I awoke to hands shaking me gently by the shoulders. "What?" I asked irritably, eyes only half-open. No immediate answer came, so I rolled over, back into the comfort of my pillow. Almost immediately, the shaking resumed, and I grumbled as I turned to look into the distressed blue eyes of Legolas.
"Wake up." Legolas said quietly, but the strain is evident in his voice. He looked over his shoulder, and I glanced in the same direction to see four hobbits staring at me in an aggravated manner. Their stomachs growled ominously at me, and I groaned as I stumbled out of bed.
"You guys are gonna eat me out of house and home." I complained irritably as I made my way to the door. All five of my guests went to follow me, but I held up a hand to stop them. "My parents are probably up. Stay here and be quiet!" I ordered sternly, and the hobbits look slightly cowed, but Legolas just looked impatient. I knew he wanted explanations, and is eager to figure out how to return home. He asked many questions last night after I picked them up, but I had been too tired to answer, and had promised to talk to him when I woke up. By the look he was giving me, he wasn't going to wait much longer.
I wandered out into my living room, glancing around with a yawn. It didn't look like anyone was up yet. The kitchen was dark, so I flipped on a light and threw open my refrigerator. My prospects were pretty dim, and I cursed my mother for postponing her shopping. I raided our fruit bowl and pulled out two boxes of cereal and some milk. I was about to leave when I noticed the oatmeal no one ate, and I heated some of that up quickly.
Upon returning to my room, I found my five guests still waiting, if not very patiently. I set the food on the floor, and the four hobbits quickly leapt for it as I handed out bowls. "I'm sorry, it's all I have right now. I was going to make toast, but we're out of bread, and we don't have any pancake batter, and…well, this is it." The hobbits barely noticed me through the stuffing of their faces, so I gave up on them and turned to the Mirkwood elf that was glaring at me. "Aren't you hungry?" I asked innocently, but he just raised one eyebrow at me, an act which caused me no small amount of amusement, I must say, coming from him.
"You know what I want, so I hardly see any point in this." He said, referring to my faked innocence to his mood. Intense blue eyes stared unflinchingly into mine until I could barely stand it.
"I know, I know." I replied. "I promised last night to explain the conditions here, what the 'cold beasts' were, and how I thought we should go about getting you home." I gave a heavy sigh and helped myself to cereal. "First of all, I'm going to answer the easiest question. The 'cold beasts' are called automobiles, though everyone refers to them as cars. That was what you were riding in. They're made of metal, and they move through...Oh, Legolas, I would have to talk hours to explain that to you. Suffice it to say, we use those instead of horses, and they can move about 4 times faster than a horse at full run. Sometimes faster than that." Legolas stares at me, his gaze disbelieving, but I ignored his look and swallowed some of my breakfast. "Today there are no elves, no hobbits, no dwarves, no wizards, no orcs, no goblins...just about everything you are familiar with no longer exists." Legolas shook his head at this and paced slowly, fingering the end of his bow in restrained agitation.
Merry looked up to me in disbelief. "No hobbits?!!" He asked, his eyes wide and slightly nervous. Not that I could blame him. I would be terrified if I woke up in there world.
"No, Merry, no hobbits. No Shire either." I replied sadly. There was a long silence, as no one knew quite what to say. Finally, I looked back to Legolas. "I do not know how I will get you home, but I will do my best. For now, however, I think we should make you appear more normal. You hardly will escape notice as you are now." All five looked to me expectantly, and I smiled mischievously.
"I think I had better call Kurie." I said slyly, referring to my friend and fellow LotR lover. I eyed each guest slowly, imagining how I would make them fit in. "We're going to the mall."