Chapter Nine: Emerging from the Night

Some time after they settled in their little snow cave, River hushed the boys. "Did you hear that?" she whispered. They fell silent, and all three of them held their breath. Muffled through the snow, they could hear someone shouting. He was calling for the twins. Relief flooded River, and she started to crawl forward to open up the entrance.

"Lady River, wait." Elurín grasped her arm.

"What is it?"

"That does not sound like someone from Doriath," Eluréd whispered.

"He speaks Sindarin with a strange accent, like Lady Galadriel's," Elurín added. "But stronger."

River opened her mouth to protest, but closed it swiftly. It was so easy to forget that the TARDIS translated everything for her, and that everyone they met wasn't actually speaking English. "All right," she said finally, "let me just see who it is, then."

If only she had her blaster. River poked her head out of the snow and squinted into the darkness. The torch was easy to spot, glowing brightly, and reflecting on coppery hair. He turned and she caught a glimpse of a pale face and bright-bright eyes, and shivered. They held the same light that Galadriel's did, but there were hints of madness in these, not quite realized yet, that frightened her.

And he was missing his other hand. River shivered, and not because of the cold.

Her glimpse of his face was brief, but she'd caught a look at his armor beneath his cloak as well – adorned with the many-pointed star that had become all too familiar. River shimmied back into the comparative coziness of the shelter. "Right," she said, sitting back and shaking bits of snow out of her hair. "He's one of the Noldor." He had seemed desperate to find the boys, though. She didn't believe he meant them harm – maybe he hoped to rescue them, disagreeing with the cruel soldiers who dragged them out here.

But he also seemed rather unstable, and River was pretty sure that that kind of unstable was best avoided. "Let's just stay – " River interrupted herself with a yelp when the roots they were sitting among started moving. "What – "

Their shelter collapsed around them as the roots pulled out of the ground, and the tree started walking away. River pulled the boys against her so as not to lose them in the snow, and when everything stopped shifting, she clawed frantically toward the surface. She broke through into frigid air and starlight, and saw the tree stop and turn around, as Eluréd and Elurín popped up on either side of her.

"An onod," Elurín whispered. The Noldo with one hand and wild eyes was nowhere to be seen.

"What's that?" River asked, gripping both boys' shoulders tightly. "Is it dangerous…?"

"Only if you try to harm the trees," Eluréd replied.

The onod stepped toward them and bent, just a little, forward. It didn't seem to be very flexible. River found herself staring into a solemn, hoary face, difficult to see in the darkness, except for its eyes, deep wells of green. Oh. River remembered suddenly The Lord of the Rings – the Ents, tree shepherds that looked like trees themselves.

She made a mental note to spend more time in the fiction section of the Doctor's library.

"Hmm, hummm, what have we here? Little Elflings, hmmm?" He looked closely at Eluréd and Elurín, and then at River. "You are not an Elf."

River remembered the Ents took their time with speech, but good grief. "Um," she said. Then a blast of cold wind set her hair blowing all over the place, and had all three of them shivering. River wrapped her arms around herself, and noticed a hard bulge in one of her pockets. While the boys stared up at the Ent as it regarded them with those steady, deep eyes, she pulled it out, finding a scanner she'd swiped from the TARDIS console and then forgotten about.

"Excellent." She fiddle with it with numb fingers, looking for a frequency that the TARDIS or the Doctor's screwdriver could lock onto. She had no idea when he would reach the TARDIS, but the beauty of a time machine…

In moments she heard the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materializing nearby. She looked around, both for the soldier she had seen and the police box. The former had vanished, fortunately; the latter she spotted with ease, and stumbled through deep snowdrifts to reach the door just as it opened.

"River!" The Doctor caught her when she tripped into his arms. "Are you all right?"

"A bit frozen, but I'll thaw." River turned. "Eluréd! Elurín!" They glanced over, and then hastily bowed to the Ent and left it standing there, watching them in bemusement, shaking its leafy head.

"Oh, is that an Ent?" The Doctor craned his neck as the twins joined them. "I met one, a couple of hundred years into the future last week. I really wanted to get Old Entish into the TARDIS database, but you would not believe the fit she threw…"

"Difficult language?"

"Impossible language. Nearly set the console on fire; had to evacuate for almost a day before the smoke cleared. Hello, boys! You are a sight for sore eyes!"

"Doctor!" The twins flung themselves at him. "How did you find us? Is Elwing all right? Where is our Adar?"

"Ah. Yes. Well, I suppose we all have questions. But there's a horde of angry Noldorin soldiers wandering about and we should probably be on our way." And with that, he ushered them all inside, and shut the door behind him.

The boys were thrilled to see the inside of the TARDIS. Once they were warmed up with tea and baths, the Doctor let them explore while he and River talked. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Sweetie?" River asked as they vanished around a corner. "They might get lost."

"The TARDIS will make sure they don't," the Doctor replied with a wave of his hand, as he refilled their mugs with steaming tea. "And that they won't stumble onto anything they shouldn't."

"You left that Ent a bit flustered."

"Yes, well, a bunch of Noldor are about to find out the Silmaril they came for isn't in Menegroth. Thought it best we get out of there quickly."

River nodded. "There was one soldier looking for us. I saw him, just before that Ent started walking around and scared me out of my wits." The Doctor chuckled. "It's not funny! If I had my blaster with me I'd've shot him."

"That would have just made him angry, and he would have stepped on you, and then I would have been married to a pancake and really that's not very exciting."

"Yes, well. Good thing I didn't have it, then." River rested her chin on the palm of her hand. "But what about that soldier I saw? He had red hair, I'm pretty sure I saw in the torchlight. And he seemed – well, desperate. Maybe a bit mad."

"Maedhros, I imagine," the Doctor said, glancing toward the doorway. There was no sign of the boys. "The oldest of Fëanor's sons. Did you notice whether he was missing a hand?"

"I thought he was, but couldn't be sure."

The Doctor nodded. "It had to have been Maedhros."

River wrinkled her nose, trying to remember who that was. One of the sons of Fëanor, she thought. "He's missing a hand?"

"Long story. Different chapter. But this story says he searches for a long time for Eluréd and Elurín, trying to make up for the actions of Celegorm's servants. But he never finds them."

"Because they escape," River said, gesturing around them. "Of course."

The Doctor shook his head. "It's not quite that simple."

"Why not?"

"Of their fate 'no tale tells,'" he said. "They just sort of vanish from history – at least until the Quenta Silmarillion is written. I wish I knew when exactly that will be..."

River stared at him. "But – but that's wrong," she said. "They're just children. What about Elwing?"

"Elwing and the survivors of Doriath are on their way to Sirion. Or they will be. I've jumped around a couple of days, got a bit wibbly wobbly."

"But what's going to happen to Eluréd and Elurín? You can't just take them away from their family – " She broke off, seething. The Doctor stared at the table, tracing a knot in the wood with the tip of his finger. Her own childhood came roaring back into the forefront of her mind; she realized her fists were clenched so tightly her nails were bruising her palms. She felt a sudden, fierce desire to shoot something. She wondered if the TARDIS had a target range. "Time can be rewritten," she finally managed to snarl.

"Not all of it," the Doctor said. "It's in the book, I read the book, I know what happens, I'm powerless to change it. And anyway, this period is so – to change any major event like this might be throwing a monkey wrench into the whole thing, and the future will be very different."

"I don't see how – "

"It's too risky, River. Everything happening right now is leading up to the War of Wrath. That's the war that puts Morgoth away for good." The Doctor took a sip of his tea, and grimaced to find it cold. He set the mug down and leaned back in his chair. It was unusual to see him so serious. River took a deep breath and sat back as well, crossing her arms and trying not to scowl. "Those boys are not going to grow up like you did, River."

"Good."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with them just yet, but in the meantime, there are some fun planets I think they might like to see. Take their minds off of things for a bit."

"You'll have to tell them sooner or later."

"I'm a Time Lord. Sooner, later, wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey…"

River rolled her eyes. "You should make it sooner, rather than later." She stood and took her mug to the sink to wash it, feeling like she had had enough of adventures. She almost wanted to return to the Stormcage.

More than that, she wanted to visit her parents.

The twins returned, still fascinated by the TARDIS, but tired now, as the events of the past day caught up with them. But neither wanted to go to sleep until they knew what had become of their father and sister. River shot the Doctor a look.

"I'll tell you when you're ready for bed. Let's see if we can dig up some clothes…"

River went to her room, just down the hall from the boys', and across the hall from the one Amy and Rory used. She flopped onto the bed, and then curled up with a pillow. The adrenaline had run its course, and she was asleep in minutes.

She woke to the Doctor gently shaking her shoulder. "River?"

River groaned and rolled over. The Doctor sat on the bed beside her. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing, really. The boys are asleep."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them Dior is dead, and I wouldn't be able to take them to the rest of their family."

"Did you tell them why?"

"Of course not. They understand that it's a really complicated situation, so…"

"Did you tell them what was going to happen to them, now?"

"I asked them if they would like to travel with me for a while. They said yes." The Doctor shrugged as he gazed down at River. "It will be a good distraction."

"Mm."

"You don't seem very excited."

"I think I've had enough of adventures for a bit. But I don't want to go back to the Stormcage just yet."

The Doctor grinned, and kissed her swiftly before disappearing from the room. River felt the TARDIS shudder, and then the unmistakable sounds of landing. She got up and stretched before making her way to the console room.

"Where are we?" she asked as the Doctor jumped down the stairs to the door.

"I'll be back in a week," he said, opening it. River peered outside, and then looked sharply at the Doctor, who stood with that ridiculous grin on his face. "Have fun!"

"Thank you, Sweetie." She kissed him. "Say bye to the boys for me!"

And she stepped out of the TARDIS into the summer sunshine of downtown Leadworth.