To Bel: I promise you that there will be nothing from the MIDDLE EAST in this story.

Chapter 2 : Mystery

Gwendolyn entered her new home humming, feeling rather pleased with herself and her situation. Everything was just as she had expected. She smiled fondly at the thought of Adrianna. What a sweet, polite, lovely child she was. Gwendolyn had a feeling about this one, she just knew that it was going to be perfect.

The sunshine streamed in through her window, and Adrianna stirred and turned on her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

And sat up with a gasp.

She found herself looking around a simple room, with walls of grey stone. The window by her bed had no glass panes or curtains, only a wooden panel to close it. Across the room was a cupboard made of wood, and next to it was a table, with a candle on it. A candle? What is this place? She got out of bed, and stared down at herself. Instead of her usual cotton pyjamas, she was wearing a long white nightdress. What's happened?

She hesitated at the door of the room, not sure what it was that she would find outside. Did she even want to look outside? This was just a bad dream. She pinched her arm and winced. It hurt; it was no dream. She stood motionless, her hand on the knob. Should I check around outside, or just stay here? There's nothing here, so I'll be safe. But what makes me think there's something dangerous outside? What am I going to do?

Finally, she decided that just standing there wasn't going to solve anything. With a deep breath, she turned the knob and opened the door.

There was no one outside either. She was standing in a room furnished with a table and eight stools, four on each side. There was a fireplace with two chairs before it. She looked around. Next to the room she had just left was another bedroom. Where she was at the moment (she supposed it was the living room) led on one side to the kitchen, which held plenty of food. Well, at least I won't be starving to death in this place. On the other side, the room led to another small room with a large tub set in the middle of the floor, and a water jug in a corner of the room. Something in Adrianna's head told her that this was the bathroom, and she wondered if she would ever be able to bathe comfortably that way.

Having looked over the house (for she was sure that it was a home of some sort), she turned her attention the large door that was in front of her. This door would, no doubt lead to the "outside world", whatever it was. And she found herself thinking over the same question she had pondered over just a while ago. Did she want to know what was outside? There could be absolutely anything out there. She sat down on one of the stools, staring at the door, and at the two closed windows on either side of it. Looking out should be all right. If there was anything terrible outside she could just slam the window shut again and stay inside. And do what? Well, that was something she would worry about when she got to that. The first thing was to see what was outside.

She went to the window and yanked it open, ready to slam it shut as soon as she saw what lay in store. But her arm fell limply to her side as she stared, everything else forgotten.

People walked about outside; women with baskets filled with vegetables, men hurrying about on errands of all sorts, children running about laughing and playing. Her eyes widened as she saw a man walking by in armour. Armour? Who wore armour anymore? She thought of the candle in her room, and the bathroom. It seemed as if the question was now not where she was, but when she was.

How on earth did I get here?

"Well, at least it seems rather safe," she muttered to herself. "I suppose I'd better go outside and try to figure out what is going on." She looked down at herself. No matter what her situation was, she doubted very much that leaving the house in a nightdress was a good idea. But what else could she wear?

Going back to the bedroom, she strode purposefully to the cupboard and pulled the doors open. As she had been expecting, there were shelves, and held a few dresses. She took one out and unfolded it. It was brown, plain and simple, with long sleeves. It will do. I hope it fits.

It did, and although she felt strange wearing it, there was no other option. Squaring her shoulders and bracing herself against anything that was going to happen, she went outside.

No one paid much attention to her, even though one young man glanced at her and gave her a smile and a nod. That reassured her just a little. At least one person seemed friendly. Hopefully that meant that other people were friendly too. The last thing she needed was to be stranded in time with a bunch of mean cannibals.

She looked left and right, wondering where she could possibly go. She saw that the street curving upwards slightly on her right, going uphill. On the left it was going down. Up or down? She had no idea. Finally she figured that more people seemed to be going down, and shrugging, she followed them. Perhaps she could unravel a little of this mystery.

She stopped and looked around. It seemed as if she was in a market of some sort. There were stalls set up in two rows along the street, and there were people hawking their wares. She walked about aimlessly, looking at everything in a sort of wonder. Nothing in this seemed familiar to her. What am I doing here? Why am I here? How did this whole thing happen? There were no answers, only questions piling up on top of one another.

"Oof!"

She jumped back, looking at the person she had just bumped into, now bending over to pick up the apple she had knocked out of his hand. "I'm so sorry…"

He straightened and smiled. "That's all right. I'm not hurt. Was just a little… startled, that's all."

She smiled in relief. "Yeah, me too." She looked around her again, and her eyes couldn't help but widen at all the things around her. This was so incredible.

"I gather this is your first time in the White City?"

She snapped her gaze back to the young man's face. "Excuse me?"

"Minas Tirith, the White City," he said.

MINAS TIRITH! Isn't that… Adrianna recalled the book she had read about a year ago. The Lord of the Rings, it was. She had loved that book so much. But wait… that's fiction. It can't be…

"Are you all right?" The young man was studying her face, a look of concern on his face. "You don't look too well."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she blurted out. "Erm… I… erm… excuse me."

She turned and fled.

She pushed open the door of the house she had come out from, panting. Slamming the door behind her, she sat down on one of the stools. Oh. My. God. What is going on?

The door to one of the rooms open and she jumped to her feet with something that sounded very much like a shriek.

"Oh, you're back! Good, good. At least you weren't lost."

Adrianna thought she was going to get a heart attack right there.

"Gwendolyn?"