She, sorry they, will be back

Eleanor's POV

Somehow the 'Ginny topless on arrival in Middle Earth' story gets around the house very quickly.

I bet Ginny is wishing she hadn't trained Miriel to be a gossip now.

It is an amusingly long time before she can look at anyone without having to turn away because of our expressions, which generally show that we are trying not to laugh.

Or other equally sympathetic expressions.

One day she is complaining about this to me as we watch 'Have I Got News for You' on replay.

"Look on the bright side Ginny; he will have even more trouble living it down when he turns up!"

"Not funny, Eleanor."

Oops, I must have really pissed her off, she doesn't use my full name unless she is ... unamused.

About a week later, at a meal, Thanduil asked us all a question.

"There is another re-enactment in northern France, a place Josselin, do you want to come?"

"Is that Josselin as in the capital of the Dukes of Rohan?" I ask. Yes, there is a place called Rohan in Brittany, northern France. It is very pretty and medieval.

Thanduil looks at me in surprise; I don't think he expected any of us to know the place.

"Yes, how did you know about that?"

"My adopted parents took me to Brittany every year from when I was four until I was sixteen, though we usually went down to the Concarneau area. We went to Josselin a couple of times and stopped there on the journey. I like it." I explain.

"That re-enactment is not for a few weeks so if you wanted we could get a ferry or something down to Concarneau, then go up. Would you then like to go to Mont Saint Michel and some other Breton/Norman sites?" he replies.

"Oh, yes please. I have to admit that I still miss there, I have never fallen in love with one place as totally as I have Brittany." I am visibly grinning now; a tourist tour round my favourite bits of France is right up my street.

Hopefully I will be able to get all the old albums I want for me to bring back.

Ada is looking a bit jealous, I think he has once again been hit by the fact he missed my entire childhood and that someone else got all that pleasure of me as a child. I sort of feel sorry for him; I mean it is not like he had much choice about that.

A few days later (once we had collected our cats), we leave via a private jet and land at Quimper Airport, a nice modern place all of about fifteen minutes drive from Concarneau.

From there we took some choppers (seventeen people and fifteen cats don't fit in one) down to their house round there.

When I saw what the building was, I squealed like a three year old.

"It's the Yellow House!" I got a lot of blank, slightly freaked out looks. I decided elaboration might be in order.

"When we used to come here when I was a child, I always wanted to come here because I could see it from the road, but never worked out how to get here!" Celeborn smiles at me.

"Elfin magic rocks. We made sure humans could not get here, it is nice to know you like the accommodation though."

I have no idea how long it took me to stop grinning.

That night we ate in my favourite restaurant in the town and I indulged in my favourite dishes.

Somehow the sword shops seemed infinitely less interesting than the previous time I had been here.

The next day we actually showed the elves round the town, making sure to show them the chocolate lion.

Yes, the chocolate lion.

There is a sweetshop which makes statues of things out of sugar and/or chocolate and my favourite was always the chocolate lion.

Once we had finished shopping and looking around we went and sat in the theatre type area at the far end of the Ville Close, the old town of Concarneau.

We sat there eating crepe we got from a stall (yes, I know that is weird considering how we arrived, but it was fun) and gassing.

We had spread out a bit, my children down the front with their cousins and Lanthi and the rest of us spread across the higher tiers.

While we were happily chatting away, I felt a hand on my shoulder and a human voice says my name.

I turned around to see who it was.

My jaw dropped.

Then I let rip a stream of profanities.

Behind me were my human parents.

That was not supposed to happen.

I guess that is also a lesson on why I should not have use an illusion so close to how I looked as a human.

All my elfin friends are giving me weird looks.

Ginny is staring at me wide eyed and probably think the words I am saying.

Mum had red rimmed eyes and dad did not appear much better.

"Erm, hi. What you doing here?"

Bad English I know but my parents had shocked me into reverting back to the slang I used when young.

"You're dead; they told us you had almost certainly died. How can you be here, eating crepe, so easily?" My heart broke for them.

I search for a way to explain everything to them.

"You didn't tell me I was adopted." They gasp.

"How did you find out about that?" I point down at my father, a couple of tiers below.

"That is my father. If you are wondering, my disappearance was not my idea." I give my husband a significant look and he has the grace to look a little sheepish.

I think he is slightly guilty now he can see firsthand how taking me that day affected my family here.

He had previously thought that this was an all-round good thing, but he is now seeing my other family.

I also notice my father trying his best not to look jealous as he knows he really owes these humans for having brought me up.

The rest of the day is spent trying to explain to them what happened without letting Ada in on the politics of why I was brought back.

We never did tell him that for fear of him exploding.

The looks on my parents faces when I raise the illusion for them, as does Gin and everyone else who is paying attention (in other words, not Lanthi or either set of younger twins) then for the cats, our constant companions.

I don't think they have ever seen proper giant cats before.

Nyx greets them in a way I more associate with dogs, and that is to slobber them.

There is also the fun of their expression when I tell them that two of the adult people in the arena are my children and that the younger one is actually married to another of the adult people.

At least I haven't got grandchildren.

That would just make me feel old.

Eventually they explain they had come there to grieve for me as that had always been one of my favourite places.

That night we go to this little restaurant called the Harlequin and I deliberately order the seafood pizza.

This is because I know they don't shell the seafood so you get whole mussels, langoustine, and a variety of other shellfish.

The look on the faces of those not forewarned was extremely funny.

My human parents agreed with me on that.

When I went to bed that night, I felt the reunion, short though it had to be, went really well.

Hell, it could have been a lot messier.

Ginny's POV

I shall never forgive Miriel, never! The story about Adindel ogling me gets around the house in about the same time it takes to read a stop sign.

I suppose it's my fault really; I shouldn't have trained Miriel to be such a gossip, but how was I supposed to know that several millennia into the future something even more worthy of gossip than a royal wedding would come and bite me on the behind?

The day after our conversation with Thanduil, I come down to breakfast rather late. All noise stops when I enter the dining room; everyone is staring at me – they're all desperately trying to keep their faces straight. I feel my own begin to burn and quickly take my seat, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

This becomes such a regular occurrence that I take to having my meals separately. This is only possible with breakfast and lunch though, as we always have dinner together. During these times I try to act all unconcerned, but, given my behaviour at other points during the day, this is really rather pointless.

Only Thanduil and Celeborn don't share everyone else's amusement – Thanduil's reasons must hail from brotherly loyalty, whilst Celeborn's from the fact that he has evidently known for some time.

I'm so grateful that there are some who don't find the situation amusing that I go up to them and kiss them (yes, even Thanduil) on the cheek by way of thanks.

Eventually, however, the novelty wears off and my face is finally able to return to its normal hue.

The next day Thanduil informs us that there is to be another re-enactment at Josselin, northern France.

I can't wait – I'm all for going. Ellie and I had visited parts of Brittany at the beginning of our world trip, but we only had a few days so we didn't really get to explore as much as we wanted to.

"Hey, don't forget about the cats!" I pipe up as Thanduil and Ellie's conversation draws to a close, "We haven't seen them in ages and, seeing as we're evidently going to be away for quite some time, we really should take them with us."

Everyone readily agrees to this proposal, although both Celeborn and Thanduil look a little shaken at the prospect of travelling with fifteen cats, all of whom are actually very large and very protective of their respective owners.

Reasons pertaining to limited space are amongst those given when Ellie and I alone drive off to collect said cats.

The reunion between cats and elves is rather touching and amusing to say the least, even those like Gil-galad who like to make out they're so hard and tough, come over all gushy when their cat scampers up. I smile to myself when I see him begin to play with little (well, all the cats are little at the moment) Bastet (Gil-galad liked the idea of there being an Egyptian cat goddess) as though she were a child.

I wonder what sort of father he'd be.

Why am I even thinking that?

Anyway...

Apparently, it's still going to take a few days for all the cats' travel documents to come through. I'm surprised that Celeborn and Thanduil even managed to arrange for it all at such short notice.

Celeborn informs me later that they have contacts as well as a few favours that needed to be called in at the government office which deals with this sort of thing.

I'm so happy to have Murrlin back that during that night, I remove both her collar and my necklace and get Murrlin all settled on a squashy pile of cushions while I take my duvet and snuggle down next to her, using her as a pillow.

A few days later, we finally arrive at our destination in France.

I'm as excited as Ellie when we see which house they live in. Ellie had insisted we come here on our world trip, she hoped that a fresh pair of eyes would enable us to find a way over to the Yellow House. We never did though.

It's rather weird when you stop and think that, when we here before, we had no idea what would happen to us in Australia and that we were planning out our lives in ways that were completely different from how they turned out; not to mention the fact that when we were living in this world, Celeborn, Thanduil, and Adindel were always around doing all their medieval stuff.

Come to think of it actually, I remember watching a history programme and that the aforementioned elves were mentioned briefly on it (obviously by their pseudonyms). I'm rather creeped out by the fact that one of those that I had vaguely heard about when I was a teenager actually ends up fancying the living daylights out of me and that I return from another world just to fetch him back.

I bet Dr. Who would have a field-day with that lot!

The next day, we all (cats included) troop off to the local town.

Yet again, we make quite a scene. It's not so much the number of us, which isn't really that big, especially when you consider the fact that the locals are probably used to seeing large numbers of foreigners milling around.

No, it's the presence of fifteen cats which gets us noticed. At least we have illusions for them as well otherwise we could find ourselves in a whole heap of dog pooh.

Anyway, we spend a lot of the time being tourists and exploring all the old parts of the town as well as visiting mine and Ellie's all time favourite sweetshop.

They also sell smaller versions of their statues and we all buy one. Mine is actually a teddy bear shape, but who cares?

I'm ashamed to admit that I manage to consume it all in one sitting. Well, it was just so delectable. Besides, I'm an elf and our constitutions are slightly more hard wearing than a human's.

Afterward, we wend our way over to the end of the Ville Close and sit down to eat crepe.

I sit down below everyone else with Ada; Gil-galad and Turgon are in the tier behind us; behind them is a group consisting of Miriel, Elrohir, Elladan, Myrwen, Thanduil, and Celeborn; Ellie and Legolas are alone together on the third highest tier; the five youngest members of our group have abandoned us in favour of the front tier.

We're all happily chatting and laughing together when the light-hearted mood is instantaneously swept away by a pitifully questioning voice that says one word:

"Eleanor?"

I recognise that voice; how many times had I spoken to Ellie's adopted father when we were at uni together?

Everyone whips around.

Ellie is turning the air blue with a string of short, sharp swear words.

Judging by the fact that every elf in the immediate vicinity is giving Ellie and her adopted parents the oddest of looks, I'm the only one who fully understands the situation as well as Ellie's reaction, even if they did use Ellie's full human name.

Silence falls; everyone around me has zoned in on the little group in front of us, no one really knowing what to do.

Personally, I'm on tenterhooks, waiting for one of the three to break the deadlock.

"Erm, hi. What you doing here?"

I have to admit, I would have probably said something just as ungrammatical.

I turn away, eyes closed, when Ellie's adopted mother finds her quivering voice – she sounds so lost, so bewildered.

Apart from the contact they must have had with each other when news of our disappearance first came out, I have no idea whether Ellie's parents would still be in touch with mine.

What must they have gone and be going through?

Ellie's mum is right – how can we be eating crepe so easily? Does this make me a selfish person – for not contacting my parents in some way to let them know what happened to me?

But how would I even begin to explain? I can hardly put my life story into a letter and how would I end it? 'Yeah, sorry, I've just come back from the Undying Lands to collect some elves who should have sailed ages ago, but I couldn't find time to pop in to let you know how it's going.' I don't think so.

A hand on my shoulder makes me jump, I look up to see Ada on his feet – apparently Ellie wants to introduce us all properly.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Ada narrows his eyes slightly, but doesn't pursue the matter.

I hastily rub my eyes when I'm certain no one is looking and then smile as I'm introduced.

I can't quite gauge Ellie's parents' reactions when Ellie informs them that I've been transformed into an elf – shock is probably the nearest description.

'Shock' doesn't even come close to describing their reaction when we all lift our illusions – although the usual amusement at said lifting is somewhat lacking in this case (for me anyway).

Despite everything, I begin to relax and enjoy myself as we spend the rest of the day and then the evening with Ellie's adopted parents – they were always easy to get on with.

It's only after the meal at the Harlequin, when we're all saying good night, that I finally pluck up courage to ask Ellie's father something,

"Do you see my parents at all?"

If Ada heard this, he doesn't say so.

Ellie's father delicately considers his answer.

"We haven't seen them for a while now; we all thought it would be best... closure and all that."

"Please... don't tell them you've seen me... I just... can't..."

They both nod in understanding.

I then rejoin everyone else for the drive back to the Yellow House.

Later on, long after everyone has gone to bed, I creep downstairs and out into the garden, mobile in hand.

I know it's a disgustingly late/early hour, especially as England is one hour behind France, but my mind won't let me rest until I do this.

Shaking, I punch in my telephone number – for whatever reason, it's one of the few details I can remember about my old home.

I lean against tree, listening as the phone rings at the other end.

A very sleepy voice answers,

"Hello?" It's Mum.

My courage fails me; I just stare ahead, trying to get my voice to work.

"Hello? Look, this isn't funny..."

I sniff as my screwed up eyes begin to leak.

This stays Mum, she says (far more tenderly this time),

"Who is this? ... I'm going to have to put the phone down now."

This is my last chance – I know I shall never be able to do this again.

I say, my voice barely audible,

"I love you..."

Whether Mum heard or not, I don't know for I immediately disconnect the call.