Elladan and Elrohir met in the hall outside Katie's room the next morning. Nodding a greeting, they both headed for her door. Just as they reached it, it opened and Lithorniel stepped out, having just built up the fire against the winter chill.

"Is she awake?" Elladan whispered.

"No."

"Excellent." Elrohir smirked. "Is it safe to go in?"

"Yes, but I can tell you from past experience, it may not be safe to wake her up…"

Elladan stifled a chuckle. "We are brave and mighty warriors. We laugh in the face of danger!"

"Just do not laugh in the face of a groggy nineteen-year-old, my lord," Lithorniel said with a demure smile and curtsey, and left them.

Cautioning each other with hand signals to keep quiet, the twins silently opened Katie's door and peered around the doorframe.

Katie lay on her stomach with her face turned toward the wall, one arm tucked under her pillow and the other hanging over the edge of the bed. Elrohir wondered how she could ever sleep in such an uncomfortable position.

They crept over to the side of her bed with exaggerated caution.

Elrohir opened his mouth and filled his lungs to say something very loud and waggish in her ear, but she beat him to the punch.

"Whoever that is planning to scare me, I'm awake already and I can hear you chortling under your breath."

Both of the twins cracked up at once. Katie rolled over to ascertain the identity of her would-be attackers.

"Oh God, not you two," she muttered in utter disgust. "Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

"Come, come, you're not dead," Elladan said. Katie rolled back over onto her stomach and put her pillow over her head. Elladan continued innocently, "Although, if you do not rise immediately, we could make sure you wake by dragging you out of bed and tossing you outside in the snow. And then you would wish you were dead."

"Wish we were dead is more like it," Elrohir muttered.

"Katie peeked out from under the pillow and stared at Elladan hard with her left eye. "You wouldn't."

"Try us."

Katie's left eye narrowed.

"You leave us no choice. Elrohir, take her feet—"

"Alright! Alright! I'm up!" Katie shrieked.

"Good." Elrohir smiled at her smugly as the two of them headed back toward the door. "Dress quickly! We want to hear the story of your escape from the wargs last night." He shut the door before Katie could reply, but they heard her incensed squawk through the wood paneling.

000

A little indignation must have given Katie fuel to get up faster, because she opened the door after less than ten minutes, fully conscious and fully dressed, albeit with her hair uncombed. The twins entered and took seats by the fire.

"Where's Estel?" Katie asked, plopping down on the couch she had occupied the night before and pulling a comb through her tangled hair.

"Asleep," Elrohir answered casually.

Katie narrowed her eyes. "You let him sleep in and you made me, who walked miles in the snow last night in just jeans and a sweatshirt, get up early?"

"Of course! We had no need to ask him about his near escape from the vicious wargs of Imladris!" Elladan answered dramatically.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Glawar told you, huh?"

"No; Glawar told Lithorniel, who told us."

"Lithorniel?"

"Yes. When she returned his cloak."

"Ohhhh, right," Katie said, nodding. "I forgot about that."

Elrohir shifted into a more comfortable position in his chair. "So you arrived in the middle of the forest along the Great Road at sunset?"

"Yes." Katie yawned widely. "And yes, I agree that Ilúvatar works in mysterious ways, and no, I have no idea why he did that. But there it is."

"And the wargs?" Elladan teased, impatiently.

Katie threw her hands in the air in exasperation, causing her to lose hold of her comb. It flung halfway across the room, and she started to laugh. Elrohir jumped up and retrieved it for her.

"Thanks. Okay, I was walking down the road in the freezing cold and the dark and I had no idea where the heck I was, but I figured I might be in Middle Earth, and I heard wolves howling, which I had never heard before, and I was a bit creeped out, and I remembered Legolas having said that some wolves in Middle Earth are evil and eat people, and it scared me half to death and I ran away. There. Happy?"

Elrohir actually looked a little concerned. "I am sorry you were frightened," he said. "Legolas should have told you that they are not very common around Rivendell."

Katie waved it off. "That's alright. Like I said, I wasn't even sure it was Rivendell I was approaching. Tell you the truth, the scariest part was probably when Glawar rode up and I didn't know who he was. I was so relieved to see a familiar face, I can't even tell you!" She suddenly sneezed.

Elladan pulled a handkerchief out of his sleeve and handed it to her.

"Thank you," she replied thickly, and blew her nose.

"Come, we want you to meet some people before breakfast," Elladan said, standing. "And we ought to wake Estel." He smiled mischievously. "He doesn't know you are here."

"He somehow managed to miss all the excitement last night and went to bed before anybody could tell him," Elrohir explained as they headed down the hall.

They repeated the same performance of sneaking into Estel's room, only this time, Katie hid at the foot of Estel's bed.

"Come on, Estel, wake up," Elladan said, shaking his human brother.

Estel muttered something and pulled the blanket over his head. Katie clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing aloud.

"Get up, Estel, there's someone here to see you," Elrohir continued, pulling the blanket away.

"Go 'way," Estel growled, then paused. "Who?"

"Wake up and see, Master Slugabed!" Elrohir exclaimed.

Estel sat up, grumbling unintelligibly under the breath. He glared up at his brothers through half-opened eyes. "Now. Who is here to see me?"

Katie sprang up at the foot of his bed. "Surprise!"

Estel jumped, then stared. "Katie?"

"In the flesh!" she declared, "hand-delivered by the powers that be, and freeze-dried for your convenience."

He jumped out of bed and gave her a quick hug, his brilliant smile much in evidence. "Did you just arrive this morning?"

"No; last night. In the middle of the woods. In the dark," she said tersely and bitterly.

"Surrounded by wargs," Elrohir added seriously.

"Wargs?" Estel turned large eyes on him. "But there aren't any… Oh." He shook his head at Elrohir with a grin. "You are incorrigible."

"I know." Elrohir smiled right back. "Go on, get dressed for breakfast! We have to go introduce Katie to Erestor."

"Who's Erestor?" Katie asked as they led her down another corridor, nodding to elves as they passed.

"Father's chief counselor," Elladan explained. "He was away in Lórien the last time you were here."

"And how long ago was that, by you calendar? It's been six months or so since you guys came to Pennsylvania."

"Much the same here," Elrohir replied. "Our hunting expedition was successful, and Legolas soon departed for Mirkwood. On our way back to Rivendell, we were accosted by orcs. Estel proved himself a mighty warrior and slew many of the foe, for which deed he was much honored by our father. On our return we discovered that Erestor and the others had returned from Lothlórien. Erestor had been much intrigued by our father's letter concerning your stay in Imladris, and has positively badgered us with questions about you! We are hoping that once he meets you, he will ask you his thousand unanswerable questions and leave us alone."

Katie laughed at the jibe, but the smile she turned on him was joyful. With an exaggeratedly contented sigh, she exclaimed, "I just love the way you guys talk." The twins laughed, and she continued. "You said, 'Erestor and the others'. What others?"

Elladan smiled secretively. "You will find out soon enough."

Katie rolled her eyes with a chuckle, but was saved from thinking up a retort as they entered Elrond's study. Elrond and another elf rose from their seats by the fire and greeted the three younger beings. After the flurry of salutations, Elrond said, "Erestor, may I introduce Katelyn Elvellon, the one you have heard so much about. Katie, this is Erestor, my chief advisor."

Katie managed a not entirely clumsy curtsey as Erestor bowed politely. "Elladan and Elrohir have probably told you that I am quite interested in hearing about you and your world," he said kindly and enthusiastically. "I hope I may speak extensively with you later?"

"Of course," Katie said, smiling in a friendly manner.

"Ah, here she comes," Elrond said happily, and they all turned toward the door.

The figure entered, and Katie stifled a gasp.

TBC

AN: Dun dun dunnn!. :)

Laer4573: Thank you; you relieve my mind. :)

IwishChan: There he is!

theycallmemary: I know, it lowered the dramatics a bit. But don't worry, she'll get her share of angst later. —smiles wickedly and knowingly—

werewolflemming: How did the test go?

lunelwe: Sorry, no Legolas in this one. Substituted Erestor and our mystery elf instead; I didn't want to have to juggle too many characters at once. I know, I'm lazy. But I adore Legolas to eensy weensy bits, so he'll be back in a sequel.

RavensDestiny: I know I at least read partway through OFUM and enjoyed it highly, particularly Frodo and Sam's lecture on platonic friendship. :) Must go back and read some more.

AlabrithGaiamoon: lol!

EresseElrondiel: What was the teacher talking about you for? I'm sorry you didn't have a good time. You should have kicked the guy; now that you're out of school they can't suspend you! jk "Fanfic updates are like brief glimmers of light amid the torrent of dark exams." My thoughts exactly on reviews! Except it's a torrent of dark boredom in my case…

Erasuithiel: Yeppers, that's Glawar! I really like him, so I brought him back for some more! lol I'm so happy to see everyone so thrilled! I'm glad you guys like reading this stuff as much as I like writing it!

ThoseRainyDays: Yessss twinsy goodness…

Thanks also to Doredhiel and Fk306!

Please leave me a brief glimmer of light amid the torrent of dark boredom, and I will leave you another update!. :)