Katie stared in amazement as an exquisitely beautiful elf-maiden came in the study, her raven-black hair flowing behind her and her sapphire eyes glowing. "Good morning, Ada," she said pleasantly, giving her father a peck on the cheek. He gave her a kiss back. "Good morning, muindyr-nín, she continued, exchanging a kiss on the cheek with each of the twins, who replied with a "Good morning, muinthel-nín." "Erestor," she added, nodding pleasantly to the counselor, who nodded back.

"Arwen, may we introduce Katie Elvellon, whom you have heard so much about," Elladan said politely. "Katie, this is our sister, Arwen."

Katie managed to stop gaping long enough to drop a confused curtsey and say, "Pleased to meet you."

Elrond and Erestor left inconspicuously in order to discuss something, leaving the younger beings to their conversation.

"I am so glad to finally meet you," Arwen was saying enthusiastically to Katie. "Anyone who can discomfit Legolas as my brothers tell me you do is someone I would dearly love to talk to!"

Katie laughed. Elrohir reflected that while his sister's beauty of form and spirit gained her the respect of many, she also had a decided knack for putting people immediately at their ease. She had the true nature of the elves, to be so wise and knowing on one hand and able to be so completely silly and joyful on the other. Much like Vivian, come to think of it.

Estel appeared in the doorway and greeted them formally. "Ah, Estel," Elladan said. "Well, shall we go to breakfast, then?"

"There are more people here than there were," Katie observed as they entered the dining hall.

"Yes, many of our people were in Lothlórien with me, and have returned for awhile," Arwen explained.

Elladan pulled a chair out for his sister and Elrohir did the same for Katie, who seemed momentarily surprised at such treatment. It had taken her a long time to become accustomed to such simple courtesies the last time she was in Imladris, and Elrohir imagined it would take her a few days to become used to it again. It was indeed true that they had seen very little evidence of that kind of courtesy toward females while they were in Pennsylvania, but then again, they had been at a women's college, where there were few males for them to observe.

After breakfast, Elladan turned to Katie. "I'm afraid my brothers and I must go out on patrol for most of today, but Arwen said she would like to get to know you better."

"Yes," Arwen spoke up from her other side. "My brothers tell me you have only had a cursory glance over the house, and since there is snow on the ground, I thought you might like to have a more in-depth tour."

"Yes, please," Katie said excitedly. "Despite staying here for a little over a week the last time, I really did not see the entire house."

"Well that's settled then, Elrohir said pleasantly, as he and his brothers rose from the table. "We will see you on our return."

"Stay safe!" Arwen told them. The twins each kissed one of her cheeks and bowed to Katie, and Estel bowed respectfully to them both.

"Well, shall we?" Arwen said to Katie, who agreed. They rose from the table, and the ellyn stood politely. Arwen and Katie took leave of Lord Elrond and the others and left the dining hall.

"This is the front hall," Arwen said, gesturing to the large, open room they had entered, "and the main staircase. You have seen these already, have you not?"

"Yes. But I'm curious: what is that painting of?" she asked, pointing to a large framed landscape on one wall.

"Glorfindel slaying the Balrog," Arwen said reverently. "He saved Tuor and Idril and their child Eärendil in the siege of Gondolin and fell to his death in Cirith Thoronath. Eärendil was my father's father."

Katie looked thoughtful for a moment. "The morning and evening star, right?" she asked tentatively.

Arwen laughed in surprise. "My brothers taught you that?"

"Yes. They tried to teach me about the Silmarils as well, but I got lost in all the F names and, well…"

Arwen nodded understandingly with a wry smile. "Finrod, Fingon, Fingolfin and Finwe?"

"Among others," Katie concurred dryly.

"I think Erestor would make a much better tutor than either of my brothers. He and my father educated all three of us—and Estel as well, I imagine." They began to walk on down a passageway. Arwen explained a few more paintings and tapestries and explained the uses of a couple of the rooms Katie wasn't familiar with.

Arwen glanced down at this friend of her brothers'. They had told her all about the young girl and their adventures with her, both in Middle-Earth and in her own world. It was so very strange! After all, the elves in general regarded stories of other worlds as complete fiction, a thing for children to make-believe, and nothing more. It was hard to reconcile that deeply-held belief with Katie's appearance. Furthermore, it was well known that the spirits of the elves traveled not beyond the bounds of Arda—how then was it possible that her brothers and Legolas had survived the journey to Katie's world? Legolas in particular. She and her brothers counted themselves elves and lived as elves, but there were many differences between themselves and full-blooded Edhil. They and their father were built more on the lines of men than of elves—slightly shorter, a little less slim. They also did not have quite the same keen senses as the general run of elves, and a few other differences that marked their mixed heritage. Even the Dúnedain, with whom her brothers had ridden out countless times since their mother sailed, counted them as men, and some called her father Elvellon rather than Edhel.

Katie was as silent as Arwen herself, apparently contemplating something. Finally she spoke.

"You said you guessed that Estel had been educated by your father and Erestor. Don't you know for sure?" she asked.

It took a moment for Arwen to realize what she was driving at. "No; I was not here to see Estel grow up. I have been visiting our mother's kin in the woods of Lothlórien for many summers now. I only met Estel a few months ago." And what a very interesting meeting it had been.

"Oh. So you weren't here when he was born?"

"No. But he was not born here. My brothers brought Estel and his mother here after his father's death at the hand of orcs. He was two at the time. His mother, Gilraen, was rather young, as well. My father took them in and raised Estel like a son."

"Ah." It was obvious Katie had never heard this story before.

Arwen stopped in front of a particular door. "This is Erestor's study. I know he would like to speak with you; do you want to go in?"

"Sure," Katie agreed cheerfully, and Arwen knocked.

"Come," Erestor answered in Elvish, and they went in.

"Arwen, Katie! Welcome," he said, rising from his desk and gesturing to some comfortable chairs. "Please! be seated. I have so many questions to ask you about your world, Katie, that I almost do not know where to start!"

Katie glanced at Arwen, who spoke for her. "I have been showing Katie around the house, and she has admitted to me that my brothers attempted to teach her some of the Silmarillion and failed. Perhaps she could tell you about her world, and in exchange you could teach her about ours?"

"That is an excellent idea, híril-nín," Erestor agreed. "Would you like me to teach you about Arda?"

Katie nodded shyly. "Yes please," she answered happily.

000

The twins and Estel strode through the halls of their father's house, stripping off their gloves as they went.

"There has been no sign of the perpetrators for two weeks, ever since this cold snap began," Elrohir was saying to the other two. "I think perhaps we can suggest to Adar and Glorfindel that they reduce or remove the patrol, at least until it becomes warmer again. These men know better than to attempt anything in this cold."

"I agree," Estel said seriously. "There has been no activity in the forest since before the snow fell."

They fell silent for a moment, unclasping and pulling off their cloaks. "Well I, for one, am quite ready for dinner," Elladan said cheerfully. "Let us go and dress for it."

Estel nodded emphatically. "I agree with you whole-heartedly, brother!"

Elrohir clapped him on the back with a little laugh. "Poor Estel! We so often forget that you feel the cold more than an elf."

A smile was the only answer he received, for at that moment they met up with Lithorniel. The three greeted her cheerfully. "Have you seen Katie?" Elladan asked.

"She has been in the company of Erestor and your sister all day," the maid replied before taking her leave.

"Good," Elrohir commented, "Arwen will have enjoyed keeping her company, I think."

The three went to their quarters to change for dinner, and as they headed toward the hall, they met Arwen and Katie, with Erestor and Glorfindel chatting behind them.

"Mae govannen, muindyr-nín!" Arwen exclaimed in greeting. Elrohir chummily put his arm around his sister's shoulders, and Elladan offered Katie his arm. "Did the patrol meet any trouble?"

"None at all, muinthel-nín," Elrohir answered blithely. "This cold has scared them off, I think."

"Yes, it is indeed bitterly cold out," Erestor observed. "It has been many long years since snow has lain on the ground for this many days."

"I do not know that I have ever in my twenty years seen snow in Imladris last more than two days, and for it to snow at all here is rare," Estel agreed.

Katie frowned. "So this weather is unusual for you?" she asked.

"Yes indeed," Arwen said. "The weather in Rivendell is generally more temperate than this. Is it otherwise in Pennsylvania?"

"Yes, I think Pennsylvania is probably hotter in the summer and colder in the winter than Imladris," Katie said, pronouncing the Elvish name carefully. Erestor smiled. "Just last year we had a blizzard—a big snowstorm," she clarified, realizing they wouldn't recognize the term. "We had a little over three feet of snow in a day or two, and it stayed on the ground for a week and a half."

They had come to the dining hall by this time and went to take their seats at Elrond's table. Elrohir pulled a chair out for Arwen and Elladan for Katie. Erestor leaned over to her as he took his own seat.

"Perhaps I could teach you a bit of Elvish as well?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.

Katie's face lit up. "That'd be great!"

TBC

AN: Phew! That was hard to finish!—as I'm sure you could tell by how long it took me to update… Honestly! I work on fanfiction just about every day! I sit down at the computer, pull up the document, stare at it for a few minutes, then decide I have writer's block and go off and do something else. lol

EresseElrondiel: Wow, that is a tiny class! Ours was 239. They actually did say something about me, though, because I gave one of the commencement speeches. I don't remember what they said, but I remembered I thought it was really funny what they put in and what they didn't mention.

crazycatluver: lol I know exactly how that goes! My roomie gives me the funniest looks if I'm sitting at my computer and suddenly start cracking up! I really missed her the other day because I was reading Camilla Sandman's "Official Fanfiction University of Middle-earth" and laughing my head off and she wasn't there to look at me funny. —sighs— I miss my dorm room.

IwishChan: I think he was just in another part of the house when all the commotion was going on, and then managed to go to bed without being informed.

Hermione at Heart: Heh… —laughs nervously— Well, I wasn't so great at updating fast this time…

werewolflemming: August? That sucks. Sounds like AP tests, where you take 'em in April or May and don't get the results until July…

Fk306: Good guess!

Erasuithiel: Actually, I did think for a little while about bringing one of her high school or college friends to Middle Earth with her, but I decided it would be a little too Mary-Sue. Although, with nobody in our world having read LotR in this version, it might be interesting. Yes, I'm glad everybody liked the "freeze-dried for your convenience" line; it was so much fun to write! Where am I getting these ideas? Oh dear. From my waaaaaaaay over-active imagination, I think. Some situations just pop into my head like little daydreams—for instance, the first chapter of this story—and then I decide I have to incorporate them into my stories. Which leads to problems, because I end up having to fill in plot and exciting chapters in between the stuff I've got figured out. That's most of my problem with writer's block. It's also why these stories end up so short.

Ravens Destiny: Good guess! Oh dear, you got fired? That really sucks. Hope I can continue to cheer you up!

Laer4572: Another good guess! Lazy and smart often go hand-in-hand, I believe. :) George Bernard Shaw said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." In the same way, we got most of our inventions by lazy people who wanted to make life easier for themselves—just look at the dishwasher!. :)

lunelwe: You're right!

Doredhiel: Mmm… —munches cookies—

If you guys have ever wondered why I put dashes instead of asterisks, or put periods between an ! and a ? or between a ! or ? and a :) it's because is very very weird about punctuation and deletes some marks if you don't please it.

My computer's name is Fred, but he has been acting so possessed lately, I'm considering re-christening him "Legion"... Had to reboot the dumb thing twice in half in hour this morning.

While you are waiting for my next update, let me recommend Camilla Sandman's "Official Fanfiction University of Middle-earth", which I've been re-reading lately. Incredibly funny.

And as you are composing your review, let me leave you with this little gem of wisdom: "Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup."