Disclaimer - BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon and The Lord of the Rings and all its characters belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Author's Note - Takes place after BtVS episode "The Gift" and between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
They call her Anoriel because when she fell into their world it looked like the sun had split open and gave birth. When she hears the story from others (and how they like to tell their stories, but she guesses they have to find some way to amuse themselves without internet), it reminds her of Greek myths, of gods opening their heads to birth new gods. When she arrived she worried that was what they thought she was, some sort of god, because when they looked upon her face their eyes filled with awe and longing and each whispered the same word - Celebrían.
They also treated her nicer than any stranger in a foreign land would be, giving her beautiful rooms high in the trees, presenting her with dresses made with fine silks and satins, and indulging her with delicious food. She had no idea how to correct them, for surely they must think she was some important person, but she was only Buffy Summers, slayer extraordinaire, and she didn't know how to tell them she just wanted to go home.
The woman they all seem to look to, Galadriel, likes to keep her close. She brushes her hair in the morning and at night, sits with her at every meal, and tries to teach her their language. The man, Celeborn, is more aloof, and considering how often Galadriel kept her around made meetings with him quite awkward. At times Buffy noted the shaking of his hands when he was near her, how his mouth began to form another word, another greeting, but then she swears he glances at her ears and then he sweeps out of the room. Each time Galadriel places a soothing hand on her shoulder and speaks in a calming tone, but she doesn't know why her presence affects these people, these elves, so much.
Surprisingly, the language comes easier than it should considering her failure at high school French. The spiraling trees and the surrounding woods become easier to navigate. It takes about nine months for her to be able to freely converse in Sindarin, and that is when Galadriel sits her down and tells her the story of an elf loved by her people, who married a Lord and had three beautiful children. She tells her about a horrible journey that was thwarted by a group of yrch who captured the elf and did unspeakable things to her, and how though she was rescued by her sons, the experience changed her, made her unable to live on these shores. She ended up sailing west, to the Undying Lands, where her family would one day be reunited with her.
"Or at least, we thought so," Galadriel finishes.
"Why? What happened to her?" she asks.
Here Galadriel hesitates, her eyes softening at the girl in front of her. "I don't know," she answers, "But I can say her name was Celebrían, and that she is my daughter."
The name is familiar to Buffy, the sound calling forth memories of when she first arrived, how every elf who laid eyes upon her would softly breath that word like it was a revelation. She hears what Galadriel says and doesn't say, and it all begins to horrifyingly click.
She can't stop the shaking of her head when she says, "No, I'm Buffy Summers. I have a sister named Dawn and was raised by a wonderful woman named Joyce. I'm sorry, but I can't be this Celebrían."
Galadriel doesn't look upset or dismayed. She simply rests her hand on Buffy's own. "Anoriel, Buffy, you share her fea. Though your eyes are a different shade and you are certainly shorter than before. . ."
"And let's not forget mortal," Buffy adds.
Galadriel smiles, then continues, "A mother knows her daughter, and you are mine."
Buffy still doesn't believe, not until Galadriel walks her to a beautiful silver basin and asks her to look into it. It is there she sees Galadriel's story come to life as a woman who looks remarkably like Buffy appears in the mirror (and she finally sympathises with Willow and Xander who both faced someone who was them but wasn't). It's a lot to take in, brings forth new questions that she doesn't want to deal with. So she doesn't.
Instead she runs, feels the burn of muscles she hasn't properly used in months, her hair a golden stream as she flies past startled elves. It is when she comes upon a field of elanor flowers that she stops. Her knees fall onto the earth and then her tears follow them. Her hands clench the delicate fabric of her dress as wretched sobs spill from her lips.
A warm hand settles upon her head. Her watery eyes turn to find the tall form of Celeborn, and there is a pause. His gaze takes in her slumped form, the tears in her eyes, the fingers digging into her garment, and then he quickly kneels beside her and pulls her towards him, pressing her face against his chest as his hand glides along the curve of her ear and into her hair. She is surprised by the action, never having been this close to him, but he feels like Giles in this moment. The memory of what she has lost, of what she may have unwittingly gained, causes her to cry even harder.
Celeborn rocks her back and forth while Buffy sobs into his chest and when he softly whispers iell nin
into her hair she can't help but reply, "Ada, ada."