Chapter Six: Relativistic Quantum Theory
A/N: Really speedin' up the chapters, aren't I? *sweet smile* You love me! You really love me! ;)
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine/ nothing I own/ nothing but myself/ and myself alone. Look, it rhymes!
Imagine that empty space is not, in fact, empty…when looked at with an incredibly powerful microscope, it is a landing field for a violent quantum flurry. Matter flicks in and out of existence, disappearing and re-forming in less than an eye-blink. Imagine that energy and mass are one and the same…
~.~.~
Three days had passed, and Thalia had recovered from her brush with Elven ale. She was now strictly forbidden to drink anything but water and milk, a mandate that suited her fine. Of course, recovered health had its downside; Lord Elrond had commanded her to be in the library at eight o' clock the next morning.
"Thalia. Please sit," he said, motioning to the chair opposite him.
"Your library is awe-inspiring, Lord Elrond," Thalia said after she was seated, eyeballing the huge shelves full of leather-bound books.
"Thank you," Elrond replied courteously. He leaned forward, fixing Thalia with a stare that made her feel like a beetle on a card. "Do you remember how you came to be outside of Imladris?"
She shook her head. "I fell asleep in my own bed, in-" her face fell, and the next words were almost whispered. "In Stratford, New Jersey." A lump formed in her throat.
I didn't even think about home, she thought. Didn't even think about Mum and Da, back home…they must be missing me.
"Thalia?" The elf's voice was almost gentle; he had tended to enough humans to know that she was close to tears.
"I am sorry, Lord Elrond," she said thickly, a few tears coursing down her face. "I-" She closed her eyes, trying to hold in the hysterical sobbing, screaming fit that threatened to burst from her. A few more tears escaped her tightly shut lids.
"Perhaps we had best postpone this to another day," Elrond said regretfully.
Thalia nodded perfunctorily, leapt up from her chair and ran blindly out of the library. She rushed down a few staircases like a whirlwind, ran through a few beautiful passageways, and finally flung herself down behind a random beautifully worked pillar.
She drew her knees up to her chest and sobbed, rocking back and forth.
"Oh, god…home, home, home, home…" She whispered to herself, tears spilling into her mouth, falling down her chin and dropping onto her neck.
Some time later, she had cried herself out, and stood, sniffling. She wiped her streaming nose on her sleeve, and walked forward, trying to remember which way her room was.
"Thalia?" A voice came from behind her.
Oh, potato peels dipped in frying marmalade, if that's who I think it is… Thalia thought, stopping short. She turned around.
It was Estel, of course, looking adorable shy. And hot. And unsure of himself. And hot.
"I…heard you crying," he said, his grey eyes widening. "I just wanted to make sure that you were all right."
Thalia nodded, mentally blaspheming any and all applicable deities. "I'm fine." She took a deep breath. "Thank you."
"You are most welcome," he replied, with a shy smile.
Why's he smiling at me? My face must be about the size and color of the Macy's Day Parade Clifford balloon…
Nevertheless, she smiled back, barely managing not to melt at the expression in his eyes- genuine concern, and some pity.
Damn that Arwen! Damn her! Damn her!
"Thalia…I-" He sighed. "I hope you are feeling better."
Ack. He's TAKEN.. Spell it with me: T-A-K-E-N. Willnotmesswithcanonwillnotmesswithcanon…
"Yes, I…I believe that I have quite recovered."
"Elenfathiel had to clean your room," Estel blurted. "He said he had never smelled anything so awful in his life, and he has lived three thousand years."
Thalia blushed scarlet. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to smell up Rivendell." She sighed. "I seem to ruin things, wherever I go."
"No, it's- you didn't. Ruin anything." There was a pregnant pause.
"Estel? Estel, you promised you would-" The owner of the voice, a random elf, entered the scene, his arms full of arrows. "-Help me fletch these arrows. Unless, of course, you are busy."
Estel's face was somewhere between the color of a tomato and a fire engine. "Nay, Poldon, I will come."
Thalia's face had somehow turned even redder. "I- thank you, Estel."
Willnotmessswithcanon…DAMN ARWEN! …willnotmesswithcanon…ACK, I DON'T NEED THESE MORAL DILEMMAS!… willnotmesswithcanon…