Empty Lots Full of Hope

[vicioussweetie]

The lot to which Ali brought Haldir was, perhaps, an unlikely place to start the saving of the world. The neighborhood was clearly in decline, abandoned factories rising ghostlike in every direction. The few bits of green showing were weeds poking through cracks in the sidewalks. The only open space on the street, filling most of a block, was

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[elven_shade]

Haldir muffled a persistent cough as he trailed after Ali. He remembered feeling like this when he first woke up in Berkeley--choked by air fouled by chemicals no one in Middle Earth had ever even heard of. And there was a sense of...oppression...to this world that did not exist in his adoptive homeland. There was a Shadow over it, indeed; a strong one.

But it was weaker here. They had worked very hard to push the Shadow back in this place; the stench that clung to his nostrils elsewhere in the city was almost gone here.

"I have seen far worse," he admitted. "Though in that case it was dark sorcery, not...science...that blasted the land. There are places in Middle Earth were nothing will ever grow again. It is clear you have worked hard to make this place as little like that as possible."

He paused, and glanced around, his nostrils flaring. "How subtle must we be in promoting growth here?"

[vicioussweetie]

Ali doesn't answer right away, taking a moment to unwrap her ridiculously long striped scarf (she's a total Doctor fangirl) and loop it around his neck and shoulders. She can't hide her worry--for him, for what's going to happen, for the world that's to come--as much as she might try.

"There's no such thing as giant silver trees, in this world. There is so subtle in this."

[elven_shade]

Haldir looked at the scarf, and blinked. "Leonora tried to give Doctor Pierson one of these for some reason. He said he was the wrong sort of Doctor...but she looked like she did not believe him...."

Her tone snapped him back to reality. "Then you will need guardians. We have a militia back home which handles this, and potent spells...are there those among your kin who can take this duty on?"

[vicioussweetie]

She giggles softly. "I've met the right sort of Doctor for that scarf, three times now. He's very nice.

"Everything will be fine. I have a lot of friends here." She gives him a smile, hoping to reassure him. "All manner of people know what to expect, and will help to keep things under control."