Chapter 3

Waking to the elves

Dimly, Kate heard the sing-song voices creeping into her level of consciousness. She heard the masculine tones speaking around her and painfully opened her eyes. The light bore into them as she tried to turn her head away. As she began to move, she felt a hand hold her down and a voice spoke quietly to her, or at least she thought it was speaking to her. She opened her eyes again and painfully focused on a pair of piercing gray eyes. The voice that matched the eyes was not harsh, but she could sense the authoritative tone that demanded obedience from her, even though she could not understand the words. Nodding her head, she quit trying to move and laid quietly on the bed. When she ceased her struggle, the man smiled at her and nodded before he gently began to poke at her shoulder.

Light seemed to explode around her and her body began to jerk involuntarily at the pain that was coursing through her back and ricocheting into her stomach. She began to scream as the pain overwhelmed her senses and futilely began trying to push or pull away from him. She didn't care where she went, she just needed to get away. Away from the agony that seemed to drown her.

Elrond watched as the elfling began screaming and fighting against the pain. It was not uncommon for the wounded to wake thusly on the battlefield, but he was unprepared for the sheer terror and agony that washed over him empathically. Nodding to the other healers that were watching, he waited until they approached, and then he supervised as they gently restrained her against the cot. Kneeling down, he placed his hand over her eyes and whispered a sleep spell that pushed her into unconsciousness. When he felt her consciousness depart, he noted her muscles relaxing and knew that he could examine her without causing her more pain.

He removed the bandages and noted that she had torn most of her stitches in the struggle. Sighing, he pulled out pieces and began to close her wound again. "Istuil, I think that we should have someone sit with her, for when she wakes up again. If she pulls these stitches out again, I will not be able to close her without leaving a large scar."

"She is very small, Elrond. How old do you think that she is?" the older healer asked, curiously.

"I do not think that she has seen more than 40 summers; and I am curious as to how and where she has learned her healing skills. Did you perchance, have the opportunity to see Lord Erestor's stomach? I find it remarkable that her stitches were so neat, considering she put them in on a battlefield. She medicated him with drugs that are impossible to find on this side of Arda, and I have never seen the manner of dressing that she employed, but it was very effective to keeping his wound clean. She is most definitely a mystery."

Istuil and Elrond studied the girl for a few more moments. She was an enigma to them, and both had many questions that needed to be answered. Perhaps the most important question was who she was. As far as Elrond knew, he and his brother were the only peredhel in Arda, yet this girl was undeniably a mixture of the First and Second born. He knew and dealt with the prejudices of the First Born as he, himself, had come to age; thus it was a surprise to him that another should come from mixed parentage.

Kate felt her pain slip away as she felt the warm, peaceful darkness envelop her. The man's words were strangely comforting to her, and she felt a strange heat envelop her as he spoke them.

As she fell further into the strange sleep, she relived her dream and saw the dark haired man being cleaved again across the mid-section. He seemed familiar to her, like he was a part of her or she was a part of him, and although she didn't know why, she knew that he would be important in her strange after-death life.

Kate heard someone calling her name, softly at first, and then with more and more authority. Finally she was touched on her shoulder and she opened her eyes to look at the tall marine, who had died with her on the battlefield.

"Kate McAdams, you must wake up. We need to talk," his deep voice insisted.

She looked at him confused. "Aren't you dead?" she finally asked.

He smiled at her before answering. "Nay child, I am not dead. I was there to guide you, when you met your first destiny."

"Then I am dead," she confirmed. "Is this Heaven or Hell, because my Sunday School teacher never taught me about dead people being killed again in their afterlives."

"You are dead to the world you were raised in, Kate. I brought you to the Arda of the First Age, long before the time when you were born."

"I don't understand. Are you telling me that you brought me back to life in the past?"

"Yes, child," he answered simply. "I brought you back, because you were born into the wrong time period. You are born of two races; the race of the Eldar, which should not exist in the Fifth Age, and the race of Man. You were not meant to live or die in the time that you were in."

She looked at him, trying to understand if he got into her morphine while she was sleeping. "Why do you call me 'child' and who are you?" she asked quietly, hoping that she could understand his state of mind a little better.

"Kate McAdams, I am Aule, one of the singers in the Great Song. My brothers and sisters created the race of the Eldar and the Race of Man under the direction and guidance of Eru Illuvatar. He is the Great One, or Creator of all. You know Him simply as God, and we, the Valar, His children, have been lost in the mythology of Men. I call you a child, because to me, you are one. I have existed for many thousands of years, and you have not even seen the age of twenty two."

She looked into his rich, brown eyes and felt, no, knew that he was telling her the truth. Sitting up, she looked around and noticed the room she was in for the first time. Her bed was absolutely huge, as if it were made for someone much larger than her; and the walls were a gentle white color with a type of pearlescent glaze that carried hints of muted pastels. She studied the walls a bit longer and noted that they seemed to be of a carved stone, like marble. There were no windows or visible light sources that she could discern, but the room was well lit and warm. And if the truth were to be told, the bed was very comfortable.

"Where are we?" she asked, hoping that he would tell her this was a dream.

"Yes, Kate," he offered, answering her unvoiced question. "This is a dream and your fea, your soul and consciousness if you will call them that, are in my hall. I brought you here to help you understand why these things are happening.

First, I brought you back to this time so that you could live the life that you were supposed to be born to. Your father is an elf – one born to the kind of beings that your body is with now. He was not meant to be in the future of Arda, nor was he meant to father you with a daughter of man. Your true mother died in birth, and you were adopted by a family that I had chosen. Over time, I watched you grow into the young woman that you have become. But in my folly, I did not consider the consequences of the Great Song and your free will.

When you died in your timeline, I brought you here; where you could have a chance to live with your brother – the son of your father. The brother you were supposed to know many years in an earlier timeline. This is the ellon or elf that you saved in the battle. He does not know that you are his sister, but when the time is appropriate, my brother or I will tell him. When you awaken, you will live among the elves and become acquainted with their world."

Kate stared at him, feeling very lost. In a matter of a few seconds, she learned that her whole life had been a lie, and she had a brother. She, who was an only child, now had a brother who was a mythical elf, no ellon. Shaking her head, she fell back against the pillows. As she pondered his explanation, she felt herself getting angry. Very angry. This being had controlled and interfered in her whole life. And for what? Why?

"What kind of an ass are you?" she sniped at him, after she caught her breath. "Who gave you the right to play God in my life? I didn't ask for any of this, and you just nonchalantly tell me that I have a brother, I saved his life, and I am going to live with him now. Are you going to mess with his life too? What if he doesn't want a sister? Did you think of this? What am I? Am I an ellon? What makes you think that these people are going to accept me – a stranger to their world and their ways?

Aule looked down upon his charge, feeling and welcoming her wrath. 'She definitely had spirit, and would need it,' he mused. Looking down at her, he knew that she would need time. "Peace child, I know that you are angry, but all will work out in the end. You must rest now and return to Arda."

Kate saw, or rather felt her consciousness shimmer and then she closed her eyes to rest. Her last thought was that one day she would kick this ever loving Vala to kingdom come for interfering in her life.