Disclaimer:
::Jiana:: Can we get rid of the fop?
::Laurëalas:: Honey, that's what Phan Fiction's for.
::Jiana:: No... our little brother. I was trying not to say 'idiot.'
::Laurëalas:: Ji, I've been trying for years. He's like cockroaches. They never go away.
::Jupiter:: Mwahahaha! Now it is time to bring out the nooses...
::Jiana and Laurëalas:: *pull out Vorpal Punjab Lassos™*
::Jiana:: Be afraid... be very afraid... we are Phans!
::Jupiter:: *using Jedi Mind Trick™* You are not fans... You will put away your Vorpal Punjab Lassos™.
::Laurëalas:: *turns glassy eyed for a moment before blinking an glaring at Jupiter* The Angel of Music is more powerful than the Jedi! Now you will feel my wrath! *twirls Vorpal Punjab Lasso™ menacingly*
::Jiana:: Erik... *joins in Vorpal Punjab Lasso™ twirling*
::Jupiter:: *eeps* We own nothing! *runs away*
Chapter 11 – Laurëalas Heero
I calmed down a little and splashed water on my face so it wouldn't look so much like I'd been crying. I don't know how much it really helps, but whatever. I walked out and into the mud room. Glancing into the kitchen I could see Chi Chi and Ji making lunch. Jiana looked almost as upset as I felt and was attacking some vegetables with a vengeance. It didn't look like she was really in the best of moods to be allowed to have access to a knife.
"Um… Ji? I'm gonna take a walk. Don't kill anything while I'm out, okay?"
"Don't worry. If I tried, the knife would break on him!" I stared a moment before grabbing a jacket and heading toward the door.
"Don't even want to know." I murmured. I headed back toward the orchard. Trees were good, peaceful. Well, there weren't enough trees there so I continued on into the mini forest that we have growing wild at the back of our land. I crawled under the old barbed wire fence, being careful not to touch the newer electric one. There were older trees here, mostly oaks and poplar with a few maples and elms. There were maybe one or two pines, but they were still young.
I found my favorite tree and sat leaning against it. It was an oak tree that had been struck by lightning, knocking it down. Surprisingly enough it had lived, and kept growing. It was kind of L-shaped and made a good bench, but I like to sit beside it. The tree had a calming influence on me and I was soon back to normal, or as normal as I ever got. I could deal with fictional characters in the house, really I could!
I had almost drifted off to sleep sitting there, and was beginning to think that I should probably head back when I heard footsteps in the tall weeds of the field. I looked up, expecting to see Jiana or Jupiter coming to find me. Instead I saw a group of eight people. In my emotionally raw state I didn't recognize them. Standing up on the tree's fallen section of trunk I observed them for a moment.
"You're trespassing, you know." I told them. Two of the tallest ones spun around quickly, arrows pointed toward me. The very tallest turned and raised a big stick in my direction. The other tall guy turned and pointed a sword at me, not that it would do a lot of good at that distance, but hey, whatever. The four short ones turned in all different directions first before finding me and pulling out shorter swords, which they held with less certainty than the other sword guy. "Oh." I stated. "More fictional people. I guess I should take you back up to the house to meet everyone else. Maybe we should start a support group for fictional characters stuck in real life, 'cause real life really sucks. Anyway, follow me." I started off toward the house, not really caring if they followed or not. "I hope Ji doesn't decide to kill something when she finds out we've got eight more people for lunch."
"Lunch?" That would be either Merry or Pippin. I turned back to see which.
"Yes, Merry. Lunch. My name's Laurëalas Heero, by the way. So, if the eight of you would like to come along you can be fed and we'll see about getting you back home. I think that's what the plan is, anyhow." They started following me. Legolas and Glorfindel, being Elves, took point and scouted ahead. "There's no need for that. The most dangerous thing you're going to find around here is my puppy. And besides, I know where we're going and you don't." In acknowledgment they dropped back to walk along side me.
"I am curious, Lady Laurëalas, but how does a daughter of man come to bear an Elven name?" Glorfindel asked.
"Because my parents are really weird and love fantasy stories. Elves don't even exist here." I added in a wistful tone. "Too bad, huh?" Then I noticed that the Elves, and in fact the entire party, had stopped.
"No Elves?" That would be Sam.
"No Elves, Sam. No Hobbits or Dwarves or Wizards, either. And I guess no Rangers of your sort, Aragorn."
"How is it that you know all our names?" asked Frodo suspiciously.
He seemed to recover the quickest aside from Gandalf who was keeping uncharacteristically silent. I guess constant paranoia will do that to a guy. Poor little hobbit.
"Because you, like most of the other people currently occupying my home, are not real. You are characters in a book. I still say I've gone crazy and am just imagining all this, but how would I be able to tell? Maybe it's real and maybe it's not. If it is, I don't know how to explain what you're doing here or how you came to be here, but…" I shrugged. I'd talked myself into considering that this was possibly real, even if it was impossible. "Shall we continue?" We kept walking until I ducked under the wire fence. I turned back to face the group.
"Don't touch this wire," I told them, pointing at the electric fencing. "In theory it's supposed to keep our cows in the field."
"How's it supposed to do that?" asked Pippin.
"Touch it and you'll find out. I really don't feel like trying to explain electricity." Pippin took me at my word, reaching out to grab the wire. Then he shuddered and jumped back. "You weren't actually supposed to touch it! Fool of a Took!" I ignored the fact that people were staring at me for stealing Gandalf's phrase and rushed back under the fence to see if he was all right. I grabbed his hand, looking at it. "Good, no burns or anything. Don't touch it again, okay?" He nodded, a bit shaken.
We continued, with everyone staying clear of the electric fence. Legolas and Glorfindel chose to leap over the fence rather than ducking under it like everyone else. Show-offs. "Watch out for the bee hives too." I said. "There's no bees in them right now because of a recent wax moth infestation, but wasps and hornets like the empty boxes just fine." Indeed there were several flying around the vacated hives. It was a nice shady spot, just perfect for them. We hiked through the sparse, young orchard and around the barn.
The hobbits, especially Merry and Pippin, were eyeing the large garden patch as we passed it. "Nothing much in there." I told them quietly. "It's mostly just weeds, though there is some squash and a few tomato vines. In a couple months we should have sweet potatoes to dig too." They looked rather disappointed, but tried not to show it.
We got to the back door, only to be accosted by my puppy. She jumped up on me, wanting to play, and completely oblivious to the other people there. "Some guard dog you are." I whispered to her half-heartedly. She just grinned her doggy grin and tried to lick my face. I opened the door and motioned for the others to step inside.
"You can hang your cloaks and hats there," I said pointing to a row of hooks as I hung up my own jacket and kicking off my shoes. I don't really like shoes, so I wander around barefooted most of the time. "You can wash up for lunch in there." I pointed to the bathroom, then explained how to work the faucets and adjust the water and such.
I stepped back out to find Jiana still in the kitchen. "Hey, Ji. Um… Are you feeling better?"
"Maybe."
"Would you be terribly upset if we had eight more people for lunch?"
"Maybe. Depends on who they are and if any of them have Saiyan appetites." she stated curtly.
"Well, they don't." She froze.
"You found more people." Ji stated accusingly. "Eight of them!" She looked as if she might fly into a full-fledged rage and I really wished she wasn't holding a knife. I just nodded. "Fine. Who are they?" she demanded.
"The Fellowship, minus Gimli and Boromir and plus Glorfindel." I said quickly. Ji was frightening when she was ticked.
"Okay. Wait! Hobbits may be small but they've got like thirty million meals a day!" She sighed, accepting the fact that they were here. "Where'd you find them, anyway?" Whew! She was much calmer now. She liked these people almost as much as the DBZ crew sitting in the living room. Of course I was the one who had tried to learn Sindarin and runes.
"Out in the woods, and actually I think its only eight meals." Just then Gandalf entered the kitchen, followed by Aragorn and a pair of Elves, and trailed by the four hobbits. She glanced at the Elves with a mischievous glint in her brown eyes.
"Now I've got someone to tease you about." She whispered to me as I passed by.
"This way." I said, pointedly ignoring her and leading the group through the kitchen and dining room into the living room. Everyone looked up as we walked in.
"Alright everyone. We've got more people." I announced. "This is Gandalf the Grey, Legolas Greenleaf, Glorfindel, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Merridoc Brandybuck, Perrigrin Took, Samwise Gamgee, and Frodo Baggins." Then turning to the Fellowship minus two plus one I introduced the others in the room. "Goten, Gohan, Vegeta, Bulma, Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Jake, Cassie, and my brother Jupiter. Aximilli and Trunks are somewhere else. The two we passed in the kitchen are Chi Chi and my sister Jiana."
"I know you guys!" exclaimed someone. Turning, I saw all eyes on Tobias, in his human morph and blushing from the attention. He looked as if he wished he had kept his mouth shut. Well too bad for him, huh. His face then returned to the blank non expression it usually wore.
"So you're a Tolkien fan?" Suddenly a thought occurred to me. Turning back to the Middle Earth people I asked, "What point of the story were you at? I mean what was happening when you came here?" I corrected myself quickly, but still received a few odd looks for my first question. It was Gandalf who answered me.
"We were about to attend a council called by Lord Elrond of Rivendell."
"Oh. Way early, then." That probably didn't make any since to anyone who hadn't read the books. "Well, you guys all stay here. Make yourselves comfortable. If there aren't enough chairs then you can pull some over from the dining table or sit on the floor. Anyone else know the story?" I looked around the room. No response. "Okay then. Jupiter and Tobias please come with me." As we left I saw the Fellowship, or actually the Fellowship-to-be, get settled in. Gandalf sat in the recliner that Jupiter had vacated. The hobbits were talking to the remaining Animorphs and Goten and Gohan. Aragorn, Glorfindel, and Legolas sat in dining room chairs speaking softly in Sindarin.
"Ji! A word please." Chi Chi looked in our direction, but continued working and didn't involve herself in our conversation.
"What is it?"
"Just a little note. Middle Earth people are pre Fellowship. That means don't talk to them about The Two Towers or The Return of the King or even the latter parts of The Fellowship of the Ring. And Jupiter Heero," I said, wheeling on him, "I know you like to 'fix' stories. I know for a fact that if you haven't already set either Aximilli or Jake to reading the Animorphs books that you're planning to. If you tell the Fellowship anything that changes or could change the story, I'll take you down. It's one of my favorites and I like it just the way it is, despite the fact that it's not all roses and sunshine. Also it would be good to keep them off-line lest they run across fanfics. Especially slash. Ew. Anyway, Ji? Did Dad ever get the DVD? I know he wanted to." She nodded. "Where is it?"
"By the computer."
"That's kind of what I thought." I darted out of the kitchen, threaded a path through the now very crowded living room, and dug through drawers and piles of paper on the computer desk. Finally I found it. Taking the DVD I returned to the kitchen.
"Got it." I stated. Then I took it to my parents' room, tossed it in the general direction of the bed while standing in the doorway, and closed the door again. I returned to the group of three standing in the kitchen.
"They probably shouldn't get their hands on that either." I said with a smile. They were all staring at me as if I had cracked. Well I had, so I didn't mind. "Meeting dismissed." I told them cheerfully before returning to the living room.
I looked at the odd assortment of people and was suddenly struck by the fact that most of the people there could single-handedly level the house. "Okay folks, I don't know if Jiana or Jupiter has had the presence of mind to tell you this, so I'm going to. Animorphs: no morphing in the house, Tobias being the exception to the rule. Sayians and demi-Sayians: There will be absolutely no sparring, fighting, or training in the house. You will not power up or become Super-Saiyan until we get you back home. I don't need or want to have the job of explaining the resulting damage to my parents."
Vegeta looked rebellious, but then again, when does he not? I glared right back at him. "Vegeta? Do you have a problem with this? I could ask Chi Chi and Bulma to explain why you should follow this rule." He shook his head, defeated but loath to admit it.
"Good. People from Middle Earth: There will be no magic, sword fighting, archery, or anything of that sort in the house. Any questions?" Everyone turned back to what they were doing, even Gandalf accepting my demands without question. I wondered if magic would even work here. "Alright then."
"I have a question, Lady Laurëalas. May we speak to you outside?"
"Sure, Aragorn." I opened the front door and led them the four of them (Legolas, Glorfindel, Aragorn, and Gandalf) out onto the porch.
"About what?" I asked as soon as the door was closed behind us. The others were letting Aragorn be spokesman for the group.
"About your conversation with your siblings and the expressionless youth."
"Huh? How do you know about that?" I looked around in a bit of a panic and noticed Glorfindel and Legolas pointedly not looking in my direction. Ah ha! Guilt! "Oh, I see. I seem to have overlooked the keenness of Elven ears. Well then, anything specific you'd like to comment on?"
I'm not sure what reaction Aragorn had expected, but this wasn't it. He looked to Gandalf for help.
"You seem to know something of our future, and of the fate of the One Ring." I nodded.
"Yup, but I'm not sharing. You might make different decisions if you knew what I know. Change enough decisions and the ending changes. You would do this seeking to save lives or spare someone pain, but in doing so you could lose more than you gain." Gandalf rewarded my explanation with a small smile.
"I suspected such was the case. You are wise for your youth."
"Thanks, but really it comes from watching one too many Star Trek episodes involving distortions of the space-time continuum." He smiled in understanding of at least my comment about space-time distortions. The other three were completely lost. They looked cute when they were confused. "Any other questions?"
"No, I believe that will suffice for now." Gandalf went back inside and Aragorn followed him. I sat up on the porch railing.
"How about you two? Any questions that I could answer for you?" Legolas shook his head no.
Glorfindel was silent a moment before asking, "What happened to that tree?"
"Which tree where?" I asked, following his gaze. "Oh, that one. It got a disease, Dutch Elm's Disease, and my Dad had to cut it down before it could spread to the other trees. He didn't do a very good job of it and now the stump is growing again. I hope the disease has died away since then so we can leave it alone and let it grow." The tree looked pretty ragged with just a few leafy, green twigs sprouting from the dry, barkless trunk. I liked it for the same reason I liked the one in the backfield. It was a survivor, like me.
"It is fine."
"Really? How can you tell?"
"It says it is fine." Glorfindel explained as if to a child. While I might have taken offense at his tone, I chose instead to pay attention to his words.
"It says it's fine? So you can hear it speak?" I was excited, my eyes widening in delight.
"Of course."
"That's wonderful! I had always thought that these trees here couldn't speak because…" I almost choked on my next words, suddenly depressed by what I was saying. "Because no one can hear them."
"No one?" I shook my head.
"No one in this world can hear them. I can feel them radiating peace, and sometimes I feel like they would tell me something if I just knew how to listen to them, but no. No one hears them." Suddenly I had an idea. I jumped down off the railing and grabbed Glorfindel's hand.
"What's this one say?" I asked him in excitement as I ran to the nearest tree, dragging the surprised Elf along behind me. Legolas had followed us and it was he that answered.
"He speaks of a dry summer, deep roots, and a little squirrel that lives in his branches." I giggled and let go of Glorfindel's had just long enough to hug the huge poplar before grabbing his hand again and dragging him off to another tree. Chuckling, Legolas trailed along behind.
"What about this one?"
"She speaks of sparrows nesting in her branches, and of children who used to seek her shade in the heat." I wrapped one arm around the tree in a hug. This one was a poplar as well. It was by a smaller garden. On summer days we had often sat in her shade while trying to avoid the scorching sun we were supposed to be working beneath.
"Would you thank her for me?"
"She can hear you just fine."
"Thank you." I said, and touching my fingertips to my lips I laid a kiss on her smooth gray bark. "What about this one?" I asked, running off to a third tree with Glorfindel still in tow.
"He says you are young and behaving hastily." stated Legolas with a grin. I laughed in delight, putting out a hand to feel the rough bark of the black walnut tree as I had done so often before. It was a beautiful tree, but now it seemed so much more alive than it ever had before. I was about to ask about another tree when Chi Chi stepped outside announcing that lunch was ready. I think Glorfindel was relieved that he would no longer be dragged around the yard, but Legolas was just amused by my enthusiasm.
"Is this something I could learn?" I asked as we walked back to the house. They exchanged a look over my head, which was only possible because they were both at least a good five inches taller than I was. I'm not that short either.
"It might be," admitted Glorfindel at last.
"It would be extremely difficult though, Lady Laurëalas."
"Please just call me Laurëalas, or Laur, like Jiana and Jupiter do. And it doesn't matter how hard it will be to learn. I've always loved the trees, but they're so silent. Just imagine how lonely that is, to never hear them." Apparently they were doing just that. They exchanged another glance, and Legolas nodded. With a sigh Glorfindel did as well.
"Very well, Laur." he said with a smile. "We will try to teach you how to hear the trees." With a huge smile I hugged him and then Legolas before rushing forward to open the door for the three of us.
Author's Note:
::Jupiter:: *Yoda Style* Secret Weapon have I!
::Jiana:: Goody.
::Laurëalas:: Jupe, whatever it is, we can take it.
::Jupiter:: *cackles evilly and pulls out Erik*
::Laurëalas and Jiana:: Squee! *run and hug Erik*
::Erik:: ...
::Jupiter:: I WON!!!
::Jiana:: Nope. We have Erik.
::Erik:: ...
::Jupiter:: I think Erik's going to disappear as soon as you let go of him.
::Jiana:: *smirks* Then we won't let go.
::Laurëalas:: Never never never. *grins happily*
::Erik:: ...uh... help?
::Laurëalas:: *grins evilly* Review. Mrowr.
::Jiana:: Mmm...
::Jiana:: Can we get rid of the fop?
::Laurëalas:: Honey, that's what Phan Fiction's for.
::Jiana:: No... our little brother. I was trying not to say 'idiot.'
::Laurëalas:: Ji, I've been trying for years. He's like cockroaches. They never go away.
::Jupiter:: Mwahahaha! Now it is time to bring out the nooses...
::Jiana and Laurëalas:: *pull out Vorpal Punjab Lassos™*
::Jiana:: Be afraid... be very afraid... we are Phans!
::Jupiter:: *using Jedi Mind Trick™* You are not fans... You will put away your Vorpal Punjab Lassos™.
::Laurëalas:: *turns glassy eyed for a moment before blinking an glaring at Jupiter* The Angel of Music is more powerful than the Jedi! Now you will feel my wrath! *twirls Vorpal Punjab Lasso™ menacingly*
::Jiana:: Erik... *joins in Vorpal Punjab Lasso™ twirling*
::Jupiter:: *eeps* We own nothing! *runs away*
Chapter 11 – Laurëalas Heero
I calmed down a little and splashed water on my face so it wouldn't look so much like I'd been crying. I don't know how much it really helps, but whatever. I walked out and into the mud room. Glancing into the kitchen I could see Chi Chi and Ji making lunch. Jiana looked almost as upset as I felt and was attacking some vegetables with a vengeance. It didn't look like she was really in the best of moods to be allowed to have access to a knife.
"Um… Ji? I'm gonna take a walk. Don't kill anything while I'm out, okay?"
"Don't worry. If I tried, the knife would break on him!" I stared a moment before grabbing a jacket and heading toward the door.
"Don't even want to know." I murmured. I headed back toward the orchard. Trees were good, peaceful. Well, there weren't enough trees there so I continued on into the mini forest that we have growing wild at the back of our land. I crawled under the old barbed wire fence, being careful not to touch the newer electric one. There were older trees here, mostly oaks and poplar with a few maples and elms. There were maybe one or two pines, but they were still young.
I found my favorite tree and sat leaning against it. It was an oak tree that had been struck by lightning, knocking it down. Surprisingly enough it had lived, and kept growing. It was kind of L-shaped and made a good bench, but I like to sit beside it. The tree had a calming influence on me and I was soon back to normal, or as normal as I ever got. I could deal with fictional characters in the house, really I could!
I had almost drifted off to sleep sitting there, and was beginning to think that I should probably head back when I heard footsteps in the tall weeds of the field. I looked up, expecting to see Jiana or Jupiter coming to find me. Instead I saw a group of eight people. In my emotionally raw state I didn't recognize them. Standing up on the tree's fallen section of trunk I observed them for a moment.
"You're trespassing, you know." I told them. Two of the tallest ones spun around quickly, arrows pointed toward me. The very tallest turned and raised a big stick in my direction. The other tall guy turned and pointed a sword at me, not that it would do a lot of good at that distance, but hey, whatever. The four short ones turned in all different directions first before finding me and pulling out shorter swords, which they held with less certainty than the other sword guy. "Oh." I stated. "More fictional people. I guess I should take you back up to the house to meet everyone else. Maybe we should start a support group for fictional characters stuck in real life, 'cause real life really sucks. Anyway, follow me." I started off toward the house, not really caring if they followed or not. "I hope Ji doesn't decide to kill something when she finds out we've got eight more people for lunch."
"Lunch?" That would be either Merry or Pippin. I turned back to see which.
"Yes, Merry. Lunch. My name's Laurëalas Heero, by the way. So, if the eight of you would like to come along you can be fed and we'll see about getting you back home. I think that's what the plan is, anyhow." They started following me. Legolas and Glorfindel, being Elves, took point and scouted ahead. "There's no need for that. The most dangerous thing you're going to find around here is my puppy. And besides, I know where we're going and you don't." In acknowledgment they dropped back to walk along side me.
"I am curious, Lady Laurëalas, but how does a daughter of man come to bear an Elven name?" Glorfindel asked.
"Because my parents are really weird and love fantasy stories. Elves don't even exist here." I added in a wistful tone. "Too bad, huh?" Then I noticed that the Elves, and in fact the entire party, had stopped.
"No Elves?" That would be Sam.
"No Elves, Sam. No Hobbits or Dwarves or Wizards, either. And I guess no Rangers of your sort, Aragorn."
"How is it that you know all our names?" asked Frodo suspiciously.
He seemed to recover the quickest aside from Gandalf who was keeping uncharacteristically silent. I guess constant paranoia will do that to a guy. Poor little hobbit.
"Because you, like most of the other people currently occupying my home, are not real. You are characters in a book. I still say I've gone crazy and am just imagining all this, but how would I be able to tell? Maybe it's real and maybe it's not. If it is, I don't know how to explain what you're doing here or how you came to be here, but…" I shrugged. I'd talked myself into considering that this was possibly real, even if it was impossible. "Shall we continue?" We kept walking until I ducked under the wire fence. I turned back to face the group.
"Don't touch this wire," I told them, pointing at the electric fencing. "In theory it's supposed to keep our cows in the field."
"How's it supposed to do that?" asked Pippin.
"Touch it and you'll find out. I really don't feel like trying to explain electricity." Pippin took me at my word, reaching out to grab the wire. Then he shuddered and jumped back. "You weren't actually supposed to touch it! Fool of a Took!" I ignored the fact that people were staring at me for stealing Gandalf's phrase and rushed back under the fence to see if he was all right. I grabbed his hand, looking at it. "Good, no burns or anything. Don't touch it again, okay?" He nodded, a bit shaken.
We continued, with everyone staying clear of the electric fence. Legolas and Glorfindel chose to leap over the fence rather than ducking under it like everyone else. Show-offs. "Watch out for the bee hives too." I said. "There's no bees in them right now because of a recent wax moth infestation, but wasps and hornets like the empty boxes just fine." Indeed there were several flying around the vacated hives. It was a nice shady spot, just perfect for them. We hiked through the sparse, young orchard and around the barn.
The hobbits, especially Merry and Pippin, were eyeing the large garden patch as we passed it. "Nothing much in there." I told them quietly. "It's mostly just weeds, though there is some squash and a few tomato vines. In a couple months we should have sweet potatoes to dig too." They looked rather disappointed, but tried not to show it.
We got to the back door, only to be accosted by my puppy. She jumped up on me, wanting to play, and completely oblivious to the other people there. "Some guard dog you are." I whispered to her half-heartedly. She just grinned her doggy grin and tried to lick my face. I opened the door and motioned for the others to step inside.
"You can hang your cloaks and hats there," I said pointing to a row of hooks as I hung up my own jacket and kicking off my shoes. I don't really like shoes, so I wander around barefooted most of the time. "You can wash up for lunch in there." I pointed to the bathroom, then explained how to work the faucets and adjust the water and such.
I stepped back out to find Jiana still in the kitchen. "Hey, Ji. Um… Are you feeling better?"
"Maybe."
"Would you be terribly upset if we had eight more people for lunch?"
"Maybe. Depends on who they are and if any of them have Saiyan appetites." she stated curtly.
"Well, they don't." She froze.
"You found more people." Ji stated accusingly. "Eight of them!" She looked as if she might fly into a full-fledged rage and I really wished she wasn't holding a knife. I just nodded. "Fine. Who are they?" she demanded.
"The Fellowship, minus Gimli and Boromir and plus Glorfindel." I said quickly. Ji was frightening when she was ticked.
"Okay. Wait! Hobbits may be small but they've got like thirty million meals a day!" She sighed, accepting the fact that they were here. "Where'd you find them, anyway?" Whew! She was much calmer now. She liked these people almost as much as the DBZ crew sitting in the living room. Of course I was the one who had tried to learn Sindarin and runes.
"Out in the woods, and actually I think its only eight meals." Just then Gandalf entered the kitchen, followed by Aragorn and a pair of Elves, and trailed by the four hobbits. She glanced at the Elves with a mischievous glint in her brown eyes.
"Now I've got someone to tease you about." She whispered to me as I passed by.
"This way." I said, pointedly ignoring her and leading the group through the kitchen and dining room into the living room. Everyone looked up as we walked in.
"Alright everyone. We've got more people." I announced. "This is Gandalf the Grey, Legolas Greenleaf, Glorfindel, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Merridoc Brandybuck, Perrigrin Took, Samwise Gamgee, and Frodo Baggins." Then turning to the Fellowship minus two plus one I introduced the others in the room. "Goten, Gohan, Vegeta, Bulma, Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Jake, Cassie, and my brother Jupiter. Aximilli and Trunks are somewhere else. The two we passed in the kitchen are Chi Chi and my sister Jiana."
"I know you guys!" exclaimed someone. Turning, I saw all eyes on Tobias, in his human morph and blushing from the attention. He looked as if he wished he had kept his mouth shut. Well too bad for him, huh. His face then returned to the blank non expression it usually wore.
"So you're a Tolkien fan?" Suddenly a thought occurred to me. Turning back to the Middle Earth people I asked, "What point of the story were you at? I mean what was happening when you came here?" I corrected myself quickly, but still received a few odd looks for my first question. It was Gandalf who answered me.
"We were about to attend a council called by Lord Elrond of Rivendell."
"Oh. Way early, then." That probably didn't make any since to anyone who hadn't read the books. "Well, you guys all stay here. Make yourselves comfortable. If there aren't enough chairs then you can pull some over from the dining table or sit on the floor. Anyone else know the story?" I looked around the room. No response. "Okay then. Jupiter and Tobias please come with me." As we left I saw the Fellowship, or actually the Fellowship-to-be, get settled in. Gandalf sat in the recliner that Jupiter had vacated. The hobbits were talking to the remaining Animorphs and Goten and Gohan. Aragorn, Glorfindel, and Legolas sat in dining room chairs speaking softly in Sindarin.
"Ji! A word please." Chi Chi looked in our direction, but continued working and didn't involve herself in our conversation.
"What is it?"
"Just a little note. Middle Earth people are pre Fellowship. That means don't talk to them about The Two Towers or The Return of the King or even the latter parts of The Fellowship of the Ring. And Jupiter Heero," I said, wheeling on him, "I know you like to 'fix' stories. I know for a fact that if you haven't already set either Aximilli or Jake to reading the Animorphs books that you're planning to. If you tell the Fellowship anything that changes or could change the story, I'll take you down. It's one of my favorites and I like it just the way it is, despite the fact that it's not all roses and sunshine. Also it would be good to keep them off-line lest they run across fanfics. Especially slash. Ew. Anyway, Ji? Did Dad ever get the DVD? I know he wanted to." She nodded. "Where is it?"
"By the computer."
"That's kind of what I thought." I darted out of the kitchen, threaded a path through the now very crowded living room, and dug through drawers and piles of paper on the computer desk. Finally I found it. Taking the DVD I returned to the kitchen.
"Got it." I stated. Then I took it to my parents' room, tossed it in the general direction of the bed while standing in the doorway, and closed the door again. I returned to the group of three standing in the kitchen.
"They probably shouldn't get their hands on that either." I said with a smile. They were all staring at me as if I had cracked. Well I had, so I didn't mind. "Meeting dismissed." I told them cheerfully before returning to the living room.
I looked at the odd assortment of people and was suddenly struck by the fact that most of the people there could single-handedly level the house. "Okay folks, I don't know if Jiana or Jupiter has had the presence of mind to tell you this, so I'm going to. Animorphs: no morphing in the house, Tobias being the exception to the rule. Sayians and demi-Sayians: There will be absolutely no sparring, fighting, or training in the house. You will not power up or become Super-Saiyan until we get you back home. I don't need or want to have the job of explaining the resulting damage to my parents."
Vegeta looked rebellious, but then again, when does he not? I glared right back at him. "Vegeta? Do you have a problem with this? I could ask Chi Chi and Bulma to explain why you should follow this rule." He shook his head, defeated but loath to admit it.
"Good. People from Middle Earth: There will be no magic, sword fighting, archery, or anything of that sort in the house. Any questions?" Everyone turned back to what they were doing, even Gandalf accepting my demands without question. I wondered if magic would even work here. "Alright then."
"I have a question, Lady Laurëalas. May we speak to you outside?"
"Sure, Aragorn." I opened the front door and led them the four of them (Legolas, Glorfindel, Aragorn, and Gandalf) out onto the porch.
"About what?" I asked as soon as the door was closed behind us. The others were letting Aragorn be spokesman for the group.
"About your conversation with your siblings and the expressionless youth."
"Huh? How do you know about that?" I looked around in a bit of a panic and noticed Glorfindel and Legolas pointedly not looking in my direction. Ah ha! Guilt! "Oh, I see. I seem to have overlooked the keenness of Elven ears. Well then, anything specific you'd like to comment on?"
I'm not sure what reaction Aragorn had expected, but this wasn't it. He looked to Gandalf for help.
"You seem to know something of our future, and of the fate of the One Ring." I nodded.
"Yup, but I'm not sharing. You might make different decisions if you knew what I know. Change enough decisions and the ending changes. You would do this seeking to save lives or spare someone pain, but in doing so you could lose more than you gain." Gandalf rewarded my explanation with a small smile.
"I suspected such was the case. You are wise for your youth."
"Thanks, but really it comes from watching one too many Star Trek episodes involving distortions of the space-time continuum." He smiled in understanding of at least my comment about space-time distortions. The other three were completely lost. They looked cute when they were confused. "Any other questions?"
"No, I believe that will suffice for now." Gandalf went back inside and Aragorn followed him. I sat up on the porch railing.
"How about you two? Any questions that I could answer for you?" Legolas shook his head no.
Glorfindel was silent a moment before asking, "What happened to that tree?"
"Which tree where?" I asked, following his gaze. "Oh, that one. It got a disease, Dutch Elm's Disease, and my Dad had to cut it down before it could spread to the other trees. He didn't do a very good job of it and now the stump is growing again. I hope the disease has died away since then so we can leave it alone and let it grow." The tree looked pretty ragged with just a few leafy, green twigs sprouting from the dry, barkless trunk. I liked it for the same reason I liked the one in the backfield. It was a survivor, like me.
"It is fine."
"Really? How can you tell?"
"It says it is fine." Glorfindel explained as if to a child. While I might have taken offense at his tone, I chose instead to pay attention to his words.
"It says it's fine? So you can hear it speak?" I was excited, my eyes widening in delight.
"Of course."
"That's wonderful! I had always thought that these trees here couldn't speak because…" I almost choked on my next words, suddenly depressed by what I was saying. "Because no one can hear them."
"No one?" I shook my head.
"No one in this world can hear them. I can feel them radiating peace, and sometimes I feel like they would tell me something if I just knew how to listen to them, but no. No one hears them." Suddenly I had an idea. I jumped down off the railing and grabbed Glorfindel's hand.
"What's this one say?" I asked him in excitement as I ran to the nearest tree, dragging the surprised Elf along behind me. Legolas had followed us and it was he that answered.
"He speaks of a dry summer, deep roots, and a little squirrel that lives in his branches." I giggled and let go of Glorfindel's had just long enough to hug the huge poplar before grabbing his hand again and dragging him off to another tree. Chuckling, Legolas trailed along behind.
"What about this one?"
"She speaks of sparrows nesting in her branches, and of children who used to seek her shade in the heat." I wrapped one arm around the tree in a hug. This one was a poplar as well. It was by a smaller garden. On summer days we had often sat in her shade while trying to avoid the scorching sun we were supposed to be working beneath.
"Would you thank her for me?"
"She can hear you just fine."
"Thank you." I said, and touching my fingertips to my lips I laid a kiss on her smooth gray bark. "What about this one?" I asked, running off to a third tree with Glorfindel still in tow.
"He says you are young and behaving hastily." stated Legolas with a grin. I laughed in delight, putting out a hand to feel the rough bark of the black walnut tree as I had done so often before. It was a beautiful tree, but now it seemed so much more alive than it ever had before. I was about to ask about another tree when Chi Chi stepped outside announcing that lunch was ready. I think Glorfindel was relieved that he would no longer be dragged around the yard, but Legolas was just amused by my enthusiasm.
"Is this something I could learn?" I asked as we walked back to the house. They exchanged a look over my head, which was only possible because they were both at least a good five inches taller than I was. I'm not that short either.
"It might be," admitted Glorfindel at last.
"It would be extremely difficult though, Lady Laurëalas."
"Please just call me Laurëalas, or Laur, like Jiana and Jupiter do. And it doesn't matter how hard it will be to learn. I've always loved the trees, but they're so silent. Just imagine how lonely that is, to never hear them." Apparently they were doing just that. They exchanged another glance, and Legolas nodded. With a sigh Glorfindel did as well.
"Very well, Laur." he said with a smile. "We will try to teach you how to hear the trees." With a huge smile I hugged him and then Legolas before rushing forward to open the door for the three of us.
Author's Note:
::Jupiter:: *Yoda Style* Secret Weapon have I!
::Jiana:: Goody.
::Laurëalas:: Jupe, whatever it is, we can take it.
::Jupiter:: *cackles evilly and pulls out Erik*
::Laurëalas and Jiana:: Squee! *run and hug Erik*
::Erik:: ...
::Jupiter:: I WON!!!
::Jiana:: Nope. We have Erik.
::Erik:: ...
::Jupiter:: I think Erik's going to disappear as soon as you let go of him.
::Jiana:: *smirks* Then we won't let go.
::Laurëalas:: Never never never. *grins happily*
::Erik:: ...uh... help?
::Laurëalas:: *grins evilly* Review. Mrowr.
::Jiana:: Mmm...