She Was So Normal
Awake at Last
Author's Note: Constructive criticism is welcome. I've decided that any dialogue said all in elvish (that I don't want to or can't translate) shall be in italics from here on out. I also split this chapter in two, so just remember that as you read this one and the next. Also worth noting is the fact that this story intersects pretty hard core at times with another story I wrote (and then rewrote) called "The Forgotten". So if you're confused a little, go check that one out. Also, DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Lord of the Rings.
She heard singing. Beautiful, mournful singing. She opened her eyes and saw a white ceiling and that the light was a soft, golden color. She looked around and as she turned her head she realized she was lying on something very soft with a very soft pillow under head. She couldn't see anyone or anything much, mostly just pillows, ceiling, and a large window to her right to her left the same except there seemed to be something like a folding screen. Like the kind people always got changed behind in old movies. She was briefly reminded of one her grandma had set up in the corner of her sewing room. She had it folding into the corner and kept a sewing mannequin dressed in whatever her latest project was in front of it, like a store front window display. Her grandma's though, was a dark varnished wood with a white gauzy fabric over a pinky floral print. This one was a beautiful, grey colored wood with a leafy green fabric. She turned back to the window. Whatever was out there was shimmering gold with large grey pillars. What was it? After a few seconds her brain figured it out and she could see it was trees with golden leaves. So wherever she was, it was a dense wood and the leaves had turned. She tried to sit up.
"No, no! You must lie back down!" she heard a voice somewhere off to her right say. It was a male voice.
"What?" She asked as she continued to move to a sitting position. Suddenly a beautiful tall blond man with sparkling blue eyes wearing a long pale grey robe appeared in front of her. He had long hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck, and she couldn't be certain but for all she was worth she thought his ears looked pointed.
As he gently pushed her back down he said, "You must not move until I have examined you." His voice was very pleasant, but something about how he talked made her think that this wasn't his native language. He was very careful forming his words and had an accent she couldn't place.
"What are you? A doctor?"
"I am a healer. I am the head healer and my word is law in this place. Now please relax while I examine your head." He looked into each of her eyes, asked her to follow his finger as he moved it back and forth, then helped her sit up slowly so he could probe the back of her head. "Besides the nasty bump, which is already receding, I think you will be fine."
"What happened?" she asked. "The last thing I remember was some tall figure that looked kinda like you putting his hand over my mouth and muttering something and then I blacked out."
"Ah yes, that was one of our sentries. He was hastily trying to silence you and I am afraid put you to sleep longer than he meant."
"What?"
"From what I gather, you fell, struck your head upon a rock and upon waking passed out again shortly thereafter from shock, after speaking with the dwarf and the hobbit. When you awoke again you were in a talan as a small band of orcs-"
"Orcs?"
"Yes, do you not know what orcs are?"
"Yeah, I do," she answered. What was this? Orcs?!
"The orcs were underneath your talan-"
"What's a 'talan'?"
"You are on one. Though, the one you were on last night was significantly smaller."
"I'm on one? You mean the bed?"
"No, this, what is the word I want? Ah, flet? Or perhaps platform? We are high up in the trees upon a platform or flet we call a talan."
"Oh. So I was on a smaller one last night and there were orcs?" she asked, desperately trying to grasp what was going on.
"Yes, a small band of orcs were passing beneath the talan you were in. You being awake and asking questions was throwing everyone in danger of discovery. Thus Haldir was forced to cause you to fall back asleep. However, he was a bit over zealous in his haste and caused you to sleep for nearly three days."
"THREE DAYS?!"
"Shh! Milady, there is absolutely no need for you to shout. "
"Yes, yes there is!" Renee exclaimed. "One minute I was going to go shopping with my friend Danielle, and the next minute I am being yelled at by some dwarf and a hob-" she stopped. A hobbit? How?
The healer's brows knit together as the silence grew. "Milady, are you well?"
"Hobbit? Dwarf? Haldir? Orcs? I- I- Where am I? I mean, besides the talan, flet thing? What are you? What's going on?"
"You are in Caras Galadhon. In Lothlórien. I am an Elf. As for what is 'going on', I was hoping you could provide me some answers."
"Caras Galadhon? Lothlórien? As in, Middle-earth?"
"Yes," the healer replied. He was starting to wonder precisely what was going on with this young woman. Her clothes were very odd, her speech strange, and she seemed to be extremely confused. Yet she seemed to know what orcs were and was at least, thank goodness, aware she was in Middle-earth. That was a step in the right direction anyway. "Milady, I am going to have you speak with the Lady of Lothlórien. I believe she shall be able to help you sort out what is happening." He stood to leave then looked at her and asked, "By the way, what is your name?"
"Renee. And yours?" she answered and asked reflexively.
"Aranor. Now lie down and rest while I am gone," the healer said. He then turned away to fetch the Lady of Lothlórien.
A few minutes later he returned and following him was the most noble and beautiful woman Renee had ever seen. She was wearing a long white dress with a silvery belt. Her head bore a silver circlet with golden flowers, beneath which flowed long golden hair that fell in braids past her waist. Renee stared at her as she walked up. She sat up in the bed. Somehow it seemed very rude to be lying down like that if someone was coming to talk to her and she wasn't dying from something. Aranor drew a chair to Renee's bedside and the lady sat upon it.
"That will be all for now, Aranor. I shall call if I require anything," she said in a sweet, velvety voice.
"Yes, milady," Aranor said with a bow and withdrew from the room.
The lady turned her gaze upon Renee who suddenly felt like she wanted to hide. The lady smiled at her and said, "My name is Galadriel. I am the lady of Lothlórien. You were brought here by Haldir who was accompanying some travelers."
"Yes, uh, milady. Though, I think I've only met Aranor, some dwarf, and a hobbit," Renee said, avoiding looking Galadriel straight in the eye. She felt like she could see right through her and she didn't much care for it.
"I see. Tell me, from where did you come?"
"Well, I come from a town called Smithsville. That's where I was when I got knocked over by some screaming three year old boy and his frantic mother. I lost my balance, fell down the sloping shoreline and I guess hit my head on a rock in the lake and passed out."
"And what happened when you awoke?" she asked gently.
"I woke up, saw some weird pillar thing I had never seen before, realized I was nowhere near Smithsville anymore, and then that dwarf started yelling at me, something about Kheled-zaram? Then I passed out again. That's all I know." Suddenly the bit the dwarf had been yelling at her about made sense, if this was in fact Middle-earth, which meant that dwarf was Gimli and the hobbit who had spoken was Frodo, or maybe Sam, but probably Frodo.
"I see," the lady said. Renee had a strange feeling the lady referred not only to what she said, but what she thought as well. In the worst way Renee wished she had her copy of Lord of the Rings at that very moment so she could start looking stuff up. It had been too long and she couldn't remember. "Do you understand where you are now?"
Renee had been envisioning a map of her home state when she spoke about Smithsville and various memories of the town. Now she was seeing a map of Middle-earth in her head, the one she had seen in the back of her copy of the "Lord of the Rings".
"Yes, but really, milady, this seems a bit fantastical. You must admit that. I mean, Middle-earth is just a place in a book. It's not real. It can't be real. I got it! I'm in a coma!" she said, more or less to herself, "I'm lying in a hospital in Smithsville and I am in a coma. This is all just a crazy working of my sub conscious." Renee's musing drifted to silence. Galadriel just listened patiently and studied the young woman before her.
"But Renee, this is not a dream. You are awake and this is real," Galadriel said quietly.
Renee looked at her, straight in her piercing blue eyes. Those eyes left no doubt. "But how?"
"I do not know. But it seems that this is a matter of some significance. Smithsville and Middle-earth are not the same place or in the same time. That much is clear to me. You also said something about a book?"
"Yeah, uh, yes, it's called the Lord of the Rings. It's about Frodo and the one ring and all about how he has to go to Mordor and destroy it."
Galadriel studied her closely. Suddenly it seemed to Renee that she was looking through her, or maybe in her. Like an interrogation of some sort as memories and thoughts flitted briefly through her mind. "I must take counsel," Galadriel said out loud. "I shall return to you and speak with you again. In the meantime, with Aranor's leave, you may go where you wish with in the city. I shall assign you an escort so you do not become lost. I shall also send some more suitable clothes over for you."
"Uh, thank you," Renee said. Her mind was reeling.
Galadriel left and Renee decided that until something happened, this was going to be her reality so she figured she might as well make the most of it. And if this all was just a dream or a coma, she simply had to wait until she woke up. But as she reflected on the dream theory she realized she always knew when she was dreaming if not right away, then shortly after the dream started. This was well past the beginning of the dream. It seemed at present anyway, that this was either really truly happening, or she was in a coma; for which she had no experience to compare it to and so couldn't be sure one way or the other. But for what it was worth, this felt a whole lot more like reality to her than anything else. From the feel of the blankets to the lights and the singing, it all seemed real to her. Then the memory of Galadriel's eyes returned to her and the vestiges of doubt melted away.
Aranor reappeared. "The Lady told me you shall be given some new clothing and that your release into the city is pending upon my consent and the arrival of your clothes and escort. You look a good deal more focused now. That is good. You were looking rather confused and dazed when you awoke."
"Well, that's probably because I've decided that this really is happening. I mean, who knows! Maybe I am in a coma back home, but for what it's worth, this all seems real so I'm going to go with that. I don't know, maybe I'm just having an 'Alice in Wonderland' moment."
"Alice in Wonderland?" Aranor repeated.
"Yes, it's a book where I'm from about a girl who finds herself in this crazy world with all sorts of talking animals, strange creatures, and general nonsense and chaos. Though, for whatever its worth, this world seems a good deal more ordered and sensible."
"I should think so," Aranor commented.
Renee smiled then sighed. "So, what is there to do in Caras Galadhon?"
"Many things. This is a large city."
"Could you expound on 'many things'? Because I'm very certain that whatever there is to do here is nothing like what we have to do back home."
Aranor thought a moment. "Well, it is winter, but nothing is frozen over as yet, so there is boating and fishing. The markets have a variety of things ranging from blacksmithing to dress making. Not to mention things like the bakeries, the fabric merchants, and so forth. There are also a number of places where you can hear recitations from story tellers, poets, and minstrels."
Renee nodded. Well that was something at any rate. Suddenly she thought of something, "Aranor, do you know, I mean I am assuming that there were more travelers than that dwarf and the two hobbits that came here. Am I right?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact there were nine in the company. Why?"
"Well, uh," she stammered. She wasn't sure if she should say anything about the book to him. It felt like one of those things one shouldn't just blab about. "Just seemed a little improbable to me that a single dwarf and a couple -hobbits could manage to carry me very far. That's all." Wait, nine? Shouldn't Gandalf have fallen into Khazad-dum by now? She was confused, but didn't say anything.
Aranor nodded. Somehow he doubted that was the whole reason she asked, but he was a healer not a prison guard. Still, he would mention his suspicion to Lady Galadriel. "If you are feeling up to it, I should like you to have a bath and something to eat before I release you."
"My word, does that sound good! I'm starving! And now that you've mentioned it, I feel pretty gross too. Three days, you said I was out?"
Aranor nodded. "I shall order your bath immediately. While we wait for it to be drawn you can eat. I have some fruit, bread, and cheese ready for you, waiting for you to wake."
Renee thanked Aranor and he led her across the room and to the other side of the screen to where a small table was set with two chairs and a single plate, cup, a large platter of food, and a pitcher. He helped her into her chair and then seated himself across from her as she started piling food onto her plate.
"Not that I don't like the company, but don't you have other patients to attend to?" Renee asked.
He hesitated. "None at the moment. We do not fall prey to sickness like you humans do, and I have no wounded elves to attend to."
"Oh," she said as she tore off a piece of bread. The bread had looked like a loaf of plain white bread, but the flavor was much sweeter. After a few bites she poured herself a cup of whatever was in the pitcher. The liquid was a very pale gold and tasted like honey to her. She wondered vaguely if it wasn't mead, but had never had mead so couldn't make any comparisons there. She ate, alternating between the bread, fruit, and cheese, and took the occasional sip of whatever that delightful liquid was. It didn't take very long for her to start feeling full.
Through the whole meal she had been aware of Aranor watching her with the same look on his face her mother always had whenever she first ate again after having a stomach bug. It was the look that hovered between, 'thank goodness she's eating and looking better' and 'maybe I should bring the trash can over to her. Just to be safe.'
"How do you feel?" Aranor asked when it looked like she was winding down her eating.
"Much better, thank you!" Renee said.
He gave a small nod. "You look better. Your color has improved. I am tempted to keep you here a while longer since you haven't eaten in three days." He paused. Renee looked at him, not sure if she cared one way or the other if he released her that day or a week from that day. "However, I think I shall let you go if you promise to let me visit you at least once each day for a few days to make sure you are fine."
"Whatever you think is best, Aranor. Though, if it'll make you feel any better, I always drop a lot of weight quickly if I'm sick. And I suppose being unconscious for three days would qualify. But for as fast as I drop it, I usually get it back kinda quickly too. I should be back to where I was in a week or two. Though, I really don't know how much I've lost since I haven't seen myself."
"If you would like to see yourself, I do have a mirror. Follow me," Aranor said. Her information did make him feel a little better, but it was somewhat disconcerting to him that she should lose weight so quickly. He led her into another room, where in Renee realized she was in something more like a suit verses a hospital room or a bedroom. Though the other room had been fairly rectangular, this room was more wedged shaped. The narrower part of the wedge was to her right and had only a corner table standing in it that held what she guessed were rolled wash cloths. To her left it had a settee and another screen that stretched two thirds of the way across the room. Behind it was a round, wall mounted mirror, a small and low wooden bench, and a large tub that looked a little over half full of very hot water.
She looked at herself. She figured she lost only a couple pounds. Her face was always where she noticed it first. "Yeah, I guess being unconscious really is like being sick. I've looked worse though!" she said with a smile. She turned to Aranor. "Yeah, don't worry. I'll gain it back within a week or so. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll let you check up on me."
"It would," he answered. He seemed to relax a little when she didn't seem alarmed at her appearance. After all, he knew virtually nothing about her, and humans were not his exactly his area of expertise.
"If you think I look worrisomely thin now, you should have seen me two years ago when I got sick. I had this horrible stomach bug, er, illness, and I couldn't keep anything down. Not even water. I think I dropped fifteen pounds in three days. My mom was concerned, of course, but the tipping point for her was when I started turning yellow. Then she hauled me to the doctor and they had to give me this dreadful shot and-"
"Shot?"
"Yes, where I come from, some medicine you can swallow or drink, but for some they take a very small, hollow needle and inject the medicine into you directly. Not pleasant. The very painful ones they stick in your backside because it doesn't hurt as much there as say, in your arm. But believe me, it still hurt!"
"And that cured you?"
"Well, it kept me from throwing up the last bit of stomach acid I still had. Once I could get some water and some food in me I did much better."
Aranor nodded. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of what she had just said. Just then two elves appeared. One carried an enormous bucket of hot water and poured it into the bath and the other laid out towels and a robe on a low bench beside the tub. Once finished the two of them left.
"Your bath is ready," Aranor said. "I would usually have an elf maid attend you, but as it stands, very few of us speak the common tongue, and amongst that number, almost none of them are women. I would not, however, invade your privacy unnecessarily; but I shall remain close by."
At first Renee was somewhat put off at the idea of any sort of attendant. Nobody had bathed her since she had been miserably, horribly sick with chicken pox in the second grade. But as she considered the circumstances and his pledge to only come if she called she was okay with it. Barely. She thanked him and he immediately withdrew to the settee on the other side of the screen.
"Those two elf men won't be back anytime soon will they?" Renee asked before she started to undress.
"No. Not for some time yet. They will not return until the water starts to cool, which would probably be in a half hours' time."
"That fast?"
"How long does it take for you to undress?" Aranor asked, misunderstanding her question.
"No, I mean, how is it you can heat up that much water that fast?" she clarified as started to get ready for her bath.
"We always keep hot water on hand in case we receive any wounded soldiers. If we wished, we could stoke the fire to be even hotter so the water heated faster, but that is not necessary at the moment and so we keep it lower. Though I have been warned it may be necessary soon, so I have more wood being brought in," Aranor said.
Renee grabbed the side of the tub and carefully lowered herself in. "Oh lordy, is this hot!" she exclaimed.
"Do not scald yourself!" Aranor cried.
"No, I won't scald myself," she said. "I'll just be a bit pink until I either get used to it or it cools off. Where's the soap, anyway?" she said as she slowly slipped herself in up to her shoulders. "Oh, I see it! Never mind!" It was on a small shelf attached to the side of the tub. She had never had a free standing tub, though she wanted one. She imagined if she did though, she wouldn't have the little shelf hanging outside the tub to drip soapy water onto the floor, but if the elves liked dealing with soapy residue on their floors that was their business. Curious, she looked over the tub's edge and saw a neatly folded towel on the floor beneath the shelf and shrugged.
She soaked in silence for a few minutes, lazily mulling over how this could possibly be real and not a dream. She realized that to an extent the whole thing was pointless because unless something happened to prove it was some sort of dream, she had no way of proving anything. And what proof would she accept that this was reality? The water smelled sweet, felt hot, reacted as expected as she moved around in it. The food had certainly tasted exceptional and whatever that drink was, it tasted absolutely lovely. The bed had been a little softer than she cared for (she preferred a firm mattress), but the pillows had been like clouds beneath her head. And the touch of Aranor – she reflected quite some time on that. His hands had been so warm! And the skin was so soft, not dry or calloused, but strong. She had gotten the impression that those hands that had probed her goose egg so carefully and lightly gleaned more than just the size of the knot on her head. Her head kept going back to an episode of Star Trek where some pregnant alien queen played by Julie Newmar was so shocked that McCoy could tell how soon her baby was coming by touching her belly.
Her thoughtfulness had left her motionless too long and caused Aranor to worry. "Are you well, Renee?"
"What? Oh, I'm fine. I was just thinking. Sorry. I'll hurry up."
"Oh no, no rush, take as long as you would like. I just grew concerned when I did not hear anything."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Like I said, just thinking." She decided that in spite of his assurance she could take as long as she wanted, she didn't want to take a terribly long time. She also didn't want to put on her clothes again, since they were in dire need of laundering. Nor did she wish to run around in a robe. However, she also realized it could potentially be quite some time before clean clothes arrived and decided she wasn't going to stay in there that long, regardless of how much hot water they brought in, so she set to washing.
She didn't realize it, but the power of the Lady of the Galadhrim was starting to affect her and the debate of 'is it real or am I dreaming?' faded from her mind. She began to feel in much better spirits and started to alternate humming and singing.
"What is that song?" Aranor asked when she paused.
"Oh, uh, it's called Arabesque number One by a composer named Claude Debussy. There aren't any words. And I really can't do it justice singing it. I think you'd like it though. It sounds like a bubbling stream under starlit skies in summer, like when the moon is full and everything has that hazy twilight blue like color to it. And at several points in the song the music goes down to one single note and you wonder if it's going to fade to silence or keep going and at the last second it goes on with the most beautiful bubbling, rolling chords that just continue to pull you further into the dream he's weaving with his music," she fell silent. "Sorry, I kinda wax poetic sometimes when I'm talking about something I love. That song though, it just goes right to my heart, every time."
"It sounds lovely," Aranor said. "And do not apologize. It is not wrong to speak so of things that you love or music that touches you. It is only natural to wish to talk of such things. Do people not do so where you are from?"
"Not really. I mean a critic or a reviewer might go on at some length about something they really like, but poetic speech and writing has fallen by the wayside, as it were. But I like to think I help keep it alive. I've always liked how people talk in old books. Much more poetic and meaningful and purposeful and moving. I tried to talk like that more when I was younger but kept getting frustrated when no one understood what I was saying. I suppose it doesn't help that the exact word I want usually slips my mind the minute I want to use it." She paused. "Sorry, I'm rambling again. I do that. Especially if I'm on edge or nervous.
"Are you nervous?"
"A little. I do feel a good bit better now that I've had something to eat, and this bath is helping matters significantly, but still. I'm in a strange place and I'm taking a bath with a man I just met in the same room. I don't usually bathe with other people around, let along strange men. Or Elves. Or Elven men… that seems contradictory, surely there's a term for this?"
Aranor nodded, "That is understandable. Though I promise you, I will not look unless I must. I have not yet in all the centuries I have been a healer, and I assure you I shall not begin now. And the word you are looking for is ellon. A male Elf is an ellon, a female elf an elleth."
Renee laughed. "Oh, thank you. And yeah, I suppose you've probably seen it all at this point. That's what all my nurse friends say anyway. But I appreciate your assurances."
Aranor smiled. At least she seemed to have a sense of humor about her, peculiar though it may be.
Renee finished rinsing out her hair and turned around in the tub so she was closer to the bench and reached for one of the towels. Aranor wondered what all the sloshing water was about. Once she had the towel she stood up and wrapped herself in it, which is when she discovered it was more bath sheet sized than bath towel sized, so she folded it so it wouldn't touch the water. Then she carefully got out of the tub and began to dry herself off. Once sufficiently dried, she put on the robe then came out from behind the screen, drying her hair.
"You Elves sure know how to spoil a girl! This robe is so soft!" she said as she headed back into the other room and do the table.
Aranor smiled. "We do pride ourselves on our clothing. That is probably what is keeping them so long in sending your clothes up. They are probably beside themselves fussing over getting a dress to fit an adaneth they've only seen lying unconscious."
"The seamstress, or tailor, or whatever was here?" she asked as she picked up an apple then bit in.
"Yes, they arrived here just as you did. Word was sent you would be in need of clothes and shoes."
"Yeah, what happened to my shoes?" she said between bites.
Just then an elf maid appeared carrying something wrapped in string. She bowed her head slightly in the direction of Aranor and said in elvish, "These are the things the Lady Galadriel had sent over for the adanath." Aranor nodded and the elf maid left the package on the chair beside Renee's bed then left.
Renee hadn't understood a word, so she just smiled at the elf as she set the things down beside her.
"Those are your clothes from Lady Galadriel," Aranor informed.
Renee thanked him as she went behind the screen and he sat down at the table, out of view. The knot on the string was easy enough to undo and as Renee lifted the clothes out she found herself holding perhaps the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life. The under dress was white with silvery white leaf and flower embroidery around the neck and edges of the sleeves. The over dress was a soft grey and was a thicker fabric, trimmed at the neck with a white, silver, and gold flowers and had a matching belt. The sleeves on the outer dress belled, though not nearly as much as Galadriel's had.
"Can I close the curtain on the window?" she asked.
"Certainly," Aranor replied.
She drew the curtain and started to change.
"What was that word you said earlier – adenath?"
"Adaneth, it means mortal woman."
She unconsciously nodded to herself and filed it away.
When Renee tried to put on the dress she realized there was no way she was going to be able to fasten it herself. Quickly realizing she had no other options, she put on the dress as much as she could and popped her head around the corner of the screen.
"Aranor, could I trouble you to come help me with something?"
"Yes?"
"I need your help putting this dress on."
He came over behind the screen and she turned around so he could help her close it up.
"Oh thank goodness you have warm hands!" she said when one of his knuckles brushed against her back.
He smiled. "Yes, I felt how cold your fingers are when you first were brought in. I am very glad things are not reversed."
She chuckled. "Now, once you're done there, don't go anywhere. I'll need your help with the outer dress too."
"Not that it is truly any of my business, but do all human women where you come from wear so little clothing?" Aranor asked, noting the very small pile of her old clothes.
Renee mulled over the question and his motives for asking. "Aren't you supposed to be a healer and a little more concerned with what's going on inside a person than what's on them?"
"Of course I am. But if you were caring for someone from a very different place, would you not be curious about something that seemed different or out of place to you?"
"Fair enough. To answer your question – not everyone. There are many different countries where I'm from and all kinds of different cultures and traditions. However, the particular place I'm from – this is totally normal. It's October there so we're wearing a little more, like the bulky sweater and the jeans. Er, bulky knit top and long pants. In the summer we wear thinner, shorter sleeved or sleeveless shirts and shorts."
"Shorts?"
"Yeah, like pants but shorter," Renee replied.
Aranor kept his opinions on "shorts" to himself. His thoughts quickly returned to Renee though as she was putting on the over dress managed to get it turned around as she pulled it over her head. He suppressed a laugh. "Do you need any assistance?"
"No, I got this!" came a muffled reply. She had pulled it half way off and was attempting to turn it around. A few moments struggle and a couple complete turns later her head re-appeared. She turned her back to him so he could close it up.
"There. You are all done."
"Wow, this dress is warm!" she commented as she came out from behind the screen.
"Indeed. We would not want you getting ill," Aranor said as he followed her out. He looked up and saw an Elf standing in the wide doorway.