Day 8
T'Pol had been unable to put down The Lord of the Rings. She had done nothing but read for two solid days, forgoing everything except her basic biological needs. She had not meditated, had barely eaten, and had only paused for brief showers. The more she read, the more involved in the story she became. She devoured the book hungrily, eagerly anticipating the next paragraph, the next chapter, the next part, until she was so engrossed in the story that she could not have relinquished the book for anything.
She could see why Trip had given her this book to read. It was beautifully written. She could clearly picture the characters and the setting in her head. Images seemed to dance before her eyes as she read. The story was interesting and well constructed. The characters were compelling and wonderfully flawed. The attention to detail was impressive.
But she began to suspect that he had ulterior motives when she learned that the Elven princess, Arwen, and the human Aragorn were lovers, cruelly torn apart by the differences between their two cultures and their two completely separate fates. Arwen, as an Elf, was immortal but willing to give up her immortality to be with the man she loved. Aragorn could make no such sacrifice for her, but T'Pol got the feeling that, had he been given the same choice he would have done the same. As she read, T'Pol couldn't help but notice similarities between Arwen and Aragorn's relationship and hers and Trip's. They had the same cultural differences. In fact, the Elves viewed mankind the same way that the Vulcans did, with contempt and superiority.
T'Pol had also caught Trip's comment about having "a thing" for pointed ears. She knew enough about Earth colloquialisms to know what that meant.
Still, she was curious as to how it all would end. She knew about humans' fascination with the concept of "true love" from the various movies Trip had forced her to endure. One movie in particular had been solely focused on the idea, repeating the phrase numerous times throughout the film.
She found herself illogically hoping that Aragorn and Arwen would find a way to be together – that true love would indeed conquer all.