The fate of Middle Earth

A tall dark haired girl stood to the side of the historical dig. The finds were momentous. An entire mountain had some how become covered enough to hide this city that had been built on the mountainsides. All right, the mountain was not a huge one, barely even a mountain. What had sparked interest in this mountain for archaeological digs was the strange keel shaped ridge of rock that came out of one side and quickly enough of the volcanic soil had been remove to show that the top few feet were man made. The wall round the top had a gap in it at the point of the ridge and remains of seating were found. The top of the ridge was found to be flattened and was found to be a courtyard. At the discovery the archaeologists had started to get exited and call in more colleagues to help excavate what ever else was in the courtyard and anything attached. This was where the girl came in, her parents were English nobles and were providing the majority funding for the project. She was adopted from an Irish orphanage several years ago but still retained at least a little of her Irish accent despite extensive attempts by the teachers and her parents to train it out of her.

She sat back down on the squared off stone next to her. Though the stone was still basic oblong the stone had worn away and the stone made a perfect seat for her. On her lap she put the pad she had been holding and pulled out a pencil from the little bag on the rock a carried on her drawing. The drawing was of the city in front of her. If she estimated that the level went all the way down to the bottom of the mountain and all the levels were of the same size then there would probably be seven levels of the city or so she thought. It was on that assumption that her drawing was based, she was trying to draw the city as it had been before its fall. Her father had shown her reconstructions of other places like Pompeii and she was trying to draw it a bit like those.

When she looked up again some one was sitting on the next-door stone. He was tall with long silver blonde hair and a perfect face. He looked young in face but his eyes told a different story. They were an indescribable shade of blue and totally ageless. But they also seamed to be full of eons of time. He was sitting tall and looking regal on the stone, examining the landscape. When he looked up at her shortly after she looked up, his gaze captivated her. He smiled at her slightly and after a pause spoke to her slowly in a soft, lyrical voice. Even when he spoke his eyes took in more about her than she probably knew about herself. He asked her name. She hesitated; she didn't know him, no matter how captivating he was. He just smiled at the hesitation.

"I am Caleb, Caleb Galadhrim." She suddenly grinned, she recognised the name. It was less than common. He had funded the original digs and was still a main running partner for the dig as he knew more about it than anyone else. He wore baggy worn jeans and a loose tee-shirt but some how they looked the optimum of regal and formal, admittedly they were expensive and well cut for what the cloths were.

"Eleanor, Eleanor Fox." She looked down and put the pencil away in her bag. She was about to put the sketch book away when he put his hand out to see the book. She handed it to him and watched him in silence as he flicked through the book looking carefully at many of the pictures, particularly of the natural landscapes and what she thought the city in front of her looked like. When he finally gave the book to her she checked her watch. Damn! She would be late. Jumping up she tucked the sketch book under her arms and flung her bag over her shoulder. She was about to say a hasty good bye when her said he would come with her back to the camp with the dig. She nodded before sprinting off across the field of long green grass, Caleb keeping up with her effortlessly. He didn't even break a sweat.

When she got back to the private mess tend her father shared he was standing out side with his arms crossed she slowed down and attempted to neaten herself out. Her hair was windswept from the running and her navy blue plaid kilt was twisted round pulling the white silk shirt off centre. Caleb stopped behind her some how contriving to look immaculate. Her father was the archetypal English Edwardian noble though his jeans and tee-shirt dirty from the morning digging detracted from the image slightly. He opened his mouth to reprimand her lateness when Caleb spoke up.

"It's not her fault she is late Gregory, I kept her looking at her sketch book, she's a talented artist." The peeved expression immediately dropped off his face and he smiled at the praise.

Caleb joined them for lunch. During lunch they mostly talked to each other and Eleanor ate quietly. At the end of lunch her father asked her if she would like to join them in the afternoon. They had found a door of thick wood and were entering the room to explore; he thought she might be interested. After lunch she ran to her tent to collect her bag of archaeological tools.

When they went up to the site they opened the door gently. There were steps leading down to room. The steps were caked in dust and broken. Some of the steps were half width and as the steps had not been large in the first place the bulky men, many with beer bellies, who worked on the dig, could not even attempt to get down the steps.

Eleanor on the other hand was still small and delicate. They attached a safety rope to her waist and sent her down the steps. When down the steps she took out her torch from the bag over her shoulder and flashed it around. The walls were all shelves with piles of scrolls and books.

"It's a library of some sort; there are books and scrolls on the shelves." She shouted up to the waiting archaeologists. Her father yelled back.

"Put on your gloves a try and look at one of them, see if you can read anything." Eleanor gently pulled a scroll of a shelf. The scroll unrolled surprisingly easily and though and the flowing script was one that Eleanor recognised.

"I can read it father though it's in a very old script." She looked at him and nodded for her to go on and read the scroll. She went on to read the scroll, it described the author's account of a ring and how he gained. He seemed to think of the ring as a family heirloom. The archaeologists watched her in fascination at the words she was reading. As she read on it became clear that the author was a man of some importance.

When she had finished reading she gently handed the scroll up to her father who looked at it in reverence before unwinding it again. A frown crossed his face.

"How did you reach this, it is in no script I know?" He queried.

"My papa taught me to read it when I was little. I've got some more scrolls written in it at home. I don't know what it's called; papa simply called it the old tongue." Caleb asked to look at the scroll. After examining it he smiled at her.

"It is called the Twenga script and it is extremely old. I had thought it a dead language but it is nice to know that some still know and speak it." Her father looked around the silver haired man in surprise. They all knew he had an amazing knowledge of everything to do with the city but this new pearl surprised even them. Then the surprise transferred to Eleanor. She just looked up at them sheepishly.

Over the next few weeks the work on the dig had been focussed on recovering the scrolls from that room. They had brought a ladder so all could move into the room and Eleanor had been set on translating the scrolls, almost all of which were written in the twenga script. Caleb came by and helped her at times, apparently when the language had been passed down through her family it had been corrupted slightly and she was not always able to translate straight away. Some how he knew it in its most ancient form and when asked he would always skirt round an answer about the true age of the script or the languages which used it.

The trunk which contained the scrolls that had been given to her by her father that also contained the twenga script had been brought to the site. She, Caleb and her father had systematically gone through the trunk looking at the heirlooms. Apart form the scrolls there was a crown, a sword, a sceptre and some truly ancient looking robes. Even preliminary examinations showed the age of the items, and their value. They were all at least early medieval, if not even older. They were all sent to the lab for testing.

In the trunk were also a range of other, more recent documents and the key to a strong box that had been in rental for over a hundred years and showed that Eleanor's family had definitely been in the money at one time. They were going across to see what was in the box at the weekend.

Caleb had looked through the scrolls and for the first time Eleanor saw something resembling an actual emotion in his eyes, and then revelation. He had then smiled at Eleanor. He said a single phrase in the old tongue, Sindarin as Caleb called it, and gone back to the scrolls. The words were to quiet and fast for Eleanor to be able to properly translate but it had sounded like he said "you bare their resemblance, last evenstar" The words meant little to Eleanor and she instinctively knew that she would only get riddles if she asked him what they meant.

In the safe box were some more items of value and extreme age. There was the most beautiful silver pendant and chain Eleanor had ever seen, that strangely enough hadn't tarnished in the box despite its long stay. There were some other, smaller heirlooms than had been in the trunk and some more scrolls, one of which was very wide and long and had clearly been extended several times, the later additions being in worse condition that the original scroll, which seemed to be made of the same everlasting parchment that the scrolls in the library had been made of. Caleb unrolled the scroll and his eyes widened significantly as he followed the scroll up. Eleanor looked round him to see what had got such an unusually noticeable reaction out of the normally stoic man. It was a family tree written in twenga. As the scroll went up it became clear that it went much farther than early medieval times. The bottom name on the tree was hers but the names any more than a few generations up she did not recognise. At the top was one that interested her.

"Caleb, do you know who the elf stone is?" He looked at her in surprise; he had clearly forgotten anyone else was there.

"Elessar was one of the kings of the city we are excavating who was the first after a period of interregnum and descended from the direct line of kings who founded the city and by legend from the elves of a city even further back into history and those legends lead to a place their legends call Aman from where their people originate. This family tree shows you as the last descendant of Elessar and Arwen, a princess also descended from the same line as he. She was believed to be mostly elfin with some human blood. It would explain why your family holds the elfin languages alive." Her father spluttered behind her.

"Are you saying that this is a family tree showing that my daughter is the descendant of the kings of that ruin we are excavating and that the people there believed not only in elves but that their queen was one and that their king was descended from them?"

Caleb brushed her hair behind he delicately pointed ears that were very sensitive and that she had always been teased for at school and the orphanage.

"Some things are not a coincidence Gregory; like that she bares the likeness of Arwen Undomiel and the heirlooms of the city. I can guaranty you that when those artefacts come back you will discover them to be older than you imagine, could imagine." He raised one delicate eyebrow before pushing his own long hair behind his ears which had even more delicate and noticeable points than Eleanor's. He rolled up the scroll and placed it back in the safe before picking up the pendant and chain. He unclasped the chain and moved over to Eleanor. He gently clasped it round her neck and brushed her hair over the chain at the back.

"Mae govannen, Undomiel." Well met, evenstar. Why did he call her that? She puzzled over the strange behaviour of the silver haired m… elf. He was an Elf she realised. She knew from both legends and the scrolls that she had been translating that they were immortal and the knowledge of his race explained much. Eleanor suddenly had the suspicion that he had been there when the city was in its height and knew more than her was letting on, was older than anyone could know. "Look after that necklace well for it is the evenstar and been passed down the females of you house for longer than you could know. The wearer always takes the law name Undomiel which means Evenstar. That necklace once lay round the neck of Arwen queen of Gondor."

Her father looked between them and had obviously had a decision. He said nothing more on the subject but simply suggested that they take the other heirlooms for dating.

"No Gregory, these should be left; for now anyway." Surprisingly he did not argue with the elf.

Much time had passed since the day in the vault which her family heirlooms had been kept. Eleanor had not removed the necklace since and her boarding school had received a not from her father not to make her take it off. He seemed extremely willing to accommodate her and Caleb, possibly because between them they had too much knowledge that he wanted access to.

The excavations had gone well and picked up even more pace, most of the city now revealed. In the archive library they had found, the one Eleanor had entered, there was a plan of the city and they knew what approximately to look for. It had been shown as the archaeological discovery of the age, greater than even that of the tomb of Tutankhamen the previous century. They had discovered that the city had been buried in a similar way to Herculaneum had been in the79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. The hot ash in the sky had fallen, burying and preserving some bits of the city while destroying other parts, the hot toxic gas that swept through the town beforehand having killed many of the inhabitants, others had recognised the signs of impending disaster and had got out, including the only grandson of the present king who had stayed to help evacuate the city and had finally dies himself. His regalia and some artefacts of the family had also been rescued, those in the trunk and strong box.

The analysis of the relics in the box came back in that time as well. They had been sent to several different labs to verify the results. The metal used was an unidentifiable metal, some sort of alloy which they could not analyse and any further analysis would have damaged the piece. They were also discovered to be thousands of years old; every single piece preceded the known history of the world and all were monumental in their own right, without the link to the excavated city on the mountain.

Caleb visited her often while she was at boarding school, on the pretence of bringing or collecting more scrolls which she was translating in her own time. He told her legends of the elves and men from the time of the city. Form the start of time to the sailing of the elves, he told her everything.

What surprised her most was his age, she knew that he was beyond ancient but the city had ceased to be remembered over 6000 years ago and her remembered thousands of years before it was built, despite the fact the city has stood for over 2000 years.

Towards the summer holidays, a year after she had gone to the original dig, he told her of the last elves to sail to the undying lands and of the elves who chose to remain.

The wood elves of a realm he called Eryn Lasgaen had stayed, mostly and still dwelt in their isolated underground palace, what few having lived outside previously had moved into the cave palace millennia ago. A few of Caleb's own people had stayed with him and his grandsons, the brothers of Arwen were also still present. His real name, she discovered, was Celeborn, Lord of the Elves of Lorien.

On his last visit before the summer holidays rolled round again her invited her to join him on his travels to Eryn Lasgalen. He had already asked her father permission to take her and he had apparently agreed. Wanting to meet more elves she readily agreed. On they day term ended she would board a flight to the south of Germany, to the black forest region. Apparently Eryn Lasgalen was concealed somewhere in the trees with powerful spells preventing the humans from entering the small section of the woods that they elves still kept for their selves. When she got to the airport she would be greeted not only by Celeborn but his grandsons, Elladan and Elrohir, who were the older brothers of Arwen. From there they would trek into the forest where they would eventually be met by the elusive wood elves. When the elves had become such a small minority the Lorien elves had moves to Eryn Lasgalen which showed more chance of surviving and was easier to keep hidden from the humans. It was now the only Elfin settlement in existence and extremely well hidden.

On the plane Eleanor sat in her seat by the window nervously, now unsure about what she was doing. She was only marginally elfin going to an elfin realm that was historically known for being against humans.

At their airport she was met by Celeborn who was flanked by two identical elves with black hair and good natured smiles on their faces. They immediately pulled her into their arms crushing her between him. When they eventually released her Celeborn was standing there with his arms crossed, one eyebrow raise and a cynical smile on his face. He rolled his eyes and hugged her rather more gently.

"Meet Elrohir and Elladan, my charming grandchildren." He said as they each wrapped and arm around her waist. The manic grins the two now wore provoked him into raising his eyes to the sky and muttering 'why me?'

Throughout the journey to the hotel the twins sat either side of her telling her stories that Celeborn had left out, all were personal stories to do with the family and many involved pranks that the twins had pulled, quite often on Celeborn. They spoke in twin speak, one finishing the others sentence. They were very entertaining and totally different from the quiet dignity of their grandfather.

The next day the group set out into the pine forest. Much of the twins mirth dried up they became shadows in the trees. Celeborn did not fade into the woods like the twins did but did become noticeably more stealthy in his movement and all were very alert.

They camped in the woods that night and they kept a watch, something that unnerved Eleanor slightly. The next morning the rose early and ate some type of bread the elves all carried wrapped in leave and some fruit.

At about midday a dark haired figure appeared out of trees in front of them. He spoke to them in sindarin, eyes often flickering to Eleanor.

"Your obvious my lord. One presumes it is because of your little peredhil." Both the twins appeared out of the trees, startling even the dark elf. They put their arms around Eleanor protectively and glared at the elf. They didn't say anything, they didn't need to, they had made their point. Eleanor got the distinct impression that this was one of Thranduil's elves, rather than Celeborn's.

After some more conversation they were lead through the forest by the dark elf. They camped again that night. Eleanor paid little attention to time passing through the next day or two, there was little light and they moved through the woods at a fast pace and she could not keep track.

Eventually they reached the gated entrance to a cave. The gates were opened slightly as they reached them and they entered the elfin rabbit warren. The corridors were quite wide and well lit. It almost was like they weren't even underground. They elf guiding them to a large oak door which opened into what she was informed was the royal quarters that housed both Thanduil and Celeborn's family, she was then led to a suit of rooms that were decked out in the grey and gold of Lorien. The bathroom, blissfully, had a hot bath already drawn with everything she needed to wash and huge fluffy white towels.

Once she had washed she entered the bedroom to find and elfin maid sitting in a chair and a gorgeous white gown spread on the bed. The maid helped her get dry, helped her into the dress, which she informed Eleanor that the wardrobe was full of as gifts from all four elf lord, covering the separate styles of the three relms of Imladris, Lorien and Eryn Lasgalen. The amiable, silver-blond haired Elleth confided that the royal houses had lacked females for millennia and they were using her as a way of competing. The dresses were just the first symptom of this and all of them would each show off the best of their realms to her to impress her. Eleanor laughed, slightly flattered, and stated that Thanduil had some catching up to do as the others had started already, and Imladris had two going for it whilest the others only had one champion. The well natured maid laugh and confided that she was Galadhrim so was cheering for Celeborn but though the twin most likely to win, having watched them grow up.

Once she had finished she led Eleanor to a private dinning room where she would finally meet the elven king of the wood elves.

Eleanor entered the room hesitantly. Inside there was a round table and all four elfin lords. Thanduil sat opposite the door, the twin on one side and Celeborn on the other. Though both Celeborn and the twins began to rise to great her Thanduil got there first.

Her smiled amiably at her and held out his hands to her. After he had shown her to her seat she was able to study the reclusive king. He was very tall with dark brown hair and a crown of foliage. He wore dark green robes and, like Celeborn, had an air of timelessness that some how was also very ancient. In his eyes was also some grief that seemed somehow so eternal that he no longer noticed it much.

The twins and Celeborn were also clad in robes though Eleanor could detect slight differences in cut that identified them as robes from the different realms. She soon descoved that the dress she was wearing was a galadhrim dress as it was commented on.

Thanduil came over as very likeable and offered to take her on a tour of the caverns the next day as the other three elf lords would be catching up on missed paperwork that had accumulated during their absence.

After the meal they moved to a comfortable sitting room to carry on their discussion and Thanduil surprised them by bringing out one of the now rare bottles of vintage Dorwinion wine he had saved for several millennia now and even more surprisingly it hadn't gone odd in that time.

The conversation that night filled Eleanor in on a huge number of things she had not previously been aware of. Celeborns finding of the ruins of Minas Tirith was not a coincidence and neither were any of his other archaeological finds. His mission in his present incarnation amongst the humans was to reveal as many of the ancient cities from the time of Aragorn and Arwen. The other finds, which were much more minor had been a result of his memory from previous incarnations at varying points in history. He'd chosen Minas Tirith for his first big find because the intact library, protected by elven magic, contained maps of much of middle earth and historical accounts of the time. This would lead into the logical discovery of the other less well preserved cities and settlements of Middle earth.

She also descoved that Thanduil also had a claim to her ancestry. He had only two children, Legolas was the eldest and had sailed after Aragorns death but the youngest was a daughter and has gone with her brother to Ithilien and had married a human noble she had met there and the only child of that union had married into Aragorns family a few generations later, having been brought up among the humans and therefore choosing humanity. His daughter had faded after her husbands death and had returned to Eryn Lasgalen for her last year. The death had very nearly broken her fathers heart and only duty had kept him going for much time afterwards. Eleanor, though distantly, was his only living family member and would be treated asuch. Eleanor was very surprised to find she was related to all the elf lords in the room.

The next morning Eleanor's cheerful galadhrim maid, who she found out was called Niena, helped her into a green gown of Eryn Lasgalen make and after breakfast spent the day with Thanduil who insisted that she call him Gaerada, the sindarin for grandfather. He showed her around the halls and told her stories of her family, most of which were extremely funny and usually involved the twins and/or Legolas getting into trouble, quite often drawing in many others as both victims and acomplaces.

That night she ate with thanduil alone as the others elf lords were still very busy with paperwork, particularly Celeborn who had been away longer and had not finished the previous lot before he went.

Several days later when the four elf lords had finally found time to all spend with Eleanor together as a group an unexpected visitor arrived. He appeared to be an old man wearing dark, smart blue jeans and a blue shirt. Eleanor couldn't help the smile at seeing modern earth clothes in a the remnants of middle earth. He was introduced as one of the blue wizards. Apparently Radagast the brown and the Blue wizards remained and called the caverns of Eryn Lasgalen their homes though all were still very transient. Eleanor was very surprised to find out his visit home was purely to talk to her.

He informed her that Eru, for whatever reason had been granted the choice of the Peredhil. The Valar had apparently been as surprised as the elfin lords were at this intervention by Eru. He had refused to explain his reasons for this strange decision but had declared it was for the wizard to inform them of this and the elves to make any necessary arrangements for her both to make her choice and after her choice. Eleanor only needed one look at the four elf lords faces to know what their council would be on the subject. They all would want her to choose the elves. The wizard impressed upon the four elf lords that they were not to pressure he decision in any way, that made Eleanor smile for he obviously knew the male elves well.

The next morning the wizard took Eleanor aside to explain the details of her choice. She would be afforded a place in Valinor if she so wanted it. Unlike the other elves he time to consider the decision would be limited because of the nature of the world now and the way she could only stay young for a certain time.

If she chose humans she would no longer have a place in the elfin haven but if she chose the elves she would have to more permanently to the elven have, for which the elves would make arrangements covering both leaving the humans and permanently joining the elves.

She would have until the end of her twenties to make the choice and the move. The move to the elfin realm could be done gradually. This time limit was set because after this the fact she was not ageing would become to obvious. She would cease to age when she hit her twentieth birthday until she made her choice, if she chose humanity. Between now and her choice elfin qualities would develop and even if she chose humanity she would not loose these and she would have a rather extended life span as she would age well. Even if she chose humanity she would not be expected to brake off contact with the elves, just not to enter the elfin realm.

She stayed the rest of the holidays and the blue wizard, named Arien, stayed around keeping a close eye on the elf lords.

At the end of the holidays all four elf lords decided to accompany her to England, flying with her to England. When she got off the plane her adoptive father and his chauffeur were waiting for her. Some how Celeborn had contacted her father to tell him when she would be arriving and that she would be accompanied by the elves. He had invited all of them to stay. He apparently needed to talk to Celeborn about something to do with the dig. They were now reaching the lower levels of the city were things were not so well preserved. Celeborn had told him that the twins were her uncles and that Thanduil was also a relation of Eleanor's. Her mother had happily agreed to having them stay, going so far as to say that she wouldn't take no for an answer.

When they arrived at the house the slightly military, middle aged woman that Eleanor called her mother greeted them warmly if slightly stiffly. They were led to a sitting room were tea was served. When she had left the room for a while Eleanor's father turned to them with a very serious expression.

"Caleb, I know you are all elves and i wish to know their real relations to my daughter." Her father stated. The elf lord looked at each other before turning back to the man.

"The Twins are Arwen's older brothes so uncle in correct, give or take several greats. Thanduil is her many times great grandfather." Gregory nodded his head softly before asking another question.

"How old are you?" the twins looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"The old fogies over there are some where substantially over 10,000 years old whilst were only a little bit above that age though our collective age is somewhere between 50 and 60,000. None of us bother with much precision over that, especially as the fogies tend to have trouble remembering the important things let alone little details."

"Fogies? Considering your ages you two are hardly in a positionto talk?" Thanduil spluttered out and then turned to Celeborn "When do you think your grandsons will grow up?" he asked plaintively.

"When we see orcs in pink tutu's dancing round Valinor I'd imagine." Celeborn replied dryly. Gregory smile, pleased to find that elves and humans were not so different and Eleanor was trying to conceal giggles behind her hand. Her mother chose that moment to re-enter the room. She asked what was so funny.

"oh, the twin decided to start teasing their elders about their age, whilest forgetting that they too are significantly older than they look and very substantially older than they behave at times." Eleanor replied.

The elfin lords stayed until Eleanor left for Cheltinham college to finish her A-levels. Thanduil went back to Eryn Lasgalen and the twins went with Caleb and Eleanor's father to the dig. Eleanor knew this to partly be because they had been more familiar with the city and particularly the lower levels than their grandfather having lived there for most of Arwens married life and visited often while their sister's descendants still ruled there..

Going back to school was strange after having spent sp much time in the fairytale caverns of the elves and Eleanor found her choice easy to make. She did not want to live in the human world any more than she had to. The trick part was telling her adopted parent, explaining that she would be joining her true race and would live for eternity.

At christmas her elven family was invited and they all came. Happy to spend time with her. Eleanor nearly colapsed in fits of laughter when she found out. Her parents had brought Christmas to the elves! Or was it the other way round?

When they arrived she ran to hug the elves. The next night her mother was away with some friends for some reason. She took the opportunity to explain to her father the choice she had been given and possibly, to inform them all of her choice.

"Father? Can we speak? There is something we need to speek about with my elfin family." The six of them sat down for her to speak. She explained to her father the choice she had been given as best she could with little input from the elves. After the explanation her father leaned back, nursing a glass of brandy. After a while he looked at the unusually serious twins.

"You had to make this choice as well?" They nodded then Elrohir spoke.

"Yes though we had much more time as our lack of ageing was not significant as we live among the elves. We also had no conditions place upon us, once again probably because of the differences in the societies when we were making our choice." Gregory nodded pensively.

"you will look after her won't you, that is if she chooses to be an elf?" Thanduil answered this time.

"Of course, she is not only all our family but by default of being both Celeborns, and my descendant she is a princess of the elves and the Evenstar of our people and will be treated with love and respect by all our people. All four of us would do grievous bodily harm upon anyone who dared do otherwise." He said fiercely. Elladan muttered under his breath. Thanduil turned to them and raised an eye brow. "What was that?"

"Starting with that idiot of a wood elf that met us at the border last summer." At the curious looks he elaborated. "He made a comment making implications about Eleanor's human heritage. He turn up two days after our arrival with a broken nose, amongst other things." Thanduils eyes darkened at that news and his voice lowered dangerously.

"Which one of my people?" Elladan shrugged

"The one in full arm and leg casts I'd imagine. My healers train says that he wont be out of them of a while yet, even with elfin healing. I made sure he had a multiple everything. I don't like people being nasty to my niece." Thanduils nodded and raise that eyebrow again.

"Nor do you like wood elves, do you?" The twins both grinned unrepentantly. Thanduil turned to Celeborn who smiled gently.

"I was there when the incident happened and the insult was at least partially aimed at me. I sort of failed to notice when the pair of them turned up with highly bandaged nuckles." Gregory laughed and all head turned to him, the male elves had forgotten the human was in the room.

"It is nice to know that my daughter is well cared for among you." He turned to Eleanor. "My advice is to choose the elves, I'd hate to lose you but i think you will live a better life among them and we adopted you so that you could have a better life. The next question is how to explain this to Valerie and anyone else that asks." He hesitated and then looked at Eleanor and uncharacteristically bit his lip. "Do you have any idea as to you choice? It would make this easier." Eleanor nodded and all eyes in the room were suddenly and intently on her.

"I've chose to be an Elf." She had barely got the last word out when Thanduil picked her up in a hug and spun her round in joy. The other Elves were similarly jubilant. Gregory sat in the chair watching the joy of the elves at this pronouncement. When they had calmed somewhat they began to plan.

It was eventually decided to try and tell Eleanor's mother, Valerie the truth. Eleanor would do an Archaeology degree at university, allowing her to spend much time on Celeborn's digs and once she had finished she would somehow fade out of the scene to eventually move in with the elves permanently.

Eleanor was now twenty nine and looked no different from how she had looked at twenty. She was saying her last good byes to her human family. Her mother had taken a long time to fully grasp and believe that they were elves and Eleanors choice and hadn't been entirely happy with her choice of the elves but had tried to be understanding and these fair wells were slightly clinical with both of her human parents trying not to cry.

Finally Eleanor turned to go across the border into the forest to travel the now well known route into the realm of the elves and with one final wave she faded into the trees of her hidden elfin home, the last living remain of middle earth that would exist until the last elf sailed. Celeborn would finish uncovering the lost dwellings of middle earth but this little section of the forest would remain the last bit of middle earth in the ever-changing way of modern earth.