Title: Of Familiar Strangers
Rating: PG/PG-13 Cursing will be avoided as much as possible. PG-13 is for later chapters where there might be battles and violence and such, but nothing too gory.
Summary: Rebecca Jung has been thrust in a world of confusion. How did she get there? How will she cope? And why doesn't anyone know English here?
Disclaimer: No profit made on any characters (like fanfiction.net would let you? Psh…), but Rebecca Jung is a figment of my imagination and Tolkien made all this rich fodder for us to work with. God bless that man.
A/N: Fellowship, I introduce you to Rebecca Jung.
Much thanks to Kel!!! What an awesome beta reader! And anyone who reviews, or even reads, thanks for reading! I'm going to try and write as much as I can in the future. And especially with summer vacation coming soon, that should be give me enough time each day to keep writing consistently. Hope you enjoy, and find the heart to send some criticism along with it!
It had been about a week since the Fellowship had set out. The hobbits were chilled to the bone, as was everyone else (besides Legolas), despite the amount of clothing they had brought with them. The walk in itself wasn't as grueling as when the hobbits had first made their way to Rivendell, but was still tiring enough that everyone found little energy to say anything by the end of each day.
Gandalf always walked ahead of them, silent as ever accompanied by Aragorn. Every once in a while, they'd mutter a word or two amongst themselves about where to rest, when to walk, and so on. For now, the air around them was frigid and it seemed a long time before it would be cut through.
Taking the back road west of the Mountains was rough and lonely. The meals were almost unbearably quiet (though Pippin did manage to complain a couple times about the lack of a fire before Gandalf stared with a expressionless look telling him to hold his tongue). Each time they ate, it was as if the solemnity of the occasion had sapped the warmth and flavor out of the food, instead of their numbed senses.
The sky was always so dark when they traveled, and because the clouds lingered above them as if they were being held in place, no stars were visible. Not that the sun was anywhere to be seen, either.
Seemingly infinite, the road was so bleak and Frodo wondered why the beginning of the journey seemed so ominous. Time to time, he felt so guilty dragging all his friends along with him-- but somehow it was a comfort just to have them near him. Pippin, Merry... and Sam. Dear Sam. He felt blessed, but most of the time the weather would insensate his mind, and all he could only think of when these chilling winds and weary road would finally end.
All this for a ring that hung about his neck. Sometimes Frodo just had to think it over to make sure he was doing the right thing, why he had decided to go ahead on the journey, and how long it would be until they returned to the Shire.
Legolas looked back often, as did Aragorn. They both looked uneasy, but Aragorn showed it more-- his eyes narrowed slightly when he surveyed the terrain around him. Legolas had more of a tranquil look, but who knew if that was just an elf thing? The hobbits couldn't tell, even after being around them for two months.
For now, the only thing to worry about was getting out of this weather.
That was all they would have been thinking for the next few hours of the trip, had Legolas not spotted a certain an unusual sight meandering in the distance, one that had not been noticeable before because of the hilly environment they were walking in.
===
Rebecca let the stillness wash away, and felt the first wave of panic start getting to her. She tried to think with some logic sense for the moment to keep the fear at bay.
One. Where was she?
Some terrain… Untouched by civilization, or just very far from it… Astounding. She still wasn't sure what country this was.
Okay. One down. Rebecca took a deep breath, surprised at how the cold bit at the edge of her nose with the intake or air.
Two. How did she get here?
That was a tough one. She tried to rack her brain, but all she could do was try and smirk at the prospect of her friend's jokes about quantum physics coming true. Ah, well, she was here (or maybe she wasn't, who knew?). Maybe it would be better just to find out what to do next.
So three, what would she do next?
Now, there was a trick question.
Rebecca decided to walk around a little, and keep thinking until she could come up with something to do before she went crazy.
===
"A young girl," Legolas said softly to Aragorn in Sindarin, not wanting to distress too much of the Fellowship but needing to alert them. "It seems that she is alone."
"What shall we do?" Aragorn asked Gandalf quietly, his expression unchanging.
"If it is a spy, it would be best that we stay as still as possible and wait until she passes," he answered after a pause.
"Get them under the cover of the brush," Aragorn said to Boromir and Gimli, and the two proceeded to herd the hobbits into an area where there were many plants and trees growing.
It was getting tiresome, this running and hiding. Pippin let out a small sigh as he positioned himself next to Merry, Frodo, and Sam behind a thicket bush.
"She looks strange—her appearance is foreign to me, and I am supposing to you as well," the elf continued explaining, as the others weren't going to chance making them conspicuous to a probable threat by moving any closer. "Her attire is like one of a man. She is a human- I cannot be sure of where she is from."
Now, this was getting more confusing by the moment.
"The girl is not moving, but she is surveying the area," was the next observation from the elf about ten minutes later.
Thoughts ran rapidly through Aragorn's head, and he finally turned to Gandalf, concerned about what they should do next. If they could get past her without being seen, it would be well, but she was on top of a hill, and that was most unlikely for the moment. Then again, the girl looked very preoccupied, though no one could guess with what.
"We could disable her and flee," he proposed to the wizard.
Gandalf looked in the direction of the girl. What could they risk in this situation? If they made themselves known to her… The consequences could be steep, if she was a spy or if there were others in her party that remained hidden.
But who could say that she was a spy?
"Why would they employ a spy of such young age? She has not even noticed us yet- her eyes are neither sharp nor observant," Legolas commented. "Perhaps she is just lost or wandering from a foreign land." He was starting to doubt himself as soon as he said it, but he couldn't help considering it a possibility.
"I doubt it," Gandalf replied, starting to make up his mind. "If she is here, there must be a logical reason that she is here on this rough road. One that we will extract from her as quietly as possible."
It was a dilemma, to say the least, but what else could they do? If she was a spy and she caught glimpse of them and got away, what were they to do? To be safe, they had to find out what her business was here.
"Keep the hobbits safe. I will fetch her," Aragorn said, his voice dropping in volume out of cautiousness.
He motioned to Legolas to defend his backside (while Gandalf positioned himself between them and the Fellowship in case something went wrong) and crept in, going to the side of the small hill behind her, closing in slowly…