A/N: Two chapters in two days?! What is it Christmas in July? But seriously, you are so lucky this got done at all. Pokemon Go is like my productivity's worst nightmare. If the server didn't keep going down I never would've finished this thing. For realz.

This chapter marks the beginning of brand new material. Nothing but new, exciting plot stuff happens now. Well...right after this bit of filler/fluff. Enjoy it now. The shit's about the hit the proverbial fan...

History Will Be Kind To Me

From Lands Beyond

"The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance." - Brian Tracy

07. Birthday Wishes

Lothlórien, 2999 of the Third Age

"Artemis be nice."

Alice didn't even bother to look up from book as she flipped through the pages. She didn't need to. She knew that wailing all too well.

"Oh, but you are nothing but lovely are you not little Bregwen?" Arwen protested, cradling Alice's daughter close. The traitorous creature giggled. Try as she might, Alice couldn't help but feel the jealousy worm its way into her heart. For some reason Artemis only ever seemed to smile and laugh for everyone but her. She, on the other hand, only seemed to incite screaming and hair-pulling. Bitter, she turned to her son only to find him blinking up at the sunlight, as quiet and as peaceful as she had left him.

"I know I'm not supposed to have a favorite," Alice whispered as she reached for Apollo and pulled him into her lap. He blinked up at her owlishly, the same way he had the sun, and his mother couldn't help but kiss him and murmur into his ear, "But you're definitely my favorite."

The spring sunshine warmed her face as she lifted it to the gap in the treetops. Elvish magic or no, it had been a long winter and Alice was more than happy to see the back of it.

"What were you looking for in your book?"

Sleepily, she bit back a yawn and turned to her friend. "Hmmm?"

"Your book. You seemed to be searching for something in it. Did you find it?"

"Oh!" Alice settled her son into the crook of one arm as she reached for her book with the other. She nearly flipped past the page she'd been looking for before she found it. She smoothed the parchment out and laid her hand down on the other half of the book to keep it from flipping closed. Her eyes traced the calendar she had drawn there several months before, so that she might keep track of the days since she had arrived here.

It was May 12th. Five days after her birthday…she had missed her birthday. How strange…she had never missed her birthday before.

"Lady Alice? Are you well?"

Arwen's words jerked her back to reality.

"Yes. I'm fine," She began, but then glanced back at the parchment to stare at the number seven written neatly under the word May. "It's just...my birthday. We missed it." As she said the words though, she realized how stupid it must sound to a lady who had lived a hundred times what she had. After all, what were birthdays to someone who never grew old? Who had no need of tracking the passage of time?

"Oh!" Arwen's exclamation pulled her from her thoughts. "I did not know you were born in the springtime. How wonderful!" Artemis giggled at the elleth's good cheer and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, but if I had known I would have given you a gift!"

Alice blinked. "A...gift?"

"Of course!" Arwen affirmed. "Is that not the custom amongst humans?" And then added, hesitantly, "...Unless I am mistaken?"

"No!" Alice protested. "No. You were right the first time. I just didn't think that elves..." she trailed off self-consciously.

"...Exchanged gifts because our years are so great in number?" the elleth finished for her, amused. "I assure you, we enjoy gifts as much as anyone, and we love nothing more than to find excuses to share them."

"Oh." Arwen laughed as she flushed with embarrassment.

"Do not worry, my friend. I can see how you might develop such an impression of us. But after your time here, do you truly think we would be so adverse to such pleasures?"

Alice smiled then, thinking of Celírion and Lúthiril.

"No. I suppose not."


Word eventually spread far and wide that Alice had grown a year older, for by the end of the day she found herself accepting gifts not just from Arwen, but literally everyone.

"Oh!Ummm, thank you..." She said lamely as the fifth elf in the last hour handed her a basket. She was starting to think that maybe she shouldn't have told Arwen about her birthday after all. She could barely take down her laundry anymore without running into someone intent upon thrusting gifts and well-wishes upon her. Alice glanced over the basket's contents and groaned inwardly. More food.

"They don't really believe I can eat all of this do they?"

Warily, she glanced about as she gathered up her laundry and gift baskets, hoping that no one else would appear to shower her with more stuff. There was only so much she could carry home in one trip.

She should've known better.

"Alice!"

Though she recognized the voice, Alice couldn't help flinching with surprise as she was caught off guard. Too late, her carefully folded laundry and baked goods went tumbling to the ground. Quick as lightning, a pair of hands shot out and saved the pastries. Unfortunately her dresses weren't nearly as lucky.

Alice sighed.

"Hello Celírion."

"I apologize," the ellon said sheepishly, placing the pastries into the basket and handing it to her. "I did not mean to startle you."

"You wouldn't startle me if you didn't sneak up on me..." Alice murmured in English as she gathered her laundry from the ground and attempted to shake the grass from them. "What brings you here?"

"You," Celírion proclaimed happily and Alice suddenly noticed the carefully wrapped bundle in his arms. "Arwen told me that you had missed your birthday recently and so I...I did not have time to make you anything but...I hoped that maybe this would suffice..."

Alice stared as he slowly unraveled the bundle to reveal...a blanket. It was green, like the new buds of spring just unfurling on the trees, with detailed golden embroidery along the edges depicting tiny songbirds and leaves so delicate you could see the individual veins. And it was small. So small, by no means large enough to fit the length of her own bed. But perhaps…

She swallowed. Her throat suddenly dry. "Celírion is this...is this yours?"

Celírion, normally so joyous and bold, actually looked shy. "Well...it was mine as a child. However, as you can see, I have long outgrown it." His eyes flicked up to hers, eager, but uncertain. "I thought perhaps...you could give it to your children..."

Celírion was giving her his baby blanket...to give to her babies!

There were so many things she wanted to say in response but all that she managed to choke out was, "Are you sure?"

He smiled then and offered the blanket to her. "As I said. I have long outgrown it."

But she had only to look at the blanket to know that this was not true. After all, if he hadn't cared for such a thing why did he still have it after all these years? This was no random article he had pulled off the shelf in his rush to find a gift for her. For something so old it had clearly been well-cared for and she was sure that if she were to lean forward and press it to her face it would smell like him. This blanket was important to him. And he was giving it to her.

Carefully, reverently, she took it from him, her eyes never leaving his.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'm sure the twins will love it." And so will I, she wanted to add, but the words stayed locked in her mind, never to be uttered allowed.

"You are most welcome Alice." And then the spell was broken and he grinned, back to his usual, cheerful self.

"Say," He said, after a moment, as he swept up the remaining laundry from the ground and took ahold of the basket, clearly intent on carrying it for her. "How old are you now?"

"Twenty."

Celírion nearly sent the laundry tumbling onto the ground again but, unlike Alice, was agile enough to catch it in time. He stared at her, clearly astonished. "Truly?"

A slow smile began to spread over her face. "Surprised?"

And there he was again, the shy, flustered creature who had shown his face earlier. "I just...I did not know humans were so..."

"Young?" She was teasing him now.

"Well, I mean...you seemed..."

"Older?" A thought occurred to her then. It was not a new thought. It had always hung there in the back of her mind but she had never had the opportunity to ask and now...well what better opportunity would she have than right now?

"Say, Celírion..." she began, garnering his attention. "How old are you?"

He paused, as if to think, and then simply said, "Two-hundred and forty-three."

This time it was Alice's turn to look shocked.

"Wait...what?!"


A/N: And now you know. Sorry this one is so short again. To be fair though, I posted two chapters within 24 hours of one another. So really, it's like you got one bigger one...just in pieces.

Chapter Timeframe: May 12, 2999 T.A.

Today in "Middle Earthean History, Culture, and Geography Notes AKA Stuff I Feel Like Talking About":

- Anybody else notice Alice's language has improved? Well, to be fair, we did skip ahead 4 months and seeing as how it's been nearly a year since she landed herself in Lothlórien, it makes sense that Alice has developed a certain fluency in Sindarin that she didn't have before. Well...that and I can only write halting, broken speech for so long before I become exhausted by it. I guess I'm the only one excited by this. Ah well.

- Alice's birthday, in case you didn't catch it, is May 7th, 1989. May 7th is also my younger brother's birthday.

- Fabric can totally last over 250 years, as long as it's well preserved. We have samples of fabric sitting in museums that are four or five times that age. And speaking of age...

- Yes. Celírion is 243 years old. For an elf though, that's very young. That's basically the elvish equivalent of being in your 20s. I mean Jesus, Galadriel is somewhere around 8,000 or so. 243 is nothing.

Sindarin Names and Their Meanings/Pronunciations

Bregwen - Wild Maiden (bray-gwhen)