A/N: I own nothing.
Chapter 3
**Bainanu's POV**
I was on patrol once more, after finding Deirdre and bringing her back to Rivendell two days ago. It was time for my patrol to once again resume, since I had had yesterday off as was my usual schedule. But once again as dawn was breaking, I was riding along the borders of Rivendell, to ensure that no one was trying to attack. Border patrol was usually a very boring task, spending everyday patrolling the same area with little to no changes. But the interruption of finding Deirdre had been interesting enough. I was happy to settle back into the normal boring rhythm of patrol.
However, I don't think fate agrees with my plan, I thought to myself. When I saw the body of a young woman on the ground, near where I had found Deirdre. To be honest, I didn't know what the odds were. I was seriously going to have to think about asking for a different patrol if every time I was on patrol I found a strange woman. I neared the form of the woman and stopped my horse.
After quickly dismounting I drew my bow and readied an arrow, then nudged the form of the woman with long blonde hair. She stirred once I made contact and once her eyes were open and looking upon me she jumped and moved back.
"Who are you?" I asked her.
"My name is Saffron. Who are you?" she asked, confusion in her voice.
"I am Bainanu. Do you know where you are?" I asked her, finding her here reminded me so much of how I found Deirdre.
"Um, no actually. Where am I?" she asked me.
"You are within the realm of Rivendell." I said, lowering my bow. "Come with me."
Once my bow was down the girl stopped moving away from me. After a moment of hesitation she moved forward to meet me. I lifted her onto my horse and mounted behind her.
"Am I in Middle Earth?" she asked me.
"Yes, but Lord Elrond will explain more when we reach Imladris." I told her.
She fell silent after that, I rode with speed. Wanting to reach Imladris rather quickly and get back out on my patrol. I was really missing the normality of it. Looking down at the girl I couldn't help but to think of the differences between her and Deirdre. She had more clothing, obviously. But her hair was much fairer and her eyes were a bright blue, though they strangely reminded me a lot of Deirdre's. She had a similar figure, very curvy but it wasn't as shocking on her. She was definitely human, there was no doubt like there was with Deirdre.
Since I was riding with more haste this time, I reached Imladris much sooner. I also didn't have to worry about the girl before me falling from the horse as when Deirdre had fallen asleep.
"Are you alright?" I asked her, worrying that she had been quiet so long.
"I'm fine, simply thinking." She replied.
"Alright then." I stated then fell silent again.
Once we reached Imladris, I was overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu. I was met by a stable hand like before, but this time I dismounted then aided Saffron in her descent. Once down, I handed the reins to the stable hand. He took my horse and I led Saffron down the corridors of the House of Elrond and then stopped at the door to Elrond's study. I knocked on the door and was ordered to come in. I opened the door and ushered Saffron through the door.
Elrond looked up and saw me standing with a girl in strange dress. I swear he almost rolled his eyes at me finding another random girl on patrol.
"Another one?" he questioned.
"Yes, my lord. Her name is Saffron." I informed him, bowing my head a little.
"Thank you, Bainanu. You may go now." He ordered.
I nodded my head and walked out of the study, leaving Saffron behind with Lord Elrond. I breathed a sigh of relief at ensuring that Lord Elrond would take care of her. Then looked out over the horizon at the sunset, once again my patrol had been ended by taking a strange girl found of the borders of Rivendell back to the heart of Imladris.
***Deirdre's POV***
I opened my eyes and let out a contented sigh. For the second day in a row I had awoken in Rivendell. Only this time I knew exactly where I was. I stretched out my body in the bed, luxuriating in the feel of the soft bed beneath me. Then laid back comfortably on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a few moments of just letting my body readjust to being awake, I rose from the bed and went to stand out on the balcony. I looked out over the horizon, the sun was well above but hadn't quite reached the point of midday yet. So I was doing rather well on waking up. I breathed in the fresh air and stayed on the balcony for a few minutes.
After a few moments, I walked back into my allotted room and headed into the bathroom. Seeing the tub filled with steaming hot water made me want to kiss whoever was responsible. I stripped off the flowing gown that I had worn to sleep in, and lowered myself down into the hot water. I relaxed entirely once I was completely submerged. I ducked my head under the water and scrubbed at my skin. The soaps were again set out for me and I scrubbed my entire body down once more until my skin was as clean as possible and lightly fragranced with the scent of the soap. I made ample use of the razor that had once again been left out for me. Once I felt I had manicured my body to perfection, or close enough, and the water had grown cold I rose from the water. The water dripped from my body and pattered against the stone floor. I grabbed the towel that again was laid out for me and dried my body. Once again I found myself fastening into a corset. I have to say, I was getting much better at fastening myself in. I slipped on a green dress today it flowed beautifully from my waist while remaining tight at the bodice, while the sleeves opened themselves at my elbows and freely flowed down. Overall, the dress was beautiful and I thought that it was truly lovely, though I worried that the elves of Rivendell would soon run out of dresses that would fit me. Once dressed once more, I found the brush that lay on the vanity and smoothed my hair.
Once readied for the day, I strode out of my room. I was planning on visiting the gardens once more, when a thought occurred to me. Since I had time here, I may as well learn more about the history of Middle Earth, after all Tolkien could only write so much. So instead of walking back out to the familiar gardens I headed to Elrond's study. Once I reached the door I stopped and knocked.
"Come in," I heard Elrond say from behind the closed door.
I pushed the door open and peered inside, sitting behind the desk was Elrond. I smiled as I walked into the study and stopped before the desk.
"Lord Elrond, I was wondering if there was a library of some kind. So that I may learn more of the history of Middle Earth." I said politely.
"There is no real library, but I would welcome you to read some of my books. Did you have anything in mind?" he asked me.
"Not really, do you have any stories of adventures?" I asked him.
"Yes, well of battles." He said, as he rose from his place behind the desk and grabbed a rather large book from the shelves lining the sides of his study.
After handing me the book, Elrond moved back to his place behind the desk.
"Thank you, Lord Elrond. I was wondering has Frodo woken yet?" I asked him.
"Not just yet, why do you ask?" he inquired.
"I thought that he would have awoken by now, no matter it should be soon." I said. "Thank you for the book."
And with that I turned and left. I walked with the book in my hands and down the corridor to find Frodo's room. I was so sure that he would have woken up by now, maybe he was going to be waking up soon. When I reached his room, after getting lost a few times, I pushed open the door and sitting in a chair facing the bed was Gandalf.
'Well, that was a good sign' I thought to myself. After all, when Frodo woke up in the movies Gandalf was sitting there waiting for him to rise.
"Good day, Gandalf. Any changes?" I asked him.
"His fever has broken but he has yet to wake." He replied in his sad voice, obviously upset that his young friend had yet to wake.
"Don't worry, Gandalf. He will wake, without a doubt. I expect it should be rather soon." I told him.
He smiled a little when I said that, but the smile wasn't really there. He was too upset about Frodo being injured to truly be happy. So I moved from the doorway and found another chair and set it up so that I could wait until Frodo woke.
Once I was sitting down, I opened the book that Elrond had given me. I had only gotten through the first paragraph when I heard a sleepy voice ask.
"Where am I?" looking up from my book I saw that it was Frodo, having just awoken.
"You are in the House of Elrond. And it is 10 o'clock in the morning on October 24th if you want to know." Gandalf told him, his tone having become much happier at seeing Frodo awake.
I smiled at this, and shut my book. Holding it in my lap as I watched Frodo open his eyes even more at realizing who was talking.
"Gandalf!" Frodo nearly shouted.
"Yes… I'm here. And you're lucky to be here too. A few more hours and you would have been beyond our aid. But you have some strength left in you, my dear hobbit." Gandalf told him, his worry returning to his voice.
"What happened, Gandalf? Why didn't you meet us?" Frodo asked, confused.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Frodo. I was…delayed." Gandalf told him, pausing and falling silent no longer focusing on us.
"Well, it doesn't matter. You are both here now and both safe." I said brightly.
At this point Frodo looked over at me, I could see confusion marching onto his face. I smiled warmly at him.
"Who are you?" Frodo asks me.
"My name is Deirdre. I am glad to see that you are awake, your friends were awfully worried about you." I told him.
Frodo nodded his head in understanding, he also looked down probably a little embarrassed that he had caused so much worry. Just then, Sam walked into the room and all but jumped on Frodo, he was so excited to see him awake.
"Frodo, Frodo." Sam yelled, cheerfully.
"Sam!" Frodo returned, hugging his friend.
"Sam, has hardly left your side." Gandalf informed him.
"We were that worried about you, weren't we Mr. Gandalf?" Sam said, then wanting reassurance from Gandalf asked him.
"By the skills of Lord Elrond, you're beginning to mend." Gandalf informed Frodo.
"Welcome to Rivendell, Frodo Baggins." Elrond said, as he entered the room.
I smiled and rose from my seat, then looked over at Sam and Frodo.
"I'll go tell Pippin and Merry that you are awake." I said, then walking over to the door I looked at Elrond. "I told you he would be awake soon."
"So you did." Elrond said.
I walked out of the room and began searching for Pippin and Merry. Luckily for me I found them rather quickly. They were sitting in the garden laughing. I approached them as quietly as possible, which was rather quiet until I tripped on a bump in the path. I stumbled forward and Pippin and Merry looked up and laughed when they saw me tripping.
"You didn't see anything." I said blushing.
"Oh, you mean we didn't see anything but you proving that you definitely aren't an elf." Pippin responded.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I am the epitome of grace." I said with an airy tone that made it clear I wasn't serious.
"Of course you are." Merry chimed in sarcastically.
"Well, if you are going to just make fun of me. Then maybe I won't tell you the reason why I hunted you two down." I told them in a joking manner.
"Oh, there was a reason? You mean other than simply wanting to spend time with such handsome folk as us." Pippin said.
"Yes, there was. Frodo woke up."
Both Merry and Pippin jumped up with giant smiles on their faces, then for some reason both of them rushed to give me a hug. I guess because I was the one who told them the good news.
"Go along, I'm sure that he will be more than glad to see you." I told them, pushing them slightly in the direction of Frodo's room.
Both took off running to go see Frodo. I smiled as they left, then moved to go sit under my favorite tree and settled with my book. I sat there under the shade of the tree until the bell sounded for lunch. I had to admit, I was a little hungry but I was reluctant to go. I was truly enjoying the book that Elrond had lent to me. I was already over half-way through already, loving the book so much. Not only was it a history but it contained a lot of battles in it. The book was really good. But my stomach growled a little and so I rose from my place beneath the tree and wandered to the dining hall.
Once I was inside I found the hobbits rather easily. I smiled and walked over and sat down with them. Joining the four hobbits that I knew was Bilbo, Frodo's uncle, who was very old. I took a seat at the end of the table next to Pippin and Merry.
"Frodo, it's nice to see you well." I said, as way of making conversation.
I was starting to get the feeling that I could never be myself here, that I would always have to be on my best behavior, especially if I wanted not to be stopped by Gandalf and Elrond for my crude nature.
"Thank you." Frodo murmured, a slight blush on his face.
"So do you boys have anything planned for today?" I asked the hobbits.
"We were really just think about exploring, do you want to come with?" Pippin asked me.
"Actually Pippin, I am in the middle of a really good book. How about I join you all another time? Besides wouldn't you like to spend more time with Frodo since he is awake now." I responded.
"Alright, but definitely count on coming another time." Merry said.
"Without a doubt." I told them.
We finished lunch rather quickly and I took my leave of the hobbits, who were setting off to go explore some of the waterfalls nearby. I smiled and waved as they headed out, while Frodo stayed behind with his uncle.
"Find some good places. That way you can show me them later." I said as I waved to the hobbits.
Once saying my goodbye, I strode back to the garden and settled down beneath, what I was starting to refer to as, my tree. I flipped the book back open and began reading voraciously once more. I stayed in the garden with my book as the sun lowered down on the horizon and the day passed. I decided to skip the evening meal, as I wanted to finish my book and would talk to the hobbits in the morning. So I remained under my tree until it was almost too dark out to read. But by then I had finished the book.
So I rose from my seat and stretched out my sore legs, stretching them out from sitting so long. I moved from the garden and made my way to Elrond's study. I knocked on the door and waited for the usual 'Come in.'
It only took a second but Elrond's voice could be heard telling me to enter the study. I walked through the door looking at the book in my hands.
"I finished the book. Thank you so much. It was really good." I said, extending my hand with the book out to Elrond.
But just as I reached out, I saw someone that made me stop. There was a girl sitting in one of the chairs of Elrond's study. She had long blonde hair that fell to her lower back and was dressed in black clothing. There was something incredibly familiar about the girl. But when she turned around to look who had entered the office, our eyes met. I lost my breath for a second.
"Saffy?" my voice came out as a question, confused as to what was going on.
**End Chapter 3**
There's Chapter 3 for ya. Read and Review please ;D