Rivendell

Takabi awoke to an odd feeling of peace. Dully, she wondered if she was dead, and if she had finally come to rest with the spirits as a breath of wind. But no, she felt far too solid, too heavy to be a free spirit of the air. Yes, she was lying on her side, on a soft surface. She slowly opened her eyes, taking in unfamiliar, white furniture of foreign design. To the left, there was an odd table full of unfamiliar plants. To the right, a figure clothed in light orange, sitting forward and watching her intently – wait.

She jumped, sitting up on her hip. Another figure, one in white, rushed past, calling for someone. Takabi cautiously regarded the elf sitting at her bedside, not knowing how to react.

"Hello, my curious friend," Her observer greeted her slowly, in a smooth, bright voice that didn't quite match his eerily ecstatic expression. "What might you be doing so far south?"

Takabi said nothing, opening her mouth but not able to find words to answer. She guessed that she was in the company of elves, and was too intimidated to do anything but stare.

"There is no need to be frightened. I hear you are an envoy," He said, still ever so slow and methodical. "Your King has sent you?"

"Ah, Beridhren. I presume you're making the newcomer welcome?" An old sounding voice spoke, and the elf quickly straightened and lost his curious tone of voice.

"Of course, Mithrandir," He replied, withdrawing as if catching himself from a stupor.

Takabi's interest was piqued as she saw this odd, grey-clad figure, wearing a large, rather ridiculous hat. Was this the barbarian leader? Still bedridden, she could not bow as she wished, though she ducked her head courteously as she could. It was finally time to use the lines she had been taught.

"Hello. I am Takabi. I am please to meet you," She intoned, and almost praised the winds when she actually got a reply.

He nodded in response, leaning on his staff a little. "I am known by many names, but you may call me Gandalf the Grey. Tell me, Takabi – what brings you to Rivendell."

"I am soldier, sent from my Emperor, of the Tenklaki to seek – uh, to…" She inwardly cursed the language barrier. "…To ask about the smoke coming from the South-East."

There was a pause, until the grey furred one spoke quietly, deeply in thought. "You are not with The Enemy? The dark forces of Mordor?"

"My people, we one nation. We are not with… 'force' outside of our mountains," Takabi replied slowly, mind racing to remember the words she had memorized in the language scroll. This is what she had been preparing for during the arduous journey on the ground.

"The smoke is ruin our snow, and our air. It is hurting our water, crops, animals, people. I come not as enemy. There are royal gifts in my possession, offerings for you," She continued desperately struggling to keep her proprietary tone as she started thinking of her home. The winged being dared to be bold, and looked up at the leader in front of her. "There has been much suffering. We smoke to stop. Please."

She met the grey one's eyes as he judged her, deep in thought. He was looking for any signs of deception, but he did not find any.

"I am afraid it will not that simple," Said Gandalf, slowly. "There is much occurring here that your people are not aware of. Forces beyond your knowledge, and beyond your ability to deal with."

Takabi was out of complete sentences, as she truthfully did not know any more words for different occasions. She frowned, as she had expected them to merely cease and desist, and then she could go home, write a scroll on her experiences with the barbarians, and then forget everything.

"I do not…" The winged being began in confusion. "You will not stop?"

"We are not the ones responsible for the poison plaguing your people," he replied. "The dark forces of Mordor grow in power; it is Mount Doom that sends the smoke you speak of."

Takabi slumped, throwing manners to the wind and muttering her favourite curse word under her breath. "After all this way…" She said, in her own language. "After all that damned time."

There was a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder, and she jumped at the contact. She looked back up into kind grey eyes. "You are clearly no servant of the enemy," He said, in a warm tone that calmed Takabi slightly, despite herself. "The words you speak may be few and broken, but they are honest. If you wish, there is still hope, if you want this suffering to end."

Takabi sat for a moment, rubbing at her temples. She was the only representative of the emperor, in a state of undress (only a pullover, and so thin!), in an unfamiliar bed, with two male barbarians. In another situation, she would have shrunk into the floor in shame and despair. Yet, the offer of hope and assistance made her raise her head. "What… What must I do?"

"First you must rest, and eat," The grey one replied. "When you are well, you must meet with Lord Elrond, who is currently tending to Frodo."

Takabi's eyes widened, despite herself, as she recognised the name. "Frodo?" Why did she care? Perhaps she had been travelling with the soft-spoken being for too long. "He is… Alright?"

"He is recovering, but stable. He needs plenty of rest."

She sunk back into the pillows, pausing to find the right words. "I am hungry?" The phrase was uttered as a question, yet the meaning was understood.

Immediately, an elven woman – the same one from before, shuffled in with a tray of unfamiliar, yet welcome food.

"I will leave you to your meal," Gandalf said, and Takabi bowed her head to him as he left, before feeling her stomach grumble at the smell of the food. How long was it since she last ate? That question drew another more important one – how long had she been asleep?

Rivendell was… Odd, Takabi decided. It was warm, like the rest of these lands, but somehow it managed to abstain from being as unpleasant. Instead, it almost felt like the feeling one got when sitting near a warm, cheerful fire. She definitely was not used to it, and the distant music and singing she heard did not help at all.

The she-elf that tended Takabi introduced herself as Sairahiniel, a name and a half that took Takabi around half an hour to pronounce. Sairahiniel explained that she was a healer, but after that, she spoke little, and seemed quite weary of the tenklak. However, it seemed as though the she-elf was at war with herself – spending one moment avoiding her alien patient like the plague, and another fussing over her as a mother would with a dirtied child.

It was still sometimes awkward. The healer, after catching Takabi's gaze, demanded that she examined her patient's eyes. The winged being was startled, though complied and Sairahiniel had staggered back from her she had realised that the clear film on the bird-woman's face was another eyelid, clear and blinking horizontally.

Likewise, Takabi had realised that Sairahiniel did not possess it. How did these creatures protect their eyes? Both females had a hard time making eye contact after that, finding what they saw too alien to be comfortable with.

However, necessity did dictate that conversation was inevitable. Attempts from either sides were tentative, yet when Takabi could not find her clothes or possessions, the situation drove her to ask after them.

"Where are…" The winged being struggled to find the words to ask for her uniform, it was imperative that she wear it, since she was representing the emperor. She gestured to her own person, hoping to convey what she was trying to explain.

"Your clothes were ruined on your journey," Sairahiniel replied.

"I need them," Takabi persisted. "They are… They are of my emperor." She swore in her own language when she, yet again, could not quite explain why her uniform was so important.

The she-elf paused for a second. "I suppose I could mend them," She mused, and Takabi couldn't thank her enough for that gesture of kindness. "It will take a short while, as I must continue to tend to my duties, but I should finish it in two days."

Takabi pondered for a second, before speaking. "My bag – it had gifts. For leader."

"Your belongings? I will make sure to tell someone," Sairahiniel replied. "You will receive them before your audience, so you may present any important items."

Throughout the day, Sairahiniel not only busied herself with tending Takabi, but she had also chased off the other curious elf from before on multiple occasions, as he snuck in a few times to ask her questions or observe her. Every time he swiftly, stealthily snuck in, the healing elf-lady would catch him red handed, and chase him out, chastising him until he meekly fled. Takabi tried her best to remain stoic, but she wasn't made of stone, and she found herself chuckling at these exchanges.

As ethereal and graceful as they were, it seemed as though they could still have their humorous moments, Takabi supposed. Even Sairahiniel seemed to relax when she heard her patient's mirth, and they began to speak more often. Perhaps it was Takabi's loneliness and need for a fellow female friend, but she started to find an odd form of friendship grow between the two, though it was mostly pleasant geniality.

Another day passed, and Takabi was very surprised to find the wounds in her feet had largely healed, and with the help of padded gauzes, she had no trouble walking on the soft stone floors. Unfortunately, her wing was still bound in bandages, and ached slightly, though not as extreme and seemed to be well on its way to mending. Her newfound acquaintance gave Takabi one last check-over, and then leads her to a place where she could bathe.

Bathing in a barbarian bathroom was not as unhygienic as Takabi might have predicted, though she refused to enter the hot water initially offered. She preferred a pleasant amount of lukewarm water, though Sairahiniel fretted that the water would not be enough to remove an acceptable amount of dirt. She was proven wrong when she saw the winged being meticulously clean herself of every ounce of dirt. Every part of her body was meticulously lathered with soap, scrubbed and rinsed, from head feathers to talons. Satisfied, the she-elf left to get suitable clothes for Takabi, so that she may walk for a while, and maybe even see Lord Elrond if he was unoccupied.

Takabi was surprised to find the barbarian bathing experience surprisingly pleasant, as the soaps offered graced her sense of smell in a way that it took a great about of self-control to finally leave the bath. That was when the slippery struggle began, it took quite a while for her head, wing and tail feathers to dry, and when Sairahiniel returned to clothe Takabi, they had sat on the edge of the bath for a while, and had to use four towels to dry her off.

The clothes that Takabi were presented with were… certainly interesting. Some of its fabric was translucent, made out of an unfamiliar material that the tenklak had never seen before. It was long, somewhat like her healer's, though less elaborate and smaller. Sairahiniel seemed to see the most obvious problem straight away – there was no way her wings would fit in that slim, flowing garment. The elvish healer carefully cut two long slits into the fabric, which solved that problem.

However, the dress sad oddly on her back, and they had to tie a ribbon right under her wings for modesty's sake. Much to Takabi's displeasure, her makeshift seamstress refused to allow a hole to let her tail feathers through, fearing that it may cause more damage and embarrassing exposure.

Takabi saw herself in a mirror, and saw that she looked as awkward as she felt in the odd, flowing dress. On top of the obvious problem of the foreign fashion, it was pitifully loose at the chest. Takabi had to ask, were all these Southern women with child, or where their busts just always enlarged? After some awkward conversation with Sairahiniel, apparently it was the latter. Odd. Tenklaki women usually only had chests like that when they were pregnant and nursing.

As they stood in the room, an official-looking elf beckoned to them at the doorway. He nodded at Sairahiniel, and she jumped, before turning to Takabi. The winged being knew what that meant, all right.

"It is time," Sairahiniel said, before beckoning for her to follow.

Takabi took a deep breath, following her guide. After every single setback, it was finally time to see the Elf-Lord himself.

A/N:

See? I did it. I admit, it's a bit lacking, but I might as well continue practicing, as opposed to letting my writing habits rot. (Also, I finally found the linebreak button-thing. Applaud me.) Sorry that it's mainly filler, but Takabi woke up after only a day and a night, and Elrond was off saving Frodo's life during that time, and probably would have no time for her. Still, things are looking up! She'll get to see the head honcho himself, next chapter!

Also, I forgot to mention the whole nictitating membrane thing, but I thought it'd be an interesting touch to a race of bird people. Besides, I imagine the tenklaki would have problems with dry eyes if they flew around with their eyes getting torn at by the wind.

Anyway, thanks so much for the follows and review! It means a lot, considering that I wasn't really expecting much of an audience with this fic. You guys are making this all worthwhile.

I hope to pull off the next chapter and the madness that is politics, but, as you've probably noticed, dialogue is definitely a weak point of mine. Gandalf, I am so, so, sorry for writing you as a plot-convenient answering machine and lie detector. I do find writing fanfiction weird – I kind of feel like a V8 supercar enthusiast that has never actually driven such an expensive car, much less race one. I know all about the characters, but I'm still finding it hard to accurately and emotively portray them in an interesting way.

So writing the meeting with Elrond? That's going to be hard as shit. If anyone has any suggestions, especially in regards to how Elrond would handle this situation, PM me or something and I'd gladly give you my firstborn. (Maybe. Probably not. No. But the sentiment is still there.)

Anyways, thanks for reading! You must have balls/ovaries of steel to sit through this, and I commend you. Flex them metallic genitalia, you resilient human warrior.