Aspen's Story

The evening ended much earlier than I would have liked, but I knew I had the day shift at the Golden Crow the next morning. So I said goodbye as the steins were refilled. It was especially hard for me to say goodbye to the Hobbits, even though they assured me that they would be staying in Minas Tirith for a few more days.

When Legolas saw me leave, he joined me. "There is no way you are going home alone."

"Not in that outfit, for sure," I said with a smirk. "I would be robbed in the Outer Rings faster than you could draw your knives. You wait here."

The maids had deposited my dress in the same room where they had changed me. There I hastily slipped out of the silk dress and back into mine. With some regret, I folded the expensive dress and gently placed it on the dresser that stood in the room next to the tub in which I had bathed. Then I returned to Legolas.

When I had closed the door behind me, his eyes rested on me. A telltale tingle moved through my chest, but I pushed it away. "What?"

"You should wear silk dresses more often."

"If I had the spare change and the status, I would," I said. I knew he was just trying to be nice. But I've never been very good with compliments. In general, I hadn't been able to recognize the elf at all tonight. Whether it was the alcohol or the dancing I couldn't say, but Legolas had warmed up tonight. As had I.

I cleared my throat. "Let's go."

We left the King's Halls, and I almost longed to get back to the table and Merry and Pippin, who had made it so easy for me to talk. While it wasn't the first time I'd been alone with the elf, it was the first time I'd minded. I scolded myself for being a fool. He had walked me home many times before, what was different about today?

"Did you enjoy the feast?" he asked after we had walked silently side by side for a while.

"Yes," I admitted. " You were right. I did have fun."

"I saw that." He looked to the side. "I've never seen you laugh like that before."

"Well," I said, feeling a little awkward, "working on the scrolls wasn't exactly fun stuff."

"Indeed."

We turned into the Third Ring.

"Have you thought about the journey, Aspen?"

I tilted my head. "Yes. And... as much as I'd like to, I can't afford such a trip. I' d have to walk, a horse is too expensive. And who's to say my job at the tavern will still be waiting for me when I get back?"

"You know you are not alone in facing these problems."

"I can't possibly accept any more help from you," I replied. "You give too much, Legolas. This is too much. I have provided you with a single scroll, no more. That doesn't outweigh your return."

"Does it have to?" he asked.

"I would feel cheap, taking advantage of you like this."

"You don't!" he said more forcefully than I had expected. By now we had reached the Lower Gardens. The elf stopped. "What if I told you that this journey was related to the scroll you gave me?"

I looked up. "Are you revealing the reason to me why you wanted the scroll back?" My voice was low, but I knew he had heard me anyway.

"Aye," he said simply. "Someone has to start this."

"And it's not me."

"No, it's not you." He shot me a look before heading into the garden. I followed him - because I wanted to know why he needed the scroll, and because he was right about what he'd said: we'd been sneaking around each other for the last few weeks. Each of us had tried to coax from the other why we did what we did. To no avail. Legolas now seemed to have decided for himself that he was no longer playing the game. "You already know that the Greenwood is still full of shadow creatures. They are increasing by the hour." We had found our way to the balustrade where we had sat before. "Sauron is defeated, but..." The Elf looked across the grassy plain to where Mordor had once been. "But I and many other Elves sense a force returning that could upset the balance once again."

"A force?", I asked with a furrowed brow. "What kind?"

"I do not know. But all this is too much of a coincidence. I don't know for sure why you are looking for these people, but I can guess that you are doing so because you no longer have a way to contact them." He raised his hand as I opened my mouth. "You don't have to answer me on that. I have a hunch that all of this is connected. And that is why I choose to support you. What is important to you has become important to me."

Carefully, I let myself slide onto the balustrade next to him. My legs dangled over the edge. I was all too aware of how close the elf and I were, but I made no attempt to move away from him. "Do elves usually interfere that much in human affairs?"

"No." He took his eyes off the landscape and looked at me. "But I've never thought much of that rule. This world concerns all of us. My kind takes the easy way out when they're shifting the responsibility to others."

"You have shouldered it for a long time."

"And we should continue to carry it, along with the humans, because we are a part of this world."

"As yet." I looked away because he still hadn't taken his eyes off mine. "It sounds like you've developed a soft spot for mortals."

"I suppose," he replied gently.

My hand rested in my lap as I gazed out over the landscape, which was illuminated by the moon. I didn't know if it was the alcohol I'd been drinking, though ironically I couldn't handle much, or the fact that Legolas had been the first to drop his guard. But as we sat here looking out over the grasslands, I was overwhelmed with an uncontrollable urge to tell him everything.

"You don't have to tell me anything about your reasoning, but I want you to know that I admire you for how tirelessly you throw yourself into the work. I hope your motives are worth it, at least."

"They are," I said quietly. And after a few minutes of silence, I added, "Even if I told you who I really am, I wouldn't know where to start."

"How about the very beginning."

I laughed, mirthlessly. "What's the beginning to me, you would not be able to comprehend." With a quick movement, I rubbed my forehead. The Elf said nothing, just waited. "Middle Earth," I said finally, "was flat a long time ago. You know that, don't you?"

"Aye."

"Then it was curved after Valinor was catapulted into another... realm. The path is now no longer open to everyone, but only to the elves."

Legolas stiffened next to me. "How do you know?"

"If you want to hear my story, I will tell it as I wish, and you will listen."

"Fair enough." He nodded curtly, his eyes stayed alert.

"Middle Earth will evolve," I continued. "And in many thousands of years, it will become Europe. One of seven continents on planet Earth." I continued to stare at the grasslands and mountains in the distance. "Europe will go through many plagues and through famines. It will do many wrongs and fight wars that would have been better never fought. But someday there will be a time full of peace. In that time, I will be born."

"Will?" the elf murmured.

"Yes," I replied just as quietly. "I will be born in roughly six thousand years, maybe more, maybe less. I don't know for sure. On December 1. Into a society so different that you cannot even imagine it. Most of our countries are no longer ruled by kings. The weapons we use to fight wars are so horrible that they can wipe out whole regions in a matter of seconds. We fly through the air with machines and can reach almost any point on earth within twenty-four hours. The reason why I sometimes seem so different to you is because I am. I am not from the East, Legolas," I said. "I... I come from the future."

The last words had cost me a great amount of courage, for to speak them meant to trust him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him staring at me. And suddenly I wanted to get rid of everything I had been carrying around with me for the last four years. The knowledge weighed me down and finally being able to share it with someone was like a relief. "I... I have traveled, as I have told you. But not because I had to leave my home. No. I wanted to see more of my world. In a temple on another continent, I found a stone. It brought me here. I don't know how, but when I was about to leave the temple again, it was no longer the city behind its doors, but this grass plain." I nodded my chin in the direction of the landscape. "I was stupid enough to take a few steps into this world. Then the door slammed shut behind me and I've been trapped here ever since."

When he still said nothing, I looked over to him. I had never seen him speechless before, but after my revelation, I succeeded. His expression was unreadable; I couldn't tell what he was thinking. The sudden fear of him not taking me serious shot through my mind like a bolt of lightning and I said, "By revealing this to you, I have put my life in your hands. Do you believe me?"

For a long moment we just looked at each other before he finally spoke up. "Yes." Pause. "Yes, I believe you."

That took a massive load off my mind. Briefly, I had feared the elf would get up and leave. Or worse, call me a liar.

"If I'm being frank, that explains everything," he said after a while. "Your... strange phrases and the cryptic hints about how you lived in your land... in your world. The way you speak to me and others. Now I understand."

"Thank you," was all I said. I had lowered my eyes and was fighting a spiky ball that had formed in my throat. I couldn't tell him how much it meant to me that he hadn't turned his back on me. That he had been listening.

Suddenly I felt a rush of air and a second later the elf's fingers intertwined with mine. I held onto them like I was drowning.

"Now I really understand," he said under his breath. "You are looking for these people because you want to get back home."

"Yes."

For a long moment we sat like that, watching the moon move across the night sky. I couldn't say why, but I felt so much lighter than I had just a few hours ago. Knowing I had finally shared it with someone after all these years lifted a heavy weight off my shoulders.

"How is it?" he asked suddenly.

"How is what?"

"Flying."

Reluctantly, I smiled. "Of all the things I've told you, you're asking about that?"