She, sorry they, will be back

Eleanor's POV

Going home after that meeting is a little awkward, especially for Ginny.

When we get home it is even more awkward because the first thing we are asked when we get through the door is how it went.

Ginny immediately pleads a headache and goes to her room, leaving me to deal with the inquisition.

The expressions on their faces would have been comical if the issue was not affecting Ginny so much. The reminder of her family and the realisation that Michael is a descendant of hers is obviously bringing up painful memories for her.

Once we have finished with this little talk, Erestor immediately goes up to comfort his daughter, who I think needs him.

Later that day Michael calls.

"Are you two okay? Ginny seemed particularly distressed when you left."

"Yes, she is fine; she just had a bit of a shock."

"A shock? What could have shocked her?"

"It is hard to explain. Is there a time you could come here for dinner? It would be easier to explain here than over the phone."

"Would Saturday be good?"

We organised a time for him to come over. I had decided to let him further into what we were doing as he would be useful to what we were trying to achieve.

There was also the fact that even if we could not tell him his relationship to Ginny, she would still appreciate him being round. Once she had got over the shock anyway.

I had said it would be an informal dinner and he could come round mid-afternoon so we could explain before the meal and things.

Not all that surprisingly, he arrived early.

I think it was my daughter who answered the door as Ginny and I were upstairs in the training room with Lanthi fighting Erestor and Elrond's twins.

I only knew he was there because I heard him walk in just as I managed to pin Elrohir to the floor and remove him from the match.

We did not stop training for him though, we carried on until – by default of numbers – Lanthi and I took Erestor out and Ginny took Elladan down. Girl power strikes again.

I think that Michael was even more shocked than he had been before when he saw us fight.

Once we had finished tidying ourselves up, we invited him to come see our weapons collection, where we were going to put away our weapons anyway.

When he gets there, he stares at the huge collection in absolute surprise, mostly at the sheer size I think.

He then goes to examine the weapons more closely.

I hear a sharp gasp from him as I have finished putting away the double bladed sword I had been using.

I turn around to see him looking at the old sword I was given when I first joined the Dunedan, which is almost identical to one of the weapons Ginny left with her family and is now in Michael's possession.

"How can this be? It is clearly ancient, not a replica and it looks like it was made by the same person as made mine." He says this more to himself than to us.

I go over to him.

"I doubt you would believe why that is. The sword was my first proper weapon and was deliberately made to be simple and inconspicuous. There were two others made and there were other weapons made for us as well. If you are wondering, those other weapons are the long knives, the daggers, and the bows and quivers." As I am listing them off, I point to the weapons.

"Where are the third set of weapons, I notice they are not there." I look at him, trying to gauge whether he is ready for this.

"How much have your employers, those would be Caleb, Alistair, and Aaron, told you about weapons and their past?" He frowns at the question; it doesn't actually answer his question.

"They said that our families, that's theirs, mine, and the Tayconters, have been very close for generations. They sort of helped bring us up and taught us all about all things medieval and are what got us into these jobs helping them with the society and everything. I have no idea how they know so much about all this, but they do."

Legolas, or Llordan as he has been introduced, is looking at me with a faintly amused expression.

"Tayconter? Is it me or does that sound suspiciously like Telcontar? What is the betting this family has dark hair, pale skin, and grey eyes, not to mention are all well preserved?" he asks.

"I am not taking up odds on that, my fair husband. The thought about names had occurred to me; after all, the other Dunedan bloodline we have come across has bred true." I reply.

"What are you two talking about?" Michael looks at us, really quite confused.

"I doubt you would believe us if we told you, now in the age of scepticism." He looks at us and raises an eyebrow in a way that reminds me of Ginny so much I want to laugh.

"Would you settle for a suspension of disbelief? I am beginning to think something very strange is going on." He is looking at us with the same expression my mum used to wear when she thought I was lying about having no homework.

We go and sit down, though we do take the odd prop with us just in case.

"Have you noticed that noticed that Alistair, Aaron, and Caleb have not aged at all since you were young?" He nods. "Have they ever mentioned their families at all?"

"I know Alistair and Aaron are brothers and that Aaron was once married, I never found out what happened to his wife, but I do know that both of them loved her. I also know that Alistair fell for another girl later, but she also married someone else." I try not to collapse laughing, partly because Ginny is glaring at me.

My husband is also trying not to laugh I notice. I don't think anyone else realises what is funny about that.

"What is so funny?"

"I'm not sure I should tell you for fear of my best friend committing friend-acide on me. She would kill me if I told you who that other girl is who Alistair fancied. Myrwen over there is Aaron's wife who they both fought for and my husband, as well as Miriel, is Myrwen and Aaron's children." He gapes at me in surprise.

"But, they are grown! How can they be ..." He drifts off, he knows his employers have looked twenty since he was small.

"I probably would shock you in telling you that Theodore over there is my father and he is far older than any of your employers. It would probably shock you to know that Valyaceulë and Valaráto are my children. Mánasairon and Ainicánë are Miriel and Alexander's children." He looks at us in total surprise.

"How on earth can you all look twenty yet there be three generations here?"

"Look into our eyes, notice that though we appear physically young our eyes give away our true age a little." He looks at me, looking deep into our eyes. He then turns and looks into each of our eyes, trying to gauge our age.

"Somehow, you seem so much older, I do not know how you manage to look so old when I look in your eyes, but so young otherwise."

I decide to let the magical illusion which hides what I truly look like from him drop and his eyes widen as he looks at me.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Magic," I state simply. I have wanted to do that for years.

He is staring at me in total and complete amazement.

"Who, WHAT are you?" he gasps at us.

"We are elves. Do you want the full and proper introductions?" he nods, apparently lost for words.

As I introduce everyone, they all drop the illusions that hide what they really look like so as not to get too much notice. As each introduction goes through, Michael's eyes widen.

By the time I have finished, his eyes are the size of dinner plates and he bears a certain resemblance to a deer caught in the headlights.

"Why are you here?"

"The gods of the elves got bored waiting for them to come home, to the original elfin land of Valinor where our gods reside. They sent us to go fetch, in their words."

"Go fetch?"

"The elfin gods have an evil sense of humour and are quite human in a way. I wouldn't advise meeting them; they would probably scare you through their personalities alone."

He grins at me.

"I guess what you want is for me to help you to 'go fetch'."

I nod.

Michael holds his hand out and spits on his palm. I have to resist cringing and also spit in my palm.

We slap our palms together and shake on it.

"Deal!"

Ginny's POV

Michael stares at me, clearly at a loss as to what could have affected me so much.

"Ginny, are you OK?" He makes his way towards me, but I back away, my eyes darting anywhere but Michael's face.

"I don't feel very well; I think I need some fresh air," my voice quivers slightly, "Excuse me."

I turn and almost stumble out of the armoury – it's a wonder I can find my way outside, such a maze of corridors in the building.

Ellie follows close behind.

When we reach the car, she puts out her hands for the keys, which I give to her without a sound.

We're silent on the way home, I'm just staring into space; I can tell Ellie shoots me the occasional look of concern.

There's a mini stampede before we even manage to close the door.

"Lanthi, please," I say, putting my hands in front of me as my sister opens her mouth excitedly, "I have a headache; I want to lie down."

I push my way through the group, everyone staring at me; I don't think hardly any of them have seen me act like this before.

I know they're all watching my retreating back.

Once inside my sitting room, I lean against the door, eyes closed. A single tear escapes through my eyelids.

A soft knock at the door brings me out of my reverie; it's Ada, his face grave with concern.

We sit on my sofa. Ada doesn't say anything; he waits for me to break the deadlock.

"I thought I was over it; I thought several millennia in the company of the Valar would..."

More tears escape; Ada takes me in his arms and rocks back and forth, whispering gently,

"I know, I know."

Suddenly all the rage, pain, and feelings of injustice that I had thought gone, explode from me. Pushing Ada roughly away, I leap to my feet, breathing heavily.

"What do you know? What does anyone in this house know about what I have been through?" My voice is high with anger, but then it lowers to a deadly whisper, "No one here will ever understand what it is like to watch their husband whither away and die in front of them; to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the same fate happens to their children; and then wait for the same fate to happen to them, only to make a choice which means they have to live with their memories forever."

Ada stares at me, whatever he was expecting, I don't think it was that. I turn away from him.

More silence before I feel Ada's gentle arms fold about me; I try to beat him off, anger still burning in my heart,

"It's just not fair; it's not, it's not, it's not." With every word, I punch Ada's chest, but he still holds on.

Then, just as suddenly as it appears, my anger leaves me and I lean against Ada, sobbing uncontrollably.

I feel so much better after my outburst; it was as if I had been bottling up all my emotions after Amrothos died, only for them to be released when I met Michael.

He phones later in the day to enquire after me. I feel rather excited when I hear Ellie making arrangements for him to visit us – I think I'm going to like having one of my descendants around.

Michael arrives so early for his visit on Saturday afternoon that we haven't finished our training session.

It does make for a rather dramatic introduction as Michael is shown in just as Ellie manages to remove Elrohir from play. Ellie, Lanthi, and I carry on fighting until we stand victorious – girl power strikes again!

As Ada and Elladan get gingerly to their feet, trying to look unfazed, though failing miserably, Michael manages to stutter out a faint 'hi'. He's shaking slightly, which is probably due to the fact that Lanthi had used her throwing axe during the fight and it had entered the wall barely inches from Michael's face.

We give Michael a chance to calm down as we go and freshen up and then take him to see our collection of weapons.

Michael's eyes pop out on stalks when he sees just how piddly his collection of weapons is when compared with ours.

It isn't long before he homes in on the fact that many of Ellie's old weapons are identical to the ones he inherited. I leave them at this point to go down and make some tea – the poor man looks like he's about to go into shock and he's not the only one.

Miriel helps me take all the cups out to the drawing room along with a plate of my own homemade chocolate fudge brownies.

What? I like to bake; I also like to do the cooking when our cook is having a day or two off. Anyway...

We enter the drawing room just as Ellie asks if any families had been mentioned at all – huh?

It probably does help to be present at the start of a conversation, not that this conversation needs much explaining – the next things mentioned are 'Alistair' and 'Aaron' plus a reference to Aaron's wife, not to mention the fact that Alistair also loved another – oh god...

I glance at everyone over the top of my cup; both Legolas and Ellie are trying to keep back the laughter that is obviously brewing inside them.

I feel myself colour and glare at them, but luckily everyone else is too absorbed in trying to work out what was so funny in Michael's last statement. Michael in particular looks confused; after all, he had just been talking about something serious.

"What is so funny?" his tone implies slight annoyance.

Ellie, however, isn't fazed and answers him in an airy voice, but she does look at me when she mentions the 'other girl'.

Clearly, she doesn't know me as well as she thinks, if I ever find out she's talked about Adindel and I behind my back, then I won't commit 'friend-acide' as she puts it, instead I'll find some way of keeping her clinging to the edge of life...

As the conversation goes on, I begin to understand some of the reasons behind Michael being invited around – evidently Ellie wants to let him in on some of our secrets so he will either be so glad that some of the questions that must have been drifting around his head are answered and will help us, or that he'll be so overwhelmed by the information that he agrees to anything she asks.

The time then comes for something that, judging by her delighted face, Ellie has wanted to do for years – she lets Michael see past her illusion.

When Michael has finished gaping at Ellie after her offhand explanation of 'magic', he manages to gasp,

"Who, WHAT are you?"

"We are elves. Do you want the full and proper introductions?"

Michael nods silently, mouth still slightly open.

His mouth and eyes get wider and wider as we each show him what we truly look like. Even though I've seen everyone drop their illusions before, I've never seen it done in such a theatrical way.

It is rather overwhelming to see everyone's ears become pointy and their hair change (quite dramatically in the case of the men-folk who all (apart from Elladan and Elrohir) have short, spiky hair). It's a good thing that none of the cats are around.

I know if I was in Michael's situation I would probably run screaming for the hills, but he simply gets over his gaping-fish look before grinning manically,

"I guess what you want is for me to help you to 'go fetch'."

Clearly my sense of adventure has prevailed within my descendants.

Ellie nods.

The deal is then sealed with spit – rather her than me.

Houston, we don't have a problem, we have lift-off!