Hey, I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this done but there is no rushing writer's block. The only thing different in this chapter is (just for the spellcheckers) I corrected Eowyn's name. The next are completely different I promise! For those of you just joining us, dig in, enjoy and please review. Questions, Comments and Ideas are always welcome as long as they are clean. Thanks!

The city was filled with joyous celebration. Flowers and ribbons fell through the air and shouting and cheering accompanied. The sky was orange with the fading light of the waning sun. Four ponies with four small riders set out from the city the next morning to begin their long journey home.

Ilara had waited 'till the festivities had died down from the partying the night before. She needed to speak with the newly crowned king and hopefully his white

Wizard as well. She did not know how she was going to explain her dire need but she knew she must not fail her people.

The walk was long and tiring but she managed to catch her breath by the time she reached the throne room at the top. A guard stood to either side. She stopped as she reached them.

"What is your business?" one asked.

"I have come to speak with the King and the White Wizard on a most important matter."

"Of what matter is this?"

"One that I would speak only to them and no one else" she answered respectfully but firmly.

The guards exchanged a look, "wait here" one said and disappeared inside. The other stayed but did not look at her. She was grateful for this for she had gained enough stares since she had arrived, no matter what she did to obstruct this. Moments passed before the guard returned. "You will follow me" he said before turning and walking away. She followed with great anxiety; she still didn't know how she was going to explain this 'situation'.

They entered the throne room and she was announced before she bowed before the throne. "Please rise" said the king Aragorn with his lady, the Lady Arwen, sitting next to him. She did and waited. "You have come to speak of a matter of the greatest importance, I am told. Please tell us." His voice was gentle yet with lightly worn power behind it. His blue gaze was piercing as she calmed herself to tell her story.

"None of this will be easy to understand completely I'm afraid, but I shall do my best. I come from a place that is being plagued by things hungry for conquest, some are human but many are not. My world is in terrible danger of being lost. In a desperate attempt to preserve our world and to find hope of doing so I have been sent to find warriors and take them back with me. I know no other way of saying this other than bluntly. I need to find exactly seven warriors to take back with me. I myself do not understand why, only that I must. I stand here now to ask for your help."

The room had been completely still as she had told her tale and had remained so for a time after she had finished. She knew, though chose not to show, that the Wizard, Gandalf, had been keeping his eyes on her the entire time. Truth listening no doubt, she thought. Aragorn had also been doing so but as she had gone on, he had become more intense, his eyes narrowing in concentration. Now he stared at the floor for a moment, thinking.

"Your highness, you don't honestly believe her tall tale do you? She is talking about another world, even."

"Yes, sire, how do we know that she is not setting a trap to capture you and anyone else here?"

"What if this woman has simply gone mad and is trying to spread her madness now?"

Other cries joined in and soon the hall was full of shouting. Through all of this only seven remained quiet and unmoving, including Ilara. Then Aragorn looked up from the floor to survey the room, watching and listening to his court for a moment. The vestibule went silent as he stood, taking in the scene before finally setting his eyes back on the woman before him. "Would everyone please leave us for a moment. Gandalf, Legolas, Arwen, Eowyn, Faramir please stay."

The rest of the court left and silence conquered once more. "Ilara, you are right, I do not fully understand what you have told us. You say that you come from another world?" This was a question not a statement, she realized.

"Not exactly. The world that I speak of is actually very much like your own in many respects. I'm not sure how to put this so that you would understand. There is a barrier that separates all worlds and planes of existence. Ours just happens to be one of the thinner curtains. We call it another dimension. My people used magic to get me through and they have given me enough magic that I must use to get back."

"What are these things that you say are trying to rule over your world? You said that some are human and others are not. Would you care to elaborate on this?"

She knew this was coming. She had seen some of these non-human creatures herself not long before she came through the barrier, in fact it wasn't that long ago. It was the first time they had tried to send her through. She had tried to get herself through but did not have enough power and so was sent back through again. That day she wished she could forget but there was too much that would not allow her to do so. She blinked back a tear.

"Like I said, our worlds are not that different. In fact, the evil Lord Sauron that you have just defeated was once trying to do the same in our world. That is how he gained those flying creatures and knew how to craft the rings so he could create the master ring and control them all."

Gasps were heard and some echoed. "And how did he come to be in our world then?" asked Gandalf.

"We were going to banish him to another dimension, barren of all human intelligence, but he escaped our grasp before we could do so and transported himself anywhere he could. We didn't know where, in fact, as of this moment, I am the only one of my people who knows this now."

"And how have you found all of this?"

"Drinking and parties make loose tongues."

"And what of the ones you will take with you? What happens to them?" This presence she had not seen but had sensed was there. This must be the Elfling prince of Mirkwood, she thought, Legolas. Finally a question I know how to answer.

"The six that I take will come with me and find out, as I will, what is asked of us. What they leave behind can be unchanged. No time will have elapsed when they come back. We can even make it so that they don't remember that they ever left if they like."

Legolas nodded in understanding, and to her astonishment, so did the others.

"And you don't know why you need exactly seven?" Faramir, captain of the guards and steward of Gondor.

Ilara shook her head, "No, I honestly don't know. I only know that that is what I was told." Again, silence for what seemed like hours but were only minutes.

Aragorn sat down once more. "We shall give you our answer tomorrow morning. Until then you shall rest." His brow furrowed, "do you have a place to stay?"

It was not until then that everyone realized that her clothes were dirty and that she was almost swaying on her feet. "No, I don't. I arrived just after your coronation."

"Then where did you spend the night?"

"The party kept going 'till almost dawn."

"You mean you haven't slept?" She shook her head. "Eowyn, would you show her to a room where she could rest?"

Eowyn, the only other blond woman in the room beside herself stepped up beside her. "Certainly, my lord" she answered and , putting an arm around her shoulder, led her down a few hallways before they reached a wooden door with intricate carvings. She opened the door and made sure that Ilara was comfortable before telling her that she would have clothes sent up and then left. Ilara was asleep seconds after she had gone.

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