Glawar swung easily down off his horse as Katie climbed stiffly to her feet and stuffed her hands back into her armpits, where they were warm.

"Katie Elf-friend," Glawar greeted her formally, with a bow as she bounced up and down before him. "What are you doing out here?" He pulled off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders, fastening it at her throat for her.

"I d-don't know," she answered through chattering teeth, "but am I ever g-glad to see you! I feel b-bad taking your c-cloak; won't you need it?"

"Elves are not hurt by the cold as humans are," Glawar reassured her.

"Lucky elves," Katie muttered.

Glawar heard her and laughed, then picked her up without warning and set her lightly on the horse.

"We must get you back to Imladris and get you warm!" he said, swinging easily up behind her. Gripping her with one arm, he took the reins with the other hand and commanded the horse into a canter. Katie would normally have been embarrassed by being put in such a position, but as she was awfully cold and it was comforting sitting where she was, she didn't demure. It made it easier that Glawar didn't seem at all self-conscious or awkward about the situation.

"I saw your tracks suddenly appear by the road quite a way back and followed them," Glawar explained. "Why did you suddenly stop and then take to your heels?"

"I heard some wolves," Katie answered, pulling her hood a little closer to protect herself from the bite of the wind rushing in her face. "Legolas told me wolves around here sometimes eat people."

Glawar chuckled, but not meanly. "Sometimes they do, but wargs are much more common out in Mirkwood than they are in this area. The wolves you heard were normal animals."

"Well, I wasn't about to stand around and find out if they were or not!" Katie retorted with acidic humor.

Glawar laughed again, and they both fell silent.

Finally, Katie spoke up, asking something that had been on her mind almost since their opportune meeting. "What were you doing all the way out here?"

"I was on patrol," Glawar answered easily.

Katie's brow furrowed. She had heard nothing about patrols while she was in Rivendell before. She had heard Elrond's family discuss the guards and other groups of people who served the elven community, but patrols had never been mentioned. Why would there be patrols now?

In a short time, they reached the Bruinen. Katie had only ever crossed it once—or at least, she could only remember crossing it once. She had been unconscious the first time. She was amazed to see that it was still flowing, and wondered if the horse would catch its death of cold by wading through the ford. The waters came up over her feet and ankles, and she was surprised to realize that the water actually felt rather warm!

"It's not cold," she said in amazement as the horse climbed out the other side.

"No, Lord Elrond did not want to freeze the patrol's horses," Glawar agreed. "So he warmed the water at the ford."

Katie's eyes grew big. She supposed that his power over the water must have something to do with Vilya, his ring—but she hadn't realized it was powerful enough to warm up an entire section of river in the middle of winter!

In comparison to her little jaunt in the woods, it was a pretty short ride from the ford to Rivendell and the House of Elrond. They rode directly to the stable yard, where a stablehand took charge of Glawar's horse. He also greeted Katie formally, but she could only managed a small smile and a nod in return.

Glawar lifted her down from the horse and bustled her into the house. He led her down the corridors, most of which Katie was too distracted to notice, and knocked on a door.

A voice called back in Elvish, and Glawar opened the door and bowed to the room's occupant. "My lord, I encountered a traveler on patrol and have brought her back to Rivendell."

"A traveler?" the voice answered. "Who would be about in the woods at night?"

Katie peeked around Glawar to see Lord Elrond pace out from behind his desk. At the sight of her, he stopped for a moment, then smiled broadly.

"Katelyn Elf-friend!" he exclaimed, coming forward to embrace her. "Oh, but you are frozen through!" He took her arm and led her over to a couch in front of the fireplace and made her sit down on it.

"Thanks," she managed to say through stiff lips.

He turned back and exchanged a few words with Glawar in Elvish as Katie rubbed her hands and held them out to the fireplace. It was so nice to be someplace warm and comfortable, where she knew the people would take care of her.

Glawar left the room and Elrond came back and pulled up a chair by the couch. "So Ilúvatar has brought you to us again, I see," he said kindly, his eyes smiling.

"Yes. And he must have one heck of a sense of humor. The first thing I did when I arrived was slip and land directly in a snowbank."

Elrond smiled. "Well, a room is being prepared for you, and we will get you into warm, dry clothes soon enough."

"Thank you," she answered sincerely. "I'm feeling warmer already."

000

Elladan heard voices raised in exclamation down the hall. Leaving his sitting room, he strode down the hall toward the guest rooms and peeked in one of the doorways. Two ellith were putting bedding on the bare bed, while chattering excitedly to Glawar, who was helping by lighting a fire in the bedroom hearth.

"What is all the excitement?" he asked them in Elvish.

They all turned toward him. "Your friend has returned, my lord," Glawar said, grinning.

"My friend?"

"Katie Elvellon," Glawar clarified, standing and brushing off his hands. "I found her on the Great Road on the other side of the Bruinen, half-frozen through."

Elladan's eyes grew wide as he heard this pronouncement. "Katie?.! Where is she now?"

"With your father. He should be bringing her down soon."

One of the ellith excused herself and slipped past him, heading down toward the kitchen. The other, Lithorniel, was pulling some blankets off of a shelf in the closet.

"I must go tell Elrohir," Elladan said, and headed down the hall.

He knocked on his brother's door. "Come," Elrohir called.

Elladan opened the door and stuck his head in. His brother looked up from the book he was reading. "Shame on you, Elrohir, not coming to greet our guest," Elladan scolded, grinning from ear to ear.

"Our guest?" Elrohir asked, bemused. "What guest?"

"Come and see," Elladan answered, and led him back to the guest rooms.

"Elladan, you know we expected no guest tonight," Elrohir continued as he followed him. "Who would come to Rivendell in the middle of a cold snap like this?"

"Someone who has a tendency to show up in strange places at strange times," Elladan answered mysteriously.

"Mithrandir?"

Elladan laughed. "No, no. Completely off. Looks nothing like Mithrandir, and would probably be a bit insulted that you implied it."

"You are having altogether too much fun with this," Elrohir muttered, but his brother could tell he was amused.

When they reached Katie's room, Lithorniel was bustling about, clucking like a mother hen while she wrapped a warm blanket about a familiar-looking figure sitting by the fire.

"Katie!" Elrohir exclaimed and came forward to give her a hug.

"Elrohir!" She unhesitatingly threw her arms around him. Elrond looked on, smiling. "Elladan!" she added, hugging him as well.

"My goodness, Glawar was not exaggerating! You really are half-frozen through!" Elladan declared, hugging her back. He tucked the blanket more tightly around her. "How long were you outside in this cold?"

"Too long," she said succinctly. "I'm hardly dressed to be trompin' around in the snow." She pushed the heels of her shoes off with her feet and tucked her stockinged toes up under the blanket to warm them. "I feel like an icicle." The other elleth returned with a warm drink, which Katie took with a grateful thank you. "I arrived at about sunset," she continued, sipping her drink. Then she yawned widely.

"We should leave you to go to bed," Elrond said, beginning to herd his sons out of the room.

"I'd argue with you, but I'm too tired to bother," Katie said with a half-smile. "What with trying to pick my way in the dark and running from wolves…"

"Running from wolves?.!" the twins both exclaimed at once.

Elrond and Katie laughed. "It can wait for the morning," Elrond told them, pleasantly but firmly. "Sleep well," he added to Katie over his shoulder.

"Thank you," Katie called back before Elrond gently shut the door.

"It is good to see her again," Elrohir said joyously. "I did not know if we ever would."

"It is a shame that Legolas has returned to Mirkwood," Elladan added as the three of them headed down the hall. "I know he would like to see her, as well."

"Well, she will get to meet some other members of the household this time," Elrond said, joining the conversation. "I know Erestor, for one, will be interested to hear her side of our tales."

"Yes." Elrohir fell silent a moment. "I hope her arrival does not forebode some coming calamity. If a pattern is created, our people may begin to call her Storm-Crow as some men call Mithrandir!"

TBC

AN: Mmm… Not the best way I've ever ended a chappie, but 'twill have to do. :)

ellith: feminine plural of "elf". Fem sing: elleth. Masc sing: ellon. Masc. plural: ellyn. Got that?. :)

Elvellon: Elf-friend

Mithrandir is the Sindarin name for Gandalf.

Ravens Destiny: True, there really was no where to go with the plot anymore (except for the whole grandma-breaking-her-neck thing…). Do tell, what does smiggle mean? I know huggle and glomp, but not smiggle. :)

Hermione at Heart: lol I'm glad I make you so happy!

Eclecticbabe: On the subject of the bells: It's like Tolkein found things that made no sense in his works, instead of changing them, he came up with explanations for them. I guess changing from the atmosphere of one world to another causes some interesting anomalies in the air pressure, which create a sound like bells, both to the person doing the inter-dimensionary travel and to those in the immediate area. :) You'll learn more about the second question as time goes on. I promise you, there actually is a good answer for that one.

EresseElrondiel: Oh no, you didn't trip going across the stage, did you?

theycallmemary: Yes, the term MElings is officially going back in the drawer—unless I decide to bring them back to Pennsylvania, but I'm not planning on it at present. And perhaps if I do I'll leave Estel at home so I can just call them elves. lol

Idontletschoolgetinthewayofmyedu: (cool name, btw) That's precisely my reasoning. Be nice to the reviewers, and they'll be nice to you. lol jk! No, I honestly love getting reviews so much, I want to express that appreciation to my readers, and the best way I've found is by replying! I also like talking to you guys in real time on IM. Thanks!

ThoseRainyDays: Sequel! Sequel! Sequel! —laughs— I'm going to have to start randomly singing that to Roomie and see if she gives me funny looks… She probably will, but she's getting used to me now. :)

IwishChan: Yay, another reader! And one that actually didn't get bored half-way through and quit! —does a little dance— lol Welcome aboard!

Thanks also to Coollilyflower and werewolflemming!

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