Chapter 2

Vanàeze (Van-ah-e-zay)

I felt as if the world was spinning around me ask I was whisked off into an unknown place. White light surrounded everywhere... As the light began to clear, I could feel solid ground underneath my feet again. I could make out Gandalf's figure standing next to me as my eyes adjusted.

I heard a voice, just ahead of me, a very wise-sounding and delicate female voice. The light began to fade.

Gandalf was to my right and standing in front of me was none other than the Lady Galadriel.

She smiled softly, everything about her presence was so dainty and graceful.

I seemed to be standing in a grassy area, plush day beds and silk blankets gently pulsed in the breeze around the hollow. I suddenly realized I was standing in what looked to be the sacred hollow of Galadriel's Mirror.

Galadriel's voice stirred me from my thoughts.

"Do you know why you are here?"
She questioned.

I shook my head, no, still not trusting my voice to stay calm.

Her eyes sparkled.

"Humans, like yourself, have taken a keen interest on writing...records of the peoples of Middle Earth for some time now. It all started with the great creation of Tolkien. Since then, many have attempted their adaptations of writing our stories. Some, we consider, talented enough to be inducted into our unique training academy."

I was shocked. They knew? They read all these fanfictions? They read my stories?

A slight blush crept onto my face.

How would you like to know that every romantic story you'd written about specific characters had been read by those characters themselves? How was that even possible? Besides the whole point of fan fiction was that it was a fantasy not a reality! Right?

Galadriel continued on,
"Middle Earth is a world far different from your own. I believe you would say it is in a different universe. Time here is different than that of yours. You may stay here for years and not a second will pass in your earth. Now, the school itself is a centre of combined cultures; not only from our world, but yours and ours together. The school's unique training ranges from so many different focuses and topics. You need not worry, your first section of training is planned out with all the courses the apprentices must take. This includes teachers, talents and the like."

She talked slowly and deeply, it was very soothing. 

She smiled, "I know this is so much information for you to obtain, however, you do have a few key decisions to make."

So it was literally me getting enrolled in a school that taught you anything and everything Lord of the Rings? This sounded amazing! Terrifying but wonderful. I looked up at Galadriel, curious to hear more.

"Yes? What do I have to decide?" I questioned.

She glanced at Gandalf, "So eager! Well, First we must find you a dorm selection, but before that...your species, dear. You must be in the correct section of the academy."

I wanted to freak out, Galadriel (the highest of all elves) just told me I can belong to any species of my choosing. I had to make sure I heard her correctly, "You mean, I choose what species I'd like to belong too?"

She nodded, "Of course my dear! Do you know what races you have to choose from?"

I nodded my head, of course I did!

What to choose?

Dwarf? No, I just wouldn't look good with a beard.

Hobbit? I'm really not the hobbit type, as much as I love them!

An elf? Ah yes, graceful, refined and gorgeous...but every girl entering this school knows that.

I didn't want to be like everyone else, but I also wanted to avoid choosing something completely off the wall like an Ent, that'd just be awkward.

I wanted to be an elf... I had reached my conclusion.

"I would like to be a Teleri Sea-elf."

I knew that no where in The Lord of the Rings movies was there mentioned a noble sea-elf.Most movie fans-only didn't know the elf cultures anyway. It was something you would find only in the books. Or on the internet I suppose. The Teleri were known for their enchanting singing and love of the sea. Which was why they'd always been my favourite of the elf species.

Galadriel let out a sweet bell like chuckle,"Wonderful! You'll be in the Greenwood Hall, with other elves and possibly humans...." She trailed off glancing into her mirror.

"That's amazing, thank you so
much!" I replied courteously.

"Now we need to fit you into a wardrobe and most importantly; you need a new name. A student's true name must never be revealed." Galadriel motioned to the stairs leading away from her hollow."My servants may help you with all but your name, do you have a preference?"

Often, I had studied elvish words and had used one name in particular for my original character in Fanfictions. I smiled,

"Yes I have one in mind. I would like to be called, Vanàeze, please."

It meant "Beautiful Sea-Light", in elvish.

~~~

Soon enough, I was outfitted in a new wardrobe and since each student was supposed to wear clothing that represented their specific race, mine was meant to be representative of the Teleri culture.

I had golden blonde hair, unlike the pale blonde of Legolas the Mirkwood elf, and sea green eyes. I wore a dress of  grey green, stitched with gold threading and certain embroideries that I was to wear to my classes. I was also given many tunics ranging in color from white to green with brown and black leathery leggings. I was finally given a spidery gold colored cloak, it was slightly shimmery.

Gandalf then whisked us away again and I arrived in the center of the Greenwood Hall, in META. Gandalf showed me into my room and told me orientation would take place tomorrow, as it was the beginning of a new year here at META. I thanked him for all he had done and turned into my room.

Upon arriving, I realised that this academy looked nothing like a school.

The certain 'Halls' are just orderly landscapes for each race. (Orcs, trolls and other unfriendly beings were not welcome since the defeat of Sauron) and my hall was Mirkwood themed, though this school was no where near the actual Mirkwood. I was told that school itself was located far south from the Shire, closer to Rohan, yet staying on the empty plains of the Misty Mountains.

There was another elf hall that resembled Lothlorien, and so on: two halls for each race it seemed. Man, I bet the hobbit halls were an absolute blast! 

This hall was currently empty. Everyone was off at dinner.  The entrance to my room was basically an archway with vibrant green vines and white wisteria flowers over pouring into a natural made curtain.

As I pushed back the sweet smelling flowers, I viewed my new spectacular bedroom.

Four giant trees made up the corners of the room. Beds varied in heights off the ground level because they were actually inside the trees, like solid hammocks.A large stone, covered in lichen made a back wall, with a thin waterfall splitting the rock down the middle, creating a watery window.

Yeah, this beat any university dorm room back on Earth.

It appeared two other girls had already moved in, so I took the tree bed closest to the waterfall highest up.

I leaped onto my bed and laid upon the white feathery quilt. Looking up, I noticed that our ceiling was made up of the trees branches and boughs. I decided that  I was going to climb those trees all the way to the top, just to see what was up there.

'Hmmm' I reached for a branch and started to pull myself up when suddenly a chorus of rustic horns sounded.

I startled and lost my grip. Luckily, I managed to turn myself around in time to land with a soft 'thump', on the forest floor beneath me.

I chuckled, I felt like a cat, being an elf was too much fun! The horn sound ended and I heard Murmuring voices and multiple footsteps coming down the hall.

Soon enough, two other elf girls walked into my room. They seemed to have just met each-other; and were quite welcoming to me.

One girl was about my height (which was one thing that hasn't changed much since my transformation). She had blonde-strawberry long wavy hair, blue eyes with bright green rims. Her skin was pearly and speckled with light freckles, she looked very dainty. She was wearing a fiery autumn dress, accented with gold lace.

The next girl was shorter on the elf scale, but she was very lean. She had long brown hair and matching eyes. Her jaw line was very angular and her skin was a glowing golden color, tanner than mine. I felt like she was strong and clever even though she was much smaller than myself. She was outfitted in a shorter yellow dress and it shimmered and sparkled like spider's silk.

I stepped forward "Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo" I said.

It was a courteous elvish greeting that meant "A star shines on the hour of our meeting".

They both returned the greeting properly.

The dainty strawberry blonde haired elf came forward,

"Hello, I am Azelótë, pleasure to meet you, I go by Lóte though." She smiled beautifully.

Her name meant sunlight-flower.

The other elf followed in suit,

"I am Estelriel, you can call me Riel though!" She beamed.

Her name meant hopeful-maiden.

I grinned at her obvious zeal

"Thank you! I am Vanáeze, I guess I should go by something shorter like Vaná or something! So how long have you guys been here at META?"

Riel chuckled, "This is my first year, isn't it amazing? Everything is so... Perfect! Minus the fangirls we ran into at dinner!" She laughed, exchanging a glance with Lótë.

Azelótë said this was her first year here as well. I didn't feel so bad not being the only newbie.

We all got along tremendously for the rest of the night. They told me how the horns I'd heard were the like school bells to alert us when classes were changing. After dinner or after breakfast was shower time. That was pretty much all we knew so far.

Estelriel leaned forward as if exchanging a secret that no one else could know, " Okay, so I heard that the characters of the Lord of the Rings are our teachers!"

Azelótë and I both gaped.

"No way! They'd know better than to release the actual characters into this crazy fan driven environment! Wouldn't they?" I asked doubtfully. It wasn't difficult to envision swarms of girls chasing and drooling over their favored heart throb. Gag.

The only characters I had ran into so far were Gandalf and Galadriel. Estelriel mentioned that they hadn't seen any other characters at dinner.

Azelótë hadn't a clue,"That would be amazing wouldn't it?" She sighed, clearly thinking of running into someone in particular.

I mean think about it! Here you are in a Middle Earth Training Academy, life can't get any better right? Then, to make things even better, all of your favorite characters suddenly become your every day teachers!

Riel had us sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, legs crossed. "Alright girls!" She giggled, "We now enter the totally-cliché circle of friendship and secrets!" She demanded jokingly. "Since we all love everything Tolkien, I have to know; who is everyone's favorite character in the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit?"

Azelótë volunteered herself first, "Okay so I know this is a bit mainstream here, but the hottest dwarf here is definitely Kili."

I gasped mockingly, "A Dwarf! How could you! Never trust a dwarf!" I teased. 

Okay, I'll admit Kili was an unexpected cutie in the Hobbit.

Azelótë turned a lighter shade of red.

"Well if you're asking me; I'd have to say...Aragorn is something else, but not my type..." Estelriel stated, trailing off. "Okay its gotta be Merry, definitely! What about you Vaná?" She chirped happily.

I fessed up "Well honestly, I've always adored Legolas. Like Thorin's a close second with those eyes though. But Legolas is definitely my favorite." I smiled bashfully.

"Eww an elf!" Azelótë teased me back.

"Shutup, we're all elves now!" I retorted still smiling.

"I hate to cut this short, but we better get some sleep; orientation is first thing tomorrow, and I want to find out once and for all if the rumors are true." Estelriel noted as bells chimed in the distance signifying the time.

"Mhmm sleep sounds nice." Azelótë murmured while climbing into her her bed across the room from mine.

Before long we were all snuggled in, ready for bed.

I suddenly had a realization; this was exactly what I was doing before I got transported here.

I really didn't want to go to sleep here only to wake up in the real world. If this was all just a dream... I cringed hoping for the best. I felt my eyelids droop shut as darkness ebbed into thoughts melting in and out through my watery dreams of nonsense.