Chapter Nine

AN: I know this was posted already just changed a little of the chapter break lines and had to repost this chapter.

Nathan's POV

I blinked my eyes as I slowly woke up, then I looked through blurry eyes outside. I did a double take... it was still dark outside! What time was it? I wandered outside onto my balcony and stood there for a while... Then I noticed that I could see very well in the near darkness of the night. The moon had not started to wax yet and was a small sliver in the sky, yet I could see as if there was a full moon on a clear night. I looked over to the balcony next to me and was surprised to see Anna sitting on the railing.

"Anna," I hissed. "What are you doing awake? Do you know what time it is?"

"It is five o'clock," Anna said "I can't sleep."

"Is it just me or can I see you really well?"

"It isn't just you," she told me. "Touch your ears..."

"Why?"

"Just do it Nathan."

I reached up with one hand and touched my ear. "What is supposed to happen?" I asked as I moved my hand to the tip of my ear. "I don't feel... Oh!" I stopped midsentence as, to my surprise, the tip of my ear was slightly pointed. "What the..."

"My ears are that way too," Anna said. "You know what this means right?"

"No I don't Anna," I snapped, "Why are my ears pointed?"

"We must be half-elven!" Anna exclaimed, "It is the only explanation!"

I stared at her in shock as she leapt over from her balcony to my own. "Anna," I said, looking at her in shock. "You just jumped six feet over a twenty foot drop..."

"It is easy, you should try it. We have amazing balance and skill while we are elvish."

I was about too reply when I heard a knock on my door, "Come in." I said knowing that whoever was out there would hear me. Elrohir walked in at my okay,

"What are you two doing?"

"We couldn't sleep," Anna answered sheepishly. "Sorry if we are being to loud..."

"Not at all." Elrohir was quick to reassure, "I couldn't sleep either. I was coming up to talk to you two if you were awake."

"What do you want," I asked "You can ask us anything."

Elrohir looked at me, eyebrow raised in an exact imitation of the look Elrond has in the Fellowship of the Ring when Merry and Pippin pop out of the bushes after the council. When Anna saw his expression, she started to laugh. Elrohir looked at her and if it was possible his eyebrow rose even higher. That did it for me and I burst out laughing, as did Anna.

"What is so funny?" Elrohir asked me.

"Nothing, it is just that you look so much like your father when you give us "The Look"."

"What is the Look?"

I turned to Anna and said, "Will you show him?"

Anna turned toward Elrohir and lifted her eyebrow.

Elrohir started to laugh, "Was I doing that? I must have picked it up from my father... he gives Elladan and I "The Look" each time we do something stupid or prank someone."

"Or you get hurt on a trip that should have been peaceful," Anna added.

I tuned out as they began to talk about the different pranks and adventures that the twins and Legolas have had. I started to think about what Anna had told me before Elrohir had come. We were half-elven! What did this mean for us?

"Nathan?"

I started as Anna called my name and lightly shook me, "What is it?"

"Elrohir is going to ask questions now."

"Okay, shoot." I said turning to Elrohir.

Elrohir looked at me, confused. "Why would you want me to shoot you?"

"It's a saying." I said. "It means go ahead and ask."

"Oh, alright." Elrohir said still sounding a little puzzled. "What is your world like?"

I pursed my lips and thought about how to describe our world.

Anna's POV

What kind of a question was that? I struggled to find the words to accurately describe the world that we came from.

Elrohir seemed to sense our struggle, "If you don't want to answer..."

"No." Nathan was quick to reassure him, "We are just trying to figure out how to describe it."

"We don't get that question often, as you can probably imagine."

"Well, you all come from there and you know what our world is like so I thought..."

"Can I get back to you on that?" I asked. "I need to think on how to accurately describe our world..."

"Okay, What were you two discussing before I came out?"

"The fact that our ears are pointed like yours are."

"What? What do you mean?" Elrohir asked, looking at us curiously.

I pushed back my hair to show him my ears.

"Wow, we have to go show my father." Elrohir said, standing up and dragging us toward the door.

"Shouldn't we grab our stuff for the journey first?" I asked "Seeing as how we are leaving soon..."

"Yes," Elrohir nodded, "I will get my father and tell him about this and you can meet us in his office, does that sound okay?"

"Yeah," Nathan said, speaking for the first time in a while, "We will meet you there."