Chapter four: Towards Fangorn

Or: the longwinded chapter of boredom

an-long French bits translated at the end..

The thunder of the Rohirrim's hooves had faded away into the distance long before the stifling silence surrounded the four travelers was broken.

Sarah was reminded of her first day at school. All the girls had been shy of one another and the classrooms had been almost as quiet as this. Glancing around she saw that the one called Aragorn was strapping a scabbard onto the side of his horse. No doubt after he had finished that, they would be off.

She sighed. This trip was going to be just swell. Stuck in the company of a moody man, an… unnervingly friendly and loud dwarf.. and of course him. Sarah slowly turned her head to look at him. He was not yet on his horse but sitting on the grass next to the dwarf who was singing to himself. Legolas's hair caught the sun and seemed to be made of spun gold, framing his perfectly formed face which gazed out over the horizon. Realising she was staring, Sarah shook her head 'I really ought to try and make some sort of conversation I guess…' Bracing herself slightly, she swung neatly from her saddle and walked over to them.

The dwarf hadn't heard her dismount and continued to hum softly and bob his head, staring off into the distance. The elf however regarded her with that deep gaze of his, the one that Sarah feared could see into her very soul. Unable to break away from it Sarah walked up beside him and sat. His face instantly flicked away from hers and stared ahead again.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. 'that was rude..'

"Your majesty…" slowly his gaze returned to hers, while Gimli flinched finally noting her presence. "I wanted to apologise for running away with your cloak." She fingered the material caught up around her delicate throat. "It is a very fine one and I'm sure you would like it back?"

He shook his head lightly, causing one of the little braids he wore to fall forward into his face. Without thinking Sarah leant forward and slipped it back behind his pointed ear. His skin was soft, his hair like silk, and this close she could smell his scent, spice and leather, the one her brain had apparently memorised from his cloak. He instantly stiffened, flinching slightly and she heard his breath still in his lungs.

Confused she looked at his face to see his eyes had widened and he was biting a little of his bottom lip. Blushing slightly Sarah sat back. She glanced up and bright blue eyes caught hers yet again, this time far more open and unguarded. She noted that his eyes flicked down to her lips. An odd buzzing could be heard in her ears. Surely he did not mean to kiss her? He leant towards her and the buzzing in her ears tripled as her eyes widened.

Then his hand was rested gently on the side of her face, the warmth of his fingers making her feel dizzy. He paused for a moment, then his fingers twisted and pushed a stray hair behind her own ear.

Suddenly he was sitting back again, and Sarah was oddly disappointed. She could still feel the ghost of his touch against her flesh. Blushing deeper she lowered her gaze to her hands curled in her lap, blue polish glinting in the sun. "er.. thank-you your majesty."

He smiled at her, a radiant one that made her heart soar. "Please, call me Legolas."

She nodded, "very well my lord…" he raised an eyebrow, " What? I did not call you majesty.." he smiled softly and shook his head. Sarah rolled her eyes, "Very well, Thank-you Legolas."

His smile widened, "Well, it is a fine cloak as you said, a gift from the lady of the golden wood, but you may use it until we return you to your people."

Sarah laughed, "well, that will be quite some time then."

"nay, Edoras is not far from here."

She smiled and leant back on her arms, "how was I to know that? I have never been there before."

"But it is the seat of the king of Rohan, surely a lady of the court such as yourself has visited?"

"nay my lord! I am not of the Rohirrim. I have no idea where my homeland might lay…" here she paused, Éomer hadn't actually said she was of Rohan, just implied it, but she did not like to lie, and they would find out when they arrived at Edoras anyway. 'better to be honest now..or at least…. mostly honest '. she smirked at him slightly enjoying his surprise, "…Lord Éomer is a friend of mine. He was helping me find my way home is all." Here she shrugged before continuing, " it is unlikely I will return to my people any time soon, so I shall just have to keep this fine cloak. How unfortunate." She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"For a lady.. you are most.. abrupt.. and blunt."

Sarah, slipping somehow into flirt mode, gasped and slapped his shoulder playfully." I am not 'abrupt' You are merely upset that I shall get to keep your precious cloak."

He muttered something in the obscure sindarin dialect he was fond of muttering in, (seeing as how only half a dozen elves spoke it, and no one else.), and rubbed his shoulder.

Sarah's eyes widened. He was speaking FRENCH! Well, not speaking, quietly muttering.. Her brows furrowed. How would he know french? 'do his kind travel between worlds?..'

Then she remembered her first year history classes.

She was sitting in an opulent room lined with delicately carved desks. Ms Roberts was pointing at things and enunciating certain words as she was wont to do. Her voice dimly penetrated the mists of boredom clouding Sarah's mind. ".. the languages of the fae and humans were closely linked in times past. Many having roots in Latin. An obvious example is French. As you all know I'm sure, modern French is in fact, directly derived from the common sidhe dialect. Although it has changed over the ages, it remains mostly true…" that was about all that Ms Roberts got through before Sarah slipped of into daydreaming again.

'Of course! Why didn't I see it earlier? He looks like a noble, I can't believe I didn't pick it up!" She leant forward and grabbed Legolas by the shoulders, "By the gods! You are sidhe!"

Legolas's face was full of shock. "Sidhe?"

Excitedly Sarah slipped into french, and pulled him into a hug, "Oui ! Sidhe, fée, quoi que! Vous devez être! Vous parlez le dialecte féerique commun! …..? à moins que ce soit un langage commun dans cet endroit..? Vous tout parlez l'afterall anglais.." She sighed, looking down at his golden head, his face was buried in the crook of her neck. "well, you also look sidhe, though I did not notice at first, I have not met many purebloods. Most are part mortal like myself."

Legolas turned his head and cleared his throat, "um, mademoiselle? Je voudrais sûrement discuter ceci avec vous, cependant, Aragorn et gimli regardent très ont étonné par votre soudain,… changement d'attitude.?"

"huh?" Sarah turned to see that Gimli was grinning like a Cheshire cat and wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. Aragorn meanwhile was leaning on his horse and smirking at her.

"What?"

Aragorn, cleared his throat, "forgive me my lady… I have just not seen Legolas pulled onto a maiden's lap quite so quickly before."

Sarah glanced down, realising, that yes, she had in fact dragged the elven prince onto her lap.

She felt a blush starting to creep up her cheeks. Then she saw the look on Legolas's face, he looked like a bewildered and confused five year old. She felt herself start to laugh and gently disentangled herself.

Legolas sat back looking a little dazed, his perfect hair mussed up. Sarah laughed harder.

"Pardonnez-moi mon prince, I momentarily forgot my etiquette classes."

Legolas's POV

I had tried very hard not to stare. However when she had started speaking to me, I had to look at her didn't I? It would have been very rude otherwise.

I had been doing quite well I thought, then she had brushed that braid back and unwittingly touched my ear. My highly sensitive ear. Her breath had tickled my cheek and her fingers had seemed very warm against my skin. As I had looked over at her, dark hair moving slightly in the breeze, beautiful eyes shining and lips slightly parted. I had almost lost control and kissed her. Which would have been incredibly bad. After neatening her hair to hide my original intentions her blush and quickened breath had betrayed something to me. She was attracted to me. I was quite sure of it.

Then the moment was gone, the silver in her eyes had glinted as she smiled and teased me.

I managed to control my joy at her revealing she was not of Rohan, and had to clench my teeth not to grin when she called Éomer her 'friend'. Not her fiancée.

Luckily after her explosion in sindarin I had been too shocked by her actions to have any inappropriate urges, although just thinking of her warm body against mine and her arms around me was now driving me insane.

At least after her little outburst she had relaxed in our company and now rode beside us singing in an odd language to herself.

Gimli occasionally joined in, his voice slightly muffled from his perch behind me and I caught Aragorn grinning at the odd contrast in their voices.

When Sarah had started singing the old songs gaelic that her grandfather had taught her, she had been surprised to hear the deep voice of Gimli joining in.

"Gimli! How odd that you should know that song! I do not think there are any dwarves in scotland."

"Scotland? Never heard of it my lady."

"Did you hear my conversation with Legolas earlier?"

The dwarf grinned, "nay, we thought it a private matter."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "men. You all jump to the same conclusion about the most innocent of things."

She did not continue and let them fall into silence.

Aragorn glanced over at her, "well lady Sarah, are you going to enlighten Gimli and I? or do we have to guess?"

"I can imagine what Master Gimli will guess, so I suppose I shall have to tell you, and please call me Sarah."

Aragorn nodded.

"Well, I am not of Rohan."

"yes, I assumed as much. Your accent. It's like a mixture of a sindarin elf and the men who live in the hills near Gimli's homeland."

"very astute of you Aragorn. However I am neither. I had never even heard of Rohan, or any of the lands in middle earth from mordor to rivendell until this morning."

"You were kidnapped from some far away land?"

Sarah was not sure if she should tell them how she really got here until she was actually certain where here was. "Yes.. Éomer tried to set me on a safe path home, but he had not heard of the lands of my people, nor I his. He suggested I make to Edoras, then Gondor." She glanced at Aragorn, "He said it was a learned and ancient city where I might find help locating my home."

The man nodded, "perhaps. However, you ride in the company of a man of Gondor, an elf and a dwarf. Tell us of your homeland, we are well traveled in different ways."

She nodded, "aye. Well, My mother's people, the scots, live in the harsh highlands of an isle called England." She smiled at Gimli, "And many of the Scottish speak much like you master Gimli, you actually remind me of my grandfather in your speech."

The dwarf blushed, well, as far as Sarah could tell he did, it was hard to tell under the hair and armour.

Legolas smiled at her, "I do believe you just made a dwarf blush. Quite an achievement.. Sarah"

"yes well, I am accustomed to males blushing in my presence. "She grinned then continued, "And my father's lands are in france… although if I had a choice between one of his palaces and this field, I would surely choose the field."

Aragorn frowned, "You are not fond of your father Sarah?"

She glared ahead a rock on the horizon, "my father? What is there not to like about Lord Maxime de Málnoir. He is incredibly rich, very powerful and his bloodline is the most pure of the nobility." She paused and calmed her voice, "He is also a murderer, et committer de tout le mal imaginable." (and committer of all conceivable evil.)

Legolas, "that is odd. especially knowing what Málnoir translates to in the sindarin dialect of my mother's family."

Sarah nodded, " 'evil black'. Lovely name is it not?"

Legolas sighed, "But that does not explain why you can speak an ancient sindarin dialect that is almost dead in middle earth."

Sarah laughed softly, "Myself and many millions more in my world. It is a quite common and great language in my world. It is what the French speak, my father's people."

Aragorn spoke up, "this is all very confusing.. and it makes little sense to me. Why would a human country speak sindarin?"

"They learnt it from the fae. It is the common dialect of the sidhe where I come from."

Legolas spoke up again," yes, you called me by those names. Are they elves?"

Sarah nodded, "it would seem that way."

"And you are part fae?"

"Yes. That is what makes me a noble." Sarah sighed in frustration. "I was hoping I was mistaken, but it becomes painfully obvious. This is not my world. The earth here seems much younger. And many things make no sense otherwise."

Aragorn stared, "not your world? What do you mean?"

"I am from somewhere else. A place much older than middle earth. Where there are no dwarves, and no orcs."

"but there are elves?"

"Very few. It is a long story. I will not recount it all to you, fae history spans many millennia after all. Surfice to say, man grew more advanced and numerous, the fae came close to extinction and were forced to join human society. Due to their magic and longevity, they became the aristocrats and nobles. Human kings and queens sought them to marry to strengthen their bloodlines and nowadays there is not a single full-blooded human ruler, all are part fae. As for those that chose not to marry humans, that kept their bloodline pure, they are the strongest.

My father and his brother are the only pure-blooded fae left to my knowledge. But that is all boring and irrelevant really. Now, Éomer told me you were seeking friends of yours? Tell me of them, I should like to hear."

Aragorn looked suddenly very weary, he told Sarah of the hobbits, of their quest, the loss of Gandalf and Boromir and how their friends had been taken.

She frowned, "that is terrible. I know the place that Éomer spoke of, It is on the edge of yonder forest, not far from here. I thought the fire did not smell healthy, I mistook it for a bonfire of waste. Orc flesh, I'm sure that would smell similar to rubbish when burnt."

AN:

Translations:

"Oui ! Sidhe, fée, quoi que! Vous devez être! Vous parlez le dialecte féerique commun! …..? à moins que ce soit un langage commun dans cet endroit..? Vous tout parlez l'afterall anglais.."

"Yes, sidhe, fae whatever! You must be! You speak the common fae dialect!.. unless.. is it a common language in this place…? You all speak english afterall.."

"um, ma dame ? Je voudrais sûrement discuter ceci avec vous, cependant, Aragorn et gimli regardent très ont étonné par votre soudain,… changement d'attitude.?"

"um..miss? I would surely like to discuss this with you, however, Aragorn and gimli look very surprised by your suddenly, ..change of attitude.?"

I don't like this chappy.. to much talking.. boorrinngg…

But hey, now ALL IS EXPLAINED. And I can continue with the good stuff.

So, do we want Éomer back next chappy? Should I make him a main character? Hmm?

How bout some fightin' n stuff? Suggestions would be cool!

Thankies for the reviews people!

Continuing on.. I was aware wat NC-17 meant.. but not what NC stood for..

'not correct' hey Mayrana? Quite obvious now I think about it…

Still I like 'Nudey Cactus' …. it has a certain ring to it.

And 'white roses for me' I had a looksy at your story.. go the random frenchness!

(see! I knew someone else would already have used the same ideas as me!)

Anyhow.. I'm australian not american. I lived over in uk for while with my ma.. during which

time I became obsessed with scottish accents.. (I love it when they say turtle!)

hee hee.. on that note!

Please review!