Travel
A/N: Disclaimers in first part of story. Basically, I don't own anyone but Lauren and other original characters. As I mentioned in the disclaimers, there were many song lyrics in the first version of this story. While the song lyrics are no longer a part of the story, I do discuss, paraphrase and otherwise use songs as part of the story. This chapter includes a discussion of a song by Evanescence, 'Imaginary'. I don't have any rights to the song.
Chapter Thirteen - Travel
As night approached, Aragorn began to feel uneasy. He had the notion that when he appeared to Lauren that night, he should appear alone, without Legolas. Not knowing why that would be the case, or if the feeling was real, the thought disturbed him. Lauren had never been able to contact him in his waking hours before and he was unsure if she was actually doing so now.
Arwen noticed his preoccupation as they were getting ready to retire for the evening, and questioned him about it. Aragorn was not sure how to answer.
"I feel that Lauren needs me to come alone tonight. I do not know why I feel this, or why such would be the case." He shook his head as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Is she communicating with you?" Arwen asked, gazing at him with amazement in her eyes.
"If so, this would be the first time," Aragorn said. "And that thought alone is enough to make me uneasy. Why would she be able to contact me in my waking hours now when she has never done so before?"
"Perhaps the two of you have only now grown close enough to make such a thing possible," Arwen suggested. She sat down beside him on the bed. "This is not entirely unheard of, Aragorn. My father and Galadriel have long been able to converse across vast distances."
"Yes, but neither Lauren nor I are elves, my love. We do not have the abilities that they are blessed with." Aragorn's voice was soft, but displayed his confusion at this latest development.
"Mayhap not, but you are family, and you have been sharing experiences in your dreams for many nights now." She took his hand in hers. "There is nothing in this contact that should make you fear. If you feel that you should appear alone, then that is what you should do. If the feeling is incorrect, and Lauren asks where Legolas is, you can then summon him. But you should first see if there is a reason behind this feeling."
Aragorn nodded. "You are wise, as always, my love." He gently squeezed the hand he held. "That is what I will do. I do not feel that I should wait. Would you put Eldarion to bed without me tonight? I want to see how Lauren is doing. Our last contact left me feeling that she is not always as cheerful as she would have us believe. She is a very complicated individual, and I worry for her. I do not wish to leave her alone any longer than is necessary."
"Then go and see her," Arwen said. "I will read Eldarion his night time story tonight, or perhaps I will allow Gimli to entertain him with a tale."
"Not one of battle, please," Aragorn responded, laughing. "When Gimli tells him tales of battle, Eldarion takes far too long to settle down again. He will never go to sleep if you allow Gimli to entertain him."
"Very well," Arwen said with a twinkle in her eyes. "I will be sure that he tells a much calmer tale tonight." She leaned over and kissed him goodnight before standing up. "Go on, love. Go to sleep, I will join you later. I will inform Legolas as well, so that he may soon venture to sleep."
Aragorn smiled and nodded at her before lying down and pulling the covers up. He was tired enough that it did not take more than a few minutes before he drifted off to sleep.
The sight before him was a surprise; he was back on a beach, the sky a clear blue above him and the ocean stretched out before him in varying shades of blue and turquoise. Boats dotted the water stretching out to the horizon. As he looked around, though, he realized it was no beach he had seen before. The material under his feet was not sand, but smooth rocks and pebbles. The coastline stretched off to curve around them, and was not the wilderness of trees and bushes that he had seen before. A city or village of some kind lined the beach. Where the beach ended, there was a street filled with cars, sidewalks full of people walking, riding those devices Lauren had named bicycles and gliding along on 'roller-blades'. Buildings rose up on the other side of the street, but the lettering on some of those buildings formed words he did not recognize. It slowly sank into his consciousness that he had been hearing music as he took in his surroundings. The music was loud and had the driving beat that Lauren seemed to prefer.
He easily found Lauren standing at the water's edge, letting the waves swirl around her legs as she sang along to the music, seemingly with all her heart. The words of this song did not seem to match the idyllic surroundings. It spoke of an imaginary world being created to escape the nightmares that reality held. And Lauren sang right along with it, speaking of being swallowed by the sound of her screaming and longing for a deep sleep to avoid the chaos of life. ('Imaginary' by Evanescence)
Aragorn frowned as he thought about those words. Was this world that she inhabited a refuge for her to recover in or a place to hide away from a world to which she did not want to return? That question touched on something he had been wondering about for some time now. She had been here for many days. Did she stay here out of choice, refusing to return, or was it indeed out of her hands, as she claimed? The words of that song seemed to indicate a desire not to return, but he did not get a feeling of despair from her right now. Despite the words she sang, she seemed to be enjoying herself. She was moving her body in time to the music in what Aragorn assumed was some kind of dancing. Her clothing was cheerful, a brightly colored summer dress with short sleeves. Their surroundings were cheerful, the sky and waters blue, the weather that of a beautiful summer day. He decided that the only way he would get any answers would be to question Lauren.
"Lauren?"
She stopped singing and spun to face Aragorn.
"Bonjour, mon ami! Bienvenue à Cote d'Azur!" A wide grin spread across her face as she gestured to their surroundings.
"Excuse me?" Aragorn asked with a blank look on his face.
"I said 'Hello, my friend. Welcome to the Azure Coast.'" She gazed around happily.
"Where are we?" Aragorn did not recognize her reference to the Azure Coast.
"We're in the southern part of a country called France." She frowned briefly as he walked over to stand near her, just out of the reach of the waves. "I hadn't meant for you to find me on the beach again. Are you early, or did I just lose track of time? That wouldn't surprise me, you know. I can easily get lost in just watching the waves rolling into shore." Her eyes were drawn back toward the water as she spoke.
"I came a little early," Aragorn admitted. "I was worried about you."
"Why?" Lauren asked in confusion, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"I had the impression that you wanted me to arrive alone, and when I arrived, the song you were singing did not ease my concerns about you."
"Oh, the song worried you?" She shook her head briefly. "It shouldn't. I know you have come to realize how music and my emotions are intertwined, but sometimes, I just get a song stuck in my head that I can't get rid of. And for a few hours now, I've had the entire Evanescence CD stuck in my head, playing from beginning to end, over and over. It's a little odd, actually, but I don’t mind. They're one of my favorite groups."
"But the words…" Aragorn began, shifting uncomfortably.
"Kind of apropos, aren't they?" Lauren said with a little laugh. "But don't worry. Most of their songs are a little…dark or depressing, or something, but I like them anyway. It doesn't have anything to do with my mood, I assure you. Who could be down in a place like this?" His first comment sank in and she looked at him with surprise on her face. "You actually felt that I wanted you to show up without Legolas? That’s…really a little odd. Neat, I suppose, but odd. I had something I wanted to ask you before Legolas showed up, but I didn't think you'd be able to know that. I'm rather glad you did, honestly. This would not be the place to have him show up, but I couldn't resist. I started thinking about places I'd like to show you, and when I start thinking about my travels, the beaches of Nice always play a part. I'm not overly fond of the rocky beach or the cold water, but there's just something special about this place, something unique. There's no place else like it."
Aragorn waited for her to finish rambling about the beach and tried to get to the heart of the matter. "What did you have to ask me that Legolas could not hear?"
Lauren smiled ruefully, being reminded that she did have something to ask. "Well, after you told me about his sea longing, I've tried to keep away from places like this, but I do have some places that I would like to show you both." A gust of wind blew her hair into her face and she pushed it absentmindedly out of the way before continuing. "There is a place in Italy called Venice that I would like to share with you. The thing is that Venice is surrounded by water. It has a system of canals running through the city, and a while back, the main way to get around there was by boat in those canals. I thought it would be nice to take you both on a boat ride there, but didn't know how that would affect Legolas. Would it be a problem, do you think?"
Aragorn took a moment to think about the question and formulate a reply. "I do not know if the canals you speak of would be enough to awaken his sea longing, but the sight of the ocean beyond the city would surely be enough. I do not wish to take the chance of hurting him thus."
Lauren sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. I think he'd enjoy the gondola ride, but I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him, either. Would you like to join me on the ride? We can summon Legolas afterward."
Aragorn nodded his agreement. He hated to disappoint Lauren like he obviously had, but his priority in this situation was to protect Legolas from the pull of the sea. Lauren began to walk away from the beach, and Aragorn followed her. Their surroundings changed around them from a beach to a town square with shops lining three sides. The fourth side of the square was occupied by a large ornate building with multiple domes on the roof and high arched doorways with mosaics filling the arches. There was also a tall tower on one of the corners of the square near the ornate building.
"This is St. Mark's Square," Lauren explained, gesturing around them. "And the large building there is St. Mark's Cathedral. The cathedrals in Europe are absolutely amazing. This one has a slightly different architecture than many. It seems to have a Byzantine feel, to me at least. But cathedrals in general have some of the most interesting architecture and the most ornate decorations."
"What is a cathedral?" Aragorn asked.
"It's a place of worship," Lauren explained. "They were built as places to go where you could worship God, or Ilúvatar, as you name him. I guess people think that to make a place worthy to worship the creator of everything, it needs to be awesome and breathtaking in it's own right. Personally, I believe that you can worship as well in the middle of an open field as in a cathedral, but I admit that there is something to the idea. When you walk into one of those cathedrals, you can't even imagine raising your voice above a whisper. You can just feel that you're standing on holy ground."
"Will we go inside?" Aragorn asked curiously.
"Once we get Legolas here, we can do that. I don't want to have him miss any more of this than we have to."
Aragorn glanced around and noted that the ocean could not be seen from where they stood, and there were no seagulls visible, though there was a flock of pigeons in the center of the square. There was a scent of the sea in the air, but maybe that would not be a problem. He truly did not want to disappoint Lauren, and he thought Legolas would find this place fascinating. "Are we likely to actually see the sea on this 'gondola' ride you mentioned?" Aragorn asked.
Lauren shook her head. "For most of the ride, we'd be in narrow canals between buildings. And even the part of the ride in the Grand Canal does not have a view of the sea. Come on and take a look for yourself." She led him through an alley out of the square and to a small bridge crossing one of the narrow canals she had mentioned. "Most of the ride would be in places like this."
Aragorn studied the narrow waterway between the two rows of buildings. Legolas had not been bothered by any of the lakes or rivers they had seen, and as long as they avoided the sea, he might be able to enjoy himself here. Making up his mind, Aragorn summoned Legolas to join them.
"Hi," Lauren said in surprise. She looked at Aragorn with a raised eyebrow, and Aragorn nodded in return to indicate that he had changed his mind. Turning toward Legolas with a bright smile on her face, she said, "Welcome to Venice."
"Venice?" Legolas asked, looking around him. Since they had left the square, the sight that met his eyes was that of the small bridge they were standing on that crossed over the canal between the two rows of buildings.
"It's a village in a country called Italy," Lauren explained. "Besides walking, the only way to get around is by boat in the canals. We were on our way to catch a gondola ride through the city. Would you care to join us?"
"I would enjoy that," Legolas said, gazing around curiously.
Lauren started walking toward the place they would pick up the gondolas, and Aragorn and Legolas fell into step behind her. Legolas leaned in to whisper to Aragorn. "Did Lauren wish you to arrive by yourself as you had thought?"
"Yes, she had a question to ask me," Aragorn replied, not wanting to tell Legolas that the question was about his sea-longing.
Legolas did not seem inclined to ask what Lauren had wanted to know. His attention was on the fact that Aragorn had been able to feel what Lauren wanted of him. "What do you think of this contact between you?"
Aragorn shrugged. "Arwen believes that Lauren and I have simply grown close enough to allow such a contact in my waking hours. She does not think there is anything odd in it."
Shaking his head slightly, Legolas commented, "I asked what you think, not what Arwen thinks."
Aragorn shook his head in response. "I do not know what I think about the matter. It strikes me as unusual that two humans would be able to do such a thing across such distances in time. Meeting her is odd enough, but that I would sense her thoughts while awake?" He shrugged again to indicate his confusion on the matter.
"Do you think you will be able to keep in contact with her once she awakens?" Legolas asked as a sudden thought occurred to him.
Aragorn's eyebrows rose. "I never considered that." He paused in thought for a moment. "I would like to know that she is able to recover from her injuries and live her life once she awakens, but I do not think I would like to know what she is thinking and feeling for the rest of our lives."
Legolas smiled slightly. "I do not think that is truly a concern, Aragorn. Even among elves that have such abilities, it takes a conscious effort to communicate mind to mind. It is not likely that you will sense such things about her throughout your lives."
"Are you two coming?"
Aragorn and Legolas glanced up to see Lauren standing in front of them with her hands propped on her hips. They abruptly realized that they had stopped walking during their conversation and left Lauren to continue walking without them.
"Yes, I apologize," Aragorn said as he and Legolas joined Lauren.
"No problem," she said airily. "I just thought you might like to know we're there."
Glancing around, Aragorn saw that there were steps leading to the edge of the water, where a long narrow boat awaited them. The ends of the boat curved upright, and at one end of the boat, a man stood on a flat area with a long pole in his hands. Lauren gestured for the two of them to precede her onto the boat. Aragorn stepped into the gondola and took a seat in front of the man with the pole. Legolas followed and took a seat beside him. Lauren chose a seat facing the both of them so that she could see their reactions to the ride. The gondolier pushed away from the loading area and began moving them into one of the canals.
Lauren sighed happily and relaxed back into her seat.
"You seem much more cheerful than you did yesterday," Legolas commented, studying the look on her face.
"That's probably because I am," she replied. "I love traveling and getting to see other parts of the world. I've been to Europe a few times now, but I never get bored with it. There's just such a sense of history, of age, to almost anywhere you go in Europe. My own country only formed a little over two hundred years ago. There are no man made buildings or monuments that have stood for several centuries, as you can find here."
"You have an interest in ancient things?" Legolas asked.
"Kind of," Lauren answered. "Maybe that's why I like hanging out with you two." She had a wide grin on her face and winked at them to let them know not to take that comment seriously.
"I can't look at things made so long ago without wondering about the people who made them. What were their lives like? What were their hopes, their dreams? Would they approve of the world today, or would they be horrified? So, really, that is part of the reason I loved meeting you. In you, I can find the answers to a few of those questions."
She looked away from them up at the buildings rising on either side of the canal. A window box of bright purple flowers caught her eye and she smiled. "This really is a beautiful place. I can't help but fall under the spell of the history and romanticism of it all. Venice is a popular place for lovers, you see. A gondola ride through the canals is a very romantic image. It has been shown in numerous movies and popularized in the media. Of course, those gondola rides usually involve a single gondola out in the moonlight with the gondolier singing Italian opera songs to the couple. My only true-life gondola ride involved being in a gondola with five other people, none of whom I was romantically involved with, and a gondolier who thought the whole thing was a race. He passed three other gondolas in the Grand Canal and ended up carrying on a playful argument in Italian with two other gondoliers. It wasn't quite what is shown in movies." She laughed as she remembered that day. "It was fun, though." She pointed as they turned a corner and came out into a wider canal. "And speaking of it, welcome to the Grand Canal."
As they passed the houses lining the canal, Aragorn commented on the fact that many of the houses had doors that opened directly out to the water.
Lauren laughed. "I can't help but wonder what would happen if someone in one of those houses was a sleep-walker. I suppose that would be a shocking wake up call, wouldn't it?"
Aragorn laughed at the thought, and it reminded Legolas of a story regarding Aragorn and his brothers that he then entertained them all with. The story involved a prank and an unexpected dunk in a pond.
When they reached the end of the gondola ride, she led them back to St. Mark's Square. Legolas looked up at the cathedral, and Lauren explained to him as she had explained to Aragorn what a cathedral was.
"May we go inside?" Legolas asked.
"Of course," Lauren answered as she walked across the square. She looked in disgust at the dozens of pigeons flocking the square between their position and the cathedral. "We just have to wade through this mess of pigeons."
"You do not like birds?" Legolas asked in surprise. With her love of animals, the thought that she might not like birds came as quite a shock.
"Well, I'm not much of a bird person, but I don't dislike all birds. I think eagles and hawks are a joy to watch in the sky. And I've always wished I could fly like a bird." Her eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her. She kept it to herself as she let the idea develop fully.
"Birds of prey," Aragorn commented with a small smile.
Lauren smirked slightly. "I did say that I seem to like predators over prey. Though I guess that's not really the whole story here. I love swans, they're such beautiful creatures, and you could never call them a predator. I think it's just safe to say that I love grace and beauty, like most people. I just don't see either of those qualities in pigeons. They're loud, obnoxious, dirty birds." She looked at the ground under her feet as she made her way toward the cathedral. "You can't take one step without looking very carefully to see if the ground is clear." She ducked as a small grouping of birds flew low over her head.
Aragorn laughed at the look on her face. "You almost seem as if you are afraid of the birds."
Lauren frowned at him. "It's not fear, exactly, just an extreme dislike. I had a bad experience with them as a child."
"What happened?" Legolas asked her.
"Nothing much," she said. She pointed to a teenage girl who had two pigeons resting on her arm, eating out of her hand. "My brother convinced me to do that when I was about five years old. That would have been fine, but about twenty pigeons decided that they all wanted to be eating out of my hand. They were flying all around me and fighting each other for the food. It was pretty terrifying. I really haven't liked them since."
They made it across the square and stood in front of the cathedral. There were five semi-circular arches with gold mosaic images inset in them. Above the middle arch, high overhead, were the statues of four horses, and above those, there was another series of high arches, with the roof above each of these arches rising to a point. Then above that were the high domes on the roof. Aragorn and Legolas just stood for a moment, looking up above them at the height of the building and the detail of the mosaics.
"This place is amazing," Legolas remarked softly.
"It is pretty awesome," Lauren said. "But as majestic as this place is, I still think the Duomo in Florence and Notre Dame in Paris are more beautiful. The exterior of the Duomo is done entirely in marble; pink, white and green marble, with carved pillars and figures. It's absolutely beautiful. And the back of Notre Dame is also gorgeous, with the flying buttresses providing support for the building, and all of the stained glass windows. The gargoyles along the roof are pretty cool, too. I think those are my favorite cathedrals, but I don't think we'll have time to see all of the ones I like."
When they walked inside the cathedral, Lauren pointed out the uneven floor. "Venice is built on a series of wooden pillars sunk deep into the ground below the water. Over the centuries, things have shifted somewhat. Some of the places have sunk lower than others. And, unfortunately, I think Venice is sinking. I'm sure I've heard something about it over the past few years, though I don't know how quickly it's happening. I mean the place has been here for centuries, but now, at high tide, the square we just left behind can flood. I hope someone can do something to keep it from happening, because this is a very special place."
"Sinking?" Legolas asked Aragorn as Lauren walked ahead of them up a few steps into the main part of the cathedral.
Aragorn just shrugged and followed Lauren inside. He could see what she meant immediately. He felt that if he had to speak, he should not speak above a whisper. The ceiling was far above their heads, and most of the walls and ceiling were covered in golden mosaics. At the front of the cathedral, there were marble pillars, upon which rested a series of figures on either side of a cross. The cross had a figure of a man hanging upon it. Aragorn studied the figures in silence for many minutes before turning to Lauren and asking who they and the man upon the cross were. He could not help feeling that there was a very important story behind them, especially the man upon the cross.
Lauren remained silent for a time as she stared at the cross. "I don't think I can tell you that. The identity and story of that man has the ability to change the course of history. I cannot in good conscience tell you about him." After a few more minutes of wandering, Lauren led them back outside.
Legolas and Aragorn stared around them in wonder. Instead of the city square that they had entered the cathedral from, they were now facing a spacious, open grassy area upon which sat several large white buildings. One of these buildings was circular, one was a larger building built in the shape of a cross, and beyond it was a tower that leaned slightly out behind the largest building. Legolas turned around to look behind them, and did not see the cathedral they had just left. Instead, there was an arched entryway in a wall surrounding the area they now occupied.
"Where are we?" Legolas asked.
"This is Pisa," Lauren answered. "I know the change in scenery was rather abrupt, but we don't have a lot of time, and I have a lot I want to show you. This place is famous for its leaning tower. The ground was a bit too soft to support the weight of the tower on such a small area, so after they built a few levels and it started to tilt, they stopped working on it. The tower was actually built in three stages, and each time, people tried to correct the tilt. It didn't work, but that defect has made it very famous over the years. Recent corrections have stopped it from tilting any further, but people chose not to try to straighten it out completely. That would destroy the very feature that makes it so unique and famous."
They looked at the tower in curiosity. "It is unique," Aragorn remarked as he tilted his head as if to see what the tower would look like standing straight.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Lauren said. "And it's one of the things that I think everyone should see at some point, but there was actually another reason I brought you here." She led them to the smaller round building. "This is the baptistry, the larger building is the main cathedral, and the tower is the bell tower. This baptistry has a very unique set of acoustics." Opening the door, she gestured for them to enter. Gently taking hold of Legolas' wrist, she tugged him into the center of the building. Aragorn was looking around at the stained glass windows and the objects in the room. He looked back at Lauren and Legolas when Lauren called his name.
"What are we doing?" Aragorn asked as he joined them in the middle of the circular building.
"We are going to listen to Legolas sing," Lauren answered.
"Are you?" Legolas asked with a raised eyebrow as he crossed his arms. This was the first mention he had heard of it.
"Well, you do have the best voice of any of us, and I have something I want to demonstrate to you." The grin on her face was rather impish, but she wiped it off her face to give him an innocent expression that might better convince him to cooperate.
"What do you wish to demonstrate?" Legolas asked, curious.
"Sing one note and hold it for about a second, then stop, and you'll see," Lauren directed.
Giving her a rather doubtful look, Legolas did as she suggested. The note bounced off the high vaulted ceiling and echoed back, changing pitch as it reached their ears. Then another note was heard, and another. Legolas and Aragorn looked back at Lauren in surprise.
"See?" she asked, thrilled as always to hear the unique echo effect created by the acoustics of the building. "I told you there was something special here. You can sing four part harmony all by yourself."
Legolas was quite taken with this idea, and experimented with the phenomena for several minutes, singing one note after another, a wordless melody, enjoying the sounds of the harmonies created by the building.
Closing her eyes, Lauren listened as a feeling of peace swept over her. Being here always affected her like this, and it was made even more special by the fact that she was listening to elven song. When the last note faded away into silence, Lauren sighed happily. "That was beautiful… So, are we ready to head off for the next place?"
"Why can we not take the time to explore the cathedral and tower here?" Aragorn asked.
"We just have a lot to do," Lauren said. "When we were talking earlier, I had some ideas on what I would like to do today. I did some rearranging, and cut a few things, but I think you'll enjoy the change in plans."
"What are these new plans?" Legolas asked.
"You'll have to wait and see," Lauren said. "But I'll give you this hint. The conversation about the pigeons gave me the idea."
At that, a confused look crossed Aragorn and Legolas' faces, and Lauren grinned before showing them the way out of the building. As before, as they exited, they found themselves in a place they had never seen before. They stood among a series of ruins, little remaining but a series of columns and broken stone. "Where are we now?" Aragorn asked.
"Rome," Lauren answered. "This was the capital city of a great ancient empire. The empire existed about two thousand years ago and ruled for nearly a thousand years. At the height of their power, they ruled over all of western Europe, the northern tip of Africa, and part of Asia, including Turkey and Syria. I know this doesn't mean much to you, as the geography has changed a lot since your time, but that's a lot of territory. They were the world power at the time. Now, all that is left of that empire is ruins. This place was once the Roman Forum. There were great majestic buildings all around with columns in front, which is a trademark of roman architecture. Now, after all these years, only the columns mark where some of these buildings once stood."
She brought them out of the Forum and took them to the Roman Colosseum. "The Romans were not exactly what I would consider to be very civilized, though they thought themselves the most civilized society to exist. This is where they had gladiators fighting each other, with weapons, and very often to the death. Thousands of people; slaves, prisoners, and volunteers died in these battles. Many times people were thrown in with wild animals. Sometimes they were given weapons to fight the animals, but other times, they were simply thrown in to amuse the spectators by getting torn apart. I really don't think much of their idea of a sport, obviously. They didn't seem to regard human life very highly." She showed them around the colosseum as they spoke.
Aragorn nodded. "Yes, I have heard of such practices by other cultures in my time. I have been doing all in my power to make peace with all lands surrounding Gondor, but practices such as this have made things rather difficult. As part of the treaties, I have tried to insist that certain practices be stopped, but that is not always possible."
"Well, I wish you luck in getting it stopped," Lauren said. "But historically, I can tell you that human nature will just start it up again. It amazes me sometimes, the depth of cruelty that humans are capable of."
"But humans are also capable of great hope, generosity, compassion, love and strength," Legolas pointed out. "You must not allow yourself to forget that."
Lauren sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard to remember that sometimes, when all I see in the news on my world are the horrible things that humans can do to each other." From the upper level of the colosseum, she pointed out the wall around the city. "Long ago, all cities had to have a wall around them to protect from invaders."
"Minas Tirith is a walled city," Aragorn said. "The wall was instrumental in protecting our people from Sauron's armies."
"Oh, I'm sure it was," Lauren replied. "In your time, with the weapons available, a strong wall would be an essential part of a city's defenses. But now, with the modern weapons that we have, a wall would be useless. Planes can fly above the city and drop bombs. Missiles can be targeted on pinpoint locations from across a great distance. One area that humans have made great, but horrible, progress in is the so called 'art' of warfare. Humanity as a race probably has enough weapons to wipe out all life on earth." She paused for a moment in thought. "Except for the cockroaches. Those nasty little buggers will probably outlive us all."
Aragorn and Legolas looked at her in horror. "Humans truly have such power?" Aragorn asked.
Lauren just shrugged. "Power?" she mused. "Maybe. Stupidity, certainly."
"Stupidity?" Legolas asked, confused by her comments.
"What genuinely intelligent race would create the means of their own destruction?" Lauren asked. She took a breath to say something more, then shook her head. "I'm sorry. You don't want to get me started on this topic. I didn't want to get off on this tangent today. I just wanted to show you some of the history that has happened since your time. I had another city that I wanted to show you. It's one of my favorite European cities, actually. What do you think about leaving here and going to visit Paris, the city of lights?"
Legolas looked like he might have wanted to pursue the earlier discussion, but decided to allow the change in subject. "This 'Paris' sounds like it might be a nice place to see."
Aragorn nodded his head in agreement. Lauren looked around and with a dramatic wave of her hand, changed their surroundings. The buildings around them now still had a feeling of age, but there were no ancient ruins to be seen. Lauren led them around the side of a large building with a large grin on her face. She couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they saw what awaited them on the other side of the building.
As Aragorn rounded the corner of the building, he stopped in his tracks and gazed ahead of him. Legolas quickly sidestepped him to avoid running into his back.
"Why did you stop?"
Aragorn just pointed. Legolas followed the direction of his finger and stared in amazement.
"What is it?" Aragorn finally asked, as he found his voice. He could not decide what the large metal object towering over the surrounding city was supposed to be.
"C'est la Tour Eiffel," Lauren answered, enjoying Aragorn's open-mouthed amazement at the sight before them. She gestured for them to follow her to the waist-high wall in front of them. "This is the most famous construct in France, and one of the most recognizable in the world. It was built in 1889 for a celebration of the centenary of the French Revolution. It was supposed to be a temporary construct, but was kept around for various reasons. At first, the French people did not want it here, they thought it was a monstrosity that would destroy the skyline of their city. Now, the first thing most people think of when you mention Paris is the Eiffel Tower. Would you like to go up in it?"
"May we?" Aragorn asked. "I thought you were not allowing much time in any one place."
"Well, this was one of the things I was trying to find time to do," Lauren explained. She started walking down a set of steps to the left of the viewing area, and Aragorn and Legolas fell into step with her. "I just love going up in the Eiffel Tower," she said. "Though I'm going to do a little wish fulfillment here and not have the usual crowds of people around when we go up. I have been in a crush of people so tight I couldn't move at all. That really kind of takes away from the enjoyment of the experience." She couldn't help but smile at the look on Aragorn's face as they got ever closer to the tower.
When they finally stood at the base of the tower, Aragorn stared upward with his mouth hanging slightly open. "It is even taller than Orthanc," he commented.
"It was the tallest 'building' in the world until about 1930," Lauren said.
Aragorn looked uneasily up the length of the tower. He saw a set of stairs stretching up into the distance. "Must we climb all of those stairs? We will be climbing all night."
"Oh, don't worry about that," she said. "We won't be taking the stairs." They followed her into a small room at the base of one of the legs of the tower. A person stood in the doorway of an even smaller room. Lauren gestured for them to enter the small room. Looking at it and Lauren rather dubiously, they did as she obviously intended and entered. Once all three of them were in the room, the doors slid shut. They looked at her in question. She simply smiled. "Just wait."
Suddenly, the room began to move. Aragorn and Legolas both grabbed the railing along the walls and looked at Lauren in panic.
"It's an elevator," she explained. She pointed out the window, and they looked outward to see that they were rising, rather rapidly, up the inside of the leg of the tower. "Elevators are a means of transporting people quickly up and down buildings so people don’t have to take the stairs. They really come in handy in very tall buildings. Nobody in their right minds wants to take thirty flights of stairs every day when they go into work." She leaned against the glass and looked out the window. "Though, as you may have noticed, this has a bit of a diagonal motion. Most elevators go straight up and down." They rode past the first level, and Lauren gestured for them to get off at the second level. "We have to change elevators here. This one doesn’t go all the way to the top." When they entered the second elevator, they were a bit more comfortable when it started to move, carrying them swiftly to the top of the tower. The level onto which they exited the elevator was enclosed, with windows looking out in all directions.
"The view is amazing," Aragorn remarked, looking out across the city from one of the windows.
"Oh, it's all right here," Lauren said, "but it's even better up one flight of stairs." They followed her up the last flight of stairs to the uppermost level. Here, there was no enclosing glass, but a railing and fencing from the floor to the ceiling above them to keep people from falling. But here, they could feel the wind blowing past, and the feeling was much more one of openness.
Lauren moved to the railing and looked out over the city, sighing happily. "I do love the view from here. You can see all of Paris."
Legolas studied the warren of small streets winding their way through the multitude of buildings that made up the city. "It looks crowded," he commented.
"Oh, it is," Lauren answered. "And much more so with all the tourists. During prime tourist season, you can't go to any of the main monuments or museums without being caught up in crowds, and even occasionally being in places where there are wall to wall people. It's so great to be here when it's just us. Would you like a tour of the city from here?"
When they nodded, Lauren pointed to one of the most easily recognizable monuments. "That square archway over there is called the Arc de Triomphe," she said. "It was started by one of France's most well known generals to celebrate his victories. You see all the streets that intersect in the circle around the monument? That is one of the most dangerous places in all of Paris. There are very few driving rules from what I've seen. Everyone goes the same direction, but there don't seem to be specified lanes, and everyone cuts in on each other all the time. It's the one place in Paris where insurance companies refuse to insure the vehicles."
"Insurance?" Aragorn asked in confusion.
"Not important." Lauren waved the question away and continued with her tour. "The long street leading away from the monument is called the Champs-Élysées. There are some very exclusive and expensive shops along there. As you near the end of the street, you can see that tall pointy object? That's an obelisk from Luxor, Egypt. It marks the Place de la Concord, where people were once beheaded in the French Revolution. King Louis XVI and Marie-Antionette were about the most famous who were beheaded there."
"They beheaded their king?" Aragorn asked in horror.
Lauren couldn't help but chuckle. Of course Aragorn would have a problem with that. "Well, he wasn't a very good king. He lived in splendor and wealth while many of his subjects lived in squalor. He didn't do much to endear himself to his people. Anyway, the obelisk was a gift from Egypt in 1831. I don't remember exactly why. But if you continue into the gardens past the obelisk, you will see a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe called the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. It was built by the same person who built the larger version and for the same reason. He was a bit stuck on himself, I think, to need two monuments to show off his victories." She shrugged. "Oh well. Just beyond the smaller arch is the Louvre. This is one of the most famous art museums in the world. There are paintings, sculptures and other types of artistic creations in there along with artifacts of many cultures from all over the world."
"And none from Gondor, I assume?" Aragorn asked, a little sadly.
Lauren shook her head. "I think I mentioned that I had never heard of Gondor. I hate to tell you this, but as far as I know, no trace of your culture or civilization has survived to the present day. Now, that's not to mean that we never will find a sign of it. There are occasionally news articles about great archeological finds of new hidden cities that have just been found. For all I know, Minas Tirith is just buried, waiting for some lucky archeologist to stumble across it. I have a feeling that discovery would rock the foundations of archeology and change all of what we know about human history." A smile flickered across her face. "If it ever is uncovered, I'll have to make a trip out to visit it, no matter where it happens to be."
She took awhile pointing out other places of interest from their vantage point above the city. She pointed out Notre Dame Cathedral with its rose windows and flying buttresses supporting the building from the outside. The Sacré Cœur Cathedral stood out like a white beacon on the top of a hill overlooking the city. After pointing out more museums, gardens and monuments, it was almost time to leave. Before they left Paris behind them, though, Lauren wanted to show them why Paris was called the city of lights. The sun abruptly disappeared, leaving them seeing the city as it would appear late at night.
After getting over their initial disorientation, Aragorn and Legolas found themselves quite taken with the lights that shone all over the city, highlighting some of the monuments Lauren had just pointed out. "There's nothing quite like this view," Lauren said. "I would have hated to miss seeing this."
"It is quite beautiful," Aragorn commented softly, looking out over the city. He realized that Legolas had been rather silent throughout their time up here. "Legolas?" he questioned. "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I could not live in a place quite this crowded, no matter how beautiful it is. Though I do admit that it would be a nice place to visit. You are right Lauren. The view from this height is like nothing I have seen before. I have stood on the top of mountains and looked out over lush green valleys, or over desolate plains, but never have I seen light shining through the darkness like this. I thank you for sharing this place with us."
"It was my pleasure," she said, smiling at him. "Before we leave, there is just one last thing. Hold on." With her short words of warning, they were not quite so disoriented this time, as they found themselves suddenly standing in a patch of grass, looking back at the tower they had just been at the top of. The tower was lit by thousands of small lights that flickered on and off and sparkled like jewels in the night. They stood, transfixed by the light show for many long minutes, before the twinkling lights faded out and the tower was simply lit by lights that shone steadily from the interior of the tower.
"What was that?" Legolas asked.
"That light show is something they do for a few minutes every hour throughout the night," Lauren said. "They only started it a few years ago, but it is enormously popular, as I'm sure you can understand."
"Indeed," Aragorn said. "I would find it quite difficult to be nearby and not watch every moment of it."
"Well, I'm glad you liked it. Are you guys up for a little change of pace?" She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
"That would depend on what you had in mind," Aragorn said cautiously. He did not quite trust the gleam in her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Lauren grinned at them. "Have you ever wanted to fly?"
Chapter Thirteen - Travel
As night approached, Aragorn began to feel uneasy. He had the notion that when he appeared to Lauren that night, he should appear alone, without Legolas. Not knowing why that would be the case, or if the feeling was real, the thought disturbed him. Lauren had never been able to contact him in his waking hours before and he was unsure if she was actually doing so now.
Arwen noticed his preoccupation as they were getting ready to retire for the evening, and questioned him about it. Aragorn was not sure how to answer.
"I feel that Lauren needs me to come alone tonight. I do not know why I feel this, or why such would be the case." He shook his head as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Is she communicating with you?" Arwen asked, gazing at him with amazement in her eyes.
"If so, this would be the first time," Aragorn said. "And that thought alone is enough to make me uneasy. Why would she be able to contact me in my waking hours now when she has never done so before?"
"Perhaps the two of you have only now grown close enough to make such a thing possible," Arwen suggested. She sat down beside him on the bed. "This is not entirely unheard of, Aragorn. My father and Galadriel have long been able to converse across vast distances."
"Yes, but neither Lauren nor I are elves, my love. We do not have the abilities that they are blessed with." Aragorn's voice was soft, but displayed his confusion at this latest development.
"Mayhap not, but you are family, and you have been sharing experiences in your dreams for many nights now." She took his hand in hers. "There is nothing in this contact that should make you fear. If you feel that you should appear alone, then that is what you should do. If the feeling is incorrect, and Lauren asks where Legolas is, you can then summon him. But you should first see if there is a reason behind this feeling."
Aragorn nodded. "You are wise, as always, my love." He gently squeezed the hand he held. "That is what I will do. I do not feel that I should wait. Would you put Eldarion to bed without me tonight? I want to see how Lauren is doing. Our last contact left me feeling that she is not always as cheerful as she would have us believe. She is a very complicated individual, and I worry for her. I do not wish to leave her alone any longer than is necessary."
"Then go and see her," Arwen said. "I will read Eldarion his night time story tonight, or perhaps I will allow Gimli to entertain him with a tale."
"Not one of battle, please," Aragorn responded, laughing. "When Gimli tells him tales of battle, Eldarion takes far too long to settle down again. He will never go to sleep if you allow Gimli to entertain him."
"Very well," Arwen said with a twinkle in her eyes. "I will be sure that he tells a much calmer tale tonight." She leaned over and kissed him goodnight before standing up. "Go on, love. Go to sleep, I will join you later. I will inform Legolas as well, so that he may soon venture to sleep."
Aragorn smiled and nodded at her before lying down and pulling the covers up. He was tired enough that it did not take more than a few minutes before he drifted off to sleep.
The sight before him was a surprise; he was back on a beach, the sky a clear blue above him and the ocean stretched out before him in varying shades of blue and turquoise. Boats dotted the water stretching out to the horizon. As he looked around, though, he realized it was no beach he had seen before. The material under his feet was not sand, but smooth rocks and pebbles. The coastline stretched off to curve around them, and was not the wilderness of trees and bushes that he had seen before. A city or village of some kind lined the beach. Where the beach ended, there was a street filled with cars, sidewalks full of people walking, riding those devices Lauren had named bicycles and gliding along on 'roller-blades'. Buildings rose up on the other side of the street, but the lettering on some of those buildings formed words he did not recognize. It slowly sank into his consciousness that he had been hearing music as he took in his surroundings. The music was loud and had the driving beat that Lauren seemed to prefer.
He easily found Lauren standing at the water's edge, letting the waves swirl around her legs as she sang along to the music, seemingly with all her heart. The words of this song did not seem to match the idyllic surroundings. It spoke of an imaginary world being created to escape the nightmares that reality held. And Lauren sang right along with it, speaking of being swallowed by the sound of her screaming and longing for a deep sleep to avoid the chaos of life. ('Imaginary' by Evanescence)
Aragorn frowned as he thought about those words. Was this world that she inhabited a refuge for her to recover in or a place to hide away from a world to which she did not want to return? That question touched on something he had been wondering about for some time now. She had been here for many days. Did she stay here out of choice, refusing to return, or was it indeed out of her hands, as she claimed? The words of that song seemed to indicate a desire not to return, but he did not get a feeling of despair from her right now. Despite the words she sang, she seemed to be enjoying herself. She was moving her body in time to the music in what Aragorn assumed was some kind of dancing. Her clothing was cheerful, a brightly colored summer dress with short sleeves. Their surroundings were cheerful, the sky and waters blue, the weather that of a beautiful summer day. He decided that the only way he would get any answers would be to question Lauren.
"Lauren?"
She stopped singing and spun to face Aragorn.
"Bonjour, mon ami! Bienvenue à Cote d'Azur!" A wide grin spread across her face as she gestured to their surroundings.
"Excuse me?" Aragorn asked with a blank look on his face.
"I said 'Hello, my friend. Welcome to the Azure Coast.'" She gazed around happily.
"Where are we?" Aragorn did not recognize her reference to the Azure Coast.
"We're in the southern part of a country called France." She frowned briefly as he walked over to stand near her, just out of the reach of the waves. "I hadn't meant for you to find me on the beach again. Are you early, or did I just lose track of time? That wouldn't surprise me, you know. I can easily get lost in just watching the waves rolling into shore." Her eyes were drawn back toward the water as she spoke.
"I came a little early," Aragorn admitted. "I was worried about you."
"Why?" Lauren asked in confusion, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"I had the impression that you wanted me to arrive alone, and when I arrived, the song you were singing did not ease my concerns about you."
"Oh, the song worried you?" She shook her head briefly. "It shouldn't. I know you have come to realize how music and my emotions are intertwined, but sometimes, I just get a song stuck in my head that I can't get rid of. And for a few hours now, I've had the entire Evanescence CD stuck in my head, playing from beginning to end, over and over. It's a little odd, actually, but I don’t mind. They're one of my favorite groups."
"But the words…" Aragorn began, shifting uncomfortably.
"Kind of apropos, aren't they?" Lauren said with a little laugh. "But don't worry. Most of their songs are a little…dark or depressing, or something, but I like them anyway. It doesn't have anything to do with my mood, I assure you. Who could be down in a place like this?" His first comment sank in and she looked at him with surprise on her face. "You actually felt that I wanted you to show up without Legolas? That’s…really a little odd. Neat, I suppose, but odd. I had something I wanted to ask you before Legolas showed up, but I didn't think you'd be able to know that. I'm rather glad you did, honestly. This would not be the place to have him show up, but I couldn't resist. I started thinking about places I'd like to show you, and when I start thinking about my travels, the beaches of Nice always play a part. I'm not overly fond of the rocky beach or the cold water, but there's just something special about this place, something unique. There's no place else like it."
Aragorn waited for her to finish rambling about the beach and tried to get to the heart of the matter. "What did you have to ask me that Legolas could not hear?"
Lauren smiled ruefully, being reminded that she did have something to ask. "Well, after you told me about his sea longing, I've tried to keep away from places like this, but I do have some places that I would like to show you both." A gust of wind blew her hair into her face and she pushed it absentmindedly out of the way before continuing. "There is a place in Italy called Venice that I would like to share with you. The thing is that Venice is surrounded by water. It has a system of canals running through the city, and a while back, the main way to get around there was by boat in those canals. I thought it would be nice to take you both on a boat ride there, but didn't know how that would affect Legolas. Would it be a problem, do you think?"
Aragorn took a moment to think about the question and formulate a reply. "I do not know if the canals you speak of would be enough to awaken his sea longing, but the sight of the ocean beyond the city would surely be enough. I do not wish to take the chance of hurting him thus."
Lauren sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. I think he'd enjoy the gondola ride, but I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him, either. Would you like to join me on the ride? We can summon Legolas afterward."
Aragorn nodded his agreement. He hated to disappoint Lauren like he obviously had, but his priority in this situation was to protect Legolas from the pull of the sea. Lauren began to walk away from the beach, and Aragorn followed her. Their surroundings changed around them from a beach to a town square with shops lining three sides. The fourth side of the square was occupied by a large ornate building with multiple domes on the roof and high arched doorways with mosaics filling the arches. There was also a tall tower on one of the corners of the square near the ornate building.
"This is St. Mark's Square," Lauren explained, gesturing around them. "And the large building there is St. Mark's Cathedral. The cathedrals in Europe are absolutely amazing. This one has a slightly different architecture than many. It seems to have a Byzantine feel, to me at least. But cathedrals in general have some of the most interesting architecture and the most ornate decorations."
"What is a cathedral?" Aragorn asked.
"It's a place of worship," Lauren explained. "They were built as places to go where you could worship God, or Ilúvatar, as you name him. I guess people think that to make a place worthy to worship the creator of everything, it needs to be awesome and breathtaking in it's own right. Personally, I believe that you can worship as well in the middle of an open field as in a cathedral, but I admit that there is something to the idea. When you walk into one of those cathedrals, you can't even imagine raising your voice above a whisper. You can just feel that you're standing on holy ground."
"Will we go inside?" Aragorn asked curiously.
"Once we get Legolas here, we can do that. I don't want to have him miss any more of this than we have to."
Aragorn glanced around and noted that the ocean could not be seen from where they stood, and there were no seagulls visible, though there was a flock of pigeons in the center of the square. There was a scent of the sea in the air, but maybe that would not be a problem. He truly did not want to disappoint Lauren, and he thought Legolas would find this place fascinating. "Are we likely to actually see the sea on this 'gondola' ride you mentioned?" Aragorn asked.
Lauren shook her head. "For most of the ride, we'd be in narrow canals between buildings. And even the part of the ride in the Grand Canal does not have a view of the sea. Come on and take a look for yourself." She led him through an alley out of the square and to a small bridge crossing one of the narrow canals she had mentioned. "Most of the ride would be in places like this."
Aragorn studied the narrow waterway between the two rows of buildings. Legolas had not been bothered by any of the lakes or rivers they had seen, and as long as they avoided the sea, he might be able to enjoy himself here. Making up his mind, Aragorn summoned Legolas to join them.
"Hi," Lauren said in surprise. She looked at Aragorn with a raised eyebrow, and Aragorn nodded in return to indicate that he had changed his mind. Turning toward Legolas with a bright smile on her face, she said, "Welcome to Venice."
"Venice?" Legolas asked, looking around him. Since they had left the square, the sight that met his eyes was that of the small bridge they were standing on that crossed over the canal between the two rows of buildings.
"It's a village in a country called Italy," Lauren explained. "Besides walking, the only way to get around is by boat in the canals. We were on our way to catch a gondola ride through the city. Would you care to join us?"
"I would enjoy that," Legolas said, gazing around curiously.
Lauren started walking toward the place they would pick up the gondolas, and Aragorn and Legolas fell into step behind her. Legolas leaned in to whisper to Aragorn. "Did Lauren wish you to arrive by yourself as you had thought?"
"Yes, she had a question to ask me," Aragorn replied, not wanting to tell Legolas that the question was about his sea-longing.
Legolas did not seem inclined to ask what Lauren had wanted to know. His attention was on the fact that Aragorn had been able to feel what Lauren wanted of him. "What do you think of this contact between you?"
Aragorn shrugged. "Arwen believes that Lauren and I have simply grown close enough to allow such a contact in my waking hours. She does not think there is anything odd in it."
Shaking his head slightly, Legolas commented, "I asked what you think, not what Arwen thinks."
Aragorn shook his head in response. "I do not know what I think about the matter. It strikes me as unusual that two humans would be able to do such a thing across such distances in time. Meeting her is odd enough, but that I would sense her thoughts while awake?" He shrugged again to indicate his confusion on the matter.
"Do you think you will be able to keep in contact with her once she awakens?" Legolas asked as a sudden thought occurred to him.
Aragorn's eyebrows rose. "I never considered that." He paused in thought for a moment. "I would like to know that she is able to recover from her injuries and live her life once she awakens, but I do not think I would like to know what she is thinking and feeling for the rest of our lives."
Legolas smiled slightly. "I do not think that is truly a concern, Aragorn. Even among elves that have such abilities, it takes a conscious effort to communicate mind to mind. It is not likely that you will sense such things about her throughout your lives."
"Are you two coming?"
Aragorn and Legolas glanced up to see Lauren standing in front of them with her hands propped on her hips. They abruptly realized that they had stopped walking during their conversation and left Lauren to continue walking without them.
"Yes, I apologize," Aragorn said as he and Legolas joined Lauren.
"No problem," she said airily. "I just thought you might like to know we're there."
Glancing around, Aragorn saw that there were steps leading to the edge of the water, where a long narrow boat awaited them. The ends of the boat curved upright, and at one end of the boat, a man stood on a flat area with a long pole in his hands. Lauren gestured for the two of them to precede her onto the boat. Aragorn stepped into the gondola and took a seat in front of the man with the pole. Legolas followed and took a seat beside him. Lauren chose a seat facing the both of them so that she could see their reactions to the ride. The gondolier pushed away from the loading area and began moving them into one of the canals.
Lauren sighed happily and relaxed back into her seat.
"You seem much more cheerful than you did yesterday," Legolas commented, studying the look on her face.
"That's probably because I am," she replied. "I love traveling and getting to see other parts of the world. I've been to Europe a few times now, but I never get bored with it. There's just such a sense of history, of age, to almost anywhere you go in Europe. My own country only formed a little over two hundred years ago. There are no man made buildings or monuments that have stood for several centuries, as you can find here."
"You have an interest in ancient things?" Legolas asked.
"Kind of," Lauren answered. "Maybe that's why I like hanging out with you two." She had a wide grin on her face and winked at them to let them know not to take that comment seriously.
"I can't look at things made so long ago without wondering about the people who made them. What were their lives like? What were their hopes, their dreams? Would they approve of the world today, or would they be horrified? So, really, that is part of the reason I loved meeting you. In you, I can find the answers to a few of those questions."
She looked away from them up at the buildings rising on either side of the canal. A window box of bright purple flowers caught her eye and she smiled. "This really is a beautiful place. I can't help but fall under the spell of the history and romanticism of it all. Venice is a popular place for lovers, you see. A gondola ride through the canals is a very romantic image. It has been shown in numerous movies and popularized in the media. Of course, those gondola rides usually involve a single gondola out in the moonlight with the gondolier singing Italian opera songs to the couple. My only true-life gondola ride involved being in a gondola with five other people, none of whom I was romantically involved with, and a gondolier who thought the whole thing was a race. He passed three other gondolas in the Grand Canal and ended up carrying on a playful argument in Italian with two other gondoliers. It wasn't quite what is shown in movies." She laughed as she remembered that day. "It was fun, though." She pointed as they turned a corner and came out into a wider canal. "And speaking of it, welcome to the Grand Canal."
As they passed the houses lining the canal, Aragorn commented on the fact that many of the houses had doors that opened directly out to the water.
Lauren laughed. "I can't help but wonder what would happen if someone in one of those houses was a sleep-walker. I suppose that would be a shocking wake up call, wouldn't it?"
Aragorn laughed at the thought, and it reminded Legolas of a story regarding Aragorn and his brothers that he then entertained them all with. The story involved a prank and an unexpected dunk in a pond.
When they reached the end of the gondola ride, she led them back to St. Mark's Square. Legolas looked up at the cathedral, and Lauren explained to him as she had explained to Aragorn what a cathedral was.
"May we go inside?" Legolas asked.
"Of course," Lauren answered as she walked across the square. She looked in disgust at the dozens of pigeons flocking the square between their position and the cathedral. "We just have to wade through this mess of pigeons."
"You do not like birds?" Legolas asked in surprise. With her love of animals, the thought that she might not like birds came as quite a shock.
"Well, I'm not much of a bird person, but I don't dislike all birds. I think eagles and hawks are a joy to watch in the sky. And I've always wished I could fly like a bird." Her eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her. She kept it to herself as she let the idea develop fully.
"Birds of prey," Aragorn commented with a small smile.
Lauren smirked slightly. "I did say that I seem to like predators over prey. Though I guess that's not really the whole story here. I love swans, they're such beautiful creatures, and you could never call them a predator. I think it's just safe to say that I love grace and beauty, like most people. I just don't see either of those qualities in pigeons. They're loud, obnoxious, dirty birds." She looked at the ground under her feet as she made her way toward the cathedral. "You can't take one step without looking very carefully to see if the ground is clear." She ducked as a small grouping of birds flew low over her head.
Aragorn laughed at the look on her face. "You almost seem as if you are afraid of the birds."
Lauren frowned at him. "It's not fear, exactly, just an extreme dislike. I had a bad experience with them as a child."
"What happened?" Legolas asked her.
"Nothing much," she said. She pointed to a teenage girl who had two pigeons resting on her arm, eating out of her hand. "My brother convinced me to do that when I was about five years old. That would have been fine, but about twenty pigeons decided that they all wanted to be eating out of my hand. They were flying all around me and fighting each other for the food. It was pretty terrifying. I really haven't liked them since."
They made it across the square and stood in front of the cathedral. There were five semi-circular arches with gold mosaic images inset in them. Above the middle arch, high overhead, were the statues of four horses, and above those, there was another series of high arches, with the roof above each of these arches rising to a point. Then above that were the high domes on the roof. Aragorn and Legolas just stood for a moment, looking up above them at the height of the building and the detail of the mosaics.
"This place is amazing," Legolas remarked softly.
"It is pretty awesome," Lauren said. "But as majestic as this place is, I still think the Duomo in Florence and Notre Dame in Paris are more beautiful. The exterior of the Duomo is done entirely in marble; pink, white and green marble, with carved pillars and figures. It's absolutely beautiful. And the back of Notre Dame is also gorgeous, with the flying buttresses providing support for the building, and all of the stained glass windows. The gargoyles along the roof are pretty cool, too. I think those are my favorite cathedrals, but I don't think we'll have time to see all of the ones I like."
When they walked inside the cathedral, Lauren pointed out the uneven floor. "Venice is built on a series of wooden pillars sunk deep into the ground below the water. Over the centuries, things have shifted somewhat. Some of the places have sunk lower than others. And, unfortunately, I think Venice is sinking. I'm sure I've heard something about it over the past few years, though I don't know how quickly it's happening. I mean the place has been here for centuries, but now, at high tide, the square we just left behind can flood. I hope someone can do something to keep it from happening, because this is a very special place."
"Sinking?" Legolas asked Aragorn as Lauren walked ahead of them up a few steps into the main part of the cathedral.
Aragorn just shrugged and followed Lauren inside. He could see what she meant immediately. He felt that if he had to speak, he should not speak above a whisper. The ceiling was far above their heads, and most of the walls and ceiling were covered in golden mosaics. At the front of the cathedral, there were marble pillars, upon which rested a series of figures on either side of a cross. The cross had a figure of a man hanging upon it. Aragorn studied the figures in silence for many minutes before turning to Lauren and asking who they and the man upon the cross were. He could not help feeling that there was a very important story behind them, especially the man upon the cross.
Lauren remained silent for a time as she stared at the cross. "I don't think I can tell you that. The identity and story of that man has the ability to change the course of history. I cannot in good conscience tell you about him." After a few more minutes of wandering, Lauren led them back outside.
Legolas and Aragorn stared around them in wonder. Instead of the city square that they had entered the cathedral from, they were now facing a spacious, open grassy area upon which sat several large white buildings. One of these buildings was circular, one was a larger building built in the shape of a cross, and beyond it was a tower that leaned slightly out behind the largest building. Legolas turned around to look behind them, and did not see the cathedral they had just left. Instead, there was an arched entryway in a wall surrounding the area they now occupied.
"Where are we?" Legolas asked.
"This is Pisa," Lauren answered. "I know the change in scenery was rather abrupt, but we don't have a lot of time, and I have a lot I want to show you. This place is famous for its leaning tower. The ground was a bit too soft to support the weight of the tower on such a small area, so after they built a few levels and it started to tilt, they stopped working on it. The tower was actually built in three stages, and each time, people tried to correct the tilt. It didn't work, but that defect has made it very famous over the years. Recent corrections have stopped it from tilting any further, but people chose not to try to straighten it out completely. That would destroy the very feature that makes it so unique and famous."
They looked at the tower in curiosity. "It is unique," Aragorn remarked as he tilted his head as if to see what the tower would look like standing straight.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Lauren said. "And it's one of the things that I think everyone should see at some point, but there was actually another reason I brought you here." She led them to the smaller round building. "This is the baptistry, the larger building is the main cathedral, and the tower is the bell tower. This baptistry has a very unique set of acoustics." Opening the door, she gestured for them to enter. Gently taking hold of Legolas' wrist, she tugged him into the center of the building. Aragorn was looking around at the stained glass windows and the objects in the room. He looked back at Lauren and Legolas when Lauren called his name.
"What are we doing?" Aragorn asked as he joined them in the middle of the circular building.
"We are going to listen to Legolas sing," Lauren answered.
"Are you?" Legolas asked with a raised eyebrow as he crossed his arms. This was the first mention he had heard of it.
"Well, you do have the best voice of any of us, and I have something I want to demonstrate to you." The grin on her face was rather impish, but she wiped it off her face to give him an innocent expression that might better convince him to cooperate.
"What do you wish to demonstrate?" Legolas asked, curious.
"Sing one note and hold it for about a second, then stop, and you'll see," Lauren directed.
Giving her a rather doubtful look, Legolas did as she suggested. The note bounced off the high vaulted ceiling and echoed back, changing pitch as it reached their ears. Then another note was heard, and another. Legolas and Aragorn looked back at Lauren in surprise.
"See?" she asked, thrilled as always to hear the unique echo effect created by the acoustics of the building. "I told you there was something special here. You can sing four part harmony all by yourself."
Legolas was quite taken with this idea, and experimented with the phenomena for several minutes, singing one note after another, a wordless melody, enjoying the sounds of the harmonies created by the building.
Closing her eyes, Lauren listened as a feeling of peace swept over her. Being here always affected her like this, and it was made even more special by the fact that she was listening to elven song. When the last note faded away into silence, Lauren sighed happily. "That was beautiful… So, are we ready to head off for the next place?"
"Why can we not take the time to explore the cathedral and tower here?" Aragorn asked.
"We just have a lot to do," Lauren said. "When we were talking earlier, I had some ideas on what I would like to do today. I did some rearranging, and cut a few things, but I think you'll enjoy the change in plans."
"What are these new plans?" Legolas asked.
"You'll have to wait and see," Lauren said. "But I'll give you this hint. The conversation about the pigeons gave me the idea."
At that, a confused look crossed Aragorn and Legolas' faces, and Lauren grinned before showing them the way out of the building. As before, as they exited, they found themselves in a place they had never seen before. They stood among a series of ruins, little remaining but a series of columns and broken stone. "Where are we now?" Aragorn asked.
"Rome," Lauren answered. "This was the capital city of a great ancient empire. The empire existed about two thousand years ago and ruled for nearly a thousand years. At the height of their power, they ruled over all of western Europe, the northern tip of Africa, and part of Asia, including Turkey and Syria. I know this doesn't mean much to you, as the geography has changed a lot since your time, but that's a lot of territory. They were the world power at the time. Now, all that is left of that empire is ruins. This place was once the Roman Forum. There were great majestic buildings all around with columns in front, which is a trademark of roman architecture. Now, after all these years, only the columns mark where some of these buildings once stood."
She brought them out of the Forum and took them to the Roman Colosseum. "The Romans were not exactly what I would consider to be very civilized, though they thought themselves the most civilized society to exist. This is where they had gladiators fighting each other, with weapons, and very often to the death. Thousands of people; slaves, prisoners, and volunteers died in these battles. Many times people were thrown in with wild animals. Sometimes they were given weapons to fight the animals, but other times, they were simply thrown in to amuse the spectators by getting torn apart. I really don't think much of their idea of a sport, obviously. They didn't seem to regard human life very highly." She showed them around the colosseum as they spoke.
Aragorn nodded. "Yes, I have heard of such practices by other cultures in my time. I have been doing all in my power to make peace with all lands surrounding Gondor, but practices such as this have made things rather difficult. As part of the treaties, I have tried to insist that certain practices be stopped, but that is not always possible."
"Well, I wish you luck in getting it stopped," Lauren said. "But historically, I can tell you that human nature will just start it up again. It amazes me sometimes, the depth of cruelty that humans are capable of."
"But humans are also capable of great hope, generosity, compassion, love and strength," Legolas pointed out. "You must not allow yourself to forget that."
Lauren sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard to remember that sometimes, when all I see in the news on my world are the horrible things that humans can do to each other." From the upper level of the colosseum, she pointed out the wall around the city. "Long ago, all cities had to have a wall around them to protect from invaders."
"Minas Tirith is a walled city," Aragorn said. "The wall was instrumental in protecting our people from Sauron's armies."
"Oh, I'm sure it was," Lauren replied. "In your time, with the weapons available, a strong wall would be an essential part of a city's defenses. But now, with the modern weapons that we have, a wall would be useless. Planes can fly above the city and drop bombs. Missiles can be targeted on pinpoint locations from across a great distance. One area that humans have made great, but horrible, progress in is the so called 'art' of warfare. Humanity as a race probably has enough weapons to wipe out all life on earth." She paused for a moment in thought. "Except for the cockroaches. Those nasty little buggers will probably outlive us all."
Aragorn and Legolas looked at her in horror. "Humans truly have such power?" Aragorn asked.
Lauren just shrugged. "Power?" she mused. "Maybe. Stupidity, certainly."
"Stupidity?" Legolas asked, confused by her comments.
"What genuinely intelligent race would create the means of their own destruction?" Lauren asked. She took a breath to say something more, then shook her head. "I'm sorry. You don't want to get me started on this topic. I didn't want to get off on this tangent today. I just wanted to show you some of the history that has happened since your time. I had another city that I wanted to show you. It's one of my favorite European cities, actually. What do you think about leaving here and going to visit Paris, the city of lights?"
Legolas looked like he might have wanted to pursue the earlier discussion, but decided to allow the change in subject. "This 'Paris' sounds like it might be a nice place to see."
Aragorn nodded his head in agreement. Lauren looked around and with a dramatic wave of her hand, changed their surroundings. The buildings around them now still had a feeling of age, but there were no ancient ruins to be seen. Lauren led them around the side of a large building with a large grin on her face. She couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they saw what awaited them on the other side of the building.
As Aragorn rounded the corner of the building, he stopped in his tracks and gazed ahead of him. Legolas quickly sidestepped him to avoid running into his back.
"Why did you stop?"
Aragorn just pointed. Legolas followed the direction of his finger and stared in amazement.
"What is it?" Aragorn finally asked, as he found his voice. He could not decide what the large metal object towering over the surrounding city was supposed to be.
"C'est la Tour Eiffel," Lauren answered, enjoying Aragorn's open-mouthed amazement at the sight before them. She gestured for them to follow her to the waist-high wall in front of them. "This is the most famous construct in France, and one of the most recognizable in the world. It was built in 1889 for a celebration of the centenary of the French Revolution. It was supposed to be a temporary construct, but was kept around for various reasons. At first, the French people did not want it here, they thought it was a monstrosity that would destroy the skyline of their city. Now, the first thing most people think of when you mention Paris is the Eiffel Tower. Would you like to go up in it?"
"May we?" Aragorn asked. "I thought you were not allowing much time in any one place."
"Well, this was one of the things I was trying to find time to do," Lauren explained. She started walking down a set of steps to the left of the viewing area, and Aragorn and Legolas fell into step with her. "I just love going up in the Eiffel Tower," she said. "Though I'm going to do a little wish fulfillment here and not have the usual crowds of people around when we go up. I have been in a crush of people so tight I couldn't move at all. That really kind of takes away from the enjoyment of the experience." She couldn't help but smile at the look on Aragorn's face as they got ever closer to the tower.
When they finally stood at the base of the tower, Aragorn stared upward with his mouth hanging slightly open. "It is even taller than Orthanc," he commented.
"It was the tallest 'building' in the world until about 1930," Lauren said.
Aragorn looked uneasily up the length of the tower. He saw a set of stairs stretching up into the distance. "Must we climb all of those stairs? We will be climbing all night."
"Oh, don't worry about that," she said. "We won't be taking the stairs." They followed her into a small room at the base of one of the legs of the tower. A person stood in the doorway of an even smaller room. Lauren gestured for them to enter the small room. Looking at it and Lauren rather dubiously, they did as she obviously intended and entered. Once all three of them were in the room, the doors slid shut. They looked at her in question. She simply smiled. "Just wait."
Suddenly, the room began to move. Aragorn and Legolas both grabbed the railing along the walls and looked at Lauren in panic.
"It's an elevator," she explained. She pointed out the window, and they looked outward to see that they were rising, rather rapidly, up the inside of the leg of the tower. "Elevators are a means of transporting people quickly up and down buildings so people don’t have to take the stairs. They really come in handy in very tall buildings. Nobody in their right minds wants to take thirty flights of stairs every day when they go into work." She leaned against the glass and looked out the window. "Though, as you may have noticed, this has a bit of a diagonal motion. Most elevators go straight up and down." They rode past the first level, and Lauren gestured for them to get off at the second level. "We have to change elevators here. This one doesn’t go all the way to the top." When they entered the second elevator, they were a bit more comfortable when it started to move, carrying them swiftly to the top of the tower. The level onto which they exited the elevator was enclosed, with windows looking out in all directions.
"The view is amazing," Aragorn remarked, looking out across the city from one of the windows.
"Oh, it's all right here," Lauren said, "but it's even better up one flight of stairs." They followed her up the last flight of stairs to the uppermost level. Here, there was no enclosing glass, but a railing and fencing from the floor to the ceiling above them to keep people from falling. But here, they could feel the wind blowing past, and the feeling was much more one of openness.
Lauren moved to the railing and looked out over the city, sighing happily. "I do love the view from here. You can see all of Paris."
Legolas studied the warren of small streets winding their way through the multitude of buildings that made up the city. "It looks crowded," he commented.
"Oh, it is," Lauren answered. "And much more so with all the tourists. During prime tourist season, you can't go to any of the main monuments or museums without being caught up in crowds, and even occasionally being in places where there are wall to wall people. It's so great to be here when it's just us. Would you like a tour of the city from here?"
When they nodded, Lauren pointed to one of the most easily recognizable monuments. "That square archway over there is called the Arc de Triomphe," she said. "It was started by one of France's most well known generals to celebrate his victories. You see all the streets that intersect in the circle around the monument? That is one of the most dangerous places in all of Paris. There are very few driving rules from what I've seen. Everyone goes the same direction, but there don't seem to be specified lanes, and everyone cuts in on each other all the time. It's the one place in Paris where insurance companies refuse to insure the vehicles."
"Insurance?" Aragorn asked in confusion.
"Not important." Lauren waved the question away and continued with her tour. "The long street leading away from the monument is called the Champs-Élysées. There are some very exclusive and expensive shops along there. As you near the end of the street, you can see that tall pointy object? That's an obelisk from Luxor, Egypt. It marks the Place de la Concord, where people were once beheaded in the French Revolution. King Louis XVI and Marie-Antionette were about the most famous who were beheaded there."
"They beheaded their king?" Aragorn asked in horror.
Lauren couldn't help but chuckle. Of course Aragorn would have a problem with that. "Well, he wasn't a very good king. He lived in splendor and wealth while many of his subjects lived in squalor. He didn't do much to endear himself to his people. Anyway, the obelisk was a gift from Egypt in 1831. I don't remember exactly why. But if you continue into the gardens past the obelisk, you will see a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe called the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. It was built by the same person who built the larger version and for the same reason. He was a bit stuck on himself, I think, to need two monuments to show off his victories." She shrugged. "Oh well. Just beyond the smaller arch is the Louvre. This is one of the most famous art museums in the world. There are paintings, sculptures and other types of artistic creations in there along with artifacts of many cultures from all over the world."
"And none from Gondor, I assume?" Aragorn asked, a little sadly.
Lauren shook her head. "I think I mentioned that I had never heard of Gondor. I hate to tell you this, but as far as I know, no trace of your culture or civilization has survived to the present day. Now, that's not to mean that we never will find a sign of it. There are occasionally news articles about great archeological finds of new hidden cities that have just been found. For all I know, Minas Tirith is just buried, waiting for some lucky archeologist to stumble across it. I have a feeling that discovery would rock the foundations of archeology and change all of what we know about human history." A smile flickered across her face. "If it ever is uncovered, I'll have to make a trip out to visit it, no matter where it happens to be."
She took awhile pointing out other places of interest from their vantage point above the city. She pointed out Notre Dame Cathedral with its rose windows and flying buttresses supporting the building from the outside. The Sacré Cœur Cathedral stood out like a white beacon on the top of a hill overlooking the city. After pointing out more museums, gardens and monuments, it was almost time to leave. Before they left Paris behind them, though, Lauren wanted to show them why Paris was called the city of lights. The sun abruptly disappeared, leaving them seeing the city as it would appear late at night.
After getting over their initial disorientation, Aragorn and Legolas found themselves quite taken with the lights that shone all over the city, highlighting some of the monuments Lauren had just pointed out. "There's nothing quite like this view," Lauren said. "I would have hated to miss seeing this."
"It is quite beautiful," Aragorn commented softly, looking out over the city. He realized that Legolas had been rather silent throughout their time up here. "Legolas?" he questioned. "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I could not live in a place quite this crowded, no matter how beautiful it is. Though I do admit that it would be a nice place to visit. You are right Lauren. The view from this height is like nothing I have seen before. I have stood on the top of mountains and looked out over lush green valleys, or over desolate plains, but never have I seen light shining through the darkness like this. I thank you for sharing this place with us."
"It was my pleasure," she said, smiling at him. "Before we leave, there is just one last thing. Hold on." With her short words of warning, they were not quite so disoriented this time, as they found themselves suddenly standing in a patch of grass, looking back at the tower they had just been at the top of. The tower was lit by thousands of small lights that flickered on and off and sparkled like jewels in the night. They stood, transfixed by the light show for many long minutes, before the twinkling lights faded out and the tower was simply lit by lights that shone steadily from the interior of the tower.
"What was that?" Legolas asked.
"That light show is something they do for a few minutes every hour throughout the night," Lauren said. "They only started it a few years ago, but it is enormously popular, as I'm sure you can understand."
"Indeed," Aragorn said. "I would find it quite difficult to be nearby and not watch every moment of it."
"Well, I'm glad you liked it. Are you guys up for a little change of pace?" She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
"That would depend on what you had in mind," Aragorn said cautiously. He did not quite trust the gleam in her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Lauren grinned at them. "Have you ever wanted to fly?"
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