Disclaimer: I don't own Jack. Sparrow that is. ^_~ (Sorry, been readin' too much POTC fiction lately.) Anyway, I dun own nothin'.
Yay! I received my first muse today! (Besides my inner sides like Happy SOME, Brave SOME, Perverted SOME…You know! Like Raven has!) His name is Jack.
Jack: Tha's CAPTAIN Jack te ye, love!
SOME: -_-;; Right.
Jack: Na' where's tha' rum ye promise' me?
SOME: Uhhhhhhh…..
Nevermind, you know who it is. POTC rules!!!!!
Alright, answer a few questions before they get asked. *gets weird looks* What?! I'm psychic, didn't you know?! Anywhoozles, I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to answer my reviews on another chapter. It's special.
And before we get started , I wanted to repeat what Tina said before.
And I quote: "And just because I know too much for my own good, Morgoth did not create the balrogs, they were Maiar that rebelled with him and took on their fiery demon like forms. And technically, Morgoth can't 'create' anything, he can only corrupt and twist what has already been made: i.e. orcs. Oh and the Elves didn't think the Valar were gods, since they aren't(only various Mortal races did). And most educated Elves knew about the Ainulindalë."
Well, thanks for clearing that up. And now, we can get on with our lives.
OK, one more thing. This is for you, Aislin. I just want y'all to know that I had already written this chapter but I went back and removed the author's notes. They weren't really important anyway. ;)
AND another thing! *winces* I just want to acknowledge that yes I am using some Spanish. I guess Spanish class is rubbing off on me. *winces again* Oh well…*shrugs*
Now on with the show!
Jack: (drunkenly)I'll drink te tha'! *holds up a large bottle of rum*
SOME and pet-elf: -_-;;;;;;;;;;
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Moon Song
Chapter 7- Time and Past Time part II
After changing into her working outfit—a pair of worn leather breeches in a non-descript color and a shortened dark-colored tunic—she left to collect her basket and herb-gathering tools. Kathy walked down the sunlit corridor, gazing out the archways to the landscape shining beyond. She climbed down the stairs to the outside, following the pathway to the forest, passing under several archways made purely of roses, all blooming out of season.
A man stood waiting at the end of the path, a basket slung like a messenger bag over his shoulder, its long straps forcing it to droop to his waist. His hands hung at his sides, neither fidgeting nor crossed over his chest. His impassive face relayed his experience more than his great age. The corners of the half-Elf's mouth twitched upwards when she arrived at his side.
"Shall we?" said Elrond, gesturing towards the woods.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas watched the woman as she spoke, but the words were not registering.
It seemed to him to be more of a translator than a warrior, though something about the name the leader had called her caused him to think otherwise.
What was that he had called her? Nan-something. Nanqe? No, not quite. Nanquen? No, too Elvish. Nanqu? Yes, that was right! But what did Nanqu mean? All names have meanings and this was no exception. He remembered vaguely that 'Nan' meant 'woman', but what in the name of Manwe did 'Qu' mean?! Well, there was a similar word. 'Quivo', which if his memory served him, meant 'army', so 'Qu' quite obviously was a military term. Woman-what? He pondered for a moment, the woman named Nanqu's words totally ignored, then it came to him in a 'Eureka!' moment.
Warrior!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kathy set her basket down near the edge of the meadow, next to a half-rotten log. The fallen tree had cleared a space in the canopy, creating a small clearing.
She glanced intensely at the ground, searching for the familiar tri-foil leaves...Ah! There they were! She stooped, carefully blunted knife in hand, to painstakingly snip the leaves off of an athelas plant. She threw her gaze around for more.
They were like cockroaches: Where there was one, there were many. Since kingsfoil grew in full sun but oddly enough only in forests, they would dot small clearings such as this like dandelion fluff in the wind.
The young woman looked down at her feet. There! There was another one! And another! She knelt down in a large patch of kingsfoil—clipping here, snipping there—as she listened to the sounds of the forest surrounding her.
For some odd and inexplicable reason, this was the most calming thing she could think of. Even though it was monotonous at times and sometimes even noxious—Gods, these herbs can stink! She thought to herself—it always seemed to put her in an almost serene mood when she returned to the Elven sanctuary.
She turned just barely when she heard a rustle. Had she not lived with the Elves for so long she probably wouldn't have heard it, but as it was, she did. A long-legged figure stepped fluidly over the log behind her, his solemn voice carrying to her easily. Kathy pivoted totally around, standing as she did so.
"You mentioned you were 'low on' star-grass flowers." Elrond was saying. She nodded, smiling slightly. He jerked his head behind him as he explained how he had found them.
"I discovered them quite by accident. I was searching for a black birch but stumbled upon a clump of star-grass. Quite literally, unfortunately." He told her conversationally, a wry smile creeping onto his face at his last words, as he showed her the scrape on his hand. It appeared as if he had thrown a hand out to steady himself and in the process, grabbed the bark of a tree the wrong way. She winced sympathetically. He wrapped it back up into its bandage of thin gauze
He wasn't worried. He already checked it for infection and due to his enhanced healing abilities, it would disappear by the end of the day. He was just embarrassed about his sudden lack of natural grace, though considering what he had been thinking about at the time…
They continued walking in the direction that Elrond had indicated. Kathy was quite relieved that such a 'fortunate accident' had occurred. She was indeed in desperate need of star-grass flowers. Star-grass, contrary to popular belief, was not a type of grass, but was in fact a 'flowering' fungus that grew only in the woods surrounding Rivendell. A powerful painkiller, star-grass flowers—when properly prepared—were the Elvish equivalent of morphine. Therein laid the problem. Very few healers knew how to prepare them, and the process itself was incredibly tricky. However, since they were so rare, she was extremely glad to have found them. Or extremely glad that Lord Elrond had found them. It mattered not, since they all went to the same cause. But in any case, she was just happy that they had been encountered when they were.
"Here" He said unnecessarily, pointing to another fallen tree, this one older than the last. It seemed to be glowing in the dim light from the canopy; Not a foxfire glowing, but more of a starlight-like luminescence, hence the name. That and the fact that the fungus grew like blades of grass from the log, delicate little star-shaped 'flowers' sprouting from the center.
Kathy crouched down and gingerly plucked the flowers, watching as little spores flew into the air at her touch. She placed the precious sprouts in her basket gently and shut the lid. The girl then stood up and smiled gratefully at the half-Elf.
She didn't how she had missed them in the first place. She mentally kicked herself.
Elrond answered in turn to her smile, only his was subtler. He gestured towards Imladris and the roar of the falls.
"I take it you are finished?"
She nodded, saying, "Yeah. I'm done. Let's get back, hey?"
He inclined his head in accord and started back towards Rivendell. Kathy followed behind, admiring the view.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alyce watched the Gondorian man for a minute more, then spoke.
"What business have you here, upsetting our people and invading our land?"
She used the plural, having been adopted as a Haradrim 4 years ago. The Gondorian man—the leader of the duo—replied, a glint of surprise shining in his eyes.
"I am…" He trailed off for a moment. "Aragorn and this is Legolas." He indicated his companion.
Her eyebrows rose only slightly, having already noticed him but not noticing what he was. An Elf, huh? She smirked inwardly. He's pretty hot. Outwardly, she merely cocked an eyebrow at the Gondorian—Aragorn, she believed.
He continued a moment later under her intense stare. "We are here to negotiate a peace treaty between the people of Harad and of Gondor. Nothing more. We mean no disservice to you and your people."
Alyce almost laughed in his face, barely restraining herself. Instead, she grinned broadly—and it was not a nice grin—and looked over her shoulder quite rudely to the expectant camp, all of them waiting for her to translate.
"Sou Gondros quer paz!" The Gondorians want peace! She announced mockingly, almost incredulously. The camp immediately to roar with laughter. The Gondorians appeared stricken when the laughter reached their ears.
Good. She thought, rather pleased with herself. Now, maybe they'll realize the Haradrim won't willingly cut off their own heads and hand it to them on silver platters, smiling happily the whole time. Her derisive grin widened. The adopted Haradrim spoke again.
"Teke acto quer nos a hace paz togo teke!" They actually want us to make peace with them! The smile in her eyes grew even larger, if possible.
Several Haradrim in the camp were rolling on the ground, tears in their eyes, held in paroxysms of laughter. It was all she could do no to laugh with the infectious laughter behind goading her. The Gondorians looked like they had been slapped into a stupor, with the Elf's cheeks coloring quite nicely, Alyce thought privately.
Not very many people could stand up under such humiliation and these two were no exception, though the leader composed himself quicker than most, she had to give him that.
A long while—or so it must seem to those Gondorians, she mused—the last guffaws died down, although a few giggles broke out every once in a while. The young woman waited for complete silence, then uttered a word, no trace of laughter whatsoever left in her eyes.
"Go." She said, her cold hard voice matching her ice cold eyes. She pointed back the way they had come, her finger like a knife in their hearts. The ice statue of a woman spoke again, but in a whisper that carried easily in the deathly quiet that followed.
"Go now and never return. You do not belong here. Go back to your castles and your forests. Run far and do not turn back." Or else, she mentally hissed.
Her voice contained such cold anger in it that it sent a glacier down the strangers' spines. The entire camp felt the anger emanating from her, and though they did not comprehend all that was said, they would support her in her decision. They all glared with tremendous hostility at the Gondorians, their own hatred resurfacing.
A few from the group of guards stalked forward, menacing the invaders, each carrying a viciously serrated spear. The Gondorians backed up a step, the implied threat now becoming manifest.
"Go." She repeated, her voice almost a growl, her eyes narrowed to mere slits. The whole camp stood up, further backing her words. The Man and the Elf exchanged glances, suddenly realizing they had overstayed their welcome.
"GO!" The young woman shouted fiercely, a fire kindling in her eyes.
The rest of the Haradrim were practically at their throats. The two men began to walk backwards, watching the camp warily. Then they turned in an almost regretful manner—the Man looking at her sorrowfully, she noticed—and walked out of the camp at a brisk pace, rounding the sand dune.
Alyce watched them leave then spoke without turning her head to two of the guardsmen beside her.
"Mira teke e hace abso teke sale." Watch them and make sure they leave. She muttered out the side of her mouth. They nodded and stealthily stalked after the strangers, keeping a very close eye on them.
She watched them go, eyes on their retreating figures. Suddenly, her ears perked up and her head whipped around to face the horizon line on the left side of the Gondorian's trail. Her eyes narrowed partially, as if against the glare of the sun.
"A sandstorm." She murmured.
Dun, dun, dun! *gasps* A cliffhanger! Oh no! *laughs maniacally* Mwahahahahahaha! Man, I love my job! *grins cheekily* Alright, getting' down to business here. As promised, I will announce the results of the name contest. (BTW, his name is Pyros.) So here goes:
And the winner is…(drum roll please!)
AISLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*crowd cheers, bands play, confetti falls* *Aislin runs around, screaming happily 'OMG, I won! I won!'* *SOME brings out pet-elf Legolas* And also as promised, the winner gets to spend a night *re-reads chapter, then clears throat* Oh, sorry 'bout that. A whole day and night with my pet-elf. Now play nice…*Aislin gets evil smile on face, pet-elf sees it and cowers, yelping for author as Aislin drags him away* *SOME waves goodbye with large smile on face, sighing happily* Yes, favoritism I know, but oh well, I thinking of something like her name myself. And for those of you who didn't get to name him, well, you'll have your chance soon enough, don't worry. Because you see, my friends, my lil' P-I-M-P got himself a litter of kittens or puppies or whatever you want to call them. I'll have to come up with a word for baby mini-Balrogs (mini-minis! XD) but N/E/Ways I need you guys to help me name them! Please help me! These seven little bundles of joy aren't quite what they're cracked up to be, so I need your help in naming them. The winners receive a night and day each with my pet-elf Legolas, along with his clone Legolus (commonly known around my house as Legolust) that I flew in from the lab, and a mountain-sized cookie! Yay! Ya' can't say no to that! AND, to sweeten the deal, the winners also get to spend another day and night with the bishie or hottie of their choice! Don't worry. I got connections. *winks suggestively* *The mini-Balrog-now-named-Pyros smiles toothily*
On the next episode of Moon Song, Alyce has a change of heart and Kathy gains another's heart. All on the next episode of…Moon Song!
Don'tcha just love double meanings? *winks* You know what I mean! *jerks head towards chapter* Re-read it if you don't. OMG, Kathy's gonna kill me! ^_^;; *runs like the dickens*
Review, my friends! Your thoughts fill me with joy! You keep my creative juices flowing! You are my muses! *Jack winks* Among others…So keep that button clicking!
Yay! Over 70 freakin' reviews! I'm on fire!!!!!