Chapter Two: Lost in the Twilight Hall, Part Two
It was hard to tell which was purpler, Ruki's hair or Eowyn's face.
"Let me get this straight," the woman said, arms folded as she paced the floor in front of the table where the children, including Eldarion, sat. "You don't know who he is or where he came from or what he's doing here, but you not only didn't have him arrested, you let him in the house! While we were out!"
"I was trying to be nice," Ruki replied dully. "You always say I'm not nice enough."
"Being nice and being stupid are not the same thing. You're lucky this kid turned out to be okay! He could have killed you both, or robbed us, or set the house on fire…" Eowyn's rant was interrupted by her husband as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Eowyn, calm down," said the Lord Faramir, not looking very regal in red striped night-garments. "Yelling at them won't change what's happened. The real priority is the boy. What did you say your name was?"
"Eldarion Telcontar. You know me, Lord Faramir. You work for my father." Eldarion was more confused than he'd thought it was possible to be. Ruki and Andre's parents looked like, acted like, and were called Eowyn and Faramir. But they showed no signs of recognizing Eldarion or feeling lost in this alien world. They even spoke English. In addition, in Middle-earth, they had no children. So who were Ruki and Andre Stewart? I guess…it's just a coincidence? Eldarion wondered. A really far-flung, ridiculous coincidence?
But, if they don't know me, what will they do with me?
Faramir seemed to have ignored Eldarion's last two sentences to him; he was paging through a large paper-bound book containing half yellow pages and half white pages. "Tel…Tel…Teleri…no, that's too far forward…Tel…Telcontar. Found it. 1379 Stoneland Road, 555-4882. Is that where you live?"
No, thought Eldarion; but he said nothing, unsure why Faramir was rattling off random numbers out of the book. It had something to do with his surname, although why that would be coupled with numbers or a road called Stoneland he had no clue. He glanced at Ruki to see if she understood what was going on; she didn't return his look, her eyes downcast as she bit her lip. For someone who supposedly supported rebellion, she certainly appeared subdued. Finding himself feeling sorry for her, he turned to Eowyn and said, "My lady, please don't punish Ruki. It was my choice to stay here, and she should not be blamed for another's actions."
Ruki looked up. "Huh?" Eowyn smirked a bit but said nothing, watching Faramir as he fiddled with a strange black device, pressing buttons with his finger. It made beeping noises as he punched the buttons in and muttered "Five…five…five…four…eight…eight…two." He put the device to his ear, waited, then spoke again. "Hello, is this Mr. Telcontar? Yes, good, my name is Faramir Stewart…yes, I know it's two in the morning, but I believe your son Eldarion is at my house…yes, Mr. Telcontar, he's fine, my daughter took him in without telling anyone…of course you can speak to him." Faramir handed the device to Eldarion, saying, "It's your father."
What's my father? thought Eldarion as he held the device to his ear. "Wrong way," Andre remarked in his slightly sarcastic monotone. Eldarion turned the device around, then gasped, startled.
His father's voice was coming out of it.
"Hello? Eldarion? Are you there?" came the voice of Aragorn son of Arathorn.
"…I…It's me, Ada," Eldarion
stammered. "Wh-where are you?"
"Oh, thank God!….Where do
you think? At home, worried sick about you! Why did you run off? You
said your new school was going fine. Did something happen that you
didn't tell us? Or are you still mad at us about the move?"
"I…I'm not mad." His father was speaking "English" too. What sort of magic was doing this, transmitting his voice? Eldarion fell into Westron, needing to tell his father everything. "Look, I fell in Galadriel's mirror and now I'm stuck in this crazy place and you've got to come to Lorien right now and help me get back, and Eowyn and Faramir are here too only they don't know me and they've got kids and one of them has purple hair and I don't know how this works but I just want to go home, Ada!"
"Eldarion? Eldarion? Are you still there? The reception's fuzzy; I can't understand you. Look, where are you? I'll come get you right away." More English. Despite himself, Eldarion felt his eyes beginning to well up.
"I don't know where I am!" he cried in English, scared and tired and sick for now of strangeness. "I don't know anything anymore!"
Faramir put a comforting hand on his shoulder and took the device back. "Mr. Telcontar? It's Faramir Stewart. I found your address in the phone book; I'll drive Eldarion home right away. He's had a long night, and I'm sure you have too. Yes, Mr. Telcontar, it' s no problem. You're welcome. No, I couldn't accept any reward money, I'm just glad for you that he's safe and sound. We'll be there in about twenty minutes. Good-night." Faramir pressed another button and put the device down. "Let's go, Eldarion. The car is in the garage."
"Go where?" Eldarion asked dumbly, wiping his face and hoping for some reason that Ruki didn't see him crying. Men in Gondor weren't usually ashamed to cry, it was a sign that they cared about things, but in this alien world in the face of uncertain events it made Eldarion feel very small and alone.
"You know where. To your home. Now come on." Faramir took his hand and led him away. Eldarion looked over his shoulder at Ruki and Andre as he went through a door. "Good-bye," he called. "Thanks." He shut the door behind him and turned around. Faramir was sitting inside a blue metal contraption with wheels and doors; Eldarion got in, trying to look like he knew what he was doing. Whatever was about to happen, he was determined to take it in stride.
"Buckle your seatbelt," Faramir told him absently, turning a key and pressing some buttons. As the contraption began to vibrate, Eldarion grabbed the canvas strap and fastened it like he saw Faramir do on his own seat. What's going to happen that we need to be strapped in for? he thought apprehensively. How is being attached to a chair in a vibrating metal thing going to get me home?
Where do they think "home" is, anyway? I can't really…somehow…someway…is something going to happen that will take me back to Gondor?
Something happened, all right. The metal contraption began to move. Eldarion started to yell, then stopped when he realized Faramir must somehow be making it work. I have to relax, he told himself. No matter what happens next, I have to be…cool. I am a prince of Gondor, the heir to the throne. It's about time I acted it and stopped behaving like some gaping baby. Relax, enjoy it. This moving thing is neat. We're going fast, I think. Really fast… He realized the animal that had nearly run him over earlier hadn't been an animal at all, but something akin to what he now was riding in. What had Faramir and Ruki called it? He was in…a car. That's it. Car. Here I am, cool, in a car, with a Faramir who speaks some language called English, after talking to my father through a black object of some unknown material, heading "home," wherever "home" is. Frodo Baggins had nothing on me. Beren Erchamion was an amateur. I am an adventurer!
I am totally lost.
Faramir didn't speak, just focused on operating the car. Eldarion watched, fascinated, filing the information away alongside the bunk bed, the lightswitch, and the indoor plumbing. The car was by far the most useful, he decided. Except maybe for the indoor plumbing.
He began to notice the roads were marked with signs, and when the car turned onto a street marked "Stoneland," Eldarion knew he wasn't going back to Gondor after all. If not, though…who would be waiting for him when they stopped? Would anyone be waiting? What was his father doing right now? Frantically searching with the palantir? How had they communicated through the black device?
The car stopped in front of a white stone dwelling with "1379" on a post in the yard. "Here we are," said Faramir. "Out you go, Eldarion. And don't run away from home again. It's dangerous." He leaned over and unfastened Eldarion's restraint, the boy being uncertain as to just how it worked. Eldarion did, however, manage to open the car door all by himself, and as the door of the building opened he raced towards it upon seeing who was inside. He screamed in English, his mind being full of it.
"Father! Mother! You're here!"
Aragorn caught and hugged him close; Arwen embraced both of them. 'Thank you," she called to Faramir. "Thank you so much!"
"Not at all," Faramir shouted in reply, then started the car back up and left. Eldarion was crying again, but this time he didn't care. "You're here… you're here… you're here…" he repeated over and over. His parents didn't look quite right; in fact, they looked exactly as he had seen them in the Mirror. He wasn't in Gondor, he knew that. And as his parents took him up some stairs to his room, hugging and kissing and scolding him in turn, and put him in the bed that stood in the corner, he knew they weren't King and Queen of Gondor, either. They were like Eowyn and Faramir had been: a part of this world, knowing what everything was and oblivious to Middle-earth.
Eldarion went to bed smiling anyway. It wasn't really his home, but they still knew they were his parents, and for now that was good enough.
a/n: Well hello again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you Mirowood for your review…we talked about your question already so that's that.
Now that I think I've established that there will be Middle-earth people featured in 21st-century America, who does everybody want to see? I already know who the main characters will be, but I need cameos! So…anyone from LOTR or the Silmarillion is fair game! Send me your preferences! (Yes, even the Silmarillion…I've already mentioned some characters. See if you can find them!) I will try to incorporate as many as is humanly possible! I need to stop using exclamation points and just use periods like a normal person! (wait, never mind, I'm not a normal person)
A note: I am now a member of deviantART, so if you type in "fetch-thranduilion. you should get my stuff…as of my writing this, I'm loading a picture from my musical. The Two Story Town drawings are coming shortly, along with (maybe) some stuff from my own original story…but I haven't drawn anything good for that lately/ever.
Oh, and I don't know if there is actually anyone whose phone number is 555-4882, and I don't want to call to find out. I don't even know what state or area code that would be.
See you all in Chapter 3, which I can say right now is a rather uneventful but necessary chapter. You have been warned. It's boring. But at least it's short.
Till then…bye.