The evening was so warm and pleasant, that Katie, Megan, Josiah, Mercy and the MElings went and sat on the porch after dinner, chatting. Despite seeming much more cheerful and relaxed, Elrohir was still very quiet and kept falling off into thought. Elladan avoided the subject until Josiah and Mercy had gone back in.

"Do you feel ill again?" Elladan he asked his brother quietly.

Elrohir gave him a reassuring half-smile. "No, not ill. Seeing some of the beauty in this world has done me good," Elrohir assured him. He paused and looked out over the valley. "But I cannot say I am well again, either. Though the sting of these thoughts has lessened greatly, the thoughts—the doubts and fears—are still there. I wish I could speak to Father of this."

Elladan nodded. Their father was very wise, having experienced six and a half millennia of life on Arda in the company of elves and of men. He would indeed know how best to allay his son's fears. Unfortunately, they were not now in a position to seek his advice.

Elrohir parted company with the rest of them shortly and went to the guest room alone while the others stayed at the main house. "I just want to be alone—to think," he reassured them, and left silently. Elladan watched his retreat frowningly.

"I do wish indeed that Father were here," he said quietly. "He would know what to say to him."

Estel stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps there is someone here in this world who could talk to him," he said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Elladan asked.

"Well, it seems to me that the best person to talk to him about the hope of humankind would be a human," Estel said earnestly. "Some wise, older person here who knows this world and all its shortcomings and still has hope."

"Do you know of such a person?" Elladan asked Katie.

Katie frowned and bit her lip. "I'm not sure," she said slowly.

Legolas, who had sat silently for some time, suddenly clapped his hands together. "What about your grandmother?"

"What about her?" Katie asked, confused.

"When you were talking to Elrohir earlier about having faith in the purposes of Eru, you mentioned a saying of your grandmother's: 'God works in a mysterious way.' She sounds wise; perhaps she could help?"

"Of course!" Katie put her hand to her head in amazement. "Why didn't I think of that? She'd be perfect! And, she's the only person I told about my 'dream' of you guys—other than you, of course," she added to Megan. "She'd be great!" She stopped and frowned. "But she lives in Harrisburg."

"How far is that?" Elladan asked, jumping up and beginning to pace.

"Oh, a couple of hours," Megan answered vaguely.

"Is there any reason we could not go to see her?"

"I don't think so," Katie said. "But you won't all fit in my car. Or at least, you might, but it would be pretty uncomfortable."

"I'll help drive," Megan said nonchalantly.

"Are you sure?" Katie asked.

"Yeah. I'll just go straight back up to school from there," Megan assured her. "They're showing a movie tomorrow afternoon that I want to see anyway," she added. "And you can give me a call if you need me to drive everybody back to Watson."

"Thanks." Katie smiled gratefully at her roommate. "Alright, tomorrow morning, then? It seems a pity to haul Elrohir back out of the great outdoors again so soon, but…"

"But the sooner we get to the root of the problem, the better," Legolas finished sagely.

000

Accordingly, when the MElings went to the other house for bed that evening, Elladan informed his brother of the plan. Elrohir only nodded. Elladan asked him his opinion of the plan.

"I trust your judgment, muindor-nín," he answered simply.

Accordingly, soon after breakfast the next morning, they all packed up their stuff and loaded it into the cars again. Megan took the lead on the way out of the valley, and onto a busy 4-lane highway, which Katie referred to as "81".

Elladan watched the other vehicles whiz past for awhile, then turned and watched out his own window. Even here, with this strip of busy, dirty technology running through it, the land was still rather beautiful. There were intermittent patches of forests and fields along the highway, and it was quite enjoyable to watch them flit past so quickly. A glance over his shoulder informed him that Elrohir was doing the same.

After about an hour and a half of driving, Katie moved into the other lane and passed Megan. Now that they were nearing Harrisburg, she explained to the twins, she was going to take point and lead them to her grandmother's house.

They passed over a bridge, and down below, Elladan could see a sweet little river. "What river is that?" he asked Katie.

"Oh, that's not a river, it's a creek. The Conodoguinit—not to be confused with the Conococheague, that runs through Watson's campus."

"What is a creek?" Elladan asked, confused.

"It's like a stream," Katie explained vaguely. "It's not nearly wide enough for a river."

"I have seen rivers that narrow," Elladan insisted.

Katie laughed. "That ain't no river," she said, shaking her head. "Trust me. We're coming up to a river."

They drove through a community filled with stores that Katie identified as Camp Hill. Then they were on a bridge and crossing a wide, beautiful river. The twins both caught their breath. It seemed to be a mile wide, far wider than the Bruinen at its widest point.

"This is the Susquehanna," Katie told them in her best tour-guide voice. "It's not very deep—about seventeen feet at flood stage, and about five most of the rest of the year—but it's plenty wide! The famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson fell in love with the name when he traveled through Pennsylvania."

The bridge was held high above the river, and other such bridges were visible out Katie's side. The twins looked out over the water with smiles on their faces. In the middle of the river was a small island, with people and little buildings on it, and on the far side was Harrisburg.

There were houses high up on the banks over the river, and Elladan could see tall buildings in the city, far taller than the ones around Watson College. Visible behind some of these was an elegant dome, with some kind of statue on a spire on top.

"What is that green dome?" he asked as they got off the bridge and into the city.

"The capital building," she answered. "Harrisburg is the state capital."

Katie drove them through the city, the twins craning their necks to see the high buildings they passed.

"This is very strange," Elladan finally commented.

"What is?" Katie asked, turning a corner.

"All these great, high buildings… and not a single soul on the street!"

Katie laughed. "Yep. That's Harrisburg!" She paused as she negotiated another intersection. "It's too bad I can't take you to see the Forum, I think you'd like that. It's this gorgeous building, and the main room has maps all along the walls, and a gigantic sky chart painted on the ceiling! There's a light bulb for each star, and then the pictures of the constellations are painted around them. I always adore going there for things."

"Do they hold formal programs in the Forum?" Elrohir wanted to know, speaking up for the first time in quite awhile.

"Yeah. Big concerts, awards ceremonies, graduations… In fact, I think Megan graduated there. She was home schooled," she clarified.

They were soon out of the city again, and driving along roads with much smaller buildings on them. Finally, Katie pulled into a small parking area in front of a row of houses and parked the car. Megan pulled in beside them, and they all piled out of the vehicles and stretched.

Leaving their things in the car, Katie walked up to the front door of one of the houses with the others trailing behind and rang the bell. "Please be home, please be home, please be home," she muttered.

In a moment, there was the sound of footsteps, and then the door opened and a woman looked out. "Katie!" she exclaimed, and hugged her granddaughter.

"And who are your friends?" she asked, surveying them.

"Well, this is Megan, my roommate," Katie began, then stopped. "And the rest—it's kind of a long story."

"Well, don't just stand there!" her grandmother said cheerfully. "Come on in!"

Megan politely declined, saying she wanted to get back up to school, and left again. The rest all followed Katie's grandmother in the door. On one side of the entranceway, there hung a large hat on a hook—brilliant red, with a bright purple band. Next to it was mounted a poem, entitled, "When I Am Old I Shall Wear Purple".

Elladan didn't have long to think about it, as Katie's grandmother was leading them past it and down a hallway. Katie tripped over the edge of the rug in the hall, and barely managed to catch her balance. "Shit," she muttered.

"Bathroom's on the left, Dear," her grandmother called back calmly.

Katie grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Gram."

They all found themselves in a comfortable sitting room, furnished with chairs, a couch, a coffee table and a TV. Katie's grandmother gestured for them all to sit down. Estel, Legolas and Elrohir took the couch, and Elladan perched lightly on the arm next to his twin. Katie took one of the armchairs and her grandmother the other.

Elladan observed this woman quite closely. She looked to be in her early- to mid-sixties, her hair still dark, though streaked with gray, particularly at the temples. She seemed an energetic woman, and her dark eyes sparkled with continual laughter.

But there was something else to her, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He caught some sense that there was something different about this woman, that she was different from anyone else he had met in Pennsylvania—different, in fact, from anyone he had ever met in Middle Earth, as well! She did not feel, somehow, like a regular human, nor like an elf, nor even like a wizard. For a moment, he could almost believe that she was really something else altogether.

"Now, tell me this long story," she was saying to Katie.

Katie bit her lip. "Do you remember when I told you about that dream I had, where I ended up in another world and stayed with a community of elves?" she asked, by way of an opening.

"Yes, of course," her grandmother replied.

"Well, uh… These are them," Katie said, gesturing to the MElings, who watched the older woman carefully to see her reaction.

It was very slight. Katie's grandmother raised her eyebrows for a moment, and looked them over carefully. When she spoke, her voice was perfectly calm.

"Well," she said cheerfully, "that explains the pointy ears."

TBC

AN: I've been to Harrisburg few enough times that I actually had to check my facts on the number of bridges and so forth with a map. Pathetic, huh?. :)

The Susquehanna River is indeed almost a mile wide at Harrisburg. The Conodoguinit runs very near my house, and I just had to put it in. :) An interesting note: in Pennsylvania, we differentiate not only between rivers and creeks, but between creeks, streams and runs. Streams and runs are pretty much the same thing, but creeks are rather wider. The creek they passed over is about wide enough to be considered a river in some other places in the world—but of course here in America, with our great big rivers, it's only a creek. :) The Conococheague gets called "the Con" on my college campus, and Liz is always calling it the river and we're always correcting her. It's a creek, Liz! A creek! (Another interesting note: Pennsylvanians also differentiate between a "rock" and a "stone". Rocks are bigger.) I'll put a photo of Harrisburg over the Susquehanna on my website.

Oh, and Katie's grandmother is not based off of mine. She's what I hope to be like when I'm older. :)

fk306: I came out with human on top, then father down elves, then hobbits, and then way down at the bottom, dwarves and ents.

Doredhil: I've never been bitten by a horse (thank goodness), but one of Megan's did accidentally step on my foot. Luckily, it only got the edge, so it didn't really hurt. Thanks for the treats!... No money?. :( lol

Ravens Destiny: lol Oh dear. Did your brother accomplish his goals?

Madd Hatter: Well, ents are at least very interesting creatures! And since Treebeard's speech pattern was supposedly copied off of CS Lewis (my favorite author!), I'd take it as a compliment!. :)

werewolflemming: Being a Pennsylvanian, we have tons of excellent Hershey's chocolate. I'm just not all that huge a chocolate fan! (I know, I can hear the shock in your voices…)

Thanks also to EresseElrondiel, and I sent everybody's happy birthday wishes to Megan to show to Mercy!

—swings a pendant in front of her readers' faces— You are getting sleepy… Very, very sleepy… When I snap my fingers, you will remember none of this, you will only click the little purple button and leave me a review… —snaps her fingers—