Disclaimer- No, i don't own any of Lord of the Rings...sigh... but I won't mind if anyone want to pay me for this! looks around eagerly

Chapter 3 Imladris

Holly woke up sore. Her side was stiff, and the thick cloth bandage someone had put over it irritated her. Her eyes felt puffy from crying, and she felt grubby and deeply depressed. Somehow didn't feel any better about being alive. Somehow she felt cheated. She had gotten ready to die, and had felt that it was due to her, in a way. Being yanked away from what she knew was inevitable was... but she had woken up, andhadn't started to cry. That felt promising, especially after the day she'd had. The room was deserted, except for the other invalid. A lovely golden light came in through the open walls, bathing everything in an ethereal light. Rivendell. The name itself stirred something in a romantic part of Holly's being that she didn't know she had. She wanted to see more of it.

Gingerly, she eased her frame out of the bed. Someone had taken away her shoes. Halfway through vaguely searching under the bed she suddenly straightened, as if remembering something,and turned to the other side of the bed. The black backpack was there. Sighing, she swept it up into her arms. She hugged it to her chest for a moment like a kid would hold a teddy bear, then zipped it open. Yes. Everything was still there. The bills in their plastic grocery bag were soggy, but still intact. She had managed to grab a few things before she ran. She had her book, a cell phone (useless now), a notebook, blank except for Officer Brooke's address scribbled inside it. She also had packed a few pairs of underwear, a black sweater, her old passport (also useless) and a black felt-tipped pen, which had been ruined by the river. She hadn't really had time to pack anything else. She had only been planning to get to the police station, and then maybe to an airport. Had she known she'd be swept away to some other crazy world she'd have brought so much more. Like maybe her mother's diary. Her high school yearbook. More clothes. Aspirin. What she had brought was ridiculous. Even the money was stupid. What could she use it for? She shook her head silently, and dropped the bag onto the bed. She was going to explore. That was her plan. OK, Holly? You've got a plan. She walked slowly, trying not to move too much. She passed the occupied bed, and paused. She hadn't yet seen who it was. Walking slowly up to the side of the bed, she carefully drew back the sheet a little, to look into the figure's face. It looked like a boy, with soft features and curly brown hair. But he was obviously very sick. His face was scarily pale, and there were odd greenish discharges around his eyes and mouth. As Holly watched, he turned and whimpered, his face shiny with sweat. He whispered something, his face twisting in fear, but then he relaxed, and turned away from her. She stood watching his back silently. He wasn't a child. He didn't have a child's face. But he was so...small. She felt a wave of nausea sweep through her. Where the hell was this Middle Earth?Someone shifted slightly in the door frame behind her. Eyes still on the little man in fascinated shock, she spoke to them "Who is he?"

Gandalf moved up next to her. "His name is Frodo Baggins. He was carrying something to Elrond, and was injured on Weathertop by the Lord of the Nazgul.He left his companions and was brought here by Arwen, Lord Elrond's daughter. The wound was poisonous, and he fights it now. Elrond himself is ministering to him, and only here could he be healed. He nearly died."

Holly ran a finger along her left eyebrow.She felt more then a little overwhelmed. She hadn't understood half of what Gandalf had said."What is he? He's not…a person, is he?"

"No. He is a hobbit. A Halfling. They are a race of rustic folk who live in a place called the Shire. Usually they grow to be about 4 four feet high at most."

"Oh. I thought he was just a boy," she stopped, thinking. She looked up at Gandalf, eyes narrowed. "What was he carrying?"

Gandalf regarded her for a moment, his gray eyes unreadable. "It is not to me to tell you."

Holly watched him, then sighed and turned away. "OK. Fine." If the old man didn't want to tell her what the...hobbit was carrying, then he could keep his secrets. But something in Gandalf's face and in the hobbit himself bothered her. But she couldn't place what it was. Pushing this feeling out of her mind, she hobbled past Gandalf. "Then I'm going to go for a walk." She turned and shot him a defiant look, waiting for him to forbid her.

Gandalf stroked his beard, trying not to smile. "May I accompany you? I would like to here about your world, and perhaps can tell you something of our world."

They wandered along beautiful hallways and rooms, all open to the woods around them. Gandalf told her about Middle earth, some of its history and geography, old alliances, and the races that populated it. Holly listened intently. It was like something our of a fantasy book. Elves and dwarfs and dragons. When he had exhausted all his stories of Middle Earth, Holly told him about her Earth, about her life. She didn't mention the Stars. She kept strictly to stories from when she was young, pets she'd had, movies she'd seen, favorite foods, colorsshe'd dyed her hair,books, anything and everything. Gandalf had had a lot of trouble picturing soda cans, but he got it eventually. Kinda. She had just begun talking about school, and about an evil Spanish teacher she'd had in freshmand year, when Gandalfcut her off.

"What is that mark by your left brow?"

Her hand leapt up to the star shape almost unconsciously. She kept her eyes lowered as she ran over the shape with her index finger, trying to think of some lie to give him. But none came. Thinking grumpily how overall weird this old man was, she sighed slowly.

"It was part of my initiation." She looked over at Gandalf, hoping that that would be enough. It wasn't. He was still peering at her. She rolled her eyes, and looked away. "When I was 15, I made friends with a guy in my Home Ec. class. His name was Rance, and it was..." she stopped, amiling slightly "So easy to talk to him. He knew how Id lived, because, well, he lived that way too. He told me about a place where I could live, and have a family. I didn't really have a home. I'd lived in a few foster homes after my abuelo died, but just then I wasn't anywhere. Well, this guy, he had a mark like mine. Just by his left eyebrow. And one day he took me out of school to see another man, a member of a gang called the Stars." She took a deep breath, feeling the hurt in her side. "So a month later, I was a Star. They ruled nearly a quarter of the city that I lived in. I… This was what let me in. I got it when I became an active member. It was one of the ways I had to prove myself. All Stars had one." She stopped, aware that Gandalf was staring at her intently. "What?"

"You were initiated into some sort of tribe?"

She hissed to herself, running a hand through her short hair. "No. A gang. It's called a gang." She looked away, trying not to think about it. The nine years since that day when Spike had cut the star into her skin were all so exciting, so great. Now she felt sick thinking about them.But then thatcould just be an after affect of getting shot.

She didn't see Gandalf's eyes soften as he watched her. She didn't see how he almost made to touch her arm, but drew back. She was too busy remembering… remembering that night.

"Were these men the ones who…" Holly looked at him sharply, but his eyes were trained straight ahead as he walked. She stopped, her head suddenly hurting.

"Yeah," She whispered. "It was them." Gandalf stopped too, and turned towards her. It was funny, she was nearly as tall as he was, since he was so hunched over, but he seemed to be much much bigger then she was. And she…there was no other way of saying it, really. She trusted him.

"I was going to leave, I really was. But I had gotten in so far…I was nearly second in command. Even as a kid, I knew what I would have to do to get power. Do the right job, side with the right people; sleep with the right people, until I was in the inner workings of the Stars. Rance was even better at it then I was, but when he got to be boss, he helped me out. Nostalgia, he said." She waved her hand, shaking her head. She was barely aware of Gandalf anymore. "I don't know why I decided to leave…" Yes she did. Footsteps, a slam, moonlight on an empty pillow, Ben. "But I did. I knew that I couldn't stay in anymore, not in that life. Flying by the seat of my pants wasn't the hot shit I thought it was when I was 15." She was sayingway too much, butshe couldn't stop. "And I was getting older too! Old for the Stars anyway. Not too many people made it past 30. I wanted something like a real life. Maybe finish my education, get a real job."She closed her eyes. Yeah. She could sure finish her education here, right? God, what was she doing here?

"I know it was insane, but I didn't just want to get out…I wanted….I wanted revenge." Gandalf frowned, but Holly kept talking. "I knew that the police were after Rance, that they had some shadowy claims against him, but nothing major. I went to the Police station, and told them what I could. Which was plenty. I had had anactive role in most of it. They had a file against me too, against all of us, really, but they said they'd dismiss my caseif I told them.But even though I told them all I could, they needed more, something concrete, that they could really use against him. So I agreed to stay, until Rance asked me to do something that I could take to the police and get him nailed. He did, and I did it, but someone knew. Someone knew I had been to the police, and they told Rance. Hehad knownthe whole time."

Gandalf watched her faceice over, going cold on theinside.Her softfeatures hardened into a tough shell.An impenetrable force. But the tattack was from her won memory.

After a long moment Holly's face relaxed, and she rubbed a hand over her eyes. "So I did this job, and I was getting ready to go to the station, when my roommate ran in…"Kid. Oh God. What if Rance found out he had told her they were coming? She was so tired, and her side hurt. It seemed like they'd been all over Rivendell, talking. She shrugged. "So they hunted me down. I was running, and they caught me." she really didn't want to begin to think about that. She turnedher eyes to Gandalf, and hesaw the pleading hurt in them.He nodded, and she sighed, turning around and walking again. Gandalf walked beside her, not saying anything. His bushy eyebrows were pulled tight over his eyes, and Holly couldn't read his expression.Angrily, she wrapped her arms around her waist. No, she wasn't a good girl. she thought, tightening her arms. But if the wizard had expected her to be, appearing in a river with half a million dollars in cash and a gun wound, then he was old and senile. She had talked way too much. That was what it was. That was what happened when you met an old man who looked just a little bit like your Grandpa. You ended up telling him practically your whole life story, and then he'd get shocked. Well, duh. On top of being tired, she had talked herself into a very bad mood. Gandalf led her back to the 'infirmary' insilence, where the healer, who Holly now knew was an elf, changed her bandage. Gandalf left to go wait with the other elves for some guests in the entrance, and Holly laid awake for hours, trying as hard as she could to think of elves and dwarves and dragons, until she finally drifted off.