The Magic of Music

I was all too aware that Legolas was walking right behind me up the narrow wooden stairs to my room. I had never invited anyone to my home, not even Earun. For the simple reason that I kept things in that small room that no one in Middle Earth knew about. And one of these things I would show the elf in a moment.

I pulled the key from under my apron and unlocked the door. The curtains were still open and moonlight painted spots of light on the floorboards. I quickly lit a few candles that provided a soft glow to the room. Sometimes I missed electric light and when I was really urgently looking for something and my phone was charged, I used the flashlight function. Overall, though, I liked the candlelight better. The room looked more cozy immediately.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a couch or chair to offer the elf, so I sat down on the edge of the bed and patted next to me. His gaze had wandered through my small room and had remained conspicuously long on my plants. Now he furrowed his brow. "It's hardly appropriate."

"I've been on my feet all day, so if you want to see the planes, you'll just have to sit next to me."

A little stiffly, Legolas lowered himself onto the bed beside me and I had to grin. "You are honorable to think of my reputation, but this concept is strange to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Where I come from, it is perfectly normal to be alone in a room with persons of the opposite sex."

"Sitting on a bed?"

"What's the big deal?" I shrugged. "But I know it's different here in Middle Earth, and I promise you I would have offered you a chair if I owned one."

He seemed to relax a bit. So I reached under my pillow and pulled out the cell phone. The elf's gaze lingered on it. I hadn't turned it on yet, but he already seemed to find it interesting. "I had assumed that you would have an image of the flying machines as detailed as the one Merry and Pippin brought with them."

I pondered for a moment before saying, "We usually keep our pictures in other ways. Not painted on paper." It wasn't easy for me to describe my world in words he was familiar with. It wasn't until I talked about it that I noticed how many new terms there were that meant absolutely nothing to the elf.

"How else could you keep pictures?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," I turned on the phone, "that depends."

As the screen lit up, the elf's hand went to his side. There, where he kept his knife, which I had seen shimmering through his tunic a time or two.

"Don't worry, this is normal."

"If you say so." He eyed the screen suspiciously. "If I didn't know better, I'd assume you got this box from one of the wizards."

"I can assure you I didn't get it from one," I said, trying hard to take him seriously. This was new to him. An experience he probably didn't have often with his many elven years. For that, he remained surprisingly calm. "We call it electricity. It would go too far to explain everything. Just know that I can use this... device for many things."

"Which are?"

"I can use it as a torch," I began, "in my world also to communicate with other people who live many miles away. As a map. As a... wake-up call, to listen to music, but also to take pictures."

"Take pictures?" he asked, puzzled.

"We rarely paint them anymore. Instead, we've found a way to capture what we see exactly as it really looks."

"So the painting of Merry and Pippin wasn't by a painter."

"No," I replied, "I assume the people in it made it themselves. With one of these devices." I raised the phone. "The picture is stored in here and we have other machines to put it on paper. Almost everyone in my time owns one of these, they're taken everywhere. So we keep a lot on them. Memories. But also everyday knowledge."

"How can all these things be in such a small... device?"

"Do you really want to find out, or would you rather see the planes?"

"The latter," he replied, even though the curiosity in his gaze said otherwise.

I quickly began clicking through the apps and finally called up the photos. Then I rotated the screen so that the image appeared larger. "This is what they look like," I said. "See: here in front is the cockpit and there on the sides is the cabin. Below, they're loading the luggage."

The elf bent over. I had taken the picture from the gate and you could see an airport employee throwing suitcases on the belt next to the plane. "It's much bigger than I imagined."

"It's a smaller one," I replied. "I was on my way to a bigger plane, for a longer flight..." I thought of something. "If you want, I can show you the takeoff. However, you should know beforehand that we can not only take pictures with this device, but also... capture sequences. The images will move and you will hear the surroundings too."

"A world of wonders," he mumbled, and I continued wiping until I arrived at the beginning of my trip around the world. At that time I had filmed the start to send the video to my parents. I never thought that one day I would show it to a being that did not even exist in my world.

The video started without warning and the elf's eyes were glued to the screen. He followed me as I boarded the plane, found my seat, and then was pushed onto the runway. I had been sitting right next to the wing at the time. It had been a beautiful summer evening, the sun had set red in the sky, and I had felt like I was setting out into a new life. How literally I had to take that had not been clear to me at that time.

When the turbines of the airplane announced the takeoff through the loudspeaker, he leaned forward a little more. The shot wobbled because the thrust pressed me into the seat, but the wing continued to be clearly visible. We watched as the scenery went by faster and faster until the plane finally took off. Shortly after that, the video cut off.

Legolas sucked in a sharp breath. "Humans are truly inventive."

I locked the phone and lowered it. "Aren't elves?"

He shook his head. "Not like your kind."

"What do you mean?"

"We are... connected to Arda," he said. "In a different way than you. When we die, our souls remain in this world and many of us return to our bodies. My heart fails to fathom if that is the reason, but we do not possess the same urge to explore as humans. In their short life span, humans accomplish so much more than an Elf would in the same amount of time."

For a moment, I had to absorb his words. I hadn't realized that elves could come back. Or had to. "Because you have so much more time," I replied. "Why should you?"

"It's not that," Legolas said. "Even with centuries more time, surely we have never achieved what men will."

"You know," I said. "Flying is a wonderful thing, but progress comes with many problems. We are destroying nature, bit by bit. It's shameful. And I know it is very important to you and to elves in general. Perhaps it is better that you have not invented planes."

He let his eyes wander to my plants. "Your plants are happy."

"Is that so?", I asked, amused. "Sometimes I think they'd rather choose a different landlady."

He smirked. "They sing. You take good care of them."

"I had a lot more at home," I said without thinking. And then, before I could stop myself, "I'd like to see one of your gardens sometime. Or better yet, a forest like Fangorn."

"If you accept my offer, then we could pay Fangorn a visit," he said quietly.

I exhaled. "All right, then. But only if you let me buy you a pint now and then, too."

"I'm sure that will please Gimli."

"I think so, too."

We both had to laugh, and I realized all at once how absurd the situation I was in actually was. I was sitting in Middle Earth in a small room with an elf, showing him videos from a future so far away that even Legolas couldn't grasp it. Most of all, I wondered why, of all the people I had met, he had managed to pry my secret from me. That someone knew who I really was was still new to me. So was the fact that I no longer had to watch what I said in front of him. I would have to get used to all that. As it seemed, I would have a lot of time to do so, because the entire journey to Edoras and on to Helm's Deep would take at least two weeks. Probably more.

"You said you listen to music, too." Legolas looked at the phone in my lap. "Does it sound like ours?"

The corners of my mouth twitched. "For the fact that elves prefer to stick with what they know, you are very curious."

"A trait that has often worked to my disadvantage."

"Curiosity is never a bad thing," I said, unlocking the phone again. Then I plugged in my headphones and handed him the right one. "In your ear," I said. "But don't get spooked. It might be too loud for you."

"I've stood outside the Black Gate of Mordor," he replied as if that would brush aside my warning.

"I'm just saying." Briefly, I scrolled through my music library and picked out something that wouldn't be completely alien to him. It was an acoustic song, recorded with a guitar. I knew that instrument didn't exist here, but lutes did.

When the song ended, the elf said, "Even though I don't know what she was singing about, I heard the longing in her voice."

"She's singing about a relationship. One that didn't work out. And about how she's not sure why she keeps going back to him, even though she knows it will never work out."

"Love, then," the elf said, and I felt my cheeks get hot. Almost justifying myself, I therefore responded, "A very large number of songs, if not most, sing about love - in all its forms."

"Not much seems to have changed in that aspect," he replied, giving me a quick glance.

I felt uncomfortable, not knowing what to say. Finally, with a shrug, I retorted, "It's a big part of life."

"Of humans."

"Not of elves?", I asked, perplexed.

For the first time, he seemed like he would have liked to change the topic. "Do you dance, too?" he asked in an attempt to get out of it, and I let him. After all, I was as uncomfortable as he was.

"Not the way we did earlier," I said. "There are... different kinds."

"Show me."

So we stood up. Both glad to have put the dicey topic behind us. Briefly I thought about what I could show him, then I said, "We often dance freely, just moving to the beat of the music. But there are also set dances. The waltz, for example." If I was honest, that was the only dance whose step sequence I remembered. The last time I had danced this way had been as a teenager with a partner who kept stepping on my toes.

"Front, side, close," I explained as I focused on the steps. "And then back to the beginning. These are yours, I dance the opposite way."

After we practiced for a while without music, I added, "And now we're spinning while we do it, you're leading."

"I lead?"

"Yes." I stepped toward him, still fully in explanation mode, reached out and placed my hand on his upper arm. "Your right hand goes to my shoulder blade, free hands interlock. It'll be easier with the music." I chose a Metallica classic, each of us a headphone in our ear, and tucked the phone into my apron pocket. "Go."

We were busy for a while trying not to mess up the sequence of steps, but at some point Legolas began to turn us carefully and I took my eyes off our feet. Only now did I truly realize how close we were standing to each other. Why had I picked that exact dance?

"Aspen?"

"Yes?", I asked, hearing for myself that my voice sounded a little thin.

"Do all your dances require this much... physical involvement?"

Oh God, I wanted to disappear into the floor. "Most classic ones," I said through clenched teeth. "Require considerably more."

"Well, in that case..."

"We can stop," I offered. Part of me hoped he agreed, another wanted the exact opposite. What exactly was I doing here, anyway?

"No," the elf said. "The song is not over yet. It captivates me. Just as everything else you've told me about your world. As you."

My heart leapt. He hadn't said that. I decided not to respond. What was I supposed to say to that anyway? But I made the mistake of looking up. I didn't know if it was because of the song, but I wasn't turning away as our eyes locked like the day when we first met.

As the song neared its end, Legolas released his hand from mine and gently brushed a strand of hair from my face. In doing so, his hand lingered on my cheek for a moment too long. I felt his breath on my skin, his scent surrounding us both, and wished only for a moment that he would overcome the last few inches between us.

The song faded away and the magic that had been inherent in it got lost with the last chords. Legolas withdrew his hand. "I must go," he said in a strained voice.

I cleared my throat, unable to look at him. "Why?"

"Because I put you in a situation I shouldn't have put you in."

With that, he left my room.

Only when the door closed behind him did I spin around.

And all that pushed through the chaos of my mind was the rapid beating of my heart.