A/N: Lothlorien is going to be about two chapters long, including this one, so expect this story to end in about 3-4 chapters. Enjoy.
WARNING: IMPORTANT. READ CAREFULLY (until you get to the cloud-watching scene. That's just for fun). VERY IMPORTANT DREAM SEQUENCE.
Isabella was smart. Nobody could deny that. She was smart, and she was cold. She didn't form friendships, and she didn't connect with people her own age. Being a Grand Chess Master didn't involve a lot of wining and dining; everything was based off their concentration and their skills on the board. You could be as rich, popular, and outgoing as you wanted - but if you couldn't figure out that you needed to move your knight to E5 to avoid a checkmate, you were toast. Isabella had been in sixteen Grand Chess Tournaments, and had won twelve of them. She was known around the world as the girl who was quickest on her feet, the girl who could out think you without even considering it. She had been to Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. She had dueled the best Chess Masters, seen the Louvre and the Colosseum, tasted the chocolate of Germany and seen the thick jungles of Brazil. But no matter how many places she had been, no matter how many Chess Masters she had dueled, nothing could prepare her for the pain. It was all encompassing, complete, thorough. Eternity stretched into forever which twined into immortality, lifetimes of pain. She didn't know that Daphne had been sitting by her bedside for the past sixteen hours, didn't know that she was safely in the woods of Lorien, didn't know that she was being tended to by Celeborn himself, didn't even know she was unconscious. She didn't even know her own name. The only thing she could go was stumble around in her dream-world, thinking of chess and her family and her books. The three things which kept her anchored to this earth, the only three things she would miss if she died. And in the same way, it was these three things which brought her back.
She was entangled in a dream, cocooned in a blanket of hazy, foggy figures. People talked but didn't form words, simply shouting meaningless gibberish that she couldn't understand. Slowly, things melted and dripped into one another until they formed solid figures, and she blinked suddenly. A chessboard was under her feet - she felt relieved to recognize the distinct squares of black and white, and she saw that she was on D5, the center of the board. Tall pieces of solid marble seemed miles away - they contained amazing detail; there were tiny jewels on the King and Queen's crowns, and all the pawns had faces that were different. The Black King had a beard, while the White King did not. One of the White Knights had braided ribbons into his horse's tail, and both Black Knights were wearing armor with intricate designs on their armor. It was fascinating, and Isabella have stood there and stared at them for ages. But the edges were blurred, fuzzy, masking some of the beautiful detail she so longed to see. So she stood on the center, wondering if she should go see the white pieces or the black pieces first. It didn't take her long - white was her preference - so she began advancing across the board, marching straight up to the first White Pawn. She stared hard at it, squinting, wondering why it seemed so familiar, and then it clicked.
The White Pawn looked exactly like Boromir. He was handsome, and the marble had somehow had sketched the stubble on his chin onto the face. He had his hand resting on his sword hilt, and he was wearing light leather armor - all made out of marble, of course. Next to him was Frodo - shorter, and he actually had the ring around his neck. Isabella continued down the board, marvelling at the intricacy of the pieces. Madison, she was not surprised to see, was a Bishop, complete with an armload of books in her hand and glasses slipping to the end of her nose. Michael was a knight, a plumed helmet tucked into the crook of his arm, his hair spiked into dangerously needle-sharp points. Melody was a Rook, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder as she stood on top of the tower, and Isabella saw with a cold shudder that the tower looked shockingly similar to Isenguard. Daphne was also a Bishop, although she carried only one small book tucked close to her chest, and she stood closest to Tolkien. Isabella was not surprised to see that Tolkien was the White King, but she didn't recognize his Queen, who was plain but pretty, with long hair and large eyes.
She turned around and saw that the black pieces looked sharper and more jagged compared to the whites, and she was seized with a madcap desire to cross the board again. So she did so, and to her surprise, the closer she got to the black pieces, the harder it became for her to move. When she was close, she shuddered. The Black Pawns seemed to be mostly Orcs, again amazingly detailed - tattoos, piercings, and missing chunks of flesh decorating them perfectly. The Black Queen, she was utterly unsurprised to see, was Adavis, complete with bow in hand. The Black King was surprisingly handsome - a short black beard, dangerous looking eyes, broad-shouldered and strikingly good-looking. She supposed he was Sauron. Shagrat, she was unsurprised to see, was a Bishop, spear clenched in his hands, and Ethwein, clad in long flowing robes, was a Knight. Vanima was the other Bishop, and Quilemna was the other Knight.
But to her surprise, Shonji was a Rook, his large frame and thick fur cast completely in black marble. The other Rook was a wolf, fur bristling dangerously, muzzle rippled into a snarl. The black pieces frightened her, and she backed up. It was when the pieces began to move when she screamed - but like most dreams, the sound didn't come out. There was a horrible thud, and she saw one of the Black Pawns (A large Uruk with a bow in its fist) had moved a single space. In retaliation, the Boromir-Pawn moved two spaces forward. Isabella dashed off the side of the board, desperate to get off the game board, but she slammed into a slippery, invisible boundary. It was then that she noticed one of the Rooks didn't have a person on top of the tower - with a cold ripple of dread, she realized what she had to do. Slowly, she crossed the board and went to the Rook, which now loomed as high as a skyscraper in front of her. There was a door in the marble, and she opened it, stepping inside. There was a long staircase made entirely of marble, and she mounted the stairs hesitantly. When she reached the top, she pushed up a hatch and clambered onto the roof, looking out over the chessboard. She was in the game of chess, she realized, and the story was playing out before her.
Details blurred and connected, but she remembered fragments - The White King kept Daphne close to his side, and they seemed intent on moving across the board. Melody and Madison were captured, and she found her tower moving with Michael's Knight, along with the Aragorn-Knight, the Gimli-Pawn, and the Legolas-Pawn. The board seemed suddenly huge, and when she moved onto a black space, she found herself falling. She fell and fell, trying frantically to scream, and then ...
"Hey, you're awake!"
Daphne was above her, silver-green eyes tired but happy. Isabella blinked - that simple movement took all of her strength - and tried to focus. She saw splashes of color, spinning and blurring until they settled into shapes she could recognize. Daphne was dressed in a fresh tunic, beige colored, and dark leggings. She was sitting cross legged next to her, a damp washcloth in her her hand and a weary little smile on her plump features. Isabella closed her eyes again, and she heard rustling movements. Something was put to her lips and liquid rushed into the dark crevices of her mouth unexpectedly, and she swallowed the keep from choking. Suddenly things sharpened, but the pain in her head began to dim. Her brain couldn't form intelligent words to ask what was going on, but she found that she could breathe, blink, and open her eyes. Daphne was looking at her worriedly. "Isabella? Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Isabella focused, and saw that Daphne was holding up two fingers. She couldn't marshal her tongue to obey her, so she merely lifted her hand and mirrored Daphne's fingers. The blond looked utterly relieved. "Oh, goodness gracious! You have me scared for a minute. We've been making sure you could pull through - Celeborn (he's super nice, by the way) said you would be okay, but I wanted to make sure." Daphne said. Isabella let her hand fall back on the pillow and she dozed off to the sound of Daphne's chatter.
The only good thing about her father's insistence that she travel the country was the amount of trees there were. Melody had always been good at climbing trees - but buildings were her speciality. She had learned to use even the smallest foot holes; and when there weren't any foot holes, she made some. The walls of important buildings were generally made out of brick - with the right length nails and her Adidas which had begun to tear at the toe, she could climb for a good sixty feet until she got tired and had to sit on a window ledge somewhere. Naturally, Melody didn't start out climbing brick buildings - she started with climbing trees. So even the hard, smooth trunks of the mallorn trees posed no difficulty for the agile woman - she simple cracked every knuckle on her hands and did a few handstands to limber up, and then began climbing. Due to the fact that Middle Earth hadn't invented nail clippers yet, her nails were decently long and they dug into the tree nicely. Clawing like a cat was rough on the fingers, but it was the easiest way to climb a tree without any lower branches. When she reached the broad, strong limb she had been aiming for, she swung a leg over it and straddled the branch. It dipped slightly under her weight, but it was hardly noticeable. She cracked her knuckles again and peered at the ground - about ten feet. Not a far drop, she mused. Enough to create a dramatic presence for what she was planning. Melody combed her bangs from her eyes absently and waited patiently. She was patient, unlike most girls her age. She learned long ago that thieves who were impatient were sloppy.
She didn't have to wait long until she heard the all-too-familiar noise of Adavis laughing. She was walking slowly down the pathway, surrounded by several eager male members of the Galadhrim, who were all vying for her attention. Melody waited until the entire group was perhaps five feet from her branch, and then she dropped from the limb. It created exactly the effect she wanted - Adavis screamed and the Galadhrim members reached for their knives. But when Melody flipped her hair from her eyes and smiled prettily at them, they relaxed visibly. "Hey," she said sweetly, smiling at Adavis. Adavis was a Sue, and therefore, she wasn't stupid. She knew that Melody wanted something.
"Goodness, Melody, you'll kill yourself one day!" Adavis said, clasping a hand to her heart as though she were acting Romeo in a school play. "What were you thinking?"
"Oh, I wanted to surprise my best friend," Melody chirruped, falling in step with Adavis and linking arms with her. Adavis wasn't stupid, but she was vain. She smiled beautifully and glanced at Melody.
"I'm glad to see you've stopped seeing so much of those...others," Adavis said, scowling slightly. Melody suppressed her feelings easily, cramming them down into a little jar where she planned to hold all her emotions about Adavis until there was something she could punch.
"I know! Aren't they so dull?" Melody said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Adavis seemed delighted that she shared her sentiments, and the warriors were delighted because Adavis was delighted. With all this delight going around, Adavis didn't seem to particularly mind Melody twirling a strand of Adavis's dark hair around her finger. "You have such gorgeous hair," Melody said. Adavis blushed prettily.
"Really?" she said modestly. "I find it annoying, to tell you the truth," she lied.
"No! Really? I think it's beautiful," Melody said, voice dripping with just the right amount of flattery. Adavis led the Galadhrim over to a small clearing where there was plenty of room for them to sit. Adavis sat on a stump, and Melody immediately claimed the seat next to her. "Can I braid it?" she asked, sounding exactly like a fawning admirer. Adavis flicked her hair over her shoulder.
"Go ahead, I don't mind," Adavis said, and Melody began to run her fingers through the silken locks. Naturally, Adavis's hair was perfect. Melody began twining the thick hair into a braid, careful to keep her fingers close to Adavis's neck. Now came the tricky part. Melody's swift fingers bumped deliberately against Adavis's necklace, and then made a little pout.
"This necklace is getting in my way. Could you take it off?" Melody asked. Adavis took it off and laid it on the seat next to her. Melody finished the braid and wound it into a bun on the top of Adavis's head, then sat down directly on the necklace. She turned to the Galadhrim. "Doesn't she look gorgeous?" The warriors, of course, began praising Adavis with poetry. One of them actully pulled out a harp and began composing a song about Adavis's beauty. In all the commotion, nobody noticed Melody slipping the necklace into her pocket.
That is, all except Adavis.
"My necklace!" Adavis cried.
As a thief, Melody knew that most of the time, you had to talk your way out of situations. She was particularly glib and smooth, quick with an answer, and she had fooled hundreds of security guards by passing her fingers through her hair and folding her arms to push her breasts together. But there were other times when a thief needs to run. Melody made a split second decision that this was one of those times that you run. Being pursued by a dozen angry Galadhrim and one enraged Sue was not a pleasant place to be, and Melody employed every muscle in her body to make her run faster. There was one advantage to her situation, however: she knew where she was going, and Adavis did not.
Madison was lying flat on her back next to Legolas, the two of the in a comfortable distance from each other. Legolas, she discovered, had never gone cloud watching, and she had promptly dragged him to the nearest grassy hill and pushed him on his back. Together, the two of them had flopped on the lawn and began pointing out clouds to each other. It was a spectacular day for cloud watching - thick, fluffy white clouds pranced across the skies like sheep on helium, the grass was soft and pleasantly ticklish under their palms, and the sunlight was deliciously warm. Madison pointed her hand straight up. "Look! A teddy bear!" she exclaimed. Legolas looked at the cloud critically, blue eyes narrowing.
"I don't see it," he admitted. "Where?"
Madison drew close to him and pointed at the sky, outlining the supposed bear. "Look, there's the head, with two ears, and that's the body, and those are the legs, and those things are the arms." she explained. Legolas cocked his head to the side.
"It looks like a bear that's been chewed by a dog," he said truthfully. Madison collapsed into giggles, and, thus encouraged, Legolas continued with a smile on his face. "No, I'm serious. Why is one arm shorter than the other?"
"It had an accident," Madison laughed, body quaking with giggles. "A child with scissors wanted to see if it had bones."
"I would be delighted to hear how you cut a cloud," Legolas said, coaxing another wave of giggles from Madison.
"They had pigeons," Madison said, sputtering the words in her happiness, "A bunch of pigeons tied to a string, and they flew them like a kite to cut through the cloud."
Legolas considered this. "It would have to be very long string," he said after a moment of thought, "And some very large pigeons."
It's possible that they would have stayed on the hilltop until suppertime, posing new questions on how one could cut a cloud, but Melody dashed up the hilltop, breathing hard. Madison hardly had time to see what was glittering in her hands before Melody pulled Madison to her feet and spun her around. Something was pulled onto her neck and fastened behind her, and Madion turned to Melody, bewildered. "What...?" she asked.
Melody bent over, hands on her knees. "Your - pyrite," she gasped. "Stole it from - Sue."
Madison didn't approve of stealing - she was Catholic, and thought it was a sin. But she was overjoyed to have her pyrite back in her possession at last, so she threw herself at Melody with a fangirly squeal. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said, much to Legolas's amusement. This happy reunion was interrupted by Adavis bursting onto the hill, her beautiful face contorted into an angry grimace.
"You stole it!" she shouted. Melody fell on the ground, laughing between her pants as she tried to breathe. Adavis turned to Madison and saw that her necklace was fastened on her neck. It looked becoming on Madison - the black strip of leather drew attention to her unusual smoky blue eyes and kind mouth, and the pyrite twinkled happily in the sunlight. "That's mine!" Adavis said, who, of course, wasn't panting at all. "She stole it. Give it back this instant."
Madison did something she had never done in her life. She smirked. "No, I think your mistaken," Madison said in the sweetest voice she could muster. "This has been in my family for generations."