A/N: Hopefully the story finally starts moving; I honestly hate writing the beginning. Please critique. I gave up on spell check because all the Tolkien terms gave me the red squiggly line of shame anyways.

Of Road Blocks and Rest Stops

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"Where am I?" Lora mumbled, looking up. A strange emptiness filled her as she turned to look for any other signs of life. Her quick scan was successful, as she saw a dozen women and a few men staring right back at her. Unfortunately, half of them were armed. And most of them were pointing sharp objects at her, and as she begin to push herself up, the bows and knives followed her up. "Didn't they learn that pointing sharp things at people is mean and dangerous?" she wondered silently. A groan escaped her mouth; she must have a concussion or have suddenly become an idiot overnight. Or whatever time she had been unconscious.

A dark haired woman stepped out, gesturing for the people to put their weapons down. Suddenly, Lora realized he wasn't a woman; in fact, the majority of the people were men, simply with long hair. He asked a sharp question.

"I'm sorry, can you say it slower? I think I have a concussion. Where am I?" Lora said slowly, now sitting upright. She looked down and noticed for the first time she was sitting on a wooden table. Apparently, the people had been eating when she interrupted their lovely meal, which she was currently sitting on. The man repeated the question again, his voice slightly less tense. Lora began to be able to pick words out.

"Why naa you sinome? Who naa lle? Sut did lle enter?" The man repeated once more, slowly. Although some of the words were obviously in English, even those words sounded strange, almost as if two people were talking at once.

"Are you speaking a dialect of English?" A new speaker asked, walking in. Lora squealed and bear hugged the familiar redhead, who awkwardly gave her a quick hug in return and then escaped, much to the amusement of the two guards who lead her in.

"Yes! You're alive!" Lora laughed. "I knew some stupid monster troll things couldn't kill you! You probably would have drove them insane or something!" A blond man with hair to his chin coughed suddenly, sounding suspiciously like he was hiding a laugh, while another one of the long haired men started to reach toward his weapon, looking at her as if she were insane.

"Lora, not now," Aurelia reprimanded. Cutting off the retort that Lora started to form in response to the curt phrase, she turned to the speaker and gave a quick, awkward half-bow that was between a formal bow and curtsy. He acknowledged it with an impatient slight nod.

"Hello, Lord Elrond" she started nervously. "We," she gestured at Lora and herself, "were camping out in the fields when we were attacked. It wasn't just us though; there were two other girls. Did you see them when you rescued us? "

"No, you two were the only ones. Your friend just landed on our table," the man said.

"Wait. From the very beginning. Now." Lora glared at both the lord and her friend. It was hard enough trying to catch up to Aurelia's train of thought when it was a one on one conversation, with both of them not in shock or with a concussion, and knowing some of the background information. "So I just landed, in the middle of your lunch-"

"Dinner," Aurelia mumbled quietly. Lora shot an exasperated glare at her very dear but aggravating friend.

"-Dinner, fine. You said two people, there were five of us, so not counting us, there should be another person that was in the field. Why can you fully understand what he's saying, when everything sounds like two people talking, and why are you wearing a dress? You only wore a dress once in the time I've known you. Where are we? Who's 'Lord Elrond'? Why does everybody have pointy ears or long hair or whatever? And more importantly, where are my swords? And my friends?" Lora fumed.

Aurelia sighed, her exasperation matching Elrond's. "You are in Rivendell, child. We found your friend, Aurelia, and the other girl in the woods. They were brought here by guests who were travelling here," he said. "The clothes you are wearing," he said, looking at Lora, who was wearing a loose white t-shirt and jeans, "Are more suited to men, who do not have pointy ears like us elves, and are still strange anyways. We supplied your friends with proper clothes. I don't know all the answers, as Aurelia awoke this morning. After being acquainted with the general system, she informed us of where she had been, what had happened, and how the orcs had attacked, but we still don't know the details. Especially since the healer who informed me of the story was in a state of confusion," he finished. Another elf quickly entered and bowed, saying something Elrond.

"My apologies, Boromir, but it seems that instead of dining with you and the other humans I called for council, I will be spending some time trying to understand what is going on. Your friend has awakened, and demands to see you both." The lord of Rivendell rose, gesturing for the girls to follow. Aurelia turned to leave, but Lora caught her hand.

"Wait, I still have questions-" Aurelia spun back and smiled charmingly, but Lora knew the look in her eyes. No more questions or she would either lose her temper or her composure; neither was something Lora particularly desired to see.

"-And after Aurelia shot another arrow, one of the orcs fell. Then Kit collapsed, I think, and I remember blacking out after being cut in the leg, or my shoulder" Alonna finished. She was still lying in bed, after the healers had forced her back after finding her trying to find the others. After the third attempt, one of the healers had kept guard outside the room while asking another elf to inform Elrond and the other unexpected visitors to convene in Alonna's room in order to prevent another attempt.

"Right after you fell, I went forward towards you. I think I picked something up," Aurelia said, pantomiming her actions in order to jog her memory. "Yes. It was a stick or a club; then I heard a really loud crack. I turned," she said, swiveling to face backwards, "and saw Lora's practice sword breaking. The orc's sword kept going, but it was twisted so the flat edge hit her. He flinched back, because of the wood splinters. "

"And then I fell onto soft grass, which was good, I guess, because I could have landed on an orc corpse or weapon, because I think I had just killed one in front of me." She stopped her movements suddenly. "Oh God, I killed something," she said, turning pale. "Do you think it hurt? I didn't see its body. Wait, I didn't see the body even when I was falling. The grass was greener, and not as tall as the other spots. Maybe I moved further than I thought while turning, and was closer to the forest than the field? That would explain why I fell and blacked out, too. Shoot, I didn't want to kill it, I just wanted to get away. I was using my actual arrows! I should have brought more rubber tipped anyways, because Katherine- Kit, fine- was there and everything, and-"

"Honestly: the monsters tried to kill us, for no reason at all, and you feel bad?" Lora practically shouted. "Sorry Alonna, I know we were supposed to take turns talking, but since you said everything without either of us interrupting, and Aurelia seems to be done, I'll go anyways," she said, a little calmer.

"The sword hit me, and I saw Leya- that's my cousin," she explained to Elrond, "running backwards. No, crawling. Or backing away, kind of. There was another orc thing after her. Then I got up and ran to open space, and when I turned, there were two orcs after me and one after Leya, but I think I killed one, or at least injured it, when I threw a dagger or something sharp that the dead one had dropped at one of the two orcs. And when I blinked, I opened my eyes and I was here. But it wasn't really blinking; it felt like my eyes were closed for longer. Like a short nap."

Elrond nodded. After explaining the basics, with the help of Aurelia, who had gotten a quick lesson already from the other elf, he had asked for their entire story. Elrond, Erestor, and two other advisors had listened to their story, which had required many stops for explanations for seemingly mundane things such as cars, clothing, plumbing, and technology.

Eventually, Alonna had decided it would be more efficient for her to tell the story, with Aurelia allowed to give definitions to the elves only when Alonna asked for one and Lora only to talk when Aurelia needed help or Alonna forgot a detail, which is to say practically never. However, it still ended taking about two hours, not counting the small break they had for food.

"We must hope that your friend Leya managed to kill the other orcs, or your people, who seem to live in peace and ignorance, will be in danger if they have truly never heard of an orc," one of the elves said.

"Leya wouldn't have," Aurelia said softly. "She couldn't have. She's an amazing person, but she's always been a little scared. She might have run for help, though, but I can't see her fighting back to kill. She would fight to run."

"I love my cousin, but Aurel is right. Leya's too soft to kill, and she's awful at sports in general, so self defense is out," Lora agreed. "But we don't have to worry about that as much; if she managed to get back to the farmhouse, she could have gotten help. And even if our people live in peace, at least relatively in peace, we aren't powerless. It's actually unusual that we know how to use swords or shoot arrows. Even Alonna's self defense stuff is regarded as extra. The only reason we do is because Aurel and I are history majors; we study medieval fighting techniques."

"In our world, in our time, we use the things called guns we told you about," said Alonna. "Not everyone has one, but people who live up in the rural areas, like where we were, are more likely to have one than not. If Leya made it back, she should be relatively safe, and the orcs should be dead. If she called for help, then people will be looking for us, but obviously they won't think of a different world right away, if at all. Magic is something that doesn't exist."

"We will discuss this later, tomorrow. We will retire for tonight, and talk more when it is not so late," Elrond said with a tone of finality. "You may have to explain it once more when the Council convenes, but we will explain more when there is time." He rose, his advisors following out the door as another elf entered.

"I have been told to show the two ladies their rooms. When Lady Alonna is well, she will also be moved to a guest room," she explained. "I am in charge of accommodations for all three of you, so please ask me if there are problems." Motioning for Aurelia and Lora to follow, she started to exit.

"See you in the morning," Lora whispered, giving Alonna a quick arm squeeze. Aurelia murmured something along the same lines, brushing away the stray strands of hair falling in Alonna's face; she was already falling asleep, exhausted.

"Aurelia."

"Yes?" Although given two rooms that connected into each other, Lora had requested Aurelia sleep on the extra bed in her room, which was presumably for Alonna when she was ready to be moved. Although she hated sharing rooms with anyone, she had complied without a word. She understood, and Lora was glad she hadn't teased her about not being able to sleep alone. Not tonight.

"Everything we said, in the healing area," Lora whispered hesitantly, staring at the high ceiling.

"The healing rooms, yes."

"All the scenarios on people even discovering we were gone were bad."

"So we'll find our own way back," Aurelia said firmly. "I get you guys lost all the time, and we somehow make it all the time," she said, trying to add humor back to Lora's usually cheerful state.

"Yeah," Lora agreed quietly. Aurelia was glad Lora didn't point out the flaws in her logic, which were so painfully obvious. Aurelia was doing a double major in English and History; she knew the logical fallacies she was feeding Lora. And Lora did too, but instead let the subject drop and a blanket of silence cover the room.

"What about the others?" Lora said in an even quieter tone.

"They'll be fine."

"Leya's not a fighter. Kit's not a fighter. Even us; we're some of the best in our subjects. You got a scholarship, I got a scholarship, and Alonna's been to Junior Olympics; we practically live in what we do. And we lost pathetically fast," Lora rushed out. "I saw Leya. She was being chased. All our scenarios about her calling for help? They were based on the assumption that she makes it back. Even Alonna kept saying 'if'; 'if' she made it back, 'if' she got away."

"They didn't die; she wouldn't die-"

"How do you know? And what if she did? What if? Then what do we do? Go back and pretend everything's normal?"

"You're her cousin. Practically her sister. I've known Kit forever. We're all practically sisters. I feel like we would know," Aurelia said, trying to hide the shaking. She had been trying to avoid that train of thought. "I don't think we can pretend anything is normal, even if- even though- they're still alive."

"And if." Lora didn't have to explain. From a few feet away, she heard Aurelia sigh.

"Either they don't feel anything, they only know happiness, started a different life, or are watching us from somewhere. They won't be anywhere but where the good things are."

A contemplative silence filled the room. Aurelia prayed silently that this would be the end; she didn't know how much more she could take. "Please, whoever's listening. I can't do this; Alonna is the leader. Kit is the empathetic one. Even Leya's better suited for this than I am. I'm really bad with death, remember?"

"You're right," Lora said quietly, but still with confidence.

"Aren't I always? But really, anytime," Aurelia said. "I'm not good at this, but I can try."

"And you still owe me answers. Explain the whole double voice thing," Lora said, changing the subject. "Don't roll your eyes at me; I can feel it even if I can't see your face."

"Well, I didn't think you were going to let me sleep much, anyways," Aurelia agreed resignedly. "I think something is helping us, in a really weird way. 'Something' being either the world, or some big guy up there taking pity on us. I know, don't laugh yet. But think about it. I realized when I woke up that we were hearing them talking, in the language of the people that live here, and our brains were hearing it and translating it at the same times, which is why you could kind of hear their voices saying something else in the background. And when we talk, it's almost the same, but a lot fainter. It trips. Even now, don't some of my words sound funny? I have to concentrate to speak English."

"But it doesn't work for all languages; when the elves were talking to each other, we couldn't understand. I think it's only the language that people use. But when I concentrate really hard, their language sounds really familiar anyways. Maybe I read it in some historical text and forgot about it. It explains how much more advanced our world is, technology wise," Aurelia finished.

"And here's another theory of mine that I like: when we get back, we could possibly land the instant we left. Or way later, or even before. I feel like Earth time and Middle Earth time aren't connected at all, because of Alonna's story. I wasn't sure until then, but even though Kit fell first, we haven't seen her yet. I actually came here before Alonna did, according to the elves that found us. On their way back, the found her and picked her up. And even if there were only seconds, minutes at most, between when we fell, it turned into a day."

"Yeah, but it could also mean there's an 'in between' state or world that we don't remember," added Lora contemplatively. "I like your theory better though. So this place is called Middle Earth, huh?"

"Well, the land is. The area is Rivendell. I'll show you the map they showed me tomorrow. Let's sleep now, so we can actually function tomorrow," Aurelia hinted, exhausted.

"Yeah."

"Thank you." A brief silence filled the room. Blankets rustled as Aurelia rolled over, trying to get comfortable.

"Aurelia?"

"God, let me sleep. Yes?"

"Just checking to see if you were still here. No, just kidding, don't throw the pillow," Lora said, seeing a shadow raise a fluffy projectile. "Seriously, thanks."

"I said it was nothing."

"I know, but you know it wasn't. It was something. Sorry about the whole breakdown thing. I was just, you know," she paused. "Scared," she whispered.

"Yeah. Me too. But you guys are here, at least. So it's better now," Aurelia murmured.

"Can we agree that this moment of weakness will never leave this room?"

"You don't tell anyone about what I said, I won't tell the mushy stuff you said."

"Deal."

The room finally achieved silence, only broken by the breathing of the two friends.

A/N: Thoughts? I failed my "update every other day" policy, but this one was longer. Is it better to have shorter chapters, or longer chapters? And are the paragraph breaks too long?

Do I need a beta reader?