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Chapter Text

All I could feel was the water swirling and surging around me. I was sucked into its depths, being pulled and pushed in all directions, tossed around like a helpless ragdoll. A stream of bubbles formed as the last of my air left my mouth.

Then, suddenly, a stabbing pain in my stomach.

My body reeled from the shock and pain, my barely conscious mind struggling to understand what was happening now. Drowning, I had expected. That’s what would happen when caught in tumultuous waters. But being stabbed? How was I even stabbed underwater?

The dark, murky waters around me were becoming darker. Everything was fading to black as my lack of oxygen was starting to cause me to lose my consciousness.

However, the blackness was all of a sudden cast away by light.

A bright ball of light was floating in front of me. And it kept growing and growing. Becoming brighter and brighter, until I was completely engulfed in light.

Had I already died? Was this me being taken to the afterlife?

Then, the water around me was somehow gone. Instead, I was surrounded by air. Air rushing upward as I went speeding downward. Falling.

Thud!

I hit hard ground, finally losing consciousness.

“And you encountered the spiders here?” Thranduil said as his eyes darted around, taking in their surroundings.

“Yes, we fought some here during our last patrol,” Legolas answered his father. “We killed most of them, but some escaped, fleeing deeper into the forest.”

The Elvenking and his son were riding side by side on a forest path. Legolas on a horse, Thranduil on his elk. A small contingent of elven guards was walking behind them on foot.

Thranduil had become concerned due to reports of the spiders’ activities steadily increasing, especially when the patrol that his own son was a part of had a recent encounter with these creatures. Thus, he had decided to check on the problem himself. There were currently no signs of the spiders, though.

However, as they walked further down the path, a bright ball of light suddenly appeared in front of them.

Thranduil and Legolas immediately pulled on the reigns of their steeds, making the animals halt on their tracks. The guards quickly went into action, drawing their weapons and protectively surrounding the king and the prince.

“What is that?” Legolas questioned as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver, nocking the arrow to his bow and pointing right at the ball of light, which was hovering a few feet above the ground, bobbing up and down a little.

Thranduil didn’t answer. He didn’t know either. But floating balls of light did not just randomly appear in the forest. Something odd was going on. The king’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as he observed the ball.

“Should we approach it, Your Majesty?” one of the guards asked.

Before Thranduil could answer, however, the ball glowed brighter. Then, a body fell out of the ball, landing face down on the ground.

As soon as this person hit the forest floor, the ball of light disappeared, leaving the area marginally darker than before.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Thranduil motioned with his hand, indicating to his guards to check on the fallen body. The guards cautiously approached the body, but it did not stir. Upon getting a closer look, a guard called over back to the king—

“It appears to be a human woman, my liege.”

Thranduil and Legolas exchanged a confused glance with each other. A human woman fell out of a ball of light? The two royals dismounted from their steeds and approached the woman, needing to see this closer with their own eyes.

It was a human, indeed. Female. However, she was dressed in the strangest of clothes. Yes, humans tended to dress differently from elves, but this woman’s clothing was unlike anything the elves had ever seen before. Not only the style, but also the materials.

And adding even more to the strangeness of the situation was that the human was soaking wet. From the top of her head to the tips of her footwear, her entire body and all of her clothes were entirely drenched with water.

Apart from the water, though, another liquid was seeping out from below her, slowly spreading on the ground. Bright red, it was clearly—

“That is blood,” Legolas said with a frown.

“Tauriel, flip her over,” Thranduil ordered sharply.

The red-haired captain immediately stepped forward, taking hold of the human and turning her around so that she faced the sky above instead. And the elves immediately saw the source of the blood.

There was a gaping wound on the human’s stomach, with the broken remains of what appeared to have been a tree trunk or branch still sticking out of her body.

Tauriel put two fingers on the human’s neck, checking for a pulse. And she found one. Weak, but present nonetheless.

“She is still alive,” she told the king.

“We will take her back with us,” Thranduil decided instantly. “Bring her to the healers. Keep her alive at all costs.”

As Tauriel and a few other guards started to lift up the woman, Legolas raised an eyebrow at his father. “You are allowing a human into our kingdom?”

The Elvenking wasn’t known for letting outsiders into his kingdom. Even elves on diplomatic duties from other elven realms were rarely allowed in. Much less those from other races. Yet the king was bringing along this human into the kingdom? Certainly, an injured woman must be helped—it was the proper, chivalrous thing to do. But Legolas would have thought that his father would initially be against the idea of taking in an outsider. Instead, the king had immediately decided to take in the woman.

“That ball of light was unnatural,” Thranduil told his son in an undertone as he watched the guards slowly move the woman as to not aggravate her wound. “It was able to appear suddenly in our forest, and it was able to transport this woman here. Where might it appear next, and who might it transport next? What if it brings enemies right into our kingdom—right into the palace?”

Legolas paused for a moment. Then, understanding what his father was getting at, he said, “…It is a potential threat to our security.”

“Exactly,” Thranduil nodded once. “That is why the human must live. We must find out what she knows about that ball of light.”

Thranduil had immediately recognized the possible dangers that such an unnatural object might pose. And such threats must be dealt with as soon as possible, as efficiently as possible. And the most efficient way right now was to find out what this human knew.

The guards carried the woman over to the steeds. The only issue was that there were only two—the prince’s horse and the king’s elk. The guards had traveled on foot since they hadn’t been planning to go far from the palace, and this forest trail was narrow. Moreover, the trees were densely packed in this part of the forest, so if they had needed to go off the trail to follow spiders, being on horseback would have been a hindrance. But now, they had to bring a wounded human with them…

“Legolas, she must ride with you,” the king told his son as he was already moving toward his elk.

“Very well.”

Legolas had already been expecting that this would be the arrangement. Having the guards carry the human on foot would take too long; she would bleed out before they reached the palace. And there was no way that the king would ride along with a human on his personal steed.

So, the elven prince quickly mounted his horse, and the guards lifted the human up onto the horse as well, placing her in front of the prince. Legolas held on to her securely with one arm while his other hand controlled the horse’s reins.

“Legolas and I will ride ahead,” Thranduil told his captain of the guard. “Follow after us as quickly as you can.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Tauriel promptly replied, bowing her head.

And the king and the prince rode off, urging their steeds to go at their top speed. Riding so fast on horseback, of course, jostled the wounded human, and Legolas’ elf ears heard the faintest moans of pain from her. There was no other way, though; if they were to save her life, they had to be as fast as possible.

Thankfully, they soon reached the palace. The guards at the gates were quite surprised to see the king and the prince arrive with a human. A wounded human. But they all knew better than to the question it when they saw the stern expression on the king’s face.

Thranduil and Legolas both dismounted, Legolas carefully bringing the woman down with him.

As they entered the palace, Thranduil looked down at the unconscious, bleeding woman in his son’s arms. This strange being definitely had a lot to answer for. And Thranduil would be certain to get the answers out of her, whether she wanted to or not. Moving his gaze from the human, he met his son’s eyes.

“Get her to the healers now, Legolas. Tell them to do everything in their power to ensure that she lives. Inform me at once when she has regained consciousness… I will interrogate her myself.”

Chapter Text

After bringing the human to a spare bedroom, Legolas called for healers, and he stepped to one side, watching as the healers did their work. Soon after the healers began, Tauriel entered the room; she and the other guards had finally arrived. She stood next to Legolas, both of them watching the healers work.

As the healers cut away the human’s clothes so that they could get to the wound, Legolas whispered to Tauriel, “I cannot help but wonder if the human is… not from this world.”

Tauriel glanced at him. “You think that she is from another world?... Do other worlds even exist?”

Legolas shrugged. “I am uncertain. But look at her clothing. Even humans in Middle Earth do not wear such clothes…”

“That makes the mystery of how she came to be here even greater, if that is the case,” Tauriel frowned, and Legolas nodded in agreement.

The healers extracted the pieces of wood from the wound, making the human squirm, probably in even more pain now. The healers then stitched the wound close, put salves on it, and tightly wrapped bandages around the human’s abdomen. Finally, they dressed her in clean clothes.

As the rest of the healers started tidying up, the head healer approached the prince.

“How is she?” Legolas asked at once.

“The wound is very deep, and she has lost a lot of blood,” the head healer responded.

“Will she live?”

“It is still too early to tell, Your Highness. Her injury is very grievous, and humans are quite frail. Personally, with that kind of wound, I am surprised that she has survived up to now.”

“The king needs her alive.”

“I am afraid that it is out of our hands now. We will continue to tend to her wound, but whether she would wake up is already up to her.”

The human laid unconscious in bed for days. Since the king wanted regular updates on the “trespasser” to their kingdom, Legolas constantly checked on the human, going to her room every few hours. There was no change, though. Her eyes remained shut, her breathing shallow.

“How much longer can she survive in this state?” Legolas asked one of the healers one day. He had never really interacted with humans before, but he knew that humans needed to eat more frequently than elves did. Would this human be able to go on if she didn’t get any nourishment soon?

And sure enough, the healer answered, “If she does not wake up soon, her body will start shutting down, my prince.”

Legolas worried that the human would die before the king could question her.

Thankfully, however, his worry was unfounded. Because after nearly a week, the human finally regained consciousness.

It was early one morning, and Legolas was in the human’s room. As it had become his habit in the past days, he would stop by here to watch over the human for a while before he went about his daily duties. He was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, thinking about possible treatments for human wounds, when he heard a soft moan.

Immediately, his eyes went to the human.

She was stirring feebly. She was finally starting to wake up!

Legolas rushed out of the room and told a guard who was posted just outside, “Fetch the king. Right now.”

When I first regained consciousness, I wasn’t even sure if I was actually conscious. I was in a world of darkness and pain. My mind was struggling to process what was going on. Was I really conscious? Or had I actually died? It would suck if I was dead because this was definitely not what I had imagined death would be like—this was too painful.

Then, I heard voices around me. I strained to understand what they were saying, but the voices were too low for me to properly make out.

What was going on? Who were those people? Why was it so dark? And why was I in so much pain? I didn’t think that death would be this painful. Or was this some kind of divine punishment for me? My entire body ached. My stomach, in particular, was killing me.

Then—

My eyes finally opened.

I squinted through the light. It took a few, hard blinks before my eyes finally adjusted. I seemed to be laying on a bed, in an ornately decorated room.

Wait, so, I didn’t die??? If I didn’t die, where was I, then?

I lifted my head a bit to get a better view. That was when I realized that I wasn’t alone. The bed that I was on was surrounded by people, all of them looking at me. Some, curiously. Some, worriedly. A few, suspiciously.

In fact, the man closest to me was the one who eyed me with the most suspicion. He had long blond hair, strikingly blue eyes, wearing elegant robes and fancy jewelry (uhhh, cool clothes, but what’s up with his odd getup?). He was quite beautiful.

…Now, if only he wasn’t glaring daggers at me!

“Finally awake, are you?” His glare was hot enough to burn me, but his tone was as cold as ice. Yikes!

Alarmed by the hostility exuding from this man, I sat bolt upright. Which was a huge mistake.

“ARGH!!” I yelled, clutching my stomach and doubling over in pain. My confusion at waking up surrounded by a bunch of strangers had momentarily put the pain to back of my mind, but my sudden movement caused the pain to come rushing back with a vengeance!

God, it was like I was being stabbed all over again…

A few of the women in the room came forward and helped me lay back down against the pillows. After several, long, agonizing minutes, the pain went down from all-consuming pain to just excruciating pain. Yeah, my pain levels were so high that “excruciating pain” was already an improvement.

Taking in deep breaths, I muttered, “What on earth happened to me…?”

The beautiful yet hostile man raised a perfect eyebrow at me. “We were hoping that you could tell us that.”

Another man, also blond and standing at the opposite side of the bed from the hostile man, then told me, “You suddenly appeared in front of us on a forest path.”

“Forest path…?” I shook my head in confusion. “There was no forest nearby…”

The scene before I was submerged in water flashed in my mind’s eye. I could still picture it clearly. The empty streets of the city at night… The bridge above the river… The lone lamppost at the far end of the bridge, its light flickering… The swirling waters of the river below the bridge…

I’d been in the city. Surrounded by buildings and commercial establishments, not by trees. What forest was this guy talking about? But then again, why was I just immediately taking this man at his word? Why should I just immediately believe what he said? I’d only just met him—I didn’t know a single thing about him. He could be lying to me. Heck, he could be a bad guy, for all I knew!

I now eyed the second man more carefully. Blond and blue-eyed, like the first man. And though his gaze was wary and suspicious, it at least wasn’t hostile. And similar to the first man, he was wearing odd clothes as well. Some kind of green tunic over trousers, brown boots. Most oddly, a quiver of arrows and a bow were strapped to his back.

In fact—I noted as I quickly glanced around again—everyone here was dressed very oddly! Tunics and flowing robes. And some of these people had weapons.

…Wait, what? Weapons?!

I was about to start panicking, but I tried to rationalize to myself that those must be fake. Probably some props. Because come on, dangerous weapons with such weird clothes? It didn’t add up.

And then, I noticed the pointy tips of their ears. My eyes widened.

“Whoa, are you guys cosplayers or something?

“…‘Cosplayers’?” the second man asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he slowly and uncertainly repeated the word.

“You know, people who dress in costumes and act like characters. You’re cosplaying as elves, right?” I said, gesturing toward his pointed ears. The prosthetics were so good that the pointed ears looked very realistic. “Your costumes are totally awesome, by the way. Some of the most realistic costumes I’ve ever seen.”

Huh, no wonder they were dressed and geared like this. They’re obviously in their costumes!

However, the second blond just shook his head. “I am afraid that I have no idea what you mean by ‘cosplaying’ and ‘costumes’, my lady… However, you are correct that we are elves.”

“And you are clearly a human,” the hostile man added, his eyes seemingly piercing through me. “What is a human doing in the realm of elves?”

“Uh-huh. Right. Sure. Can’t break away from your role, huh?” I guessed as I took in the room once again. Fancy furniture and décor. A plush carpet on the floor. Winding branches across the walls and ceiling. “Is this like a studio or something? For you guys to take some pictures or shoot some videos? Are you guys working here?”

Everyone just looked at me as though my words were nonsensical.

Man, these people were reallyyy good actors! But they’re taking their roleplaying way too seriously right now.

The second blond man opened his mouth to answer me, but the first blond—the cold, hostile one—interrupted.

“Enough of this. You are the one who must answer our questions,” the hostile man said sharply. “Who are you, and what are you doing in our forest? Why would a wounded human woman suddenly appear in front of us?”

At his mention of “wounded,” I was once again reminded of the pain radiating from my stomach. I automatically put a hand on my abdomen, now feeling some kind of bandage under my shirt.

“I was wounded?” That would explain the throbbing pain.

The hostile man scowled, evidently annoyed that I had again evaded his questions. But come on, I was just as confused as he was, if not more! And apparently, I was the one who was wounded, so as the literally injured party here, shouldn’t my questions take priority?

“You fell in front of us, bleeding from a deep wound on your stomach, my lady.” This time, the explanation came from a red-haired woman who was standing next to the second blond. She continued, gesturing to some of the other people in the room, “We brought you to our healers, and they attended to and dressed your wound.”

“Oh. Ohhh…” I mumbled.

So, that’s why I still survived…

Anyway… Okay, these people might be weird and wayyyyy into their character roleplaying, but they still helped me, even if I was a total stranger to them. So, I supposed that some proper thanks were in order.

I gave them a small smile. “Thank you all for helping me. Your kindness is much appreciated.”

“This is not mere ‘kindness’, I assure you,” the hostile blond said coolly, wiping the smile off my face. “We need answers out of you, and you most certainly will answer us, whether you want to or not.”

I was the one with narrowed eyes now. Jeez, talk about demanding? Who did this guy think he was?!

“What is this, an interrogation?” I snapped, unable to help but feel annoyed by his awful personality. His acting skills were top-tier, but his people skills needed serious work!

“Yes,” he said simply.

I stared at him. He was clearly serious. And apparently sadistic. He wanted to interrogate me. Interrogate me, like I was some criminal or something! I was wounded and in pain, but apparently, those things didn’t matter to this guy. Was he for real?

The second blond man, sensing the escalating volatility in the room, decided to intervene. He asked me in a much politer tone, “Might we know your name, at least, my lady?”

My eyes shifted to the second, much nicer guy. “Oh, you can call me ‘Immie’.”

“…Immie?”

My eyes snapped back to the hostile man. I frowned at him. Because from just that one word—from just him repeating my name—I could already sense the judgment and derision. From the first moment that I had opened my eyes, I could already tell that he was judging my entire being, and now, he was judging my name, too?!

“It’s a nickname, if you must know,” I irritably told the hostile man. “My real name’s ‘Imladris’, but I usually just go by ‘Immie’.”

If the people in the room weren’t staring oddly at me before, they were most certainly doing so now.

“Why would a human woman be named after one of the elven realms?!” the hostile man demanded.

“I don’t know! Ask my parents, not me!” I said defensively. Yeah, my name was unusual, but should that really be another thing for him to be angry about and blame me for? “They’re the ones who stuck me with that name! Believe me, I already know how weird it is to be named after a fictional place!”

“‘Fictional’? You think that the valley of Imladris is ‘fictional’?” the red-haired woman said with a mildly disbelieving look on her face. Then, she glanced at the second blond man, asking him, “Humans are aware of Rivendell’s existence, are they not?”

“They are,” he answered her, though his questioning gaze was still fixed on me. “But perhaps some humans like this one believe that Rivendell is only make-believe? After all, most humans have never actually set foot there. Nor even seen it with their own eyes.”

The way that these people kept talking about “humans” as though they themselves weren’t also humans was really starting to unnerve me. I mean, yeah, they’re currently in elf costumes, but in the end, they’re also humans, right?

So, I told them, “Okay, this roleplaying is getting to be too much. Can’t you break character just for a while? Let’s hit the pause button and talk seriously, all right? Because I really wanna know who you guys are and why I’m here with you.”

“Just as we want to know the same things,” the hostile man said smoothly, yet his eyes were looking at me disdainfully. “And we have been serious the entire time. You are the one who keeps spouting off nonsense.”

Despite the searing pain in my stomach, I scoffed at his words.

“You’re saying that I’m talking nonsense, when you guys are the ones playing make-believe and insisting that you’re ‘real elves’? You can’t harp on me about having the name of a fictional place, when you lot are pretending to be fictional beings,” I pointed out the hypocrisy.

“You think that elves are… fictional,” the second blond man said slowly, now looking dumbfounded.

The hostile man was staring at me hard, though. Surveying me. Assessing me. For a while, he was silent. Then, he said to other people there, “Everyone except for Legolas and Tauriel, leave the room.”

The others bowed to him and started filing out of the room.

I blinked, processing what he had just said. Hang on. Legolas and Tauriel? Ohhh. Legolas and Tauriel! Well, no wonder I thought that they looked somewhat familiar!

As soon as the others were out of the room, I said brightly to the remaining cosplayers with me, “So, you guys are cosplaying characters from Tolkien’s works!”

Finally, something about this situation that made sense!

“I still do not understand ‘cosplaying’. And who is Tolkien?” the second blond man, who was apparently acting as “Legolas,” replied.

I raised my brows at him. “You guys are cosplaying, pretending to be ‘Legolas’ as ‘Tauriel’, but you act like you don’t know Tolkien, who created the entire fictional world in the first place? That’s practically blasphemy, you know.”

“Pretending?” the red-haired woman, “Tauriel,” repeated in confusion. “My lady, I assure you that I really am Tauriel, and this—” she gestured at the second blond man beside her “—is really Legolas, Prince of the Greenwood.”

I didn’t know if this was just really immersive character roleplaying, or if this was already bordering on them being delusional…

“Riiiight. And you’re gonna tell me next that he’s ‘really’ Elvenking Thranduil?” I nodded toward the hostile man who was still glaring at me. Because based on his costume and that super haughty, almighty attitude, there was no doubt in my mind that this guy was cosplaying as Thranduil.

The hot glare from “Thranduil” turned to a cold stare. He huffed, “So, you do know me, after all?”

“Uh, how can I not? Now that I know that you guys are cosplaying Tolkien’s elven characters, it’s so obvious that you’re acting as Thranduil. I mean, how can it not be obvious, given the high-and-mighty attitude that you’re portraying? Gotta give you credit for your acting skills—you really perfected the rude, overbearing, jerk-ish side of Thranduil, so I—”

But the rest of my words were drowned out by the shiiiiiink sound of metal.

Because the next thing that I knew, I had a sword’s tip at my neck!

“Thranduil” had drawn out his sword and was pointing it right at me!

“What the hell?!” I demanded. I was praising him for perfecting his portrayal of Thranduil’s attitude, and he got mad?! He’s nuts!

‘It’s okay, it’s just a prop. It’s okay, it’s just a prop’, I mentally told myself to prevent me from hyperventilating in panic.

The sharp point of this “prop” felt very real, though.

I held still, barely daring to breathe, worried that the slightest movement would make the sword pierce my skin and draw blood. Prop or not, I didn’t want this sword poking a hole into my throat! Having a hole in my stomach was already bad enough!

“You dare insult me, human?!” he hissed fiercely, his glare just as sharp and deadly as the sword. “You appear in my forest, trespass into my kingdom, and still also have the nerve to insult me?!”

I wanted to argue that I was praising his acting, but since I had a sword against at my throat, I was too scared to do so.

“Adar, please!” the one who was acting as “Legolas” now interrupted. He earnestly implored about my case to “Thranduil,” saying, “She clearly is unwell and confused. I believe that we need to allow some room for leniency right now.”

“Thranduil” and “Legolas” stared at each other for a few moments. Then, “Thranduil” relented. Relented a teeny, tiny bit. Because he only drew back his sword by just a few inches.

Still, at least the very sharp “prop” wasn’t directly touching my neck anymore, and I hastily scooted back further, trying to make a bigger distance between myself and the sword.

I was solely focused on getting away from the sword, so I didn’t consider what my sudden movement would do to my wound. Until pain radiated from my stomach once again! Almost like “Thranduil” had used his sword prop to stab me in the stomach instead of having it pointed at my neck.

“GAHH!” I yelped, my hand going to my stomach once more.

But this time, my hand felt wet. Pulling my hand away from my abdomen, I saw that my hand was smeared with red fluid. Smeared with blood. And when I looked down, blood was indeed seeping through my shirt.

“You really are a fool to reopen your own wound,” “Thranduil” sneered. And despite how I was bleeding again, he still kept his sword pointed at me. He’s totally relentless!

“I didn’t do it on purpose! If anything, it’s your fault for startling me by pointing that sword prop at me!”

“The sword is not a ‘prop’. Would you like me to demonstrate it on you?”

“NO!”

Ignoring our argument, the female portraying “Tauriel” stepped forward.

“We need to stop the bleeding again before it gets any worse,” she told me. She grabbed what appeared to be some herbs from the bedside table.

Wait, what? Was that what they’d used to treat my wound in the first place? Not actual medicine? Okay, the roleplaying was really going too far if they’re going to be using some herbs instead of modern medicine to treat a wounded person!

Before I could voice my concern, though, she started to lift my shirt. I wanted to protest, feeling self-conscious about my torso being exposed to “Legolas” and “Thranduil.” Especially since “Thranduil” still had the sword pointed at me, and it was super awkward to have my midriff exposed when a weapon was pointed at me.

But then, I recognized that stopping the bleeding was more important than my feelings of embarrassment and awkwardness. So, I let “Tauriel” lift my shirt.

Aww, crap, the bandages were indeed soaked with blood. And “Tauriel” quickly unwrapped the bandages, and I got to see the stitched-up wound on my stomach. It was long and quite inflamed, with blood seeping out. I cringed. It looked awful. It felt awful, too. Awfully painful, that is.

“Tauriel” started crushing the herbs in her hands, letting the pieces fall onto my wound. As she did so, she started chanting. Speaking words in a language that I couldn’t understand.

And then—

The herbs and my wound were glowing!

What the heck??!

I watched, utterly transfixed and bewildered.

By the time that “Tauriel” had finished chanting, the blood had stopped seeping out of the wound, and the inflammation had significantly decreased.

…No mere CGI effect could have done that. Not when it happened right in front of my eyes. Not when it really stopped the blood flow from my wound.

“T-That’s m-magic. Real m-m-magic. Elvish h-h-healing magic!” I stammered. My eyes were wide, and my mouth was gaping open in shock.

“Do you now believe that we are really elves?” “Legolas” asked with a slight smile, apparently amused by my reaction.

Except… it wasn’t just “Legolas” anymore. It was really Legolas!

It wasn’t “Tauriel,” but Tauriel.

And glancing at the hostile man pointing a sword at me… it’s not “Thranduil,” but Thranduil. The actual Elvenking.

Was this for real?! Elven characters from Tolkien’s work were really in front of me?!

I pinched my cheek.

“Why did you do that?” Legolas now asked in confusion, questioning my action… and probably questioning my sanity as well, based on his expression.

“To check if I’m really awake and not just dreaming or something.”

And the pinched had hurt, so I guess that meant I wasn’t just dreaming?

Holy hell, I was really speaking to some of my favorite and most beloved elven characters!

As Tauriel rebandaged my wound, I stared at her and Legolas in awe. I wasn’t sure how this happened, but it was amazing to see them in the flesh!

But then, my moment of awe was rudely interrupted—

“Why don’t you pinch at your wounded stomach? The pain would be greater and would therefore be a better confirmation that you are indeed awake,” Thranduil drawled.

I glared at him.

Yes, from reading the books and watching the movies, I knew that Thranduil’s character could be ruthless and quite difficult. I had still found his character to be so compelling and attractive, though; Thranduil had always been one of my favorite characters. But when I was face-to-face with him now and having to firsthand experience his attitude? Yeah, no, it wasn’t so great anymore.

But, wait!

I got more pressing concerns at the moment! Bigger problems than Thranduil’s “winning” personality.

Because apparently, I hadn’t died. Yet… I wasn’t even in my own world anymore?

I was somehow in Middle Earth? These were really Tolkien’s elven characters around me, talking to me and interacting with me?

And most importantly… this was the real Thranduil, and he was pointing his very real sword at me??!

Gulp!

Chapter Text

“So, you guys are real,” I muttered, my eyes darting around, looking in turn at each of Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil… and Thranduil’s sword, of course. That sharp weapon kept drawing my eyes. Especially since its tip was only inches away from me! “Like, really, really real.”

Thranduil, of course, noticed that I was warily eying his sword, and this seemed to amuse him (what a sadist!) because he said with a cold smirk, “This sword is very real as well. Again, how about a demonstration?”

I heard the subtle threat in his words, loud and clear. “…Nah, thanks, I already felt how real it was when you had it pressed against my throat moments ago.”

“Yes, it is certainly real… and certainly capable of taking your life. So, I suggest that you start explaining yourself, human. I want the truth. No more of your nonsensical ramblings.”

This time, the threat was outright stated, so I supposed that it was in my best interest if I cooperated.

“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”

“First, is your name really ‘Imladris’?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I goggled at him. “What?! What kind of question is that?! Like I told you, my parents gave me that name.”

“And why would human parents name their daughter after an elven home of sanctuary?”

“Because they were huge fans of Tolkien’s works.”

“What did I just say about no more nonsense?!” Thranduil snapped, his temper flaring up again.

But my temper was equally being pushed to its limits, too!

“Jeez, I’m not being nonsensical! I swear, it’s the truth! Ughhh… How do I even put it more plainly? Uh… Let’s see… My parents had read stories about Middle Earth from books, and my parents really loved the stories and became so fascinated with Middle Earth. As in, they reallyyy loved the stories. So much so that they wanted to incorporate the stories into all aspects of their lives. Like naming their daughter after one of these places that they’d read about.”

I supposed that was the closest that I could get to giving these Woodland elves a basic definition of what “hardcore fans” were like.

“Your parents read about Middle Earth in books? History books, you mean?” Legolas asked for clarification.

“Er, not exactly, no. More like books that are classified under the fictional and fantasy genre.”

“Fantasy?” Tauriel repeated.

At the same time, Legolas said, “Is that why you were under the assumption just a while ago that elves are only fictional?”

I nodded. “Where I’m from, everyone thinks that elves are fictional. And not just you elves, but also the dwarves. And the hobbits. And even the dangerous stuff like dragons and orcs and wargs—those are definitely fictional where I’m from. So, imagine my shock now that I've found out that these 'fictional' beings are actually real.”

“How far away are you from?” Tauriel questioned with a very incredulous look on her face now. “How isolated is your home that you believe that the other races are just fictional?”

“Er, well, about that… I’m not really sure how to explain it?” I said hesitantly. I mean, how would I even begin to explain that I wasn’t even from the same world as them??? “I guess you could say that I’m… not from around here?”

“Yes, that much is obvious,” Thranduil deadpanned. “You certainly do not belong in this forest—in my kingdom. And based on your clothes, you are probably not from Esgaroth either, especially since the humans in that town know of elves’ existence. So, which faraway human village do you hail from?”

“No, no. I mean, uh… I’m not… not from this world. I’m not from Middle Earth. I’m from a totally different world.”

It was dead silent for a few moments. The three elves stood still, all just staring at me.

Then—

“So, not only has a human woman suddenly appeared in my kingdom, but it is also an insane human woman,” Thranduil scoffed.

“I am not insane!” I insisted, feeling affronted that he was just writing me off as a lunatic.

“Only an insane person would be deluded into thinking that they are from another world.”

“But I really am from another world! A world that’s definitely not Middle Earth!”

“I cannot waste any more time on this insanity,” Thranduil said dismissively. And he seemed about to walk out of the room.

However, Legolas stopped him.

“Adar, wait,” the elven prince said. “Perhaps she might be telling the truth.”

“Legolas, do not let yourself be lured into her insanity.”

I rolled my eyes. Thranduil talked like my insanity was contagious. Not that I was insane in the first place, excuse you, Thranduil!

“You saw the clothes that she was wearing when she first got here,” Legolas attempted to reason with his father. “And you yourself had told me that the way that she arrived was she unnatural. Given those things, is it really so impossible that she came from another world?”

“…I suppose that you have a good point,” Thranduil nodded slowly.

I crossed my arms over my chest, disgruntled. Oh, so, Thranduil would consider the possibility of another world when it came from Legolas, but not when it came from me?! So unfair! Yeah, yeah, Legolas was his son, and they knew each other well. I get that. But still! It’s hella annoying that Thranduil would just dismiss me as crazy but would readily believe another person suggesting the same thing…

Thranduil now looked at me again… this time, with even more suspicion and hostility. What the heck?!

The king demanded, “If you really are from another world, how do you know of Middle Earth? And even though you think of us as fictional, you seem to have some knowledge of elves, dwarves, and orcs? Why is that?”

Oh. I guess the possibility of me being from another world, suddenly showing up here, and also knowing all about Middle Earth just made me even more suspicious in Thranduil’s eyes. The alternative to being viewed as crazy was being viewed as a threat, huh? Wonderful. Not.

“I’ve already told you—I know about Middle Earth from books that I read in my world. Just like how my parents knew about Middle Earth. Knew about it and loved it so much that they named me ‘Imladris’,” I said. “Just like how so many other people in my world know about Middle Earth—from fictional books. An author called Tolkien wrote books about Middle Earth. The stories are actually quite popular literature in my world, you know.”

But Thranduil just looked even more displeased by my answer. And even Legolas and Tauriel looked unsettled.

“Why would there be books about Middle Earth in another world, though?” Legolas now questioned. “Why would this Tolkien person know about our world in the first place?”

“…I have no idea,” I said honestly, shrugging.

I was just as stumped as they were, now that I thought about it. How did Tolkien find out about Middle Earth? Just like all the other people in my world, I had initially just thought that Tolkien simply conceived of Middle Earth out of imagination and creativity. But apparently, Middle Earth was real. I was in Middle Earth—in Mirkwood palace—right now. All of it was actually real. So, how did Tolkien know about this other world? Had he also been to Middle Earth before? Maybe he had been in a similar situation like I was in now—had he also found himself suddenly in a world that wasn’t his own?

“What do you know, then, human?” Thranduil snapped impatiently. “We brought you here and treated your wound so that you could answer our questions, but so far, you have not given us anything of substance.”

“Wow, sorry that you haven’t gotten any ‘useful’ information from your ‘interrogation’, then,” I retorted sarcastically. “But for the record, I didn’t ask you to treat my injury. And I especially don’t appreciate having my wound treated just because I needed to be interrogated.”

Thranduil really wasn’t kidding when he had said before that they didn’t help me just out of kindness, was he?

“Would you have preferred that we left you to bleed out from that tree sticking out of you?” Thranduil said testily, raising an eyebrow at me.

“What tree?” I asked, now suddenly the one confused. What was he talking about? How would a tree have been sticking out of me in the first place?

“That was how you were wounded,” Legolas told me, gesturing at my stomach. “When we found you, there was a large piece of wood—a branch or perhaps a part of a tree trunk—embedded into your stomach. Do you not recall it?”

“…I remember the feeling of being stabbed, but I didn’t know that it was from a tree,” I mumbled, glancing down at my stomach again. The memory of that stabbing sensation was still quite fresh—both my mind and body quite clearly recalled that feeling. So, I really had been stabbed back then… by a tree, of all things.

I suppose there were all sorts of debris in bodies of water, so it was possible that there were tree trunks and branches in that river. But man, what were that chances that I’d be drowning and stabbed by a tree at the same time? I really did have rotten luck…

Thranduil’s gaze at me was once again judgmental. “Quite strange for a person to be wounded not by a weapon, but by a tree. Or is that a common pastime in your world?”

I did not appreciate that jibe from Thranduil. Was he seriously implying that me getting stabbed by a tree trunk or branch was my own doing?! Like I was some foolish, naïve idiot who just merrily went along her way and ran right into a tree!

“I didn’t get stabbed by a tree on purpose, you know!” I snapped at him. “Like what I’ve told your son, I just felt a sudden stabbing sensation right before I got here. I had no idea that I’d been impaled by a tree.”

The mention of my arrival in Middle Earth made Thranduil’s eyes narrow into slits. “And you still have not explained to us how you came to be here. If you really are from another world, how did you cross from your world to ours, human?”

“I don’t know!” I reiterated. “I—I really don’t…”

I remembered being in the city. Being on the bridge over that river. Then, the swirling waters around me. But as to how I got from there to here in Middle Earth? I really had no idea.

“One moment, I was in my own world, losing consciousness. Then, when I woke up again, I’m suddenly here, surrounded by you elves,” I continued, shrugging haplessly. “I have no clue who or what brought me to Middle Earth.”

I mean, what kind of higher power or being even had the ability to transport people from one world to another? I couldn’t even begin to comprehend it.

“A ball of light appeared in front of us, and you fell out of it, my lady,” Tauriel then informed me.

But Thranduil immediately chided her. “Tauriel, do not prompt her.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

However, Tauriel’s words made another memory flash in my mind’s eye. That ball of light!

“There was a ball of light!” I said suddenly. “When I was submerged in water, I saw a ball of light!”

All three pairs of eyes were back on me.

“…You were underwater?” Legolas asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

Ugh. Right. That part. I really didn’t want to get into that right now. But their questioning stares (and the suspicious glare from Thranduil) told me that I was going to have to provide some clarification.

So, I just said, “I was, uhm, in a river. A river in my world. Right before I arrived here.”

“Were you leisurely swimming there?” Legolas asked, though he looked like he doubted it.

“No… I, uh… uhm, I… fell… right into the river,” I muttered, looking down at my lap, my fingers restlessly fiddling with the blanket. “And I was pulled into the river’s depths… Losing air… Losing my consciousness… I also felt that stabbing sensation then, so I guess that was when I got impaled by that tree trunk…”

I could feel Thranduil’s stare piercing right into my very soul. He repeated in a tone that I couldn’t quite interpret, “…You fell?”

“Yeah, I, uhm, fell. I was… on a bridge over that river… and suddenly, I was… just falling. I guess you could say that I’m, uh… clumsy?” I said self-depreciatingly, still not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“You fell into a river. Then, you got stabbed by a tree trunk in the river. Yes, that would certainly qualify as being clumsy,” Thranduil deadpanned.

Well, when he put it that way, I really did seem like a clumsy idiot.

However, right now, I didn’t even have it in me to snap back at Thranduil like I would have normally done. I was still unnerved about having to retell the part about… falling into the river.

So, I just said, “But right before I lost consciousness, I saw a ball of light. I swear I did.”

I now looked at them earnestly, hoping they’d believe me. Because that really was the truth. That was what had happened, and that was all I knew about me ending up in Middle Earth.

Legolas slowly nodded. “Well, you being in that river would explain why you were soaking wet when we found you.”

Unsurprisingly, though, Thranduil was still unsatisfied with my explanation. He continued to probe me, “Apart from seeing that ball of light, what else do you know about it? What exactly was it? Who might be responsible for that light and for bringing you here?”

“Nothing. I know nothing about it,” I shook my head insistently. “If a ball of light like that is something that you guys would consider as ‘unnatural’ here in Middle Earth, it’s definitely wayyy more unnatural in my world… My world is as far from the fantastic and supernatural as you could get. I mean, back home, we already think of dragons and elves and dwarves as fictional—how much more a magical ball of light that could somehow transport people to another world?”

There was a brief pause, the three of them seemingly considering my reasoning.

Then, Tauriel said, “Well, although we do not understand the true nature of that ball of light, I think that it is fortunate that the ball appeared to you then. From what you have told us, you were drowning and bleeding. If not for that ball of light, you most likely would have died.”

I kept my face carefully blank, but Tauriel’s words caused my insides to be in turmoil.

Fortunate? It was fortunate that the ball of light kept me alive? I highly doubted that.

Also, the manner in which that light saved me just added even more to my doubts. The ball of light saved me… by bringing me to Middle Earth. What even kind of rescue is that??? The light saved me from dying in my world by hauling me to a world that was totally foreign to me? Yes, I knew of and had read about Middle Earth, but actually being in Middle Earth was a completely different thing! Not to mention all the dangerous creatures and evils here in Middle Earth that didn’t even exist in my world!

And Thranduil unknowingly agreed with my sentiment, saying coldly, “That ball of light did not do anyone any favors. Not even this human.”

“She would have died if the light had not brought her to us.”

“And what kind of alternative to dying did that light provide to her?” Thranduil asked rhetorically. “Transported and trapped in another world, away from all that she has ever known? Is that really a much better option than dying in her own world? She does not belong here in Middle Earth.”

My heart clenched. He was right. I was thinking of the same thing myself a moment ago—I didn’t belong here. Not that I really “belonged” even when I was still in my world, but still… Hearing Thranduil say out loud that I didn’t belong here hurt, no matter how true it was.

And Thranduil added, glaring once more at me, “And she definitely does not belong in my kingdom.”

That pulled me out of my melancholic thoughts.

Wait, did that mean he was gonna chuck me out of here?

I felt a sense of trepidation, thinking about all the dangers outside the Elvenking’s Halls. The sickness that infected Mirkwood forest… The giant spiders… The evil that lurked in Dol Guldur, at the southern part of the forest…

I was saved from drowning and bleeding out, but I wouldn’t stay alive for long outside of Thranduil’s kingdom.

…Not that I was completely safe here inside his kingdom, mind you. I once again eyed Thranduil’s sword that was still pointed at me.

Legolas also guessed where Thranduil was going with his words. Frowning slightly, he told his father, “Adar, you cannot just send her away.”

“She is a human. From another world, at that. She has no business being in an elven kingdom.”

“Even so. She is injured. You cannot possibly just send away an injured woman,” Legolas said firmly. “And you said so yourself that the ball of light has basically trapped her in another world. If anything, she is just a victim of the situation.”

My spirits lifted slightly. Despite how awful my situation was, it still made me happy that Legolas—the Legolas!—was advocating for me. I always knew that he was one of my favorite characters for a reason.

Father and son stared at each other, assessing and measuring each other. Eventually, having sensed how serious his son was about the issue, Thranduil acquiesced, nodding to Legolas.

Then, Thranduil turned back to me, flatly asking, “You, human. You said that you had read about Middle Earth in books from your world. How much do you know about Middle Earth? Also, you recognized my, Legolas’, and Tauriel’s names. You knew that I am king here, and you knew that Legolas is my son. What else exactly do you know about us?”

I was now unsure of what to say. How much should I tell them about my knowledge of Middle Earth? My knowledge about them and their lives?

I had read more than enough fanfiction to know that my arrival and knowledge could drastically alter the course of the story—the course of Middle Earth’s history. …Come to think of it, I didn’t even know yet when in Middle Earth’s history I had arrived. What Age was this? In what part of the “story” did I get dropped?

But regardless, for now at least, I had to be very careful about what I would let them know.

“Uhm, I know about Middle Earth’s creation by Eru Iluvatar… About the awakening of elves… The arrival of dwarves and humans…” I said vaguely, listing events quite far back in Middle Earth’s history that it was probably safe to mention them. Then, because Legolas was already an adult at this point in the timeline, I felt that it was okay to add, “I also know about the major battles in Middle Earth… The defeat of Melkor… and the defeat of Sauron during the War of the Last Alliance…”

The three elves noticeably stiffened at the mention of the names of those great evils.

“So, the books in your world basically tell the history of Middle Earth,” Legolas said eventually.

“Something like that, yes.”

“What did those books tell you about us?” Thranduil repeated his previous question. Apart from his words, his sharp eyes were also probing me for more answers.

“The books mention prominent figures and their roles in Middle Earth,” I said, keeping my answer as basic as possible. I wasn’t sure yet whether I should be telling them that the major books were actually novels in which they are main characters, with their lives, dialogues, and actions being described in detail.

“So, that is how you recognized our names? From those books? It is very strange that books in another world mention us,” Tauriel stated, exchanging a glance with Legolas.

“Uh, yeah. From the books. And the movies,” I added, remembering that Tauriel is only featured in Jackson’s movies and not in Tolkien’s books. But hey, Tauriel was right here in front of me now. Clearly, she actually existed. So, what did that mean? Was the Middle Earth that I found myself in like a mixture of the books and the movies? That would make things even more complicated…

“Movies?”

Oof. Right. Now, I gotta explain that modern innovation to elves from another world. My strange day just kept getting stranger and stranger…

“You guys know about theatrical plays where actors portray characters and dramatize stories, right?” At the nods of confirmation from Legolas and Tauriel (Thranduil just remained impassively watching me), I went on, “Well, movies are basically like… like recordings of those plays. The plays’ visuals and sounds are recorded, and then, you can watch the recordings anytime. And there are movie adaptations of those books about Middle Earth.”

“Visual and sound recordings? And they can be watched anytime? How is that even possible?” Legolas asked, looking mildly stunned and impressed.

“My world is much more technologically advanced than Middle Earth. We have lots of modern innovations.”

While Legolas and Tauriel were trying to fathom the concept of movies, Thranduil seemed to be continuing his personal assessment of me. His gaze made me feel like I was being x-rayed. Every single aspect of my being meticulously and relentlessly critiqued and judged.

My gaze met Thranduil’s gaze. His eyes were such a striking shade of ice blue. Beautiful. If only his glare wasn’t just as cold as ice. And as sharp as daggers.

Intimidating though his gaze was, I held my ground, holding his gaze and hoping that he would conclude that I was being honest and that I meant no harm to him and his kingdom.

Then, finally—

Thranduil sheathed his sword.

And I let out a gust of breath, visibly sagging with relief. This seemed to amuse Thranduil, for a small smirk briefly flitted across his face before it was stoic again.

“Very well,” Thranduil said. “For the time being, you may stay in my kingdom.”

“Really?! Thank you so much!”

But he quickly cut me off. “Once again, your gratitude is misplaced.”

“…You’re not doing this just purely out of kindness, are you?” I surmised. Just as he had claimed before that they hadn’t treated my wound for purely altruistic reasons.  

“You assume correctly, human,” Thranduil nodded once in acknowledgement. “In the wrong hands, your knowledge of Middle Earth may be dangerous. We cannot let you fall into the possession of some nefarious entity.”

I pursed my lips at his talk of me being someone’s “possession,” like I was just some object to be owned. But Thranduil had a very valid point. So many evils crept in the shadows of Middle Earth. If they found out what knowledge I had, who knew what nightmarish experience they might subject me to in order to gain access to this knowledge? And if they ever gained access to this knowledge, who knew what chaos Middle Earth might fall into?

Thranduil went on, “And besides, I am still unsatisfied with the lack of answers regarding that ball of light, and to learn more about it, your presence might be required. I need to find out what exactly it was, who was responsible for it, and how it managed to bring you from your world to my kingdom.”

“And why it brought you to Middle Earth, specifically to this forest,” Legolas added as he contemplatively looked at me. Then, noticing his father’s quizzical look at him, Legolas elaborated, “Well, there are countless other places here in Middle Earth where that light could have brought her. Yet it brought her here, to our forest. It dropped her right in front of us. Why is that?”

However, Thranduil just dismissed that implication. “The ‘why’ part is perhaps the least of our worries. I doubt that there is some ‘higher purpose’ to her being brought to our forest specifically, if that it was you are wondering, Legolas. It is only our unfortunate luck that she ended up in our forest. And if there is some higher purpose, it is only that she is meant to be yet another challenge that I must overcome. Another test or problem for me to resolve.”

“Hey, that’s not nice!” I protested indignantly. Jeez! So, in his mind, I only ended up here either because of bad luck or because I was meant to be “a challenge for him to overcome”? Both options were quite unflattering.

“It is the truth,” Thranduil simply stated. I opened my mouth to protest some more, but his eyes hardened again as he continued, “And though I am allowing you to stay here, this comes with strict conditions that you are to follow. No excuses. No exceptions.”

“And those conditions are…?” I asked tentatively.

“You are a human. We are elves. There are numerous differences between our races and cultures. Even more so since you come from another world. You are to respect our customs while you stay in this kingdom.”

“Of course,” I agreed immediately, nodding. I was happy that his first condition was quite reasonable and something that I was only too willing to do. Elves had different beliefs and practices, and it was just proper that I respected the different culture of the people whom I’m staying with.

“Second, you are not to wander outside the boundaries of the palace,” Thranduil continued. “The whole point of allowing you to stay here is to prevent you from falling into the hands of nefarious entities, and you wandering outside the safety of my kingdom would defeat that purpose.”

I nodded again. Thranduil didn’t even have to worry about me straying out of his kingdom. Me, just stroll out into a forest filled with giant spiders? Yeah, no, thank you!

“And most of important of all,” Thranduil said sternly, his eyes narrowing further. “Legolas and Tauriel will act as your guards while you stay here. Both or at least one of them must escort you everywhere, at all times.”

“Wait, what?”

Thranduil just ignored me then, and he spoke to Legolas and Tauriel instead, “You two are to keep a close watch on her.”

If Legolas and Tauriel were surprised about and/or resistant to this setup, they showed no signs, just simply bowing in deference to the king’s order. Me, on the other hand? No way that I was just going to take this quietly!

“I don’t need protection,” I said irately.

“It is not for your protection that I am assigning guards to you. It is to ensure that you do not try to escape,” Thranduil replied, giving me an equally irritated look.

“Escape?! Why would I escape?! I don’t even know how to get back to my own world! Where would I be escaping to?!”

Thranduil once again paid no mind to my protest and just went on, “And it is also to ensure that you do not cause trouble in my kingdom. I do not want a human disrupting our daily lives and the operations of this kingdom. Legolas and Tauriel will keep you out of trouble.”

“I’m not looking to cause trouble!”

“Yet your mere arrival here has already troubled us.”

I scowled at him, but I realized that there was no way out of this for me. The king clearly viewed me as a possible threat, so whether I liked it or not, I’d have guards.

My dissatisfaction with this arrangement was quite obvious, and Thranduil gave me a disparaging look. He huffed coolly, “Be grateful that I only assigned guards to monitor you. I could just have you locked up in the dungeons. That would be much easier for us.”

Anddddddd that shut down all my protests.

Having assigned guards or being locked in a dungeon cell? Yeah, I knew right away which one I’d pick. Guards, it was, then!

“Having guards to watch me is fine,” I backtracked quickly.

Thranduil smirked (sadistically, in my opinion). “I thought so.”

Then, I glanced at Legolas and Tauriel. “Are you sure that you want to assign Prince Legolas and Tauriel to watch me, though? I’m guessing that they actually have more important duties to do.”

Surely, “babysitting the human” was such menial work that’s way beneath the Crown Prince and the captain of the guard? It’s bad enough that I had to have guards—it made it even more awkward when my guards had such high status.

“Right now, you are the greatest threat to my kingdom. Thus, I can entrust only my son and my captain of the guard with this task.”

“I am not a threat!” I insisted heatedly. Did he really have to treat me like I was some ticking bomb that could go off at any moment and ruin his kingdom?!

However, Thranduil didn’t even give me the dignity of responding to me anymore, instead just gliding out of the room without another backward glance at me, making me fume even more.