AN: Hey! Thanks again so much for reading; I am so stoked to have gotten 105 views! It makes me so happy to know people are reading my story.
Review replies:
Will zona: Yes I did know that! Thanks for the website recommendations; I actually use the wiki website a lot for references when looking up information! I will know to use Tolkien gateway too now:).
Borys68: Thanks for picking up the fact that Elena wouldn't know Westron, but it would have been a bit confusing if she went there and couldn't communicate with anyone. Also Eldarion isn't just wandering around as you will find out in the chapter after this. Thank you so much for reviewing!
Anyway, here's chapter 3.
"Wait, you're Aragorn's son?" Elena asked. How is that possible? This man must be at least 17 or 18, so that would mean at least 15 years since the War of the Ring ended!
"Yes, but you still haven't answered my question as to who you are."
"Oh, my apologies." She suddenly realized how disrespectful she must have sounded, as she was a stranger talking to a prince about his father, the King, as if they were just ordinary people.
"My name is Elena McKinley. You are right in that I am not from here. I'm from, well, a land far in the West. I don't really know how I came to be in this place, but now I am trying to get to Rivendell so I can get some help from the elves. You see, I was attacked by a Warg and I am in need of medical attention." Elena was doing her best not to sound too foreign, as that would probably make Eldarion suspicious, but despite her 'proper' words she still wasn't very good at mimicking the accent he had.
"Oh, I see. Well, if you wish I can escort you to Rivendell, although I don't think you will find what you were expecting. You see I have just come from there and I can assure you that there aren't any elves left. The final party of them left more than 13 years ago."
What? But… Of course. All the elves were leaving to the Grey Havens in The Lord of the Rings, so obviously there wouldn't be any in Rivendell. Suddenly the thought of an adventure here didn't sound quite as pleasant. With no elves, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting.
Seeing her dejected look, Eldarion quickly added to his offer. "Well, if it helps at all, the 'Last Homely House' still looks just as homely. There may not be anyone to welcome us but the gardens and waterfalls still sparkle in the morning light. And after you have recovered enough, we can travel on to the Shire together if that is where you wish to go. There are plenty of merry hobbits there that will make you feel most welcome."
The Shire won't be the same without Bilbo or Frodo, but at least the others will be there. "That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for assisting me and for going out of your way. Do you by any chance have any bandages though? My arm doesn't seem to be doing so well in the makeshift wrappings I had to use." Embarrassed yet giddy at the thought of the son of Aragorn tending to her, Elena anxiously looked to see how he would respond.
"Of course. I always keep bandages with me in case of emergencies. May I?" Eldarion gently took her arm and unwrapped it. The swelling had gotten worse than when Elena had last checked it, and there was a bit of puss coming out now. Noticing the infection, the prince took out a few dried herbs along with the bandages and after crumbling them up and mixing them with a bit of water from his pouch, he rewrapped her arm with the herbs up against the wound. It certainly still hurt a lot, but it did feel better now that it had a proper bandage rather than the tank top she was using before.
"What did you put on it?" Elena asked, referring to the herb.
"Nakamlug. It will help with the infection. It won't take out whatever is causing the infection though so we will have to clean it when we get to Rivendell. It won't feel too good but it is necessary."
"Whatever it takes to get it to heal. I'm not used to being this immobile and it is pretty hard to do things with one hand."
"Good. Well, we may as well wait here for the remainder of the night and get some rest. It will take a few hours to get to Rivendell on foot so it is probably best to start in the morning."
"Alright." Elena walked back over to where she had been lying down earlier, and then motioned to the open space on the other side of the fire. "You can sleep there if you want. I can take the first watch since I have already had a few hours' sleep, and I'll wake you when the moon is above that boulder over there."
"Thank you. I am quite tired as I haven't slept since early this morning, and have been walking all day."
With that Eldarion laid out the cloak he was wearing and fell asleep on top. After putting a couple more logs on the fire, Elena sat down and stared into the fire. She couldn't believe what happened to her. After the initial rush and excitement of survival and now discovering Aragorn's son, for the first time she actually had time to think about what happened. Since the woods near her house looked just like the ones here, she had no way of knowing when exactly she came here. It dawned on her that all that time she spent reading she was already in Middle Earth. As a thought came to her, she quietly crawled over to her backpack. Seeing that Eldarion was fast asleep, she reached in and pulled out the walkie talkie that her mother had given her.
"Mom?" She spoke into the microphone. "Mom, are you there?" after waiting a few minutes she realized that there was no connection. It was worth a try though. She wondered if it was like Narnia when no time passed in the other world. She certainly hoped so, because her mom would be going frantic if she had been gone as long as she was here. Suddenly it struck her that because she had no idea when or where she had entered Middle Earth, she didn't know at all how she was going to get back. I suppose that problem will have to be solved when I am ready to go back. In the meanwhile, I will have to enjoy my time here. On that note, she leaned against a tree and looked up at the stars and thought about what would happen to her until the moon was low enough to wake Eldarion. After doing so, she promptly fell asleep for the remainder of the night.
AN: So, was it any good? Sorry if it wasn't; I'm not very good at making up conversations so it might have seemed weird. By the way, the elvish herb Eldarion used is actually snapdragon, which does have antibacterial properties in the leaves and petals. Also, as for the elvish word itself, I couldn't find the word for 'snap' so I used the one for 'bite' instead. Sorry about that. Anyway, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or any information from other books from J. R. R. Tolkien. I do not own any of the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies made by Peter Jackson. I also do not own C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, which were sort of mentioned in this chapter.