Author's Note: Hey everybody! Apologies for the usual lateness of the chapter, but we are whimpering first year university students whose profs don't take: "But I'm writing a stor-eeee!" as a valid excuse for a late English essay. Curses.

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Cheers for RotK and all the cast and crew who won ALL their Oscars! *Nightrunners prance about in a mad little victory dance, chanting "Sweep! Sweep!"*

Oh, for those who will wonder, 'melisse' means a female lover in Elvish and 'meleth-nîn' means my love.

And now we present the chapter. Here it is, in all its dubious glory. Enjoy.





Conversations From an Everyday Life

Soundtrack: Força (Nelly Furtado)

It is the passion flowing right on through your veins
And it's the feeling that you're oh so glad you came
It is the moment you remember you're alive
It is the air you breathe, the element, the fire
It is that flower that you took the time to smell
It is the power that you know you got as well
It is the fear inside that you can overcome
This is the orchestra, the rhythm and the drum

Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma forca que ninguem pode parar
Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma fome que ninguem pode matar

It is the soundtrack of your ever-flowing life
It is the wind beneath your feet that makes you fly
It is the beautiful game that you choose to play
When you step out into the world to start your day
You show your face and take it in and scream and pray
You're gonna win it for yourself and us today
It is the gold, the green, the yellow and the grey
The red and sweat and tears, the love you go. Hey!

Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma forca que ninguem pode parar
Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma fome que ninguem pode matar

forca, forca, forca, forca, forca

Closer to the sky, closer, way up high, mais perto do ceu, mais perto do ceu

Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma forca que ninguem pode parar
Com uma forca, com uma forca
Com uma fome que ninguem pode matar





Galadriel heard the outer door of her office slam open. She stood up as Elrond stalked in, flanked by Elladan and Elrohir. Elrond looked pained, and Elrohir and Elladan wore gleeful expressions that were mildly disturbing on elvish faces.

"We've got to get them out of here."

Galadriel suppressed a smile at Elrond's tone. It brought words like 'long-suffering' to mind. "Why, pray tell?" she asked.

Elrohir shrugged. "Well, Legolas is climbing the walls-"

Elrond mumbled something about never treating Thranduil's spawn again, but was polite enough not to repeat it.

Elladan picked up the thread. "-and Gabe's walking around being Dwarvish, on purpose-"

"-and Estel and Arwen are doing that whole I-love-you, I-hate-you, not-talking thing-"

"-and the Hobbits are getting underfoot. Mithrandir's gone off somewhere, so he can't keep them out of trouble."

Then Elrond spoke up. "I believe I made my argument against shipping their instruments over here quite clear. They're 'jamming' somewhere down the hall from my office."

"Hey, don't drag us into this one, Ada-"

"-We like their music."

Galadriel paused, noticing that Elrond was definitely nursing a low-grade migraine. "What do you think? Is it safe to let them outside our protection for an evening?"

"They handled themselves well enough in New York," Elrond said "We can send some backup with them, for safety. But where could they go?"

There was some indiscreet coughing from the Twins. Elrond and Galadriel both glanced over, and Elrohir smiled innocently. "Well, since you asked..."

************

Adam sighed in exasperation as the telephone operator put him on hold for what seemed like the twentieth time.

"Remind me again why I'm the one making this phone call?"

"Because, you're the person who made the last one, Syphilis-boy." Peter snickered. "Besides, Alice asked you to take care of it. She's pissed enough at you already. Do you *really* want to argue with an angsting witch?"

"Not really. Also, knowing her, she'd solve our little problem by sending a spell down the wire and setting fire to the Precinct."

"Well, that idea does have some merit. I mean, how are you planning to explain your current absence from the country?"

"Shut up for a second, I think I'm finally getting through."

Peter could almost see the lines of dialogue scrolling across Adam's mind as he mentally rehearsed how he wanted the conversation to go. He had to give the guy credit; Adam really was a convincing liar when he wanted to be.

"Hi, Brenda."

"Adam! Hi. How's Utah?"

"What?!"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you the last time we were talking, we sub-let your apartment until February and we're putting Alice's paycheck into your account because she always used to do her banking in person."

"Brenda, what are you talking about?"

"By the way, we've only gotten approval for a year's sabbatical for both of you. *Please* try to be home again by next April. Also, the captain says that if you could find the time amidst your R and R to give us a call every now and then so we know you're still alive, it would be greatly appreciated. Byeeee."

************

Gabe was mentally kicking himself for getting into a poker game with four Elves. Legolas, Rumil, Orophin and Erestor were ranged around the table, their faces set on 'ethereal'.

//At least they're not glowing. That would be irritating.//

Luckily for Gabe, his cell phone rang. Legolas immediately snapped out of the blank serenity and looked curious. "Who'd be calling you here?"

Gabe shrugged. "I don't know. Peter, maybe, if he got lost again."

"But he hasn't left the building, has he?" Rumil looked confused, having missed the Fellowship's grand entrance.

"My point still stands." Gabe flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

"Um...Doctor Gleason?"

Alarm bells began to ring in Gabe's head. "Who is this?"

"Um...it's Dash."

"What? Oh, Dash! Shit!" The Elves looked confused, and Gabe glanced up at them, mouthing 'grad student'. "What is it?" he asked, professorly concern settling into his voice. Then another thought occurred to Gabe. "How the hell did you get this number, anyway?"

"Well, I was down at the student pub, and some weird old guy in a white suit came up to me, and anyway, it doesn't really matter. Doctor Gleason, Gabe, I think I'm gonna be shot if you don't come home right now!"

This last sentence ended in a rather drawn-out wail. Legolas and the other Elves, with their hearing, were looking bemused. Gabe sighed. "Dash, calm down. No one's going to shoot you. Except possibly me." Dash whimpered, and Gabe sighed again. "Kidding, I was just kidding. Now tell me what's wrong."

"The Dean. Going to kill me. Disallow my thesis. Life over."

"Aw, Christ. Okay, here's what you do. Go talk to Kristin, that's Doctor Poduska to you. Tell Rani that you two will be transferring over to her. She'll advise your theses from now on. I'll send her the information, god knows she owes me a favour or eight."

"But, hang on, wait- Gabe, what are you doing? When will you be back?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry about everything, okay? And don't worry about the Dean, I'll take care of that. He'll have my resignation tomorrow morning."

"Gabe!"

"Goodbye, Dash. It'll be okay, I promise." He broke the connection, dropped the cell phone on the table. It clattered in the silent room. Gabe stared at nothing in particular, with a slightly surprised look on his face. He remarked to nobody in particular: "At the tender age of thirty-six, I have just wrecked my academic career."

Legolas came over, laid an arm over his shoulder. There was nothing he could say, but he stayed there for a long time.

************

Alice had been pacing around her room since she'd gotten up that morning. Adam had stopped by at one point, and tried to appease her, but Alice was having none of it. Wanting to brood on her own, she'd sent him off to call someone back in Necropolis, in an attempt to keep Captain Daly from sending out search parties for her missing officers.

A knock on the door pulled Alice out of her funk.

"Adam, did you manage to get through to anyone?"

"Yeah."

Normally, Alice would have left it at that and gone back to pacing, but Adam had such a strange look on his face that she felt compelled to comment.

"Do we still have jobs? Are we being court-martialled ?" She paused to think. "Can they even do that to us? Remind me to ask Gabe..." When Adam failed to respond, she started to get truly worried. "Adam, speak! Has someone died?"

"We're on sabbatical for the year. Somewhere out west, apparently."

"We're what?"

"And your paychecks are being put into my bank account, by the way, so neither of us is in danger of going broke any time soon."

Alice looked at him in disbelief. "They're lying to Internal Affairs? That's going to land them in so much trouble when this comes out."

"I know. Heh." Adam smiled a little ruefully. "Nice to have friends, isn't it?"

Alice still looked gobsmacked. "What were you doing, *sleeping* with Daly?"

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing."

That made her laugh, a little. "Jesus. We're seriously up the creek, aren't we?" She spread her arms dramatically and flopped back on her bed. Adam sat down beside her, picking at a spot on the duvet.

"Alice, could I ask you something?"

"You can ask, but it doesn't mean you'll get an answer."

Adam groaned. "Do you have to be this difficult?"

"Is that what you wanted to ask?"

"No. I...well, I wanted to ask..."

"Spit it out, Adam!" She noticed that he was once again tugging compulsively at a lock of his hair. "You're going to go bald if you're not careful, you know."

"What? Oh, that. Um, Alice?"

"*Yes*, Adam?"

"Will you go out somewhere with me tonight?"

Alice was torn between hitting him, or allowing a soppy grin to break free. She ruthlessly squashed both urges. "To do what, exactly?"

"I was thinking possibly dinner, and then maybe we could go dancing." Adam put on his best hopeful puppy face. "Please?"

"You're asking me out on a date."

"No, I'm asking you to come bake cookies with me." He rolled his eyes "Yes, a date. Look, if you don't want to come with me because of what happened earlier, I'm sorry, 'melisse'. I never meant to hurt you. Neither of us did."

"Wait, do you mean 'earlier' as in 'earlier today', or 'earlier' as in...". She saw the look on his face and took pity on him. "I know what you meant. Dancing would be nice. We have a lot of time to make up for."

"Yeah, we do." Adam turned to go, but paused just as he reached the door. "I almost forgot, I found this in one of the gardens and thought you might like it." He reached into his pocket and made a face.

He held out his hand. It was a little golden flower. An elanor. Unfortunately, twenty minutes in Adam's pocket had nearly squashed it beyond recognition.

Alice smirked. "Well, this is poignant."

Adam groaned. "Shit. I used to be so much better at this."

She picked the delicate remains of the flower from his hand. Such a little thing, but a long time ago, she'd sat down on a hill, closed her eyes, and died in a bed of flowers.

He could see the direction that her thoughts were running. "I'm sorry." Simple words, but maybe they were enough.

She shook her head. "We made the choices and we had to live with them. That's something we both need to accept."

"Maybe this time we won't have to make that choice." He stood up. "I'll see you tonight."

Alice watched as the door closed behind him and murmured to the air. "There's always a choice to be made, 'meleth-nîn'. Always."

************

Felix had taken to wandering the endless maze of corridors of Goldenwood Enterprises. He wasn't admitting to anybody that he was attempting to tire himself out, so that perhaps an hour of unbroken sleep wouldn't be out of the question. He was considering heading down to the gym to take out his frustrations on a punching bag when he suddenly stopped.

"You know," he began conversationally, to the empty corridor, "I hate being watched. It makes me feel jumpy, and frankly, I'm getting kind of sick of it."

Galadriel came sedately out of an alcove, and smiled at him. If she'd heard his rebuke, she gave no sign, but inclined her head gracefully. "Hello, Felix. I've been hoping that we would have the opportunity to talk."

"About what?" Felix, being sleep deprived, was wary of everyone.

Galadriel, perhaps sensing this, didn't beat around the bush. "The nightmares you've been having. They've been growing worse, and more frequent, haven't they?"

Felix nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

Galadriel closed her eyes. "It is as I feared," she said, speaking as if to herself. She sighed, and looked up once more to gaze at Felix with those ancient and terrifying eyes. "Your dreams tell of things that may come."

"No." The reply was quiet, but that did nothing to detract from the vehemence. "You know what I saw. Everyone was dead, and everywhere, the snow was red with blood."

"True Seers are rare, I have found, but perhaps because of your rather...unique experiences-"

"No!" Felix interrupted. "Don't tell me I'm a damn Seer, because all I ever see is death."

Galadriel's eyes flashed, and she spoke sharply, "There is a difference between what may come, and what will come. They are possible futures only. Do not discard these warnings lightly, simply because they are upsetting to you, Frodo Baggins."

"Don't call me that," he snapped. "I'm not him. Frodo lived and died thousands of years ago, haunted to the end by a fate which *you* foresaw and did nothing to stop. Seems you can't follow your own advice!"

Galadriel shook her head, but her expression was one of sorrow now, rather than anger. "You speak of things, Ringbearer, that you do not understand. Then, as now, the board was set, and like before, you may not have a choice in what role you play."

"No. I refuse to believe that. I was a pawn in your game before, Lady. And you know what? It really sucked."

He turned back down the corridor, but was stopped by Galadriel's reply. "And how do suppose you will escape it, Frodo Baggins?"

"I told you, stop calling me that. That's not who I am."

"You do not realize how much it dictates your actions, then."

"What do you mean?" Felix asked, chilled by her words.

"Think on it. Why did you save a Necropolis street-child, one who would become your best friend and lover, and coincidentally just happened to be your most loyal friend of a previous life? And your other friends, who are they?" Galadriel smiled sadly. "You must accept that there is a force beyond your control that is shaping your fate."

Felix shook his head violently. "No. I hate fate. I had one once. I wasn't given any say in the matter, in fact. So you'll forgive me if I'm not thrilled with the idea."

He turned and walked away, and repressing a shiver at Galadriel's parting words. "As you wish. It doesn't really matter. Thrilled or not, you will not escape it."