A/N: Bleh! BORED! So, I'm writing. Hurray for writing! I own nothing but Terra.
Oh, and one more thing. Sorry, but last chapter I screwed up. Leagues, not miles. Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.
Chapter 2: Rivendell and poity eared devils
Terra blinked in surprise. Rivendell? Was that what he'd just said? But why would the elves take her to Rivendell? It made no sense. Well, little sense anyways. She supposed that they had felt they couldn't just leave her in the woods, wounded and all. But to bring her to Rivendell was surprising. Wasn't it the elves' private place? By invitation only?
All of these thoughts went through her head before she even opened her eyes. When she finally did, she found herself in a comfortable room, except for he glaring sunlight in her eyes. she flinched. Bleh! She blinked in surprise at the man next to her. Yep, Rivendell. The house of Elrond. Of course, besides, you know, the guy telling her, the pointy eared land lord was kind of sitting next to her. Talking to her. Okay, now let's think: good or bad? Good that she was safe in Rivendell where magical people like Gandalf occasionally came, who might understand how she had gotten into this mess? Or bad that she had fallen into Middle Earth right before the War of the Ring (if the trees were right, that is)?
Let's go with option number three: I don't really know what to think, and I'm seriously freaking out now. Let's all run away screaming from this nightmare. The trees seemed nice enough.
Except for one thing.
She couldn't go running away screaming because a) she would more than likely be caught before she made it out the door, b) Lord Elrond was sitting right next to her and he had just treated her injuries and welcomed her into his home, and c) there was still the slight matter of her shoulder having had a knife shoved into it. So yeah, she was stuck. Okay, technically she could still run away screaming, but that wouldn't be nice.
Wait...
Who said she had to be nice?
Oh yeah, the whole part where she was in a foreign... world. And she had nowhere else to go. No supplies. And the next 'homely house' was god knows how far away. Bad idea. So, the pointy eared guy hovering over her face, now frowning from her lack of response is gonna want an answer.
"Hi," she said. Well, more like croaked. Um, water please?
"Here," he said, bringing a cup to her lips and tilting her head up to sip at it.
After taking a few sips and pausing to get her breath, she glared at him, "I can do that by myself, you know."
The strangest expression crossed his face then. Itwas somewhere between amusement and a stern scowl.
"You will not be able to put weight on your shoulder for some time. I was saving you the pain that attempting to sit up would cause."
She looked away to the window and huffed. She heard him chuckle in amusement. She briefly turned her attention back to him long enough to deliver a scorching glare before she returned her gaze to the window at his still amused expression.
"What is your name?"
She looked at him, startled, "What?"
"Your name," he said patiently, "You saved my son's life, my sons brought you here, we tended your wounds, and we have cared for you since you passed out. I would think that we might at least exchange names."
"Terra."
He blinked. He was probably a little surprised. Her name would be odd here.
"I am Lord Elrond. This is my home."
"Nice to meet you. I would shake your hand, or bow, or whatever, but I'm kind of... incapacitated. Or whatever," she glared daggars at the window and hoped the softly blowing curtains would burst into flames.
She could sense the amusement in his voice. Damn him. Damn the elven race in general. Damn this stupid world into the firey abyss of hell. She hadn't even liked Lord of the Rings, and here she was, stuck in the thrice damned world. More proof that fate hated her. Yep, she was once again screwed royally. And what was worse, she sucked out the outdoors. Great, just perfect. Well, if she truely sucked at the outdoors, she wouldn't have always been good with plants or be able to talk to trees, but that was besides the point. The Lord of the Rings marathon that her firends had forced on her had been the most boring nine hours of her life! Gah! What was she doing here? Why couldn't fate have dropped a fan girls in here?
She kind of jumped when he spoke again, having been lost in her own thoughts.
"I understand. I will have someone assist you in getting up till you are well enough to do it alone."
Well!
Something in her snapped. There was nothing wrong with her legs, or her other arm, for that matter! She focused all her weight on her other arm and pushed herself up. She set her mouth into a thin line and refused to flinch when pain shot through her arm. She swung her legs around and dropped them to the floor quickly, standing up firmly, planting her feet to keep from swaying at the wave of dizziness that struck hard. She looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest as if to say, 'ha! can't get up my ass!' Or at least, that's what she tried to do, but then she staggered. And fell. Into his lap. Not cool.
Fortunately, he just chuckled and put her back into bed, swooping her up easily, as if she weighed nothing at all. It was really quite demeaning. Damn him. She sat up, refusing to lay back down, staring defiantly. He shook his head and propped up the pillows behind her and forced her to lean back against them. She managed not to look like she was sulking. Barely.
He smiled at her, "I owe you something of a debt, young lady. You did save my son's life."
She shrugged, uncomfortable, "Yeah, well, as you said, you helped me, tended me. Now we're even. Now, as soon as I can get up without falling over, I'll be on my way."
He looked stern again, "That will not happen until you have eaten, drank, and slept some more. Elladan tells me that you had no supplies, only a sword. If I may be so bold, what were you thinking?"
His glare intensified. She struggled not to squirm under his gaze, looking at the window once again. Burn, you evil curtains, burn!
"I wasn't thinking of taking a journey, that's for sure. The trees were nice enough to give me the sword."
He looked at her oddly, "The trees."
"Oh yes, they were quite polite. Gave me a path, sword, directions, answered a few questions, you're looking at me like I've lost my mind," she continued calmly, enjoying the odd looks he was giving her.
"The trees spoke to you?"
"Of course not! Trees can't actually speak. They pointed, cleared paths, shook their branches, whatever it took for me to understand. They seemed to have no such trouble with me."
He shook his head, "That's not what I meant. Trees don't normally speak to mortals. Not in this area."
She shrugged again, this time in polite confusion, "Don't ask me. All I know is that they were nice, polite trees."
He raised an eyebrow, "You've spoken to trees before?"
"No, it kind of came as a shock when the forest moved in response to my inane ramblings. At least it was a good shock. Until they dropped the sword on the ground behind me. I think I jumped about ten feet off the ground," she said sheepishly. He chuckled softly.
"I will hae to ask Mithrandir about that," he said, still chuckling slightly.
She suddenly cocked her head, narrowing her eyes. Why was she saying so much? She could not attribute it solely to her tiredness. Evil person, taking advantage of whatever it was. Wait... Mithrandir? Wasn't that Gandalf? Gandalf was here? YAY! He could help her if anybody could!
She looked up, hoping to look imploring, "May I speak with him?"
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and solemn ezpression before nodding curtly and turning to go. She sighed an laid back against the pillows. She quickly devoured the food an eleven maid brought her, and the elf laughingly brought her more.
When Gandalf walked in, she nearly dropped her fork. She choked on the bite of food in her mouth, staring with wide eyes. Okay. Definately Gandalf.
"H-hi," she said nervously, "Um, you know, you being a wizard and all, I thought you might be able to help me with my current situation."
He smiled encouragingly. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and continued.
"Um, this is gonna sound more than a little odd, but I'm from Earth. Not Middle Earth. Just Earth. The planet. Not the one we're on right now. A different one."
She didn't even realize she was babbling idiotically till he calmly held up a hand... and put it over her mouth.
"Peace, child. I'm sure we can discover more about this, but first you must calm yourself."
She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling dramatically. Die curtains, die! Burn the same color as my face!
When he dropped his hand, she took one more deep breath before continuing.
"Okay, here's the other thing. See, in my world, tere's these books, and see, they have your whole history in some of them, but in the ones I read, they have the story of the War of the Ring, and the trees said that the warhadn't happened yet, so-"
Once again his and was across her mouth. His face became stern.
"Now, I am going to remove my and, and you are going to sit quietly while I talk. Do you understand?"
Grinning sheepishly behind his hand, she nodded.
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A/N: And that's where I leave you. Sorry, but I don't want to be up half the night typing!
wish-for-flight: That's okay! Your opinion counts, especially since you liked my story!
YoukoMana: Haha, I laugh at you! And I just wrote more, so no cursing or I'll have my butterfly minions wash your mouth out with soap! Muahaha! Fear me!
bookworm0492: Thank you! And well, she did kind of save Elrohir's life, so tey couldn't very well leave her in the woods since they had to take Elrohir back anyways...
Arenia Nerawen: Lol, thanks! But now you owe me a review!
Thank yous also go out to CloudGuardian and marcy213 for their encouragement! Okay, R&R, everyone, bye!
