The Spirit Elf- Chapter Four
A/N: Between "these" are Westron/English, "~these~" are Elvish, *these* are thoughts and "*these*" are thought-speak (like Galadriel)
As she stood a few meters above the exit of Moria, Nienna stared at the rocks, lost in thought. Whatever she was thinking was suddenly broken by the Fellowship's exit from the mines. Sighing, she jumped down behind Legolas as the Halflings collapsed, crying. She could see why; Gandalf was no longer with them. Legolas turned at the almost silent sound of her landing.
"~Nienna! What are you doing here?~" At his outburst, everyone turned to look. She mets their stares evenly.
"We should hurry. The Orcs are not so mindless that they will not follow you." She glanced at Aragorn, then lifted one hand to her mouth and whistled loudly A beautiful brown horse came cantering out from behind a rock. She lifted her hand to his neck.
"This is Shade. He will carry three of the Small Folk; the other two will be carried."
"Forgive me, my Lady, but you have counted wrongly. There are four Hobbits, not five." She turned to Gimli and bowed.
"Nay, Lord Gimli, forgive me. It is a silly habit of the Elves to refer to any race smaller in stature than our own as 'Small folk'. I had counted you in my reckoning."
"No offense taken, Lady Elf. You are certainly more courtious than the blonde pointy-ear over there. I will ride with two of the Hobbits."
"Thank you Lord Gimli. Frodo, Sam, you will ride as well. I can take Pippin-"
"And I will take Merry." Broke in Legolas. In Elvish, he added, "~That Dwarf makes me want to shoot myself and get rid of him for once.~" Nienna laughed quietly.
"Come, friends, let us hurry. Lord Boromir, if you could please lead Shade. But one word of caution, do not try to lead him farther away from me than he wishes to be or he will never trust you again." With those last words the group set off for the woods of Lorien.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few hours later found the group almost at the borders. Legolas glanced over at Nienna, to find that she was talking with Pippin. Merry was asleep; so he listened to Pippin and Nienna.
"I wish now that I hadn't come. All I do is get in trouble and be a nuisance to everyone, even when I don't try."
"How have you been in trouble?"
"Well, on Caradhras, me and Merry threw snowballs at Legolas, 'cause he was walking on top of the snow and we figured it wasn't fair. Of course, he turned around just as I was making another one. He didn't even take notice of Merry, and he took me to Gandalf and I got yelled at."
"Oh, so the Prince got you in trouble did he?" She glanced over at Legolas and winked at him. "Well then, I'll just have to get my Grandmother to give him a lecture on being unkind to Hobbits."
"But he's a Prince. You'd have to be a queen or something to lecture him."
"My Grandmother is the Lady Galadriel, she rules Lothlorien, where we are going. She can put the prince in his place, believe me." Not being able to take it anymore, Legolas joined in.
"No, no! Please don't tell her! Last time she lectured me she said if I got in any more trouble she would spank me and send me home without any lembas!" Pippin laughed, as was Legolas' intent, and Nienna just raised an eyebrow at him. Then she noticed that they were at the trees.
"We are safe now. Lord Gimli, Frodo, Sam, I need to send Shade ahead. Do you mind walking for a bit?" They shook their heads and were helped down. Nienna whispered something in Shade's ear and he cantered off into the Wood. The group began walking farther into the trees as Gimli began talking.
"They say that an Elf-witch of terrible power lives in these woods. Stay close, young Hobbits, and you will have protection. I myself have the eyes of a hawk and ears of a fox-" He was cut off by an arrow suddenly aimed at his face. Wood-Elves were surrounding the group. One of them, obviously their leader, said,
"Your Dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark."
"Enough Haldir. They are friends, lower your arrows!" Nienna looked at Haldir. "We need to get to the Lady Galadriel, you have already seen Shade I take it?"
"Yes, my Lady, we saw him heading toward the city. It still amazes me that the animal learned how to take directions as complex as 'find the Lady Galadriel'"
"If you are implying that my horse is stupid and that I am not capable of training properly, I suggest you be quiet unless you want an arrow in your face. You taught me how to shoot, so you know how good my aim is." After that remark, she turned serious. "We need to get to Grandmother. Will you guide us?"
"Of course. The Dwarf will have to be blindfolded however, no Dwarf has seen the way into the city for many a century." Gimli looked about to burst when Nienna cut in.
"He most certainly will not be blindfolded. Lord Gimli is a free spirit, like the rest of us, and you know quite well that the Lady Galadriel wants peace with the Dwarves before she leaves Middle Earth." If it had only been the two Elves, Haldir would have made a face at her. But as it was, with his brothers as well as the Fellowship watching, he didn't.
"Very well, follow me."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Your quest stands on the edge of a knife... stray but a little and you will fall..." Nienna glanced at Boromir and Frodo. They both had the look in their eyes that people got when her Grandmother was 'thought- speaking' to them, but Boromir looked frightened, while Frodo was concentrating on what she had to say. "All of you now, go and rest. Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli and Legolas, could you come back here once you have settled in? Nienna, please bring them to where they will be staying, and then bring those four back afterwards. It is time to bring in to reality what we have discussed." Nienna nodded and smiled to the Halflings.
"Come, follow me, you will be able to eat when we get there." The Halflings, with Frodo just a little less eager than the others, immediately raced after her. She laughed when Merry and Pippin started fighting over which one would get to hold her hand. "You two! Stop, or we will never get there!"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
When the Fellowship had finished eating, they were all sitting next to one of the trees. Pippin suddenly asked,
"What are they singing?" Nienna was quite obviously lost in thought and Aragorn didn't answer, so Legolas looked at Pippin and said,
"It is a lament to Gandalf. What they say of him I have not the heart to tell you, for me the grief is still too near."
"They sing of his falling tonight, and tomorrow they will sing of his life, in celebration that they knew him in life. It is customary in the Elven culture." It was Nienna. Boromir looked at Legolas, then at Nienna.
"How can you speak of it that way?" Boromir sounded on the verge of hysteria. "Not even the Prince could tell us what they were saying, how can you speak about it as if nothing had happened, like you were giving a lesson? Can you feel no pain?" During this tirade, Boromir had risen to his feet. Nienna stood up as well, eyes flashing. Boromir had gone too far.
"No of course I cannot feel pain," she said, her voice very obviously dripping with sarcasm. "Imagine this Boromir. You have a relatively happy life, not many bullies or enemies to speak of, until you are about fourteen years of age. Then you meet a boy a few months older than you, who seems nice, polite, caring, everything you could wish for. Over the next half year, you come to love him, more than anything else.
"Now, ten days before your fifteenth birthday, your parents and little brother are killed in an accident. There was no possible way they could have been saved. A week later, after their funeral, you are at home in your room crying, and the boy you thought you loved comes in, supposedly to comfort you. He tried RAPING you. The only thing that stopped him was that your aunt and sister came to check on you.
"And then, on your fifteenth birthday, you are pulled out of the world you knew into one you had never heard of. You never told anyone what had happened, except for the Lord of Rivendell and his daughter, who befriended you from the start. You spend a century training in weaponry, always getting strange looks from people who didn't know who you were because it was unusual for a Lady of Rivendell to train as much as you did. After the century of training, you are sent out on missions to cities. That was the worst part, the cities of Men in any case. Every time you had to see the Steward of Gondor, the guards would think you were some Elvish whore the Steward had called on. They would wish that they could be the Steward of the City for that night.
"Now tell me, Boromir, that I can feel no pain." She pushed him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards, and called to Frodo, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. "Come, the Lady Galadriel wanted to see you." She grinned at the Halflings. "When I get back, I'll take you to the pond for a swim."
She and the four she had called walked off. Boromir was still sitting on the ground, dazed and more than a little confused. The Halflings that had been left glared at him and went over to sit on the roots of the tree.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Nienna turned around to stare back at the four.
"What? Am I not allowed to get angry?"
"That was wonderful, Nienna! I am quite willing to wager that Boromir is so used to women falling at his feet that he is still back at the camp on the ground!" Aragorn had quite the look of respect on his face. Nienna grinned at him and turned to the others.
"So do you three have the same reason or am I just so beautiful that you are looking at me like that?" She teased them. Gimli answered.
"Same reason my lady Nienna. I have never seen a show such as that. Boromir looked quite sorry he had ever insulted you there at the end." Frodo nodded in agreement. Nienna turned to Legolas.
"~I can see why you never told anyone, Nienna.~" She frowned.
"Call me Jessica, all of you. That is my real name. Nienna may suit my life but I would prefer for my friends to call me by my real name." They all nodded and Aragorn wrapped his arms around Jessica in a hug.
"You know you can turn to us if you need to talk or if you need help, Jessica." The others nodded.
"So you'll go shoot Boromir for me?" She said in mock seriousness. They all laughed and started walking again.
When they reached the pavilion, Lady Galadriel was already there. She had a box which she gave to Jessica. She nodded and left Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli and Legolas with the Lady.
"I have called you four here to discuss something very important. You are the representatives of each race in the Fellowship, as well as Jessica."
"But we already have a pointy-... I mean, we already have an Elf. Is she a different kind of Elf?"
"Yes, very different. She is a Spirit-Elf." Gimli gasped,
"She is the prophecied one? The one to lead an army of her kind to the Last Battle?"
"Yes. She, however, has not yet been told of that part. She was only told that the first child would be brought to Middle Earth, the rest Elrond left out for her sake. She needed time to recuperate from the pain she had endured, and still does endure."
"And Boromir did absolutely nothing to help matters, did he?" Asked Legolas, with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"On the contrary, believe it or not. She needed to be in touch with what had happened for the part of the legend not told to her at the beginning to be absorbed." The Lady smiled slightly. "It was not completely Boromir's fault. He had been wondering about it though, and would have asked eventually, but I sped up his mind a little so he would refresh her memories." Aragorn and Legolas stared at her for a moment, until they heard a voice.
"It's not polite to stare, you two." The four males turned and saw Jessica, looking at them with one eyebrow raised. She was wearing different clothes, in two ways: one, different from what she had been wearing previously, and two, different from anything that had been seen in Middle Earth at all. All her clothes were black; her pants were loose and seemed to have at least four or five pockets; she seemed to have two shirts, one with long sleeves, the other over it with short sleeves. The top shirt had a design of some sort on it. Her shoes were most definetely not from Middle Earth. They had a thick sole made from some sort of flexible material, and the top part looked like leather. They had laces that started a few inches behind the toe and were laced through the leather up to her ankle, at least as far as they could tell: her pants covered that part of the shoes.
"If you are quite finished staring at me, could someone please tell me what is supposed to happen tonight? We should get back soon, I promised the Halflings I'd take them swimming." Galadriel smiled.
"Just a moment. We have two more people to arrive..." At that moment, Haldir came in and bowed.
"Shall I send them in, my Lady?" He said, not looking at Jessica.
"Yes please, tell them to hurry before Jessica here dies of curiosity." Haldir raised an eyebrow at the name but said nothing, he bowed and left.
"Grandmother! Who is it?" Two Elves sneaked in from the door that was behind Jessica. They motioned to the four who were standing to one side to stay quiet, and snuck up behind Jessica who was still trying to make Galadriel tell her. They each put a hand over one of her eyes and said,
"Guess who, Jess?" She froze, then whirled around and screamed, throwing her arms around them.
"Barb, Matt, oh my god I thought I'd never see you again!" Then she hugged the one apparently called Matt and a tear trailed down her cheek. "I thought you were dead, how can you be here?" He hugged her back and said,
"How about you sit down, I have a feeling you're going to love this... Oh and by the way, which one of those four is our new brother in law, hmm? Ten bucks its the blond, 'cause he's the Elf, and besides, the man is too old for you and the other two are too short." She laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"Two things you have to learn: One, you don't ask something like that until you are told. Two, money is not called 'bucks' here, 'buck' refers to a male deer. And another thing, Legolas is older than the other three and myself put together. He's an Elf, you idiot."
The Elf in question was just watching. He thought for a second about what Matt had said, about 'the blond' being his 'new' brother in law, and what Nienna, no, Jessica he told himself, had answered about not asking about things like that until you are told. Did that mean something? Maybe Jessica had felt the same shiver he had felt the day he first saw her, and had felt every time he looked at her since then.
"Hey, Middle Earth to Barbie, we're doing introductions here." It was Jessica's sister, talking to him.
"My name is Legolas, not Barbie. How did you get that idea?"
"'Cause you look like one. Tall, perfect, and major blond. Wish I could get a dye that color... but then my streaks would really look gray..."
"Barbara Deveau, be quiet, act polite for once and don't confuse them. You have to remember, they don't know what Barbies or hair dyes are, so use words that EVERYONE can understand." Barbara made a face at Jessica and performed a mock bow.
"I, ladies and gentlemen, am Barbara Deveau, as my dear sister has just mentioned. I am fifteen years of age and don't be scared by the fact that I have blue in my hair- it's quite common where I come from."
"And I am Matthew Deveau, also called Matt. I'm fifteen as well- Barb here is my twin sister." Jessica hugged Matt again.
"He's my little brother- the one that died in the accident. You have ALOT of explaining to do, young man!"
"I'm only three years younger than you!"
"Actually, by now, it's over three hundred years."
"Meh, too bad, it was only three years in our world!"
"But now we live in Middle Earth, so we are going to use three hundred, whether you like it or not."
"Will you two shut up? I think the Lady has something to explain. Like the fact that-" Barbara was cut off by a reproachful glance from the Lady herself.
"Lady Barbara, if you would please be so kind as to let me explain- I know significantly more about it than you, no offense meant." She turned to Jessica. "As Lord Matthew kindly stated earlier, you may wish to sit down. What I am about to tell all of you will probably have a very big effect on you, whether you 'love' it or not." The group made it's way over to the benches that surrounded the platform. "Now, if I am correct, Lord Elrond explained the legend to you when you first arrived?" Jessica nodded. "Well, for the sake of your mental health at the time of your arrival, thanks to what had happened before, the whole story was not told to you. The first part was completely true, nothing left out. The spirits of Elves were sent to your Earth, and they were joined onto the spirits of human children, and they were paired up and destined to have children together, in fact the pair had been lovers in their Elven lives as well. But that was the only part Elrond did not change.
"There were more than one pair. In the prophecy, it had been said that a great evil would rise, and that a female Spirit-Elf would come from another world to lead an army of her kind against the Evil, along with Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. All the children from each pair of Elven spirits would be twins, and be brought to Middle Earth on their fifteenth birthdays- except for one, you. You were meant to be the leader, therefore you were born before the others. You were the same in that you were brought on your fifteenth birthday.
"All the other Spirit-Elves are here, in Lorien. They had all appeared in one of the Elven Kingdoms, and all were sent to Imladris after you had left, then here when the last had arrived. You now have over two hundred Elves at your command- all with the same powers you have." Jessica just sat there, staring at the tree across from where she was sitting.
"Two hundred?" Surprised was too weak a word for the expression on her face. Confused as well, it was more a very intense mixture of both.
"More than that, Jess. Matt and me counted before we all left Imladris- there are one hundred fifty sets of twins, each set was a guy and a girl." This news did not seem to help her.
"THREE HUNDRED, then. How in the name of the Valar am I going to manage three HUNDRED fifteen-year-olds? And Mom thought that only ME was bad..."
"You'll be fine, Jess. You know you're good with kids- which they are, compared to you. And they've all heard of you, and heard you- pretty much anybody within a ten mile radius must've heard you yelling at that what's-his-name-there dude that got you mad earlier." Jessica put her head in her hands.
"Great. Now they will all think I'm a head case, as WELL as having a temper problem. How did I get into this, Matt?"
"~They will probably be able to tell quite easily that you are not a 'head case', whatever that is, when they meet you, Lady Jessica. And it most certainly not your fault that Boromir got you angry. Nor was it your fault you got mad at him. You had to let it all out sometime.~" She lifted her head and smiled at Legolas, who felt the now-familiar shiver go down his back.
"~Thank you Legolas.~" She thought for a second, then said, "A head case is someone who is more than a little crazy." In Westron, so everyone could understand.
"Which you are not. Now, is it just me, or did I hear you say something before we came in about swimming? Believe it or not, the Imladris Elves managed somehow to make our whole 'army' bathing suits. Including you, of course. Thank God Arwen still had your measurements, otherwise you might've had to skinny-dip" Jessica made a face at Matt.
"Not in the presence of the Halflings, thank you very much." Catching her siblings' glance, she said quickly, "Or anyone else's! Get those thoughts OUT of your head, NOW!"
"Sure Jess, comme tu ne voulais pas le blond te voir!{Like you wouldn't want the blond to see you!}" In response to that remark, Barbara got a small stone thrown at her.
"If you want to go to the pond, I suggest you be quiet unless you wish to be silenced for good, as in having your tongue cut out."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Later, at the 'pond' which resembled more a lake, Jessica, Barb, and all four Halflings were in the water. Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Matt had chosen to stay out of the water. Boromir, still looking slightly afraid of Jessica, had opted to stay at the camp. Aragorn, Gimli and Matt were discussing something, and Legolas was watching Jessica. He hadn't really had a chance to talk to her at all, since he'd met her. He wanted to get to know her better. As if reading his mind, she looked up and grinned at him. Even if she hadn't gotten over her earlier shock, she was hiding it quite well.
Legolas was so busy watching Jessica that he didn't notice the others had stopped talking.
"She likes you, you know." It was Matt. Legolas turned to look at him.
"If she didn't, I seriously doubt she would talk to me at all. She has done that before to people, according to Lady Arwen."
"Right, I forgot, 'like' means something different here. I meant, really like. Love, I guess." Legolas raised an eyebrow at him.
"And what makes you believe that?"
"The fact that she smiles at you. All the time. And earlier, when you were off changing, she wouldn't stop talking about you." Aragorn broke in.
"It's true Legolas. And you know you love her... I saw you when she met us outside Moria, and at the Council when she showed up. And, remember, you did tell Arwen and I about when you met her. If that isn't love, I don't know what is." Legolas was silent, thinking.
"And by the way, Legolas, as long as you don't try to hurt her, Barb and I are with you for sure. Can I tell you one thing though?" Legolas nodded at him. "I know you heard her yelling about the guy that almost raped her, her ex-boyfriend Chris. From what she told me and Barb earlier, the ONLY reason she's afraid of getting close to you is because of Chris. First of all, she's afraid of getting hurt, by anybody. And especially by you, because Chris looked exactly like you. Shorter hair and colder eyes maybe, but those were the only differences. Just be careful, don't try to go too far too fast, and most of all don't hurt her." One look at Matt's eyes told Legolas he wasn't joking. If he hurt Jessica, Matt and Barb would not hesitate to hurt him back.
"I'm going back to the camp."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
A/N: Well, there's chapter four. the drama has started! muahaha...
-Alassë Celebrindal
A/N: Between "these" are Westron/English, "~these~" are Elvish, *these* are thoughts and "*these*" are thought-speak (like Galadriel)
As she stood a few meters above the exit of Moria, Nienna stared at the rocks, lost in thought. Whatever she was thinking was suddenly broken by the Fellowship's exit from the mines. Sighing, she jumped down behind Legolas as the Halflings collapsed, crying. She could see why; Gandalf was no longer with them. Legolas turned at the almost silent sound of her landing.
"~Nienna! What are you doing here?~" At his outburst, everyone turned to look. She mets their stares evenly.
"We should hurry. The Orcs are not so mindless that they will not follow you." She glanced at Aragorn, then lifted one hand to her mouth and whistled loudly A beautiful brown horse came cantering out from behind a rock. She lifted her hand to his neck.
"This is Shade. He will carry three of the Small Folk; the other two will be carried."
"Forgive me, my Lady, but you have counted wrongly. There are four Hobbits, not five." She turned to Gimli and bowed.
"Nay, Lord Gimli, forgive me. It is a silly habit of the Elves to refer to any race smaller in stature than our own as 'Small folk'. I had counted you in my reckoning."
"No offense taken, Lady Elf. You are certainly more courtious than the blonde pointy-ear over there. I will ride with two of the Hobbits."
"Thank you Lord Gimli. Frodo, Sam, you will ride as well. I can take Pippin-"
"And I will take Merry." Broke in Legolas. In Elvish, he added, "~That Dwarf makes me want to shoot myself and get rid of him for once.~" Nienna laughed quietly.
"Come, friends, let us hurry. Lord Boromir, if you could please lead Shade. But one word of caution, do not try to lead him farther away from me than he wishes to be or he will never trust you again." With those last words the group set off for the woods of Lorien.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few hours later found the group almost at the borders. Legolas glanced over at Nienna, to find that she was talking with Pippin. Merry was asleep; so he listened to Pippin and Nienna.
"I wish now that I hadn't come. All I do is get in trouble and be a nuisance to everyone, even when I don't try."
"How have you been in trouble?"
"Well, on Caradhras, me and Merry threw snowballs at Legolas, 'cause he was walking on top of the snow and we figured it wasn't fair. Of course, he turned around just as I was making another one. He didn't even take notice of Merry, and he took me to Gandalf and I got yelled at."
"Oh, so the Prince got you in trouble did he?" She glanced over at Legolas and winked at him. "Well then, I'll just have to get my Grandmother to give him a lecture on being unkind to Hobbits."
"But he's a Prince. You'd have to be a queen or something to lecture him."
"My Grandmother is the Lady Galadriel, she rules Lothlorien, where we are going. She can put the prince in his place, believe me." Not being able to take it anymore, Legolas joined in.
"No, no! Please don't tell her! Last time she lectured me she said if I got in any more trouble she would spank me and send me home without any lembas!" Pippin laughed, as was Legolas' intent, and Nienna just raised an eyebrow at him. Then she noticed that they were at the trees.
"We are safe now. Lord Gimli, Frodo, Sam, I need to send Shade ahead. Do you mind walking for a bit?" They shook their heads and were helped down. Nienna whispered something in Shade's ear and he cantered off into the Wood. The group began walking farther into the trees as Gimli began talking.
"They say that an Elf-witch of terrible power lives in these woods. Stay close, young Hobbits, and you will have protection. I myself have the eyes of a hawk and ears of a fox-" He was cut off by an arrow suddenly aimed at his face. Wood-Elves were surrounding the group. One of them, obviously their leader, said,
"Your Dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark."
"Enough Haldir. They are friends, lower your arrows!" Nienna looked at Haldir. "We need to get to the Lady Galadriel, you have already seen Shade I take it?"
"Yes, my Lady, we saw him heading toward the city. It still amazes me that the animal learned how to take directions as complex as 'find the Lady Galadriel'"
"If you are implying that my horse is stupid and that I am not capable of training properly, I suggest you be quiet unless you want an arrow in your face. You taught me how to shoot, so you know how good my aim is." After that remark, she turned serious. "We need to get to Grandmother. Will you guide us?"
"Of course. The Dwarf will have to be blindfolded however, no Dwarf has seen the way into the city for many a century." Gimli looked about to burst when Nienna cut in.
"He most certainly will not be blindfolded. Lord Gimli is a free spirit, like the rest of us, and you know quite well that the Lady Galadriel wants peace with the Dwarves before she leaves Middle Earth." If it had only been the two Elves, Haldir would have made a face at her. But as it was, with his brothers as well as the Fellowship watching, he didn't.
"Very well, follow me."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Your quest stands on the edge of a knife... stray but a little and you will fall..." Nienna glanced at Boromir and Frodo. They both had the look in their eyes that people got when her Grandmother was 'thought- speaking' to them, but Boromir looked frightened, while Frodo was concentrating on what she had to say. "All of you now, go and rest. Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli and Legolas, could you come back here once you have settled in? Nienna, please bring them to where they will be staying, and then bring those four back afterwards. It is time to bring in to reality what we have discussed." Nienna nodded and smiled to the Halflings.
"Come, follow me, you will be able to eat when we get there." The Halflings, with Frodo just a little less eager than the others, immediately raced after her. She laughed when Merry and Pippin started fighting over which one would get to hold her hand. "You two! Stop, or we will never get there!"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
When the Fellowship had finished eating, they were all sitting next to one of the trees. Pippin suddenly asked,
"What are they singing?" Nienna was quite obviously lost in thought and Aragorn didn't answer, so Legolas looked at Pippin and said,
"It is a lament to Gandalf. What they say of him I have not the heart to tell you, for me the grief is still too near."
"They sing of his falling tonight, and tomorrow they will sing of his life, in celebration that they knew him in life. It is customary in the Elven culture." It was Nienna. Boromir looked at Legolas, then at Nienna.
"How can you speak of it that way?" Boromir sounded on the verge of hysteria. "Not even the Prince could tell us what they were saying, how can you speak about it as if nothing had happened, like you were giving a lesson? Can you feel no pain?" During this tirade, Boromir had risen to his feet. Nienna stood up as well, eyes flashing. Boromir had gone too far.
"No of course I cannot feel pain," she said, her voice very obviously dripping with sarcasm. "Imagine this Boromir. You have a relatively happy life, not many bullies or enemies to speak of, until you are about fourteen years of age. Then you meet a boy a few months older than you, who seems nice, polite, caring, everything you could wish for. Over the next half year, you come to love him, more than anything else.
"Now, ten days before your fifteenth birthday, your parents and little brother are killed in an accident. There was no possible way they could have been saved. A week later, after their funeral, you are at home in your room crying, and the boy you thought you loved comes in, supposedly to comfort you. He tried RAPING you. The only thing that stopped him was that your aunt and sister came to check on you.
"And then, on your fifteenth birthday, you are pulled out of the world you knew into one you had never heard of. You never told anyone what had happened, except for the Lord of Rivendell and his daughter, who befriended you from the start. You spend a century training in weaponry, always getting strange looks from people who didn't know who you were because it was unusual for a Lady of Rivendell to train as much as you did. After the century of training, you are sent out on missions to cities. That was the worst part, the cities of Men in any case. Every time you had to see the Steward of Gondor, the guards would think you were some Elvish whore the Steward had called on. They would wish that they could be the Steward of the City for that night.
"Now tell me, Boromir, that I can feel no pain." She pushed him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards, and called to Frodo, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. "Come, the Lady Galadriel wanted to see you." She grinned at the Halflings. "When I get back, I'll take you to the pond for a swim."
She and the four she had called walked off. Boromir was still sitting on the ground, dazed and more than a little confused. The Halflings that had been left glared at him and went over to sit on the roots of the tree.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Nienna turned around to stare back at the four.
"What? Am I not allowed to get angry?"
"That was wonderful, Nienna! I am quite willing to wager that Boromir is so used to women falling at his feet that he is still back at the camp on the ground!" Aragorn had quite the look of respect on his face. Nienna grinned at him and turned to the others.
"So do you three have the same reason or am I just so beautiful that you are looking at me like that?" She teased them. Gimli answered.
"Same reason my lady Nienna. I have never seen a show such as that. Boromir looked quite sorry he had ever insulted you there at the end." Frodo nodded in agreement. Nienna turned to Legolas.
"~I can see why you never told anyone, Nienna.~" She frowned.
"Call me Jessica, all of you. That is my real name. Nienna may suit my life but I would prefer for my friends to call me by my real name." They all nodded and Aragorn wrapped his arms around Jessica in a hug.
"You know you can turn to us if you need to talk or if you need help, Jessica." The others nodded.
"So you'll go shoot Boromir for me?" She said in mock seriousness. They all laughed and started walking again.
When they reached the pavilion, Lady Galadriel was already there. She had a box which she gave to Jessica. She nodded and left Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli and Legolas with the Lady.
"I have called you four here to discuss something very important. You are the representatives of each race in the Fellowship, as well as Jessica."
"But we already have a pointy-... I mean, we already have an Elf. Is she a different kind of Elf?"
"Yes, very different. She is a Spirit-Elf." Gimli gasped,
"She is the prophecied one? The one to lead an army of her kind to the Last Battle?"
"Yes. She, however, has not yet been told of that part. She was only told that the first child would be brought to Middle Earth, the rest Elrond left out for her sake. She needed time to recuperate from the pain she had endured, and still does endure."
"And Boromir did absolutely nothing to help matters, did he?" Asked Legolas, with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"On the contrary, believe it or not. She needed to be in touch with what had happened for the part of the legend not told to her at the beginning to be absorbed." The Lady smiled slightly. "It was not completely Boromir's fault. He had been wondering about it though, and would have asked eventually, but I sped up his mind a little so he would refresh her memories." Aragorn and Legolas stared at her for a moment, until they heard a voice.
"It's not polite to stare, you two." The four males turned and saw Jessica, looking at them with one eyebrow raised. She was wearing different clothes, in two ways: one, different from what she had been wearing previously, and two, different from anything that had been seen in Middle Earth at all. All her clothes were black; her pants were loose and seemed to have at least four or five pockets; she seemed to have two shirts, one with long sleeves, the other over it with short sleeves. The top shirt had a design of some sort on it. Her shoes were most definetely not from Middle Earth. They had a thick sole made from some sort of flexible material, and the top part looked like leather. They had laces that started a few inches behind the toe and were laced through the leather up to her ankle, at least as far as they could tell: her pants covered that part of the shoes.
"If you are quite finished staring at me, could someone please tell me what is supposed to happen tonight? We should get back soon, I promised the Halflings I'd take them swimming." Galadriel smiled.
"Just a moment. We have two more people to arrive..." At that moment, Haldir came in and bowed.
"Shall I send them in, my Lady?" He said, not looking at Jessica.
"Yes please, tell them to hurry before Jessica here dies of curiosity." Haldir raised an eyebrow at the name but said nothing, he bowed and left.
"Grandmother! Who is it?" Two Elves sneaked in from the door that was behind Jessica. They motioned to the four who were standing to one side to stay quiet, and snuck up behind Jessica who was still trying to make Galadriel tell her. They each put a hand over one of her eyes and said,
"Guess who, Jess?" She froze, then whirled around and screamed, throwing her arms around them.
"Barb, Matt, oh my god I thought I'd never see you again!" Then she hugged the one apparently called Matt and a tear trailed down her cheek. "I thought you were dead, how can you be here?" He hugged her back and said,
"How about you sit down, I have a feeling you're going to love this... Oh and by the way, which one of those four is our new brother in law, hmm? Ten bucks its the blond, 'cause he's the Elf, and besides, the man is too old for you and the other two are too short." She laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"Two things you have to learn: One, you don't ask something like that until you are told. Two, money is not called 'bucks' here, 'buck' refers to a male deer. And another thing, Legolas is older than the other three and myself put together. He's an Elf, you idiot."
The Elf in question was just watching. He thought for a second about what Matt had said, about 'the blond' being his 'new' brother in law, and what Nienna, no, Jessica he told himself, had answered about not asking about things like that until you are told. Did that mean something? Maybe Jessica had felt the same shiver he had felt the day he first saw her, and had felt every time he looked at her since then.
"Hey, Middle Earth to Barbie, we're doing introductions here." It was Jessica's sister, talking to him.
"My name is Legolas, not Barbie. How did you get that idea?"
"'Cause you look like one. Tall, perfect, and major blond. Wish I could get a dye that color... but then my streaks would really look gray..."
"Barbara Deveau, be quiet, act polite for once and don't confuse them. You have to remember, they don't know what Barbies or hair dyes are, so use words that EVERYONE can understand." Barbara made a face at Jessica and performed a mock bow.
"I, ladies and gentlemen, am Barbara Deveau, as my dear sister has just mentioned. I am fifteen years of age and don't be scared by the fact that I have blue in my hair- it's quite common where I come from."
"And I am Matthew Deveau, also called Matt. I'm fifteen as well- Barb here is my twin sister." Jessica hugged Matt again.
"He's my little brother- the one that died in the accident. You have ALOT of explaining to do, young man!"
"I'm only three years younger than you!"
"Actually, by now, it's over three hundred years."
"Meh, too bad, it was only three years in our world!"
"But now we live in Middle Earth, so we are going to use three hundred, whether you like it or not."
"Will you two shut up? I think the Lady has something to explain. Like the fact that-" Barbara was cut off by a reproachful glance from the Lady herself.
"Lady Barbara, if you would please be so kind as to let me explain- I know significantly more about it than you, no offense meant." She turned to Jessica. "As Lord Matthew kindly stated earlier, you may wish to sit down. What I am about to tell all of you will probably have a very big effect on you, whether you 'love' it or not." The group made it's way over to the benches that surrounded the platform. "Now, if I am correct, Lord Elrond explained the legend to you when you first arrived?" Jessica nodded. "Well, for the sake of your mental health at the time of your arrival, thanks to what had happened before, the whole story was not told to you. The first part was completely true, nothing left out. The spirits of Elves were sent to your Earth, and they were joined onto the spirits of human children, and they were paired up and destined to have children together, in fact the pair had been lovers in their Elven lives as well. But that was the only part Elrond did not change.
"There were more than one pair. In the prophecy, it had been said that a great evil would rise, and that a female Spirit-Elf would come from another world to lead an army of her kind against the Evil, along with Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. All the children from each pair of Elven spirits would be twins, and be brought to Middle Earth on their fifteenth birthdays- except for one, you. You were meant to be the leader, therefore you were born before the others. You were the same in that you were brought on your fifteenth birthday.
"All the other Spirit-Elves are here, in Lorien. They had all appeared in one of the Elven Kingdoms, and all were sent to Imladris after you had left, then here when the last had arrived. You now have over two hundred Elves at your command- all with the same powers you have." Jessica just sat there, staring at the tree across from where she was sitting.
"Two hundred?" Surprised was too weak a word for the expression on her face. Confused as well, it was more a very intense mixture of both.
"More than that, Jess. Matt and me counted before we all left Imladris- there are one hundred fifty sets of twins, each set was a guy and a girl." This news did not seem to help her.
"THREE HUNDRED, then. How in the name of the Valar am I going to manage three HUNDRED fifteen-year-olds? And Mom thought that only ME was bad..."
"You'll be fine, Jess. You know you're good with kids- which they are, compared to you. And they've all heard of you, and heard you- pretty much anybody within a ten mile radius must've heard you yelling at that what's-his-name-there dude that got you mad earlier." Jessica put her head in her hands.
"Great. Now they will all think I'm a head case, as WELL as having a temper problem. How did I get into this, Matt?"
"~They will probably be able to tell quite easily that you are not a 'head case', whatever that is, when they meet you, Lady Jessica. And it most certainly not your fault that Boromir got you angry. Nor was it your fault you got mad at him. You had to let it all out sometime.~" She lifted her head and smiled at Legolas, who felt the now-familiar shiver go down his back.
"~Thank you Legolas.~" She thought for a second, then said, "A head case is someone who is more than a little crazy." In Westron, so everyone could understand.
"Which you are not. Now, is it just me, or did I hear you say something before we came in about swimming? Believe it or not, the Imladris Elves managed somehow to make our whole 'army' bathing suits. Including you, of course. Thank God Arwen still had your measurements, otherwise you might've had to skinny-dip" Jessica made a face at Matt.
"Not in the presence of the Halflings, thank you very much." Catching her siblings' glance, she said quickly, "Or anyone else's! Get those thoughts OUT of your head, NOW!"
"Sure Jess, comme tu ne voulais pas le blond te voir!{Like you wouldn't want the blond to see you!}" In response to that remark, Barbara got a small stone thrown at her.
"If you want to go to the pond, I suggest you be quiet unless you wish to be silenced for good, as in having your tongue cut out."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Later, at the 'pond' which resembled more a lake, Jessica, Barb, and all four Halflings were in the water. Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Matt had chosen to stay out of the water. Boromir, still looking slightly afraid of Jessica, had opted to stay at the camp. Aragorn, Gimli and Matt were discussing something, and Legolas was watching Jessica. He hadn't really had a chance to talk to her at all, since he'd met her. He wanted to get to know her better. As if reading his mind, she looked up and grinned at him. Even if she hadn't gotten over her earlier shock, she was hiding it quite well.
Legolas was so busy watching Jessica that he didn't notice the others had stopped talking.
"She likes you, you know." It was Matt. Legolas turned to look at him.
"If she didn't, I seriously doubt she would talk to me at all. She has done that before to people, according to Lady Arwen."
"Right, I forgot, 'like' means something different here. I meant, really like. Love, I guess." Legolas raised an eyebrow at him.
"And what makes you believe that?"
"The fact that she smiles at you. All the time. And earlier, when you were off changing, she wouldn't stop talking about you." Aragorn broke in.
"It's true Legolas. And you know you love her... I saw you when she met us outside Moria, and at the Council when she showed up. And, remember, you did tell Arwen and I about when you met her. If that isn't love, I don't know what is." Legolas was silent, thinking.
"And by the way, Legolas, as long as you don't try to hurt her, Barb and I are with you for sure. Can I tell you one thing though?" Legolas nodded at him. "I know you heard her yelling about the guy that almost raped her, her ex-boyfriend Chris. From what she told me and Barb earlier, the ONLY reason she's afraid of getting close to you is because of Chris. First of all, she's afraid of getting hurt, by anybody. And especially by you, because Chris looked exactly like you. Shorter hair and colder eyes maybe, but those were the only differences. Just be careful, don't try to go too far too fast, and most of all don't hurt her." One look at Matt's eyes told Legolas he wasn't joking. If he hurt Jessica, Matt and Barb would not hesitate to hurt him back.
"I'm going back to the camp."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
A/N: Well, there's chapter four. the drama has started! muahaha...
-Alassë Celebrindal