A/N: Thanks to all of you lovely reviewers! We learn a bit about Melody, and essentially botch the Council of Elrond! Enjoy, and don't forget to REVIEW! Or I shall cast you back into the fiery chasm from whence you came! Oh, wait, wrong paragraph. Whatever.

The morning dragged its feet, unwilling to leave. The shifting shadows sent by the thick leafy trees scattered, and the porch was tempered by a thin film of coolness from the shade. Above them, the sun burned down, beating tattoos on the dusty earth and sending heat waves from the undergrowth. The breakfast which Elrond had sent up seemed like a long time ago, and all of the Authors were getting hungry. Melody tore off another chunk of a biscuit. The biscuit was flaky, buttery, and delicious, but it was stone cold. So was her tea, which was also extremely sweet. But she nibbled on the biscuit, well aware that the Council meeting would continue on until lunchtime. She didn't know why they needed to be there; they knew what would happen anyway. The only person who still looked interested was Daphne, who was occasionally voicing sympathetic thoughts on the horrible stories the members were recalling. Even Isabella seemed drowsy and hungry; her left knuckle was in her mouth, and she seemed to be chewing on it thoughtfully as she listened. Michael was actually asleep in the corner, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. Madison had been crying silently for the past hour or so, and then had pulled herself together. Now she was sitting quietly near Michael, trying to stay away from as many people as possible.

When Melody got bored - which was just before the Council called the meeting to order - she allowed her mind to wander. It drifted, unfettered, and she skipped through several occasions where she had been just as bored as she was now. When she had been a little girl, her father had occasionally brought her to his business meetings, resulting in a very cranky toddler who absolutely despised listening to adults talk about things like "temporary loans" and "business settlements" and "sectional recall". Her father was one of those Wall Street accountants who spoke an entirely different language to other people. He was also a man who had very little time for his daughter. Jack meant well, but he simply had no idea how to manage his young child. His wife, a stunning blonde ex-model who retired when she met Jack, had slightly more time for her daughter, but she was just as clueless.

Jack and Chloe. Two people who had made Melody's life a living hell. They had demanded perfection; perfect grades, perfect teeth, perfect posture, perfect hair. They bought her the nicest clothes. They lived in the nicest house, complete with Olympic-sized swimming pool and built-in tennis court. Every gadget or toy which Melody wanted was given to her. But in return, they wanted a robot for a daughter. She had obeyed for several years, becoming an adorable little girl who was everyone's favorite student, friend, daughter. But when she hit her teenage years something strange had happened.

The feeling happened quite by accident, one lazy Saturday afternoon not very different from today. She had been bored, indifferent, and the hot, itchy feeling of resentment was spreading like a virus over her as she grew. Thirteen was not such an early age to start feeling rebellious, but for Melody the feeling was quite unnatural. The itchy feeling grew worse, and she wandered about the spacious mansion, poking her nose in places she knew she shouldn't be and looking at things she knew she shouldn't have. She swigged a mouthful of 'Daddy's' favorite bourbon, relishing the sizzling feeling that seared her throat and made the itchy feeling grow worse. Melody rooted through her mother's lingerie drawer, sniggering at the skimpy panties.

And then her eyes fell upon her father's safe. Lying innocuously in the corner, the red light winking at her maliciously. So the pretty thirteen year old knelt down and keyed in the code - nine four eight nine - and withdrew a sheaf of papers. To her surprise, Jack kept a thick wad of cash in his safe. Melody took the cash, and left the papers. Her father went absolutely crazy when he came home, throwing the house apart and calling the police as he looked for the $5,000. And all the while, Melody sat serenely, the thick wad of cash calling to her from under her pillow. As she grew older, her cravings grew larger. She pilfered larger sums from her father's business, perfected her lock-picking abilities, and drew together a gang to accomplish some real jobs. But a nagging little voice in the back of her mind was telling her she didn't really need the money. She had everything she ever wanted. Part of her wanted to get caught, to show her father that she wasn't the adorable little girl he knew and loved, but part of her wanted it to stay a secret.

As it turned out, she didn't have a choice. She tried to break into a neighbor's house with her gang and got caught by the police. Her father tried vainly to pull strings, but Melody got three years in prison for breaking and entering, along with a hefty fine. It would have been deducted to six months, perhaps three months with parole, but one of her buddies had squealed on her. By extreme coincidence, Melody was pulled into Middle Earth the exact day her 'friend' was supposed to testify. She just hoped nobody would put her back in the real world. Melody felt a little grin settling on her pretty lips as she thought. How stupid they must look, she thought to herself. Running around looking for me.

And if it was any comfort to Melody, they did look pretty stupid trying to explain how she just 'disappeared'.

"And now, friends, we come to the real reason of this meeting. The One Ring of Power has been discovered at long last." Elrond said. There was a muffled gasp that dawned over the group, looks of shock written upon their faces. Elrond looked at Frodo, nodding. Slowly, the little Hobbit shuffled forward and placed the Ring on the table, hovering near it protectively for a split second. Then he shuddered, and released a long, slow breath. The Ring was still calling to him, but not as loudly. Frodo took a seat, settling on the edge of it as he waited to seize the Ring back in his possession.

Boromir stood and paced, hands clasped behind his back, noble chin jutting out as he thought. Before he could open his mouth and voice his opinion, Adavis flew to her feet like startled birds and drew a hand across her forehead. "Oh, the Ring of Power!" she cried. "Boromir, you are not strong enough to take it. I shall carry this heavy, heavy, burden."

The young Gondorian looked perfectly happy to allow Adavis to steal the limelight, and everybody cast a relieved sigh. Daphne was furious and appalled at the ham of a Sue. "What the hell?" Daphne shouted, getting to her feet and putting her hands on her hips. "Who do you think you are? You're not supposed to carry the Ring, you, you, squash-faced rat!" Daphne was positively enraged; her plump cheeks were tinted a bright pink, silvery green eyes snapping with anger, fists clenched until her knuckles went white. Adavis looked at her pityingly.

"My dear little friend, you cannot carry the Ring. Only those of immortal descent may wield it." Adavis said in her musical voice. Again, the Council nodded as if this abrupt change in history made perfect sense. Daphne nearly had a heart attack.

"That's completely bullshit!" Daphne shrieked. "Frodo is supposed to be the Ring-bearer. It's in the book. You can't change it, Adavis! How dare you screw with canon, you - you -!" Daphne's vocabulary, which had never been very large to begin with, dried up completely and she settled for a canine growl. Adavis looked at her, surprised, both dark brows raised, and then burst into tears.

The entire Council turned upside down as they all rushed to comfort her. As soon as it was determined that Adavis was all right, the Dwarves turned angrily to the Authors. "How dare you talk to her that way!" they shouted. The Elves joined them, and then the voices began melting together, overlapping and underlapping until it sounded like a swarm of angry bees. And amazingly, above everything, you could hear Adavis's heartwrenching sobs and see her perfect crystalline tears cascading down her face.

"SHUT UP!"

Michael was on his feet. Instantly, everyone went quiet. His dark eyes were large and angry, his handsome features twisted in a scowl. "Enough! You guys are actin' like a bunch of five year olds!" He shouted. Silence reigned. One or two of the elves sniffed and looked down shamefacedly. Michael took a deep breath. "Yo, Adavis," he said. The girl stopped crying and looked up with a weak smile. "How about you go outside for a minute. I don't think Daphne likes you very much." He gave a look to Daphne.

"But -" Daphne began. Michael stepped on her foot. Adavis sniffed and went off, gown rippling behind her as she left. The pressure in the room noticeably eased, as though a thorn had been popped into a balloon. The Council members eased back into their seats.

"All right, I think you guys all know who we are," Michael began. "And, well, we're here to get rid of that." He pointed at the door Adavis had retreated through. "Now, I know it's gonna be hard. But you gotta trust us to take care of the story." he cleared his throat. "Uh, that's pretty much it."

Elrond stood. "So be it. Our lives and our story are in your capable hands."

From the background, they could hear Adavis's mournful, beautiful song. They all swallowed. Getting rid of this Sue would be harder than they thought.

Madison flopped face down on her bed, groaning. The porch had grown hot and stuffy after sitting there all morning, and Elrond had finally adjourned. Thanks to Michael's calm maneuvering, Frodo was elected to destroy the Ring. Daphne had sat fuming during lunch, shooting nasty looks over at the Sue. The food had been delicious, but apparently had gone unnoticed by the spiky-haired blonde. Madison pushed herself to her knees and wriggled over to the edge of her bed. A small, intricately carved nightstand was next to it, and she fumbled blindly for the small, polished piece of pyrite that she knew would be on there. The lump of 'pirates gold' was very special to her. But when she couldn't find it, Madison opened her eyes and looked hard. Seeing nothing, she blew her hair out of her face, adjusted her glasses, and promptly began stuffing herself underneath the bed. It was a tight fit, and she felt her glasses slipping down the end of her nose. All she saw were dust bunnies and the dusty wooden floor. She sneezed several times, and then tried to back out from underneath the bed. To her horror, she discovered something much worse than her missing pyrite.

She was stuck.

"Um, guys?" she called out, voice muffled by the heavy bed above her. For one insane moment, she thought of what it would be like if the bed suddenly collapsed. Her struggles increased. "Uh, hello?" she shouted. "Anybody? Help!"

"Madison?" said a voice. There was a rap on the door. "You okay?"

"Help!"

The door swung open, and Daphne bounded in. She took one look at Madison, and then cracked up. Madison, feeling as though she wanted to cry, laugh, and swear all at once, wriggled a little more. Daphne kept laughing, leaning against the bedpost. It was just too funny, seeing Madison stuck underneath the bed like that. After her giggles had subsided, she knelt down and began working Madison out from underneath the bed. Despite Madison's occasional grunts of pain, between the two of them they managed to get Madison out from beneath the bed. Madison emerged, dust bunnies clinging to her frizzy blonde-brown hair, red faced, glasses askew. The two of them laughed again, Madison at herself, and Daphne at Madison. When they managed to become serious, Daphne turned to her and smiled. "So why were you underneath the bed, anyway?" she asked.

Madison giggled, then caught herself. "I was looking for my pyrite," she said. "I always carry it around, and I don't know what happened to it. I put it right on the nightstand last night, and it was there this morning. But now I don't know where it is. I thought maybe it fell on the floor, or something, and that's how I got stuck."

Daphne got down on her hands and knees and looked under the bed. "So you're sure its not here?" she asked. Madison nodded. Daphne got up, wiping her hands. "Well, I'll take your word for it. C'mon, maybe one of the others saw your pyrite."

They trotted down the hall, feet making hardly any noise as they traveled on the thick carpet. Looking down, Madison noticed Daphne's bare feet, the pink toes encircled by at least five silver toe rings. Daphne flashed a grin. "I see you're admiring my choice in jewelry," Daphne said with an impish grin. Madison flushed scarlet and began sputtering.

"They're extraordinary, I mean, I've never seen a toe ring before, but, I mean, they look superlative." Madison studied her newfound friend carefully. Now that she had the opportunity, she saw plenty of unusual things that she hadn't noticed before. Daphne had three earrings in each ear, and judging by the roots showing through at the base of her scalp, her bleached blonde hair had once been brown. The spiky-haired blonde fingered her earrings ruefully.

"Yeah. My father was always appalled that I could dress the way I do," Daphne said. "He and my mom were both in the military, you see, so it was kind of expected for me to behave." She offered that wicked little grin again, the kind that showed the points of her incisors. Madison was reminded briefly of a satisfied fox. "Did I mention I hate following orders?"

The two of them laughed again, and Daphne took a right hand turn into a dead end. A pair of majestic oaken doors stretched to the ceiling, and Daphne tugged hard on the brass handles. The door was surprisingly balanced, and it swung open without much weight. Daphne slipped inside, followed closely by Madison. They both gasped. The room before them was gigantic, with cathedral ceilings and colossal pillars that were inlaid with gold. Shelves, all crammed with books and scrolls, were flanking the sides of the room. Several colorful pillows had been dotted here and there, obviously meant for reading purposes. In the corner, Michael, Isabella, and Melody were all reading, sitting on pillows. Michael looked up as they approached. "Hey-hey," he said with his lightning grin. "Pull up a pillow, Daffy." he patted the ground next to him. Daphne selected a tasseled pillow and sat pointedly close to Isabella. She was still hurt by the slighting 'chunky-dunk' remark yesterday. Michael apparently didn't notice, because he buried his nose in a book again. Madison took a velvet pillow and sat down, looking around confusedly.

"So what are you guys reading?" she asked timidly. Isabella answered without looking up.

"These are all of the old stories by the former Authors. Pick out one of them and start reading. We need to do some research, see where the Authors changed things and find out what they left alone." Isabella answered curtly. Daphne selected two books at random and passed one to Madison. Together, they began reading, turning pages and inhaling the distinct, woody smell of old books.

Gandalf and Tolkien stood in the doorway, watching the five Authors work busily. They were both smoking pipes, blowing plumes of blue-gray smoke to the high ceilings. His voice deliberately low, Gandalf turned to Tolkien. "Do you think they're ready?"

There was a long pause. And then -

"I certainly hope so. My whole blasted world depends on them."

A/N: Question To Reviewers: Where do you think Madison's pyrite has gone?

(In case you don't know what pyrite is, it's a lump of shiny rock that looks like gold tinfoil. Pirates thought it was real gold, and felt pretty dumb when it turned out it wasn't. Therefore, it's also called 'false gold' or 'fool's gold'.)