CHAPTER TWO: THE CASTAWAYS HAVE LANDED, BUT WHERE?

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, only ones that are unknown to you and everyone else. Enjoy. A/N: If there is any Elvish speech, it will be in, of course 'Elvish' , and regular English in "English". Thank you for reading.

It was a bright morning, the sun was shining and the boat had finally landed. The question was where had they landed? First they had entered a bay, and since they were still going they decided to go further inland to see if they could find any inhabitants of this strange place (what looked like strange to them because they had been living in a jungle for a long time). So they continued up a river looking for a place to land. Eventually they came upon a city of white in the distance. They could just make out the rays of light piercing the tall tower as they sailed on the river. The castaways found a place to dock their boat, so they grabbed all their possessions and prepared for a trip to the city. It was quite a long haul and they were very tired when they finally got near to the gates of the great white city that had kept them going for a long time, well what seemed like a long time to them.

"Well Professor, where have you taken us now? We've landed somewhere that is somewhat civilized, yet it looks like we've come to a place that existed a hundred years ago!" Mr. Howell exclaimed, voicing the opinion of all his companions.

"You have landed in the realm of Gondor, near the city of Minis Tirith. What business do you strange folk have here, and what do you seek at the great white city?" Spoke a deep, dark voice from behind the castaways.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh no! It's got a sword, it's gonna kill us, eek!" Yelped Gilligan as he jumped into the Skipper's arms.

"Um, excuse my friend, he's just little frightened. You see, we may look strange to you, but you look even stranger to us. We've never actually seen a real sword or armor before so you can imagine that we'd be a little jumpy when you're pointing one at us." Spoke up the Professor.

"That isn't all we're pointing at you," Replied the voice. "I have archers all around here hidden in the bushes, so I wouldn't make any sudden movements if I were you."

"That's fair enough, we're intruding and you're protecting. Ok, you wanted to know our business, correct?" The Professor asked. The man who owned the voice just nodded. "We're castaways who have been living on a jungle island somewhere in the pacific ocean for a very long time and we were just trying to find our way home and we seem to have landed somewhere far from our destination, how I can't even begin to guess. Our business at the white city, what did you call it, Minis Tirith," the man nodded again, "is just to find shelter and food, good food not just fruits. We saw a city and we were so excited to see civilization that we headed here as fast as we could. You see, we were the only inhabitants of the island and we really wanted to see other people again." The Professor explained.

The man raised his eyebrows in interest and mumbled to himself, "King Ellesar will be interested in seeing these people," then said to the castaways, "My King will be happy to show you his great city once you have all had food and drink to fulfill your needs. My name is Ustor, and I will gladly escort you to the city of Minis Tirith."

The castaways were of course very happy to hear these words, though they were surprised at why the man changed his mind all of a sudden and wasn't intent upon killing them anymore. They would find out soon enough.

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Soon the group of guards and castaways were entering the gates of Minis Tirith. They walked up the many levels of the city to the top one where Aragorn sat. Ustor walked in leading the castaways to Aragorn's throne (I know that Aragorn is called King Ellesar, but in my story he will be called Aragorn or Strider, the hobbits still call him Strider). One by one they introduced themselves, or should I say the theme song guys introduced them, sort of.

There's Gilligan, the Skipper too, a Millionaire, and his wife, a movie star, the Professor and Mary Anne, all on Gilligan's Isle! Er,........ Minis Tirith!

"Uh, right," Said King Aragorn.

"Wait a minute let us introduce ourselves properly." The Professor spoke up. "Start with Gilligan."

"Hi. I'm Gilligan. There really isn't anything interesting to say about me, just your average guy. Oh and I'm the Skipper's first mate." Gilligan started.

"I'm the Skipper, captain of the S.S. Minnow. I guess you could say it's partly my fault we got stranded in the first place, with a lot of help from Gilligan of course." The Skipper added.

"I'm Thurston Howell the third. I am one of the richest men in the World. I hope that this uh, castle has fine accommodations because we Howell's will not be treated poorly." Mr. Howell said as if everyone knew that if you were a Howell you were very important indeed.

"And I am Mrs. Thurston Howell the third. I do hope that you have proper baths here, I feel all yucky after that long trip on that small boat." She stated.

"Hi, I'm Ginger. I'm a movie star. You might have seen me in such things as The Young and the Rigged, Gone with the Water, and The Mask of Zoey." She purred into Aragorn's ear.

"Um, no sorry, we don't have uh, movies here. I don't even know what they are." Aragorn informed them.

"You mean you don't even have TV!" Exclaimed Ginger in total shock.

"No. We don't." Aragorn replied.

"I believe it's my turn now." The Professor interrupted. "I am the Professor. I am very smart and am the brains of this company. I would very much like to sit with any scholars you have here to learn more about your country, in fact, you world."

"And who are you young lady?" Aragorn asked Mary Anne, as he looked at her with interest.

"My name is Mary Anne and my family owns a farm in Kansas (don't know if that's true, but meh). I like this country, it's really beautiful." Mary Anne said quietly.

"So you are the castaways from Gilligan's Island. This is good because I was expecting you. Gandalf told me you would be coming and he told me to be very nice and hospitable to you because you are far from home, in fact far from your world. There is some magic at work that he knew about but would not tell me and now he is gone into the west. He said that he would not be needed and he wasn't going to wait for you, so I am left here to deal with you." Aragorn informed the castaways.

"Why is it Gilligan's Island? And how did what's his name know we were coming? What world are we in if we are not on Earth? What are we here for?" These questions were spit out by a few of the castaways all talking at once.

"I do not know why it was chosen to be called Gilligan's Island, I was not in charge of that matter, I also do not know how Gandalf knew you were coming, what he knows and why is now none of my concern, the world you are in is called Middle-earth, and no one knows what you are here for and I should say it doesn't really matter. So we will show you around and you can stay here for as long as you like and then sail away again and hopefully find the land you seek." Aragorn answered. He looked around at all the castaways who were trying to soak in all that he had said.

"Oh." All the castaways said at the same time before they were taken away to find rooms and baths.

Legolas, who had been hiding in a corner, chose this time to come out. "My Lord," he said, "you do remember that the hobbits are coming to visit don't you?" He asked the King.

"Legolas, I do wish that you would not call me my Lord, your Highness, your Majesty, or any other name that has to do with my new job." Aragorn pleaded with one of his best friends.

"Sorry Aragorn, but I really should, especially in front of your other subjects. You didn't answer me; did you remember that the hobbits Samwise, Meriadoc, and Peregrin, are coming to visit?" He asked again.

"Yes, I did. Why? And isn't Sam bringing Rosie and Elanor?" Aragorn asked.

"I asked because they are here and yes he did bring Rosie and Elanor." replied Legolas

"They are here, already! They weren't supposed to arrive for two days. They must have traveled fast," Exclaimed Aragorn.

"They left early so they could get here sooner. I told the guards to send them in after your other guests had left. They should be in any minute." Legolas told him.

"Thank you Legolas." Aragorn said. At that moment the five hobbits came waltzing in as if they didn't have a care in the world (because of course they didn't). "Well hello hobbits. How are you doing today, I wasn't expecting you yet, but your welcome any time." He told them

"Yes, well you see, there was this big storm in The Shire, and the forecast said there was going to be another one, so you see we wanted to leave before we got stuck in the next storm. If we would have waited then we would have gotten here late, probably four days late and you would have wondered what had happened to us. In a nutshell, that's why we're here early," Blabbered Pippin.

"Alright Pippin I don't think Aragorn needed to know all the details. The important thing is that we got here safe." Merry said.

"Well now that your here I'll see that you are taken good care of. You must all be tired after all that traveling, especially Rosie and little Elanor. Legolas would you mind showing them to their rooms, I had them made ready for them as soon as I heard they were coming." Aragorn asked.

"Of course your, er, Aragorn. Come with me my friends, Aragorn had the best rooms in his kingdom made up for you, so you should be comfortable." Legolas said as he led them out of Aragorn's chamber and to their rooms.

As they left Sam said, "That Strider is still one of the best people I know in the world, even now as a King."

******an hour later******
After the castaways (from now on they will be called the CA's) were all settled in and cleaned up, they went exploring the castle. Mrs. Howell, Ginger, and Mary Anne stumbled into a room where Arwen was sitting and started to talk to her about all the latest fashions and such. Gilligan and Skipper bumped into Merry and Pippin and started up a good conversation about nothing unparticular, mainly the weather, and what kind of food they ate in this country, and so on. The Professor was summoned into King Aragorn's chamber where he met with many men of the city you were learned in lore and such. Since Mr. Howell didn't have anything to do he followed the Professor. He wanted to know exactly where they were and what kind of financial plans they had here.

"Professor, is that what you said your name was?" Aragorn asked him.

"Yes, that is what everyone calls me." He answered.

"You said you wanted to know more about this place, correct?" Aragorn questioned. The Professor nodded, "Alright then. I think that we should call the rest of your companions in so that all we tell you will not have to be explained more than once." Aragorn had the rest of the CA's summoned to the room, as well as Merry, Pippin, Sam, Legolas, and Gimli (who was also at the castle).

"Now that you are all here I will tell you exactly where you are for those of you who don't know," Aragorn began. "Like I said before, you are in Middle-earth. From what I have gathered from my guards, you came in through the Bay of Belfalas, up the river Anduin, sailed past Ithilien, and docked your boat at Osgiliath, where you then started to walk to the city of Minis Tirith. You are now in the country of Gondor, which is bordered by Rohan directly to the north-west, and Mordor to the east, over the river. Mordor is a place where no one goes because there used to be great evil there that threatened to cover all the land in a second darkness, but didn't succeed. It is a black land where nothing good or wholesome lives or grows, and that is filled with malic and deceit. Our neighbours in Rohan raise horses; they are the horse lords and are good friends of ours that we depend on in times of need. Further north and very much to the west is a land called The Shire. None of you may visit there for it is the law that no man may enter that land, not even the King. So when I go to visit them, they must come across they're borders to see me. If you would like to see how hobbits live, which is the kind of people that live in the shire, you may go to the village of Bree which is directly east of The Shire. There hobbits and men live together. A bit north of Rohan is the forest of Fangorn where live things called Ents, if you go there you will see strange things yet you might find it very interesting. Directly to the north of Fangorn is the forest of Lothlorien, also known as Lorien. The inhabitants of that forest are Elves, but most of them are sailing west. To the east of Lothlorien, is the forest of Mirkwood where the Elven King Thrandual(?look in book 1) and his people still dwell. I believe I have covered the most important places of Middle-earth, so now would be the time to ask questions of you have any." Aragorn finished, looking around the room to see if anyone had something to say.

"I believe I have some questions that all of us CA's want answering," Said the Professor. "What exactly are hobbits and Ents, and what kind of Elves are you talking about?" He asked
"Yes, I want to know what you mean by Elves," Mrs. Howell put in, just as Arwen joined her husband's side. "The only Elves we know about are fairy's or Santa's little helper elves, you know the ones with the pointy shoes and long, pointy hats." She added to the CA's.

"You mean you don't know what these species are?" Aragorn confirmed with them. They all just shook their heads in confirmation. "Well hobbits are a little people whose height ranges from 2 to 4 feet when fully grown. These two are hobbits; I saw two of you talking to them so you must have already met. I'll do all formal introductions after I'm done explaining. Hobbits are also referred to as halflings which is what everyone else calls them. They call themselves hobbits. Ents are trees that are kind of human I guess you could say, they can talk and walk, but they still look like trees. I guess to you that would be considered magic. Elves are not little, they average about 6 feet most of the time. They are tall, graceful and beautiful creatures that are immortal and can only die from grief, a broken heart, or in battle. My wife is an Elf, which means that she will turn mortal and die because I am a mortal." Aragorn continued to tell the CA's about the Elves and other races of middle-earth until he was sure they had heard everything. (Unlike myself, he didn't forget to tell them about the Lonely Mountain and about Dwarves and that race.)

"Wow," said Gilligan. "There sure are a lot of strange things in your world." he commented.

"To you they are strange, to us they are common." Legolas told them.

"Now is as good a time as any to make introductions, so here I go." Aragorn noted. First he introduced all of the CA's to the rest of the fellowship and to Arwen, then he introduced the fellowship. "This is my wife, Arwen Undomiel, she is an Elf. Also an Elf is Legolas, prince of Mirkwood and one of my very close friends. Among my other close friends are Gimli the Dwarf, and Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took, all hobbits. With them are Samwise's wife Rosie and their daughter Elanor."

"Wait a minute," Pippin interrupted. "Just call Meriadoc and I Merry and Pippin. We rarely go by our long names unless we're doing business. So call us by our nicknames and we'll be happy." He made known to the castaways. They all nodded their heads in agreement that that would in fact be easier than remembering their full names.

"I think that now would be a good time to seek your beds, because as we have been speaking the sun has set and I am very tired so I will assume you are as well." Aragorn stated before yawning. "Ustor, please take our guests to their rooms so they can turn in for the night. The hobbits know where their rooms are, so I'm pretty sure I can assume they will be able to escort themselves." He finished, turning his head to look at Sam, Pippin and Merry, who all nodded yes in response to his statement.

"Come with me please." Ustor asked the CA's, who all followed him eagerly, for they were very tired and wanted to go to bed.

"Goodnight Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli." The hobbits managed to utter before they to sought there beds.

"Goodnight young hobbits sleep well and I'll see you in the morning." Gimli said in true Gimli fashion, because even though they weren't really that young, that's how Gimli always thought of them.

After they had left it was just Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli left in the room. Seeing as how there wasn't any pressing business that needed taking care of at the moment, there wasn't anything interesting to talk about, and they were all falling asleep in their chairs, they all silently agreed to go to bed. So without saying anything they each left for their rooms and fell into deep sleeps dreaming about Arwen, lovely forests, and caves.

A/N: thanks to all for reading this and please review it you feel led to. The whole process of updating and writing more will be slow seeing as how I'm in grade 12, in 2 bands and 3 choirs at my school, and I work, so all in all I'm very busy. Thanks again for reading! Love you all! ~Laurelin