When Rhiannon learned of her mother’s return, and that of her elder brother, she immediately went down stairs.  She found them in the Romper Room, actually on their way up to the attic to meet Legolas.
        “Mum!” she whispered urgently, for against all odds her father was still asleep.  “Dad nearly found us!  They let him off early from work!”
        “They what?” her mum asked in the same frantic whisper.  “Did he see-“ she indicated the ceiling above.
        “Goddamn! When I saw him it scared the living Jebebus out of me, and then I had to shove his Highness in the closet under the stairs, and the whole thing happened because the dogs started barking, but that’s okay because I contacted Clayton and he dropped of some clothes for Legolas to wear, and he’s wearing them now, and hot damn is all I have to say about that, but then Fred showed up and told us that it was all his doing and-“
        “Hold on a second!” her mother’s voice cut through her tirade.  Rhiannon froze mid sentence.  “Who’s Fred?”
        He’stheomnipotenbeingwhograntedthewishIapparentlymadeandbroughtLegolashereasa- formofamusemnt,” Rhiannon whispered all at once.
        “Repeat that, please,” her elder brother, Lincoln, asked, also in whispers.  Rhiannon repeated herself, but slowly this time.
        “Okay,” her mother interjected, “since when was an omnipotent being part of this?”
        “Apparently since the beginning.  But we’ve only known this since about quarter after twelve.”
        “Why didn’t you call me?”
        “Do you think I would have thought of it?  Not only was there an omnipotent being shoving his nose into everything, but there was a super hot Elf standing in my bedroom!  I haven’t been thinking straight since I woke up this morning!”
        Jane studied her daughter.
        “No, I don’t think you have been.”
        Quickly, and in whispers, Rhiannon told of her dealings with her father and Fred.  She led them back up to the attic as she told them, leaving out all of her Freudian slips and the most embarrassing comments, plus the fact that she couldn’t seem to look at the Elf without wanting to turn into a puddle of jelly at his feet.  She had a sneaking suspicion, however, that her mother had figured this out for herself.
        At first when her mum and Lincoln stood at the top of the stairs they could not see the Elf anywhere, only Athena and Vicky.  Then the shadows in the corners seemed to shift and revealed Legolas, who in actuality had simply been standing there with an inquisitive look on his face.
        “Ah!  There you are,” said Jane, ignoring the Elf’s fading ability.  “I’m going to talk to my husband in a minute.  I just wanted to make sure you’re adjusting all right.  No big scares?”
        “No, Lady,” Legolas answered.  “Other than the sudden appearance of your husband, and some of the things your daughters have been saying, there has been nothing that would scare me.”
        Rhiannon looked at him sideways.  “Not even Fred?”
        “I did not say that I was not surprised, Lady, only that I was not afraid,” Legolas replied, looking back at Rhiannon.
        Lincoln studied the Elf closely.  The words ‘regal bearing’ didn’t seem to do the Elf justice.  Legolas was holding himself with an air that no one could really place, even in clothes borrowed from a human.  There was no mistaking that this was actually an Elf, and not some guy dressed up to fool them for unknown purposes.  He decided to like this Legolas.
        “My name is Lincoln,” he said as he stepped forward, extending his hand.
        “Err, yeah,” said Rhiannon, remembering to introduce the two men.  “Legolas, this is my brother Lincoln.  Lincoln, this is Legolas of the Mirkwood forest.”
        The Elf nodded his head in greeting and shook Lincoln’s hand.
        “Right.  I’m going to go talk to Rob now,” Jane said after a slight pause.  “Don’t go anywhere until I call for you.”  She turned and went back down the stairs.
        Not much later, they heard a muffled conversation occurring in the Romper Room below them.  Shortly thereafter, an angry “What?” sounded from the floor below, and Jane’s voice, raised to match the tone of the other, a man, telling him to calm down.  A few moments passed during which they couldn’t hear anything, until Jane called.
        “You can come down now!” she yelled up the attic stairs.  They trooped down, Lincoln in the front, followed by Rhiannon, then Legolas, and then Vicky and Athena.  Rhiannon had a small pit of dread in her stomach that grew with each step she took down the stairs.  Even with her mum present there was no telling what her father might do if he thought that Legolas had anything but honourable intentions.  In fact, as Rhiannon stepped out into the Romper Room, he was sitting in the chair with a glare that could flash-boil a glacier.
        The glare turned to surprise, to wonder and back to a glare again when he caught sight of Legolas, black clothes an all.  After all, a six-foot tall blonde and blue-eyed Elf had just walked into the Romper Room, and no amount of expectation could have prepared him for that.  As Rob found out, much as Lincoln did, this was not the young man who he was expecting wearing latex ears in order to justify climbing up the roof and breaking into his daughters’ bedroom.  Unless it was an incredibly elaborate hoax and this young man before him was a very good actor.  But still, there was the matter of where he had appeared.
        “You must be the Elf,” he said, voice completely deadpan, his brown eyes, much like Rhiannon’s, could have bored holes in stone.
        “That is correct, Lord,” Legolas replied and inclined his head slightly, indicating a meeting of equals.  Rhiannon’s father was, after all, the Lord of this house.
        Nothing was said for sometime as the Man and the Elf stared at each other. The entire room held its breath, wondering if now was a good time to Duck and Cover.  The three younger boys were standing in the hallway, just outside the door, suspecting something was going on involving the Elf and their father, and knowing that if they tried anything similar to the stunts they had been pulling all day then they would likely end up with their arses kicked into the next century or two.  Instead they listened with bated breath, hoping that Legolas could run fast.  The three dogs, thankfully enough, were outside.  Their barking could be heard through the walls of the house, and was probably driving the neighbours quite insane.  For now, they were ignored.
        Fred hovered about in the Romper Room grinning, or the nearest thing he could come to it, not having a face.  This was great!  Imagine the possibilities if he tried this sort of thing on other families!  The fun he could have!  But then he thought back to his words to Rhiannon when she had confronted him.
        “Amusement, not disaster,” he murmured to himself, or would have had he the capability at that moment.  Rob and Legolas were still staring at each other in an unannounced battle of wills.  Well then; he’d better step in, metaphorically speaking, before things got more than a little out of hand.
        There was no need for him to show himself in any corporeal sense of the word.  Instead, he dropped down next to the angry Man’s head and whispered in his ear.  If you could call it whispering-it was more of an implanting of an idea within his mind.
        Much to Rhiannon’s further surprise, although surprises seemed to be losing their potency today, her father calmed down.  He didn’t back down, but he was less guarded, and certainly less likely to go totally spare.  If she had suspected Fred then things may have turned out a little differently, but for the moment, she actually believed that her father had calmed for legitimate reasons.
        Everyone in the room let out their collective breaths when they saw Rob relax.  They breathed a little too soon, perhaps.
        “However,” Rob said and everyone stopped breathing again.  “If you try anything on my daughters, Prince or no Prince, I will kick your Elfy butt back through the centuries myself!  Understand?”
        “Clearly, Lord,” Legolas answered and a small part of him cursed.  He slammed his will against that part of him and ignored, or tried to ignore, its implications.  Rob was certainly the Lord of this house.  No question about that.  And if anything happened to his daughters, things would likely get messy.
        “Good.  Welcome to Earth as we know it.”

        “That was a close call,” Rhiannon said to Athena much later.  “I don’t want to even think about how close a call that was.  Do you?”
        “Not for a million dollars,” Athena replied.
        “Me neither,” supplied Vicky.
        After the near blow up with her father, Rhiannon and her family had gone down stairs to supper, which one of the boys had made while the three girls and the Elf had been closeted in the attic.  It hadn’t been too bad-chicken and rice and peas and corn-and certainly hadn’t been Kraft Dinner, much to the relief of Legolas, and yet hadn’t been elaborate either.  They’d had to squeeze around the dinning room table to make room for the ten of them, and by sheer luck, or bad luck, Rhiannon had ended up with David on her left side, and the black-clad Legolas on her right, smack dab in the middle of the one length of the table.  Her father had been casting long stares down the table at the Elf, and Rhiannon had tried very, very hard not to let the wonderful scent of Legolas overwhelm her senses.  This had been the closest she had come to him, and the longest she had ever endured contact, not counting the time she had tripped and he had caught her, or when she awoke in his arms.  They had been touching the seating was so close, shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, and Rhiannon had been hard put not to turn into a puddle of jelly every time Legolas breathed in, not to even mention whenever he asked for something to be passed to him.  That voice of his!  It would be her undoing.
        “Undoing of what, I wonder?” Athena snidely remarked as she, Rhiannon and Vicky got ready for bed.  Rhiannon had confessed her feelings about the Elf’s voice to her younger sisters, who agreed wholeheartedly.  Now she wished she hadn’t.
        “Stuff it,” she countered, too tired to be embarrassed.  It had been quite the eventful day.  She flopped down on her bed and crawled under the covers.  Her pillow still smelled like Legolas.  This was going to be a long night.
        “With Kleenex?”
        “Paper towel works better, Bean,” she muttered into her pillow her eyes already closing.
        “You would know this?” Athena asked, desperate to get the last word in.
        “No.  Now let me sleep.”
        Athena sighed and signalled to Vicky, whose bed was next to the light switch, to shut off the light.
        But even with the light off, and being as tired as she was, Rhiannon didn’t sleep immediately.  There was too much on her mind.  Or, rather, there was one thing on her mind, but it was occupying too much space to let her rest.  And that one thing was now down in the Romper Room, stretched out on that horrible maroon couch with three dogs piled around his legs.  After supper, Jane had let the dogs in and had let them get used to Legolas, and they were actually quite taken with him now.
        What the hell was it about that Elf?  She’d only known him for a day, even if she had awoken within his arms in the middle of the night, but there was something about him.  She snorted to herself as she replayed her last thought.  There’s something about him?  Goddamn, I sound like one of those cheesy romance novels I’m trying to write.  Get a grip, Rhiannon!
        But the only things she could get a grip on were recent memories, aided by the scent on her pillow, of the Elvish Prince of the Mirkwood Forest, and his descriptions of the wonders of Middle-earth.  What wouldn’t she give to tour the homes of the Elves with him?  But she stopped that thought before it continued any further.  Best not to give Fred, wherever that pest was, any ideas, or she’d likely end up in the middle of a strange forest with nothing but a water bottle and an instruction to make things as amusing as possible.
        Fred, she decided, her thoughts turning from Legolas for a moment, had issues.  Large issues, if bothering humans was all he could do for amusement.  Bastard¸ she thought, getting one more curse in before she fell asleep.  She hoped he could hear her.
        When she finally fell asleep, all she did was dream.
        And, surprise, surprise, Legolas was all she dreamed of.

         Legolas stretched out on the couch in the Romper Room and tried to move the dogs to a more comfortable position.  One, Gates, was lying between his feet.  Another, Bika, seemed to be trying to pry him off the couch by fitting in behind him and the cushions, and the third, Loki, had pinned him to the couch by lying across his chest.
        This was going to be a long night.  Not only because of the dogs.  The other reason was currently trying to go to bed up stairs in the attic.
        If he had known how closely his thoughts were mirroring hers then he’d likely try to put a stop to it.  By marching right up there and declaring that he-
        No, he would not do that!  That would definitely fall under the category of ‘dishonourable intentions’!  And he didn’t want his ‘Elfy butt’ kicked seven ways from Sunday, which he was sure Rob could and would do, if he thought that Legolas and Rhiannon were…
        Once again he slammed a lid on his thoughts.  Okay, now was a good time for that sleep-trance!  But when he reached the paths of Elvish dreams, she was there waiting.  Not doing anything but waiting.  They stood apart on the path and stared at each other, lit by moonlight through the trees.  It was the path through is own forest, one that he had walked many times.  All he wanted for now was to hold her, like he had at the beginning of this whole fiasco.  The part of his mind that thought ungentlemanly thoughts was saying that he could do more.  That Rhiannon would let him do more.  He’d seen the way that she reacted every time he was closer to her than normal…
        No!  He would not think that way!  However beautiful Rhiannon might be, in body, mind or soul, if he thought that way he’d be no better than the lowest of Men!  He would not let himself sink to that level, even on the dream paths.  Especially on the dream paths!  Here he would be content with her presence, and would not consider anything else.  Here he would hold her in his arms, and gain his rest.
        Stepping forward, he did just that.

        When the sun rose the next morning, Rhiannon awoke with a strange sense of peace.  That dream had been lovely.  Lying in a moonlit glade in an Elf’s embrace…too bad it hadn’t been real.  Her dreams before that were strange however.  That same Elf showing up in her house, talking to him, her father nearly going spare…
        Rolling over she looked at Athena, who appeared to be awake.
        “Bean,” she said and Athena sat up.  “I had the strangest of dreams.  I dreamed that there was this Elf in the house, and dad nearly went spare, and then some omnipotent guy named Fred showed up and…”
        “It wasn’t a dream, Spooky.”
        Rhiannon stared for a moment, and then remembered.  “Oh yeah.  I’d thought that for a moment it hadn’t actually happened.”
        “That’s ‘cause you’re a nark,” Vicky said from her side of the room.
        “I am not,” Rhiannon replied somewhat testily.  “I’d though it had been a dream because…”
        “Because why?” Vicky.  Rhiannon sighed again.
        “Because it was too good to be true,” she admitted.  Her sisters stared at her for a moment, but said nothing else.
        A new worry came to her in the ensuing silence.  What were they going to do with Legolas when she went back to school later on today?  He was here because of her, if Fred was to be believed, here because she had wished for the answer to her inexplicable loneliness.  She couldn’t exactly let him live in her residence either.  It was against pretty much all the rules, both of the University and of the ones she and her housemates had made up concerning guests.  And even if she could keep him there, there was the matter of getting him up to the campus.  It was only an hour’s drive away, but Legolas had never seen a car before, much less ridden in one, even if Rhiannon and her sisters had told him about them.  Carsickness, if Elves could be carsick, would be the least of it.
        Rhiannon sighed.  They would just have to cross that bridge when they came to it, she decided, not wanting to lose the sense of peace and wonder that she had awoken with.  And come to it they would, at the end of the day.  She sighed once more and arose, getting dressed.
        After brushing her long hair out she went down the attic stairs to brush her teeth, only to come to a stop in the door to the Romper Room when she caught sight of Legolas asleep on the couch.
        He looked so…beautiful.  Head pillowed on his elbow, his long blonde hair was as immaculate as ever, his face relaxed in an expression of rest.  He contrasted sharply with the hideous maroon couch beneath him and the dogs that had piled themselves on him, looking even more out of place now than he did when he was awake and standing in the attic.  Rhiannon took this moment to study him, as she had often wanted to the day before but could never find the time, even when they had been talking and telling stories of their respective worlds.  Her eyes traced the jaw line from his ears to his chin and her fingers ached to make the same journey.  She stepped closer, arm extending under its own power to let her fingers glide on his skin…
        With a jolt her will returned and she retracted her hand.  It seemed such a pity to wake him, however much she longed to touch him.  She swallowed and drew in a deep breath, hoping to calm herself.  Go brush your teeth, Rhiannon, she said to herself.  But she couldn’t move.  She was frozen, caught in the moment.  Legolas sighed in his sleep and for a moment everything seemed brighter, lit with an almost invisible light.  A small eternity later, when it dimmed again, Rhiannon found that she could move, and move she did.
        Closing the door of the bathroom behind her, she leaned against it and closed her eyes.  How was she going to get through this with her sanity, she wondered again.  More importantly, did she want to get through this with her sanity intact, or did she want to lose herself with this Elf and never return?  That thought scared her.  She’d only known this Elf for a day and already she was contemplating staying with him for the rest of her life.  She was thinking of losing herself, her mind, and her soul in the aura of someone she had only just met.
        If she were not careful, she’d give in.  Oh, how she longed to give in!