I stared at the strange blue puddle of what could have passed for water on the ground. Well, that wasn't so unusual, but the strange thing about it was, that it was glowing. And I could hear voices coming out from it. I kicked some snow into it, frowning as I did so, and the snow vanished almost instantly as it touched the pools surface. I frowned, knowing that there had to be something wrong with the whole situation if it was moving and made things vaporize.

I mean, c'mon . . . what kind of trick was the universe playing on me now . . .? And worst yet, it was the same, stupid kind of scene that made it look like I'd been written into some low-grade comic. Marvelous.

But still, I was curious, as most human beings would be. It looked almost like a deep blue puddle of some unfortunate kids dropped ice cream in the middle of July on the sidewalk, but I now knew that that certainly wasn't what it was. I looked around, and saw no one watching. I kicked at the surface, and before I could recoil my foot in any way, I saw it move forward, and the next thing that I saw was the deep darkness of total and complete night.

I could hardly see, except for the light of the stars and the moon that came to me from the heavens above. I was completely, and totally confused for a few seconds. Then I grew angry and scared. Where was I? What the hell had happened? How could I have been so incredibly stupid as to kick a blue watery glowing thing? Now I probably was in the middle of the Salem witch trials or something horrible like that. I struggled to relax, to think… After a moment, I shrugged. Oh well, I thought, looking around.

I could panic later; I promised myself, my heart beating faster in my anxiety and fear. Who was I kidding? I was already flipping.

Lovely.

How had this even happened? Had it been a time rift? I tried wrapping my head around possible scenarios, but God only knew.

Well, I thought, looking around, at least there isn't any snow . . . I took off my backpack and jacket. Fifteen minutes later, I had managed to shove it into my backpack and zip it. Hey, if you think about all of the stuff a girl shoves into a backpack, I did pretty well, I thought, putting it back onto my back and smiling. Maybe that was the way to go after all, backpacks could be so handy it was hard to believe that I had hated them so much in high school.

But then again, people used them mostly for going to school, something I hoped they didn't have here, at least not for paperwork anyway . . . But what on Earth was I going to do now? And what was I thinking? Obviously I wouldn't have to go to school here. Thank God. I thought as I walked around the area that I had appeared in, looking for the time door. The one and only thing that I did hear was some rustling. I doubted anyone could see me, but I really didn't care. For protection I stuck my hand into my pocket and dug out my six-inch pocketknife.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't need it, but there you go, you need things when you least expect to need them. After all, for all I knew, it was a rabbit. But that's how things are and how they work for me most of the time. I stopped moving, and so did the rustle. Curious, I moved forward again. And again, so did the rustle. I was either being hunted by an animal, or someone was watching me and tracing my steps.

I looked over into the direction that I thought I had heard the noise. I hated that I couldn't see anything very well in this dark. I got into a defensive position. It wasn't obvious; really, I had only steadied my feet, really. Just then, I saw the tiniest movement out of the corner of my eye, and looked, only to notice that no one was even there, and that the rustle was back and advancing.

The last thing that I remember was feeling a sharp pain and something hitting me on side of my head, and stars exploding over my vision, before things further blackened into quiet darkness.

I woke up looking into more darkness, and hearing more and more voices around me as I grew more fully awake. I instinctively didn't move, and tried to feel in my pocket whether of not my knife was in there or not, but no. I wanted to kill whoever had taken my knife and turn them inside out. If they were someone dangerous, then I was pretty much defenseless.

Damn.

I listened as I lay there with my grinding headache, trying to decide if I was in danger or not, but if the person(s) that were with me in this clearing had good enough hearing, they may have heard my breathing pattern change as I had woken up. I felt a cool touch on my cheek and a few words drifted into my mind, words that were foreign to me, and that I knew no one had ever heard before, aside from me. It sounded childish and ridiculous, but it was how I felt, I brushed the thought away, and opened my eyes upon hearing more of the musical speech.

"A Yallume . . . "

The voice was soft and gentle. I blinked and frowned at him. What had he said? I looked to a mans face over mine, a handsome, yet woodsy looking man, fair of face was what came to my mind, and I saw him move away. I sat up, crossing a leg under me to sit more comfortably by habit.

"Who are you?" I asked him, looking around drowsily. "Where am I? Was that you that knocked me on my head?" He put a finger to his lips a touch impatiently. He was silencing me. I waited, quieting. Hoping that he would answer me.

I suddenly looked around once again, particularly at his hands, and around the fire and at his belt. Where had he put my knife? "I did not hurt you to bring you here, that was an Yrch, looking for dinner. I shot him with an arrow that killed him, and got you out of there.

"As for whom I am, I am Astere, I am from Lorien, a great kingdom of Elf kind, if you did not already know. You are, or course, in Middle-Earth." He replied with an underlining of mirth in his voice. I balked inwardly.

What? I suddenly felt the world tilt. I stayed still, before I got it. Oh… fabulous! He was joking with me. But then… what if he wasn't? I'd never seen the man before, and I had no idea where I was. I felt completely lost.

I laughed.