Disclaimer: Alright, again, we don't own anything you recognize. If you
don't recognize.it's probably ours. And since we love you all so much, we
decided to give you two chappies! We know.just can't contain the
excitement. Right, on with the fun adventure! Enjoy!
"Great. Just wonderful. Now what do we do?" asked Tala as she glared at the small window in the door.
"Well," Nerina said as she slowly sat onto one of the two cots (the only furniture in the room), "we could enjoy ourselves."
Tala turned and raised an eyebrow, her face easily asking How?
Nerina simply reached into her pack and took out the scotch. Tala's eyes brightened and after taking a handy-dandy pack of playing cards from her bag, sat on the foot of the cot and dealt a hand of five card draw. They sat there for quite a while, and using the feeble light provided by the high, grated window of the cell, played a million games of poker, Crazy Eights, and Go Fish, at the same time getting happily buzzed from the bottle of Scotch.
They were on their eleventh game of Go Fish when they heard the tumblers in the door shift and then the door opened. They twisted to face the door, and watched a tall, old man walk through. His hair and beard were white, even his robe and walking stick were, but he looked in the prime of life and quite healthy. Definitely not feeble. Tala cocked her head toward her friend and saw the gleam of interest in her blue eyes. Before the man, and yes, he was a HU-man, or at least he had rounded ears, could say anything, Nerina asked, "Are you our lawyer?"
His eyes widened a little in surprise and Tala burst into laughter. Nerina soon did, but their amusement quieted when they saw the man standing there with his arms crossed and a stern, yet puzzled, look on his face. He began to speak, but as neither had a clue as to what he was saying, they simply looked at him then turned back to their game.
"Well, I guess he won't understand either. Have any queens?" Tala said.
"Yeah, guess not. And no, go fish," Nerina grinned.
Tala drew and the man seemed to switch languages. Nothing.
"Got any twos Tala?"
"Yeah," she grumbled as she tossed the card over. "How do you always win at Go Fish?"
Another language. Same result.
"The same way you always win at poker," Nerina grinned, placing another pair of cards on her already giant stack.
"Are you two just going to ignore me the WHOLE time?" a voice bellowed from the doorway.
Cards flew into the air as the girls turned to the old man in surprise. He stood there seemingly angry, arms akimbo and glaring.
"You speak English?" Nerina questioned, amazed.
The glare didn't stop. Sheesh, what's with the people and glaring all the time, Tala thought. "No," his rich voice answered curlty, "but I do speak Aslogthian, the language of a distant tribe of men. But the language is almost forgotten as the tribe now barely exists, for only few are ever seen at the borders of their lands. So the fact that you can speak it and dress so...strangely, opens many questions. Ones which must be answered so we know what to do with you. So gather you things, and we will go see the king."
"I really don't like the sound of 'what to do with', Nerina. This could get ugly. Got that warrior ensemble hidden somewhere?" Tala whispered as they gathered the cards and bags.
"Yeah, right where it always is. You?" Nerina answered.
Tala snorted softly, "Always."
They finished and turned toward Mr. White, who walked out and to the right. Several guards fell in step behind the trio, but they were ignored. They followed him, soon climbing a different set of stairs, passing through very long hallways with lots of doors, and a few gardens, the last of which Nerina had to be dragged from, to the amusement of the guards and even Mr. White. They finally came to a huge room. At the other end of the room was a throne upon a dias, a fairly high one (it had five steps up), and upon that was a man. No, elf. He was just as striking as all the elves they had been captured by, but he was more mature looking, especially with a beautiful silver and gold crown, which looked both delicate and powerful, on his golden head. Both ladies simply stared when they came close enough. The king looked around and called a word, someone's name they decided, and a door opened to admit a hurrying elf who quickly climbed the dias to stand to the right of the king. Both women looked at each other, confirming that it was Archer #1. Mr White began to talk rapidly to the king, who nodded as he looked at the women curiously. Archer #1 did the same, but Tala and Nerina ignored them and looked around. Nerina opened her mouth to comment on the tapestries as Tala began to unzip her jacket, for it was warmer in the throne room that it had been in the dungeon, when a voice startled them.
"What are you doing?" Archer #1 asked, watching Tala and effectively halting the conversation between the king and Mr. White.
"Don't do that!" Nerina cried, startled as Tala looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, "Taking off my jacket."
The man looked shocked, and Archer #1 quickly descended the dias striding towards the two. They stepped back, but he grabbed the edges of the jacket and holding them shut, proceeded to drag Tala from the room, all the while saying something like "improper" and "undressing in front of men." Or at least he tried to drag her from the room. He soon realized he wasn't getting very far, for Tala had dug her heels in, and being 5'10" (at the moment 6'1" with the boots) wasn't that easy to move, and Nerina had grabbed her around the waist, adding her 5'9" frame for leverage.
"And just what do you think you are doing?" Tala inquired icily.
"You cannot disrobe in front of these men so I was going to take you into an anteroom where you could readjust your clothing," he answered slowly, as if speaking to a child.
Nerina's and Tala's eyes widened, and both burst into laughter. He stood stunned, while the other men shifted uncomfortably, thinking they had gone mad.
Still grinning, Tala said, "It's just a jacket and I had no intention of doing a striptease."
"Yeah, you did that a month ago at David's party," Nerina said cheekily.
Tala elbowed her gently, "Yup, but even you admit that until I did it was lame party."
Nerina nodded, and Tala, with a quick swipe of her hands, dislodged Archer #1's grip and took a step back. He looked surprised again, as did the others with the exception of Mr. White and the king, who both just looked amused. Nerina let go of Tala's waist, readjusting her green head scarf, and Tala removed her jacket, silently daring anyone to say anything. When neither heard a sound, they looked around to find all eyes on Tala's shirt. Black with a deadly blue flame pattern seeming to reach up from her waist, the silk shimmered and hugged her body.
"Good job Tala. At least now we know how to shut them up," Nerina whispered with a stifled laugh.
Tala smirked, then sighed, and swiftly clapped her hands, loudly. The guys seemed to snap out of a trance, Archer #1 being the last to do so (he got a nasty look for that) and all eyes turned toward Mr. White, who cleared his throat. The king said something, and Mr. White answered, and they both turned to look at the women, who stood looking right back at them.
"Ladies," the king began quietly, "could you tell us where you are from and why you are here?"
Nerina answered first, "Where is here?"
"The throne room of Elven King Thranduil, Kingdom of Mirkwood, the realm of Middle Earth," Mr. White answered with a trace of amusement.
Nerina was about to answer, but stopped when her arm was grabbed by Tala, who, ashen faced, asked in a choked voice, "Did he just say Mirkwood?! Middle Earth?"
Nerina nodded, but the nods slowed as she fully understood. Tala too slowly nodded, whispering, "The books. Freshman year, high school. O God, those talked about Middle Earth..."
Nerina also paled, "So...we are in that dimension?!"
"I think so." Tala scrambled to remember, and Nerina did the same. "The man in white...o jeez, that's no fancy cane, it's a magi's staff!"
Nerina quickly said the name she remembered, "Gandalf?!"
The wizard looked at them surprised, as did everyone else. They watched in further amazement as the women sank gracefully, well...sort of, to the floor, looking stunned.
"'Rina, I know there was a bottle of Polish Vodka. Fork it over," Tala said shakily, holding out her hand.
Nerina nodded dazed, and after opening the bottle and taking a shot, handed it to Tala who did the same.
Reopening her eyes after the bite of vodka lessened, Tala slowly said, "You're Gandalf the White? And this is Middle Earth?" At his nod, both women took another sip. Then, switching to Spanish, quickly decided what to do.
"T think we should tell them," Nerina said.
"Humph. Fine, but I'm keeping my knives handy. They were stupid not to search us," Tala decreed with a wolfish grin.
Recapping the bottle and stuffing it in a bag, they stood.
Nerina cleared her throat and began to speak:
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous. Ouch, what?" she asked in a hurt tone, rubbing her arm.
"Wrong speech!" hissed Tala.
"Oh, my bad," Nerina said sheepishly.
"Try again," Tala encouraged.
"Alright then," she stood up straight and smiled at her audience. "Gentlemen, my name is Nerina and this is my dear friend Tala. We come from the land of Virginia in the realm of Earth. Consider us to be scholars and," she winked at Tala, "Connoisseurs of life's pleasures. Last night, after leaving a celebration, we fell asleep in a forest clearing and when we woke up this morning, we found ourselves in your world." She raised her hands calmly, "We come in peace and we seek no quarrel with you. Although we are strangers to this world, we have read great tales of Middle Earth in our youth, particularly concerning a war and a quest to destroy the ring of power."
At the mention of the ring, Gandalf, Archer #1, and Thranduil looked at each other in amazement.
"Gandalf, can this be true?" asked Mr. Archer.
"Of course it's true," Tala said in annoyance. "Why would we lie about it?"
Thranduil frowned slightly at his son and smiled at Tala, "Forgive my son's impertinence, Lady Tala, he meant no offense, I'm sure."
Tala grinned, "Oh, that's quite all right your Highness."
"Well," Gandalf said thoughtfully, "I suppose the most important thing to do is to discover how exactly you came to our world. Until then, you will remain here in the palace."
"Oh, I see," Nerina said in a slightly disappointed tone, "Come on Tala, back to the dungeons with us."
Thranduil chuckled at her statement, "No, no, Lady Nerina. You and Lady Tala are now our honored guests. You will be provided with more suitable quarters and your every need will be attended to."
Tala and Nerina looked at each other and grinned before running up to the dais and shaking the king's hand, thanking him profusely. This earned them several incredulous stares and some nervous whispering from the guards.
"Sheesh, see Rina, Even in Middle Earth men can't deal with a woman shaking their hand!" The two girls rolled their eyes and sashayed out of the throne room.
"What strange young ladies," Thranduil said mystified, staring at his thoroughly shaken hands.
"Ladies?!" the Prince said in disbelief. "Is that what they are?"
"They certainly are.different," Gandalf mused aloud, staring at the door the two had just exited through.
"Father, where exactly are they going?" inquired Legolas (A/N: everyone got it? Archer #1=elven prince=Legolas.yay), looking from the closed doors to his father.
For one second the elf (as well as everyone else in the room) were surprised by such an obvious thought. Thranduil recovered and after a moment's consideration motioned to the door, "Follow them, and they are to be housed in the twin rooms in the guest wing. Make sure they make it to tonight's banquet." He stood and swept out of the room through a different door.
Legolas stared after, slack jawed, and finally said, "How did I get stuck babysitting?"
Gandalf chuckled and clapped a hand on the elf's shoulder. " I will help you bear this burden."
Both laughed, and moved to follow their two unusual guests.
A/N: Please hit the review button!!!! Pllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssse?? Right, umm.got any ?s or comments...leave a review! Yay! We hope you loved it and thanx for reading!
"Great. Just wonderful. Now what do we do?" asked Tala as she glared at the small window in the door.
"Well," Nerina said as she slowly sat onto one of the two cots (the only furniture in the room), "we could enjoy ourselves."
Tala turned and raised an eyebrow, her face easily asking How?
Nerina simply reached into her pack and took out the scotch. Tala's eyes brightened and after taking a handy-dandy pack of playing cards from her bag, sat on the foot of the cot and dealt a hand of five card draw. They sat there for quite a while, and using the feeble light provided by the high, grated window of the cell, played a million games of poker, Crazy Eights, and Go Fish, at the same time getting happily buzzed from the bottle of Scotch.
They were on their eleventh game of Go Fish when they heard the tumblers in the door shift and then the door opened. They twisted to face the door, and watched a tall, old man walk through. His hair and beard were white, even his robe and walking stick were, but he looked in the prime of life and quite healthy. Definitely not feeble. Tala cocked her head toward her friend and saw the gleam of interest in her blue eyes. Before the man, and yes, he was a HU-man, or at least he had rounded ears, could say anything, Nerina asked, "Are you our lawyer?"
His eyes widened a little in surprise and Tala burst into laughter. Nerina soon did, but their amusement quieted when they saw the man standing there with his arms crossed and a stern, yet puzzled, look on his face. He began to speak, but as neither had a clue as to what he was saying, they simply looked at him then turned back to their game.
"Well, I guess he won't understand either. Have any queens?" Tala said.
"Yeah, guess not. And no, go fish," Nerina grinned.
Tala drew and the man seemed to switch languages. Nothing.
"Got any twos Tala?"
"Yeah," she grumbled as she tossed the card over. "How do you always win at Go Fish?"
Another language. Same result.
"The same way you always win at poker," Nerina grinned, placing another pair of cards on her already giant stack.
"Are you two just going to ignore me the WHOLE time?" a voice bellowed from the doorway.
Cards flew into the air as the girls turned to the old man in surprise. He stood there seemingly angry, arms akimbo and glaring.
"You speak English?" Nerina questioned, amazed.
The glare didn't stop. Sheesh, what's with the people and glaring all the time, Tala thought. "No," his rich voice answered curlty, "but I do speak Aslogthian, the language of a distant tribe of men. But the language is almost forgotten as the tribe now barely exists, for only few are ever seen at the borders of their lands. So the fact that you can speak it and dress so...strangely, opens many questions. Ones which must be answered so we know what to do with you. So gather you things, and we will go see the king."
"I really don't like the sound of 'what to do with', Nerina. This could get ugly. Got that warrior ensemble hidden somewhere?" Tala whispered as they gathered the cards and bags.
"Yeah, right where it always is. You?" Nerina answered.
Tala snorted softly, "Always."
They finished and turned toward Mr. White, who walked out and to the right. Several guards fell in step behind the trio, but they were ignored. They followed him, soon climbing a different set of stairs, passing through very long hallways with lots of doors, and a few gardens, the last of which Nerina had to be dragged from, to the amusement of the guards and even Mr. White. They finally came to a huge room. At the other end of the room was a throne upon a dias, a fairly high one (it had five steps up), and upon that was a man. No, elf. He was just as striking as all the elves they had been captured by, but he was more mature looking, especially with a beautiful silver and gold crown, which looked both delicate and powerful, on his golden head. Both ladies simply stared when they came close enough. The king looked around and called a word, someone's name they decided, and a door opened to admit a hurrying elf who quickly climbed the dias to stand to the right of the king. Both women looked at each other, confirming that it was Archer #1. Mr White began to talk rapidly to the king, who nodded as he looked at the women curiously. Archer #1 did the same, but Tala and Nerina ignored them and looked around. Nerina opened her mouth to comment on the tapestries as Tala began to unzip her jacket, for it was warmer in the throne room that it had been in the dungeon, when a voice startled them.
"What are you doing?" Archer #1 asked, watching Tala and effectively halting the conversation between the king and Mr. White.
"Don't do that!" Nerina cried, startled as Tala looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, "Taking off my jacket."
The man looked shocked, and Archer #1 quickly descended the dias striding towards the two. They stepped back, but he grabbed the edges of the jacket and holding them shut, proceeded to drag Tala from the room, all the while saying something like "improper" and "undressing in front of men." Or at least he tried to drag her from the room. He soon realized he wasn't getting very far, for Tala had dug her heels in, and being 5'10" (at the moment 6'1" with the boots) wasn't that easy to move, and Nerina had grabbed her around the waist, adding her 5'9" frame for leverage.
"And just what do you think you are doing?" Tala inquired icily.
"You cannot disrobe in front of these men so I was going to take you into an anteroom where you could readjust your clothing," he answered slowly, as if speaking to a child.
Nerina's and Tala's eyes widened, and both burst into laughter. He stood stunned, while the other men shifted uncomfortably, thinking they had gone mad.
Still grinning, Tala said, "It's just a jacket and I had no intention of doing a striptease."
"Yeah, you did that a month ago at David's party," Nerina said cheekily.
Tala elbowed her gently, "Yup, but even you admit that until I did it was lame party."
Nerina nodded, and Tala, with a quick swipe of her hands, dislodged Archer #1's grip and took a step back. He looked surprised again, as did the others with the exception of Mr. White and the king, who both just looked amused. Nerina let go of Tala's waist, readjusting her green head scarf, and Tala removed her jacket, silently daring anyone to say anything. When neither heard a sound, they looked around to find all eyes on Tala's shirt. Black with a deadly blue flame pattern seeming to reach up from her waist, the silk shimmered and hugged her body.
"Good job Tala. At least now we know how to shut them up," Nerina whispered with a stifled laugh.
Tala smirked, then sighed, and swiftly clapped her hands, loudly. The guys seemed to snap out of a trance, Archer #1 being the last to do so (he got a nasty look for that) and all eyes turned toward Mr. White, who cleared his throat. The king said something, and Mr. White answered, and they both turned to look at the women, who stood looking right back at them.
"Ladies," the king began quietly, "could you tell us where you are from and why you are here?"
Nerina answered first, "Where is here?"
"The throne room of Elven King Thranduil, Kingdom of Mirkwood, the realm of Middle Earth," Mr. White answered with a trace of amusement.
Nerina was about to answer, but stopped when her arm was grabbed by Tala, who, ashen faced, asked in a choked voice, "Did he just say Mirkwood?! Middle Earth?"
Nerina nodded, but the nods slowed as she fully understood. Tala too slowly nodded, whispering, "The books. Freshman year, high school. O God, those talked about Middle Earth..."
Nerina also paled, "So...we are in that dimension?!"
"I think so." Tala scrambled to remember, and Nerina did the same. "The man in white...o jeez, that's no fancy cane, it's a magi's staff!"
Nerina quickly said the name she remembered, "Gandalf?!"
The wizard looked at them surprised, as did everyone else. They watched in further amazement as the women sank gracefully, well...sort of, to the floor, looking stunned.
"'Rina, I know there was a bottle of Polish Vodka. Fork it over," Tala said shakily, holding out her hand.
Nerina nodded dazed, and after opening the bottle and taking a shot, handed it to Tala who did the same.
Reopening her eyes after the bite of vodka lessened, Tala slowly said, "You're Gandalf the White? And this is Middle Earth?" At his nod, both women took another sip. Then, switching to Spanish, quickly decided what to do.
"T think we should tell them," Nerina said.
"Humph. Fine, but I'm keeping my knives handy. They were stupid not to search us," Tala decreed with a wolfish grin.
Recapping the bottle and stuffing it in a bag, they stood.
Nerina cleared her throat and began to speak:
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous. Ouch, what?" she asked in a hurt tone, rubbing her arm.
"Wrong speech!" hissed Tala.
"Oh, my bad," Nerina said sheepishly.
"Try again," Tala encouraged.
"Alright then," she stood up straight and smiled at her audience. "Gentlemen, my name is Nerina and this is my dear friend Tala. We come from the land of Virginia in the realm of Earth. Consider us to be scholars and," she winked at Tala, "Connoisseurs of life's pleasures. Last night, after leaving a celebration, we fell asleep in a forest clearing and when we woke up this morning, we found ourselves in your world." She raised her hands calmly, "We come in peace and we seek no quarrel with you. Although we are strangers to this world, we have read great tales of Middle Earth in our youth, particularly concerning a war and a quest to destroy the ring of power."
At the mention of the ring, Gandalf, Archer #1, and Thranduil looked at each other in amazement.
"Gandalf, can this be true?" asked Mr. Archer.
"Of course it's true," Tala said in annoyance. "Why would we lie about it?"
Thranduil frowned slightly at his son and smiled at Tala, "Forgive my son's impertinence, Lady Tala, he meant no offense, I'm sure."
Tala grinned, "Oh, that's quite all right your Highness."
"Well," Gandalf said thoughtfully, "I suppose the most important thing to do is to discover how exactly you came to our world. Until then, you will remain here in the palace."
"Oh, I see," Nerina said in a slightly disappointed tone, "Come on Tala, back to the dungeons with us."
Thranduil chuckled at her statement, "No, no, Lady Nerina. You and Lady Tala are now our honored guests. You will be provided with more suitable quarters and your every need will be attended to."
Tala and Nerina looked at each other and grinned before running up to the dais and shaking the king's hand, thanking him profusely. This earned them several incredulous stares and some nervous whispering from the guards.
"Sheesh, see Rina, Even in Middle Earth men can't deal with a woman shaking their hand!" The two girls rolled their eyes and sashayed out of the throne room.
"What strange young ladies," Thranduil said mystified, staring at his thoroughly shaken hands.
"Ladies?!" the Prince said in disbelief. "Is that what they are?"
"They certainly are.different," Gandalf mused aloud, staring at the door the two had just exited through.
"Father, where exactly are they going?" inquired Legolas (A/N: everyone got it? Archer #1=elven prince=Legolas.yay), looking from the closed doors to his father.
For one second the elf (as well as everyone else in the room) were surprised by such an obvious thought. Thranduil recovered and after a moment's consideration motioned to the door, "Follow them, and they are to be housed in the twin rooms in the guest wing. Make sure they make it to tonight's banquet." He stood and swept out of the room through a different door.
Legolas stared after, slack jawed, and finally said, "How did I get stuck babysitting?"
Gandalf chuckled and clapped a hand on the elf's shoulder. " I will help you bear this burden."
Both laughed, and moved to follow their two unusual guests.
A/N: Please hit the review button!!!! Pllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssse?? Right, umm.got any ?s or comments...leave a review! Yay! We hope you loved it and thanx for reading!