Flashes of Light, Rulers of Fate
~[ ]~ - indicates the translation of the Elvish words into English.
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Two days passed and there was no change in the Elf's condition. Ashley knew not if it were her fault that he refused to wake up and the that thought came across as frightening. Having made a small bed on the floor of her room, the woman kept a nightly vigil of checking on him every other hour or so.
Finally, after a torturous three days, he awoke.
Ashley had been wetting a damp cloth to place over his forehead when she suddenly noticed his eyes open. Startled, she dropped the bowl which fell to the floor with a crash, sending glass flying.
"Ai caro im pedo an? Man na sen dor?" ~[Who do I speak to? What is this place?]~ He asked softly through chapped lips.
The reply he wanted was a bit delayed, due to the fact that Ashley could barely speak any Elvish.
"Uh, Master Elf... I, my name is Ashley. I don't really know what you just said, but I suppose that it was directed toward a question of who am I."
The Elf's eyes brightened for a moment, "You do not know the Sindarin tongue?"
Ashley shook her head, "No, I know of it but do not know it." She realized that she may not be making much sense, "But you should rest now. After falling from the sky like you did and sustaining such injuries, you could hurt yourself again."
"Mithrandir!" He suddenly said, trying to sit up.
She pushed him back down, "You need to rest!"
"Nay, Mithrandir and Estel are in grave danger. The perinnath, ~[Hobbits]~ they will all die!"
"No, no they won't." The woman replied, attempting to keep him from getting out of bed.
His eyes shot into hers, "How would you know of such things?!"
The harshness of his melodic voice was striking but Ashley regained her stunned composure and looked him back in the eye, "You are not in Arda, not in Middle-Earth. You have traveled through time and space and arrived in a different world. Here, there are no Hobbits or Dwarves or Elves or Wizards or Orcs, or any other being you may think of. There are only humans, the race of Men."
"You lie."
Frustration taking over, she let go of the hold she held on the Elf's shoulders and stepped back, "You are Legolas Thranduilion, are you not?"
He looked at her in surprise, "Yes, but how did you..."
"And you are accompanying a fellowship of eight others; Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Gimli son of Gloin, Boromir of Gondor, and Gandalf the Grey Istari?"
"By the Valar, how do you know such things?!" Anger was beginning to boil in his eyes, "Are you a servant of the Dark Lord, Sauron?!"
Ashley sighed, "No, I am not. But, oh you won't believe me even if I tell you!" Taking a deep breath, the woman regained her tone, "You're out to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. But from what you said when you woke, you were in the Mines of Moria and faced the Balrog of Morgoth. I'm guessing that, instead of Mithrandir, as you call him, you fought with the ancient demon. Correct?"
Legolas nodded.
"And, you lost. But something happened and you were suddenly flung into this day and age."
"I..." he put a hand to the wound on his forehead, "I fell. I fell into the dark chasms of Khazad-dum and... and then all went black."
Ashley sat down in the chair beside his bed, "This changes everything..." She pondered out loud.
"What changes everything?"
"You need to get some rest, Legolas Thranduilion. Or would you like me to call you by another name?" She asked.
He could see the thoughts turning within her mind and knew that something was wrong, but did not argue. Instead, the Elf rested himself comfortably back onto the bed and placed his hands over his chest.
"Just Legolas." And with that he mixed the waking world and the dream world in the Elvish version of sleep.
For a long while Ashley just stared at him, wondering to herself if he were truly asleep or not. After some time she stood and walked back into her study.
"He is Legolas, but things have happened all wrong! He wasn't supposed to fight the Balrog, Gandalf was! What is going on?!" Quickly picking up her copy of The Fellowship of The Ring, Ashley flipped to the chapter where the Istari was supposed to die and found something of great trouble...
The pages beyond, were blank.