Disclaimer: Other than everything that's not already been come up with by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien or Peter Jackson, I own nothing.

"Noelle, Noelle!"

Twelve-year-old Noelle Thompson frowned at the interruption of her reading of The Return of the King. She looked up to see her younger sister, Aubrey, standing over her.

"What is it, li'l sis?" Noelle asked, putting her book away. "I was at the best part! Frodo is standing over the Crack of Doom!"

"You mean they have that in the book, too?" Aubrey smiled. She had only seen the movies. Poor thing, thought Noelle.

"Of course," Noelle answered. "Peter Jackson got it from somewhere."

Aubrey jumped onto the bed and crossed her legs. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Noelle grinned.

"Well...I know this sounds stupid, but do you ever wish you were in...well, whatever they call the place that The Lord of the Rings is in?"

"Middle-earth?" Noelle twisted her mouth thoughtfully. "Well...sometimes, I guess." Actually, Noelle had been wishing she was in Middle-earth ever since she had gotten a new history teacher at school. But that is quite another story.

"I wonder if there is a way to get there," Aubrey said.

"The Lord of the Rings is just a made-up story, Aubrey," said Noelle, but she wondered if going to Middle-earth would really be possible.

"That's...sad," said Aubrey. Then she brightened. "Oh! I have an idea. What if you and Tricia and I practice a play so we can show Mom and Dad when they get home? Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Yes, that'd be a great idea," Noelle replied with a smile. She and Aubrey jumped up and ran down the hall to Tricia's room.

Noelle threw open the door. "Trish, do you want to act in a play with Aubrey and me?"

Tricia looked up and shrugged. "I guess, if you want." She was never the enthusiastic type. "What's the play going to be about?"

Aubrey grinned. "The Lord of the Rings."

"You can't do that," said Tricia. "LOTR is way too long for us to do a play on."

"I didn't mean the whole thing," Aubrey giggled. "I meant just part of it."

"What part?" asked Noelle, as she didn't know either. Tricia walked into the hall.

"Well, those people in The Two Towers, in Rohan. You know, the mother sending her two little kids to the king's house."

"You mean Morwen and Éothain and Freda?" said Noelle. "That would be hard to do, but it would work, I guess."

"Let's practice in the tree house," suggested Aubrey. She took both her sisters' hands and led them out the door and into the yard.

"It's rehearse, not practice," corrected Noelle. Aubrey opened the tree house door and beckoned with her hand. "Come on in, y'all," she said.

Tricia, Noelle, and Aubrey went inside the tree house. The youngest let the door swing shut. "Now then," said Noelle. "Don't none of you worry. I got all them lines memorized. Who's gonna be who?"

"Easy," said Tricia. "I'm Morwen, Noelle's Éothain, and Aubrey is Freda. We are doing that scene where Morwen sends them off, right? Not the one in the Golden Hall or in Helm's Deep?"

"Yeah, because that's the easiest," said Aubrey.

"Who's going to be the horse?" asked Tricia.

"Why, Dernhú, of course," Aubrey replied. Dernhú was their dog. His name was Sindarin for "tough dog".

Tricia seemed a little skeptical. "I don't know if Dernhú can hold both Noelle's and your weight."

"Well...we can just pretend to ride him, then." Aubrey spoke very confidently.

The three girls, after Noelle told them their lines, began to rehearse. They went through the scene at least six times before all of them were satisfied.

Noelle sat down against the tree. "Boy, I really wish I was in Middle-earth."

"So do I," said Aubrey.

"So do I," said Tricia.

The room was silent for a few seconds. No one moved. Then Noelle had a strange feeling in her gut. She sat up a little straighter. In the process her head pushed a little against the tree trunk. A portion of the bark gave way and fell into the tree. Noelle gasped and spun around. The tree was hollow!

"Oh, Noelle..." breathed Aubrey.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tricia.

"I never knew this tree was hol—" Noelle began, but cut herself off when she saw the inside of the tree began to glow, brighter and brighter until the light filled the whole room like the light of the sun. No one said anything. There was nothing to say.

Noelle leaned forward a little into the tree; only, it was no longer a tree inside, but an entirely different world. Noelle put her hand out into the Other World, whatever it was, and waved her hand around a little. The air seemed real enough. Noelle felt a hand on her back. She turned. Tricia was frowning a little and wagging her head. Don't… she mouthed.

"No," said Noelle. "I'm going anyway." She put her hand, the one she had waved around, on the bottom of the opening and used it to propel her body into the brilliant sunlight of the other world, not knowing where she would land.

A/N: Thus begins the revised edition of The Time That is Given Us. If you have not read the original already, there is no rush. Read it if you want; don't read it if you don't want. I intend to update regularly: once a week if I can. But whatever you do, please leave a review—positive, negative, or neutral—and follow or favorite as you see fit.