Chapter 9

They dove into the journal that very night. Aduil had made amazing progress on his own, especially for only three days. His only problems seemed to be with grammar, pronunciation and tenses, and while Kate had never been much of a linguist, she was more than happy to help out in any way she could. The sooner they could talk, the sooner she could figure out how to get home.

They studied late into the night, until Kate surprised herself by nodding off at the table and reluctantly agreed to call it a day. It must have been the books, she decided as she followed the guards back to her room. She'd been so amped up at the revelation of the journal, she'd thought she could've stayed up for days, but there was something so soothing about the smell of the books. Pair that with the quiet scritch scritch of Aduil's quill and his deep lilting tones… it made for a pretty nice lullaby.

Aduil was already there waiting for her when the guards brought Kate back the next morning and they jumped right back in where they'd left off. They hadn't been at it long when one of the guards, who'd stationed themselves just outside the door, came in and called Aduil away.

"I will… return," he said with a shallow bow before stepping out and closing the door behind him...leaving Kate all alone in an elven library.

She grinned and got up to explore, heading straight for a long bookshelf that curved along the far wall, or more specifically, to the wheeled ladder perched at the end of it.

"I have always wanted to try this," she said as she climbed up a few rungs.

Wrapping one arm securely around the ladder, she pushed off the edge of the shelf, sending herself sliding a whopping...two inches. She frowned and tried again, pushing with all her might and moved another three inches.

Well, that was disappointing. Probably some kind of safety feature. She hopped down with a huff and went to check out the books instead.

She couldn't read any of them of course, they were all either in Elvish or some other language she didn't recognize, but she found some pretty interesting illustrations in a few. There was one which seemed to be a craftsman's guide, with drawings of plate mail and vambraces in various stages of completion, and another with what looked to be sigils drawn in it, maybe a how-to for some spell.

Kate sang quietly to herself as she perused the books, a song from Beauty and the Beast. It had been her favorite movie as a child, so she knew all the songs by heart, and it seemed pretty appropriate given the setting. She couldn't help drawing comparisons between that story and her current situation because, while Aduil was hardly beastly, she was technically a captive with a less than communicative host.

One who might be royalty.

She hadn't forgotten that possibility, but she was reluctant to bring it up, even if she'd had the words to do so. Maybe it wouldn't change anything, and she wouldn't become an awkward mess around him, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take that chance. As it stood, he was just Aduil, her friend.

...Her kind and thoughtful friend with the sweet smile and dashing good looks and—she shook her head. Not the point. He was her friend, and she didn't want that to change.

Maybe she'd ask once they had more of the journal translated, and she could do it properly, without sounding like an idiot. Then again, maybe not. You can't embarrass yourself if you don't know you're doing something embarrassing, after all.

She was still singing when she re-shelved the book she'd been flipping through and turned to find Aduil leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a soft smile.

"Oh! You're back." Well, now she felt awkward. How long had he been standing there?

"What… song?"

Her cheeks heated as she shook her head and gave a flustered answer of, "Oh, it's uh, it's just, something from my world, my home."

Hurrying back to the table, she picked up the journal and buried her nose in it to hide her embarrassment.

"Kate?" he asked as he took a seat next to her.

"Hmm?"

He gently pushed the book down until he could see her face.

"Ilte maedh? You… are well?"

"Are you well," she automatically corrected. "And, um, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm cool. It's all good. Hey, uh, look! This word here, 'star', that's sil in Elvish, right?" She laid the book on the table and pointed to the word.

He tilted his head and regarded her with a curious expression before turning his attention to the journal.

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The author of the journal, whoever he was, had led an exceptionally boring life. Granted, they were only three pages in, but so far, the most exciting thing he'd done was that trip to the dance club on the first page, and even that had been an accident; he'd only gone in to get out of the rain. He'd never even talked to that girl he saw, just watched her from the corner like a creeper, waxing poetic about her hair and lips and curves, then left without a word as soon as the rain let up.

The next day's entry just said, 'I enjoy apples.'.

Why would you even write that down? Did he think he'd forget? That one day he'd just be sitting around thinking, I haven't had an apple in awhile, wonder why that is? Do I even like them? Well, let's check the old journal. Ah yes, says here I enjoy apples! I think I'll have one.

It didn't get much better after that, but that had to change at some point because if the journal was here, the author might have been here too, and however that had happened, it just might be Kate's ticket home. She was more than tempted to just skip ahead, but that wouldn't help Aduil, and if the journal didn't pan out, he was her next best hope. Her only hope, really.

Luckily, he was a quick learner and after lunch—which Aduil had arranged to have delivered to the library—they made it through two more scintillating pages before he called for a break.

"I need… movement," he said. "You…will walk…to me?"

"Walk with me," Kate corrected, closing the journal. "And, yeah, sounds good. I could use a bit of exercise too."

The guards trailed them as they left what Kate was beginning to think of as the study room and passed out of the library proper. It wasn't long before Kate figured out where they were going and grinned; the garden, as it turned out, wasn't too far from the library. She was about to head in when Aduil stopped her with a frown.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I did not…think. Are you…well…here?"

"What? What do you mean?"

She followed his gaze to the door as he worked out whatever he was trying to say, and beat him to the punch.

"Oh, you mean when I lost it the other night. Nah, don't worry about that," she said with a dismissive wave. "It's all good."

When he still hesitated, Kate rolled her eyes and moved to grab his hand to drag him in. She had barely made contact when her back slammed against the wall, her shriek cut off by a hard forearm pressing against her throat. Her hands shot up, scrabbling to pull the arm away as she stared wide eyed into the guard's steely gaze.

"Doren!" Aduil shouted and the pressure on her throat eased just a bit.

"Okay," she wheezed. "No touchy, I of all people should know that, sorry."

"Beletir! Doren!" Aduil called again, and the guard reluctantly released her.

Kate coughed while the guard stepped back as Aduil spoke to him in sharp, rapid Elvish.

Well, she thought, rubbing at her throat, at least it wasn't a sword this time. Maybe they were starting to warm to her.

She watched as the guard bowed and stalked away before Aduil turned to her.

"Ilte evein? Are you…hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Kate dropped her hand and lifted her chin. "See? It's all good."

"I…apologize. He acted…overmuch."

"Overreacted. And, yeah, he definitely did. But don't worry about it, I get it. I was out of line too. Anyway, uh…" She scratched her cheek and looked at her shoes as she scuffed the toe on the floor. "Are we still going to the garden? Or do we need to wait for buddy over there to get back?"

Aduil tilted his head. "You…go…too fast."

"Oh. Sorry. Are we going to the garden?" she repeated slowly, jerking her head to the door.

"Ae. Yes." Aduil paused, as if he wanted to say something more but maybe didn't know how. He turned instead to the remaining guard and spoke a few firm words before looking back to Kate with a hesitant sort of smile, and carefully took her hand.

"Tif sed maedh?"

"Uh, yup," she squeaked. "Nadh meadh, let's go."

"Nadh tif maedh," he corrected.

"Yup, that too, let's go."

Kate pointedly ignored the fluttering in her chest at the gentle strength of Aduil's hand around hers as they made their way into the garden, because she wasn't in sixth grade. Besides, it didn't mean anything. He was just trying to reassure her that she'd done nothing wrong in trying to grab his hand. Which was nice. But that hadn't meant anything either, it was just a stupid mistake on Kate's part.

And she was still holding his hand because… Okay, so she didn't have an answer for that one, but dag, can't a girl just enjoy something without overanalyzing it to death?

When the path forked, they took a different branch than the last time, a move that Kate thought might have been a deliberate attempt on Aduil's part to avoid the snowdrops and, well, she couldn't blame him for that. That had been uncomfortable for the both of them.

They hadn't gone far when a giant acorn fell to the ground at Kate's feet and she looked up in time to see another come flying at her head, just before Aduil snatched it out of midair with his free hand.

"What the hell?"

Aduil opened his hand to show her the acorn—helpful—and she rolled her eyes before following his gaze as he scanned the dense, overhanging boughs of the tree above them. A flash of blond hair and a purple tunic gave the kid away as he climbed to a higher branch.

"Lunduin?" Aduil called. "Mal ilte dauren? Te raim laenui neth radiel, te reil arunse min lerian."

"Doemin, Enirn Aduil. In dhelse nai arun," the kid answered, then in a small, heavy voice added, "in eleth dau uvdwael fawir."

"Ae," Aduil murmured with a soft sigh. He turned to Kate, releasing her hand—and she didn't immediately miss it, nope, not at all—and asked, "A…moment, please?"

Kate nodded and watched with fascination as he leapt up to the lowest branch—a good two feet out of his reach—and pulled himself up. He moved through the foliage with a fluid grace no human could ever hope to match and in moments had settled himself onto a branch just far enough below the kid as to be at eye level.

The kid spared a wary glance for Aduil before scooting away and pressing against the tree trunk, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else. Aduil spoke too softly for Kate hear, but whatever he said had the kid looking at him like he was crazy. Aduil just nodded to that and kept talking and soon, the kid was smiling, even laughing.

A soft warmth spread through Kate as she watched the exchange and she forced herself to look away, because that just wasn't fair. He was kind, charming, handsome and good with kids? It was too much.

When she looked back, Aduil was leaning close to the kid as if sharing a secret as he pointed to Kate. He winked when he saw her watching and the kid's eyes widened at whatever Aduil had said before he, too, noticed her attention, and gave a shy little smile and wave which she returned with a small smile of her own. Aduil said something more to the boy, who nodded, then turned to scramble down the tree while he watched. He waited until the kid reached the lowest branch and began a slide down the trunk before he leaped from his perch and, catching a few branches on the way down to slow his fall, landed cat-like next to Kate just as the kid's feet hit the ground.

"Show off," she muttered, fighting a smile as she rolled her eyes.

The kid—and dag he was small, she would've thought he was a toddler if she hadn't heard him speak—looked up at Aduil with wide-eyed wonder. "Eleth te caell min edau sain, Enirn Aduil?"

"Estin bin maneth." Aduil smiled. "Sit taluin, daute uvwae dwael epeledh?"

The kid nodded and, pushing a stray lock of golden hair behind a tiny, pointed ear, took a few tentative steps toward Kate. She caught the guard moving closer out of the corner of her eye, but ignored him as she crouched down.

"Hi, I'm Kate," she said softly. "What's your name?"

The kid's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Oh, right, I mean, inem Kate, mal… tif te…" Dag, what was the word for name? "Ineth! Mal tif te ineth?"

The kid giggled. "Lunduin tif min ineth," he said with a grin, shifting closer. "Te il toelle—"

"Eselren!" the guard shouted, making Lunduin jump and Kate fall back on her butt. In two quick strides, he had put himself between Kate and the boy, glowering down at her with a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Whoa!" She put up her hands to ward him off. "Hey, chill, no need to get all sharp and pointy."

"Arcaran, Celeden!" Aduil commanded.

The guard hesitated, but stepped back, his gaze never wavering from Kate.

She tossed a grateful glance at Aduil—at least someone had her back—before turning a reassuring smile on Lunduin, who had backed off several feet looking about as comfortable as Kate felt.

"Hey, don't worry about it, buddy," she said. "Despite what grumpy pants over there seems to think, I'm not going to hurt you." She knew he couldn't understand but hoped her tone might convey the message anyway.

Lunduin looked up at Aduil who gave an encouraging nod.

"Nadh tif maedh, Lunduin. Te puil peledh tel sith," he said.

Lunduin pulled in deep breath, his eyes darting first to the guard then to Kate before settling on the ground between them as he spoke in a wavery little voice, his words tumbling out in a rush.

"Doemin, min rinen, in dhelse nai arun, nans in uvdaur, tau inem maedh acmin dwinn iras arcalanren min ora in raim guil, faemadh!" And with that, he was gone, dashing past the guard and around the corner before Kate could even think to respond.

"What did he say?" She took Aduil's offered hand and let him pull her up before letting go to dust off her pants.

"He…apologize…to you—"

"Apologized," Kate cut in, "past tense."

"Yes, apologized. For…hmm. I know…not the…word…" Aduil trailed off, frowning a moment in thought before he scooped up a fallen acorn and held it out.

"For the acorn?" she asked, pointing to it.

"Acorn, yes." He gave an appreciative nod. "As well, I…tell him—"

"Told him," Kate corrected again. He had such trouble with tenses. Especially past tense, though, to be fair, she was learning Elvish was a lot easier in that aspect, where you only added a 'se' to make a word past tense rather than swapping out letters, and sometimes changing the word entirely.

"Told him you…fear for him, for… to…" he paused, his gaze straying back to the tree Lunduin had hidden in.

"To get him to come down?" she guessed. Then, to clarify, added, "Lunduin taluin…daud?"

"Erie!" Aduil beamed.

Kate laughed. "Well, normally I would object to being used as a prop, but I think I can let it slide this time." Besides, she had been a bit worried for him, especially once she'd realized how tiny he was.

Aduil tilted his head and Kate shook hers. Too much to explain in that sentence. "Never mind. Should we go?" She gestured to the path behind him.

Aduil nodded, and the two set out again. Well, three if you counted the guard, but Kate was trying to ignore him. She understood she hadn't done anything to ingratiate herself with the guards, and certainly nothing to build a trust, but neither had she done anything to indicate she would attack anyone, let alone a child. It was more than insulting, and she couldn't even tell him off, not in a way that mattered, anyway. Best to just swallow her anger and put it out of her mind.

Poor little Lunduin, though. He'd looked so nervous.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked. "Lunduin, I mean. Tif Lunduin maedh?"

Aduil nodded.

"That's good. What happened, anyway? Why was he hiding?" When he didn't answer right away, Kate covered her eyes and repeated, "hiding. Why was Lunduin hiding?"

"Ae. He has… troubles with…mal tif anem pedh…learn? Place to learn?"

"School."

"Ae, yes, school. He has troubles with school. I tell him—I told him," he amended, "it is well…all…have troubles… at times. I told him I have troubles with school."

"Do you mean had?" she asked slowly. "You had troubles in school? You're not…still in school, are you?" He was an adult, wasn't he? She knew elves aged slowly, and stopped aging completely once their bodies reached maturity, but that didn't necessarily mean adulthood. What if he was a teenager by their standards? The thought induced a guilt laced nausea. If that was the case, she'd been having some very inappropriate thoughts.

"Yes, had, I had troubles. I am…long…finished with school." Aduil chuckled, and Kate let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"That's a relief," she muttered, and waved a dismissive hand when he gave her a questioning look. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

She looked around for a change in subject and found it in a tree at the edge of the path, or more specifically, a hole in a tree.

"Hey, cool, check it out," she said with a quick glance at Aduil as she headed for the tree. The hole wasn't very big, only about the size of her fists stacked together, but she'd never seen one outside a cartoon. Usually, a hole like that would be home to a friendly owl or some other cute little critter.

"Huh…" She leaned in for a closer look. "I wonder if there's any—"

A mouse popped it's head out with an indignant squeak as Kate jumped back with a squeak of her own. Aduil laughed and she spun on him with a scowl.

"It's not funny," she insisted, a fierce blush heating her cheeks.

Aduil clamped his mouth shut, pressing his lips together in a –failed– attempt to suppress his smile as he shook his head in agreement. She raised her chin and turned away before her own smile could make an appearance. Maybe it was a little funny, but her wounded dignity wouldn't allow her to let him off the hook so easy.

A frigid wind picked up as she started back down the path, tossing her hair in her face and biting into her skin. Kate shivered as she tucked her hair back behind her ear and wished, not for the first time, that she'd dressed a little warmer the morning she'd left home. Of course, the last place she'd expected to end up was Taleria, but if she'd known…well, it probably wouldn't have made a difference, clothes-wise, because she never would have thought Taleria would be so cold. By the looks of it, it really didn't seem like it should be, with bright sunshine, deep green leaves, flowers in bloom…it looked like a pleasant midsummer's day, the kind where kids run through sprinklers and have water balloon fights while the adults sip iced tea from the shade of the front porch. But looks were clearly deceiving.

"Kate?" Aduil asked as he drew up alongside her. "Are you… ill?"

"What?" She glanced over to see concern furrowing his brow. "No, I'm fine. Just a little cold, is all."

"Cold?"

"Yeah, you know, cold?" She rubbed her arms, affecting an exaggerated shiver, adding, "brr, cold."

"I do not…feel cold," he said.

"Yeah, well, you're an elf," she scoffed. Though there was little written about elven culture in the Talerian Chronicles, it was well known that elves were all but immune to the cold. A light cloak was all they needed to stay warm in even the iciest of winters.

"I don't know, maybe I'm just used to warmer weather back home," she added. When he didn't reply, she slowly repeated, "I think it's warmer at my home."

"Ae."

They walked on in silence for a short while before Aduil asked, almost tentatively, "Where is... you home?"

"I don't really know," Kate admitted with a sigh. "A long, long way away, I suppose."

She'd given that a lot of thought while Aduil was AWOL and hadn't come up with any answers. Taleria was another world, that much was a given, but what did it mean, exactly? Another planet? Another dimension? Another time? How could she ever get home if she didn't know where she was?

"How…do you…not know?"

"Because I don't even know where I am," she muttered, focusing on her shoes as she walked.

"But…you are here, in the…I know not the word… Tiranen Naudh," he said, confused. "In Taleria…?" he added, the way you might tell someone you suspect of a head injury that they're still on planet earth.

Kate shook her head. "Yeah, I know that Aduil, I know I'm in Taleria, but I don't—" she cut herself off, shaking her head again as she heaved a frustrated sigh. "I don't know how to explain it to you. Not in a way you'll understand."

Aduil leaned forward a bit to catch her eye and offered an encouraging smile.

"Dau uvnaen, Kate, do not…worry. We will… learn. We will speak."

Kate nodded. He was right. As long as they kept up the lessons, and translating the journal, they would be able to speak, and she would find a way home. Even if the journal proved useless in that respect, and the elves had no more information for her, they would be able to point her to someone who did. They had to. Because if they didn't, she was screwed.

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Translations

"Ilte maedh? "Are you well?

"Ilte evein? "Are you hurt?

"Tif sed maedh?" "Is this well?"

"Nadh meadh, "It well,

"Nadh tif maedh," "It is well,"

"Mal ilte dauren? Te raim laenui neth radiel, te reil arunse min lerian." "What are you doing? You must take more care, you near harmed my friend."

"Doemin, Enirn Aduil. In dhelse nai arun," "Forgive me, Prince Aduil, I meant no harm,"

"in eleth dau uvdwael fawir." "I can do nothing right."

"Ae," "Ah,"

"Eleth te caell min edau sain, Enirn Aduil?" "Can you teach me to do that, Prince Aduil?"

"Estin bin maneth." "Perhaps in time."

"Sit taluin, daute uvwae dwael epeledh?" "Now come, do you not have something to say?"

inem Kate, mal… tif te…" I am Kate, what… is you…"

"Ineth! Mal tif te ineth?" "Name! What is you name?"

"Lunduin tif min ineth," "Lunduin is my name,"

"Te il toelle—" "You are strange—"

"Eselren!" "Elfling!"

"Arcaran, Celeden," "Be calm, Celeden,"

"Nadh tif maedh, Lunduin. Te puil peledh tel sith," "It is well, Lunduin. You may speak your peace,"

"Doemin, min rinen, in dhelse nai arun, nans in uvdaur, tau inem maedh acmin dwinn iras arcalanren min ora in raim guil, faemadh!" Forgive me, my lady, I meant no harm, truly I did not, but I am well and my sister will be seeking me so I must go, farewell!

"Lunduin taluin…daud?" "Lunduin come…down?"

"Erie!" "Yes!"

Tif Lunduin maedh?" "Is Lunduin well?"

…mal tif anem pedh… …what is the word…

Tiranen Naudh," Forest Realm,"

"Dau uvnaen, Kate, Do not worry, Kate,