Nelchaen-a-Nel; dictated/action

[inafadingcrown]

[Dictated]

[Waking up in a strange place was enough of a cause for panic, especially since Artanis has no memory of how she got there in the first place. But she has had to keep her head in difficult situations before; this was not so bad. A quick search of the room revealed a sword and swordbelt, made much to her liking, which she placed around her waist, and a journal.

The journal keeps her occupied for far longer than she had expected it to. There was a lot of information in it. A lot of answers- answers that made no sense, but answers nonetheless. After a thorough study of the text, she dictates into the book, trying not to feel foolish as she does so.]

I gather that my plight here is not unique and that the prisoners of this place are wont to use these books for communication. I will pose a question, then. Is it common to receive a journal with a name that is not one’s own? “Galadriel” is lovely name, to be certain, and I am sure the Lady who bears it is most pleased to be so named. But I am Artanis, daughter of Arafinwë and I will not be mistaken for another. [Except she probably will. That is totally Galadriel’s voice.]

Furthermore, I would speak with any who have ventured out into the wilds of this world.

You have my thanks.

[Action]

[And with that, she shuts the journal and goes out into the hallway, investigating the castle with the sword still at her hip.]


[OOC: Loss start.]

Comments

[toobravehearted]

[Gaze up from the sword to her face, is she staring at him? A hand up close to his chest and with an almost embarrassed finger point, he doesn't think that he's said anything wrong. No, pretty sure of that.]

The, er, sword. Well, I'm assuming it's that hanging from the belt. It is kind of too sword-like to be anything else. Not a call for it on a day that passes for relatively normal around here... Are you off for practise, perhaps?

[inafadingcrown]

[A delicately arched eyebrow] I would not know what a normal day in this place requires, any more than I know this 'Galadriel.' I am the Lady Artanis and I have only just found myself here.

[toobravehearted]

[What? He will just stare back for a moment and-- Oh. Eyebrow action, there. Met with one of the Doctor's trademark frowns.]

It is I that begs pardon. You look very much like a dear friend of mine. In fact, enough to be her. I'm the Doctor. Please allow me to welcome you. [He steps forward with his hand out-stretched for a shake.]

[inafadingcrown]

[She gives him her hand, but outstretched as if she's expecting him to kiss it, rather than shake it.]

I have heard that rather often today.

[toobravehearted]

Have you now? That doesn't surprise me. [So she's come across others and he's not the only one confused. Taking her hand in his right, his own eyebrows go up at the intimation to kiss it. Instead, his left hand closes over the top of hers, and it's this he's begging pardon for. Opening up his senses a fraction, mind querying gently, he projects warmth and concern for her in the touch.]

The Lady Galadriel is thought of fondly by many in these parts. Likewise, I should imagine you'll be met with the same... Lady Artanis.

[inafadingcrown]

[Whatever Artanis had expected, that was not it. She starts a little, when she senses his mind reaching out before responding in kind. It's evident to anyone remotely sensitive that she is the same person as Galadriel. In many ways, her mind feels the same- just younger, less experienced, less restrained, more turbulent in some ways.]

Forgive me, I am afraid that I have allowed my nerves to overcome my manners. It is not often that one awakens in a strange place with no memory of how one came to be there. [And that is more like the Galadriel that he knows. The kindness and compassion is still there, underneath the pride, and something about the way that he had reached out had broken through to it.]

[toobravehearted]

[For her startle he is apologetic in a thought. What he senses of her he recognises but she feels youthful and unbridled compared to the Galadriel he does know which raises several questions. In her return enquiry his mind feels much, much older than he looks, his thoughts so chaotic, wild and steeped in time, always running forward and rarely looking back, but it's the mind of a good and caring man with a strong sense to do right, rinsed and repeated over centuries.]

[He lets go of her hand and with her tone - which is a relief to hear - he makes a short and respectful bow.] Completely understandable and I truly do sympathise. This place has a habit of unfair play; I'm sorry to say that I fear you have befallen one of its whims.

[inafadingcrown]

[It's one of the fastest ways to set her at ease- whatever else may be going on, she trusts her gifts. She can trust him.]

Please, speak your mind. Explain.

[toobravehearted]

[Facts. Right. Either this place, Paradisa, has brought another version of you from further back in your time stream - which is not as unlikely as that seems, actually - or that you are going through what we call a loss and that you do not remember a good deal of your time. I'm sorry. I've known you for a while and as Lady Galadriel. You've known me for far longer.

[inafadingcrown]

[He's not lying. She can tell that much. She frowns slightly and her brow furrows]

What you say is...difficult to believe. Yet I think I may trust you to speak truth to me. [Another pause] 'Galadriel' is a Sindarin name; I am Noldor. [Not doubting him, just...wondering how she ended up with that one.]

[toobravehearted]

I don't think I could ever lie to you. Fantastic to believe, yes, but this place makes all manner of things possible and not to the benefit of those that reside here.

Noldor... Noldor... Noldorin? I do not know how you came to have that name, but I do know that amongst your people you are unique perhaps. An exception. Of your past that is known to me you are many things. Is the Eldar familiar to you?

[inafadingcrown]

I am a Noldo, one of the Noldor, and so I bear a Noldorin name. [Since he seemed to be wondering about the proper forms.] I am, of course, familiar with the term 'Eldar.' It includes all of the elves who have began the Great Journey. I am Eldar, but I am Noldor more specifically.

[toobravehearted]

[He's in fact recalling the names and races that Galadriel told him of, quite a few months ago now. He's trying to date her but from a history he doesn't have full knowledge of.]

The Great Journey - to see the light of the Two Trees? The history of your race is fascinating to me and I would love to hear more. Your own I'm to understand is long and, I'm going to ask a question you might not like and I apologise. Lady Artanis, how old are you?

[inafadingcrown]

Why should I take offense to that? [Artanis, of course, hasn't yet spent enough time around mortals to understand that aging is not always viewed positively.] It is difficult to say with any accuracy, for I am given to understand that most count their years by the sun and the majority of mine were lived before its existence, but I should think... [There's a pause and she's clearly doing some calculations in her head] a thousand or so such years have passed since my birth. Long, perhaps, by the standards of mortals, but I am nearly the youngest of my cousins.

[toobravehearted]

[There's a look of being caught off guard before his features soften again.] Ah, it's generally thought of as impolite to ask a lady her age. Hence my apologies.

Good heavens, then, not that I would usually ask it, but I fear you are... perhaps young indeed by the nature of which I usually know you as. Not that I have a figure to go from because... [because of reasons already mentioned. Could he be digging a hole here? It's possible.]

The sun that you mark time by, does it have a name?

[inafadingcrown]

It has several, young as it is. The Noldor call it Vása. The Sindar call it Anor. No doubt Men have several names of their own.

[toobravehearted]

Of course, except I would have hoped that it would be a name I recognise too. Unfortunately, not.

But please, accept my apologies. I barrage you with questions when I am sure you will have plenty of your own. What have you learned so far of Paradisa?

[inafadingcrown]

I have learned little more than I have I read in these 'journals'- that this is a realm far from my own and that the castle itself is the power in these parts.

[toobravehearted]

It is a little more than that, I'm afraid.

[And how can his memories not return to the day he re-arrived and Galadriel greeted him herself to impart information most unpleasant?]

Please, perhaps we could sit? [In the hallway, as adorned by furniture and furnishings as they are, this one has a wooden bench facing a large window just a little ways down from them.]

[inafadingcrown]

Of course. [Without further prompting, she seats herself on the bench, calmly waiting for him to join her.]

[toobravehearted]

[And join her he does, taking his journal out of his pocket before he sits next to her.]

Where we are is a realm far from all of our own. None of us in this castle are native to this place and most of us come from very different worlds each with their own histories, their own beginnings. Universes side by side like books in a library, and each of us, plucked from between the leaves.

[inafadingcrown]

[Her expression is one of...well, not exactly shock, because she's heard as much hinted at, but something like it.]

You will forgive me if I find this all rather... overwhelming. I had not known of the existence of other worlds until I arrived here.

[toobravehearted]

Hmm, it can be to some, yes. You however, I think will manage in the long run [Explaining to her however, it's not lost to him how strange this feels, but if something should happen while she's not quite herself, it should be done.]

Where I'm from, the existence of other universe, not quite sideways to our own but close in term, is common knowledge. I've travelled to some myself. Here now, we could call that a pocket universe, that would be closer. The castle here is thought to bring us here and many believe it to have a degree of sentience. Your older self, included.

[inafadingcrown]

Yes... [She trails off thoughtfully, running a hand along the castle wall.] I can sense its mind now.

But to have such power! It would be beyond all save the Valar or Eru himself.

[toobravehearted]

[His gaze darting across to her hand, his eyebrows draw together in confusion that she'd be so eager to embrace it and he's reaching out to her wrist to gently bring it back if she'll let him.]

No one deserves or should want for that much power and it can be unpleasant to touch upon it, a fact you once told me yourself. Valar and Eru, who are they?