Chapter: Denial is a River in Egypt

            "How could anyone like working here?" grumbled Allie.

            "Well," answered Kristen, "the other elves like it."

            "That's because they're crazy," muttered Allie in a sing-song voice.

            "I remember cooking with my mom," said Christina a bit dreamily. An uneasy silence had filled the room, it was broken a minute later as Glorfindel came to check in on them.

            The girls all looked up as he walked in. Glorfindel could tell there was something different about them. Usually they would be (for lack of a better Elvish phrase) 'bouncing off the walls.' Though, today, they seemed downright depressed. He felt a little hurt for them; these girls might be the most annoying he had ever met, but he had still been looking after them for almost a week and a half now. "Time for bed," he said simply and, by now, the girls all knew what that meant well. All three of them yawned and crawled into bed.

            It wasn't a particularly cold night, but the girls seemed to be hogging the covers more then usual. It seemed more for comfort then for warmth and Glorfindel noticed that Kristen had even just grabbed an extra pillow and held onto it. As he walked out of the room, the girls looked almost peaceful, even though they drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

~~~

            "What's wrong with you girls today?" Forfin was worried; the girls weren't annoying him as they usually did. Today they looked solemn, as if someone might have just died. But, the girls merely shrugged and Forfin knew they hadn't even known what he'd said since they hadn't even gotten out the Translator.

            Forfin decided it was best to maybe leave the girls alone (which he really didn't have a problem with since it was usually them that bothered him).

            "I just wish I knew how to get back," Kristen whispered.

            Allie thought for a moment, "What was it that Becca and Chelsea would say?"

            "'When lost, look for the Magic Mirror,' and then they'd giggle uncontrollably," muttered Christina. Who knew the ways of their friends? Oh, right, they did.

            "I wonder where they are…" pondered Kristen. The other two girls looked at Kristen for a moment. "You think they're in Middle-Earth?"

            Allie shrugged, and then turned back to her work, "Who knows; they could be anywhere."

            "Alright, I know something's wrong," Forfin said, watching the girls as they continued in an almost silence (almost because Forfin had no idea what they were saying in their own language). The girls finally looked up, blinked, and then started looking for the Translator. "Finally," muttered Forfin.

            "What?" all the girls said together.

            "What's wrong?" this had to be the tenth time he'd asked. All he got was a shrug and, "Nothing." If this was how people acted in their land, it must be a very confusing and frustrating place.

            He should have kept questioning them, but he didn't. He was cooking, it was something he loved to do, and if the girls were going to be like this then they could wait a little while longer.

            A little while later, Forfin and the girls were outside. The girls meandered while Forfin sat on one of the benches.

            "Bubbles!" Allie giggled as she swatted at the water.

            "Allie, act your age!" said Christina as she rolled her eyes.

            "Don't want to," Allie replied as she got up and sat down next to Forfin, who had been watching the girls. He was glad they no longer seemed depressed.

            "Can we go back?" he asked. Allie checked the Translator and quickly came with the reply, "No!" and giggled. Forfin sighed and rubbed his temples; these girls could really get on his nerves. Christina and Kristen joined Allie and Forfin on the bench.

            "You know," Christina said, "I have a theory."

            "Really?" Kristen asked. "What's that?"

            "I think we're having a very detailed dream."

            "But…" Allie scrunched up her forehead in thought, "we've…felt stuff."

            "Well, sure! But you know how sometimes dreams can be detailed like that. We're probably just imagining we're feeling it."

            "Makes more sense then the alternate," Kristen shrugged off. The rest of the girls nodded and just sat there on the bench, staring at the sunset.

            There are three ways to deal with change that we can express in this story; one was acceptance, which we saw in Lothlorien when the girls there accepted where they were; and another is denial, which was expressed here in Rivendell. The third and final dealing can now be expressed from the girls in Rohan…

~~

A/N Well, that was a pretty short chapter. Anyway, I need a new beta! Anyone out there willing? Better yet, any PPCers from the board reading this and want to help a poor lonely author out?

Oh, and I must admit, I used a Name Generator for all the Elvish/Rohirrim names in here. You may all now throw rotten vegetables at me. I know, I'm a bad person. I'm also not very creative when it comes to naming things. Tolkien I am not.    

Hope you liked the chapter, don't expect an update soon and then when the update comes you won't be disappointed!

~Fawkes