AN: Many apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I had a blasted Microbiology lab practical exam yesterday at 8:30AM and then I had Bioethics and dance class. By the time I got home I was like dog tired. I'm better, albeit, frozen today. Though it's not even December, it seems that winter has decided to visit the Big Apple earlier this year. It's just way too cold for November. Maybe Christmas is in the air already….as my Girl Scout Troop is taking an inhuman number of kids and parents to see "The Polar Express" next Friday. Anywho, you all rock for taking time out and reviewing my story. I really enjoy getting your reviews and I hope all of you stick around for the next part of my little show.
Mystic-realm: Oh my! Thanks for the compliment. I just write, really, to pass the time between classes at school. Keeps me busy and quieter while I wait for my classes to start. I do hope you like this part too.
Ms. Unknown: I'm sorry if it got too emotional…it was just kind of something that needed doing. The truth had to, mostly, get out there. The rest of the truth will find its way into the open air too….sooner than later.
sunni07: Oh yeah…semester exams and midterms can really mess with everything. I'm glad you're liking chemistry better. That class can be, frankly, miserable when you don't like it. I remember classes being a real pain when I didn't like the topics we were doing. Though it might have been because I didn't like the professor who taught the class. We distilled everything in Organic Chemistry, including alcohol, caffeine, and orange oil. Here's the next chapter!
Shay: Sorry for the fact it was short but I'm glad you still liked it. You'll see both her decision and what she wants to do relatively soon. I promise it will concern all the people she left back in the Muggle world, including her foster family and Hope. More Emma will be coming up soon too. After all, she and Niphredil have enough in common to be friends.
Elven Script: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Here's the next chapter, fresh from my computer!
The Cap'n: Hiya! I'm glad you like my little story. Here's the next part and Ill do my best to avoid cliffhangers.
Lindiel Eryn: LOL…well, there's always that road. It just might be the road she picks but one can never tell. LOL…
Arami: Hiya! Thank you very much for the compliment. This was just done to pass time in school. As for Niphredil's decision and story, you shall soon see how they come into play.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
Deciding the mood needed a distinct changing, Niphredil decided to switch gears. Try to move the conversation away from her rather unhappy story to something…anything better. The mood had to change quickly before it started to depress the small family. There was a real need in Niphredil's heart and mind to make sure she kept the mood light and happy. The last thing the young half-elven maiden wanted was to be the cause of a malaise interrupting her family.
She grabbed for the first question she could. No matter how inane or stupid or foolish that question sounded. Well, to her parents, Niphredil figured the question sounded foolish. To her it was valid and one of those odd things that had been preying at her mind for a long while.
Yet another question she hadn't ever been able to find an answer to.
"I know this sounds kind of silly but is there any reasoning behind my name? Where I use to live people sometimes named their children things for a reason. Take my friend Hope, for example. Her parents called her that because they hoped the world would be better or different or something when she grew up," Niphredil babbled.
Aragorn laughed, watching the odd child he called his daughter switch verbal gears. There was very much about her he didn't understand but that he didn't mind. As far as he was concerned, there was plenty of time for him to figure out all the parts of her often odd personality.
Besides, he couldn't answer her question. He didn't have a hand in her naming as he wasn't there when she was born. He, himself, was very interested in the answer as well for there seemed to be nothing relating his daughter to her namesake.
The answer to this question fell to Arwen and Arwen alone.
"If translated, literally, Niphredil means 'snowdrop,'" Arwen answered with a slight smile, totally expecting another question.
Much to her non-surprise, Niphredil broached, "Is that like a snowflake or a snowdrift?"
The word "snowdrop" didn't ring any bells in her Muggle world trained vocabulary. She knew plenty of snowy words but that one was not among them. It was new and foreign to her but; then again, many language things in this world were both new and foreign to her.
"It has little to do with the snow that falls from the sky, Niphredil. You were named after a very pale flower found in Lothlorien where you were born. I dare say you remember that fair woods," Arwen replied.
Niphredil nodded the images from her Muggle world dreams filling her head. The place with the golden trees and the almost permanent setting of those dreams. So it was a real place, not some strange construct of a desperate mind. That made her feel a whole lot better about her dreams.
"I remember," she, slowly, affirming her mother's words.
"Arwen, I must say, 'niphredil' does seem like an odd choice for our daughter's name. Her dark hair and eyes strike a contrast with such a name," Aragorn commented.
Arwen gave a slight laugh, noting that Niphredil was gawking at them. This was, most likely, the first time she'd seen something like this. From the story she'd told them, the woman she was given to call mother wasn't one to question her husband. This, of course, was not the case now.
"It does seem like an odd choice now but, if you had seen her then, it would have fit. She was nearly as pale as the flowers she is named after and almost as frail. Things seem to be different now, though" Arwen retorted, favoring Niphredil with a smile.
Pale was a word she could still associate with herself but frail was not. Frail defined her friend Hope more than anyone else. Then again, Hope was deceptively tough despite her looks.
"Will I be able to go to Lothlorien someday? I'd like to see if it is as nice as I remember it. I use to dream about that place when I lived in the other world," Niphredil asked, breaking into the conversation.
"I believe you will. Your great-grandparents would be most eager for you to meet them…again. There is something, I feel that your great-grandmother would like to speak with you about. It is more her place to tell you about it than I," Arwen answered, being elusive.
No one had dared mention the gift Niphredil had been blessed with. Mostly because no one, not even the lore master Elrond, knew what to make of it. The only one who ever showed any understanding was Galadriel. Thus is fell on her to tell her very young great-grandmother about it.
The room grew quiet for a moment as an unspoken question formed in the air. It was the bringing up of the elves and of one of their strongholds that had done it.
Aragorn cleared his throat uncomfortably and, in an almost hesitant voice, asked, "I know this is something I should not be asking, Niphredil, but have you made your decision yet? Time grows short for you and there are many who would like your answer."
Niphredil shifted uncomfortably and sat up against the headboard of her bed. She pulled her knees into her chest, resting her head on them. Telling her story had forced her hand, made her decision so painfully easy that she wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it before.
She was being given on opportunity to break any and every tie she'd ever had with the Jones family. That included ties to name, home, and, oddly enough, race. Name was easily changed- she was already thinking of herself as part of her biological family. Home, too, was an easy switch. No longer did she live in Westchester, New York; she was from Middle Earth now and lived in the city of Gondor.
It was the race part that both shocked and disturbed her. Dare she take the chance and break that one final tie to her previous life.
Then again, what would breaking that final tie do to her family here? She didn't want them feeling angry, upset, or resentful towards her. She could go back to the Jones for that kind of treatment. She wanted them- in the worst way- to accept the decision she had made.
All she had to do was own up to her unconscious decision.
"I have, actually. Please, I'm begging you, don't be angry with me. This has nothing to do with both of you. It's just that my time in the other world- what I've seen and done and experienced- has made me…unhappy…with the race of men," she started, trying to gather up what nerve she had.
Suddenly, that karate trained courage- her tough girl façade- was gone. She was what she really was. Just a very scared child faced with a decision that was a whole lot larger then she was.
A verdict had to be rendered, though, and she knew what choice she wanted to make.
"I think I'd like to be considered an elf," she, ever, so slowly admitted.
Niphredil buried her head in her knees, not wanting to meet the eyes of both her parents. She was half expected some type of harsh retort from them about her decision.
The retort never came. Since it was her decision and her decision alone, there was very little her parents could do about it.
They could be resentful and angry and fault her for what she felt was right but neither Aragorn nor Arwen felt the need to do that to their daughter. Acceptance, just as she had accept them and the circumstances surrounding her birth had been accepted by Elrond, was the best and only acceptable policy.
"That is a fair decision, my child," Aragorn broached, "and it seems to be the best one for you. It will be a double honor for my daughter to be a child of the Eldar and sail West someday."
"It will?" she asked, sounding both stunned and surprised.
This was certainly not the reaction she was expecting. A pleasant surprise to say the least.
"Of course," Arwen added, guessing at her husband's train of thought, "someone must tell my mother about us and how happy we were. It will do her well to see you there and it will make me feel better."
That much Niphredil didn't understand but she decided to go along with it. After all, they weren't screaming at her and telling her how horrid she was. That was a very good sign to say the least. Such acceptance was very odd to the maiden who had come from a world where she was an outcast- no accepted- since she was different.
There was just one thing left for her to do…not what her decision had been made. One thing that could bring closure to this whole situation.
"Would it be alright," she asked, "if I were to go back to the other world for a bit?"
"Why?" Arwen countered, "Are you unhappy here?"
With a half wicked smile, Niphredil replied, "It's nothing like that. There's just a few things I have to do and I want you two to, please, come with me."