Story Time
A/N: Disclaimers in first chapter. 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. One of the songs used in this chapter is 'Time' and it is performed by Sarah McLachlan. I don't have any rights to the song.
Chapter Three - Story Time
The next night, Aragorn went to bed early and fell asleep easily. He found himself back on the sunlit beach and looked around for Lauren. All he had to do was follow the sound of her radio. The sound was soft and gentle this time. He could even admit that it actually sounded like music. As he approached the covered platform, he could see Lauren curled up in the chair that he had left her in. Had she moved at all? He could hear her singing softly along with the song on the radio as he came up behind her. The song was soft and rather mournful. She was singing something about having only shadows to keep her company, and needing more time. ("Time" by Sarah McLachlan) The words she sang, combined with the weak sound of her voice concerned him.
"Lauren?" Aragorn asked. He grew more concerned when she twisted slowly around to face him. Her face was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. There was a serious look on her face and pain showed clearly in her eyes. "What's wrong, Lauren?" He swiftly moved over to crouch in front of her chair.
"I don't think I'm going to make it," she whispered. She had drawn her legs up into the chair and wrapped her arms around them, and she once again rested her head on her knees and gazed off at the sea..
"What do you mean? Has something happened?" The healer in him took over and he reached out to put his hand on her forehead. It felt cool, cooler in fact than she should be in this warm weather.
"You could say something happened," she said slowly. "I think my heart stopped beating."
Aragorn quickly grabbed her wrist and felt for her pulse. It was there, but faster than it should be.
"They got it started again," she commented wryly, turning her gaze back toward Aragorn at his quick movement. "But I felt it stop. This place began to fade around me as the barrier thinned between the worlds. I could feel them working on me, the electrical charge going through me as they tried to re-start my heart. I guess it worked, and this world snapped back into focus, but I haven't felt too well since then."
Aragorn didn't doubt it. Given her pallor, the temperature of her skin and her sluggish reactions, he was fairly sure she was suffering from shock. Aragorn had thought she had been taking all this a bit too calmly. This close brush with death must have made her truly realize how precarious her situation was. That realization combined with the physical pain she had felt had pushed her into a state of shock. Knowing that he needed to get her warmed up, he looked around for something he could use as a blanket. As he thought of it, a light blanket appeared on the table. It seemed that Lauren was not the only one who could affect their surroundings. He reached over and grabbed the blanket, then shook it out and draped it around her shoulders. "I believe you are in shock," Aragorn explained when she looked at him with a question on her face. "You should lie down while we get you warmed up."
"OK," she said. She reached down to the side of the chair she was sitting in and pushed a button. Aragorn watched in amazement as the front of her chair moved up and came to rest in a horizontal position. Lauren stretched her legs out and snuggled deeper into the chair while rearranging the blanket. She noticed Aragorn's confused expression. "It's called a recliner."
Aragorn nodded. The name made sense, as the chair did allow one to recline. But he was somewhat concerned that Lauren simply obeyed him without question. He already knew it was not in her nature to be so passive. A thought occurred to him. "Have you eaten or slept since you've been here?"
She gave him a confused look. "No. I don't need to eat here; I haven't been hungry at all. And I don't think it's even possible for me to sleep. I'm already dreaming this world. If I slept here, where would I go in my dreams?"
Aragorn shook his head. "It is not important that you actually sleep. But you will feel better if you are able to eat and rest. That is what I would recommend were I treating your physical body." Lauren simply nodded in response. Aragorn knew what he wanted, and as he thought about it, a bowl of chicken soup and a cup of hot tea appeared. Gesturing for her to eat, Aragorn sat down in the other chair.
Lauren smiled as she breathed in the steam of the soup. "This is just what my mother would fix for me as a child when I was ill." She looked up at him. "Thank you."
Nodding, Aragorn settled back into his chair and watched her as she ate. Her color was beginning to improve, and the look in her eyes was not as distant as it had been. He was glad to see that she seemed to be improving rapidly. As she finished the soup and was slowly sipping the last of her tea, Aragorn spoke again. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, much. Thank you again. It won't be long before I'm back playing in the ocean." Her grin was not quite as bright as he had seen before, but she was trying to recover her more cheerful demeanor.
"Perhaps so, but not just yet," Aragorn said firmly. "You need more rest to recover fully."
"OK," Lauren agreed. "But only if you finish your story. What happened with Isildur and the ring?"
Aragorn was somewhat surprised that she was so intent on him finishing the story and that she remembered how to say Isildur's name correctly. He had told her the names and histories of a great number of men and elves yesterday, and he knew that the names of his time sounded very odd to her. It was a testament to her interest that she even remembered which name went along with the story of the ring.
"Very well," Aragorn said. He had her turn off the radio while he picked up the story where he had left off the previous night. After describing how the ring had betrayed Isildur to his death and was then lost, Aragorn told her that Isildur's youngest son had been kept safely at Rivendell when his father and older brothers were lost. He skipped all of the intervening generations and simply told her that his father and therefore he were directly descended from Isildur's youngest son. Then he told her the story of his father, Arathorn.
Her expression softened with sympathy when he told her of his parents being killed by orcs when he was but two years of age.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."
"Thank you for your sympathy," he said. "It happened many years ago, and I was taken to Imladris where Lord Elrond raised me as one of his own sons." Aragorn's own expression softened as he thought about the elves he considered his family.
"So you were raised by the same elf who fought alongside Elendil and Isildur in the Last Alliance?"
"Yes," Aragorn said, still surprised at how quickly she had absorbed the history of Middle-earth and their common lineage.
Lauren hesitated before speaking again. "I don't know quite the proper way to phrase this question, so I'll just ask. I'm sure he was a bit…disappointed by Isildur's refusal to destroy the ring when they had the chance. Did he hold your ancestor's actions against you at all?"
"No," Aragorn hastened to assure her. "Though I often wondered what my life would have been like had my parents not been killed, I could not have had a more loving father than Elrond. And when I joined his family, I gained two brothers in his twin sons. I cannot even imagine a life without the three of them in it."
"So you had a good childhood?"
"I did," Aragorn said. He went on to tell her many tales of growing up in the house of Elrond with the twins causing all manner of chaos. Lauren laughed hysterically at most of his tales, and Aragorn felt he should change the subject to give her a chance to catch her breath. He went on to describe his years with the Rangers and as Thorongil in the lands of Rohan and Gondor, as well as his years of adventuring with Legolas and his long time love for Arwen. After describing most of his life, Aragorn began the tale of the finding of the ring, the forming of the fellowship, and the events of the War of the Ring.
Lauren listened in silence, her eyes wide as she was swept away into a distant time and place that she had never experienced. Aragorn's skill as a storyteller was such that Lauren felt as if she were there, beside him, Legolas, and Gimli throughout their struggles. Tears welled in her eyes as he spoke of the fall of Gandalf and Boromir and all those who perished along the way. Though the story was quite serious, Aragorn could not help the grin that spread across his face at her slack jawed reaction when he described the return of Gandalf the White.
"We had much the same reaction," he said. "Gandalf's return was unexpected, to put it mildly, but brought a ray of hope into a very dark time." Lauren's expression grew grave and somewhat distant as he described the battle of Helm's Deep. Her eyes focused once more on his as he described Gandalf arriving just in time with Éomer and all of his men. Aragorn watched her face as he continued his tale. Everything she was feeling showed clearly on her face, and her emotions mirrored much of what Aragorn had felt at the time. Throughout his tale of the paths of the dead and the battle of Pelennor Fields, she remained quiet, though her eyes grew quite wide when he revealed his plan to lead an army to assail Mordor. "You do not approve?" he asked her.
"I certainly don't mean any disrespect," she began, "but are you crazy?" Her expression now showed wide-eyed disbelief.
"Why is it that those words always preface a very disrespectful statement?" Aragorn asked with a glint of humor in his eyes.
She rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "That plan was nothing more than suicide! You had to know that your army didn't stand a chance against the forces still within the gates of Mordor."
"We were not trying to win the battle, but merely provide a distraction while Frodo and Sam sneaked past the orcs to destroy the ring. We did not expect to survive."
She shook her head. "It sounds pretty desperate to me."
"It was," Aragorn admitted. "That was our one and only chance."
"Well, you obviously didn't die there, so what happened?"
Aragorn described the final battle and everyone watching in amazement as Barad-dûr crumbled and fell to the ground, knowing that Frodo had succeeded. In short order, Aragorn described Frodo and Sam's rescue, his coronation and wedding to Arwen, and how Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo sailed beyond the world to the land of the Valar, Valinor. When he finished, Lauren just stared at him in amazement.
"Lauren?" Aragorn asked. He was expecting a bit more of a reaction from her.
"Wow," she said finally. "That story is unbelievable. Truly and completely unbelievable." Her voice had a slightly dejected tone to it, and there was a frown on her face.
"What troubles you?" Aragorn asked in concern. He was worried that she might be feeling pain from her physical body again.
She met his eyes steadily. "I'm trying to decide if any of this is real. After hearing your tale, I'm more convinced than ever that you're a figment of my imagination."
Aragorn sighed. "I though we had already settled this issue. I am real and am able to visit this realm due to my gift of foresight and our blood connection."
She waved a hand in dismissal of his explanation. "Yes, yes, I know that's what we decided, but what if that was just my mind providing rationalizations for your presence in my dream? I have a very active imagination, you see, and that is just the type of thing I would invent to convince myself that you were real." She pushed the blanket aside, quickly closed the recliner and practically leapt to her feet, walking to the edge of the platform they were on before turning to walk to the opposite edge.
Watching her pace back and forth, Aragorn stifled a sigh of frustration. "And why would you decide now that I am not real?"
"Because I've never heard any of what you just told me. I realize that there's a lot of human history that has been lost along the way, but what you're talking about is a totally unknown history that covers thousands of years. We've found the remains of many ancient civilizations and cities, but none of them are anything like the way you've described Minas Tirith. And I'm having a very difficult time believing that all the beings you mentioned ever existed. Elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, ents, dragons and trolls; we've never found any evidence that any of them existed."
Her expression was intent as she paced back and forth, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "Paleontologists have uncovered the bones of a large number of dinosaur bones, and they predate the development of modern man, so why haven't we found the bones of any of those beings?" She paused a moment as a thought tickled the back of her mind. "Wait a minute, I saw something in the news recently that may relate to this. What was it?" She snapped her fingers suddenly. "That's right. There was an article in the news a few months ago about the discovery of some skeletons of some very small humans in Indonesia. They supposedly only grew to about the size of a three-year-old child, and lived somewhere in the range of 20,000 years ago. Could those have been hobbits?"
Aragorn's eyes widened when Lauren mentioned that the beings who might have been hobbits had lived 20,000 years before her time. He had been thinking they might be separated by a few thousand years, but certainly not twenty thousand years.
Lauren ignored Aragorn's surprised reaction and continued pacing and thinking out loud. "OK, that might lend credibility to your story, but what about the others? Let's see, you said elves looked like humans except for a few outward characteristics. So I'm assuming their skeletons would just appear human. What about dwarves? We still have people now who were once referred to as dwarves. Something in their DNA prevents them from growing to full stature. I suppose archeologists would have assumed any dwarf skeletons were simply shorter humans. It doesn't sound like ents really had a skeletal structure made of bone, so they would probably decompose completely."
Aragorn was feeling very odd listening to Lauren talk about finding the remains of all the races that had lived on Middle-earth. "Lauren, as one who lives among these races you are so casually dismissing as being nothing more than remains, I am finding this entire train of thought somewhat distressing. Would you mind finding some other topic to discuss?"
She turned and looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about how that sounded. But I'm trying to make sense of all of this and determine if any of it could be true."
"I realize that, and I apologize for interrupting you, but could you find another way to come to your conclusions? And would you please sit down? I am becoming rather dizzy." Aragorn was growing rather exasperated with her pacing and her continued disbelief.
"Oh, sorry," she said as she sat back down in the chair. "I tend to think better if I'm on the move, but you're not the first person to ask me to stop pacing while I think. Although, you were more polite about it than most."
Aragorn smiled slightly at her comment. She sat absolutely still and stared off into the distance at the waves rolling onto the shore. She remained still and silent for so long that Aragorn was about to tell her that she could pace if she wanted to.
"Waves," she murmured softly. "An island lost beneath the sea."
"Are you speaking of Númenor?" Aragorn asked her.
"Atlantis, actually," she responded. "I thought that there was something familiar in your story yesterday, but I got so caught up in the rest of it that it slipped my mind. There is a legend in my time about the lost city of Atlantis. It was said to be a beautiful, idyllic place with a very well educated people who created many wonders and technological advances. The island was supposedly destroyed by an earthquake; possibly caused by an underwater volcano. I believe the original legend even held that the island was destroyed by the gods as punishment for their transgressions."
"Atalantë," Aragorn said softly.
"What did you say?" Lauren asked.
"After the drowning of Númenor, it was referred to as Atalantë."
She looked steadily at him for some time. "You failed to mention that earlier. I am beginning to think the legend dates back much further in time than is currently thought."
"So, you believe I am real now?" Aragorn asked with a smile.
"I'm still debating that," she said. "As I see it, there are only two reasonable theories, and I'm trying to decide between them."
"What are your theories?" Aragorn leaned forward slightly in anticipation of hearing her answer.
"The first one is that you are real and that everything you've told me is the truth." She held up one finger to indicate that it was the first theory.
"I would tend to hope you would choose that explanation, but what is your other theory?"
Holding up a second finger, she explained her second theory. "The other theory holds that you are simply something my mind came up with to keep me from getting too bored here by myself. My mind obviously pulled elements of history, fantasy and even items I've seen on the news recently and combined them into a fantastical tale that I would truly love to believe. And quite honestly, that explanation is much more plausible than the idea that elves and the other beings really existed. Although, if I actually wake up, I could write this all down, sell the story and make a lot of money." She grinned at the thought of turning this dream into a best-selling novel.
Aragorn shook his head. "You are definitely showing proof of your lineage. We have all been accused of being stubborn from time to time."
"OK, yes, I do have a stubborn streak, but I also have a very logical, rational mind. I have to think through all the possibilities and decide, based on the evidence before me, which theory is more likely."
Aragorn sighed and sat back in his chair, knowing which of the two theories would be more easily believed. He did not think he would be able to convince her that he was indeed real. "Is there anything that might convince you that your second theory is not correct?"
She paused in thought for a moment. "A few things, actually. Your story was very detailed, and I've never been that great with history, so I doubt I could come up with that level of detail. My imagination, great as it is, does have its limits, and I seriously don't think I would have been able to invent ents and the whole ring storyline. Not to mention the fact that I never would have come up with the idea that you had of distracting Sauron and his forces by basically throwing away your life and the lives of all those who rode with you. But even with all of that, you have to admit that it's still easier to believe that than your story."
He was getting rather exasperated with his granddaughter. Aragorn knew this was real, why was it so difficult for her to accept? He felt himself fading again as he began to wake. "So, what have you decided?"
She grinned at him. "I'll think it all over and let you know tomorrow."
"Lauren," Aragorn practically growled the name in frustration.
"No, my love. I hope you have not forgotten my name."
Aragorn's eyes flew open as he heard his wife's voice. "Arwen!"
"So you do remember my name," the humor in her eyes made it clear that she was not angry. "Problems with our granddaughter?"
Sitting up, Aragorn ran his hands through his hair. "She is impossible!"
"What has she done now?" Arwen asked the question with a small smile on her face.
"She still refuses to believe me. I told her everything about us, and she still insists on calling me a, what did she say… a figment of her imagination!" Aragorn threw a hand up in the air as he remembered Lauren's comments.
Arwen smiled at Aragorn's obvious pique. "If she does not know of the existence of elves, the story of our life would be somewhat difficult to believe."
"She is only being stubborn in her disbelief," Aragorn insisted. He yawned suddenly and looked at Arwen. "I feel like I have had no sleep at all." He lay back down. "I need just a few more hours of sleep. Please make my excuses to the court."
"If you fall asleep, you will very likely return to visit Lauren," Arwen pointed out.
Aragorn's eyes opened again and he sighed. "It appears I am not as tired as I thought."
Arwen laughed and took the hand her husband extended toward her to help pull him out of bed.
Chapter Three - Story Time
The next night, Aragorn went to bed early and fell asleep easily. He found himself back on the sunlit beach and looked around for Lauren. All he had to do was follow the sound of her radio. The sound was soft and gentle this time. He could even admit that it actually sounded like music. As he approached the covered platform, he could see Lauren curled up in the chair that he had left her in. Had she moved at all? He could hear her singing softly along with the song on the radio as he came up behind her. The song was soft and rather mournful. She was singing something about having only shadows to keep her company, and needing more time. ("Time" by Sarah McLachlan) The words she sang, combined with the weak sound of her voice concerned him.
"Lauren?" Aragorn asked. He grew more concerned when she twisted slowly around to face him. Her face was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. There was a serious look on her face and pain showed clearly in her eyes. "What's wrong, Lauren?" He swiftly moved over to crouch in front of her chair.
"I don't think I'm going to make it," she whispered. She had drawn her legs up into the chair and wrapped her arms around them, and she once again rested her head on her knees and gazed off at the sea..
"What do you mean? Has something happened?" The healer in him took over and he reached out to put his hand on her forehead. It felt cool, cooler in fact than she should be in this warm weather.
"You could say something happened," she said slowly. "I think my heart stopped beating."
Aragorn quickly grabbed her wrist and felt for her pulse. It was there, but faster than it should be.
"They got it started again," she commented wryly, turning her gaze back toward Aragorn at his quick movement. "But I felt it stop. This place began to fade around me as the barrier thinned between the worlds. I could feel them working on me, the electrical charge going through me as they tried to re-start my heart. I guess it worked, and this world snapped back into focus, but I haven't felt too well since then."
Aragorn didn't doubt it. Given her pallor, the temperature of her skin and her sluggish reactions, he was fairly sure she was suffering from shock. Aragorn had thought she had been taking all this a bit too calmly. This close brush with death must have made her truly realize how precarious her situation was. That realization combined with the physical pain she had felt had pushed her into a state of shock. Knowing that he needed to get her warmed up, he looked around for something he could use as a blanket. As he thought of it, a light blanket appeared on the table. It seemed that Lauren was not the only one who could affect their surroundings. He reached over and grabbed the blanket, then shook it out and draped it around her shoulders. "I believe you are in shock," Aragorn explained when she looked at him with a question on her face. "You should lie down while we get you warmed up."
"OK," she said. She reached down to the side of the chair she was sitting in and pushed a button. Aragorn watched in amazement as the front of her chair moved up and came to rest in a horizontal position. Lauren stretched her legs out and snuggled deeper into the chair while rearranging the blanket. She noticed Aragorn's confused expression. "It's called a recliner."
Aragorn nodded. The name made sense, as the chair did allow one to recline. But he was somewhat concerned that Lauren simply obeyed him without question. He already knew it was not in her nature to be so passive. A thought occurred to him. "Have you eaten or slept since you've been here?"
She gave him a confused look. "No. I don't need to eat here; I haven't been hungry at all. And I don't think it's even possible for me to sleep. I'm already dreaming this world. If I slept here, where would I go in my dreams?"
Aragorn shook his head. "It is not important that you actually sleep. But you will feel better if you are able to eat and rest. That is what I would recommend were I treating your physical body." Lauren simply nodded in response. Aragorn knew what he wanted, and as he thought about it, a bowl of chicken soup and a cup of hot tea appeared. Gesturing for her to eat, Aragorn sat down in the other chair.
Lauren smiled as she breathed in the steam of the soup. "This is just what my mother would fix for me as a child when I was ill." She looked up at him. "Thank you."
Nodding, Aragorn settled back into his chair and watched her as she ate. Her color was beginning to improve, and the look in her eyes was not as distant as it had been. He was glad to see that she seemed to be improving rapidly. As she finished the soup and was slowly sipping the last of her tea, Aragorn spoke again. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, much. Thank you again. It won't be long before I'm back playing in the ocean." Her grin was not quite as bright as he had seen before, but she was trying to recover her more cheerful demeanor.
"Perhaps so, but not just yet," Aragorn said firmly. "You need more rest to recover fully."
"OK," Lauren agreed. "But only if you finish your story. What happened with Isildur and the ring?"
Aragorn was somewhat surprised that she was so intent on him finishing the story and that she remembered how to say Isildur's name correctly. He had told her the names and histories of a great number of men and elves yesterday, and he knew that the names of his time sounded very odd to her. It was a testament to her interest that she even remembered which name went along with the story of the ring.
"Very well," Aragorn said. He had her turn off the radio while he picked up the story where he had left off the previous night. After describing how the ring had betrayed Isildur to his death and was then lost, Aragorn told her that Isildur's youngest son had been kept safely at Rivendell when his father and older brothers were lost. He skipped all of the intervening generations and simply told her that his father and therefore he were directly descended from Isildur's youngest son. Then he told her the story of his father, Arathorn.
Her expression softened with sympathy when he told her of his parents being killed by orcs when he was but two years of age.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."
"Thank you for your sympathy," he said. "It happened many years ago, and I was taken to Imladris where Lord Elrond raised me as one of his own sons." Aragorn's own expression softened as he thought about the elves he considered his family.
"So you were raised by the same elf who fought alongside Elendil and Isildur in the Last Alliance?"
"Yes," Aragorn said, still surprised at how quickly she had absorbed the history of Middle-earth and their common lineage.
Lauren hesitated before speaking again. "I don't know quite the proper way to phrase this question, so I'll just ask. I'm sure he was a bit…disappointed by Isildur's refusal to destroy the ring when they had the chance. Did he hold your ancestor's actions against you at all?"
"No," Aragorn hastened to assure her. "Though I often wondered what my life would have been like had my parents not been killed, I could not have had a more loving father than Elrond. And when I joined his family, I gained two brothers in his twin sons. I cannot even imagine a life without the three of them in it."
"So you had a good childhood?"
"I did," Aragorn said. He went on to tell her many tales of growing up in the house of Elrond with the twins causing all manner of chaos. Lauren laughed hysterically at most of his tales, and Aragorn felt he should change the subject to give her a chance to catch her breath. He went on to describe his years with the Rangers and as Thorongil in the lands of Rohan and Gondor, as well as his years of adventuring with Legolas and his long time love for Arwen. After describing most of his life, Aragorn began the tale of the finding of the ring, the forming of the fellowship, and the events of the War of the Ring.
Lauren listened in silence, her eyes wide as she was swept away into a distant time and place that she had never experienced. Aragorn's skill as a storyteller was such that Lauren felt as if she were there, beside him, Legolas, and Gimli throughout their struggles. Tears welled in her eyes as he spoke of the fall of Gandalf and Boromir and all those who perished along the way. Though the story was quite serious, Aragorn could not help the grin that spread across his face at her slack jawed reaction when he described the return of Gandalf the White.
"We had much the same reaction," he said. "Gandalf's return was unexpected, to put it mildly, but brought a ray of hope into a very dark time." Lauren's expression grew grave and somewhat distant as he described the battle of Helm's Deep. Her eyes focused once more on his as he described Gandalf arriving just in time with Éomer and all of his men. Aragorn watched her face as he continued his tale. Everything she was feeling showed clearly on her face, and her emotions mirrored much of what Aragorn had felt at the time. Throughout his tale of the paths of the dead and the battle of Pelennor Fields, she remained quiet, though her eyes grew quite wide when he revealed his plan to lead an army to assail Mordor. "You do not approve?" he asked her.
"I certainly don't mean any disrespect," she began, "but are you crazy?" Her expression now showed wide-eyed disbelief.
"Why is it that those words always preface a very disrespectful statement?" Aragorn asked with a glint of humor in his eyes.
She rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "That plan was nothing more than suicide! You had to know that your army didn't stand a chance against the forces still within the gates of Mordor."
"We were not trying to win the battle, but merely provide a distraction while Frodo and Sam sneaked past the orcs to destroy the ring. We did not expect to survive."
She shook her head. "It sounds pretty desperate to me."
"It was," Aragorn admitted. "That was our one and only chance."
"Well, you obviously didn't die there, so what happened?"
Aragorn described the final battle and everyone watching in amazement as Barad-dûr crumbled and fell to the ground, knowing that Frodo had succeeded. In short order, Aragorn described Frodo and Sam's rescue, his coronation and wedding to Arwen, and how Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo sailed beyond the world to the land of the Valar, Valinor. When he finished, Lauren just stared at him in amazement.
"Lauren?" Aragorn asked. He was expecting a bit more of a reaction from her.
"Wow," she said finally. "That story is unbelievable. Truly and completely unbelievable." Her voice had a slightly dejected tone to it, and there was a frown on her face.
"What troubles you?" Aragorn asked in concern. He was worried that she might be feeling pain from her physical body again.
She met his eyes steadily. "I'm trying to decide if any of this is real. After hearing your tale, I'm more convinced than ever that you're a figment of my imagination."
Aragorn sighed. "I though we had already settled this issue. I am real and am able to visit this realm due to my gift of foresight and our blood connection."
She waved a hand in dismissal of his explanation. "Yes, yes, I know that's what we decided, but what if that was just my mind providing rationalizations for your presence in my dream? I have a very active imagination, you see, and that is just the type of thing I would invent to convince myself that you were real." She pushed the blanket aside, quickly closed the recliner and practically leapt to her feet, walking to the edge of the platform they were on before turning to walk to the opposite edge.
Watching her pace back and forth, Aragorn stifled a sigh of frustration. "And why would you decide now that I am not real?"
"Because I've never heard any of what you just told me. I realize that there's a lot of human history that has been lost along the way, but what you're talking about is a totally unknown history that covers thousands of years. We've found the remains of many ancient civilizations and cities, but none of them are anything like the way you've described Minas Tirith. And I'm having a very difficult time believing that all the beings you mentioned ever existed. Elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, ents, dragons and trolls; we've never found any evidence that any of them existed."
Her expression was intent as she paced back and forth, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "Paleontologists have uncovered the bones of a large number of dinosaur bones, and they predate the development of modern man, so why haven't we found the bones of any of those beings?" She paused a moment as a thought tickled the back of her mind. "Wait a minute, I saw something in the news recently that may relate to this. What was it?" She snapped her fingers suddenly. "That's right. There was an article in the news a few months ago about the discovery of some skeletons of some very small humans in Indonesia. They supposedly only grew to about the size of a three-year-old child, and lived somewhere in the range of 20,000 years ago. Could those have been hobbits?"
Aragorn's eyes widened when Lauren mentioned that the beings who might have been hobbits had lived 20,000 years before her time. He had been thinking they might be separated by a few thousand years, but certainly not twenty thousand years.
Lauren ignored Aragorn's surprised reaction and continued pacing and thinking out loud. "OK, that might lend credibility to your story, but what about the others? Let's see, you said elves looked like humans except for a few outward characteristics. So I'm assuming their skeletons would just appear human. What about dwarves? We still have people now who were once referred to as dwarves. Something in their DNA prevents them from growing to full stature. I suppose archeologists would have assumed any dwarf skeletons were simply shorter humans. It doesn't sound like ents really had a skeletal structure made of bone, so they would probably decompose completely."
Aragorn was feeling very odd listening to Lauren talk about finding the remains of all the races that had lived on Middle-earth. "Lauren, as one who lives among these races you are so casually dismissing as being nothing more than remains, I am finding this entire train of thought somewhat distressing. Would you mind finding some other topic to discuss?"
She turned and looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about how that sounded. But I'm trying to make sense of all of this and determine if any of it could be true."
"I realize that, and I apologize for interrupting you, but could you find another way to come to your conclusions? And would you please sit down? I am becoming rather dizzy." Aragorn was growing rather exasperated with her pacing and her continued disbelief.
"Oh, sorry," she said as she sat back down in the chair. "I tend to think better if I'm on the move, but you're not the first person to ask me to stop pacing while I think. Although, you were more polite about it than most."
Aragorn smiled slightly at her comment. She sat absolutely still and stared off into the distance at the waves rolling onto the shore. She remained still and silent for so long that Aragorn was about to tell her that she could pace if she wanted to.
"Waves," she murmured softly. "An island lost beneath the sea."
"Are you speaking of Númenor?" Aragorn asked her.
"Atlantis, actually," she responded. "I thought that there was something familiar in your story yesterday, but I got so caught up in the rest of it that it slipped my mind. There is a legend in my time about the lost city of Atlantis. It was said to be a beautiful, idyllic place with a very well educated people who created many wonders and technological advances. The island was supposedly destroyed by an earthquake; possibly caused by an underwater volcano. I believe the original legend even held that the island was destroyed by the gods as punishment for their transgressions."
"Atalantë," Aragorn said softly.
"What did you say?" Lauren asked.
"After the drowning of Númenor, it was referred to as Atalantë."
She looked steadily at him for some time. "You failed to mention that earlier. I am beginning to think the legend dates back much further in time than is currently thought."
"So, you believe I am real now?" Aragorn asked with a smile.
"I'm still debating that," she said. "As I see it, there are only two reasonable theories, and I'm trying to decide between them."
"What are your theories?" Aragorn leaned forward slightly in anticipation of hearing her answer.
"The first one is that you are real and that everything you've told me is the truth." She held up one finger to indicate that it was the first theory.
"I would tend to hope you would choose that explanation, but what is your other theory?"
Holding up a second finger, she explained her second theory. "The other theory holds that you are simply something my mind came up with to keep me from getting too bored here by myself. My mind obviously pulled elements of history, fantasy and even items I've seen on the news recently and combined them into a fantastical tale that I would truly love to believe. And quite honestly, that explanation is much more plausible than the idea that elves and the other beings really existed. Although, if I actually wake up, I could write this all down, sell the story and make a lot of money." She grinned at the thought of turning this dream into a best-selling novel.
Aragorn shook his head. "You are definitely showing proof of your lineage. We have all been accused of being stubborn from time to time."
"OK, yes, I do have a stubborn streak, but I also have a very logical, rational mind. I have to think through all the possibilities and decide, based on the evidence before me, which theory is more likely."
Aragorn sighed and sat back in his chair, knowing which of the two theories would be more easily believed. He did not think he would be able to convince her that he was indeed real. "Is there anything that might convince you that your second theory is not correct?"
She paused in thought for a moment. "A few things, actually. Your story was very detailed, and I've never been that great with history, so I doubt I could come up with that level of detail. My imagination, great as it is, does have its limits, and I seriously don't think I would have been able to invent ents and the whole ring storyline. Not to mention the fact that I never would have come up with the idea that you had of distracting Sauron and his forces by basically throwing away your life and the lives of all those who rode with you. But even with all of that, you have to admit that it's still easier to believe that than your story."
He was getting rather exasperated with his granddaughter. Aragorn knew this was real, why was it so difficult for her to accept? He felt himself fading again as he began to wake. "So, what have you decided?"
She grinned at him. "I'll think it all over and let you know tomorrow."
"Lauren," Aragorn practically growled the name in frustration.
"No, my love. I hope you have not forgotten my name."
Aragorn's eyes flew open as he heard his wife's voice. "Arwen!"
"So you do remember my name," the humor in her eyes made it clear that she was not angry. "Problems with our granddaughter?"
Sitting up, Aragorn ran his hands through his hair. "She is impossible!"
"What has she done now?" Arwen asked the question with a small smile on her face.
"She still refuses to believe me. I told her everything about us, and she still insists on calling me a, what did she say… a figment of her imagination!" Aragorn threw a hand up in the air as he remembered Lauren's comments.
Arwen smiled at Aragorn's obvious pique. "If she does not know of the existence of elves, the story of our life would be somewhat difficult to believe."
"She is only being stubborn in her disbelief," Aragorn insisted. He yawned suddenly and looked at Arwen. "I feel like I have had no sleep at all." He lay back down. "I need just a few more hours of sleep. Please make my excuses to the court."
"If you fall asleep, you will very likely return to visit Lauren," Arwen pointed out.
Aragorn's eyes opened again and he sighed. "It appears I am not as tired as I thought."
Arwen laughed and took the hand her husband extended toward her to help pull him out of bed.
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