Disclaimer: I do NOT own "Lord of the Rings", unfortunately. I wish I did, but the day that happens will be the day I fall into Middle-earth and become a Mary-sue. And trust me, that will never happen either.

Chapter 4: Getting Accustomed

"Goodnight everyone," Alison said as she stepped out of her friend's car.

"Goodnight Allie," a chorus rang out. Alison laughed before shutting the car door. She waved as the car drove out of sight. Alison then sighed as she checked her watch. 'It's already 11:30. I hope Sammy's not too worried. I promised I'd be back by 10:30,' Alison thought to herself.

She quickly walked up the steps up into the apartment building and then rushed up the stairs to her own apartment. 'Sammy, did you leave the door open again?' thought Alison in annoyance. She froze, however, when she found her home in complete disarray. 'What happened?' Alison quickly stepped into the living room and noticed that Samantha's bedroom light wasn't on.

"Sammy?" Alison called out. She waited for a few seconds but there was no answer. "Sammy?" she tried again. Again there was no reply. "Samantha! Answer me!" Alison became frantic. She swiftly ran over to her daughter's bedroom to find that no one was in it. She reached over for the phone that was on Samantha's bedside table and quickly dialed 911.

While she waited for the other line, she rushed back out into the kitchen and dropped the phone in horror when she noticed her daughter's body on the floor. Screaming, Alison knelt down to her body and rolled it over only to discover that her hands were covered in blood. There were two bullet holes in her daughter's chest.

Tears flooded out of her eyes uncontrollably. "Samantha! Wake up! SAMANTHA!" she hugged her daughter's body to her own chest and rocked back and forth. The phone that was also on the floor caught her eye and she shakily reached out to grab it.

"Hello?" a voice on the other end asked. "Is anyone there?"

"Yes. YES! Please, help me. My daughter. She's bleeding. There are two bullet holes. I can't-" Alison's voice was shaking so badly that the person couldn't understand her.

"Please, ma'am. Calm down. Take a deep-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! MY DAUGHTER'S BLEEDING TO DEATH!" Alison roared into the phone.

"Alright, ma'am. We'll send an ambulance. Now just try to take deep breaths. Someone will be there shortly," the voice tried to calm her but Alison was not listening. She had dropped the phone and had resumed rocking back and forth, her daughter's body pushed up against her chest. Samantha's head was lying limply to the side.

"Sammy. Sammy," she murmured over and over. "Sammy, don't leave me," Alison continued to mumble. "Sammy."

Samantha woke up with a start. Beads of sweat clung to her body as her hand was lifted shakily to her forehead. It had all been a dream. A horrible nightmare. Her mother hadn't really been like that, had she? God, she hoped not. Her mother had been her best friend. It brought tears to her eyes from just the thought of her mother suffering like that. Even if she could never go back home, she wished her mother all the happiness in the world and the ability tomove on.

Her hands moved up to where her wounds rested on her chest. They were still sore and would be so for a while, but they were healing. How she wished she could do that day all over. The things she would change. The way she would have behaved. Everything. But it was all in the past, nothing could change that. She was most likely stuck here with nothing but the memories of her old home, the good and the bad.

Samantha smiled faintly at some of the past experiences her and her mother had shared. Like the day when Samantha's first boyfriend, James, had dumped her. Samantha had been so down and upset and her mother had done everything she could to make her daughter feel better. They had gone shopping, to a movie, out to lunch, and eaten lots of ice cream. Alison had always done everything she could for her daughter, even when her parents had divorced and she had little money to spend. Her mother had always been there for her.

"Oh, mom. I wish you could be here now," Samantha mumbled to herself before bursting into tears. Her body shook with every cry that escaped her lips. She grabbed on to her pillow as if her life depended on it and her tears continued to soak her cheeks and the bed. Samantha had never imagined her life without her mother, and now that she was forced to, life didn't seem right anymore.

Some hours later, when Samantha had rid herself of all her tears, she sat up in her bed. Quietly, as not to disturb anyone, she tip-toed over to the window. Samantha stared out at the night which she knew would soon become bright at the rising of the sun. The stars above twinkled and she tried to pick out constellations. She frowned, however, when she could not. Though she had somehow long known it, Samantha came to the conclusion that she was definitely far away from her home. Nothing was the same here.

Samantha sighed and was about to turn away when something caught her eye. Something, or someone, was walking outside. She imagined it must have been a nice place to be, outside in the gardens, but she herself had never been out there. Samantha had spent most of her days inside, even though Elrond had granted her wish to be able to move around Imladris. But Samantha was beginning to sink into depression and nothing seemed enjoyable anymore. She had always loved reading, but what could she read when all the books were mostdefinitely written in another language? How could she dance when there was no music even remotely closeto the type of music she enjoyed? Or how could she talk with anyone when they would never understand her? Everything was all messed up.

Samantha turned her attention back to the person who was wandering around in the gardens below. The elf seemed to have silver robes on as they shone brightly in the moonlight. Their dark hair was unbound and was flowing down their back and was swaying slightly in the small breeze. Not a sound was heard from their soft footsteps and to Samantha it seemed that they weren't really walking, but instead floating.

The person, it seemed, suddenly felt her eyes on them as they turned swiftly to her. Their eyes met hers and Samantha was shocked to see that it was the elf who had caught her crying just a week ago. The elf's grey eyes bore into hers and Samantha was too entranced to look away. He was handsome, Samantha could definitely give him that, but to her he also seemed mysterious.

A sudden noise broke the silence and Samantha came instantly out of her trance. She broke their gaze and quickly looked away. Her cheeks burned with a heat only embarrassment could give off and Samantha claimed herself lucky that it was too dark for him to see it. When she looked back down at the gardens, to her surprise, she noticed that the elf was no longer there. Sighing out of disappointment, Samantha left the window and got back into her bed where sleep found her once more.

"Quel amrun, hiril nin. Man mathach?" a cheery voice said in Samantha's ear. Samantha groaned and rolled over, tired of getting up so early for breakfast. She heard Sidhiel's laughter as the healer, who had now become more of a friend to her, gently shook her.

"Go away," Samantha mumbled. Again Sidhiel shook her body. Samantha threw her hand up into the air to try and get her to go away.

"Tolo hi! Ai!" Sidhiel continued to try and wake her.

"Gwanno ereb nin!" Samantha had managed to learn some phrases. She knew what she had just spoken meant 'leave me alone'. However, Sidhiel just laughed harder this time and managed to pull Samantha up by the arm into a sitting position. Samantha groaned and glared at Sidhiel before stumbling out of the bed.

"I am not a morning person," she mumbled, knowing that the other occupant of the room had no idea what she was saying.

After Samantha had bathed and dressed, Sidhiel led her back down to the dining hall. Samantha had eaten there every day since she had been allowed to leave her room, but that didn't change the fact that she never talked to anyone. Breakfast, as usual, finished without any odd occurrences and just like every day, Samantha left without Sidhiel. This time, though, she decided to wander around the building. She had never seen any other section of the building than the halls she used to go down to the dining hall. But for once Samantha thought of exploring her surroundings.

Samantha was in awe. There was so much beauty in the room and halls that it made her wonder on how long it took to build them. She found a way to go out on a deck and look out over the city. Waterfalls were everywhere along with colorful flowers and towering trees. Her mother would have really enjoyed it here, she decided.

As she was walking down a hallway, it suddenly came to an end at a dark, wooden door. Curiosity overtook her as she stepped forward and opened the door. As she pushed it further open, Samantha came to notice that she had stumbled across the library. There must have been at least twenty shelves that were full of books of all sizes. Even though she knew she would never be able to read them, Samantha walked over to a random shelf and pulled out a heavy book. Samantha gasped in joy when she realized that there several pictures to just look at.

Samantha carefully carried the book over to a chair and opened it back up. The pictures were of every color and for her they seemed to come to life. She could only guess what they were supposed to be of, but Samantha found herself making up stories to go along with each picture. It wasn't until she heard someone clear their throat did she look up. Standing in front of her was a tall, golden haired elf. He stood tall and proud but was looking down at her with amusement.

"Mahn carel le?" he asked. Samantha shook her head.

"I don't know what you're saying," she said, trying to give him the clue that she spoke a different language.

"Heniach nin?" Samantha frowned at him. "Pedich edhellen?" Samantha shook her head, trying to show him she didn't understand him. The elf gave her a knowing smile and the pointed to himself.

"Glorfindel," he said. Samantha smiled to herself; she had done this already.

"Samantha," she responded. He grinned and held out his hand. Samantha stared at his hand before placing her own in his. She was shocked when he grabbed it and placed a kiss on the back of her palm.

"Mae govannen, Samantha," he said, laughing slightly at the look on her face. "Parma." Samantha stared at him in confusion.

"What?" Glorfindel pointed to the book in her hands.

"Parma," he repeated. Samantha still didn't get it. He sighed and then pointed to the other books on the shelves. "Parma."

"Book," she mumbled quietly to herself. Samantha beamed as she realized he was trying to teach her his language a little. "Parma," Samantha grinned in triumph. Glorfindel then pulled on a lock of his hair.

"Fin," he told her. He reached out and pulled on her dark hair. "Fin." Samantha laughed in joy as she understood what he meant. For the rest of the day, Glorfindel helped her with learning elvish names for common things such as 'nen' for 'water' and 'henneth' for 'window'. As Samantha slowly began to pick up on what he was teaching her, she came to the sudden realization that even if she could never go home, life wouldn't be too bad here.

Yay! Congratulations on making it through another chapter! I'm so happy that you took the time to read it! Once again, I would like to thank all of my reviewers:

lathalian- I'm glad you like it so far! Yeah, it is quite a bit harder to write story where there are language difficulties, but it's also fun. You're beginning to find out what happened to her mom, assuming that you did read this chapter. I'm pretty sure you did, though. Her mother will probably be in some parts up in the future as I'm planning to make chapters of what she's going through. Samantha will also keep having dreams of her mother so she'll also know a little bit. Review again, please!

Black Spell- You'll find out what's going on, you'll just have to keep reading the chapters! I'm glad you like it! Thank you, you don't know how much it pleases me to know that you enjoy it! Thanks for reviewing!

Angelsmile- I'm so happy you like it! I know, and Elladan romance appeals to me as well, if you haven't already noticed. The language differences won't be so much as a problem as she becomes more accustomed to it. Review again!

TriGemini-Is it a good intrigued or bad intrigued? I hope it's the first. Anyways, Samantha has a good life, I guess, but she, like everyone other human being (Mary-sues don't count) has problems in her life. Everything about how she got there and what she'll do while she's there will be explained in future chapters. So you'll have to stick around to find out! Thanks for reviewing!

Well, that's all. As I have stated before, I do NOT tolerate flames but I will accept comstructive criticism readily. So review and tell me what you think!