Introductions

When Takabi awoke, she was lying awkwardly on her back, and at first, and she thought that she might have still been broken and bruised on the ground. However, as she gathered her senses, she felt a myriad of strange sensations, namely a feeling of warmth and heaviness, with an odd soft sensation on her back while her wings lay spread awkwardly on either side of her. The crackling of a merry fire could be heard, as well as murmuring voices. Eyes still shut, she frowned in confusion at her uncomfortable placement, and tried getting up and shifting to a more agreeable position. The murmuring voices turned to that of exclamation, and she felt a stinging pain in her left wing, yelping in surprise.

A hand pushed her shoulder, and her eyes shot open, reflexes kicking in as she swatted it away. Hovering over her was a furred barbarian, frowning and speaking incomprehensibly in his own tongue. His eyes were frighteningly foreign – rounded and coloured like that of the grey mountain rocks, and he had a heavy, protruding brow bone. Takabi met his gaze with what she intended to be cool disdain, but was more of a confused and defensive look, laced with fear of the larger, unfamiliar being. The barbarian must have noticed this hesitation, as he withdrew his hand and gave her space, however he insisted on talking with too great a speed for the somewhat dazed Takabi to effectively understand. Trying to remember the language and failing, she furrowed her brows.

The barbarian repeated what appeared to be a question, and she waved at him in a dismissive gesture, instead asking, "Where is my bag?"

It was the grey-eyed barbarian's turn to look confused at what was probably unfamiliar speech, shaking his head murmuring "She does not speak the common tongue." It was a phrase in which she recognised one familiar word after all the meaningless babble he had spouted.

Takabi lifted her head weakly, finding her bag on the right and trying in vain to reach it, locking gazes with a smaller barbarian that was regarding her with wide eyes. "Give me my bag, you cretin. I won't be able to understand a word without those scrolls," she uttered, the irritancy in her voice overridden by how absolutely tired she felt. The group had erupted into murmurs once more – she had no hope of following their conversation.

"Is it… Is she reaching for her weapons?"

"I am not certain. However, the daggers in her possession are behind me, and she can do little harm in her current state." The barbarian had apparently decided to assist her, as he pushed the green-embroidered bag in reach.

Hurriedly, Takabi undid the buttons on her bag, digging about to find that her possessions were out of order, as if they had been rifled through. Oh, of course they have been. For all Takabi knew, those dirty animals had stolen anything they thought was of value. She swallowed her irritation, though, in favor of actually being able to communicate. Her hand hit the familiar wooden handle of a scroll, and she retrieved it, unrolling the small object with difficulty, so that she might see how to greet these creatures.

Meanwhile, Samwise did not answer Strider's observation, although the hobbit took the liberty of pointedly glancing at the unfamiliar being's fearsome looking talons, which grew out of where her feet should have been. 'Her current state' may nonetheless still be extremely deadly, judging by those razor sharp knives. While she had been in the throes of unconsciousness, she had driven away some attempts at healing her, though she mainly just swatted Strider's hands in a way similar to when she awoke, startling both the poor ranger trying to assist her as well as every hobbit watching in curiosity. In all, he found the alien newcomer extremely unnerving, from her hybrid anatomy to her unruly temperament.

They had found her unconscious, covered in minute cuts and sporting a broken… wing on her left side. At first, they did not know what to do with the creature, until her face contorted in pain and she muttered under her breath. She looked and sounded more or less non-threatening in that state; her skin was an unhealthy pale colour, when it was apparent that she should have been browner, and regardless of her odd, fearsome appearance, chivalry won over in the end, and they took it upon themselves to help her – whatever she was. They were extremely wary, but found the idea of leaving her immoral, especially when she half-resembled a defenseless woman. With claws. There were claws.

He glanced at his Master Frodo, who slowly leaned forward, studying the winged being in the same way that the other two hobbits were – in morbid fascination. Immediately, Sam felt a surge of protectiveness – he did not want his friend to be harmed by the potentially dangerous creature.

"Strider, what do you suppose she's doing? Reading?" Frodo finally asked.

The ranger made to answer the question, but was interrupted as he opened his mouth.

"He-lo,"

A stunned silence befell the group, though the being that lay before them seemed to pay it no mind as she furrowed her brows in concentration, trying to grasp the pronunciation of foreign words.

"I am… Takabi. I am from a, uh, the North, a tenklaki. I seek the place of Lo- Lorieni? To counsel with your leader." She then looked from the scroll to her audience, inclining her brows, as if expecting an answer to the mess of words she had thrown at them.

Strider was the first to speak, as he was the only one who had managed to understand the heavily accented speech, and who was still level-headed enough to recognize introductions when they were given. "I am known as Strider," he said, slowly and politely, gesturing to himself. "Forgive me, but I have never met one of your origins before. You call yourself the tenklak?"

Takabi frowned in contemplation as she processed the words, and then unrolled the paper further, before finding the words she needed to answer. "Yes. We – we, from the north, and need to see leader. Your smoke is in our home."

The disjointed manner of her speech did not hide the slight accusatory air to her last statement, and Strider frowned, as he suspected what she might have been referring to.

"You have been bothered by smoke?" Strider asked, curious to see if his suspicions were correct.

"…Yes. Very bad, makes snow grey," She let go of the scroll with her right hand, and then mimed a slit to the throat, which was a universal gesture. "Hurts us. I am to talk to Emperor in Lorieni, ask about smoke."

"Do you mean Lórien, Takabi? You mean to ask the elves about the smoke that is hurting your home?"

"Yes. I am…" She paused for a moment, turning the scroll and scanning the page once more before continuing. "I am a soldier. I was sent to stop this. To ask. Then…" She unrolled the scroll further still, searching for a word (whoever translated the scroll) never thought she would have needed for introductions. "…birds. Many birds attacked, a great many birds, and hurt me. Now I am here."

"You have caught my companions and I in a terribly complicated situation at the moment, my lady," Strider said, barely detectible weariness in his voice. "You are healing fast, but you may slow us, and we are on an important quest. Though, if what you say is true, then I am sure that the source of the smoke you speak of is a part of our quest, as well. The elves may have the answers you are looking for, and if you should wish to pursue them, we will lead you there. However, these are dark times, and if we suspect foul play from you, we will deal with you swiftly. When you arrive, there may be confusion suspicion, and fear. Do you understand?"

Not really, yet she understood the implications - there was some sort of threat apparent. Yet Takabi held the barbarian's stare meaningfully, nodding as she said a phrase that undoubtedly held the lives of her people in the balance.

"Take me to the elves, Strider."

A/N:

Heheheh, he will deal with 'fowl' play 'swiftly'. Geddit? 'Cause birds…

Sorry for the slight delay in the story, too! Uni has been a bit hard on me lately.

Anyway, DEAD LORD this thing is a pacing and dialogue nightmare. I promise I'll get better with that as I practice, since that's one giant thing I need to work on. Anyone know a willing beta reader? I'd love one at the moment, just for quality's sake, to help me take this goddamned story to Mordor.

Other than that, whee, canon characters! And canon events! I'm going to do this mostly from Takabi's point of view, purely so that I don't end up retelling the entire damn story, because that'd be pretty boring.

Also, I'm very proud of the fact that, by sheer luck, she met the authority figure she was looking for, and then proceeded to call him a cretin.