Birds of a Feather
Please have at least have watched The Lord of the Rings, if not read the entire incredible series. Knowledge of The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales would help as well.
The separation between Holly's 'elf', 'elfs' and 'elfin' and ME's 'Elf', 'Elves' and 'Elven' was done on purpose. Same with words like 'Dwarf'.
One would normally expect an Elf not to be in a cold, dark cave with only a rather sarcastic Dwarf for company. Normally.
You see, Legolas Thranduilion was not one to show fear in the face of his dear friend and annoying rival, Gimli. Although the instinctive Elven fear of the dark welled up within him each time the torch nearly flickered out, he refused to lose face in front of the Dwarf. He represented the entire Elven race and his fair realm in Ithilian, just as Gimli represented the Aglarond, the Glittering Caves they were in now.
Legolas shivered as a cool wind murmured past his elegantly pointed ears, whispering of deep, dark places within the heart of the caves. He hated these caves, hated the faint wind that came from the terrors of the unknown, but loved the beauty of the glittering facets reflected in the torchlight. He loved and hated it, just as he loved and hated the Sea.
"The Sea…" he murmured, and pain came to his heart. Ever since he had heard the keening cry of the white gulls, the Sea called for him, that unmistakable yearning for home.
He closed his eyes against the swirling darkness, letting images of the Sea wash across him like azure waves. The call of the white gulls echoed through his mind, mingling with the sound of the pounding Sea, a music too strong to ignore.
An answering call rose up within him, rising like that tide within his mind. His mouth parted in soundless wonder, and the world around him froze as the Sea dominated his senses. He could feel the sea-spray from that visit, so very long ago, hit him, wetting his face as he watched the beautiful yet ugly Sea.
His Galadrim bow fell from his unfeeling fingers, making the actively chattering Gimli pause in his reminiscing about the Incident with Shadowfax.
"Legolas?" Gimli asked cautiously, gripping his torch tightly. "Is something wrong?"
The wood-Elf did not answer, and the concerned Dwarf could see the blue-gray of the Sea reflected in his eyes.
"Legolas?" Gimli asked again, concern rising in his voice.
The Prince pitched forward in the darkness, his glazed eyes unseeing in the gloom. Gimli cried out, dropping the torch and leaping forward to catch his friend. Legolas slumped in his arms, his mouth moving in a wordless song to the Sea.
It was only his distinctive Elven glow that lit the cavern now, illuminating the twinkling crystals and throwing pale rainbows across the floor.
"Wake up!" Gimli cried, setting Legolas' limp form on the sandy floor. The Elf's golden hair spilled from its loose clasp, threads of gold on the pale face of the Prince. His slight glow dimmed as the roar of the Sea filled his mind, tearing at his spirit more surely then the Haradrim blades of past battles.
Gimli looked around him frantically, watching in horror as Legolas' Elven glow dimmed in the glittering cave. He knew that his friend hated the dark, bearing these long trips into the deep only for the sake of their friendship.
Legolas' angular features twisted into pain, his mouth contorting into a soundless scream. Gimli shook the Elf's shoulders helplessly, crying out for him to come back.
And then Legolas' light went out, leaving the pair alone within the depths of Aglarond.
Captain Holly Short of the LEP was, for the first time in her life, lost.
She looked down around her, trying to find her hands in the inky blackness. Although this was, granted, far better then listening to that bimbo Lili Frond during the board meeting, but it certainly wasn't the best thing to do in the world. A matter of fact, she was positive that the nettle shake at home was still on the counter, waiting to be drunk…
She was shocked rather abruptly from her daydreams of how she would go about drinking a nettle shake—I'm not even going to touch on that—when startled cries rang out in the darkness. Panic rippled through her when she realized they weren't in Gnommic. Mud Men must be here.
Her lip curled in disdain as she clutched her pen, the closest thing to a weapon she had been able to grab, tightly. Mud Men, the humans, had long ago chased her race of Fairy People from the surface of the Earth, forcing them to take refuge underground and polluting their former homes. Now living in great underground hollows, they had started many new cities, including Haven and the now-sunken Atlantis, avoiding all contact with the hated Mud Men.
Whispers, not of the faint subterranean wind, came past her pointed ears, carrying pieces of far-off conversations. She cocked her head, waiting patiently for her inherent gift of tongues to kick in.
When it did, she reeled back in shock. Another elf? Here?
Dead?
She scrabbled up from the sandy floor she had been resting on, brushing away dirt pebbles she knew to be there. It was her duty as an LEP officer to aid any of the People in need, even if she was in formal attire with a pen as a lethal weapon.
Holly reached out to find the wall of the cave, but gasped in pain as something pricked her hand. Was this place lined with daggers or something…?
Maybe it's Howler's Peak, she thought fearfully, clutching her slightly wounded hand to her chest. Maybe the Council's putting me here because of the Artemis Fowl affairs…
"No," she whispered furiously to herself, and cringed when the word echoed through the caverns, amplified until it became a near-shout.
The desperate sounds from this 'elf' silenced, and Holly could hear the primeval sound of a weapon drawn. Not good.
"Come out from your hiding place, Orc," a gruff voice rumbled, and Holly clutched the pen tighter. "Come out and meet my ax."
This time it only took a few moments for Holly to translate the crude words, although the meaning of 'Orc' was lost to her.
She bit her lip nervously, silently cursing Foaly for convincing her to try out his new gadget behind Lili's babbling back. If she hadn't pushed that stupid little button, she might not even be in this mess.
But there was the matter at hand, and whoever it was is a potential hostile. "I'm armed!" she shouted, trying to sound as brave as she could. It sounded like a kitten's attempt at a roar. "And I'm not an Orc!" She waved the silver pen aloft, hoping that it might scare him off if he could see in the perpetual dark.
A muffled oath rang out, followed by the sound of steel on rock—probably flint. A flickering light began to shine, reflected as if from far away, and although it only dimly lit the cavern it was enough to show Holly what those 'daggers' were.
All around her, jewels covered the walls, throwing rainbows across the white sand and ceiling. The cave seemed alight with the colors of million gemstones, and the rich white and rose marble that dominated that wall glowed with a life of its own. This was certainly not in Haven anymore.
"D'Arvit," she breathed, and winced again as the sound echoed loudly throughout the chamber.
The light got brighter, and from around one bejeweled corner came someone whom she least expected. A dwarf.
Actually, he resembled more of the contents of a medieval armory; in one hand he held a mighty battle-ax with an edge a bit too sharp for Holly's comfort, and in the other callused hand a flickering torch. Beneath a blaze of messy auburn hair that greatly resembled hers before she got the buzz-cut she could see a coat of bright silvery mail and a throwing-ax bandolier. It was his bright eyes that caught hers, and she could see her own astonishment reflecting in his.
Holly took the offensive, raising the small silver pen threateningly. "I'm warning you…"
The dwarf's face puckered slightly as he regarded her and then, without warning, turned away from her and began to trudge back up the corridor.
Holly looked after his retreating figure apprehensively. She had no source of light, and that thing was taking the torch with him. He seemed to know these caves better then her anyways, so…
Again cursing the dratted green skirt, she ran after the dwarf. "Wait up!" she called out, shoving the pen into her decorative black belt—another object she had come to regret. It fell right back onto the sandy floor, but she didn't notice. "Wait for me!"
When she caught up with the dwarf, she was surprised to note that he had lost any interest whatsoever in scaring her off. She knew that he was some type of warrior—those axes were too sharp for cutting mere wood—but any good fighter knew not to be off-guard with a potential hostile. Not that she would look like a hostile, especially not with the damn green skirt and silver pen in her belt.
The dwarf looked back over his shoulder, an extremely worried expression on his face. "Go away. I have better things to do then to deal with a lost Dwarven maiden."
Holly glared at the back of his snarly head. He thought she was a dwarf! "I can come along," she insisted stubbornly, choosing to ignore his incorrect assumption.
"The residential caverns are to your left, little girl," the dwarf said, jutting the head of his ax towards the left fork of a junction. He took the right. So did she.
"I don't live here," she stated, half-running to keep up with him. He was walking very fast, despite his short legs. "And I'm not a little girl; I'm eighty-four."
The dwarf snorted in disbelief. "If you're not a Dwarf and not an Elf, you'd have to be either Orc, Human, or Halfling. You don't smell like an Orc, and if you're as old as you say you are you can't be human or Halfling. Besides, you're too short."
Holly bristled. She didn't like being called short, despite her last name. "I'm an elf, in the LEPrecon division of the Lower Elements Police and—"
"And I'm a horse's rear end. If you're an Elf, you'd have to be a child and—"
He paused suddenly in the hallway, and Holly had to skid to keep herself from impaling herself on his ax. "You're an Elf?"
Holly glared at him again for good measure and crossed her arms across her chest. "Yes, and proud of it."
"Can you do magic?" he asked, sounding hopeful beneath the layer of gruffness.
She nodded, and the dwarf snatched her arm, now half-dragging her through the corridors. "I am Lord Gimli of the Aglarond. My friend and comrade Lord Legolas of Ithilian is grievously hurt, and can't do anything because of his Sea-longing—"
"Sea-longing?" Holly interrupted, nearly slamming into a large quartz crystal because of Gimli's fevered pace.
"He longs for Valinor," Gimli said quickly, and stopped short when the corridor opened up into another massive cavern.
On the floor was this 'Legolas', his fair face contorted in pain. His golden hair was askew, contrasting sharply with both his deep green tunic and white sand on the floor. There could be little doubt he was an elf by his pointed ears, but elfs were short!
Gimli half-pushed her towards the writhing figure on the floor, his voice a concerned whisper. "Do something!"
Holly took a deep breath, and bent down besides Legolas. He was very beautiful and noble-looking, ethereal and fey. His blue-gray eyes were wide and unseeing, and Holly thought she could see the power of his Sea-longing beating within them, waves upon the shores of his memory. It must be terrible to be so torn in two, to be in one place and yet yearn for another…
Sucks to be him, Holly decided concisely, and placed her hands on either side of his pale face. His elegant hands spasmed slightly as she touched him, but she held on tightly.
Heal, she willed, and felt the electric tingle of the rejuvenating blue sparks run down her arms. Heal.
And so it was; the brilliant motes of blue ran through Legolas' body, making his long limbs fly out. One arm raked her cheek, a slightly over-long nail making a long cut down her cheek. An extra azure spark moved lazily up her body and healed it, but she was too absorbed in the patient before her to notice.
His body was strange, alien to her. It was reminiscent of how humans were built, but better… it was perfect. Few scars remained due to the fast healing rate she could feel in his blood, and she could also tell he had a magic of his own, deeper and more powerful then anything she had ever seen before. The thing that the blue sparks concentrated on was something within his chest, but, whatever it was, it refused to heal. It didn't feel like a wound, but it wasn't something good either. She was positive it was this that was causing his strange state of shock.
Gimli touched her shoulder lightly, breaking her concentration only slightly. "Is he healed?" His gruff voice seemed far away, as if spoken from the depths of Atlantis to downtown Haven.
Sweat broke out on Holly's brow, and she nudged away the proffered hand. "I don't know," she gasped, and more sparks flooded from her in a liquid stream of sapphire.
"You're not an Elf!" Gimli exclaimed suddenly, and Holly felt the cold bite of his ax against her neck. "What are you doing to him?!"
"Healing him," Holly said through gritted teeth, not believing this stubborn dwarf. He was honest-to-Frond worse then Lili and Foaly! "And I am an elf!"
The blade pressed closer to her skin, shaving the hairs from the nape of her neck. "Step away from Legolas, or you shall learn of how well Dwarves forge their mithril axes!"
Holly shook her head, wincing as the ax dug deeper. She was so close! "Can't," she managed to gasp. She wouldn't be able to break the connection between her and the other elf if she had wanted to.
"YES YOU CAN!" roared Gimli, and he tried to yank Holly back from the blue-glowing Legolas. He was rewarded with a shot of electric-blue, and fell back, senseless, to the sandy floor.
The endless flood continued from Holly's taut fingers to Legolas, and the cave brightened in the brilliant blue light, throwing cool rainbows across the ground as if it were the invention of color. It was not until the last of the sparks crossed into Legolas that Holly fell back, slipping into an exhausted faint. The last thing she saw before falling into a dream of wringing Foaly's centauran neck was the concerned faces of Gimli and Legolas, looking over her…
"Mmmph," said Holly, still in the throes of a pleasant dream. So far, Foaly had several carrots whacked over his head repeatedly, Artemis Fowl had been stepped on repeatedly by an over-large troll, and Butler had been forced to watch pro-wrestling with his little sister Juliet. It was most enjoyable, in a demonic sense.
"'Mmmph' yourself. A voice at her side said grumpily, just heard over the distant roar of a waterfall. Holly opened her eyes. Except all she saw was black, punctuated by a few motes of yellow light. A blindfold?
The darkness dissipated as the smooth cloth was pulled off of her eyes, revealing a creamy green ceiling elaborately painted with a latticework of green leaves.
Holly turned onto her side, but then clutched her head when memories washed over her.
"Where am I?" she moaned, brushing back a few tendrils of hair from her aching head—long hair. But she had a buzz cut!
Two figures besides the bed glanced at each other worriedly. One, suspiciously like the dwarf she had met but cleaner, cleared his throat and shuffled around nervously in the beautiful room. "You've been asleep."
Holly snorted. "Obviously."
The tall man—no, the elf Legolas—nudged Gimli in the ribs from his chair. "Just tell her," he said. Holly was surprised to note that he was wearing a silver-green that matched the room. Was this his home?
"Tell me what?" Holly inquired, propping herself up on one elbow. She blushed slightly when she realized that she didn't remember changing onto the all-too-ladylike dusky blue nightgown.
Gimli took a deep breath. "Since healing Legolas, we haven't been able to wake you."
"And…?"
"You've been asleep for a year."
Suffice to say, Holly was not pleased. "WHAT?! I've been gone from Haven for AGES I've missed my HEARING Artemis Fowl probably pulled another STUNT—" The rant ended abruptly when she clapped her small hands to her head. "And I'm 85! I'm an old crone! AAAAH!"
Legolas bent over the bed, and pressed an elegant finger to Holly's forehead. White light flashed, and Holly suddenly collapsed onto the bed, her face abnormally calm and peaceful.
"She didn't take the news very well," Gimli stated, bringing one of the cool white sheets to cover the snoring officer.
Legolas snorted. "To quote a very wise woman, 'obviously'."
"She's a Dwarf."
"Elf."
"Whatever."
And the pair watched as Holly snored, a small dribble of drool trickling out of the corner of her tart mouth. Gimli stared at her a little overlong, earning another nudge in the ribs from Legolas. "Should Galadriel be jealous?" the wood-Elf teased.
Gimli nudged him considerably harder. "No one could ever compete with the Lady Galadriel," he said loftily, brushing imaginary dust particles from his chain mail. He had already polished it this morning in hopes of Holly awakening.
Legolas winked at Gimli—a habit picked up from the rangers of Ithilian. "I do believe Lord Celeborn no longer had need to be envious."
Gimli said something indistinct deep within his throat, and waddled out of the room. Legolas was left looking thoughtfully after the Dwarf, and then back towards Holly.
In her long coma she had cried out many times, calling for her lost father as a child in fear, calling out for her friends 'Root' and 'Foaly', and, most of all, for blood-curdling vengeance against Artemis Fowl. She had earned Legolas' and Gimli's respect as she spilled out her life's tale in the throes of her nightmares, and the wonder of the other Elves in Ithilian.
He smiled slightly, and dabbed cool water onto her forehead with a damp cloth. She murmured some curse, 'D'Arvit', beneath her breath and her eyelids trembled as she fought imaginary foes in a distant dream.
Gimli had barely left her side after they dragged her sleeping body from Aglarond, feeling guilty that he was the one who caused her coma. When it had become clear that Dwarven medicine would not heal her, Legolas brought her to his colony in fair Ithilian. She had, after all, saved him from the strange state of shock with her queer magic.
Even his Elven healers from his father's court in Mirkwood had been unable to bring her from her sleep. King Elessar Telcontar himself, once known as his mellon Aragorn, had visited Amon-Hen, where Legolas kept court. He had tried to raise the by then legendary 'sleeping beauty', but even athelas had been unable to rouse her.
His slight smile broadened when Gimli reentered the room, carrying a bounty of Elven food undoubtedly stolen from the kitchens. He was as nearly enchanted by the strange Elf-Dwarf as the local bards by her, barely having left her side for the entire year.
Gimli scowled at the Elf-lord after he settled the tray at Holly's bedside. "What?! Is it so wrong to care for a fellow Dwarf?" The one thing they could not agree on about her was what she was; she was as short and uncouth as a Dwarf, but her face was of Elven descent, pointed ears and all.
Legolas smirked, running an elegant hand through his silver-blonde hair. "So you do care for her?" he teased.
Gimli reddened noticeably. "Not in that way," he mumbled eventually. "But we Dwarves have to stick together with evil Elves like you running about."
"How close?"
"I heard that! Anyways, birds of a feather flock together. It's a golden rule."
Legolas snickered, and dabbed at her sweaty forehead again with the white cloth. "Don't insult the lady, dear Gimli. It's not a kind thing to do."
"Hey!"
No tales tell of Captain Holly Short in Middle-Earth; perhaps she returned home to Haven and faded from the tavern-halls into a classic ballad. Or perhaps she stayed in fair Ithilian, wedding Gimli son of Glóin and returning as his bride to the GlitteringCaves of Aglarond. Think what you well, and bear in mind the tale of Sleeping Beauty.
No, I am not a Gimli fangirl. If anyone, I like Celebrimbor (Telpy, you did not just read that.)
Also, there will be no sequel, even if it does call for one.
The companion to this is 'Sea-shells by the Sea-shore', found in my 'In Search of Wisdom' collection (The Pit does not allow links, unfortunately.)
If anyone is interested in editing it—this is far from perfect—feel free to email me.
Here are the reviews from the old posting:
mirkwoodmage (Signed)
NO.NOT.HOLLY!She.CAN.NOT.MARRY.Gimli.EVIL.AUTHOR!
NatzandtheRatz (Signed)
heh. brilliant! Whoo a Gimli fangirl! I knew there had to be one out there somewhere... Anyhoo, gr8 fic!
Natz
Kelsey (Anonymous)
I'm confused. This is good. I've never heard of a story where Holly falls into Middle Earth.
COME ON! you can take this so much further. what would life be like for her in ME? What would happen? This is Holly Short. Trouble is sure to follow.(and I don't meant the kelp kind)
Holly and GIMLI? WOW. I didn't expect that. I was expecting Holly/Legolas. They would make a cute, if not odd couple. Sort of like an elf and a hobbit. At least they're both immortal. sort of.
write more. this can become so good! Holly in ME? good fic ahead. IF you take the challenge and continue this fic. or at least write a sequel.
Techy El Nerd (Signed)
Funny and weird, and it actually made some sense to me because I just re-reached Mount Doom with Frodo and Sam. Some things I didn't understand though, probably for the same reason. (I'm astounded how much I forgot, I had said that the movie was good, but the book was better, but now that I'm re-reading it I need to rephrase that. The movie was crap compared to the book.)
ADSpencer (Signed)
Ha! That was fun!
Dalamar Nightson (Signed)
This is really good! It's funny, and well written as well, and shows deep knowledge of both series. Congratulations, and I hope you write more.
Namárië,
Nallasariel the Weeper