Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except some Mary Sues

The plot continuum found a balance, and, for now at least, some form of order and structure was established again.

" ... Bring forth the ring, Frodo."

After he put down the Ring, Frodo stepped back from the pedestal in the center of the circle, at the same time glad to be able to put the burden down and reluctant to have the Ring away from him.

Boromir had just said "It is a gift, a gift to the foes of Mordor...", when a sudden flash of light blinded all at the Council. Mary Sue and Sue Mary stood next to the table with the Ring on it, and looked around.

"We made it! We are here!", the girls shrilled in chorus, and a number of Elves clasped their hands over their ears in pain at the sharp sound.

"Ooooooh, look at your dress!" Mary Sue exclaimed looking at Sue Mary, and Sue Mary returned the comment just as loudly. The clothing in question could perhaps best be described by words like 'gown', 'billowy' and 'iridescent'. Both girls now had lush silvery-blond hair which flowed freely to their hips like silken waves, and bright shining violet eyes with specks of emerald green, and they were of course irresistibly beautiful from the delicate tips of their ears to their elegantly shod feet.

When they were finally done admiring each other, they looked around once more and found themselves in a circle of Men, Elves, and Dwarves, many of whom had some kind of weapon in hand. This did not worry the girls at all, for were they not Mary Sue and Sue Mary, to whom nothing bad could ever happen? And strangely enough, they were right.

The people surrounding them all lowered their weapons, and a dark haired Elf stepped forward, a welcoming smile on his face. "Welcome to Rivendell, fair ladies who grace us so unexpectedly with your presence. I am Lord Elrond and if you will tell me your names, I will introduce you to the others in this gathering."

Sue Mary was as good as struck dumb by seeing her dream Elf (well, one of them, anyway) standing right there in front of her, looking even more gorgeous than he did in the film; so Mary Sue had to speak for both of them.

"My name is Lharalavantariel, Princess of a land far east of Mirkwood, and my friend is Assansaibrivilieth, Princess of a land just as far to the north of here. We are both powerful Wizardesses and have come to help you to destroy the One Ring, and we will accompany the Fellowship on their quest."

This was the moment another shred of the Plot Continuum turned and fled, screaming inside Elrond's head about plotholes big enough to park the Enterprise in, but as he didn't know what the voice in his head was talking about, he just ignored it. These days, he seemed to be getting quite good at ignoring things that weren't quite right ...

Elrond told Assansaibrivilieth and Lharalavantariel that he would gladly accept their offer of help, and quickly the others who were to join the Fellowship offered their assistance. Lharalavantariel refused to have Gimli along at first, but when Legolas said he wouldn't go either without the Dwarf, and Assansaibrivilieth kicked her ankle hard, she relented. "Okay then, we can have the horrible ugly thing along, if we must. But he must stay as far away from me as possible!"

Elrond spoke again. "All who are to set forth, it is time to rest now. If you will follow me, ladies, I will show you your rooms for tonight; you will leave at noon tomorrow."

The other members of the Fellowship followed a large part of the way to get to their own rooms, as the girls followed Elrond to theirs, and as soon as he had left them, Lharalavantariel knocked on the door of Assansaibrivilieth's room.

"Sue Ma..." she started to say, when the other interrupted her, "Don't call me that here! My name is Assansaibrivilieth!"

"Jeez, what's gotten into you! First you land us with that butt-ugly Dwarf, and now I have to call you by some silly name which is way too long to remember!"

"I'll be damned if I let Legolas stay behind just because *you*can't stand the Dwarf; it's easy for you, you fancy Frodo! And it's not my fault you thought up names that were so long!" replied Assansaibrivilieth, "Anyway, you missed the most important as usual... why are Legolas and Gimli sharing a bedroom? And Frodo and Sam too! And Strider had his arm around Boromir!"

Lharalavantariel looked at Assansaibrivilieth in total horror. "Oh no! What went wrong? I thought slash wasn't real?"

"I don't know... but I think we'd better stop writing for tonight and go on tomorrow. Maybe we're too tired to concentrate or something. Close your eyes." Assansaibrivilieth closed her eyes as well, and made a complicated gesture with her right hand, after which she opened her eyes again, and found herself still in a room in Rivendell. "Oh no! We can't get back!"

Lharalavantariel didn't know whether to be pleased or horrified about this, but she decided to leave Assansaibrivilieth to sort this out on her own. She'd see where she was in the morning, and she really didn't want to be around her friend when she was trying to magick something and it didn't work. She walked out to get back to her own room, and nearly bumped into a servant girl who was carrying two trays of food. When the servant saw that they were both in the same room, she gave them a knowing look and commented that they would fit right in with the Fellowship if they were *that* close to each other. The girl put down the trays and left again, leaving two stunned 'princesses' behind.

Lharalavantariel stomped off to her own room, no longer sure that she wanted to do this. "This isn't how it's supposed to be!" she sobbed into her pillow a bit later.

Meanwhile, the precarious equilibrium of the slashverse started to creak too, as in bedrooms all around Rivendell...

Legolas put his arm around Gimli, or no, it was Aragorn, or Elrond, Glorfindel?...

Frodo and Sam slept like logs in their Elf-sized bed, while Elrond went to bed alone, missing Gil-Galad more than ever, or no, it had been Isildur! what was wrong with him? he wondered as he slept in the warm embrace of Erest... Glorfin... Gandalf? No, he was in bed with Legolas, and everything was as it should be! Or was it? Gimli sighed as he felt Legolas lying beside him, and turning over he put his arm across the two young hobbits; Boromir reciprocated the gesture, only to embrace Strider instead...

Again something gave way, crushing a number of quantum mechanics as it collapsed, and new fractures appeared in the Middle Earth plot continuum and old ones grew larger...

A/N: I wrote this chapter based on the assumption that slash, or at least the *idea* of it is probably the most coherent continuum around after the canon. Before anyone gets me wrong, I have nothing against slash, some of my best bookmarks are slash, but the disintegration of the plot continuum must start somewhere...