"I was just wandering around after school only a few days after your disappearance and found myself in front of the blackboard in Mrs. Slegh’s room eventually. I noticed an elvish quote on it, and interested, I read it. Almost immediately I began to feel dizzy and next thing I know I’m waking up in the sick house of Edoras!" Nikki finished as Katy and I effectively cleaned our dinner plates.
"So… Everyone knows we’re missing then?" I asked. Nikki nodded, "Drat, there goes my hope of going back to exactly when we disappeared." I said sulkily.
Katy finished popping a piece of bread into her mouth, "And Stacey got kicked out of Lothlorien?" She asked with a smirk.
"No!" Stacey insisted defensively, "I wasn’t kicked out! I was just…"
"Forced to leave?" I supplied innocently.
Stacey whacked me and I laughed, earning myself another whack, this time harder. I glared at her and was about to retaliate when she started speaking again.
"As I was saying, I wasn’t exactly kicked out…"
*******
"Crap! I didn’t know that was flammable!" Stacey exclaimed for the umpteenth time as she watched some elves putting out the tall flames.
"You guys should really put warning labels on these things, someone could get hurt." She advised the elf standing next to her, he merely gave her an odd look.
Stacey rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on! You can’t just not talk to me! I know you understand me!"
The elf sighed, "There has not been a child in the Golden Wood since Lady Arwen was a babe, and I, of all people, have been assigned to your guard."
Stacey shot the elf a withering glare which he took no heed of, "Yeah, I think Galadriel wanted someone who could understand me to be my bodyguard."
The elf raised an eyebrow, "First of all, Lady Stacey, I do not think anyone could understand you." Stacey shot him another glare, "Second, I was not assigned to guard you, rather to guard Lothlorien from you."
Stacey whacked him on the side of the head and he looked at her in surprise. "You’re already fudging up that job, elf-boy!" She said sarcastically, looking at the nearly extinguished fire sourly.
The elf sighed dramatically, "How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?" He questioned, "And this wouldn’t have happened if you had told me you were leaving your room."
"Captain Haldir," One of the elves walked up to the couple as the fire was finally smoldered behind him, "The fire has been extinguished."
"Yes, thank you." He said, dismissing the younger elves before turning back to Stacey. "Perhaps we should just put a fire hazard sign on you."
Stacey glared at him again before turning and walking away. Haldir followed quickly, not about to let her out of his sight again.
"I do not see how one maiden could cause so much trouble in such a short amount of time," He continued, "In the last week alone you have managed three fires, a small flood, and the injury of five elves!"
"And I’m going to make that six if you don’t shut up." Stacey threatened darkly.
Haldir merely glared back at her with a look of equal or greater threatening potential, smirking in alleged victory as Stacey turned swiftly and began walking away.
As was always the case, the incident of the morning was all but forgotten by Stacey only short hours later as she became bored and decided she needed someone to talk to. Haldir being the only elf on hand to speak the same language as her was an obvious target. So it was the evening meal found the two (mostly Stacey) chatting together at a dining table.
"And then she popped it! Can you believe that?" Stacey asked as she finished up another meaningless story.
Haldir, realizing too late there was going to be a quiz responded with a hasty, "Yes." Seeing the dangerous glint in Stacey’s eyes, informing him he’d answered incorrectly, he quickly amended his answer, "I mean: yes, I don’t believe it!" The human sitting opposite him didn’t look impressed. "What were we talking about, again?"
Stacey sighed exasperatedly, "Nothing! You obviously don’t care about my poor balloon brutally attacked by Rachel!"
Haldir laughed, "I do not think Lady Rachel would brutally attack anything, save you… And perhaps orcs, she seemed pretty anxious about killing orcs when I brought her on watch with me."
Stacey pouted, "She did attack it! And killed it too! My poor, defenseless, little balloon."
"Balloons, from what you tell me, are not alive." Haldir pointed out, "Therefore it would be quite difficult for anyone to kill one."
"Sure, take her side!" Stacey exclaimed, annoyed with him once again, "It was my balloon! She had no right too—" She stopped her sentence short as something else caught her attention.