Mithrandir came in soon afterwards and asked to speak privately with Estel, so Katie and Vivian headed out into the garden.
Vivian kept taking deep breaths through her nose and smiling wildly. "The air is delicious here," she commented.
It was indeed. Spring had come, and with it the flowers. They were coming up all around. The two of them passed a number of elves working in the flower beds, who all greeted them cheerfully.
They eventually came to a more secluded part of the garden and sat down on a stone bench. For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. Vivian had her head tilted back and was letting the patchy sunlight fall on her face from between the leaves of the overhanging trees.
"I'm amazed you didn't cry your eyes out when you got sent home the first time," Vivian finally said.
Katie looked at her, confused.
"I'd be so sad to leave this place," Vivian explained. "But I suppose the serenity here would somehow make it easier to leave. It seems to encourage quiet sadness rather than crying fits."
Katie nodded. "I thought when I first came that I would eventually be homesick. But actually, I never was. I'm still not homesick. I mean, yeah, I kinda miss my friends back home, and Mom and Dad, but time just… does funny things here."
"It's probably the presence of elves that does it," Vivian said with a grin. "After all, they're immortal… Barely seem to age after they hit twenty-five or thirty or so…"
"Fifty or a hundred, actually," Katie corrected her.
"Whatever," Vivian said dismissively, waving her hand. Katie grinned. Her grandmother had picked up that particular term from herself and the kids in the youth group. "You know what I mean. They must not change at all, for years and years and years…"
"Centuries… Millennia…"
"While any non-elves they know change so fast and get old and die. I'm actually pretty surprised that they have the number of mortals they do running around here. If I were an elf, I think I'd find it uncomfortable."
"Actually, Grandma, Elrond's part mortal. He and Arwen and the twins aren't full-blooded elves, which is why they look slightly more human."
"Ah. Well, that makes sense. So what are they like? The elves?"
Katie went into raptures. "Oh, they're wonderful! They're really noble, and… and breathtaking, but they're so kind, and nice, and funny! And Grandma—you should hear them sing."
Vivian smiled at her granddaughter's enthusiasm. But before she could say anything, a voice spoke up from nearby.
"Do not praise us too highly, or we may become conceited!" It was Erestor, smiling mischievously. "That name has been laid at the door of the elves many times, you know."
"Well, not by me," Katie said firmly. Erestor raised an eyebrow still smiling. "Oh, alright, I might've called Legolas conceited a few times, but he doesn't count."
Erestor and Vivian both laughed, and Erestor turned his attention to the older woman. "I hope you are enjoying the gardens, Madam" he said. When she assented he continued, "The sons of Elrond praise you highly, and Estel as well. They told me of how you assisted Elrohir when he was in your world." Erestor took a seat on one of the benches nearby. "I have many questions I would like to ask you at some point, if I may."
"Oh, no!" Katie exclaimed in mock horror. "It's like the Spanish Inquisition!" She and her grandmother exchanged a mischievously and said at the same time, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" then began to laugh.
Erestor looked startled, but amused. "What are you quoting?" he asked.
Vivian reached over and patted his arm in a motherly fashion. "I think it's best that you not know." She laughed again. "Feel free to inquire at any time. In fact, I have some questions for you, as well."
"Oh? What questions?"
"How old are you?" Vivian asked immediately and bluntly.
"Over four thousand," Erestor answered just as immediately, with no surprise.
Vivian whistled between her teeth and Katie's eyes grew round. She knew that Elrond was still older, but the sheer numbers still shocked her.
Her grandmother followed it up with the same question Katie had asked the twins on her own first day in Rivendell. "Don't you get bored?"
"No," Erestor said quite calmly. "Elves do not become bored."
"You don't? Lucky elves," Katie said feelingly.
"No. Sometimes an elf will become world-weary—you saw a bit of that with Elrohir when he was in your own world. But that is not boredom, but rather a heaviness of grief upon the fëa—the spirit. For the Elves, though they do not seem to show their emotions as much as Men because they have more control over their bodies, feel things even more deeply. And Elves have great and long memories, and so the griefs of all the centuries they have lived gradually pile upon them. Some die of this sorrow; some sail to Aman, even as Elrond's wife, Celebrían, did.
"But that world-weariness is happily rare—and in fact, Elrohir is the only person I have ever known to have been "cured" of it." He turned solemn eyes on Vivian. "That is part of the reason I wish to talk with you. What you did for him is something that, while we never thought it was impossible, we never expected to have ever seen achieved." He held her eyes for a moment, then continued with the original topic. "But Elves are ever more 'at home' in Arda than are Men. Men call us 'Grown-up children'. They say, 'There is no weariness in the eyes of the Elves'. In fact, I barely understand the word 'boredom'—the Men here have long had a saying, 'Too often seen is seen no longer'. My people have never understood that saying. We wonder much that in the tongues of Men the same word may mean both 'long-known' and 'stale'. Things are constantly new and beautiful to us in a way that they are not to Men."
Katie and Vivian had listened enraptured to this discourse. Katie frowned as if she barely understood the concept, but Vivian's entire expression glowed, as if she recognized something in what he had said, something familiar and well-loved.
Erestor broke the silence and turned the subject a little. "In that way, Elrond and his children are much like the Elves. They neither feel the weariness of many years upon their bodies, nor is the boredom that Men experience laid upon their hearts. Yet in many ways they are like Men, as well. They are both—and they are something entirely new."
000
Katie and Vivian spent most of the day with Erestor. Vivian was able to tell him more about their world than even Katie had, and especially about how it had changed during her sixty-year lifetime. Vivian had just finished explaining about the alliances leading up to the World Wars when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Erestor called, and Elrohir stuck his shorn head around the door.
"Are you going to keep them here all night, Erestor?" he asked playfully. "It is almost time for dinner," he added to their two guests.
"You go on," Erestor said, rising from his chair. "I have a few things to tidy up here, first." Vivian and Katie slipped out into the hall. Elladan, smiling playfully, offered them each an elbow, which they took. All three of them started down the hall. But before they could even begin a conversation, Elladan stepped out of a nearby room.
"Stealing all the pretty young ladies for yourself, are you, Elrohir?" he asked slyly and offered Vivian his arm.
She took it, but added, "Flattery will get you nowhere." He merely grinned in response, then struck up a conversation.
Elrohir and Katie fell a few steps behind them. "How do you feel today?" Katie asked her escort.
"Much better than I did yesterday," he admitted. "It felt good to get out into the sunlight." He paused. "I've never thanked you for your efforts," he said. "Le hannon, gwathel-nín."
Katie grinned mischievously. "Are you actually thanking me for being a brat?"
"Yes," he answered with a straight face.
Katie reached over and whapped him lightly on the arm, and he laughed.
000
Mithrandir took a seat beside Vivian at dinner, and they seemed to be getting along quite well indeed. Katie was impressed; she knew she herself probably would've been a little shy sitting next to a wizard. Then again, she realized, she was sitting next to a gorgeous elf-lord, and it didn't seem to be bothering her any.
But the elves had put her so immediately at her ease—while still being a bit unearthly. They inspired respect (all except Legolas, she thought with a silent giggle), but were so wonderfully kind! And she knew that they saw her as such a young thing, just a child almost, but it didn't bother her like it might've with other humans. She knew that she really was just a child next to them.
Then again, Estel was her age, and they treated him more like an adult. Well, he really was very grown-up, she admitted to herself. She was inspired with a sudden longing to be more than a cute college kid—but she didn't know how you became more mature.
Instead, she turned her attention to her grandmother. Mithrandir was speaking to her much as to an equal, which rather surprised her. Her grandmother, while obviously much older than herself, was still exceedingly young compared to him, or to any of the elves at the table. (In fact, Katie realized, her grandmother was just about Lithorniel's age.) They just seemed to know she was some kind of a kindred spirit, and treated her as one. Katie shrugged and turned her attention back to her food.
TBC
AN: Erestor's discourse on Elves' apparent incapability for boredom comes largely from Tolkein's Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, from Morgoth's Ring: the later Silmarillion, Part I. I'll be drawing a lot of ideas from that piece and from The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar (which may be found in the same volume). So if you want to follow along with this in the canon, that's where you can get it. Erestor's discourse on Elves' apparent incapability for boredom comes largely from Tolkein's , from . I'll be drawing a lot of ideas from that piece and from (which may be found in the same volume). So if you want to follow along with this in the canon, that's where you can get it.
I've got the basics of the plot figured out now, thanks to suggestions from my mom and my roomie. Who would've guessed Megs had a creative sadistic streak in her? Heh…
Princess Siara: It's too bad you can't chat. :( All your questions will be answered in due course! Oh, and thanks for pushing the reviews on that one over two hundred:)
RavensDestiny: Mm, yes, foreshadowing is so much fun to write…
IwishChan: I'm not sure how soon I'll get around to explaining why Vivian's there, but I promise I will get to it. As for how long Estel stays in the story… Read the first half of the tale of Arwen and Aragorn in Appendix A of Return of the King…
Melisande Mab: Yay!
theycallmemary: What, another one?.! lol I think if Vivian were part Ent, we could tell. The leaves for hair might give it away a bit. :)
MaddHatter: Mmm… Not really. :)
Erasuithiel: I would love to see if someone figures out what sets Vivian apart before I reveal all. Not that I'll tell you if you're right! lol
Redone: Very true. And you see, I used a bit of that in the end of this chapter!
Darkened Dreams: lol Yes, yes I am. I'm always plotting something. —grins secretively—
Thanks also to werewolflemming, Fk306 and FallenTruth! Wow, 11 reviews on the first chapter!
If anybody's interested, I've also added some more lotr wallpapers to my website. Link's on the bio.
Please review!