The sun was shining through my eyelids. I heard the birds singing around me and the bubbling of the distant stream. It was quite warm and I felt as if I had been sleeping for a long time. I opened my eyes. The trees. Everywhere. I was lying on the edge of the little glade, speckled with flowers of white and gold. The sun was shining through the leaves, which were shimmering with light green.

"Where the hell I am?" I whispered quietly to myself. My memories were beginning to return to me, but in this moment my haid was totally empty.

~ It looks like a forest to me.' Sounded playful voice.

I looked around. There were no one there. Am I starting to getting crazy? "Who`s talking?" I asked uneasily.

~ It`s me, Talia! Look up!' I heard a strange shriek in the skies.

What? I looked up and then I saw him. The white bird, the size of a big eagle, diving from the skies and opening his silvered beak in the cheerful cry. Just above the ground he spread his wide wings, stretched out his silvered claws and landed gracefully on the ground. He looked at me with his dark eyes alight with golden twinkles.

"Alcar! It`s you! And you can speak to me with words! But, how?" I recovered from the initial shock and regarded him with awe. "You are so big..." I added. He was almost seven feet long from the tip of one spread wing to the other.

~ Greater and stronger, remember?' He remarked, sharpening his beak on the nearby stone. I observed him, noting every detail. The bird bigger than an eagle, covered with shimmering, white feathers, armed with silvered beak and claws and watching me with his dark eyes in which flickered the golden sparks. The dark spots on his wings were glittering in the sun with many colours, like peacock eyes. Magnificent. The most beautiful being I`ve ever seen.

~ I wouldn`t mind you standing here all day and watching me with admiration, but don`t you think we should consider our location?` He asked me, chuckling in his mind.

I pulled myself together and regarded my surroundings. The small glade, with white and golden flowers, the bubbling stream crossing it on the other side and trees, surrounding the clearing. Trees looked normal, like in the ordinary forest far from big cities in England, or Poland. One thing I knew for sure.

"It`s not Lorien. And probably not Aman." I remarked.

~ Well, this is the discovery of the age' commented Alcar cynically. `Bearing in mind that Lorien in Middle-Earth got his mallorns after Galadriel settled there for good in like 1400 year of the Second Age, which is not yet.'

"And when did you become such an expert in the history of Arda?" I asked, irritated. The bird isn`t gonna lecture me!

~Maybe it`s strange, but I remember most things you`ve learned or done, even if you don`t remember some.' He narrowed his eyes. Yes, he actually did it. 'So, do you want to know where I think we are, or will we be standing here all day? I`ve woken up earlier than you did, so I had time to fly around.'

"Yes, please, enlighten me." I said with tired voice. This was going to be a long day.

~ So, we`re in forest, as you`ve already concluded. On the south are some low hills, on the east are very high mountains, that stretch as far north, south and east as my eyes can see. To the west lie marshes created by something that looks like an inlaid delta of a river. The north is the most interesting, there flow the waters of the two rivers, one that creates the marshes, and one that is its southern tributary. Between them lies a city.'

"If those peaks are the Misty Mountains, which is quite likely, then we`re on their western side. The city... Two rivers, marshes and mountains... Yes, this should be the Ost-in-Edhil, the capital of Eregion! So we`re very close!"

~ Yes, we are. We can go there soon, if you want. But firstly...' Alcar looked at me with a flicker in his eyes. `Don`t you feel a little different? I was wondering, when will you notice...'

"What do you...?" And then it hit me. I`m not a human anymore! And I didn`t even realize it until now!

Now, when I thought about it, I did feel different. Like I was more aware of my surroundings and also of myself. I knew what is happening in my body, if it`s working right or wrong. I knew my limits and my strengths. I also knew that this glade is a safe place and that I`m not in danger here. I touched my ears and I felt that they`re a little pointy. So strange feeling...

"Do I look different, besides my ears?" I asked with curiosity.

~ A little, yes. You look like you, but as an Elf' said he, smiling in his mind. 'Your eyes are bigger and have deeper look and some light in them. Your hair is thicker and darker and your cheekbones are higher. But you still look like you.'

'That`s good' I thought. 'I wouldn`t like to be a stranger to myself.'

"Ok, so we can go now. Can you lead?" I asked my old-new companion.

~ Are you sure that you don`t want to take your bag with you?` Said Alcar, with some uncertainty.

"What?!" I looked around again and I couldn`t believe my own eyes. Why haven`t I seen this before? But there it lay, my brown bag I took with me when I went for a walk, my last walk on Earth. I ran to it and opened it. I knew what I would find inside, but still it was a shock. When I found the last thing I laughed aloud at the irony of Eru.

For there they lay – the strangest things Arda has ever seen. My cell phone, my car keys, my music player, bottle of water and, most importantly, my copy of the Silmarillion I took with me to a walk to read it in the shadow, under some tree.

"What I am supposed to do with that?!" I cried.