I told him everything. I told him my name, where I lived, about my family, about how I got here. I even repeated every single word that I had said to Aragorn and the Hobbits and everything they had said to me. It's a good thing I have such a good memory. When I was done I sat calmly for a minute and we both sat on the steps of the palace looking at each other before I broke into a new wave of tears. Elrond didn't look surprised and handed me a handkerchief. I wasn't used to people handing me handkerchiefs instead of tissues, so it took me a minute to realize that I had blown snot all over his personal handkerchief. Needless to say, I was totally mortified.

Lord Elrond let me recover for a minute before he said, "I believe your story. But I don't think others will be quite so convinced. You will need to restate this for the Council." "Council?" I asked incredulously, "No way! If you believe me then why can't I leave?" I started sobbing again as I screeched, "I just want to go home." Once again, I got looked at as if I was a rabid animal and Glorfindel moved closer to Lord Elrond. I wanted to tell them to stop acting like I was the psychotic one here, but I knew that there would be no point because no one would listen to me, causing me to sob even harder. Lord Elrond put a hand on my shoulder and I smacked it with the hand that wasn't still holding his handkerchief. "Don't touch me," I hissed at him, jumping up and taking off as fast as I could down the path. I didn't get very far before one of the guards caught me at the exit of the garden. Kicking, biting, doing everything in my power to make him put me down, didn't do any good; so I just lay there, limp in the guard's arms. Lord Elrond looked at me in shock.

Okay I know I was overreacting, but I mean hello! I just wanted to go home! Seriously, how freaking hard is that? And then I realized: I was in a completely different world. I was in a totally alternate dimension.

There was no more home.

I didn't struggle anymore as I realized I had been completely stripped of everything I had known and loved. No more Ami, no more mom, or dad, or Nissi, or Jay, or Alex, or Tony. I was all alone. That's when I decided to stop freaking out and take control of the situation. I had to find some way to get back to my own world. But how?

"You are very upset. You should rest now. My guards will take you to a proper room where you will stay until the day of the Council. After that you are free to leave," Lord Elrond said, placing his hand on my forehead. As he did I felt complete calm. I didn't really want to be stuck here, but there was no way I was going to get back if I kept acting like a fucking lunatic. Besides, he was putting me up in a huge castle! I couldn't really complain too much and so I just stuck to nodding my head and quietly saying thank you. Elrond looked at me awhile longer; probably to make sure I didn't take off again, and then turned to talk with Glorfindel. I sighed loudly and grabbed my flip-flops from behind the bush where I had stuck them and slipped them on my feet, then picked up my grimy sweatshirt from the same spot and tied that around my waist. I heard someone approaching me, and turned around to see Glorfiindel standing there.

Glorfindel took my arm and gently pulled me towards the castle. "Lady Lena, you have had a very trying day and you look quite tired. I will escort you to your room.," he said, then frowned as he looked me up and down," We must see Rana about getting you a proper gown to sleep in. You would not be comfortable resting in such dirty clothes." Rana. Another unfamiliar name. Rana, as it turns out, was one of the chambermaids. She was a beautiful elf, very tall and thin, with the same pale skin that the other elves had, red hair that fell a little past her shoulder and framed a pretty heart shaped face. Her green eyes were the most significant feature of hers. Her eyes, slanted at the sides, were an emerald green with a black lining around the iris, giving her an almost cat-like gaze. She was soft spoken, and I could never imagine her raising her voice above a whisper.

Glorfindel spoke to her in Elvish and gestured towards me. She had been folding towels when we walked in, but as he spoke to her, her eyes got wide and she put down the towels to approach me. "Lady Lena," Glorfindel said as he and the elf came over to me," this is Lady Rana. She is the chambermaid and she will be taking care of you." Rana bowed slightly and smiled. "Hello," I said brightly. Rana looked confused. "She only speaks Elvish," Glorfindel said apologetically. "Oh," I replied," then how do I say hello?" Glorfindel bent down to whisper in my ear. I flashed another big smile at Rana and tried again.

"Saesa omentien lle." Rana laughed softly and beamed at me. Obviously I had had a knack for languages. Feeling very proud of myself, I whispered a quick thanks to Glorfindel and let Rana pull me over to the other side of the room. She was chattering in Elvish and I had no idea what she was saying, but she was nice and had a very pretty voice so I didn't care. Somehow, I think she knew that. She looked at me carefully and went over to a huge wardrobe. It was gigantic and I thought she had gotten lost for a second when she didn't come out right away, but she came back after about 3 minutes, holding a long white gown. It was gorgeous, and it would've made the perfect Halloween costume for Jennifer's Halloween party, which I was probably going to miss, but I wouldn't even dream about sleeping in it!

"Look," I said carefully, not wanting to be rude," this is very beautiful, but I can't wear it." I turned to look at Glorfindel. He raised one eyebrow. "Why not? It doesn't please you?" he asked with a frown. "No it gorgeous!" I said hurriedly," but there is a reason why nobody gives me stuff like this and it's because they all know I'm never on my feet for more than 10 minutes because I always trip on something, and I'm amazed at how lucky I've been lately on that note." Glorfindel laughed and translated this to Rana, who was starting to look very worried at my distress over the dress. She smiled when he translated. I tried to hand back the dress, but she pushed it back at me and asked Glorfindel something in Elvish. He responded and she patted the dress in my arms, saying, "gift for you." She had trouble getting the words out and she messed up some of the sounds, but I understood. I could see there was no point in arguing. Besides, they were right, I couldn't go to bed in clothes that I had been wearing for six days straight. So I politely said, "Thank you," and gave Rana a light hug. She nodded and then crossed the room to continue folding towels. We went through a few more hallways, each one as lavishly decorated as the next, and soon when we were passing through a new hallway I could hear a commotion in one of the rooms. Glorfindel, who was in front of me, tried to urge me on, but I looked back into the room which all the noise was coming from. There was a boy and he looked like he was having a nightmare. He was clutching his shoulder and making all of these pitiful whimpering noises. I would have seen more except Glorfindel closed the door and told me in a very worried tone that we had to move on. When we reached the end of the hallway I looked back to see Lord Elrond and a tall old man in a pointy hat enter the room. The old man made eye contact with me and nodded.

So that was the famous Gandalf the Gray.

I turned around and discovered that Glorfindel had gone on without me and I hurried to catch up with him.