I awoke many hours later, opening my eyes to darkness. It was nighttime and the sky was beautiful, the stars glittered in patterns know only to the great creator himself. Aragorn was right, my shoulder was a dim ache and I was too busy staring at the stars to care about any other hurts.
As I gazed at the wonderous sky, I noticed several particularly bright stars, grouped in a cluster. They gave off radiance of great worth, and next to them, the others were like crystal to diamonds.
"It is said that when the Silmarils left Middle Earth, a reminder of the glory that once was appeared in the sky." spoke Aragorn softly.
I had forgotten all about him, and belatedly realized he was leaning against a nearby tree.
"How did you….." What trick was this that he knew my thoughts!
"All are drawn to the elenrilde, like the Silmarils, they hold power in their brilliance." He replied.
I was wide awake and figured that this was as good a time as any to get several matters cleared up.
"Will you answer other questions now?" I asked.
"Ask, and I will answer if I can." The Ranger replied.
"How is it that you know my name, knew that I was in trouble, and did not question my strange appearance?" I continued gazing at the elenrilde as I awaited Aragorn's reply. His answer came after a moment's silence;
"I have dreamt of one like you, a stranger to this world, yet bearing more knowledge then most." He paused for a bit, and then continued.
"It was pure fortune that I encountered the Orcs when I did. When I saw you, your name echoed in my head, along with the understanding that you are the one I have seen."
"Oh." I said, thinking; "Well I suppose it makes sense, but boy am I lucky!"
"One thing I do not know, how is it that you know all things of this world?" Aragorn asked.
"At home there are books, well stories told of Middle Earth." I feared to say more until I knew if the Ring was destroyed and the King returned. This was a difficult question to phrase, and I hoped I would get a clue in his answer to this;
"How is it that you are here at such an ideal moment?" I asked.
Dawn was approaching and the stars began to fade. Grey mist rose in the distance and slowly drifted overhead, filled with the rosy glow of the rising sun.
"Rivendell is near, and Arwen wished to return to see that it remains undisturbed. Eldarion is old enough to be left with some semblance of control over Gondor. I discovered that Orcs were nearby, and I left Rivendell five days ago to track them." Answered Aragorn, nay Elessar King of Gondor.
At that moment, it truly sunk in, I was sitting in Middle Earth, next to the one person I wanted most to meet, all I could think was "Wow."
I told him, "This is fortunate as I was afraid of telling you something that might affect the natural course of events. Tolkien, the one who wrote the stories, did not record much after the destruction of the Ring."
Aragorn smiled and said " I believe matters are more clear for us both now."
"Yes, thank you." I grinned back.
With that the sun finished rising over the mountains. Aragorn glanced up, saying, "The new day is here, would you like something to eat?"
I took the Quenya word elenrilde from elen, which means star, and rilde, which means brilliance.
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