Dinner passed much the same as lunch had. During a pause in the conversation, Katie glanced around the room. She giggled. "I'm amazed the floor isn't slick with drool," she said in a low voice. The girls all laughed.

"I don't understand," Elrohir said with a smile. "The food is not that appetizing."

That elicited another laugh. "No, I mean you guys," Katie clarified.
"Us? What about us?"

"Oh, geez. Someone else explain. Liz?"

Liz turned red and seemed at a loss for words. Dana took point.

"They find you highly attractive," she explained slowly. "You're eye-candy."

Estel began to laugh.

000

As they passed the first room on the hall, the door was open. "Kiiiiiiimpossible!" Katie crowed.

"Hey! What are you guys up to?" the girl inside answered.

"Just came back from dinner. Hey, we're putting up a couple of guests, and we've run out of beds. Can we borrow the mattress off your top bunk?"

"Yeah, sure. Hey, one of them could sleep in here," she offered.

"Um, I think your boyfriend would object to that," Katie said, motioning the MElings into the room.

Kim's eyes widened, but she laughed. "Yeah, I think he would. Hey, I'm Kim," she introduced herself, waving to them.

"My cousins, Dan, Ron and Eric, and their friend Lee," Katie said quickly, and moved to pull the mattress off Kim's top bunk.

"Here. Let us," Elladan offered, and he and Legolas smoothly lifted the unwieldy pallet down.

"Thanks," Katie said, as Kim exclaimed, "Wow, you guys are strong! I'll have to call you when I want to rearrange my furniture!"

Katie laughed. "Alright! Off to the room!" she commanded in a deep voice.

"It was nice meeting you," Elrohir said to Kim with a bow as the others left with the mattress.

Kim looked impressed. "You too," she managed to get out.

"You guys are regular Don Juans," Katie said as they put the mattress on the floor, between the beds. It barely fit. "Charmin' the socks off everybody!"

"The socks off?" Legolas mouthed to Elrohir, who shrugged.

The MElings spent the rest of the evening reading, as Megan and Katie sat at their computers and… well, Legolas didn't know what they were doing. There was intermittent clacking of keys and clicking of the mouse. Legolas finished reading Hamlet and wandered over to stand behind Katie. She was typing words into a little box on the screen. She entered a few lines, and then a few more lines appeared in response, which she had not written.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She looked up. "I'm talking to my friend Kara from high school."

"Talking to her?" He leaned on the back of her chair.

"Yeah. This is instant messenger. You can type back and forth with people in real-time. So it's like you're talking to one another. Come here." She scooted over on the chair, making room for him. He sat down beside her, and she began to explain about the internet. She showed him how to check email, how to use a search engine, and a few other things, all the time carrying on a conversation with Kara.

Katie explained about blonde jokes, and pulled up a page of them. Some of them, Legolas didn't understand, but quite a few were very funny, and Katie soon had him laughing out loud.

So when Liz walked in the room, Legolas and Katie were sitting together on one chair, laughing uproariously. Liz looked at them with a strange look on her face, then shook her head. "Hey, I'm hungry. Do you guys want to go to McDonald's?"

Elladan glanced at the clock. "But it's after ten o'clock!" he said. "Isn't it a little late to visit anyone?"

"McDonald's, Dan. The restaurant," Katie said over her shoulder to him, as if he were just confused. "Sure," she added to Liz. "You guys want to come?"

All four MElings and Megan agreed. Legolas felt much better with the prospect of going outside, even if it was at ten o'clock at night.

They once again took two cars; Katie and Liz both drove. Dana hadn't come, but they still made a party of seven when they all piled out of the cars outside the restaurant. Megan laughed.

"They're used to seeing the three of us at ten o'clock, but it'll be a new experience for them to see all of you!"

The people behind the counter inside did indeed look a bit surprised to see so many people coming in together so late, but they handled it with aplomb. Legolas was impressed with how fast they served the girls their food. None of the MElings wanted anything, having eaten their fill at dinner.

Katie only had some chips, which she called "French fries". She and Dana ate an amazing amount of sauce on their "fries". It was red and was called "ketchup". While they ate, the girls chatted about anything and everything.

When they returned to the school, Elladan and Elrohir took an identical deep breath of night air. "Let's go for a walk," Elladan suggested.

"Yeah, sure," Katie agreed. "We'll be up in a while," she added to Megan and Liz.

"Okay," Megan answered, but Liz didn't answer.

The night was warm, and Legolas thankfully breathed in the smell of the trees along the road. They all walked in silence for a time. "It feels good to breathe free again," Estel said quietly.

Katie stopped walking. "Oh my God," she said slowly, "you guys haven't been outside all day, have you?" She put her hand on her head in disbelief. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to imprison you in that tiny dorm room!"

"Do not blame yourself," Elrohir said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You were trying to keep us safe."

"Well, there are plenty of other ways I can keep you safe," Katie said, shaking her head. They started walking again. After a few minutes, she snapped her fingers. "I've got it. How about you spend tomorrow in the library?"

Elladan's eyes lit up. "Is there a library here?"

"Of course! It's a college," Katie explained patiently. "There are tons of books, big rooms to wander around and read in, and this really pretty courtyard. You can be inside or outside, with something to do, and places you can talk without worrying about people overhearing you. And it's much bigger than the dorm room. How does that sound?"

"It sounds excellent," Legolas said. "Thank you, Katie."

She turned back with a smile to answer him, but cut herself off. Elrohir had stopped and was staring up at the sky. "What's the matter, Ro?"

Elladan walked back to him. "What is it?"

"Look," he said, still staring upward.

All four of them looked upwards. The other MElings gasped. "What?" Katie asked. "I don't see anything."

"No," Legolas said, staring at the black sky. "There is nothing to see."

"What?"

"There are no stars," Estel answered. "What has happened to the stars?"

"Nothing," Katie answered, bewildered. "There are just a lot of lights coming off the city. I can see a couple of stars—over there. You can see 'em better away from the city."

"Elrohir?" Elladan said quietly.

Elrohir shook himself and looked back at his twin with a tight smile. "It just gave me a bit of a shock, that is all," he answered him in Elvish.

Legolas looked at the two of them in some concern, but Estel turned back to Katie. "You told me once that the lights of your world dimmed out the stars. I wasn't sure whether to believe you or not!"

"When was that?" Elladan asked as they began moving again.

"Oh. Um, the night after Legolas got sick," Katie said quickly.

"But Estel spent the night in Legolas' room," Elladan observed.

"Yeah. Well, I kinda had a nightmare, and I went and talked to him for awhile." Katie smiled a little sheepishly.

Elrohir returned fully to the conversation. "Have you had any nightmares since you have returned?"

"No," she said flippantly. He raised one eyebrow in vague disbelief. "You look like your father," she said, which caused the others to laugh. "Oh, alright. Yes, I've had a couple. Not bad, though. They faded a lot when I came home. I think I'm starting to repress the details. Which is just as well."

Legolas listened with one ear as the conversation moved on. He was glad to see Elrohir distracted by another's distress. The spectacle of a near-starless sky had given them all a jolt, the elves particularly, but it seemed to have particularly disturbed the younger twin. Legolas was sure that Elrohir's heritage had something to do with it. After all, when your grandfather was the morning and evening star, a blank sky would tend to upset you!

But tomorrow, it would be better. They would have an entire library to distract them. Both of the twins, and Estel, too, were quite fond of reading. He himself was not averse to it. And they would have a change of scenery, and a much larger room to occupy. Tomorrow was sure to be better.

TBC

AN: I know, it's quite a bit shorter than usual. But I've got a ton to cover in the next chapter, so it should definitely make up for this one! I might have had this posted earlier, but I moved back from college Thursday morning, and then started cleaning my room. I'm mostly done now, two and a half days later… Seriously, my room is cleaner than it has been in years. Today is the first day I turned on my computer since I got home! I've been cleaning my room the entire time!

 I know, it's quite a bit shorter than usual. But I've got a ton to cover in the next chapter, so it should definitely make up for this one! I might have had this posted earlier, but I moved back from college Thursday morning, and then started cleaning my room. I'm mostly done now, two and a half days later… Seriously, my room is cleaner than it has been in . Today is the first day I turned on my computer since I got home! I've been cleaning my room the entire time!

Laer4572: You're giving me ideas… mwa ha ha… Oh, and if Haldir shows up, you're welcome to help out all you like!

EresseElrondiel: The problem with all these songs, is that they'd have to know them before they can sing them for karaoke… And I doubt very much that "Oops, I Did It Again" was ever sung in the Hall of Fire… Elrond would ban it…

Arlindor: Agreed. Even scarier, Tolkein saw Middle Earth as an ancient Earth—our world, just about 7000 years in the past. So it will look this!

Doredhil: Thanks! I'm trying to be as unconventional as possible. :) Well, both my roomie and Liz are horsie girls, and neither of them are eque-bitches, so if you're not one yet, I'd say you're safe. :)

RavensDestiny: Um, dear, if Elladan is wearing a kilt, and you drag him in by the ankles… Well, let's just say, we will discover for sure whether they wear underwear under kilts… Kinda like Jeff, huh? Well, if you can't scare up some tears, just cover your mouth with your hand and turn away like you can't look. Very dramatic, no tears involved. :) But actually, by the time you read this, I suppose you will have finished the last night anyway. "Dead, dead Harry": I love it! And yay, a long review! I must read your fanfiction…

Hermione at Heart: As soon as I get the time in between cleaning my room:)

werewolflemming: Mmm… Big excitement, you say? Right-o!

Darkened Dreams: Lucky people! Getting tshirts! Hope the final night goes off alright!

Thanks also to Those Rainy Days, Madd Hatter and Arwen Skywalker! Every review brings a smile to this writer's face! —pulls the most frightening grin you've ever seen—

Please review! If you say something startling enough, it may force me to update rather than cleaning out my closet:)