Meeting Arwen
Chapter Nine - Meeting Arwen
When Aragorn appeared in the dream world, he looked around to determine where he was this time. He seemed to be in a beautiful wooded area in the height of spring. The sun was shining through the trees, rays of light illuminating patches of the forest floor. There were a variety of birds singing, their voices highlighting the calm and peaceful atmosphere surrounding him. He listened intently, and was able to hear the faint sounds of Lauren's music. A grin spread across his face. Finding Lauren had never required any of his tracking skills, merely the ability to follow his ears. He quickly summoned Legolas, and watched as the elf joyfully took in their surroundings.
Legolas turned to face Aragorn after fully absorbing the details of the woods around them. "Are you going to summon Arwen?"
Arwen had listened to their tale of the previous evening and decided that it was time she joined them. She had wanted to meet Lauren, and finding out that they were going to be exploring the forests of Lauren's world had decided the issue. She had asked Aragorn to summon her when they arrived. Aragorn thought that since she had the same connection to Lauren that he did, she would be able to join them without any help from him, but she wanted Aragorn to choose the best time for her to appear.
"Do you think we should tell Lauren first that Arwen will be joining us?" Aragorn asked, surprised that Legolas did not want to notify Lauren that they would be bringing more company.
Legolas' eyes shone with mischief. "No, I think we should surprise her."
Aragorn frowned, remembering Lauren's reaction to unexpectedly meeting Legolas. But surely, now that she knew any elf she met was likely to be real, there would be no more misunderstandings. "Very well," he said, summoning Arwen to join them.
Arwen appeared beside Aragorn and gazed around with delight. "This looks much like the woods near Imladris. Is this scenery your doing?" she asked Aragorn and Legolas.
"Nay," Aragorn said. "This is the world I appeared in. These woods came from Lauren's mind, not mine." A wave of his hand indicated the forest around them.
"Where is she?" Arwen asked. "I greatly desire to meet this distant granddaughter of ours." Her eyes shone with anticipation as she thought of finally getting to meet the woman she had heard so much about.
"Listen," Aragorn said.
Legolas and Arwen listened, and easily picked up the sound of music coming from the woods to Aragorn's right. Legolas smiled, knowing that the music indicated Lauren's location. Arwen nodded in understanding and gestured for the men to lead the way. Legolas led them and Aragorn took Arwen's arm as they followed him. "We have not prepared her for the possibility of meeting you, so I do not truly know what she will do or say," Aragorn said softly as they walked. "She is not in the habit of reacting to things as we would expect."
"So I have determined from your stories." Arwen's tone was amused. "Do not worry, my love. I will be prepared for any reaction she may have."
Aragorn nodded and they fell silent as the music grew louder and Lauren came into sight. She was lying on what seemed to be a fishing net strung between two trees. Her eyes were closed and an open book was lying on her stomach as if she had put it down before falling asleep. It was apparent that she was not asleep however, as one leg was draped over the side of the net and pushing lightly on the ground to cause the net to swing gently back and forth. The fingers of one hand were also tapping her leg in time to the mellow, but upbeat music that she was listening to. A small table just below the level of the net was sitting within arms reach bearing a plate of chocolate covered strawberries.
Legolas grinned as he saw the fruit. Since Lauren had not seemed to notice their approach, he spoke to get her attention. "Look, Aragorn. Someone went fishing and made quite a catch."
A smile spread across Lauren's face. She spoke without opening her eyes. "It's a hammock, not a fishing net, Legolas. I'm using it exactly as it is intended to be used. If you're hungry though, help yourself to the strawberries. I know how much you enjoyed them last time."
Legolas took her up on the offer and quickly popped one of the strawberries in his mouth.
Aragorn chuckled and a smile crossed Arwen's face. Lauren had yet to realize that anyone besides Aragorn and Legolas were there. "What are you doing?" Aragorn asked. It was rare to find Lauren sitting even remotely still.
"Relaxing," she answered lazily. "It took a while, but I finally realized that I don't have to keep busy every second. Life in my world is so fast paced that relaxing doesn't always come easily, but I think I figured out how to do it. Besides, after what the two of you told me about needing rest in the real world, I thought I should take some time to rest here, or when I wake up from this coma, I'm just going to roll over and go back to sleep."
Aragorn was relieved to hear her say 'when' not 'if' she woke up. It appeared that she had not given up hope after all. "I have someone I would like you to meet," he commented.
Her eyes opened at that comment, and she saw Aragorn, Legolas, and an unknown elf standing before her. She scrambled quickly out of the hammock, nearly tripping herself as she tried to get to her feet. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at Arwen in much the same way she had stared at Legolas upon their first meeting. She consciously forced herself to close her mouth and attempted to regain her composure. She lowered her head and gave a short curtsey before rising and looking at Arwen. "Good day, Lady Arwen."
"You know who I am?" Arwen asked her.
"You could be nobody else," Lauren answered. "Though, I believe that Aragorn didn't fully describe your beauty. As I'm sure you know, I'm the one that Aragorn has been spending his nights with." She paled as she thought about how that sounded. "I mean, I'm the one he's been dreaming of." She closed her eyes, reached up and gave herself a soft slap across the face. "I'm just making it worse," she muttered to herself. She opened her eyes again and after a deep breath, tried once more. "How about we start over? I'm Lauren."
Aragorn, Arwen and Legolas were having a very difficult time not laughing at Lauren's reaction to meeting Arwen.
Lauren looked over to Aragorn. "Apparently it's not just Legolas. I turn into a babbling idiot anytime I meet an elf." That comment did it, and the other three gave into their laughter. A wry grin on Lauren's face showed that she was not offended by their laughter.
"I am sorry," Lauren said as the laughter died down. "But I really wasn't expecting to meet you tonight, and I don't seem to do well with that type of surprise." A light glare in Aragorn and Legolas' direction made it clear that she would have preferred having some notice.
Aragorn winced inwardly, knowing he should have prepared her first. But she seemed to have enough of a sense of humor about her own reaction that he knew she wasn't completely humiliated by this.
"Do not concern yourself with your reaction," Arwen soothed her. "I took no offense." She stepped away from Aragorn and approached Lauren.
"I'm glad," Lauren said, staring at Arwen in curiosity now. "So, you're my grandmother, many generations removed."
"So it would seem," Arwen responded, staring back in equal curiosity. She studied Lauren's attire and hairstyle. "Your clothing is quite unusual. Is that not men's clothing that you wear?"
Lauren's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What?" She looked down at herself before she realized what Arwen meant. "Oh, you mean the jeans? This style of clothing is not just reserved for men any longer. Men, women, old and young wear jeans. It's one of the most comfortable styles there is. Women do still wear dresses, but when I want to wear casual clothes, I always wear jeans." She looked at Arwen's floor length dress. Not even her shoes could be seen. "How do you handle horseback riding, fighting, or anything physical in long dresses? Don't you trip over the hem?"
Arwen chuckled. "No, but I assume this is merely a matter of how we were raised. I have never thought of wearing anything other than gowns." A secretive smile crossed her lips as she thought of the few times when she was younger and had dressed in a tunic and leggings to race or compete with her brothers. At those times, a long dress was not entirely practical.
Lauren shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess it wasn't until fairly recently that most women began wearing pants and jeans rather than dresses for everyday wear. But I still think jeans are far more comfortable." She gazed wistfully at Arwen's dress. "Though, I have to say that your dress is truly gorgeous. You wouldn't find anything like that in my world."
"Is that because women do not wear gowns like this any longer?" Arwen asked, gesturing at her dress.
"Partly," Lauren said, moving in closer for a better look. She gave Arwen a questioning look and, receiving permission, lifted the sleeve of Arwen's dress to examine the fine details. "But even if that was the style, I'd never be able to afford many like that. The material alone would be worth several of my outfits. Add in that gold thread, the beading, the hand-stitching and embroidery, and that one dress is worth most of my clothes put together." When she finished examining the sleeve, she released the material and took a step back.
"Your clothing is not hand-stitched?" Arwen asked in confusion. How else would clothing be made? "Then how was it made?" She could not refrain from asking the question.
"Well, people use sewing machines." Lauren tried to explain how a sewing machine worked. "This machine has a needle that can place stitches much more quickly than can be done by hand. All you have to do is put the thread in the machine, then pull the material through for a nice straight stitch in a matter of moments. Not many people take the time to actually hand stitch an entire article of clothing," Lauren said. "The majority of clothing is mass-produced. Come to think of it, most items are mass-produced, not just clothing. Items that are hand made have become rarer, and all the more treasured." Her voice was a little wistful at the thought that no one had time or the inclination to do things by hand anymore.
"You do not make your clothing yourself then?" Arwen asked to clarify the matter.
"Oh, no." Lauren sounded rather appalled at the very thought. "I took a sewing class in school, but I was horrible at it. We were supposed to learn how to use a sewing machine to make a stuffed animal or an article of clothing. Mine didn't quite turn out like they were supposed to. I can sew on a button or stitch up a ripped seam, and that's about the extent of my sewing abilities. I go to clothing stores and browse until I find a style I like, in the colors I like, and in my size. That's not always easy, but I don't often come home from shopping empty handed." She paused in thought. "Maybe that's why I have a closet full of clothes I rarely wear." The last line was muttered under her breath.
Lauren shook her head as if to shake away an irrelevant thought, and Arwen noticed a glint of sunlight reflecting off of something metal in Lauren's ears. "Is that metal in your ears?" She leaned closer as if for a better look.
"What?" Lauren asked, reaching up to see if there was something wrong with her ears. When she felt her earrings, she realized what Arwen was referring to. She pushed her hair aside so the others could see the metal stud in her ear. "This is an earring. I have a matching one on the other side." She pulled her hair back and showed them the other one. "They're items of jewelry."
"Does that go completely through your ear?" Legolas asked in horror.
"Yes," Lauren said in confusion. "I take it your culture doesn't do any form of body piercing for decorative or other purposes?"
"No," Aragorn said. "Neither the elves nor those from Gondor or Rohan have ever used this practice. I have seen examples of this in distant cultures, however. Is there some cultural significance to your…jewelry?" Though he had seen this before in other cultures, he was a little surprised that Lauren would have worn jewelry such as this.
"Not really," Lauren said. "It's just a common practice among people in my culture. There are some really beautiful sets of jewelry out there. I have several sets of matching necklaces and earrings at home. Most of my outfits just wouldn't look complete without earrings." Lauren shrugged, as it did not seem like such a big deal to her.
"How do you change earrings?" Aragorn asked. "Would not the injury have healed around the metal, holding it in place?"
Lauren shook her head. "You have to take care of them pretty carefully while they're healing. I had to twist the earrings several times a day and treat my ears with a solution to keep them from getting infected. My ears healed with no trouble, and the earrings come out very easily." To prove it, she reached up and took the back off of one earring and pulled it from her ear, showing them the healed hole, and then easily replaced the item of jewelry.
"It sounds painful," Legolas commented. "I cannot imagine that you would willingly allow someone to put holes in your body." He had been injured far too many times to accept that anyone would be so willing to suffer the pain just for fashion's sake.
"Oh, it only hurt for a moment, and then ached for a little while longer." Lauren waved his concern away with a flip of her hand. "But really, one hole in each ear is mild compared to some I've seen. Some people have piercings all the way up their ears. I can imagine that hurt quite a bit more. And that isn't even taking into consideration all the other body piercings I've seen."
"Body piercing? You mean to say that people put holes in other parts of their bodies as well?" Legolas asked in somewhat morbid fascination.
"Yes." Lauren nodded and continued. "I've seen piercings in noses, lips, tongues, eyebrows, belly buttons, and heard of a few other places which I won't mention." She grinned at the looks of horror on their faces.
"Why would people wish to do this?" Arwen asked, shuddering at the thought. She glanced at Aragorn and Legolas to see that they were just as horrified that people would do that to themselves.
"It's mostly younger people who go for body and facial piercing," Lauren explained. "Though there probably are some older people who choose to do it as well. It's a fad, a current style. I've never had the urge to do it, but I think people do it to set themselves apart from the crowd, to make them stand out and not look like the older generations. Then there are the people who get tattoos for much the same reason, to stand out. That form of body decoration includes a wider age group, though."
"Tattoo?" Legolas asked hesitantly. He had never heard the word before, but was unsure if he really wanted to know what it was, after what he had already heard.
"It's basically a permanent design or image put on someone's body," Lauren explained. "It's when certain dyes are injected with needles under the skin to form the desired image."
"Do you have one of these images?" Legolas asked in fascination.
"No," Lauren said. "That procedure would be much more painful than simply getting pierced ears, and I really don't want to think about inviting that kind of pain. I'm kind of a baby about pain. And besides, I guess I've never really seen the point in it. What if you decide at a later point in life that you don't want that design anymore? There is a surgery that can remove it, but that just means more pain and a lot more expense than the original tattoo." She shook her head at the thought of all the money there was to be made in both creating and removing tattoos.
"Is appearing different truly so important?" Arwen asked, gazing at Lauren. Lauren's world seemed so strange to her.
"To some people, yes. There are so many different groups out there, and some of them have very distinct styles of dress. There are goth styles, punk styles, grunge styles, and the more mainstream styles. Each group has its own style of clothing, of hairstyles, and even a common set of attitudes and musical tastes. There are so many diverse groups out there that there should be a group for everyone. No one should be left to feel outcast, but unfortunately that isn't the case." Her voice grew sadder as she finished. Lauren shook her head as she realized that they were all just standing in the clearing and quickly conjured up four chairs for them to sit in. She took a seat and gestured for the others to sit.
"Do many of your world feel they are outcasts?" Aragorn asked once they had all been seated.
"More than you would imagine," Lauren said. "For example, there is a standard of beauty for women in my country that very few of us have any hope of meeting. This standard is perpetuated by models, movie stars, and the media. Those who don't meet this standard often feel inferior, self-conscious about their appearance." She conjured up a few magazines and flipped through them to show the others the advertisements and the models in the pages. Legolas and Arwen turned slightly pink as they saw some very scantily clad models.
"Oops, let's skip the underwear advertisements," Lauren muttered, turning the pages until she found a close up facial shot for a makeup ad.
"Were those women wearing the same type of attire you were when we first met?" Aragorn asked, having seen a glimpse of the image as she flipped through the pages.
"No," Lauren said. "Though they look very similar, bikinis are meant to be worn alone, and only at certain places like beaches and swimming pools. The items those models were wearing are meant to be worn under clothing."
"You would appear in public wearing no more than the women in those pages?" Legolas asked, completely shocked. He had thought Lauren more modest than that. None from his time would ever consider being seen in so little.
Arwen shot a glance between Lauren and Aragorn, realizing just what Lauren had been wearing when she met Aragorn. Her eyebrows rose as she imagined that first meeting. Arwen knew that Aragorn would have been very embarrassed, and she smiled slightly to herself. It would have been quite entertaining to see Aragorn's expression.
"Only in certain places where that is the expected style of dress," Lauren reiterated. From Legolas' reaction, she was rather glad she had not been wearing a bikini when he first appeared. It seemed he would have been even more embarrassed than Aragorn had been. "But that wasn't the reason I showed you these magazines. I just wanted to show you what type of facial and body features are considered beautiful in my world. As you can see from the magazines, very few women would ever be able to look like that. This has helped to create a culture of insecure women. You wouldn't believe the lengths that some women go to in an attempt to feel better about the way they look." Lauren took a few minutes to explain cosmetic surgeries like face-lifts, nose jobs, breast implants and liposuction.
The others stared at her aghast. "People actually have surgeries simply to improve their appearance?" Aragorn asked finally. "Has medicine advanced to the point that people would have these procedures so lightly?" His expression was one of utter incredulity.
Lauren shrugged. "Well, these procedures are supposed to be routine, but there is always a risk to any surgery. It just saddens me that our society has reached a point that people feel the need to have these surgeries. And I can't help but wonder if the people who do this ever feel satisfied. I believe that all women feel self-conscious about one or more aspects of their physical appearance. Like I said, that's kind of hard to avoid. But is it that aspect that is keeping them from being happy? I don't know. I can't help thinking that it goes deeper than physical appearances for most people." Lauren crossed her legs in her chair and propped her elbows on her knees and stared at the ground. The current topic was beginning to depress her.
"Are you unhappy with any aspects of your appearance?" Arwen asked carefully, realizing how touchy this subject could be.
"Sure," Lauren said, looking up. "There are several minor things that I'm not satisfied with, but I don't let it bother me. I'm happy with who I am, and that's enough." She looked at Arwen with a critical eye. "You, on the other hand, would be able to command any amount of money if you went into modeling. As long as my world didn't freak out at the existence of elves, anyway." Lauren chuckled. "Among models, the younger ones make the most money, usually. As soon as models reach their upper 20's and low 30's, they find it harder to keep modeling jobs. You wouldn't have that problem, would you? You don't age. You'll never have wrinkles on your face. Do you have any idea how many people would give anything to be like that? Our society is a very youth based one. Appearing young is very important. Finding that first wrinkle or that first gray hair is a very traumatic experience."
"Do your people still seek immortality?" Aragorn asked, remembering what led to the downfall of the Númenoreans.
"Do they ever," Lauren commented. She also remembered the story he had told her. "Except now, instead of trying to wrest the secret of immortality from the gods, people are turning to science. There are a lot of people who are studying what happens to people as they age and trying to figure out how to stop or reverse the affects."
Aragorn studied her for a moment. "You do not sound as if you approve of this."
Lauren sighed. "I don't approve of people trying to play God. I do approve of medical research aimed at curing disease and healing injuries. I may question some of their practices, but I know most of them are working for the betterment of humanity. But humans were not meant to live forever. And our world is crowded as it is. I don't mean to sound harsh, but what happens if people stop dying, but people don’t stop having children? We'll overrun the limits of this world far too quickly. Death is a natural part of life." She looked at Arwen and Legolas. "For humans, anyway." She gave another tired sigh. "There is a lot about my world that I don't agree with, but that's not what you came here to hear." Deciding that she was getting sick of the current topic, she stood up, feeling the need to move. She had been far too still in that conversation and was done with sitting here dwelling on such dismal thoughts.
She looked at Aragorn and Legolas. "I assume you told Arwen about the Redwood Forest yesterday?" At their nod, she turned to look at Arwen. "And you decided you wanted to see some of the forests of my world?"
"I also wanted to meet you, but yes," Arwen answered. She stood as well, seeing that they were moving on to something else. Aragorn and Legolas stood as well, and the chairs disappeared as if they had never been there.
"Then let's get to it," Lauren said. "Talking too much about the problems in my world will just serve to frustrate me. So, what would you like to see first?" She rubbed her hands together in thought. "I think we should start with Crater Lake National Park. It's difficult to find a spot more beautiful, in my opinion."
"That sounds like a good place to start, then," Aragorn said. The differences between their cultures was something that interested him greatly, but it sounded like Lauren was rather disillusioned with her world and he did not wish to sadden her further.
"Now, where do we want to appear for the best view?" Lauren murmured to herself. A grin spread across her face and she looked at the others. "Ready?" When they nodded, she closed her eyes and concentrated on their surroundings. The woods around them faded and were gradually replaced by different scenery. They appeared to be standing on the side of a mountain, and the view spread out around them was truly spectacular.
The slope below them was covered in evergreen trees, a vibrant green like that seen in the height of spring. A deep blue lake spread out at the bottom of the slope. There was an island in the middle of the lake, rising high above the still surface. The azure water was a deeper reflection of the clear vivid blue of the sky. There was not a cloud to be seen to break up the unending aquamarine sky. The tallest mountains around the lake were snow topped, a clear white that sparkled in the light of the sun. The entire scene seemed fresh, new, and completely calm.
Lauren let out a contented sigh as she gazed around her. "I've always loved this view," she murmured to herself. She looked around to see the reactions of the others.
Arwen was gazing at everything in delighted wonder. "It's beautiful." Her voice was hushed in wonder. She had never seen a place quite like this before.
Legolas was likewise taken with the beauty of the view and failed to answer.
Aragorn took note of the circular shape of the mountains surrounding the lake. "How was this place formed?" he asked.
"This is the site of an ancient volcano." Lauren explained. "Scientists think it exploded over seven thousand years ago and then collapsed to form a deep basin that later filled with water. This is one of deepest lakes in the world. It is the deepest in my country. It's kind of strange to think that such beauty can result from such a violent beginning."
"Is this a safe place to be?" Aragorn asked her, concerned about the possibility of volcanic activity. Seeing Mount Doom was enough to make him quite wary of volcanos.
"Well, it's been stable for thousands of years," Lauren shrugged. "I haven't heard scientists giving any warning about seismic activity, so even if we were in the real world, I think this is a pretty safe place to be. But there are places around here where the ground may not be quite stable, so visitors are always told to stick to the marked paths. Venturing off those paths could be dangerous. But as long as we avoid those paths, we should be fine."
Aragorn noticed how her eyes kept straying to the lake. "You enjoy the water, do you not? First the beach and now this lake?"
Lauren smiled. "As much as Legolas finds beauty in the trees and growing things, I always find more beauty in water. As I said, I love the water; swimming, boating, or just lying on the shore and staring at it. Still lakes, raging rivers, gurgling streams, or the rolling waves of the ocean, it's all beautiful to me."
"I agree," Arwen said, breaking into the conversation. "Water is the source of life. Without it, the trees and 'growing things' as you called them could not live. But there is beauty in the life that it creates as well."
"Oh, no question there," Lauren said. "I would never argue that beauty does not exist in the trees themselves. I love spring, when the bare branches of the trees start to bud with flowers and new leaves. After the brown of winter, the explosion of color that spring brings can't help but lift my spirits. I've never had a garden or anything, but I have always enjoyed flowers of all varieties, the green grass and new leaves of spring. There's just something special in the air in spring. And after all, trees and green plants are essential to the survival of humanity."
"I could not imagine living in a place without trees," Legolas said as he approached them from his wanderings among the trees. "But I do not think I have ever heard a human say that they were essential to their survival."
"Green plants produce oxygen," Lauren explained. "Since we need that to breathe, I consider plants to be essential to life. Not to mention that plants are the basis of our entire food chain as well. No, humanity could not survive without plants." In a quiet voice, she muttered under her breath to herself. "Now if we could just keep people from destroying the forests and jungles, we'd be doing so much better."
Legolas looked as though he wanted to ask her about that last comment, but a quick shake of her head told him that it was not a topic she wished to discuss at the moment. He nodded, accepting that she did not wish to talk about it, then turned to head into the woods around them, unable to stay away from the trees any longer. Aragorn and Arwen also seemed to want to explore the area. Lauren conjured a lawn chair and set it in a place that allowed her to enjoy her favorite view. "You guys can go explore for awhile. I'll just stay here 'til you're done."
"Are you sure?" Aragorn asked. He was unsure if they should leave her alone. Despite her usual cheerful demeanor, he was sure there was a deeper emotion that she was hiding from them. He had come here to keep her company, and did not enjoy the idea of abandoning her to go explore even a place as beautiful as this seemed to be.
"I'm fine," Lauren said with a reassuring smile. Aragorn hesitated for a brief moment before he nodded and reached for Arwen's hand, leading her into the woods to explore as Lauren had suggested. Lauren sat back and watched the others until they left her sight. She enjoyed bringing happiness to the others. This was a beautiful place, and she wanted to give them all a chance to discover its unique characteristics for themselves. She didn’t want to interfere with their explorations. The three of them had known each other for much longer than she'd been alive. She had relegated herself to the role of a tour guide this time around. And a good tour guide gave people time to explore on their own. She turned her attention back to the lake and smiled. She didn't see how anyone could feel anything but happy and at peace here.
It was some time later when Legolas wandered back out of the trees. "Have Arwen and Aragorn not returned?"
"No, they're still exploring," Lauren answered easily. "Pull up a chair." She conjured another lawn chair for him and as he sat down, a small table appeared between them with a tray of chocolate covered fruit.
"You did not join them?" Legolas asked curiously.
"No, I wanted to give them some time to themselves to wander. I'm sure that with the pressures and schedule involved in running a kingdom, they don't have as much time to spend with each other as they'd like. I didn't want to interfere." Lauren waved her hand dismissively.
"Interfere?" Legolas asked in amazement, sitting up straighter in his chair. "Lauren, Arwen came to this world to meet you. She has heard so much of you from Aragorn and I that she felt she had to meet you herself."
"Well, we've met. Now she can spend some time with her husband in this beautiful place." She popped a chocolate covered cherry in her mouth and smiled at him impishly.
Legolas shook his head and glanced off to his left as a faint sound reached his sensitive ears. He made a hushing motion with his hand and then pointed in the direction of the sound. Lauren leaned forward to look around Legolas and see what it was he had seen. She held her breath as a deer stepped out of the trees with a fawn at her side.
For a long moment, the elf and human simply watched as the deer suddenly caught their scent on the breeze and turned to stare at them. Lauren found herself staring into large, limpid brown eyes as the deer tried to decide whether they were a threat to her and her child. A sound from another direction startled the deer, and she nudged her fawn back into the woods, following and melding easily into the shadows of the trees.
"Wow," Lauren breathed as the deer left. "I rarely get to see them so close."
Legolas smiled at the enchanted look on Lauren's face. "When was the last time you saw a deer this close?"
Lauren gazed off into the distance, smiling in remembrance. "Once, when I was much younger, some of my cousins ended up raising an orphaned fawn. I was visiting for the summer and got to help them bottle-feed it and take care of it for a little while. It was just the sweetest thing, with those big brown eyes. But when our vacation was over, we had to leave. I never found out what happened to it after that. Once a wild animal has been tamed, it can't be returned to the wild. Maybe they found a petting zoo or something to take it."
"What is a petting zoo?"
Lauren looked momentarily startled at the question as she was reminded that she was speaking with someone who did not know her world. "Well, a zoo is a place where people go to see all kinds of animals they wouldn't normally have a chance to see. They have different animals from all over the world. A petting zoo is kind of a smaller version of that where they have gentler animals like goats, rabbits and sheep for kids to be able to touch. Kids growing up in cities don't really have much of an opportunity to see farm animals, so this gives them a chance to see and touch the animals for themselves."
"I think I would like to see a zoo," Legolas said. "I would enjoy seeing animals from all around the world."
"We'll have to wait until Aragorn and Arwen return, and ask their opinion, but I don't think they'd object to a zoo visit. In the meantime, I can think of something else to pass the time." She conjured a book of images of as many animals as she could think of, from aardvarks to zebras, and handed it over to Legolas.
Legolas opened the book and began to look through it. Lauren reached over to the table and plucked a chocolate truffle out of the bowl of chocolates that she had just conjured. The one she picked was filled with coconut cream. She finished it off and offered the bowl to Legolas.
His eyes lit up at the thought of a new treat and he gladly accepted the offer, eagerly picking a candy out of the bowl. He took a bite and his eyes widened at the new taste.
"What is that?" he asked, holding the candy up for Lauren to see.
Lauren looked at the tan filling oozing from the center of the chocolate. "That would be caramel in the middle. I've always liked those."
"It is very good," Legolas agreed, finishing off the candy and reaching eagerly for another.
"Do you have enough to share?" Aragorn asked as he and Arwen walked out of the trees toward them.
"Always," Lauren answered gesturing and conjuring two more chairs. "Did you two enjoy your walk?"
"Yes," Arwen answered. "This is a very beautiful place." She looked over at Legolas. "I did not expect you to tire so quickly of exploring a new forest."
"I did not tire of it," Legolas said, shaking his head. "And this is a very beautiful place. But I cannot hear the trees here. It is a very odd feeling for me."
"Hear the trees?" Lauren asked, wondering what he was talking about.
"All elves have a connection with nature," Aragorn explained. "But wood elves, such as Legolas, can often actually hear the voices of the trees. Long ago, elves taught the trees to speak to them."
"Really?" Lauren asked in amazement, looking curiously at Legolas. "You can actually hear the trees speaking?"
"In a way," Legolas said. He didn't know how to explain it in a way that Lauren would understand.
Lauren shook her head, forestalling the attempt that Legolas was about to make. "I'm sorry that the trees don't speak to you here, but it makes sense that they wouldn't. All the trees now living would have grown long after all the elves left the shores of this Earth. There would have been no one to teach them to communicate."
Legolas nodded his head. "That is what I decided. But it takes away from my enjoyment of exploring just a little bit."
Lauren nodded, and to change the subject, offered Aragorn and Arwen their choice of chocolate covered fruit or chocolate truffles.
Aragorn urged Arwen to take a chocolate covered strawberry as he took one of the truffles. Lauren laughed at the look of surprise and enjoyment on Arwen's face. But then, she had met very few women who did not enjoy the taste of chocolate. Aragorn finished off his piece of candy and reached for another. "Aragorn, you are being rude," Arwen chided him gently.
"How?" Aragorn asked. "Lauren brought these for us to eat, and if the food is all eaten, she will just conjure more out of the air."
"She has fed you on more than one occasion, and have you thought to offer her anything in return?" Arwen stared at Aragorn and Legolas with a slightly reproachful gaze.
Aragorn and Legolas just looked at each other. They had been enjoying her treats so much that they had not even thought to reciprocate. Aragorn's eyes lit up. "I have just the thing to offer." A plate bearing a selection of fruit tarts appeared on the table next to the chocolates. "Please, try one," Aragorn urged. "This was always my favorite dessert as I was growing up."
"Don't mind if I do. Thank you," Lauren said. She took one of the tarts and took a bite. "Oh, that's heavenly. Homemade from scratch. It's been a very long time since I've had anything like this." She finished of the mini tart in three more bites and reached for another.
"Wait," Legolas said. "I have something you should try as well." A plate of biscuits or cookies of some sort appeared alongside the others. Lauren noticed that the table seemed to be growing in order to hold all the trays of treats. "These are honey-cakes that my mother used to make. It is called glímas, honey-bread."
Lauren took one and tried it. Her eyes widened in surprise. She quickly swallowed the bite she had taken. "Snickerdoodles!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Legolas asked in confusion. The other two stared at her as well, taken aback by her apparently nonsensical exclamation.
"Snickerdoodles are a type of cookie where I come from. This tastes almost just like them. There's cinnamon in there as well as honey, isn't there? There are differences, but they're very slight."
"Can I try one to compare it?" Legolas asked.
"Of course," Lauren said, conjuring up some cookies.
They all tried one, and decided that Lauren was right, the tastes were very similar. This prompted a sudden desire to try each and every dessert any of them had ever loved. They sat around an overflowing table and spent a long time eating, laughing, sharing stories, and enjoying each other's company.
After she had eaten more dessert than she ever would have thought possible, Lauren leaned back in her chair. "You know, I think things work differently here. I never could have eaten that much in reality. I'm kind of glad things work differently though. I'd have to run a marathon to work off the number of calories I just consumed."
"What is a marathon?" Arwen asked in curiosity.
"It's a foot race," Lauren answered. "They're usually about 26 miles long or so, it varies by race, and is more a test of endurance than of speed. Though people still try to beat the other entrants or make a good time, a lot of people are just happy to say that they managed to finish it."
"You seem to enjoy running," Legolas commented. "Have you ever been in one of these marathons?"
"Me?" Lauren asked in amazement. "No, those are for more serious runners. I just run a few times a week to keep in shape. I'd have to do a lot of training to be up for a marathon." As she thought about it, the idea seemed to appeal to her more and more. "Well, maybe I will run a marathon some day. It would be an accomplishment to be proud of, anyway."
Aragorn looked around and noticed a book leaning against the leg of Legolas' chair. "What do you have there?" he asked.
Legolas looked down, as he had forgotten about the book. He had set it down when the others had arrived. "Lauren created a book of all the animals she knows of in her world. It seems there are many that we have not seen before. Would you like to look through it with me?"
"Of course," Aragorn said. He looked over to Lauren. "But why do you not simply conjure them for us to see?"
"Legolas and I were talking about that before you arrived," Lauren said. "There are places called zoos on my world where people go to see the various animals from around the world. People try to recreate the animal's natural environment to keep them comfortable and content, and people visit these places and look at the animals."
"These animals are kept in captivity?" Legolas asked, to clarify her statement for himself.
"Well, yes," Lauren said. "The animals are captured and brought to the zoos where they are well cared for. They aren't free, but they are much safer in zoos than they would be in the wild. There are no dangers from predators or hunters in zoos. Many species of animals have dwindled to dangerously low numbers over the years. Some are extinct, that means they no longer exist, and others are on what we call the 'endangered list'. It is a crime to harm or kill any of those animals. But there are still poachers who hunt them anyway to make a profit from people who don't care about those laws. Zoos help keep certain species of animals alive. You may not like seeing the animals in captivity, but they are treated very well." She looked at him hesitantly. "Do you still want to see a zoo?"
"Yes, I would," Legolas said finally. Aragorn and Arwen nodded in agreement, a zoo sounded like something they would like to see.
"OK," Lauren said. She paused in thought for a moment. "I usually bring my niece and nephew to visit the zoo. It's a favorite destination for many children. Is there any chance that you could bring Eldarion here? I believe he would like it as well."
Aragorn and Arwen looked at each other. The thought had never really occurred to them. "I do not know," Aragorn said slowly. "Elves are able to control their dreaming beyond the level that humans can, so it is easier to summon them. But Eldarion is only half elven, and very young. His youth may make it more difficult to summon him here."
Lauren shrugged. "Actually, he'd only be about one quarter elven, but that's beside the point. Aragorn, you have a lot less elf in you than he does, and my connection has been the strongest with you. Eldarion is related to me just as you are. His age may be the stumbling block here, you're right. If he hasn't begun to develop that sense of foresight that you have, he might not know you're trying to summon him. But you'll never know unless you try, right?"
Aragorn nodded slowly and looked at Arwen. She nodded her approval of trying to bring Eldarion to join them. Aragorn closed his eyes and concentrated on thoughts of his son, attempting to contact him as he slept and wandered in his own world of dreams. After a few moments of nothing happening, Arwen placed her hand on Aragorn's arm and added her efforts to his own. A few moments later, a young boy popped into existence in front of them.
When Aragorn appeared in the dream world, he looked around to determine where he was this time. He seemed to be in a beautiful wooded area in the height of spring. The sun was shining through the trees, rays of light illuminating patches of the forest floor. There were a variety of birds singing, their voices highlighting the calm and peaceful atmosphere surrounding him. He listened intently, and was able to hear the faint sounds of Lauren's music. A grin spread across his face. Finding Lauren had never required any of his tracking skills, merely the ability to follow his ears. He quickly summoned Legolas, and watched as the elf joyfully took in their surroundings.
Legolas turned to face Aragorn after fully absorbing the details of the woods around them. "Are you going to summon Arwen?"
Arwen had listened to their tale of the previous evening and decided that it was time she joined them. She had wanted to meet Lauren, and finding out that they were going to be exploring the forests of Lauren's world had decided the issue. She had asked Aragorn to summon her when they arrived. Aragorn thought that since she had the same connection to Lauren that he did, she would be able to join them without any help from him, but she wanted Aragorn to choose the best time for her to appear.
"Do you think we should tell Lauren first that Arwen will be joining us?" Aragorn asked, surprised that Legolas did not want to notify Lauren that they would be bringing more company.
Legolas' eyes shone with mischief. "No, I think we should surprise her."
Aragorn frowned, remembering Lauren's reaction to unexpectedly meeting Legolas. But surely, now that she knew any elf she met was likely to be real, there would be no more misunderstandings. "Very well," he said, summoning Arwen to join them.
Arwen appeared beside Aragorn and gazed around with delight. "This looks much like the woods near Imladris. Is this scenery your doing?" she asked Aragorn and Legolas.
"Nay," Aragorn said. "This is the world I appeared in. These woods came from Lauren's mind, not mine." A wave of his hand indicated the forest around them.
"Where is she?" Arwen asked. "I greatly desire to meet this distant granddaughter of ours." Her eyes shone with anticipation as she thought of finally getting to meet the woman she had heard so much about.
"Listen," Aragorn said.
Legolas and Arwen listened, and easily picked up the sound of music coming from the woods to Aragorn's right. Legolas smiled, knowing that the music indicated Lauren's location. Arwen nodded in understanding and gestured for the men to lead the way. Legolas led them and Aragorn took Arwen's arm as they followed him. "We have not prepared her for the possibility of meeting you, so I do not truly know what she will do or say," Aragorn said softly as they walked. "She is not in the habit of reacting to things as we would expect."
"So I have determined from your stories." Arwen's tone was amused. "Do not worry, my love. I will be prepared for any reaction she may have."
Aragorn nodded and they fell silent as the music grew louder and Lauren came into sight. She was lying on what seemed to be a fishing net strung between two trees. Her eyes were closed and an open book was lying on her stomach as if she had put it down before falling asleep. It was apparent that she was not asleep however, as one leg was draped over the side of the net and pushing lightly on the ground to cause the net to swing gently back and forth. The fingers of one hand were also tapping her leg in time to the mellow, but upbeat music that she was listening to. A small table just below the level of the net was sitting within arms reach bearing a plate of chocolate covered strawberries.
Legolas grinned as he saw the fruit. Since Lauren had not seemed to notice their approach, he spoke to get her attention. "Look, Aragorn. Someone went fishing and made quite a catch."
A smile spread across Lauren's face. She spoke without opening her eyes. "It's a hammock, not a fishing net, Legolas. I'm using it exactly as it is intended to be used. If you're hungry though, help yourself to the strawberries. I know how much you enjoyed them last time."
Legolas took her up on the offer and quickly popped one of the strawberries in his mouth.
Aragorn chuckled and a smile crossed Arwen's face. Lauren had yet to realize that anyone besides Aragorn and Legolas were there. "What are you doing?" Aragorn asked. It was rare to find Lauren sitting even remotely still.
"Relaxing," she answered lazily. "It took a while, but I finally realized that I don't have to keep busy every second. Life in my world is so fast paced that relaxing doesn't always come easily, but I think I figured out how to do it. Besides, after what the two of you told me about needing rest in the real world, I thought I should take some time to rest here, or when I wake up from this coma, I'm just going to roll over and go back to sleep."
Aragorn was relieved to hear her say 'when' not 'if' she woke up. It appeared that she had not given up hope after all. "I have someone I would like you to meet," he commented.
Her eyes opened at that comment, and she saw Aragorn, Legolas, and an unknown elf standing before her. She scrambled quickly out of the hammock, nearly tripping herself as she tried to get to her feet. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at Arwen in much the same way she had stared at Legolas upon their first meeting. She consciously forced herself to close her mouth and attempted to regain her composure. She lowered her head and gave a short curtsey before rising and looking at Arwen. "Good day, Lady Arwen."
"You know who I am?" Arwen asked her.
"You could be nobody else," Lauren answered. "Though, I believe that Aragorn didn't fully describe your beauty. As I'm sure you know, I'm the one that Aragorn has been spending his nights with." She paled as she thought about how that sounded. "I mean, I'm the one he's been dreaming of." She closed her eyes, reached up and gave herself a soft slap across the face. "I'm just making it worse," she muttered to herself. She opened her eyes again and after a deep breath, tried once more. "How about we start over? I'm Lauren."
Aragorn, Arwen and Legolas were having a very difficult time not laughing at Lauren's reaction to meeting Arwen.
Lauren looked over to Aragorn. "Apparently it's not just Legolas. I turn into a babbling idiot anytime I meet an elf." That comment did it, and the other three gave into their laughter. A wry grin on Lauren's face showed that she was not offended by their laughter.
"I am sorry," Lauren said as the laughter died down. "But I really wasn't expecting to meet you tonight, and I don't seem to do well with that type of surprise." A light glare in Aragorn and Legolas' direction made it clear that she would have preferred having some notice.
Aragorn winced inwardly, knowing he should have prepared her first. But she seemed to have enough of a sense of humor about her own reaction that he knew she wasn't completely humiliated by this.
"Do not concern yourself with your reaction," Arwen soothed her. "I took no offense." She stepped away from Aragorn and approached Lauren.
"I'm glad," Lauren said, staring at Arwen in curiosity now. "So, you're my grandmother, many generations removed."
"So it would seem," Arwen responded, staring back in equal curiosity. She studied Lauren's attire and hairstyle. "Your clothing is quite unusual. Is that not men's clothing that you wear?"
Lauren's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What?" She looked down at herself before she realized what Arwen meant. "Oh, you mean the jeans? This style of clothing is not just reserved for men any longer. Men, women, old and young wear jeans. It's one of the most comfortable styles there is. Women do still wear dresses, but when I want to wear casual clothes, I always wear jeans." She looked at Arwen's floor length dress. Not even her shoes could be seen. "How do you handle horseback riding, fighting, or anything physical in long dresses? Don't you trip over the hem?"
Arwen chuckled. "No, but I assume this is merely a matter of how we were raised. I have never thought of wearing anything other than gowns." A secretive smile crossed her lips as she thought of the few times when she was younger and had dressed in a tunic and leggings to race or compete with her brothers. At those times, a long dress was not entirely practical.
Lauren shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess it wasn't until fairly recently that most women began wearing pants and jeans rather than dresses for everyday wear. But I still think jeans are far more comfortable." She gazed wistfully at Arwen's dress. "Though, I have to say that your dress is truly gorgeous. You wouldn't find anything like that in my world."
"Is that because women do not wear gowns like this any longer?" Arwen asked, gesturing at her dress.
"Partly," Lauren said, moving in closer for a better look. She gave Arwen a questioning look and, receiving permission, lifted the sleeve of Arwen's dress to examine the fine details. "But even if that was the style, I'd never be able to afford many like that. The material alone would be worth several of my outfits. Add in that gold thread, the beading, the hand-stitching and embroidery, and that one dress is worth most of my clothes put together." When she finished examining the sleeve, she released the material and took a step back.
"Your clothing is not hand-stitched?" Arwen asked in confusion. How else would clothing be made? "Then how was it made?" She could not refrain from asking the question.
"Well, people use sewing machines." Lauren tried to explain how a sewing machine worked. "This machine has a needle that can place stitches much more quickly than can be done by hand. All you have to do is put the thread in the machine, then pull the material through for a nice straight stitch in a matter of moments. Not many people take the time to actually hand stitch an entire article of clothing," Lauren said. "The majority of clothing is mass-produced. Come to think of it, most items are mass-produced, not just clothing. Items that are hand made have become rarer, and all the more treasured." Her voice was a little wistful at the thought that no one had time or the inclination to do things by hand anymore.
"You do not make your clothing yourself then?" Arwen asked to clarify the matter.
"Oh, no." Lauren sounded rather appalled at the very thought. "I took a sewing class in school, but I was horrible at it. We were supposed to learn how to use a sewing machine to make a stuffed animal or an article of clothing. Mine didn't quite turn out like they were supposed to. I can sew on a button or stitch up a ripped seam, and that's about the extent of my sewing abilities. I go to clothing stores and browse until I find a style I like, in the colors I like, and in my size. That's not always easy, but I don't often come home from shopping empty handed." She paused in thought. "Maybe that's why I have a closet full of clothes I rarely wear." The last line was muttered under her breath.
Lauren shook her head as if to shake away an irrelevant thought, and Arwen noticed a glint of sunlight reflecting off of something metal in Lauren's ears. "Is that metal in your ears?" She leaned closer as if for a better look.
"What?" Lauren asked, reaching up to see if there was something wrong with her ears. When she felt her earrings, she realized what Arwen was referring to. She pushed her hair aside so the others could see the metal stud in her ear. "This is an earring. I have a matching one on the other side." She pulled her hair back and showed them the other one. "They're items of jewelry."
"Does that go completely through your ear?" Legolas asked in horror.
"Yes," Lauren said in confusion. "I take it your culture doesn't do any form of body piercing for decorative or other purposes?"
"No," Aragorn said. "Neither the elves nor those from Gondor or Rohan have ever used this practice. I have seen examples of this in distant cultures, however. Is there some cultural significance to your…jewelry?" Though he had seen this before in other cultures, he was a little surprised that Lauren would have worn jewelry such as this.
"Not really," Lauren said. "It's just a common practice among people in my culture. There are some really beautiful sets of jewelry out there. I have several sets of matching necklaces and earrings at home. Most of my outfits just wouldn't look complete without earrings." Lauren shrugged, as it did not seem like such a big deal to her.
"How do you change earrings?" Aragorn asked. "Would not the injury have healed around the metal, holding it in place?"
Lauren shook her head. "You have to take care of them pretty carefully while they're healing. I had to twist the earrings several times a day and treat my ears with a solution to keep them from getting infected. My ears healed with no trouble, and the earrings come out very easily." To prove it, she reached up and took the back off of one earring and pulled it from her ear, showing them the healed hole, and then easily replaced the item of jewelry.
"It sounds painful," Legolas commented. "I cannot imagine that you would willingly allow someone to put holes in your body." He had been injured far too many times to accept that anyone would be so willing to suffer the pain just for fashion's sake.
"Oh, it only hurt for a moment, and then ached for a little while longer." Lauren waved his concern away with a flip of her hand. "But really, one hole in each ear is mild compared to some I've seen. Some people have piercings all the way up their ears. I can imagine that hurt quite a bit more. And that isn't even taking into consideration all the other body piercings I've seen."
"Body piercing? You mean to say that people put holes in other parts of their bodies as well?" Legolas asked in somewhat morbid fascination.
"Yes." Lauren nodded and continued. "I've seen piercings in noses, lips, tongues, eyebrows, belly buttons, and heard of a few other places which I won't mention." She grinned at the looks of horror on their faces.
"Why would people wish to do this?" Arwen asked, shuddering at the thought. She glanced at Aragorn and Legolas to see that they were just as horrified that people would do that to themselves.
"It's mostly younger people who go for body and facial piercing," Lauren explained. "Though there probably are some older people who choose to do it as well. It's a fad, a current style. I've never had the urge to do it, but I think people do it to set themselves apart from the crowd, to make them stand out and not look like the older generations. Then there are the people who get tattoos for much the same reason, to stand out. That form of body decoration includes a wider age group, though."
"Tattoo?" Legolas asked hesitantly. He had never heard the word before, but was unsure if he really wanted to know what it was, after what he had already heard.
"It's basically a permanent design or image put on someone's body," Lauren explained. "It's when certain dyes are injected with needles under the skin to form the desired image."
"Do you have one of these images?" Legolas asked in fascination.
"No," Lauren said. "That procedure would be much more painful than simply getting pierced ears, and I really don't want to think about inviting that kind of pain. I'm kind of a baby about pain. And besides, I guess I've never really seen the point in it. What if you decide at a later point in life that you don't want that design anymore? There is a surgery that can remove it, but that just means more pain and a lot more expense than the original tattoo." She shook her head at the thought of all the money there was to be made in both creating and removing tattoos.
"Is appearing different truly so important?" Arwen asked, gazing at Lauren. Lauren's world seemed so strange to her.
"To some people, yes. There are so many different groups out there, and some of them have very distinct styles of dress. There are goth styles, punk styles, grunge styles, and the more mainstream styles. Each group has its own style of clothing, of hairstyles, and even a common set of attitudes and musical tastes. There are so many diverse groups out there that there should be a group for everyone. No one should be left to feel outcast, but unfortunately that isn't the case." Her voice grew sadder as she finished. Lauren shook her head as she realized that they were all just standing in the clearing and quickly conjured up four chairs for them to sit in. She took a seat and gestured for the others to sit.
"Do many of your world feel they are outcasts?" Aragorn asked once they had all been seated.
"More than you would imagine," Lauren said. "For example, there is a standard of beauty for women in my country that very few of us have any hope of meeting. This standard is perpetuated by models, movie stars, and the media. Those who don't meet this standard often feel inferior, self-conscious about their appearance." She conjured up a few magazines and flipped through them to show the others the advertisements and the models in the pages. Legolas and Arwen turned slightly pink as they saw some very scantily clad models.
"Oops, let's skip the underwear advertisements," Lauren muttered, turning the pages until she found a close up facial shot for a makeup ad.
"Were those women wearing the same type of attire you were when we first met?" Aragorn asked, having seen a glimpse of the image as she flipped through the pages.
"No," Lauren said. "Though they look very similar, bikinis are meant to be worn alone, and only at certain places like beaches and swimming pools. The items those models were wearing are meant to be worn under clothing."
"You would appear in public wearing no more than the women in those pages?" Legolas asked, completely shocked. He had thought Lauren more modest than that. None from his time would ever consider being seen in so little.
Arwen shot a glance between Lauren and Aragorn, realizing just what Lauren had been wearing when she met Aragorn. Her eyebrows rose as she imagined that first meeting. Arwen knew that Aragorn would have been very embarrassed, and she smiled slightly to herself. It would have been quite entertaining to see Aragorn's expression.
"Only in certain places where that is the expected style of dress," Lauren reiterated. From Legolas' reaction, she was rather glad she had not been wearing a bikini when he first appeared. It seemed he would have been even more embarrassed than Aragorn had been. "But that wasn't the reason I showed you these magazines. I just wanted to show you what type of facial and body features are considered beautiful in my world. As you can see from the magazines, very few women would ever be able to look like that. This has helped to create a culture of insecure women. You wouldn't believe the lengths that some women go to in an attempt to feel better about the way they look." Lauren took a few minutes to explain cosmetic surgeries like face-lifts, nose jobs, breast implants and liposuction.
The others stared at her aghast. "People actually have surgeries simply to improve their appearance?" Aragorn asked finally. "Has medicine advanced to the point that people would have these procedures so lightly?" His expression was one of utter incredulity.
Lauren shrugged. "Well, these procedures are supposed to be routine, but there is always a risk to any surgery. It just saddens me that our society has reached a point that people feel the need to have these surgeries. And I can't help but wonder if the people who do this ever feel satisfied. I believe that all women feel self-conscious about one or more aspects of their physical appearance. Like I said, that's kind of hard to avoid. But is it that aspect that is keeping them from being happy? I don't know. I can't help thinking that it goes deeper than physical appearances for most people." Lauren crossed her legs in her chair and propped her elbows on her knees and stared at the ground. The current topic was beginning to depress her.
"Are you unhappy with any aspects of your appearance?" Arwen asked carefully, realizing how touchy this subject could be.
"Sure," Lauren said, looking up. "There are several minor things that I'm not satisfied with, but I don't let it bother me. I'm happy with who I am, and that's enough." She looked at Arwen with a critical eye. "You, on the other hand, would be able to command any amount of money if you went into modeling. As long as my world didn't freak out at the existence of elves, anyway." Lauren chuckled. "Among models, the younger ones make the most money, usually. As soon as models reach their upper 20's and low 30's, they find it harder to keep modeling jobs. You wouldn't have that problem, would you? You don't age. You'll never have wrinkles on your face. Do you have any idea how many people would give anything to be like that? Our society is a very youth based one. Appearing young is very important. Finding that first wrinkle or that first gray hair is a very traumatic experience."
"Do your people still seek immortality?" Aragorn asked, remembering what led to the downfall of the Númenoreans.
"Do they ever," Lauren commented. She also remembered the story he had told her. "Except now, instead of trying to wrest the secret of immortality from the gods, people are turning to science. There are a lot of people who are studying what happens to people as they age and trying to figure out how to stop or reverse the affects."
Aragorn studied her for a moment. "You do not sound as if you approve of this."
Lauren sighed. "I don't approve of people trying to play God. I do approve of medical research aimed at curing disease and healing injuries. I may question some of their practices, but I know most of them are working for the betterment of humanity. But humans were not meant to live forever. And our world is crowded as it is. I don't mean to sound harsh, but what happens if people stop dying, but people don’t stop having children? We'll overrun the limits of this world far too quickly. Death is a natural part of life." She looked at Arwen and Legolas. "For humans, anyway." She gave another tired sigh. "There is a lot about my world that I don't agree with, but that's not what you came here to hear." Deciding that she was getting sick of the current topic, she stood up, feeling the need to move. She had been far too still in that conversation and was done with sitting here dwelling on such dismal thoughts.
She looked at Aragorn and Legolas. "I assume you told Arwen about the Redwood Forest yesterday?" At their nod, she turned to look at Arwen. "And you decided you wanted to see some of the forests of my world?"
"I also wanted to meet you, but yes," Arwen answered. She stood as well, seeing that they were moving on to something else. Aragorn and Legolas stood as well, and the chairs disappeared as if they had never been there.
"Then let's get to it," Lauren said. "Talking too much about the problems in my world will just serve to frustrate me. So, what would you like to see first?" She rubbed her hands together in thought. "I think we should start with Crater Lake National Park. It's difficult to find a spot more beautiful, in my opinion."
"That sounds like a good place to start, then," Aragorn said. The differences between their cultures was something that interested him greatly, but it sounded like Lauren was rather disillusioned with her world and he did not wish to sadden her further.
"Now, where do we want to appear for the best view?" Lauren murmured to herself. A grin spread across her face and she looked at the others. "Ready?" When they nodded, she closed her eyes and concentrated on their surroundings. The woods around them faded and were gradually replaced by different scenery. They appeared to be standing on the side of a mountain, and the view spread out around them was truly spectacular.
The slope below them was covered in evergreen trees, a vibrant green like that seen in the height of spring. A deep blue lake spread out at the bottom of the slope. There was an island in the middle of the lake, rising high above the still surface. The azure water was a deeper reflection of the clear vivid blue of the sky. There was not a cloud to be seen to break up the unending aquamarine sky. The tallest mountains around the lake were snow topped, a clear white that sparkled in the light of the sun. The entire scene seemed fresh, new, and completely calm.
Lauren let out a contented sigh as she gazed around her. "I've always loved this view," she murmured to herself. She looked around to see the reactions of the others.
Arwen was gazing at everything in delighted wonder. "It's beautiful." Her voice was hushed in wonder. She had never seen a place quite like this before.
Legolas was likewise taken with the beauty of the view and failed to answer.
Aragorn took note of the circular shape of the mountains surrounding the lake. "How was this place formed?" he asked.
"This is the site of an ancient volcano." Lauren explained. "Scientists think it exploded over seven thousand years ago and then collapsed to form a deep basin that later filled with water. This is one of deepest lakes in the world. It is the deepest in my country. It's kind of strange to think that such beauty can result from such a violent beginning."
"Is this a safe place to be?" Aragorn asked her, concerned about the possibility of volcanic activity. Seeing Mount Doom was enough to make him quite wary of volcanos.
"Well, it's been stable for thousands of years," Lauren shrugged. "I haven't heard scientists giving any warning about seismic activity, so even if we were in the real world, I think this is a pretty safe place to be. But there are places around here where the ground may not be quite stable, so visitors are always told to stick to the marked paths. Venturing off those paths could be dangerous. But as long as we avoid those paths, we should be fine."
Aragorn noticed how her eyes kept straying to the lake. "You enjoy the water, do you not? First the beach and now this lake?"
Lauren smiled. "As much as Legolas finds beauty in the trees and growing things, I always find more beauty in water. As I said, I love the water; swimming, boating, or just lying on the shore and staring at it. Still lakes, raging rivers, gurgling streams, or the rolling waves of the ocean, it's all beautiful to me."
"I agree," Arwen said, breaking into the conversation. "Water is the source of life. Without it, the trees and 'growing things' as you called them could not live. But there is beauty in the life that it creates as well."
"Oh, no question there," Lauren said. "I would never argue that beauty does not exist in the trees themselves. I love spring, when the bare branches of the trees start to bud with flowers and new leaves. After the brown of winter, the explosion of color that spring brings can't help but lift my spirits. I've never had a garden or anything, but I have always enjoyed flowers of all varieties, the green grass and new leaves of spring. There's just something special in the air in spring. And after all, trees and green plants are essential to the survival of humanity."
"I could not imagine living in a place without trees," Legolas said as he approached them from his wanderings among the trees. "But I do not think I have ever heard a human say that they were essential to their survival."
"Green plants produce oxygen," Lauren explained. "Since we need that to breathe, I consider plants to be essential to life. Not to mention that plants are the basis of our entire food chain as well. No, humanity could not survive without plants." In a quiet voice, she muttered under her breath to herself. "Now if we could just keep people from destroying the forests and jungles, we'd be doing so much better."
Legolas looked as though he wanted to ask her about that last comment, but a quick shake of her head told him that it was not a topic she wished to discuss at the moment. He nodded, accepting that she did not wish to talk about it, then turned to head into the woods around them, unable to stay away from the trees any longer. Aragorn and Arwen also seemed to want to explore the area. Lauren conjured a lawn chair and set it in a place that allowed her to enjoy her favorite view. "You guys can go explore for awhile. I'll just stay here 'til you're done."
"Are you sure?" Aragorn asked. He was unsure if they should leave her alone. Despite her usual cheerful demeanor, he was sure there was a deeper emotion that she was hiding from them. He had come here to keep her company, and did not enjoy the idea of abandoning her to go explore even a place as beautiful as this seemed to be.
"I'm fine," Lauren said with a reassuring smile. Aragorn hesitated for a brief moment before he nodded and reached for Arwen's hand, leading her into the woods to explore as Lauren had suggested. Lauren sat back and watched the others until they left her sight. She enjoyed bringing happiness to the others. This was a beautiful place, and she wanted to give them all a chance to discover its unique characteristics for themselves. She didn’t want to interfere with their explorations. The three of them had known each other for much longer than she'd been alive. She had relegated herself to the role of a tour guide this time around. And a good tour guide gave people time to explore on their own. She turned her attention back to the lake and smiled. She didn't see how anyone could feel anything but happy and at peace here.
It was some time later when Legolas wandered back out of the trees. "Have Arwen and Aragorn not returned?"
"No, they're still exploring," Lauren answered easily. "Pull up a chair." She conjured another lawn chair for him and as he sat down, a small table appeared between them with a tray of chocolate covered fruit.
"You did not join them?" Legolas asked curiously.
"No, I wanted to give them some time to themselves to wander. I'm sure that with the pressures and schedule involved in running a kingdom, they don't have as much time to spend with each other as they'd like. I didn't want to interfere." Lauren waved her hand dismissively.
"Interfere?" Legolas asked in amazement, sitting up straighter in his chair. "Lauren, Arwen came to this world to meet you. She has heard so much of you from Aragorn and I that she felt she had to meet you herself."
"Well, we've met. Now she can spend some time with her husband in this beautiful place." She popped a chocolate covered cherry in her mouth and smiled at him impishly.
Legolas shook his head and glanced off to his left as a faint sound reached his sensitive ears. He made a hushing motion with his hand and then pointed in the direction of the sound. Lauren leaned forward to look around Legolas and see what it was he had seen. She held her breath as a deer stepped out of the trees with a fawn at her side.
For a long moment, the elf and human simply watched as the deer suddenly caught their scent on the breeze and turned to stare at them. Lauren found herself staring into large, limpid brown eyes as the deer tried to decide whether they were a threat to her and her child. A sound from another direction startled the deer, and she nudged her fawn back into the woods, following and melding easily into the shadows of the trees.
"Wow," Lauren breathed as the deer left. "I rarely get to see them so close."
Legolas smiled at the enchanted look on Lauren's face. "When was the last time you saw a deer this close?"
Lauren gazed off into the distance, smiling in remembrance. "Once, when I was much younger, some of my cousins ended up raising an orphaned fawn. I was visiting for the summer and got to help them bottle-feed it and take care of it for a little while. It was just the sweetest thing, with those big brown eyes. But when our vacation was over, we had to leave. I never found out what happened to it after that. Once a wild animal has been tamed, it can't be returned to the wild. Maybe they found a petting zoo or something to take it."
"What is a petting zoo?"
Lauren looked momentarily startled at the question as she was reminded that she was speaking with someone who did not know her world. "Well, a zoo is a place where people go to see all kinds of animals they wouldn't normally have a chance to see. They have different animals from all over the world. A petting zoo is kind of a smaller version of that where they have gentler animals like goats, rabbits and sheep for kids to be able to touch. Kids growing up in cities don't really have much of an opportunity to see farm animals, so this gives them a chance to see and touch the animals for themselves."
"I think I would like to see a zoo," Legolas said. "I would enjoy seeing animals from all around the world."
"We'll have to wait until Aragorn and Arwen return, and ask their opinion, but I don't think they'd object to a zoo visit. In the meantime, I can think of something else to pass the time." She conjured a book of images of as many animals as she could think of, from aardvarks to zebras, and handed it over to Legolas.
Legolas opened the book and began to look through it. Lauren reached over to the table and plucked a chocolate truffle out of the bowl of chocolates that she had just conjured. The one she picked was filled with coconut cream. She finished it off and offered the bowl to Legolas.
His eyes lit up at the thought of a new treat and he gladly accepted the offer, eagerly picking a candy out of the bowl. He took a bite and his eyes widened at the new taste.
"What is that?" he asked, holding the candy up for Lauren to see.
Lauren looked at the tan filling oozing from the center of the chocolate. "That would be caramel in the middle. I've always liked those."
"It is very good," Legolas agreed, finishing off the candy and reaching eagerly for another.
"Do you have enough to share?" Aragorn asked as he and Arwen walked out of the trees toward them.
"Always," Lauren answered gesturing and conjuring two more chairs. "Did you two enjoy your walk?"
"Yes," Arwen answered. "This is a very beautiful place." She looked over at Legolas. "I did not expect you to tire so quickly of exploring a new forest."
"I did not tire of it," Legolas said, shaking his head. "And this is a very beautiful place. But I cannot hear the trees here. It is a very odd feeling for me."
"Hear the trees?" Lauren asked, wondering what he was talking about.
"All elves have a connection with nature," Aragorn explained. "But wood elves, such as Legolas, can often actually hear the voices of the trees. Long ago, elves taught the trees to speak to them."
"Really?" Lauren asked in amazement, looking curiously at Legolas. "You can actually hear the trees speaking?"
"In a way," Legolas said. He didn't know how to explain it in a way that Lauren would understand.
Lauren shook her head, forestalling the attempt that Legolas was about to make. "I'm sorry that the trees don't speak to you here, but it makes sense that they wouldn't. All the trees now living would have grown long after all the elves left the shores of this Earth. There would have been no one to teach them to communicate."
Legolas nodded his head. "That is what I decided. But it takes away from my enjoyment of exploring just a little bit."
Lauren nodded, and to change the subject, offered Aragorn and Arwen their choice of chocolate covered fruit or chocolate truffles.
Aragorn urged Arwen to take a chocolate covered strawberry as he took one of the truffles. Lauren laughed at the look of surprise and enjoyment on Arwen's face. But then, she had met very few women who did not enjoy the taste of chocolate. Aragorn finished off his piece of candy and reached for another. "Aragorn, you are being rude," Arwen chided him gently.
"How?" Aragorn asked. "Lauren brought these for us to eat, and if the food is all eaten, she will just conjure more out of the air."
"She has fed you on more than one occasion, and have you thought to offer her anything in return?" Arwen stared at Aragorn and Legolas with a slightly reproachful gaze.
Aragorn and Legolas just looked at each other. They had been enjoying her treats so much that they had not even thought to reciprocate. Aragorn's eyes lit up. "I have just the thing to offer." A plate bearing a selection of fruit tarts appeared on the table next to the chocolates. "Please, try one," Aragorn urged. "This was always my favorite dessert as I was growing up."
"Don't mind if I do. Thank you," Lauren said. She took one of the tarts and took a bite. "Oh, that's heavenly. Homemade from scratch. It's been a very long time since I've had anything like this." She finished of the mini tart in three more bites and reached for another.
"Wait," Legolas said. "I have something you should try as well." A plate of biscuits or cookies of some sort appeared alongside the others. Lauren noticed that the table seemed to be growing in order to hold all the trays of treats. "These are honey-cakes that my mother used to make. It is called glímas, honey-bread."
Lauren took one and tried it. Her eyes widened in surprise. She quickly swallowed the bite she had taken. "Snickerdoodles!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Legolas asked in confusion. The other two stared at her as well, taken aback by her apparently nonsensical exclamation.
"Snickerdoodles are a type of cookie where I come from. This tastes almost just like them. There's cinnamon in there as well as honey, isn't there? There are differences, but they're very slight."
"Can I try one to compare it?" Legolas asked.
"Of course," Lauren said, conjuring up some cookies.
They all tried one, and decided that Lauren was right, the tastes were very similar. This prompted a sudden desire to try each and every dessert any of them had ever loved. They sat around an overflowing table and spent a long time eating, laughing, sharing stories, and enjoying each other's company.
After she had eaten more dessert than she ever would have thought possible, Lauren leaned back in her chair. "You know, I think things work differently here. I never could have eaten that much in reality. I'm kind of glad things work differently though. I'd have to run a marathon to work off the number of calories I just consumed."
"What is a marathon?" Arwen asked in curiosity.
"It's a foot race," Lauren answered. "They're usually about 26 miles long or so, it varies by race, and is more a test of endurance than of speed. Though people still try to beat the other entrants or make a good time, a lot of people are just happy to say that they managed to finish it."
"You seem to enjoy running," Legolas commented. "Have you ever been in one of these marathons?"
"Me?" Lauren asked in amazement. "No, those are for more serious runners. I just run a few times a week to keep in shape. I'd have to do a lot of training to be up for a marathon." As she thought about it, the idea seemed to appeal to her more and more. "Well, maybe I will run a marathon some day. It would be an accomplishment to be proud of, anyway."
Aragorn looked around and noticed a book leaning against the leg of Legolas' chair. "What do you have there?" he asked.
Legolas looked down, as he had forgotten about the book. He had set it down when the others had arrived. "Lauren created a book of all the animals she knows of in her world. It seems there are many that we have not seen before. Would you like to look through it with me?"
"Of course," Aragorn said. He looked over to Lauren. "But why do you not simply conjure them for us to see?"
"Legolas and I were talking about that before you arrived," Lauren said. "There are places called zoos on my world where people go to see the various animals from around the world. People try to recreate the animal's natural environment to keep them comfortable and content, and people visit these places and look at the animals."
"These animals are kept in captivity?" Legolas asked, to clarify her statement for himself.
"Well, yes," Lauren said. "The animals are captured and brought to the zoos where they are well cared for. They aren't free, but they are much safer in zoos than they would be in the wild. There are no dangers from predators or hunters in zoos. Many species of animals have dwindled to dangerously low numbers over the years. Some are extinct, that means they no longer exist, and others are on what we call the 'endangered list'. It is a crime to harm or kill any of those animals. But there are still poachers who hunt them anyway to make a profit from people who don't care about those laws. Zoos help keep certain species of animals alive. You may not like seeing the animals in captivity, but they are treated very well." She looked at him hesitantly. "Do you still want to see a zoo?"
"Yes, I would," Legolas said finally. Aragorn and Arwen nodded in agreement, a zoo sounded like something they would like to see.
"OK," Lauren said. She paused in thought for a moment. "I usually bring my niece and nephew to visit the zoo. It's a favorite destination for many children. Is there any chance that you could bring Eldarion here? I believe he would like it as well."
Aragorn and Arwen looked at each other. The thought had never really occurred to them. "I do not know," Aragorn said slowly. "Elves are able to control their dreaming beyond the level that humans can, so it is easier to summon them. But Eldarion is only half elven, and very young. His youth may make it more difficult to summon him here."
Lauren shrugged. "Actually, he'd only be about one quarter elven, but that's beside the point. Aragorn, you have a lot less elf in you than he does, and my connection has been the strongest with you. Eldarion is related to me just as you are. His age may be the stumbling block here, you're right. If he hasn't begun to develop that sense of foresight that you have, he might not know you're trying to summon him. But you'll never know unless you try, right?"
Aragorn nodded slowly and looked at Arwen. She nodded her approval of trying to bring Eldarion to join them. Aragorn closed his eyes and concentrated on thoughts of his son, attempting to contact him as he slept and wandered in his own world of dreams. After a few moments of nothing happening, Arwen placed her hand on Aragorn's arm and added her efforts to his own. A few moments later, a young boy popped into existence in front of them.
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