"Where are my shoes?" Megan wondered out loud, searching under the edge of the bed.

"I ate them," Katie announced without turning away from her computer.

Megan ignored her, apparently quite accustomed to such comments. "Oh, here they are!" She pulled the shoes out of a corner and began to pull them on.

It was the next morning, and both girls were trying to get ready to go to class. The four MElings, meanwhile, were sitting on the beds, attempting to keep out of their way. It was quite difficult in such a little room. Elrohir reflected, for the dozenth time, that it was not made to house six people, especially of two different sexes.

Megan left for her class, and as Katie was at her computer, the other four could more easily move around the room. In a moment, Katie began to giggle.

"Oh my gosh," she gasped. "I want to play you guys a song—and I admit beforehand, I'm just doing it to see your reaction."

The MElings looked at each other with a mixture of amusement and apprehension. When the music came blasting out of the speakers (Katie appeared to have started playing at the middle of the song), all four of them instantly put their hands over their ears to shut out the sound. The vocals sounded like Dwarvish: "Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt. Willst du bis der tod euch scheidet…"

"Gah!" Legolas exclaimed. "Make it stop!"

Katie laughed, but did as he asked. The noise ceased, and they cautiously removed their hands from their ears. A few more clicks, and a much more pleasant sound filled the room. "Ahhhh," Katie said, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes in bliss. "Josh Groban. I heart him."

"Heart him?" Estel asked.

"Love him. Fantastic voice." Elrohir had to agree that the young man had a beautiful singing voice. "Too bad he's gay," Katie continued absently.

"What is wrong with being gay?" Elladan asked. "I find cheerful people enjoyable to be around… Otherwise I would not spend so much time with you!"

Katie paused in amused shock for a moment, then laughed. "Never mind. You don't want to know," she said cryptically.

Elrohir listened to the words of the song. The music itself was lovely, and the words! He was struck again at the way they seemed to fit with the songs and tales of Middle Earth and of Aman. "Soar to uncreated light"…

Soon after the song ended, Katie "put up an away message", as she called it, and pulled on her hoodie and her backpack.

"Alright, guys, time to go!" she said cheerfully, slipping on her "flip-flops".

She led them out of the building. It was the first time any of them had been outdoors in her world in the daylight, and they looked all around as she led them down a paved path along the black stone road. Rising before them were two gray stone buildings, and they entered the one on the left. They climbed a few stairs into the main room.

Elrohir smiled as he gazed up and around. They were in a very large, well-lit room. Down the center was a long table, with a number of computers on it. Along the walls were display cases with old books in them, pedestals displaying small pieces of sculpture, and many shelves of books. These shelves sectioned off small areas, some with a table and chairs in them for studying, some with beautiful couches and chairs for one to sit at their ease while they read. There were also large windows, through which he could see green branches moving gently in the breeze.

The room had a second level, as well. All along the room at the second story level was a railing, and there were more shelves of books. The second story soared up to a cathedral ceiling, and the walls displayed great, arched windows.

"Alright, here's your basic tour," Katie said in a low voice. Elrohir was pleased to note that there was silence maintained in this library for the sake of those who studied here. That was as it should be. "It's mostly children's books on this level. Those are mostly reference books," she pointed to the upper level, "and there's a little white marble stairway to it hidden over there on the wood-paneled wall. The other stairway is back here." She beckoned them past a wide desk, where a student sat working at a computer. "That's the main desk; ask the person sitting there if you have any questions." She gave them a brief tour of the library, which included the large rooms of bookshelves in the back section of both stories, plus the basement. "And here," she said triumphantly, pointing to a door, "is the door to the courtyard. It's very small, but it's secluded, and almost nobody ever goes in there. I discovered it my first week here, when I was bored out of my skull and starting to get homesick." She pushed the door open, and they looked out into an admittedly small, but quite charming little garden, enclosed on three sides by the walls of the library. "If you get sick of being cooped up indoors, you can come out here. Also, there are picnic tables out there," (she gestured beyond the courtyard), "just please don't get onto the road. I don't want to have to scrape you off the asphalt with a spatula. Any questions?"

There were none. "Alrighty, then. I've got to get to class. I'll come back to get you for lunch," she assured them, and walked out through the courtyard. When she was gone, the MElings looked at one another.

"What on Arda is asphalt?" Estel wondered aloud.

000

A tap on Elrohir's shoulder made him jump. He had been so absorbed in what he was reading, he didn't even hear anyone approaching.

"Easy there, Ro," Katie said, smiling down at him. "Absorbed in our book, are we?"

"Is this true?" Elrohir asked, pointing to the book. It displayed a picture of a small child, his belly distended with hunger. "Is it true that there are children starving in these countries, that people are being killed by AIDS, that people are being massacred…" He trailed off.

"Yeah," Katie said, looking concernedly at him. "It's true. I don't think they'd print it if it wasn't true."

"But that is terrible!"

"Yes, it is." Katie leaned over his chair. "But such things have gone on all through history—I'm sure they go on in Middle Earth, even if they're too far away for you to have heard about it."

Elrohir shook his head. He had been terribly saddened by the things he had read. He had read about the Holocaust the death tolls of the World Wars, about the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, about the American Civil War, and now he was reading about the problems in Africa. It had not been a pleasant stay for him in the library.

Estel walked over. "Is it time for lunch?" he asked Katie.

"Yep. Come on, let's go find Dan and Legolas."

The other two elves were in the courtyard. Legolas sat on the ground with his eyes shut and a smile on his face, and Dan was seated on the stone bench, reading a volume of poetry.

"What are you reading?" Katie asked, tipping the book up a bit so she could read the cover. "Oh! Emily Dickinson! I love her!"

Elladan smiled. "Her meter and rhyme are very quaint, but she deals with quite philosophical subjects, for all that," he observed. "I must admit, though," he added, "I sometimes do not know what she is referring to."

Legolas stood and brushed himself off. "Have you come to collect us for luncheon?" he asked.

"Yeah. Come on." She led them back into the building to put Elladan's book away. As the elder twin followed the group down a corridor, he caught the look on Elrohir's face.

"Are you well, muindor-nín?" he asked quietly, very concerned.

Elrohir shook his head. "I do not know," he answered in Elvish.

000

Katie had to work after lunch, so her guests went back to the library. After two hours, she returned. She discovered Legolas and Estel up on the second level, and Elladan among the stacks, but it took the four of them a bit longer to locate Elrohir. He was sitting on the stone bench in the courtyard, staring at the ground.

"Come on, Ro," Katie said cheerfully. "I'm taking you guys out on the town."

For the first few minutes, the MElings were startled by every vehicle that passed them. "They won't hit us if we stay on the sidewalk," Katie repeatedly reassured them.

Even so, the noise was incredible. "Is it never quiet in Pennsylvania?" Legolas asked in exasperation after a car horn had made them all jump, even Katie. "I have been aware of a slight hum everywhere we have gone since we arrived here."

"That's just the sound of our electrical appliances," Katie responded. "There are places in the country where you can't hear it as much."

"There are at least fewer vehicles at the college," Elladan observed, putting his hand to his nose in disgust as a particularly smelly car drove past.

Katie paused to respond to him, and Elrohir stepped off the sidewalk to cross an alley. There was the sound of a car horn, and the twin made a magnificent leap backward, almost colliding with Estel in the process. The driver of the car shook his fist at him and said something that was inaudible over the noise of the street as he turned out of the alley and onto the road.

Elrohir put one hand on the wall to steady himself. "I was so distracted by the noise, I did not even see it," he said in shock.

Katie's eyes were wide. "That was some jump," she said randomly.

"Perhaps we should return to the school," Elladan suggested diplomatically.

"Yeah," Katie said, looking nearly as shaken as Elrohir. "I think you're probably right."

TBC

AN: Well, I was going to make this chapter really long, but I'm onto the fourth page and I'm not even halfway through what I want to cover, so I think I'll leave it there for now. Oh, and the first songKatie plays them is "Du Hast" by Rammstein. If Megan were in the room, the elves would have been treated to the sight of her head-banging, which is the funniest thing you've ever seen in your life. Dana and Liz will testify.

Hermione at Heart: Yes, it is moving slowly, isn't it? If it weren't for the fact that things are established in this fic that I'll need in a later sequel, I don't think I'd write it. And yes, I do hate cleaning my room! But it's nice to feel you've accomplished something.

Darkened Dreams: Karaoke is coming up next chapter! But don't expect it to be riotously funny, because I don't think it's going to be… Just interesting. Yeah, I was really depressed after the play ended my freshman year. It was Children of Eden. I love that play. —sighs—

EresseElrondiel: Well, that would be nice, except that the karaoke people wouldn't have accompaniment to any Tolkein songs!

Laer4572: I don't know about devious, persay, but very iiiiinteresting…Mwa ha ha ha…

Ravens Destiny: You're right… it isn't! I actually like the movie of Brigadoon, but I will agree that parts of it irritate me. But then, parts of the play itself irritate me… Like, Fiona sometimes has very little personality… Ditto Tommy… I love Jeff, tho. In the high school production I went to see this spring, Tommy needed more time to change his costume, so Jeff started adlibbing, acting like he was drunk the entire time… It was hilarious.

theycallmemary: Wow. That was a lot of pleases and exclamation points! Sorry, Legolas will not be learning to drive. First of all, I don't trust him behind the wheel of a ton of screaming steel, and I don't think Katie would, either. Secondly, I don't think he would want to drive. He's not terribly fond of cars. Plus, if Katie's luck is anything like mine, he would be pulled over in two seconds flat, and then they would all be in trouble. Sorry!

Thalion: Well, in this little alternate universe Katie is living in, the Tolkein books actually have never been written. That's how she knows nothing of Middle Earth before she ends up there. But it's funny you mention that… I went down to breakfast one morning, and I found a sticky note in the stairwell that said "Mae govannen mellyn" in really pretty calligraphy. It kinda took me by surprise—so I kept it. :) I would certainly like to update the Susan story, but I need to figure out what the heck I'm doing with it, first…

Thanks also to Madd Hatter and RenegadeKitsune!

Please review! I love all of you guys' funny suggestions… And as you will see, some of them may end up in the fic!