Quick Pronuncication Guide:
Griim - greem
Nagri - nah-gree
Nyra - nie-ruh
Jilleed - jill-eed
Illy - ill-ee

Walking through the woods, I wondered why I did such things. Why did I have to get so angry every time my mom brought up that subject? Was I mad at him? No—it wasn't his choice to die. Perhaps I was mad at my mom. She had tried to replace the irreplaceable—and it had almost worked. But Carl was definitely not dad. No, my feelings were not directed towards her. I believe they were pointed more towards the forces of nature that snatched him from my world, never to return again. Yet there was tension between my mom and me. Every conversation we had, every time we talked, somehow, the topic would come up. She continued to attempt to console me against this loss, but I pushed away the hand that reached for me. In this time of sadness, I needed no one and I wanted no one. No one at all.

Deep in thought as I was, I was still aware of my surroundings. At least, I was paying enough attention to realize that something extraordinary was happening. I extracted myself from my feelings, tangled like the yarn in my mom's unused knitting basket. Looking up, I saw him for the first time. His blue, reptilian skin caught the light at a perfect angle that seemed to make him glow. Slowly, the strange figure turned, and spotting me with his brown, catlike eyes, he started coming towards me. The cliff behind him was rent in two, a jagged opening looking for all the world like a mouth, ready to eat any who entered. It was then that I began to grasp the fact that this was in no way normal. As I opened my mouth to scream, the reptilian creature grabbed me and started carrying me into the cave. I was completely terrified. Opening my mouth (again) I tried to scream. All that came out was a squeak before everything went dark.

When I regain consciousness, my bleary eyes search my surroundings for anything familiar. They find nothing. I am lying on a hard slab of stone, in a large cavern. The rock seems to be of a reddish-brown color, similar to the cliff that overlooked the forest. The cliff! It has all come back to me now—but still I do not know where I am. Strange white rocks are set into the walls and appear to be the only source of light. Somehow, these blue-skinned beings have been able to produce light from rocks! The alien being I first encountered enters the room I am in. I want to scream at him, "Take me back. I want to go home!" but I know it is hopeless—how would he know what I was saying? I try anyway, starting with a simple question. "Where am I?" He looks confused. I try again. "Who are you? No. What are you?" Pointing to himself, he utters a single word, "Griim." It is my turn to be confused. Did he really understand my questions? If so, which was he answering? Or was he simply following some sort of custom that was common among his people? I couldn't be sure so I just assumed that "Griim" was his name. I returned the gesture, and, pointing at my chest, I replied, "Anne."

~ ~ ~

As soon as I saw the human, I knew that something had to be done. I could not allow it to tell others of its kind about us. If they knew, they would surely see us as a threat and most likely destroy us. Those pesky humans just didn't understand. They thought that they were the only intelligent life-form that was worth keeping alive. But in fact, compared to some races that I know of, they are quite unintelligent. Oh dear, the human is waking up—I hope I didn't hurt it when its head was knocked against the entrance.

When I enter the room, it is sitting up on the bed. It opens its mouth and strange, unintelligible sounds pour out. I do not understand. So I try to introduce myself. I point at myself and tell it my name, "Griim." Although it looks confused, I think it understood because now it points at itself and tells me, "Anne."

~ ~ ~

After a few hours, Griim comes over to me and lays down on a slab of rock identical to the one he had placed me on. It seems that it is bedtime and these uncomfortable rocks are to be our beds. Sleeping is almost impossible. When I do eventually enter the land of dreams, my sleep is troubled with nightmares, mainly concerning what Griim will do with me next. However, one of my nightmares is one I've had several times. It is about the time when my dad died. Then my mom changed. In the dream she became a monster, while in real life she wasn't much better. Especially since I'm an only child—which only means that I'm the only one she has to pick on.

I awake to find that Griim is gone and I am alone. I hope that he doesn't come back. I don't need another monster in my life.

~ ~ ~

Hoping that the human won't run away, I leave for the meeting. It is a meeting of the Nagri elders—the older and wiser of my people. We need to decide whether or not we should build another learning cavern for our children.

Following the meeting (we had decided that an extra cavern wasn't needed) there were refreshments for all. Selecting a jilleed (see below), I went over to the table and sat down. Nyra, the leader of the Nagri, came and joined me. We talked, first about how well the meeting went and then about other things. Somehow, the subject of humans came up and I accidentally mentioned Anne. Suddenly, Nyra's eyes darkened, changing from their normal light brown to a brown so dark you could call it black. Her voice came quietly, though—we were not a people easily angered. She said to me, "Why have you brought this upon us? You know that no humans are allowed to even see us, let alone enter our world. You have introduced a danger to our entire race that only you can take care of. I now give you two choices. Either kill the human to permanently erase the threat, or remove yourself from society and never come here again. However, if you choose the latter, make sure that you never leave the human alone in case it escapes and tells others of its kind about our existence."

"I could never kill anything or anyone, you know that!"

"Then leave and never return!"

She abruptly turns away as if she doesn't want any more to do with me. Slowly, I stand up and leave.

Jilleed: The traditional drink of the Nagri, jilleed is bright purple in color and is made from the seeds of the illy plant which only the Nagri know how to cultivate

Part 2

It has been several days since Griim brought me down into his world. Exactly how many, I have no idea. Perhaps it has been a month, maybe only a week. During this time, though, Griim and I have built up a friendship and we now have several hand signals that help us better understand each other. He has told me what happened at the meeting, and the choice he made. I have learned much about his people. I have learned that they are really a peaceful people and they wish for no violence. At first I was confused at this because one of the choices that Griim was given was to kill me. But he explained to me that although peaceful, his people can become very powerful and very angry when they are roused. However, this rarely ever happens. For instance, the leader of the Nagri (I'm not quite sure of the name) wasn't roused, but she had been close.

Walking over to me, Griim "tells" me that he must return to the lifestyle he is used to. This means that he would go to the meetings of the Nagri elders again. "But you cannot. It is either kill me to do so, or stay here," I reply.

"I won't kill you."

"Good."

"But you must come with me to right this wrong."

We argue back and forth over why we should go and whether or not it was a very smart idea to go in the first place and who cares why. In the end, Griim wins and we start getting ready to go on perhaps the last journey of our life.

When we reach the central cavern, the Nagri have been alerted of our presence and are milling around, waiting, waiting for us. A very important looking Nagri (probably the leader one that Griim told me about) stands at the front of the crowd, her eyes, along with the others', are practically glowing with hate. The Nagri have been roused.

~ ~ ~

I wished that none of this had ever happened, but it had and now Anne was depending on me to get her through this alive. After reaching Central Cavern, the newly roused Nagri began to chant. They called for our deaths and our exile and anything that would keep us away. But we came. We came past the crowd like the foolish mouse who catches sight of the cheese, only to walk past the cat. I climbed onto the platform that stood in the middle of the room and delivered a speech. Even now, I am not sure of what I said. The Nagri, fully roused now, advanced towards us, completely ready to perform two murders, something that had never happened before. I wasn't ready for them—I wasn't thinking straight. They reached Anne and pulled her from the ledge she was huddled on. Screaming, she was borne away through the crowd. That's when it happened. Through some chance miracle, I happened to say the right thing. This, too, I do not remember, but it had the effect I needed. The Nagri paused, mid-step, mid-chant, and turned to listen to what I had to say. I convinced them that this was a mistake, that Anne was not a threat to them, and they listened. They listened like my words were music. They listened like they were getting into the rhythm of the music, like they were ready to dance to my soft tune, and not their hard, angry beat. It started with one, and then all of them were smiling and they accepted Anne, and they took me back, and everyone was happy.

~ ~ ~

Back at Griim's "house", he signed to me, "Will you go home? They will let you now." I am torn. My mom isn't much to come back to, but she is my mom after all. Yet I cannot leave my friends so abruptly, even after all that has happened, because it wasn't their fault. When the Nagri become roused, they become completely different people who are bloodthirsty and mean. I want to see their other side. And not just of Griim, but of all of them. Finally, after much thought, I reply, "I'll stay."

____________________________________________________________

A/N: Originally written early 2011; I had just read The Lord of the Rings for the first time—the Nagri race in particular shows its influence through its many connections to Tolkien's Ents.