Faulkner: Ah-HAH! Here it is, kiddies. The next installment of Free 2 Be
Me! Enjoy! Oh, and before I forget, thanks a whole lot to my reviewers! If
it wasn't for them, I would have crapped out a long, long, long time ago!
Keep 'em comin' my lovely reviewers!!!
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Elvish libraries are absolutely amazing. To say the least, anyways. Rows of shelves of books, all of them carefully taken care of. Even the walls were covered in shelves where the occaisonal window wasn't placed. If only I could have read some of them. Most of them were probably history crap, but I bet there were some good stories in there somewhere!
But then there was the problem about being able to actually READ the writing. Geez Louise, these were going to be some long -
How long WAS I staying here? Did I have to leave? Did I even WANT to leave?
Hellllll NO!
I wanted to stay here. At least these people didn't treat me like dirt! They gave me a measure of respect and were actually NICE to me.
Oh yeah, I was staying no matter what these people told me. Even if I had to fight for it, I would stay here. No matter what, I would stay.
Heaven have mercy for those who tried to send me back.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone lightly touched my shoulder.
"Wasn't Orophin supposed to teach you how to be alert?"
"Rumil, you little cuss! Howz it goin'?" I asked. I decided to ignore his remark, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Everything is going fine. But you can imagine my surprise when I was pulled from the borders to teach you our history."
"You? History teacher? What has Lord Celeborn been smokin'?" Rumil wasn't dumb, don't get me wrong. But he wasn't exactly history teacher material either.
"I don't know how to answer that question." Rumil said.
"Eh. It was a rhetorical question anyways. So, what're we doin' today?" I asked. History had always been my strongest subject, next to Reading. I was a pretty avid reader if I got my hands on a book that I liked. Just thinkin' about it made my palm itch in anticipation.
"We will start with the gods and the beginnings of Middle-earth." He led me to a table, presumably for studying and such, and laid down a thick book.
Now when I say thick, I don't mean a few hundred pages or like a dictionary thick. I'm talkin' about a two-stacked-hamburgers-with-everything-on-it thick. There was probably easily a thousand pages. And i'm tellin' you one thing, that I AIN'T readin' that monster. I even told Rumil that. He just laughed.
"You couldn't read it even if I told you too." He opened the book and flipped through the pages. "It's all written in tengwar!"
"Tengwar's Elvish writing right?" He nodded and I studied the writing. It was the same funky curling stuff with the occaisonal dots in places. It was all Greek to me. "Geez. It's gonna be just like learnin' to read all over again." I mumbled to myself
"Don't worry. You'll learn to read it soon enough. But that is for another lesson with a different teacher. Now, pay close attention and try to remember all of this. Eru is the One God. He created everything there is, was, and ever will be..."
So started history. Oi, the story of the god's sure was long and slightly confusing. At least there weren't like all these demi-gods and children of gods like in Greek and Roman mythology. That would have been a hell of a lot more confusing.
As much as I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind, I actually got quite interested. It was more like a story than history, if you ask me. A very interesting story that grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me into it. I had become oblivious to everything else in the library and the only thing that I was conscious of was Rumil's voice telling the story.
All too soon he stopped and I blinked a couple of times.
"That's it?" I asked, though it did sound all too much like a whine.
Rumil smirked and said, "For now. I will start off where I stopped tomorrow. Your next teacher is here to impart the knowledge of our language on you."
I snorted and waved my hand. "That was so incredibly cheesy and crappy. I like it better when your talkin' about the gods. At least THAT doesn't sound cheesy and actually sounds like it is real." Rumil looked a bit confused.
"It sounds real becaue it IS real. The Valar, Eru, the Maiar, they are all real."
"I can believe in the Maiar 'cause they sound like wizards. If Elves exist, why not wizards? But gods? You're yankin' my chain on that one."
"I do not 'yank your chain' as you put it. The Valar are real. Lady Galadriel herself and others have seen them with their own eyes." Rumil said very seriously.
"You're so shittin' me." I said flatly.
"I shit you not."
When I thought about what I had said and what he just, I couldn't help but laugh. 'I shit you not' sounded so funny coming from an Elf. The whole absurdity of it just made it even funnier. Rumil furrowed his eyebrows and watched me curiously. I tried to stop and explain, but I just couldn't. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and left.
Another Elf (a very strict lookin' one, with a very thin nose and tight lips) replaced Rumil who had taken that humongous book with him. Contrary to other Elves that i'd seen, this one looked like a sour grape, if you get my meanin'. I'd seen better looking dead things. Nicer ones too.
"I'm Sirith. I take it you are Narya?" he asked nicely, but his tone was anything but nice. There was just something about him that rubbed me the wrong way
"Yep, i'm Narya." I answered.
"Very well. I'm going to tell you now that it won't be easy learning our language. Many find it difficult to learn and give up within a few days." Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. He made a little speech and I got the feeling he didn't quite like what he had been ordered to do. Oh well, it's not like I asked him to teach me.
When the lesson finally started, he began with nouns, verbs, adjectives, all those kinds of things. He would say a word, tell me what it was and what it meant, and i'd have to repeat it to him. The trick was, that every time he told me a new word, I also had to tell him the ones he had told me previously. Let me just say it wasn't exactly a walk in the park, not to mention he kept talking to me like I was some random idiot that he found on the streets.
Ah, but I would have my revenge. Be it one way or another, sooner or later. He would feel my wrath just like Haldir would when I got my chance. No Elf in Lorien would be safe!
Lookout, Elves, becuase the temper of Narya would be a force to be reckoned with!
Yeah, anyways, I guess it wasn't so bad, except for the company. But that couldn't be helped I guess.
So things progressed until our alloted time was up. Sirith said good-bye and left, thank God, but not before asking if I knew my way back. Even if I hadn't known the way back I would have told him I did. I tell ya, I did not like him one bit. It wasn't exactly something you saw, but more like something you could feel.
I waited a bit for no particular reason, just relaxing. Then I got up and went to look for the librarian, or the Elvish equivalent of one. Luckily, I found such a person and asked them for some paper. Not so luckily, she didn't understand one word of what I said. Another drawback was that I had not learned the word for paper from Sirith.
Damn.
But after some pantomimes and a few curious looks, I got my point across. She disappeared htrough a side door and reappeared with some rolled up very thick and slightly yellowish looking paper. Ah well, it would suit my purposes.
I went back to my place (curious how I was calling it my place after not even a week) and settled myself at the small table. I unrolled the stuff and found a few heavy objects to keep it from curling back in on itself. I pulled out my stash of things that I had brought from the Institute and pulled out my loyal pen. I, being the genius that I am (snicker), wrote down all the words that I had just learned, their meanings, and their translations. I probably spelled all the words wrong, but hey, it was a new language, so sue me!
I stopped writing and remembered that it would be impossible for someone to sue me. There were no lawyers in Middle-earth! Of that, I was definitely positive.
I laughed out loud out of sheer joy. I think I had just fully realized that I wouldn't ever be returning to the Institution. How I loved the thought, and the fact that it was true! I laughed so hard that I fell back in my chair and hit the hard wooden floor.
Not even my klutziness could stop my utter happiness!
"If you don't get up, you'll miss dinner." I looked up and saw Miriel in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. I knew I was grinning pretty goofily, but you would have too, if you were in my position!
On the way, Miriel politely questioned me about how my lessons went, and I told her all the details that she asked for. I swear, it was like I was a kid again! I couldn't remember one day where I was this happy since pretty much all of my childhood was spent in the Institute.
No, I can't think of that place anymore! That place was in the past and I would never think of it again. As far as I was concerned, my life started when I arrived here. And yet, I couldn't help but wonder how things were going back there.
Had Dr.Stanton worked himself into a tizzy yet? Was Taylin getting along all right? And what about those godawful orderlies? I hoped they rotted in hell.
I took what has now become my regular seat, and waited for dinner to begin. Haldir arrived soon after me and took his usual seat as well.
"I see you are in a good mood." he pointed out.
I turned and grinned at him. "You have no idea." I answered. He only looked at me questioningly before returning to his blank stare across the hall. And people say MY head's up in the clouds. He's the one whose acting like he's dead!
"How was your day?"
I turned to my other side and saw that Celeborn and Galadriel had arrived.
"Wonderful." I said with a smile. I think I was in one of those good moods that didn't let anything bad ruin the day. The only bad side of that was that I was ridiculously happy and grinning like the idiot that I was. Just don't tell anyone else that.
"All your lessons went well?" he asked inbetween bites of food.
"Yup." I was ravenous and shoveling food into my mouth at what could be called an indecent pace.
"Take some time to actually taste your food." Haldir commented dryly.
"Bugger off. Not even you can ruin my day."
"Are you saying i'm mean?"
"Nope. But you aren't exactly Mr Ray and Sunshine either." I was still eating i'm afraid.
"Mr what?" Haldir asked. I was gonna have to stop using some common analogies here. They obviously didn't get them.
"Nevermind. Anyways, you aren't what one would call a very happy person."
"So?"
"So? So, you should at least show some emotion other than bloody arrogance. It's even creepier than you peoples ability to sneak up on someone."
And what was Celeborn doing during all of this? He was paying rapt attention and even grinning slightly himself. I think the old Elf-lord liked a little conflict.
"I am not arrogant. Only confident." He sounded a bit miffed.
"Bull. There's a line between confidence and arrogance and you, my friend, have crossed it." I informed him.
"What does a bull have to do with this?" he asked. Oi vey. How would I explain that? Easy, I would ignore that comment.
"Absolutely nothing in the way that you are thinking of it. Anyways, your getting of subject. I think you are channeling a certain river in Egypt. Poor deluded Elf." I shook my head and 'tsked tsked'.
"Egypt? I have never heard of it."
"Of course you haven't. I'm talking about de Nile."
"De Nile?" I think I had him thorooughly confused."
"Yep. You are in denial my friend."
"I am not in denial!" he said viciously.
"That is what they all say. Trust me, I know about these things. You are in one hundred percent denial. I would recommend some m-" Big word, can't pronounce it. "M-....m-..... Oh crap, I can't say it. I'll tell ya when I figure out how to say it."
"Where is Egypt?" Oh goody, Celeborn was jumping into the conversation.
"It's in Africa. Very hot place, Egypt. I always wanted to visit the pyramids. There was an archaeologist in the Institute once who had gone to Egypt. He swore up and down that he had been cursed by King Tut. But it was interesting to hear about the pyramids."
"What are the pyramids and what is an archaeologist?" Ah, here comes my mistake. I have severely underestimated the curiosity of Elves. Especially the curiosity of an Elf-lord who had rarely ever left his wood ever since he entered it.
"The pyramids are giant tombs made for the pharoahs of Egypt. The pharoahs were like kings and the Egyptians wanted their kings to be comfortable in the afterlife. They believed you lived on after you died and made these giant tombs filled with all kinds of food and gold and furniture. Once the pharoah died, he was mummified and placed inside the pyramid and the pyramid was sealed. All kinds of boobie-traps and curses were put on the pyramid to prevent grave-robbers from getting all the stuff inside." I explained.
"What about an archaeologist?"
"An archaeologist..." Another long supper I suppose. But I loved it none- the-less.
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Faulkner: Sucky ass chapter, I know. I got the whole denial thing from one of Dreamstrifer's stories. Please don't kill me Dreamstrifer! I am not worthy! ::grovels for her miserable life:: I couldn't resist! The idea was so tempting! Pinky made me do it! ::points to her assistant:: It's all the ghosts fault!
Pinky: I had no part in it!
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Elvish libraries are absolutely amazing. To say the least, anyways. Rows of shelves of books, all of them carefully taken care of. Even the walls were covered in shelves where the occaisonal window wasn't placed. If only I could have read some of them. Most of them were probably history crap, but I bet there were some good stories in there somewhere!
But then there was the problem about being able to actually READ the writing. Geez Louise, these were going to be some long -
How long WAS I staying here? Did I have to leave? Did I even WANT to leave?
Hellllll NO!
I wanted to stay here. At least these people didn't treat me like dirt! They gave me a measure of respect and were actually NICE to me.
Oh yeah, I was staying no matter what these people told me. Even if I had to fight for it, I would stay here. No matter what, I would stay.
Heaven have mercy for those who tried to send me back.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone lightly touched my shoulder.
"Wasn't Orophin supposed to teach you how to be alert?"
"Rumil, you little cuss! Howz it goin'?" I asked. I decided to ignore his remark, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Everything is going fine. But you can imagine my surprise when I was pulled from the borders to teach you our history."
"You? History teacher? What has Lord Celeborn been smokin'?" Rumil wasn't dumb, don't get me wrong. But he wasn't exactly history teacher material either.
"I don't know how to answer that question." Rumil said.
"Eh. It was a rhetorical question anyways. So, what're we doin' today?" I asked. History had always been my strongest subject, next to Reading. I was a pretty avid reader if I got my hands on a book that I liked. Just thinkin' about it made my palm itch in anticipation.
"We will start with the gods and the beginnings of Middle-earth." He led me to a table, presumably for studying and such, and laid down a thick book.
Now when I say thick, I don't mean a few hundred pages or like a dictionary thick. I'm talkin' about a two-stacked-hamburgers-with-everything-on-it thick. There was probably easily a thousand pages. And i'm tellin' you one thing, that I AIN'T readin' that monster. I even told Rumil that. He just laughed.
"You couldn't read it even if I told you too." He opened the book and flipped through the pages. "It's all written in tengwar!"
"Tengwar's Elvish writing right?" He nodded and I studied the writing. It was the same funky curling stuff with the occaisonal dots in places. It was all Greek to me. "Geez. It's gonna be just like learnin' to read all over again." I mumbled to myself
"Don't worry. You'll learn to read it soon enough. But that is for another lesson with a different teacher. Now, pay close attention and try to remember all of this. Eru is the One God. He created everything there is, was, and ever will be..."
So started history. Oi, the story of the god's sure was long and slightly confusing. At least there weren't like all these demi-gods and children of gods like in Greek and Roman mythology. That would have been a hell of a lot more confusing.
As much as I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind, I actually got quite interested. It was more like a story than history, if you ask me. A very interesting story that grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me into it. I had become oblivious to everything else in the library and the only thing that I was conscious of was Rumil's voice telling the story.
All too soon he stopped and I blinked a couple of times.
"That's it?" I asked, though it did sound all too much like a whine.
Rumil smirked and said, "For now. I will start off where I stopped tomorrow. Your next teacher is here to impart the knowledge of our language on you."
I snorted and waved my hand. "That was so incredibly cheesy and crappy. I like it better when your talkin' about the gods. At least THAT doesn't sound cheesy and actually sounds like it is real." Rumil looked a bit confused.
"It sounds real becaue it IS real. The Valar, Eru, the Maiar, they are all real."
"I can believe in the Maiar 'cause they sound like wizards. If Elves exist, why not wizards? But gods? You're yankin' my chain on that one."
"I do not 'yank your chain' as you put it. The Valar are real. Lady Galadriel herself and others have seen them with their own eyes." Rumil said very seriously.
"You're so shittin' me." I said flatly.
"I shit you not."
When I thought about what I had said and what he just, I couldn't help but laugh. 'I shit you not' sounded so funny coming from an Elf. The whole absurdity of it just made it even funnier. Rumil furrowed his eyebrows and watched me curiously. I tried to stop and explain, but I just couldn't. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and left.
Another Elf (a very strict lookin' one, with a very thin nose and tight lips) replaced Rumil who had taken that humongous book with him. Contrary to other Elves that i'd seen, this one looked like a sour grape, if you get my meanin'. I'd seen better looking dead things. Nicer ones too.
"I'm Sirith. I take it you are Narya?" he asked nicely, but his tone was anything but nice. There was just something about him that rubbed me the wrong way
"Yep, i'm Narya." I answered.
"Very well. I'm going to tell you now that it won't be easy learning our language. Many find it difficult to learn and give up within a few days." Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. He made a little speech and I got the feeling he didn't quite like what he had been ordered to do. Oh well, it's not like I asked him to teach me.
When the lesson finally started, he began with nouns, verbs, adjectives, all those kinds of things. He would say a word, tell me what it was and what it meant, and i'd have to repeat it to him. The trick was, that every time he told me a new word, I also had to tell him the ones he had told me previously. Let me just say it wasn't exactly a walk in the park, not to mention he kept talking to me like I was some random idiot that he found on the streets.
Ah, but I would have my revenge. Be it one way or another, sooner or later. He would feel my wrath just like Haldir would when I got my chance. No Elf in Lorien would be safe!
Lookout, Elves, becuase the temper of Narya would be a force to be reckoned with!
Yeah, anyways, I guess it wasn't so bad, except for the company. But that couldn't be helped I guess.
So things progressed until our alloted time was up. Sirith said good-bye and left, thank God, but not before asking if I knew my way back. Even if I hadn't known the way back I would have told him I did. I tell ya, I did not like him one bit. It wasn't exactly something you saw, but more like something you could feel.
I waited a bit for no particular reason, just relaxing. Then I got up and went to look for the librarian, or the Elvish equivalent of one. Luckily, I found such a person and asked them for some paper. Not so luckily, she didn't understand one word of what I said. Another drawback was that I had not learned the word for paper from Sirith.
Damn.
But after some pantomimes and a few curious looks, I got my point across. She disappeared htrough a side door and reappeared with some rolled up very thick and slightly yellowish looking paper. Ah well, it would suit my purposes.
I went back to my place (curious how I was calling it my place after not even a week) and settled myself at the small table. I unrolled the stuff and found a few heavy objects to keep it from curling back in on itself. I pulled out my stash of things that I had brought from the Institute and pulled out my loyal pen. I, being the genius that I am (snicker), wrote down all the words that I had just learned, their meanings, and their translations. I probably spelled all the words wrong, but hey, it was a new language, so sue me!
I stopped writing and remembered that it would be impossible for someone to sue me. There were no lawyers in Middle-earth! Of that, I was definitely positive.
I laughed out loud out of sheer joy. I think I had just fully realized that I wouldn't ever be returning to the Institution. How I loved the thought, and the fact that it was true! I laughed so hard that I fell back in my chair and hit the hard wooden floor.
Not even my klutziness could stop my utter happiness!
"If you don't get up, you'll miss dinner." I looked up and saw Miriel in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. I knew I was grinning pretty goofily, but you would have too, if you were in my position!
On the way, Miriel politely questioned me about how my lessons went, and I told her all the details that she asked for. I swear, it was like I was a kid again! I couldn't remember one day where I was this happy since pretty much all of my childhood was spent in the Institute.
No, I can't think of that place anymore! That place was in the past and I would never think of it again. As far as I was concerned, my life started when I arrived here. And yet, I couldn't help but wonder how things were going back there.
Had Dr.Stanton worked himself into a tizzy yet? Was Taylin getting along all right? And what about those godawful orderlies? I hoped they rotted in hell.
I took what has now become my regular seat, and waited for dinner to begin. Haldir arrived soon after me and took his usual seat as well.
"I see you are in a good mood." he pointed out.
I turned and grinned at him. "You have no idea." I answered. He only looked at me questioningly before returning to his blank stare across the hall. And people say MY head's up in the clouds. He's the one whose acting like he's dead!
"How was your day?"
I turned to my other side and saw that Celeborn and Galadriel had arrived.
"Wonderful." I said with a smile. I think I was in one of those good moods that didn't let anything bad ruin the day. The only bad side of that was that I was ridiculously happy and grinning like the idiot that I was. Just don't tell anyone else that.
"All your lessons went well?" he asked inbetween bites of food.
"Yup." I was ravenous and shoveling food into my mouth at what could be called an indecent pace.
"Take some time to actually taste your food." Haldir commented dryly.
"Bugger off. Not even you can ruin my day."
"Are you saying i'm mean?"
"Nope. But you aren't exactly Mr Ray and Sunshine either." I was still eating i'm afraid.
"Mr what?" Haldir asked. I was gonna have to stop using some common analogies here. They obviously didn't get them.
"Nevermind. Anyways, you aren't what one would call a very happy person."
"So?"
"So? So, you should at least show some emotion other than bloody arrogance. It's even creepier than you peoples ability to sneak up on someone."
And what was Celeborn doing during all of this? He was paying rapt attention and even grinning slightly himself. I think the old Elf-lord liked a little conflict.
"I am not arrogant. Only confident." He sounded a bit miffed.
"Bull. There's a line between confidence and arrogance and you, my friend, have crossed it." I informed him.
"What does a bull have to do with this?" he asked. Oi vey. How would I explain that? Easy, I would ignore that comment.
"Absolutely nothing in the way that you are thinking of it. Anyways, your getting of subject. I think you are channeling a certain river in Egypt. Poor deluded Elf." I shook my head and 'tsked tsked'.
"Egypt? I have never heard of it."
"Of course you haven't. I'm talking about de Nile."
"De Nile?" I think I had him thorooughly confused."
"Yep. You are in denial my friend."
"I am not in denial!" he said viciously.
"That is what they all say. Trust me, I know about these things. You are in one hundred percent denial. I would recommend some m-" Big word, can't pronounce it. "M-....m-..... Oh crap, I can't say it. I'll tell ya when I figure out how to say it."
"Where is Egypt?" Oh goody, Celeborn was jumping into the conversation.
"It's in Africa. Very hot place, Egypt. I always wanted to visit the pyramids. There was an archaeologist in the Institute once who had gone to Egypt. He swore up and down that he had been cursed by King Tut. But it was interesting to hear about the pyramids."
"What are the pyramids and what is an archaeologist?" Ah, here comes my mistake. I have severely underestimated the curiosity of Elves. Especially the curiosity of an Elf-lord who had rarely ever left his wood ever since he entered it.
"The pyramids are giant tombs made for the pharoahs of Egypt. The pharoahs were like kings and the Egyptians wanted their kings to be comfortable in the afterlife. They believed you lived on after you died and made these giant tombs filled with all kinds of food and gold and furniture. Once the pharoah died, he was mummified and placed inside the pyramid and the pyramid was sealed. All kinds of boobie-traps and curses were put on the pyramid to prevent grave-robbers from getting all the stuff inside." I explained.
"What about an archaeologist?"
"An archaeologist..." Another long supper I suppose. But I loved it none- the-less.
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Faulkner: Sucky ass chapter, I know. I got the whole denial thing from one of Dreamstrifer's stories. Please don't kill me Dreamstrifer! I am not worthy! ::grovels for her miserable life:: I couldn't resist! The idea was so tempting! Pinky made me do it! ::points to her assistant:: It's all the ghosts fault!
Pinky: I had no part in it!