She knew she was dreaming. It wasn't that big of a stretch, but it had been a while since her dreams had been so dark. Not dark as in grimly disturbing, but dark as in the absence of light. Ithilwen knew that she wasn't falling through a darkened void – a dream of that magnitude had not occurred in months, and that was caused by what she assumed was eating leftovers in the midnight hours one night. The area around her felt dry and moist at the same time, almost as if she were underground. Her feet felt solid ground, despite it being ruggedly uneven, and she held her hands outstretched before her to feel for any protruding objects that she might walk into as she took careful steps.
The ground made light scrapes as her booted feet passed over, and had it been viewable, little to no sign of footprints would have been left behind. Hands still outstretched, she could not find any objects in her direct path, but her left foot did come into a first name basis with a rock.
"Ow!" she cried out, her outburst echoing off the walls of the area. Nursing her bruised foot blindly, Ithilwen had to assume that wherever she was had a very open area for sound to carry so well, even if it came with the surprise attack rock along the way. She had bent down to inspect her toed boot with her hands when she heard another voice echo off of the walls.
"Who goes there?" Came a distinct male voice.
Ithilwen froze. Was she trespassing? Gods, she hoped not. Slowly she rose to her full height and tried not to let her voice falter in reply. "Someone with an injured foot. I am unarmed, and did not mean to trespass into your territory. If I could see I would quickly make my leave." She didn't hear the footsteps, but from the voice of the male, it sounded as if he were merely feet from her when he spoke once more.
"Do not despair, fair maiden. I am but a traveler through these parts as well. How did you come to hurt yourself so?"
Fair maiden?! Well that was peculiar…even for a dream! She figured she'd run with it, since it was a dream and all, and see how things panned out. If it became too much she could always try and wake herself up. There should be another giant rock laying around somewhere.
"I stubbed my foot on a rock I could not see. Sir, where exactly are we? I do not recognize this place. Though my sight is of no use to me here, my other senses cannot decipher a familiar place."
She heard a chuckle from the male. "You do not have to use such formalities with me, fair maiden. I am not sure of this exact location myself, as my company and I are travelling through Moria presently."
Moria? Where had she heard of that before? "So this is not Moria?"
"Nay, little one. However, it does bear a similarity to the dreary caves of old."
Silence fell between the two. Ithilwen continued to reach out for any rocks that might spring up, when she felt the touch of the other person's hand grasp her own. She tensed, fearing that she had run into him, then relaxed as he said, "It is alright. I will lead you back from the direction whence I came." And to emphasize his intentions, he gently tugged on her hand to begin leading her out of the darkness. Through the walk, they remained silent, save for his warnings of any obstacles in the path that she might further injure herself on. Ithilwen was struggling to find something to say to the stranger, but nothing would come forth. She still could not see him, for that matter, which puzzled her, but amazingly, did not scare her. She could not figure out for the life of her why she felt so comfortable in this stranger's presence to speak so easily with him; in her town she had to fight bouts of shyness when meeting new people.
"Can you see it?" She heard the stranger speak suddenly.
"See what?" was her reply.
"The light of course. We are approaching the opening of the caves!" he sounded relieved. She figured he must not have been the type of person to enjoy being underground in total darkness either. Her sore toes couldn't blame him for that.
Ithilwen strained her eyes to see a meager glimmer of light that the stranger was referring to, and felt the wave of relief pass over her as well. As the came closer, and the light glowing ever brighter, she dared the chance to look up at the stranger, in hopes that she could see his face. She wanted to at least be able to see him somewhat so that she could thank him properly.
As she looked up, she could not see much at all. Between the brightness of the light before them, and the darkness at their backs, the best that she could see was an outline of the stranger. He was tall, that much she could discern, but any distinguishable features were lost to her. The light was making it hard to see anything, really, and it made her head hurt with the intensity of it. She couldn't see that the stranger was having just as hard a time as she was, having to squint to even make out where to take the proper steps without falling.
Once they made it into the light, his grip on her hand loosened slightly, as if he wasn't quite ready to let go just yet. Squinting so much that her eyes were nearly closed, Ithilwen turned to face him. "Thank you, kind sir for helping me out of the caves."
She felt him give her hand another squeeze. "I am happy that I could have been of service to you, little one. It is easy to become lost in the darkness when you are alone."
"Then I am glad to have heard that you do not travel alone, good sir. I hope that you and your company have a safe journey through Moria." She wanted to add more, and from the faintest break in the brightness, she could see his mouth begin to move, but she heard nothing. The feeling of falling had overcome her, and darkness swam before her eyes as she fell into a void…
Why, in her void of darkness and silence, was she hearing the sounds of a radio?
The sound of her cell phone was the culprit, she learned, picking her aching body up from off the opposite side of the bed. Flopping unceremoniously back onto it, she wiggled across the mattress and tangle of sheets to answer the obnoxious contraption.
"Wha is it?" she mumbled blearily.
"Oh that's a fine way to treat your roommate, girlie!" came the chipper voice of someone who had been awake a while.
Ithilwen scrunched up her face as she rolled onto her back. "Fiona? What time is it?"
"7:30 in the morning," was the answer. "I had to run out to the store to grab some supplies, and I thought I'd bring back some breakfast. You hungry?"
"Aren't I always?" she chuckled, hearing the other woman laugh outright on the other end.
"That's good, cause I'm waiting in line right now. Go on and get up and get moving. The lines are moving pretty quick this morning, so I should be home in about ten minutes, give or take traffic." Taking that as the end of the call, and the silent tone on the other end, Ithilwen snapped the phone shut and tossed it on her bedside table, rolling back onto her pillows. She laid there, trying to figure out why she had rolled out of the bed, when she heard a male voice resound in her head with the words "Little one" and "Dear maiden". She shot straight up in bed upon realization of the dream, too awake to even attempt a few more minutes of sleep. She knew she would have to tell Fiona about this; she was the only one nearby that Ithilwen would know for certain whether she was crazy or not.
"I'm home!" rang out through the house. Fiona set the steaming bags of greasy breakfast onto the kitchen counter and walked to the living room to deposit her new supplies on the nearest couch. Fiona earned a living as a photographer among the mortals while she was off duty as a sprite of Spring.
Ithilwen met the sprite when they were both physically younger, with the appearance of pre-adolescents. Her mother willingly took Fiona in and set for the legal work to have her listed as her own child. She had made a promise to her foster guardian that she would look out for the older elleth until the day that she were to return to Middle Earth. It wasn't a day that Fiona particularly looked forward to, but she knew that her full magic would come in eventually, and when it did it would mean their parting anyway.
Seeing the elleth scramble down the stairs like the hounds of hell were on her heels, Fiona should have known right then that things were about to change. "Damn, girl! I just got back. Are you that hungry?"
Ithilwen looked at her evenly, not the least bit out of breath. "You could say that," she replied, turning to head towards the kitchen. "I had a dream that I need to talk to you about."
Following her, Fiona asked, "This isn't one of those dreams about running from an 8 foot tall chicken again, is it Ithilwen? Cause I am telling you that they mean nothing, other than you might want to eat more beef or something."
"No, no it wasn't anything like that." Ithilwen insisted. "I met a guy in this dark void whose face I couldn't see."
And so, Ithilwen recounted the dream, second for second over breakfast to a silent Fiona, who sat and ate her breakfast with rapt attention. Ithilwen racked her brain trying to remember what details there were, but all that she could collect to describe were the words spoken and the feelings that she experienced. "I know it's not much to go on," the elleth continued, "but it's all that I know. I feel like I'm on the edge of something important, but I don't understand what it could be."
"You said he mentioned that he was on a journey with a group of people?" A nod. "Maybe it has something to do with him?"
"So you think he's real, Fiona?"
The sprite shrugged. "It's hard to tell right now. Your dream sounds real, despite the setting. Even your foot hurts, but then again that could just be because you fell out of bed this morning." She paused to take a drink of her orange juice. "I'd let it play out for a while and see what happens, if I were you."
"How do you mean?" Ithilwen furrowed her brow in confusion.
"You know that saying about concentrating on something before you sleep so that you'll dream about it?" Another nod. "Well, use that concept. Think about this person and what you remember of them, and with some luck you'll see them again. With even better luck you might even see their face!"
Ithilwen laughed. "Yes, I suppose you are right. Seeing a face would be nice the next time around!" They continued to eat their breakfast and discuss other matters, but for Ithilwen, the nameless and faceless person from her dreams would not leave her be. She hoped deep in her heart that he was not in fact a figment of her imagination, so that she might one day meet him face to face. He was much kinder than many of the men she had met in this realm.
"Master Elf, are you well, sir?" The voice of the hobbit Samwise stirred Legolas from his thoughts as they walked the corridors of Moria.
The elf gave the hobbit a smile of reassurance. "Aye, I believe so. I had been reflecting upon a dream is all."
"A dream?" came a voice from behind him. Legolas didn't have to turn to recognize the voice of the ranger, Aragorn. "And what kind of a dream can keep an elf's sure sight from focus?"
"A young maiden." Was the simple answer, but to the surrounding company it was baffling. The elf in their company had never mentioned knowing a maiden through their journey thus far, only having focus on the potential dangers that lay ahead of them. The old wizard Gandalf turned his gaze back to the young elf and studied him carefully. The wizard could tell from the tense expression on Legolas' face that he was troubled by this dream.
"Perhaps, it would be wise to forget this maiden," he said blithely, to gauge the elf's reaction. As he suspected, the look of surprise in his eyes mixed with what looked like defiance was an answer enough for him. "Then again," he added, "perhaps this maiden's visits could prove useful."
"Just how is a maiden supposed to help on a quest that was founded by men?" Boromir asked with skepticism regarding the entire matter.
Ignoring him, Gandalf stopped in his steps and waited for the elf to approach. "Whichever path you choose to follow, young one, do not forget the oath that you have given to the group."
Nodding, Legolas said, "Of course." He knew that he wanted to see this maiden again, and knew full well the impossibilities of what could occur on the journey. So if seeing a young maiden in his dreams would ease the pain of the coming days, he would wholeheartedly welcome her presence.
A/N: And it has begun…kinda. I had to do some more revisions from the original draft, but nothing you would miss. Fiona's background won't be touched on much through this story, so here's all that you need to know: She's a Spring sprite, obviously. She was orphaned as a young child, and Ithilwen's mother legally took her in. She likes photography, and does freelance work for everything from weddings to cosplay groups at conventions. She keeps odd hours, between her seasonal duties and the mortal work, so it seems like she is constantly moving. Fiona is not a Guardian, and there will not be a reason for her to become one, sorry bout that. Unlike Some Assembly Required, I'm trying to keep this one simpler and only follow one character's life. Fiona will have some development through the story, but you won't exclusively follow it. One more thing – updates may not be consistent. I want to be a couple of chapters ahead before I upload the next one, a way of keeping myself motivated. I'm also taking 13 credit hours this semester with commissions on top of that, so the most time that I get to write any fanfic is just before bed. Thanks for reading this plotbunny, review if you want, and don't be afraid to tell me what you think!