Chapter 3
Christine stayed up as late as she could that night. She did not want to have another terrifying dream, such as she had the night before. But try as she might to stay up, Christine was not a night person, and by 12:09, her eyes hurt just to keep them opened. So, she dragged her feet up the wooden stairs of her house to her bed (Alex was still on the Internet chatting with friends and doing other random things) not even bothering to change her clothes. She was in a deep sleep within seconds.
* * *
Immediately she knew. Right away when she entered the dream, she recognized the feeling and tried to draw herself out of it. But she couldn't. She suddenly realized this dream was different, though: there was a different feeling to this one, not the terrified, skinning, lost feeling of the pervious dream, but a happy, relaxed feeling that she liked and recognized, as if from another life time.
Everything around Daisy (this night her mind gave in right away) was completely dark, but there was a little light that was able to sneak though the thick canopy of the forest from the moon and starts. This pale light illuminated some details and Daisy's keen eyes where able to pick them up quite easily. She was following a figure before her that obviously knew where he or she (something told Christine it was a he) was going. There was barely anything more to see around them other than the wild forest that pressed in close around them. Daisy found herself gripping the cold metal hilt of what she guessed was a sword behind her tightly, as if she expected attack. Suddenly she spoke up "Are we almost there? My father is surely already quite angry enough with me and I don't need staying out too late to be added to his list of reasons to be mad." Daisy spoke up quickly. It was again quite against Christine's will, she was just talking almost with out thinking.
THE FIGURE TURNED AROUND AND THOUGH SHE COULD NOT SEE HIS FACE CLEARLY BECAUSE OF THE DIM MOONLIGHT, SHE COULD TELL HE WAS SMILING. "DON'T WORRY DAISY, YOU WILL BE HOME IN GOOD TIME." IT WAS ONE OF THE VOICES SHE REMEMBERED FROM THE DREAM SHE HAD THE NIGHT BEFORE.
"I'm not worried." Daisy said in her defense, "Its my father that's going to be worried." The figure turned around again and started walking. In an after thought Daisy added "You aren't taking me swimming again are you Pip, because no matter how much I like that, I fear you will truly drive my father mad with worry if I come home shivering and wet again."
The figure before her (Pip) laughed. "No, don't worry, I learned last time." Daisy smiled. Her father could overreact sometimes, and that time had been no exception.
"So where are you taking me?" She asked. "You have been there before, but I happened upon it a few days ago and I thought you may want to see the place you found." Daisy chose against asking him where exactly this place was, she had discovered so many places in the Shire only moon and sunlight had seen for perhaps hundreds of years, she couldn't imagine witch one her friend was talking about now.
THEY WALKED IN SILENCE FOR A WHILE LONGER, THE ONLY SOUNDS AROUND THEM WHERE THEIR CLOAKS SOFTLY RUSTLING IN THE COOL SUMMER NIGHT AIR AND THE NORMAL SOUNDS A FOREST MADE. QUITE SUDDENLY, THE FOREST AROUND THEM GAVE WAY AND THEY STOOD IN A HUGE MEADOW, THE GRASS REACHED UP TO THEIR WAITS, A FEW TREES CREATING HUGE SHADOWS LIKE LONG FINGERS REACHING ACROSS THE GRASS DOTTED THE ALMOST EMPTINESS FULL OF EVERYTHING. THE MOONLIGHT MADE EVERYTHING SHINE IN A SOFT LIGHT THAT AMAZED DAISY, THIS PLACE HAD SEEMED SO IRRELEVANT AND BORING COMPARED TO OTHER THINGS SHE HAD SEEN IN THE SHIRE.
"WOW." WAS ALL SHE COULD SAY.
"Race you across." The man next to her said quickly, a grin spreading across his face. Then he took off across the meadow.
Daisy paused for a moment then smiled and hitched up her dress and ran after him. The silence was only broken by their bodies slipping through the long grass, making it softly rustle and their bare feet dully padding on the ground. Daisy quickly gained on him, with her unnaturally long legs and despite his lead. She was easily the first to reach the far end of the meadow by a fair lead. "Why," She said to the man as he panted to a stop next to her "Peregrin Took, do you keep on challenging me to races, as I obviously am a better runner than you?"
"Because I know one day I will catch you off your guard and beat you." He answered, smiling brightly.
Daisy laughed out loud. "I wait to see the day." She said. Then she turned to look at the woods. A threatening feeling came from within, perhaps it was that everything within was completely dark, but Daisy did not like the feeling of the darkness of the woods. She found herself fingering the hilt of her sword again that hung from her belt under the back of her gray-green cloak. "Let's go towards the middle of the meadow, I don't like the darkness of the woods." She said in little more than a whisper.
Pippin smiled evilly "Ok." He said, "But why?"
"I just told you, I don't like how dark it is." Daisy said as she took a few steps away from the darkness, not liking the smile on his face at all.
"Your afraid of the dark!" Pippin screeched "Fearless Daisy Gamgee is afraid of the dark!" he said, running after her.
"Am not!" Daisy said, stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips. But she could not wipe the smile off her face. Of course she was afraid of the dark, the night was the best time to go wandering, and Pippin knew that well. "Nor am I fearless!" she added as an after thought.
"Oh, right, your 'unnatural'. I forgot." Pippin said, dragging out the word "unnatural".
"Now you don't go repeating anything the old Gaffer says!" Daisy said, jogging to catch up with her friend who was walking quickly across the meadow ahead of her.
"Right. I'll remember that." He said, smiling. "And your afraid of the dark!" he said in a sing-song voice that rang through the silence around them.
"If you don't stop that Pippin, I just might have the draw my sword on you!" Daisy said in a fake warning voice.
"Oh, right." Pippin said, giving a fake gasp and putting on a fake scared face. "That sword you always speak of, yet no one has ever seen."
"You mean this sword?" Daisy said pulling the blade from its sheath, the metal shining brightly as it caught the moonlight. She pointed it directly at her friends neck, jokingly, a smile she knew reeked of pure evil and enjoyment spread across her face. Pippin stopped in his tracks staring wide- eyed at the sword as if he had never seen one before (actually it was possible it was the first one he had seen, living in the shire his whole life.)
"Don't point that thing at me!" He said, his voice full of true fear.
Daisy laughed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't hurt you! I have been practicing and I am skilled with this thing." She said, flicking it lightly in the air and grabbing it again, this time in a more comfortable position for her hand.
"Where did you get that thing anyway?!"
"An Elf." Daisy answered simply, slipping the sword back in its well-made sheath and sitting down on the grass, slightly wet from the dew that had started to build up.
"And let me guess," Pippin said, seeming much more relaxed, now that the sword was out of sight, and sitting down on the ground next to her. "You walked all the way to Rivendell to meet an Elf and ask them for a nice shiny sword?"
"Yes. That is exactly what I did. That's why I was gone for three months a year ago." Daisy said sarcastically. "No, of course not. I was walking though the woods alone and met a group. They where one of the first that left for the Havens.now there are so many more. I stayed with them for a few hours, they gave me some very good food, and some good tales. But when it was time for them to move on, one took me aside. He had been watching me closely the whole time and he had suddenly seemed to have come to a decision." Daisy was no longer talking to her friend in the moonlit meadow, she was in the woods at twilight, a tall, fair Elf had taken her aside and was making sure none of his companions where looking at them. "He took me aside and said-" Daisy suddenly remembered what he had said and brought herself back to the meadow, where she was telling the story, suddenly careful not to tell too much. "-he gave the sword, and said he would not need it anymore, as he was so close to a place where there would be no need of such things." Daisy looked at her friend and smiled.
"And that was it?" Pippin asked.
"Yep. Then they left and I never saw them again, though I sometimes see Elves in the forest." She said quickly, finding herself fingering the pendent she wore around her neck.
"You don't tell you father do you, I think it might kill him if you knew Elves and had gifts from them and he didn't." Pippin said laughing.
Daisy laughed too. "No. I've never told him. I think your right." Then they where silent for a time. In the silence, Daisy went back to the forest, she was with the Elf again. He smiled down on her and placed a hand on her shoulder "You are pure of heart, child, and you have much ahead of you. Here," he handed her the sword "It is of Elfish making and it will let no harm come to you if you know how to use it. Learn. And this is for you as well," he then took a necklace off his own neck and placed it around hers. It was a large dim orange jewel that lay in a net of gold. As it left the neck of it's former owner it glowed slightly, but nothing more had it ever done of the kind when Daisy had worn it. No one but herself had ever seen it, as she wore it under her shirt and never took it off. "You have much to do child," the Elf had continued "in this life and in others. Never lose these gifts, they will forever help you. Namarie, (a.n, did I spell that right? I cant spell in Elfish) Elf friend from now forth. Always remember, and tell no one too much." Then the Elves where gone as quickly as they had come, and Daisy was left in the growing moonlight to think.
"Daisy!" Pippin was talking to her again. She was back in the moonlit meadow sitting next to her friend. "Are you ok?"
"Yes." She said defensively, blinking and turning to look at him.
"Alright." He said and looked back up into the star lit heavens. Daisy turned her head and looked up at the sky above them. Directly above it was clear and bright, as if the starts and moon where shining with all their might to light the Earth, but a glance Northward told her that it would not be so for long, many dark clouds where moving quickly their way, and the suddenly strong wind smelled of rain. But Daisy was not afraid of getting wet and she was not ready to leave, so she didn't mention it to Pippin. But the clouds moved in quickly. Soon they had covered the moon and stars and everything was quite dark, even for the keen Hobbit eyes of Daisy (Hobbit eyes? Christine's mind cut in suddenly) could not see very much. But they barely noticed: they where talking and laughing again.
Suddenly, Daisy felt something. It was a mere feeling, as if something was watching her from the darkness she had moved away from. She snapped her head up, and looked every direction into the darkness of the woods, as if she hoped to see her other friend Merry come out of the woods, laughing at them, but no one came. And the feeling lingered.
"What is it?" Pippin asked beside her, looking around as well.
"Can you feel it?" Daisy whispered still looking around.
"What exactly am I supposed to be feeling?" Pippin asked, looking over at her, trying to meet her eyes.
"There's something watching us, or something like that." Daisy trailed off and slowly drew her sword as thunder rumbled softly over head, another sign of the coming rain.
"Put that thing away will you? If you don't kill me, you will kill your self!" Pippin cried, pointing at her sword again.
"Will you shut up?" Daisy snapped turning to glare at him. "Fine." Pippin said, sitting down on the ground and crossing him arms like a child.
"Hush." Daisy said, barely in a whisper. "Its getting closer." And indeed the feeling was growing with every second they stood (and sat) there in the deep silence only broken by the sound of the wind cutting swiftly thought the trees.
Quite suddenly, everything around them was lit up with a sudden bright light that lit every corner of the woods for a split second then it was gone. The lightning was followed by an earsplitting crack of thunder and suddenly, the clouds burst and huge drops of rain fell from the sky, soaking the tiny Hobbits in seconds.
"This is what was getting closer?" Pippin yelled over the sound of the rain and the wind running through the trees.
"Oh be quiet!" Daisy yelled back, laughing and dropping the sword back into the sheath. She was no longer afraid of someone watching them, the lightning would have shown any person watching in the darkness, and Daisy had seen no such person or thing watching. And the feeling had suddenly vanished when the rain had come. Daisy told herself it had been the feeling of rain she had felt, and it had been stupid anyway to worry about such things, she was in the Shire: nothing exciting ever happened there. "Listen Pip," she continued "I've got to go though, it will take a bit to get back home and my father will be hysterical because I was out in the rain."
"Fine you leave me here, all alone!" Pippin shouted as she ran off towards the darkness of the way they came, her cloak flying backwards as she ran, making her shirt and skirt wetter than they where before. She turned and waved before she reached the darkness of the forest but she doubted he saw her, he was staring up into the rain, laughing. Then she was swallowed by the darkness. Daisy ran through the forest for a time, then she was on the road going into Hobbiton and she slowed to a walk. The road was virtually deserted, save an elderly Hobbit man on an old pony cart, half sleeping. Daisy doubted he noticed her when she waved and said "Goodnight sir!" He grunted and looked up then flicked the reins of the cart and brought the pony to a slow steady trot. She laughed softly and shook her head, then turned towards Hobbiton. Within ten minutes of walking she was entering the outskirts of the town. The Hobbit holes where becoming more numerous around her, the lines of trees of the sides of the road shaded her, but barely where able to keep the huge drops of rain that where still huge from reaching her. She entered the heart of the familiar town that she loved so much and was pulling her hood up in a vain attempt to stop the rain from hitting her face, hopping her father would not be so angry with her if she looked fairly dry. But pulling her hood up simply made the puddle of water that had formed in her hood fell onto her head. She laughed silently as she turned down the street that lead to Bangshot Row.
As she passed the Ivy Bush tavern she heard the sound of people talking, laughing and singing within, and she even thought she heard the sound of a fiddle strike up as she passed, all dulled by the thick dirt walls of the hill around. As she neared The Hill the rain was beginning to subside to a light drizzle then to a mist she could barely feel. She ran up the last bit of the hill, then turned down a short walkway off the road to a nice little hobbit hole, as she opened the door she glanced at the brass number "3" in the center, shinning slightly in the moonlight that was breaking thought the now thin clouds.
The instant she was inside the smell of good food met her nose and she paused in the doorway to take in the smell. "Daisy?!" A voice called from within. "Is that you?"
"Yes. Its me." Daisy sighed, taking off her cloak and hiding her sword behind the umbrella stand. "I'm home."
Her father appeared in the door to the kitchen, looking terrified and smiling. "Oh thank god. I was getting worried."
"Obviously not that worried if you didn't go out looking for me." She said, walking into the kitchen.
"Where you swimming again?" he asked her following her.
"No."
"Then why are you all wet?"
"I don't know if you noticed, but it was just raining." Daisy pointed out sticking her nose in a pot of stew still warm on the dieing fire in the kitchen hearth. "Can I have some of this?" she asked, pointing her thumb into the pot, turning to her father.
"You missed supper." Her father said, sitting down across from the old man snoring slightly in a chair by the fire.
"Because I was out. And you said I could go out!" Daisy snapped.
"Not this late!" her father said leaning back in his chair, obviously annoyed.
"Well I'm sorry that Pip wanted to show me something at night." Daisy said as she ladled some of the warm soup into a wooden bowl then standing close to the almost dead, yet still quite warm, fire in a vain attempt to dry off her clothes.
"And you where caught out in the rain and-"He paused to let what his daughter had said set into his mind. "You where out with Pippin again?" Her father asked snapping his head up, his eyes wide with surprise.
"OH my goodness. We are friends." Daisy cried setting down the bowl on the table and glaring at her father.
The clatter of the bowl on the table had woken the Gaffer (who was getting on in his years) with a start. "Talking about that Took boy?" he asked groggily, "Both him and that Brandybuck are trouble, both of um, unnatural. But cant do much harm for this girl." He pointed at Daisy with his thumb. He was growing a little deaf in the ears and thought she could not hear him talking about her and her only friends. "She's an odd one, that girl of yours, Sam." He shook his head "If I've said it once I've said it ten thousand times: that is an odd child."
"I love you too gaffer." Daisy leaned over him and kissed the growing bald spot on his head.
He shook his head in surprise and looked up at her "Oh, hello Daisy, didn't know you where home. Why are you all wet?"
"That doesn't matter!" her father snapped, getting angry. "I just think they are a bad influence on you Daisy, that's all."
"Well then you think that. Ok?" Daisy said simply "I'm putting on some dry clothes and going to bed." She said and turned.
Her father sighed, quite audibly. "You didn't finish your dinner." He said behind her closed bedroom door.
"That's ok, I'm not hungry anymore." Daisy said as she pulled off her wet vest and shirt.
"What have I told you?" She heard the Gaffer strike up again "That is an odd girl. Her hair isn't the right color! She isn't the right weight! She likes swimming and climbing trees! It all comes from her mother, it does."
"Thank you, Gaffer, I know." Her father said. Daisy heard the scrape of a chair against the tiles of the floor witch told her that her father was again sitting down. She smiled and laughed silently as she pulled on a nightgown and climbed into the warmth of the quilts on her bed. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was looking out the small round window at the sky, watching the clouds pass in the brisk wind.
* * *
Christine woke suddenly. She did not sit up straight tonight, nor was she covered in a cold sweat and shaking. She was in her room, Alex was snoring softly in the bed next to her, there was rain patting softly against the window of her room and otherwise everything in the house was silent. She felt herself fingering the pendent she had always worn as she thought about the dream. It was the same pendent the Elf had given her in the memory she had felt in the dream. A large dimly orange jewel set in a web of gold. She had worn it her whole life. She had no idea where she had gotten it, only that she never took it off. It was kind of a security thing, if she took it off, her stomach sunk and twisted and turned and she wanted to get it back before something horrible happened. But her mind did not stay on such things. The dream. Though it had not been as frightening as the night before, it had been closely the same: especially when it came to how real it felt. She had felt at home there. Much more at home then she felt here in this three story house that she had lived in her whole life. And it was so real. It was as if she was reliving a memory vividly. It scared her. She decided never to tell anyone about these weird things she was reading about. It would be too weird.
Suddenly she noticed something else. It was as if that dream had stirred up others in her head. She was suddenly going through the day when she had learned to swim. She was a small child and her mother was dieing. But these where hazy, details only falling into place when she thought very hard about them. Then other things came. Terrible things. She was being beaten. She was being killed. She quickly banished thoughts from her head and, trying to forget her dream, she fell asleep again, absent mindedly holding her pendent.
Christine stayed up as late as she could that night. She did not want to have another terrifying dream, such as she had the night before. But try as she might to stay up, Christine was not a night person, and by 12:09, her eyes hurt just to keep them opened. So, she dragged her feet up the wooden stairs of her house to her bed (Alex was still on the Internet chatting with friends and doing other random things) not even bothering to change her clothes. She was in a deep sleep within seconds.
* * *
Immediately she knew. Right away when she entered the dream, she recognized the feeling and tried to draw herself out of it. But she couldn't. She suddenly realized this dream was different, though: there was a different feeling to this one, not the terrified, skinning, lost feeling of the pervious dream, but a happy, relaxed feeling that she liked and recognized, as if from another life time.
Everything around Daisy (this night her mind gave in right away) was completely dark, but there was a little light that was able to sneak though the thick canopy of the forest from the moon and starts. This pale light illuminated some details and Daisy's keen eyes where able to pick them up quite easily. She was following a figure before her that obviously knew where he or she (something told Christine it was a he) was going. There was barely anything more to see around them other than the wild forest that pressed in close around them. Daisy found herself gripping the cold metal hilt of what she guessed was a sword behind her tightly, as if she expected attack. Suddenly she spoke up "Are we almost there? My father is surely already quite angry enough with me and I don't need staying out too late to be added to his list of reasons to be mad." Daisy spoke up quickly. It was again quite against Christine's will, she was just talking almost with out thinking.
THE FIGURE TURNED AROUND AND THOUGH SHE COULD NOT SEE HIS FACE CLEARLY BECAUSE OF THE DIM MOONLIGHT, SHE COULD TELL HE WAS SMILING. "DON'T WORRY DAISY, YOU WILL BE HOME IN GOOD TIME." IT WAS ONE OF THE VOICES SHE REMEMBERED FROM THE DREAM SHE HAD THE NIGHT BEFORE.
"I'm not worried." Daisy said in her defense, "Its my father that's going to be worried." The figure turned around again and started walking. In an after thought Daisy added "You aren't taking me swimming again are you Pip, because no matter how much I like that, I fear you will truly drive my father mad with worry if I come home shivering and wet again."
The figure before her (Pip) laughed. "No, don't worry, I learned last time." Daisy smiled. Her father could overreact sometimes, and that time had been no exception.
"So where are you taking me?" She asked. "You have been there before, but I happened upon it a few days ago and I thought you may want to see the place you found." Daisy chose against asking him where exactly this place was, she had discovered so many places in the Shire only moon and sunlight had seen for perhaps hundreds of years, she couldn't imagine witch one her friend was talking about now.
THEY WALKED IN SILENCE FOR A WHILE LONGER, THE ONLY SOUNDS AROUND THEM WHERE THEIR CLOAKS SOFTLY RUSTLING IN THE COOL SUMMER NIGHT AIR AND THE NORMAL SOUNDS A FOREST MADE. QUITE SUDDENLY, THE FOREST AROUND THEM GAVE WAY AND THEY STOOD IN A HUGE MEADOW, THE GRASS REACHED UP TO THEIR WAITS, A FEW TREES CREATING HUGE SHADOWS LIKE LONG FINGERS REACHING ACROSS THE GRASS DOTTED THE ALMOST EMPTINESS FULL OF EVERYTHING. THE MOONLIGHT MADE EVERYTHING SHINE IN A SOFT LIGHT THAT AMAZED DAISY, THIS PLACE HAD SEEMED SO IRRELEVANT AND BORING COMPARED TO OTHER THINGS SHE HAD SEEN IN THE SHIRE.
"WOW." WAS ALL SHE COULD SAY.
"Race you across." The man next to her said quickly, a grin spreading across his face. Then he took off across the meadow.
Daisy paused for a moment then smiled and hitched up her dress and ran after him. The silence was only broken by their bodies slipping through the long grass, making it softly rustle and their bare feet dully padding on the ground. Daisy quickly gained on him, with her unnaturally long legs and despite his lead. She was easily the first to reach the far end of the meadow by a fair lead. "Why," She said to the man as he panted to a stop next to her "Peregrin Took, do you keep on challenging me to races, as I obviously am a better runner than you?"
"Because I know one day I will catch you off your guard and beat you." He answered, smiling brightly.
Daisy laughed out loud. "I wait to see the day." She said. Then she turned to look at the woods. A threatening feeling came from within, perhaps it was that everything within was completely dark, but Daisy did not like the feeling of the darkness of the woods. She found herself fingering the hilt of her sword again that hung from her belt under the back of her gray-green cloak. "Let's go towards the middle of the meadow, I don't like the darkness of the woods." She said in little more than a whisper.
Pippin smiled evilly "Ok." He said, "But why?"
"I just told you, I don't like how dark it is." Daisy said as she took a few steps away from the darkness, not liking the smile on his face at all.
"Your afraid of the dark!" Pippin screeched "Fearless Daisy Gamgee is afraid of the dark!" he said, running after her.
"Am not!" Daisy said, stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips. But she could not wipe the smile off her face. Of course she was afraid of the dark, the night was the best time to go wandering, and Pippin knew that well. "Nor am I fearless!" she added as an after thought.
"Oh, right, your 'unnatural'. I forgot." Pippin said, dragging out the word "unnatural".
"Now you don't go repeating anything the old Gaffer says!" Daisy said, jogging to catch up with her friend who was walking quickly across the meadow ahead of her.
"Right. I'll remember that." He said, smiling. "And your afraid of the dark!" he said in a sing-song voice that rang through the silence around them.
"If you don't stop that Pippin, I just might have the draw my sword on you!" Daisy said in a fake warning voice.
"Oh, right." Pippin said, giving a fake gasp and putting on a fake scared face. "That sword you always speak of, yet no one has ever seen."
"You mean this sword?" Daisy said pulling the blade from its sheath, the metal shining brightly as it caught the moonlight. She pointed it directly at her friends neck, jokingly, a smile she knew reeked of pure evil and enjoyment spread across her face. Pippin stopped in his tracks staring wide- eyed at the sword as if he had never seen one before (actually it was possible it was the first one he had seen, living in the shire his whole life.)
"Don't point that thing at me!" He said, his voice full of true fear.
Daisy laughed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't hurt you! I have been practicing and I am skilled with this thing." She said, flicking it lightly in the air and grabbing it again, this time in a more comfortable position for her hand.
"Where did you get that thing anyway?!"
"An Elf." Daisy answered simply, slipping the sword back in its well-made sheath and sitting down on the grass, slightly wet from the dew that had started to build up.
"And let me guess," Pippin said, seeming much more relaxed, now that the sword was out of sight, and sitting down on the ground next to her. "You walked all the way to Rivendell to meet an Elf and ask them for a nice shiny sword?"
"Yes. That is exactly what I did. That's why I was gone for three months a year ago." Daisy said sarcastically. "No, of course not. I was walking though the woods alone and met a group. They where one of the first that left for the Havens.now there are so many more. I stayed with them for a few hours, they gave me some very good food, and some good tales. But when it was time for them to move on, one took me aside. He had been watching me closely the whole time and he had suddenly seemed to have come to a decision." Daisy was no longer talking to her friend in the moonlit meadow, she was in the woods at twilight, a tall, fair Elf had taken her aside and was making sure none of his companions where looking at them. "He took me aside and said-" Daisy suddenly remembered what he had said and brought herself back to the meadow, where she was telling the story, suddenly careful not to tell too much. "-he gave the sword, and said he would not need it anymore, as he was so close to a place where there would be no need of such things." Daisy looked at her friend and smiled.
"And that was it?" Pippin asked.
"Yep. Then they left and I never saw them again, though I sometimes see Elves in the forest." She said quickly, finding herself fingering the pendent she wore around her neck.
"You don't tell you father do you, I think it might kill him if you knew Elves and had gifts from them and he didn't." Pippin said laughing.
Daisy laughed too. "No. I've never told him. I think your right." Then they where silent for a time. In the silence, Daisy went back to the forest, she was with the Elf again. He smiled down on her and placed a hand on her shoulder "You are pure of heart, child, and you have much ahead of you. Here," he handed her the sword "It is of Elfish making and it will let no harm come to you if you know how to use it. Learn. And this is for you as well," he then took a necklace off his own neck and placed it around hers. It was a large dim orange jewel that lay in a net of gold. As it left the neck of it's former owner it glowed slightly, but nothing more had it ever done of the kind when Daisy had worn it. No one but herself had ever seen it, as she wore it under her shirt and never took it off. "You have much to do child," the Elf had continued "in this life and in others. Never lose these gifts, they will forever help you. Namarie, (a.n, did I spell that right? I cant spell in Elfish) Elf friend from now forth. Always remember, and tell no one too much." Then the Elves where gone as quickly as they had come, and Daisy was left in the growing moonlight to think.
"Daisy!" Pippin was talking to her again. She was back in the moonlit meadow sitting next to her friend. "Are you ok?"
"Yes." She said defensively, blinking and turning to look at him.
"Alright." He said and looked back up into the star lit heavens. Daisy turned her head and looked up at the sky above them. Directly above it was clear and bright, as if the starts and moon where shining with all their might to light the Earth, but a glance Northward told her that it would not be so for long, many dark clouds where moving quickly their way, and the suddenly strong wind smelled of rain. But Daisy was not afraid of getting wet and she was not ready to leave, so she didn't mention it to Pippin. But the clouds moved in quickly. Soon they had covered the moon and stars and everything was quite dark, even for the keen Hobbit eyes of Daisy (Hobbit eyes? Christine's mind cut in suddenly) could not see very much. But they barely noticed: they where talking and laughing again.
Suddenly, Daisy felt something. It was a mere feeling, as if something was watching her from the darkness she had moved away from. She snapped her head up, and looked every direction into the darkness of the woods, as if she hoped to see her other friend Merry come out of the woods, laughing at them, but no one came. And the feeling lingered.
"What is it?" Pippin asked beside her, looking around as well.
"Can you feel it?" Daisy whispered still looking around.
"What exactly am I supposed to be feeling?" Pippin asked, looking over at her, trying to meet her eyes.
"There's something watching us, or something like that." Daisy trailed off and slowly drew her sword as thunder rumbled softly over head, another sign of the coming rain.
"Put that thing away will you? If you don't kill me, you will kill your self!" Pippin cried, pointing at her sword again.
"Will you shut up?" Daisy snapped turning to glare at him. "Fine." Pippin said, sitting down on the ground and crossing him arms like a child.
"Hush." Daisy said, barely in a whisper. "Its getting closer." And indeed the feeling was growing with every second they stood (and sat) there in the deep silence only broken by the sound of the wind cutting swiftly thought the trees.
Quite suddenly, everything around them was lit up with a sudden bright light that lit every corner of the woods for a split second then it was gone. The lightning was followed by an earsplitting crack of thunder and suddenly, the clouds burst and huge drops of rain fell from the sky, soaking the tiny Hobbits in seconds.
"This is what was getting closer?" Pippin yelled over the sound of the rain and the wind running through the trees.
"Oh be quiet!" Daisy yelled back, laughing and dropping the sword back into the sheath. She was no longer afraid of someone watching them, the lightning would have shown any person watching in the darkness, and Daisy had seen no such person or thing watching. And the feeling had suddenly vanished when the rain had come. Daisy told herself it had been the feeling of rain she had felt, and it had been stupid anyway to worry about such things, she was in the Shire: nothing exciting ever happened there. "Listen Pip," she continued "I've got to go though, it will take a bit to get back home and my father will be hysterical because I was out in the rain."
"Fine you leave me here, all alone!" Pippin shouted as she ran off towards the darkness of the way they came, her cloak flying backwards as she ran, making her shirt and skirt wetter than they where before. She turned and waved before she reached the darkness of the forest but she doubted he saw her, he was staring up into the rain, laughing. Then she was swallowed by the darkness. Daisy ran through the forest for a time, then she was on the road going into Hobbiton and she slowed to a walk. The road was virtually deserted, save an elderly Hobbit man on an old pony cart, half sleeping. Daisy doubted he noticed her when she waved and said "Goodnight sir!" He grunted and looked up then flicked the reins of the cart and brought the pony to a slow steady trot. She laughed softly and shook her head, then turned towards Hobbiton. Within ten minutes of walking she was entering the outskirts of the town. The Hobbit holes where becoming more numerous around her, the lines of trees of the sides of the road shaded her, but barely where able to keep the huge drops of rain that where still huge from reaching her. She entered the heart of the familiar town that she loved so much and was pulling her hood up in a vain attempt to stop the rain from hitting her face, hopping her father would not be so angry with her if she looked fairly dry. But pulling her hood up simply made the puddle of water that had formed in her hood fell onto her head. She laughed silently as she turned down the street that lead to Bangshot Row.
As she passed the Ivy Bush tavern she heard the sound of people talking, laughing and singing within, and she even thought she heard the sound of a fiddle strike up as she passed, all dulled by the thick dirt walls of the hill around. As she neared The Hill the rain was beginning to subside to a light drizzle then to a mist she could barely feel. She ran up the last bit of the hill, then turned down a short walkway off the road to a nice little hobbit hole, as she opened the door she glanced at the brass number "3" in the center, shinning slightly in the moonlight that was breaking thought the now thin clouds.
The instant she was inside the smell of good food met her nose and she paused in the doorway to take in the smell. "Daisy?!" A voice called from within. "Is that you?"
"Yes. Its me." Daisy sighed, taking off her cloak and hiding her sword behind the umbrella stand. "I'm home."
Her father appeared in the door to the kitchen, looking terrified and smiling. "Oh thank god. I was getting worried."
"Obviously not that worried if you didn't go out looking for me." She said, walking into the kitchen.
"Where you swimming again?" he asked her following her.
"No."
"Then why are you all wet?"
"I don't know if you noticed, but it was just raining." Daisy pointed out sticking her nose in a pot of stew still warm on the dieing fire in the kitchen hearth. "Can I have some of this?" she asked, pointing her thumb into the pot, turning to her father.
"You missed supper." Her father said, sitting down across from the old man snoring slightly in a chair by the fire.
"Because I was out. And you said I could go out!" Daisy snapped.
"Not this late!" her father said leaning back in his chair, obviously annoyed.
"Well I'm sorry that Pip wanted to show me something at night." Daisy said as she ladled some of the warm soup into a wooden bowl then standing close to the almost dead, yet still quite warm, fire in a vain attempt to dry off her clothes.
"And you where caught out in the rain and-"He paused to let what his daughter had said set into his mind. "You where out with Pippin again?" Her father asked snapping his head up, his eyes wide with surprise.
"OH my goodness. We are friends." Daisy cried setting down the bowl on the table and glaring at her father.
The clatter of the bowl on the table had woken the Gaffer (who was getting on in his years) with a start. "Talking about that Took boy?" he asked groggily, "Both him and that Brandybuck are trouble, both of um, unnatural. But cant do much harm for this girl." He pointed at Daisy with his thumb. He was growing a little deaf in the ears and thought she could not hear him talking about her and her only friends. "She's an odd one, that girl of yours, Sam." He shook his head "If I've said it once I've said it ten thousand times: that is an odd child."
"I love you too gaffer." Daisy leaned over him and kissed the growing bald spot on his head.
He shook his head in surprise and looked up at her "Oh, hello Daisy, didn't know you where home. Why are you all wet?"
"That doesn't matter!" her father snapped, getting angry. "I just think they are a bad influence on you Daisy, that's all."
"Well then you think that. Ok?" Daisy said simply "I'm putting on some dry clothes and going to bed." She said and turned.
Her father sighed, quite audibly. "You didn't finish your dinner." He said behind her closed bedroom door.
"That's ok, I'm not hungry anymore." Daisy said as she pulled off her wet vest and shirt.
"What have I told you?" She heard the Gaffer strike up again "That is an odd girl. Her hair isn't the right color! She isn't the right weight! She likes swimming and climbing trees! It all comes from her mother, it does."
"Thank you, Gaffer, I know." Her father said. Daisy heard the scrape of a chair against the tiles of the floor witch told her that her father was again sitting down. She smiled and laughed silently as she pulled on a nightgown and climbed into the warmth of the quilts on her bed. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was looking out the small round window at the sky, watching the clouds pass in the brisk wind.
* * *
Christine woke suddenly. She did not sit up straight tonight, nor was she covered in a cold sweat and shaking. She was in her room, Alex was snoring softly in the bed next to her, there was rain patting softly against the window of her room and otherwise everything in the house was silent. She felt herself fingering the pendent she had always worn as she thought about the dream. It was the same pendent the Elf had given her in the memory she had felt in the dream. A large dimly orange jewel set in a web of gold. She had worn it her whole life. She had no idea where she had gotten it, only that she never took it off. It was kind of a security thing, if she took it off, her stomach sunk and twisted and turned and she wanted to get it back before something horrible happened. But her mind did not stay on such things. The dream. Though it had not been as frightening as the night before, it had been closely the same: especially when it came to how real it felt. She had felt at home there. Much more at home then she felt here in this three story house that she had lived in her whole life. And it was so real. It was as if she was reliving a memory vividly. It scared her. She decided never to tell anyone about these weird things she was reading about. It would be too weird.
Suddenly she noticed something else. It was as if that dream had stirred up others in her head. She was suddenly going through the day when she had learned to swim. She was a small child and her mother was dieing. But these where hazy, details only falling into place when she thought very hard about them. Then other things came. Terrible things. She was being beaten. She was being killed. She quickly banished thoughts from her head and, trying to forget her dream, she fell asleep again, absent mindedly holding her pendent.