next chapter, yay! Okay, as always thank you for the faves and follows, and please keep the reviews coming! I was a little nervous of people's reactions to my twist, but I'm glad people seem to like it. Thanks y'all!

Wood elf Jedi: thank you so much! Yes, I think I need to put it on the back burner for now...

Pip the. Dark Lord of All: I know *groans* don't we wish so badly...

Thesonicsmiley: thank you! More Mairon adorable ness coming up soon, and more romance too, I think.

EVangeline. Pond: I hope that a - good thing? 0_0

Fandomfangirl100: *baffled* really? You did? Thanks! *grins* I like Valinor. And the Vala. And elves. And Mairon. And.. I'll stop now. XP

Chapter 9

I walked back into the room where everyone else was, dazed. They looked to me.

"Something wrong?" Lark asked me, frowning. I jumped and laughed nervously.

"Nope! All fine!" I squeaked, and scuffled behind Maedhros.

"That's not nothing." The red head pointed out.

"Eh, just information I'm a little shocked about!" I said, just as Ecthelion came back in and gave me a panicked look. I snapped out of it.

"Oh don't worry, Thel, I won't tell. That's something you need to do in due time." I teased, a devious grin making its way up to my face as I sniggered. "Blackmail." I explained to a confused Lark. She shook her head at me.

"Whatever." She sighed. "You're hopeless."

"Says who?" I whined pitifully. "Maedhros, tell her she can't say that about your dear sister!" I wailed.

"I would if it were not true." He answered dryly. I stared while Lark sniggered.

"See?" She said smugly. I opened my mouth with a glare.

"Lark's favorite elf is-"

"NO! I TAKE IT BACK!" She drowned me out while I went into a spasm of laughter.

"You remind me of the terrible two." Glorfindel muttered. My eyes lit up.

"You mean Dan and Ro? Wait, they were like us? What about Amrad and Amros? Were they like that too?" I asked Caranthir. He gave me an unimpressed look.

"Yes." He drawled.

"Caranthir would make an awesome cowboy." Lark sighed.

"Is it true that insanity reigns prevalent in our fam, Maglor?" I asked him thoughtfully.

"No." He replied shortly.

"Oh good." I said, relieved.

"I beg to differ for high and mighty lord of darkness." Lark said, pointing to Caranthir.

"Whatevs, La-la." I replied.

"You didn't." She growled. The elves watched interestedly.

"Eh, I did?" I nervously shuffled behind Maedhros. "Save me!" I whimpered.

"You. So. Didn't." She lunged for me while I ran to my bed with a shriek.

"Come back here, Ce-ci!" She yelled. I froze. The elves snickered.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me." I snarled. She grinned deviously.

"Ci-ci. Lina. Ce-lee." She taunted.

"That's it, sister from another mister, you are going down!" I shouted, and grabbed her phone. She reached for it.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" She yelped. I typed furiously, out of her reach.

"Telling everyone that your new nickname is dwarf-lover!" I retorted smartly. She shrieked.

"Celine, that's not funny! You know how much dwarves annoy me!" She wailed, then paused. "In movies, anyway."

I grinned. "Promise not to call me you-know-what." I made a face, finger hovering over the send button.

"Fine!" She said desperately. I handed it back and she deleted it. "Relief." She sighed.

"Victory as always." I nodded smugly, then giggled. "But really, Lark, you need to calm. Down. Girl." I advised, sitting in Maedhros' lap and typing away on the computer. "How else are you ever going to get potential suitors?" I teased sweetly.

She turned red and smacked me. "I'm not planning on it for several years yet!" She retorted. "And what about you anyway? I seem to remember the boy Eric who seemed to lo-" I smacked a hand over her mouth, blushing furiously.

"He's my friend, it's unrequited interest, Lark." I hissed. "I'm only fourteen, thank you." I growled, turning back to the computer.

"Twenty dwarven years." She replied lazily, perched on Maglor's lap.

"176 elvish years." I answered, clicking the search engine.

"You are four years until you come of age?" Glorfindel sounded startled. I blinked at him.

"Yes. Both of us are- and actually our birthday's- that's begetting day to you- is this month." I answered, while Mairon crawled into my lap and I sent a glance in Ecthelion's direction.

"Does that mean we get to celebrate?" He asked interestedly, looking up at me and placing his ring on my finger. I grinned.

"Yep!" I nodded.

"Lotsa fun and awesome food!" Lark squealed. I rolled my eyes.

"Hobbit." I mumbled.

"I heard that." She grumbled. I giggled at her.

"What is that?" Maeglin asked, pointing to the screen.

"Oops." I muttered. I had pulled up an art page and there was a picture of Maeglin on display.

"Celine..." Lark muttered.

"You." I answered Maeglin's question. "No one knows what you look like so we had to guess." Thank goodness it was a manga.

"For a guess, it's pretty accurate." Fingon stated, studying it.

"Eh, I suppose so. Here's one of you, though it doesn't really do justice by a long shot." I placed a picture of him on the screen. He blinked.

"Perhaps and perhaps not." He admitted.

"I personally like Maedhros' though." I giggled. "At least he's blinged out."

Maedhros snorted at the picture of him with jewels all over him. "I would never be able to go out in that." He scoffed.

"Perhaps not, but hey. It's a picture." I replied, and closed the page. "And actually I was searching for something to do, not pictures." I added, typing it in.

"There." Lark pointed. "That's gotta be interesting."

We looked at each other after reading it, and grinned. "Yep. Oh hey oh yeah, here we come." We chorused.

"Do I want to know?" Maglor asked dryly.

"Dad! Can I have an early birthday present!?" I called down the stairs.

"Sure, what do you want?" He called back. Lark and I grinned. And so IT was ordered, to arrive tomorrow.

...

"A cool pool party sans the cool." I noted, looking at our group. We were having a pool party with everyone, even mom and dad, at Lark's house.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"Because I'm hot." I answered with a laugh.

"Then get in already!" Lark yelled from where she was splashing and being splashed by Mairon.

Dad's reaction to Mairon had been hilarious. Like this. I'll try to reproduce it verbatim.

"Okay Dad, and this is the last guest, my little brother Mairon the Maia." Marion looked up at dad with a small smile. Dad smiled back. Mom face-palmed.

"What?" He asked, confused, while Lark went into hysterical laughter.

"Dad, Mairon is known also as Sauron?" I tried. His eyes went wide.

"WHAT?"

Back to the present.

"Okay already! Give me a sec!" I retorted, hopping across the hot cement over to the ice box to get mom a cold water.

"One! Secs over!" She teased. I rolled my eyes and grinned. All of the elves except for two were in the pool. The two being Glorfindel and Ecthelion. One look at fountain boy told me why. He was scared of being in the pool with Lark. Why I don't know. Maybe it was just a phobia of water-?

Glorfindel, I don't know why he wasn't in. He was just smiling amusedly and teasing Thel while relaxing on the chair he was sitting in. Dad was in the pool too, taking a dive from one end to the other. Mom read a book and relaxed.

I skipped over to mom and gave her the water. "Thanks." She smiled at me and turned back to the book. I danced over to Thel's chair and sat down on it for a moment, lifting my feet up with a wince.

"Hot." I whimpered. "Come on Thel! Let's go!" I squealed, tugging on his arm. He shook his head and shot me a look. I pouted, but an idea had sprung to mind. "Fine. Then can you at least go over and watch me?" I pleaded. "Pretty please?" I wheedled. He sighed.

"Alright." He acquiesced, walking over with me. I jumped up and down, getting ready, while he stood near the edge to watch me. I suddenly turned and gave Glorfindel a grin. Glorfindel's eyes widened, and he spluttered on his drink.

"GERONIMO!" I yelled, and ran smack into Ecthelion. With a surprised yelp, he fell into the pool while I doubled over in laughter. Behind me, Glorfindel was still choking on his icy drink, laughing through his coughs, while Thel resurfaced and shot me a half-hearted glare.

"Have fun!" I yelled, while the others teased him mercilessly. Then I scampered back over to Fin and gave him some water.

"Thank you." He rasped after his spluttering had ceased. I gave him a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, Fin."

He smiled. "No harm done." He answered. I giggled.

"Goody. Come with me?" I asked, holding out a hand. "I need your help..."

He hesitated, an odd look flashing across his face, then smiled again. "Alright."

"Yippee!" I squealed and took off to the pool. "FOUR!" I screamed, and did a flip off the diving board. The elves scrambled out of my way as I resurfaced with a gasp and a laugh.

"Sweet, cool relief." I sighed, and then shivered. "Okay, I take that back, it's cold." I grumbled. They laughed at me. There was a splash behind me, but I ignored it and instead turned to Lark. And then shrieked.

Hands latched on my waist and threw me up, making me launch up and land back in the water with a splash. "GLORFINDEL!" I yelped in protest, while Lark screamed in laughter, holding her sides. Mom laughed at me, as did dad. Said elf was chuckling.

"Okay then, you get to pay me back for that." I swam over and shoved his head down, and then clambered on his shoulders as he bobbed back up. "Push wars!" I yelled.

The elves looked confused. "What is that?" Fin asked, looking up at me. I grinned.

"Thel, need your help!" Lark straddled him and pointed forwards, while I went into hysterics at Ecthelion's face. "Forwards, Thel!" Lark squealed. He moved forwards and Lark smirked at me.

I cracked my knuckles. "Oh you are so on, sis." I grinned.

"Okay, rules are, first person to get shoved off wins, got it? Go!" Lark reached forwards and we locked hands.

"Go Celine!" Dad yelled from the sidelines, whistling.

"Go Lark!" Mom took up her side.

"Oi! You're supposed to be for me!" I protested, straining against Lark while the elves watched with grins. Glorfindel was laughing.

"Grr, oof!" My hand slipped, but I stayed on, miraculously. Lark shoved. I ducked. I shoved. Lark avoided. We locked hands. I suddenly let go and Lark toppled forwards into the water, caught off balance.

"Yeah!" I squealed. "One point for team Gold!" I yelled, falling off of Glorfindel backwards. We high-fived. Lark growled.

"Rematch, anyone?" She asked sweetly. Mairon climbed on me.

"Me!" He declared. I raised an eyebrow at Lark as she came forwards on Maglor this time.

"Careful, sis, you know he's a Maia." I smirked. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh please. I can do this." She scoffed.

"Come on, Mairon!" I giggled.

After a good three minutes, Mairon toppled off of me. I clapped my hands with a laugh.

"Told you he was good sport!" I teased. She pursed her lips to stave the grin off of her face.

"Good sport." She said ironically. I ignored the jibe and chose instead to swim to the edge of the pool and sit up on it, feet dangling into the water and wringing my hair out until it fell around my face in limp strands that at least didn't drip.

A bundle of energy climbed into my lap and bounced up and down. I shoved my hair away and laughed at Mairon's happy expression. "Fun?" I asked with a smile.

He grinned. "Yeah!" He shrieked, and threw his arms around me happily. I giggled and hugged him back. His wet hair smelled of chlorine, making me smile.

Just then, both of us were yanked into the pool again by someone. I came up with a gurgle. "Oi! Who did- Maedhros, you're gonna pay!" I yelled, swimming after him furiously as he escaped, laughing easily.

My payback was to stand on his shoulders and submerge him for a good ten seconds before letting him back up. Lark was doubled over laughing.

Fingon was rolling his eyes good-naturedly. Maglor was composing a song next to an appreciative mom. Dad was talking with Caranthir. Maeglin had stolen my iPod again and was ignoring everyone in favor of it. Maedhros was grinning at me as I smirked triumphantly. Mairon was on Ecthelion's shoulders. Glorfindel was watching me with a grin and a strange look in his sapphire blue eyes I couldn't place.

...

"Goodnight, y'all, I'm conking out." I mumbled, dropping onto my pallet with a groan.

"Turn out the light." Lark moaned, throwing a pillow over her eyes.

"Wait, Celine, please tell me a story?" Mairon begged, crawling into my lap and snuggling into me pleadingly. I looked down and couldn't refuse him.

"Alright." I agreed. "But only one." He nodded eagerly.

"Once, a long time ago, there was a girl named Narylfiel, and she had a wonderful friend named Drago, a wolf." I gave the promised story as the elves stilled for sleep.

"And they, in time, found each other again, though things would never be the same." I finished. Mairon yawned and curled into me.

"It was a good story." He slurred sleepily. I smiled.

"Good. Now, rest, little brother." I murmured, tucking him in carefully and kissing the top of his head. With a sleepy smile, he fell off to sleep.

I tucked myself in next to him and stared at Glorfindel's hair in front of me for a moment. He rolled over and looked at me.

"It was a nice story." He smiled. I started, then smiled back.

"Thank you." I replied wearily. "Can't sleep?" I asked.

He sighed. "I have things on my mind." Was his answer.

"Maybe I can help." I offered.

He gave me an odd look I couldn't decipher. "I'm afraid no one can help except for one, and it is not yet time for that." He answered vaguely. I blinked.

"Why people will speak in riddles I will never know." I sighed.

He chuckled. "Are you always so blunt?" He asked amusedly. I giggled softly.

"No. I can actually be extremely tactful if need be- which just so happens to be rare." I shrugged easily. "But I think its good to be honest." I added.

"If more thought like you then perhaps the world would be a better place." He agreed. I hummed.

"Perhaps. But then, there is no light without darkness, and yet no darkness without light. If one does not exist that what name does the other have?" I answered cryptically.

His gaze became thoughtful. "True." He admitted after a moment. He smiled wanly. "For one so young, you have wisdom."

I shook my head. "Don't give me that 'you're so mature' spiel, please, I've heard it too many times. It's much too cliché. Besides, I'm sleepy, and that makes my mind go outta whack." I grumbled. He laughed quietly.

"Then I wish you were sleepy more often." He teased me. I half-heartedly swiped in his direction.

"Hush, Fin." I grouched. "Don't make me sulk tomorrow, or else that will be something to fear indeed. Besides, did you know that I think that late night talks are much too star-crossed-lover-like? See what I mean? I'm going off rambling again. Good night." And with that I promptly fell asleep.

I didn't feel Glorfindel's hand stroke my hair once, nor hear his quiet whisper in the dark.