"Come on in," Morwen said, propping open the front screen door. "Make yourselves at home."

Of all things to happen that day, the last thing she expected was to look outside and see her husband walking up her driveway. Morwen's heart was swimming at finally seeing him once more, and from the way he looked at her, the feeling was mutual. Seeing the rest of her kin and then some was even more of a surprise. When Ithilwen had first told her months ago that Legolas said he intended to find a way to this world, they both failed to mention that a third of the population would be coming too.

'And now they're all going to be living here,' she realized far later than she would have liked to admit. Morwen had noticed that Thranduil was among the group, and she tried not to think about the potential arguments between her adar and the elvenking. Besides, there were other matters to attend to at that moment.

"Hey Morwen?" It was Esther. "I'm going to escort the munchkins back to their houses so you guys can get settled-"

Fiona muttered a "Hang on" as she moved to stand next to the guardian. "Don't forget to come back over for the thing that's set to happen this evening, okay?"

Esther nodded and began to usher the children out of the house when Haldir turned to his mate. "What 'thing' is taking place this evening, melleth? And where is Ithilwen?"

Once again, Morwen and Fiona shared a look between them, and it still did nothing to reassure the marchwarden. "Do you want a quick tour of the house first-"

"I want to know where our daughter is," Haldir stated.

"Alright," Morwen sighed. "Ithilwen's elsewhere in the country right now on a trip. Back when things...well when she said her connection with Legolas broke...she was a mess. Not knowing what was happening only made her think up worst-case scenarios that didn't leave her any peace of mind. So, she planned to take a trip; visit a list of places she picked out to try and not worry over things she couldn't do anything about."

"If it helps she's almost through the list of places she wanted to visit," Fiona added. "I think there's only a couple left."

Legolas looked apologetically to Haldir, feeling even worse for blocking Ithilwen off. If he hadn't, would things have been the same? Would she still have been gone when they arrived here?

"And what of this evening's...event?" Haldir asked.

Fiona's expression changed to one of pure delight, and for the new arrivals, it spoke of some promise that things weren't as bad off as previously thought. "Right! This evening Ithilwen has a livestream scheduled where she'll be able to talk live with anyone viewing her video from around the world!" When she received blank stares, she remembered. "Yeah, sorry. That wasn't very clear, was it? What I mean is that we'll get to watch Ithilwen and be able to talk with her from wherever she's at this evening!"

Many of the expressions changed to something akin to curiosity and excitement. Well, most were. Fiona wasn't familiar with all of the names of their houseguests quite yet, but she could most definitely tell who Legolas' parents were. It seemed that his father wasn't particularly thrilled either way, or maybe it was just his resting bitchface?

While Haldir had come into the modern world knowing that his mate had taken in two other children as her own, Morwen did not. As it was, she had been struggling to find the words to tell him of Fiona's significance as soon as she had seen him. Somehow springing it on him wouldn't be the best idea, and with so many now under the roof, finding a private place proved to be challenging.

Most of the occupants had meandered around on the bottom floor, but Morwen had discreetly pulled both her mate and youngest child into the kitchen. Of course in a house filled with elves, keeping what transpired "hush-hush" would be impossible. Right then she would have settled for quiet.

Before she could even get the words out, however, Haldir spoke up. "I know what it is that you wish to say, melleth."

"What? How?"

"Because I know," he said. "Legolas informed me before we left middle-earth." With a slight gesture to Fiona, Haldir added, "It was fairly obvious when you brought both of us into this room as well."

Fiona, Morwen noticed, had gone a shade paler at being acknowledged. It was like the younger woman wasn't certain of how Haldir was reacting, and thus being singled out was assumed to be a bad thing.

Haldir then turned fully to face Fiona, and was surprised when she started. 'What does she expect, I wonder?' "I know that my mate has called you daughter for a long time," he told her slowly, "If you will allow me, I would like to call you daughter as well."

"Y-You mean you don't mind that Mom took me and Bernard in?"

"Of course not. Children are a blessing to elves, and are cherished. We do not choose to give our love easily, but we give our love wholeheartedly. Morwen has claimed you, and in time I hope that you will allow me to do the same."

Fiona let out a breathy laugh. "And here I was worried that you'd want nothing to do with us!"

"I told her that couldn't be further from the truth, Haldir."

"Well can you blame me, Mom? Ithilwen's not the only one that overthinks things!" Fiona looked back to Haldir. "So uh...what...what can I call you, then? I mean I don't want to go around saying your name if you're taking me in as your kid, but I'm not very fluent in your language either..."

"What do you wish to address me as?"

"Is 'Dad' okay? It's the modern form of 'father' in this world, and it would just be until I can better understand your language. I wouldn't want to mess up and call you a cow's butt or anything!"

"That is acceptable...daughter," Haldir smiled. This young woman certainly had an interesting way of describing things, so he could only imagine what Ithilwen must be like. Legolas had told him that they had grown up together.

"I thought that you were going to stop at the grocery store for our dinner?"

"I was, but the Taco Bell next to it smelled so good that I picked these up when I came out."

"Your naneth was right." Celebrian stooped to peek in one of the nearest bags on the bed. "You should never go to buy food when you're hungry."

Ithilwen shrugged her words off, even though she knew they were true. A hungry stomach had gotten her in trouble on many occasions in the past. She stopped in the store to buy some drinks, some quick-microwavable meals, and a little bit of junk food. It was when she was packing her purchases away in the car that the winds shifted, and she got a good whiff of the Taco Bell aroma, so she made a b-line for their drive through as soon as she got behind the wheel.

Now she sat at one of the desk chairs in front of her laptop with various fast food wrappers, napkins, and plastic sporks scattered around. Celebrian had been unpacking the plastic bags while she fixed their plates, justifying that if this didn't satisfy them there were other things to eat later.

"Isn't your live-event to take place this evening?"

"Livestream, and yeah, in a couple of hours. You want to sit in with me for it?"

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly do that! This is your thing-"

"What if I want you to be a part of it?"

Celebrian looked to be finding a way out of it. "I don't know, Ithilwen. I couldn't possibly know what to say-"

"You just be yourself!" Ithilwen passed her aunt a plate across the desktop as the older elleth sat down with her. "That's the fun thing about the internet. You don't have to pretend to be anyone else if you don't want to."

"Then may I ask you something, Ithilwen?"

"Sure."

"Why do you choose to dress as others for these conventions? You change your entire personality when you are among those people, and I don't understand why. In the little time that I have come to know you as an adult, you are so much more than what you let the world see."

Ithilwen had a mouthful of her crunchwrap, and suddenly found that the longer it sat there the harder it became to swallow. Her aunt was right, of course. She had changed entirely when she was in costume, but she didn't realize how much. Was she trying to blend in with the mortals as part of the event, or was this something deeper?

"I...I didn't realize that," she said finally. "When I put on the costumes, I try to think like the character; how they talk, how they move, how they act...things like that. In the past it was just that. I had no idea I was so unlike myself..."

Celebrian reached for her drink as she listened to Ithilwen. "It seems to me that you are hiding behind these characters. There's nothing wrong with masquerading, but I can't help but worry that you're doing this as an escape from your worries."

She shrugged again. "I probably am," Ithilwen replied. "I've been so worried about how Ada and Legolas are that I'm looking for any excuse."

"Is it just that?" When Ithilwen gave her a questioning look, she added, "Your sister told me that a mortal boy had hurt you recently, but she didn't explain."

"That's because I never told her the whole story. He...said some mean things to me, and they struck a chord. It's been a couple of months, and I'm past it now."

"You're certain?"

"I am."

"Good because I happen to know that Legolas is a fine young ellon-" Celebrian was cut off by Ithilwen's groan of dismay. "All I'm saying is that he's very respectable! But if that's how you're going to react then let me ask you one more question."

"It doesn't have to do with Legolas, does it?"

"No," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards a pile of unopened travel bags. "I've been meaning to ask you why you've been carrying around a decayed head since I saw it weeks ago."

Ithilwen's expression changed to delight, much to her aunt's confusion. "So it really looks like it's decayed! Wicked!" As the younger elleth began to describe how she came about having such an item in her possession, Celebrian only became more confused.

Morwen had opted to give her new houseguests a quick tour of the house so that they could begin to settle for the evening. After the news of the livestream had been made known, many had expressed an interest in watching as well.

"There's two floors to the house with an attic up at the very top," she explained as she led them around. "Down here there's the dining room and kitchen. Just beyond the kitchen you'll see a door; that goes to the laundry room. Over there is the living room, and this door's a small closet. The double doors next to it open to the den, and they're most always open. Down the hall," she jogged slightly to try and get ahead, "Is another closet, a small bathroom next to it, and Fiona's photography studio at the very end on the left. On the right, there's some guest bedrooms. Upstairs are a few more bedrooms, another hall closet, and two bathrooms not connected to a bedroom. It'll be a bit tricky to place everyone, but we have plenty of bed linens and things."

"Don't worry 'bout that, Lady Morwen," Gimli said. "As long as I got a place to lay my head, it doesn't matter to me." The others nodded in agreement, some even adding in that they would be fine bunking with others.

Morwen smiled at the dwarf and looked around to take stock of how she could organize things. Haldir would be with her, obviously. Ithilwen's room was off limits for the moment because her daughter was not there to give her consent. She noticed that there were four other couples that could get privacy up on the top floor where her room was. There were a handful of smaller guest rooms downstairs that could be divied up between the remaining guests. She looked at Fiona. "Are the guest rooms ready to be used?"

"Definitely. On the upper floor and the bottom one. The bottom ones are a little smaller, and could only fit one to two people in each, depending."

"We can share a room," Pippin said. "We're not very big, as you can see Miss Fiona, and we'd be fine with one of the smaller rooms down here."

Fiona watched the other three nod, not knowing that the hobbits were not as enthusiastic about heights as their elven friends. She was then told by Eomer that he would bunk with Gimli, and Elladan and Elrohir would also share a room. Erestor had agreed to share a room with Glorfindel, but warned the balrog-slayer that any shenanigans in the middle of the night would surely get him hit.

That left the couples to a room for each pair, and Elrond and Legolas to a room to themselves.

"Where are you going to sleep, Fiona?" Morwen asked, having done the calculations in her head and realized that one of the upper rooms would be occupied by an elf or elven couple.

"The studio." She answered simply. "Most of my stuff is down there anyway, and what isn't I can move up to the attic to get out of the way. Most of the stuff in there needs to be moved up there as it is. Besides, Tauriel said that she'd stay with me, and there's plenty of room in the studio for the both of us." She seemed rather content with the idea, and Morwen didn't choose to argue with it. Fiona then moved down the hall and motioned for the lower-floor occupants to follow her and choose a room.

Morwen led the others upstairs and began to get them situated for rest. After she had shown Elrond to his room, that left her parents and Legolas when Fiona came bounding up the stairs.

"Hang about, Mom!" She called out. "Have you given Legolas a room yet?" Morwen shook her head. "Good, come with me!" she tugged on the elf's arm, leading him to a room at the opposite end of the hallway. "When Ithilwen told me that you guys were going to come out here after the war, I knew this was the room for you. It's got a bit of a balcony near some trees, so it's almost like being back home. At least I think, since I don't know what your home looks like," Fiona rambled.

"This will be fine," Legolas said, amused at this girl's antics. "I thank you, Lady Fiona."

"Please, Fiona is fine," she said, turning to leave and let the elf get settled.

Outside in the hall, Fiona was met with three pairs of eyes watching her; one set was puzzled, one set was sparkling with laughter, and one set was pointedly annoyed. She watched as Galadriel led her husband into their new room and shut the door, leaving her to be stared at by Morwen. "What?" she asked innocently.

"I know what you're up to, missy," Morwen said softly, knowing that her relatives could still hear.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mom," Fiona walked up to her. "So what are we doing for supper?"

"It's your decision tonight, Fiona, since you seem intent on plotting things." Morwen said, watching her descend the stairs. "I'm not impressed, I hope you know that."

"I know, Mom."

Fiona led Tauriel the door of her studio after evading Morwen's scrutiny. So she had taken some liberties with placement. What was it going to hurt? She didn't see any harm in it, after all. "Please excuse any mess that's in here," she grinned at the redheaded elleth beside her. "We recently cleaned up, but my studio has a habit of never staying organized for long."

Tauriel peeked inside the doorway after Fiona stepped back. "It does not seem to be out of sorts," she stated. "It looks quite organized."

"Controlled chaos is more like it, and you're sweet for saying that." Fiona encouraged her to come in and look around. "So this is my second bedroom, in a way. When I'm working on a project I'm more likely to crash in my bed down here than go upstairs. The bed's over here," she led Tauriel to a side room. "There's a closet, bed, and a small bathroom just past it, so it's pretty cozy. There's some room in the closet and chest for your things if you want to unpack right now."

Fiona moved around the elleth, who was still looking around at her new living quarters intently, to fetch her laptop and assorted cords. Tauriel turned to watch her. "What are you doing?"

"This?" A nod. "I'm going to hook this up to the TV in the den so we can watch the livestream. I've gotta hurry though; we've got less than two hours and I'm not sure if I remember how to connect it right."

Tauriel seemed to forget about unpacking for the moment, more interested in watching Fiona connect the flat paneled object to the odd looking ropes to whatever it was that would show them her sister.

The arrivals from middle-earth had only been in the house for nearly two hours, and already Fiona would compare it to a co-ed dormitory, the only difference being that none of them could understand the function of a microwave, much less pizza. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best choice of modern food to introduce to them, but with so many wandering around the house asking about this or that and the livestream to be ready for, it was Fiona's first idea for dinner. The poor delivery person had to have a second come out with him to help unload the number of pizzas she had ordered. All Morwen had told her when she asked "How many?" was to order a lot.

With an assortment of pizzas to choose from on paper plates, sweet tea in any available cup that could be found, and some rearrangements made in the den, the entirety of the household was sitting around watching as the young woman double-checked her laptop's connection to the television. On second thought, Fiona knew this was a terrible introduction to the modern world, but it's not like she knew they were coming ahead of time!

"Is it set up, Fiona?"

"I think so," she sighed. "You know Ithilwen's better at this stuff than I am, Mom. When she and Will get to talking about all the technical stuff, my eyes cross." Fiona returned to her seat on Haldir's left and reached for the laptop on the table.

"Do you not have sufficient time to eat first?" he asked, noticing that she was ignoring her plate in favor of the device.

"She likes this kind cold," Morwen told him. "Especially after the sauce went sweet. But they've gone back somewhat; not nearly as good as it used to be though."

"I like this...what was it you called it? Pit-zah?" Pippin's expression was pinched as he attempted to pronounce the odd-sounding word.

"Pizza," Fiona said, looking up. "This pizza place is the best in our area, in my opinion. You just can't have a sweet tomato sauce on pizza. It has to be tangy." She reached over to her plate, grabbed the smaller slice and took a bite out of it, more to appease her new father than being hungry. Setting the rest down, she wiped her hands and went back to clicking on the laptop. What she did on the computer screen would blink and appear on the television, and those close enough to see the smaller screen could tell that the work she had done paid off. "Hey Mom," she began, looking up, "Should we give any...ah...background information before the livestream starts?"

Morwen knew right away what Fiona was trying to get at. The problem was she didn't know how to go about announcing this bit of news.

"There's a chance those video blogs Ithilwen put up might also bring attention to...you know," she continued.

"I know."

"Know what?" Haldir asked.

A small gasp from elsewhere in the room had everyone turning their attention to Galadriel, who looked straight at Morwen with slightly widened eyes. "It is true, then."

"You knew, Naneth?"

"Knew what?" Both Celeborn and Haldir asked.

"I had my suspicions," the older elleth said carefully.

"Wait - how did you know?!" Fiona looked slightly alarmed.

"Knew. What?" The same ellyn had asked again, with a little more force.

"Will someone just answer the question already so that we can continue on with our lives?" Thranduil spoke up. Beside him, Miraear swatted at his arm, telling him to be patient.

Morwen let out a groan of defeat, sounding very much like a teenager not getting their way. "Alright, fine. There's...something...that has happened on Ithilwen's trip that we haven't told y'all about yet. It's a big thing...and I don't know of any way to say it other than just saying it..." She took a breath and said, "Celebrian was brought over into this world from Valinor and she's currently traveling with Ithilwen."

The room was silent for a matter of seconds before all hell broke loose. Celeborn had rounded on Galadriel, demanding to know why she didn't tell him this already, and her responding that she wasn't certain it was fact. Elrond and his children were firing a barrage of questions at Morwen about how she got there, how long she has been there, how she's doing, and eventually they all began to run together. The remainder of the room that held no personal connection to the newly-named elleth were trying to understand why this was such a big deal, while those that knew attempted to fill them in.

"This is why I was hesitant to tell you!" Morwen blurted out, holding up her hands to halt any further questions. "Everyone just calm the hell down. Yes, she's here. Yes, she's doing fine. I'm not sure how long she's been here; when I found out I was in another country entirely."

"And she might be in the livestream with Ithilwen," Fiona offered, "We can ask them questions when it starts, if that will make it any easier. It'll be like she's talking to you, even though she won't hear your voices."

"It might be better if they don't know who all is here, actually."

"What do you mean?" Haldir asked, looking at his wife in disbelief. He had waited for so long to get back to them, and now he was being told to not let his other daughter know he was around? What made that any easier?

"Fiona can relay the questions, so long as we keep them generic and not reference anything having to do with home. This is on the internet, and I know that's not something you understand yet, but think of it as a palantir that anyone with one can access. It wouldn't be good to announce the existence of another world from this one; mortals don't take kindly to change." Morwen reached over to grasp his hand lightly. "I suggested this for everyone's benefit, Haldir, not to be mean. I just think that it would be better for Ithilwen and my sister to discover this news when they get home, and not where numerous people can watch their reactions for entertainment."

"This...stream... This is seen as entertainment in this world?" As a child Faramir had created a multitude of ways to occupy his time avoiding studies. Somehow the thought of a group of people watching something akin to a river stream didn't sound like good entertainment.

"When this livestream is over, Mom and I will have to show you guys some of Ithilwen's old video uploads. They're hilarious!" Fiona snickered to herself, thinking back on the multitude of videos they had made in the past. Some were serious, but most of them were ridiculous and often over dramatized intentionally.

The screen on the television flickered once again as Fiona navigated to the address that the livestream would be on, all the while trying to explain why the internet existed in the first place. Morwen told her to give it up as the page finished loading the video player, telling her it was only making things more confusing. Not that it mattered if Fiona had set off firecrackers in the den at that moment, because all eyes were suddenly focused on the television and the elleth that had appeared on the screen.

"Is that-?" Haldir couldn't bring himself to finish the question that he already knew the answer to. He knew right off that it was Ithilwen. She had grown up to look like her naneth, even as she sat there on the screen making odd faces.

"Ithilwen," Legolas finished. The prince felt like a stone had been lifted off his chest the moment he saw her. He was surprised at how much relief he felt when he saw her. Obviously he had missed her, but he didn't know just how much until then.

"This is your oldest daughter, Morwen?" Miraear asked. "She is lovely!" The redhead turned to her mate and said haughtily, "See? She is very much a real elleth, Thranduil!"

"You doubted my granddaughter's existence?" Celeborn asked evenly.

"No, I doubted the connection your granddaughter shares with my son."

"Well given the way he's looking at the screen it looks like Legolas is going to lunge at it to get to her," Elrohir remarked. He leaned forward in his seat, adding, "You do know that she is not in that box, right Legolas? I don't understand this device, but I am certain that you would not want to dive into it."

The elf grumbled out an "I know that" just as Ithilwen began to speak.

"So if you're just joining the chat room right now the livestream won't start for another twenty minutes," she said, twisting in her chair. "I thought I'd get it going now because well...I don't have anything else to do!" Ithilwen laughed. "The con won't start until tomorrow, and my aunt and I already got our badges-"

"What is that movement in the corner?" Eomer asked, pointing to the white box at the lower right corner of the window.

"It's a chat box," Morwen answered. "Anyone that's on the page can write a comment in the box, and anyone else on the page when it goes up will be able to see it. It looks like someone's asking what event she's going to tomorrow."

"-We're going to be at Anime Mid-Atlantic tomorrow, actually! We just left the Outer Banks this morning and drove nonstop back to Virginia, which doesn't sound like much of a drive, but I tool the long way around Raleigh. After the livestream ends tonight I'll probably edit that footage and upload it before bed; I think you're really gonna like it!"

"She's recorded her trip so far," Fiona said quickly. "Mom and I haven't watched any of them yet though."

"And now we'll get to watch them with you," Morwen told Haldir with a smile. "You'll get to know her before she even gets home!"

On screen, Ithilwen had been talking about some of the clothes she had recently bought to one of the people in the chat when another body appeared. This one was slightly taller, but every bit familiar to many of the household as she sat beside Ithilwen. Celebrian was wearing very modern clothing, but she still looked the same as she had when her family had last seen her. Arwen had reached for her brother's hands, taking one in each of theirs for support. It wasn't clear who was supporting who, but it was easy to see that this was an emotional moment for all of them.

"What about those shirts we bought in Ocracoake?" Celebrian asked her niece.

"Right!" Ithilwen started laughing then. "There were a bunch in this gift shop, and I couldn't choose just one-"

"So she bought every joke shirt with the word 'booty' on it."

"I think my favorites are a toss up between 'Where's the booty at?' and 'Booty hunter'." She was practically cackling then.

Celebrian was now looking directly at the screen. "Do you see what I've put up with on this trip? Such maturity befitting of my kin, isn't it?" She sounded exasperated, but she was grinning as she said it.

"Is your sister serious, Morwen?" Haldir asked. "I've forgotten that she has a tendency to think she is witty."

"She's serious, I swear! Ithilwen can be very mature, I assure you! Just..."

"She likes to not act her age sometimes," Fiona finished. She reached for her cell phone and began to touch the buttons that appeared on the smaller screen.

"What are you doing?" Morwen looked past Haldir's worried stare. "I thought you were going to use the chatbox?"

"I am, but I'm going to text her before the show starts just to mess with her. And Dad's gotta hear her ringtone!"

"Do I want to?"

As it turned out, it was Fiona who didn't want to hear the ringtone. She visibly cringed as the sounds of Toto's "Africa" echoed from the television. While Celebrian was looking around the hotel room confused, Ithilwen was grinning widely as she got up to retrieve her phone. "I knew I made the right choice when I chose this new ringtone," she said as she sat back down. "What do you think of it, Fiona? I know it's your favorite song and all..."

"Like hell it is!" Fiona responded as her thumbs sped across the phone keypad. "You are an evil sister! That song is completely ridiculous!"

"You're ridiculous," Ithilwen was still grinning as she looked directly at the camera. "Is there a reason you're texting me in front of your computer?"

The strawberry blond went silent as she continued to type on the phone. Elsewhere in the room, conversation started to pick up.

"The lass looks like she's doing alright," Gimli commented.

While Legolas understood what his friend meant, something about it still rubbed him the wrong way. "She looks happy," he said, trying not to sound hurt at her carefree appearance. The last they had spoken, she had been upset to see him go. Now he was seeing her as he had early on in their meetings. Had something happened to change things between them?

"It could be a ruse," Faramir noted.

"You can see it as well?" Frodo asked him.

"Somewhat," he replied carefully. "I am not as familiar with the young woman's story as the rest of the room, but I have my doubts that she is the kind to let go of her companions so easily."

Esther hurried into the den and took a seat next to Fiona. "It hasn't started yet, has it?" she asked Morwen. "I had to run some reports to the office after I took Cupcake home."

"You're just in time," Fiona said, sending her message. "And Legolas? My sister's been a wreck since your connection broke. Believe me, Faramir's right about it being a disguise. Give her a second and I know she'll prove it."

Morwen leaned around Haldir to make eye contact with Fiona, silently asking "What did you do?"

The younger woman picked up on the unspoken words and went defensive. "I swear I did nothing, Mom! I only asked her-"

"I am SO wearing that necklace!" Ithilwen blurted out suddenly. She maneuvered in her chair to scoop the hair back off her shoulders. "See? I brought it with me when I left for the trip! I haven't taken it off since."

"It seems like that is not the only thing that she took with her," Aragorn said amused. "Legolas, is that not your tunic that she is wearing?"

Haldir's head whipped to the left to see Legolas staring on in a mixture of surprise, horror, and embarrassment. "When did you give my daughter your clothes?" he asked evenly.

"Rohan, before we left for Helms Deep," Gimli filled the marchwarden in.

"That may not be the only thing he has given her," Tauriel noted, studying the screen intently. She didn't miss the snort from the young woman across the room, but chose to pretend she did. Her brother was already getting uneasy looks from the elleth's father. "Naneth, is that the necklace you sent to Lothlorien months ago?"

"The very same."

While Haldir was interrogating Legolas about these latest developments, it was all Fiona could do not to tell her sister of the chaos that was happening in the den. It was just too damned funny! Still, it wasn't fair for just Legolas to be drug through the pit of mortification, so instead she got on the chat box asking about the tunic. The noise that came from the television next wasn't even remotely human.

It seemed that Celebrian had gotten better at reading the English language, because she answered Fiona first. "Don't let your sister fool you. I've woken up at night to look over and see her asleep with that tunic as a blanket!"

"I can't believe you just said that!"

More text was appearing in the chat box, asking questions that Celebrian took to answering. "The ring on the chain belongs to the same young man, CharliesAngel04-"

"WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" Both Legolas and Ithilwen shouted at the same time.

On the screen, Ithilwen had begun to blush from her chest up to the tips of her ears. "Okay, I don't know when this livestream was taken over by my nonexistent love life, so let's answer some new questions!" She lightly patted her cheeks in hopes of tamping down the blush. "Alright, I'm seeing this one get asked a lot. 'Do you believe in love at first sight?'-"

"How is that a new question?"

"It's new because it's not directed at my love life specifically! My answer is-" Ithilwen went silent for a minute as she thought it over. "-I'm...gonna have to say no. At least, not in that romantic-comedy, Disney-produced imitation anyway. For me, I think you can 'fall' in love with someone at first, but it's more a physical attraction that draws you to them than actual love. I mean, you won't really 'love' love the person until you understand why you love them, and that just doesn't happen by first looks."

Celebrian had a different opinion. "Your uncle and I fell in love almost instantly. Although, we did court each other for far longer than most young people now stay in a partnership."

"I thought Uncle Bilbo said that elves chose a partner for their lifetime"

"He was right," Elrond nodded. "However, some of us take much longer to declare our love official than others-"

Morwen snorted. "You are such an idgit, Elrond! You know damned well the reason you two didn't get married right off was because of Adar!"

"If we had you wouldn't have a niece and nephews because your adar would have made that impossible!"

Fiona looked up from the laptop screen to look at the raven-haired offspring. "I guess you can thank your grandpa for not making him ill-equipped then, huh?" she winked, laughing at the expression on the twin's faces.

"I am your grandfather as well," Celeborn interjected. "Just as Elrond is your uncle and his children your cousins."

"Yes, when Morwen and Haldir claimed you as theirs, you got the rest of the family," Galadriel smiled. She didn't have to see into the woman's thoughts to tell that she was elated by that comment, but Fiona did mentally rejoiced in the revelation. It appeared that she hadn't anticipated the marchwarden's acceptance, much less for anyone else to include her.

"Okay, here's one on Twitter from ' CaptainAmerica': Which superhero would you categorize yourself as?" Ithilwen's nose scrunched up as she thought. "I don't know..are we talking Marvel or DC?"

"Is there a difference?" Celebrian asked as the chatbox exploded with comments.

"She's gonna start World War Three with a comment like that," Fiona said.

"Is that bad?" Eowyn asked. "What she said?"

"In certain social circles a question like that could spark a huge argument," the strawberry blond explained. "Some see Marvel as the superior comic universe, while others will say it's DC. Personally, I'm all for Dark Horse or Top Cow comics; I've found them less confusing to keep straight because their writers stuck with one idea."

"It means that both Marvel and DC's writers can be very indecisive," Morwen added.

"I think..." Ithilwen was still musing over the question. "...from Marvel, I'd say Rogue. Not Anna Paquin's Rogue though - the animated series' Rogue. She gets the short end of the stick as far as her powers go, but she also has the ability to do a lot of things most others couldn't because of them. From DC I would say Poison Ivy, even though she's a villain. Although," she paused slightly, "my sister would say I'm more like Black Canary, because apparently I scream like a banshee."

"Well she does! She dropped a shelf on her foot one time and you never heard such shrill swears come out of anybody before!"

Esther was among the many that looked at Fiona in disbelief. "You know, somehow I would have guessed you'd say Harley Quinn, given how she likes to prank you."

"That would be my second recommendation."

"Hang on!" Ithilwen laughed onscreen. "The chat's going by so fast I'm missing questions! The next one I'm seeing is 'What was your childhood obsession?' Oh, that's a tough one, there were so many! I was a weird kid-"

"She still is!" Fiona cut in.

"-and liked a lot of different things. Kids now have those Pokémon cards, and don't get me wrong I used to buy them too, but I just fell out of love after the Team Rocket and Jungle expansions and gave them away. No, but I do have a good sized collection of Pogs back home that I'm quite proud of. I used to have some Barbies before they went and screwed her up, but no Ken. I was never a fan of Ken."

"Why was that?" Celebrian asked.

"He was too...cleancut. Ken always looked suspicious to me, like some creepy car salesman in really bad clothes."

Fiona typed something in the chatbox that was met with a ton of "Lols". Celebrian had seen her comment and read it out loud for her niece's benefit, who was preoccupied with her drink.

"Your sister says that you never liked Ken because there was nothing going on downstairs-" She paused as she finished the sentence, realization of what she read dawning on her. "Did he really not-"

"No he didn't and that was not the reason, Fiona!"

Morwen wasn't sure which was funnier, the expression on Celebrian's face on the screen or of those around her in the den. "To be fair," she said as she tried to control her laughter, "She did bring the one Ken doll she had up to me without his pants and declared that 'that wasn't right'."

"I guess she wanted more," Esther couldn't help herself. It only made Fiona laugh harder, as did a few others in the room. "Fi, gimme the laptop - I've got a question I want to ask!"

Fiona passed the laptop over to Esther and turned her attention to the television to watch the text appear. If she wasn't certain that Ithilwen and her were a bad influence on the guardian, she was now.

"Here's another on from Fiona." Celebrian looked up at the camera as if she could see Fiona sitting in the den, then looked back down to the screen. She had to be careful about what she read off the device; she had no idea who could have been watching! "'Who is your favorite Doctor and/or companion?' I...don't know what that means."

"It's a TV show about a guy that can regenerate and flies through space and time in a big blue box," Ithilwen told her aunt, "And I know you're there, Esther! Wherever my sister's at, you're there, because only you would make me answer that question!"

Fiona's response - as a few others - popped up on the screen. "So answer it!"

Ithilwen blew a raspberry at the camera, mumbling about how everyone was against her. "I'm always going to be a David Tennant fan, but I liked Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. I haven't watched enough of Matt Smith to really say, and yes I know I'm behind!" She sighed. "On companions, if we're shipping, then Ten and Rose. But just a companion in general, it's always going to be Donna Noble. You can ask Fiona, I bawled like a baby with Donna's last episode!"

"But why would you watch something that makes you cry?"

"Because the writing is so good! And it's not that it's always sad; it can be funny and scary too." Ithilwen had been about to add on to her comments when she noticed the time. "Oh man, it's starting to get late! I know the time's run over, but I'll hang around for about ten more minutes."

The chat box had begun to move more quickly as the other viewers asked questions. Ithilwen would often answer many of them in short-answer form, mostly because they didn't need any further explanation. One of her last questions however, did give her pause.

"Stephanie Hudgens asks, 'What was the weirdest thing to happen to you in life?'" Ithilwen scratched her chin and pulled a face that Haldir was quickly learning that meant she was stumped. "That's a really good question. There's been a lot of weird stuff that's happened, but when I think back on it it's pretty normal. Oh-! I do know something!" Her hand reached up to grasp the chain around her neck, almost like it had become a habit. Ithilwen twirled the ring on the chain around her fingers as she answered with, "It's no so much weird in the sense that "Oh I just got abducted by aliens and we went to Mr. Gatti's" though, but it did happen recently. Back at the start of the year I met someone that I didn't expect. Well, it's not that I was looking to meet anyone, but we just happened to cross each other's paths..."

"She's rambling again," Morwen whispered to Haldir. "She does that when she's anxious."

"...I guess what makes it weird is that we've never met face to face. He's...stationed overseas, so we've only been able to talk long-distance. But then a little while ago, I stopped hearing from him-" Ithilwen's words stopped suddenly, and Celebrian wondered if she was going to cry right then.

Her words weren't doing the prince any favors either, Fiona noticed. 'He looks like he could go to pieces too.' She bit her lip in frustration, wishing she could tell her sister that they were all doing well. Very quickly, she typed a question and hit the enter key before Morwen could comment. Or stop her.

"Fiona's asked, 'Do you miss him?'"

The scratchy laugh that bubbled up from the younger elleth only added more evidence that she had nearly cried moments ago. Legolas wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer. He had after all, been the one to break their connection. He had been the one to keep everything hidden from her senses. It was because of him that she was hiding how upset she had been about the entire situation. If he were honest with himself, he wouldn't be surprised if she said that she didn't care if she ever heard from him again.

Who was he kidding? The very words would devastate him!

"Of course I miss him!" Ithilwen had answered, and Legolas felt a weight lift off his chest. "I miss him a lot! He's become a really good friend these past months, and I'm really worried about him."

Some of the other responses that came up in the chatbox read "I'm sure he's fine" and "Maybe he's just busy?". It was reassuring, Fiona found, to see that other's shared the same train of thought as her. Of course now she knew that he was fine; she just hated that Ithilwen didn't know.

"Ion-nin," Miraear said softly, "I don't believe that you have anything to fret over with this young lady."

"Except maybe that shriek her sister spoke of when she sees him," Elrohir joked.

"Do you truly believe that Legolas would care?" Elladan asked his brother.

"She could bring him to the ground," Aragorn mused, thinking back on how Haldir had been tackled in the front yard. Like mother like daughter maybe?

"The lass is so small though! That would be a feat!"

Annoyed, Legolas ground out, "You all do know that I am sitting right here?" Regardless, he wasn't about to deny how happy it had made him to hear her words.

"I hate to cut it short here guys, but we've really gone over the time limit I set." Ithilwen smiled apologetically on screen. "We've got to get some sleep for the convention tomorrow, and if ya'll wanted to see the latest vlog I have to finish editing it! But thank you all so much for coming to the livestream today. I'm sorry I didn't get to all the questions, but if you'll tag me on my Twitter account I'll answer them when I can. I hope you all have a great remainder of your day, and love you guys so, so much! Take care of yourselves!"

The video frame in the webpage had gone blank, signaling the end of the livestream. Some activity in the chatbox remained, but Fiona clicked off of the website disinterested. She looked around the room at each of the new arrivals, who also looked around for some cue as to what was next.

"So what did you guys think of the live stream?" Fiona asked.

"It was...strange," Pippin commented.

"It looked like a type of magic that would make communication between realms more efficient," Eomer said.

Aragorn shook his head quickly. "The palantirs did that, and look at how well they were received."

"Even with middle-earth in peace?" Eowyn looked at him. "Our messengers can only travel so far in a day. This-" she gestured to the television "-was instant!"

"True, but there is always the possibility for good blessings to be corrupted if given to irresponsible people," the king responded.

Esther pulled a face. "Yeah, the Rick Roll troll was not one of the best things to come out of the history of the internet."

"I thought that was "Actual Cannibal Shia LeBeouf?"

Haldir looked between the two younger women, then back at his mate. "I don't know what that means."

"It's alright, meleth. Fiona won't be able to resist showing you at some point while you're here."

Said woman looked indignant. "I bet you that one day in the future some historian's going to come across that song and think that it was a memorial to an actual serial killer. Between that and Grumpycat, the people of this time have so much to be proud of," Fiona grinned.

Miles away from Burgess, hidden in the enchanted glades of her home, Toothiana's fairies were bustling around. Some made deposits of new teeth that had been collected, others were leaving to collect more teeth, and some still remained behind to properly organize the records. For the guardian of memories, however, her task was not about collecting new memories that day.

Toothiana had been buried in her alcoves of records, sorting through the time periods to pinpoint just when Jack had lived as a mortal. It had been simple enough from his last talk with her, but the difficult part was narrowing down the years of his life and lining it up with any young woman that fit his description. She had tried going through his own memories, only to come up short, as he had once told her. It was maddening, but she was determined to help her friend sort this mystery out. Toothiana had a feeling that she was getting closer, but with the description of a "dark haired teenage girl" to go on, she still had an enormous pile of records to sift through.

-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: A big thank you to Littlemissthunderbird for allowing me to use her OC Stephanie and her Twitter user CaptainAmerica for the livestream!