Janice: Well, this is the second chapter. Sorry that the last chapter seemed fast paced and confusing, I just wanted to get them to Middle-earth.
Pippin: (whispers) Help us!
Janice: Clamp it, shorty!
Pippin: (to Merry) Why do we work for her again?
Merry: We don't, we were promised mushrooms.
Pippin: (to Janice) By the way, Janny, where are our mushrooms?
Janice: I don't own you so you don't get any! Ha!
Sarah: She's worse than me!
Janice: Yeah, coffee!
IMPORTANT!!!!
I am not trying to make ANY of my characters a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu for that fact). While they may have traits of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, they are for many reasons (like their personalities and such) NOT because the are Mary Sue/Gary Stu. I try to stay away from writing such things but there is only ONE factor that would make any character a Mary Sue/Gary Stu (what that is, I cannot say yet, it has to be revealed later on… I just have to decide when).
Thank you: Magdalan-Saiyan-Toa, PIRATEical ELF of Mirkwood, lotrelves, jennfire, alfalfa7, tomato sauce, and Oirasse for your reviews. I love you for them, you guys rock my blue and purple sock puppet (Bobb).
Shards of the Future
Chapter 2: Of Friends and Memories
"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."--Aristotle
I don't remember anything, but I can feel the aches all along my body. I think I'm dead and in heaven, as it is white all around me, but in heaven, you aren't supposed to feel pain, right?
Groaning, I sat up, holding my head. You know the feeling you get when you have a hangover? Yeah, like that, only you've also been hit by a sixteen wheeler.
"You shouldn't sit up right away." said a gentle voice. I looked over to my right (where the voice had come from) and gasped. A man, in all white, stood there, a crown of stars upon his brow. He had the aura of authority and the look of a king. I wouldn't put it past him, because I don't know him.
"How long have I been out?" I asked, laying back down.
"Not compared to how long you could have been."
"Meaning…?"
"A day and a half. You are rather lucky to be alive." He set something down on the table next to him. I gave him a questioning look. "Our hunters found a Devil-Hound sniffing at you." I blinked. If a Devil-Hound was anything like a Hellhound, I knew I was lucky to be alive. "Not many live after an encounter." Yep, I was lucky. "Now tell me, what is a young girl like you doing alone in a forest in the Misty Mountains?" Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore.
"If I knew that, I would not be confused as to where I am at." He frowned.
"You are not from here." he said, more of a statement than a question. I nodded. He took my chin and made me look into his eyes. They were an overpowering grey, yet comforting at the same time. I gulped. "You hold many secrets, young one. Many of which even you don't know. When the time come, look the White Wizard, he will help you." I blinked, unsure of what to say or do. The man chuckled. "Tell me now, what do they call you?"
"Gwynovir Carney O'Hara. My friends and family call me Gwen though. You?"
"Elrond. I am Master of this Household. You are welcome to stay here as long as it pleases you, Gwynovir the Man." I was about to question him about what 'man' meant, but he left. I pouted slightly and then relaxed. There was time for questioning later, I was still tired.
I love Triffel Valley. I remember the first day I met Glenys quite well. Sarah and I had been coming out of the forest, giggling hysterically. We were four or five then. My hair was up in tight pigtails, Sarah's in her brand new baseball cap. She never liked her bright flame hair, she said it was too red for her taste. Her Aunt Pemma thought otherwise; and whenever she came over, Sarah had to put on a dress that was pink and frilled. Oh, how I loved to laugh at such torture. I often regretted doing so. She would chase me around threatening me with mud and vicious beatings.
Together we saw a moving van head down the street through the ruffled rose bushes in my front lawn. Running to the fence (as close as we could get) we watched as they head down to the old Murphy's house.
"Come on!" Sarah said, taking my hand. Breathless as we were, we ran over to the house. There, fresh out of the car was an odd girl. Dirt (or something) was smudged on her face. She wore a white dress that, too, was smudged with dirt. "Hi!" Sarah said waving to her.
"Hullo." the girl said quietly.
"I'm Sarah and this is Gwen." I waved to her.
"Hello!" I said, smiling at the new girl on the block. She smiled slightly, seeing we were harmless.
"I'm Glenys." she said timidly.
"Want to come and play?" She looked at me, slightly surprised, slightly thrilled.
"Yea!"
The three of us stayed close friends, even when Raina joined the group. The four of us were an unbeatable team of friends. We were rarely without each other. Knight, witch, princess, and healer; friends devoted to each other until the end.
Normally, I would have gone out to the forest to think, but Rivendell was new and I was always the curious little girl… I wanted to see more of this elven settlement. But first, there was a matter of new clothes. The ones I had been sleeping in were wrinkled. My hair needed a good brushing, too. The Master of the Household had never said where I could get fresh clothes.
The room I was in was fairly big and a greyish-white. Celtic knots bordered the wall and just about everything in the room that didn't move on it's own. The bed I had been sleeping in was perfect for me. A beautiful armoire stood proudly, angled, in the corner. Silky curtain hung in front of what probably was the doorway. Above my bed was the Tree of Life. The branches and the roots were of one.
The room was beautiful! It reminded me of a room a princess would have. Our princess, Raina. Raina was the one who kept us together. She was our craft glue to our construction paper (you know, the kind that you'd make really crappy cards out of for Valentines Day?). She was, sort of, mother to the group. We looked for her for information on life and boys (being a year or two our senior). Glenys thought of her as a mother than me and Sarah, as her birth mother treated her like shit.
I decided to check the armoire for a new outfit, as I did need a new one. Opening the ornate, wood doors, I could only gape at the contents. Brightly coloured dresses, skirts, and gowns of every colour, embroidered with Celtic knots. I was stunned at how beautiful each one was. Decision on one was hard.
After about five minutes, I chose a simple green dress. The embroidery was a simple knot of a shade or two than the dress, and decorated the hem of the skirt, the sleeves, and low collar. It was fairly easy to get on (which I was thankful for). I'm not one to bother others, asking them to help me with tasks which I can accomplish myself.
I looked at myself in the mirror, frowning. I needed a hairbrush, badly. My sandy-strawberry blonde hair had knots that had knots that had knots! Luckily for me, there was a soft bristled brush that magically got the knots out of my hair. The new reflection made me smile; my wavy hair cascaded down to my shoulders. I smiled, the small freckles moved on my cheeks; it wasn't a pretty smile (like any girl would want) but it was a nice smile.
Without a second thought, I headed out the door and was greeted by freezing ice buddies (a.k.a. snow and cold weather). Yelping, I jumped back inside. I had forgotten shoes… and a cloak. Sarah and Glenys would have burst out laughing at my idiocy, while Raina would have gotten me the shoes beforehand.
I searched the room quickly, spotting the light boots my mother had made me. They immediately warmed my frozen toes, something I was ultimately glad for. I found my cloak on a rack near the armoire. I, then, decided that I was ready to venture into the unknown.
The land was white. White, white, grey, white. It seemed as if all life and colour had been drained from this world. That the beauty no longer existed. Well, it was winter. The glass-like icicles hung from the knots of branches and white stone of the building. I walked carefully across the ground, dodging patches of ice.
I was hardly paying attention to the world around me, I was too busy watching my feet. But I did notice a ball of white, well-packed snow whiz by my head. I whirled around in time to see a shape duck behind a bench. Smirking, I bent down, watching the bench and packed some snow into a perfect ball. This was something Sarah had taught me to do when we had wars with some of the boys that lived on the block.
My arm was threw fast and hit hard, enough to leave a good welt. The being yelped and jumped up, rubbing a now sore arm. I bit my lip to stop myself from giggling.
"That hurt!" the being said, it was female.
"Sorry," I said, scratching the back of my neck. "I'm Gwynovir by the way. But everybody I know calls me Gwen. You?"
"I am called Erulissë. It means grace." she said, taking off her hood. "I am a maid servant to her ladyship, Arwen."
"Hey, Erulissë, what does 'man' mean?"
Janice: Tah-dah! Finished and up. I'm going to try and update every Sunday. Oh, if you want to chack out this stories homepage, it's: http (backslash backslas semicolon) www (dot) freewebs (dot) com (backslash) gwynovir
Gwen: It's named after me!
Janice: No, duh, genius. You were the first I created!
Merry: When do we come in?
Sarah: I think next chapter. Have you begun it, Janice?
Janice: Yea, but only the first paragraph or so...