Mirror of the Past

As I hung up my apron at the Golden Crow, I could already feel my heartbeat speeding up. I wasn't lying when I said I didn't like parties. There was nothing that stressed me out more than pretending to a bunch of strangers that I liked spending time in their company. Maybe I hadn't gone mad all these years because I was such a loner. When I had to make a choice, I preferred to spend the evening in bed with a good book rather than going to a party. They were my Achilles heel, and the elf had reliably hit the mark when he invited me to one.

I regretted every step I took toward the King's Halls. Throughout the day, Earun had given me strange looks and, toward the end of the shift, had asked me if everything was all right. I hadn't told her about the party. She would have told me not to go, and I knew that was the smarter option. But I had given him my word and I still needed his help, so I couldn't just not go. He had truly set this up smartly.

When I arrived at the halls, I saw Gimli leaning against one of the side entrances from a distance. He waved at me, and when I reached him, he said, "I didn't think you would let that happen."

"Neither did I."

"I could make up an excuse for you," he offered.

I looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Did you lose a bet, Master Dwarf?"

He made a noise like a captured mouse, then gestured toward the entrance. "Come. The Elven Princeling wouldn't speak a word to me for months if I were the reason you weren't coming."

"Is that so?"

Gimli seemed to think it would be better not to answer that. Instead, he led me into an oblong corridor that looked out on one side onto a courtyard. It was lined with roses, and in the center stood a fountain. Everything here screamed wealth - something I had never known. Back then, I hadn't been starving in my world, but I had never been able to spend money lavishly. And I had never wanted to.

The dwarf knocked once against a wooden door. "I'll be back later."

"Gimli!" I heard myself sounding nervous and hated it. "What's in store for me?"

"Oh," he chuckled, "you're getting dressed, lass. No need to be fearful."

"I'm not fearful."

"Of course not." He didn't bother to hide his grin. "Don't worry, no one will hurt you."

With that, he left me standing alone in front of the entrance, which opened at that moment. In front of me stood a maid. I thought I had seen her before in the Seventh Ring, so I was all the more embarrassed when she asked, glancing at my dress, "You're Aspen?"

"Yes."

"Come in, we have to hurry."

I spent the next hour in an admittedly very pleasant bath while several maids combed and braided my hair and finally put me in a dress of dark blue silk. The whole process made me uncomfortable. I felt dressed up, even though I knew it was nonsense. I didn't really belong to the common people nor the high class. I could wear what I wanted, it had been pure coincidence that I had ended up in the Seventh Ring. Still, as the maids carried my dress away, I couldn't help but ask, "Will I get it back?"

"Of course, my lady."

"I'm not a lady, please don't call me that."

"As you wish."

At that moment, there was another knock at the door. Gimli was back.

When he saw me in the blue dress, his eyes widened for a moment, but he said nothing. I was very grateful for that. I almost wished the ground would open and swallow me up. Legolas had taken me as far out of my comfort zone as possible with this invitation. I had no idea if he was aware of it, but I didn't feel comfortable and the dwarf seemed to sense that.

He offered me his arm. "Did you know about Legolas' plan?", I asked as we walked down the corridor.

"What plan?" he replied innocently.

"To dress me up as a lady and invite me to this festivity."

"Well, yes," he admitted, and I looked at him with indignation. "And you didn't say something?"

"You'll get over it, lass."

"You might get the girl out of the Seventh Ring, but you won't get the Seventh Ring out of the girl," I muttered, and Gimli chuckled again. If my heart hadn't been beating so fast, I would have continued to argue with the dwarf. But at that moment the banquet hall came into view.

The table was set and there were already some guests sitting at it and talking. Music was playing. And at the head of the table sat... "You have kept from me that the king will be present?", I hissed and stopped so abruptly that he almost tripped. "No. By all means, but no. I will not..."

A hand settled between my shoulder blades. It did not belong to Gimli. "The dress is flattering to your eyes."

My head snapped up. "Spare me your compliments. You should have told me."

"Would you have come then?" asked Legolas.

"No!"

"See." He grabbed my arm and led me to an empty seat. He himself settled down in the one next to it. I had been so busy staring at King Aragorn that I hadn't noticed that Legolas wasn't wearing his usual tunic either. I blinked. He looked different than usual. Like a prince. Which made me feel even more like a cuckoo's egg in the wrong nest. So this was normal for him. These were the people he surrounded himself with every day. "You enjoy torturing me."

"Nothing could be further from the truth."

I wanted to strangle him. Why did he do this to me? Why had I let myself get involved? If I hadn't let myself be talked into it, it never would have happened. And I swore to myself that there would never be a second time.

The table gradually filled up until there were only two seats left, directly opposite from us. No one paid any attention to me, which calmed me down tremendously. Everyone was talking and seemed to be waiting for the last two guests.

The elf cleared his throat. "Have you gotten used to it?"

I shot him a disgruntled look. "You know this is an introvert's hell, don't you?"

He looked at me, and I saw his gaze light up with that curiosity again. "Has anyone ever told you that sometimes you say things that make absolutely no sense?"

"Oh, it makes a lot of sense to me," I said. In my state of agitation I had forgotten that he couldn't know anything about Christianity, and therefore nothing about hell, and also that the word introversion must be new to him. "But you don't deserve for me to explain."

"I'll figure it out."

"Have fun with it."

At that moment, two figures dropped into the two seats that were still empty. I almost thought they were children. Children with very grown-up faces. They had to be the Hobbits!

"May I introduce," Gimli, who was seated to the left of the Hobbits, made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "This is Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. And this is Aspen."

I smiled briefly at them. After all, it wasn't their fault that Legolas had lured me here under false colors.

"Merry and Pippin will do just fine," Pippin said, grinning at me. "I can assure you that we felt much the same way about the first feast of this kind as you do now."

"Very reassuring," I replied dryly.

"And I can remember you dancing on the tables after three steins of ale, useless Hobbits," Gimli said, also softening his sharp words with a laugh.

"That's because the mugs here are so big," Merry defended himself. Pippin didn't even deny it.

I had immediately taken them to my heart. They were like a fresh breeze that gave me air to breathe. Even though I hadn't taken their role in the books as seriously as Frodo, Gandalf, or the rest of the Fellowship, they had been a part of it. And as such, they blended seamlessly into the company of their former fellows, but without making me feel like I didn't belong. It was still a strange feeling to sit among them.

Aragorn at the head of the table stood up and raised his cup to toast. "Here's to at least parts of us being together once more," he said. "Welcome Merry and Pippin!"

Everyone present also raised their cups or mugs and made toasts to the Hobbits. With that, the party was officially opened, and I spent the next two hours listening to the stories Merry, Pippin, and Gimli told, in addition to eating. Legolas held back, but never left my side. Just as he had promised.

When the plates and platters had been cleared, Merry pulled something from his pocket. "Perhaps Legolas has already told you, but we have brought you something."

"He mentioned it," I replied, giving the elf a quick glance, but he was talking to someone else. "What is it?"

Merry pushed the thing he had pulled out of his pocket toward me. "We know what you are looking for. They tell stories in the Shire, too, you know. About people who come from faraway lands, of whom no one in Middle-earth knows the name."

I leaned forward. So it wasn't just a phenomenon that played a role in human, elvish, and dwarven historiography, but also among the Hobbits? Perhaps all the folk of Middle-earth had heard of it. That would put a whole different twist on everything.

"This," Merry continued, "belonged to one of those humans. He lived in Bree, and his descendant gave it to one of my relatives when she heard what you were looking for."

I wasn't entirely comfortable that so many people knew what I was trying to find, but couldn't put my finger on why that was. Actually, it was a good thing if many knew - the likelihood of finding something increased rapidly.

Then I lowered my eyes and froze, both inside and out. What the Hobbits had placed in front of me was a photograph. Not a painted image, as was common in Middle Earth, no.

A photograph.

Printed out.

In color.

I had to swallow and carefully picked it up. It showed a woman and a man. They were standing in front of the Colosseum in Rome. The woman was laughing into the photo, the man had his arm around her. Obviously a vacation photo, but it had probably served as a keepsake for the person who had brought it to Middle Earth, because the corners were protected from bending with small gold clips.

"Isn't it exceptionally detailed?" asked Legolas, who had broken away from his conversation partner. "I have never seen such an image before."

"You are not saying anything." Pippin had been watching me the whole time, and he must have noticed that I had gone white in the face. So I cleared my throat twice and replied, "I know where that is."

Pippin gave Merry a triumphant look. "I told you!"

"Is that your home?" asked Merry.

My mouth had gone dry. This was the first real testimony of my time I'd seen in Middle Earth. It felt surreal to hold the photo in my hands. "No," I said softly. "But I was there."

"You've traveled," Merry noted.

"Yes."

"What's that building in the background?"

I thought about how to explain without giving too much away. "An arena," I finally said. " Fights were fought in it."

"Fights? That sounds like Rhûn," Gimli interjected. "I've heard they have arenas there."

To this I said nothing, but continued to stare at the photograph. Homesickness overcame me as never before. Not for Rome, not for the vacation I had spent there, but for my timeline. The woman seemed so happy. Just like me in my vacation photos. I looked up. "Thank you," I said, addressing the Hobbits. "It... means a lot to me." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Legolas furrowing his brow.

But he didn't get to ask any more questions, because at that moment the music started playing and the Hobbits jumped up in anticipation. And before I knew what was happening to me, they had taken me into their midst and I found myself in a medieval-like, traditional dance. "Two steps to the right, then one to the left and clap," Merry murmured to me, "then we turn and start all over again."

"The whole thing three times and then we switch rows," Pippin explained further, laughing when he saw my expression.

After the second time, I got the hang of it and I would have been lying if I said it wasn't fun. As we walked from left to right, the Hobbits and I held hands. After clapping, we spun around once. The Hobbits just had a way about them that enabled me to let loose. Soon I no longer thought about the fact that I had not wanted to come or had had doubts. For the first time in a long time, I felt free.

It wasn't until we switched rows for the third time, and I ended up between Legolas and a human I didn't know, that I realized what I was doing. The elf grabbed my hand and together we danced one last time the choreography Merry had explained to me. His fingers in mine felt warm and when he let go of me at the end, I wished the dance had lasted a little longer.