Charlotte's visit to Erebor came and went, and now fifty years have passed. Bringing with it the person that Charlotte has been wanting to see the most. Charlotte swims to Númenor looking forward to seeing her friends again. Charlotte swims up to the lounge hall, and goes into the building in a cloud of steam. Charlotte walks further into the hall, but stops short when she sees Cleo sitting on a couch talking with Emma like she did so long ago. Charlotte takes a steadying breath, and says.
"Cleo is that you?" Charlotte
Cleo looks at her, and says.
"Charlotte. It's so good to see you again." Cleo
Cleo runs up to Charlotte, and gives her a really big hug. Charlotte can't stop herself from crying into Cleo's shoulder. Cleo comforts Charlotte until she is able to stop crying her eyes out. Charlotte looks at her, and says.
"I'm so sorry for everything Cleo." Charlotte
"I know you are Charlotte. Lets not focus on what happened in the past. I'm just so happy to see you; I missed you so much." Cleo
"I missed you too." Charlotte
Charlotte takes the gift box out of her pocket, and says.
"I got you a present. Here." Charlotte
Charlotte hands the box to Cleo who opens the box curious about what Charlotte could have given her. In the box is a locket identical to the others, but a little different at the same time. Cleo smiles at Charlotte who says.
"My grandmother's locket was to precious to give back, but you deserve to have a locket so I had the best Jeweller in all of Middle-Earth make one for you. Do you like it?" Charlotte
"I like it even more than the original, because this one was made for me. Could you put it on me?" Cleo
Charlotte smiles, takes the locket out of the box, and puts it around Cleo's neck.
Charlotte goes to her house to rest after her exhausting trip, and emotional reunion with her dearest friend. Charlotte goes to her bedroom, and gets ready to go to bed. Charlotte goes to bed with a happy smile on her face now that she has most of her friends back in her life. The next morning Charlotte does her morning routine, has breakfast, and goes to the lounge hall to hang out with her friends. When she gets there Emma and Ash are having a serious conversation. Charlotte sits down on a chair, and says.
"The best person to ask for advice on this issue would be Úinen." Charlotte
"Who is Úinen?" Emma
"She is a Maia who serves Ulmo, and should have the answers you seek on this delicate matter." Charlotte
Emma and Ash think about this suggestion seriously, and decide that it is worth a try saying.
"How do we find Úinen so we can ask her our questions?" Emma
"Leave the city and swim out into the vastness of the sea. Then call out her name, and she will come to you." Charlotte
Emma and Ash look at each other then run out the door.
Cleo's curiosity get the best of her, and she says.
"What is your life on land like?" Cleo
Charlotte chuckles, and says.
"It's really good now even if it didn't start out that way." Charlotte
"What do you mean 'it didn't start out that way.' What happened to you Charlotte?" Cleo
"When I first started living in Caras Galadhon the capitol city of Lothlorien I was very badly bullied by the other elleths in the city." Charlotte
"Why would they do that to you? You are a really kind and nice person." Cleo
"I have red hair, and it is really frowned upon for an elf to have this highly undesirable trait." Charlotte
"What how dare they do that to you! Please tell me you at least tried to stand up for yourself." Cleo
Charlotte flushes, and says.
"No I didn't say a word, because as far as I was concerned I deserved every bit of cruelty after the way I treated you guys." Charlotte
"You don't still think that do you? Cause it is not true." Cleo
"No I don't; It has been three hundred years since I have stopped thinking such things. Everything got much better when I became friends with Silwen." Charlotte
"Who is Silwen? Is she one of the elves who was mean to you?" Cleo
"Yes she was until she overheard me telling my father what I just told you. Then she apologized for bullying me, and we have been friends ever since." Charlotte
Cleo pulls Charlotte in for a hug, and says.
"Oh Charlotte I'm sorry you had to go through all that." Cleo
Charlotte doesn't answer, but just clings to Cleo like her life depended on it.
Everybody's left the Lounge Hall, and are heading home when they see Emma and Ash swimming back into the city towards their house. Everyone thinks nothing of it, and returns to their homes to rest after the trying day they had. Charlotte is relaxing in her room, and enjoying a really delicious supper while revelling in the fact that most of her friends have been brought to the safety of Númenor. Here on Arda the Sea Children will not have to worry about the danger that exists back on Earth, but she will have to warn her friends that if they go on land to be careful around the race of men. She will also tell them that Dwarves and Elves are safe to be themselves around. Tomorrow Charlotte is going to tell her friends about the good life that she has been living for the last few centuries, and then Charlotte is going to tell them what peoples are safe to have diplomatic relations with, and which ones are best to avoid. Charlotte knows that since they are building a civilization they are going to need to set up these kinds of relationships with the rest of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth.
The next morning after breakfast everybody's heading to the Lounge Hall, but before they can get there Ash swims up to them with a panicked look on his face saying.
Has anyone seen Emma? She didn't come home last night, and I'm starting to get worried. - Ash
No we thought that she was with you. - Cleo
Then we need to go look for her, and maybe together we can find her come on. - Lewis
Everyone leaves the city to begin searching the surrounding area to find Emma. While they are focused on their goal they also do take some time to enjoy the beauty of the sea, and promise that they will take some time to enjoy it more often once this crisis has been resolved. They have so much fun exploring the ocean that it takes them two hours to find Emma. Lewis looks around and says.
Over here guys I found her. - Lewis
Everyone swims over to Lewis, and sees Emma laying down next to what looks like a nest. Ash swims up to her, and says.
Emma what are you doing? - Ash
Protecting our children from anything that could hurt them. - Emma
Emma could we have a look too? - Cleo
Sure Cleo just don't crowd in to much you might accidentally hurt my eggs. - Emma
Cleo nods, and approaches the nest carefully with Lewis next to her. Cleo is blown away by how cute they are, but Lewis looks at them carefully to see if he can tell how developed the babies are. After thoroughly examining the eggs Lewis looks at Emma, and says.
Emma as far as I can see your children are developing at the same rate as fish. So from my estimation they should be fully developed in two months. - Lewis
My eggs are going to hatch in just two months. I can hardly wait to meet mine and Ash's babies. - Emma
I'm excited to meet our children as well Emma. - Ash
This is so exciting I can hardly wait meet the first children to be born in the city. - Charlotte
Everyone looks at the nest with happy smiles on their faces, and hope for a bright future in their hearts.
Lewis has been carefully monitoring the developing babies, and is pleased with how things are going so far. Lewis is the closest thing that they have to a doctor, but he knows so little about healing that he wants to learn about medicine on Middle-Earth. Lewis goes back to the city, and into the Lounge Hall to talk to Charlotte about this. When he gets there Lewis sees Charlotte sitting, and talking with Miss Chatham most likely about her grandmother. Lewis walks up to them, and says.
"I don't mean to interrupt Miss Chatham, but can I borrow Charlotte for a bit please?" Lewis
"Certainly dear I'll be here whenever you need me." Louise
Lewis and Charlotte walk a ways away, and Lewis says.
"Where should I go to learn the best medicine that Middle-Earth has to offer?" Lewis
"You would have to go to Rivendell, and ask to see Lord Elrond. He is the best healer in Middle-Earth if you want to train as a healer then I can think of no one better to teach you." Charlotte
"Is it safe for Sea Children in Rivendell?" Lewis
"Rivendell is a city of the Elves so there is no danger or ill will to be found there." Charlotte
"Other than Elves what other races are safe for our people to be around?" Lewis
"I've had dealings with the Dwarves before. There should be no problem with them, but we must be very careful around the race of men they could be dangerous." Charlotte
"Alright then. As soon as Emma's eggs hatch could you take me to Rivendell?" Lewis
"Yes I will, but you must tell Cleo your plans or there could be serious problems." Charlotte
"I'll tell her now, but be warned she will probably want to come with us." Lewis
"I know, but it'll be good for her to see some of what Middle-Earth is like beyond the ocean." Charlotte
Lewis smiles, and goes to tell Cleo about their upcoming adventure.
Cleo runs up to Charlotte, and says.
"Charlotte Lewis just told me that we are going on a trip to meet some land people that are safe to be around this is so exciting." Cleo
"Yes It'll be a lot of fun going to Rivendell with you, but when we get there Lewis will likely be spending a lot of time studying." Charlotte
"That's ok we'll just have to find something fun to do without him." Cleo
Charlotte smiles conspiratorially with Cleo, and they go over to the Hall of Records to see if they can find a map so that they can begin planning the route they are going to take. They decide that the quickest way to get there would be to swim up the Brúinen. With that planned out Cleo and Charlotte decide that it would be fun for Cleo to have a sleep over at Charlotte's house. Cleo and Charlotte go back to the Lounge Hall, and sit down to resume the conversation with Miss Chatham. Louise tells them everything that she can about Gracie, because she wants her friends granddaughter to know about her grandmother. Charlotte uses the same hand motion as Bella, and gets the expected results. When Cleo asks about this Charlotte tells her that it is possible for them to learn new hand gestures, and their accompanying powers, but that it is also extremely difficult to do. Charlotte explains to them the kind of training schedule that is required to do so. Cleo asks her how many different gestures she has discovered, and if it would be possible to teach them to her. Charlotte tells her that she can, and will start to first thing in the morning. Cleo is happy to be learning more about the magic of Sea Children. Lewis overheard what Cleo and Charlotte are talking about, and decides to tell every one else so that they can learn to. Cleo asks if it would be possible to teach their powers to someone who was turned in a different moonpool. Charlotte thinks about this, and does not know how to answer Cleo. After much more thought about what she has learned about Sea Children magic comes to the conclusion that while possible it would be extremely hard to do so, and should not be attempted by some one with little patience. Charlotte tells this to Cleo who then gets a sly smile on her face, and thanks Charlotte for answering her question. Cleo decides that she will help Bella do this when she gets here, and so she asks Charlotte how she would go about training some one like that. Charlotte thinks about this, and begins planning out a training routine to accomplish this task. Charlotte explains the routine to Cleo in detail what she needs to do to help the person that she is thinking of helping.
Emma's eggs are just about to hatch, and everyone is gathered around the nest to watch the heart warming event. One by one the baby sea children break out of their shells, and swim over to their mother who is resting next to their father. The babies seem to know or can smell who their parents are, and who are strangers to stay away from. The rest of the adult Sea Children make sure not to crowd the new family so they don't scare the babies, and put stress on Emma and Ash. After they have had a chance to faun over the babies the rest of the adult Sea Children to go for a swim, and explore the vast ocean that is their homeland, but have never taken the time to enjoy.
The Sea Children swim far from their city out of a fierce desire to know every inch of their homeland right up to the very shores of Valinor itself. The Sea Children explore every inch of the sea touching the heart of Ulmo with their deep love for the sea. The Sea Children so love the sights and sounds of the sea that they can't imagine being happy on land ever again. All of them feel this way except that is for Charlotte who loves land and sea equally. Her friends seem to know that there is something off with Charlotte, and Cleo says.
Charlotte what's wrong? You don't seem to be have as much fun as the rest of us. - Cleo
Nothings wrong. I'm just thinking of my family and friend in Lothlorien. - Charlotte
Do you miss them? - Cleo
Yes, but I also genuinely enjoy being here in the sea with my people. - Charlotte
You're sure, because you can go back if you like. - Cleo
No it's alright. You are my dearest friend Cleo, and I am perfectly happy where I am for the time being. - Charlotte
Cleo smiles at Charlotte, and everybody else marvels at Charlotte's ability to feel at home where ever she needs to be whether land or sea.
The Sea Children take their time returning to Númenor so they can really enjoy the scenery around them. They spend time playing with the dolphins, and other sea animals while they are heading in the general direction of the city at a casual swimming pace. The joy and excitement never leaves them even though they are returning home after their adventure exploring the sea. Cleo, Lewis, and Charlotte are looking forward to their upcoming trip to Rivendell, and even though Cleo and Lewis are nervous about leaving the sea they are looking forward to meeting new people and seeing new sights. As soon as the Sea Children get back to the city three of them are going to begin preparing for the next adventure they are going to be going on, but that does not stop them from enjoying the journey home. Despite how much they are enjoying the slow swim back the Sea Children are a little bit anxious to get back home, and they finally make it back to the city two months later. They go to the Lounge Hall, and Cleo says.
"Charlotte do you think it would be possible to make clothes that won't disappear when we get wet?" Cleo
"Maybe, but I would only advise doing so with the shirts. Why do you ask?" Charlotte
"That way if we are accidentally seen especially by the race of men we won't look like we are in our underwear, or in the case of the guys wearing nothing at all." Cleo
"That is a good reason to make transform proof shirts, and I think that shirts are all that is needed as our standard bikini tops can serve as underwear." Charlotte
"Ok where do we start?" Cleo
"Well we could start by trying to make cloth out of magically charged water." Charlotte
"It's a good thing that I took the power lessons you offered me." Cleo
Charlotte smiles at Cleo, the two of them walk over to the sink, and get to work on their new project. It takes a few tries, but Cleo and Charlotte are both successful in making a swatch of fabric out of water. Charlotte and Cleo can feel the magical charge in the fabric so any shirts made out of this material should be left behind by the transformation. The two girls leave the Lounge Hall, and look for an empty shop they can use to make the shirts in. After picking out the right shop the girls go out to find materials to make natural dye for their new line of no-transform shirts.
