Chapter Two: Journeys
As the group dispensed, Galadriel hung back. "Ciao, can I talk to you? I really have no idea how I got here. I was glancing through Beyond the Summerland on the way to church, and suddenly I was...here. Do you know how to get home? And how much can we intefer without consquences? What will happen at he Forbidden Isle? I have no desire to be captured by Malekim. What's going to happen to us?"
"You won't need to be rescued. I'll kill all the Malekim."Ezra stated.
Ciao shrugged. "I have no idea, I was just re-reading the books and I got here same as you did. Maybe we'll just go home after the fifth book is over." Ciao sighed. "I think we can interfere without changing the story, but the results might not be pretty for us. As much as I don't wish to be taken by Malekim either, we should just tag along." She paused. "Do you think we're being missed at home?"
Galadriel frowned. "Hopefully it works like Narnia—you know, however long you stay doesn't take up time in our own world. And Ezra, I highly doubt you'll kill the Vulstrum and all the Malakim. I can't even hit a still target at more then 35 yards."
Trav looked impressed. "Wow, thirty-five?" she asked "I can hardly hit my brother from six feet!"
"With a bow and arrows, and with hard concentration. Not with balls--I can't aim a ball three feet."
Trav grinned. "Cool."
"Not in dodgeball,’ Gala shook her head. “I try to stay out of the way, so I ironically end up being the last one in. Anyway, we were saying.."
"I'll kill them with my bare hands if I have to." Ezra shot back. "Bows are for women. With all respect,Jor-i, I prefer my hands."
"Well, I can't use bows or swords, so quit complaining. Valzaan said to sleep." Ciao walked over to the group.

But Galadriel couldn't sleep. The ground was rough and lumpy. I thought it'd be neat to sleep under the stars. I forget how cold it gets at night. She tossed and turned all night. When morning came, she didn't think she'd slept at all.
Ciao blinked her eyes. She had slept, but the quality of sleep was in question. "What time is it?" She asked wearily.
Trav glanced at her friend sympatheticly as she served up some hot porridge-like gunk. "The first night's always the hardest." she said quietly "And about your question last night, I think that if we stay with the guys we'll be okay. I have no desire to be captured by any goblin-thingies either."
Ciao stepped over the still-sleeping Ezra and grabbed a bowl of porridge. "True, but what about the one guy... you know....in Sulaire…"
Galadriel, who sat nearby wrapped in a blanket Wylla had lent her, looked up. "Didn't sleep well either, huh? Adventure's not all it's cracked up to be. I've been thinking; I'm sort of stuck. I don't have anything to my name except the clothes I'm wearing. I don't know how far we are from Sulaire either, but I can't walk all the way in sandels, even Dr. Scholl's ones. I can't ride well either; the most I've done is a a half-hour trail ride in the Dells. And have the, " she lowed her voice to a whisper. "Black Wolves shown up yet?"
Ciao's eyes widened. "I don't know. I hope so. I can't run very far in my shoes either, they dig into my heel...."
“Don't worry, I'll kill them too." Ezra muttered.
Trav glanced half-way-smugly down at her comfortable sneakers and blue-jeans. "I don't know about the wolves. Does anyone have a copy of Beyond the Summerland?"
Joraiem glanced in her direction. “Can you tone it down?”
Trav grinned at him "Goooood-Mooorniiing!" Several of the Novaana, including Mindarin, glared back at her. "I love this, back in our own world, I am so NOT a morning person...must be something in the air here."
"I'm not a morning person anywhere!" Galadriel muttered, shoving on her glasses.. "It’s bad enough I just got my braces last week. Not a good combination. "
"Glasses are cool!" Ciao chimed.
"I never wear mine; they give me headaches." Ezra replied.
"I have to wear mine, or I can't see details at three feet."Galadriel frowns. "But don't look for intelligent conversation from me at this hour of the morning."
Ciao laughed. "I'm getting better at mornings." She looked at the Novanna. "It looks like they're packing up. I guess we're traveling today?"
"Yes," Valzaan overheard and replied, "We shall leave at midmorning."

Galadriel hesitately spoke up. “Valzaan, I have a slight difficulty. There was a storm a few nights after I set off, and my horse ran away with all my supplies. All I have is the clothes I'm wearing. So, maybe, if..."
Trav suddenly realized that they had a problem. A horse-sized problem.
Literally.
"How are we going to keep up?" She muttered to her Otherworld friends. "We haven't horses!"

"I was hoping you already had that problem solved." Galadriel growled. "How long have you been here?"
"And I can't ride..." Ciao grumbled.
”I've been here about an hour longer than you." Trav snorted. "Besides, at first there were only three of us. We could double up, no biggie. No, we've got --like, a billion. Maybe we can ride cows or something. Do they even have cows here?"
"I hope so. I always drink milk." Galadriel made a face. “Water is so bland.”
“I’ll ride Koshti," Ezra suggested, giving the tiger a gentle pat. Koshti didn’t appreciate the gesture, and nipped at Ezra's hand. "Hey! Aljeron, control your beast or I'll pull a Rulalin on him!"
"Ezra." Trav hissed. "Never, ever slap a tiger. Don't slap any cat, unless you have a death wish!" She turned to the rest of her friends, who had gathered seperately from the Novaana. "Any ideas on transportation, guys?"
"I despise cats," Ezra replied. Koshti hissed at him. "Calm down, Big Boy. If you were Rulalin's, you'd already be dead."
"Yeah, don't rub him the wrong way.” Gala seconded. “I don't want to met Koshti when he's angry! Sorry, no help here. Unless we could double up with the Novaana? Personally, if we do, I call Joraiem."
"Maybe things don't work the same in this world as ours... we could run really fast or something?" Ciao suggested
"I don't think so. I'm no Jorieam. I believe basic body laws still apply--tired, hungry, thristy, etc.' Galadriel shrugged.
"Maybe, but Trav said that she's less tired here...."
"For your information, the book makes reference to Joraiem getting tired. As for Trav, maybe it's just excitement and adrenaline. Or maybe it's like Narnian air."
Trav opened her mouth but Gala beat her to it. "Okay, I know we're in Kirthanim, but they're both fantasy worlds, so maybe they're slightly similar. Anyway, don't slame Narnia. That was the very first fantasy book I read. If I hadn't read that, I may not have read Beyond the Summerland and wouldn't be here now. Okay, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Anyway, we still have to figure out how to get to Sulaire."
"Wait!!!!!!!!!!" The others turned to see a girl in jeans and a t-shirt run up to them."I'm coming with you! Don't leave yet." She paused for breath. "Am I late?"
"No, we're trying to figure out how to get to Sulaire. You wouldn't happen to have four or five horses, fully equiped and provisioned, with you? Or maybe a wagon, since Ciao here can't ride? I'm Galadriel, by the way, and this is Ciao, Trav, Frodo and Ezra."
“Whew, I thought for sure I was late. I got kinda lost in these woods. I'm Oriana Lassar, but you can call me Lassar." She smiled. "Oh yes, horses , um, nope, 'fraid not. Sorry."
""Hi Lassar! Welcome to the group! Have you been in the forest for a long time?" Ciao asked. "Oh, and I can ride, it's just that I would probably go faster if I were to sit on the back of a turtle all the way to Sulare."
"Very funny, Ciao," Galadriel growled. "Listen, Lassar, two words of wisdom: don't go spouting off future events, and be very nice to Koshti. The former is especially important if you don't want to be Mindarined."
“So, when are we going to leave?" FRODO asked
"Do I sense disgust?" Ezra muttered to Galadriel. He turned to smile at Lassar, "Don't worry about the wolves I'm going to kill all them any day now."
Ciao sighed. "We're not really getting anywhere here, you know."
"I'll carry someone. Then we'll get somewhere, just don't ask me how far." Ezra said.
“What?" FRODO blinked in confusion. "Oh, never mind, so how are we going to get there? I think a wagon may be passing this way soon"
"I've had enough of this!" Galadriel snapped."If Valzaan mindarins me, I hope someone has paper and a pencil." She strode up to the prophet.
"Valzaan, there are seven of us in need of transpartation to Sulaire. We have no horses or provisions. We would greatly appreciate your advice."

Lassar let a nervous giggle escape.. "I was trying to get to chapter one, um, which chapter are we in?" Her face brightened. "Maybe we could build something out of these trees?"
"Anybody got a champagne bottle, we could float to happyland, ur, Summerland on the bubbles," suggested Ezra.
"I don't drink." Lassar frowned.
“Me neither, but I always keep some with me when I time travel, just in case I travel into a World Series celebration. Always be prepared, ya know." Ezra smiled.
"Then you have some now?" Lassar asked in a falsely sweet voice.
"Oh no, I drank it last night by accident." Ezra answered. "Sorry."
"I thought you said you didn't drink,hmm?" Lassar raised her eyFrodorows.
Trav's head spun trying to follow the different conversations. "I love Narnia, there's little chance of finding a turtle around here, and-" She gasped."I just had an idea."
Everyone stared at her. "Um, I've forgotten." She mumbled "Ask me again later."

Valzaan frowned. "I seem to hear ideas coming from your companions.'
"Most of them are...impractical," Galadriel winched. "Hey, keep it down over there. I'm trying to convince Valzaan we aren't crazy, and you aren't helping! Where'd the turtle come from? Floating to Sulaire on champaigne bubbles, Ezra? Perhaps on lembas bread, but not CHAMPAIGNE!'

Ciao raised her eyebrows at Ezra. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I keep a bottle of champange in my back pocket for emergencies such as these." Galadriel’s request floated in the background and Ciao shut her mouth.

Galadriel turned back to Valzaan, "As I was saying, we all would be most grateful for your advice—“

Trav raised her voice to be heard over all the voices "QUIET!!!"
Silence struck the encampment as everyone stared at Trav. Her tossled brown hair clung to her ruddy cheeks. "I have an idea. Really, this time." She said more quietly, and not a little proudly.
Then, without a flash or a warning of any kind, she vanished
Ciao stared at where Trav had just stood. "Well, they're not going to believe we're normal now...." She stopped to think for a moment. "Teleporting!" Ciao exclaimed. "Next chapter here I come!" She furrowed her brow. The air shimmered slightly around her, creating a translucent veil.
Lassar screamed. "Someone stop passing out magic rings!"
Galadriel was still talking to Valzaan. "So, if we could maybe double up with the Novanna..."
Trav's voice rang out, "Quiet!"
Galadriel gasped as Trav disappeared into thin air. "Excuse me please, Valzaan!" As she took off towards the Otherworlders, Ciao vanished as well.

What in the name of Sauron is going on here? Does anybody remember that Valzaan asked us not to propecy?"
"This isn't prophecying," Ezra pointed out.
"It's worse!" Galadriel screamed. "Maybe prophecying can be explained, but vanishing into thin air? And what if something goes wrong! We could be lost in the binding forever!"
"Chill, Galadriel, this is better than some of those other ideas we had."
Galadriel gasped for breath. "Okay, true. And I really wasn't that great of a rider anyway. So, how do we do this?"
Ciao's voice floated in the air, "Just say 'poof' and it'll work...".
"I'll wait for Ezra and Frodo," Galadriel sighed.
Trav reappeared. "Dudes!" she yelled. "Come back! I wasn't teleporting, I just went back to our world for a minute."
A large brown horse suddenly appeared beside her. "Watch out!" she exclaimed "There are more coming!" Everyone took a step or two back as horses started popping out of the air, enough for everyone.
"Ain't it cool?" Trav crowed
"Where did you get them?" Frodo asked
"Borrowed them from my aunt" Trav looked slightly worried "I hope she doesn't notice that they've dissappeared."
"Great. Now where is Ciao?" Galadriel mumbled. "You better find her, Trav, since you seem to able to travel at will. Could you teach me how to do that, so I can get some more clothing and provisons?"
The rippling light disappeared, revealing Ciao. “Ouch, that hurts. I don’t think I did it right. “ She smiled weakly at Trav. “Nice horses. So, which one's the most tame?"
"Trav, I think you should be the only one to teleport, and only from the book to our world, not from chapter to chapter.It's too confusing otherwise." Galadriel wiped her brow.
“I didn't teleport.” Trav explained. “I just slipped back to our world for a second or two. And only because I couldn't think of any other way to get on with this trip. Though now I'm seriously hoping that time works like Narnian time here...my aunt's gona freak about her horses. Sorry, Gala. I won't do it again." She looked sheepish.

Despite her height, Galadriel had difficulty mounting, so Trav boosted her up. Galadriel smiled at her. "I'm sorry if I seemed mad. You just shocked me. But that's a useful trick. Could you teach me? I'd love to have pants, a shirt, a digital camera, a pen and notebook, and maybe...a copy of Beyond the Summerland, so I know for sure what's going on."
Lassar clung tightly to the reins of her horse. "Where are we in the story? Do we pass any inns soon?"
Ciao shrugged. "I don't know. I'm assuming that they just met up with Valzaan. Does anyone remember how long they were traveling?" Ciao sighed. "At least we know we're in Suthanin."
Trav whipped out a copy of Beyond the Summerland "Hmm...let's see..."She pointed to a spot on the map about halfway between Elnin Wood and Sulare. "I think we're here, because I can't see any landmarks." She passed the book to the person behind her without looking to see who it was "Someone read this and figure out where we are, please?"
Galadriel smiled. "Very funny. Come on, let's get going."
“What’s this?” Joraiem asked.
Trav nearly fell out of her saddle as she whirled around to snatch the book from Joriam's hands.
"Those people on the top resemble Wylla, Valzaan and me"
Trav clutched the book to her chest. "Uh, it's nothing..." She muttered. As the group rode on, she tried to skim the chapters. “It’s hard to read when you need both hands to steer the horse,” she muttered to herself.

When they stopped for lunch, Trav called the "Otherworlders" to the side. “If we got here the morning after Wylla and her group joined up, today is the twenty-seventh day of Full Spring. We should get to Sulare the twenty-ninth, so we have..." She paused dramatically "Two more days on the road. If you don't count today."
Galadriel bit her lip. "We need to be very careful with that book. Trav, do you have a textbook cover or something so it wouldn't be so obvious?"
"Or you could just rip the cover off." Ciao added, trying to be helpful.
"No way!" Galadriel gasped. "That's...I'd never do that."
Trav hugged her book protectivly. "There is NO WAY I'm going to rip it.And I promised no more teleporting, so cloth will have to do." She reached into her pack and pulled out a horse-patterned silk scarf. Trav quickly wrapped it around the book and put it back into her bag. "It wasn't this complicated in Middle Earth. They couldn't read English."
"Hopefully Jory didn't read too much of it... especially the end of it...." Ciao frowned.
"But can they read?" Galadriel asked. "I never saw anything in the books about literacy."
"It didn't say they couldn't read!" Lassar pointed out. "Maybe we shouldn't use the book."
"But it might be important... especially if we can figure out safer places during the Black Wolves’ attack or the battles." Ciao added.
"Did we miss the first attack?" Gala asked.
Trav nodded. "Yeah, that was like, three days ago. We'll still have to deal with the attack at Sulare though." She glanced around to make sure none of the Novaana were in earshot. "Do you think it would change the story any if we saved that one servant boy? I always felt sorry for him..."
"I think so. But we could try anyway. Unfortunately, it won't change the story if we get killed, so we need be careful," Galadriel warned.
"I just thought of something. You all better be good fighters 'cuz I'm the only guy here, right? Or else just stand behind me." Ezra said.
Trav drew herself up proudly "I'll have you know that while I was in Middle Earth, I trained with Aragorn and Legolas. I'm not bad with the bow and the blade...though the bow is my favorite." She made a face. "More distance between you and the enemies, you know..."
" I’m good with a sword. But yeah, you’re the only guy," Frodo confirmed.
Lassar blushed. "Can I stand behind you, Ezra? I've never had to fight, ya know." She brightened. "But won't we be learning with the Novaana?"
"I think so." Gala said. "I can use a bow and arrows, but I'm better with the compound bow, and I've never tried a moving target--or further then 35 yards."
"Hopefully, they'll include us in their training. But we aren't exactly Novanna," Ciao pointed out.
"I don't see why they wouldn't train us." Trav chimed in. "I mean, I don’t think they’ll just send us home. And if we're going to have this adventure, we'll need some kind of weapons training. Plus, we should get some more history on this world. I seem to remember something about a library - and even if the books don't explicitly SAY anything about one, what kind of training center would Sulare be without a library of some kind?" She looked dreamy "Just imagine all those books..."
Galadriel sighed in anticipation. "Count me in. Maybe we can learn if Valzaan is Alazare, last of the Titans--hey, aren't their names spelled with the same letters?"
"Yeah, maybe." Trav took a last bite of her bread and stood. "I think the others are getting ready to ride on."