Thanks a ton to all my readers and reviewers! I am happy with the reviews this story is getting and it helps me to continue writing. I had a bit of a writer's block with this chapter but it came along in the end.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Lord of the Rings or J.R.R. Tolkien's works.
Chapter eight: Running
Both elf and mortal walked at a hurried pace through the woods. Elladan was determined to put as much distance as possible between them and the orcs. Fiona was almost running behind Elladan and was more than happy that he had decided to carry the bag since she knew she would have died carrying it while moving at this pace. Evening was upon them and the last orange rays of the sun gave the forest a touch of magic for Fiona. Elladan stopped at a small clearing that was surrounded by a thick grove of trees and bushes that would protect them from other eyes.
"We shall rest here for tonight," he said after a thorough examination of the area.
Fiona sighed loudly and Elladan turned with an amused smile to look at her.
"You are tired," he stated.
"Thank you Captain Obvious," she replied teasingly. "I am also starving. Care for dinner?"
"I would be delighted."
Elladan put down the backpack and handed it to Fiona who quickly started to pull out things until she got to the food.
"Let's see. We have four cans of Spam, four sausage cans, eight granola bars and peanut butter."
Elladan raised an eyebrow at the Peanut Butter container and Fiona smiled.
"Peanuts have much protein and peanut butter is good for a boost."
Elladan nodded before speaking. "So what will be our dinner?"
"Well we didn't have lunch today so I am going with some spam and a peanut butter spoonful and maybe a granola bar as well."
"I think that will do."
They shared a spam can, ate a granola bar and Fiona ate a spoonful of peanut butter while Elladan decided not to take any, which Fiona reproach highly telling him that even elves needed to eat.
"It is time for you to rest. Sleep now and I will take watch," Elladan told her as he stood up.
"You will wake me up to take share in the watch right?" she asked earnestly.
Elladan smiled softly. "You need not worry. I can take the night."
"But you have not rested throughout the whole day! And then tomorrow we must continue walking! When will you sleep?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a scowl that a mother would in this situation.
Elladan could not help to smile as he observed her motherly behavior.
"I will be alright Fiona, but I cannot let you take watch. These orcs have managed some things that they were not supposed to achieve. I do not know what else they have in store for us and I would rather do the watch since I am experienced in this and I have better senses to detect danger from a better distance than you could."
Fiona's face softened and she dropped her arms to the side with a soft sigh.
"Fine, but when will you sleep?" she asked now in a more concern tone.
Elladan smiled. "Worry not, I will rest soon. I must keep my strength and energy up in order to protect you in case there is another battle."
Fiona did not look convinced but shrugged in defeat. She spread a towel on the ground and covered herself with one of the blankets.
"I brought a towel and blanket for you in case you get cold," she told him as she lay back on the ground."
"Good night Fiona."
"Good night Elladan," she said in the middle of a yawn.
Almost immediately Fiona was asleep. Elladan looked at her and smiled before moving away a few paces to sit on a branch of a nearby tree. There was a cool breeze traveling from the north which meant their cent would not reach the orcs since they were traveling south. Elladan enjoyed the strange sounds of the night in this forest. There was a new song that he had heard just a few times at Fiona's house and it was not with as many singers as now. It was the ¹coquies. Their song was very loud here in the wilderness and Elladan was enchanted by it.
The sun came up early and its bright orange rays broke through the sky. Fiona was still asleep under the trees and bushes. She had moved during the night looking for warmth and was now half hidden under the bushes. Still asleep she turned to sleep on her left side. As she did, some branches tickled her nose. Her eyes half opened but then they widened when she saw a little lizard on the branch just an inch from her. With a yelp she dashed to sit up but got tangled with the bush branches. After a few seconds of struggle she fell back on her back. For a moment she was dazed. When her eyes regained focus she saw a pair of boots above her. Her eyes traveled up to see a grinning elf prince looking down at her.
"Had a match with the bush? And by the looks of it the bush won."
Fiona groaned and rubbed her eyes. Sitting up she hissed when her half braided hair rubbed the wound on her neck. Elladan knelt beside her and quickly removed the hair from her neck.
"Let me see the wound," he said as he moved slightly to the side to observe the cut. It had bleed a little, probably from her movements during the night, but other than that it looked alright. "It looks alright. You have to clean it often to avoid infection."
Fiona nodded and stretched with a yawn. Then she looked at Elladan and smiled.
"Good morning," she said.
Elladan smiled back. "Good morning to you as well."
"Is there a river or ravine close by? I need to brush my teeth and take a bath."
"Can you not go a day without a bath?" he teased.
"You may look and smell as fresh as a rose after yesterday's events, but I am sweaty, stinky and sticky from the morning dew."
Elladan shook his head with a smile. "I can hear a river passing not too far from here."
Fiona tried to focus her ears to hear the river but she could not hear anything.
"It is far from your ear reach," he told her as he stood up and offered her his hand. "Come, we can have breakfast after you bathe."
Elladan helped Fiona pack the blankets and towels into the backpack and then they left to the river. As they walked Fiona gasped.
"Is everything alright?" Elladan asked.
"I just thought of the neighbors! When they do not see me they will call my parents!"
Elladan knew not what to do about that and so kept quiet to let Fiona think.
"I know! Stop a moment and give me my backpack please."
Elladan did as told. Fiona opened the first pocked and pulled out the plastic bag where her phone was. She dialed some numbers and waited. Elladan heard when from the other side someone said hello.
"Yes hello Ana. I am sorry that I did not tell you sooner but my best friend Astrid is very sick and asked me to go to her house and help her around since she is living alone in an apartment. I will call my dad and tell him."
"Oh alright child, just be careful and thank you for calling."
"No problem. Bye."
Fiona hanged up and dialed again. All through the while Elladan was looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"Hello dad."
"Hello sweetie. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Listen Astrid is sick and asked me to go to her apartment to help her out for a day or two until she feels better. Is it okay with you?"
"Okay honey but no running around after that alright?"
"Yeah, thanks dad."
"No problem honey. Your mom is here. Do you want to say hi to her?"
"Yeah put her on."
"Hey sweetie."
"Hey mom."
Fiona made a sign to Elladan that they should continue walking so he picked up the backpack and continued walking while Fiona talked to her parents. After a few minutes she was done.
"I am impressed with your lying skill," he told her teasingly.
"You say that as is I did something bad. What choice do I have? If they found out that I had not been home for days they would have known something was wrong."
"It is not a bad skill, so long as you use it only for good."
"I am not sure when is it good to lie, but okay."
"Well if you were a spy for the King and needed information that would be a good time to send you."
"Should I take that as a compliment?"
Elladan chuckled. "I think so."
Fiona snorted but said no more.
Almost twenty minutes later they reached a passive river.
"Yes! Water here I come!" she exclaimed as she took a few steps forward.
"I will leave you to your privacy," he said while leaving her backpack close to her and turning to leave.
Fiona went through her things. She took out what she would need for a bath and after undressing she dived into the water. She shivered violently for a minute or two until she adjusted to the cold temperature of the water. Then she enjoyed her bath. She just soaked for a few minutes before she used the shampoo and scrubbed herself clean with the soap bar. When she was satisfied she returned to shore. It was very hot and humid so she decided to use her long beach skirt and a thin sleeves shirt. She would have happily gone with shorts but in respect for Elladan she didn't. She tied her hair in a bun since she knew not how to make a braid like Elladan made the day before. Happily clean and refreshed she walked over to where Elladan had left. She carefully scanned the area but found no sign of him. She sighed and turned to check somewhere else, but as she turned she gasped and took a step back when she found herself before the elf Prince.
"You! You will give me a heart attack one day! Where were you?" she asked while keeping a hand over her heart which was beating fast.
Elladan smiled. "I was in this tree," he said while pointing to the tree right above them.
Fiona rolled her eyes and smiled. "Elves," she muttered as she walked past him.
They ate breakfast and continued their walk. The hours went by slowly for Fiona and she was beginning to feel bored.
"Um Elladan, do you know where you're going?"
"I could never know for I do not know this land," he replied simply.
"So how do you expect to return?"
"I memorized the way."
"You…memorized the way? With just looking around one time you know how to return?" she asked with disbelief.
Elladan turned and smiled at her. "Do you doubt me?" he teased.
Fiona blushed lightly. For a while longer they walked in silence. Fiona felt awkward. She wanted to talk about something but could not think of anything.
"So…"she said accidentally thinking out loud.
"Yes?"
Fiona looked at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.
Elladan tilted him head a bit confused by her answer.
"You said so," he stated.
"I did?" she asked furrowing her brow.
Elladan chuckled. "You must have been thinking out loud."
"Oh, sorry."
For another minute they walked in silence.
"So what were you thinking back now?" he asked suddenly breaking the silence.
Fiona looked up at him a bit surprised at the new topic.
"Um well, I was just wondering what your life was in Arda. You know like what you do, your friends, family, relations. You know? That kind of stuff," she added a little embarrassed by the suggestion.
Elladan was silent for a few seconds as he thought of the question. Then he smiled.
"Alright, where do I start?"
For the rest of the day the couple exchanged stories and more personal facts and details about one another. They discussed everything from hobbies to family to relationships. Fiona thought that being as old as he was, Elladan would have gone out with a few hundred elleths, but to her surprise elves were not the type to have many relationships. They would court one another and they mostly had one relationship that ended in marriage, though some had to try a few more times. But compared to the rate of partners that people had in this world it was nothing, which was ironic for Fiona since an elf had the time and chance to have many more partners.
They made one quick stop for lunch and then continued walking through the wilderness. By the end of the day Fiona's feet were cramped. Nightfall covered the forest in darkness by Elladan did not seem to have any intentions of stopping yet. Fiona was having some trouble seeing where she was going and tripped over a root.
Elladan whirled around quickly and was kneeling beside Fiona in an instant.
"Are you alright?" he asked examining her.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just can't see as well in the dark as you can."
"Forgive me. I should not have been so insensible. We can stop here."
"Is there a reason why you wanted to continue by night?"
"I have already started to turn us around to return to your house but not by the way we came. Your house is north but we are now traveling northeast so that we do not walk into the orcs but make a slow turn to your house, which means it will take a little longer to return. And since we are no longer moving completely opposite to them I wished to put as much distance as possible between them and us."
"Oh, well in that case we can continue walking, but I'll need to check if my flashlight still works after being plundered into the river."
"What is a flashlight?" he asked tilting his head slightly.
"Oh, I have not shown you yet what a flashlight is? Well if God has mercy I will be able to show it to you in a minute. Can I have my backpack?"
Elladan passed her the backpack. Fiona started to pull things out until she pulled out a medium size flashlight.
"Please God let it work," she muttered under her breath.
She pressed the button on the side of the flashlight but it did not work. She gave it a few whacks with her hand before trying again. Light came out from the device making Elladan pull back momentarily with surprise. He then came closer to the object and examined it with wonder and curiosity.
"How can it carry light within it without fire?"
"I don't know?" she answered with a smile.
Elladan looked at her surprised. "Do you not wonder how these things are made? How do you go on without caring to learn more about these things?"
The question came as a bit of a shocker to Fiona. She stared at him momentarily.
"I don't know. I was born with these things around me and they are as normal to me as anything else. Of course there are places where they teach you how to make these things and more, but that is normally for people who wish to work with these things. I care not much about technology and do not wonder much about it. I just accept it."
Elladan looked at her surprised with her answer. He was more than curious about this object but she did not care for it at all. Knowing that this was not the time to fool around with questions he stood up and offered Fiona his hand.
They continued walking for several hours until it was midnight. Then they stopped for the rest of the night. Fiona didn't even bother eating dinner. She just dropped herself on the ground with her towel as bed and her blanket and she was asleep in seconds.
For the next two days they walked almost nonstop. Elladan would let Fiona sleep a good part of the morning before they continued. He was very vigilant and hardly took any rest at night which concerned Fiona. She knew that even if he didn't show it he was getting tired. Finally on the evening of the fourth day they exited the forest and arrived at a street. Fiona knew how to return to the house from there and she led Elladan the rest of the way. By nightfall they reached the house.
"Yes! Hot shower here I come!" Fiona exclaimed as she entered the house and ran to her room to get ready to shower.
Elladan too was in the mood to take a warm bath and so he moved to the other bathroom.
A long while later they were both finished with their baths and Fiona who had finished first was in the kitchen preparing a meal. Elladan entered the kitchen and immediately started to help her prepare the food. Fiona was walking around moving and bringing things and once when she lifted a heavy cauldron filled with water she hissed and her feet wavered under her making her sway and almost fall. In an instant Elladan took away the cauldron from her hands and wrapped his arm around her to stabilize her.
"What happened?" he asked looking her over alarmed.
Fiona moved away the hair that had fallen in her face. She realized he was still holding her by the waist and blushed slightly. She regained her composure and moved away from his hold.
Elladan was looking at her expectantly waiting for an answer.
"Sorry Elladan, my feet are a little cramped and bruised from the many hours of walking and carrying the cauldron put too much weight on them so they kind of faltered."
Elladan raised his eyebrows and his eyes softened as a look of guilt appeared in his eyes.
"I am sorry. I did not have in mind that you are not used of such long periods of walking as I am and I neglected you."
Fiona's eyes widened. "Whoa wait, 'neglect' is a very big word. I chose to walk because I didn't want to be caught by those orcs. You never neglected me in any way so erase that look of guilt from your eyes because it is not needed. What other choice did we have but walk? Besides, it's just cramps. They will go away."
Elladan smiled softly though he still looked like he felt blame for this.
"You go sit and I will finish dinner," he told her.
Fiona laughed softly. "Elladan it is just feet cramp, I am not dying. Let's finish this together and we can watch a movie before bed."
Elladan looked at her for a few seconds. He sighed silently and nodded.
"Alright, we will finish this together. But I will clean the dishes after and you will go sit."
"Deal."
With that they resumed their work. They had a plentiful meal with rice, beans, meat and salad. After eating Fiona went to the living room and left Elladan cleaning the kitchen. When he was done he returned to the living room and found Fiona ready to watch a movie. She smiled at him when he arrived.
"I rented a movie on Pay Per View view. We are going to watch Avengers!" she exclaimed with a solemn air.
Elladan raised an eyebrow at her behavior.
"Avengers? What do they avenge?"
"That is for you to see. Now sit. The movie is very long but I am sure you will love it."
Elladan nodded and sat beside her.
Halfway through the movie Fiona paused it for a bathroom break. Elladan noticed the hesitation when she got on her feet. When she returned he continued to look at her.
"Okay let's continue with this…what?" she asked when she saw Elladan observing her.
Elladan got up and moved to sit where she had been sitting, which was closer to the television. Fiona pushed herself back to give him room.
"Move further back on the couch," he told her gently.
Fiona narrowed her eyes in confusion but did as he told her. She was surprised when Elladan took her feet from the floor and laid them across his lap. He took one of them and started massaging it. Fiona flushed crimson red and felt awkward.
"Um Elladan, you don't have to do that. I'm fine, really."
Elladan looked up and smiled at her.
"It is of no bother to me. Continue the movie."
Fiona still felt completely awkward but did as he asked.
As the movie continued Elladan kept on massaging Fiona's feet, and he was doing a great job at that. Half an hour later he had finished with both her feet.
"Thanks, you uh, know how to give a great massage."
Elladan chuckled when he saw her flushing pink.
"It was my pleasure."
"Well the best part of the movie is now so keep watching."
They were on the last major battle of the movie. Then something happened that Fiona had kind of foreseen and was waiting to see if Elladan would react. When Iron Man grabbed Hawk Eye and said "Come on Legolas" Elladan immediately shot Fiona a look of bewilderment. Fiona bit her lower lip while smiling. She pause the movie and looked at him. She tried opening her mouth but seeing his expression made her laugh.
"What?" she asked him trying to get him to open the topic first to make it easier for her to explain it.
"He called the archer Legolas though not a single time before in the movie he has been referred to with that name. Why is that?"
Fiona took a deep breath to calm her laughter.
"Well you know that we know of your world right? But we think it is just a story. Well Legolas, the Prince of Mirkwood, is also mentioned at some point of the stories and he is known as a great archer. So this is like a funny comparison to make us laugh since Hawk Eye is one awesome heck of an archer and so is Legolas."
Elladan processed the information and just snorted.
"Is that an insult to you?" she asked now concerned.
"No, it is just strange for me to understand some things of this world."
Fiona smiled softly. Elladan smiled back and returned to look at the television.
Finally the movie ended and Fiona was jittery talking about her favorite scenes and how she wished she was still here to see the second part that was bound to come soon. Elladan just listened to her amused by her excitement.
Finally after a while Fiona started to yawn.
"You must go to sleep now or tomorrow you will sleep in until noon," Elladan teased.
"What about you? You hardly got any sleep while we were out there. Will you sleep now?"
Elladan smiled. He knew she would bite his head off if he said he would go out to scout the area to see if the orcs were close.
"I will sleep," he told her with all sincerity.
"Promise? No sneaking out to hunt orcs tonight?"
"I give you my word my Lady," he said solemnly.
Fiona smiled and nodded. She got up and Elladan followed her. He led her to her room and with the last goodnight they parted to their own bed.
The next day Fiona slept in. it was one past noon and she was still asleep. Elladan entered her room and shook her shoulder.
"Fiona, it is one past noon. You need to get up and eat."
Fiona groaned under her blanket.
"Go away, I'm tired."
"You are tired because you have not eaten in all day. You need to get up before you get dizzy. I have your food prepared."
"No, another hour," she said stubbornly.
"Fiona do not make me force you out of the bed,"
"No, now go away."
Fiona heard no reply from him and continued sleeping. A few minutes later she was awaken when ice cold water was poured over her. She yelped and jumped from her bed. She looked up to see a grinning elf Prince with a large bucket in his hands.
"Good morning Fiona. Breakfast is ready for you."
"You…you…YOU!"
"Yes, I?" he teased.
Fiona took the pieces of ice that were still on her bed and threw them at him. He was out of the room faster than the human eye could see.
"Yeah run! I will get you for this!" she screamed after him.
Fiona grunted as she took off her soaked shirt and looked for something to change to after showering. After a few minutes she was done with herself and entered the kitchen. Elladan was not there. She narrowed her eyes since she had not seen him in the living room and the door of his room had been open and she did not see him there either. She was not in much of a mood to see him now so she ignored the fact that he was missing and sat down to eat. He had made her a large plate of eggs and sausages.
After she was done with breakfast she cleaned her dishes and went into the living room and turned on the computer. She started looking for things on elven magic, portals and spells. She wanted to see if she could find anything to help her make her parents and friends remember her after she was gone. She was there for a few hours putting several pieces of different thing together until she thought that what she had would work. She started to work on it right away.
Two hours went by before Elladan was back. He entered the living room and saw Fiona who was to very concentrated on something. He wondered if she had acknowledged his presence yet or if she was just ignoring him because of the earlier incident.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked from the entrance of the living room.
Fiona spared him a quick glance before shaking her head and returning to work on her computer.
Elladan was confused by her behavior and also curious to know what she was doing.
"Can I know what has your attention so intensely?"
Fiona did not lift her head from the computer as she spoke.
"Nothing, I am just trying to see if I can do something."
Elladan knew she did not wish to discuss this any further with her so he left it there. He sat on the couch opposite to hers and waited for her to finish. After almost an hour she sighed and slumped back on the couch. She put the computer aside and looked at Elladan.
"Sorry, I really needed to do something. So where were you if you don't mind me asking?"
"I was scouting, checking for any signs of orcs. I am afraid that there are some very close. They do not seem to have made contact with the civilians but they will find us soon. I am sorry, but we must leave for somewhere far from here. There are still eleven days left before the portal opens and we are sitting prey here."
"Leave again?" she exclaimed and then sighed.
"I am sorry, but we are in much danger staying here."
Fiona bit her lower lip as she thought for a moment.
"Then you will have to give me a few hours so I can do something."
Elladan nodded. "Take as long as you need."
Fiona nodded and ran to her room. Elladan could hear her using the phone to call someone. For a while Fiona stayed in her room and Elladan could hear movement inside. After a while she came out with a box. She left it on the living room floor before returning to her room. An hour later they heard the honk of a car in their yard. Fiona ran out of her room and passed Elladan who was sitting in the living room. She stopped a moment and looked at him.
"Astrid is here," she said before dashing out to greet her friend.
Elladan looked out the window and saw Fiona hugging a girl. The girl had very long, straight brown and was a few inches taller than Fiona. He could hear them conversing as well.
The girls met with a crushing hug. Then Astrid pulled away from Fiona, and held her shoulders as she scanned her friend's face.
"I came here as fast as I could. So what is the emergency?" asked Astrid with grave, anxious eyes.
Fiona looked at her friend and sighed.
"I will tell you, but you will not believe me. Come inside so we can talk."
"Okay."
Astrid was about to follow Fiona when she saw Elladan looking out the window. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.
"Fiona who is that?" she whispered looking at her friend with a mixture of worry and excitement since from there she could tell that whoever he was, was hot.
"That is why I called you."
Astrid's eyes widened even more before changing to a worried expression.
"Oh no Fiona, you didn't."
"What?" asked Fiona clearly confused.
Astrid placed a hand over her friend's belly. "How long has it been? You cannot abort! That is a living being and you will go crazy if you kill it!"
Fiona stared at her friend for a moment before she realized what she meant. "What? No that's not it you lunatic!"
"Oh thank God," Astrid breathed in relief.
"Come on you pervert."
"Hey!"
They entered the house and sat on the dining room table. Fiona was nervous but she had to try to explain the situation to her friend. She took out a camera and left it recording them for reasons that Astrid did not understand yet. After almost an hour of recounting and explaining, Astrid was looking at her friend as if she had lost her mind.
"So…that's it. Do you believe me?" Fiona asked nervously.
Astrid was still looking at her as if she was crazy. She shook her head to organize her thoughts.
"Okay okay okay, just give me a second to think."
Astrid breathed in deeply and looked at Fiona.
"So Middle earth is real? And Prince Elladan, the son of Lord Elrond is here because you hold within you the grace of the elves and now the orcs are after you and he needs to protect you and take you back to Middle earth in eleven days? And once you're there you will becom an elf because of the whole grace thingy?"
Fiona bit her lip and nodded.
Astrid looked torn between believing her best friend and believing reason which told her that Fiona was crazy.
"Okay, I believe you," she said with a smile.
"You do?" Fiona asked almost bewildered.
"Yes, so what do you need me to do?"
Fiona stared at her friend for a moment before jumping to hug her.
"Oh thank you, thank you so much for believing me!"
"Well you are my best friend. Plus if it is possible that there are aliens out there, why not Middle earth too right?"
"Oh God bless you. Okay so this is what I need. I recorded the explanation I gave you so that you can give it to my parents after I am gone."
"But how will I know that I must give it to them? You said that no one will remember you."
"That is why I prepared a box full of pictures and videos of me with all you guys. I also wrote several letters telling my parents about this and saying a few other things as well. On top of the box I taped a large note that says the date on which you must open this box and inside the first thing you will see is a large picture of you and me. That should start bringing some memory of me. Then there will be a letter explaining and the video of what we are saying now will be on top for you to see. Then there will be instructions for you to know what to do with the various things in the box. After that I can only hope that the memory of me will return to you guys. But you must not tell anyone else about this. It is written several times on different letters and it will be repeated in different videos. You must trust me on this."
Astrid sighed and looked at her friend deeply. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Fiona too now got teary eyed. Both friends united in a crushing embrace as they cried.
"I will miss you. Who will ever be as great as a friend to me as you?" asked Astrid between sobs.
"I will miss you too. I love you so much and I just wish we didn't have to part."
For a minute or two more they cried in each other's arms. Finally they separated. They looked at each other and laughed before hugging each other again. While they hugged, Elladan came into the dining room. Fiona who was facing the door smiled at him between her tears. She saw how Elladan's eyes shone with guilt and pain for her. Fiona released Astrid and bobbed her head in direction to the door. Astrid turned her head and her jaw dropped completely at the sight of the magnificent and beautiful elf standing before them. Astrid shot her head back to Fiona and grabbed her shoulders as she squealed silently.
'He is sooooo hot!' she mouthed to Fiona who laughed.
"Astrid this is Prince Elladan. Elladan this is my best friend Astrid."
Elladan walked over to the two girls. He took Astrid's hand in his and kissed it lightly while bowing.
"It is a pleasure to meet you my Lady. Fiona has talked much about you."
Astrid bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming.
"Pleasure meeting you too," she said with little success at hiding her excitement.
"I will leave you both to have a private conversation."
"Private as in private?" she said with emphasis referring that he too will be out of earshot from their conversation.
Elladan smiled and nodded before leaving into the house.
Both girls waited until they were sure he could not hear them.
"He is soooo hot!" Astrid squealed in a low voice just in case Elladan could still hear them.
Fiona smiled widely. "I know right? And he is just so amazing. He is sweet, kind, brave, funny and a total gentleman!"
"So… are you two together?"
"No, but I do like him a lot. And I'm starting to lov…"
"Love him? Oh yeah I can see it now! Fiona, Princess of Rivendell, wife of Lord Elladan and daughter in law of Lord Elrond! Those are incredibly tittles. Plus the bearer of the grace of the elves thing puts you on higher levels! You will make an awesome Princess. But that also means you will outlive me but millenniums too," she added a little bitterly.
"I know, and I hate to think about it. But I will always love you."
"I will always love you too."
The two friends spent an hour talking in the dining room. Then Astrid helped Fiona pack some clothes and things that she wanted to take with her to middle earth. It was just a backpack full of pictures, notes and letters they gave to each other and a few trinkets. In a larger suitcase they packed the things they would need while living away from the house.
When evening came Elladan appeared in Fiona's room.
"Fiona, we must be going soon."
Fiona sighed but smiled. "Alright, I'll be a minute."
Elladan nodded and left the room. The two friends exchanged silent looks which they understood. Astrid nodded and helped Fiona carry the luggage to the car.
"Where will you be staying?" Astrid asked her while putting the suitcase in the car.
"I thought we can go to my aunt's cabin. It is empty right now and it will be only for a few days. It is secluded and the woods are behind in case we need to make another run for it."
Astrid hugged Fiona tightly.
"Be careful okay?" she whispered as her voice began to falter.
"I will," Fiona replied in the same voice while hugging her friend back.
After a few prolonged seconds they released each other.
"I love you so much you soon to be she elf princess!" Astrid exclaimed.
"I love you too you average human!" she teased.
"Hey there is nothing average about me okay?"
"I agree. There is nothing average about someone who believed such a story as mine."
"I know. That's why we're best friends."
They smiled and hugged one last time.
"Well, goodbye Astrid."
"Goodbye Fiona. And good luck."
"You too."
Fiona looked back to Elladan who was standing at a distance. He walked over the two girls and bowed to Astrid before taking her hand and kissing it.
"Goodbye my Lady."
Astrid kept herself from swooning and smiled.
"Take care of her please? She is the most amazing girl you'll ever meet."
Elladan smiled and nodded. "I agree. Do not worry. I will protect her with my life if I have to."
Astrid nodded and took a step back. Fiona got on the driver's seat and Elladan beside her.
"I love you Astrid. I'll miss you!"
"I'll miss you more!"
"I'll miss you longer because I'll be immortal!"
"I'll miss you when I am in Heaven!"
Fiona smiled and backed the car to the main street.
"Call me tonight!" Astrid yelled after her.
"I will!"
Astrid ran behind the car for a while until Fiona was out of sight. She swallowed hard and dried the tears that were falling from her eyes. After a few seconds of falling into reality she turned and walked back to her car.
Elladan was silent while Fiona drove. Many tears kept falling despite her efforts to hold them in. Elladan placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. Fiona looked at him and smiled.
For a while they drove in silence until Elladan knew Fiona could talk.
"Where are we going?"
"To my aunt's cabin. It is isolated and far from here."
Elladan nodded and returned his gaze to the front of the car.
¹coquies- for those of you who do not know what this little animal is, a coquie is a very tiny little frog like creature which comes out at night where there is humidity and much nature and the sound it makes sounds like it is saying 'coqui' thus its name is coquie. They originated in Puerto Rico and some were taken to Hawaii where they overpopulated.
This was a bit long I guess, but the next chapter will be better I promise! Review if you wish to.
