Chapter 7
Ari's POV

I was getting some quality elf cuddling when my sister came back from wherever the hell she'd been. I looked up at her and smiled, happy to see my sister, my favorite person in the world. Then I noticed she didn't look happy. In a monotone, she replied "Hey." Uh-oh. That was never good. "I didn't do it!" I said automatically, and then remembered I'd been comatose for God knows how long. She didn't even crack a smile. Double uh-oh. Normally, she would've laughed and called me a crack-whore or something, but she wasn't laughing now.

Then I noticed that she and Legolas were purposely avoiding each other's eyes. There was definitely some tension between these two, and just from looking at Blondie, I could tell that she was angry. Triple uh oh. I didn't want my sister to hate Leggy. I just wanted peace. I considered starting to sing the Barney song, but figured Maya would just whack me and Leggy would be confused. So I settled for something more eloquent.

"What the buggering hell is going on?" I asked. Ok, so not the most eloquent, but it got my point across. I looked expectantly from Leggy to Blondie, knowing that neither wanted to respond. I glared at each of them until my sister finally spoke.

"Frankly I think your little elvish friend here is a garcon petasse, but don't mind me," Blondie responded coolly, narrowing her frosty blue eyes at Leggy. "I am, after all, just your sister." She didn't look angry as much as she looked hurt, and it felt like someone had torn my heart from my chest.

"Blondie," I whispered. I couldn't think of anything to say to my sister. True, she'd gotten mad at me over petty things like taking the last HoHo from the fridge, but never had I seen her so hurt. There was a time when I always knew what to say to avoid getting in trouble, whether with Mom and Dad or a teacher, but everything had changed. I spoke slowly and uncharacteristically quietly, holding back tears.

"You know that your opinion matters the most of anyone in the world. You are my older sister, and I've always looked up to you and always will. But I don't know what's going on. I nearly died, got ripped from everything I ever knew, and may never see Mom and Dad again, and that's a little much. I thought 22 was so grown up, but now I feel like a little kid. I don't know anything about this place, and we need to stick together. So, you and Legolas need to work things out, or I'm going SWAT team on both of your asses," I said, smirking a little at my last sentence.

"Well what the fuck," Blondie said without much emotion anymore. "If you hadn't noticed, I didn't exactly pick to come here either. You're not the only one who's gotten taken away from everything, so you can stop the pity party shit right the fuck now. The only one of those excuses you'll get any sympathy for is almost dying, and you should already know that I don't want anything to happen to you! I love you Ari, even if you are a pain in the ass sometimes. I'll do anything I can for you sis, even if it's talk to this asshole over here." She gestured to Legolas, then went on. "Gimme a few minutes to get used to the fact that I might soon be related to this bastard, and then I'll be ready to consider keeping him alive."

"Okay, you can have a few minutes. And this asshole over here has a name, it's Legolas. And Legolas…her name is Blondie. Not Maya. Not milady either. So call her Blondie, or I'll go SWAT team on your ass," I said, looking from one face to the other as Blondie spoke again.

"By the way, I'm sure you're going to kill me for calling Lego-head here a man-whore en François, so I'll give you some time for that later." I rolled my eyes at her and waited for them to speak to each other.

Blondie turned to Legolas and focused on him with a really distrustful glare. "Alright, Princey. Truce. White flag. I give in, Your Royal Pain in The Ass-ness. Whatever you want me to say, I'm going to stop verbally bitch-slapping you." She sighed, as if she was sad that she had to be nice now. "But my threat still stands...you do ANYTHING to hurt my little sis, and you're as good as worm chow, you hear?"

At this, I had to snort at my sister's total lack of eloquence, though I rolled my eyes. Leggy looked confused for a moment, then finally said: "I will not hurt her, you have my solemn promise." Aww. How sweet. I couldn't resist smiling at him, then at my sister, then bursting into song with a smirk.

I love you…
You love me….
We're a happy family…
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too..

Leggy and Blondie's reactions were exactly how I'd pictured them. Blondie whacked me lightly in the arm, and Leggy sat there looking confused, yet still hot. Then Blondie and I started laughing, and Leggy looked at us like we were nuts. Which we were. When we finally calmed down, Leggy spoke up. "It is time Ari met the others. Come, the Fellowship awaits."

Oh, bloody buggering hell. I probably looked like shit, and I hated to look bad when I was meeting other people. So I shook out my long blonde and black hair and tucked it behind my newly pointed, but still multiply pierced, ears. "Okay, let's go then." Time to meet the Fellowship. Oh yay.