Chapter Three-It's A Whole New World
The female elf, who I assumed was Melima, came into the room with a tray. She set it down on the small table beside the bed and I moved my pack out of my lap and dropped it on the floor. Smiling, Melima motioned for me to eat as she poured me a cup of wine. I smelt the contents of the wine before I sipped and found it to be a fruity red, not dissimilar to a Syrah. My Dad had the good sense to educate my brothers, sister and I in good wines and I was happy to see the elves weren't slouches when it came to the fruity nectar. I looked at the plate Melima offered me, it was laden with different fruits and vegetables, and it had chunks of a creamy soft cheese in the centre. Looked good.
I smiled and thanked her by nodding my head at the food, "Thank you."
She smiled at me and moved to sit by the fire while I ate. I popped a chunk of fruit in my mouth. Tasted pretty real to me, just like the wine. I figured my mind must be constructing the taste if I was in a coma, because it was just like real food from back home, but more flavourful. I was reminded of the organic fruits and vegetables my sister-in-law Lise would get. This was even better. Man, I had one good imagination if this wasn't real. I idly wondered if the elves were an agrarian society. Maybe my mind would construct something to explain how far technologically they had developed. It would be an interesting prospect to see if my mind followed Tolkien's universe or if, like when I dreamed, it would be very different. My mind had a fully detailed Vancouver that it utilised when I dreamt of my home, but many things were completely unlike the real Vancouver. I was fascinated by the differences and how my mind would develop architecturally advanced and beautiful buildings, parks and roadways that were beyond my physical capability of drawing.
I wanted to get up and explore, to see what was outside the room I currently occupied, but I was mindful of Elrond's instructions. Having been through many surgeries for my cancer treatments, I knew that not cheesing off the doctor went a long way with them pronouncing me fit for duty.
When I finished my meal, I moved the plate and cup onto the tray by my bed, and I touched the back of my head. My curiosity as to what Elrond had done to my head was bugging the crap out of me. Four neat sutures were placed about a centimetre apart on the right side of the back of my head. Well, they sure did nice work. Pulling my hand away, I noticed there was no blood, so they must've done a good job of cleaning the site. I wondered if they had anti-bacterial wash to prevent infection. I knew tea-tree oil was a good astringent and chickweed cream stopped the itch and wasn't comodegenic. I wondered when Elrond would visit me again, so I could ask him about the naturopathic healing practices he employed. My watch showed a couple of hours had passed since his last visit, so I figured it would be a while. Dinner could be one of those prolonged events, I wasn't sure.
The door to my room opened and Melima jumped up and nodded to the person who came in. A blond chap, who must be an elf too as he was that 'willowy' type, moved over to my bed. He spoke in that language, which I now knew to be 'Elvish', and nodded to Melima. She picked up the tray containing the remnants of my meal and left the room.
"Good day, I was informed of you regaining consciousness and wanted to see how you were. My name is Lord Glorfindel. How do you feel?"
I bit my lip to keep from gasping. The Lord Glorfindel? I was totally jazzed. My apparent hallucination was just getting better and better. He wasn't too hard on the eyes either. Long blond hair, thick and lustrous, right out of the 70's, and blue eyes the colour of a bright sunny sky. Not bad, not bad at all.
"Hi there. I'm Karyn, and I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Were you the person who found me?" I didn't want to nag about the pain I endured flopped over the horse, cuz you just don't piss off something this cute.
Glorfindel nodded and smiled, "Yes, you were in bad shape. How did you sustain the injury to your head? And why on Arda, were you alone?
"Uh, well I was injured by a falling branch, it nicked my head. As for the alone bit, ask Elrond. I'm sooo not repeating the whole story. It's long and complicated enough." I looked up at him and gave an apologetic shrug.
"Ah, I see." Glorfindel worried his lower lip with his teeth. I could tell he didn't see at all.
"Sorry to bother you, but Lord Elrond didn't give you an idea as to when I can expect to be up and around, did he? It's just, even after cancer surgery I was up and out of bed within hours of having been under the knife."
Glorfindel shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, he did not. What do you mean cancer surgery? I am not familiar with that phrase?"
Oh, maybe I shouldn't have brought that up. How do you explain cancer and surgery to a person who's probably never been sick a day in their life?
"Umm, well cancer is an illness that invades your body and causes healthy bits of it to die. When they find it, they like to cut you open and cut the dead bits out along with the cancerous bits. They also give you strong medicine to stop any leftover cancer from growing or migrating to other parts of your body." Was I seriously getting into an explanation of oncology?
"Ah. So you die from this illness?" Glorfindel was looking intently at me.
"Umm, yeah, you can die. It depends if the doctors or healers catch it in time. My cancer was caught before it got too bad."
"I see. Where did they find this illness?"
"It was in my shoulder. Here, take a look at my scar." I pulled down the collar of my shirt and showed him the smooth white scar.
"It looks like any other scar." He moved his hand to it. "May I touch it?"
"Sure. Go ahead. It's quite soft, as you'll notice. I rubbed a lot of vitamin E oil on it to prevent it thickening."
His touch was light and delicate. He ran his finger from top to bottom and leaned in to look closely at the variations in skin colour.
"Fascinating. I too have a scar, but mine is raised a little. The person that performed the removal did a very good job."
"Thank you. Uh, would you be willing to guide me around Imladris when Lord Elrond allows me out of bed?" Hey, I was being practical. I'm sure Glorfindel was around since the beginning, so he was a logical choice for tour guide.
Smiling, "I would be honoured. However, I am sure you must be tired from your ordeal, so I will let you rest." Glorfindel moved to the door. "I am sure Lord Elrond will be along shortly to check on you."
"I'll try to be here." I grinned cheekily. He looked at me like I was from Jupiter. I waved, "Kay, bye! Thanks for the visit!"
I was starting to miss people who understood my cultural witticism. He left the room, leaving me to my own device. I leaned over and picked my bag up from the place I dropped it. Opening it, I sorted through it until I found my book at the bottom. I thought I'd get a bit of reading in, seeing as how I wasn't sleepy and thought it was just daft to sleep in what could be a coma. I was reading when Elrond entered the room and glided over to my bed.
"Good evening Lady Karyn. How do you feel?" He leaned over me to look at the stitches and checked my pulse.
"I'm fine. Head doesn't even hurt. I must say you do lovely work, and I have seen a lot of work over my years." I was being truthful. You just had to admire a steady hand.
"Thank you. How many years do you mean?" He looked at me questioningly.
"Umm, suture-wise, ten years." I wasn't really sure if he was talking about those.
"Ah, and how old are you? I apologize for being forward."
"No offence taken. How old do you think I am?" I loved asking this question, as people seemed to always under guess my age by quite a few years.
Elrond seemed to survey me for a while before he said, "I believe you to be in your mid-twenties."
Oh, I could kiss the fellow right now, but I wisely held back and smiled.
"Close, but no. I'm thirty-six. Thanks for the compliment though."
He had the grace to look astonished. Really, I could so kiss him right then. He had the best manners.
"Well, you certainly do not look that old. Do all mortals from, what did you call it? Canada? Do they all age as gracefully as you?"
"Depends on their parentage and how hard they live. Drink and smoke excessively, and you could be thirty-six and look fifty. It can be quite unpleasant." I bit my lip, now was the time to bring up the getting out of bed thing. "Just wondering when I could leave this bed and start moving around? Moving around helps deal with the ability to heal." Okay, I knew from having given myself three concussions before this, that I needed supervision, but I could walk around, just not anything strenuous.
Thankfully, he smiled. "You may get out of bed tomorrow morning. I will have Melima guide you to breakfast, and I will arrange for someone to guide you around."
"Okay, that sounds wonderful. I thought you should know that Lord Glorfindel came by to see me, and he agreed to show me around. If that's okay by you, of course." I hoped like all get-out that Elrond would agree.
He laughed lightly. "That will be fine, but he can only guide you for the morning, as he will have duties to attend to in the afternoon."
"Got it. I'll see you at breakfast then?"
"I am sure you will. Have a good night and get some rest." He took the book from my hands and put it on the side table. Pushing me lightly back on the bed, he pulled the covers up to my shoulders. "I will speak with you then."
"Good night Lord Elrond. Thank you for the generosity you have shown me thus far. You have been very kind." You couldn't be too careful with the shows of thanks. My dad taught me good manners; I have the grace to use them.
Elrond left the room quietly after he turned down the lantern by my bed. I closed my eyes and dreamt of naughty activities with G-man. Dude was totally on my brain.