** Disclaimer: I only own Zana ********** ************
New things are coming! : ) Maybe you think the end is near.. well, obviously I won't write 100 more chapters, but I promise you there's still some story waiting for you : ) Now that things are advancing so much.. I hope to make you all nervous! : ) Thanks for reviewing!
**************** *************** *************** **********
Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence
That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
-The return to innocence - Enigma
"We must sleep" Said Romih, standing up. "My mother and sister will return in no time.. and I don't want them to start asking questions about you, Legolas"
"How will we find the gate?" I asked, unable to go to sleep. They both looked at me. Legolas looked through the window, opening the curtains.
"We always managed to find it, right? When the moment will come.. we'll know it" He said, smiling.
"The last time we all got lost.. I don't want to be alone in our next step.." I realised how scared I was, deep inside me. Nobody knew what was expecting us. Romih walked towards me.
"I still don't understand the whole thing but.. I'm sure Legolas is right. Well find out about it"
"The Land of Eternal Ice.." I said, suddenly. "How will we find it? What is it exactly?" I was becoming crazy, trying to think, to find a clue. We never wondered where it was.. maybe it was near from there.. maybe we would spend years looking for it.. while all our lives and future were undecided. I felt cold.
"Zana.. don't worry about anything.. just trust Destiny, as you've been doing before.." Legolas came by my side, his hear obviously longer. I was amazed with that phenomenon.. Romih coughed, interrupting us.
"Well, lets go to bed. Legolas, you can sleep in the guests room, nobody uses it" We followed Romih upstairs, in silence. I checked the time in the big clock in the corridor. Midnight. The twelve bells filled the air, and I had the feeling that we weren't alone there. Once in my room, I undressed and put the pyjamas. It was cold, and I covered myself with the blankets. As soon as I closed my eyes, a knock on the main door came to my ears. My heart was beating so fast that I almost couldn't breath. I heard Romih's steps in the hall, and then his voice speaking in German. Legolas opened the door of my room, and I looked at him scared.
"Do you think they discovered us?" I whispered, as he walked towards me. His blue eyes looked cold.
"I don't know.. it's so late, I wonder who is it.." I felt his hand on mine. "Don't fear anything.. I won't leave you here" He tried to smile, but I saw the fear in his face. And then, steps approaching. Romih was half shouting, and I heard like hundred of voices in reply. When the door opened, all I wanted was to die, to disappear. Romih's nose was bleeding, and I saw panic in his eyes. A group of SS soldiers came in and took Legolas by his arm. Then they came for me. I was so scared that I almost couldn't move. I followed the soldier who was holding my arm rudely, and all I saw was Romih following another boy, and Legolas trying to fight against three of them, unsuccessfully.
"Zana!" Romih screamed, looking at me. "We'll meet soon, don't be scared!!"
"What do you mean?" I shouted, as I saw both of them entering a black van, while they forced me to get into another one. They separated us. I froze. I knew what was going to happen. Tears were falling from my eyes, wondering who had betrayed us. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw Romih's sister standing in front of the cars, with an evil smile on her face. Lena.. but why? I saw Romih staring at her through the window of the other car, a disbelief look in his blue eyes. Also tears. "Romih!" I shouted, but he couldn't hear me. Legolas was sitting next to him, his eyes closed, as if he was unconscious.. "no, no." I murmured , crying, rounded by three soldiers who spoke German, The van left, and I felt as if I had already died. The SS caught us and I knew they would drive me to one of their camps. I needed a miracle to survive.
----------------- ------------------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------- ---------
"Legolas!Legolas!" Romih shook his arm, trying to wake him up. Legolas eyes opened slowly, and looked around.
"What happened? Where is Zana?" He felt the van moving, the soldiers sitting with us wore guns. Romih frowned.
"My sister Lena betrayed us.. she called the SS to tell that I was hiding you.. I wonder why did she do this.." He had his eyes full of tears. " My own sister.. why?" He looked at a soldier and spoke in German. "I'm an soldier of the SS, you can't treat me like this. At least tell us where are you driving the girl and where are you driving us" A blonde boy with icy eyes stared at him.
"You made something illegal, Romih.. the law says you must go to the camp. "
"But Zana didn't do anything! " He shouted, and Legolas wished he had his bow there to put an axe in the soldier's head.
"She's married to you, right?.. she knew about this but she didn't tell anything.. she's as guilty as you are"
"No!" Romih shouted, with the horrible feeling of guiltiness. He had put Zana into trouble. And which was worse.. she would die because of him.
"Don't worry, Romih.. I have a good feeling" Said Legolas, in soft voice. Romih looked at him as if he was crazy.
"What do you mean?" He looked like a small child .
"You see.. usually when we get into trouble is when we travel through time.." A mysterious smile came to his face.
"I don't understand you.." Before Romih could finish the phrase, they heard the soldiers shouting. The van where Zana was travelling was having trouble. There was snow on the road, and a big cliff on its side. "Oh, my god.. they will have an accident, she will die!!" Legolas looked at him, and suddenly had the same fear. The dark green van was sliding dangerously on the road, night was so dark, without moon, stars or any kind of light. Memories came to his head. The first time he saw Zana in the forest, the dance in Mirkwood, their mutual confessions.. everything.
"No, I won't leave her alone." He murmured, and Romih looked impatiently at him.
"Yeah, and how do you plan to avoid it?" When their gazes met he understood. "What? Are you crazy?"
"If we also die, at least we'll go together to the same place.. it's our only choice, can't you see it?"
"I guess it's all what we can do.." When they saw Zana's van fall in the cliff, Romih jumped and beated on the driver, who saw, scared, how his van also followed the first one. And then, a strong noise filled the air, like an explosion. Everything became dark.
----------- ----------------------- -------------------- ----------------- ---- ------------ --
I felt as if I was flying. When I gave that beat to the driver I knew the risk I was running.. but I was sure about one thing: I preferred to die instead of going to a camp. The soldier looked at me, amazed, shouting. Now, when we were falling, all I could do was close my eyes.. the van was running so fast towards a deep river, where I was sure it would collide with the heavy rocks on the sides. And the door opened.. silence came, a very strange silence.. the shouts, the engine, the wind.. all disappeared, I only saw a silent way.. I decided to jump. Holding my hands on both doors and without thinking, I threw myself. Snow stopped me painfully, and after some seconds, I returned to reality. Two vans exploded in the distance.. also Legolas and Romih's one.. I sat down, scared.. no, that couldn't be possible.. I couldn't loose both of them.. tears filled my eyes again as I stood up, looking around myself. The cold wind made me freeze. "No, no.." I murmured, covering my face with my hands.
"Are you feeling all right? " An ironic voice rose in the darkness. When I saw Romih, I jumped, hugging him strongly. I felt his arms around me as well. "You're a clever girl, you know it? We knew you would do this.. this is why we followed you.." He said we? The answer was in front of my eyes. Legolas was standing there, with a smile.
"Legolas!" And to my surprise, I wasn't able to run and hug him. But he didn't seem to care, because he took a deep breath and looked around. I separated from Romih, ashamed. He was smiling kindly.
"So.. where are we?" Legolas asked, walking towards us. For a moment I saw a kind of sadness on his eyes, but soon it was gone. I looked around too. It was dark.. and terribly cold. Never before in my life I had felt so cold. Legolas looked at us. "You both will die if you don't get warmer clothes.."
"And what about you?" Said Romih, confused.
"Elves are not sensitive to cold"
"Elves?" He looked at me, surprised. " What do you mean with this? That you're not human?" He laughed, sarcastically. Legolas looked upset.
"Why are you laughing?" He showed him his hands.. completely white and warm. Mines were violet, half frozen. Romih looked shocked.
"OK, this is enough.. I've lived too many strange events today.. you're right, we have to look for a shelter as soon as possible.. what the hell is this?" He shouted, looking around. Moon shone in the sky above us, and we saw it. Ice. Mountains of ice, ground of ice.. the sea rounding it. We were in one of the Poles, or North or South. I felt the first symptoms of freezing, feeling both dizzy and painful. After all, we just were covered with a coat. Romih looked at me, scared. "Is this place what I think it is?" I nodded, slowly, and he observed me. "We've travelled through time?"
"Probably." I muttered, shaking. I looked at Legolas, asking for help. I was really cold. The elf was ignoring us, his sight fixed on a point.
"There's a kind of house.. there.." He pointed to a near place. A kind of shelter with some flags from different countries.
"It's a scientific base.. come on!" I shouted, and they followed me. When we were approaching the place, my heart started beating so fast. It was European. "My time! We're on my time!" But when we were closed, I realised it looked old. And empty. How was that possible? What I thought it was a bunch of flags was just one broken Norwegian flag.
"There's someone inside" Legolas murmured. The persons inside seemed to see us too, because they went outside with a shocked look in their eyes, as if they were watching an UFO. There were five men, covered with many clothes. Some minutes passed, nobody reacted. My memory started working.. five men.. in the South Pole, probably.. I couldn't believe that. Neither did Romih, who seemed to be thinking the same I was thinking.
"I know them, Romih.. he's Amundsen, Roald Amundsen!!" Romih nodded, and we heard a voice from the group, speaking English with strange accent.
"Who the hell are you and how did you arrive here? We are the first five people in the world who came here!" The man in the middle shouted, half angry, half shocked, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Then all from the sudden, walked towards us. "My god, you will freeze! Come in, you have to drink something hot and put clothes on! I don't know what's going on here, but you better explain us before we'll think we're having hallucinations.. " We followed them inside, and they gave curious gazes to Legolas, who looked as if nothing happened to him.
For the following two hours I told them exactly what happened since the day I had arrived on Middle Earth. They listened to me in silence, we all around a warm fire. Romih and I had thousands of questions to ask, but they were so shocked that we decided to postpone them to the end. Roald Amundsen himself was sitting there, in front of me.. he looked old, his skin spoiled with cold, but he couldn't be more than forty years old.
"If you hadn't shown up here.." He commented, looking at all of us "I would have never believed such a story.. this changes all my concept of world and life.. don't you realise what does this mean for our modern times?"
"Modern?" I asked, with an ironical smile.
"We're on 15th December, 1911" Amundsen replied. "The first day man arrived in the South Pole" There was pride in his voice. "And what do I find here? A group of young people with an amazing story.. nobody will believe us when will go back home, mates.." His four friends laughed, but they looked more relaxed.
"If man was able to reach South Pole, then any story can be possible, don't you think? " I asked, wondering how would they feel if I told them that fifty-eight years after, Armstrong would put his feet on the Moon. But I couldn't talk about future events.
"I suppose you're right.." He replied, slowly. "So you say that the end of your mission is in the Land of Eternal Ice.." I nodded. "Well, obviously it was a metaphor for this one.. congratulations.. we both reached our missions on the same day" He smiled kindly, and I smiled back, feeling strange. So there I would find the end of everything, and the beginning of a future.. For the first time in those two hours, Legolas spoke.
"I don't belong to this world, so I can't see the importance of your journey, but I would like to say that I feel as if the world had changed.." The five men looked at him with curiosity.
"So.. you belong to this other world.. the one that existed before Earth.." Asked one of them, and Legolas nodded. "You're not sensitive to cold, you're immortal.. " Legolas went on nodding. "This is amazing.. we made a great discovery indeed." Silence came. We all were accepting the magnitude of the new events, assuming them. Romih was so absent minded that, for a moment, I thought he was dead, laying on the ground with his eyes opened. Legolas, looking into the fire. And about me.. I felt different and so small.. I felt part of a big universe that was playing with me. How could such a normal person like me be living all those amazing situations? When I remembered about Haldir, sadness invaded me. He had found his destiny in the Germany of Second World War, and I wished, with all my heart, that he was feeling OK. And, at the same time, when I saw Legolas there with me.. I felt a huge happiness. But I was destined to be confused.. the same I felt when Romih looked back at me.
"What will you do now?" Romih asked, sitting on the ground. "Do you know what kind of mission is it?" I looked at Legolas, who looked back too.
"Galadriel told me some words.." I was interrupted by Amundsen.
"Wait, wait.. Galadriel?" He asked, shocked.
"Yes.. what's wrong?" The five men looked at each others.
"Galadriel is my neighbour, she's a kind of fortune-teller, we all think she's completely crazy.. before coming here, she told me that I would find people in the South Pole, people who would need my help. We all laughed at her.." He looked shocked.
"She's blonde, with blue eyes, and with a charming voice?" Legolas asked, and they all nodded. "And she always wears a hat?"
"How can you know this??" Amundsen shouted. Legolas smiled.
"Because of her ears.." He removed his hat , showing his pointy elvish ears. "She's one of my kind" Suddenly, I felt shocked.
"Wait! Do you know what does this mean? That Galadriel had lived many lives after Middle Earth?" Legolas understood at once, his blue eyes widened in surprise. Then , a big smile came to his face.
"The mission.. this means you solved the mission!" He shouted, sitting next to me, giving me a big hug.
"I know, but.." He got separated from me. "But I still didn't do it.. I mean, obviously I'll manage to finish, but.. when?"
"Oh, come on, Zana, you should be happy!!" Legolas took my hand. "All this time we've been wondering how would this finish, and now you have the answer here! People from Middle Earth survived! You joined both worlds!!" I knew he was right, but I was still confused. When I looked at Romih, he was smiling kindly at me.
"Zana.." He said, looking into the fire. "Now my life is in yours.. like Legolas one.. we're with you in the end.. so maybe this means when you'll come back to your world, to reality.. we'll be with you.." He whispered, and I wished his words were true.
"No,Romih.. world is too big.. I'm sure you're here just to help me with the final step, but.. we still don't know what will happen.." I felt a horrible sadness.
"People.. it's about time to rest. " Amundsen announced. "We made this shelter where you can find all what you need.. the toilet, if it can be called like this, is right behind this cloth. You will sleep here with is. We'll warm each others"
"We would have died here if we didn't find you.." I murmured, and he smiled.
"If it wasn't for you and your story.. I would have sent my neighbour Galadriel to a mental institution" I heard the soft laughs when he turned the oil lamp off. Legolas returned to his sleeping bag, and I laid down, looking at Romih. I saw his blue eyes shinning in the darkness. After some minutes, when we heard the deep breathing of our friends, he whispered something to me.
"He's an elf.. his destiny will be different from yours. " I was confused with those words.
"What do you mean?" I felt his arm wrapping me.
"I was destined to be with you, Zana. I'll go with you to the future" His words comforted me, and for a moment, I felt happy, seeing him so sure about himself.
"Don't say anything before things happen, human" We heard Legolas voice with an ironical tone surprising us.
"You scared me, I thought you were sleeping.." Said Romih, angrily. I couldn't help smiling.
New things are coming! : ) Maybe you think the end is near.. well, obviously I won't write 100 more chapters, but I promise you there's still some story waiting for you : ) Now that things are advancing so much.. I hope to make you all nervous! : ) Thanks for reviewing!
**************** *************** *************** **********
Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence
That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
-The return to innocence - Enigma
"We must sleep" Said Romih, standing up. "My mother and sister will return in no time.. and I don't want them to start asking questions about you, Legolas"
"How will we find the gate?" I asked, unable to go to sleep. They both looked at me. Legolas looked through the window, opening the curtains.
"We always managed to find it, right? When the moment will come.. we'll know it" He said, smiling.
"The last time we all got lost.. I don't want to be alone in our next step.." I realised how scared I was, deep inside me. Nobody knew what was expecting us. Romih walked towards me.
"I still don't understand the whole thing but.. I'm sure Legolas is right. Well find out about it"
"The Land of Eternal Ice.." I said, suddenly. "How will we find it? What is it exactly?" I was becoming crazy, trying to think, to find a clue. We never wondered where it was.. maybe it was near from there.. maybe we would spend years looking for it.. while all our lives and future were undecided. I felt cold.
"Zana.. don't worry about anything.. just trust Destiny, as you've been doing before.." Legolas came by my side, his hear obviously longer. I was amazed with that phenomenon.. Romih coughed, interrupting us.
"Well, lets go to bed. Legolas, you can sleep in the guests room, nobody uses it" We followed Romih upstairs, in silence. I checked the time in the big clock in the corridor. Midnight. The twelve bells filled the air, and I had the feeling that we weren't alone there. Once in my room, I undressed and put the pyjamas. It was cold, and I covered myself with the blankets. As soon as I closed my eyes, a knock on the main door came to my ears. My heart was beating so fast that I almost couldn't breath. I heard Romih's steps in the hall, and then his voice speaking in German. Legolas opened the door of my room, and I looked at him scared.
"Do you think they discovered us?" I whispered, as he walked towards me. His blue eyes looked cold.
"I don't know.. it's so late, I wonder who is it.." I felt his hand on mine. "Don't fear anything.. I won't leave you here" He tried to smile, but I saw the fear in his face. And then, steps approaching. Romih was half shouting, and I heard like hundred of voices in reply. When the door opened, all I wanted was to die, to disappear. Romih's nose was bleeding, and I saw panic in his eyes. A group of SS soldiers came in and took Legolas by his arm. Then they came for me. I was so scared that I almost couldn't move. I followed the soldier who was holding my arm rudely, and all I saw was Romih following another boy, and Legolas trying to fight against three of them, unsuccessfully.
"Zana!" Romih screamed, looking at me. "We'll meet soon, don't be scared!!"
"What do you mean?" I shouted, as I saw both of them entering a black van, while they forced me to get into another one. They separated us. I froze. I knew what was going to happen. Tears were falling from my eyes, wondering who had betrayed us. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw Romih's sister standing in front of the cars, with an evil smile on her face. Lena.. but why? I saw Romih staring at her through the window of the other car, a disbelief look in his blue eyes. Also tears. "Romih!" I shouted, but he couldn't hear me. Legolas was sitting next to him, his eyes closed, as if he was unconscious.. "no, no." I murmured , crying, rounded by three soldiers who spoke German, The van left, and I felt as if I had already died. The SS caught us and I knew they would drive me to one of their camps. I needed a miracle to survive.
----------------- ------------------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------- ---------
"Legolas!Legolas!" Romih shook his arm, trying to wake him up. Legolas eyes opened slowly, and looked around.
"What happened? Where is Zana?" He felt the van moving, the soldiers sitting with us wore guns. Romih frowned.
"My sister Lena betrayed us.. she called the SS to tell that I was hiding you.. I wonder why did she do this.." He had his eyes full of tears. " My own sister.. why?" He looked at a soldier and spoke in German. "I'm an soldier of the SS, you can't treat me like this. At least tell us where are you driving the girl and where are you driving us" A blonde boy with icy eyes stared at him.
"You made something illegal, Romih.. the law says you must go to the camp. "
"But Zana didn't do anything! " He shouted, and Legolas wished he had his bow there to put an axe in the soldier's head.
"She's married to you, right?.. she knew about this but she didn't tell anything.. she's as guilty as you are"
"No!" Romih shouted, with the horrible feeling of guiltiness. He had put Zana into trouble. And which was worse.. she would die because of him.
"Don't worry, Romih.. I have a good feeling" Said Legolas, in soft voice. Romih looked at him as if he was crazy.
"What do you mean?" He looked like a small child .
"You see.. usually when we get into trouble is when we travel through time.." A mysterious smile came to his face.
"I don't understand you.." Before Romih could finish the phrase, they heard the soldiers shouting. The van where Zana was travelling was having trouble. There was snow on the road, and a big cliff on its side. "Oh, my god.. they will have an accident, she will die!!" Legolas looked at him, and suddenly had the same fear. The dark green van was sliding dangerously on the road, night was so dark, without moon, stars or any kind of light. Memories came to his head. The first time he saw Zana in the forest, the dance in Mirkwood, their mutual confessions.. everything.
"No, I won't leave her alone." He murmured, and Romih looked impatiently at him.
"Yeah, and how do you plan to avoid it?" When their gazes met he understood. "What? Are you crazy?"
"If we also die, at least we'll go together to the same place.. it's our only choice, can't you see it?"
"I guess it's all what we can do.." When they saw Zana's van fall in the cliff, Romih jumped and beated on the driver, who saw, scared, how his van also followed the first one. And then, a strong noise filled the air, like an explosion. Everything became dark.
----------- ----------------------- -------------------- ----------------- ---- ------------ --
I felt as if I was flying. When I gave that beat to the driver I knew the risk I was running.. but I was sure about one thing: I preferred to die instead of going to a camp. The soldier looked at me, amazed, shouting. Now, when we were falling, all I could do was close my eyes.. the van was running so fast towards a deep river, where I was sure it would collide with the heavy rocks on the sides. And the door opened.. silence came, a very strange silence.. the shouts, the engine, the wind.. all disappeared, I only saw a silent way.. I decided to jump. Holding my hands on both doors and without thinking, I threw myself. Snow stopped me painfully, and after some seconds, I returned to reality. Two vans exploded in the distance.. also Legolas and Romih's one.. I sat down, scared.. no, that couldn't be possible.. I couldn't loose both of them.. tears filled my eyes again as I stood up, looking around myself. The cold wind made me freeze. "No, no.." I murmured, covering my face with my hands.
"Are you feeling all right? " An ironic voice rose in the darkness. When I saw Romih, I jumped, hugging him strongly. I felt his arms around me as well. "You're a clever girl, you know it? We knew you would do this.. this is why we followed you.." He said we? The answer was in front of my eyes. Legolas was standing there, with a smile.
"Legolas!" And to my surprise, I wasn't able to run and hug him. But he didn't seem to care, because he took a deep breath and looked around. I separated from Romih, ashamed. He was smiling kindly.
"So.. where are we?" Legolas asked, walking towards us. For a moment I saw a kind of sadness on his eyes, but soon it was gone. I looked around too. It was dark.. and terribly cold. Never before in my life I had felt so cold. Legolas looked at us. "You both will die if you don't get warmer clothes.."
"And what about you?" Said Romih, confused.
"Elves are not sensitive to cold"
"Elves?" He looked at me, surprised. " What do you mean with this? That you're not human?" He laughed, sarcastically. Legolas looked upset.
"Why are you laughing?" He showed him his hands.. completely white and warm. Mines were violet, half frozen. Romih looked shocked.
"OK, this is enough.. I've lived too many strange events today.. you're right, we have to look for a shelter as soon as possible.. what the hell is this?" He shouted, looking around. Moon shone in the sky above us, and we saw it. Ice. Mountains of ice, ground of ice.. the sea rounding it. We were in one of the Poles, or North or South. I felt the first symptoms of freezing, feeling both dizzy and painful. After all, we just were covered with a coat. Romih looked at me, scared. "Is this place what I think it is?" I nodded, slowly, and he observed me. "We've travelled through time?"
"Probably." I muttered, shaking. I looked at Legolas, asking for help. I was really cold. The elf was ignoring us, his sight fixed on a point.
"There's a kind of house.. there.." He pointed to a near place. A kind of shelter with some flags from different countries.
"It's a scientific base.. come on!" I shouted, and they followed me. When we were approaching the place, my heart started beating so fast. It was European. "My time! We're on my time!" But when we were closed, I realised it looked old. And empty. How was that possible? What I thought it was a bunch of flags was just one broken Norwegian flag.
"There's someone inside" Legolas murmured. The persons inside seemed to see us too, because they went outside with a shocked look in their eyes, as if they were watching an UFO. There were five men, covered with many clothes. Some minutes passed, nobody reacted. My memory started working.. five men.. in the South Pole, probably.. I couldn't believe that. Neither did Romih, who seemed to be thinking the same I was thinking.
"I know them, Romih.. he's Amundsen, Roald Amundsen!!" Romih nodded, and we heard a voice from the group, speaking English with strange accent.
"Who the hell are you and how did you arrive here? We are the first five people in the world who came here!" The man in the middle shouted, half angry, half shocked, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Then all from the sudden, walked towards us. "My god, you will freeze! Come in, you have to drink something hot and put clothes on! I don't know what's going on here, but you better explain us before we'll think we're having hallucinations.. " We followed them inside, and they gave curious gazes to Legolas, who looked as if nothing happened to him.
For the following two hours I told them exactly what happened since the day I had arrived on Middle Earth. They listened to me in silence, we all around a warm fire. Romih and I had thousands of questions to ask, but they were so shocked that we decided to postpone them to the end. Roald Amundsen himself was sitting there, in front of me.. he looked old, his skin spoiled with cold, but he couldn't be more than forty years old.
"If you hadn't shown up here.." He commented, looking at all of us "I would have never believed such a story.. this changes all my concept of world and life.. don't you realise what does this mean for our modern times?"
"Modern?" I asked, with an ironical smile.
"We're on 15th December, 1911" Amundsen replied. "The first day man arrived in the South Pole" There was pride in his voice. "And what do I find here? A group of young people with an amazing story.. nobody will believe us when will go back home, mates.." His four friends laughed, but they looked more relaxed.
"If man was able to reach South Pole, then any story can be possible, don't you think? " I asked, wondering how would they feel if I told them that fifty-eight years after, Armstrong would put his feet on the Moon. But I couldn't talk about future events.
"I suppose you're right.." He replied, slowly. "So you say that the end of your mission is in the Land of Eternal Ice.." I nodded. "Well, obviously it was a metaphor for this one.. congratulations.. we both reached our missions on the same day" He smiled kindly, and I smiled back, feeling strange. So there I would find the end of everything, and the beginning of a future.. For the first time in those two hours, Legolas spoke.
"I don't belong to this world, so I can't see the importance of your journey, but I would like to say that I feel as if the world had changed.." The five men looked at him with curiosity.
"So.. you belong to this other world.. the one that existed before Earth.." Asked one of them, and Legolas nodded. "You're not sensitive to cold, you're immortal.. " Legolas went on nodding. "This is amazing.. we made a great discovery indeed." Silence came. We all were accepting the magnitude of the new events, assuming them. Romih was so absent minded that, for a moment, I thought he was dead, laying on the ground with his eyes opened. Legolas, looking into the fire. And about me.. I felt different and so small.. I felt part of a big universe that was playing with me. How could such a normal person like me be living all those amazing situations? When I remembered about Haldir, sadness invaded me. He had found his destiny in the Germany of Second World War, and I wished, with all my heart, that he was feeling OK. And, at the same time, when I saw Legolas there with me.. I felt a huge happiness. But I was destined to be confused.. the same I felt when Romih looked back at me.
"What will you do now?" Romih asked, sitting on the ground. "Do you know what kind of mission is it?" I looked at Legolas, who looked back too.
"Galadriel told me some words.." I was interrupted by Amundsen.
"Wait, wait.. Galadriel?" He asked, shocked.
"Yes.. what's wrong?" The five men looked at each others.
"Galadriel is my neighbour, she's a kind of fortune-teller, we all think she's completely crazy.. before coming here, she told me that I would find people in the South Pole, people who would need my help. We all laughed at her.." He looked shocked.
"She's blonde, with blue eyes, and with a charming voice?" Legolas asked, and they all nodded. "And she always wears a hat?"
"How can you know this??" Amundsen shouted. Legolas smiled.
"Because of her ears.." He removed his hat , showing his pointy elvish ears. "She's one of my kind" Suddenly, I felt shocked.
"Wait! Do you know what does this mean? That Galadriel had lived many lives after Middle Earth?" Legolas understood at once, his blue eyes widened in surprise. Then , a big smile came to his face.
"The mission.. this means you solved the mission!" He shouted, sitting next to me, giving me a big hug.
"I know, but.." He got separated from me. "But I still didn't do it.. I mean, obviously I'll manage to finish, but.. when?"
"Oh, come on, Zana, you should be happy!!" Legolas took my hand. "All this time we've been wondering how would this finish, and now you have the answer here! People from Middle Earth survived! You joined both worlds!!" I knew he was right, but I was still confused. When I looked at Romih, he was smiling kindly at me.
"Zana.." He said, looking into the fire. "Now my life is in yours.. like Legolas one.. we're with you in the end.. so maybe this means when you'll come back to your world, to reality.. we'll be with you.." He whispered, and I wished his words were true.
"No,Romih.. world is too big.. I'm sure you're here just to help me with the final step, but.. we still don't know what will happen.." I felt a horrible sadness.
"People.. it's about time to rest. " Amundsen announced. "We made this shelter where you can find all what you need.. the toilet, if it can be called like this, is right behind this cloth. You will sleep here with is. We'll warm each others"
"We would have died here if we didn't find you.." I murmured, and he smiled.
"If it wasn't for you and your story.. I would have sent my neighbour Galadriel to a mental institution" I heard the soft laughs when he turned the oil lamp off. Legolas returned to his sleeping bag, and I laid down, looking at Romih. I saw his blue eyes shinning in the darkness. After some minutes, when we heard the deep breathing of our friends, he whispered something to me.
"He's an elf.. his destiny will be different from yours. " I was confused with those words.
"What do you mean?" I felt his arm wrapping me.
"I was destined to be with you, Zana. I'll go with you to the future" His words comforted me, and for a moment, I felt happy, seeing him so sure about himself.
"Don't say anything before things happen, human" We heard Legolas voice with an ironical tone surprising us.
"You scared me, I thought you were sleeping.." Said Romih, angrily. I couldn't help smiling.