My mind slowly drifted into awareness; I felt like an elephant had stood on me, maybe if I just lay still I'd drift back into unconsciousness. I didn't get my wish but sleep did bless me with its presence for a time. The ground pounding woke me, I dragged my eyes open to see what was happening. A bright scene of forest and blue sky filled my vision. I blinked sluggishly, but the scene didn't change. My eyes roved around looking for some sign of the road I had been on, some person checking to see if I was alive, Justin coming to kill me, anything. All that greeted my wandering eyes was forest. I turned my head looking to my right, still more forest spread out before me. I turned my head and looked toward my left and immediately jumped up… or tried to. My body didn't quite respond as it usually would, I sort of half got up before falling over again. The horses coming towards me from the left were almost sure not to see me. They were the pounding that had woken me from slumber.

The pounding on the ground slowed; I turned to look again and saw that they were riding horses. On each horse was a person with long hair, they wore riding clothes of blue and looked amazingly graceful. I managed to sit up, but only barely; every inch of my being was screaming in protest. The riders came to a halt about ten feet from me. They dismounted and I got a better look at them. They were the same person… or twins I suppose. They seemed unusually tall and beautiful… especially for guys.

One of them says something, to my dismay I can't understand it. It doesn't look like English at all. I stare at him blankly.

"Are you alright lady?" he says.

I sigh in relief, at least I haven't forgotten how to read lips by some trick of the mind. I shake my head, I'm anything but all right, but I could be worse.

I flex my fingers and grimace, they're sore but nothing there is broken at least.

"Can you sign?" I ask them.

Now they were the ones to stare uncomprehending. Damn.

"What happened to you that you have come to be so injured?" One of them asks.

I run my hand through my hair and wince finding a large lump on the back of my head. I mimic the motion of writing to them in hopes that they will have something I can write with to communicate with them. They shake their heads.

"Cannot you speak lady?"

I shake my head and tap my ear a couple times.

"You cannot hear?"

I nod, then struck with an idea I attempt to clear some of the ground in front of me so that I can write in the dirt as I did when I was a little girl.

"Riannon." I write in the dirt. I point to the word and then to myself nodding at them.

"Your name is Riannon?" One of them asks.

I nod, my neck starting to ache with all the movement.

"If you cannot hear us then how can you know what we are saying?" One of them asks.

I erase my name in the dirt and write in the same spot. "Read lips."

Then I do the sign for lip reading, and then I point at the word and repeat the sign again.

"I think I understand." The other one says.

I erase the dirt and rewrite my name. I make sure they are both paying attention and then I sign "My name" and point to my name. I point at the twins and repeat the sign name and then sign what; hoping they can grasp what I mean.

They think for a minute before one of them says, "You want to know our names?"

I nod and smile.

"My name is Elrohir and this is my twin brother Elladan." He says.

I smile again and wave hello.

"How did you come to be hurt lady?" Elladan asks.

I point to my name and glare at them. Then I erase it and write "Car Accident."

They look at me confused. "What is a… car?"

I blink dumbfounded. They don't know what a car is.

I quickly clear a larger space of dirt and feverishly write, "Where am I?"

"You are in the forest outside of Imladris."

I erase the dirt and write over it again. "Where is that?"

"The elven lands in Middle Earth."

Elves, Middle Earth, as in Tolkien? Damn, I really have lost my mind, or I'm dead. Actually come to think of it there's a pretty high chance that I'm dead; between Justin and the car anyways, it's better than where I used to be.

"Can you help me? Please?"

"We will take you back to Imladris where our healers can attend to your wounds." Elrohir says, "Can you stand?"

I shake my head; sitting up was almost too much for me.

"Then I will have to carry you, it's not far from here." Elrohir says.

He walked over to me, and I suddenly realized that I did not know this tall man at all. I was alone, lost, and hurt in the woods and two complete strangers were about to take me to who knows where. I shied away from him suddenly paranoid.

"What is wrong milady?" Elrohir asks, his eyebrows creased with concern.

I think for a minute and come to the conclusion that they are my best chance of getting out of this forest alive, besides they can't do much worse than my own brother had.

"Nothing," I sign shaking my head, and then realizing that he wouldn't understand me I write the word in the dirt. He frowns but then carefully picks me up, one hand under my legs and one on my back. I flinch as the movement causes pain to flare up throughout my body.

"Sorry," he says. Then he sets off in the direction from whence he came, Elladan following with the two horses.

After 15 minutes or so of the monotonous walking I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I was losing the battle and soon was again asleep.