Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own anything that is obviously Tolkien's in this story. I claim my OC's only and admit to playing unashamedly in this wonderful sandbox of imagination. Thank you.

Also note that there is mild language in this chapter. Be advised. Lol.

Prologue:

In rural Ontario, the topic of 'the weather' has a time honored place of importance in conversation making among farms, which is why it is only fitting that we begin our story by discussing said topic. After all, it does all begin on a small farm...and the weather...

The weather was down right nasty, though not in the least bit unwelcome by the local farms of the area and Emily did have to agree that the rain was something to welcome with joy after such an abnormally hot spring. However, she really wished that it hadn't been during the two weeks she was home alone that worst storm of the season had hit. Not only that, but the storm had finally blasted in off Lake Huron about the same time she had to do the barn chores.

Dark storm clouds rolled overhead and flashed with light. The wind howled and ripped leaves and branches off the trees making the world seem like it was having a temper tantrum. Emily hurried through the down pour of rain towards the barn and tried not to think about tornadoes.

Usually if someone else was home (like her mum, or dad, or her two older siblings), then she wouldn't even worry about the storm since there were lots of people around to do the worrying for her. In truth she normally loved storms.

The wild, fierce beauty of them made her hair stand on end, filling her with thrilled wonder at the wonders of nature.

But, that was not the case now.

Right now she was just a worried fourteen year old trudging alone through a violent storm and trying to be a responsible adult for two weeks while her parents were gone. She didn't have time to enjoy the storm. What if something went wrong?! What if the barn roof brew off? What if the barn collapsed!? Would it catch fire if it was struck by lightening? Probably...

Oh, shut up, you idiot! Dad says it isn't helpful to ask 'what ifs' and if we are going to survive the next two weeks we need to grow up!.

Resolutely ignoring the prickling sensation of foreboding in her gut, she made it under the overhang where three horses were looking at her distastefully over having to stand out in the rain.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry! Just wait, you'll be inside in a moment." Emily said in her best business like voice. It made her feel more confident when she talked a loud and pretended she was calmer than she really was.

She moved towards the door to unlatch it, only to note that the hook was not in its place.

"Lady...have you been opening doors again?" The girl scolded. A gust of wind shook the entire barn and let the issue go as she stood very still when she thought she heard a weird whistling and ringing noise. The horses snorted, quivering and pawed the ground, ears flicking in indication that they too had hear the noise.

Her instantaneous thought was, Oh crap! Tornado! But then the faint noise faded away again and then there was nothing. The beasts calmed down again with the departure of the sound and then just stared at the door of the barn with interest. It was easy for Emily to assume they wanted in, so she warily pushed the disconcerted feeling in her gut aside and slipped through the door into the barn.

"No, Lady!"

Lady, her large pushy mare tried to shove in as well, nearly knocking Emily over as she attempted to barge past. With great effort, Emily caught the mare by the nose and then urged her sternly backwards again, smacking her great chest a little sharply so the large creature would pay attention to her. This was an ongoing battle between them. You see, Lady was top boss of the little herd and was used to throwing her weight around. And she was big. She knew it, and Emily knew it. In truth the girl was actually a little afraid of the horse when they were on the ground. Being pushed around by a horse is scary. It had to stop.

"You have to wait, now don't be so rude!" Emily snapped, forcing her fear to become irritation, though on the inside her heart was clenched.

The mare obliged with reluctance and backed back out again under the overhang. Emily sighed with relief as she pushed the door back in place and then moved to turn on the lights. They lit open area in front of the horse stalls dimly. It would take a few minutes for them to warm up. Humming contentedly to ward off the growing unease she felt, Emily set about opening up the stall doors in order to see what was needed in terms of bedding.

A strange noise stopped her in mid step. There was a soft rustle of straw from the end stall.

Rats, or a raccoon. Better grab the pitch fork.

It is a well know fact that raccoons, when cornered, can be very vicious and Emily felt better knowing she had some sort of weapon to help slow it down a bit. It wasn't like she carried the family rifle around when she did chores anyway...even then she wasn't comfortable with it. Generally she left the gun slinging to her dad or brother.

Nerves on the edge of having a break down at this point, Emily cautiously swung open the last door and then froze staring at the dark, huddled mass in the corner of the stall, trying to make out what it was.

She released a sharp squeal of fright when it moved. Leaping back she brandished her pitch fork with panic until she caught a better glimpse of what the 'thing' was as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.

It was a child. A young boy of about six or seven, in fact. He was dressed in the most unusual attire, as though he just came from a medieval fair or Halloween party. His dirty chin length hair definitely looked the part, anyway.

As he gazed at her with wide, tear filled grey eyes, not making a single peep Emily just started at him in shock. She didn't have the slightest idea how to respond as she returned his frightened gaze with her own wild look.

Suddenly his eyes flicked away to look with obvious horror past her left side and he cried out quickly, "Lok ot" in broken English.

Emily spun round to see the biggest, most disgustingly hairy spider she had ever seen in her entire life. Its body was the size of a small to medium dog and with the legs it looked twice that size.

Uttering a wild scream, she danced backwards. Then she went numb with shock as she backed away to child the little boy against the wall, all the while holding her pitch fork ready in front of her with both hands tightly clasped around the handle.

The spider skittered forwards, clicking the pincers and making an awful hissing noise. Emily yelp-screamed again and the little boy whimpered, hiding his face as the nightmare approached.

It was then that Emily finally realized that it was up to her to do something in this situation. Briefly she glanced down at the kid, and then Emily felt her mind go blank. Something that was a mix of maternal fury, fear, a LOT of adrenaline and self preservation kicked in and suddenly Emily was acting.

Lunging forwards, she pounced at the spider and drove the pitch fork through it's body several times with a roar of horrified revulsion.

It made a sickening crunch with each stab and the spider screamed with a piercing cries until it finally died.

When at long last it stopped moving, Emily found she couldn't stop herself from stabbing it through a few more times just to be sure as her feral panic continued to dictate her movements. Finally, she stumbled away from the body, shaking from head to foot and feeling incredibly nauseous. She then proceeded to throw up all over the concrete floor.

When she finished that she stumbled back again and fell against the wall beside the boy, whom she was only just aware of at the moment. She was shaking so violently she could hardly breath and her vision was spotty.

She could think, she could hardly breath and now she couldn't hear properly.

Gasping for control, she forced her head between her knees and closed her eyes tightly as she struggled to calm down.

Ohshitohshitohshitwhatthefreakingshitishappening!

A touch at her hand made her flinch violently, but then she realized it was just the boy slipping his little hand into hers. Gradually, as she came back from the edges of passing out, Emily was aware that he was talking to her in a very odd, but beautiful language. She was pretty sure it wasn't a language of the known world...

What the heck is going on! Who is this kid? Where did he come from!? WHY IS THERE A GIGANTIC SPIDER IN THE BARN!

What logical explanation could she find? Genetic experiment? Time rift? Other worlds? It took a bit to accept these possibilities.

Lifting her head slowly, she glanced at him again, meeting his worried gaze and nearly giving a hysterical laugh at the ridiculousness of her needing to be comforted by a child! She should be the one looking after him, not the other way around!

"Are you ok?" she croaked, whipping her mouth with the back of her hand and casting a quick glance at the dead spider. The boy looked at the spider also and shivered. Then look back at her with serious grey eyes and waited. Emily tried again, only slower.

"Are you hurt? Do you even understand me?"

His brow furrowed in concentration, then he shook his head and said softly, "Speak- not –tongue?"

Emily took a deep breath and replied, "But, you do understand?" to which the little boy nodded slowly and then made a motion with his hand that Emily understood to be 'just a little bit'.

She ran her fingers through her hair, and took another deep breath.

Well that's convenient. At least I don't have to try and deal with him not understanding me...

"Right. Ok, um...ok." She struggled to put some kind of order to her thoughts. "Ok...first thing is first...we need to get rid of that...thing...just in case...I mean, it can't stay there...we need to get rid of it. Yeah." said Emily decidedly as she struggled to her feet. The boy followed her as she edgily skirted around the dead spider and grabbed a few old feed sacks to put the awful thing in.

Now that it was dead and all curled up, it was small enough shovel into the bag, not that Emily wanted to touch it even with a shovel! But there wasn't any way around it. She needed to get rid of it.

Holding the bag open and the shovel with the spider at the same time proved to be difficult, but the little boy surprised her by taking the bag and helping to keep it open. From there the pair of them went out the side door of the barn and headed to the burn pile. It was an old metal barrel they sometimes used to depose of small loads brush. With the help of a little gasoline(which was very very carefully used, I might add), the bag and spider burned fast despite the rain. Thankfully the storm had mostly blown over and it was just wet. Standing at a distance under the shelter of a small drive shed, Emily and the boy waited for it to be safe to leave the fire.

The whole thing still felt so unreal to Emily as she stood staring at the flames. How could any of this be happening. By this point she was numb and still in shock.

After a while, the boy spoke.

"Estel." he said firmly.

"What?"

He looked up at her solemnly, and then motioned to himself and solemnly said, "Estel."

"Ohh, your name is Estel?"

He nodded and then looked at her with stern expectancy which made her want to laugh. Pointing to herself she responded, "Emily." which seemed to satisfy him. She was amazed at how calm he was now that the spider was dead, and how undaunted he was about moving and burning the body. The boy appeared to be handling things better than she was! How embarrassing was that!? He had on a very tough and brave exterior that was way beyond his years, but there was a flicker in his eyes that told Emily he was still very afraid and vulnerable. This made her selfishly feel better since it meant she wasn't totally alone is feeling so overwhelmed by all of this.

Eventually, when the bag of spider remains was nothing but ash, they went back to the barn in silence to finish the chores. Emily was on a hair trigger since she didn't know how many spiders there could be. Estel seemed to pick up on the fact she was worried about more of them and managed to tell her there had been only one.

The chores went quickly, not that there was much to do. They rented out the land now that both her parents were too busy with their other jobs to have livestock of their own. There were only the horses to care for which seemed to help make the little boy less afraid for a while. Although he never said a word to her and followed Emily silently like a shadow, mimicking everything she did with the hay, bedding and water, it was clear that he was very taken with the beasts. He whispered to them a few times in his strange language, petting their noses gently and almost smiling. All three animals loved him immensely and even seemed to 'talk' back to him when he spoke, nickering and nosing at him over the doors of their stalls. Emily was a little jealous.

Once the horses were indoors happily munching their food, Emily took Estel to the house to feed him and try to get them both cleaned up a bit. She had no idea what to do with him. It wasn't like she could call the police. What could she tell them? 'Oh hello, a little boy dropped through rift in time or space and brought a giant spider with him?' They wouldn't believe her, and she had destroyed the body of the spider. But she didn't regret doing that, and something told her in her heart she shouldn't call the police or anyone. Something told her to wait, so she did.

"Ok. I hope you are 'ok' with dogs...old Nixie here won't hurt you though...and then we have two cats...so I hope that isn't going to be a problem either...Mayhem and Hobbes...I guess I can re-heat some leftovers for us to eat..." Emily rambled as they came in the door and were greeted by a large, gentle golden retriever. Estel thankfully seemed to take even more comfort in the animals than he had the horses, instantly sitting on the floor with Nixie and then hugging the hairy beast for a bit while the dog smelled him all over. At first Emily worried the poor kid had finally succumb to shock given how long he clung to the dog while Emily stood there awkwardly waiting, but then he finally rose and followed her through the rest of the house.

While Emily reheated some dinner on auto pilot, Estel wandered about staring at everything in open mouthed amazement. Clearly he had never seen half of what is considered to be old technology, let alone new technology. The oven seemed to amaze him greatly. Then he played with the light switches for ages until Emily couldn't take it anymore and showed him something else to play with. After a bit, seemingly overwhelmed by everything, he just curled up on the couch and stared at the wall. Hobbes, an enormous cat, came to snuggle with the small human and yet again he held the creature closely, leeching the comfort from the warm fur.

Emily wondered if she should give him a hug or something...but then decided against it. Who wanted a strange person to hug them?

It was hard to convince him to eat something, not that Emily could blame him. She wasn't crazy about eating herself, so after they had both struggled through some of the meal, she gave up and let it go. He fell asleep on the couch shortly after with Hobbes in his arms and Nixie at his feet leaving Emily to watch over him and wonder.

That night was rough; for both Emily and Estel. Night terrors woke the boy several times, and the first time he was so disoriented, calling out in his strange language for someone specific. When Emily finally calmed him enough to see that he was safe, but still not home, the poor child had burst into tears and thrown himself weeping not her arms for a long time. After about the third time he woke crying out, Estel seem reluctant to go back to sleep again and Emily was briefly at a loss of what to do. In the end she settled for singing a few of the songs her mother used to sing to her when she was little. Half way through 'Hush-a-bye Mountain' he drifted off again.

Gradually, he slept more soundly and Emily herself fell asleep on the other sofa, only to find she was having nightmares too, making it Estel's turn to reassure her. He woke her the first time, shaking her gently and calling her with soothing tones. After she convinced him she was fine and got him to go back to sleep, she was never asleep deeply enough to not wake herself. By the time dawn was painting the horizon, Emily was finished trying to sleep and decided to make tea in the kitchen.

Just as she was putting the kettle on, she heard a sound from the garage. Like the door had just been closed quietly.

Heart pounding, hoping it was just her imagination, Emily grabbed the first thing she saw, a frying pan, and moved towards the second door which lead to the garage, listening intently. Before reaching it, the handle moved jiggled.

Biting a sharp yelp back into her mouth, Emily leap back from the now slowly opening door

Ooookk. Don't panic. Nevermind...Panic sound good right now! Yes...panic...definitely panic!

Not waiting to see who came through the door, Emily turned and run back through the house. There wasn't time to use the phone to call for help and she's left the phone upstairs anyway. There wasn't even anytime to get out of the house and run away!

Flying without even consciously thinking about what she was doing, Emily relied entirely on instinct. She skidded into the living room were Estel was, waking him as she came flying in. But by that time she could hear Nixie barking and growling at the intruders. Emily grabbed Estel and dragged him into a nearby closet with her. She motioned for him to stay quietly behind her, then held her frying pan ready, peeking through the crack in the door.

Nixie stopped barking and Emily felt a dreadful fear quell her gut over how the loyal guard dog had been silence. Was she dead? Silence filled the house, broken only by the occasion creak of the old wood floors under someone's weight as they crept around.

Minutes passed and the suspense became unbearable.

Finally, just when Emily was beginning to think maybe she was mistaken and that there were no intruders, three strange looking people entered the room noiselessly, making her heart stop. They carried long bows, swords, and wore impressively intricate armour. Two of them looked identical, with stern faces and long raven brown hair held back with delicate braids that came neatly around pointed ears. The other was golden blonde, with equally long hair, pointed ears and piercing blue eyes.

The moment they entered the room, they froze and listened.

Now, Emily was certain she was being extremely quiet and she couldn't hear a sound coming from Estel, so when all three heads snapped towards the closet in unison, you could appreciate that she jumped out of her skin.

One of the dark hair ones bent his bow towards the door while the other moved quickly to one side of the door. The golden hair one stared at the door with his sword held ready, face set with grim determination.

Emily held her breath, debating several things at once in her head with lighting speed. One: Who were these people? Two: Did they mean to kill her and Estel? Three: Was it better to at least try and go down fighting with a frying pan or beg for mercy?

I mean, hey, it worked in Tangled right?...she thought weakly. Then again, I don't the first thing about fighting, and they look terrifying...but if they are going to kill you anyway, you may as well make it hard for them right?...how comforting...on second thought, I might be more of a beggar...

After a brief moment, the golden warrior spoke authoritatively in the same strange language that Estel had be speaking in. Emily had no idea what he said, but Estel gasped slightly, peeking round her too see through the creak and then launched himself past her out of the closet with an enthusiastic cry.

"No, Estel, wait!" Emily called anxiously as she moved to follow, trying jump forwards to stop him only to find an icy blade centimetres from her throat.

"I would not move if I were you, girl." said her attacker in a deep and dangerous, yet beautiful sounding voice. It was the other dark haired one and she stupidly disregarded his warning not to move when she turned her head slowly, eyes travelling up the blade past his arm to his face. His hard grey eyes cut through her so sharply that Emily's eyes filled suddenly with unshed tears of fright at what she saw there. This being was old, though his face was ageless to her eyes. Where it not for the long years evident in the grey orbs, Emily won't have realized how old he must be.

The creature's eyes widened slightly at her fearful gaze, then his own cold steep gaze softened with at flash of compassion and settled to merely a stern look that still greatly intimidated her.

Emily's frying pan slipped from her limp hands and clattered to the ground with a ringing clang, which drew the attention of Estel. He had been enthusiastically embracing the other two male creatures (who seemed just as relieved and ecstatic to see him), babbling excitedly in his strange tongue before he glanced back at her when the frying pan fell and saw the sword at her throat.

Exclaiming something loudly to the one holding the sword to Emily's throat, Estel ran forwards, took her hand and put himself between her and the strange warrior. As the three creatures lowered their weapons with curious expressions, Estel appeared to be explaining who Emily was and what had happened. When he finally stopped speaking, the golden haired one addressed her with great gentility and kindness.

"It appears we owe you a debt of gratitude, my lady." He said, his gentle voice coming to her like a soothing balm over her fear of them. "We thank you from the depths of our being for protecting Estel and ensuring his well being. We deeply regret frightening you. Please accept our most sincere apologizes for our harsh treatment of you!"

And with those words, all four males, including Estel, bowed to her deeply with their right hands over their hearts.

Bewildered, Emily just stumbled back from the one closest to her, heart pounding loudly in her ears and stammered, "S-sure."

They inclined their heads in acknowledgement gracefully, and the twins(or that is what Emily assumed they were) each offered her a small, pained smile of regret that was most apologetic. It wasn't until thinking about it later that Emily realized how badly they had felt for scaring her so much, and it wasn't until they had left that she notice her entire body had been shaking.

"We shall take our brother and go now." Announced the twin who had threatened her, making her flinch violently when he began to move forwards to the others. "There is very little time in which to return to our own world."

Blinking, Emily was still trying to process what was going on. Her poor brain wasn't sure how much more of this weirdness it could take! Everything was happening so darn fast!

They spoke rapidly with Estel, who looked both relieved and then downcast. The boy looked at Emily and then rushed to her, nearly knocking her over with a big hug. He smiled sadly up at her and then departed with the others leaving Emily in stunned silence, for she didn't dare follow at that moment.

By the time she shook off the feeling and run out the door to see where they went, they had gone without a trace, leaving Emily to wonder if she might have hallucinated the whole thing and with a bunch of unanswered questions.