Disclaimer: I own lotr and am the elf queen of Gondor! Oh wait, that's
Arwen. Never mind...
Oh! I almost forgot reviewers! I just read one from chapter ten. I almost
died laughing! Sorry Helen, but you'll have to wait a few chapters (maybe
in moria???) but yeah, I'll try my best (men can be stubborn, especially
royal ones) to get you in there. (heehee, only you and I know what I'm
rambling about! I love confusing readers; it's so much fun. But it's not
like anyone reads this part anyways. I know I don't, and I'm an friggin
writer) ta!
Ane could not believe that they had traveled for two months already. She wasn't home sick at all, but she worried what the others were thinking of her long absence. She wondered if Jack had made it home all right. She loathed him for what he did, but she didn't want him to suffer for it. She wanted him home, because if he got home, she would be able to as well. (Does this remind anyone of Inu Yasha at all, or am I getting paranoid in my old age? Just wondering. Ignore rambling author.) She was afraid that they were both stuck here and she regretted not having said goodbye to her friends and mum. She really worried for what Haley would think. They probably thought she had run away, or worse, decided to kill herself, or was kidnapped, raped and killed. She thought of what it would be like to go home just in time to attend her own funeral the way Tom Sawyer had done in that book Mark Twain had written. She really scared herself with these thoughts of every one standing around her empty casket, crying over her. "She was such a good person," someone would say. "Always happens to the best of 'em, doesn't it?" would say another. She started to cry at the thought of her mum crying over her like that. She was so into drugs and drinking that she would probably commit suicide before the funeral even started. She wasn't sure if she really even loved her mum, or if her mum even loved her, but she did pity her, and she knew that no matter how her mum felt about her, she would be devastated.
The terrain that they were crossing was getting steeper and steeper. She told this to Legolas and he said that it was because they were coming up on a mountain. She looked up more often and finally found the mount of Caradhras towering over the thick trees. She thought is looked like a spike of diamonds jutting out of the emerald sea they were walking through.
They finally came out of the forest and started on more rocky ground than before. She stopped midday to rest since most of way they had traveled that day had been up hill. They made camp at the top of a hill that had rocks strewn all over the place. Ane loved climbing rocks as a youth. Because of her soccer training, she wasn't that tired from the day's walk, so she decided to put her rock climbing skills to use. When she was twelve, she went to a summer camp. They had stayed in cabins with actual beds and showers, so it wasn't really camping, but there were boulders everywhere, and she climbed to the top of every single one of them, which earned her the name Spider Woman. She was proud of her title and continued to live up to it as she currently scaled a sixty-degree-angle side of a rock. She stood on top of it with her hands on her hips as she relished in her accomplishment. She looked into the distance and saw a small wisp of black on the horizon. She was not the only one to see this though. Legolas, Sam, and Boromir had noticed as well.
"What is that?" asked Sam.
"Nothing, it's just a wisp of clouds," said Gimli who actually couldn't see anything, but had commented in hopes that someone would listen to him. Unfortunately for him, no one did.
"It's moving fast," said Boromir, "and against the wind."
It came into Legolas' view as it drew closer. "Creblin... from Dudland!"
"Hide!" yelled Aragorn. "Everyone, take cover!"
Ane slid down the side of the rock, and Legolas pulled her under a bush to try and hide the two of them. They waited in silence as the birds came closer. She heard people talking and thought to tell them to shut up, but she realized that she didn't recognize the voices. "Find them! Find them for Saruman!"
"I smell them! I smell them! They are close my brothers! They are close!"
"Yes! Yes! We have found them! They are here!"
The birds were circling above them now. "Legolas."
"SShh!!! They will hear you," he told her in a hoarse whisper.
"They already know we're here."
"What?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, brothers, we know where they are now. We know. The Gap or the Mount are their choices from here. Come, we fly to tell our master. Our master Saruman!"
With that the fell birds flew off to the south again. The fellowship came out of their hiding places. Ane spoke first. "Who is Saruman? Why is he tracking us?"
"Saruman? You know for a fact that it was he that sent these birds to us?" asked Gandalf.
"Yeah. They said that they were searching for us for their master, Saruman. One said he could smell us, and the rest agreed that this was our location. They said that we had to take the Mount or the Gap from here. They are going to tell this to Saruman." Gandalf's face went from red, to white, to a sickly green during her dialogue.
"How-? You heard them?"
"Yeah. They were talking. Why? Is that weird?"
"Ane," said Legolas, "You can speak the tongue of the crows. That is what is so strange. Do most of your people speak to animals?"
'Only the psychos do,' she thought. "None that I know. Why? They seemed to be speaking English to me."
"English? What language is that?" asked Boromir.
"Uh, the language we're speaking. What do you call it?"
"It is called the common tongue here."
"Oh. Well the birds were speaking in the common tongue if you will."
"No, Ane, they weren't. They couldn't have been."
"Why not? How else did I hear them speaking in our language?"
"It is common for one to hear things in one's native language even when it is in fact a completely different one. If you were to speak to the crows, you would probably hear yourself speak in English, even though the birds and everyone else who didn't understand the language, would hear it in bird cries."
'Gandalf, you ain't making sense old man.' "So you're saying that if I were to speak parsletongue, I would hear English, and y'all would just hear hissing?"
"Parsle-what?" asked Pip.
"It means you can talk to snakes. You'd be called a parslemouth."
"You can talk to snakes?"
"I don't know. I never tried. I just said that because it was in a Harry Potter book."
"Oh. Too bad. That would have been neat," he said, a bit disappointed.
"We should get going. We are wasting time." She was in a hurry to drop the subject. Gandalf nodded.
"We must take the pass of Caradhras."
"So, Ane. Tell us more of your home, of the Gray Havens," questioned Aragorn as the made their camp during their fourth night of being on the mountain.
"Well it's not as great as you think. Gray is a pretty accurate description. The most I can say, really, is that we're free, or at least we think we are."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh...how can I put this..."
"Is there a song? You did say that you had a song for everything."
"True...here. This one is how most of the world sees us today." She started singing another song by Creed called In America.
"Only in America, we're slaves to be free.
Only in America, we kill the unborn to make ends meet.
Only in America sexuality is democracy.
Only in America, we step on God, and God returns.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
Church bells ringin', pass the plate around.
The choir is singing' as their leader falls to the ground.
Please, mister prophet man, tell me which way to go.
I gave my last dollar, can I still come to your show?
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
I am right and you are wrong.
I am right and you are wrong.
I am right and you are wrong.
No one's right and No one's wrong.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America. What is right for you and me?
In America."
The group was a bit shocked at the bluntness of the song, but she continued. "That is how the world sees us. We are actually much more proud of our country than that song portrays us. I just wanted to show you that the world isn't as perfect as you think. If there are any elves in my land that have come looking for the Gray Havens, they either left, or keep themselves well hidden from my people."
Aragorn was quite perturbed to hear this. "If there is a ship sailing for the Gray Havens now, will they not find it? What will become of their ship?"
"I don't have any answers for you, Aragorn. I'm just as lost as you. I guess I would find out if I took a ship and ended up in Long Beach. Maybe the ships go to England, or perhaps Ireland. They would be quite isolated there, and Ireland has the rolling green hills and beaches that I've heard are supposed to be there."
"Maybe." Aragorn was really upset.
"Look, don't worry about it. I'm sure the elves on those ships end up somewhere nice and are happy. Why are so freaked out anyways?"
He just got up and walked away. Legolas turned to Ane and put his hand on hers. "He's upset because he fears he will loose Arwen. He told her to go with her people into the west, across the sea. Now he does not think that she will get there safely."
"Oh no, and it's my fault. Gosh danggit! I better go make things right."
She walked over to where Aragorn was standing. He was looking over a cliff, the cold wind blowing his hair and loose clothing in the same direction. His arms were folded and he looked deep in thought. She approached him slowly. "Estel?"
She waited for him to turn to her completely. He didn't answer, so she decided to speak. "Estel, I shouldn't have said those things. I'm sorry. I had no idea that it would upset you like that."
He smiled at her, a sweet and kind smile, but there was a weariness in his eyes that made her want to cry. "That's alright Ane, you didn't know. I do not blame you."
But she had made the connection. "You- you're the man that sent me into the forest, weren't you?" He smiled a little guiltily.
"Please don't be mad, Ane-"
"Mad!? Mad?! You think I'm mad!?" she almost yelled. He recoiled a few steps at this, but then he remembered that he was at the edge of the cliff. She had him cornered. He braced himself.
But she hugged him. "I can't believe that was you! I should have realized it sooner! Then I could have thanked you before this!"
"Th-thanked me?" he asked as he figured out that she wasn't going to kill him or push him over the edge of the cliff.
"Of course! If you hadn't brought me here, then I never would have met Legolas!" He hesitated, but hugged her back. "And this means that I can get home, right?" she asked as she let go of him to look him in the eye, "This means that I can see my friends again? Even take Legolas with me?"
"I-I suppose if you wanted to..."
"But wait, that means that you sent Jack here as well. Why'd you do that?"
"I did no such thing. That's why I was so confused at his presence."
"Well if you didn't, who did?"
dun dun dun! (how many times have I said that anyways?) oh well, I'll just pretend it's a sign that I'm good at this writing thing. I sure hope so, but then again, I've yet to get any flames, so I can't be that bad right? (cricket, cricket) that's cold you guys. Newaiz, back to the story, I told you once and I'll tell you again, remember Jack! Im-por-tan-te! I dunno how I'm gonna do it yet, but he will be important! IMPORTANT! (Kchan: do you think they got the message? Legolas: I think there's an echo in here. Kchan: well, duh, it's my brain. Of course there's an echo.) whoa! You guys are still here? Oh...yeah.
Also, even though I do incorporate real life into my stories (something you would know if read my bio you lazy bums) the stoned mum thing has absolutely no part of my real life, I just needed a plausible reason for her mum to not care too much that she was gone, other than being a just plain bad mother. And (if you're wondering) no I'm not euro-white trash (no offence to those who are) I'm from the land of the fruits and nuts; luckily I'm also from the nutty, not-so-fruity part, cause, I, uh, don't swing that way. I just like writing mum instead of mom, and theatre instead of theater for some strange, subconscious reason, but if you ever catch me spelling things colour, and favourite, just shoot me. Go ahead. (you know you want to!) jk...until next time!
Ane could not believe that they had traveled for two months already. She wasn't home sick at all, but she worried what the others were thinking of her long absence. She wondered if Jack had made it home all right. She loathed him for what he did, but she didn't want him to suffer for it. She wanted him home, because if he got home, she would be able to as well. (Does this remind anyone of Inu Yasha at all, or am I getting paranoid in my old age? Just wondering. Ignore rambling author.) She was afraid that they were both stuck here and she regretted not having said goodbye to her friends and mum. She really worried for what Haley would think. They probably thought she had run away, or worse, decided to kill herself, or was kidnapped, raped and killed. She thought of what it would be like to go home just in time to attend her own funeral the way Tom Sawyer had done in that book Mark Twain had written. She really scared herself with these thoughts of every one standing around her empty casket, crying over her. "She was such a good person," someone would say. "Always happens to the best of 'em, doesn't it?" would say another. She started to cry at the thought of her mum crying over her like that. She was so into drugs and drinking that she would probably commit suicide before the funeral even started. She wasn't sure if she really even loved her mum, or if her mum even loved her, but she did pity her, and she knew that no matter how her mum felt about her, she would be devastated.
The terrain that they were crossing was getting steeper and steeper. She told this to Legolas and he said that it was because they were coming up on a mountain. She looked up more often and finally found the mount of Caradhras towering over the thick trees. She thought is looked like a spike of diamonds jutting out of the emerald sea they were walking through.
They finally came out of the forest and started on more rocky ground than before. She stopped midday to rest since most of way they had traveled that day had been up hill. They made camp at the top of a hill that had rocks strewn all over the place. Ane loved climbing rocks as a youth. Because of her soccer training, she wasn't that tired from the day's walk, so she decided to put her rock climbing skills to use. When she was twelve, she went to a summer camp. They had stayed in cabins with actual beds and showers, so it wasn't really camping, but there were boulders everywhere, and she climbed to the top of every single one of them, which earned her the name Spider Woman. She was proud of her title and continued to live up to it as she currently scaled a sixty-degree-angle side of a rock. She stood on top of it with her hands on her hips as she relished in her accomplishment. She looked into the distance and saw a small wisp of black on the horizon. She was not the only one to see this though. Legolas, Sam, and Boromir had noticed as well.
"What is that?" asked Sam.
"Nothing, it's just a wisp of clouds," said Gimli who actually couldn't see anything, but had commented in hopes that someone would listen to him. Unfortunately for him, no one did.
"It's moving fast," said Boromir, "and against the wind."
It came into Legolas' view as it drew closer. "Creblin... from Dudland!"
"Hide!" yelled Aragorn. "Everyone, take cover!"
Ane slid down the side of the rock, and Legolas pulled her under a bush to try and hide the two of them. They waited in silence as the birds came closer. She heard people talking and thought to tell them to shut up, but she realized that she didn't recognize the voices. "Find them! Find them for Saruman!"
"I smell them! I smell them! They are close my brothers! They are close!"
"Yes! Yes! We have found them! They are here!"
The birds were circling above them now. "Legolas."
"SShh!!! They will hear you," he told her in a hoarse whisper.
"They already know we're here."
"What?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, brothers, we know where they are now. We know. The Gap or the Mount are their choices from here. Come, we fly to tell our master. Our master Saruman!"
With that the fell birds flew off to the south again. The fellowship came out of their hiding places. Ane spoke first. "Who is Saruman? Why is he tracking us?"
"Saruman? You know for a fact that it was he that sent these birds to us?" asked Gandalf.
"Yeah. They said that they were searching for us for their master, Saruman. One said he could smell us, and the rest agreed that this was our location. They said that we had to take the Mount or the Gap from here. They are going to tell this to Saruman." Gandalf's face went from red, to white, to a sickly green during her dialogue.
"How-? You heard them?"
"Yeah. They were talking. Why? Is that weird?"
"Ane," said Legolas, "You can speak the tongue of the crows. That is what is so strange. Do most of your people speak to animals?"
'Only the psychos do,' she thought. "None that I know. Why? They seemed to be speaking English to me."
"English? What language is that?" asked Boromir.
"Uh, the language we're speaking. What do you call it?"
"It is called the common tongue here."
"Oh. Well the birds were speaking in the common tongue if you will."
"No, Ane, they weren't. They couldn't have been."
"Why not? How else did I hear them speaking in our language?"
"It is common for one to hear things in one's native language even when it is in fact a completely different one. If you were to speak to the crows, you would probably hear yourself speak in English, even though the birds and everyone else who didn't understand the language, would hear it in bird cries."
'Gandalf, you ain't making sense old man.' "So you're saying that if I were to speak parsletongue, I would hear English, and y'all would just hear hissing?"
"Parsle-what?" asked Pip.
"It means you can talk to snakes. You'd be called a parslemouth."
"You can talk to snakes?"
"I don't know. I never tried. I just said that because it was in a Harry Potter book."
"Oh. Too bad. That would have been neat," he said, a bit disappointed.
"We should get going. We are wasting time." She was in a hurry to drop the subject. Gandalf nodded.
"We must take the pass of Caradhras."
"So, Ane. Tell us more of your home, of the Gray Havens," questioned Aragorn as the made their camp during their fourth night of being on the mountain.
"Well it's not as great as you think. Gray is a pretty accurate description. The most I can say, really, is that we're free, or at least we think we are."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh...how can I put this..."
"Is there a song? You did say that you had a song for everything."
"True...here. This one is how most of the world sees us today." She started singing another song by Creed called In America.
"Only in America, we're slaves to be free.
Only in America, we kill the unborn to make ends meet.
Only in America sexuality is democracy.
Only in America, we step on God, and God returns.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
Church bells ringin', pass the plate around.
The choir is singing' as their leader falls to the ground.
Please, mister prophet man, tell me which way to go.
I gave my last dollar, can I still come to your show?
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
I am right and you are wrong.
I am right and you are wrong.
I am right and you are wrong.
No one's right and No one's wrong.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
What is right or wrong, I don't know who to believe in.
My soul sings a different song in America.
In America.
In America.
In America.
In America. What is right for you and me?
In America."
The group was a bit shocked at the bluntness of the song, but she continued. "That is how the world sees us. We are actually much more proud of our country than that song portrays us. I just wanted to show you that the world isn't as perfect as you think. If there are any elves in my land that have come looking for the Gray Havens, they either left, or keep themselves well hidden from my people."
Aragorn was quite perturbed to hear this. "If there is a ship sailing for the Gray Havens now, will they not find it? What will become of their ship?"
"I don't have any answers for you, Aragorn. I'm just as lost as you. I guess I would find out if I took a ship and ended up in Long Beach. Maybe the ships go to England, or perhaps Ireland. They would be quite isolated there, and Ireland has the rolling green hills and beaches that I've heard are supposed to be there."
"Maybe." Aragorn was really upset.
"Look, don't worry about it. I'm sure the elves on those ships end up somewhere nice and are happy. Why are so freaked out anyways?"
He just got up and walked away. Legolas turned to Ane and put his hand on hers. "He's upset because he fears he will loose Arwen. He told her to go with her people into the west, across the sea. Now he does not think that she will get there safely."
"Oh no, and it's my fault. Gosh danggit! I better go make things right."
She walked over to where Aragorn was standing. He was looking over a cliff, the cold wind blowing his hair and loose clothing in the same direction. His arms were folded and he looked deep in thought. She approached him slowly. "Estel?"
She waited for him to turn to her completely. He didn't answer, so she decided to speak. "Estel, I shouldn't have said those things. I'm sorry. I had no idea that it would upset you like that."
He smiled at her, a sweet and kind smile, but there was a weariness in his eyes that made her want to cry. "That's alright Ane, you didn't know. I do not blame you."
But she had made the connection. "You- you're the man that sent me into the forest, weren't you?" He smiled a little guiltily.
"Please don't be mad, Ane-"
"Mad!? Mad?! You think I'm mad!?" she almost yelled. He recoiled a few steps at this, but then he remembered that he was at the edge of the cliff. She had him cornered. He braced himself.
But she hugged him. "I can't believe that was you! I should have realized it sooner! Then I could have thanked you before this!"
"Th-thanked me?" he asked as he figured out that she wasn't going to kill him or push him over the edge of the cliff.
"Of course! If you hadn't brought me here, then I never would have met Legolas!" He hesitated, but hugged her back. "And this means that I can get home, right?" she asked as she let go of him to look him in the eye, "This means that I can see my friends again? Even take Legolas with me?"
"I-I suppose if you wanted to..."
"But wait, that means that you sent Jack here as well. Why'd you do that?"
"I did no such thing. That's why I was so confused at his presence."
"Well if you didn't, who did?"
dun dun dun! (how many times have I said that anyways?) oh well, I'll just pretend it's a sign that I'm good at this writing thing. I sure hope so, but then again, I've yet to get any flames, so I can't be that bad right? (cricket, cricket) that's cold you guys. Newaiz, back to the story, I told you once and I'll tell you again, remember Jack! Im-por-tan-te! I dunno how I'm gonna do it yet, but he will be important! IMPORTANT! (Kchan: do you think they got the message? Legolas: I think there's an echo in here. Kchan: well, duh, it's my brain. Of course there's an echo.) whoa! You guys are still here? Oh...yeah.
Also, even though I do incorporate real life into my stories (something you would know if read my bio you lazy bums) the stoned mum thing has absolutely no part of my real life, I just needed a plausible reason for her mum to not care too much that she was gone, other than being a just plain bad mother. And (if you're wondering) no I'm not euro-white trash (no offence to those who are) I'm from the land of the fruits and nuts; luckily I'm also from the nutty, not-so-fruity part, cause, I, uh, don't swing that way. I just like writing mum instead of mom, and theatre instead of theater for some strange, subconscious reason, but if you ever catch me spelling things colour, and favourite, just shoot me. Go ahead. (you know you want to!) jk...until next time!