Chapter Seven
Lianne O'Connor Williams sat in a police station with her head in her hands.
"No we didn't have any kind of argument, yes I'm sure he wasn't having an affair, and if he was why would he take three teenagers and a six year old with him?!"
"Ma'am, these are routine questions..."
"Is it routine to ask them repeatedly?"
"If you were to remember something..."
"I'll tell you, yes I know. Good-bye, Officer, I'm leaving now."
She opened the door violently and walked right into a wall shaped like a tall black man in uniform.
"Excuse me." She started to go around him.
"Ma'am?"
She paused. "Yes?"
"I know your husband, ma'am. Officer Williams didn't run off and leave you. There's some kind of reason for his going, I know it."
"Thank you," Lianne said. "I just wish I knew where he was."
Erin got up with the sun that day- the faintest of mists rested over the gardens below their window, turning the world a silvery gray for a moment. She leaned on the sill and watched as it dispersed slowly. Behind her Rhian was sleeping still- twice during the night she had woken, murmuring Gaelic, and then sleeping again. Rosie too was asleep, curled in a ball with her thumb in her mouth. Erin looked back out the window- the mist was fully gone, and outside the day was already beautiful. She slipped one of the elven gowns over her head and went quietly out.
A bush, feathered with long slender leaves, and dotted with pale flowers, shielded her from the sight of the other two who walked out early that morning. Catching a glimpse of Aria and Frodo, speaking closely, she drew back, but as she left she heard "-you are half-hobbit, half-elf, not of the race of Men!..." Erin ran through the damp grass, smiling to herself. Rhian had often told her about seeing a lonely girl on the campus, but never coming into contact with her, and without knowing her Erin had pitied her. She had always felt alienated, always disliking pop culture, always dressing different, acting different. Ballet had been her whole world because she belonged there. She had retreated into a place where the skills she had earned respect. Rhian- Rhian had carved a place for herself, still an outsider, but one who made her presence known, bold and strong willed, moving out instead of in. But here, there was no pop culture. No standard she was expected to conform to. Aria hadn't conformed because she couldn't; Erin and Rhian hadn't conformed because she didn't want to.
She smiled again, rising up on tiptoe and spinning so that the blue of her skirts swirled around her.
In the days and weeks that followed the revelation of Aria's lineage, she became a truly different person, with a sweet, warm nature that bubbled over with laughter. Everyone saw the change in her; and those who watched closely, like Gandalf and Elrond- perhaps also Aragorn, when his thoughts could be turned from the moments spent with Arwen, and the road ahead- but those who watched saw the reserve of the two sisters melt slowly and slip a little. They began to act with everyone else the way they acted with each other, sometimes startling the elves with their behavior- long would the tale be told of the day two human girls chased each other through the Last Homely House, so that the rafter echoed with laughter. Much time was spent with Aria, and the hobbits- Merry and Pippin were now officially Rosie's 'Un'ca's. Erin caught glimpses of what passed between Frodo and Aria, even as Rhian, looking through different eyes, saw the same with Aragorn and Arwen.
But for this time, there was peace in Rivendell.
Erin made a habit of walking out in the morning. The sun shone brightly, and behind her there were shrieks of "Faster, Un'ca Merry, faster!" and the strange sound that Meriadoc called neighing. She shook her head. Pippin the Pony had already pleaded death as the cause for his collapse, and was goading "Un'ca Merry" on with a switch. Rosie had been doing her best to tug out all of Merry's curly hair, to make up for the lack of reins. Quiet fell as she walked through the trees, and she couldn't help reflecting, again, that this world held more than her own. Rhian, all afternoon, had been debating with Aria, and confusing everyone else, over the American Civil War. She began humming softly to herself, and then to sing-
"Who can say
where the road goes
where the day flows
only time
And who can say
if your love grows
as you heart chose
only time
Who can say
why your heart sighs
as your love flies
only time
And who can say
why your cries
when your love lies
only time..."
Her arms raised over her head and she spun, her eyes closed--
--and she stumbled, tumbling forward and falling with an oof against the chest of the man she hadn't seen, sending them both to the ground.
"Oh!" she gasped, pushing herself up- but halfway she stopped and stared down into his face, which could easily be called "one of surpassing delicate handsomeness." "Oh," she said. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She got as far as her knees before becoming entangled in her skirts and falling again. Legolas' gray-blue eyes laughed good-humourdly at her as he got to his feet and offered a hand.
"The fault is mine, Lady Erin," he said. "I should have gotten out of your way."
"Oh- it's all right." Erin felt terribly disoriented and wondered abruptly whether she could walk. She wasn't sure if up was up anymore, and the ground felt distinctly unstable. She and Legolas had talked together already for several hours, and she had decided she liked him a good deal. But now, having literally thrown herself into his arms, she was suddenly in love and uncomfortable with the feeling. Now he bowed to her.
"Will you walk with me, lady?"
"Oh...I- I was just going into the house," she said lamely.
"Then I shall walk with you."
Erin was silent until they had reached the porch, and Legolas asked a question she could not answer with a nod or a shrug- her legs didn't feel like they were jointed right anymore, and walking required all her concentration. "Do you miss your own world?"
"Not- not really. I mean," she rushed out, "I miss Aunt Lianne- That's Rosie's mother- and...and I miss my dance studio, and things like, like the corner grocery, and the funny molding in the apartement, but...I sometimes I think I didn't belong there anymore than Aria. Rhian and I- nor I, at least- didn't really have friends...well, we always knew people, but people never seemed to know us, and..." she stopped. "I'm sorry- I'm just babbling now."
"No, no," he said, studying her. "I think I see something of what you mean. But tell me- don't you miss your parents? You say nothing of them."
"Oh. Oh-" and she sank down onto the step. "They're dead," she said quietly, staring out across the grass. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "It was...Lianne, Rosie's mother, was- oh...they had gone out together, Mamma and Daddy, and Lianne was Daddy's youngest sister, the only one who lived, and....oh..." she put her face down in her hands and spoke to her palms. "It was night," she said, "night in the city, and...There were two men, and when they tried to-" her breathing caught and skipped and she went on- "Daddy faught, of course he would, but there was only the one, the other was in the shadows, and...and...Mamma was in the way, and they..." a sob slipped past her defenses. "One of those men was Rosie's father," she got out. "They were never caught, but they-" and she began to sob, helplessy. Legolas remained a comforting presence by her side, letting her lean on his shoulder until the crying stopped. "I'm sorry," she whispered, embarrased.
"Don't be. I thank you for your trust. It will not be betrayed."
"Thank you."
She smiled at him, and over his shoulder saw Rhian come from the corner, as Legolas stepped away to let them talk in peace, going into the house. Her sister caught sight of the tear stains on Erin's face and started forward, worry written in the lines between her brows.
"Erin, are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I was just- Oh Rhian!" She drew her sister down on to the step. "I've gone and done it, Rhian."
Author's Note:
If all goes according to plan, and Jon is a good boy, the million dollar question of 'Where are Jon and Bryan?' will be answered. Sorry to have kept you waiting for it...I had it all set up and everything...but it WOULD NOT be written, and there was nothin' I could do about it.
-Kat