. Five more minutes." Alex answered.
"Ok. Call me!!" She ran out of the room again to watch her cartoons, being 5 and still loving them. Christine often joined her for the fun if she woke up early enough of Saturdays, but today she was not in the mood at all, all she wanted to do was be alone and think.
"Go try to wake John up, ask him if he wants a waffle." Alex said.
"Ya, like he will get up at 11 for a waffle." Christine said as she stood. Her fifteen year-old brother was impossible to wake up before 1 in the summer; even if there was an Earthquake, a tornado and a tsunami all at once, he still wouldn't get out of his huge water bed. But at least the trip up and down the stairs would give Christine some time to think and ponder over her strange dream.
* * * Frodo Baggins walked alone across the room he had suddenly found himself in, towards a chair, closely observing everything around him. He felt so small compared to all the big people walking about him, glancing at him, their eyes laughing hysterically at him. Of course he had gotten used to being around all the tall Elves of the Unchanged land centuries ago, but then he had known almost everyone, and no one had pointed at him there and whispered to a friend near by. He quickly moved into a chair in a rather quiet corner. He had a bit of a job getting into the chair and when he was finally settled his short legs where far from touching the ground and he felt oddly like the young boy that sat with his mother a few seats over. But he was not laughing hysterically and pointing at himself. He felt his stomach tie in a knot. What was he doing here?! In the Changed world after so many centuries living quietly with the Elves! There was no one here he knew. No one he could talk to. And it was obvious to him he was an outcast. People where still pointing at him or glancing at him sideways and up from their big dull white pieces of paper covered in a tiny black print Frodo could not read. Suddenly the dry voice of a woman ran though the huge building around him, "Last call for people boarding flight number 63 for New York City." Frodo sat bolt upright, looking around for the person who had a voice so loud. But no one around him had appeared to have just yelled, and it had to have been someone near him, and most certainly the woman had been near him. "I repeat, last call for people boarding flight 63 for New York." The voice echoed thought the huge building. And yet no one had yelled or even made a sign to acknowledge the sound of the voice.
Frodo glanced around him again. How long will I have to wait? He thought. So many strange things where around him. He glanced at the rather uncomfortable chair he was sitting in. It was made of some black material that sounded kind of hollow when he rapped his fist against it. But it was most certainly not wood, like all the chairs from the lands of the Elves where. The legs of the chair where made from some shinny, cold material that reflected the finger that Frodo held up so he could touch it. But the chair was far from the only strange thing in this large place, everything around Fordo, down to the very clothes the big people where wearing was strange, new and quite frankly terrifying for this small hobbit. (But I will save you the pain of explaining all of them to you since you are probably all quite familiar with them, since I'm going to guess you live in the same world as me and you know by now the chair was made of plastic and the legs where made of metal. Anyway, to continue.)
Suddenly, a vaguely familiar voice cut through Mr. Baggins' thoughts and made him look up suddenly. "Frodo?!"
Frodo looked up and saw a man rushing towards him, not looking at all familiar to him, but Frodo guessed that since he was jogging towards him, and he was calling his true name, he must be the man he was looking for. "Frodo?" The man said again, coming closer. Now he was gathering even more odd looks from the crowd around them. Frodo stared at the man jogging towards him uncertainly for a moment more, but the man got close enough and the gray of his eyes reminded Frodo; "Aragorn?" He whispered in shock, just loud enough for himself to hear.
"Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?" the man Fordo had known thousands of years ago said as he approached Frodo "Oh," he added "call me Aaron, it will make people wonder if you call me Aragorn."
Frodo wondered about this for a moment, but all thoughts where quickly dashed from his mind as he answered "Aaron's" question "Well, the lady thought it would be better to send one of us Hobbits rather than an Elf, since we knew the child so much better, and Bilbo is not much better off than the last time you saw him, so she had me come. But I am still not exactly certain what I am supposed to be doing here. The lady said you would explain things to me." he looked up at the man hopefully. "Of course, and you must tell me everything about the distant lands, but not here. We will draw to much attention if we start talking of such things here. Come with me, my car is in the parking lot outside."
Frodo jumped down from the chair he was sitting in, glanced around at all the people glancing at them like they where insane then followed Aaron towards the long halls of the huge building he was in, trying to think of what a "car" and "parking lot" could possibly be.