Whisked Away

~X~Lillian

Lillian rode beside her company, Bilbo, Legolas, and Aragorn, who Bilbo kept casting suspicious glances at. Then out of the quiet, a whole company of elves appeared out of the trees, led by a gallant figure on her elegant horse. The company stopped in surprise, and Lillian bowed to the regal riders before her, as did everyone else, even Aragorn. "Lady Galadriel." Lillian said in surprise, while the others greeted the queen more regally. She heard a gasp near the back of the cluster of elves. "Lillian?!" Lillian looked over to see a familiar girl with dark blond hair and green eyes in an elven dress, and laughed. "Audrey! What are you doing here?" Lady Galadriel glanced between the two of them. "You two are familiar with each other?"

"Yes," Audrey said, pointing, "She is my cousin from where I come from." She looked again at her cousin and laughed. "I don't know how I got here, but at least I know it's not just me." she paused, then looked to Lady Galadriel a little guiltily, but Galadriel understood and nodded. Audrey turned to Lillian again. "How is this? Why are you here?"

Lillian remembered the reason she was there and the smile left her face, and she was grim. "Clayton ran away, and I am on his trail. I followed him to a sandy lake in Arizona and then I was here. How did you get here? I didn't think you were going to Arizona."

Audrey shook her head. "It was very sudden. I was in the woods behind my house, and the next moment I was in the middle of Galadriel's forest."

Lillian had a thought, and dismounted. "Can you do anything magical?" Audrey nodded, surprised. "How did you know?" Lillian smiled. "I can do stuff too." Promptly she changed to a likeness of her cousin, who stared. "Whoa! Cool! Here is my power." Audrey held out her hand and tensed it slightly. A tree split out of the earth beneath it and grew tenfold. She grinned, "I've been working on it."

Lillian smiled widely, and touched the tree. Oranges appeared in the lower branches, and when Audrey tried to touch them in amazement, her fingers went through them. Her face turned thoughtful. "I see." she said. "You have the power of making things appear as something else, and I have a gift for nature." Lillian smiled. "More than a gift."

Bilbo cleared his throat. "Time is pressing, ladies, and we mustn't waste it if we are to find your brother."

Audrey looked at Bilbo, then turned to Galadriel. "I need to go with them," she said, "It can't be a coincidence we are both here."

Galadriel nodded, and gave her a brief hug. "Continue to practice your powers, Audrey. They may soon come in handy." With this, Galadriel motioned her elves forward on their mounts, and they disappeared into the foliage.

Aragorn stopped to pick up the trail again, and Audrey turned to Lillian. "Who are these people?"

"The man in the black cloak is Aragorn, the elf with the bow is Legolas, and the short, serious man with curly hair and a pocket watch is the hobbit Bilbo Baggins." Lillian whispered. Aragorn got off the ground and mounted his horse in one swift motion. "The trail leads to the mountains." he said. "Let's go." He kicked his horse into a gallop, and onward they thundered, the motley crew assembled.