Chapter One: In Which Characters Are Introduced by Means of

Dorky References, Horseback Riding, and Strange Jewelry

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any people, places, things, or any other nouns invented by Tolkien that I use in this story.

Random Quote: "Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." ~Carl Zwanzig

The stable smelled of horse droppings and hay.

The constant neighing of horses filled the air, and the atmosphere was dark and clammy. Adonnenniel had a hard time imagining what joy her sister could possibly derive from coming here every day after school for three hours. The place was so isolated, so far away from the city. Estela may prefer horses to humans, but Adonnenniel would much rather be with her friends. Preferably shopping or seeing that new movie with Johnny Depp.

She felt so out of place here. She and her sister were similar in some ways but vastly different in many others. Whereas she was lively and social, Estela was introverted and silent, and preferred living in her fantasy novels and history textbooks rather than interacting with real people. Adonnenniel sighed, and checked her cell phone for the time. Her sister was late. She silently vowed that this would be the first and last time Estela convinced her to come here. She still wasn't sure what had come over her in saying yes.

Leaning against the stable door, she idly scanned through her phone's contacts. 'Where are you?' she typed. Her phone beeped at her. Geez, she thought, You don't even get service in here. She flipped her phone off, catching a glimpse of her reflection in its black screen. A pale face with high cheekbones and soft gray eyes framed by dark, paper straight bangs stared back.

Not that she was conceited about it, but Adonnenniel knew she was beautiful. It was obvious from the way guys at school fawned over her, and plenty of girls were less than civil with her. Sometimes she hated the attention, and wished that people would stop judging her based solely on her looks. At other times, she basked in her beauty, and loved how it lent her confidence.

Adonnenniel sighed again. Another ten minutes had passed, and Estela still hadn't come yet. It was possible her sister had simply forgotten. Her sister was a creative soul, scatter brained and disorganized, but also spontaneous and mature in ways. But good qualities aside, if Estela didn't arrive in the next five minutes, Adonnenniel was so ditching this smelly stable.

But ten minutes later, just as she was about to leave the stables and head back to her car, she heard the approaching sound of car tires on gravel. A moment later her sister walked in, dressed in a brown T-shirt over a pair of worn overalls and boots. She had her auburn hair secured tightly in two long braids draped over her back.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting forever and it stinks in here. Literally. You should seriously clean up in here sometime. And what are you wearing? It looks really dorky," Adonnenniel said with a laugh.

Estela spared her an amused look. "They're called overalls. And they're comfortable. And it's not my job to clean the stables, Mr. Miller owns the place. I just rent the horses. Look, do you wanna learn how to ride or not?"

"After being stared down by all these horses I'm not so sure about it now. I swear, that gray one has it in for me. He's been eyeballing me for the past half hour."

"Don't worry, they won't bite." Estela unlatched the stall's door that held the gray horse. She stroked its mane affectionately. "This is Alex, named after Alexander the Great," she said. "Ironically, he's the tamest, so you'll be riding him."

She eyed the horse warily. "And who are you riding?" she asked.

"Theodora," Estela replied. "Named after the Byzantine Empress."

Adonnenniel rolled her eyes. Her sister had an obsession with world history. "Do you name all your horses after historical people?"

"No. You see the golden mare a few stalls down? That's Eowyn, named after my favorite character from Lord of the Rings. And the chestnut one is Luna. Like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. The speckled white one closest to the door is Carton, from A Tale of Two Cities."

"You realize you're a complete and total dork, right?"

"Yes, and proud of it. Come on, I'll teach you the basics and then we'll try riding," Estela said, leading her sister toward Alex.

Estela trotted at a brisk pace behind her sister, gritting her teeth. Like everything else in her life, Adonnenniel had been able to pick up riding like it was nothing. It had taken Estela weeks of hard work to be able to trot without falling off, and her sister had mastered it in two hours. Estela sighed. She needed to stop envying her sister. But then again, it was difficult not to envy her.

Adonnenniel was the type of girl who attracted boys and people in general like a magnet. She was charismatic, sympathetic, and gorgeous. She was a natural onstage, and her talents lay in basking in the spotlight and singing. She often got lead roles in school musicals and plays. And even though Estela was two years older, people at school knew her as Adonnenniel's sister. She had no reputation of her own. Estela often wondered how they were possibly related.

"Can we go faster?" Adonnenniel yelled over the wind.

"Yes," Estela shouted back, "Just don't get too far ahead of me." Adonnenniel sped up. "And stay on the farm, don't wander near the woods," Estela shouted, hoping her sister had caught that last bit. She slowed to a walk, watching her sister move further into the distance. There were eerie rumors revolving around the woods, none of which Estela believed, but still.

She remembered the bizarre story Mr. Miller had told her of how one of the horses had vanished into the recesses of the forest and was never found again. The search party, as if determined to report back something, had said there was an intangible but very present feeling that surrounded the forest, otherworldly and foreboding. Estela had never ventured near the forests' borders, but sometimes when she rode close, she felt inexplicably drawn to it somehow.

"Come on, Estela!" Adonnenniel was far ahead of her now. As Estela watched her sister, the jealousy she had felt early rekindled. Even after riding for hours, which would make anyone else's hair at least somewhat disheveled, Adonnenniel still looked like a model. Her waist length hair fell in a straight sheet of black down her back, blowing softly in the wind as she rode.

Estela gingerly fingered her own hair. She always wore it up, simply because it was too much of a hassle and constantly got in her face when she wore it down. Her hair was long and dark red, and tumbled down her shoulders in waves when she wore it down. She also had glasses, something her sister did not need.

"Estela!" Adonnenniel shouted. "I found something, come here!" Estela ordered away any thoughts of jealousy and rode towards her sister, who was nearing the outskirts of the forest.

Adonnenniel dismounted Alex, and looked down at the object lying on the ground that had caught her eye. It was a tiara, fashioned from a metal she had never seen in jewelry before. Adonnenniel had gone through a phase during freshman year in which she collected all sorts of exotic pieces of jewelry, ranging from simple bracelets to intricate earrings.

But this was like nothing she had ever seen before. Its beauty was pristine and simple at the same time, and that simplicity was what made it so mesmerizing. The design was a swirl of leaves laced around each other in a seemingly never ending pattern. She picked up the tiara and fingered it gently. Despite the warm spring air, the metal was cool.

"Adonnenniel, you shouldn't leave Alex standing there without at least holding his reigns. He's not likely to run off, but just in case." A sharp voice cut through Adonnenniel's musings. Estela had approached her silently, and was gazing at her with a questioning look.

"Look what I found," Adonnenniel said, not having registered anything her sister had spoken. "It's a tiara."

"Where'd you find that?" Estela asked, dismounting Theodora. She grabbed both horses' reins in one hand.

"On the ground here. Isn't it beautiful?" Adonnenniel looked at her sister. "You know, it would look really pretty in your hair. Why don't you put your hair down and I can put it on you?" she said excitedly.

"Adonnenniel, it doesn't belong to us. Let's ride back. I don't like being this close to the forest. And that thing doesn't belong to us, we should just leave it here."

"I just wanted to see what it would look like on you." Adonnenniel approached her sister steadily, and before she could react, Adonnenniel snatched one of her sister's braids and yanked the pony tail holder out.

"OW! Geez, that hurt!" Estela protested, but Adonnenniel's fingers were already untangling her sister's hair and removing the other braid. The feeling of her hair dangling freely around her felt foreign and strange to Estela.

"Your hair is beautiful, you know. I don't get why the heck you insist on wearing it up all the time," Adonnenniel said as she skillfully wove her fingers through her sister's hair. "Please let me put the tiara on you? Just for a second, and then you can take it off. And I'd better take your glasses off too. You look better without them." Behind her back, Adonnenniel reached into her back pockets and turned her cell phone's camera on.

"Fine. But no pictures," Estela said. "I know you well enough."

"Yes, yes, that's fine," Adonnenniel said soothingly. She took her sister's glasses off, pocketing them, and placed the tiara around Estela's head.

"Wow, it fits you perfectly," she stated. It was true. The tiara fit on her sister's head as if it were made for her. It shone brilliantly against her dark red hair, and brought out the flecks of dark bronze in her hazel eyes.

"And I feel like an idiot," Estela mumbled.

And then, before her sister could protest, Adonnenniel whipped out her camera and shot a picture.

"I told you no pictures!" Estela said irately, rushing toward her in an attempt to snatch the phone. As soon as she made the sudden movement, Estela gasped and recoiled.

"What's wrong?" Adonnenniel asked worriedly.

"My…my head," Estela whimpered. She suddenly fell to the ground, and lay motionless.

"Estela!" Adonnenniel shouted, rushing to her sister's motionless figure. She put a hand to her forehead and a finger to her wrist. Her forehead was incredibly cool as if it had been submerged in ice, but her pulse was normal.

And then she saw the back of her sister's head. Warm, red liquid seeped freely from it and fell in rivulets to the ground. Oh God, she hated blood. Adonnenniel felt bile rising in her throat and shrieked, yanking the tiara off her sister's head, not quite sure how that could possibly help.

As soon as her fingers made contact with the cool hard metal of the tiara, an intense feeling of pain erupted in her hand, as if the tiara had send electric chills through her body. She moaned in pain and let go of it, but felt heavy darkness pressing against her mind. Her vision blurred, and she passed out beside her sister.

Estela opened her eyes, and gasped. Her head hurt. She remembered once when she had had the flu, it had felt as if someone was pounding her head with a hammer. This was ten times worse. She couldn't think, she couldn't move. All she could do was lie on the ground, rendered helpless by the pain, and stare at her surroundings. She turned her head to the side, sending starbursts of pain through her body, and gasped.

Adonnenniel lay beside her, motionless. Her sister's arm was coated in a thick layer of dark red grime. Estela stared at it for a minute, stupefied, and then realized with a jolt that it was blood. This realization hit her with a sudden force that sent adrenaline streaming through her veins and enabled her to sit up straight to examine her sister. She knew from the parts of health class she had bothered listening to that you were supposed to apply pressure to stop the bleeding if someone were wounded. She looked around her, hoping to find something to use to cover the wound.

And that was when Estela realized they were no longer on the farm.

How did this happen? How long were we both unconscious? And most importantly, where are we?

She looked frantically around. They were in a forest, but it was unlike any forest she had ever seen. The trees were thicker and greener, and stretched higher than she could see. It was strange. The place was entirely alien but a sense of familiarity was growing in Estela, as if she had been here before.

Remembering her sister, Estela shooed away these thoughts and turned toward Adonnenniel.

"Adonnenniel?" she whispered. Her sister's wound had stopped bleeding, but her body was paler than normal and scarily motionless. Since the wound had stopped bleeding, there was nothing Estela could do to help her sister. She kneeled helplessly at her side, watching her sister's face for any sign of movement.

There was no water anywhere around them, and she was hesitant to venture deeper into the forest. Every story she'd ever read clearly showed that deep forests were not places to be alone in.

Estela felt suddenly angry. She hated not being able to do anything, not knowing if her sister was going to be alright or not. But most of all, she hated the sense that something unexplainable had happened, that she was no longer who she had been in her own world. Her own world, she thought again.

That was when it hit her. She wasn't just not on the farm, she was in a different universe altogether. She couldn't place her finger on what exactly told her this, it was just a feeling. A feeling so strong and so overwhelming that she was forced to believe it in spite of its absurdity.

A sound of approaching voices suddenly reached her ears. What was that? she wondered frantically. They were drawing nearer, and she could now make out some of what they were saying.

"Traveling across the Misty Mountains will take perhaps forty days…"

"Wonder if we'll get second breakfast on this trip..."

"Will we then take the Pass of Caradhras, over the mountains' side?"

"Glad we departed Rivendell at dawn…"

Rivendell? Thought Estela with a jolt. She recognized that name vaguely. She had read The Hobbit once when she was thirteen, and had seen the Lord of the Rings movies just last year. She was pretty certain that Rivendell was a dwelling place of the Elves.

Oh my God. Oh my God, she thought. Am I in Middle-Earth? The thought of it was so absurd she had to stifle a laugh. Surely she was going crazy. She glanced back at her sister, and any remnants of laughter died in her throat. The severity of her situation remained. The owner's of the voices were closer now, and they had stopped talking, but their footsteps were not far away.

Well, no matter who these people were, what mattered right now more than anything was her sister's wellbeing. Here goes nothing, she thought. Don't think, just do.

"Help!" she called. "Please help!"

The group suddenly turned around in surprise, and she sucked in a gasp. Even from afar, the people looked oddly familiar, as if she had met them or seen them somewhere. Suddenly, Estela felt the dull pain in the back of her head more sharply than she had before. She gasped, clutching her head. Her thoughts blurred. She was dimly aware of the group steadily approaching her. Several of them pulled out things that looked like weapons. Weapons? What the heck? The pain in her head suddenly intensified.

"Why were you calling for help?" A voice reached her ears, suspicious and wary. Her vision wavered, and she feared she would pass out again.

And then she remembered her sister, and suddenly felt a wave of inexplicable anger pulse through her. Her sister could be dying and she was allowing herself to succumb to weakness. A feeling of strength and boldness encompassed her, and she forced herself to ignore the throbbing in her head and turn toward the group.

"It's my sister," she said, making eye contact with the man who had spoken. She motioned toward Adonnenniel's still form. Estela thought fast. There was no way she could tell these people the truth. "We were horseback riding, and she fell off and hurt her arm. She's injured and I don't have bandages with me."

"You are hurt too, My Lady," said a small person with curly black hair and wide blue eyes. My Lady? What?

"I'm fine," she snapped. Could they not see Adonnenniel lying motionless on the ground? She moved aside. "It's my sister who needs help. She's not conscious." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she gasped in pain. Her head felt as if it were imploding.

"My Lady, your head is bleeding." A tall blonde man emerged from the group and looked at her with bewilderment and concern. Somewhere in the back of her mind, it registered that he was extraordinarily good looking, but his beauty had no effect on her at the moment.

"My sister!" she shrieked. "Help her, please! I'm fine." Another tall man stepped forward, this one with dark wavy hair.

"She is hysterical, Legolas," he whispered to the blonde. Recognition swept over Estela like a wave.

"Legolas?" Estela shrieked. "As in Greenleaf? The Prince of Mirkwood? Oh my God. Oh my God." She started shaking uncontrollably. "And you must be Aragorn then," she said, addressing the tall one with dark wavy hair. "Or are you still going by Strider at this point?" A hysterical laugh escaped her lips. Legolas and Aragorn were staring at her with pure shock etched on their features.

"How did you know our names?" Legolas asked sharply. His voice did not register in Estela's mind.

Her gaze wondered to the short black haired one. "Frodo? Oh my God. This isn't real, this isn't happening." She backed up, pulling Adonnenniel with her on the ground. She felt hysteria pulling her down like a heavy weight. Her mind was scrambled, disoriented, and the pain in her head was intensifying. Her gaze fell on each of the men, and names and memories as if from a past life rose within her. Gandalf, Boromir, Sam. Merry and Pippin. Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli and Frodo. Oh my God, it's the Fellowship.

It was too much. She couldn't process all of this at once. She felt darkness pressing down on her for the second time that day. She looked at Adonnenniel. She was engulfed by that feeling of helplessness once more.

"My sister," she whispered, before blacking out.