Archive: master_apprentice, QJEB, SWAL, Tolkien Slash, LitSlash anywhere
else, just ask, I won't say no.
Archive Date: November 19, 1999
Author's Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/peacefulpassion/araandqui.html
Category: action/adventure, Non Q/O, Pre-Slash, A/U
Feedback: Most certainly. This the first one in a series. If you like, I'll
continue. If you don't like, I'll continue anyway. But I'd really enjoy
knowing how I'm doing, k?
Notes: See my website for background info on the guys.
This bunny bit me and I--hey wait! This bunny didn't bite me...it attacked,
swallowed me whole, decided I taste weird, spit me out and beat the crap out
of me. I'm feeling a bit woozy right now...
Pairing: Qui-Gon/Aragorn
Rating: PG
Series: (sigh) Yes. *Across The Great Divide*. 1/12
Spoilers: None for TPM, some for LOTR.
Summary: Qui-Gon and Aragorn meet in the Withywindle Valley for the first
time. They aren't quite sure what's going on.
Warnings: We got Aragorn and Qui-Gon, attracted to each other. If this
scares you, run away and don't stop. Also this is a crossover between
Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ and SW Episode 1. If you haven't read LOTR
or seen Star Wars, you won't get it.
"By the Gods, who are you?"
The voice was shocked but low. Green lightswords did not appear in this part of the woods every day.
And this was a very deep part of the woods, far back in the Withywindle Valley near the terror of the Barrows and their Wights.
As far as he knew, no one was aware of the existence of this path save his own Rangers.
But even without the green lightsword, this man looking steadily at Aragorn was no Ranger.
"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn." The voice was impassive, impersonal.
"And what may Qui-Gon Jinn be doing here? This trail is off-limits to all but whom I give permission to walk it," Aragorn stated, laying a hand on the hilt of his sword. It was broken, but hardly anyone knew this little detail.
"I'm not here by choice," Qui-Gon answered, maintaining complete calm. "As far as I know, my stumbling into your world was an accident."
Aragorn's eyes narrowed.
"How so?"
"I do not know myself, except that at one moment I was in my home, the next here."
Aragorn took a step back. Some kind of inter-dimensional travel then?
"Explain, if you would."
Qui-Gon, at a loss, considered for a moment.
"I'm not sure how to say it...nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Everything just fell away like waking from a dream and I found myself here."
Suddenly Aragorn felt all suspicion and hostility drain away...this tale was too strange to be anything but true. Taking his hand off his swordhilt, he stepped forward and extended it, to feel it clasped in firm yet gentle strength. The hand of someone who was both a warrior and a healer. A man like himself, then.
The handshake went on a little longer than normal, each fascinated by the other.
Finally dropping that hand, Aragorn introduced himself. For this, he would use only his real name...no given epesses now.
"I am Aragorn, Ranger of the North," he said. "It is my duty, among others, to ward this path and see that none but those I know go here. You will understand, I am sure, the reason for my challenge?"
Qui-Gon smiled slightly.
"Your destiny is far greater than guardian of the highway. You should be...." he trailed off as though amazed. "But you wait."
Aragorn was a trifle startled at the knowledge this man held.
"How know you of my destiny?" he breathed.
Qui-Gon seemed to realize that this wasn't Coruscant anymore, and began to explain.
"Where I come from," he said, unconciously folding his arms in front of him, "I am a Jedi Knight, trained as a warrior, a diplomat, and healer, among other things. As such I have special powers, which includes being able to see into the hearts of others and know them for who they are."
Aragorn looked questioningly at the Jedi, almost doubting.
"What do you see in me?" he asked, as a test.
Qui-Gon relaxed briefly, leaning back against a large rock.
"Only good, Aragorn," he said after a few minutes. "A mind of great maturity, trained as a fighter and healer, highly travelled, well-learned in lore and philosophy. Your heritage is nothing less than royalty, though you are not a king but will be one someday."
Qui-Gon fell silent again, pondering something. Aragorn stood, head down, waiting.
"You are in disguise so that you may fight the evil of your world without suspicion. There are those who would see you dead."
A grim nod as Aragorn raised his head, amazed.
"Because of this, you find it hard to trust. It is very difficult for you to let down your guard and there are only four you can say you do indeed trust. They are your betrothed, Arwen, your mother, your betrothed's father, who was also like a father to you, and your mentor, Gandalf."
Aragorn caught his breath at the mention of those names. So the Jedi indeed was true..no lies there.
Finally he turned to face Qui-Gon and the look on his face was nothing less than dangerous.
"Shall I kill you because you know this, or keep you beside me to read all we meet?"
Qui-Gon glanced up and their eyes locked. Some vibrant spark flew between them.
"You'd find it less easy than you think to kill me, so you'd better keep me beside you."
A sudden smile flashed.
"Are we not well met, Qui-Gon Jinn?"
The relief was obvious to both of them.
"We are."
Their hands met again.
After such a beginning, the getting-to-know-you part was easy. Surprisingly so. They found themselves talking as though only moments were left to speak, sharing secrets they hardly knew they had.
Their lives had been both similar and not so...separation from parents at an early age, raised in a haven of lost learning, powerful minds their teachers, aching loneliness in a world of companions, hands-on warrior training, skilled writers of poetry...they were both all these things...though the worlds they'd experienced were vastly different.
IIn no time at all, they were laughing over the perceived similarity between Gandalf and Yoda, telling each other of dangerous missions they had undertaken, sharing memories of beautiful things they had seen.
It was like finding a green spot in Moria, like walking in the Coruscant gardens.
Before long, night had fallen and Aragorn exclaimed that he was supposed to have been a day's journey farther on the road to Evendim, where he was meeting his Rangers.
But, coming from Rivendell, it was about three weeks' journey to the Lake on foot anyway, so one day did not really make that much of a difference.
Their minds slowly fell away from the wonder of discovery and back to the real world. Qui-Gon began to think over what had happened when he had vanished out of his own world and appeared here. He could get no answers as to why or how.
It was still a mystery. And whatever trick the universe was playing had worked.
There had been looks, sparks flying, between them. The attraction was very mutual, Qui-Gon knew. And they were almost utter strangers.
Qui-Gon wasn't one for casual affairs, but this whole anamoly was no casual thing.
Later, they built a fire, Aragorn having decided that the next day would be well enough to move on...no sense stumbling around in the darkness of the Old Forest, you could get into some serious trouble, he'd said, as though he knew exactly what the word meant.
They continued their conversation in the firelight, trying to make up for years of not knowing each other in a single day.
And somewhere under the stars, both of them having fallen asleep, closer than friends, but not quite as close as lovers sleep, Qui-Gon disappeared.
Aragorn woke up the next morning, wondering if it had all been a dream....
Continued in the next story...More Than Empty Sound.
Like it? Hate it? Think this is blasphemy? peacefulpassion@hotmail.com