I have returned and updated! I'm so proud of myself... nah, actually I would rather make my readers happy. I'm a few days late on updating this story I know. My older story " My home is gone..") is temporarily on hiatus till I work out a few things (still open for suggestions) I can't help but get the feeling that not as much readers are interested anymore 0_o Anyhow, I hope this story is not too slow paced, maybe I'll combine a few chapters to make it go by faster and get to the folk you're probably really want to read about LOL. But I enjoy writing this too. So, please tell me what you think.

Chapter 6- The Rangers

Further down the river, everyone had continued to travel, ushered by the rangers who constantly encouraged the tired refugees to keep going with the promise of a proper meal and slightly better sleeping arrangements. So instead of the ground, they might get to sleep on hay in barnes or cots in the healing wards. Anything was better than nothing right now it seemed.
The rangers intyerviewed everyone about what had happened, where they came from, and how they got where they were. Many people were from various parts of the lands of middle earth. No one, that she could hear anyway, were from Ihoda Island.
The town was a very well hidden town. covered with the branches of the forest. A wall lined with pikes surrounded the place. The town had really no impressive beauty about it. It was clearly a place built for practicallity and defense more than a tourist attracting place. Many more people were there too. None of them really looked that much like her.
They had much more fair skin, not that she was really that dark but only a few really had the olive colored skin she did. The woman were slender build majority were shorter in hieght and long hair was appearently the style.
The men were built stockier but not all were of muscular build. They watched the newcomers enter with mixed looks of curiosity or scrutiny.
Alicia wasn't real sure how to accept these odd people. Yet on the other hand she didn't care too much about they're personal opinions.
Rohawk showed her to some old wood built homes, scarcely decorated with but a small stove and multiple cots and a fireplace. Alicia claimed one.
"I shall return with more people to join and something to eat." Rohawk informed with a smile.
Alicia bobbed her head in kind before the ranger left.
Not long after, he did show up with both refugees and other towns folk who had come to offer any kind of aid. Only women were assigned to this building. Alicia wasn't sure if she was happy or annoyed to see Sabrya join in. Throughout the day, they were brought food to eat, taken to bathe and get new clothes, and whatever other nessesities that a woman typically needs.
That night, now cleaned, full and in cleaner clothes, Alicia felt even more exhuasted. Worry about whether she'd be able to go home and see her friends or whether she should try and make a living here swirled in her head until she finally fell asleep.
Throughout her stay in the ranger town, she had taken her sweet time enjoying all the rest and lazy time she could get. Then she'd visit their little library and familiraize heself with the lay of this new world. Inside was an array of scrolls, portraits, maps and books along with two writing desks. Upon the back wall was a large and very detailed map of the world. The islander gazed at it with awe. Under the large map were symbols of clans of differnt peoples. " Humans, dwarves, elves, hobbits, dark monsters." SHe read aloud.
" Good afternoon Miss. Perhaps I can help you with something?" Another lady from behind a shelf greeted. The lady had one hand full of books that she was organizing and a friendly grin on her face.
"Thank you. I, well I'm not from around here, and so I thought I'd familiarize myself with Middle Earth." ALicia answered kindly.
" Oh dear." said the woman. " Where should we start?" she smile as she file a couple of books on a shelf.
That was a good question. Where should she start? Scratching her head, she asked the first question that came to mind. " Do all the people get along against the dark monsters?"
" Most folks all agree that foul creatures must be destoryed, but there are some of wicked heart that could hire a goblin or troll to do some dirty work for them." The librarian answered.
" How do the other peoples view humans?" Alicia cntinued.
" Perhaps generally the same as we view ourselves, depending on wherethe human is from. Hobbits for instance are rather suspisious and perhaps a little intimidated by us 'Big Folk.'
The elves belief us to be a weaker race, but have proven courageous allies in the past. Same with the dwarves. We are a good trading partner for sure. Dwarves are the slowest to ever open up to outsiders."
Alicia listened intently as the lady summarized. "I've heard rumors and I can't tell what's true or not. Like dwarves stealing gifts that belonged to the hobbits and using it to steal women. What's that about?"
The woman hardly batted an eye a she put away the last book. ' The gift is called The Alpha culture. It was first designed and created by Yavanna as a defense against the evil and corrupted creatures that befell Middle Earth at the time. Melkor and his followers never stopped destorying and corrupting the earth and it's goodly folk. In rightouess rage she created this gift for her people. There are multiple ideas of how the dwarves came to get it, but somehow they did. Whether it was granted to them or they stole it, people would debate."
Alicia's own brow quirked up with interest. Her slender fingers grazed the top books on the table. "And what exactly IS the Alpha Culture?"
"It, well it's can be a rather complex cultre." The older woman scratche her head as she thought of the ight words to say. " Hmm, well, you are aware of the heriarchy of alpha, beta, and omegas happen amongst the animals?"
Alicia nodded.
" It is quite similar for hobbits and dwarves. Sort of, integrated into their culture you could say." She asnwered. And then with a saigh she continued. " Seems everyone has something special about them except for humans."
" Really?" Alicia replied with a frown. "That, can't be so true."
The librarian brightened up. " Oh it wasn't like that all the time. I have been researching our own ancestrial roots you see." SHe tapped her chin and then darted behind her desk. Within a few moments she popped up again with another book as she elatedly launched into another ramble. " You see the elves have their beauty, immortality and even magic. The dwarves have their metalsmithing and great strength, hobbits have their tranquility. And us humans? The gift of mortality? Everything that lives really has that except the elves." She scoffed as she flipped through the book.
Alicia simply smiled patiently until she other woman got it out of her system. She was obviously quite passionate about this particular subject.
" Elves are so atuned with the earth that if the world were to start decaying or thriving the elves would be influenced in much the same manner. So would the dwarves eventually. Less and less women will be in their population. They bend to the nature of the world, but becuase humans are not so connected to the world, the world bends to us. And hobbits are mostly related to us so would no doubt have the same fate as us." She flipped open to one page and showed it to her. " There are a few passages saying that humans had the ability to master and conrtol their own energies. Some were so well practiced in it, that their strongest feelings could make the grass around them grow or wither." the librarian pointed to another page that had illustratins of what she summarized. The islandaer had no idea what the other woman was talking about honestly. " Well, that is interesting. How are you so sure about all that?"
The lady gestured to the entire library. " I do not often leave the town, so when I cannot, I ask others to bring back books of our ancestry, particularly anything that may be considered 'lost texts'. I've been peicing them together for the past two years. I have gathered much research and yet there are still many gaps in it all." SHe sighed again though this time her smile remained. " I have not given up yet and when I find out the truth, and how to utilize it, perhaps I could help us regain the gifts we had once lost." Alicia skimmed thgrough a few pages that was in her old book.
" I do know that meditation and strong willpower are also two important things to practice. And even certain tones are used for healing or strengthening their energies."
Alicia looked up from her book. " Well, I can tell you that much is true. About the tones."
The librarian turned a quizical look her way. " Really? How do you know?"
The islander wasn't sure just how much she should be giving away. She licked her lips as she thought of what she'd share with the librarian. " There are people, where I'm from that have experimented with tones and practice them."
The librarian's eyes went wide as if she'd just been told the secrets of life. "What- do you know the tones? Can you teach them to me?"
At this Alicia offered a sheepish smile. " Sadly I do not. I didn't study them. But I could share with you the basics that I am aware of. Ever heard of a tuning fork?"
The librarian shook her head.
"Well, Let's start with that then." Alicia smiled and got up to draw what one looked like on parchment. " Tuning forks are used for something called sonic drilling. Sound vibrations are sent through a drill bit or even a metal pipe, so that the end in contact with the stone surface acts as high-frequency drilling tools. It works by shattering the hard rock."
The librarian was so enthralled in this information she was learning, she practically locked Alicia inside her library, offering to feed her and provide with any matrials she needed. Alicia's poor brain was picked mercilessly. When it came to trying to teach a symplified version of vibrational levitation, both hers and the librarian were slouching in weariness. One from information overload, the other from patiance taking it's toll. The scholarly lady was true to her promise in providing a meal and pastries to snack on along with drinks to wash it all down.
The librarian's quill was practically flying across the parchments as she recorded everything Alicia shared with her.
"Tell me about the people of your isalnd, if you please. What do they look like in general? How long is their life-span, and their culture like?"
Alicia reclined in her seat. " Generally speaking, people have a lot of different skin tones than here. No doubt becuase of the sun. Not all the women have to wear their hair long, or live the typical house wife life. Some go out to get jobs. Our clothes are generally brighter in colors, mimicking the lighttones of the island or the dark tones of the jungles. It's in fact, NOT abnormal for a lady to wear pants most of the time. " Alicia paused to allow the librarian to catch up in her writing.
"Ou life spans are typically in the one ninety to two forty range-"
"What?!" The other lady looked up in shock.
"What?" Alicia repeated in confusion.
"How-how old are you?" she asked.
"I'm not at all so old. Only twenty eight." Alicia said as she looked at her for explanation.
" That's... that's astonishing. Possibly very very important." The librarian babbled as she scribbled something down.
"Isn't that normal?"
"No it isn't unless you are either of Dunedain decent or have elvish in your ancestory, and i theorize it's the first." She went on, eyes wide like she saw a ghost dancing in front of her. She stopped and smiled at Alicia. " You and I must stay in contact if you don't mind. I do believe we'd be quiteteh benefit to each other."
Alicia found the other lady's excitement contagious, as her own smile was forming. " Sounds like a good idea to me."
" Oh dear how rude of me. I have not properly introduced myself. Brenada, a pleasure to meet you." The librarian said.
"Alicia." The islander introduced herself. "Nice to meet you too."
They shook hands properly and Brenada slumped down on her own chair, giving her hand a break before getting back to her writing.
In the silence that stretched out after their lessons, the islander nursed at a cup of tea while the librarian jotted down the last of her information. With a sigh, she finally looked up, smiling at Alicia. "Truly I hope to visit your home one day. Perhaps I may even find more clues and lost texts in our past. I don't believe I have discovered words to express my gratitude to you for sharing your knowledge with me."
"Knowledge is meant to be shared." Alicia smiled with grace.
"If only the rest of the world agreed to that." Brenada sighed, resting her chin in her palm. " Still, you may have given me a whole new milestone to discover and for that I am overjoyed. If there is any way I might be able to repay you, pray tell me."
The olive skinned islander simply smiled again in kind. Truly it did not feel like she really had done anything, but it did make her feel good to see she made some one else's day.
Wait, they just went way off topic didn't they? What did she originally come to the library for again? Alicia frowned at a candleholder a she tried to recall what she wanted now...
Oh yes. Where as she supposed to go from here..
"On the subject of homes, is there a place where I could get a map for myself?"
"Ah yes of course." the lady put up her book and led her to a place where all kinds of spare parchments were. "All our spare maps are put here. Take whatever you'd like. These are all free that no one else wanted."
Alicia thanked her and quickly began sifting through the papers, taking advantage of it being for free. They had spots or rips but as long as they were still legible that's what mattered to her right now. "For someone who's new to these lands, what places would you deem the most friendly and safest?"
"The friendliest? well that would perhaps be The Shire. That's where the hobbits reside. Suspicious of us 'big folk', they are mostly quite polite. The nearest town from here is Bree. It has humans but it's gone quite shady over the years sadly. I highly discouraged any sort of traveling without escort and even then do not go unless nessecary, what with all the orcs that have suddenly been running about these past few months. I'd say your safest option would be to stay here." Brenada answered in one of her long winded answers again.
After selecting what she wanted to keep, she thanked the librarian again and set out throughout the town either looking for work to get a little moeny or better traveling goods.
Most folks there were actually quite friendly. Some even gave her a few beginner lessons on other skills like archery, which she never tried before; or horseback riding and a few tips on basic healing.
SHe found Nevak and Raoul digging into large turkey legs, also looking much better than before. The next few days she had taken her time familiraizing herself with the odd way people spoke here or behaved. Now that she thought about it maybe she was the oddity here after all.

POLITELY SHAMELESS REQUESTS FOR REVIEWS! So, I was hoping this story would be kind of like an RPG video game, where the main character would start in one town at a time, one level at a time and progress with different variety of people and places to meet and learning new skills. I hope I'm catching that concept...

The ranger town is just an extra place I kind of made up. The wild men are a real Tolkien people, I just didn't do the research on where/if there is an actual Ranger Town. It just kind of fit with this story. I can't wait to post future chapters and I hope you will like them too. Thanks again for stopping by! (^_^)