"Miss Thalia, tell me again."
Thalia sat on the leather couch in her counselor's office one dreary Fall afternoon. The rain had quit falling sometime ago and now the sun was trying to peek through the gray clouds.
Thalia had been going to see her counselor for about a year now. In fact, the one year anniversary of seeing her counselor had rolled around earlier that morning. Thalia had been going to her counselor to get things off her chest, which also involved telling the story of how she - well how she came to be and how she ended up in America.
Thalia sighed. "I have already repeated this story over and over."
Mister Barns, her shrink, held a pen in one hand and a notepad rested on his lap; one leg crossed over the other. "Just once more? For my records?"
Thalia sighed. "Fine. One more time."
Mister Barns put pen to paper, getting ready to write.
"It began long ago, in a world known as Middle-Earth, in a land far to the west, the likes of which will still be found today.
"There is the land known as The Shire, with its lush rolling green hills and Hobbit holes built within the hills of the earth, center of it all lay the small Hobbit village known as Hobbiton: a small market that would one day grow; vast lush green meadows lay center of Hobbiton, and that is where the Mid-Summer's Eve Party was held - and celebrated by all of Middle-Earth's creatures: Man, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Wizards, Witches, Werewolves, Dragons, Nymphs, Elves, Fairies, Leprechauns, Hobbits and Vampires.
"One creature everyone in Middle-Earth thought to be a myth, was the Phoenix, due to hardly ever been seen. That is, until my mother met the Phoenix known as Thrain, and Middle-Earth was never the same since the Mid-Summer's Eve Party….."
Flashback
Adrianna helped set the very long table for the Summer's Eve Party. She always looked forward to the Summer's Eve Party. It was the night when every creature in Middle-Earth gathered together in the grassy field to celebrate the evening in friendship and love to commemorate the evening of which a peace treaty had been signed, bonds of friendship and allies being made.
Adrianna always looked forward to the Summer's Eve Party because she loved seeing Ella and Elron, her two Elf friends that also happened to be brother and sister.
Adrianna turned to the other women who were also helping set the long table. On her hands, Adrianna counted everything the women had put on the table. "Ale? Check. Meat? Check…"
"Lots of meat," said Rose. "You know how much the Dwarves and Dragons love their meat."
All of the women nodded in agreement.
"Bread?" Adrianna continued. "Check. Fruit? Check. Salad…?"
"Check," said two familiar voices right behind Adrianna, who turned to find the Elf twins: Ella and Elron holding a very big plastic bowl filled to the brim with salad greens mixed with a variety of fruits and vegetables. "Definitely check," Adrianna said with laughter. After helping the Elf twins set the giant salad bowl at one end of the table among the dishes and silverware, Adrianna pulled the twins in for a hug.
"Did you hear the news?" Elron excitedly asked.
"What news?" Adrianna curiously asked.
"The Phoenix is coming to the Mid Summer's Eve Party," said Ella.
"Okay," Adrianna said in confusion. "So?"
"'So?'" Elron said in disbelief. "This is a big deal."
"Why is it a big deal?" asked Adrianna.
"No one has seen the Phoenix for almost five-hundred years," explained Ella.
"Everyone thought the Phoenix was just a myth." Elron informed. "Until now."
"What does the Phoenix look like?" Adrianna asked out of curiosity. Ella shrugged. "No one knows."
Elron piped up. "If the Phoenix is anything light the myths say, he will be tall with brown hair with multi colored strands of red, orange and purple and blue in his hair, dark eyes, and fair skin."
"Adrianna." Rose called, "I need your help with setting the tables."
Adrianna turned back to the Elf twins. "Duty calls. I will catch you guys later." She ran off to help Rose who had called for help from out in the meadow. "So we will make a square with the long tables, then the shorter tables we will set in the middle."
Adrianna grabbed one end of a short table and helped Rose carry it out the center of the grassy meadow and set it horizontal. She and Rose repeated the process three more times before proceeding to form a square with the longer tables.
"Why are the tables different sizes?" Adrianna asked while grabbing tablecloths to cover the tables in yellow and orange. "There are more Dragons, Orcs, Elves and Dwarves than any of the other creatures." Rose scribbled on her seating chart.
While setting the tables with dishes, Adrianna kept thinking back to what Ella and Elron had told her about the Phoenix. Her thought process must have shown on her face, because Rose had put a hand on her arm and Adrianna snapped out of her thoughts. "What?"
"Are you alright?" asked Rose. "You looked like you were thinking heavily about something." The concern was clear as day on Rose's face.
"My brain keeps drifting back to Ella and Elron telling me about the Phoenix."
"What about the Phoenix?" asked Rose.
"Is it true that he's attending this year's Mid Summer's Eve Party?"
"It's true," Rose confirmed. "That's why everyone is so excited."
"Why hasn't the Phoenix shown himself before?"
Evening had fallen over the land and golden light from the Hobbit holes cast gold rays across the grassy field, giving some light for Rose and Adrianna to see while Rose set the last table with the last of the dishes as she asked that. "That's a story for another day," said Rose. "The short version is that the Phoenix has healing tears, and throughout the centuries, Wizards and Witches were mostly the ones that hunted the Phoenix down to harvest his tears, causing the Phoenix to go into hiding.
"The only reason why the Phoenix has appeared now, is because he thinks it's safe to come out of hiding."
Adrianna nodded while watching the different creatures swarm onto the grassy field. "Do you think any of them will try to harvest the Phoenix's tears?"
Rose followed Adrianna's gaze to watch the different creatures walking up to her and Adrianna. "I hope not."
