To Live Again {Lord of the Rings/ThranduilXOC Fanfiction}

2. A Fragile Soul

"One week."

I whisper aloud as I stare at the messy script on the thick parchment paper before me.

Since the night I met Legolas I had tried to mentally recap how many times I had went to sleep and how many times I had awoken in this strange, but incredibly familiar, new world.

From my estimations it has been about a week from the moment I opened my eyes in this strange bed chamber - which is apparently a sick bay in some sort of elvish hospital - but lord only knows how much time has passed from my actual landing in middle earth?

My eyes widen at the thought - middle earth? How is this even possible? I cannot make it fit in my head, and I have the most vivid imagination known to man or beast, so why is it so hard to accept?

"Because this is insane. This doesn't happen." I answer myself out loud again and then I frown. Talking to myself does not help my case. What is it? Like the first sign of madness or something? Jaysus I am officially having a conversation with myself, this practically confirms it, I am mad, mad as a hatter!

Well, however crazy it seems, I cannot deny the fact that it is happening and over the past few days I have tried very hard to wrap my tiny, overwhelmed, mind around it.

The first step was coming to terms with my reflection. I had screamed blue murder when presented with a mirror from a very kindly elf lady, who I presumed as a doctor, or healer, or whatever they call themselves. She had only meant to show me the fantastic improvements in my physical state and that I was in pristine condition - no lasting scars or ugly deformities. What she hadn't banked on was my reaction. I assume she was expecting praise and overwhelming thankfulness but instead she got pure terror.

The reflection was not me, not really, I was there in the features...sort of.

The general shape of my face was intact but it was perfected, scarily so, there were no acne scars, no familiar freckles or moles. My eyelashes were fuller, darker, and I think even Bambi himself would struggle to outdo them. They rimmed wide storm grey eyes. The eyes were familiar, those were my eyes, but they shimmered and stared dramatically out at me, and for all that they did not even give away a hint of the turmoil raging away inside me.

My hair remained light blonde, ashy but not platinum, I bleached my hair before and I should have been able to see tell-tale roots poking through, but nope, this was all natural.  My thick hair felt soft and silky to touch. It hung long in subtle waves just shy of the small of my back. It was long and naturally wavy before - if I did not iron the life out of it - but it was definitely three or four inches longer than what I remembered.

My body was slightly different too, straighter and more stream-lined. I was never skinny or lithe; I was always curvy and feminine in shape, so I was relieved to see I had not lost that. But I was toned and my muscles and bones felt stronger, less fragile, like they had been fortified. I did not feel or look human. In essence I was not human, for a human could not look like this; this body was built for endurance, to stand the test of time. Like a noble tree that has strong roots, unyielding and unchanging against the hands of time.

I was an elf, why I was one I could not tell, but it was terrifying, life changing, and invigorating all at once.

When I had recovered from that, and the healer lady had managed to calm me down, I had to get used to other subtle changes. Changes such as not feeling the need to sleep. Instead I seemed to drift away from consciousness and return seemingly hours later, though it had only seemed like a moment. These states were restful and I enjoyed them, I felt stronger each time I returned from them. I also did not feel the need to eat the same. I mean, before I would happily clear a roast dinner with all trimmings, plus a vat of Ben and Jerry's and still feel famished. Now I could go a whole day and not feel the discomfort of hunger. I still enjoyed food but it was not so essential for my survival as it was before.  I reckoned I could go a long time before hunger pangs set in.