The Elven Gates [CONTINUING!!]

Chapter Four - Middle Earth

I had stayed vividly awake throughout most of the journey, but I slept for a few hours when darkness fell.

"Valinor may have strengthened you, you will probably need to sleep more often once you get across these waters," mumbled an elf sitting on the deck beside me. We began to further converse, and I introduced myself and told him my confusing backstory.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I am Anoron, and it seems I am being summoned to a council as well. It is not usually my place, as an elf of Valinor, to meddle with the fates of Middle Earth," he paused for a second, studying the sea, and then turned his attention back to me, "But it seems the Ring of Power has been found. It has been brought to Rivendell by four halflings, and I am asked to aid in the counsel of Elrond."

'The. Council. Of. Elrond. omg.' It was hard to contain myself from fangirling. Not only was I brought to Middle Earth, I was brought near the end of the Third Age! The height of drama and war!

'Gee, lucky me. Hopefully I don't get mixed up with the Fellowship.'

"What did you say?" Anoron asked. I could see confusion plain on his face, then I realized I had mumbled my thoughts out loud.

"Oh nothing, sorry." I looked down and tried my best to not crack into an evil-looking grin at my luck. If you could even call it luck. Probably more like bad fortune.

***

"I' rast naa neva." The shore is near. I awoke to Anoron's hand on my shoulder, I hadn't realized I fell asleep. I looked up, following his gaze to the nearing shore.

"I'm not even sure if I'm ready to go. What if I do something wrong?"

"There is nothing you could do wrong that would make anyone less welcoming towards you," Anoron's golden hair beamed pink in the sunlight as it fell over his shoulder, "I can accompany you, if you'd like. It seems we have similar destinations anyway."

"Doila lle." Thank you.

He offered me his hand and I took it gratefully, I tried standing up and it seemed sitting on the floor this whole time had weakened my knees.

"Easy does it, here try leaning on my shoulder, maybe it will help." He bent slightly sideways so I could wrap my arm around his shoulders, and he pulled me up of the ground.

"That was embarrassing." I had flushed completely pink and my face felt hot.

Anoron untangled himself from my arms and turned to face me.

"It won't be as bad as that was, Middle Earth is going to be great for you." With that, we quickly strode across the boat and exited onto a wooden dock that creaked beneath our feet. I could make out the sound of crashing waves from under the dock.

"Welcome, master Elf, to the Grey Havens."

"These are Umbár and Narwa," Anoron gestured towards two horses at a nearby stable, "Umbár has been my companion through many dangers, and Narwa is sure to love you."

Umbár was a blinding silver mare with a tuft of hair above each of her hooves. She had a black star at her forehead, which I had never seen before. 'Fate.'

Narwa, which means 'fiery red', was a beautiful reddish bay stallion. His mane and tail were a thick black, and he had a scar running from the curve behind his ear down his neck. His eyes where a dark, Lapis Lazuli blue, like the night sky, and the light that sparkled off of them where the stars.

"Are you done staring at them yet or do you need to unlock the keys to their souls through their eyes?" he laughed jokingly, "Here's some tack for Narwa, you should mount so we can get to Rivendell before the 100th age!"

I liked this 'Anoron'. He was nice, and kind, and his smile lit me up inside. Even on this unfateful journey he found some way to make me smile back at him, and even with all I had been through, his jokes cracked me up.

I took the bridle he was handing out to me and carefully put it on Narwa, whilst Anoron secured the saddle. Luckily I wasn't the one doing most of the work, because I had only worked with horses for one week before, and I knew very little about what seemed to be general horse knowledge in Arda.

Anoron patted me on the back like he would to his friends, and jumped up onto Umbár. I followed his lead and mounted Narwa, though I struggled slightly when my foot got caught in one of the stirrups on the way up. Once I was settled, I nodded in the direction of the road, and Anoron said "Off we go!"

We had been on the road for only about an hour, when Anoron obviously became bored and was trying to get a joke out of everything.

"What was the Prince of Mirkwood in another life?"

I, being the terrible geek that I am, thought that he was having a serious inquiry. When he burst out laughing I got the idea.

"A Lego lass?" I asked. Even if he didn't understand the full concept of "Legos", it was still pretty funny.

"Well, I was going to say a 'legless lass' but I am sure yours was much more thought through, considering your reference to children's toy blocks." My deep green eyes glared at him until he cracked up again and turned away.

"Why did Elrond follow the chicken across the road?" he asked.

"I don't know.."

"To 'cast it into the fire!' and 'destroy it!'"

"Why did Galadriel cross the road?"

"Again, I don't know."

"Ahem, 'if the chicken strayed but a little, it would fail'."

"Why did Gollum cross the road?"

"Ugh."

"To eat the chicken!"

"Never saw that coming!"

"Why did the halflings cross the road?"

"I seriously give up."

"To beat Gollum to the food!"

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

"Where did the elven dentist live?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"At the mouth of Anduin!"

"Wow. Hear my ecstatic laughter."

"My turn," I said, completely fed up with his corny jokes, "What did Gandalf say about Frodo's new hairstyle?"

Anoron looked at me, totally confused.

"'Dat fro doe'!"

He didn't get it, but he laughed anyway.

That's what I liked about him.

Note:

Creds to lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net for the dentist and chicken jokes!