Annamariah: Thanks! Glad you think so!

Naz: #resurrects you# Yes, writing the brothers was brilliant fun! I don't think I'll ever think of them the same way again… especially not after the Orodreth line… ;P

Napolde of the Council: Well, as Jayne says, since when was the harmonica a musical instrument? They're impossible!

The Grammar Nazi: #Blushes# I'm honored that you've been watching it! Hey, you know Caranthir's the sort of guy that would make trouble like that… Sorry to shock you:D Well, here's more.

Okami11: #Also shudders# nasty thing… I feel his brothers' pain. Glad you enjoyed it!

Thunder Pichu: Brilliant! That's one of my favorites too! Hope it's not possible to actually die laughing, though… #nervous# The k's… I think that it was more the case that Tolkien replaced them with c's, with the exception of Tulkas and Kementari, so Caranthir would originally have been Karanthir. Ah well… #greetings from one geek to another ;)# Thank you for the Fav!

Arrina: Yikes! #Flees the lickiness of Carcaroth# all right! Here's an update! Glad you're enjoying it so much. :D

Shihali: Well, I'll do my best. I think it's mostly clueless kids here, though, I'm afraid.

Unsung Heroine: I know them too, and they usually are school teachers…

Anyway, on with the story!

………………………………….

Jayne winced as Maglor turned back to the copy of 'The Star-spangled Banner' that he had been trying to play. Surely there had to be some other instrument that he would be more interested in… She looked around, but she knew that he had already looked at the little collection of recorders and percussion instruments, and found nothing that interested him. Fortunately for the ears of all those present, one of the twins, the one with the redder hair, touched Maedhros' sleeve.

"Nelyo…" he said uncertainly.

"What?" asked Maedhros, looking round. The proceedings also distracted Maglor, who put his harmonica back in his pocket.

The other twin continued the sentence, gesturing towards a friend of Alfie's, called Sara. "This little girl keeps asking if we work for someone called… uh…" After a few tries he managed a passable imitation of the word 'Santa'

"Well tell her we don't."

"But all elves work for Santa!" protested Sara. "They help him make the toys!"

Jayne bit her knuckles, silently repeating 'OhMyGodWe'reGoingToDieOhMyGodWe'reGoingToDie…'

One of the Feanorians, presumably Celegorm, hissed, "Do you think that we are Naugrim?" And laid a hand on his sword. It looked like things were about to get very messy, but at that point the seventh brother spoke up. She presumed that this was Caranthir.

"Nelyo, I'm bored. Why can't we go and do something?" he complained bitterly, turning away from the cage with the guinea pig. So far, he had shown little interest in anything else.

"Well, what do you suggest, little brother?"

"We should go and kill something."

She might have known. Caranthir was, after all, famed for picking fights with all and sundry, including the trees.

"There's nothing here to kill."

Caranthir grinned and pointed to the occupants of the rest of the room. "What about them?"

"Moryo, we have enough trouble as it is, without you going around killing innocent mortal children. I promise that we'll go and look for some orcs that you can kill after this, but until then…"

"What was wrong with the orcs? I thought that…"

This was clearly all the cue that Caranthir needed. He drew his sword and bore down on the boy with murder in his eyes and a yell of "Are you an orcling?"

"No!" yelled Jayne, springing forwards to stop him. "He's delusional. Leave him alone, please, Lord Caranthir."

Clearly, the 'lord' had been a good touch, for Caranthir subsided a little and lowered the sword, though there was still a dangerous expression on his face. Jayne didn't move a muscle. Fortunately, the face-off had given Maedhros time to catch up with his younger brother.

"Caranthir, give me the sword. Thank you. And the knife."

Caranthir hesitated, then handed over a long knife. Jayne could quite clearly see a second sheath half hidden under his cloak, out of Maedhros' sight.

"And the other knife."

This was handed over still more grudgingly, with a lot of muttering.

"Sticks and stones, Moryo." He raised an eyebrow as Caranthir went to turn away, and said coolly, "And the bow… and the arrows."

"No room to shoot in here anyway."

"So they're not much use to you, are they?" said Maedhros. But when Caranthir didn't make any move to unbuckle the strap that held his bow and quiver, he added firmly, "Give them to me."

Jayne caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the teacher heading for the security intercom. Clearly the realization of how heavily armed this elf-lord that had just run at one of her pupils with the intention of killing him was the last straw.

"Don't," snapped Jayne, grabbing her wrist just as she reached for the intercom.

"Well, I really think that for the sake of the children…" said the teacher, sounding flustered.

Jayne finished the sentence. "We shouldn't court trouble? Look; at the moment I think Maedhros has much the same aim as me in that he also wants everyone out of here alive, including us. If you call security that constitutes a threat and the number of people he will want out of here alive will shrink to seven: himself and his brothers. And I think he might be prepared to negotiate on the latter. Further: what armor do your security men wear?"

The teacher looked strangely at her. "None."

"They'll be dead before they get through the door, then. You see Celegorm, there? He can put a knife through an ash sapling at a hundred paces. Ever seen the size of an ash sapling?" Jayne held her hands about an inch apart to demonstrate the width of an ash sapling. "Not very wide. Amrod and Amras? The twins? Well, they're not called the hunters for nothing. Maedhros can wield his sword in his left hand as well as he ever could in his right. And you saw the weapons he took off Caranthir. They will all be armed that heavily, except that Maedhros doesn't carry a bow, for obvious reasons, and bear in mind that those were just the weapons he had to hand, which will not include the knives he's probably got in his boots."

"But carrying concealed weapons is an offence!"

Jayne stared at her. And the state had put this woman in charge of the education of her son? "And?" she said coolly, "Your point? Caranthir is an offence! And another thing: Six of these brothers are known to be dead."

"But they're…" She flapped a hand in the direction of the Feanorions. Caranthir and Maedhros were in the middle of a dispute over what Caranthir was and was not allowed to kill or maim. Maedhros was just telling Caranthir that no, he was not allowed to cut off the ears of the annoying little orc-loving boy.

"Exactly. They're right there. Which, quite apart from the fact that if your security men shot them it might have absolutely no effect, presents a serious problem: if they are known to be dead and yet are wandering around America, who else that's known to be dead might be wandering round America? I'm thinking cousins… uncles… father."

She clsed her eyes for a moment to banish the image of what havoc Feanor could wreak.

"Look," said Sara's mother, coming over. "I have a cell phone right here. I'll call the police."

"You do and I'm not going to be held responsible for the consequences!" hissed Jayne, trying to keep her voice down. "Look, I have a kid here too. Do you honestly think I'm going to act in a way that will risk his life? If so: you and me, outside, when this is sorted."

It was not the first time that she'd challenged someone to the field of honor over something to do with the Silmarillion. She just hoped that nobody would say anything stupid.

"Do you know Leggy?" said a voice, cutting suddenly though the tense silence.

'Like that,' thought Jayne.