Ok guys, just to apologize in advance, this is not my best work. It's mainly just a filler that explains why the elves are helping them and how they are gonna start adjusting to this world. Kinda boring, but necessary to continue the plot. I still hope you enjoy it anyway, but if you don't I won't hold it against you.

A few days have passed since Nicki woke up and she found out that the elves had found them a few days beforehand, all unconscious. Yes, Elves. Not like the Christmas kind. These ones were more beautiful, elegant, refined, and very, very, tall.

Things had been hard for everyone. One second they were all going out for ice cream, the next they were all here, in this god forsaken medieval land. They didn't understand how, they didn't understand why, but it didn't matter. The 5 of them were there and that was all that mattered. At first Nicki thought this was some kind of dream, perhaps this was some kind of joke, or maybe they were in another country. However none of that could have been further from the truth. Nicki died. That much was true. She remembered feeling herself leave her body, hitting her head and breaking the window. She was dead, but she was alive! How was this possible?

Nicki was lying down on her windowsill in a blue dress that the elves had offered her. The elves gave them two rooms to live in their castle, one for the girls and one for the boys. The Lord of this place, Elrond, offered each of them a room of their own, but they wanted to stay together. It was obvious now that the five of them weren't from this world. It would be a lie to say that a part of each of them wasn't at least a bit excited about this new prospect, but the grief and fear of it completely drowned it all out.

Hana and Sophie were out exploring the castle. Sophie didn't completely understand what was going on. She thought they were on vacation or something and they wanted like that for as long as they could. So they always kept a smile on around her, but right now Nicki needed to be alone. She may still have her cousins and siblings, but she still lost her life. Their parents were going on without them, she could only imagine what they were going through. She would never see them again, never see her friends again. Her life was over.

"How are you feeling?" A voice asked behind her.

Nicki looked back and saw Arwen standing in her door way. She was the woman that found them when they first got there. She was the same woman that was by her side when she woke up. "Fine." Nicki answered half-heartedly, "Just a tad tired."

Arwen stared at her for a second, then went over and sat down next to her, "Nicki," She paused, "You need not pretend around me. I know how heavy your heart is."

Nicki narrowed her eyes and glared at her, "Please! You don't know anything." She growled. "So don't you dare pretend you do. I've lost everything. EVERYTHING!" Tears stared to build in her eyes, but she didn't dare let them fall. There was no way she was gonna show weakness around a stranger.

"I may not know what you had in your life before you came here, but you still have Sophie, Jon, Hana, and Nate. So you can't say you lost everything." Arwen replied softly, "You should count yourself lucky."

"Right, 'lucky'." She scoffed.

"So where are you and your family from? When my people and I found you, you were all dressed in the oddest clothes I have ever seen."

"Every heard of California?"

"No, I can't say I have." Arwen admitted.

Nicki just shook her head. "Well that's where we're from.. It was a decent place for the most part."

"I'm sure it was, seeing that the five of you came from there." She smiled.

"Arwen…" Nicki looked up at her, "Why did you guys help us? We're not elves, we weren't your problem."

"Would you leave four people and a child alone to die just because they weren't your problem?"

"Well, no… but-"

"Then that's why."

Nicki paused, "So… How long can we stay here?"

Arwen smiled, "As long as you wish. You and your family may even stay and live here if you like."

"But why offer us all this?" Nicki pressed again, "From the look of things, your people don't mix with humans, so why are you taking such good care of us? We're nothing to you."

Arwen looked her in the eye, "… We know you five are not of this world." She answered, "As far as we know, this has never happened before. So we believe your being here has a great purpose. Besides, it cannot be any coincidence that you were found on our door step. We were meant to help you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"We Elves just know these sort of things." She smiled and winked.

Nate watched as his sister played with their baby cousin in the castle garden. It was hard to keep a happy front with Sophie, but they were all doing their best. The whole reality of the situation was still sinking in, but he was happy that the elves were being as kind as they were to them. They'd be worse off if they hadn't had helped them.

"Hey." Jon greeted him and came over and joined him on the bench.

"Hey." Nate inclined his head, not taking his eyes off the girls. "How's Nicki?"

"As good as she can be, under the circumstances." Jon replied, "The whole thing has been tough on her."

"It's been tough on all of us." Nate reminded him. "Though I'm happy English is consider the common language here."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'm just glad Sophie hasn't figured it out yet."

"She will. She may be young, but she's not stupid. Just give her a few more days."

Jon closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just what I need." Then his gaze fell on his sister and cousin. Hana was chasing around Sophie in the garden. He guessed they were playing tag, or something of that sort. Just seeing how care free they were being at the moment reminded him of their last day in their world and how it had ended. He looked to his cousin. "We need to learn about this place."

"What do you mean?" Nate cocked a brow

"There are dangers here right?" He gestured around him, "We need to learn about them and how to defend ourselves. We're vulnerable right now. We can't stay this way."

Nate nodded his head in agreement, "You're right. How about we ask Lord Elrond if we could be taught about this world? History, sword play, language, all that jazz. I doubt he'd say no."

"I don't know, dude. The guy barely knows us, why would he teach us anything?"

"Because as your host, I can't just let you out into the world without a bit of guidance, now can I?"

The two men jumped and looked over to see the tall elfish lord himself standing right next to them. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," he answered. The two cousins just looked at each other and waited for the lord to continue to speak. No doubt that he would have something to say about their earlier topic. "Nate, Jonathan, I understand your feelings about this world and I would have to say that I agree with you."

"You do?" Jon asked skeptically.

"I do." Elrond nodded, "Which is why I have already arranged for Arwen to teach all of you in our ways."

"Okay," Nate nodded, "but what about self-defense?"

"I will be teaching you two that myself." Elrond have a small smirk.

"And our two older sisters?"

"If they wish to, they may join us as well."

The two men paused to consider this for a second. For a bit, no one spoke a word. That is until Nate broke the silence, "Alright then. When do we start?"

I promise the actual LOTR story line will come in next chapter.

Read and Review please. I enjoying reading you thoughts and comments. :)