Heya all! Sorry, I know I said I'd be back when school started. I'm just a little late….like TWO months.. coff …But this chappie should be a long one. I've thought of a lot of ideas, and (hopefully) developed everyone's characters a little better. They're still rough around the edges, but they're getting there.

I don't know when I'll be back after this chapter, since I don't understand a single thing I'm supposed to be learning in Pre Calc…If ANYONE out there understands the stupid identities with sin, cos, and the rest of them, and how to prove them or whatever, lemmie know. Cos I don't. Quarter 1 ends real soon, and all of my grades need to be a B or higher…so far, they're not. shakes fist dang calculus!

Anywho, the promised and long awaited chapter… Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Recuperating

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Days had passed since Elrond had revealed to the nine of them why they were in Middle Earth. Though, after the Elf had left, they all agreed that they had thought something else was up that they simply weren't being told.

But Elrond had promised them they could stay in Rivendell for as long as they'd like, and could do as they pleased. And everyone, especially Hailey, said they were going to take advantage of that.

A week had passed since Sam's incident. In that time, the first snowfall of the year had come, and she had spent her remainder of time in bed watching her friends play, and making faces at those who came up to her window to throw snowballs.

Finally, three days after the snowfall, Elrond had deemed her well enough to leave the ward, but not well enough to play outside. She could walk, and sit, but not do anything extraneous. He didn't want her opening up any wounds.

One bright and sunny day found her sitting outside, watching Hailey, Merry, and Fred have a snowball fight against Strider, Leo, John, and Beau. Ginny, John had said, was somewhere in the House, but nowhere to be found.

"Ha!" Hailey cried when her snowball hit Leo squarely in the face. "That's what you get! You took the last piece of pie last night, even though I hadn't ha – mmph!"

Sam watched as the boys shared hi-fives, and Hailey spat out the snowball that had landed in her mouth. She shook her head. Boys….

"Good job, Leo!" Beau congratulated him, slapping the boy on the back.

"Yeah." Strider agreed. "You're still the champio –"

"FIRE!"

"Wha?"

Before the boys knew what was happening, Merry, Hailey, and Fred fired a round of snowballs so hard, that Sam could hear the thumps as they hit them from where she was sitting. One shot even knocked Leo over. Sam laughed, shaking her head.

"Mind if we join you?"

Sam looked to her left to see two Elves – one was Arwen, and the other she recognized as the blonde one from before. Lady Ancalimë, she remembered.

"Of course." Sam insisted, and they sat down on either side of her.

"How are you on this fine day, Samantha?" Ancalimë asked, watching the snowball fight progress.

"I'm still somewhat tired." She answered truthfully. "But other then that, I'm okay."

The Elf laughed. "That could be just because of Nora's tea. It makes anyone tired if they drink enough of it. And I'm sure she's had you drink some everyday."

Sam nodded, frowning. "She said that it would help me feel better."

Arwen grinned. "Oh, it does." She agreed. "It just drains you of any energy."

"Unless you're my father." Ancalimë added.

"Your father?" the girl pressed.

"The Lord Glorfindel." The blonde Elf elaborated. "Being a reborn Balrog slayer must have done something to his mind."

"When he drinks the tea," Arwen continued for her friend. "He gets all of this energy, and can't even sit still."

"The last time he had some," Ancalimë said with a laugh. "He went crazy being inside, and ran out of the Healing Ward to the sparring range. Father challenged every single Elf there, and won."

Sam laughed. "That had to be something to see."

"Indeed." Arwen said with a smile, watching as Ancalimë fidgeted with the hem of her cloak. "It was then that I figured out where she got it from."

Her friend grinned. "No. Ada says I got it from Nana."

"Then I would have hated to see your mother with the tea in her system."

"We could give some to Ana." A light male voice said. "Then maybe it'll be the same." (A/N: I made a mistake. Her name's gonna be spelt Ana, not Anna, since Ancalimë only has one n. Sorry!)

The three of them looked up to see one of the Twins grinning down at them. Sam frowned, feeling stumped. This twin and his brother were so identical, that she couldn't imagine how anyone could tell them apart.

"Elladan." Arwen said, arching an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

"You seem better, sister." He commented, sounding genuinely glad.

"I am a bit." She admitted. "Telling Ada helped. I know he will help get things going soon."

"Indeed he will." Her brother agreed. "He's in a meeting with Erestor and Glorfindel right now."

"Oh, is that where my father went off to?" Ana said slowly, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Elladan smiled at her. "It is."

"Is that why you came out here?" Arwen asked her brother, an annoyed tone to her voice. "Because you couldn't prank Glorfindel without getting in trouble."

"No it isn't, believe it or not." Elladan countered. "I came out because I saw Ana out here, and I was looking for her."

Ana smiled. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Because I missed seeing you." He replied, holding out his hand. "Would you care to accompany me for a walk?"

She turned and looked at Arwen, who shrugged, as if to say, "Your funeral." Ana grinned and stood up. She linked fingers with him, and they walked off, talking happily in Elvish to each other.

Arwen muttered something in Elvish, and Sam shot her a questioning look. The Elf smiled apologetically. "Sorry. My brother and her can be so annoying when they're together."

"Why do you say that?" Sam asked, her attention suddenly pulled to the fight when someone screamed, "DOGPILE!"

"Well, they're courting, incase you couldn't tell." She said with a frown. "Ana tends to be a bad influence on him. And the other way around."

Sam watched as the pair walked on to a bridge and disappeared around a corner. "They don't seem like bad influences."

Arwen arched an eyebrow. "With them two, nothing is ever as it seems."

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'What's the real reason you came after me?' Ana asked as the two of them crossed the bridge, the water frozen underneath.

'The real reason?' Elladan repeated. 'Why couldn't it have just been to come and see you?'

'While that's really nice and thoughtful of you,' she said with a grin. 'I'm sure you must have had some ulterior motive.'

'All right.' He said with a sigh. 'You've got me. I wanted to annoy Arwen as well.' He laughed. 'It was just too easy.'

Ana punched his arm. 'You are a very mean person.'

Elladan's grin slid off his face, only to be replaced by a sad, puppy dog face. Ana rolled her eyes.

'You cannot honestly think that is going to work on me.' She said, crossing her arms and facing straight ahead. But, like Elladan knew, she could keep herself in check, and within minutes, she broke, looking back to see him still looking at her the same. 'I hate you, I hope you know.' She said as she placed a kiss on his lips.

The Elf gave her his usual lopsided grin. 'I know.' He told her. 'You never let me forget.' She shivered slightly as he kissed her hand. 'Are you cold?' he asked, sounding worried.

'Just a little bit.' She admitted. 'I've been outside all day, running errands for my father.'

'Then let us go inside and get you warmed up.' Elladan said, leading her down a path that led to the House and away from the frozen gardens.

Ana grinned. 'And how do you propose we do that?'

All Elladan would do is grin.

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"So who won?" Sam asked as the seven snowball warriors trudged tiredly over to her and Arwen about an half an hour later.

"We did, of course." Leo said, puffing out his chest.

"Only because you led your team in a dog pile on Hailey!" Fred argued.

"Technicalities." Beau insisted, brushing snow out of his hair.

Leo sat down next to Sam. "Have you been having fun sitting here with the Lady Arwen?" he asked.

"Just restin' and recuperatin'." She said, offering him a smile, before turning around and letting out a sneeze.

"Time to go in." Arwen said instantly, standing up. "My father will kill me if I've let you catch a cold."

Leo took off his cloak and wrapped it around Sam. "Better?"

"A bit." Sam said, arching an eyebrow. "But what about you? Won't you be cold?"

"I'm still warm from running around." He assured her. "No worries."

"Don't you go and catch a cold, too." Arwen moaned. "Or I shall never hear the end of it!"

Leo grinned. "I said no worries, didn't I? Besides, I've never had a cold before in my life."

"You're jokin'." Fred said, staring hard at him.

Strider shook his head. "He isn't." he said. "At least, he hasn't had one since I met him in the third year."

"Well, let's hope that we don't make this the first time in your life." Arwen said as they came to one of the many doors to the inside of the House.

"Ah, Arwen, there you are."

All of them looked up to see Elrond striding down the hall toward them.

"Ada." Arwen said, inclining her head. "Is your meeting finished already?"

"It is." He told her. "I came looking for the lot of you, Erestor is looking for Lady Ginny, and Glorfindel for his daughter and your brothers. Have you seen any of them?"

"Ana's outside last I saw her." She answered. "And I saw Elladan a little while back as well."

"Together?" Elrond pressed, an eyebrow cocked up.

Arwen shrugged. "I know not."

The Peredhil's lips thinned, but he let the subject drop. "And Elrohir?"

"Not since this morning, Ada."

"Very well." He said, frowning. "If you would be so kind, daughter, as to join Elynora in the Healing Ward. She wants to give you something for Sam. Meanwhile, I will take the children to my study. I have much to discuss with them."

"Children?" Hailey mouthed, her eyes narrowing. Merry grabbed her shoulder as Fred shrugged.

"As you wish, Ada." Arwen said. She smiled at Sam and the others before walking off down the hall opposite from where her father had come from.

"If you all will follow me." Elrond said, gesturing back down the hallway. "I have something very important I must tell you all."

"I guess so." Fred said.

"Sure." Strider agreed.

"AH-CHOO!" Sam sneezed.

Elrond frowned. "You did not stay outside too long, I hope."

Sam shook her head as she wrapped the cloaks tighter around her. "Just a bit cold, is all."

"Very well." Elrond said. "This way."

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'Ada said you wanted to see me?'

Elynora looked up from her herbs to see Arwen standing in the doorway. She grinned as she stood up and hurried over to her. 'Yes. Yes I did. Are you feeling better?'

Arwen nodded. 'A bit.' She replied. 'But I still feel empty on the inside.'

The healer frowned. 'As I suspected.' She said slowly. 'Don't you worry. Things will be back to normal soon enough, I promise. Elrond managed to solve the last Ring problem. This one is no different.'

'Except people did not go missing, Nora.' Arwen pointed out.

'That is very true.' Nora agreed. 'But I'm sure he will figure something out.'

'I think he already has.' She said. 'He met up with me and took the edan with him to his study.'

'What did I tell you?' Nora said smugly.

'He was looking for Ana and Elladan as well.' Arwen added. 'He asked me if I had seen them.'

'And you told him…?' Nora pressed.

'That I had seen them both, but not together.' She answered.

'Which you did, right?'

Arwen nodded.

'Oh, by the Valar!' Nora cried, going back to the table where she was cutting and storing her herbs. 'Could they be any more stupid?'

'What do you mean?' Arwen asked, following her friend and sitting down at the foot of one of the beds.

'Glorfindel is threatening to send Ana to Eras Lasgalen.' Nora said, angrily grinding up a reddish leaf. 'To spend some time with her mother's family. He doesn't want her courting with Elladan.'

'Don't we all know that?' Arwen said, rolling her eyes.

'Ana obviously doesn't.' her friend responded. 'Glorfindel sees him as a bad influence, but a good Elf. Ana doesn't understand that the bad influence is only on her.'

'This won't end well.' The Evenstar said with a sigh. 'For either of them.'

'Indeed it won't.' the Healer agreed. 'I heard Glorfindel say to Erestor that if she does one more wrong thing, she's off.'

'But she's not even a troublemaker!' Arwen countered. 'Ana's a good Elf!'

'But she wants to be with Elladan.' Nora reminded her. 'She'll do anything to be with him. That's where Glorfindel sees the bad influence.'

'By the Valar…' Arwen breathed. 'By this time tomorrow, Ana will be off to live with her grandparents.'

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Glorfindel walked down the hall, asking every other Elf or so if they had seen either his daughter or the Twins. He hadn't been getting very far until recently.

Almost everyone in Imladris knew of his disapproval of the relationship. And almost everyone did everything in their power to keep Ana and Elladan out of the way of his wrath, even if that meant they had to face it themselves.

Only after the Elf-Lord had threatened to strip the last Elf he had seen of his rank in the Imladris Army did he get anywhere. The young, scared Elf had told him that the pair had been seen going off down the hall by the kitchens.

The one that led to his daughter's rooms.

The Elf hadn't dared to tell Glorfindel that it had been almost an hour ago. He hoped that Elladan – his friend – would have enough sense to not stay in one place to long, or to get far away from Ana – fast.

Storming down the corridor, Glorfindel came to stop in front of Ana's door. After only a second of staring at it, he pushed it open, not bothering to knock. The sight that he found there did not bode well at all for the two involved.

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"As soon as Glorfindel and the others arrive," Elrond said as Ginny entered the room. "I'll tell you all that you need to know. We have come to a very important agreement."

"I don't think you'll have to wait long, Lord." Erestor said, a slight grin on his face. "I believe I heard Glorfindel…" he turned to Ginny. "What did you call it, Lady Ginny?"

"Chewing out?" she offered as she sat down in between Beau and Hailey. As soon as Erestor turned back to Elrond, the two girls started talking.

"Yes." Erestor continued. "Glorfindel was 'chewing out' his daughter." He paused, listening. "Ah, yes. Here he comes now."

Ana and Glorfindel burst through the door, followed at a safe length by a reddened Elladan and Elrohir, who was pretending to not hear a word the Balrog Slayer was yelling.

'Ada-' Ana tried to squeeze in, but Glorfindel instantly cut her off.

"You have no say in the matter!" he said, wagging his finger in her face. "You deliberately disobeyed me! You are going to Eras Lasgalen, and that is final!"

Ana stared at her father, wide-mouthed, for a moment, before crossing her arms and sitting down in her father's designated seat with a "Hmph!", just to tick him off that little bit more. Glorfindel ignored her and turned to his liege lord.

"I apologize, Lord Elrond, for my outburst." He said. "I hope I did not interrupt anything."

"Nay, you did not." Elrond replied. "I was waiting for the rest of you. Now that you are all here, I can tell you all at once."

"Well?" Hailey said impatiently, sitting on the edge of her seat.

"We have decided to send you out on a mission." Elrond said. "The One Ring has been rumored to be back. Just recently, a scout returned and said that the rumors were true. Thankfully, it is not in the hands of evil. Yet."

"So what would our mission be?" Ginny asked. "To find the Ring?"

"Kinda the opposite of the mission of the Ringbearer, don't you think?" Strider laughed.

"Indeed." Elrond agreed. "But the Ring cannot just be left out there for all of Middle Earth to find."

"So you're gonna send us?" Fred asked. "What good is that going to do?"

Somewhere, off in the distance, a bell rang. At the same time, someone's stomach growled, and everyone turned to look at Hailey, who blushed.

"Sorry," she said. "The snowball fight made me hungry. We did skip lunch."

Elrond laughed softly. "You were indeed descended from hobbits, Lady Hailey." He glanced at Glorfindel, who looked ready to explode. "Go ahead, all of you," He looked pointedly at Elladan and Ana. "To dinner. When it is finished, my sons shall lead you back here. You are dismissed."

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"Fred." Sam whispered as they left the study. She gave him a look, and the two of them fell to the back of the group, where they could talk and not easily be overheard.

"What do you want, Sam?" Fred asked. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." Sam insisted. "But I have a bad feeling about something."

The boy frowned. "About what?"

"You're ring from your Uncle Bob." She said seriously. "Doesn't it seem a bit odd?"

Fred shook his head slowly, wondering where this was going. "What's odd?"

Sam sighed. "You get a ring that lights up when it gets hot, just like the One Ring does." She explained. "We get here, only to find out that the One Ring is indeed back, but no one has it yet."

"You're point?" he asked, feeling confused.

"I think your ring is the One Ring!" she told him as they turned a corner, following their friends down a set of stairs.

"Nonsense!" Fred insisted quickly.

Sam frowned. "I'm serious. Your protectiveness over it. The fact that you won't even let me see it….It all fits."

Fred snorted. "It's impossible. Elrond just said that the Ring was out there somewhere. Not here."

"Maybe." Sam admitted. "But I think you should show it to him. Just incase."

Fred paused as they came to the Hall. "Must I?"

"Please, Fred?" she pressed, falling to her knees. "That way, if it is a fake, we'll know for sure, and there'll be no worries."

He sighed. "I guess so." He sighed. "If you really want me to."

She nodded, standing up. "I do."

"All right." He agreed. "But only after we eat dinner."

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'Did I go too far, Elrond?'

The Peredhil poured himself a glass of wine, then passed the bottle on to Erestor, who was sitting next to him. 'What do you mean, Glorfindel?'

'With Ana.' The blond haired Elf elaborated. 'Was I too harsh on her?'

'Did you already tell her this before?' he asked, sitting down and sipping his drink.

Glorfindel nodded. 'I did.' He admitted. 'Nothing against you or your sons, Elrond. But she was becoming a different person.'

'I can say the same of my son.' Elrond agreed.

'If I may interject,' Erestor said suddenly. 'Have you thought of seeing it from their point of view?'

The older Lords just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

'Ana and Elladan are old enough to be in love.' He pointed out. 'They are, by far, no longer children. Having the two of you tell them what to do makes them feel belittled. Thus they go about in secret, so you do not find out.'

'But I only want what's best for my daughter!' Glorfindel argued. 'The way she's been acting – disobeying my every rule, for example – isn't what's best!'

'But she doesn't see it that way, now does she?' Erestor pointed out. 'She sees it as you trying to stop her from loving him. She doesn't understand that you have her best interests at heart.'

'So I did go too far.' Glorfindel muttered, burying his face in his hands. 'I only want her to listen to me…'

'You cannot back down on your punishment, Glorfindel.' Elrond pointed out. 'Once the rule is set, you must keep to it. I learned that the hard way with the Twins.'

'What do I tell her, then?' Glorfindel asked, looking up. 'I didn't mean to yell….Oh, things were so much easier when Elisia was around…'

'But she's not.' Elrond pointed out. 'Tell your daughter you are sorry for yelling, but the punishment still stands. Tomorrow, she leaves for Eras Lasgalen.'

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Oooh, harsh, huh? I know that Glorfindel seems a little confused and troubled with his parenting skills, but that will soon be explained. Cyber cookies to those of you who can guess what happened!

And will Fred really tell Elrond about his ring, or will he back down? And if he does tell, how will this change things?

Oooooh, and, if, for some crazy reason, there are those of you who think they know what Glorfindel caught Ana and Elladan doing, lemmie know. If you guess right….uh, I'll buy you a cyber pony.

(So you know, they weren't playing strip monopoly.)

Well, this chapter is 10 and ½ pages, so this had best hold you lot over for awhile. It took me two hours to write. So remember, R&R, or I'll send the flying monkeys after you! Lemmie know what y'all think of this chappie!

PHE