Before I even let you read the story, I get to do my little blah thing. Amanda does strike one as a little Mary-Sue-ish at first, I’ll admit. But the nice thing is, she’s a solid person through and through. And that’s all I have to say on the subject. Please Review!!!

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Amanda was a definite LotR freak. She owned a traditional and collector’s sword for each main character. She had memorized whole chapters of the books. She could recite school lessons in Elvish using Quenya or Sindarian. Amanda would have amazed her friends, if she had any.

She was a loner anywhere but home. At home she practiced sword fighting with her brother and conversed with her parents in Black Speech, Entish, Elvish, Dwarvish…anything but English. Even her little sister Katie could manage a few words in those languages.

Most at school thought her family was crazy. However, the words brought The Lord of the Rings alive to Amanda in a way film could not. She was blind and learned to adjust to it. She won almost ever bout with her brother by listening for his footsteps and the whisper of his sword as he landed an attack.

And now she was where she did not want to be. Nothing was familiar in this place. The smell of the air was different. The ground felt different under her supple boots. The beautiful sounds coming from the woods were not what they should have been.

A gentle song wound its way into Amanda’s ears, making her stiffen and draw the lavishly decorated sword that had been crafted just for her, never to be replicated. Amanda hefted Adir and waited, listening intently.

A soft rustle above her alerted her and Amanda swung the broadside of Adir into the lower branches of the tree. The sword made contact with a body and it fell to the ground. Amanda listened to it scramble up and banged the flat of her blade hard against where the head would be.

A satisfying thud followed and she put her hands over the face of the thing, feeling what it was. The features were smooth, but Amanda flinched slightly as her fingers moved over the thing’s ears. They were pointed.

Amanda pulled back, and unsheathed her sword again. Elves! Amanda thought. But it can’t be an Elf! Tolkien made them up. He created them. They don’t really exist! Do they?