The Council did not break up until after noon, and Legolas left the porch with his head spinning. He had learned a great deal this day, very little of it to his liking. It seemed the escape of Gollum was even more terrible a tragedy than he had originally believed. His father and Taurion must have known something of its implications, but they had surely not known everything that had here been discovered.

Several members of the Council, particularly the hobbits, were headed to the Hall to take a late nuncheon, but Legolas realized almost immediately that he really wasn't hungry. Instead, he sought out Katie.

It took him quite awhile to locate his young friend, but he eventually found her on a distant gallery, sitting deep in conversation with Húnvel.

The young elf heard his approach first, and rose courteously to greet him. After the usual salutations, he turned back to Katie.

"I am afraid I must take leave of you now," he said regretfully; "I promised my father I would return to the house after the Council ended."

Katie bid him goodbye, and after he had disappeared around a corner, Legolas sank into the chair he had vacated with something perilously close to a weary sigh.

Katie eyed him suspiciously. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded, but rested his forehead in his hand. "Yes, I am fine—but worried."

"What about?"

He looked up to see Katie regarding him patiently. He had to smile. "You are more like your grandmother every day." She smiled and raised one eyebrow, not letting him off the hook. "I am sorry, Katie. The things we discussed in the Council are secret, and I feel I should not divulge them until I hear how much Elrond has told his people." He reached out and touched her elbow, an earnest look on his face. "Believe me, I would tell you all if I could."

Katie nodded in understanding. "That's alright. I understand."

She looked very Elven, sitting there in her gown, a look of old wisdom on her young face. But then she turned a little in her chair and pulled her feet up onto the seat, breaking the illusion and reminding Legolas once again that she was not from this world. In reality, this coming war would not affect her. Once her purpose was fulfilled, she would return to Pennsylvania and go on with her life, meet a man, settle down, have children, grow old, and die. This was not her battle.

"I am afraid that if you stay here long this time, you will soon wish to go home," Legolas predicted. "You will miss the stability of your own world."

"My own time," Katie corrected him automatically.

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

She tilted her head. "I forgot, you weren't around to hear that, were you? Well, the last time I was here, we realized that my "world" and your "world" are actually the same, just in different time periods. I was born, oh," she paused and looked upward, thinking, "probably something like seven thousand years from now."

Legolas raised his eyebrows. "No, I was not 'around to hear that'," he said emphatically, and paused. This put things in an entirely new light. The outcome of this war, though it was most likely so far in the past for Katie that there were no records of it in her time, would affect her dramatically. Such a huge deciding factor in the leadership of the free world was surely a massive influence on the course of history. It made their situation that much more dire.

But then, he realized, no one in Pennsylvania had ever spoken of Sauron or of anyone even like him. So even if the Dark Lord were not defeated in this war, he must be defeated at some point. The idea gave him hope, and he suddenly laughed. "You are a blessing to your friends, mellon-nín," he exclaimed.

Katie smiled at him quizzically but accepted his compliment graciously. Slouching down in her seat, she stretched her legs out in front of her. "Thanks Hon," she said offhandedly; "You're a peach, too."

She grinned mischievously at him, and Legolas had to laugh.

000

When Elladan and Elrohir rode back into Imladris just after nightfall, they found Katie perched on the edge of a stall in the stable, waiting for them.

"Your father wants to speak to the three of us privately in his study," she informed them. "I think it's probably something about the Council."

"How did it go? Do you know?" Elladan asked as he and his brother began to take the saddles and so forth off of their mounts.

"Well, Legolas said he was worried afterwards, but he cheered up a bit later," Katie told them.

"So did you spend the day with Legolas?" Elrohir wanted to know, brushing down his horse.

"Yeah, Legolas and Húnvel," Katie agreed nonchalantly. "And we had dinner with Merry and Pippin. They sure do like their food, don't they? But yeah, I spent the afternoon with Legolas."

Elrohir nodded in understanding without looking up. Elladan glanced at him curiously over his horse's back.

"Come," he said, closing the stall door. "We had best not keep Father waiting."

000

Elrond related to the three of them most of what had been said at the Council. When he had finished, Katie leaned back in her chair and regarded him seriously. "You mean to tell me that Frodo Baggins is going with an expedition into Moria, across the Dark Lord's own land, to pitch the Ring into a volcano?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, that mostly sums up the plan," Elrond agreed. Katie merely blinked at him. "Some of the import of what is going on will be conveyed to the inhabitants of Rivendell, but not quite all. So I ask you to keep what you have heard here a secret." Katie nodded. "Good. Now I must speak with my sons alone, Elvellon."

"Do you wish us to travel with the Ringbearer?" Elladan asked once Katie had left the room.

Elrond shook his head. "I will not ask you to do more than you are completely willing to do," he answered. When his sons looked ready to protest, he added affectionately, "I know, you would be willing to do whatever I commanded you. But I believe this particular quest will require your assistance elsewhere than in the Company of the Ringbearer, yn-nín.

"Now, I am sending out scouts in many directions. I have a task for you."

000

Elrohir found Katie sitting on a balcony, gazing out over Rivendell below her. The sky was dark, spangled with brilliant stars. Hearing his footsteps, Katie turned and smiled brightly at him. He smiled back and silently took a seat beside her. Neither of them spoke for a minute, nor looked at one another.

Finally, Elrohir took a deep breath and spoke. Katie turned to watch him. "I am afraid Elladan and I must leave in the morning," he told her.

Her face fell ludicrously. "But you just got here!" she protest.

"I know, gwathel-vuin," he said sadly. "But difficult times are ahead, and oft we must put off pleasure for duty."

She looked away. After a moment she asked, "When will you be back?"

"In two months," he answered bracingly. "We will be back before the Company leaves. The time will go more swiftly than you think!"

She turned back to him with a self-deprecating smile. "I suppose I can survive two months without you two," she answered.

"Good."

"Where are you going?"

"Full of questions, aren't you?"

She elbowed him, trying not to laugh.

"I am sorry, but we cannot speak of that to any but our father," he said mysteriously. "We will be traveling down the Silverlode. Our preliminary search this afternoon with Aragorn turned up no sign of the Enemy's followers."

"Good," Katie said absently, echoing his own words earlier.

After a few minutes more, Elrohir stood. "We will leave before dawn tomorrow, so I must take my leave of you now. Farewell, gwathel vuin."

She stood as well and gave him a hug. "Stay safe," she earnestly. "And tell your brother I said goodbye and good luck!"

He kissed the top of her head. "I will. Goodbye."

000

Katie intended to wake up early to see them off, but as Elrohir had predicted, she slept too late to do so. It didn't matter anyway, since they had said their goodbyes the night before.

The rest of the scouts left throughout the day. Aragorn and some of the Rangers, whom Katie had observed about the House of Elrond, accompanied some of the scouts westward, to search the land down the Greyflood. Some headed north toward the Ettenmoors, some east and south. Katie knew one group was headed to Thranduil in Mirkwood; Legolas sent a message for his father with them. Still others were to carry a message to Radagast the Brown at Rhosgobel. Katie was curious to learn more about Radagast, who seemed quite intriguing to her. Her mental image of the wizard who spoke to the animals was a sort of St. Francis character with a bird perched on his shoulder.

She sought out Erestor a few days later. He had been rather busy, so they had not had much time to talk. She found him in the library, the morning sun peeking in the window.

"Ah, Katie! I wish I could sit and talk with you—learn what you have been doing since you have been gone. But I am afraid I have a bit of work to finish here."

"That's alright; a talk can wait. We've got plenty of time," Katie said.

"Yes. Perhaps we could speak after dinner tonight?" Erestor suggested. "Meanwhile, I know a way you could occupy your time."

Katie raised her eyebrows questioningly.

Erestor handed her a book. "You could always read!" he offered with a laugh.

TBC

AN: Aaaaand another weird chapter ending…

I'm pleased to see so many people read the author notes! I've gone through all that to find out, and now I have nothing to say in the author note… lol

Laer4572: I don't have any idea what you're talking about. :) Yes, Húnvel's quite a bit like his mother, but he can be quiet like his father, as well. I'm glad you think of them like real people!

The Reviewing Llama: Yes, and poor Boromir got a bit of a bad rap in the movie too, didn't he?

Princess Siara: Oh, I just think llamas are funny, that's all. My obsession is with elves. lol I think she really is pretty much over Lalorn's death, or at least, as far over it as she'll ever get. Remember, Legolas wasn't around to witness her reaction the first month or two directly afterward. She was not exactly a happy camper for awhile.

Ravens Destiny: Thanks! —munches on the cupcake— I'll have to read your fic someday when I've actually got time between homework sessions! (gag…)

Tara: Shaun of the Dead is a riot. I saw it at my brother's friend's house this summer. And then we finished up with Scotland PA, which is really funny, because Scotland PA is like, right down the road… Yeah, that was really random, wasn't it?

theycallmemary: —smiles mysteriously— Yep, I rather like Húnvel. He was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration, but I'm fond of him already. Yeah, Húnvel's somewhere around sixty, so yeah, I imagine him as being like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. I can just see Boromir slipping Katie a tip for handling luggage… You know, I'm actually not sure if the LotR books exist in Katie's plane of existence or not. It's an issue I've never explored. I'll have to think about that…

Saltwater: All the Vivian stuff got explored in "A Mysterious Way". Homework sucks, don't it?

werewolflemming: Yep, I find fanfiction a nice way to relax, as well. :)

Thalion: There's a big debate in the movie-verse about whether or not the elves seated on either side of Elrond at the Council are the twins or not, but I'm pretty sure Jackson said they weren't. And they certainly weren't there in the book-verse, and although it never said why they weren't there, I think it's rather probable that they took over Glorfindel's job that morning. Also, I think they probably left for Lothlórien the very afternoon of the Council, but I wanted to give them time to say a proper goodbye to Katie, so I had them go off and search around with Aragorn a bit and then come back to Rivendell for the night. And as for homework one-upping, my dear, I took seven pages of notes to answer all the questions on the last chapter of ed psych. And I write small. :)

Erasuithiel: You went on a hike with llamas? I am so jealous! Thanks, darlin'. But I figured if I was going by the book-verse, and Tolkein never mentioned a mysterious human girl attending the Council… lol

Madd Hatter: Boromir kind of dropped out of the picture a bit during this chapter, but I hope to have him back in the next!

Darkened Dreams: Good luck at tryouts! What play are you doing?

FallenTruth: Yes, I understand what you mean. Thanks! Part of that is that I enjoy pretending the elves are running around with me in my everyday life at college (I know: I'm sick and I need a hobby), so I figured if it appealed to me, it might appeal to others. Also, I can't come up with enough exciting plot to fill every chapter with it. lol And I like your little description of action-packed fics… :)

Thanks also to ElvenRyder, Fk306, Hermione at Heart and IwishChan. So many reviews! I adore you people! Really! —hugs startled reviewers—

Oh, and just to please FallenTruth… Please review! Review like a monkey this time! (Except for The Reviewing Llama. You're doing quite well as you are. lol)