Other Worlds Than These

[Midge]

Aerin had been a few days in the plains of Anórien. Though she quite enjoyed the solitude, she did notice the sameness of everything. Every so often, a creek or tree would appear before her and she would be glad to see something other than grass for a while.

She mused about this. Magor, her friend, had taken her to see many sights in Middle Earth that she'd never planned on seeing. Though most of her time in Rohan had been with villagers who were excited to see an Elf, never having seen one before, she had glimpsed the White Mountains both afar off and up close. Magor had taken her to the Glittering Caves as well. Then in Gondor, of course, she'd seen the Argonath and Minas Tirith, both glorious monuments to the work of men. And of course she'd grown up in Lothlorien, full of Elven wonder, mystery and beauty, thanks to the Lady Galadriel.

Naturally, she thought. If there are great and mighty works to be seen, then it stands to reason that there must be un-great and un-mighty works, which in themselves are worth seeing for very different reasons.

And with that, she began to look at the plains around her very closely, trying to discuss with Glaeren what those reasons for worth might be in this very lonely and plain place.

[Aikanáro]

Rivailen turned towards Beryn as she spoke of the dragon. It was certainly a problem, she could see that. Such a creature roaming the countryside would eventually cause trouble. Yet she wasn't quite sure what Beryn thought they could do about it.

'What would you suggest?' she asked her. 'Even if we rode after it now, we might not catch up to it, and if we did? What could we do with it? You would keep it? It is small now, but given time it may not remain so.' Rivailen shook her head. 'I would not do it harm before it has shown any sign that it is harmful to others, either. To what end would we search for it?'

[Earniel]

"Harmful?" Beryn looked incredulously. "It's a dragon. How many dragons have you heard about that were not harmful? It's only a matter of when, not if before it does someone harm. No one in their right mind would try and keep dragons. Even wild bears make better pets and I can know."

[Aikanáro]

Rivailen frowned. 'Aye, and I suppose you have seen many a dragon, to know such things? I did not suggest you keep it for a pet. I only asked what you would do. I have heard many tales of dragons. Some that were dangerous, yes, but others only avaricious, and more still with no more malice than any other beast. I have also,' she added, lowering her voice a little, 'heard tales of would-be dragon-slayers, and those are the tales only told when the fire is burning low and the children gone to bed. Until this day I did not believe any of them could be true.'

[Varnafindë]

"I have met a man - or a Hobbit rather, a Halfling by the name of Bilbo Baggins - who had spoken to a dragon," Barufiniel said. "That dragon wasn't necessarily evil - but he was cunning, and when he was hungry, he was very dangerous. He was shot by an archer who had been told where to find his weak spot, but by then he had already destroyed much of the town where the archer lived. When he died, he fell into the lake of the town, and I have been there and seen his dead body down at the bottom of the lake.

"We ought to find out where this dragon ends up - and if there is another portal opening to his world later, perhaps we could get him to go back. I don't think the world that he and the woman come from is Narnia, though. What little she spoke in her own language, didn't sound Narnian."

[feawen]

Anahera had had enough of talk, the Nolow held little stock in long talk. The weather was warm far to warm for all her furs, dropping her pack on the floor she pulled her hat, gloves and coat off, plus after a little thought, her jumper, leaving her still too warm in fur lined boots. But she had to have something to walk in and wear. Anahera had a plan, she had enough supplies for a far days, there appeared to be water around, she would walk until she reached the Nolow or other wonders or she saw the blue water and hopeful the men from the boats.

[Earniel]

"You have met the Halfling?" Beryn asked. "Grandfather spoke highly of him and the tale of the Halfling and the Thirteen Dwarves is still told often among my people. And even though the dragon was slain before I was born, we in the north remember well the Desolation of the Dragon. His death was a boon to many."

Beryn did not quite like the prospect of trying to shove the little dragon back through one of those strange portals, even if the remote likelyhood existed that they would find another. Barufiniel had said the only portal she had known had been a very long time ago. So even if they found another portal in Beryn's lifetime, what if there were people on the other side? They wouldn't like being saddled with a dragon, small though it might be, anymore than Beryn would. And there was no telling whether the creature would be inclined to cooperate for the procedure.

"But we can discuss what to do with the dragon afterwards, we must not lose sight of it already. Besides, it appears we all are strangers in these parts, so the final decision what to do with the creature may not be up to us," Beryn said, presuming that the locals would undoubtedly prefer a permanent solution for the dragon as much as she did.

"So I propose that I go and track it. I have tracked many beasts and only a few less dangerous. It will undoubtedly look for a hidding place. Perhaps it is best that you two alert the local people to its presence. You two have horses, you can reach the town faster than I can."

[Aikanáro]

Rivailen had not heard that particular story they mentioned, of a halfling, some dwarves and a dragon. That both Beryn and Barufiniel had heard it made her consider their words carefully. It was clearly a tale of some renown. She resolved to ask Irnilla about it when she returned home. Or perhaps, she thought then, she might spend long enough in the company of her new acquaintances to ask the details of them later.

'This dragon - the halfling's dragon, you said it was cunning? That suggests that it has some measure of intelligence. Perhaps this little one is the same, and it will wish to return to its homeland, if we can find a way for it to do so.' That was fast seeming the best plan they had to Rivailen, even if she reckoned that the chances of accidentally happening across another portal were slim indeed.

'Barufiniel and I were headed for the village in any case,' she told Beryn then. 'I was to show her the way. If you will seek out the dragon, we will continue as planned and caution the people to be wary on the plains.'

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio did not think much of the village that he and Elspeth had arrived at after a morning's travel. It seemed drab to him, and oddly cramped; though there was space enough between the buildings, they were small and low-built by comparison with the spires of Tathera. It was an observation he did not share with Elspeth, though they had shared conversation enough along their journey.

Here, he was more aware of his status as outsider. The suspicious glances some of the village-folk stole when they thought he wasn't looking made sure of it, and he did not think the place could be overly parochial, not situated at a crossway between paths as it was. They were used to strangers, yes, but likely not lost-looking Tatheran noblemen who had just spent a night out in the open. However, Ashkaio's awareness of the situation appeared not to bother him, and he offered a disarming smile to any who stared at him a moment too long.

After they had gone some way, he turned to Elspeth. 'Do you visit this place often?' he asked her. 'Is it much further, to the alehouse?'

[feawen]

Elspeth turned to him as he spoke, "We come here twice a year to sell left over things and buy things for winter, but ive only come here with papa, this is my first trip on my own, papa thinks its personally building, im not to sure." Elspeth looked around, she had left the sheep at the edge of the village with the dog standing guard. she hoped they would be ok, papa would not be happy if something happened to them. She found what she was looking for, pointing to the centre of town and a small gathered crowd, "There it is, The small dragon, i think its called". She hestitated a bit then added taking a step to the side to let Ashkaio to first, she was not so sure about this idea now "After you."

---

After some walking Anahera saw a haze in the distance, hazes ment moving herds and herds ment people. She quickened her pace. But as she draw nearer she realised it was not a herds she had seem but the oddest and most frightening thing she had seen in her life. Stone like huts, all cramed together, smoke from many cramp fires and the smell of many people and beasts living in one place. She saw a small group of sheep on the edge of this frightening thing with a scruffy dog standing by them. The noise of many people rose up to met her, she was torn between covering her ears or her eyes. So struck by this thing of mass senses was she that she just stood there staring at it. There was no word to tell of this thing before her.

[Earniel]

Beryn laughed, she couldn't help herself. Actually helping a dragon? What a ludicrious idea!

"You actually propose to aid a dragon?" She asked shaking her head. "Helping it get home? Just because it can talk and is cunning? Well, so is a warg but I won't be wasting my time walking it home! Why, I could have expected such a fanciful notion from the Elf, but to hear it from a daughter of Men is a first! Your land must be peaceful, Rivailen, if dragons have never troubled it. If you come to the village ask the villagers what they think of dragons. I don't think you'll find many keen to help this one, tiny though it may be."

Still chuckling at the thought of aiding dragons, Beryn went to collect her pack that she had stuffed under nearby bushes earlier. She made sure to pack the two fishes she had caught earlier. There would be no exchanging them for a bed in the nearest inn that night. She'd dine alone in the fields tonight, and the two fishes would make excellent dinner companions.

[Aikanáro]

Rivailen watched as Beryn went to collect her things, then glanced over at Barufiniel. She shook her head. Hadn't Beryn been the one to suggest going after the dragon in the first place? She would have been content to let it alone. If they were going to do something about it, however, they ought to do the right thing.

'She's right,' Rivailen told Barufiniel. 'My homeland has not been troubled by dragons - I did not think there were any, in this world, until you said that you had seen the body of one - and we have peace now and we value that peace. But I am a healing-woman and I would not see a creature of reason hurt without great need. Is this how it is in the south, that it seems right to do away with a young creature out of the fear that it may do you harm when it is older?' Rivailen thought back to old Irnilla's stories of the war, and she shuddered. And then she remembered another story.

'I do know a tale about a man who was asked for help by a dragon,' she said then. 'He was afraid, but he was willing to help, and once he had completed the dragon's third task, he was well rewarded for it. The dragon tried to trick him out of his reward, for dragons that amass great wealth are loath to part with it - but this man was cleverer still than the dragon, and in the end he walked away the richest man in his town.' If dragons were true, she thought, why not dragon-treasure? Sometimes greed prevailed where compassion might not.

-~-~-~

Ashkaio looked up at the sign, and realized with dismay that he could not read the lettering, it was all unfamiliar shapes and curves. Of course he couldn't, he thought then, this was a place very far from home, it was wonder enough that Elspeth understood his speech! And there, just as she had said, above those indecipherable markings, was a picture of a small dragon. He smiled at her. 'Yes, let us go in.'

His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dimmer light inside the inn, and when they did he saw small wooden tables with clusters of chairs around them, and there against the far wall was the bar itself, and an open door leading to a stairway. This building was taller than the others. His impression, overall, was that it was a clean and efficient place, if a little plain. Nothing that a few carefully placed rugs and tapestries wouldn't take care of.

With Elspeth at his side, he approached the bar. The bartender, a stocky man with a kindly face, looked at the two a moment before asking: 'What can I get you?'

'Two pints of small beer,' said Ashkaio, 'and your two best rooms for the night.' He took a coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter. The bartender eyed it a little dubiously. The markings weren't those of any coinage he'd seen before. 'Silver,' Ashkaio hastened to assure him, before he could complain. 'Good Kazhrun silver.' Feeling the weight of the coin, the man seemed content, and went to get their drinks.

As they sat down together, Ashkaio thought over what Elspeth had said. Her first time here alone? She couldn't be all that much younger than he was. Maybe people were more sheltered, in this place. He smiled at her again. 'I think your father is correct,' he told her then, 'to say you ought to make this trip. Think on it - you shall do business for yourself one day, and it is important that you know how, is it not?' He tasted his beer as he waited to hear her thoughts. It was better than he had expected.

[feawen]

Elspeth sat down and eyed the beer, papa made spirts of his own kind but he guarded it well. She took a small sip, winkled her nose at the bitter taste, she took another sip, trying to figure out what was so great about this stuff. She looked up at Ashkaio as he spoke. "It is a costum with the families around the river to send the eldest boy out to learn his way in the world, cause one day it will be him who takes over the farm, looks after the older family and has a family of there own". Elspeth took an other sip of beer and continued looking at the mug, "My mama and papa only had me, the boys of the farms around joke that i should run a farm." She looked up. "But why shouldn't i! I am just as good as them! When i return i will be a full member of the farms and then they can not laugh. Macus on his first trip out got scared and lost everything. I am not going to do that!" She looked out of the window towards the edge of town. "Although, i dont think this of ever ment to be part of the trip."
Elspeth thought for a moment, "I bet where you are from girls can do what ever they like and not be laughed at! Papa says i should get married when i return, but i dont want too, once you are married you are stuck, having babies, cooking and looking after the men." She looked out of the window again and odded in a smaller voice, "Papa has my whole life sorted for me, even the boy i am to marry, i think there is a short list of about 3 or 4. By sending me on this trip his giving me freedom and the farm on one hand and taking it away with marriage on the next. If they marry me they gain two farms and not just their own families." Elspeth looked back at Ashkaio, suddenly embarrissed that she would talk to openly to a men she hardly know. If was as if his own gentle words made her talk. She looked back down at her beer, "Sorry."

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio shook his head. 'There is no need to apologize,' he said quietly. 'It seems that the life and the customs of your people are very different from my own, and you will forgive me if I say that I do not like the sound of yours much. Among my people,' he explained, 'it is true that the eldest child inherits, but the eldest is a girl as often as a boy, is it not?' Were women so very different in this world, he wondered, that they were not capable of the things that others were?

'And as for marriage,' he said then, 'I think it true of everywhere that a family is keen to see their children married and settled, not least for the gains they will get from it, but marriage need not be the end of things. My mother - I told you of my mother? She married young, and bore eight children, and that never stopped her from being a shrewd politician and businesswoman. And my sister Halli, she has more skill with the bow than any of her cousins, and she would laugh at the notion that she could not do just as she liked.' He sighed. 'I do not see any reason that you should not inherit your father's farm and have the freedom you long for, sera Elspeth.'

He looked at her for a long moment, saddened by the fact that there was nothing he could do to change the situation. 'I think maybe you are of an age with my sister,' he said then. 'Tell me, how old are you? Halli says she will not marry before she is twenty. Perhaps you might ask your father to delay his plans, and use the intervening time to prove that you are more than capable of managing your family's holdings yourself?'

[feawen]

Elspeth looked up, it sounded all so simple when he said it. "I was 18 this winter. My mama was married at 16, papa is older than her." She looked at him with his fine dress then down at her own patched worn clothes. "I think maybe your family have a thing that mine does not. You have money and standing, your speak words that only someone with education can speak. I have none of these. there is only one way out of my papa house. as much as i love him, and thats into another mans home as his wife. If i had the means i would set up my own fruit trees and make jams and pies to sell on to others. But i do not. My papa knows i can run the farm, but this is how things aways have been and always will be, what can i do to change things." She signed and looked down at her hands.

[Aikanáro]

Ashkaio frowned deeply. He had been right, she was eighteen just as Halli was, but there the similarities between his sister and this woman he had met but a day ago ended. 'There must be something you can do,' he entreated her. 'If you do not wish to marry, you need not. You could...' A thought struck him then, a wild thought, and his lips curved slowly upwards.

'Come with me,' he said. 'Stay with me until I have fulfilled my task, and then when the stars are right and another doorway opens you can return with me to Tathera. You have treated me with kindness, and for that I would do what I can. I would give you an orchard, sera, as a means to your freedom. A gift from House Kazhrun to one who has offered aid. Many women of the city of Tathera run their own households and go themselves to the marketplace. There are even some-' he lowered his voice, as if it were some shocking revelation, 'who are not pulled by house-ties and choose never to marry at all. In Tathera, all such things are possible.' He looked at her expectantly, hoping she would at least consider the offer.

[feawen]

Elspeth was shocked into silence for a while by this strange mans offer. She did not think he ment her harm only kindness was in his voice but she was a little frighten by this egerness. She reminded her self that she did not know this man. But then his offer of a new start. And he had money and standing things she could never gain her self. But the picture he painted of his own world was a bleak one and could she really leave her family behind. She thought for a while, "Its a kind offer you made, the thought if my own little place, but i dont even know where you come from." She sat for a little longer than looked up and smiled at him, "I said i would help you and i will, i can sell my things here and be done within the day, after that i will be free to help you and i'll have a little money too. When we have sorted this thing with your home out i'll think about your offer, it wil is too kind of you to say you would do these things for me". She looked out of the window again. "I'll have to tell mama and papa where i am, they will worry if i dont come home. i can send them a letter, papa can read a little!" She looked embarrised at her hands, "But i can not write, i dont know how."

[Varnafindë]

They were indeed truffles.
Nightshade had taken home as much as she could carry, and now she was back to have a little snack for herself.

Mmmm ... some of the best truffles she had ever tasted ... really exquisite.

She had been invited to have dinner with her grandson Trufflehunter and his friends, the Dwarfs Trumpkin and Nikabrik, next weekend. She would bring some truffles as a present to them. Even though she wasn't entirely happy about his choice of companions, she wanted to stay on friendly terms with them. If she was to give him advice, in this matter or in any other, it wouldn't do to turn him against her.

And he was usually a very sensible badger, willing to listen to advice, but also able to do his own thinking. She remembered from when he was just very little, how she had been telling him the old stories, about the Golden Age of Narnia, and he had been listening and nodding gravely at her words.

"When Queen Susan blew her horn, she could be sure of help,", he said. "And when she left, and left her horn behind, that means that she will help us if we blow it. It was a long time ago - but she hasn't forgotten us. We can trust that she hasn't."

He then had asked her where the horn was now, and it had pained her to have to tell him that no-one knew.

"Then I will search for it when I grow up," he proclaimed, and she had kissed him and said that he could be a knight on a quest then, and it would be a very good thing if he could find it.

It would indeed.

If they could call up Queen Susan and her royal siblings from the other world, the one which the Kings and Queens had first come from, then perhaps things could be set right and Prince Miraz could be put in his place.

Nightshade sighed. The horn had to be found first. And Trufflehunter was too sensible to just go on a wild goose chase to find it, now that he had grown up. If he might come across something to put him on the right track, it would be a different matter, but until such a day, he would - like all others - just have to wait.

She turned to go home. Just one more truffle, and that would have to be it. There were some over among those bushes. She went over, and noticed that there was an opening between the bushes, a peculiarly circular opening. She went closer to investigate.

The next thing she knew, was that she was falling, out through the circle in the bushes, and down, further than she was aware of there being space for. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that there was a tall figure quite close to her, and she felt that the air smelt differently - and then she bumped heavily against the ground.

"Goodness gracious me!" she exclaimed.

[Midge]

Aerin, in her careful study of the plains, had somehow almost missed the bright flash. It caught the corner of her right eye, and her Elven reflexes turned her head quickly enough so she could see what it was. It lingered, though and so she could ponder while she stared at this white swirling circle of light that she had never seen before. And she'd seen some pretty strange things.

Her ponderings were interrupted by an outburst coming from the grass almost at her feet.

"Goodness gracious me!" The voice had three noticeable qualities about it. First, it was certainly female. Second, it sounded older, like the woman she met when Magor dragged her to his grandmother's house. She had been a pleasant woman, lovely and kind. That quality comforted Aerin. The third quality she couldn't quite place. The voice sounded... snuffly, almost like the speaker's teeth were not arranged in the normal fashion. As much as there was a difference in the voices of Elves and Men and Dwarves, so there was another difference in this voice. One she'd never heard before.

The fact that the voice came from so close alarmed her. Had she allowed something to creep up on her, unseen at such a close distance? Did she dare call herself an Elf?

She drew her sword and held it aloft, hoping against hope that she wouldn't have to use it.

"Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself!"

[Varnafindë]

What on earth had happened?

She had fallen - there must have been a hole in the ground behind those bushes - but she wasn't lying on the bottom of a hole, she was lying on grass, on plain grassland!

Nightshade had never had such a surprise in all her life.

It took her a few seconds to realize that she ought to check whether the fall had hurt her, and she quickly moved all her limbs a little and gave a satisfied grunt when everything worked all right. Then she got enough to her senses to really look at the tall figure she had noticed.

It was a woman.

She had seen the Telmarines only a few times, and always at a safe distance, but there was no doubt that this was a woman like the Telmarine women, and like Queen Susan and Queen Lucy.

The woman had a horse, but Nightshade soon dismissed it - it was no Talking Horse, just an ordinary dumb one. Like the Telmarine women would have.

Had she been trapped by Prince Miraz' spies after all?

As if to confirm her worries, the woman drew a sword and challenged her - but as if she hadn't seen her in the grass.

Should she try to run away? But there was nowhere to hide, other than in the grass. (And where had the bushes got to? She couldn't see them any more.)

Should she pretend to be just another dumb beast? No, there was no use, the woman had already heard her speak. If this was a spy out to kill Old Narnians, she would have to fight her. She had her teeth and her claws - she might not be able to kill her opponent, but she could hurt the other enough to give herself time to run away to some safe place. Some safer place, anyway.

But still, at the same time something told her that this was something different. There was a smell of fear, of alarm, not of aggression. Perhaps the Telmarine woman wasn't a spy after all. Perhaps she could be persuaded to see the truth about the Old Narnians.

Nightshade decided to risk it.

"I'm right here," she said and rose on her hind feet, giving up the cover of the grass. "I live at the other side of the forest, and my name is Nightshade."