Chapter 2
LotR?
About 200 people had come into the shop, up 20 from the usual. Perhaps the Treebeard statue was actually creating some publicity. Or perhaps this story had gotten more of the plebs interested in medieval things as a whole; either way, Darryl was nicer than usual. During one of the breaks in customers Darryl recounted a sketchy version of this Lord of the Rings, one heavy on blood and fighting but low on story. So Esgalmir still had no idea about how close it was to history. Despite what he had decided right after hearing about it, Esgalmir still felt uneasy. Now back in his apartment, he wondered if he should contact one of the other Elves in the city. They probably knew all about the story and who had told it, and would snicker at his utter confusion. He decided to deal with it himself, although he did want to know just who had told the story. Tonight he would contact one of the others, probably Malfinien; she lived nearby, in Charleston, and talked the most of the nearby Elves.
Right now, though, it was time for his other life. Without needing to sleep as humans do, Esgalmir spent most nights on the Internet. The only thing the Elves really feared was the space program: none of the ships that ran into the Straight Road ever came back. Esgalmir wished he could find the Straight Road, but all he knew was that it was somewhere in the so-called Bermuda Triangle, and anyway, he wasn't entirely sure if Sylvan Elves would be accepted. NASA had already discovered one of the girdles the Valar placed between Arda and the Blessed Realm, although they called it the Van Allen belt, and they could pass it safely. If a shuttle were to pass into the Straight Road, what would happen?
Esgalmir didn't entirely understand the Road, so he just knew that there was a danger. Clearly, one end was fixed to the earth, but although it went "straight," it couldn't go straight into space and to a destination in this world: the humans would have discovered it already. What if it was more like a portal, one of those supposed "wormholes"? A rocket passing into it would simply disappear. Elvish ships could return, he knew that one at least had done so, but what would happen to a rocket that hit the portal? Snap immediately into the Blessed Realm, he supposed, at some incredible speed, and smash into Tol Eressëa and kill who knew how many Elves. NASA would freak out over totally losing a spacecraft and would probably devote years to figuring out what had happened. And if there was anything there to be detected by their means, they would certainly find it and send another, more careful expedition there. The men would make it through, find out about Valinor, and possibly even make it back to Earth. Then what? Esgalmir didn't know, but he couldn't see how it could possibly be good.
So he checked the Web even more carefully tonight. He sent an innocuous e-mail to Malfinien, asking to meet sometime, and then searched for websites with "Lord of the Rings."
He got another nasty shock- the web was full of Lord of the Rings, a very nearly accurate account of the War of the Ring. Not only that, but the tales of the First Age appeared too, as well as many confused accounts and twisted versions of events. There was also a story about the Quest of Erebor, what Esgalmir considered the most interesting of the Dwarvish tales- although, unlike the version Esgalmir had heard in Dale, it focused on the hobbit instead of Thorin. He couldn't see how he had missed it for nearly 50 years; too much high-level searching, focusing on space instead of watching out for "Elf sightings."
Esgalmir sat back from the computer, emotionally drained. He felt foolish and blind, to have not seen any of this, and he resolved to contact Balimar immediately. Balimar lived in France currently, and was the nearest thing to an Elf King now. He took care of all the contact information, and whenever there was a serious decision to be made, he was the one who ended up making it. Esgalmir no longer cared if he looked foolish, he just wanted to know what to do.
Esgalmir hesitated only a moment before sending an e-mail to Balimar, then went to bed. He may not have needed much sleep, but he had to have some, and sleeping was always good for bringing advice and ideas.