'Breathe in. Breathe out...'
The air entering her lungs was slightly damp, the morning dew on some of the leaves still apparent. Reinette stood in the middle of a forest, one she had no idea how she got into.
She pinched her arm slightly, attempting to wake herself up. But the pain in her arm faded, and she still stood in the same spot.
A sound behind her brought her attention to a grove of trees and bushes, but nothing was there when she turned. Her eyes searched briefly, before a movement caught her attention from the side. Her head turned, and she let out a yelp as she saw the sharp end of what appeared to be a weapon of some kind pointed right at her.
Reinette tried to back up, her hands shooting up in a half-raised sort of surrender. But her back came in contact with the tree she had previously pushed against, effectively stopping her where she stood.
Staring her down was a man dressed in some sort of gear - the clothing he wore was entirely foreign to her, and she wondered if he was some sort of forestry worker that she had never seen before. Maybe he was part of the Parks and Recreation system? She would have laughed at the thought if she wasn't being basically gunned down by this individual.
But the sounds that came from his mouth sounded nothing like any language she had heard spoken before in her small town in Virginia.
Reinette didn't know what to say. She felt frozen in her spot - no words were forming, no thoughts about how she was supposed to talk her way out of this dangerous situation. Her eyes betrayed her feelings of absolutely confusion, loss, and defeat - there was no where for her to run that he wouldn't be able to shoot her from... And it was apparent now that he had a bow trained inches from her face.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"What business do you have in Lórien, Mortal?"
Ah, English! Finally! She sort of choked on the air as it rushed back into her lungs, her shoulders slightly sagging forward in relief as the male turned his bow down from her face. The blood started to churn in her veins once more, and finally she could feel the gears turning in her brain. And so the confused face returned to her visage. 'Lórien?' she thought. Why did that sound so familiar?
She didn't have much of a chance to think, let alone answer the man before he was asking her another question. "Who are you?" But the tone of this question was lighter, less fierce. It gave her a feeling that maybe it was okay to answer.
Gathering her courage, she lowered her hands to her sides slowly. "Uh..." she began, awkwardly. What did she say? "I'm... Reinette. Reinette Oswald..."
She told herself that if this were a dream, he would already know who she was...
He spoke up again soon after the last syllable left her lips. "I am Dúlinnor, a ward of Lórien." He began to make a small circle around her; she figured he was sizing her up. She swallowed nervously, before he spoke again. "You are alone?"
She let out a breath, before she nodded in answer. "Yeah, I..." She paused. What did she say? She had no idea how she got there? That would make her seem irresponsible and ditzy at best, and crazy at worst. "I... I'm not sure where I am..." And there it was, out there in the open. She studied the man in front of her some more, before meeting his eyes with her own. The words started to tumble out from her mouth before she could stop them.
"I'm not sure how I got outside. I'm not trying to hurt anyone," she gestured toward his bow, "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on..." She looked up at his face again, studying his features. There was something about him that was also just off, just like the place around her.
But she couldn't quite place her finger on it.