Wolfram woke up to see his first impression was true. His sister was now black-haired and had pointed ears; her oldest daughter had grown a side-beard and shrunken almost one foot, and the youngest had hairy feet and was a bit more than three feet tall. A solicitous Bombur handled him a cup of water and left the room, while he sat and tried to shake the dizziness out of his head.

"What, in name of goodness, is happening here?"

"Welcome to Erebor, my brother! And what a lucky meeting, indeed!"

"Sister! Girls! You are alive! I found you! I was so afraid I would never find you again! What happened? Why didn't you take your cell phones with you? I've got almost crazy not having means to contact you!"

"Why would we carry extra weight if we were going to a park where there would be no network?"

The man shook his head at this and the women condensed the story for it not to take too long, and as they spoke it was becoming clear Wolfram's memory had the same blockage they had – he remembered things that already had come to be, but had no hint of the future.

"Vinnie warned me that some Gates have this effect, some faster, some slower, so this is not completely unexpected."

"You say for yourself, brother! Who is this Vinnie?"

"A friend of mine from NerdNet who helped me to get here."

"What is NerdNet?"

"A bunch of friends that have, huh, some knowledge about weird things, so to say."

"I never heard about them! Why didn't you tell me about this NerdNet stuff? Why didn't I ever hear about it?"

"You are not nerd enough, dear!"

"I'll take this as an insult!"

"Usually, it is not you that hear about the NerdNet, it is the NerdNet that finds you." His enigmatic smile was priceless. "Well, when I found out you had taken the enchanted map, I put all efforts in finding another Gate and rescue you; I had a lot of help."

"So you knew what this map could do? And left it on the table like any crap of paper?"

"Who would imagine someone would take it?"

An uncomfortable silence fell on them as they glanced at Iris, who was suddenly interested in a certain curl of the hair on her left foot.

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore, I found you, we can go home now."

"What do you mean?"

"To go home. Back to our world. What's the matter?"

"Ah, brother, I think we must make something clear first. All this time we spent here in Middle-Earth we have come to... we became very close to someones... if you take my meaning."

"No, I don't. What do you mean?"

"Me and Lily are compromised to certain dwarves. We will have our weddings in less than a year from now. We will not go back."

"You what?"

"We will not go back. I'm betrothed to Kili..."

"What happened to your 'out of business' state?"

"...and Lily is Thorin's bride. Or who do you think rescued him from gold sickness?"

Wolfram shook his head between his hands.

"I think I'll faint again! This is most definitely interfering in other reality! The NerdNet guys will kill me, we have a compromise of non-interference!"

Ellen laughed.

"No, they won't! It is not you who interfered, it was us and we don't have any compromise with them."

"But the map was in my possession."

"Hmm, well, then I think that yes, they will want to kill you, brother. At least you will have the excuse that our interference is resulting in better things than would have happened without us."

"Yes, for what I remember, you might be right. There will be the paradox of having changed what Tolkien wrote, but as he was one who used a time-travel Gate, the paradox was already set, somehow. The guys will have to cope."

"Well, anyway, it would be most indelicate to leave at once, Wolf. We must introduce you to the Company, I am sure you will want to talk to your son-in-law, I want you to know you brother-in-law, and I did I mention that I was adopted?"

"My head is swirling, but I'm happy for you!"

His smile was sincere.

"And for me, Father?"

Lily's deep sea blue eyes looked for his approval. He took her hands in his.

"Be sure it is not what I believed would ever happen, but what father would not be proud of having his daughter chosen by a king? Even if it seems to have come out of a fairy-tale. Anyway, I know some fairy-tales are true." Then a curiosity came over him. "And you, Iris? You are so quiet, what is disturbing you? Is there something you want to tell me? Or someone?"

She was munching her own lips for a while, already.

"No, Daddy, I have no kings nor princes in my hobbit life. Actually, Fili and Kili are my Little Brothers, but this is not the same as being fully adopted like Aunty was by Balin and Dwalin. All I have to declare is a boyfriend completely fixed in going back to his home in the Shire."

"Bilbo Baggins!" Wolfram stated with delight. "This name is bound to be remembered, just don't ask me why! I'll be proud to shake his hand, albeit I don't know why, but I will when I go home again, I suppose."

There was a small knock at the door and Dori peeped his head in.

"Dearest, the ones we were waiting for have come; will you be able to join this meeting?"

"Sure, Dori, we are going at once."

Ellen turned to her brother.

"Please join us, Wolfram, there will be no time for more time-taking introductions right now, it will come in time, but we girls must attend this meeting."

He agreed and went with his family to the main living room.

Besides the Company, with Bilbo back, there were Gandalf and Bard. Legolas sent word that he was on their side, or, better saying, on the side of peace, and agreed that his father's claims were undue; he swore to Gandalf that he would make his best to change Thranduil's mind.

Thorin humbly asked for Bilbo's forgiveness, and the hobbit not only accepted his apologies but also asked for Thorin's, acknowledging his share of responsibility in the mess that happened. The king didn't explain openly why or how he made up his mind to give up his due gold, but he agreed that, in solely exchange for the Arkenstone, whatever was needed for Lake-Town to be rebuilt would be provided from his share, as well as arrangements would be made to rebuild Dale, as it was destroyed by Smaug in his attack to Erebor. Bard was having a hard time believing that the dwarven king, held by his people as greedy and proud, was really that changed and willing to make all those amends. Actually, Thorin's own Company was quite confused, still trying to understand to what measure his change had gone. The king was free to explain.

"I've learned that sometimes we must give up things once important for the sake of others, that are better."

Thorin's wink to Ellen went almost inconspicuous to most of them.

"Well, and what will we do about the elven king?" It was pragmatic Ellen who asked. "I'm sorry for Lake-Town's economic dependence from him, but he has no claim over us."

"I understand if Lake-Town people assume a neutral position in this, but no help will be handled if you take side with Thranduil, Bard. I hope you understand."

Thorin was the diplomatic one now.

"For my part it is clear, o King Under the Mountain. But, even if I speak as a general, and many people hold me as their leader, Lake-Town still answers to the Master, and he is as greedy as the elven king. I can make no promises in their name."

"No, you can't, master Bard." Gandalf voiced slowly. "Thranduil must be handled another way."

"And which way would it be, wizard?"

"This answer is yet to come."

"As to come is the army of my cousin Dáin Ironfoot. I'll make no war against Lake-Town people, as long as this people stay neutral, but also I'll suffer no siege from Mirkwood people in my own home."

Wolfram got alarmed and tilted his head to Ellen to whisper.

"Are they talking about actual war? People killing people? I thought men and dwarves and elves were civilized peoples!"

She answered in the same hushed tone.

"Brother, here in Middle-Earth this is civilization. If you want to know what barbarism is, go make friends with the goblins."

The man shook his head, wide eyed, in response.

They were at this dilemma when they were startled by Nori's mirror set gleaming a message. They didn't figure out a complete code to use it yet, and Ellen was about to ask Wolfram if he could leave her a Morse code schema, but what they had settled upon was enough for them to know they were been called to the balcony. Someone was there to talk to them.

"Hail, Roäc, son of Carc, may your feathers never fall!"

"Hail, Thorin Oakenshield, old fellow! Do you have any cookies in you pocket?"

Wolfram shook his head not only for hearing that big raven talk but also because of the informality of his speech, which Thorin seemed not to mind at all. Well, if he was used to his daughters' way of speaking, he would not mind the bird either.

Thorin produced a cookie and handled it to the raven.

"You will end up fat and slow as a snail."

"I thank you for your compliments."

Roäc ate the cookie in no moment at all.

"What brings you here, o nobler of all ravens?"

"A bit of gossip, as usual." The bird crooked his head in search of another cookie. "The black cloud that comes from the North is not bound to any storm you may feel washing upon your faces; it is a vast cloud of that stupid crows who feast in battle fields, and of bats who serve darker designs; dread has come upon your all!"

Roäc's listeners looked at him in dismay; for their watch post looked everywhere but to the North, and from forth destruction was being announced. Making sure he had their rapt attention, Roäc went on.

"Do you have more cookies?"

Thorin put a hand in his pocket and when Roäc was about to stoop for it the dwarf grabbed the bird's neck.

"I have three cookies for you, old fellow. One is named who, the other is how many, and the third is when. You sing, and I give you the cookies."

The raven was taken by surprise, but seemed to be a bit amused by Thorin's quick response, and answered in good mood.

"You will have many hosts of Azog's orcs and bands of goblins around your mountain before this night is over, o King Under the Mountain, that your beard grows with no frills!"

"How much is many?"

"I am one, you are two, your friends are three, and all of us are many, o mighty Thorin!" The bird tilted his head. "Does this mean another cookie?"

Wolfram turned to Ellen in a whisper.

"Not even ravens this set are able to count above three?"

She replied as quietly as he asked.

"And is any other set of bird able to count anything at all?"

Thorin put a generous handful of Bombur's cookies on the battlement and thanked the raven. Gandalf turned to the whole assembly of dwarves, hobbits, elf and men.

"There is yet time for council. We must send word to Dáin that his enemy is other than he was summoned to fight against, and to Thranduil that now is the time when he might show his valor as representative of one of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth! Let us haste!"

They didn't go back to the camp at once, as Gandalf intended to speak a bit more with the newcomer first, albeit his haste. Wolfram was properly introduced to the Company as Ellen's twelve year older brother and Lily and Iris's father, but then the grey wizard greeted him in a way that surprised them all.

"Welcome to the circles of Arda, Wolfram the Green!"

"What do you mean?" Asked a surprised Wolfram, wide eyed.

"It was about time for Yavanna to send one more of hers to help in the struggle."

"Sorry, sir, but there must be some mistake. I was born human, to human parents, and even passing through the Gate I kept human, do you see? I have no memory of anything that is not related to my human life, I never went to Valinor, I'm a awful singer, so, no way, no chance that I am even remotely related to anything about your order!"

Gandalf smiled, amused.

"And where did you hear me say otherwise?"

"Uh, when you mention Yavanna sending someone of hers?"

"And do you think she cannot chose a champion elsewhere instead of sending personally someone from Valinor?"

Wolfram looked down, confused.

"Uh, she could at least have asked?"

The grey wizard laughed.

"You can bet a tuna can she has, and that you agreed to it, even if you were not aware of who she was at that time. "

Thorin was greatly interested in the matter.

"So it comes that we will have two wizards at our side in this battle? This will be splendid!"

The man seemed to be in panic, weaving "no" with his hands, wide eyed. Gandalf came in his rescue.

"Sorry, Thorin, but my colleague here has no training at all. It would be dangerous for us all to have him wielding his staff, and for what I reckon he has no fighting training at all, isn't it so? Not even the training these three ladies had when we knew them."

"Yes, it is, I have no training, no skill, no desire to be in a battlefield, so you don't worry, I'll stay here out of the way with the girls, all right?"

Thorin and Gandalf exchanged looks, but said nothing to him about his last statement. It would be for the women to talk to him about this issue.

With this settled Gandalf and Bard left Erebor to council with elves and men, having already planned with Thorin and Roäc having been sent to inform Dáin and his people of the change of the tide.

Wolfram had a private conversation with Thorin and his nephews, as he wanted at least to know a bit more about the ones who captured the hearts of two of the most important persons in his life, and Fili wouldn't be out of this for nothing on earth; what Wolfram heard left him more at ease, but the distance was something he would have to cope yet.

"I understand your worries, o Wolfram the Green, but I swear your daughter will be treated as a queen. As a matter of fact, she will be a queen."

"And then, there is the Gate of Passage, isn't it?" Kili offered. "If you came through it once, you can come again to visit us!"

"Yes, this is a good idea, though it is not a very easy passage for one not used to dive. But this Gate doesn't stay open all the time, I was very lucky indeed to find it open at all, or at least so my friend Vinie told me. Also, there is a time mismatch, for what I can reckon they adventured here in Middle-Earth for close to seven months while in my world only four weeks have passed."

"We've seen people that seem to be from your world in the depths of Mirkwood; maybe there is another Gate, too." Fili added. Wolfram took this note.

"I will try to find it out with my NerdNet fellows."

"It would be an honor to have you present at our weddings." Thorin stated. "Think kindly about this, and if there is any open Gate for you to come, our humble halls will always be open for you, master Wolfram. We really mean it."

They shook hands warmly, and the dwarves went to finish preparations for the upcoming battle.

Until close to sunset, Wolfram didn't quite understand that albeit his offering to stay back with the girls, the girls did not intend to stay at home at all. After looking with interest all weaponry preparations the dwarves were making, he went back to the headquarters and found them three full armored with Erebor's finest, from silver wrought helms to mithril chainmail hauberks, from lightweighed steel vambraces to perfectly articulated pauldrons. Lily was rearranging her quivers for a better balance and Iris and Ellen were sharpening their swords.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"The same everyone in the Company we belong to is doing, brother. Setting up for battle."

"No way! You are not going to this battle, what are you thinking?"

"Dad, we are not the little princess dolls you think! We are capable, and we won't leave the Company without our aid!" Complained Lily.

"What aid? You are two urban twentieth-first century girls, one of them a teenager, with no experience in warfare at all; let's war be made by warriors if it has to be made at all!"

"Sorry, brother, but I think you are not quite informed yet."

Ellen paced in front of him, trying to reason, although understanding his resistance. She counted on her fingers.

"Considering that actually Iris killed the Goblin King..."

"What?"

Wolfram wide eyes showed his astonishment.

"He called me puppy." Was the girl simple explanation.

"... and Lily shot an arrow in Smaug's eye..."

"You did it?"

The girl just nodded at him.

"... I'd rather say they gathered training and experience enough in the last months to grant them good odds in a battle."

"Ellen, how can you possibly say such a thing? You cannot put yourself and my daughters at risk because of a war that is not yours, in a world that is not yours! Please!"

"Wolf, you can say this is not your world, but, sorry, now it is indeed my world, and it is my folk going to war!"

"You can answer for yourself, but not for my daughters!"

Wolfram was really angry, but his little princesses had become strangers to him; or, better saying, they had acquired the attitude he hoped them to have, but in a time and place where this could be far more dangerous than he could account for.

"Your first-born daughter is bride to the king, and a proud shield-maiden!" The dwarf-lass defended herself. "I would be ashamed if left at home sewing shrouds for my companions!"

"And you, Iris? Holly Eru, you are just sixteen!"

The hobbit girl unsheathed her twin swords and made them sing in her hands with movements almost too fast for him to follow with his eyes.

"Twenty-five in hobbit age, actually." Iris had her face calm as a dam ready to burst. "You know, my father taught me an old German moto that said 'One does evil enough when one does nothing good'. Now here I am at the crossroads of doing something good or of doing nothing." She stopped and sheathed the swords without even looking at the scabbards, and then locked her sky blue eyes with Wolfram. "Which road does my father counsel me to take?"

The man shook his head. He understood their points of view, but being just dropped into Middle-Earth and the dwarven struggles, he was still an outsider, just trying to protect his family. Wolfram was still trying to find a way they could be safe without actually fighting, but helping in the battle anyway because it was the right thing to do, when they heard the sound of horns in the distance.

"What is this?"

He had no time to get an answer. Bombur's favorite frying pan, deftly wielded by Ellen, clanged on his head and sent him to the world of dreams, where he could philosophize as much as he wanted.

"Sorry, brother, but we have no time for negotiation right now."

The elf turned to the girls.

"He will be fine, I've done it before. Let's put him in a bed and do what has to be done."

Wolfram woke up with a light headache and for a moment didn't remember why. Actually, he didn't even remember where he was, but it came back to his mind quite quickly. He sat up in the bed, worried, looking around searching for his daughters and sister; none of them was to be seen, not them nor any dwarf, hobbit, wizard, whatever. Then he stood up, trying to find his way in the strange place, got to the living room and found a note on the main table, addressed to him in her sister's angular handwriting.

"Dearest brother,

I'm sorry for having hit you (again!), but there is a dirty job to be done out there and somebody has to do it.

While we are at "work", I ask you please to forgive us, because there is really no way we can be out of this battle. As I tried to explain, this war is ours to the last consequences.

I ask you also to please use your language knowledge to translate the attached file, oops, I mean, the paper sheet under this one, because I believe you are the only living person in Middle-Earth able to read it. I know the first line says "Long and prosperous life" in Esperanto, but from the remaining text all I could figure out is the word "Klingon", so, as you are the Trekkie of the family, I hope you can figure out what it says. This is what is written on the Tomb Stone close to the Mirror Lake from where you came into Middle-Earth; I hope it may have instructions of how to use the Gate of Passage to go back.

Pray for us.

Love for ever,

Ellen Fundinul"