Title & Chapter Number: Border Crosser 8/?
Author(s): - Author's Index
Website: Moviecostumes.com
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of J R R Tolkien, the Tolkien Estate and Tolkien Enterprises. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warnings: Graphic het sex, violence, angst, character death. I am not responsible for any injuries that might occur while jumping from various old trees.
Betas: Zee, Lenara, SoErl.
Cast: OCF, Haldir, Galadriel, Celeborn... well, and almost anyone else you could imagine when thinking about `Lord of the Rings'.
Timeline: AU
Spoilers: None
Summary: If there was a passage to Middle Earth from our world, what would you expect to find? or: Tolkien invented Middle Earth - didn't he?
Notes: My OFC(s) are mine; the Elves that Tolkien invented (he did, didn't he?) are not mine (what a pity!). A special "thank you" to the Kronos Quartet / Clint Mansell / Fatboy Robert s for the "Requiem Overture", giving me (and brought me through) several dar k nights when writing this. Thanks to Xavier Naidoo and Rufus Wainwright for their music that inspired me. Thanks to the Goddess for letting me find peace and inspiration. And thanks to my ever-curious and inspiring beta readers, pushing me forward on each chapter.
Dedication: This one is for the two only real Elves on earth; To the Silver One: You will always have a special place in my heart and memories; to the Golden One: You are a legend, a saint and the only true heir of Gil-Galad I know. Let's burn them down! :-)
* SPECIAL WARNING: There are real people avatars innocently depicted in this fic. They belong solely to themselves, no harm became of them and no offence is intended. It is just my way to pay the tribute to these real people, for without them, we would not have words and images of the wonderful Elves in our heads. This is posted with the List Mum's approval.
Chapter 8 - The Dinner
We entered the dining room of the Lord and Lady of Calas Galadhon. Again, I was overwhelmed by the beauty in every bit and piece of this place.
The table seemed to be a special kind of tree, the branches formed the plate, arching out from the middle, as firmly woven into each other that I could not see though. The chairs were carefully carved with intricate designs; the walls were also formed by branches and leaves, and the ceiling was open, and twinkling stars and moonlight helped the candles to enlighten the room. It was breathtaking.
And there he sat, the Hobbit of them all, the master of the fans, probably one of the most discussed directors in the history of movies. I received a look from him, beneath his brows, somewhere behind his glasses; and the beard formed a smile. This was him, the man whose voice I had followed through endless hours in front of my TV, focussing on the directors comments on the DVD's. This was Peter Jackson.
"Good evening, Mr. Jackson, pleased to meet you", I brought out, and sat on the chair that Haldir advised me to sit in.
"Good evening, Mrs. ...? "Michaels, Dana Michaels", I said, staring at him, barely remarking that Haldir took his place next to me.
His brows arched. "Do I know you?"
"No", I replied, "I'm just a Border Crosser like you."
"Border Crosser? I did not know that there were others around."
"Yes, I am."
He thought for a moment, and I found out that it took longer than for the Elves when they are thinking about something.
"Which time are you from?", I asked him, wondering if he had already made his movie.
"I came from the end of the year 2005", he replied, "and you?"
2005. The movies were already all out. "I am from the middle of 2003", I said.
He looked at me, intensifying his stare; and I knew at that moment that he realized that I knew his connection to the Elves. He was obviously tensed, and I wondered if he feared that I could talk about what I knew about him in our world.
I tried to ease the tensed situation by throwing in a joke that only he would understand; I was sure that he knew what was talked about him. "So I know where the only true Hobbit in our world got his inspiration from."
He gasped - and laughed. The ice was broken.
I had so many questions to him, that I wanted to ask so badly; but before I could start, all of them seemed so little and unimportant when the door swung open, and the Lady and her Lord entered.
The same feeling that I had the first time I saw her overcame me. She was of such superb beauty, the skin seemed to glow, the eyes inside her face were even brighter, and she had this strange kind of ageless look in her absolutely even face. I shivered. And then I saw him.
The first thought I had was that the worst error that Peter made on the movies was choosing the actor he chose for this character, or at least the way how he had put him in the movie as some kind of `Galadriels shadow'.
Celeborn, here, in the reality of Middle Earth, was unbelievable, gorgeous, exquisite; not like in the movie, where he seemed to fade away in the shadow of his wife.
Even the beauty of the Lady did no justice to him. And even if I thought before that Haldir was already the most beautiful being I had ever seen in my life, he seemed pale and fading next to the Elflord.
The wise blue eyes of the centuries old creature rested on me. He seemed to see through me. The face was without doubt older than Haldirs; nevertheless, there were no signs of age in it. An ageless beauty, equally to his Lady, with unspeakable power and wisdom.
Shivers ran down my spine. I suddenly had the strange thought that if I had seen Celeborn undressing that night, the Elves would have found me in a lasting state of shock, ecstacy, and probably unconsciousness, as I wouldn't have been able to stand this beauty. What are you thinking there, Dana?
I rushed up from the table. "Good evening, my Lady, my Lord", I nodded, probably just to wake me up from the thoughts I just had.
The Lady smiled at me; and something in her eyes, which were also smiling in a strange kind of glow, showed me that she exactly knew what I thought just a moment ago.
Dammit, don't I have any privacy here?
It was surprising to me that my thoughts seemed to cheer her. I focused my thoughts on her. If it worked one way, why shouldn't it work the other? While she passed the table I strongly thought [Why are you smiling?] And the answer came, right to my brain, my thoughts, my mind. [You thought about beauty... I love thoughts about beauty...]
[Thoughts about beauty... you are right, Lady Galadriel, these thoughts are beautiful...] It was quiet interesting to experience a conversation in a psychic way. I felt like asking something, but not in public; and focussed on her.
[My Lady... do all Elves talk to each other like this? Can I talk to anyone like this? Do you read all my thoughts?]
[I am surprised you can focus that way at all, many other Humans can not do this... Yes, the Elves often talk like this... and yes, I could read all your mind if I wanted to, but the years taught me that it is more interesting to talk with real words, and so I do not read others thoughts too often, and especially not all of them... I still like surprises...]
Now that was surprising for me. Giving up the ability to know things in advance, just to be able to have a surprise.
Both of them sat down on top of the table. I sat next to the Elflord on the corner; Haldir sat to the other side; Peter sat on the opposite of the table on the corner, and next to him, Galadriel.
I decided to try my focussing on Haldir, just once, just for fun; but I barely thought that it would work.
I made a great effort to think about *what* I could ask or say to him, and the moment I thought about this, I remembered him braiding his hair the night before. I still could see these gentle strokes of his hands on his hair in my memories.
[You have wonderful hair], I thought carelessly, and before I realized what I had just done, the March Warden turned his head to me, quickly, surprised, giving me a surprised glare.
I could see the surprise and amusement in his eyes; and was shocked and embarrased that this really worked, especially with what I just thought. He said nothing, and none of his thoughts came to my mind. He looked straight again; and I knew that he tried to get back to his normal attitude.
"Peter and I had an interesting subject this afternoon", Lord Celeborn took charge of the conversation, and his quiet, yet strong dark voice surprised me. How relaxing.
I looked at the Elflord, sipping from the wine that was in my glass. It was fresh, cold, and tasted like - roses? Interesting flavor, I thought; the wine tasted exactly like roses.
Peter picked up the conversation. "I have made the observation that none of the plants existing in middle earth exist in our world. Some flowers and bushes look likely to what we have, but I took some leaves of them with me when I went back and had them examined in a laboratory. The result was that they look likely to our plants, but they are not. Even more surprising was the fact that the plants died as soon as I had brought them to our world. I found that observation interesting as well."
"But some of the animals that live here - horses for example - are the same as in our world, right?"
"Yes", Peter replied, "and no. They, also, seem to be likely or even the same to ours, but they are not. Their blood is completely different from our horses blood. Besides that, I found it surprising that this world seems to have to offer any kinds of animals that we have in our world as well; and even more, like the Wargs for example, which just don't exist in our world."
I thought hardly. "But this also means that our world has less to offer than this world, right?"
"Yes", he replied, "it seems to be like that."
The Lady decided to speak a word. "I find it far more interesting that the Border Crossers from your world can come and go from here without harm; but if we have someone crossing the border, they all come back sick, and often die after their return."
That was a new aspect, to me as well as to Peter, it seems. "They get sick? They die? And the magic Elvish medicine cannot help them?"
Lady Galadriel looked at her plate sadly. "Yes. They die. If they do not die, they stay sick for the rest of their lives. It does not matter if they are Elves, dwarves or men of our world... we have tried it; several times; the result was the same."
Peter and I looked at each other. "Could it be the sun? Or the air?", I asked.
"Well, if it was either one of them, why are we in perfect health when we come here and even feel better when we go back again?", he replied.
He was right, and as I knew that he already crossed the border more than once and therefore should know what he was talking about.
"Maybe it is about the pollution in our world?" He looked at me with asking eyes.
"My Lady", I turned to her, "when did you first try to send someone over the border; and far more important: In which age and year of our time did they land?"
She thought for a while, then said "I guess they all have ended up somewhere between 1800 and 2050, as far as we could tell."
"The ones that ended up in later times... were they the ones that died; and the ones that landed in 1800 were the ones that just got sick?"
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, how do you know?"
I stared at Peter, he stared at me, and we both knew what these Elves could not understand.
"It's the pollution of our world, my Lady", I said. "Your people here are used to the clean air, water and environment of Middle Earth; but our world of today is full of poison, smoke, industrial exhausts and dirt. It is no wonder why they become seriously ill when they come to us; they are not used to that. On the other side, it is completely clear why we, if we come to your world, feel better every day."
"How could we confirm that?", Peter asked. "If this is the solution, I would like to know for sure."
"I do have to cross the border in a few days. If I could take a sealed vessel with me, with some air and water of middle earth, I could have a laboratory verify the idea; and bring the results back with me when I return."
Peter nodded in a satisfied kind of way. "That is a good idea, Dana; I even know a laboratory that could do this... but are you sure about wasting two passages in such a short time?"
"Yes", I replied, "I am. I will even "waste" another passage on a close friend that I will bring back with me when I return, because she deserves it."
I remarked that the Elflord smiled at my words. "Mylord... was there anything funny?"
"No", he replied, "I was just surprised that I just found out once again that not all humans are completely selfish."
"I brought two visitors, giving away two of my passages", Peter protested.
"Yes", replied the Lady, "But that was to prove to them that this world and we really existed, and not because they `deserved it', correct?"
Peter grumbled something into his beard, the Lady and the Lord laughed.
We spent the evening talking, laughing, discussing our world; and Peter told some stories about what he experienced during his former visits in Middle Earth.
He was a little sad, even though, that he could not go further from Lothlorien than a maximum distance of seven days; he admitted; he would have loved to see Rivendell, meet Arwen and Elrond; but that was not possible as he had to return to our world within a fortnight; and neither Galadriel nor Celeborn could say if or where the other passages to our world were; they just knew the entering point in Lothlorien, under the old mallorn tree.
How much I would have liked to see these places as well.
The wine made my mind spin, and my thoughts, while still following the conversation with delight, wandered to Haldir, next to me. I did not touch him while sitting there, still could feel that there was someone sitting next to me, by the body heat he streamed out.
I giggled, the wine made me dizzy, and I thought that I might had enough. I tried to focus on him, again, for fun. [Wine, I want wine]. He stopped moving and eating, stared straight, grabbed the phial of wine and poured some into his glass. "Care for some wine, Dana?", he asked, his eyes twinkling to me.
"Yes, sure", I revised my former thought of having enough; it was so exciting and satisfying to see him offering something to me.
"The stars and moon are beautiful tonight", said Galadriel, slowly getting up from her chair. "Anyone caring for a stroll in the gardens?" Celeborn shook his head, obviously he had enough wine as well. "I will go to bed, my friends; have a nice evening." Peter raised as well. "I would love to walk through the gardens with you, My lady", he said.
Haldir jumped up, and said "I will guard her, Mylord. This would not be a bad opportunity for Dana to see our gardens in the starlight as well". I looked up to him, still dizzy from the wine. Was the March Warden just doing his duty, guarding his Lady, and searching for a good excuse by taking me with him?
The Lady seemed to read my thoughts, and said "No need, Haldir; you are off from your duty for today."
Haldir grimaced; the Warden obviously did not want to let his Lady go without her husband *and* without his protection, I thought.
"Well", he said, "I guess we could use a little walk, anyway, right, Dana? We still have something to discuss." I remembered our conversation before dinner, but even if I thought that all that should have been said had been spoken, I agreed on the idea that a little fresh air would do me good, after all of this talking and... wine.
"Right, Warden", I replied, not letting him forget that I knew (or thought I knew) about his real intention.
He pulled my chair away, and I got up, grabbing his arm, letting me lead down the endless staircases from the giant trees.
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