She Was So Normal
Back Home
She stepped through the ball of light and for a moment everything was white and there was no sound and then suddenly the world looked wavy and blue and green, and she had the distinct feeling of rushing upwards and then became aware of strong arms holding her and before she could fully process any of this, she was bursting through the surface of the lake with the aid of a dark haired man and being dragged up onto the shore.
"You can put me down, I'm fine," she said, trying to sit up and gradually becoming aware of her surroundings. She could hear sirens getting louder and there was clapping and cheering and somewhere off to her left she could hear Danielle yelling as she ran up from the parking lot.
"No, you don't. You lie down until I've had a chance to look you over," said the man who had dragged her out of the lake.
She finally looked up at the man. "Craig?"
"Oh good! You recognize me. What's your name?"
"Craig Aethelwulf Woods, if you don't know my name after thirteen years in the same class as me I'll –"
"I know your name, I'm trying to see if you do."
"Renee Anne McCallister. I'm the same age as you, I live in the flat above 'Cotton and Wool", and I am perfectly fine, I promise."
"Then why didn't you surface right away?" Craig asked. "I saw that runaway toddler and his mom knock you into the lake and you were under a solid minute and a half before I reached you. Last I knew, you could only hold your breath forty-five seconds."
"I decided to go visit the elves that live at the bottom of the lake," she said snarkily. "Can I get up now?"
"Elves? Don't you mean mermaids?" he asked, letting the struggling Renee sit up.
"No, elves. That lake is actually a part of a hole in the fabric of the universe connecting this world with-" she trailed off as she looked back at the lake. It looked different. The starlight was gone. "Looks like they closed it."
Craig studied her closely for a moment before saying, "Are you sure you're okay?"
She stared at the lake a moment and felt sad, like a little more magic just left the world. It felt like learning Santa Claus wasn't real all over again and she wondered if it hadn't been some oxygen deprived hallucination. Absentmindedly she began to fiddle with the ring Aranor gave her and froze and looked down at her hand. There was the ring. The very elvish ring that looked like a delicate chain of nimphredil encircling her finger and a very elven leather bag slung across her chest. She smiled and said, "I'm okay."
"I'd feel better if you'd go to the hospital to checked out," Craig said, sounding genuinely concerned.
Just then the small fire truck pulled up close to them and out jumped a couple of the volunteer firemen and came jogging over with their medic bags. "Oh good! You're here!" they said to Craig. "How is she?"
"She says she's fine and doesn't show any immediate signs of concussion," he replied. "But she still needs to be checked out."
"No really, I'm fine," she said, attempting to stand.
"Oh no you don't, miss," one of the firemen said as he quickly knelt down beside her.
She patiently sat there as they checked her for a concussion any cuts, bumps, or bruises on her head and found none. After Craig told them she had been underwater for a minute and a half, they were nearly as insistent as Craig had been that she should go to the hospital just to be safe, but she flatly declined. She hadn't been underwater less than five seconds, but she wasn't about to tell them that, nor was she about to pay for an emergency room visit. By then Danielle had come up and was telling her she ought to go to the hospital too, but she flatly refused.
"Then at least let me drive you home," Craig said.
"But I've got shopping to do. And my purse to find," she said with a frown.
"I saw it when I came up," Danielle said, handing it to her. "It was on the ground by the bench. It went one way and you went the other."
"Thanks," Renee said with a smile, feeling quite relieved. She checked her phone – that whole adventure really hadn't taken any time at all, had it? Just a minute and a half.
"Go shopping tomorrow," Craig said.
"But this is the only Saturday for a month I could hang out with Danielle and shop. I hate shopping by myself," Renee protested. "And I'm fine. Just soggy. I guess I need to go home and change anyway."
"Let me take you. Danielle can come too and after an hour or two we can see how you're feeling and then decide if you should go shopping or not. If you can't this week, I'll go with you next week, okay?" he said in a calm voice. It reminded her of them…
She looked at him and for the first time in maybe ever, she really looked at him. She had known him her whole life, but she had never really gotten to know him. She knew a lot about him, but she suddenly realized she had never really tried to connect with him. She had always liked him – so why didn't she try to be genuine friends with him? "Okay, you can take me home. Danielle, do you want to come with us?"
Danielle stared at her friend half a second and her eyes glittered and the tiniest flicker of a smile teased the corners of her mouth, "I've got some shopping I really need to do, but I'll come by with dinner later, okay?"
"Sounds good," Renee said.
"Then it's settled. Hey Mike, can you follow us in my car?" Craig said to one of the firemen.
"Sure. Where does she live?"
"Above Cotton and Wool."
"Oh, that's like a block from the station. Hey Danny! I'm gonna drive Craig's car over to her place and then I'll walk back. She lives above Cotton and Wool. If there's a call, pick me up."
Danny signaled he heard Mike and then they all headed away from the lake. The small crowd that had gathered began to disperse as it was clear there was no more excitement to be had, and Craig, Renee, and Danielle walked back to the parking lot together, making small talk. Once they reached her car, Danielle scurried off to the shops and Renee unlocked the car and they got in.
Well, she had wanted to see Craig and find out if he was married or not, and it seemed someone in charge was intent on her doing it too. No time like the present… "So how have you been? I haven't really seen you much since we graduated." Renee asked as she buckled her seat belt.
"I've been doing well," he answered as he pulled out of the parking spot.
"What do you do for a living?" she asked.
"Well, I am one of the few paid firemen in this town, but it's not exactly the busiest place, so I also part time at the hardware store," he answered.
"Oh yeah! Your parents own that, right?"
He nodded. "Yup. I'm probably the most over-paid part time employee ever, but it's bookkeeping, and my parents hate doing it, so they happily overpay me," he said with a chuckle.
"So, which do you want to do?" she asked.
"I like helping out around town, , but I'm not in love with being a firefighter, and I like helping out my parents and enjoy bookkeeping, but I can't say I'm in love with that either. If money was no object and I had my way, I'd be a forest ranger somewhere, but my parents need my help, especially after Dad's back injury, so here I stay. What about you?"
"I've been doing part-time ESL and part-time interior decorating. I enjoy both, but I'm not married to either one. Pays the bills and keeps me comfortable, so I'm happy."
He chuckled, "I get it. That's exactly where I'm at." She nodded but didn't say anything and they drove in silence for a few seconds until he said, "That's a nice ring."
"Oh, thanks. A friend gave it to me," she answered.
"A friend or a boyfriend?" he asked.
"Just a friend," she answered, staring down at her ring again and feeling a little sad and wistful.
"Looks expensive," he said.
She shrugged, "I think it's silver. His son made it. I guess he's a jeweler or something."
"His son? What, are you into old married men?" he asked, trying to sound like he was teasing.
"What? No! Don't be ridiculous. He's very happily married. We're just friends," she replied.
"He gave you jewelry," Craig retorted.
"It's cultural. They give gifts to people," she answered.
They had to stop for a red light and he turned and looked at her and asked, "Cultural? Where's he from?"
"Well, I was abroad and while I was there we became friends and he gave it to me," she answered.
He nodded as the light turned green and they began to move again. "That's right. I remember your dad mentioning you traveling for college credits or something."
A strange thrill ran through Renee as he said that. He had kept up with her while she was at college? "Yeah, that was like a whole month. Barely passed the stupid paper I had to turn about it though. The guidelines for the paper were clear as mud and there was supposed to be some sort of tutorial or something for it, but somehow nobody told me about it until after I turned the paper in."
"That's lame. Where did you go?"
"Brazil," she answered.
"Is that a Brazilian flower then on your ring?"
"No, it's nimphredil," she answered and immediately regretted it. But maybe he wouldn't know what nimphredil was.
"Nimphredil? Like in Lothlórien?" he asked.
"How the heck do you know that?" she asked, wide eyed staring at him.
He glanced over at her briefly and then stopped and made the turn into the parking lot behind the shops. "Is this where you park?"
"Yes, but how do you know about nimphredil?" she pressed.
"I read the books, Renee. I don't know if you ever realized this, but I'm sort of a huge nerd. I just also happen to be athletic," he answered as he put the car in park and turned off the engine. "Here you go," he said handing her the keys.
"Thanks," she said as she slipped them back on her key clip.
They got out and she wondered how she missed it, but then she remembered vaguely he was always doodling swords and things in his notebook… Meanwhile, Craig was thanking Mike for following them and Mike took off at a brisk walk towards the fire station just half a block further and Craig and Renee entered into the back of the shop and up and up a staircase that was immediately to the left. At the top was a single door which she unlocked and they went in.
"Nice place you got here," he said, looking around.
"Thanks," she said as she kicked off her shoes. "Um, this might sound kind of weird, but if you want to wash and dry your clothes, I've got some things you could wear."
"So you do have a boyfriend?"
"No, actually they're my dad's things. Or will be. He's so long armed and legged he has trouble finding stuff on the rack that fits him, so I do a lot of alterations for him. As it is, I've got a pair of pajamas I made for him for his birthday next month. I think you guys are about the same size, except the pants will be a little long on you, but we can always roll them up a little. And the shirt is a t-shirt, so that shouldn't be a problem. Wanna try them on? I'd hate for you to be sitting around miserable and damp," she said.
"Yes, thank you. I'd appreciate it," he said.
She smiled. "I'll be right back." With that she dashed off into her sewing room and came back holding a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants with her father's initials embroidered on the pockets. "Here you go," she said, handing them to him. "The bathroom is first door on the left."
"Thanks," he answered and headed towards the bathroom. She quickly ducked into her room and changed into a dry outfit of sweat pants, a long sleeved t-shirt and a zip hoodie and vaguely wishing she could put on that soft grey dress from Lothlórien, but she couldn't just put on an elven dress with Craig of all the people in her place! Mr. I'm-a-nerd-that-knows-what-nimphredil-is… She checked herself out of habit in the mirror and it struck her how weird it was that it had been over a month since she had been in her own bedroom, and yet it had only been maybe an hour? She checked her clock four times; it was just under an hour and a half since she left the house. Suddenly she realized she was hungry. She had eaten breakfast with Haldir and Aranor, but that was some hours ago, and darn it all if she didn't want one of Aranor's vegetable tarts. Vegetable tart! She quickly reached for the leather bag and fumbled to open it. She hoped they weren't ruined. She quickly pulled out the dress and saw it had gotten fairly soggy. She quickly fumbled in her closet for a hanger and hastily put the dress on it and then pushed her clothes to side so she could hang her dress to dry. She went back to the bag and pulled out the thick folded papers and found the dress had taken the brunt of the water. She gingerly unfolded the slightly flattened papers and found the ink hadn't bled at all and everything was still perfectly legible. She gave a big sigh and muttered, "Thank goodness!" She gingerly thumbed through the sheets and came across two pages written in elvish. She frowned. She had learned to speak it, but she hadn't gotten very far with learning to read it, though she did have that little red book somewhere… Suddenly there was a knock at her door.
"Where would you like me to put my wet things?" Craig asked through the door.
She opened the door and said, "In the washing machine. It's in the room behind you. It's my sewing room, so it's a little messy. I've always got a couple projects going at once."
He nodded and noticed the note in her hand. "Is that – is that elvish?"
She turned bright pink and said, "Yeah… I uh… might be a bigger nerd than you think. I kinda speak elvish, but I don't write or read it very well."
"Ah, so is that practice?"
"Reading practice. Hey, are you hungry? I'm kinda hungry. Would you like me to make you something?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"I'm okay, but if you're hungry, I could make you something. You should probably take it easy for a little while," Craig replied.
"You can cook?"
"Pretty well, if I do say so myself."
"Well I'm pretty good with laundry, so give me your clothes and I'll do laundry and you flex your cooking skills."
He grinned and handed her his soggy clothes and she gathered up hers and quickly threw everything in the wash as he went into the kitchen and did a quick inventory and then figured out what to make Renee. She came out after a minute and sat down at her small kitchen table and Craig said, "What do you think – grilled ham and cheese with tomato soup sound alright?"
She nodded, "Sure, but I don't think I have any tomato soup."
"But you have the stuff for it. My signature homemade tomato soup and a humble ham and cheese coming up. Why don't you go chill on the couch while I do this?" he said, pulling stuff out of the fridge for the soup.
"Really Craig, I'm fine. I promise. Besides, I want to catch up with you."
"Oh? You've been home for two years," he said sounding just a hint acerbic, "And I've been here the whole time."
"Yeah, but I figured you and Lindsey were married by now," she replied, noting the tone in his voice and knowing full dang well he was right. "Though, I don't see a ring."
He stopped chopping the tomato and looked over at her confused. "What? Me and Lindsey? Lindsey Adamson?"
"Yeah. Weren't you two a thing? It seemed like every time I turned around she was either on your arm or talking about you. She made it seem like you two were practically engaged," Renee replied, suddenly feeling a little confused.
He shook his head and sighed. "Sorta. She followed me around most of junior year until I agreed to date her senior year and then once we won state she got really clingy until prom. After Brian Harrison was named prom king she ditched me and went for him. By graduation she wasn't even talking to me," he answered and resumed his food prep.
"Oh. So then she was probably exaggerating about more than few things," she said, half to herself.
"Ugh! Do I even want to know what she said?" he asked as he started throwing things into her large sauce pot.
"Probably not," Renee replied. "She made it sound like you two were uh – let's just say she made it sound like you two were kinda physical."
"Define 'kinda'," he said warily.
"Second base stealing third with options on fourth if she wanted it," Renee answered.
"What a lying little – No, we never did anything but kiss, and usually at school and usually it was her kissing me in front of people," he replied. "You know, it all makes sense now – she only kissed me in front of people, she only ever wanted to go out on a date around dances and games, and she'd usually only hang around me if I was near Brian… which was a lot given we both played basketball and baseball."
"Why the heck did you stay with her?" Renee asked, wide eyed.
He gave a shrug as he turned around and set the sauce pan on the stove and turned it on. "I dunno. Half the time I forgot we were even a thing and as we were thrown together so much anyway with her being a cheerleader and everything else. I figured even if I did break up with her, I still would have seen her all the time, so may as well 'be her boyfriend' and not have life be miserable by having to deal with her as an ex-girlfriend."
"Okay, I can't say I blame you. She was pretty catty and gossipy…and manipulative… why on earth did I ever believe her about you guys?" Renee replied.
"Is that why you avoided me the summer after graduation?" Craig asked.
"More or less. She had gone on all freaking year about you guys, and by the time prom came around, I was so focused on finals and SATs that I didn't notice her and Brian. Then of course, once we graduated, I had absolutely nothing to do with her and just assumed you two were still a thing. Obviously I was wrong…"
"Very. I was going to ask you to the ice cream social and the summer concert in the park and explain everything, but I couldn't seem to get within ten feet of you without you disappearing," he said, giving her a look.
"Oh, well," she gave a nervous laugh, "I uh, was avoiding you a little bit. I figured if Lindsey saw us talking she might get jealous and I had already been through enough crap with her and I did not want to invite more."
He nodded, "That's at least understandable. I thought you were mad at me or something."
"What would I be mad at you about?"
"That I didn't ask you to the Spring Fling our junior year and then started dating Lindsey."
"No, I mean I wanted you to, but I certainly hadn't done or said anything to let you know that. Besides, by the end of junior year we all figured you and Lindsey were a foregone conclusion so I didn't expect it."
"Well, I was pretty mad at myself that I didn't ask you to the Spring Fling, and I definitely regret dating Lindsey," he said.
"Why didn't you ask me to the Spring Fling? I really thought you were going to before the baseball championship game but then your coach called you over and afterwards I had to leave with Danielle's family," Renee said.
"Oh," Craig said quietly. "I must have just missed you. Everybody swarmed me after the game and I saw you up in the stands and I tried to get over to you, but by the time I did, you were gone. I thought maybe you guessed that I was gonna ask and decided to bolt, so I didn't pursue it."
She felt her face get hot and figured she was blushing. Suddenly she remembered what Aranor had said about if his wife hadn't said something, they probably still wouldn't be married so she mustered her courage and asked, "So what about now? Dating? Engaged? Married?"
"No, no, and no," he answered. "Are you?"
"No to all three. I've been dateless since – well, senior prom. I went with Tim. He never talked to me again," she said with a frown and shrug.
"Well, if you wouldn't mind breaking your dateless streak, I would love to take you to the Pumpkin Festival next week," he said, looking earnest, hopeful, and nervous all at once.
"I – yes. I would love to go with you, yes," she answered, feeling like she was tripping over her own tongue and couldn't say 'yes' fast enough.
His face lit up and he smiled wide. "Pick you up at three?"
"That sounds great, yeah," she replied.
The grin on his face looked like it could light up the town, and he looked like he wanted to say something else, but was distracted by sounds coming from the pot on the stove, so he quickly diverted his attention to the soup and began working on that again.
"So you claim to be a huge nerd – just how huge?" she asked.
"I may or may not have taught myself elvish in high school," he answered, staring intently into the soup he was making.
"Pedil lam edhellen?" she asked. (You speak (the) elvish tongue?)
He blinked and looked at her like he couldn't believe his ears then slowly replied, "Pedin lam edhellen." (I speak (the) elvish tongue.) "I didn't know that you were into that sort of thing," he added over his shoulder, grinning.
"I didn't know you were either. I mean, I saw you sketching swords in your notebook, but as we were the knights, I just figured it was school pride," she replied.
"Not remotely," he replied, still grinning wide. "I can't believe you speak elvish."
"I can't believe you speak it either," she returned. "But how is your reading and writing? I didn't er, haven't gotten that far with it yet."
"At one point I could almost read and write it as well as I do English, but I'm probably a bit rusty. Why?"
She cleared her throat and fidgeted a little then said slowly, "Well, I uh, would like to read and write and elvish. Mostly read, I guess, but I would like to write in it too. It would be kind of fun and I've always enjoyed calligraphy and stuff."
"Oh that's right! I remember you placed well at the art fair with your calligraphy. Didn't you get first one year?" he asked.
"My word, I can't believe you remember that! Yes, I did," she answered. She felt that fluttery feeling again as she realized he was paying attention to her back then. He genuinely had an interest in her then and now.
He smiled and turned pink as he stood over the steaming pot stirring. "If you want, I can teach you. But if you mostly want to read it, it would be helpful if you had something to read."
"I've got letters," she blurted out and immediately regretted it.
"Letters?"
"Yeah, see…" she looked at him and bit her lip and her brows drew together.
"What's wrong?" Craig asked, looking at her like he was assessing the situation.
With a shaky voice she replied, "Craig, I really don't want to mess up this amazing thing we've got going here because honestly, I've wanted this to happen since the ninth grade. However, I really don't want to start our relationship with a huge secret between us that I have to lie about. I'm going to ask you to do the hardest thing ever and believe me, or at least listen to me all the way through before you draw any conclusions. Can you do that for me please?"
He turned off the stove and came over and sat down across from her at the table. "Are you about to tell me you have a kid somewhere, because that doesn't need to be problem between-"
"No, no. Nothing like that. It's – well, wait a second. Let me go get something to help prove what I'm going to say."
She quickly got up and ran to her room and back and set out before him her recipes and the letters.
"What is this?" he asked, gingerly picking up one of the pages. "A recipe for a vegetable tart? Why are all the measurements so… archaic? And what's this at the bottom?" he stared at it and slowly read aloud, "Aranor… Noble sun? Day sun? What does it mean?"
"Noble sun. It's a name. He said his father gave it to him as when he was born the sun came in through the window and fell upon his face," she answered. "Unless you mean 'what does it mean' as in why I have that random name in elvish at the bottom, it's because that's who gave me the recipe. Aranor. He's… I honestly don't know how to explain this."
"How about from the beginning?" Craig said as he picked up one of the letters and began looking it over.
"You saw the beginning. I got knocked into Starlight Lake. Well, when I woke up, I was next to the Mirrormere. And Gimli was yelling at me because I called the lake strange and called Frodo a dwarf."
He set down the letter and looked intently at her eyes. "You don't look concussed, but maybe we should go to the hospital."
"No, please! Wait! Hear me out and then call me crazy, just please hear me out!" she said, grabbing his hand. He stared at her again then nodded and she continued. "Well, I think I was concussed then because I passed out and when I woke up I was up in a flet and the orcs were beneath us and Haldir knocked me out. When I woke up the next time I was in Caras Galadhon and Aranor, the guy who makes a mean vegetable tart, was there as he's the head healer and –" there was a knock at her door. "Excuse me," she said as she got up. Craig got up and followed her to the door. She opened it and standing there was a man wearing a flannel shirt and jeans.
"Hello, my name is Daniel. Daniel Lipanski. I work at the Western Union office in town here," he said, flashing his work identification tag. "Anyway, I don't usually deliver stuff, but about ten years ago this letter showed up in the mail with instructions to deliver it to a Renee McCallister at this address on this day. Anyway, it was kind of bizarre because we don't usually have letters put on hold like this and well, I know your dad and I know you weren't living here ten years ago so I thought it was kind of weird and thought I'd deliver it myself and sort of check things out and make sure everything is okay. Oh, and if you could sign for this please," he said as he handed her a clipboard.
She signed and said, "No, everything is fine. I'm sure I don't know who would have known where I was going to live now ten years ago but – Oh… I bet I do know," she said as she ripped open the envelope and quickly scanned through the letter until she reached the bottom where there was a named signed twice – Lothril. Once in English characters and once in elvish ones.
"Anyone we should be worried about?" Mr. Lipanski asked.
"Nope. You ever see Back to the Future 3?" she asked.
"Yeah," he answered slowly.
"There's your answer. Thanks for your concern though. I've got something on the stove so I have to go," she said and lightly pushed the door shut as she turned away reading the letter.
Mr. Lipanski caught the door before it shut and looked at Craig and said, "Is she okay? Is she really saying Doc Brown sent her a letter?"
"She fell into the lake earlier and I'm wondering if she had a concussion. It's why I'm here. I fished her out and after she insisted on not going to the hospital I convinced her to let me spend a few hours with her to make sure she's alright," he explained.
"Oh yeah – I heard about that from my wife. Well, I'm glad you're here, Craig. If she is concussed and refuses the hospital, call her mother," Mr. Lipanski said. "Have a good afternoon," he added and then turned and went down the stairs.
Craig shut the door and returned to the kitchen table where Renee was reading the note with a big smile on her face. "Here – look at this!" she said as she handed the letter and a picture to Craig.
He looked at the picture with his brows knit together then read the letter. It said:
Dear Renee,
You might remember that some elves are gifted with foresight, and it seems I have that gift too. That is why I asked you so much about yourself and when exactly you left - so I could send you this letter as confirmation of what happened to you. You really did go to Middle-earth. You really did spend over a month in Caras Galadhon in Lothlórien, and it really was not a dream. Remember I told you I had to return to kill some stray orcs? Well, check the post mark date on the white envelope – that is when I wrote this and I sent it with instructions to have it delivered the day you left. My only hope is that it shows up after you returned and not before you left.
Anyway, I well supposed that one day you might meet someone and fall in love, and if that is so, this would be a great secret to keep from him, and you would out of necessity unless you could prove it, so I am writing this to help you prove it. I know this proof is only as good as the faith in you of whomever you are sharing this with, but to whomever she is sharing this with – her story is completely true. All of it. Her being found beside the Mirrormere by Gimli, Frodo, and Sam, her being knocked out for three days on accident by Haldir the marchwarden, her living in a cottage in the trees and frequenting the Golden Acorn and the Seed and Sparrow. Even her returning, most likely, to the very moment she left. I did upon my return here for my mission, so I well reckon you, Renee, did too. If further proofs are required that this is even remotely possible, I have enclosed a picture of myself and Legolas Greenleaf, prince of the Woodland Realm as some evidence of the existence of elves.
Oh, and in case you are wondering how she came to be there at all, it seems someone or something has taken to tearing holes in the universe. I suspect it is Morgoth who is in the timeless void, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Regardless, the universe had holes torn into it, and it seems that there are many worlds. Like the Wood Between the Worlds in "The Magicians Nephew". Anyway, when Renee was knocked into the lake, she fell into one of the holes and into Middle-earth. She returned with help of the Valar, as I did (but my tale is long and if she remembers it, she may tell you. If not, let it suffice to say that this very thing happened before and it led to me, a descendent of elves, being born in this world and then taken home to Middle-earth and back here to help right things. I shall return to Middle-earth again soon, and will have been gone ten years by the time this is read. Otherwise, I should have told you how to find me.). It is a very strange and complicated thing, but that is the pith of it. If she recalls our conversation when we first met, she may elaborate a little further, but I am sure she was still disoriented and may not remember it fully. We spoke a long time.
In any event, I hope this finds you well and helps prove your story. May the stars shine upon the end of your road! And good luck!
Your friend,
Lothril
P. S. Legolas asked me to thank you from the bottom of his heart for distracting him that day whilst Gimli and I saw to getting his betrothal ring made.
Craig looked at the envelope and the post date was definitely July of 2004. Mr. Lipanski had confirmed it showed up in 2004, and a sealed envelope with instructions written on the outside to deliver to this address at this very day… certainly seemed legit, as far as it went. He read the letter again.
"What's the Golden Acorn and the Seed and Sparrow?" Craig asked.
"The Golden Acorn was an inn, though some of the locals would frequent it. Aranor and Haldir were regulars. Anyway, they had an amazing pheasant, melt in your mouth venison stew, and the best darn river trout I've ever had! It was up in the trees, so the building kind of spiraled up the side and they would play music and everyone would dance and… it was amazing! Seed and Sparrow was a little tea shop and bakery that had the most outstanding seed cakes! Not to mention an herbal tea that I adored. Pretty darn good mead too," she answered without hesitation.
Craig looked at the picture again. It was a blond man with long hair and a brunette woman with long hair very close to each other, turned facing away a little from the camera and looking at it out of the corners of their eyes and smiling like they hadn't a care in the world. Their ears were very clearly visible and they were very clearly pointed and their eyes seemed to glitter even in the still photograph. "So they're elves."
"Yup. She's Lothril and he's Legolas. They probably got married as soon as they returned to Middle-earth," she said.
"And you had no idea she was going to send you this?"
"None whatsoever," she said.
"And you went to Lothlórien?"
She nodded.
"And you learned elvish in Lothlórien?" he asked.
She nodded again. "Yes. Haldir and Aranor taught me. They were kind of my translators. Not a lot of elves speak the Common Tongue you know."
"I figured," he said somewhat absentmindedly. He was thinking all this through. He looked at the letters she had given him that were sitting on the table. He started quickly trying to read through one and though he was rusty, he was able to pick out enough that seemed to coincide with what she said and the letter. He saw a mention of 'music at… Acorn' and 'I shall miss you whenever I get mead…" Then he picked up the other and he saw mention of the ring she was wearing and the recipes. He looked up at her wide eyed, "Did you meet Galadriel and Celeborn?"
"I did. I had dinner with them a couple times. They were very nice. Her gaze though… even when she wasn't looking into your soul, it took some getting used to. I guess it's because she saw the two trees maybe," she said, trailing off.
"Did you really meet the Fellowship?" he asked, looking at her even wider eyed.
She nodded. "Yes, they were very nice. At our first meeting we swapped fish stories. Did you know Legolas is an avid fisherman? He makes his own lures."
"N-no, I didn't know that. I guess it makes sense though with him living on a river," Craig said thoughtfully. "What were they like? Were they anything like how they are in the books?"
"I thought so. It was sort of funny though – I never really understood the dynamic between the hobbits until I saw them together. Kind of makes the beginning and end of the books a little more poignant. And Aragorn – not that he was flexing his future status or anything, but every so often he'd just get this look and you could almost see it… and Sam was the sweetest thing! And Boromir… He gave me this," she said as she pulled out the silver chain and his signet ring and pulled it over her head and handed it to Craig. "He sorta fell for me, and I almost fell for him. He was so kind, sweet, and gentlemanly and… well, he reminded me of you and I just couldn't. But I did kiss him goodbye when he asked. Seemed like the least I could do for a dead man walking."
Craig studied the ring intently as she spoke. "He reminded you of me?" he asked as he looked up at her.
She nodded.
"That might be the best compliment I've ever gotten," Craig said. "And I totally don't blame you for kissing him. Heck, I'd have kissed him if he asked."
Renee laughed. "Well, I don't know much about Gondorian culture, but I do know elves are actually pretty touchy, huggy, kissy folk. It got to the point where I'd be walking with Haldir and his wife and he'd be holding both our hands and he'd kiss my forehead goodnight. Same with Aranor, but his wife was out of town. I spent most of my time with Haldir or Aranor, but I spent a good deal with the Fellowship as well. We were friends," she said quietly. "It's why Aranor and Haldir gave me this ring. He said it was to remember them and our friendship by. Aranor's son is the jeweler that made it, but I guess it was Haldir's idea. Anyway, I went and I came back the very second you pulled me out of the water, and that's the truth and this is all the proof I have in the world that it happened," she said.
Craig looked at everything and asked to see her ring, but when she went to take it off, he gently took her hand and examined it on her finger then he looked at her and said, "I believe you. I really do. I saw where you fell in. I saw you fall in, and I got there seconds later and I couldn't find you. There is that drop off right there, and I thought maybe you had fallen that far, so I dove down trying to find you and didn't. I had just come up for air and was about to dive again when suddenly I saw you. You know how clear that lake is – I was looking right at the water when there was this flash of light under the waves and there you were, so I reached down and pulled you up. Until you told me this story, I thought the flash of light must have just been the sun's reflection or something like but…. It was you coming back, wasn't it?"
She nodded. "Yes. I was taken to a clearing in the city and suddenly this ball of white light appeared in the trees and came down to rest on the ground and after a round of good-byes and thank you's to everyone I walked through it and bam! I was in the lake again and you were pulling me up. As far as I'm concerned, I was only underwater for a second or two. So umm… does this change anything between us? I mean, do you still want to take me to the Pumpkin Festival?"
"To be perfectly honest?"
"I'd prefer it," she said, bracing herself for possibly the shortest relationship of her anemic love life to date.
"I kinda want to marry you. I have wanted to marry you since the ninth grade and ever agreeing to go out with Lindsey was the singularly stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. I was hoping after we graduated that you would go out with me that summer so I could explain things and apologize for not going out with you instead, but that didn't happen – and I don't blame you! If I thought about you and someone what you thought about me and Lindsey, but that's beside the point. The point is I've been trying to work up the nerve for two years now to just drop by and see you even though I thought you like hated me or something. I thought for sure you'd meet someone in college and when you didn't I was so surprised, but then I choked. I was actually at the park today taking a walk and trying to work up the nerve to ask you on a date when out of the blue I saw you sitting there. I was actually coming over to see you when you got knocked into the lake. I – I figured I would have a lot of trust to build back up with you. I mean, you said it yourself – thirteen years in the same class. We were friends. We were good friends, then I go and date Lindsey and we barely talk. I figured you probably hated me. Then you tell me all this and I'm overwhelmed," he said all in a rush.
She smiled wide and said, "I'm just glad you didn't like Lindsey. And um… since you believed me when I told you I went to Middle-earth, I guess it won't be so much of a stretch for you to believe me when I say- I've had a lot of guy friends over the years, but none of them that I cared about half so much as you. When I thought you liked Lindsey I kind of gave you up because I figured if you wanted her, I wasn't going to stand in the way of your happiness. But boy am I glad you didn't like her! I think we should date for a little while before we decide to get engaged or anything because we're older and maybe we're not the same people still-"
"I agree."
"But uh, I definitely think we should make a rum go of it."
He started to laugh.
"What?"
"A rum go of it! You know, that's one of the things I've always loved about you – that you'll use these old archaic phrases and slang because you read it in a book," he said grinning. He stood up and said, "Well, since you've been thrown in the same lake twice in a day a month or so apart and just returned from Middle-earth, I think I'll go ahead and finish that soup for you and work on your grilled ham and cheese. I'm sure inter-universe travel is exhausting."
"It's not exhausting, but my stomach is telling me it's high time for lunch and wants one of Aranor's vegetable tarts," she replied.
"I'll do my best to master the recipe. And after we eat, we can work on translating those letters," he said with a smile.
He went back to cooking and she stole away to her room and grabbed her little red book with elvish runes in it and a notebook, pen, and pencil. She began counting out the words per line and then making dotted lines in pen in her notebook. She recognized Aranor's signature and so labeled the two pages with their names, and then began looking for words that seemed to show up a lot and began with transliterating those. If she knew it, she wrote it down to the corresponding space in her notebook in pencil, and then every time it appeared. If she didn't know it, she wrote it down on the margin and figured they could look it up later.
Craig meanwhile, was busy making lunch and when he finally looked over, he saw again the Renee he knew so well, diligently working with several papers and books before her, hastily and neatly writing out her answers. "What are you doing?"
She held up a finger as she wrote then paused and explained her process.
"That's – that's an ingenious way of doing it," he said, sounding impressed.
"Thanks. It's how I got my morphology homework done in college. Though – I used a crap ton of highlighters for that and I'm liable to have these framed just so they don't deteriorate." She replied, and then turned her full attention back to her work.
It didn't take him very long to get things done, but by the time he did, it looked like she was at least half way through one letter, and was filling in blanks on the second with words she figured out from the first. He set down her plate and bowl off to the side and she muttered a distracted thank you as she finished up the word she was on, and then set down her pencil and looked up at him, eyes gleaming with excitement. "So here's what I've got so far," she said as she handed him her now loose notebook pages.
He sat down across from her and gingerly pulled the two letters over towards himself and began reading and comparing. "Can I borrow your pencil?"
"By all means," she said as she handed it to him.
"Still favor this brand?"
"How on earth do you remember that?"
"You gave me a lecture one day on the superiority of this particular kind of mechanical pencil and that particular kind of pen," he said pointing with the pencil at the pen, "and why they suit your writing style so well."
"Sorry," she mumbled, turning light pink.
"Don't apologize. I thought it was adorable," he said with a grin and then set about figuring out some of the notes. She had done most of the easy stuff, words like 'and', 'you', 'I', 'me', 'friend', and so forth.
She pulled the plate and bowl to herself and began to eat. "Daaang, Craig! When did you get so good at cooking?"
"About the same time I taught myself elvish," he said, sounding distracted as he began to spell out a word in the margins. "They spelled our names wrong."
"They spelled mine phonetically. Poor dears really had no way of knowing how to spell it. I could have told them all day, but Latin characters aren't the same as what they used for the Common Tongue, so there was no way of telling them how. They also wanted to either aspirate the 'R' or roll it and after about two weeks of trying to get them to say a flat 'R', I gave up. But you said 'our' names. Where was yours?" she asked. "And why?"
"Here, here, and here, at least so far. They spelled it c-r-e-g. But I guess that would come out right if you said it," he said as he resumed working.
"Yeah. I did get so far as vowels and "ai" would have your name coming out 'cry-g'," she said.
"So I was right!" he said, suddenly looking up and looking very pleased with himself. "Sorry, loooong debates about pronunciation with my brother. As a side note – what characters do they use for the Common Tongue?" She grabbed the red book and flipped through it and then handed it to him with the page open. "This."
He nodded then returned to his work. They decided after a while that they'd each work on one of the letters, so Renee grabbed one, and it happened to be Aranor's, which left Craig working on Haldir's. At first there was some occasional conversation or discussion, but after a while Craig grew silent and worked with his brows knit together and a growing look of shock.
Suddenly Renee started and looked around. "That was the weirdest thing."
"What was?" Craig asked, looking surprisingly serious.
"It was like déjà vu, but – you're going to think this sounds crazy-"
"After this morning? Try me."
"Well, it felt like Haldir was in the room for a split second. Like, I just had this feeling he was in the room, but as soon as I looked up it disappeared," she said, looking up at the wide eyed Craig.
"Um, did you know Haldir has the gift of foresight?" Craig asked, sounding spooked.
"No, I didn't," Renee answered, looking up at Craig. "What's wrong?"
"Read this."
She grabbed the letter and read:
Dear Renei,
I am glad you learned elvish and that there are books with it where you are, for I greatly wish to leave you with a letter/message, but I cannot write in the Common Tongue. I know none of the runes. I know we did not get far teaching you to read, but – I have been gifted with foresight and I had a vision of you and a dark haired man, I think it is the Creg you spoke of as he matched your description. You were both sitting at a table with a book with our runes and strange ones I can only assume are yours, and you were holding one of our letters to you and writing it out again in those strange characters.
She looked up at Craig, equally wide eyed, "You don't suppose…"
"Makes one wonder," he replied. "But that's not even the craziest part. Keep reading."
She looked down and kept reading.
I have had two visions of you, and as I cannot summon them nor dismiss them and they come to me unbidden, you must forgive me for seeing what I did. The first vision was the one above, and the second was you and the same man, but you were both standing on a porch in moonlight and starlight in front of what looked as wide as a sea, but as calm as a lake, for the light of the moon and stars reflected off of it and the waves seemed little more than ripples. You wore a white dress and a he a white tunic and dark pants. You kissed and as you did, you began to undo his tunic and he seemed to be undoing your dress. I saw no more than that. I offer you no advice or interpretation as I think the visions speak for themselves, but if he is the man you spoke of so warmly and whose family is so honorable, I think you ought to see if he repented of his foolishness in youth. It may be things were not what they seemed. However, you must trust to your own wisdom and discernment. Do not take my visions as sure guides, but rather as a path to be explored.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, wide eyed and shocked before there was another knock at the door.
"Hey, it's me!" Danielle called through the door. "I brought you pizza!"
Craig blinked. "Want me to get the door?"
"Huh? Oh, yes please, love," she answered, blinking.
"Love?!"
She blinked then gasped, "Did I call you love?!"
"Uh-huh," Craig replied.
"I'm sorry, it's just-"
"No, no! Don't be sorry I-"
Danielle knocked louder on the door, "Hey! It's Danielle! I brought pizza! Let me in!"
"I'm gonna get that," Craig said, getting up and hurrying to the door.
"Geez, took you long enough," Danielle said, trying to sound annoyed, but grinning wide and looking very happy to see Craig was still there. "So, how's the patient?" she asked as she came into the apartment. "Hey, Renee!"
"I'm fine," Renee said, quickly putting on a congenial smile and quickly gathering their papers and shuffling them into a neat stack. "Go ahead and set the pizza on the counter," she added. "Get your shopping done?"
"Oh yeah," Danielle said. "Found almost everything I was looking for. How did you guys spend your afternoon?" she asked with a sly grin.
"Oh you know, just hanging out," Renee said.
"Looks like you were working on a term paper," she said, noticing the small stack of books and papers.
Renee glanced at Craig who was over by the counter and behind Danielle who gave a frown and a small shrug. "Nerdy stuff. We found out we both know elvish from Lord of the Rings and decided to have some fun and play around with translating some elvish."
"I'm not gonna say a word. Nope," Danielle said, as she got some plates down from the cupboard.
Craig looked at Danielle confused and like he was gonna ask something but Renee shot him a look and he thought better of it.
"So Craig," Danielle said, handing him a plate, "How are your folks? I haven't seen them since the ice cream social this summer."
"They're doing well, thanks," he replied.
Renee came over to the counter and Danielle handed her a plate as she asked Craig, "Do you still go to First Church?"
"Yeah. Usually first service though," he answered, feeling slightly confused as to what this had to do with anything.
"You're usually second service, aren't you Renee?" Danielle asked, looking overly innocent.
"Yeah, imagine that," Renee said flatly as she grabbed a couple slices of pizza, "He's taking me to Pumpkin Fest next week."
Danielle winked at her as she reached for a slice. They sat down at the table and Renee quickly whisked her neat stack of books and papers into her room so they wouldn't risk getting ruined. She returned and sat down saying, "I only have milk, tea, water, orange juice, and lemonade to drink if anyone is interested."
They both dismissively said they were fine and after a minute or two they fell into friendly conversation, as all three of them had grown up together and neither Renee nor Danielle had really kept up with him, there was a fair amount of catching up and reminiscing. After an hour, Danielle said she had to go and Craig said he should probably leave too, but then all at once he and Renee remembered he was wearing borrowed clothes and that his things were still in the washing machine. Danielle said good bye and Renee put the clothes in the dryer.
"It was nice catching up with Danielle," Craig said, settling down on the couch.
"It's been too long since we all have hung out together," Renee said.
"We'll probably be doing a bit more of it now," Craig said.
Renee smiled, "Yeah, probably."
"I've been thinking a lot about that note," Craig said.
"Me too."
"You know, I've always kind of wanted a fall wedding," he said sheepishly. "My family has a cottage up on Lake Michigan that we keep open year round. I always thought it would be a nice place to honeymoon."
"Oh yeah – I remember going there when we were kids," Renee said. "It would be nice at that. Fall color wedding, honeymoon on the lake…"
His face lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah. I've never really had a 'dream wedding' idea, but that sounds perfect," she said with a smile.
Craig laughed, "Do you realize we just started planning our wedding? We haven't been on our first date yet!"
Renee grinned and said, "Well, it's not like we don't know each other… or both thought about this for roughly a decade, apparently…"
"Do you still think we should take it slow?"
"I guess it depends – do you know I'm the one and only you want to marry?"
Craig looked very serious as he nodded and said, "Yes. I've known you're it since the ninth grade. Like I said, Lindsey was a huge mistake. What about you?"
"Same," she answered.
"Want to get engaged?"
"Yes, but I think we'll shock too many people if we just get engaged tomorrow. We know we're getting married, so let's date a couple months and let everyone get used to the idea and then get engaged and announce a fall wedding," she said.
He laughed, "Yeah, you're probably right. We certainly don't need the gossips starting rumors." He paused a moment then asked, "Is it too early to say I love you?"
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Then no."
"I love you."
"I love you too.
"Dang that felt good to say after all these years!" Craig said with a huge grin.
"Yeah," she replied, smiling equally as wide.
"Is it too early to kiss you?" he asked.
"Well, we haven't even held hands yet, so I'm gonna say yes," she replied.
"Honestly, I'm glad you said that," he said as he slouched on the couch and let his head rest on the back of it. "I'm still wrapping my head around today. I mean, I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to ask you out on a date, I wanted, I mean, I want to marry you and that's why I wanted to talk to you and ask you out on a date, and it all happened! But like, between me seeing you and me reaching you, you went to Middle-earth and Haldir has foresight and Boromir gave you his signet ring and – we're gonna married!" he paused and looked at her and asked, "What are we going to tell the kids when we ask how we knew?"
"We'll tell them the truth… and just leave out the Middle-earth thing and the foresighted elf," she said.
He nodded. "That sounds good. They'd never believe it anyway. They'd think we were joking."
"So you want kids?" she asked.
"Yeah. Do you?"
"I'd like to have a couple. Like three or four."
"I think that sounds like a good number."
The buzzer on the dryer went off. "Your clothes are dry."
"I guess I should change and head out," he said.
"Only if you want. I mean, when you leave I'm probably just going to sit around, eat some popcorn, and watch a movie. If that sounds fun you could, you know, watch with me. I mean, it's only six-thirty," Renee said.
"Yeah, what were you thinking of watching?"
"Back to the Future?"
"Sounds good. Why don't you get it going and I'll go change," he said.
One movie, some hand holding, and a bowl of popcorn later Craig began saying he should probably get going, and Renee agreed. Another hour later, he made it so far as standing in front of her door and talking to her and realizing he never wanted to stop talking to her.
"Well, I really should get going now, I think. It's late and you want to sleep I'm sure," Craig said for the fourth time, but this time actually managing to turn the doorknob and get the door cracked open.
"Yeah, probably should. Goodnight, Craig," Renee said quietly, her eyes all but shining.
"Goodnight Renee," Craig said and on an impulse leaned in but stopped himself short and asked, "May I?"
For a response Renee closed the gap and kissed him, flinging her arms around his neck in the process.
Craig barely stopped himself from moaning. He had been aching for this kiss for years - and so had she!
-One Year Later-
As soon as their parents had learned they were dating, they all said it was about freaking time and went out to dinner to celebrate the fact they were finally going to be in-laws and their kids had finally decided to date. The trade off though was that Renee and Craig both started getting a little peculiar about certain things. For example, Craig bought her two engagement rings – one with a shiny rock and one plain silver band. And even more weirdly, Renee gave Craig a ring too. A slender silver ring that he insisted on wearing on his first finger of his right hand and referred to his as his engagement ring.
Peculiar, but okay…
Another way Renee got peculiar was that she suddenly insisted on cooking everything from scratch and started talking about how her and Craig wanted to build a house with a cooking fireplace. When she had mentioned it casually to her mom, her mom had looked at her like she had grown a third arm. The cooking from scratch thing seemed unnecessary but okay, but a cooking fireplace? At least she was also shopping for a proper stove.
Then there were her clothes. Not that she hadn't always sewn, but suddenly she seemed to be wearing almost exclusively things she made. And they were all… well, peculiar… She was living in leggings, which was normal enough, but she kept wearing tunics and had invested in a used embroidery machine so she could embroider said tunics with all kinds of scrolling designs. Some of the tunics were normalish, but some of them looked like some sort of weird medieval cosplay or something. What was even stranger was that Craig seemed to love it. In fact, he seemed to encourage it as she began making things for him and he could be caught wearing them at home sometimes. She also got rid of nearly all her normal shoes and started wearing leather moccasin or slipper looking shoes and tall leather boots. Where on earth she found them, no one could guess, and suspicions began to grow that she was making her own shoes.
The other thing that mystified them a good deal was her getting a pair of letters (or something) custom framed. And not just custom framed, expensively custom framed complete with protective glass to keep them from getting damaged by light. Whenever they asked about them, she'd just say something like, "Aren't they pretty looking?" and change the subject. They never could get out of her language they were supposed to be in, and despite their best efforts at figuring it out, they couldn't get anywhere. But this almost paled in comparison to the very, very random picture she had framed of some brunette gal and a blond guy smiling and looking sidelong into the camera. The picture was good enough and the people gorgeous enough that it almost looked like some sort of stock photo except dang it all, it looked like they had pointed ears! If Craig knew who they were, he was just as tight lipped about it as Renee and both sets of parents began drawing the conclusion she was turning into a bit of an eccentric, but a very nice and loving eccentric.
Her parents debated more than once on whether or not their daughter was going full crunchy granola hippie, but then they kept circling back to the fact that she kept going hunting and fishing and would see the odd bottle of Coca-Cola and bag of potato chips at her house and hadn't taken up composting. Otherwise though, she seemed same as always. Though her and Craig announcing their engagement after a month of dating was a bit abrupt, but given how long everyone had waited for them to get together, they could forgive that pretty readily.
Her friends, namely Danielle, also noticed a few odd things too. Like how she would sing sometimes in some weird foreign language and she would refuse to tell them what it was. And she seemed to have quite the collection of songs she would sing in it. She had also taken up the lute, but if Danielle was going to be honest with herself – her taking up some weird medieval instrument was only a matter of time. Though secretly, she had always supposed she'd pick up the hurdy-gurdy first just because Renee had always thought it was fun to say and sorta silly. She had noticed much of the same stuff as Renee's folks had, but to be perfectly honest, she didn't think it quite as weird. Renee had always been kinda quirky like that. The only thing she thought particularly peculiar is that her falling into a lake, her and Craig hooking up (finally!), and her starting to dress like up like Legolas all seemed to be related and by more than coincidence, but she couldn't reckon what. What was a little strange though was her insistence on everyone leaving their cell phones by the door when they came over. She was almost never on hers and seemed downright insistent if people were going to come over for a visit, they were going to visit and not spend all their time on their phones. Weird but okay. Her house, her rules.
Craig and Renee decided they wanted to get married up at the Woods family cottage. It wasn't too terribly far from her family's cottage and his grandmother's house, which meant it was fairly convenient for the families. They decided on a small affair with close family and friends, which resulted in about fifty guests. They had an evening wedding and the reception was a short cake and punch dessert reception. It was all easy set up and tear down, and though they helped with set up, everyone told them if they stuck around long enough for tear down, they would be carried up to the cottage and locked in. Thus, as soon as the ceremony was over, they cut the cake, said hello to everyone, then sneaked off. They were about half way back to the cottage when they heard a cheer go up behind them, and they figured everyone must have just realized they were gone. They laughed and hurried along to the cottage and locked themselves inside.
His parents had stayed there the night before and decorated the place for them. There were strings of white Christmas lights wrapped around the banister leading to the small upstairs. Flowers in vases decorated every flat surface and the bedroom had about a dozen of the really nice fake candles lit and strategically placed around the room. The bed spread was a handmade quilt that his mother gave them as a wedding gift. It was a cream back ground with a fall colored ring pattern. On it were rose petals shaped like a heart and there was a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine in an ice bucket.
"Wow, your mom really went for it," Renee said, seeing the room.
"It was a joint effort. My parents are both romantics," he answered.
"Pick up anything?" she asked teasingly.
"You'll find out," he said with a grin.
"So… how do you want to do this?" she asked.
"I figured some checkers and then maybe a round of Scrabble or two," he said with a smirk which turned into a laugh when she gave him an annoyed look. "Or you know, maybe a quick tour of the cottage so you know where stuff is and then we come back here and get out of these clothes. I don't know how that dress is, but I'm very ready to ditch this suit," he said as he took off the neck tie and suit coat.
"Sounds good," she said. The cottage was two stories, but it wasn't very big, so the tour took all of two minutes and then he took her back to the bedroom.
"I saved the best for last," Craig said with a smile as he led her back into the room. He pulled open the curtains to reveal a door and a balcony. He opened it up and led her out onto the balcony. The half-moon and the stars were shining brightly and the small rippling waves below seemed to reflect their light. "What do you think?"
"I think this the most beautiful night I've ever seen," she said with a smile, turning towards him.
He took both her hands in his. "It's a gorgeous night, but not half so pretty as you."
She smiled and said, "Oh you're just saying that."
"Not even a little bit. You're not paying me enough to lie to you," he teased.
"I suppose I'm not," she teased back.
"But you really are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he said, sounding a good deal more serious and his eyes practically glowing. He leaned down and kissed her. She began undoing the buttons on his shirt and he began unzipping her dress and suddenly she gasped and looked up at Craig.
"I had that deja-vu feeling again. Like Haldir was in the room."
"The second vision!" they said in unison.
"I wonder if he ever had any more of me?" she mused.
"I guess we'll find out as time goes on," Craig said. "But while we're waiting to find out…" he kissed her again and then drew her back into the room and closed the gauzy curtains.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
To this day, Renee and Craig have lived very happily and currently have a little boy named Thomas Aranor (and to date they patently refuse to explain his middle name) and are currently expecting a second child around the holidays and are being very tight lipped about any potential name after the backlash from their early revelation of the middle name Aranor. However, the rumor is if it is a boy he'll likely be named Jonathan Haldir and if it is a girl she'll likely be named Rebecca Elwen and they will make the announcement to family and friends once they figure out the gender.
They have however, openly threatened family that if the second child's name is too loudly protested, it will promptly be changed to Legolas Greenleaf Woods despite its gender. And with how peculiar Renee has insisted on being the last eight years, everyone believes she'd do it too – with Craig's full approval.
And to think – just eight years ago she was so normal…