An Unexpected Journey? You Better Believe It!

In Which Traveling Is Long and Boring

Jael slowly sank to the ground, pretending that her legs had not just given up on her, and began to contemplate the meaning of her existence. Finally, after a good deal of thought, the only idea she had come up with was to see if Kili and Fili could lead her to Gandalf. He was probably the only one who could help her get back to Earth because Jael absolutely refused to have anything to do with Saruman the "White".

So, Jael eased herself off the ground and edged carefully into the clearing. "Hello."

Fili and Kili jumped up, blades in hand, and she put her hands in the air. "I come in peace." Take me to your leader. If I didn't think they'd kill me for that, I would have actually said it. "I was wondering if you could tell me where I am? I got lost in the woods."

They looked at each other, slightly lowering their blades, and then Fili responded, "You're in the woods outside of Bree."

Bree? So, they are headed to the Shire then? So a believable lie? Or the unbelievable truth?

"Ah....I was told to meet Gandalf the Grey in the Shire, but I got lost. Do you know about how far away that is?" Believable lie it is. Well, slightly believable lie it is.

Kili and Fili looked at each other, communicating silently as only siblings can, before turning back to her. "We are meeting the wizard and can take you to meet him, if you like."

She nodded, "I would like that very much. Thank you, Masters...?"

"Kili..." The brunet stepped forward, and the blond quickly followed.

"And Fili...at your service."

"Jael, at yours..........Now, I have a question....I have two companions. I wonder if they could come as well?"

After another round of silent communicating, Fili and Kili seemed to have no problem with that, and Jael turned around and whistled loudly.

Soon there was a rustling in the bushes, and Fili and Kili jumped up, weapons in hand, at the sight of the two giant dogs. Jael quickly reassured them. "Everest, McKinley, lie down!"

She turned to the dwarves, "I apologize. I perhaps should have warned you of their size."

"How did you get dogs that big? I had almost thought they were wargs if their fur had been shorter."

"Ah, they're a breed called Tibetan Mastiffs. Usually used to guard dwellings or herd animals." Jael was making a conscious effort to speak with the speech patterns of Middle Earth. She wasn't sure if she should tell them she was from another world...that or she was in a coma-dream, but either way, she had no interest in being considered crazy by her favorite dwarves.

"Are they carrying packs?"

"Yes, I was asked to train these two to carry, and so I forewent a pony so that they could carry what I needed. They have been properly trained at last." Yeah took them forever to learn to carry a pack and leave it alone. Everest used to worry it; tried to tear it to pieces more than once. Wait...stop rabbit-trailing! I swear!

The dwarves nodded thoughtfully and then gestured for her to join them in sitting around the fire.

"So, Miss Jael, where are you from?"

What do I say? What do I say? Come on! Don't freeze up! Think of something! "I'm originally from England, but I move around a lot now because of my job." Oh, that was brilliant. As if they know where England is. You are seriously the worst liar in the world.

"England?" It was quite clear that neither of the dwarves had ever heard of England, and it was equally clear that they were going to ask her to describe it. So Jael did the one thing she was amazing at......she panicked and changed the subject.

"So how far are we from the Shire?"

She sighed, internally, with relief when the dwarves accepted the change in subject, and the conversation quickly began to speed along. Not too much time had passed before the dwarves decided to turn in for the night.

"Do we need to set a watch?"

Kili and Fili glanced at her, and then at each other, with Kili eventually piping up. "No. We are close enough to Bree that there will be no danger."

Although skeptical, Jael had no real reason to doubt them, and after searching through her memories, and finding that in both the movies and the book, Kili and Fili had not been attacked before they officially set out on the quest, she lay down in her sleeping bag, forgoing the tent that would have marked her as even more different than she had already shown herself.

Her dogs curled up on either side of her, and she soon fell asleep, slightly warmer than she wished to be, but completely unable to force the dogs away from her when they were in a world so different from her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Jael woke up, she felt as if she were suffocating. She opened her eyes to see that her dogs had moved in their sleep, and her face was now pressed into Everest's fur. No wonder I couldn't breathe.

Sitting up, she wiped all the fur from her face. "Stupid shedding dog...." She muttered, semi-angrily, and then looked around, noticing for the first time that both Fili and Kili were staring at her in amusement.

She blushed, buried her head in her hands, and groaned. "Kill me now."

Both Fili and Kili were noticeably alarmed, "Why would we do that?"

Jael stared at them for a solid minute before bursting out laughing. "No, it's just an expression from my home. I didn't actually mean that I wanted you to kill me. Seriously....it just means that I did something so embarrassing that I wish I didn't exist so I wouldn't have to remember it....." She trailed off at their amused faces....."Just like now.....Yep....feeling the same as earlier....." Jael sighed.

"Can we please talk about something else?"

The brothers laughed and said, "Actually, it would probably be best if we were to leave and head for the Shire now."

Jael nodded and began to pack her things, whistling for the dogs, and placing their packs on them. All in all, she was the first one ready to go, and she stood, smirking, waiting for the dwarves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although she finally had gotten to meet some of her favorite characters, she still wasn't quite sure that she was happy that was in ME. Sure, it meant that she could talk to them and get to know them, but she knew their ending....she knew when they died and how they died.

Should I do something? Can I even do anything? I mean.....am I even able to stay? And if I stay....how should I try to save them? What could I do...........

Kili and Fili seemed to notice her distraction, and they made every effort to turn her attention back to them. They had so many questions for her that she began to feel as if she were babysitting her three-year-old neighbors again. Ok....they may be my favorite characters, but I am this close to putting them in a coma so that I can get some peace! I never knew dwarves could be so talkative.

Hour after hour the dwarves asked her questions until finally, she had enough. "That's it! No more questions!" What should we do instead so that I don't kill them.............I've got it!"

"Let's play I-spy instead." Anything is better than answering more questions....it's getting harder and harder to avoid messing up and saying I'm from another world.

"What's that?"

Jael sighed, "And now I'm explaining I-Spy to dwarves.....weirdest thing that ever happened to me, right here......No, I take that back......no wait, rabbit-trailing, sorry." She turned to Kili and Fili, who were staring at her, slightly confused and definitely amused, and continued.

"I-spy is a game where one person picks something, like a color or an object, and all the others try to guess what it is. So if I were first, I would say, 'I spy with my little eye something that is green.' and you would have to guess what it was."

Kili looked just a bit too excited for a game that was essentially for bored children on a road trip, and Fili still seemed slightly unsure, but Jael was so happy to have something else to do than answer their unending questions that she didn't care.

"So, who's going first?"