The elf reached out and gently grasped her wrist as she turned to leave the isolated garden.

"Lalwen-"

"Jessica?"

Jessica stirred.

"Sorry, dad."

Dr. Carpenter sighed, putting a palm to his face. He looked tired. She knew he had been on call most of the night. She felt badly that he found himself again at the hospital ER where she was getting checked out for trauma following the incident at the bank.

"Are you sure you are OK?"

"Yes, dad." Jessica reached out from where she sat on the doctor's table and firmly laid a hand on his shoulder, "Please don't worry about me. The doctor said I was good to go. Not even a singed hair on my head."

Dr. Carpenter gave her an obliging smile.

"I think she really is fine, Ken." Jessica's mom stepped forward.

"It's not only this situation that concerns me."

Jessica pursed her lips and pulled her hand back. Her gaze drifted towards the small window in the door where she could see Beleg waiting in the hallway. When her parents had rushed into the small room, Dr. Carpenter had a stilted meeting with "Benedict" as Jessica had introduced him. Jessica's father then had politely asked Beleg to leave the room for a moment so they could speak privately.

"What is it, dad?" Jessica ventured meekly.

"It's all this mess with that young hippie-haired kid out in the hall, your mother has told me all about him."

"I believe they call them 'hipsters' nowadays, Ken, not hippies." Mrs. Carpenter interjected wryly while Jessica tried not to smile.

"It doesn't matter what he's called, I'm not so sure about that relationship and I can't lie to my only daughter about my feelings." Dr. Carpenter continued, clearly unwilling to be diverted from his train of thought, "I'm concerned about your job, where you plan on going with that, if you want to pursue banking or maybe go back to school, do something else. You just can't sit in a teller window your whole life. You graduated with honors for heaven's sake."

"I won't, dad." Jessica replied, feeling the blood rush into her face. She threw her gaze hard on the blindingly white tiles of the hospital floor.

"And what about Braxton?"

Jessica swallowed. She had yet to break the news of the past weekend to her parents. Now was not the most opportune time either.

"Actually, I needed to tell you about that." She began tentatively, trying to find the right words to explain the bizarre Friday night that resulted in her break up and intense identity crisis.

"I already spoke with him."

Jessica's head snapped back. Her father shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Braxton got a hold of you?"

"I got a hold of him."

Jessica looked at her mother who seemed unable to meet her gaze. Jessica felt a stab of guilt for not talking to her sooner. Her mother was her best friend and closest confidant. She knew even if her mom wouldn't hold it against it, it hurt her to have not heard the news from Jessica.

"Why did you do that?"

"He had asked recently if he could meet with me to talk about something."

Jessica felt her heart drop. In the traditional Deep South, such a request from a long term boyfriend to a father could only mean one thing.

"He was going to talk about…" Jessica felt her stomach twist, "About marriage. Wasn't he?"

"Yes he was," Dr. Carpenter met her eyes evenly, "And I was going to give my blessing."

Where do I even go with this?

"Now, he told me that you requested some space." Dr. Carpenter continued as he wife came up beside him and hooked her hand in the crook of his elbow, "You and I don't get to talk much these days, I'm sorry. But what's going on, Jess?"

"Please tell us, babe." Jessica's mom laid a hand on her daughter's knee.

"Is this some kind of cold feet thing? Are you scared about the commitment of marriage itself?"

"No, dad." Jessica's eyes rolled towards the ceiling as tears surprisingly pricked at the back of her head. She took a deep breath, "No, dad. I feel like Braxton and I have been going in different directions for a while now."

"Distance is hard." Mrs. Carpenter offered, reaching out and smoothing her daughter's hair behind her shoulder, "You two have been handling it well but you don't get to see him as much as you were used to back at school."

"That's not the only thing." Jessica paused, unsure of how to explain Braxton's infidelity. The whole episode deeply embarrassed her.

"Is it a fling you have been having with the boy in hallway?" Dr. Carpenter asked gently without judgment in his voice, "That could confuse your feelings."

"Or maybe the fling isn't on Jessica's part."

Jessica met her mother's direct gaze. She wondered if she would be able to read her own daughter someday as well as her mom did her own. Mrs. Carpenter pursed her lips and glanced over at her husband.

"Did Braxton…cheat on you?" Dr. Carpenter asked.

Jessica nodded.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I found out on Friday." Jessica answered, her jaw trembling, "I didn't know how to tell you. It hurt and I didn't want you to hate Braxton. I don't hate him, I just don't want to be with him."

Mrs. Carpenter sidled up beside her daughter and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Jessica's cardigan was slightly damp from the episode earlier in the day. A deep silence of understanding descended between Jessica and her parents. Dr. Carpenter sighed and hooked a thumb towards the hallway.

"So Ben out there a good remedy for a broken heart?" He grinned.

"Ken! Jessica is a grown woman, she can rebound with whomever she wishes."

"Oh my word, Benedict is not a rebound!" Jessica choked out a laugh.

He's more like a really, really, really old flame.

"Whatever he is, do you say he's a good guy?" Dr. Carpenter asked.

"Yeah, he's the best of guys. And he's just a friend, don't worry."

"Well, don't take things too quickly. This is a tough time in life," Mrs. Carpenter tucked a loose strand of hair behind her daughter's ear, "Nobody warns you about how much your mid-twenties can potentially suck. A new romance isn't the answer to questions you have about life right now."

This one creates more questions than answers anyway.

Jessica smiled obligingly and nodded, "Actually, I was going to talk to my boss about taking the rest of the week off. I have enough vacation days and with the branch in need of repairs, I thought I could go visit Nana on the coast?"

"Actually, I already spoke with your boss." Dr. Carpenter nodded, "They are giving the staff the week to recover emotionally. It was such a strange case, this whack job with a flame thrower in a bank. You sure you don't want us to get someone for you to talk with about this whole thing?"

"Thanks, dad, but I don't think I need a therapist." Jessica shrugged with a grin, "I just need a break for a little while."

"That sounds like a great idea." Mrs. Carpenter added, "Now Ken, get that kid in here. He's going to think we've been plotting his demise."

Lalwen made her way across the myriad of colorful stones that created the floor of the hallway. Her slippers barely made a sound as she came to a halt before an intricate woven hanging on the deeply carved wall. From the moment she had arrive at the halls of Menegroth, Lalwen had been overtaken by the ethereal beauty of a place so far from Aman. Melian had obviously done her best to recreate the spirit of Valinor in the earthiness of her new home.

Running her hand down a column meant to resemble a beech tree, Lalwen felt her heart lurch with grief. So much had been destroyed in such a short amount of time. She breathed deeply, her eyes running over the tapestry before her.

The newborn sun was rising over a jagged landscape, burning away the age old darkness of Arda. Lalwen wondered quietly if the scene had been woven before or after the event had occurred. As one of the Maiar, Melian could foresee things the Eldar could only dream of or fear lingering in the mists of the future.

Lalwen let her gaze drop to the bottom corner of the piece. She swallowed hard as she made out a strange dark figure lingering in the shadows, fume and flame of a sinister land. It held up a fist in futile rebellion against the brilliance bursting across the heavens.

"Lovely work, isn't it?"

Lalwen turned quickly, surprised from her dark musings by a deep, masculine voice.

"Captain Mablung." She smiled politely with a nod of her head, "Yes, it is mesmerizing."

"I believe that one was made by the hand of the Queen herself." He stepped forward, his eyes on the tapestry and hands folded at his back, "That day is burned in the memory of all the Eldar, don't you agree?"

Lalwen smiled quietly and nodded. She was unwilling to divulge how emotional it had been after their long, dark walk through the crushing northern ice to see such beauty erupt in the heavens. Her brother Fingolfin's horns had resounded their clear note. The sound still rang in her memory, nearly bringing her to tears at the thought of it. It was too intimate of a memory to relay to a relative stranger.

Mablung turned his gentle gaze on her. Lalwen met it hesitantly.

"I must ask, my lady, how you came to grace our halls?"

"I am here as a guest of your King." Lalwen answered evenly, glad to return to a safe topic, "At the behest of my niece Artanis. Her mother is kin to Elu Thingol and so she was invited with her brothers to pass through the girdle of Melian. I am merely a tag-along."

"You are close with your niece?"

"Yes, very." Lalwen smiled gently at the thought of the loveliest of her brothers' children, "Though I must admit, she is wiser than I in most things. Some days it feels as though she were my elder."

Lalwen bit her tongue at such an admittance. She hoped the great Sindarin warrior wouldn't think her foolish to declare such a truth. However, her mother had always told her that the fearsome joy of her spirit would keep her as young as the first Spring of Arda and not just in body. Her mother name meant laughing maiden for this very reason. In contrast with her wise and occasionally ambitious niece, it made her seem to be the younger of the two in spirit.

Mablung merely gave an enigmatic glance back at the wall hanging, "I am sure you do not give yourself justice."

An easy silence fell between the two of them. They stood gazing at the vivid colors reminiscent of the tree Laurelin cascading across the intricate threads of the tapestry.

"I have heard merely rumors of your peoples' sojourn here." Mablung said, "What were your own reasons for leaving the land of the Valar?"

Lalwen's mouth went dry. She felt her heart twist within her as she recalled their last days in Valinor. Her dear father's horrific murder, the separation from her mother, sister and then younger brother. Then the appalling scene at Alqualondë. Though she had not participated in the shameful kin slaying, Lalwen was left feeling dirty from any connection to the event. She felt besmirched, despite her noble standing and compared to the bright and shining figure before her. Lalwen knew from just one meeting with Mablung that he never would have stood to the side while innocents were massacred by a mad man like her half-brother.

"I am sorry, is that too familiar of a question?" Mablung recounted, bowing his head slightly, "I did not mean to offend."

Lalwen realized she had remained silent for a long moment, "No, I just am unsure of the answer myself." She found herself replying candidly.

"Are you regretful of your decision to come to our lands?" Mablung glanced up.

She wondered if he had consciously meant to step towards her. Lalwen gave him a sad smile, "I did regret it, until I arrived here."

Mablung's handsome jaw jutted out slightly as he gave a genuine chuckle, his broad chest filling with a deep breath. She was surprised to see that he almost seemed relieved by her answer. As though I have a choice to leave for Valinor once again, she thought ruefully.

"Aunt?"

Lalwen turned to see Artanis carefully approaching them. Her niece was much too subtle to give away her thoughts but Lalwen could tell clearly that she was amused at the sight of the handsome Captain's advances towards her kin. Artanis gave Lalwen a gentle, coy grin.

"Ah, niece!" Lalwen felt her cheeks flare with heat, "Captain, this is Artanis."

"I have heard much of you, my lady." Mablung gave her a chivalrous bow to which Artanis nodded in response.

"I hope they were good things you were told." Artanis lifted a blonde brow.

Mablung chuckled, "Only the best."

"I remember the King introduced you to court the other evening."

"Yes, my lady." Mablung's eyes drifted once more over to Lalwen before returning to Artanis, "My fellow Captain as well."

"Yes, the wild looking elf." Artanis smiled genuinely.

"Beleg is certainly his own man." Mablung laughed, "But I believe you both would enjoy his company. He is a fine captain though he prefers the company of squirrels and stags to the dangers of court."

"I certainly hope we may be introduced soon." Lalwen answered, nodding her head.

Artanis and Lalwen each gave him a curtsy before bidding him good evening. Linking arms, they waited to speak until they were out of hearing distance.

"These men of the Sindar certainly do cut fine figures, do they not Aunt?" Artanis asked demurely without looking at Lalwen.

Lalwen scoffed, "Shouldn't it be me berating you for your obvious long, lingering looks with the Lord Celeborn?"

"I was berating no one." Artanis grinned to herself, "Merely stating a truth. Come now, the Queen has requested our presence."

Jessica pulled over the car as she came to the end of the road. Beleg was taking shelter from the steady summer downpour under the bus stop, standing against the Plexiglas with his arms crossed over his chest. He gave her his steady smile as she rolled down the window to her car.

"You coming then?" She called out with a half grin.

He shrugged, glancing towards the sky, "I was considering it."

"You better be doing more than considering." She found herself retorting, "Get in the car, Benedict."

He ran around to the other side of her car and burst in through the passenger's side, shaking the rain from his hair as he sat down.

"Buckle up." She stated as they started towards the interstate.

"What did you just command me to do?" Beleg glanced over at her with a bemused grin.

"Buckle- oh just a moment." She pulled the car into a parking lot.

Beleg watched with amusement as she reached over towards him and pulled the seat belt over his chest, clicking the latch at the other end of the seat. She sat back and nodded curtly at him.

"What was that for?" He asked, lifting a brow.

"So you don't go flying through the windshield and so I don't get a ticket if we get pulled over." She answered as she pulled around and waited for the light to turn.

"I wish you could hear how strange you sound to me sometimes." He answered. He reached over abruptly and took her fingers that were resting on the radio knobs as she searched for a station. He held them in his hand tenderly before bringing them to his lips. Jessica turned toward him, his gaze holding her own. Her breath hitched. The car behind her blared its horn as the light had turned quite a few moments before. Jessica hit the gas, turning back to the road and grasping the wheel, "My lady, you can buckle me up any time you wish."

Jessica couldn't help but laugh, "I believe you are more modern in the things you say that you are willing to admit sometimes."

She got onto the ramp heading east towards the sea.