She, sorry they, will be back

Ginny's POV

After Detling, we move back to the house near Bodiam for a little while. The main reason for this is Ellie wants to visit her parents; why she wants to do this I don't know – since Detling, she hasn't mentioned either of our parents to me at all; except in passing.

While we are at Bodiam, strange and embarrassing things start to happen to both Adindel and Gil-galad...

First of all Adindel falls foul to the basic dye in the soap bar trick and comes out Mirkwood-green. A few nasty comments on the subject tells us all anyone needs to know about which High King would be the culprit.

Not particularly long after that we are all woken by Gil-galad screaming about hair loss.

We all run to his room and, lo and behold, there are many strips of what appear to be brown hair lying all over his pillow, some falling onto the floor and some across his body.

As he pats down his hair and strokes it, more strips just fall out.

Being the suspicious little madam I am, I inspect the hair that appears to have fallen out. Much to Gil-galad's relief, it turns out to be hair extensions. We don't stop teasing him about it for ages.

Unsurprisingly, he retaliates against Adindel and we then discover that just how much a bit of make-up can make Adindel look like a girl - especially when his hair suddenly contains ringlets. I guess I shouldn't have introduced Gil-galad to this world beauty products.

Anyway, you get the idea. Several more pranks follow and the frequency distinctly lowers the humour level.

Why do all males have the mental age of a five year old?

Adindel and Gil-galad aren't the only ones to be thoroughly embarrassed during our stay in East Sussex.

One evening, when Miriel, Ellie, and I are chatting together before going to bed, Miriel comments that she saw Adindel doing something very odd before dinner. Obviously, we ask for elaboration.

"He seemed to be looking at some kind of notebook; his door was ajar and I could see him slowly turn the pages, pausing every now and then and occasionally stroking one. I also noticed that his special collector's edition of Lord of the Rings was out beside him. When I knocked, there was a violent scuffling and he answered, looking very flustered. Before he shut the door, I managed to peek around his arm – both books were gone."

In case you're wondering what on the earth Adindel is doing with a collector's copy of LOTR then let me enlighten you.

It seems that Thanduil, Celeborn, and Adindel (in previous incarnations) had met with Tolkien and gave him a slightly changed history of Middle Earth as well as the War of the Ring – I think they wanted their stories told.

From what they said, I don't think Adindel was very pleased at not appearing in LOTR at all; neither was Celeborn when he saw the first film, only to discover that his part had shrivelled down to that one line.

I don't think he was very amused when Ellie and I found that 'They're taking the Hobbits to Isenguard' video on YouTube and showed it to him.

Anyway...

"Ooooo, the case of the missing books." I say in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"I'm just interested, that's all."

"Well, Adindel obviously doesn't want anyone else to see that notebook; it probably contains something very private and very secret."

"What would Adindel write in his secret diary, do you think?" says Ellie, in a thoughtful voice.

"Maybe he spills his heart into it every night, wishing that Ginny would return his love, and bemoaning the days when she does not even look him in the eye." This is said in a mock romantic voice, with Miriel's hands clasped to her heart.

Both turn in my direction, their eyes twinkling.

"No, no, we are not sneaking into Adindel's room to rifle through his things just so we can satisfy your curiosity as to whether he has written anything about me in his diary."

Both Ellie and Miriel put on their puppy-dog eyes.

"Please, Ginny – I promise we'll only take one teensy weensy little look and then we won't mention this to anyone ever again – hands on heart... besides, you know you want to..."

Bugger – Miriel has me there.

The next afternoon sees Miriel, Ellie, and I creeping into Adindel's bedroom.

It is a long room with many windows; any space on the walls that's not taken up by glass is filled with bookshelves. The books, ranging from the most ancient and threadbare to the most recent and glossy, are arranged in alphabetical order. Ellie starts picking her way through these whilst Miriel searches his cupboards and I, his desk.

"If Adindel doesn't appear in LOTR in any shape or form, why does he own a rare, leather-bound, collector's triple volume edition?" says Ellie as she stares up at the Ls, "It's a bit like seeing an Atheist with a monogrammed copy of the Bible."

"Value?" I query.

"No, my uncle's too proud for that."

"Besides, feel how heavy it is."

Ellie passes me the book – I have to concede that it is extraordinarily heavy. I hand it to Miriel who takes over to the bed and opens it.

Just like in films, the inside has been cut away and houses a smaller book. As Miriel removes the notebook, I notice that it's very well thumbed – oh dear, I'm not sure if I'm going to like this.

Miriel's eyes widen as she flips through the book.

"Well, well, well, I can safely say that I never expected that," she says as she reaches the end and passes the book to Ellie.

I look over Ellie's shoulder as she too begins to turn the pages.

Almost every single page is filled with a sketch... of me.

Some show me face on, others are in profile, and some show me full length and wearing very revealing gowns. As we reach the middle of the book, other sketches appear – I can certainly see why Miriel's eyes widened.

These later sketches show two elves and they're... active. They start off innocently enough – close ups of the faces kissing mainly, but then full length pictures appear and I'm most definitely not clothed... in any of them.

Some of the positions depicted are without doubt modelled after those we saw at Pompeii.

Silence follows as Ellie closes the book, then Miriel hands us some photos which had been stored underneath. They're a selection of those taken at the Villa D'Este; these aren't all of me, many are group and double shots, but I'm the overriding theme. The last one shows me by the fountain that Aini pushed me into, my dress is still wet and shows everything – none of us girls wore bras that day; I'm sitting, staring out over the gardens, brushing my hair.

We none of us has a chance to say anything for our ears suddenly pick up the sounds of someone coming up the corridor; the person is whistling and we can identify them as Adindel.

We hastily stuff everything back into the book, and that back on to the shelf. There's no time to get out of the room so we three make a dash for the King-size and crouch beneath it, hoping that Adindel doesn't notice anything amiss.

Luckily, he's not in the room for very long; I think he just came in to dump some things or something.

We crawl out from under the bed and breathe a sigh of relief.

"That was way too close for comfort; we've now seen what Adindel keeps hidden away so can we please just let the matter rest?"

Ellie and Miriel nod in agreement and we creep away.

I suppose I should have known better.

A couple of days later, after dinner, we're all sitting in the drawing room. I'm sipping a cup of tea while idly flipping through a magazine when, all of a sudden, I turn the page and am confronted by a copy of one of Adindel's more risqué sketches.

I splutter, the mouthful of tea I've just taken going down the wrong way; I begin to cough and only just manage to cover up the picture before Celeborn reaches over to pat me on the back.

"Are you OK?"

"Fine, fine; tea went down the wrong way. I'll just go and get myself some water."

Getting to my feet, I look around to where Ellie, Miriel, and Charlotte are – they're all wearing completely innocent expressions, but I've known each for far too long. I dearly wanted to run my finger across my throat the way people do when threatening someone, but I was all too aware that I was still being eyeballed by various elves.

When I reach my room, I tear out the offending page and hide it under a loose floorboard by my dressing table.

I would have put it straight in the recycling bin, but it's too much to hope that certain nefarious characters wouldn't try to steal it back. I'll put it on the fire when they're being lit again.

Fortunately, nothing else untoward happens – apart from the odd prank from two certain ellyn – and, at the end of September, we travel northwards.

I'd been bugging everyone constantly to agree to us all having a day at Alton Towers, my all time favourite theme park.

Most of the Valinorians were a little uncertain after I'd described the kind of rides there are at Alton Towers, but they eventually capitulated.

I think everyone, even elves like Turgon and Thanduil, enjoyed themselves immensely.

We got a hell of a lot of mementos, particularly those official pictures they take when the rides are in progress.

After Alton Towers, we all (cats included) travel over to Wales, then Ireland (Republic and Northern), and finally, Scotland.

While we're in Ireland, something quite unexpected happens: we meet with the Valar again.

Not that the actual meeting was unexpected – Ellie had her dreams again – I was just more surprised at the reason.

It seems we're to stay in this world for a little while longer...

Why this sudden off-the-cuff UK-wide tour? Well, I have been to all the aforementioned places, as have Thanduil, Adindel, and Celeborn, but no one else, even Ellie and Lottie, has.

Besides, we wanted to spend Christmas in the Scottish castle our victims own and we had a few weeks in between to kill.

We're not in Scotland all that long before the snow starts to fall.

Eleanor POV

After we get back from the re-enactment we stay at that pretty house for a little while longer, partly because I want to visit my parents.

While I am doing that I pick up a lot of things I left behind that I wanted back, much of which I just shipped back to our house in Bristol because I couldn't really take it with me. This included my original weapons collection and my doll collection and also some of my books.

One of the things I decided to keep with me was some of my teddies, particularly the ones Charlotte gave me.

Actually, when I brought the teddies back I had an interesting conversation with Gil-galad.

He picks up a teddy bear that Lottie got me from a charity shop once and inspects the toy.

"Its fur is the same colour as my hair," he comments.

"I know." He gives me a strange look at the statement. "He was named for the colour of his fur." Cue another frown; Charlotte buts in at this point.

"The bear is called Gil-galad." He gapes at me and my father, who is nearby, collapses laughing.

"You named the bear after me?" he asks incredulously. My father chooses this point to recover and comment himself.

"Aw, you cousin loves you so much she named a cuddly toy after you!" I don't think my father has been on the receiving end of such a glare in very long time. Once I have got over my own amusement, something my father just said registers.

"Cousin?" Why the hell did he refer to me as Gil-galad's cousin.

"Didn't you know? Gil-galad's father, Fingon, is my brother and was High King of the Noldor before me." My lovely father looks at me in some surprise.

"No, as a matter of fact I had no idea I was related to him. It explains the sense of humour at least, it must be hereditary."

They all agree about that.

Shortly after that, a prank war starts out.

I have to admit that it is really rather juvenile and though it is amusing at first that amusement wears down real quick.

All I can say for it is that at least only Gil-galad and Adindel were victims.

Thankfully, Miriel finds something else to amuse ourselves with.

She discovers that her uncle keeps a secret diary and convinces Ginny to join us in finding it. While the other two go to raid the places like under the bed and stuff, I do the obvious thing.

Miriel had mentioned that he also had a copy of Lord of the Rings out when she saw him looking in the book so I go look at the book shelf and find that he is nice and organised about his books (unlike me). What a surprise, there is a copy of Lord of the Rings. It is a large copy that is beautifully bound in Cordoba leather with pretty designs in the leather.

"If Adindel doesn't appear in LOTR in any shape or form, why does he own a rare, leather-bound, collector's triple volume edition?" I ask looking up at the book, "It's a bit like seeing an Atheist with a monogrammed copy of the Bible."

The book is taken down and opened. Inside is a big hole cut out of the pages and a well used looking notebook. I love his imaginative way of hiding the notebook.

Miriel somehow gets first dibs on looking inside and her expression is a picture.

I then claim the book.

Oooooooooo...

I think it should have an X-rating symbol on the front.

Wow, who knew a virgin could have such an imagination?

Some of the pictures of fairly innocent, but many definitely are not.

I wonder if Adindel has ever read the Karma Sutra?

Hell, it looks like he drew it.

With Ginny as the main female and him as the bloke.

Goodness, this guy has one hell of a fixation with my best friend.

Ginny has decided to look over my shoulder and seems to be suffering a coronary.

Suddenly we hear someone coming along the corridor and shove the book back in the bookshelf where it belongs before hiding under the bed.

Adindel then waltzes into the room, does something before leaving again.

Once he is gone, we crawl out and Ginny suggests that we forget all about that notebook.

And I thought that Miriel could be naive.

We, of course, do not let this rest and when there are no other people around, we take Charlotte with us and go get the book, then scan all the images into my computer before putting the original back.

I have to admit that Adindel is a good artist; I just think Ginny would have preferred him to have used a different model.

It is Charlotte who thinks of putting one of the pictures in Gin-gin's magazine.

Her reaction is quite amusing.

It is a good job neither she nor Adindel knows that we have all of the pictures somewhere safe and secure for future use.

The next bit of fun we have is taking the elves to Alton Towers.

Ginny, Charlotte and I are born Adrenaline Junkies and immediately rush to the roller coasters, dragging everyone with us. Actually, their reactions to everything are rather amusing and one of the bits of fun is getting all those ridiculous pictures from rides.

The best bit is that the elves don't realise that they have had their pictures taken and some of their expressions are really quite amusing.

They did enjoy themselves though, even if they were in for a shell shock when I introduced them to 'eat as much as you like' pizza hut.

It was a little below their normal description of cuisine.

After that we carried on our tour of interesting places by going to Wales, via all sorts of interesting places like Caerleon, lots of English castles (build to suppress the Welsh whatever they say about the castles now) and the Bay of Cardigan where there was supposed to be a sunken land called Cantre'r Gwaelod. Cantre'r Gwaelod interested me because I had used it in a couple of essays at university.

We then moved on to Ireland. The best bit of that was easily the Giants' Causeway.

We walked out quite far onto the Causeway even though there were some really spectacular waves flying around.

Why do something so dangerous you ask?

Because Ulmö had asked us to, that's why.

For some unbeknownst reason, we brought Charlotte along.

I think people had stopped noticing that she was a human who shouldn't really have been part of our group.

This time, Ulmö brought Manwë along with him and we introduced the insane king of the Valar to Charlotte.

They hit it off immediately.

Because I am who I am, I made sure he knew exactly what my friend is like.

I gave him detailed descriptions of her reactions to the paintings in Pompeii.

The elves all get extremely embarrassed and, much to our amusement, we hear one of them mutter that they still don't know what some of the things we talked about were.

Manwë seems to find this highly amusing, as does Ulmö.

Which, admitted, was the general idea.

Manwë then tells us why he is here as well.

Apparently the elves we have collected are not the only stragglers who haven't made it home yet and he now wants us to go fetch them too.

We then tell him that winter is coming on and a search in the winter could be problematic.

He agrees to this and only gives us basic detail of what he wants us to do, saying he will come back again in the spring time to give us more information about what he wants us to do.

While he is telling us this, Ulmö takes Valya aside to talk to her.

Well, I think he does, I only notice they are gone when the two return, pink cheeked and smiling.

I really wonder what those two are up to; my daughter seems to have a talent for turning the uptight Vala into a little boy.

It is kind of cute actually.

About a week after that conversation we move off to Scotland, going via some of my favourite places that I have always wanted to visit.

The main one being Edinburgh Castle, which is really spectacular.

As we go north though, we all sense snow on the air and know that proper winter is not far off.

Eventually we reach a forbidding looking castle that overlooks the surrounding highlands which we have to travel by horse through for that last part.

Actually, that is not as hard as it sounds as, don't ask me how, the elf-lords have managed to maintain a small herd of elfish wonder horses which are brought to us by the staff.

The castle might look imposing, but I think that is just a combination of weather and the fact that the local stone is a dark grey colour.

Inside it is much nicer, the walls are covered with gorgeous tapestries and there is comfortable furniture.

The thing I love most is the fact that it has huge open fires (though there is still central heating as well). I have always loved open fires and I take great pleasure sitting beside them, especially with my cat, who I have lifted the illusions on, as we are in private and have no need to hide them.

Shortly after we arrive the first snows fly, as predicted.

One look at the weather makes us all settle in for the winter and we all become very glad for the giant cats, I think only Celeborn, Adindel and Thanduil had any idea of just how bad the weather would be up in northern Scotland.

Not that we don't enjoy it, we just settle in for what will probably be near isolation and the only contact with the outside world being via modern technology.

There is something very charming about wintering in a castle, in the snow...