Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Lord of the rings! Tolkien does however so I guess we all have him to thank.

Chapter 23: Heading Home.

Aranel stood on the steps leading into the Elven palace and waited. She had been there for some time, in her haste to get going she had managed to make herself extremely early. It had been a few days since her final encounter with Legolas, she had not heard from him and had seem very little of him, he appeared to be making himself as scarce as she was. The only time she had seen him and he had not avoided her had been at dinner the previous night. Legolas had seen her sitting in her usual spot at the table and had stopped, looking at her in confusion. For, despite what she had told him Aranel had not left with the rest of the Fay, her plans had changed suddenly the night after she had spoken with him. She had had a sudden unquenchable need to talk to her mother, to see her brother. She needed to talk to them, to tell them what had happened and that she forgave her mother for never telling her about her father, and tell her brother that he really wasn't the idiot she had supposed he was before she turned her back on it all and left for her new life. And so she stood now, waiting for Gandalf to take her back to the spot where she had managed to stumble across this completely different world, while Illindor and Evandar had left her to do this alone.

She was lost in thoughts of home when a hand suddenly appeared on her shoulder, making her jump.

Gandalf smiled kindly at her, "Are you ready child?" he asked her quietly. Aranel nodded her response as she watched the stable boys lead a pair of horses out, ready saddled towards them. She had had a few lessons while she had been there but she didn't look forward to the ride ahead of her. "They are Elven horses, they will not let you fall." Gandalf assured her as he watched her suddenly concerned face. Aranel did not reply as she concentrated on getting onto the horse, managing it quite ungracefully. Gandalf turned to make sure she was ready, before slowly heading off, Aranel's horse following placidly by itself more than Aranel guiding it and she was grateful for it.

The ride was quite slow but despite everything Aranel started to recognise the area far to soon for her liking. They crested a hill and she recognised the spot where she had stood, realising that she had wondered very far from home and marvelled at the amount of time that had past and everything that had happened to her. And then she remembered what Gandalf had told her, that despite the many months that had past here, to her family it would have been a matter of a couple of hours. She suddenly felt the old fear of how she was going to explain her absence to her mother, then realised that that was the least of her worries.

She felt the horse come to a stop beneath her and looked up to see Gandalf dismounting, and upon looking at her surroundings she realised that this was the exact spot she had first met Legolas. She almost smiled at the memory, even though she had been upset at the time in hind sight the situation was quite comical, and she would have smiled had the pain of thinking of Legolas not been to much.

Gandalf helped her off the horse, turning to her, "Aranel, this is as far as I go. I cannot come with you and I doubt you'd want me there anyway." He smiled briefly at this before continuing, "I cannot wait for you either, it will probably be months before your return here, so take the horse with you. And don't look so doubtful," he added quickly at Aranel's expression, "your father assures me the horse will make it into your world and I myself know it will be able to get you back to the Elven kingdom upon your return."

Aranel still looked at the horse doubtfully and Gandalf chuckled to himself.

"Well I guess this is it then." Aranel said quietly.

"You'll be fine Aranel, and don't be to hard on them." He replied winking at her.

Aranel smiled and nodded to herself. "Thanks for everything Gandalf."

"You make it sound like you're never coming back! You'll be back here in a few hours!"

Aranel smiled again at Gandalf's attempts to lighten her mood. "Right then, well I suppose I'd best be off."

"Indeed, I'll see you soon child." Gandalf replied kindly, mounting his horse and turning it back in the direction he had come.

"See ya Gandalf." Aranel called over her shoulder as Gandalf road off, leaving her and the horse alone. "Well, it's just you and me now." She said to the horse who just snorted in reply. Aranel sighed and looked ahead of her, taking a deep breath and then heading home.

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The transition had been just as smooth as it had been before, one moment Aranel was surrounded by the Mirkwood forest, the next by Australian bush, the horse, as Gandalf had said, appeared to be taking it all in its stride.

Now Aranel stood a little way off from her back gate, staring down at her house, her home for her entire life, watching the shadows moving behind the lite curtains and wondering what to do next. She looked down at herself and suddenly felt ridiculous in the Elven dress and the delicate, intricate jewellery she was wearing. She had wanted to make a good impression of her new life but now she was desperate to be back in her old jeans and a t-shirt.

"Well, there's nothing for it now. I'm a Princess damn it, so it's time to start acting like one."

The horse snorted once again in return and Aranel held her chin up high in confidence and marched down to the front gate, tying the horse to the gate post and continued marching all the way up to the door before she faulted, hand on the door knob. She could hear her mothers muffled voice ranting about something and her brother's emotionless replies, T.V blaring amongst it all and she could see the scene in front of her eyes. Once she would have wondered in, plonked herself in front of the T.V. with her brother and perhaps argued about what to watch, both of them not really listening to her mother but giving the odd 'yeah' or 'ok' as a reply to what ever it was she had asked them to do. And then Aranel thought of what would be happening back in the Elven kingdom, she wondered how much time had past already, whether she would be sitting down to a meal with the rest of the court or perhaps wondering through the gardens, and then she wondered what Legolas was doing, if so much time was passing that he barely gave her a thought anymore, or perhaps he had never really given her a thought in the first place. All this was running through her mind when she heard her brother's suddenly raised voice.

"Hey mum, come and have a look at this, there's a horse tied to our back post." Aranel suddenly realised her brother was looking out through the curtains and panic took hold of her. Before she could do anything about it though, the door suddenly flew open and her brother came cor rearing out and almost ran right into her.

"Who are…" he began upon seeing her, stopping suddenly to stare.

"Quit staring," Aranel muttered uncomfortably, "Where's mum, I have a lot I need to talk to her about." Aranel continued, brushing past her brother and into the living room. "MUM" she called out, and waited impatiently for the reply.

Her mothers voice came wafting out of the kitchen and was growing steadil0y louder, "Where the hell have you been Aranel, when I got home and you weren't here… I mean you know I don't like you just wondering off without telling…" She came to a sudden stop however upon rounding the corner and seeing Aranel, standing in the middle of the lounge and looking very out of place in her elegant Elven dress, silks sweeping about her feet and jewels gleaming dully at her throat.

"Oh gods." Her mother murmured and sank quickly into a chair, her brother turning the TV onto mute, intent on still watching even if he couldn't listen, though her mother didn't seem to notice. "You know." Was all she whispered, looking desperately at her daughter.

Aranel was in fact quite shocked that she hadn't had to explain a thing, her mother seemed to know exactly what was going on, but then she supposed she knew what it was to meet someone from another world. Aranel walked over to her and sat slowly in the chair opposite.

Aranel's mother sat and stared at her daughter and the silence that followed became very uncomfortable. When it became clear that she was not going to say anything more Aranel decided that perhaps if she told her side of the story her mother, after all these years, might finally begin to open up to her.

"Yes, I know. I know everything…" She began. Once Aranel started talking she found the words came a lot easier than she had imagined. She explained everything that had happened to her, from how she had managed to wonder into the world she now belonged to, to her engagement to Evandar, at which point her brother finally cut in to add his opinion of what he thought of his sister as a queen. The only thing she did not mention was Legolas. It was hard, most of her life in the Elven kingdom had involved him and it took a lot of creative editing on Aranel's part but she managed to only mention him in passing and without any hint of the memories that came to the surface with the mention of his name, and at some point during her recital of events she became quite confident in herself and her place amongst her people, Aranel almost had herself convinced that she could be a queen let alone her mother.

Finally Aranel found herself running out of words to say and she fell silent again and sat watching her mother who had remained silent.

"So you can do magic and stuff right?" her brother suddenly asked, he had looked thoughtful for a while now, his eyes flicked from the T.V. to Aranel and back again.

"Err, yes I'm still learning but I can do little." Aranel replied, giving her brother a strange look, not entirely sure where he was going with this.

He looked back at Aranel and then nodded at the image on the T.V. "So could you make her appear or whatever cos that would be awesome-"

"Turn that bloody thing off for gods sake." Her mother snapped, cuffing him over the head and turning back to Aranel.

"What! I'm just trying to show an interest in Aranel's life." He replied in defence, raising his shoulders and trying to look innocent.

"You know it makes sense I'm only partly related to you." Aranel murmured.

Everyone fell silent at her comment; apparently the sudden revealing of her parentage was still a shock to them.

"Oh come on we just sat here and discussed it!" Aranel snapped.

"I know love, it's just…" her mother trailed off, leaving them in silence again.

"I don't really want to know details mum but…well…did you love him? My father I mean." Aranel asked after a moment. Aranel's mum just stared at her hands, a silent tear rolling down her cheek. "I...I don't mean to… it's just that… he loved you, I was just wondering if you felt…"Aranel trailed off, suddenly very uncomfortable. No one said anything and Aranel stood slowly, the reality of the situation settling on her. In some childish part of her mind she had imagined coming back to a happy, warm family, where everything would be explained and she would be embraced for who she truly was. The reality of the matter was that she now had absolutely nothing in common with her brother, he was more a stranger to her now than ever, and as for her mother, it was clear she wasn't ready for answers, or questions for that matter and Aranel realised that this, after all, was not where she belonged, and never had been.

Aranel looked out through the part in the curtains, it was dark outside. It had taken longer than she had expected to explain everything.

"Well, time will be getting away from me." She said quietly looking back at them. "Thankyou for letting me explain, I couldn't just vanish and not let you know I was ok."

Her mother nodded in response, still staring at her hands.

"Well sis, I guess this is it then." Her brother said standing and coming over to embrace her quickly. "Give 'em hell, k?" he murmured to her.

Aranel smirked at him. "Will do." She murmured back. "I'll come back as often as I can, try and keep you up to date with everything." She said to her mother who just nodded yet again in reply.

"Well, Sweet water and light laughter till we meet next." Aranel said quietly, the Elven farewell leaving her lips before she could stop herself. It sounded odd in the context she was currently in but then it seemed appropriate. She turned and made her way to the door, her mother's voice stopping her at the last moment.

"You're father use to say that, all the time. Except for the last time he left." She murmured almost to herself. "I just wanted you to know" She continued "… before you leave…I did love him, very much…and I love you to…very much."

Aranel nodded, walking back over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her, resting her head gently on top of hers.

"I know." Aranel murmured. "Love you to mum…goodbye."

And with that Aranel let go, walking back to the door and closing it gently behind her, leaning against the door and taking a deep breathe, staring up at the stars. Finally she sighed and made her way back to the horse who whinnied upon seeing her.

"What do say we head home then?" And she untied him and led him back down the path she had come earlier that evening.

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I know it didn't have anything to do with the Legolas and Evandar situation but I had to get it out of the way, it annoys me when families just seem to disappear in these things. Anyway, sorry it took me ages as well. It's a bit longer than usual though, I know that doesn't make up for much but it helps right! Please Read and Review!