Disclaimer: For the final time, I do not own Lord of the Rings.

The four friends spent the rest of the ride back debating whether elves really were better than humans. It was the other three against Merry, and the girl was hard-pressed to make her point when her opponents kept demonstrating their flexibility and health and ageless beauty. The twins would contort themselves into impossible positions while reciting epic poetry with over ten thousand stanzas. Legolas aimed his bow at every impossible mark and hit them all perfectly, smirking all the while. Quickly realizing she could never hope to out do them, Merry instead contented herself with pointing out their faults: pride, perfection, and a propensity to get angry and act stupidly. All rolled their eyes and termed their friends fools, but no one attempted to pretend they were no enjoying themselves.

Shortly after midday, Orthanc and the Treegarth came into view. Everyone’s head came up, and their eyes filled with longing.

“I’m hungry,” declared Elrohir, speaking for them all.

“Food and fire and drink and bed,” Legolas added eagerly.

“And rest.” Elladan had never sounded so exhausted in his life.

“And song and name-calling and insulting the twit,” Merry put in with a yawn.

“Race?” Elrohir suggested.

“Last one back’s a fewmet!” called the teenager, and the rest were off.

Burdened as he was with two riders, Legolas’s mount struggled vainly to keep up. Suddenly he got his second wind. The stallion’s stride grew larger and faster, until he passed the other two, neighing loudly. With a broad grin, Elladan pulled a horn from his saddlebow and wound it. After a long, deep breath, he blew. The call that emanated from the horn plucked at one’s heartstrings. It was a joyful call, that of the hunter triumphant, the warrior victorious, the king in his glory. The other riders called out to their horses, urging them on even as Elladan slowly removed the horn from his lips.

“Look!” Legolas shouted as they galloped through the avenues of trees, his keen eyes spotting movement long before anyone else noticed it. “The twit and his lady.”

Sure enough, Jack and Æthelflædd were sitting together under a large sycamore, hands interwoven in her lap. They stared in wonder as the horses galloped past them, their riders singing and laughing.

“ Mae govannen,” Elrohir called to them as they reigned in their horses and dismounted smoothly. “Twits,” he added under his breath so only his friends could hear.

Although her eyes gleamed with amusement, Merry maintained a straight face. She leapt off the horse. Legolas caught the girl and set her down on the grass gently, laughing.

“Merry!” Jack shouted, leaping to his feet. “Are you… are you all right?”

“As all right as can be expected,” she answered smoothly.

Her friends lead their horses away, glancing back now and then to remind her to catch up. Without another look at Jack, Merry sprinted off after them.

“Oh, and Jack,” the flautist called just before catching up with the elves. “We’re going home at dawn tomorrow. If you aren’t ready, I have no problems with leaving you here.”

Jack and Æthelflædd stare after her in shock as the young woman rejoined her companions and joined in teasing Elladan. This was not the bored, strange teenager from Earth or the broken creature huddling in its cell. This was Meredith Lee Wood in perfect contentment, basking in her friends’ affection. Meeting her was a new experience for both lovebirds, and it was all they could do not to scratch their heads in bewilderment at it.

Merry, Legolas, and the twins spent the evening in each other’s company for what they felt was the last time. Beside the crackling fire, stories were retold, memories revisited, and vows of friendship renewed. The elves even let her have a sip of wine or two. This more than anything brought tears to Merry’s eyes. She knew it was truly over, if they were allowing her to drink anything at all alcoholic.

“I don’t want to leave you guys,” she murmured near the close of the evening.

“There is no need to be maudlin. Everything must come to an end, child. You know this as well as we do. We always knew a day would come when the adventures would end. You need to be whole in your own world, not tossed and turned in ours. Savvy?”

The girl choked up. Elladan had never said ‘savvy’ before. His use of it made her truly maudlin.

“No hysterics now,” Elrohir commanded. “It was very … educational to know you, and you’ll be fine in your world. Please stop looking as if you’re about to cry. It is very discomforting.”

Legolas laid a hand on the teenager’s shoulder. He gazed deep into her eyes, then chuckled softly. “Time to grow up, Meredith.”

She glared at him. “Berk.”

“That’s the spirit!” exclaimed Elrohir.

They talked a while longer, but finally it came time for Merry to retire.

“Don’t worry. We’ll see you in the morning.” Elladan enclosed her in a huge hug.

“Not all farewells are final,” his brother pointed out, nosing in for his own hug.

Then they moved aside, and she stepped over to Legolas. He held her for a long while, her face buried in his bony shoulder.

“I’ll miss you,” she whispered, voice muffled.

“And I you. Remember, little one, we shall see you in the morning.” The elf pushed her away. “Get some sleep. You have to deal with the twit in the morning.”

Merry groaned. She was utterly sick of the twit.

It was with a great deal of annoyed irritation that Merry hauled herself up the stairs to Jack’s room the next morning when he failed to present himself at dawn. She stormed alonge the passage and rapped sharply on the door, eyes narrowed in fury. When that did not call forth a response, she went ahead and opened it before marching in.

“Get up, you useless lump,” she ordered, picking up a boot from off the floor and chucking it mercilessly at the sleeping form in the bed. “Up! Now! We have to talk.”

“’Flaedd,” Jack turned over and blinked blearily. “Oh. Merry. What the…?”

Merry snatched up another shoe and threw it at his chest. “I am going home now, and you are coming with me.”

“But… Merry…. Aethelflaedd…”

“You never told her you would have to leave someday, did you?” the girl demanded, hands on hips. She was seriously considering chucking something else at his head but trying to demonstrate restraint.

“Er…”

“Well, if that’s not just like you. Forgetting everything important up until the last moment. You cannot forget any longer. What is your plan, Jack? To stay here forever with your lady love? Or are you coming home with me?”

Jack’s confusion and distress were obvious, but Merry felt no inclination to help him out of a tight spot. She merely watched him with all the scrutiny she possessed, glancing about for something to throw out of the corners of her eyes.

“I… I don’t know,” Jack moaned, fully caught up in his angst and agony.

Merry slowly reached down and picked another boot from off the floor. She would never understand why boys simply could not keep their rooms clean. It seemed no great difficulty to her, but then again boys were a conundrum. “Well, make up your mind,” she said carelessly, holding the boot at arms’ length, nose crinkled in distaste. “I must be going.”

“I… Merry, I really do like ‘Flaedd, you know. More than I have ever like a girl before. And this Middle-earth life she tells me of… I think it’d suit me fine.”

The teenager sighed and let go of the boot in her hand. It hit Jack on the nose and bounced off. The boy let out a squawk and lifted a hand to his injured appendage.

“Could you really?” she asked keenly, watching him intently. “Could you give up your car? Air-conditioning, the Internet, video games? Indoor toilets? Showers and movies and I don’t know what else?”

“Um…”

“That’s what I thought. Come on, you lout.” Ignoring his violent protests, Merry dragged her former best friend from his best. “I can’t leave you here. You wouldn’t be able to function properly, and I could never explain it to your mother. We are both going home… now.”

“But what about Aethelflaedd and our belongings?”

“The boys – pardon me, elves – will explain that we had to make a quick getaway.”

“What? Nooooo” –

But before he could finish his exclamation of displeasure, Merry twisted something in her mind, and they were gone.

Epilogue:

Ding-dong

Annoyed, the twenty-year-old college student dropped her advanced calculus textbook in order to answer the door. It inconveniently landed on her foot. Screwing up her strange violet eyes, the woman muttered a strangled expletive.

“Coming!” she shouted, rubbing her foot and limping to the apartment door. After twisting the deadbolt around, the injured female pulled it open. “Yes?”

“Meredith Wood?” Three odd men stood on her threshold. Each was freakishly tall and skinny. Their eyes shone in angular faces surrounded by waves of silky hair that were slightly longer than was fashionable.

“That’s me. How may I help you?”

“What… do you not remember us?” The one who asked gazed at her questioningly with startling green eyes.

For the first time in many years, Meredith Wood fainted.

Fin