In advance of this chapter I prehaps should make it clear I have nothing personally against fourteen year olds who fancy Orlando Bloom. Fancy away, me dears. *grin*

When Penny came to she was not entirely sure what was going on for a few moments.

She was in someone’s arms, that much was clear. She groaned a little. The movement stopped and she was aware whoever it was was putting her down gently on the floor.

“Pen-ii?”

She opened her eyes.

Halbarad. She smiled weakly.

“Goheno.”

He shook his head and smiled in return but she could see a sadness and incomprehension in his face. She felt tears prick her eyes. This was mad enough to her but it must seem even madder to him, to them all. She stared at him for a minute as a realisation hit. He probably DID think she was insane. Her throat tightened. She really wished she had not worked that one out.

She was aware she needed to pee. Again. This was going to be interesting. Her mind was racing as to how she was going to ask him where and how she could relieve herself. She could feel herself flushing with embarrassment.

Halbarad was looking at her, wondering why her face was red all of a sudden.

“Halbarad... I... err... oh bugger, how do I explain this?” She put a hand on her stomach and looked anxious.

Halbarad suspected what she might be asking. She would have a chamber-pot in her room, would she not? Still, it might be worth showing her where the latrines were in any case. That way she wouldn’t have to wait to ask and could just use them when she needed. He nodded.

She hoped he had understood her. Well, she would find out soon enough.

He was talking to her, offering his hand and clearly asking if she thought she could stand. She nodded and struggled to her feet, with him bending slightly to hold her round her waist and then under her arms with one arm to keep her upright. As they walked along the corridor she felt her strength returning a little and eventually, assuring him she was alright, she broke free of his supporting arm and continued walking by his side.

He led her to a doorway that opened into the dark night. To one side of the door was a little alcove in the wall with shelves on which were several candlesticks and lanterns. Halbarad took two of the lanterns, handing one to Penny and then, opening the little door in his, he removed the candle and lit it from one of the glowing wall-brackets. Then he motioned for her to open hers, which she did, and he lit the candle within it and replaced his own in the lantern. Then he beckoned her to follow him. The path was clear enough. Penny just hoped she would remember the way to this door from inside the building for when she next needed to use it.

She was soon stood in front of a small wooden building, exactly like an outhouse. Something was written on the door in tengwar: presumably the elvish for ‘thunderbox’. She smirked. What a thought!

Halbarad opened the door and reached to his left where there was a shelf with jugs on it. He picked one up, showing it to Penny and then pointing to a water pump stood to one side outside the latrine. He handed her the jug and she, awkwardly and with difficulty, worked the pump handle and managed to fill it.

Halbarad, watching her, realised just how weak she was. ‘She can’t have done a day’s physical labour in her life!’ he thought, astonished.

No wonder she had taken so long to wash the clothes back in Bree and no wonder the hobbit woman had helped her. He had heard all about that from Butterbur.

And her glaring at the women opposite her.

And her using soap.

He shook his head and chuckled. She looked up at him.

“Yes, laugh away! It’s all very well for you, Mr ‘I can wave a sword above my head and have muscles the size of footballs’. This is hard work.”

He smiled apologetically. Then he said he would wait for her back at the door, pointing in that direction. She nodded and he wandered back along the path through the trees.

At least there was no stench coming from this latrine. She had suspected, elves being elves, it would be presentable. She was astonished by what she found, though.

The only light was that of her lantern. The room was completely enclosed except for narrow slats near the roof to allow some daylight in and air. She looked to one side and saw the shelves packed with jugs, clean towels, spare soap. On a kind of counter below them was a bowl, presumably to wash your hands in.

The latrine itself was fashioned like a seat of sorts. Along the far wall was a low, wooden bench with a hole cut in the middle much the same size as that in a modern toilet seat. On one side of the bench and within easy reach there was a pile of leaves – both green and dry – and a tub that contained some powder or pale earth in it and a scoop. She wondered what the tub and scoop were for. The floor was laid with matted rushes and was clean. There were bowls of scented dried flowers at various points in the room. The latrine, as she neared it, did have an odour to it, but not too unpleasant. It was earthy, musty. You could tell what was causing it but it was not overpowering and seemed ‘softer’ in its tone than you would expect. There was clearly something they were doing to keep the smell down. She wondered if there was something they used to keep it all under control, something they poured over it. Was that was the powder was for? Was she meant to use it? Anyway, the point was it was clean and pleasant enough and she didn’t have to face the nightmare that had been Bree. She was thankful to find out that that was a unique experience, and one she NEVER wanted to repeat.

She poured the water she used to wash her hands away outside. She had noticed there seemed a slight damp patch outside on the earth and had suspected, rightly, that that was what you were meant to do, so leaving the bowl clean and empty for the next person to use.

She found Halbarad waiting for her just inside the door, having put his lantern back and extinguished the candle. He led her back to her chambers, which she now realised were not that far from this outside door.

As he turned to leave her, he stopped and turned back to her.

“Pen-ii?”

She looked at him. He pointed to her PJs, still held to her chest.

“Goheno nin,” he said gently. She nodded, smiling at him.

“Le hannon,” she replied. He inclined his head and left.

As she lay in bed that night she could not sleep. She was turning over and over in her head the strange interrogation she had had with Elrond, Aragorn, Gandalf and Halbarad. She felt her emotions swinging from distress and fear to hysteria and the lunacy of it all. Most of all, though, she felt that same, old panic. Panic that she was even here in the first place, let alone what they must think of her, added to the fact that she could not understand them nor make herself understood.

She had really banked on Gandalf. He was limited by his physical form, no doubt. That thought did not help her much though.

Halbarad had returned to the others and the discussion went on late into the night. It was about Penny, but also about many other serious, indeed more serious, matters that needed to be thought about and talked over. Nothing could be decided or acted upon just yet, of course, but once Maura was awake...

“She was expecting something from me,” Gandalf was saying. “I disappointed her somehow. It is... it is as if she already knows us.”

“Well, she does. Or as heard of us all at least,” Aragorn pointed out.

“Indeed, Aragorn.” Gandalf nodded slowly. "I think, though, that she was hoping that I would understand her. I alone, at least, even if the rest of you did not. Her panic and fear when she realised I did not, or do not as yet, is what overwhelmed her earlier, I believe. You say she also fainted when she saw Elladan?”

Halbarad nodded, “Yes. Clearly the first time she had seen one of the Eldar.”

“Even so it was an extreme reaction and yet she had heard of us, and my family in particular. And lembas. It is all very strange,” Elrond was very puzzled by all this.

“There is something about her,” Gandalf was saying quietly. “Something I cannot quite put my finger on. It is as if... She reminds me of those I have met or known from long ages past... and yet... it is as if it is the exact opposite.”

The others looked confused.

He looked up and saw their bewilderment and laughed. “I did not say it made any sense, or that I understand it myself. I can only tell you what I sense from her. It is something familiar and yet utterly unfamiliar at the same time.”

As Aragorn and Halbarad walked back to their chambers in the early hours, Halbarad insisted on taking a detour past Penny’s door. He pressed his ear against it.

“Halbarad! What on earth..?” Aragorn hissed but Halbarad motioned for him to be quiet. He beckoned him over and Aragorn too listened.

It was very faint but unmistakeable even through the wood.

Sobs. She was weeping.

The morning rose bright and clear. Penny was not woken, by the express orders of Elrond, and was left to sleep. As a consequence it was mid- morning when she finally rolled over and stretched. The bed was comfortable, the sheets fresh, and for a brief, all too brief, moment she thought she was back home.

She was groaning to herself that she was probably late for work, seeing how much daylight seemed to filtering through her eyelids. She sighed.

“That was the maddest dream. Really long one too.”

As she opened her eyes at last she was confused. Then she panicked and closed them again with an expletive.

Where was she! She had not got drunk again and ended up at Brian the Computer Nerd’s flat again, had she! God, she hoped not! That had been a SERIOUSLY bad mistake the first time around. She would not be that stupid, would she?

She groaned as she realised it would entirely depend on how drunk she’d got.

She opened one eye again. Definitely not her room. But definitely not Bri’s room, either.

Then, as she saw the murals, took in the washing bowl and jug, the elven green dress she had hung over the back of a chair, it all came flooding back. It wasn’t a dream. More was the pity.

A black gloom took her then. She lay in bed for quite a while staring at the whitewashed ceiling.

She was really here. She was really, actually HERE. Somewhere that didn’t exist. She had met, now, five people who she knew by name and yet they didn’t exist. Couldn’t exist. Had never existed. Yet she had spoken to them, touched some of them, would have even gladly strangled one of them on more than one occasion.

How? HOW! How did she get here? What the bloody hell was she going to do now? How would she get home? Could she get home? The tears pricked her eyes once more. She wondered what her mother must be going through.

She sighed and shook her head, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and pushing the sheets and blankets off from around her.

It was pointless thinking about it. She had spent most of the night going round and round trying to make sense of it and had succeeding in just upsetting herself and nearly having another panic attack. She knew she was possibly on the edge of a nervous breakdown as it was or complete insanity. She felt she was barely holding the plot together, frankly. She needed to just NOT think about the questions or implications of it all for a while. She just...

What did she ‘just’ need to do? Enjoy it? Hah! That was a laugh. Tolkien nut finally in Middle Earth yet too freaked out to enjoy it? Of course! How COULD she? It was all too weird. Too real. Too bloody terrifying.

She thought of all those Mary Sue fics she had enjoyed loathing all these years. She chuckled. She’d like to see some fourteen year-old Orli fancier cope with THIS lot. Could ANYONE cope with it? She seriously doubted it. SHE couldn’t, that was for damn sure!

She washed her face and underarms with the scented soap and the flannel. She was grateful she’d shaved recently, but even so: there would come a point when her armpits would need dealing with. And her legs. But armpits were more important.

A thought occurred to her. ‘Oh bugger. No safety razors. Cut throat or nothing, probably.’

She didn’t like the thought of that AT ALL. Cross that bridge when she came to it, she supposed. She giggled at the thought of Halbarad looking at her like she was insane (just for a change!) as she mimed shaving and then pointed at her armpits.

THAT was something she would be intrigued to find out: were elves ACTUALLY hairless or not? Come to think of it, she could find out the answers to all those niggling questions: were there one or two Glorfindels? DO Balrogs have wings?

She chuckled. Well, she thought, at least she could see the funny side. Sometimes. For a brief second or two. She sighed.

She was hungry. She dressed and ventured out of her room for a rekkie.

Elrond was busy all morning. Frodo was still unconscious and needed tending to. That morning the dwarves from Erebor had arrived so Gloin, Bilbo and Gandalf had been catching up. Halbarad and Aragorn were spending much of their time together and Aragorn introduced him to Merry, Pippin and Sam.

Halbarad was amused by their informality with both Aragorn and Gandalf when he joined them all later but then he knew how the Shire folk could be, if only by reputation and Gandalf’s accounts of them, and was not surprised. He could see the elves were, though. That amused him even more.

He wondered how Penny was. Gandalf advised that she be left be, though.

“She needs to find her bearings. Give her time. Time can work wonders. We will discover her secret and help her, I am sure of it, even if it takes us a little while to do so. Like you I do not think she is dangerous, other than being a danger to herself by her ignorance and strange behaviour. But she is not a threat to us in the way that the Shadow and his minions are. At least I do not believe so.”

“Elrond is more cautious of her, though, is he not?” Halbarad asked.

“Yes indeed,” replied Gandalf, nodding. “But do not blame him. This is his realm and these are his people. It is right that he should be wary of anything that may endanger them.”

Halbarad nodded. He had not expected anything less of Elrond and did not blame him in the least. He would be thinking exactly the same way in his position.

Meanwhile Penny was wondering what time it was and if breakfast might still be available. She felt shy to just go wandering about in search of the kitchens, though, or even just helping herself if she found them. She preferred to bump into someone in the hope they might offer her something. Better yet: find Halbarad (now her constant and her rock). ‘Even if he is irritating beyond belief at times,’ she thought.

She passed many elves in the corridors as she wandered. They would smile and nod at her and she shyly returned their greeting. Every time she saw one she felt her stomach tighten, her head reel a little, and yet with every elf her sense that this was real was strengthened. In the most insane way possible it was actually making her feel more sure of things.

She knew she was utterly lost now. There was no way she could have found her way back to her chambers. She came across a door that led outside.

“Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess,” she murmured and headed out.

The sun was shining and there were few clouds in the sky. It was mild enough, given the time of year. As she stepped out and into the greenery, Penny gasped.

It was beautiful, just as the interior was. There were paths leading off into the trees. Glades were visible here and there. Buildings, like summer houses, or mere gazebos, were dotted here and there, with wild roses and vines twining round the pillars holding up the roofs. There was a fountain, the music of the water as it tinkled back to earth a delight to the senses. She could smell roses and orange-blossom and herbs as she walked. For the first time she could truly forget: utterly lose herself in something wonderful and amazing without thinking about where she actually was or what had happened to her.

Then she saw them. A small group, some sat on a bench, the others lying back or sitting on the grass round about: Gandalf and four hobbits. One was clearly a little older than the rest and was seated next to Gandalf on the bench. One hobbit was lying on his stomach, his bare feet crossed together up in the air. The other two were sitting listening as Gandalf regaled them all with some tale. She stopped short, her heart thumping and her mouth dry.

She had not noticed, some way to her right, Aragorn and Halbarad who had wandered from the main group, having heard this story many times before, to discuss private matters.

It was Aragorn who saw her first and, stopping his friend in mid-flow, gestured to her. They both stared, seeing her as she spotted the hobbits and froze, watching the colour drain from her face.

Halbarad shook his head. “Just like when she saw Elladan,” he muttered.

They started towards her, worrying she may be about to faint once more. As they neared her they could hear her talking quietly. One word seemed familiar: ‘Bilbo’.

“Do you think she means Bilba?” asked Aragorn.

Halbarad nodded. She had to.

Aragorn narrowed his eyes. Having heard of people with importance was one thing. Having heard of a hobbit whose only significance was that he had once carried something that few should know of was something else entirely.

She was walking. Fast. In a direction AWAY from the hobbits. As they watched they saw her pick up speed and start running through the trees.

“Quick, Aragorn, before we lose her!”

Halbarad was off, Aragorn behind him. Gandalf, looking up, had seen her in the distance and the two Dúnedain after her. He stood, apologising to the hobbits, and followed at a more respectable pace.

She was crying, the tears streaming. She had no idea why she was running. She just wanted to get away and yet she knew how futile it was.

She heard a voice, someone shouting her name. She did not stop. The voice got nearer, and then she heard footsteps chasing her, and finally an arm on her shoulder, stopping her and pulling her round at the same time. Halbarad, and Aragorn behind him, their faces concerned and breathing hard.

“Pen-ii! What has happened?”

Halbarad was talking, his voice earnest but a little hard. She shook her head, bringing her hands to her face as she wept. She slumped to the floor.

“You wouldn’t understand, Halbarad, there is no point in me trying to explain.”

She looked at him as he crouched in front of her, and then up at Aragorn who was standing looking down at her kindly but serious.

“Goheno nin. It’s all I seem to say, I know, but...”

She broke down once more.

A grumbling voice told of Gandalf’s arrival.

“What is going on here?”

Halbarad and Aragorn explained. Penny looked up at the mention of Bilba and periannath. They all noticed. Gandalf crouched down to her as Halbarad and Aragorn watched.

“Do you know of Bilba, my child? You have heard of him also?”

She wondered what he was asking. And why was he calling Bilbo...? Oh, of course. Westron translation.

She suddenly realised she could not remember any of the hobbits names. Their REAL names. Saying Frodo, Meriadoc or Peregrin would be hopeless.

“What are you asking me about Bilbo.. Bilba?” She corrected herself.

“Bilbo?” Gandalf asked, surprised.

She nodded. “In my tongue he is Bilbo, not Bilba.”

Gandalf, Halbarad and Aragorn exchanged a glance. They did not understand. Did this mean she knew of Bilbo or not?

She looked at Gandalf, “Mithrandir, try and understand. This is all very confusing. You should not be here, or I shouldn’t be here, or I don’t know what, frankly. You are none of you real and yet you are. I do not understand. I cannot make you understand. I am frightened, Gandalf. Frightened and alone and lost and I feel like I am going mad. Are you getting ANY of this at all?” She looked at him desperately.

Gandalf nodded.

She could see he had not understood her word for word but she got the impression he had got the gist of it. Why she got that impression she did not know. It was highly likely she imagined it, basing it all on her desperate hope: clutching at straws.

Gandalf turned to the others. “I do not understand completely but as I said before she is frightened. There is something about this, about being here, about seeing and meeting us that is terrifying for her. I do not know why, but I believe with each new person she meets who she knows or knows of, we can expect this reaction.”

The two men were looking at him with open mouths.

“But how? How can she know of us? Without having met us? Without coming from any one of the cultures or peoples we know of?”

“I cannot answer you, Aragorn,” Gandalf responded, shaking his head sadly. “Not yet. Time. Time and patience. We will get there.” He turned back to Penny, still sniffing slightly on the ground. He held out his hand to her, “Come, my dear. Have you eaten yet today? It is soon midday and we shall have some food.”

She took his hand and found great strength in it as she pulled herself up. He was much stronger than the weak old man he appeared to be. Not that she was surprised.

They walked back to the halls of Imladris in silence. Halbarad motioned that they were going to eat and smiled at her obvious delight.

“Hungry?” he asked, patting his stomach.

“Very,” she nodded, spreading her arms wide to indicate a huge amount. They laughed.

“She can be quite pleasant when she is sane,” murmured Aragorn to his friend.

“Yes indeed. It’s just a pity it happens all too infrequently.”

“Patience,” grumbled Gandalf beside them.

Lunch was a strange affair for Penny. It was held in a large dining hall where there were huge and magnificently detailed tapestries on the walls. Elrond was not there, since he was eating in his chambers, but the hobbits were and many elves.

Penny stuck close to Halbarad who led her to sit a little away from the company so she wasn’t so overwhelmed by it all. Aragorn joined them while Gandalf sat next to Penny. On the other side of Aragorn and Gandalf from Penny sat the four hobbits. She tried not to stare, but the two men and Gandalf noticed her occasional glances in their direction.

One hobbit seemed younger than the rest, both in features and mannerisms, and she wondered if that was Pippin. As for which of the remaining two was Merry and which Sam, she had no idea. She felt self-conscious with them all there and ate little in the end, sticking to bread and fruit. There was wine, however, but after Halbarad’s stern glance after her second cup she refused Aragorn’s offer of a third as much as she wanted it and felt she needed it. The moment she felt she could help herself, if that ever happened, she was loading up on the booze and getting slaughtered, she decided. Halbarad or no bloody Halbarad.

As she sat, sipping a cup of water and watching the extraordinary amount of chatter and eating going on with the hobbits, some figures caught her eye. Dwarves. A group of about five or so. One had a white beard and was dressed in a white tunic with a silver and jewelled necklace.

Her stomach swam. The Council. Of course.

“Glóin,” she murmured.

Gandalf exchanged a sharp look with Aragorn and Halbarad’s spoon stopped on its way to his mouth. They watched as she followed the dwarves with her eyes as they left the hall.

“Gimli would have been among that lot. Wonder which one he was?”

She suddenly saw Aragorn was staring at her. She flushed, turned to Halbarad and Gandalf and realised all three had heard her. She looked at the table.

“Goheno nin.”

That was turning out to be the most overused Sindarin phrase ever.

Elrond had wanted another questioning of Penny that day. He would be free for an hour or two in the afternoon. Aragorn and Halbarad had agreed, feeling that there were too many important questions that needed answers. Gandalf, however, said ‘no’.

“As I keep saying, she needs time. I think we will get a lot more from her once she has settled down a little. It is all too much for her right now.”

“What is all too much?”

“I wish I knew, Elrond,” Gandalf sidhed. “That is what I read from her. I think it more productive if we wait, till tomorrow or the day after.”

Elrond argued the point but Gandalf would not be moved. As it was the matter was decided when Frodo woke later that day. The Council would be now held tomorrow and so no questioning would be done of Penny till at least the day afterwards.

“The matter of the One is far more pressing. Elrond, I know you do not sense such an evil from her. Therefore I feel we can afford a delay. The One, however, will not wait,” Gandalf said quietly.

Elrond conceded the point. He did not like having this stranger who knew far too much in their midst, but it was true he sensed no immediate threat from her as such.

That evening, as they all ate in the great hall, Elrond, Aragorn, Gandalf and Halbarad could see Penny’s face, white and strained, as she cast her gaze about her, knowing that near enough the entire Fellowship were here bar Boromir, that Legolas and Erestor would be here, that... yes... she could see Elladan or rather two elves who looked exactly like Elladan seated near their father. There was a beautiful blond, male elf beside Elrond and she wondered if that might be Glorfindel. Near enough in the centre of the table, beside Aragorn and near her brothers, sat Arwen. It had to be. There was no-one else it could be. She was extraordinary and Penny was immediately reminded of the wall-hanging of Luthien she had seen in Elrond’s study.

Halbarad, sat next to her, could see she was very withdrawn and quiet, that she was taking everything in, and gasping slightly as her eyes fell on one individual or another. Penny could feel her heart thumping. She ate little, even though Halbarad insisted she try. She listened to the chatter around her, watched as the hobbits tucked into their food with relish. She spotted the dwarves and the one with the white beard in earnest conversation with a hobbit she had not seen before, perched on a pile of cushions.

Frodo. It had to be. Frodo and Glóin had talked at the meal the night before...

Penny stopped breathing as it hit her...

The Council. It would be tomorrow.

Le hannon - I thank thee