Author's Note: It hasn't been two years since I updated…just one day shy of one year! Sorry guys, I've been busy with life, stuff, ya know the deal. If I don't get a lot of reviews for this, I'm goin' to take it off and restart just so I can get feedback. So don't panic if you see the story gone in a few weeks! Don't know when the next chapter will come, hopefully soon!

The Green Sorceress: Hey this is SO freaky, for like the past week I was thinking of doing a story just like this, well basically an angel mutant landing in ME but you beat me to it. (I do write but not on this account. Anyway this is going nicely, the plot develops interestingly and takes it's time, I don't like short stories where they get to the point. I was looking and you haven't updated since 2002, like almost 2 years dude! whats with thas? I mean you've DEFINETLY had enough time to write a new chapter, unless you're gonna finish the story first before posting *puts finger to mouth* hm... anyway email me if you update please, thanks

A Watcher: Are you going to update this story? It's been almost a year and I really really really really really really really really really really really really *gasp* really really really really really really really really like it! Please?

Lol, thanks for the nagging guys, it's just what I needed.

Jane Silver: I hope Alagi starts remembering her history it will sure spice things up. Also she mentioned mutents in an earler chapter. shouldn't she wounder what that word means?

I suppose she should, but as I'm lazy, I'm going to just pretend that the word mutant is a common, everyday known word in Middle Earth. Thanks for the observation thought. :)

Disclaimer: The Witch King's flying beast ate the disclaimer.

Chapter Six: Storm

By Dameon

When I woke up the next morning it was yet another sunny day, but after I got dressed and stepped out into the open halls of Rivendell, I found that it was somewhat cold. Glad for my coat, I walked down the hall, whistling some nameless tune to myself. My boots made a soft thump on the stone floors. I felt great today.

After getting breakfast at the dining hall I was left to find some means to amuse myself for the day. I had now memorized the way to the library and had taken to finding either Lindir or Glorfindel there to talk to. Soon, I was in the library, yet it was practically empty except for the fire and a guy.

I didn't recognize the older man in gray sitting in front of the fire in one of the massive armchairs. I didn't want to disturb him, so I turned to leave when I ran into Bilbo.

"Alagi! Hello and good morning!" Bilbo greeted. "How are you?"

"Good, how about you?"

"Excellent, excellent my dear," Bilbo said. "And you?"

"Fine," I answered. "Colder today then usual."

"Ah, because a storm is coming," Bilbo nodded in acknowledgment. "Care for some breakfast?"

"No thanks, I just ate," I smiled.

"By the time we get there, it will be time for second breakfast!" Bilbo smiled. "Care to join?"

"No thanks, I'm goin' to find Eressëa," I said. "Seeya at lunch!"

Bilbo smiled, waved, and went off. I walked through the halls, then stopped. I'd forgotten where Eressëa's guard post was today. I decided to just walk the halls until I found a guard, then I'd ask them where Eressëa was. As I was walking through one of the open hallways, I ran into Aragorn.

"Good morning Lady Alagi," Aragorn greeted.

"Hey, uh, good morning," I corrected myself. I had tried to explain how I used the word hey to Lindir, but he didn't get it. I also tried my explanation on Glorfindel, but I got the same result. So I just avoided using the word altogether now.

"Where are you off to today?" Aragorn asked.

I was silent for a minute. "Uh…somewhere. I just forgot where exactly…" I trailed off as I saw the amused look on Aragorn's face. "Uh…yeah…"

"I'd be happy to assist you in finding where you are going," Aragorn offered, an amused twinkle in his eyes. A smile played on his lips.

"Thanks, but I'm looking for Eressëa, and I don't know what guard spot he's at today," I said.

Aragorn thought for a moment and mumbled softly under his breath. "Eressëa, Eressëa…" He looked back at me and smiled. "I know the nearest guard location, why don't we try there first?"

I smiled. "Sounds good."

We walked through the halls silently for a few minutes; one of the only sounds besides those of nature was my wings shifting with a small rustle. I looked up at Aragorn, who noticed me and smiled.

"How do you find Rivendell?" Aragorn asked.

"Great, uh, I like it a lot, sir," I said. There was silence, as if he expected me to say more. "It's really big. Yeah, I get lost a lot. That's why my room got moved, cause it's easier to remember where it is. Plus it's not as fancy, and other people can use the guest one. Sorry, I'm rambling. Um, how are you?"

"Rambling?" Aragorn asked.

"Kept talking, went off the subject," I said instantly, not even thinking about it. I was surprised I knew that word and that definition. Lately I had been accepting the fact that I was most likely making up all these words, as I had termed, slang.

"I do not mind your rambling," Aragorn grinned slightly. "I am glad you are enjoying Rivendell. Tell me, how do you like the elves?"

I was silent for a moment. "They're cool, I mean, nice, and I enjoy talking with them, and they're all really patient…"

Aragorn cut me off. "What you say will not make me hate you Alagi."

I sighed. "I feel uncomfortable around them sometimes. They're all older then me by far and sometimes I wish they knew what a kid was like cause I get so bored with songs and stories after so long. And they're so perfect and I'm so…not."

Aragorn nodded. "That is a common feeling and most elves are over five hundred years old."

I sighed again. "I can't wait for this wing of mine to heal so I can try flying! I'm surprised it's healed so fast in the week and a half I've been here."

Aragorn looked over at me as if I said something incorrect. "Milday, you have been here for over five weeks, not one and a half."

I stopped. "I haven't?"

"No," Aragorn said, stopping as well. "You have been *awake* for a week and a half, but for the other three and a half weeks, you had lain in a deep sleep. Why do you think your wing was so far in the healing process when you woke up?"

"How do you know that?" I asked. I thought to myself, 'Arwen'.

Aragorn nodded. "It doesn't matter how long you have been here but how soon you can remember where you are from."

We started walking, slower this time. "I know, but I can't remember a thing, and if I've been here for five weeks, wouldn't my mind have remembered something by the time I woke up?"

Aragorn didn't say anything until after we had asked a guard where Eressëa's shift was. "One would think you'd remember something by now, but I heard that your hit to your head was not a minor injury."

"Yeah," I said quietly, thinking. If I had been here for five weeks, shouldn't I remember something, even if it was just subconsciously? It couldn't possibly take THIS long to recover a memory. Why was it that I wasn't recovering my memory?

A though struck me. What if I never recovered my memory?

"You must be Eressëa," Aragorn interrupted.

"Greetings Lord Aragorn, son of Arathorn," Eressëa greeted, nodding his head slowly. "What brings you to this section of Rivendell?"

"Just helping Lady Alagi here," Aragorn replied. "She was looking for you." Aragorn turned to me. "It was a pleasure talking with you milady. I have other matters to see to though, so I must leave."

"Thank you Lord Aragorn," I said, copying Eressëa's title greeting. I thought, 'Say hi to Arwen for me.'

Eressëa and I watched Aragorn leave before we spoke to each other.

"How are you Alagi?"

"Good, good." I paused for a moment, then grinned. "Guess what."

"What?"

"I got lost again."

Eressëa raised an eyebrow. "That should surprise me?"

We laughed. I looked out the balcony overlooking the mountains near Rivendell. I could see gray skies in the distance and there was a stronger wind blowing then this morning.

"The storm should be here in an hour," Eressëa commented. "You should go to one of the inside rooms before then."

"What about you?" I asked.

"I stay here on my watch," Eressëa said. He caught the look on my face and smiled softly. "Don't worry, I don't mind being wet and I have a helmet." Eressëa held up a bright silver helmet.

I knocked on the surface and was delighted to hear a sweet metallic ring. "Soooo…your feet sore from me stepping on them all day yesterday?"

Eressëa grinned. "No. You did not step on my feet that often Alagi."

We fell silent for awhile. I looked at the clouds coming and felt the wind. The cold wind reminded me of something. I closed my eyes and I felt the wind rush past my face, but as hard as I tried, the nagging thought would not come out of the corner it was hiding in. I sighed loudly.

"Something wrong Alagi?"

I turned to Eressëa and leaned against the balcony railing. "The wind reminds me of something, but I can't remember what."

Eressëa thought for a moment from the pillar he was standing by. "Well…it may remind you flying."

This time I felt wind from a memory on my face. I remembered flying over a large building, one with a strange red roof and tan walls, not at all like the marble of Rivendell. From the view I was seeing, I started tilting down and landed on a balcony, and reached for a glass door where nothing could be seen beyond the black behind it. The memory stopped there.

"Alagi? Are you okay?" Eressëa asked quietly. "Did you see something?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled. I took a look at the incoming storm and decided to take Eressëa's advice. "I'm goin' in. See ya later."

I headed for the library. Once there, I grabbed a quill, some ink, and paper, and headed for the most unused corner. I found Bilbo there.

"Hi," I greeted, taking a seat across from the hobbit.

"Hello Alagi," Bilbo said, not looking up from a big red book he was writing in.

I left Bilbo to what he was doing and tried to draw the house I had seen in my picture. As I was drawing (quite good, for me, might I add) I drifted into thought and didn't notice that the sounds around me were fading. As the house grew in my mind, so did a voice, a man's voice.

Flashback

"This mansion was built with the money left to my by my father. After he died, I decided to explore the world, which is how I ended up in this wheelchair. I returned here where I decided to build a place where mutants could come and live in peace. Welcome to…"

End Flashback

"That's not bad! What is it?" Bilbo's comment knocked me out of my thought, and I was silent for a few seconds as I gathered by thoughts.

"Uh…I don't know," I said. "Just something I remember. It's a mansion."

Bilbo reached over, and looked up, asking if he could see the drawing. I nodded, and the paper crinkled loudly as he picked up the drawing to look at it. "What ever it is, it looks like a beautiful place."

I looked over at the book Bilbo had under his arm and almost gasped at the sight. He was no longer writing but working on a beautiful map. Everything was labeled in a beautiful script and a red dragon gleamed from a mountain on the far right side.

"Do you like it?" Bilbo asked me, evidently having seen what I was looking at.

"Oh yes," I gasped. Then I realized what I was looking at. "It's a map to your story! There's Smog, and the Lonely Mountain!"

Bilbo smiled and clapped his hands together. "Yes yes! Remember those trolls? They were right here." He pointed out a drawing of three ugly trolls standing, eternally frozen, in a ring. "Here's Mirkwood and Rivendell."

I looked over at Mirkwood and remembered something Lindir had said. "Bilbo, Lindir said that at the Yavieba festival, they sometimes got elves from Mirkwood. So I take it that there are still elves there? Do you know anything about them?"

Bilbo thought for a moment, stroking his chin. "Yes, there are elves still there, but it has been a long time since I have been there. Thranduil is still king I believe."

We were silent for awhile, both of us working on our separate drawings. I was spooked when a muted, yet loud boom echoed through the library, but Bilbo assured me it was only the storm.

I was getting tired of drawing, so I told Bilbo I was going for a walk to clear my head. He acknowledged with a wave of his hand and I set off. I decided to take a peek at outside by going up to one of the open passages, namely the one in front of the main entrance into Rivendell.

The sky was a mass of swirling black and gray clouds, and a fork of white lightning temporarily blinded me. I was instantly soaked by a roaring sheet of rain and I almost missed a sound that would start the change in my life in Rivendell.

I heard the neigh of a horse, and through the rain I could barely saw a brown horse run up into the courtyard. The person on the horse practically fell off the horse trying to scramble down it and as they ran towards me in the rain, I was able to make out a would-be tall gray had and long robes. A long beard dripped water as the man stepped into the somewhat sheltered entrance and leaned on a wooden staff.

He looked me in the eye, and panted, "Tell Elrond Gandalf is here and he must speak to him as it is a matter of utmost urgency."

I nodded, and before I could really stop myself, I was running through the halls, sliding around corners until I ran into Arwen. She stopped me and had me take a deep breath before explain why I was running through the halls.

"A guy named Gandalf just came in through the main entrance and said that he really needs to talk to Elrond because it is really important," I blurted out as fast as I could.

Arwen nodded. "If he says it is important, then it is. Elrond is currently in his medicine room. Go down this hall, take a right, and three doors down is where you will find him."

I nodded and ran. I reached Elrond just as he was coming out, several pouches in hand.

"Lord Elrond, a guy named Gandalf just came up to the main entrance and said that he must speak to you because it is a matter of utmost urgency."

Elrond was silent for a moment as I caught my breath, then nodded. "Thank you Alagi. How long ago did he arrive?"

"About ten minutes ago," I panted. "Why?"

"Thank you for being so fast," was all Elrond said, and he was off with a swish of his robes.

I caught my breath, then tried to follow Elrond, but had already lost him. I made my way back to the library, where I found Bilbo already gone. I gathered my things and went to my room.

As I reached the door, I heard voices, one new, the other known.

"Gandalf are you sure about this?" Elrond asked.

The sound of footsteps drew closer as another voice replied. "Yes. I'm on my way to seek council from Saruman. He may yet know what to do."

"I would not trust Saruman, Gandalf," came Elrond's voice again. "Lately I have had a bad feeling whenever I hear his name mentioned."

Elrond and the strange man rounded the corner and continued talking. I nodded at Elrond, who didn't acknowledge me as he was to busy talking. They're voices drifted down the hall as they kept walking.

"Elrond, I am going to Saruman."

"If that is what you feel you should do, then that is what you shall do. Your horse will be ready to leave at first light," Elrond said as he and Gandalf disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

I flopped onto my bed and stared into my pillows as I thought.

Saruman. Kind of sounds like Sauron in a way. And that Sauron guy is supposed to be some evil dude. But then again, this Gandalf is a friend of Elrond, and Elrond is good, so Gandalf must be good, therefore this Saruman guy must be good.

I woke up about two hours later and made my way to the dining hall, hoping to get some food off one of the cooks. I was promptly thrown out of the kitchen after a few minutes, but I had managed to score a small wedge of cheese.

I noticed the strange man from before eating alone at the table, and I had made up my mind to just let him be when Bilbo rushed in.

"Alagi! I'm glad I found you. I want you to meet an old friend of mine!" Bilbo said rapidly as he dragged me over to the strange man in the gray robes. "Gandalf!"

The man looked up and smiled warmly at Bilbo and hugged him. "Ah, Bilbo! How are you, you rascal?"

"I'm fine, fine, how are you Gandalf? What brings you to Rivendell?" Bilbo asked merrily.

"I'm currently wet and cold," Gandalf replied with a smile. "I'm heading out to the East on business and dropped by to rest for a short time." Gandalf looked up and noticed me. "I don't believe we've meet before."

"My name is Alagi, sir," I said. "You sent me to get Lord Elrond earlier today."

Gandalf studied me closely, specifically my wings. "Hmm…ah yes. It was a job well done to."

"Thank you, sir," I replied quietly.

"So, tell me Gandalf, what's the news from afar? How is dear Frodo?" Bilbo chatted on brightly.

I met Gandalf's eyes for a brief moment, and the scrutiny of those blue eyes made me somewhat uncomfortable. But as soon as the feeling came, it left as he turned to Bilbo. I left the pair quietly and went out.

The storm had decreased to just a rain and I felt the desire to work on my drawing.