They had "good home-cooking" for dinner—spaghetti and meatballs. The MElings had been introduced to pasta in Watson's dining hall, but Vivian's cooking was much better than anything served at the school. They finished up with something Vivian dramatically called "dry-bottom shoo-fly pie". After one bite, Estel knew exactly why flies would be so attracted to it. It was very, very, very sweet. Molasses filling with brown sugar on top! Katie was thrilled; she apparently had a sweet tooth. It was good, but one slice apiece was all the MElings could manage—they weren't accustomed to such sweet food.
That evening, they played board games and Boggle, at which Vivian beat them all to flinders, and finished up with a few rounds of Uno. To his surprise and delight, Estel won twice. Teamwork made the chore of unfolding the couch go quite quickly, and they were all in bed by 10:00, far earlier than they had ever gotten to sleep in the dorm.
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," Vivian recited, and Katie grinned.
"This from the woman who's up at two in the morning reciting 'There was a young lady from Natches' on the CB," she commented wryly.
Vivian grinned right back. "Only on Friday nights," she answered sweetly. "And I've got to get up for church tomorrow morning."
As it turned out, she was awake before anyone else in the house, but that state of affairs didn't last long. Estel was woken by a muffled shriek, and sat up. The elves did the same to see Vivian with her hand over her heart, attempting to catch her breath.
"Good Lord!" she exclaimed, "I saw you all with your eyes open and thought you were dead!"
The MElings had a good laugh at this, as did Vivian when she learned that elves sleep with their eyes open.
"Well, you put my mind at rest!" she said dramatically. "I was convinced for a moment that somebody had slipped something in the pie last night!"
Katie appeared in the doorway, her hair tousled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked sleepily.
"Oh, nothing. What you heard was the sound of your grandmother having a coronary, that's all," Vivian answered amusedly. "But it seems my plan of waking everyone up for breakfast has worked anyway. Why don't you scramble some eggs while I go down the freezer and get some more bread?"
Katie agreed and stumbled into the kitchen while the MElings stood up and stretched. Vivian headed down the hall toward the basement steps. Katie reappeared in the door again for a moment.
"Do you guys all want eggs?" she asked, but never heard their answer. At that moment there was a series of loud thuds from down the hall, and a moan. They all locked eyes for a moment, then raced for the basement stairs.
Vivian lay in an awkward position at the bottom of the stairs, her neck at a strange angle. "Elbereth," Legolas swore, and Katie clapped her hand over her mouth.
The four MElings hurried down the stairs and knelt over her prostrate body. Estel checked her vital signs.
"She lives, but I think her neck is broken," he told the others in Elvish.
Katie was now standing over them with both hands over her mouth in absolute shock and horror. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod," she was saying quietly.
Estel knew with a sudden intuition that Vivian would not long survive, that she was in fact slipping away at that very instant. There was only one thing for it, one last, desperate measure he could try.
He placed one hand on her heart and the other on her forehead and bowed his head in concentration.
The twins, realizing what he was going to attempt to do, put each a hand on Vivian and one on their younger brother and bowed their heads as well.
A power flowed through them, filling their beings, and they channeled it into Estel and into Vivian. It was lucky that they had come to Pennsylvania before the hunting had begun, for the dealing of death diminishes the power of healing, and every little help to their power was now needed.
"What are they doing?" Katie whispered, agonized.
Legolas was in awe. "They are healing her with raw power," he murmured in return. "I have seldom seen this done; it is an effort of the last resort."
Even with three of them working over her, the power was not enough; they needed just a little more, or they would lose her. Elladan broke his concentration long enough to look up at their companion.
"Legolas! Lend us your strength!"
Legolas was no healer himself, but he knew that most elves have at least some latent ability in healing, and with only the tiniest pause of shock, he followed the twins' example.
The four of them made a weird and moving picture: three brunets and a blond, their long hair hanging down around their faces, bowed over the body of this older woman, the power so tangible, it nearly seemed to crackle over them. The last jolt of effort was so strong that Katie felt herself rock back from them, as if shoved by a sudden wind.
Very slowly, as if they were stiff and sore with effort, the MElings gradually sat up and took deep breaths. Katie leaned over them, worried.
Estel gently tapped Vivian's cheek, and the woman opened her eyes—they were bright as two stars. They helped her to sit up. She did not ask, What happened? She knew.
Solemnly, she hugged each of her saviors in turn, and kissed each one on the cheek. They returned the embraces sincerely. Finally, she held her arms out to Katie, who fell on her knees on the floor next to her and hugged her, sobbing. The MElings made room for her, and Vivian rocked her, murmuring comfortingly in her ear.
After a minute, they pulled back, and Katie turned wide and wet eyes on her friends. "Thank you," she managed to say through her tears. They all nodded, and then Estel raised his head, listening. He had heard it—
Bells.
He didn't even have time to say the word, before they found themselves kneeling, not on the carpet of Vivian's basement, but on the ground in the middle of the forest, the firewood Estel had gathered a week ago piled next to them, as if he had dropped it there a few minutes since.
Legolas shook his head and blinked a few times. "I will never get used to that," he said hoarsely.
All four of them took a moment to catch their breaths. Finally, Elladan stretched and groaned. "I'm exhausted," he admitted.
"I think we all are," Estel agreed, pulling off his boots and laying out his bedroll. "I'm too exhausted even to eat dinner—or breakfast, or whatever it is." He stretched out and pulled the blanket up to his chest, and his companions followed suit.
In the stillness that followed, Estel couldn't help but wonder—was there a pattern beginning here?
"Do you think we'll ever see Katie—or Vivian—again?" he asked in the darkness.
He could hear the smile in Elrohir's voice as his brother answered. "I don't know—just have hope, Estel."
Estel grinned in the darkness. It was good to be back, and to have his brother back. And they had Vivian to thank for it.
"There is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life."—C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
The End
…Kinda
AN: "The dealing of death diminishes the power of healing"—"The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar", from Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, by Tolkein "The dealing of death diminishes the power of healing"—"The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar", from , by Tolkein
Thought you might like to know Vivian's favorite limerick:
The Hoover, in grim silence, sat,
But sucking no more at the mat;
Quietly it grunted
As slowly it shunted,
And messily disgorged the cat.
—David Woodsford
I made a comment to my family about how people seemed to associate grandmothers with chocolate chip cookies and homemade lemonade, and my brother laughed and said, "I had to teach Grandma how to make lemonade a couple of weeks ago!" So my grandma apparently never picked up on her brother's recipe for lemonade so sweet it could make your teeth fall out. But she does bake a fantastic shoo-fly pie!
They have a new website up for my college, and you can take a little "tour" online:
The sequel should be starting soon, because I have the first couple chapters already laid out, but I have no idea what I'm going to title it, so I can't tell you. But watch this space!
Hermione at Heart: I'd never tell a reviewer she was nosy; I like being asked questions too much! But I can't answer right now. It's kind of a plot point; you'll find out eventually. :) How's that for maddening?
EresseElrondiel: My goodness, a world traveler! Ouch, I wouldn't like to trip on a jeté…
ThoseRainyDays: Have estel, you may see Vivian again… :)
Doredhiel: Here ya go! What, you can't see them? Not my fault:)
theycallmemary: Thanks! I was hoping that would come over alright.
Ravens Destiny: Mostly ballet (which is what the performance was), and some tap and jazz. We had a latin piece this year, as well. I would love to learn stepdance and bellydancing! The ballet this year was Alice in Wonderland, and I was the owl (who doesn't appear in the book), and I got most of the way through my solo, and then suddenly went blank. Turned out what I forgot was three tour-jetés (however you spell that), so I just totally made something random up and improvised, and nobody noticed! It was kinda funny.
Thanks also to werewolflemming, fk306, Madd Hatter and Laer4572! —huggles you all—
All answers to reviews will be posted on the first chapter of the sequel! See you on the on the flip side!
TBC!