A/N: This is my first attempt at a Lord of the Rings story… This should prove to be interesting… MANY THANKS TO KATIE!!! She's my beta reader, she can read dwarvish runes. Katie is my hero!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Lord of the Rings… in fact, I don't own anything but a collection of duct tape clothing, and some student loans…
Waves hi to Kennyon and Sami
Blissful slumber. Oh, how I love thee! Lilly smiled as she just started to wake up. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. No work, just a free day to do whatever she wanted to. She heard a faint noise, and still groggy, started to open her eyes to see what it was. She gasped and sat up. There was someone in her room, and whoever he was, had a sword, and it was pointed at her. She scurried as far back against the wall, as far away from the sharp point of the blade as possible.
"What manner of trickery is this?" the stranger asked, the intensity in his eyes never wavering. He, oddly enough, was wearing some sort of armor, and had dark brown hair that hung down to his chin. He was in some sort of battle stance, like he was about to be attacked.
"I don't... what are you talking about?" Lilly stammered, thinking that the man before her looked familiar.
"What is this place, and what is the magic it holds me with?" He demanded, his eye contact still, intensely held.
"What are you doing in my house? Who are you?" Lilly demanded, her eyes darting around the room, looking for any escape, or weapon she could use against the man.
"I know not why I am here, or how it is that I have arrived... I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Most call me Strider." He stated.
"What?" she protested. Wait, where do I know that name from? she asked herself, looking at him more closely. Her eyes flicked over to the small tv/vcr that was at the foot of her bed, and the Lord of the Rings movie box that sat propped against a small stack of movies on the table that held the tv.
She narrowed her eyes at him, and said, "You can put your sword down, I'm not going to hurt you." She figured her friends had put some actor up to this. And if that was so, he did a great job with the makeup, he looked seamlessly like the real thing.
He nodded at her, and slipped his weapon back into its sheath hanging at his side.
Lilly stood next to her bed, and looked up at the man again, and picked up her movie box, and compared the pictures.
He looked at her like she was crazy. Never in his life had he seen a woman so interestingly dressed. She was wearing pants, for one thing, and they did not look like they would be insulated against any sort of weather. That, and they had funny drawings of animals on them. He had never seen anyone in a tunic the likes of this one.
"Mr. Strider, can I get you to wait outside the room so I can change out of my pajamas? Then we can have our conversation." She asked him, tossing the movie box onto her bed, and opening her bedroom door.
He nodded wordlessly, and stepped out into the hallway. "I shall wait here " he informed her, leaning on the wall.
I must be dreaming Lilly whispered to herself, shaking her head as she dug through her clothes for something to wear. My friends are such dorks! I suppose I'll play along. she smiled as she gathered her clothes. Pulling back the curtain from the window, she noticed a few menacing clouds in the sky, so she opted for thick denim jeans, and a long sleeved shirt, topped off with her favorite hoodie. After putting her curly brown hair back into a ponytail, and pulling on her shoes, she opened the door, expecting the stranger to have disappeared into thin air. He was still there though, and he was watching her, waiting for her to say something.
"Um... Ya hungry? I'm gonna get some breakfast." She said, motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen.
She rummaged through the fridge, and pulled out a measuring bowl that contained leftover pancake batter from the night before. One of the perks of living alone was that you could have pancakes whenever you wanted to, and no one could tell you no. Lilly lived in her little house by herself, and truly enjoyed the freedom of eating breakfast at dinner time. Lilly was a free spirit, and had been itching to move out on her own since she was twelve. She finally had the chance five months ago, when her boss gave her a raise. She had worked there for a year, and they really liked her. It was a relatively large Chiropractor's office, and she worked as a masseuse. It had killed her that she had to live in her parent's basement until she was 19.
"Please, sit down." she offered to Strider as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen/ dining room.
"What is this place?" he asked her, looking all around the kitchen as he walked over to the table and sat in a chair.
"It's my kitchen." She informed him with a shake of her head. He really is a good actor... she thought to herself as she pulled the correct pan from the cupboard.
"Aren't you uncomfortable in that getup? I mean, no one wears that kind of thing." she stated.
"I could ask the same of you." He said with conviction. "Never in all my days have I seen a woman dressed in such things."
"What are you talking about? If you walk anywhere around here, you see tons of women dressed like this!" She said as she flipped a pancake over in the skillet.
"What is that you are doing?" he asked, walking over to the stove.
"Cooking pancakes." She said
He reached his hand out to touch the stove, and she shrieked at him, "Don't touch that, it'll burn you!"
He pulled his hand away, and looked at her with a questioning look.
"It's like fire!" She said, exasperated. This acting thing is going too far! What an idiot.
He held his hand out, and hovered it over the burner, feeling the heat. "Where did you learn your magic?" he asked, astounded.
"It's not magic at all! Now, open that cupboard right there, and get me a plate."
He did as he was told, fingering the daisy printed design around the outside of it before passing it to her.
Using her spatula, she flipped the pancake onto the plate, spooned a chunk of butter onto it from the container next to her on the counter, and handed it to him. As she poured some more batter on the hot skillet, she told him, silverware's in the top drawer, and the syrup's on the table, go ahead and eat, you don't have to wait for me."
He looked strangely at the plate, and did as he was told, grabbing a fork and sitting down at the table. Since her back was to him, she wasn't watching, so he leaned over the plate, and sniffed the food. He had seen different breads, but none just like this one. Using his fork, he swirled the melting butter around the pancake. The Syrup was sitting right in front of him, and since there was a picture of pancakes on the front of it, smothered in syrup, he drizzled a little bit in one spot, and cut out a bite with his fork. Finding it to his liking, he poured enough on to cover his food.
Since the skillet was already hot, it didn't take Lilly too long to get her own plate ready, and she sat down next to him.
"Geez, you hungry or something?" she asked him as he was eating as fast as he could.
"I'm not hungry, I'm starving." he stated, before filling his mouth again.
With a laugh, she poured the syrup on her own pancake, and started eating.
As they sat in silence while they both ate, Lilly studied the stranger. She didn't notice it before, but the man looked... tired. His hair was greasy, and his hands, face, and clothing were dirty. She didn't know when the last time he had eaten was, but she guessed it had been awhile. She suddenly got an uneasy feeling that he really hadn't done any serious eating in a long time.
After she had sat down, he had slowed his eating, so that he would not be finished before she had made a noticeable dent in hers.
"Would you like something to drink? I have milk or water." she asked him.
"Milk, if it isn't any trouble." he said in between bites.
Shaking her head, she said "It's no trouble at all." as she grabbed 2 glasses out of the cupboard and the milk from the fridge, and filled the glasses to the top.
He drank deeply, and drained half the glass in one gulp, before setting it back on the table.
After they had both finished their first pancakes, she made one more, for each of them. They were thick and fluffy, cooked to perfection, which was the way Lilly liked them.
"When was the last time you have eaten a real meal?" she asked him.
"My companions and I have been traveling for many days, and our food was lost a fortnight ago in the river that we crossed."
"A fortnight? Dude, that's two weeks!" She exclaimed. "You haven't eaten in two weeks?" Awww, he's homeless... and him and his friends are starving!
"We have scrounged for what little edible vegetation we could find, we were not completely without food." he defended. "And what is 'dude'?"
"Dude is kinda like saying 'hey'" she quickly explained as she stood up and started opening cupboards and the fridge, setting things on the counter. "Tell me about your companions."
"Ah, one of normal height, one of medium sized height, and two little'uns."Strider stated, trying to be vague.
Awww, they have children with them! She thought as she gathered some food together. "I'll put together a care package for you."
"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't think that's necessary." he said, shaking his head.
"I have plenty, I'll even get a bag to put it all in." She said, walking over to the coat closet in the living room. She grabbed her old school backpack, and filled it to capacity with as many non-perishable foods as she could fit in there, and a can opener for the cans of soup.
Looking at her watch, Lilly said, "Oh, I have some errands to run, we better leave." she said quickly, putting their plates in the sink, and grabbing her coat from the closet.
"Where am I supposed to go? I don't know where I am!" He stated.
"Here" she said, handing him the backpack laden with food. "Don't worry, everything will all be fine." She said, with plans to take him to a homeless shelter to talk to someone.
She grabbed her beanie cap, keys and purse from the table next to the door, and opened the door, and ushered him out. She followed him, and closed the door, and slid her key into the lock.
She looked over her shoulder at him, and gasped. Her front yard was gone. It looked like the forest had swallowed it! Before she had realized that she was leaning on her keys in the lock, her arm fell, and she almost lost her balance. She looked back at her door, and screamed. Her house was gone, and was replaced by a clearing in the woods.
"Ah, now I know where I'm at!" Strider commented, looking around him.
"AAAUUUGGGHHHH!!!" Lilly screamed when reality set in. "I'm lost!"
"What?" Strider said, turning around. "Strange... " He commented.
"I suppose this means you're going with me. Come, let's go find my comrades." he urged.
Her eyes still wide with shock, she nodded. Dropping her keys into her purse, she followed. Before too long, they came upon another clearing with a large boulder sitting in the middle of it. Around the boulder sat a few packs and blankets, and on the boulder sat a dwarf with a reddish brown beard, and a helmet on. He was polishing his battle axe with a rag.
The dwarf looked up at the sound of footsteps, and asked, with a puzzled expression, "Where 'ave you been? Who's this?"
"There is a strong magic in these woods that I know nothing about. I know not who controls it. We should break camp and leave immediately."
"What happened?" questioned a voice above their heads.
Before Lilly could ask Strider who that was, a form landed beside her in a crouched position soundlessly on the grass. He straightened, and Lilly was looking into the eyes of a tall, willowy elf with long blonde hair.
"ACK!!! You scared me!" Lilly exclaimed
"My apologies." Legolas said, before turning to Strider. "What is this strong magic you speak of?"
"I'm not sure, but it's pressing that we leave" Strider started, before slipping into the elvish language, and walked away with Legolas.
"Blast those halflings and their messy habits!" Gimli grumbled, putting everything back in his pack .
Two short stocky forms jumped out of the woods, "You called?"
"Clean your mess, we're leaving!" Gimli ordered.
"It looks as if we're going without second breakfast again, Pip"
"Pippin, Merry, hurry, we have to leave quickly!" prompted Gimli.
"Who're you?" Merry asked, looking at Lilly.
"Um, I'm Lilly… I don't know where I am…" she said, still confused.
Both hobbits rushed over to her, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you!" insisted Pippin.
"No, I will!" argued Merry.
"But I saw her first, it's my responsibility!" said Pippin, nodding his head.
"Since when has either of you been concerned about responsibility?" Gimli asked, before he pointed to their pile of belongings. "Now get your things together, do you want them to be left behind?"