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Healing Starlight - Novella part 1

posted August 10, 2009 - 5:06am
Healing Starlight - Novella part 1

 

To: Gail Baudino, (and the Elves of Malvern): Thanks for the Inspiration to get me writing again, and your book’s help and healing, “Alanae ea yolisi, Elthia!”
 
This is also for Mimi ldquo;Mouse” Stewart, who needs a little bit of help and healing too.
(1956-2009)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rain:
 
             It fell steadily upon the city and suburbs of San Jose, a promise of the coming spring, but a cold, grudging one to be sure. The men repairing the roof on the Art Forum building located at De Anza College’s sprawling campus had given up shortly before nine in the morning and the business vendors who had set up in the main quad nearby had admitted defeat only a little while later. They packed up their wares with numb fingers into their vehicles and trudged wearily into the Student Campus Center soaked and shivering on this Dark December day.
 
            Mimi “Mouse” Stewart made her way along the path in the middle of S-Quad of De Anza College. Wind now, the almost sleet stung her cheeks as she paused to wipe her face on her sleeve and pull up the hood of her parka a little tighter. Mimi had managed to arrive on De Anza’s campus, and somehow, with the rain, the cold, and the lack of people in the quads, she found herself cold, disoriented and thoroughly lost. Sitting in her wheelchair under an overhang to the many classrooms, she peered up through the drops, searching for landmarks. Robert, her fiancé, mentioned a lot of construction and changes to the aging campus after her departure a few months ago, but somehow surely something seemed familiar to her.
 
            After several minutes, Mimi managed to determine where she was, through the sea of buildings, finding the familiar round roof of the Minolta Planetarium, and at last, her eyes fell upon the familiar path leading to the main campus in the center of the college. Rolling forward through a sea of water and debris flowing down the narrow path, she took longer, bolder strides, pushing her wheelchair forward with much more confidence, quickly crossing a small path paralleling the library under the huge pine near the campus Library. She managed to smile as she approached the edge of the main quad, broad and familiar but did not see the piece of pavement that protruded from the ground, uprooted from the a large pine tree’s roots, that caught her chair, sending her sprawling into the muck.
 
            The disabled woman sat stunned for a moment when she hit the cold wet pavement, and for the first time since she had been dropped off on campus actually was not glad the quads were empty. People intended to be on hand when accidents happened and to help as needed, but with no people, she knew there would be no help and she would be left there until security made their rounds. She caught her breath, grimacing at the cold mud that now covered her, and tried to struggle to her feet to reseat herself into her wheelchair, but a sharp pain in her leg lanced through her body and sent her back into the mud again.
 
            “Oh darn.” She managed to sit up. Even through the wet, she saw the blood spot on the knee of her pants leg, and felt the burn of the rash caused by the fall brush against the material of the fabric. Swelling of her leg was already perceptible through the leg of her trousers.  
 
            Rising for Mimi seemed to be out of the question, in order to put herself back into her wheelchair. Crawling was, at best doubtful. It seemed she would have to sit here until security made their rounds. However, knowing security, they all probably sat in the warm office, sipping coffee and forewent the entire affair all together.
 
            “Just great, Mimi Stewart, the oldest student on campus.” She managed to mutter under her breath, “Dead from a broken leg.”
 
            As Mimi sat in the wet, she was unaware of a strange energy seemed to form around her, tingling questionably on her skin, and warming her chilled bones. Slowly but surely, the energy moved slowly up and out to surround her, invisibly dancing from her scalp to her toes, dulling her pain and giving her strength. Her head turned when she heard an unfamiliar lull of a musical note that echoed through the rain and bounced about the quad against the many buildings. The sound at first had startled her, but on the contrary had also puzzled her. According to what Mimi’s knew, it was common to hear music on campus, but to her knowledge in the last twenty-six years on campus that the type of music she heard was not taught at this organization of learning. Indeed, these notes were something new and in her long years of service at De Anza College had never heard this on the campus. Harp notes.
 
            They rang out clear and cold, brought to her by the wind, echoing through the buildings on the quad and Mimi could not believe her ears, listening in amazement to the strange notes of the strange melody that echoed through the deserted quad. The energy that swirled around her seemed to warm her limbs as it tingled intently on her skin, healing her and Mouse had not noticed the feeling of refreshment, as her fatigue faded away. She had been too busy listening in amazement to the harp music that echoed across the quad and had not seen the cloaked figure that stood over her, dressed in a simple garb of silver and blue, with a hooded gray cloak that obscured her face. Mouse looked up in alarm when she sensed the woman standing over her and the disabled woman’s blue eyes focusing upon the cloaked figure in the falling rain. Her reaction had been surprise and astonishment.
 
            “Be at peace.” The hooded woman said, “I mean you no harm.”
 
            “You scared me.” Mouse murmured. 
 
            “Do you require assistance?” A kind voice asked and Mimi at first was confused by the question. She stared at the obscured kind face, her long dark hair, streaked with much silver, and her kind gray eyes. She seemed to have instant recognition to the woman.
 
            “I… Yes, I do. Please.” Mouse managed to stammer, stunned by the woman who stood there before her.
 
            “Let us get you back where you belong.” The cloaked figure murmured solemnly, and a hand appeared from the cloak. Mimi took it, as it lifted to her feet and gently reseated her in her wheelchair. The chair seemed to be dry and warm despite it was raining heavily now.
 
            The woman cloaked in the gray had put out her slender hands, and she touched her leg. Mouse immediately felt warmth on her leg as the woman touched her, and gasped when she felt it, seeing a bright flash. The pain in her leg, at the dismay of Mouse, had vanished completely.  She realized something amazing had happened, something in centuries that had once been possible then and not been possible now, the talent fading away over time. She had been healed.
 
            “Thank…” Mimi stammered, and glancing up realized, the woman was gone and the quad was once again empty.  
 
Quickly her head turned in each direction, searching for the woman, who could not have just disappeared. Mouse had clear view of the entire campus and it would not have been hard to see the unmistakable form of this woman. However, just as she turned forward, her astonishment was replaced with fear as without warning that the energy that invisibly swirled around her now had become visible, appearing in a thunderclap out of thin air. Startled Mimi reared back as it swirled around her, completely encircling and enveloped her. Instinctively she had lifted her arms without thinking to push herself backward away from it.
 
            “Wait a minute,” She exclaimed, as another refreshed burst of energy made her tingle from head to toe. The middle-aged woman just held her astonished stare down at her hands as the energy pulsated in an array of several colors and in the few minutes had grown even larger around her. A couple minutes later, a two-dimensional door appeared before her opening in the exact center of the vortex and it revealed a dark tunnel in front of her. The woman peered at the long dark tunnel, and into the darkness, seeing nothing except a patch of blue on the other end.
 
            “What the heck is that?” Mimi asked herself, “Who the heck was that?”
 
            Curiously, she examined the dark vortex. People had come to the windows now from the surrounding buildings who had heard the thunderclap, seeing the strange bluish glow of the energy that had appeared before her. Abruptly a jolt made the disabled woman yelp, as something had grabbed at her chair and her hands flashed to the brakes. Too late, however, as she was pulled toward the black opening and darkness surrounded her as Mouse tumbled and spun end over end through the darkness.
 
            When Mimi disappeared into the vortex, the energy flashed once and faded away in the same thunderclap, leaving only silence, and an empty walkway in the quad. People had ran over to the spot where Mimi had been a few moments ago to try to assist her and had hesitated because of the energy force that surrounded her. They stared at the imprint where her chair stood just a moment ago and a murmur of helplessness rippled through the students and security present.  As for Mimi, in the next instant now sat spinning in the darkness and watching streaks of light flashing brightly around her. Nausea, disorientation and vertigo washed over her senses. 
 
            “Ohhh Shi…!” She coughed, spinning faster through the flashing streaks of light around a dark vortex, making her feel giddy, and nauseous.
 
Time and space seemed to pull at her body as she moved faster through the bright flashes and the streaks of light around her. Mimi tried to move her head, turning to peer out into the darkness and into the multi-colored tunnel that swirled around her but found it difficult because of the g-forces held her firmly in place in her chair.  
 
             Her trip ended quickly as it had began, with another bright flash and letting out a gasp of surprise, when she was blinded by the sunlight in a sparsely clouded blue sky. A warm breeze hit her in the face as she peered down at an unrecognizable landscape below. The landscape below was mostly thick forests, mountains, many rivers, meadows, and small villages below. She could see in the distance the massive walls of several castles near larger cities, in three places across a green landscape with forest between them and the great sea beyond. Her eyes widened as these images appeared before her.
 
            “What the hell is going on? Am I dreaming?” Mimi exclaimed, “Where am I?”
 
            She gripped her chair’s arm tightly, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as her chair abruptly dove from the clouds and as the ground rapidly seemed to rise up to meet her. Mimi felt a warm wind strike her face as she plummeted downward at full speed toward the ground and her first reaction was seeing herself splattered upon the landscape below.  She held up her arms as if to brace herself for impact into the ground. However, before her chair, with her in it, even got close to the ground, it seemed to swoop up a bit, hovering for a moment, and then it landed in a large clearing in the middle of the forest. Breathing heavily, Mimi had held her hands up and arms waiting for an impact that would never come. It was several minutes she held up her arms and remained that way until peeking out to focus upon the woods around her.
 
             At first, she was confused, but as she turned her head, her eyes widened in silent surprise at the strange surroundings completely encircling her and clearing she sat in. Around her in the forest, she could hear the sounds in the undergrowth and nervously peered several times at the forest border.  Her eyes then moved to the skyline to what appeared to be the bluest sky she had ever seen, instead of the familiar yellowish tinge that would be found in her century. Her senses were assaulted by the heavily wooded smells and the gentle rustling of the canopy of trees above her. The disabled woman also realize something else about her new location, something that was rarely found in her time, save even the campus she spent or anywhere unless it was far away. She was in silence. There were no heavy noises of traffic, no smoke, no loud bangs or anything.        
           
            “What a spectacular sight!” She thought, staring in wonder, at the sight around her taking in a deep breath. She sat there, unable to fathom where she was or where a very unusual and beautiful place like this could exist. 
           
            “I must be dreaming.” The disabled woman pinched herself hard, wincing as she felt the pain.
 
            “Okay, maybe I am not dreaming.” She had expected the forest to vanish but it did not.
 
            “Oh hell, this must be fatigue or drugged hallucinations then.” Mimi pushed her wheelchair forward through the leaves, and inched forward and into the middle of the clearing.  
 
Slowly she turned her chair three hundred and sixty degrees. Only the sounds of the warm breeze rustling through the canopy above her head and the sounds of the forest living in the woods around her, and the sound of singing birds echoed around her.
 
            “Ok… There is a logical reason for this.” Mimi murmured under her breath, sitting with her eyes closed and gripping the arm of her chair in panic.
 
            “There is a logical reason for this… I am just flipping out.”
 
            A crack of a twig made her open her eyes and turn her head. The twig crack had alerted her something had been close to her. Mimi’s piercing blue eyes fell upon an elk that appeared from the bushes nearby. The animal met her curious gaze, pausing to graze and ignoring her completely. The magnificent animal even walked right up, standing beside her chair and she, in absolute astonishment watched the huge animal carefully, expecting it to charge or bolt when it turned its massive head to stare right at her.           The animal, however, never moved. It just watched her, walking slowly toward her, as if it were to guard her and so close that the disabled woman smelled the strong musky smell from its coat as it stood there.
 
            Slowly and cautiously, Mimi lifted an arm and her hand moved slowly toward the animal. It did not move, or flinch as her hand touched its course coat, neither did it move when she felt the strong massive heartbeat of the animal nor felt the warmth of its body through the shaggy coat.
            “It’s real!” She gasped, stroking the coarse coat, “Oh my god.”
 
            Before she could figure anything else out, however, her thoughts were interrupted by loud crack of the branches nearby, a flash of green and gray color caught her eye as two young people, a man, and woman appeared from the undergrowth. When Mimi beheld the two, her head had turned to glance in silent alarm at the brush when they appeared from the undergrowth. Mouse quickly recognized them as a couple, a handsome man and beautiful woman who walked together into the clearing across from where she sat. The young Elf maiden named Mirya had appeared first then her mate named Terrill both dressed in a strange garb, light green and gray leather.   Mimi smiled at their strange appearance and by her extreme beauty. Mimi’s breath had been whisked away by the young woman, and the handsome young man beside her. She found herself gawking at the beautiful maiden, staring at her fair features, the long red-gold hair cascading down to her shoulders, a trim, petite figure and the greenest eyes she had ever seen before. Shaking her head, her eyes moved to Terrill. The young Elven man, to Mimi, has the same fair features as she does, and the same very well defined build, but the only difference from Terrill and Mirya is he has black hair instead of red and gray eyes instead of green.
 
            Quickly, Mimi glanced at the elk, expecting it to bolt when it saw them, but when it did not move, her glance moved from the elk to the couple and back. The massive animal did not do anything and insanely seemed to nod its head to the pair. Other animals surrounded them, from the trees and undergrowth and as Mimi watched closely, she could see the animals were not clustering around them because they had food, and indeed, she did not see any. They were just there, and treating the elves as conquering heroes or perhaps family who were returning home. Upon seeing this, Mimi’s gaze switched back and forth to the young couple. She wondered if they had something to do with the travel through the strange phenomena, experienced not more than fifteen minutes ago.
 
            “I wonder who they are. They are quite an attractive couple.” Thought Mouse and cocked her head watching still intently their interaction with the animals.
 
            Mirya and Terrill’s heads turned when they saw the elk and their gaze quickly met the disabled woman’s questioning expression. Surprised, both of the Elves glanced at each other until Mouse saw Mirya lean over to whisper something to her traveling companion. The motion had made Mouse gasp, suddenly realizing that she was visible to them and this was no dream. Terrill leaned back and Mouse saw him whisper his response back to the red and gold haired woman beside him.
 
            “Excuse me.” Mimi asked, “Can you tell me where I am? Which way the exit is to this dream?”
 
Mirya and Terrill glanced at each other as they stood there, slowly approaching her and with an air of caution about them. The young maiden had her hand on what appeared to Mimi, a sword pommel at her side, and beside her Terrill whispered something to her again. However, before Mouse could utter a sound, the elf maiden pointed at her and the clearing faded around her. Quickly, in a flash of mere seconds she found herself spinning uncontrollably in the same darkness as before.
 
            Meanwhile, in different part of the forest, a fair distance from where Mimi had appeared in the clearing, Rijiin L’Thiejiev made his way along the forest path with a beautiful Harper named Natil of Malvern. As they walked together through the forest, down the narrow path and hand-in-hand toward the path leading to the Aleser Mountains, he led her to a place he had discovered in his travels in this century and this would be their first trip together as a couple, having grown very close in the last year he had been here. He had discovered a secluded retreat away from the trials and tribulations of the world of Adria, and the trying times that were upon them with the rampage of the Inquisition in this realm.
 
It had been a year ago that the elf had come to this century, through an uncommon means, and through a portal that he had found in the twentieth century while he had been in a shop offering games for RPG. The elf had come here early on that morning for a different reason, arriving for a gathering of people from a BBS (Bulletin Board) called Synerchat, and despite their protests, he was there, only because of the request of his friend who ran the board. They all hated him, and Rijiin knew it, but had swallowed his foolish pride to put aside his differences only to find the same treatment as before, leaving early and disgusted from the party to wander the large cavernous Mall. 
 
As he wandered Eastridge Mall, however, he had found a shop here that was not unlike a “Gamekeeper” store commonly found in the mall, a shop that offered and sold games of all types. The only difference for this one is that this store offered a new type of game, a virtual reality RPG game had been developed. You could step in and like the Holodeck on a TV show of the century called Star Trek the Next Generation, could be anything you wanted to be. They had been intriguing enough for him to join up to play them and found it was much more interesting than the party he had originally came for. Rijiin would not be aware of a portal that would transport him to the past five hundred years and he would make a harsh reality when he would step through after two rounds of the games, and find himself ran through with a sword, thinking it was the RPG games. He would stagger off into the forest nearby and drop into a deserted forest clearing.
 
That was all now in the past and he led her, grasping her hand gently as they walked up the path in the rocky mountains called the Aleser Mountains in the twelfth century. The elf had long since forgotten what it was to be a mere mortal human, changing always after Mirya and Terrill had found him one day dying in the forest, mortally wounded. It did not matter to Rijiin that a bloody hulk would be found and the assumption that it was his remains that lay in that gully back in the twentieth century. Suspects were rounded up, but no one was charged and his death an unknown, unsolved murder. He shook his head and glanced at the Harper, her beautiful fair features partially hidden by the cloak she wore around her.
 
“A’mael, naa lle tanca ta de simomne?” Natil asked, “Sina ta aut-ien a’ net sardea vee’ kam- sina na aut-ien a’ net sarda vee lye kam sina rosta.”
 
“Ta il- fae Natili.” He replied, and turning after climbing for another fifteen minutes, he abruptly turned to her. He covered her eyes.
 
“Amin mem- na salphadun, a’mael.” He told her.
 
Grimacing, the young Harper shook head as he led her, stumbling over the rocks and bushes around them.  
 
            “Rijiin, where are we going?” complained the Harper, walking carefully, gazing at the starlight that burned clear and coldly in the darkness as Rijiin held a hand over her eyes.
 
            “We are almost there Natil.” He said, and had been repeating that for the next three minutes, leading her toward the overhang. Behind him, a spectacular view that lay out before them both.
 
            “This is getting a bit annoying Rijiin.” She said and he smiled, carefully leading her to the edge of his secluded place at the beginning of the Rhillion River.
 
            When they both teetered near the edge, the elf removed his hand from her eyes and pointed to the spectacular view. Below, a sea of green spread out across the floor from where they stood, and far below, Saint Brigid spread out among the sea of green. Also from this high place, they were able to see quite a distance across Adria, the cities to the north, a great castle and in one direction the sparkling sea. The sky began to turn a golden color as the sun began to set, mixed in with reds, mauve and dark purples
 
            The Harper’s face showed surprise, and her mouth was open, speechless at the sight she now beheld. She embraced Rijiin.
 
            “A! ed’ lye arwen, sina umia vanima Rijiini.” Natil told him, “Amin nio somti mesoat ve’ sina yamen naa sinome.”
 
            “Um’ lle ve’ ta, Amael?” replied Rijiin, translating quickly in his mind that she had told him that she never knew this place had existed and it was very beautiful.
 
            He had asked her if she liked it.
 
            “Amin umea, amin umea sai saiea.” replied the Harper, telling him she did very much.
 
            “Amin naa saesae,” He replied, telling her he was pleased. Rijiin paused, thinking of the words in Elvish to tell her.
 
            “Tenna amin hirie ta amael, amin uum’ sint ta nea sinome,” He told her, “Amin nowe lle neis don’ ta vee amin um.”   He had told her this would be always her place, a beautiful place for a beautiful young maiden.
 
            “…And for my beloved.” He murmured quietly, making her turn her head, a look of surprise on her face.
 
            “It is wonderful Rijiin.” She said, blushing as she picked up the meaning of his statement, “With my thanks, though I am very flattered but I…” She faltered, and found she could not find the words to express her feelings.
 
            Rijiin had known he would fall for her, in the same manner he had done so before in another time, another lifetime and dance. He had met her far into the future, five hundred years as a human, when she had seen him on the campus of his school and had asked him for directions. They had seemed to hit it off and both seemed to be falling for each other, meeting frequently and their relationship no secret to anyone who saw them together.  Many times, he would dine with her on his high school campus, and at the dismay of the other students who gaped at her in wonder. A few months later she had left, drawn by an insensible urge to travel to the East and had promised to write him. Rijiin had never forgotten her when she had departed and a few months later had been transported to the past, five hundred years.
 
            Now, at this very moment he held her, gazing into her eyes in the past five hundred years, in the year thirteen fifty A.D. and in the very place she had, in the future when he met her, said that she hailed from. A time where she would have no knowledge of their meeting and a stream of time never to be now that Rijiin was here in the past. Rijiin brought his hand up and it met the young Harper’s blushing face, touching her cheek. They had become fairly close in the last few months and their close friendship no secret to the other elves in these few months. The maiden was falling for him again, just as she had in the future. Their relationship however had only been close friendship.
           
            “We’d better stop Rijiin.” She said, and he nodded.
 
            “Aye, Amin mela lle, Natili, sii, nae ten’oio, Lle ra' ikotane vanima nandaro,” He told her and nodded slightly.
 
            The young Elf Maiden was indeed beautiful, and he made every effort to tell her so. Natil gasped, unprepared for his compliment, and felt the burn in her cheeks as she peered into his gray eyes. Suddenly, her eyes became wide with fear when she saw something surprising and unexpected that appeared in his eyes. A flicker of starlight and the ghostly images of their meeting in the future had been there, one that had happened in another lifetime, another dance, and time. The images had startled her. It was of an event that she would never know and in another alternate time stream that would never come.
 
            “By our Lady!” gasped the Harper, surprised by the images. 
 
            The Harper glanced at Rijiin as she blushed slightly, “Diola lle, Rijiini.”
 
            “Lle Creoso.” He said, smiling and nodding to her. She could see the laughter in his eyes, as they twinkled brightly with the familiar starlight.
 
            “Amin nyarea lle, Natili,” He said gently, “Amin sinta mani, lle cael elea. Lle quenea noldo nar sanda.”
 
            “Ta il’ deanam!” She gasped, “Amin uuma rangwa sina!is.”
 
            “Ta yassen ilya amin sai- bragol thailon ar erya.” He said, “Amin mela lle ar il auta lle.”
 
            Natil peered into his eyes, smiling as he held her and both turning to watch the glorious sunset on the horizon. She nodded, finally understanding. He was her soul mate, sent through the very fire of time itself. It was a sign, wrong or right, she knew it was the truth.
 
            However, as Rijiin watched the sunset, holding the beautiful young Elf Maiden in his arms, the sight made him think of another place like this one. A place somewhere far away from here, one that will not be discovered for the next two hundred years or longer and even possibly five hundred years where a meeting would take place in a large city. She saw the absent look on his face, an almost sad expression. 
 
            “Rijiin are you all right.” asked the Harper who had glanced at him several times, as they sat there, seeing the expression on his face. She knew he was thinking to the future, where no doubt, she knew was thinking of many things that were no longer a part of his life.
 
            “Just thinking, about a place I knew once like this one with a spectacular view and gorgeous sunsets.” He said, “Memories, nothing more. Be at peace Natil.”
 
            “You should let them go.” Natil said, and she saw him he managed a shrug.
           
            “Human ways are not ours, and I have.” He replied, “I am here, you are here and I can never go back. Amin uuma merna a’ entul eller. Eller na il- ai’nat’ eller ten' amin sii”
 
            Natil had gasped hearing the last part of his statement.
 
            “A! I’- yeste elen.” He murmured, “Ta I’ alaseeien elen.
 
            Natil grinned and she looked up at it. He silently made a wish. The maiden heard his wish. He sensed her knowing and did not return her gaze.
           
            Looking away, he returned his gaze to the stars and he sat beside the Harper in silence for a long time. He sat unblinking beside her on the quilt, letting the starlight flow over him and he found a star, letting it pull him toward it. Quickly he passed through the cornea and a moment later, he found himself on a grassy meadow in front of the Lady. She embraced Rijiin warmly and he stared into her eyes before stepping back bowing formally to her. 
 
            “My Lady,” He said, “I seek your council and your wisdom.”
 
            “Speak then.” She replied. “I am here.”
 
            “I am in love with the Harper, and do not know how to tell her.” He began.
 
            “I sense fear, you fear another loss, be at peace she is changing slowly, as the Harper is engrossed with her music. She cares for you very much, and like you is finding difficulty opening up to tell you.”
 
            “Ah I see.” He said, “My fear is she will leave as she did in the future. I don’t want to lose her again. I care deeply for her, and I saw what life was without her.”
 
            “You will like the others not be separated from me.” The lady told him, “Be at peace. Be patience, time flows like the wind, and is ever changing. Your time will come and a heart will mend and open like a flower.”
 
            Rijiin understood the meaning of her statement, and he managed a nod. 
 
            They stood on the plain for many minutes chatting together. After a moment, he managed a bow, after an embrace by the Goddess.
 
            “Thank you my Lady.” He replied, “I think I understand.”
 
            “Go in peace Rijiin.”
 
            “You too my Lady,” He said, bowing to her as the green meadow vanished.
 
            Many hours later, at sunrise, Rijiin returned from his trance, blinking his eyes to turn his head and stared at the long red hair of Natil who now sat beside him. He rose slowly, walking to the quilt they had been sitting on, packing their stuff quickly in preparation for their journey to the forest floor of Malvern and their return to the encampment near Saint Brigid.
 
            The Harper watched him curiously, as he worked, and a short time later, both the new elf and his Harper companion traveled down the path into the forest from the mountains, quickly finding the paths known to Elves when they entered the forest floor. They walked quickly on those paths, heading for home to the encampment and the whole time Rijiin had been silent. Natil as they walked along the paths had glanced at Rijiin several times. The elf maiden saw Rijiin was deep in thought, having said very little to her during their trip down to the forest floor and reading his thoughts and knew he was thinking and remembering their first meeting, almost a year ago.  Natil sensed he was looking inwardly at himself, remembering the images of a place far off which he had come, and where she would eventually end up many years from now. Her adventures were just starting and she would be pulled off to a far off land.
 
             Rijiin was remembering the first time he had met Natil, and as he had stepped into the half-lit cavern after his two months of healing and transformation in Saint Brigid, changing into an elf.  Mirya after a few months, had brought Rijiin to the encampment, where the others all were gathered and she had had motioned to him to enter the cave where he stood in the low firelight. They all knew him by name, and he sensed their acceptance, nodding to Rijiin, welcoming him among them. He scanned the cavern and his eyes fell upon the familiar long red hair of the Harper, and he let out a gasp, making the young maiden whom had brought him here turn. All eyes of the other elves fell upon the newcomer silently as he shook his head in disbelief.  
 
            “It cannot be!” He thought, staring at the familiar round face, the lean figure, the long red hair and blue eyes.
 
            “It is!” He thought “Natil!”
 
            The maiden looked up from her harping when she heard her name and the others watched as he rushed toward her and she stood up. He took the Harper’s hands staring longingly into her eyes and he kissed her full on the lips as he embraced her. 
 
            Terrill, Mirya, Varden and Sana, even Cara had been surprised by the meeting and had not moved when he charged the Harper. They had smiled when he had embraced her, smiling openly when he planted the passionate kiss on her lips. Natil on the other hand had gasped when he had embraced her, and felt his kiss on her lips. It was sweet, filled with promise and she sensed longing. She had felt the sense of loneliness, and doom over the person who now had kissed her, and it seemed to wash away as he held her in his arms. Natil had heard her thoughts and she had gasped openly.
 
            “MY God Natil, I missed you, I never knew what I had until you were gone.” He said and the thoughts had startled her. He did not care who he was and he wept openly, glad to see the young Harper again.
 
            “Steady.” She murmured, consoling him as he wept. “Be at peace. It is well, I am here.”
 
            “I have missed you.” He said, looking up, tears spent and peering into her blue eyes.
 
            “I appreciate the greeting, but…” She began, and shook her head, her mind a whirl of emotion as she stared at the young man before her. “Have we met before Messier?”
 
            “We met a while ago, and you might not remember me.” He said, and the young Harper nodded slowly. Rijiin had been astonished by her reply.
 
            “It must have been a lifetime ago.”
 
            “It has.” He said, “Very much so beloved.”
 
             Natil’s mouth had dropped open when he had said the word beloved. She felt very confused by the man here, staring at him in wonder.
 
            “I think you have made a mistake,” She said, “If we have met, I do not remember you, what is your name messier?”
 
            “Rijiin, Rijiin L’Thejiev, at your service,” Replied the young man, and she shook her head. He suddenly realized there was something different about her, and he sensed she did not recognize or remember him. Rijiin then remembered where he was and realized that she would have no memory of their meeting and relationship as it had not happened yet, and would not for the next five hundred years. He backed off immediately.
           
            “I am not sure I remember you, are you certain we have met before?”
 
            He said nothing, withdrawing from the conversation quickly and turned to Mirya and Terrill who had joined him at his side. The young elf man shook his hand warmly and he turned to return Talla’s embrace before accepting a cup of wine from her, knowing he had come home.  She watched him as he sat among the others, and nodded quietly to her as he met her gaze. He had met with her later, and he explained himself, after apologizing. She understood and they began their relationship, getting to know each other quite well in the next few months after.
 
            The Elf’s reminisces faded and his eyes focused once more upon the beautiful Harper, who knew he had been watching her, and did not comment nor protest as they entered the forest far below the mountains. During their trip down, he had not said anything until they had entered the forest not far from the encampment. Natil had felt strangely by the young elf, mostly because he was trying to show her compassion and love. She did not love him, but found herself intrigued by his presence here in this time. The first thing had been the startling thoughts she had heard when he embraced her the first time and she had lain eyes upon him, the second had been the superb, passionate kiss that had followed their embrace. Natil did not know what to make of it, and it made her uneasy. The Harper glanced at her traveling companion. 
 
            “Where and how does Rijiin fit in to everything going on right now, starting with his unexplained appearance and change into an Elf.” She asked herself, “Is he truly my companion and true love?” Looking back, she navigated the path and as Rijiin walked beside her, she decided to open up with a bit of chitchat.
           
            “Diol lle a’mael, lye n’eirn nae seasu.” She said finally, and Rijiin walking beside her, had only grunted quietly and nodded in response. Natil had told him that they had to do this again sometime. Rijiin had shaken off the images he was seeing, staring inwardly at the starlight and peering through time into a different time and space. The young elf glanced in her direction, seeing the hurt on her face and managed a forced smile, and a polite nod.
 
            “Sea samin, A’mael.” He replied, taking up her hand to kiss it gently, “We shall do it again soon, I promise.”
 
            Smiling Natil nodded, “I would like that. Ta vanima.”
           
            “Aye Natili, ta,” He said, glancing to the surroundings.
 
            Rijiin smiled when he made out the familiar landmarks and from that knew they were almost home. Natil had taken his hand, and when she stopped, it made him drop back a step, making him turn. The Harper’s face colored as she abruptly stopped, looking down at her hand in his and she tugged on his hand, pulling his arm, she led him back to her and she put her arms around him. She had decided to take a risk and find out more about Rijiin.
 
            “Thank you for a wonderful time.” She whispered lustily, and she drew close, putting her lips to his in a sweet passionate kiss. Natil and Rijiin held the kiss for a long minute, the kiss sweet, filled with promise and on his face, his expression showed one of surprise. After they broke, they met each other’s gaze, staring into each other’s eyes for a long time.
 
            “Sai- saesu.” He murmured, “Very nice.”
 
            “I know how you feel about me, and wish a little more time.” She said, “I heard your wish up there, and I am very flattered and honored, but I am alas not ready for a relationship. Perhaps we can be friends for a time before we go further. Perhaps one day we shall, we have all the time in the world.”
 
            “I understand.” He replied lamely, and he forced himself not to react.
 
            Rijiin became aware of someone watching, and without even thinking about it, his awareness swirled outward through the trees. Rijiin sensed Varden was near, and he, at this moment, was watching them curiously. He could see the elf walking toward them and they need not turn their heads but they both did as he appeared from the brush. 
 
            Varden had been a short distance off, having returned from Saint Brigid had been walking through the brush on the trails known only to Elves, and he had sensed they were near. He had not known what they were doing, but had headed toward them. The young elf had stopped when he saw the young Harper embrace Rijiin, and kiss him. He had smiled at the sight.  Rijiin’s head turned and he managed a grin when he saw Natil’s kinsman, raising his hand. The elf walked toward them both.
 
            “Varden, my old friend,” He said, “Alanae ea yolisi Elthia!”
 
            “Aye, Manea.” Varden replied, “Welcome home you two… I hope I did not interrupt.”
           
            Natil and Rijiin had glanced at each other to blush slightly, realizing that Varden had seen them together, and had seen them kiss. They stepped back from each other, embarrassed when they realized they were still in each other’s arms. Both were blushing deeply, both of them trying to fight laughing. They gave up and their laughter echoed through the woods.
 
             “No, you did not interrupt Varden.” Rijiin replied calmly.
 
            “So did you enjoy your trip mistress Harper?” He asked, and Natil met his gray eyes, nodding slowly.
 
            “Aye, I did.” She said, “It was a wonderful diversion, with my thanks to Rijiin.”
 
            “Lle creoso, Natili.” Rijiin chimed in, “Tanya naa amin quel edhel wen.”
 
            A startled look appeared on Varden’s face when he heard Rijiin speaking Elvish, and very well like he had speaking it for years.
 
            Natil embraced Rijiin before walking past both of them and they watched her go. The maiden walked toward the encampment, smiling sweetly at Rijiin before she disappeared behind the blanket that hung in the doorway. The young Elf found he was very much in love with this Harper and he wished more than ever she would see it and would accept him as a lover. The elf had been unaware that she had seen their meeting in the future, but had seen her disbelief by those images.             Varden stood beside him as Natil disappeared into the cave, and found glancing between Rijiin and the young Harper, an amused smile on his face.
 
            “She is very talented.” Varden said, “I know how you feel about her, and what happened in that future time line but she is very different here.  I do not think you will find the same person you seek here.”
 
            “I know Varden.” He said, “I took her on this trip with me as a friend and a companion, not to find any romance. Perhaps one day she shall find someone, it is hard to tell. I wish it will be me she finds, but if not, I am still happy for her.”
 
            “She is in her own world, her music is her life, and we think the world of Natil. She is one of a kind.” He said, “Her world and path lies in the world of her harp. The Harper is very complex and rarely lets anyone in.” With that, the conversation seemed to die as Varden’s attention had turned to the sky. He scanned it quickly, sensing the brewing storm above them. Billowing dark clouds rolled in over them.
 
            “Come we are expected indoors.” He said, motioning and walked toward the encampment to half disappear through the opening.  Rijiin followed quickly, heading to the cave. Varden pushed the flap of woven wool aside and disappeared inside.
 
However, as Rijiin stepped toward the cave and he entered the entryway, that a wash of fear and panic overcame him, making him swoon slightly. His eyebrows flew up in alarm at the feeling he felt, a surge of pain, panic and fear that seemed to fill his very soul. Staggering, he barely managed to grab the edge of the entry as he steadied himself. The feeling had hit him out of nowhere, and the sense was quite strong. The Elf stood there a moment, the feeling of unbridled, almost insane panic washing over him He stood with his eyes closed finding his stars and they seemed to calm the overwhelming sense. After a moment, he felt it subside, straightening up, when out the corner of his eye he saw Natil appear in the entrance, and he smiled at her.
 
            “Now that was strange.” He thought, as he saw her concerned face. 
 
            “Rijiin?”
 
            “Tulien…” Rijiin replied, “Natili.” 
 
            The elf entered the cave, his eyes adjusting quickly to the dim light of the entry, and taking a few more steps entered the main chamber where the elves were gathered.          Immediately Rijiin found himself embraced by Cara who took his hands to lead him to an open place beside the Harper. Rijiin had managed a chuckle as he sat beside the young woman, and felt a flush of embarrassment rise above his collar. Glancing at Natil, even in the dim light he saw her blushing too. Talla walked up, a cup in hand and she handed him it. Rijiin took the wine, sipping the red liquid from the goblet.
 
            “A! Quel, Diola lle, Tallai,” He told the young woman, “Alanea ea yolisi, Elthia.”
 
            She smiled at his use of Elvish and they all sat beside the fire, talking quietly each other. Periodically they would glance to Natil and in his direction as he made conversation with the young Harper.  A little later, he moved to the corner of the cave and sat alone out of the main chamber.  Here, Rijiin closed his eyes for a moment and this time he found him self, hurtling through what seemed to be time and space. He now stood outside the mall entrance, staring at a familiar face that had come to this place and a young man walking alone toward the doors of Eastridge Mall.
 
            The elf stared at a young human, his ghost image of what he had been when and before he had become an elf. He realized he was seeing himself, and at eleven in the morning, that he arrived for the gathering at Red Robin Inn at Eastridge Mall. It was his day when he had found the portal, his destiny and the day he would literally meet his death and his rebirth. He had watched all the events unfold before him, as if it were a book opening. The elf watched his human self and form sit alone, treated badly by the others. Rijiin saw him get up and he followed him out the door, turning to watch the others as they had seen him leave. He stepped toward the trio who stood together.
 
            Joseph, Chelle, Mike and Monte had stood together and had turned when they saw the familiar form of his human-self step through the door.
 
            “Where is he going?” Monte asked, and everyone turned, seeing Rijiin’s human self leave, unhindered and unabashed as he walked out the door.
 
            “I don’t know. He’ll probably be back.” Joseph commented,
 
            “Oh let him go.” Chelle replied, “I never liked him anyway.”
 
            “He did have all his stuff with him.” Mike observed, “I don’t think he will be coming back.”
 
            “Well we’ll ask him why when we see him on-line later.” Joe added and at this point Rijiin noted the conversation seemed to die about him.  A feeling of death seemed to wash over the group and the Elf felt it too. The feeling of death and deja-vu among the group had been strong, and something told them that this would be the last time they would see their fellow member of their BBS standing before them. Turning he walked to the door and in a flash he was back with his human self in the mall.
 
            He walked with his human self, ghosting and shadowing what had happened, remembering every event that had happened. He walked with him to the shops entry. The shop called the Dungeon that had offered the games. The elf could not interfere. They walked together in the games, and had played together, and the third time he had sensed the magic here, and had put out his hand. His hand passed through his human self, as he tried to stop him.
 
            “Hold up.” Rijiin started, but his human form stepped through the portal instead of the gateway of the game.
 
            Moments later, he stood with him in the forest and saw the fight in the village. The same fight that he saw the sword run through him and real blood spill onto the floor. Rijiin grimaced, putting his hand at his stomach, wincing at the images and remembering the pain and the blood. He followed the young man into the forest and he saw him drop into the same clearing.
 
            A while later the Elf turned his head when he saw Mirya and Terrill. They walked over to him and Rijiin smiled as the young maiden began to heal. He knew the rest, ending up in Saint Brigid in the village priest’s home and his coma as he changed into what he was. A bright flash exploded around the Elf and his reminisces faded when a hand touched his shoulder. Once again, the notes of Natil’s harp returned to his conscious senses, flowing through him. Rijiin was once again back in the twelfth century living here as an Elf. In the period of a year he had been here, fully changing into an immortal, neither elf or human but safe and living after a harrowing adventure. Back in his old time, he had long since been presumed dead by everyone he knew, and now a mere fading memory. 
 
            The Elf had seen many things in the now few years that had elapsed, a lot of the land as he had traveled with his new friends and having helped and healed. He once again had returned to the present from his reminisces and thoughts of, in what he knew, had been a while now. Rijiin had been had been sitting with his eyes closed, staring at the starlight twinkling in the darkness as he had been thinking of the past for several minutes. Opening his eyes, he met the questioning looks of Talla and Cara standing in front of him.
 
            “Talla… Cara…” He said, looking up at both of the beautiful maidens who stood before him.
 
            “Is there something wrong? You have been brooding over here alone for the last two hours.” Cara said, “Come.” She took his hands, helping him stand.
 
            “Come by the fire and be with the others.” The young woman told him, “Come and be welcome, kinsman Elf.”
 
            He winced, but followed Cara to the fire, being led by the hand toward Natil, the beautiful young Harper who sat in the corner on a bench.
 
            “There is no problem, Cara.” He replied, feeling her tug at his arms, “Just thinking.”
 
            “We know.” Cara replied, but continued leading him toward the Harper. She sat him down beside her, and the Harper looked up. He felt a flush around his collar as he glanced at Natil, who smiled warmly and returned the embrace by Cara,
 
            “See you are welcome here.” She said with slight head nod, turning to take the cup of wine brought by Talla, and she handed it to him.  
           
            “You belong together and need to find happiness Rijiin.”
 
            “Rijiin, what do you see there that is so interesting than being with your friends and kinfolk.” Talla shyly asked, “Varden said you are no longer held by that time. Lle behar a’ uchman ta aut- Rijiini.” She had told him that he needed to let it go.
 
            Astonished he looked up at her, clearly stunned that she had read his mind, but after thinking about her words, Rijiin managed a slight nod. The elf thought he had let it go, but something seemed to be nag at him, as if it were a task he had not completed and reminding him that it needed to be done.
 
             “Manka lle merna, Carai, Tallai,” He said, “Gorga il’… Amin il’ ustuien untul a’ tanya yamen’ iire eller na irma entul eller. Amin na rinien cabbirener tuulo’ I’ oyun amin demade.”
 
            He had agreed with the young maidens, and told her to fear not that he was not even considering returning to the future. Rijiin flashed a grin at their dubious expression. Suddenly he felt something was wrong and his smile had quickly faded away, replaced by an alarmed expression. The Elf turned his head and scanned the chamber when he felt and sensed something he had not in a long time.
 
            “By our Lady!” exclaimed the Elf, gasping, as he felt a strong presence, a feeling of someone who he had not felt or seen in a while, and this feeling had overwhelmed his senses. What he felt had been his best friend and the Elf turned his head in what seemed to be slow motion.
 
            Cara had seen the alarmed expression and had glanced at Talla, Sana, and Varden in alarm. The expression had been one of question and fear overwhelming his senses and it had brought him halfway to his feet. They moved to his side in a flash and Cara put her hand on his shoulder. 
 
            “Mouse?” The Elf breathed, astonished by the feeling.
 
            Rijiin felt his friend, Mimi Stewart, who he had known in the twentieth century and this sensation was her calling out to him. Rijiin seemed to know when she was in trouble or needed him, a talent he had and on one or two occasions he used openly. Today happened to be one day that he sensed her but he was troubled by the feeling, as he knew she was still in the twentieth century, and was not in the twelfth century. He did not know she had been brought to this time and had seen with her own eyes this time and in a time she should have only been reading about.
           
“What is it Rijiin?” asked the blond-haired witch and he shook his head.
 
             “Strange, I feel a presence of a friend I knew in the future, a presence I have not felt in a long time…” He muttered, and yet, as quick as it had come, the feeling quickly faded.
 
            “What kind of feeling?” Cara asked in partial understanding and glanced repeatedly to Varden who shrugged.  
 
            “Rijiin, you look as you have seen a ghost…” Cara said, standing with Sana, Terrill, Mirya and even Talla who clustered around him in concern. Rijiin had paled a lot in the dim light, mostly from the surprise of such a powerful sense of his friend. He had not expected that his senses had been changed like that.
 
            “Perhaps I have… I felt a presence of someone who is from the other time I was in.” He said, allowing the starlight to sooth and steady the heavily breathing. The images had been like fire in his brain.
 
            “Strange, it has passed, I am well, be at peace.” He staggered toward the fire and Varden took his arm.
 
            “Are you sure Rijiin you are all right?” He asked, “What were these images?”
           
            “They were images of someone of the past Varden.” Rijiin said, “Like I could see someone I knew in from her point of view. I sensed disorientation and confusion. But it has gone now.”
           
             “That was weird.” He thought, “I hope I do not have to go through that again.” Rijiin turned his focus inward and he stared at the starlight that twinkled at him in the darkness, feeling their powers flow over him, calming him.
 
            “Mimi.” Rijiin asked himself, “What the hell. Why I am feeling her in this place? She should not be here, why all of a sudden can I sense her again? Something must be wrong or she is thinking about me.”
 
            It had been a strange sense that he had, knowing when his friend needed him, or when she was thinking of him. The talent had shaken Mimi and her friends many times when he had appeared on campus, and there had indeed been such a thought by her. Today, however, it was her turn to shake him up, overwhelming him by her presence in a place that she clearly had no logical place to be.
 
            “Perhaps it’s just because I miss her a bit.” Rijiin thought, but shook his head. He sensed confusion and panic. Something was wrong and the Elf despite everything else, knew it to be true.
 
            “My thanks,” He muttered, and looking up he smiled at a young elf that filled his goblet, recognizing her as the one they called Talla. He slowly sipped the red liquid from it and the Elf stared inwardly in at the starlight, and the images he could see. They were unclear and garbled, making him even more confused.
 
            “It is not possible. I should not have felt her here. I wonder what’s going on.” thought the Elf and shook his head, turning it when Terrill and Mirya stepped into the cave. They greeted their kinfolk and Rijiin warmly. They stood near the entry as they told Varden, of a strange occurrence in the woods where a stranger sitting in a strange chair with cart’s wheels attached had appeared. Rijiin hearing this had perked up, and had shown a look of astonishment on his fair features. He had been surprised by their revelation and their news.
 
            “It is a wheelchair.” Rijiin murmured quietly, “Where did you see this?”  
 
            Everyone stopped and turned, regarding the elf. They were astonished by his revelation. A few of them had gasped aloud.
 
             “In my old home in the twentieth century… That would be the way injured or disabled humans got around when their limbs did not work or they were hurt.”
 
            “Please I must know where did you see someone here like that?”
           
            “Rijiini, we saw it close by in a clearing where we found you.” Mirya replied, “It was a strange vision that did not stay long, it vanished before we could get close to it.”
 
            She had omitted the fact she was the one who made it disappear and he stood up quickly, realizing what he must do, better yet, what had just happened.
 
            “My friend is in trouble… I must travel back.” Rijiin said.
 
            The Elf had made a judgment call and decided to act. Mimi appearing in this place had been no accident and he suspected there was trouble. He knew he must act quickly and knew it was impetuous, and reckless, Rijiin, however, knew if he did not act, terrible consequences could befall her and knew it was imperative he must risk the power of the Elves to jump time and perhaps possibly, die in the process.
 
             “Where are you going Rijiin, what are you planning to do.?” Mirya and Terrill asked together.
 
             “I must return to the future.” He said and they stared at him.
 
            “You can’t. You said so yourself.” Terrill said, “You said the time did not hold you.
 
            “There is something wrong. I felt my friend’s presence here, who is someone who lives in the way that you describe and is from the future. I must go to her.” There was a brief silence in the chamber.
 
            “I do it for the sake of help and healing.” Rijiin said, “Perhaps if not that, love.”
 
            Mirya’s eyebrows arched, hearing him utter something about love in anything other than contempt. He had said it without hate, or anger. He had spoken quietly and calmly. 
 
            “You always said Terrill, human ways are not ours, but in this case I am going to make it mine. I have to protect someone and help her if I am able. After all she was my friend.”
 
            “How do expect to accomplish this?” Terrill challenged.
 
            “I think it is wise to try and cast a spell using the powers of the Elves.” Rijiin replied, “We have that power, and I feel it is a great necessity.”
 
            Varden put up his hand. “What you seek is dangerous Rijiin.” He said, “I ask that you do not.”
 
             Rijiin shrugged, “It’s a risk I will have to take Varden. If I do not, my friends may be hurt or die. I cannot let that happen, and be able to live with that, renewal or not. I will always remember I let it happen.” He snapped.
 
             “Don’t you care? So who is with me?”
 
            “Of course we do and can help.” Varden said, and he put his hand on his shoulder, “Although, perhaps, Terrill should accompany you on your mission.”
 
            Natil looked up. “I shall go with him.”  She said, her voice barely carrying over the discussion of the others in the cave.
 
            Varden, Mirya and Terrill had turned when Natil had spoken, a smile appearing on Mirya’s face and Cara after they had glanced at each other. All eyes had focused upon the Harper. They had been alarmed to hear Natil volunteered for something very dangerous, and one that would risk their very existence through time and space. 
 
            Rijiin nodded his head, “Diola lle Natili…” He said, “Ta yassen amin saesa.”
 
             She smiled and bowed her head slightly. Leaning over she kissed him. 
 
            “Na- ie’ seere, Rijiini,” She murmured, “Lle naa a’maelamin.” He flashed a grin as the Harper nodded.
 
            “Diola lle, Natili…” Rijiin told her, “I feel much better knowing that.”
 
            “I still must strongly advise against this task you seek.” Terrill declared solemnly, “It puts you at great risk and especially one of my kinfolk. I cannot allow this nor interfere with human ways and destiny.”
 
            “I agree.” Varden added and Rijiin regarded both his friend and teacher in these last few years before he shook his head.
 
             “My friends, I must do this, and go to her. If you had friends like I know, or one of your people, you would do the same for them.” Rijiin shot back, with amazing calm.
 
            The fair-featured Elf looked up at him, his gray eyes analyzing the statement he made. 
 
            “If I do not, and something happens to her Terrill, then I have failed in my purpose of the magic that changed me, and the prime purpose of my new existence as an Elf.” He continued, “Helping and healing, you always said that is a purpose of the Elves, and I know this is my purpose too, I would willingly give my existence up if I could help this person.”
           
            “Yes helping and healing is our purpose.” Varden murmured, “However, you do not need to give up yourself willingly, lost to the uncertainty of the use of magic and risk one of your kinfolk on such an errand.”
 
            He turned to Natil, who like the other Elves had heard him, and were silent. He regarded her for a moment before turning to Terrill sat with Mirya on the other side of the fire.
 
            “Terrill, I am here to help, provide comfort and aid as needed. The human race may be evil, twisted, perverted, self-centered, blood thirsty, greedy and power hungry, but there are few as this person Mirya described who are good. Let me try, damn it. She needs help and I will not deny her that help.”
 
            Rijiin returned to his place next to the Harper and put his hand on her knee, gripping it gently. She looked down at it then met his expression with a nod.  
 
            “Natili, are you sure you want to come.” Rijiin said, “It could be dangerous. I will not risk you if it is dangerous.” He paused and glanced at the others. “Of your own free will, I ask you. Are you sure?”
 
            “You cannot do it alone, beloved.” The Harper said, nodding her head, “…and I want to, you need healers and of course I thought you could use the company.”
 
            “Thank you Natil.” He said stolidly, leaning over close to her, and grinned at her. “We will leave at first light. Be at peace. I will not let anything happen to you, that I promise, and fear not, Elves are known for being ingenious I won’t let anything to happen to me.” He walked toward the entrance of the cave.
 
             “Rijiin,” Mirya said, and the elf paused. “Where are you going?’
 
            The newly transformed Elf paused, “I must prepare…” He said, “There is something I must do.”
 
               The young Elf named Mirya watched him go, and saw him glance at Natil before standing up to follow. Varden touched her arm and shook his head. The young healer saw the expression on his face and understood what he planned, glancing at the entrance. Outside Rijiin moved far out into the woods, walking a fair distance from the encampment. He found a nice secluded place and he sat in the woods, focusing upon the starlight.
 
             Mimi, at the same moment in time, after she had disappeared from the clearing, had spun through the darkness, bouncing against the vortex of color, hearing nothing but the echo of her breathing as she headed to her unknown destination. The middle-aged woman closed her eyes, as the g-forces pushed her back into her chair and held her as she spun through it. She felt the rapid beating of her heart, and her breath as it echoed around her. She tried to focus on something that would try to keep what she thought was a hallucination, focusing on the strange encounter with the two people dressed in green and gray.   Something seemed strange and familiar about these strangers and it bothered her because of their strange familiarity to her.
           
            “Darn.” Mimi grumbled, “Who the heck were those people? This is crazy, and why did they not come up and talk to me? Why were they dressed like that? Where am I really? Am I really going nuts or what?”
                       
             The images had been so vivid and yet she thought it was nothing more than a hallucination. Mimi deep in thought, did not realize she had arrived at her destination until she heard the sound of crickets chirping echoed in her ears. Opening her eyes, he eyes adjusted quickly to the low light, lit only by the dim moonlight, and turning her head, she examined her surroundings. Mimi’s eyes quickly had focused upon the grassy meadow around her and she stared at the area in astonishment.  She stared off into the distance to a village in plain view on the on the edge of this huge meadow and above under a clear sky with twinkling stars.  The human woman turned her head when she sensed someone with her and her head had snapped to the left as her eyes focused upon the lone woman, robed in blue and silver that stood here.
 
            When Mouse saw her she had managed a gasp, recognizing her as the same woman who had helped her as she had sat in the cold rain covered in mud on the campus. She stared at the woman’s beautiful and fair middle-aged features, her solemn gray eyes, long dark hair, streaked with silver and to the blue and the silver and blue robe she wore around her. The woman turned when she sensed Mimi, smiling quietly as she nodded her head to her.
 
            “Child, you are not ready to come to me.” She said, approaching Mimi in her wheelchair. “I shall send you a messenger, when you are ready and together you shall return, with full knowledge.”
 
            “Who are you?” Mimi asked, “Where am I? I wanted to thank you for you helping me at the campus yesterday.”  
 
            “You are welcome beloved Mimi.” The woman said, “It is what I am here for, and you must return to where you belong, I shall send you a messenger, and be at peace, he shall find you. Return to your friends lest they grieve for your absence.” 
 
            Mimi’s head cocked to the side, hearing the strange accent in her voice and stared curiously at her beauty, her calm and her strangeness.   She turned her head as she saw a figure in the darkness, a young man clad in green and gray.
 
             “I don’t understand.” Mimi replied, as the woman lift up her hand and placed it on her shoulder.
 
            “Beloved, Mimi.” The woman said, “Be at peace, all questions will be answered then.”
Here she raised her arm, making Mouse wince and immediately thinking back to the red and gold haired woman named Mirya, who had made the same motion that had set her reeling into the black vortex and appear on this plain.
 
             Abruptly the plain disappeared, but this time she was not spinning through the vortex. When she opened her eyes again, sitting in her chair, the rain splattered her face as she sat in the middle of S-Quad and she cast a surprised glance to her surroundings. She had returned home.
 
             A familiar scratchy voice, called out her name. Mimi shook her head and turned to see Robert approaching her on the run. She had literally appeared from thin-air, in a small flash and almost right before him.
 
            “Mimi?” Robert gasped, “Where the hell did you come from?”
 
            “Apparently I have come out of the there into the now, Robert.” Mimi replied, and shook her head.   The disabled woman turned over her hand and she gasped. In her hand, the disabled woman peered at a pendant made of gold and silver in her hand attached to a chain, shaped like a crescent moon and interlocked, rayed star. The same pendant, Mimi realized, had been the same one that the strange woman on the plain had been wearing around her neck and the two in the forest.
 
            “But it was just a dream!” She declared, and glanced at Robert who lumbered toward her.
 
            She stared at the pendant again, gripping it as she tried to make sense of the entire event she had journeyed. The strange pendant in her hand, a magnificent piece of jewelry, seemed to shimmer brightly and almost incandescent as if it were made of the very same thing she had seen in the woman’s eyes on the meadow and in the forest.
 
            Mimi was shaken visibly to Robert who had assessed her situation, and took up his place at the wheelchair, pushing her toward the Campus Center. Mouse, shaken by the pendant, and had quickly put it away in her belt pouch when Robert approached. There was no way she could explain everything that happened, not until she could get the whirlwind of memories, all the images in her head to make logical sense.
 
             “Where have you been, I’ve been worried.” Robert said, rambling on about how long they were looking for her. Mimi hardly heard him as she found herself looking inward, at the images of the strange event that had happened in the last few minutes.
 
            Mimi only nodded at his long-winded speech. 
           
            “I’m alright Robert!” Mimi snapped sharply, suddenly annoyed by his rambling and he grimaced.
 
            “It’s alright Mousie; we were, after all, worried.” He whispered.
 
            Realizing her error, she put her hand on his. “Thanks Robert.” She told him, “I’m sorry for snapping at you. It has just been a very strange morning.”
 
            He grunted and taking his place behind her chair, silently pushed her to the Student Campus Center, to the familiar table in the Fireside Lounge where they always sat. He bought her coffee and both greeted the others when they began to arrive. Mimi found herself looking at the fireplace, the gas flames bright against the wood logs and in the flames saw the infinity of images and faces. Here she drank coffee in silence, as her friends laughed and carried on around her at the table beside her.
 
            “What did the woman mean?” She thought and stared off past one of her friends to the outside, and the campus where the steady rain fell.
 
            “What’s wrong Mousie?” He asked, “You seem to be off in outer space.”
 
             Becky and the others seated at the table turned to look at her. “Yeah come to mention it.” She said, with an amused tone, “You do seem to be very distant today. What’s going on Mimi?”
 
             Mimi in turn, shook her head. “Nothing is going on.” She replied, “Just thinking.”
 
            They glanced briefly at each other for a second and then back over at her. They had dubious expressions on their faces. Inside her belt pouch, the necklace seemed to glow. They had been talking and laughing and Robert was the first to notice the strange behavior of her friend and fiancé. He had nudged Becky beside him and she had glanced at him to see him point at her.
           
“Thinking about what?” Becky asked and Mouse, at first did not answer.
 
            “Just a strange night is all.” She said aloud.
 
            Mouse laughed nervously and they jumped in to resume the conversation. She pretended to follow along, but kept to herself, her mind whirling as she continued to think of her journey that had happened earlier today. A journey that would bother her for the rest of the day and leave her with so many questions that she wanted answered.
 
            Mouse wondered who the woman in blue and silver was, what she meant by the messenger that she would send her. Mouse wondered where the meadow was, where had really gone those few minutes and who were the two young looking people who had been in the forest there. She had many questions about this entire affair, and wondered if she in reality was losing her mind.  The images of that whole event whirled through her brain like a tornado and even during the night, after she returned home, the entire adventure made it hard to sleep in her own bed.
 
            “There is no way I am going to be able to sleep.” Mouse thought, and she glanced over at her belt pouch that seemed to glow. Eyes widening, she rolled herself to the pouch, opened it, and held the jewelry in her hand as she had when she returned. In her hand, the bright gold and silver jewelry piece seemed to radiate with power as it twinkled, glowing the same way as it had in the outside light, the fluorescent light in the Fireside Lounge and now even here at her apartment in the lamp light.
 
            “Something is happening, or is going to happen and this is my key.” She muttered, and held up the necklace. Mouse did not know that there would be more of this tomorrow and the day where her life would literally change. An event that would make this even more complicated and her very existence held in the balance. When she fell asleep that night, she did so in her chair, sleeping soundly for eight hours in her apartment and in those eight hours dreamed of starlight and the meadow as if she could go to the Lady she had met there.  
 
            When the next morning approached and the disabled woman awoke on another cold morning, she awoke refreshed, and she slowly opened her eyes, casting a quick glance to her apartment and the surroundings from which she lived. The same steady rain fell outside, and yet to Mimi something had changed, this day seemed to be different. She had felt strangely, refreshed and energized, and quickly got on the ball, whizzing about her apartment with a strange renewed strength, as she got ready for her classes on campus.
 
Mouse had no idea that she had been helped and healed by Elven Magic, something that had not been in existence for over five hundred years and it had giving her strength, healing, and if only, some relief from her pain. Mouse only realized it when it began to show today, and flabbergasting herself when she made it out of her apartment and to the campus in a quick half hour. A feat that had never in her years had been done easily in such weather. 
 
As she sat for a moment under an L Quad overhang, she stared at her hands in amazement. The disabled woman wondered if this had anything to do with the incident yesterday when the robed woman in blue and silver had helped her into her chair. Mouse had arrived on campus, and at the same time was very unaware of the event was unfolding in the mall far from her college.
 
            At the same moment in the back area of a shop in Eastridge Shopping Center, and in the shop called ‘The Dungeon’, that a seething mass of energy appeared in deserted hallway near the Holodeck type games offered here. It is in this shop that two booted feet appeared from within it, and two people appearing from literally thin air as they traversed time and space. Rijiin and Natil clad in green and gray have appeared into this deserted hallway, arriving in the back area of the shop where long ago he had come to play he the games offered. Now both stand together at the very place and at the gate where he stepped out of time. Rijiin managed to turn gripping Natil’s arm as he steadied her and his eyes examined the area quickly. The elf closed his eyes, not expected to see this place again and not sensing the magic that had brought him here before.  
 
            “By our lady, we are here.” He thought quietly, “The circle is complete.”
 
             “Ile naa sinome… We’re here…” Rijiin whispered to her quietly and the young Harper named Natil looked up at him, meeting his solemn gray eyes. She noted his expression, partially obscured by the hood of his cloak. The Harper smiled quietly at his use of Elvish that in the period he had been with them had made an effort to pick up. Her head turned to the strange surroundings and the Harper exhaled sharply. Slowly they both stood and Rijiin confidently met the startled expression on her face.
 
            “Lye raa?" She murmured, “Manke, Rijiini…?” She answered in Elvish and shook her head. “Where are we Rijiin?”
 
            He managed a grin at the young Elf maiden.
 
            “The future beloved, the twentieth century and at the very location I found the portal, bringing me to your time.” He explained, turning to scan the dim hallway, peering into the large room where a few more portals for the games were located and briefly watch the few people who had been sitting at the tables there. No one seemed to notice the portal had opened up, or the arrival of the elves into the hallway, the only thing that recorded their presence had been a camera above them. The elf turned his attention to the hallway, his gray eyes finding the double doors of the hallway leading to the locker rooms and turning again the other way to the main staging area. He let out a silent breath.
 
            “Peace beloved, we were not discovered.” He said, “Come, it is this way to get out of this place.”
 
            Rijiin walked toward the Harper, embracing her before he took up her hand and led her to the double doors leading to the locker areas that exited this area into the main store. As they approached them, however, Natil stiffened, and he felt her grip tighten on his hand. The elf turned his head when the doors abruptly opened, and two young humans appeared from the doors. Both were dressed in the familiar costumes found in the games and it was a young couple, a young man and woman. The two of them laughed when they saw each other and both inspected the costumes they wore for the games.  
 
            The couple turned their heads when they sensed the Elves.
 
            “Wow look at that!” The young man said, pointing at Rijiin and Natil.
 
            “Those are costumes.” He said, and the young woman nodded, her face showing interest in the realism and authenticity of the costumes worn by the Elven couple.
 
            “The entrance is this way Kate.” He told her, as he took up her hand and led her toward the main staging room. As they approached the Elves, both smiled at Rijiin and Natil.
 
            “Nice costumes.” They told the Elves as they passed and Rijiin nodded.
 
            “Our thanks.” replied the Elven Harper, bowing slightly. Flashing a grin, Rijiin turned to the Harper.
 
            “Fear not, humans cannot sense things as we can, or very few of them can sense anything different around them.” She continued, “We will be all right and long gone before they even figure it out.”
 
            Behind them, the couple laughed and continued to walk on to the main staging area through the far doors. Before they entered the staging area, the young human woman, turned back, gazing upon the Elves who stood whispering in low tones and saw Rijiin take up the Harper’s hand and lead her toward the exit doors. She had sensed something amiss, but was not sure what it was.
 
            “These are the doors that must go through and go through the rooms they connect to exit this place beloved.” He murmured opening the door.
 
            “Go through and I will meet you on the other end.” Rijiin instructed and Natil did so, passing through the doors and walking into the locker area. As she walked toward the other end, she glanced at the other young women who were changing here, and even showering. The elf maiden walked on without comment, finding the exit easily and when she appeared on the other side, stepped into the hall leading into the partitioned maze, Rijiin embraced her and took up her hand.
 
            “Tula, A’mael.” He told her as he held her hand, effortlessly leading her through the maze of partitions preceding the entry to the game area. Quickly Rijiin and Natil traversed the partitions that made up the maze and together the elves passed by the many areas that were set aside in the back of the main store, secluded from the other areas. They passed many young humans who played at a table, several meeting areas, and even passed some who sat and chatted with each other in an area set up with concessions.
 
The elves of course were not noticed by anyone, most of the people here in costume as they stood in these areas. Rijiin soon led them to the entrance, and many times, as they passed others only nodded in silence to them. The Harper studied their reactions, seeing the surprise in their faces. They were watched by the young people they passed.
 
            “You used to live in a very strange place Rijiin.” She told him and he grinned.
 
            “No beloved, not so strange.” He said, “This is normally how life goes on for the human race, and it has progressed a long way in five hundred years. It is almost the same in many ways Natil, but in others it has changed a lot for the better with many improvements.”
           
            “A miracle,” Natil said, “That humans managed to get this far.”
 
            “Aye, true enough and they will continue on.” Rijiin said, “They seem to manage, just like the Elves once did. Despite everything they are.”
 
            The Harper managed a slight nod and he still had her hand, as they passed through the partition hallway. Both approached the entrance to the maze, passing the startled guards who had turned with many other people who had stared at the pair. The Elves were not questioned and passed them without at least one glance to the small crowd present.  Rijiin sensed their questions, reading their thoughts easily and to not to laugh openly.  There were only admiring glances at the Elves as they walked out into the main section of the store, passing the many shoppers who were here playing or browsing. Rijiin led his mate toward the doorway, and both soon stood out in the open inside main area of the Mall. A few people had noticed them, with a low ripple, or comments as Rijiin paused, to get his bearings. An older woman, who sat nearby smiled when she saw the Elves.
 
            “Such a nice looking couple,” She muttered, and the Harper, hearing the comment, had managed to flash a smile at the older woman.
 
            Turning away, her eyes scanned the large, cavernous interior of the Mall as they stood together in the dim light. The hallway went from one end, to the other, a high ceiling that housed the many shops in the Mall and large spotlights brilliantly lit the interior. She stared at the white wall across the way, at the place where a long time ago, a store called Woolworths and the restaurant once had been located in the mall. Her blue eyes panned to the other stores, and to the people who shopped here. A wave of discomfort passed through her as they entered further into the open area of the Mall and together walking among the human race in a world that Rijiin had warned was a world of men and Elves no longer existed.  People who had been standing on the upper level had stopped and stared down at the young couple. Sporadic laughter and murmured rippled through the cavernous mall.
 
            “Be at peace Natil.” Rijiin coached, “This place cannot harm you.” He said, sensing her discomfort. He slid his arm around her waist, making her smile and the young Harper seemed to feel at ease when Rijiin was holding her.
 
            “You need not worry about shaking your hair out here.” Rijiin added, “They have no bigotry in this century to anyone different, not even to such things such as Elves or do they remember the past.”
 
            Rijiin managed a slow nod before continuing.
 
            “Soon we will finish our task and be home again in Malvern underneath the trees.” He continued, as Natil shot him a look of alarm. The Harper had been surprised to hear him wanting to return so quickly in to Malvern. Quickly taking in his surroundings, Rijiin found his bearings and the exit hallway leading outside. He motioned toward her, walking beside the young Harper as they headed to the door leading outside.
 
            “You know Natil, I never really liked this place and now detest even more.” Rijiin commented, “I could always tolerate it for a short time but was always glad to leave it.”
 
            “I do not see why, it is a fine and unusual place.” Natil declared, her voice showing awe in it, “What is this place called? Is there a name for it?”
 
            He glanced at the surroundings.
 
            “Oh this is what they called a mall.” Rijiin replied, as they continue walking, “A place where people can shop, like a market square.”
 
            “A! ea sai’ tereva aula.” She murmured in Elvish, telling him it was a fine invention as she took in the surroundings.
 
            “Lle cael-il elea ai’nat’ a’ Natili. Feith, ner lirille yenya lye.” 
 
The Harper curiously raised her eyebrows in question. Rijiin and Natil both continued down the corridor, walking toward the end where glass doors made up the far wall where bright daylight of the outside spilled in through the glass. Pushing it, he opened it and with the Harper, they both stepped out into the cold morning. Turning his head, he met two faces that he vaguely recognized belonging to a couple members of the Bulletin Board System; one he had once been a part. Rijiin said nothing, and ignored their surprise. Hand-in-hand the Elves walked toward the parking lot and turned, moving along the cement sidewalk. The members of the computer system did not move to stop them or talk with them, both astonished only by the encounter. By the time they decided to do anything Rijiin and Natil were already gone, halfway across the parking lot, heading to a bus station bordering an expressway on one side of this place. The Harper was astonished, gasping when she found they were in a city that was much larger, to Natil, than Hypperex, their Capital city in Adria.
 
            “By our Lady, Rijiin,” She gasped, staring at the surroundings of many buildings, many houses and realized she was in a city.
 
            “You did not mention we were in a city.”
 
            “Aye, it is common for these in the world now. It is one of six in this area alone.” He told her, leading her along the sidewalk toward what he knew as the expressway that ran along the eastern side of the Mall.
 
            “What is the name of this city?” She asked.
 
            “It is like Hypperex, something like it Natil. It is a larger city than our capital city. Over three million people or more live here. It is called San Jose.” Natil heard the traffic and saw the few cars parked in the parking lot.”
 
            “What strange carts.” Natil commented, staring at the cars that were already parked here. Rijiin grinned.
 
            “This is a much more complex place than your century Natil.” He replied, “They are called automobiles. They came about many centuries after yours.”
           
            “Ah. I see.” She murmured, taking in the sight, sounds and the surroundings. One astonishment after the other had come, and at every turn for the young Harper from the past. 
 
            The young elf had led her to the far end of the Eastridge parking lot and around the building on the outside, approaching the Red Robin Inn, where his adventure ironically started.  Natil stared at the many buildings and even the larger mountains that reminded her of the Aleser Mountains in silence.  His eyes widened when he saw the familiar face of Joseph, Chelle and others outside the restaurant. Rijiin passed them in silence, only meeting their astonished stares as the Elves passed.
 
            When they reached an island in the center of the roadway, Natil watched the cars that whizzed past.  He had led her to the bus stop, where by habit he had planned to use the transportation system to get to their destination. However, as he stood there, he quickly caught himself, frowning slightly in annoyance. Natil watched cars go by as they stood on the platform, deserted of the people and only the sound of traffic across from them less than twenty feet away whizzing past.
 
            “This is a strange world you live in Rijiin.” She said, “Quite a large place indeed and it seems to have quite a bustle to it.” She said, pointing in amazement at the roads, “Why are they in such a rush?”
 
            “Even I cannot answer that.” He said, “It was not easy to live in this place Natili, much harder in many ways than your century, and yet in other ways easier.”
 
             “We have only a few florins.” He thought, “This currency won’t go over well if we try to use it and is probably worth more… But we are elves…” Rijiin paused, closing his eyes as he summoned strength, seeing the starlight in the darkness; glad it was still there to see despite their move through time.
 
            “We have the power of starlight.” He declared as he opened his eyes and put out his hand.
 
            “Lema ed’templa!” commanded the elf, as a portal shimmered and appeared in a thunderclap. The stop luckily had remained deserted when his voice commanded the starlight and he had felt the magic shift, opening another portal as he had before.
 
            Cars continued to speed on the expressway, adjacent to the bus station where they stood and Natil when she had heard his command and it had made her turn, making her gasp aloud.
 
            “Ede lye arwin!” She breathed, “Rijiini…! Mani, naa lle’ umien a’mael?”
She asked. Natil had surprise in her tone and was surprised to see him opening a portal. The young Elven Maiden asked what he was doing.
 
            Rijiin was walking to the portal. “Ta na an lema a’mael. Lye asc’e manka lye saes, ri i’ templa selya olvann. ” He told her, pausing when he could not find words in Elvish, “Besides we should not change history and we need to keep a low profile.”
 
            The Elf motioned to her when he realized that people had seen their portal and had had been spotted. Cars had screeched and slowed when they saw the energy disk and there was a crunch, a breaking of glass. Many others, despite the accident they caused, had seen the energy as well and just got a glimpse of the Elves as they stepped into it. However, by the time anyone could do anything, their portal disappeared behind Rijiin and Natil. The portal he opened had opened simultaneously on the other end, bridging a distance of perhaps thirty miles. It had appeared under a nearby overhang in a set of buildings located in the S-Quad on DeAnza College’s large campus and the same place Mimi had been sitting when she had been temporarily displaced through time.
 
            When they appeared again, they appeared again in the rain, the portal disappearing behind them in a flash. Natil had managed to shake the disorientation off quickly and she turned to glance at Rijiin who had slumped to one knee, the power drained him and his strength again from such a powerful spell.
 
            “A’mael.” She murmured, “Beloved.”
 
            Slowly he raised his arm, signaling he was all right to her, before pushing himself up and slowly standing upright.
 
            “Amina ilya forya Natili,” He said, telling her he was all right. “Amin na-elle necujen. Naa lle ilya forya?”
 
            He had asked if she was all right. She found herself flattered by the concern. Rijiin had been more interested that she was well and not himself.
 
            “Manke naa lye sii’ Rijiin,” She asked, her head turning to scan the deserted green meadow and to the tree covered quad in the middle of the buildings. She asked him where they were now.
 
             “We have made it to our destination, a place called De Anza College Campus.” Rijiin stated absently, “A place I partially called home in this time, the twentieth century and this is where my friend is. I did not want to bring attention to ourselves, neither change history with the Free Town Money of Saint Brigid by using a transportation system here.”
 
            “It is alright beloved.” Natil said, “I understand now, and is appreciated. You got us here. It was a fine feat and job well done.” 
           
            She turned, embracing him, but her eyes darted about the surroundings inspecting the interesting Spanish texture designs of the buildings. The young Harper stared at the meadow of S-Quad, at the many trees and grassy areas.
 
             “That was an amazing feat for someone who is not used to using the powers and abilities of my people.” Natil said, “You are learning and giving yourself a little more each time and it is that giving that will make you fully understand what it is we do as Elves.”
 
            “I learn quickly.” He said, “Moderate strength and relaxation. Fighting only drains you more. I still, however have a lot to learn. So what say you of this place?” 
 
            Natil was still examining the surroundings in curiosity and the flash of a grin appeared on her face.
 
            “This area reminds me a lot of home, Rijiin.” Natil replied. He chuckled quietly, and then stopped, slowly panning a gaze to the surroundings, and after a moment, even he nodded in agreement. The Elf had never really thought of looking at the campus like that, but neither had he been living in the forest of the twelfth century.
 
            “Now that you mention it, it does remind me a lot of Saint Brigid.” He mused, and his eyes studied her face. “I sense your unease Natil. I miss the safety of the village and the trees too. Be at peace nothing can harm you here.”
 
             Sharply, Natil met his smiling face as he studied the surroundings. Her face showed surprise at every turn she had been around Rijiin and realized he had shown the first signs of adjusting to his new existence. Slowly and silently, the young Harper agreed with a slight nod. A look of admiration and respect appeared on her face.
 
            “It is a very large place, and with unexpected wonderful things at every turn.” She replied, as he turned, slipping his hands around her waist. He smiled in the semi-dark overhang, holding her. Natil did not move, neither did she struggle nor did he try to force a kiss or do anything, he just held her in his arms. Beneath her cloak, she held her harp.
 
            “I am glad you are here Natil.” Rijiin told her, “At least you are a better traveling companion than Terrill would have been.” 
 
            The Harper laughed quietly, remembering his argument between Rijiin, herself and Terrill. It had been a fight because Terrill had wanted to come to this time, planning to continue training Rijiin. The new elf had also pointed out that their mission was help and healing, that it would take healers to help his friend if she needed it. Natil could heal, with the use of her harp, and had done so often. They stood there and just stared into each other’s eyes as his hand touched her cheek gently, caressing her smooth skin, and managed a thin smile as he stared into her starlit blue eyes.
 
            “I need to tell you something.” He began, “I may falter this a bit, Please let me finish before you respond.”
 
            “I am in love with you, young Harper.” He told her, “I am certain of it, and every day I fall deeper for you so much. There is a day I cannot go without thinking of you, and enjoy your company and council. I have loved you since I met you, even more in a different lifetime we were together.”
 
            She gasped, and he saw her reaction.
 
            “Yes, mistress, once upon a time, in this century, we met once, in a different lifetime and existence. We shared a relationship that was something close to incredible. When I lost you, my life had empty and hollow. I have lived a time without you, and been away too long, and saw how my life was without you.”
           
            The Harper perked up when she heard the tone, and although he did not utter the word ‘again’, she heard it and it seemed to hover in the air for a long time.
 
            The young Harper’s expression showed a loving gaze. She understood now why he had embraced her when they had met again for the first time. He had memories of their meeting, and she had seen those events vividly as if she were there in his eyes on the first day he had come to the encampment. Her mouth was open but she remained silent, staring at the Elf differently now, astonished she had sensed good in this Elf, and she was able to love. She had been falling for him for a long time, and now she understood. Natil felt the explosion of starlight inside and those memories flooding her very soul from the future across time and space.
 
            In his head, Rijiin heard her words. “I shall be yours.”
           
            Rijiin still held her, and she wept openly. Leaning up she kissed him, and was about to reply but the tender scene was suddenly interrupted when they both heard footsteps coming toward them.
 
            “Someone is coming.” Natil murmured, glancing once to the direction of the footsteps.
 
            However, before Natil could turn her head, he embraced the young Harper closely against him, their lips touching. What had happened is that the elf had heard the footsteps and had quickly made a split decision, how to hide their presence here. He had decided to take a gamble.
 
            “Perhaps it would fool the people who had discovered us here, make them think they were interrupting a tender moment of two lovers, be fooled and depart with no questions.” Rijiin thought, as their lips touched seconds later.  
 
            Natil at first had been surprised, grunting in disbelief when he had kissed her, but quickly letting the feeling of shock subside felt the white-hot anger and embarrassment take over. She had struggled at first, trying to break his grasp, but quickly relaxed, putting her arms around him. His kiss had been surprisingly gentle, feeling the wave of desire and unbridled passion from it, sweet filled with promise.
 
            The Elves both heard the chuckle from the students who had ran across them a moment later, and a muttered “Tsk, tsk.”
 
            Natil and Rijiin, from the corner of their eye saw the students walk away from them into the rain. He realized, his gamble had worked, and it had fooled them. The students, embarrassed, had walked off chuckling. The elf maiden had understood when the students were out of range and she watched them walk off chuckling. She peered at him as he released her and stepped back, breaking the passionate kiss with a popping nose. The young Harper saw his apologetic expression in the light and a bit of a crimson flush of embarrassment rise up over the collar of his tunic.
 
            “I am so sorry.” Rijiin murmured, “It was a ploy to disguise and mask our presence here on campus.”
 
            A strange feeling washed over the young Harper, something she had never felt before. The feeling had been a strange tingle buzzing through her body and a feeling of desire. Natil carefully set her harp near the door and the young Harper turned back, shaking her head before lunging forward to embrace him into the same kiss. Holding each other tightly, their hands moved along each other as they changed positions, kissing hungrily and passionately. 
 
As Natil kissed him, she smiled, seeing the images of their meeting from the other time line and she had full memories. She understood the passion and Rijiin felt her hands caressing his back and he likewise did the same as they kissed. He let his hand fall and it squeeze her buttocks. Natil smiled, feeling his warmth, his desire, and in her mind, heard his thoughts making her smile inwardly.
 
            “I am in love with you, always have and will be for as long as the time of the elves lasts. Wherever we go and what happens that we are together, an unswerving love that knows no boundaries of time or space.”
 
            “As will I to you my beloved.” She replied, “Forever.”
 
            Natil, exhaled sharply, when felt Rijiin’s embrace give and she saw him fade out, falling to the ground. She sensed his fatigue from the spell he had cast earlier, the one that had caught up him. It overwhelmed him making the elf lose consciousness.
 
            When Rijiin opened his eyes, he awoke in the darkened classroom that Natil had pulled him into after he fell unconscious to the ground. She had seen him fade out and with a flash had reached out to grab him and pull him into the room. The young Harper knelt over him, her face showing alarm and concern.
 
            “Rijiin…” She said, “Rijiin… Please… RIJIIN!” Her voice was strained and she sighed in relief when he had opened his eyes. As Rijiin’s vision faded in, blurry at first, it cleared slowly as it focused in on the concerned and the very alarmed, beautiful features of Natil.
 
            “Beloved….” She said, staring into his eyes, her voice strained and yet fighting to remain calm. His head turned to the classroom after focusing on the face of the Harper’s tear filled eyes.
 
            “Are you alright?” Natil asked with a strong hint of relief in her voice.
 
            Rijiin gulped tried to sit up and he found no strength to do so.
 
            “Amin ta ikotane a’mael,” He said, apologizing, “I guess I should not have cast that portal after all or I have not mastered it quite right.” 
 
            “Beloved, be at peace, you did fine. Time will allow you to master it and I am relieved you are alright.” Natil said, “You lost consciousness outside, and I brought you in here to keep anyone from sounding the alarm. You are disoriented, just lay there and let your strength return.”
 
            Rijiin looked up at her face and saw the tunic that seemed to shimmer in the dim light and her loving expression as she bent over to kiss him fully on the lips for a moment. The elf’s eyes widened at the kiss and when she peered into her eyes saw her smile. She felt tears welling up… He embraced her, and kissed her gently as they had outside. The last thing Rijiin had remembered before darkness filled in around him,
 
             “I love you too, young Lord.” She said, “My beloved…”
 
            Rijiin reached up and put his hand to her face, lovingly gazing at each other for a long time. He smiled and nodded.              The Harper glanced at the door, seeing people pass by through the windows and at a couple of people who stood outside the door.
 
            “It looks like we have company… I think we’d better be going.” Natil suggested, “Can you stand?”
 
           
 
He turned his head, and saw the students who were outside. The young elf nodded, as he felt Natil’s strong hands help him to a sitting position and slowly gathering himself, he slowly stood up. Both quickly pulled up the hoods of their cloaks, and the Harper held her harp in her arms as he opened the door, stepping out first followed by the young maiden. They had startled the students who had gathered for the class in this room and each one had not been expecting anyone to be in there.
 
            “Excuse us.” Rijiin murmured, as they passed the students and step into the rain from the overhang.
 
            Both Elves heard the steady falling rain pelt the hoods of their cloaks as they checked the quad. Quickly he found the landmarks he sought for and his gray eyes saw the familiar round building of the Minolta Planetarium. His eyes followed the walkway, a main thoroughfare, back to meadow, to the other side to the large building he recognized as the Library. The Elf saw the Main quad in the distance, and the familiar granite fountain there, as well as the flagpole standing in the quad. When Rijiin looked up, in the rain he smiled when he saw the American flag fluttering in the wind. The elf took Natil’s hand and led her from the gathered students into the rain, walking hand-in-hand together toward the Main Quad.
 
            “Sina men, a’mael,” He said, “Amin arwen, sinome na’ I’ men a’ manke lye ant aut-.” He said motioning to the Harper. She smiled at the young Elf beside her, hearing him use Elvish more now, and hearing the hint of the inflection that it carried. Rijiin bowed as she passed him through the doors and together, walking arm in arm, their footsteps noiseless on the wet blacktop, they followed the walkway that paralleled the library on campus. He led her to the Main Quad and pointed out the several sights and buildings to the beautiful Harper, telling her what he knew history of the campus. Natil took in the experiences and the sights as she walked beside Rijiin, holding him close. Her gaze stared at the plush green quad of S-Quad when they reached the bulletin board that marked the edge of either campus quad.
 
            “There she is.” He announced merrily, “The Main quad, and the Student Campus Center, better described as the House of Klaus by the students. Klaus is the man who runs that whole building.” 
 
            Rijiin pointed at the building. Natil saw the large two-story building in front of her, glancing at the many tables and chairs in the outside eating area, and the makeshift stage. Large trees towered overhead.  
 
            “It is quite a place.” The Harper replied, staring at the building, the tabled area and the Main Quad. He shot a look at the Harper.
           
            “Yeah well wait until you meet him.” Rijiin murmured, “And don’t get on his bad side.” The elf chucked quietly, remembering that being told to him by Robert and Mimi, a lifetime ago.
 
            The Harper smiled, glancing at the fountain as they passed by it and headed toward the Campus Center. The gurgling of the water and the splashing of the water into the pool below soothed her senses. DeAnza reminded her of Saint Brigid and several other towns in the centuries past she had visited; the same types of fountains and springs that fed them in their common squares. They turned to parallel a fence down the walkway leading down a hill, and there the Student Campus Center was. Before they reached the hill, Rijiin turned again and walked five more feet to double glass doors leading into the building.
 
            “Beyond this place down there,” Rijiin explained, “Is another Quad, called L Quad. The large building on the left is the ATC building, an advanced learning center.”
 
            “Tul-e Natili, Ta sina men.” He said, and she nodded, following him to the large doors nearest to them. She stared at the strange doors, made of glass and metal, her head examining on each side the windows seeing the people inside.
 
            “It is the use of fine control here, I know Natil.” He said, “Na ai’ seere, eldalie naa sinta naa auluva.”
           
            She need not translate now, his Elvish getting better as the hours passed, and sounding as if he were speaking it for years. He had told her to be at peace, that Elves were known to be ingenious. Natil smiled at his statement. As he opened the glass doors, Rijiin stepped aside, letting the Harper enter the building first and then followed her in. Behind him, the doors closed and they were next to them, inside the hell of the Campus Center. The sounds of loud voices and chatter echoed the room, and here where the many students come in between their classes, before, or after. Some of them, Rijiin knew, were just arriving on campus at this hour. Natil stepped back into Rijiin’s arms.
 
             “Tulunka, Natili.” Rijiin whispered in Elvish, “Ta ve’ sina, illya ‘i coiasira.” He fell silent when she turned to him, hearing the words in her language.         He told her to be steady and encouraged her, assuring her, this commotion in this room was always like this. Rijiin sensed fear from her and even he was unnerved by the commotion here. The Harper nodded slightly, feeling his hands on her shoulders and her fear diminishing. They both managed a small laugh, as they stepped away from the doors. His hand found hers, holding it gently, and Natil turned her head, quietly smiling at him as he led the way along a main walkway between the tables. Their attention turned back to the room, which had not noticed their entry, and quickly Rijiin scanned the room for Mimi. 
 
Quickly, he also examined the familiar architecture of the campus center. To Rijiin, it had not changed in the few years he had been away. It still was the same architecture, color and arrangement in this large room, and with overhead skylights that let the outside daylight spill into the room. The same large chandeliers made of rod iron still hung from the ceiling on either end of the room and on the wood tiled floor the two planters that had been placed here still sit in their same positions. The familiar Spanish texture was everywhere, hence to honor the history of California. 
           
            “It has not changed.” Remarked the Elf, “And alas Mimi is not here, she must be in the other lounge across the foyer.” 
 
           
 
A ripple of quiet laughter echoed through the room and whispered comments circulated about the room as students and staff noticed the strangers now. More and more people had begun to notice the Elves and finally, a hush abruptly fell over the room.
 
            “Tul- sina men, A’mael,” He said, “Lle –cael aut- a’ tel’ n’at sambe, imya tanya annon.” 
 
            The elf explained they had to go through the chamber to the other room and Rijiin took up Natil’s hand. He led her toward the far entry, navigating the walkway between the tables toward the doorway leading into a large foyer and vending area located between the lounges. The Harper’s eyes, several times moved back and forth to the many faces of the people who sat here, the only sound the swishing of their cloaks in the room. The young Harper felt uncomfortable by the silence of the room and all eyes focusing upon them. Their thoughts also unnerved her, in addition to their reactions toward them.
 
            Rijiin casually reached down and unfastened the blade at his side, leaving it loose, ready to be drawn at a moments notice when he sensed her discomfort. As they approached the doorway, leading into the foyer beyond, Natil had glanced at Rijiin when he had moved his hand and unfastened the blade. She had raised her eyebrows in astonishment. The Elf had merely indicated he was ready by unfastening the pommel of his sword, the blade able to take a life if he needed to do so.  Although their mission was to give life, help and heal today, not kill and bring death. It was widely known in their century that Elves did not kill unless they had to and at the exit, Rijiin and Natil stepped through the large doorway leading into the foyer beyond. Behind them, the room resumed the chatter, but most of it had been question and misunderstanding that had been about the strangers who had just been here. No one intervened or interfered with their task, and stunned silence had moved across the room like a blanket.
           
            Entering the Foyer, the same thing happened, and together the young couple stood in the connector area of this building. Unlike the Main Dining room, it is much smaller designed and this area is a vending area, information booth and it has the coffee stand in this area. In addition, it is where the stairs designed in a ‘T’ shape led down the bottom floor of this building and allowed entry to the Fireside, Main Dining Room, and the Café. Through the opening of the stairwell, Rijiin could also see the unmanned desk below and the doors of the ICC room. Again, the Elves were met by silence or murmurs of misunderstanding as they entered the room. People who had been seated or standing had turned when they saw the Elves, their hoods still drawn up over their fair features. Others students in the room had all stopped, moving to peer out of the cafeteria door at them and even those who had been at the cashier had stopped, gaping openly at the pair dressed in the strange garb.
 
            “Rijiini, tir- iilea, astael.” Natil warned him, whispering quickly in Elvish, “Amin fir neuma sinome.”
 
             His head snapped toward Natil when he heard her tone, and the urgency in it. The Harper had warned him to watch her stars and he panned a slow examination to the surroundings.
 
            “Aye, Amin, fir-ta vithel,” He murmured back, nodding to meet each of the pair of eyes focused upon them. 
 
            Rijiin, had not at first had sensed anything out of the ordinary when she had spoken, but finally felt the discomfort by everyone in the room. The elf closed his eyes briefly, finding his stars, orientating himself, and letting the power sooth his senses quickly to the surroundings. Across the foyer, through the far doors, when he opened his eyes, his sharp vision caught the unmistakable form of Mimi in her wheelchair next to a table in the Fireside Lounge. Several people clustered around her, many he knew well and others not.
 
             “Eller re naa, a'mael,” He whispered to Natil, pointing at Mimi and his traveling companion looked upon the middle-aged woman, seated as usual in the wheelchair when Rijiin had pointed her out.  Natil was surprised at what she saw and had not been expecting the familiar form of Mimi’s wheelchair, described by Mirya and Terrill.
 
            “A!” Natil replied, “Ikotane tanya naa mani nornhama na.” Rijiin nodded at her revelation, her disbelief of what a wheelchair had been, described by Mirya and Terrill.
 
            He did not look at her as he replied, “Aye Natili, ta he nornhama.” He started and he frowned, and he shook his head, when he could not find the words in Elvish to describe Mimi.
 
            “She has to use it, because of a disability called Cerebral Palsy.” Natil heard his tone and glanced at him. “I know, she looks fine, but there are many times that looks can be deceiving.”
 
            Natil only narrowed her eyes, examining the starlight and the patterns that made up one Mimi Stewart, and she saw the truth of the matter. The Harper turned her head, and she saw him shake his head. She knew he had seen the starlight patterns, and knew what he planned. Mimi was almost naked before him, as the Elf could see right through her into her very soul and knowing they would be forced to guard carefully how much they could do for her.
 
            “It will be a long difficult task ahead.” He said, “We must wait and see beloved. It will be in how she sits and in her face. What I planned to do though is find out what she needs, and perhaps I thought we could help and heal anyway.”
 
            The Harper gasped loudly.
 
            “Perhaps we can give these humans a little hope and a will to be better.”
           
            The Elf Harper was startled to hear Rijiin mutter those very words, actually saying them without contempt or hate in his voice. He had seen how the human race had been to the Elves, persecuting them for centuries, and the blind greed.             Rijiin had witnessed many atrocities in the twelfth century and plenty of burnings in the north by the Inquisition. Most of them, he sensed had been good people, falsely accused as they were killed for no reason on heresy or another’s false accusation. The entire Inquisition had been founded on mass hysteria, based on killing in the name of god, where organized religion had been able to get away with their judgments for murder of those who were different.
 
            The Elf had seen a lot of that same thing in the twentieth century too, the atrocities of people being rude, mean to each other and some in pain and distress by others. Rijiin wondered how he could have been called himself human once, even with all the atrocities in this world. Natil gasped when she realized the young Elf was showing some compassion for the human races despite they were everything he despised.
 
            “Ile naa ikotane, n’ataya, a’mael…” He held her hand, nodding.
 
            “Aye Natili,” He replied, “I have a lot in this last year, thanks to you all.”
 
            Natil met his expression with a perplexed look.
 
            “Mirya was right Natil, it would take time but I have found acceptance. You have all shown me there is more to just being an elf. After these last years or so, I have seen how much more I can be, and make that difference I wanted to make.” He paused, “Sure, the Elves took my humanity, yes, but just as well, you showed me that I can love something more than myself. I want to give it all back to these humans, despite the evil of this place I once came from and perhaps we can make these humans better, or worse. It depends on how they use what we give them.”
 
            “Beloved, you speak wisely and true.” The Harper replied, embracing Rijiin before walking with him, hand in hand, toward the steps leading down to the landing in the foyer. The elves were watched carefully by everyone present and she sensed his longing to be back in the trees, from which they would be together. She knew he had given up the future and his century to be with her and preferred to be in a world and place where there were Elves in the world rather than a place of men.
 
            “Peace Mistress, the faster we can get this done, we can get home.” The Elf said as his arm moved around the young Harper beside him. They walked up the other steps leading up and toward the entrance of a place called the Fireside Lounge.
 
            When Natil and Rijiin entered the Lounge, everyone had looked up at the doorway. Her friends, old and new sat at the familiar table that Rijiin knew well, and they showed surprise by the entrance of the two strangers, the room falling into a stunned silence.            Mimi turned her head, as she sat in her chair, meeting the strange garb of the Elves and the hooded faces. Behind her, many others who had been walking by had followed them to the door of the Fireside. Rijiin’s first action had been to step up to the table and to stand beside her chair. Reaching up, he drew back the gray hood of his cloak.
 
            Mouse when she had looked up had gasped aloud, a look of surprise and astonishment appearing on her face when saw the Elf. She stared at his fair features, the long brown hair that cascaded to his shoulders streaked and sprinkled with gray, and his solemn gray eyes. Mouse saw their laughter, and a twinkle of what she though was starlight there. If Mimi had known the elves, she would have been right. Low murmurs had surrounded the table; a couple of low snickers and choked laughter echoed the room. Rijiin’s silence and solemn gray eyes moved from person to person, meeting each of their faces as he heard their thoughts. The Elf heard their jokes quietly at their expense, and he let them pass.   Rijiin’s eyes fell upon Becky, the young woman he had met not long before his journey into past.
 
            Becky McGough, an old friend of his, had surprise on her round oval face too and her eyebrows had risen up in alarm like the others. She had not changed in the five years he had been away, an average young woman, a heavyset build and the deep brown eyes. He sensed something different about her and he let his awareness fall over her, discovering that she was no longer single, having been married. The elf had spied the wedding band on her left hand.
 
            The young woman had gasped openly, at what she saw, the strange garb, the pendant, and their fair, youthful features. Becky recognized almost immediately, having learned many things from her new husband in the ways of Wicca. However, even with her knowledge of Wicca, she was unsure exactly whom or what she was seeing. The elves garb, Becky knew had not been around perhaps in five centuries; neither cloaks, pendants, green and gray garb, nor swords. She had not been expecting to see the green and gray or the pendant that Rijiin wore around his neck here in this century.
 
             As for Mouse, she too intently looked upon the Elf’s face, but it was not his fair features and ghostly familiar face that startled her, it had been the garb. Mimi remembered the hallucination she thought she was having a day or so ago, when she found herself spinning in the vortex. Her journey ended up with her ending up in a clear sky as if she were a bird, flying high above a great forest, and landing in a forest clearing where she saw, two people like this young man and woman who now stood before her. Around the neck of Rijiin, the pendant of a crescent moon, and interlocked, rayed star hung there. Mouse was aghast, staring at the familiar pendant that seemed to twinkle in the light.
 
            “Oh m’ god,” Mimi thought, “It wasn’t a dream.” 
 
            Her eyes fell upon the pendant and quickly unzipped her belt pouch, withdrawing the pendant she had put in it. Her eyes moved back and forth to Rijiin’s pendant swinging freely about his neck, back to the one in her hand. The pendant began to glow brightly, with an almost incandescence and Mimi gripped the pendant tightly. She suddenly remembered the strange woman’s statement about a messenger being sent to her and wondered if this stranger was the person, she had spoken. No one had known about what Mouse had experienced a day or so ago; and she had told absolutely no one about it.
 
            “Blessings upon you this day Mistress Stewart, the hand of the lady be upon you.” He said to her, his voice calm, full of the inflection as he spoke, and touching his forehead, bowing wide and low. Everyone present, including Mouse, had smiled at the motion. Becky had smiled at the use of the ancient witch’s greeting. ‘Merry Met.’ The elf knelt beside Mimi’s chair as people gathered nearby and stopping to examine the pair curiously, dressed in their strange garb. Natil turned, sensing their approach without even needing to look.
 
            “Rijiini,” She said softly in Elvish and he turned his head, meeting the surprised look of the security officers on hand. Mouse had heard the name and looked up at him.
 
            “Rijiin, What kind of name is that? D-do I know you?” Mimi croaked, “Have we met before?”
 
            “Indeed we have Ms. Stewart, we met once a long time ago, but you might not remember me.” He replied, making her smile because of his accented voice.
 
            “I am Rijiin L’Thiejiev at your service… This is my traveling partner, kinswoman and my beloved mate, Natil.” He glanced at Natil, nodding slightly and she reached up drawing back the gray hood of her cloak. There were several low murmurs, as everyone realized it was a beautiful young woman standing beside Rijiin.
 
            “My god, she is beautiful.” Becky thought, “I wonder where they are from, their accents seem strangely familiar.”
 
            “It is so.” Rijiin replied, after a moment of contemplating the answer and saw the slight nod by the Harper, “We are not from here. Natil and I have traveled from far away. We are here to help Ms. Stewart, and repay an old debt.”
 
            “But…” She stammered, surprised by his answer, startled that she had been thinking something else and he had answered it, already reading her thoughts. 
 
            Becky had been startled by his answer, and was trying to figure out how it was possible that she was seeing the Elves and their garb here in the twentieth century, when they lived so long ago, centuries now. Rijiin understood her question. He realized where he was, and that Elves had long since perished from this world. The elf was unaware that in this century, the elves had returned and a few had gathered to the east in another lifetime and dance.
 
            “Rijiin, what old debt?” Mouse questioned, “I don’t know you.” She turned her head, frowning and he met her frown, his eyes twinkling brightly.
           
            “Aye you do, but it was from a long time ago.” He told her, “It is an old debt I am here to repay with healing, comfort, and aid. Something my people are known for, be at peace, no harm will fall upon you Mouse as I sensed your need and traveled to you. Among my people you are well known, for your courage, kindness, your friendship, and good heart.”
 
            Mouse sat quietly in her chair, and she blushed slightly at his compliments before looking up at his fair features. Rijiin smiled as he knelt beside her. The disabled woman tried to place the face of the young Harper to the one she saw in the woods that day when she was grabbed through the energy portal. The same one she had seen in the forest when she had the strange hallucination a few days ago, or what Mouse had thought was a hallucination. 
 
It was not the Harper’s familiarity now putting Mimi into such an uproar of confusion. The disabled woman had passed most of it to overwork and stress, but seeing the pendant alerted her that the whole deal had not been a dream.
 
            “No, that is not she.” Mimi thought, “Close, but even then, oh my god, she is so lovely.”
 
            The young woman heard Mimi’s thoughts and turned. Rijiin looked on as he too heard the compliment. Natil nodded her head at Mouse.
 
            “Thank you.” She murmured her voice thick with the inflection instead of Rijiin’s accent that slipped in and out of his voice.  Becky, sitting beside Robert had gasped openly when she heard the accent, and the costume suddenly familiar to her. She suddenly realized she was looking at an Elf, something that had been faded from the world about the year thirteen hundred, about five hundred years ago.
 
            “Those are only stories and legends!” Becky thought, “How can this be?”
 
            “What is it Becky?” Robert asked, “What’s wrong?”
 
            “I’m not sure.” She replied, “I have seen this garb and that pendant before.”
 
            “You have seen it before? Where…” Robert demanded but Becky at first had said nothing.
 
            “I am not sure but I think something from the past has come to us.” The young woman replied with an unsure tone. “It is quite old but I cannot be certain.”  
 
            “What do you mean old?” Robert asked, “You’re not making sense.”
 
            “Their garb and the symbol around their neck is something that is over five centuries old.” She declared, “I don’t know or can explain at the moment. I really don’t understand why I am seeing it here and how it is possible to be in this century.”
 
            “Excuse me, Rijiin, are you…?” She started to ask and her voice seemed to fail again.
 
            Rijiin nodded, sighing quietly, “It is true mistress.” The Elf whispered, only loud enough for the table to hear him, “We are Elves and we are here to help.”
 
            At first, Robert and the others had smiles on their faces. Low sarcastic murmurs rounded their table and many more jokes made at the two’s expense. Mimi saw the look of recognition and frustration on Becky’s face. Mimi frowned slightly.
 
            “This is not possible! I told my friend once, what he described, that you are wearing was long since gone, the five centuries and teachings could never meet.” Becky exclaimed, “These are all signs of the old ways. Who are you really Rijiin?” 
 
            “It is so.” He told her, “I remember when you told me that. I am a mere traveler Becky.” He had let a broad hint fall of the identity he once had been and she did not seem to pick it up. The young woman had gasped when she heard her name, suddenly aware that she had not introduced herself, and yet he knew who she was.
 
             "Christ I hope this is not your idiot new husband’s friends pulling this bullshit, and dressed up in that old garb of the dark ages.” Robert murmured to Becky who glowered in annoyance at him. “He’d do it like the dunderhead that he is…”
 
            “Robert, that was not nice, and to your information, if anyone is a dunderhead it is you...” Becky snarled, “I don’t think he would be able to do something like this. I have a news flash. I think we are looking at the genuine article.”
 
             Becky however, did glance at Rijiin for confirmation. She felt Rijiin touch her mind and in her head, she heard his voice, as if the wings of a dove carried his voice across the short expanse.
 
            “I am not he, mistress, nor have I been paid to impersonate such a thing. I am as I am.” His voice stated evenly, echoing in her head alone. An aura shimmered around the Elf. Becky’s face showed a smile, but suddenly faded as it began to grow around him. The glow of energy became bright, incandescent as it moved to his hands and surrounded him.
 
            “I am here for a reason.” Rijiin said, turning to Mimi who sat in her chair, eyes tightly closed as his hands touched her shoulders. She groaned several times as his hand touched her, knowing the points in her shoulder, his hands feeling them burning. He let the starlight flow through him and let the power of healing begin. 
 
            Mouse, still seated in her wheelchair had turned her head, feeling his hands on her shoulders and suddenly reminded of someone else she knew from a long time ago. She was reminded of someone who they had said was dead, and had always helped relieve her shoulder pain from her shoulders. The disabled woman shook her head at the memory.
 
            “Impossible. He was reported murdered.” Mouse thought and the Elf hearing her thought turned his head, focusing upon the disabled woman. Natil had heard her too, showing surprise, but also a saddened expression. Rijiin met the Harper’s expression, grimacing but managed a shrug.
 
            “Ta ilya forya, a’mael.” He murmured, “Re’e forya, Natili. Mimitti yassen’e sinta quenaya noldoe, He nanquet i' amin manquetta selma farnuva.”
 
             Natil picked up his meaning and his reaction as one she had not expected by him to take. She had gasped when she realized he was fine with Mimi’s statement.
 
            “Lle lakwenien? Sut… Sut ahalman lle taritu tanya men?” She asked, “Re aipatue lle naa ba.” Rijiin shrug in response at her question.
 
            The Elf pondered the question she had asked him. She had asked him how he could think that way when something like that had been spoken by his friends.
 
             When Mimi had said he was dead, it had shocked the maiden, but on the other hand, she sensed it was the truth and completely accurate devise of what his fate had really been in this time. The Harper thought there would be sparks by Rijiin when he heard the answer to his unspoken question. The elf had surprised her by his being passive and merely shrugging it off.
 
            “Seere a’mael,” Rijiin replied, carefully thinking of the answer, “Amin… Amin caela utue seere manke lle tul-a’... Mani amin cael harya a’mani wanya naa ere' amin erin.”
 
            Natil gasped aloud when she heard his answer and slowly nodded. The answer was not what she had expected and it had had surprised her. An expression of respect, admiration and deeper love of her now newfound lover had appeared on her face.
 
            Beside the Elves, Mimi’s friends and Mouse herself, listen to the strange language they spoke between them. There were murmurs among the gathered people here, when they heard the strange language between the Elves, how free flowing it is and to Becky the words very eloquent, and beautiful.
 
            “What language is that, Elvish? What did you just tell her Rijiin?” Becky asked, “That was amazing.”
           
            Rijiin did not answer her question, his hands still upon Mimi’s shoulders and the incandescent glow becoming brighter. Becky watched him intently, knowing what he was doing, but in the next instant like everyone at the table and in the room, were absolutely floored literally, at what he did next. A bright white flash had appeared and the Elf who stood behind her began to glow as he let the energy cascade through him.
 
             “My power is limited Natili, perhaps if you play something on your harp, we can help her together.” Rijiin suggested, “As there is a lot more to do.”
 
             The Elf-Maiden considered his request silently for a moment, and agreed. She sat down, her hands withdrawing the harp she carried, from under her cloak. The first reaction of the group gathered here were questioning glances when they saw the harp but soon they understood that the Harper was going to play something on it.
 
             Robert’s hand moved to interfere with the young Harper and Becky slapped his hand away.
 
            “No Robert.” Becky said sharply, and turning raised his hand up to strike her. Rijiin in a flash grabbed is hand as it moved toward her, holding it there effortlessly. He tried to use brute strength to pull away, but the Elf’s arm did not move. The Elf knocked his hand away and lifted him without any warning with one hand out of his chair by his shirt and a couple of feet off the ground. Rijiin had turned, sensing John who had been standing at the door of the internet lab nearby and he nodded to the young blond haired man, as many people present peered at the couple.
 
            There was rippled amazement by the stranger’s strength and Becky tried to hide a smile when she saw Robert’s face. At first, his had showed anger, then fear, fear in what he saw in Rijiin’s eyes, he had seen the incandescence of starlight there, and he saw death there.
 
            “Let this be a warning and a lesson. If you lift a hand to these people again, you will deal with me and will not win.” Rijiin said, just loud enough for him to hear. “Let’s put it another way, if you do not behave I will cut you from your groin to your neck. Do you understand?” 
 
            Rijiin pulled back his cloak and there at his belt was a dagger’s sheath as well as the sword at his side. “Dina Ungai, ri’ wany.”
           
            “I don’t believe you.” Robert threatened, “I will have security on you like that.”
 
            “And they will have a corpse, and we will have pigs in this place.” Rijiin replied as he let the starlight flash several times, as his inflection became strong in his voice. “You deal with Elven swords and Magic if you proceed.”
           
            Robert saw the flash of starlight, and saw what exactly Rijiin was. The elf let his awareness flow into him, showing him a glimpse at what he could face and sensed his terror. Effortlessly he sat him down and turned attention back to Mouse. The elf glanced at Natil and she quietly nodded to him.
 
“Lle Desiel Natili?”
 
            “Amin’ e Desiel, Rijiini,” replied the Harper with a smile and nod.
 
            The room’s attention all focused on Natil when her finger rippled off notes, quickly tuning the instrument and inspected the cherry wood frame. Around the room, there were quiet murmurs before hush fell over the room and the first time in a long time, Mimi knew, this room and the foyer had been gone completely quiet. The Harper’s small hands moved across the bronze strings and a ripple of notes flowed through the air. Natil’s hands danced across the strings and started play an ancient melody, one that she had written at the beginning of her existence and the world.
 
            Starting with single notes, the melody seemed to flow outward and little by little, her hands danced across the harp’s strings into a melody that Mimi recognized from what she heard the other day in the quad. Rijiin smiled in response, hearing the music, and nodded his approval to the young Harper. Turning his attention to the disabled woman, his friend, he closed his eyes and placing his hands on her shoulders that he let the healing energy again flow over her.            Natil played the melody that seemed to expand with each passing minute and flowed freely in the air, the healing energy forming around them in the room. He focused his energy, tying in with the starlight flickering in the darkness when he closed his eyes. Moments later a white flash and a glow appeared around the table. A warming sensation cascaded across Mimi’s skin and there was a ripple of fear as the energy reached outward, enveloping them too. Bright healing energy and Elven Magic had combined to become one.
 
            “Ele asta a mirurore.
            Cira a ciraie,
            Elthiai calasiuove,
            Marithae dia.”
           
            Natil sang the words quietly in Elvish as her hands danced across the strings of the small cherry wood and bronze-strung harp. She played, and Rijiin’s starlight energy remained focused into Mimi, as did the healing notes of Natil’s harp. Starlight touched the disabled woman, and the small group around her. Mouse of course felt the warmth in her limbs and everyone saw the strange light that now surrounded them as it swirled around the table. No one in the room interfered, no one moved, just standing nearby listening to the beauty of the Harper’s harp notes. People started to gather at the doors, and watch the strange event that happened here, a strange energy enveloping the group sitting together at the table. Everyone in the room witnessing something they could not understand or only know than a miracle.
 
            The Harper glanced at Rijiin as her hands danced across the harp strings, a look of astonishment appearing on her face and the Harper could not believe what she was seeing, her mouth dropping open when she realized what he was doing. Natil saw that Rijiin was manipulating the patterns of Mimi’s very being, changing the lattice of her very existence with very little knowledge of how to wield his new power since his transformation. The elf, however, had surprised her too, expertly wielding it as it was second nature to him. The Harper was reminded of Mirya, who had the power to heal as a human, and as an Elf in Adria, had used her power in the end to change the patterns of a certain baron who had raped her, killing him but healing him too. Natil grinned as more appeared at the doors and windows of the Fireside Lounge. More people had gathered, watching the beautiful Harper play on her harp and watched as Rijiin and Natil as they helped and healed.
 
The notes rippled strong, clear and cold throughout the room and Becky like many others looked on in silence. The young woman sensed the magic here and her watchful gaze moved to the strange Harper, whose fingers danced over the bronze strings of her cherry wood harp. Her eyes caught her new husband John who had appeared at the door of the Internet Lab and had stood there the whole time watching the couple in the lounge.
 
            “Such great power.” Becky thought as Natil played her harp for a half hour, helping Rijiin heal the woman known as Mimi Stewart, letting their healing energy flowing over his friend. The Elf was unaware that his power spilled out onto the group and his healing power great as it was touched each one of them. Robert looked on, in a mad jealousy, and despite people shushing him continued to make rude comments.
 
             “Healing, comfort and aid.” Rijiin thought, managing a smile, “That’s what it’s all about, and I can help them.”
           
            The Elf suddenly felt differently, understanding his purpose and the Elves that he now called them kin. He now found himself a part of their existence and the one scrap of soul left he had as a human fully had faded away, leaving him now fully Elven. Rijiin glanced at the Harper who sat across from him. He had found love too, the purest, truest, love and when she sensed his thoughts, Natil looked up to smile and a nod. Her hands danced on the strings of her harp as the melody climaxed the incandescent energy became blinding as their deed had been finished. Natil let her hands abruptly drop from the harp strings, and the room fell abruptly quiet. She hugged the harp, and watched as the swirling energy faded away to vanished completely. The only sound in the room is that of murmured astonishment by the humans who had seen them help and heal today. Tears on everyone’s faces, and scattered applause thundered in the room. Natil smiled when she heard it, nodding slightly to the group and appreciation of her music. Her next reaction had been to turn, glancing at Rijiin and gasping quietly.
 
            The elf lay sprawled on the table, having succeeded in his task to help and heal his friend. He had unthinkably changing the patterns making up the woman known as Mimi Stewart and Natil feared the worst that Rijiin may have given himself too much, giving his life for Mimi’s.
The Harper’s eyes narrowed as she stared at a now different Mimi Stewart. A healed woman, changed by the patterns to her very soul, manipulated as if he were an expert, wielding a power he did not understand and managing to make the very changes.
 
            The Harper frowned, putting her hand upon Rijiin’s shoulder. Fear washed over her when he did not move when she touched him and in concern put her hand on his broad shoulder to shake him once. No one noticed at first what had happened.
 
            “Rijiin,” Natil whispered, and with no response.
 
            “Oh by our Lady,” She murmured, “RIJIIN!” Tears formed in her eyes as she lightly shook him.
 
            “What’s the matter with him?” A question asked and everyone turned to Rijiin who was slumped forward.
 
            “Rijiin?” the Elven Harper said in askance, “A’mael... Beloved…?”
 
            After a moment, he finally opened his eyes, slowly sitting up weakly, and met Natil’s alarmed, also very concerned expression. She let out a sigh of relief as she embraced him.
 
            “Aye Natili.” replied the Elf. She heard the change in his voice, thick with the very strong inflection in his voice like her kinfolk. “I’m alright.” Natil’s eyebrows arched slightly when she heard the strong inflection in his voice. Her head snapped back to Mimi and then back to Rijiin.
 
            “Oh Lady,” She murmured, “What has he done? Did he do what I just think he did?” Her face softened. “I think he has found what it means to be an Elf, giving himself much more than he had, and able to accomplish so much.”
 
            Mimi still lay face down into the table, half-stunned, her body tingling as she sat in her wheelchair and with her eyes tightly closed. No one at first had noticed Mimi, the changes she had undergone, and the massive healing by the Elves. Rijiin had manipulated the patterns, the very essence of her soul, her lifeline, and had made changes that would change her very existence from what it was now as a human and into becoming Elven. He had changed her into an immortal Elf like himself, and Natil, with the powers of immortality, help and healing of her own.
 
            “Mouse,” He said. The images that Mimi had been seeing faded as he shook her. Strong in his voice, the disabled woman heard the inflection in his voice, filled with starlight. She saw his eyes twinkle strongly in the fluorescent light when he helped her back to a sitting position.
 
            “Are you all right Mimi?” Rijiin asked, and smiled when he saw her face. 
 
            “I am not sure.” Mimi replied, her mind a whirl of thought.
 
            A few minutes ago, she had stood on the grassy plain and before the before the Lady, and another face that had also appeared with her. The other form had been of a youthful young girl, with a narrow, beautiful oval face, fair features, long dark hair, and blue eyes. Mouse smiled at the young girl, when her eyes focused upon her and then frowned. The young girl had reached out toward her, taking Mimi’s hands and an electrical shock rippled through her body. Mouse screamed, her voice, however seemed far away from her making it impossible to hear herself. Only pain and confusion washed over her, and she felt a hand on her forehead.
 
            “Peace.” A voice said, and the pain subsided abruptly.
 
            Mimi’s head turned, looking again, gasped when she saw the old form of what made up her being seem to roll away from her and disappear in a flash of light. The young girl was nowhere to be found and it was done. She had changed, and she now bore the new form, in a deep healing and transformation of Elven Magic. The disabled woman had been surrounded in purest, starlight energy and appeared on the meadow of a darkened forest night. She had seen a face, felt the warmth of healing in her body and discovered the starlight in the darkness, staring at as if she were looking into the night sky. She stood before the woman in blue and silver who embraced her without judgment, and with unconditional love.   
 
            “Mimitti.” she said, greeting Mimi in a quiet voice. The images faded when she had heard his voice.  
           
             “What happened to me?” Mouse said, stopping in mid sentence when she finally heard the strange voice. It was not her voice.
 
             “What did he do to me? I feel so strange.” Mimi thought, glancing down at her hands, examining them, flexing them, staring at the long tapered fingers, larger hands, able to wield a sword in the twelfth century, and up to the toned muscular arms. She stared at the strange hands, suddenly pushing herself back and noted why things were so different. It was not her body. Mimi yelped in surprise and Rijiin flashed a grin at the young woman who sat before them all.
           
            “What the hell!” Mimi grunted, staring at her torso, her narrow figure, and muscular legs. She was certainly surprised by what had happened and staring at the drastically changes that had happened to her. Little did Mouse know, however, that the power inside her still flowed as it continued to change her body, mind and perhaps Mouse’s very soul itself. All attention focused upon her, some slowly rising to their feet and everyone at the table and around them was alarmed by what they saw now, a stranger who sat among them.
 
            “Mimi?” He said again, the inflection strong in his voice. Mouse heard the inflection and turned her head. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the fair, Elven features, and the pendant that twinkled in the light as it hung from the chain.  She partially understood what he had done, but still asked the same questions.
 
            “W-what have you done to me?” Mimi sputtered her head giddy as serious disorientation washed over her. She pulled back and looked down realizing that he took her hands. He sensed panic in her voice.
 
            “W-what you have you done?” She demanded and he met her clear, bright and piercing blue eyes. “W-why have you done this to me?”
 
            “Peace, I healed you Mouse.” He told her, “Let us say Mistress Stewart that you are well known here and now among my people.” Rijiin continued, the accent making his voice thick, “I am here to repay a debt to you. I did it because you are my friend and owe you something that will only partially repay your kindness and friendship.”
 
            A surprised face appeared on the now young woman’s face. The Elf glanced to the group. “It also goes for all of her friends too.” 
 
            “But I don’t know you Rijiin.” Mimi replied, and yet fell silent, looking again at the face that seemed so familiar to her, but so alien. The table had full fixed attention upon their friend. 
 
            “Yes you do Mousie.” The elf corrected, letting his existence flow over her and Mouse knew the truth of the whole matter, of who he was.
 
             Rijiin stared at the now extremely young woman who sat among them and her face changed by his healing. At this moment, only a few minor traces of her original facial features were visible. Becky could not believe her eyes. The face of Mimi she had known for a few years had gone, and now a young woman wearing the clothes Mouse had been wearing this morning now sat in the wheelchair. 
 
            “Who are you?” Robert snarled, “What the hell are you?”
 
            “They’re Elves!” Becky said, and she touched Mouse’s shoulder. Robert shook his head, with a sarcastic expression and a look of anger in his eyes. He whirled on Rijiin.
 
            “What the hell is going on?” Robert shouted, “Who the hell are you people? And don’t give us that shit about being elves and help and healing.”
 
             Becky frowned at Robert’s outburst but she started to understand what Rijiin had done. He had transformed Mimi, to save her the pain she had been feeling for many years, and help her as he could only do. He had given her unknowingly a new life as a new form, which in many cases was impossible.
 
            “But that is impossible!” Becky said, and rubbing her eyes, that she peered at Mouse and then back to Rijiin who stood beside her. Her head turned to the young Harper, wondering about where she had come from, and how Rijiin got involved with her.
            “Rijiin please… Tell me… Please explain to me… I don’t understand all of this…” Mouse began and Rijiin met her confusion with a slight nod. Taking her hands the Elf stood up and with a small tug, Rijiin pulled Mimi’s hands.
 
            “Stand and be recognized Mistress Stewart.” Rijiin commanded, glancing at the table. “Walk with me.”
 
            Mimi looked up dubious at him, not sure what he wanted her to do, and shook her head. “I can’t walk, Rijiin… You know that…if you are who I think you are.” Mimi shook her head and met his saddened expression. 
 
            “Beloved.” replied the Elf, “One would not know until they try.”
 
            He pulled at Mimi and she put her feet on the floor. The young looking woman rose up, with some deliberation, but managed to stand up smoothly and effortlessly. Rijiin held her hands as she wavered for a moment, the pain in her body gone, and well as her Cerebral Palsy. Doubt was on her face as she looked down. The muscular legs obeyed her.
 
            “Walk with me, my lady.” The Elf repeated.
 
             “But…” Mouse started to say, and her voice caught as she looked down at her legs in surprise as they obeyed her command. She was walking. A hush fell over the room as people who stood there saw Mouse get up. People she knew on staff saw something incredible and amazing happening.
 
            “Let go of me.” Robert complained and she shook her head slightly, “He’s going to hurt her, she can’t walk she’ll fall.”
 
            “I know she cannot walk, but I think it’s going to be alright…” Becky told him, “Wait and see.”
 
             “I don’t WANT TO WAIT.” Robert yelled and tried to lunge toward Mimi and Rijiin. He struggled and suddenly found that the small arm of Natil held him in place.
 
            “You seem to know what is going on Becky. Come on what is all this? Stop keeping stuff from me.” He whined.
 
            “Be at peace Messier.” Natil told him, “I assure you no harm will be to your beloved Mimi.”
 
            He muttered a horrible curse under his breath, turning his head, a jealous rage falling upon Mouse and Rijiin. The elf flashed a grin at the action at the table, and turned his attention back to his best friend. Rijiin walked backward as he pulled Mouse in front of him. Murmurs and conversation filled the room. Mimi tentatively took a few more smooth steps and she looked down in amazement.
 
            “Oh my god I’m walking,” Mouse exclaimed, feeling her legs move normally with each command.
 
            Rijiin let her hands go and they fell smoothly to her side. She looked hard at the Elf walking in front of her and the woman felt her hands brush the side of her legs without any difficulty. When Mimi turned her head, she found herself walking away from the group and the wheelchair where she spent the better part of four decades. 
 
            “OH MY GOD!” gasped Mouse, stumbling slightly and like lighting Rijiin was there to catch her. Behind Rijiin and Mimi, at the table, more conversation and surprised reactions moved through the room like wildfire.
 
            “Mimi?” Chris and Omar exclaimed, on their feet.
 
            “She is well.” Natil said, “Peace. As we said, no harm will befall her.”
 
            “Is this a trick?” Dave asked, “How did you both do that? Are we hallucinating?”
 
            “It is no trick.” Natil murmured softly, “I assure you it is absolutely real. We healed her of her affliction.” He turned his head when he heard the Harper speak. A dubious look appeared on his face.
 
            “We are elves, we are here to help and heal, as it was in the beginning, and centuries ago, as it is here now.” The Harper murmured.
 
            Everyone’s attention at the table had been focused upon the Harper with complete surprise and they fell silent when she had spoken. Her voice was calm, and barely audible, filled with a strange inflection. Their heads had turned to Mimi and Rijiin. Dave and Robert watched Mimi, their friend and acquaintance for a long time, walking on her own power.
 
             “This is all bull…” Robert exclaimed, glancing at Becky who wept.
 
            “No one has that power to do that… unless it is god himself.” Robert half shouted, and yet his voice stopped when he heard the Harper’s murmur.
 
            “…And Elves of centuries past,” Murmured the young Harper, and the others glanced at her. No one moved in the room, likewise, did they lunge or riot toward Natil. They just watched the unfolding of a miracle. Mimi was standing and her eyes caught the unclear reflection of her face in the glass of a picture frame on the wall. The first time she would see herself in a reflection and since Dave’s exclamation. Mouse staggered back when she saw the face in the reflection.
 
            “What the fuck?” gasped the now young woman, the face of hers no longer her own in the reflection she commonly saw in the mirror. Her hands had flashed up to touch her face and stare incredulously at the image she saw there. An astonished reflection of a young woman was there and Mouse peered down at her now trim, petite figure in surprise and had taken a hand full of her now long, deep, dark brown hair to stare at it, when she had noticed the weight on her head.
 
            “I…” Stammered Mouse and she whirled on Rijiin. Her hands had been still touching her face in wonder. “I want you to undo this…” Mimi demanded suddenly, and Rijiin calmly met her frightened expression, feeling her anger.
 
             “Peace Mouse.” Rijiin said, “You have been changed from what you were. Call it a little bit of magic if you like. I thought to give you a gift if I helped and healed you. I gave you another chance and a new form. All things are possible and not everything is believed without seeing.”
 
            Mimi shook her head. “This cannot be!” she exclaimed, “It is impossible! I told you that I wanted to be as I am… I was happy with myself.” Her voice faltered and she became silent, hearing her voice again. It made her feel so strange.
 
            “WHY?” Mimi whispered, “Why did you do this for me? I cannot accept this… It’s not…”
 
            “I did it because I am your friend and I care.” interrupted the Elf, “I can love and care enough for my friends.” His gaze met hers and they stood looking into each other’s eyes for a long time. She nodded carefully, suddenly understanding and looking down at her hand where she still held the strangely shaped pendant there. Tears formed in her eyes.
           
            Rijiin motioned to her. “Walk with me mistress.” He said again and as the Elf and Mimi walked alone, far out of range of the table they talked in low tones. Everyone who had been listening to the Harper had dispersed, but there were a few who had hung around who wanted to be sure of what they had seen here today and know what this truly was all about. They sat at the tables around the one with her friends.
 
            Her friends watched them talk with each other in low tones. No one at the table ever heard Rijiin and Mimi’s conversation, or had heard what they had talked about… No one ever need know and it had been one conversation, Mimi would never forget. She hugged the Elf after a moment and grinned, as he fastened the pendant around her neck. Together they returned to the table and Mimi, healed, sat lounging in her wheelchair now next to Rebecca.
 
            “Here is Mimi, I return her to you.” He said, “Human ways are not ours and we must be going. We have to return to our home.”
 
            “By the Goddess, You are beautiful Mimi.” Becky stammered, “You look so different!” Mouse blushed and momentary looked down to the floor.
 
            “Thank you.” Mimi stuttered, embarrassed. Slowly lifting up her hand, she was touching her face in wonder. The image had not been very clear, and she was curious what she would see when she looked into the mirror for a closer inspection. 
 
            “Rijiin, what do I look like?” Mimi asked, “Will I look like what I saw in the reflection of the picture?” The Elf turned, grinning slightly and nodded.
 
            “Mistress Stewart.” He said solemnly, “You are not ill-formed by any means, and quite beautiful. Yes you will look exactly as you have seen, perhaps even more so. The magic is still in flux and there will be a lot more changes.”
 
             Mimi’s hand touched her cheek in curiosity and she stood up again, staring at a nearby picture frame where she saw somewhat of a reflection there. Her face showed in the glass, and it was not really clear to her what she looked like. Mouse had no idea that the magic still was in flux and still was working as it changing her with every minute that ticked away. Her entire soul had been filled with the magic of the power of the Elves.
 
            “I…” Mouse stammered and fell silent.
 
            “Mimi.” Rijiin said, “Our magic is very powerful and unpredictable. You are still in flux and not fully changed. You may find changes and abilities that are beyond your comprehension as well as skills that you did not possess before.”
 
            “What sort of abilities?” Mimi asked, now even more curious and retook her seat. She intently met Rijiin’s gaze.
           
            “Our power is unpredictable, it will choose different paths and it is hard to say. Only time will tell what you gain.” He explained, “Arae ea oombra. It means the Day of Completion and for you that day is today.”
 
            “Because of my healing?” asked the now young woman and Rijiin nodded.
 
            “It includes your transformation to come too Mimi.” He told her and Mimi cocked her head, understanding his answer that things take time to finish and complete. The Elf stood up and he motioned to Natil who had joined him at his side. Natil embraced Rijiin, holding him closely.
 
            “It is time beloved.” Rijiin said, “Our task is complete, we can return home and to the safety of the trees.” Natil met his smile with a look of surprise but slowly nodded in agreement.
 
            “Amin uume ta sinome, il’ oio amin nae edan.” Rijiin whispered to Natil in Elvish, “Ta nauva tyav’ quel entul-a’e na-ien nu taure.”
 
            “We must go now.” Rijiin announced, Mimi, Omar, Becky, Dave, Robert and even Chris turned, “Perhaps we shall meet again.”
 
            “You are leaving.” Becky asked, “Please you still have not told us who you are…. We have a lot of questions for you…” Questions echoed around the table. A grin of knowing appeared on Mimi’s youthful face. 
 
            “Our task is completed here, and we must return to our proper place.” He said, then paused, scanning the room, and shook his head quietly. He felt uncomfortable here, he did not belong here and now as an Elf, he longed for the safety of trees. The elf belonged in a different time and lifetime, a different dance. The Harper when she had heard his whispered words had raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had nodded slowly, her face betraying no doubt, of whom she was seeing. Rijiin she knew was no longer human and had changed, now fully Elven.
 
            “Rijiin, what am I seeing?” Mouse asked, her eyes closed, and in the darkness, she had seen the starlight. At first, she had gasped when she saw it, uncomprehending to its meaning. Its power seemed to calm her and refresh her.
 
            “MMM?” Rijiin said, “Mimitti?”
 
            “I am seeing starlight.” She murmured, and he nodded.
 
            “It is the healing energies that bind the Elves, and their power.” He said, “They are the lady, who is us, who made the elves. It is hard to explain.”
 
            She waited. “Come to this place.” Rijiin said, handing out the cards, “Here you shall find your answers and I shall be waiting always when you want to come to us.” 
 
            He handed out the cards to the shop in Eastridge where he had found the portal, the one that he had used to go to the past, finding himself in a different time and space. It is the time and place that he had found his purpose, his resolve and now his ending.
 
            “What is this?” Mouse asked and she read the card, but when she looked up Rijiin and Natil were gone. The Elves disappeared in the blink of an eye. No one in the room moved, confusion washed over everyone present who had been here, that fifteen minutes had elapsed and everyone wondered why their watches were all slow. No one remembered the elves visit and what had happened. It was business as usual. Only the group at the table was aware of anything different, the super model Mimi sat with them, lounging in her wheel chair. They all talked in low tones about what had transpired here, and still could not get over how much their friend had changed.  
 
            Becky, Omar, Dave, and even Chris had felt strangely different, healthy, charged up and had a strange feeling inside after all they had seen today. They had all witnessed a miracle, of an ancient religion that had long since passed, the only ones to remember anything about these events. 
 
            Everyone had found healing and had been deep in thought when three more of the regulars of the table arrived. Deep down inside, everyone wondered where he or she would be going from here.
 
             “Hi-ho all!” A voice said, and they looked up to see Steve, Cathy and Patrick walk up to the table. It was quickly followed, with the arrival of a new comer to DeAnza named Jennifer Buckner.
 
            When Patrick, Steve, Cathy, and Jen arrived at the table, they greeted the table warmly. Cathy had recognized the wheelchair of Mimi, but when she came around along side, she stared at a different face, someone who she barely recognized. Mouse’s best friend frowned at her strangely. They noted the new face that had come to sit with them, astonished to realize that it was their friend.
 
            “Mimi?” Cathy asked and turning the beautiful young maiden nodded in response.
 
            “It is I, Cathy.” Mouse told them.
 
            “Holy cow, what happened to you?” asked her best friend, “I go on vacation, and don’t see you for a while and you change your hairstyle, becoming a model.” The table laughed loudly and Mimi blushed deeply.
 
            “Thanks Cathy.” Laughed Mimi, “I just had a makeover, changed my hair and clothes. It’s hard to explain, but what do you think.”
 
            “I love it!” Replied her friend, and even Patrick and Steve agreed with the fantastic changes. The clothes had disguised the changes of her body, and her trim form.
 
            “Mimi you are a real knock out… Whatever they did, they did a great job.” Steve complimented. Mouse on the other hand had smiled slightly, remembering Rijiin’s words.
 
            “You have even lost weight.” Cathy chortled, “You look great kiddo.”
 
             “Do you really like it?” Mimi asked.
 
            “Like it?” Steve replied, “You look fabulous, it’s amazing what this change did. It’ll be a while for me to get used to it.”
 
            Becky nodded, “For all of us.” She murmured and the table nodded silently. Cathy, as always did not quite catch the differences she saw in her best friend and of the group here.
 
             “Did I miss something?” She whispered to Omar. 
 
            “Not much.” He replied, and he shrugged. Omar flashed a grin at Becky and the others who looked on in amusement. Cathy always had not been very bright.
 
            Mimi excused herself, and pretended to wheel herself out so not to alarm the four. When she reached the other room, Mouse stood up out of the chair, and put the backpack easily on her shoulder. She pushed the wheelchair and walked behind it, heading for the elevator. A few minutes later, she stood in the large open foyer on the bottom floor of the Student Campus Center, staring at the familiar doorway to the café. Her blue eyes moved through the room, and turning her gaze fell upon the Senator’s office she could clearly see in the distance, the people who occupied the room. Her senses had become more acute and improved, aware of sights and sounds around her. She pushed the chair aside and paused, grimacing at the weight of the backpack. Mouse had never really had known how much it weighed, the backpack always hanging from the arms of her wheelchair.  The now young beautiful Elven maiden had to pause and set down the backpack in frustration.
 
            “Jesus.” She muttered, “What the heck is in this?” Putting it down she opened it and stared at a bundle of clothing that was put inside the larger pocket. Leather boots were in there as well. They were neatly folded, flat and rather bulky she found a note, written upon parchment was laying on them.
 
            “What on earth?” Mouse gasped, unaware that Rijiin had put this bundle here by more magic and she pulled the note to read it. It was in a strange calligraphy writing that to her, looked like Latin, but it was much different.
 
            “It is a beautiful language.” She murmured, realizing suddenly that she seemed to have no problem understanding it as she read the note.  
 
            “Melda Mimitti, sinome qua tanya aa’ na- ner a’ lle maurea en llea winya car. Col sen mande na e’ estel ar’ amin feith lle raktea. Mela illume, Rijiini. (Findecáno)”
           
            “Dear Mouse, here is something that may be more suited to your needs of your new form. Wear them well and in trust and I await your arrival. Love always, Rijiin. (Nathaniel)” 
 
            Mouse gasped seeing the signature. 
 
            “Oh my god,” exclaimed the woman quietly, as she pulled the bundle to examine the strange leather attire. It was a soft leather, colored green and gray, with the soft boots and belt to match.
 
            “The same attire that Rijiin and Natil wore!” Mouse exclaimed, pushing it back in and zipped of her satchel. She understood why when she glanced down at herself, to the clothes she wore, and realized they barely seemed to fit her now with the changes happening to her body.
 
            “Oh…” She murmured, with some realization, suddenly glad for Rijiin thinking ahead. Quickly, Mouse pushed her wheelchair to the health office and when she arrived, entered the office to greet the startled student. The young woman behind the desk had not been expecting someone so lovely to enter the office.
 
             “Can I help you?” She asked and Mouse only flashed a smile at her.
 
            “I just want to give the Health Office a donation.” Mimi replied, matter-of-factly. “…My old wheelchair.”
 
            “Oh…” The student replied, “I don’t think we can use it. Let me check.”
 
            Behind Mouse, the nurse and receptionist just arrived to the office, coming from the administration building. Both of the staff members, her colleagues, did not recognize the face at all at first. Their startled double take fell upon the familiar wheelchair and the person they had not expecting to be standing before her. Neither had they recognized the voice, despite the accent inflection that slipped in and out of it.
 
            “Mimi?” the nurse asked.
 
            “Yea, uh…” Mouse replied as she smiled at the dubious looks between the people she had known for a while. 
           
            “Here, I don’t want anything for it, perhaps you can use it for someone more suited than I.” She told then, and about faced, walking with silent steps toward the door.
 
            All of sudden, in an uncomfortable silence, everyone present had sensed something was amiss. “HEY wait a second, how can you… WAIT! What about…”
 
            They bolted toward her, but Mouse, right now, really had not wanted to answer their questions. The staff members, her colleagues, she knew would never believe her and even Mouse herself was hardly able to answer the many questions she had of her own. She had decided to quickly exit instead.
 
            “You have my address.” Mimi told them politely, heading to the door. “Please send me the receipt or put in the Ham Radio Box. I have to run an errand.”
 
            “But Mimi, wait a second… What’s going on, what about your chair?” The nurse and receptionist asked, but Mimi had already disappeared through the door and was walking down the hallway toward the elevator. They both had bolted to give chase, but when they got to the hallway, the student staff member they known well was nowhere in sight. There was great discussion in the Heath Office when the nurse, assistant and helpers returned to the office.
 
            Mouse, from the Health center had walked quickly down the hallway toward the elevator, standing on her own two feet, carrying the backpack on her shoulder. It felt strange for the long time student of De Anza to be walking and neither did it feel right to her. She found herself looking strangely at her surroundings she only knew from the wheelchair. Textures, senses and colors seemed different to her, a little deeper in color. Her hearing was superb and keen, as were her smell. She smelled the coffee from the café as she had exited into the hallway. Things seemed much smaller to her, and more accessible.
 
            “There are a lot of things I am going to have to get used to.” Mouse thought, glancing at the surroundings and the darker areas highlighted in lavenders and purples.
 
Blinking, she rubbed her eyes. She had never noticed the surroundings when she rolled down this hallway in her chair, never paying attention to how dim this hallway actually was. Mimi quickly had realized she had gained many new abilities since Rijiin had healed her, and discovered quickly her new ability to see in the dark.
 
            “Boy a lot of things I have to get used to.” Mouse murmured, refraining from wanting to run, jump, spin and dance to test her body fully of its abilities. She glanced down at herself, feeling strangely and meeting the smiling faces of the admiring glances of the people who stared at her.
 
            “First thing,” Mouse said, glancing down at her clothes, pulling down her shirt that seemed to be riding up. “I’d better change.”
 
            The young woman found herself at the elevator, by routine habit pushing the button and waiting for the cab to arrive. It was a second or two when she shook her head after pushing the button and turning away from it, chuckling quietly.  
 
            “Oh for Christ’s sake,” Mouse murmured in chiding sarcasm, “You can walk now. Just walk up.” She headed to the door and up the short steps.
 
            Fifteen minutes later, Mimi Stewart, a now young beautiful maiden found herself in the familiar P.E Quad, in the locker room. As she entered the locker area, the young woman’s eyes adjusted quickly to the low light and navigating quickly to the center aisle she put down her backpack. Opening her satchel, she withdrew the bundle from it and quickly slipping off her shoes, socks, pants and her shirt, soon standing nude in the aisle. 
 
            The young woman examined herself, staring at every curve, stunned by the strange body she had now and seeing the changes Rijiin manipulated with the patterns and healing using Elven Magic. Standing, the Elf Maiden walked toward the shower area, and when she rounded the corner, her eyes found the mirror. Its reflection clearly betrayed the secret it kept, and Mouse now stared at the reflection of a beautiful young woman there.
 
            “What on Earth!” Mouse gasped, inspecting her new body with a critical eye in the mirror. She smiled however, when she saw the curves, astonished by the long gracious brown hair that spilled over her back in curled waves, startled that there was absolutely no silver in it. She had fair features and her piercing blue eyes twinkled with starlight.
 
            “I’m young again!” Mouse stammered touching her face in wonder, “Oh my god.”
 
            She stared at the alien face, well-proportioned figure, and the demigoddess appearance. Mouse could not believe the beautiful and young face she was seeing because of her friend. 
 
            “Darn you Rijiin.” She muttered, wiping her eyes as she wept, “Darn you, you made me young and a model.” 
 
            Grimacing, Mouse turned from the mirror and stepped on to the tiled floor of the shower area, turning on the water to let the warm water splash over her. Her body seemed to respond and she instantly felt energized by the long hot shower. After she was done, Mouse padded back to her place in the locker room, picking up the familiar clothes she had worn today, briefly examining them before she shook her head slightly, to push them aside. The young woman pulled the bundle of neatly folded clothes from her bag and the boots. She stared at the garb that had been worn by Rijiin and Natil. It was a simple green and gray, a tunic and pants. The young woman, still nude, sat on the bench, running her fingers quickly through her long hair.
 
            “It’s going to be hard to get used to having hair like this.” Mouse murmured as she had the hair in her hands.
 
            Mouse suddenly noted that it seemed finer in quality than she remembered and it seemed to dry quickly after shaking it. Mouse ran her fingers through it several times, and then with quick flip, threw her head back, flipping the long hair that seemed to fall into place evenly. It seemed to cover the tips of her slender pointed ears, disguising the fact that she now was an elf, rather than a human.        Quickly, she slipped on the undergarments that Rijiin had included with the garb, pulling on the leather pants first, and the tunic after. She quickly found the fastenings, pulling them, and quickly tied them up. She was startled by her knowledge of what she was doing and knowing why. Mouse then slipped on the belt around her waist, slipping her now narrow feet into the leather boots and noticed the pants seemed to blouse at the knee as she slipped on the boot. Slowly, rising, she inspected the garb and the first thing that she had noticed had been this garb seemed to flatter her curves and body. Again, she leaned forward, letting her hair fall forward and standing up to throw it back, letting it fall evenly into place. Looking down at herself, she gasped.
 
            “My god,” Mouse gasped, blushing as she quickly checked herself over. “I… I look like Natil and Rijiin!”
 
             Gathering up her belongings, she placed them in her backpack, and put it on her shoulder. Slowly Mimi stood up, walking uneasily back toward the main hallway near the showers and as she rounded the corner, stared again at the full-length mirror at a now very unfamiliar reflection of her strange new self.   A youthful appearance was there, clad in the green and gray garb.
 
            “Hey… Not bad…” Mouse stammered, turning slowly in the mirror.
 
            She stared at the youthful face, the blue eyes, the trim figure and the long hair that draped down to about her midway down her back. Looking up entrance, the Elven woman heard the voices of other people arriving for classes. She turned her attention back to the mirror, inspecting the garb one last time to flash a smile before walking toward the entrance and toward the students who had entered the dim locker room. As she was walking toward them, all three had looked up startled as she approached and without a word Mouse passed them, but not without nodding a silent polite greeting to them.  Mimi felt their gazes burning into her as she walked away from them and toward the door.
 
            Exiting through the door, she stepped outside into the crisp air, walking toward the railing of the walkway that surrounded the PE area and the swimming pools, and reaching the rail peered down at the few students on the swimming deck. Turning she walked down the walkway, turning the corner to pass by the instructor’s offices and continue toward the diving tower. Outside, standing around, she noted the group of students who had gathered about here and at first they did not seem to notice her until she was right up on them and the young woman noted the reason why. Her footsteps were silent on the pavement.
 
            “Woaaah, hey baby.” A shout said, and it was followed by a wolf whistle as she passed. The Elf Maiden turned her head, realizing she had been noticed, and at first she grimaced, embarrassed by the comment, but it soon became a smile.
 
            “Hubba, Hubba!” Another voice said, and Mimi glanced at the speaker, blushing deep red and yet managing a smile at him. She walked quickly on, enduring the wolf whistles, comments and catcalls clear back to the Main Quad.  
 
            When Mouse finally made it back to the Main Quad, she stood alone outside the Student Campus Center, staring at the sunken garden and the fountain, letting the water splashing sooth her senses. Here the Elf Maiden closed her eyes, staring at the starlight that twinkled clear and cold in the blackness and her thoughts were of events yesterday and today. Her hand found the pendant that hung around her neck and it flashed as touched it. 
 
            “A lot has happened that’s for sure.” Mimi thought to herself, as she continued to stare at the starlight that seemed to sooth her, and she nervously fingered the pendant around her neck, hanging from the chain. 
 
            Walking a short distance, she found a bench and the Elven woman let her existence flow, as she stared at the starlight in the darkness to find a star that twinkled brightly, allowing it to pull her toward it. As she flew like a bird, she entered through the star, the very center of the star and the burning fires. A few moments later, Mouse ended up standing on a large grassy plain, standing before the Lady and she dropped before one knee before her. She stood before Elthia herself, the Creatrix of the Elves, a middle-aged, very beautiful Lady robed in a simple blue and silver robe. She wore a waist guard made of gold and lined with emeralds and her long dark hair, clasped by a golden clasp on one side spilled over her shoulders. Mimi met the gentle gray eyes that seemed to twinkle with starlight.
 
            “Mimitti, The Lady said, greeting her with an embrace.
 
            “I have come to thank you My Lady.” Mimi said, “For a new chance, a new life, existence, and for sending Rijiin to me.”
 
            “You are welcome my child.” The Lady said, “It is well. I am glad you have accepted your change, and accepted the starlight. You are indeed more beautiful than Rijiin has said.”
 
            Mouse blushed at the compliment.
 
            “He was here My Lady?” She asked.
 
            “He was and as all of my children can come to me for my council.” She replied, “However, it was not I that sent Rijiin to you, he came to you of his own free will, risking himself through the winds of time.”
 
            “He did?” Mimi asked, “I… Why on Earth did he… He did not have to do that for me.”
 
            “Rijiin did indeed, and has shown a lot of compassion about his friends. He did not care about circumstances or the risk to himself or his companions.” She said, “He risked his very existence to help you, focusing on his remembrance of your kindness and friendship. He loves you more than you will ever know and wants nothing more than the best for you, repaying the same kindness you showed to him.”
           
            “Damn him.” She grunted, her eyes becoming misty as she met the Lady’s compassionate, quiet stare.
 
            “But know this, he has also has sacrificed a lot.” She added, “Much more than you know and more to come. The price he must pay to keep his existence.”
 
            “Jesus Rijiin, what have you done?” Mimi murmured, “…And have gotten yourself into.”
 
            Mimi and the Goddess stood on the plain together for many minutes as she learned what happened to Rijiin, the events that led up to his change. She realized the risk that he had taken by his coming to the twentieth century and the enormous sacrifice he had made in the process to his existence and humanity. The information had stunned Mimi.
 
            “Oh Rijiin,” Mouse murmured and she glanced at the Lady.  
 
            “So what happens to me and the others my Lady?” Mimi asked, “What is in store for me and my new existence.”
 
            “That is up to you, you have a path to walk and it depends on the choices you will make. I know you do not understand what is still happening to you, but be assured that you will find happiness eventually. You shall also feel an inescapable urge to be drawn to the east.” She replied, “There you shall seek others like yourself.”
 
            “You mean elves?” asked Mimi, “I thought they faded.”
 
            “They did, but the blood has been dormant and has reawakened.” The Lady said, “Seek a high place in the east, there you shall find your answers what it is to be Elven. You must seek this on your own, and shall with trusted allies. You have a long road ahead and a lot of choices to make, I am sure you shall make the right ones.”
 
            “Thank you My Lady.” Mouse said, “I can see you again right?”
 
            “You can, you can always find me here.” She said, “You have done well beloved.”
 
            Mouse bowed to her, after embracing the Goddess, and she turned, letting herself be pulled away. The meadow faded around her and senses became aware of the water that flowed in the fountain in the center of the quad, realizing that she was once again on DeAnza’s Campus. The young woman regarded the fountain for a while and did not need to turn her head when she sensed Becky sitting beside her.
 
            “Beckai,” She said without turning, greeting her friend warmly.
 
            “Mimi? Are you all right?” Becky asked her, gasping when Mouse turned. The young woman, her friend, swallowed hard in surprise, stunned how different she looked. The garb made her look like Rijiin and Natil.
 
            “My god you look so different. Y-you’re absolutely gorgeous and you look like Rijiin and Natil!” Becky stammered, and opening her eyes, peered at Becky.
 
            “I know… and my thanks.” Mimi replied, “I think there is a lot more that is going to happen here than we both know. I don’t know how my parents are going to take this and neither anyone who knows me on campus.”
 
            “Are you okay with it?” Becky asked, “When you did not return I came looking and to check on you.” Mouse was flattered by the concern.
 
             “Well for all things considered,” replied Mimi, “I am so confused. How about you, what have you told Patrick, Steve and Cathy?”
 
            Mouse saw Becky grin. “Uhm, so far we have said nothing.” Becky replied as she met Mimi’s amused expression and both managed a laugh.
 
            “Robert is pissed off though and does not understand it, wanting me to explain it.” Becky continued, “He accuses me of holding stuff back from him.”
 
            “That’s not true, but that’s Robert.” Mimi replied.
 
            “I wonder who that Harper was.” Becky said, “Where did Nathaniel find her at? He never mentioned her before. And why didn’t he contact any of us?”
 
            “He probably had his reasons.” Mimi said, “He was probably not able to.”
 
            “She was beautiful like you are.” Becky said, “I am not quite sure what he did to you or understand today, but there are so many strange things going on, we need to find out.”
 
            Mouse smiled, feeling a flush across her cheeks.
           
            “Well you should tell me about being beautiful, I got wolf whistles and cat calls all the way back from the PE Quad.” Becky managed a laugh, and sobered. Mouse met the grin she was trying to hide and they both laughed.
 
            “It’s true…” Rebecca told her, “More than you know. And if I were you, I would not go back to the table dressed like that.” Becky added.
 
            “No, my books are in there,” replied Mouse, “We should go get them and I want you to please walk me to class? We have something to discuss.”
 
            “What’s on your mind Mimi?” asked her friend.
 
            “I just wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping tonight. It seems I am going to need a new wardrobe.” Mouse offered, “And we need to figure out a time to go to this place.”
 
            “OOOH I’d love to… make you so damn sexy you will have to beat men off with a stick.” Becky said, with a giggle. Mouse laughed, shaking her head at the young woman beside her.           
 
            Both of the women fell silent when Robert had appeared from the door and lumbered toward them, and glancing at each other before turning to face him. 
 
            “Becky. I need to talk to you inside.” He told her, and turning he nodded to Mouse.
 
            “Hi…” Robert said, “Can you excuse us please?”
 
            “We’ll be in, in a second.” Becky told him.
 
             “Come on, talk to me, you keep keeping stuff from me. That is not right.” Robert said. Becky shook her head.
 
            “Not right now Robert.” She shot back, “I want to finish this conversation with Mouse. It is somewhat personal.”
 
            Robert turned his gaze upon the beautiful young woman who stood here. 
 
            “That’s not Mimi.” Robert said, “Quit lying to me.”
 
            “That IS Mouse and just go back inside, We will be right there in a minute.” She said, ignoring his whistle and pointing to the Student Campus Center.
 
            “Robert, PLEASE!” Mimi grumbled, “It is important and there is a lot going on that not even I understand right now. When I know what’s happening, you will know.”
 
            Quietly he shook his head, swearing quietly under his breath and grumbled, muttering curses under his breath as he lumbered off. Becky’s eyes narrowed, watching him depart and something was telling her about him that Mimi saw too. Both the young woman saw that something had changed him, and they both realized that Rijiin had done also something for him. The elf’s healing power had healed him, and had improved Robert, making him seem a little better than he was. They immediately wondered about him, if like them, the elf had changed him any from what he was.
 
            Rijiin in truth had tried to heal Robert, but his body had rejected the power of starlight and the Elf discovering the rejection had stopped it, refraining from further attempts to heal. They wondered if it would be an abuse of power if Rijiin would have healed him like that and looking forward in the starlight and the patterns saw the chaos caused by such a change. 
 
            “Have you been seeing starlight when you close your eyes?” Mimi asked, and Becky turning her head, showing surprise.
 
            “How did you know that?”
 
            “I see it too.”
 
            “I saw a lot more.” Becky added, “A woman robed in…”
 
            “Blue and silver,” Mimi finished and beside her, that Becky gasped. “She is a beautiful woman with long dark hair and eyes.” 
 
            “Yes, who is she?”
 
            “That is the Creatrix of Rijiin and Natil’s people, the Elves.” Mimi replied.
 
            “Oh my god, is that that the Creatrix? The goddess?” asked Becky, astonished by the vision, “I never thought she would look like that!”
 
            “It is she is waiting for us to come to her.” Mimi said, “We can go to her anytime we like.
 
            “How,” Becky asked. Her voice filled with emotion, “How do I go to her.”
 
            “Find a star in the darkness, and let its power bathe you and let it draw you.” Mimi said, “Come we’ll do it together.” Mouse took Becky’s hand, nodding and both closing their eyes they stared at the stars.
 
            “Let one call you and pull you.” Mimi told her and they did, letting both be pulled called by a star, being drawn through the white cornea of the star. They appeared on the meadow.
 
            Becky ran toward the Creatrix, and she ran with open arms, embracing her openly, weeping as she held her tight.
 
            “My Lady.” Becky whispered, “I am and cannot believe it’s you. I am glad to see you.”
 
            “Welcome Becky.” The Lady said, “Be at peace, you are here.”
 
            The young woman and the Creatrix talked, and yet Mouse held back, as she stood gazing up at the stars. Mimi stared at the infinite reaches of the patterns, the lines of galaxies and planets. She saw infinity and the realms of the farthest reaches of space.
 
            Mimi walked toward Becky, and bowed to the Lady.
 
            “Thank you Lady.” Mimi said, “Blessings upon you.”
 
            “…and on to you Mimitti.” She replied and the plain faded.
 
            Becky and Mouse appeared together, hand in hand and Becky had tears in her eyes.
 
            “She is more beautiful than I ever realized.”
 
            “I don’t know who she is, but, she is the Elves, someone who they go to council and often. They should be so privileged.”
 
            “I know.”
 
            “Well here is another calling card that now really demands it.” Mimi commented, as she handed Becky the note, and the young woman examined it.
 
            “What kind of language is that?” Becky asked, but strangely, she too had the ability and no trouble to understand it. 
 
            “I don’t know… Elvish?” Mimi replied and Becky shrugged.
 
            “Whatever it is, it looks very elegant.” Becky observed, as she examined the note carefully.
 
            “I don’t know, but I wonder.” Mimi said, holding out white card from the back pocket of her backpack and examined it. Becky followed suit and looked at her card, as did Mimi. Times were changing for them and this card was their key.
 
            “We should go on Friday, Mouse.” Becky suggested, “ASAP. We really need to find out what’s going on and I have a suspicion this will show us what happened here today.”
           
            “That’s for sure.” Grumbled Mouse, grunting and her attention turned back to the fountain, as did Becky. There were many questions and there was no way to understand them all. They needed to go there. A few minutes later, they returned to the Fireside Lounge to pack up her books.
 
            When Mimi stepped into the Fireside everyone looked up, Cathy, Vi and Steve as well as the others who were seated here. They said nothing as they walked up and she put the backpack on the table. There was surprised silence by the ones who had not seen the change and the miracle that had happened here today. It had been a couple of hours since Mouse had left the room and Dave had looked up in genuine surprise, as did Chris, and even Omar, recognizing who it was that now wore the strange garb.
 
            “Wow.” Dave murmured to Omar who had nodded in silent reply, feeling the same revelation.
 
            “Hey those are Mimi’s books.” Cathy warned, and looked up to see the stranger’s face that was gathering the books up. 
 
Cathy gasp aloud to realize it was her friend, walking and so different from what she was a few hours ago.
 
            “Mouse?” Cathy asked, and the young woman who stood there nodded, smiling slightly.
 
            “What the hell is going on here?” Cathy asked as Steve was nodding, also thinking the same thing.
 
            “Nothing is going on. I have to get to class.” Mimi replied, and motioned to Becky.
 
Together they had walked away from the table as Patrick reached out to goose Mimi, making her jump.
 
            “EEK!” Mouse managed to yelp and turned on him, her hand raised and was going to slap him for being fresh, but hesitated, looking at her hand, lowering it slowly. She was blushing fiercely but had refrained from slapping Patrick.
 
Something had told her not to, making her hesitate in her actions. Something inside had warned her that her small hand could have taken his head off and she could hurt him badly. Mouse knew she did not want to hurt him, and quickly backed away, briefly closing her eyes as she let the starlight flow through her, letting it calm her. When she opened her eyes again, Mimi was not breathing hard at all. She noticed fear and his body language as he sat cringing in his seat.
 
            “Sorry Pat. What did I tell you? Stop that!” Mouse exclaimed, scolding and flirting with him. The young woman chuckled, her voice smooth, like water, noticing the slight inflection in it. She hugged him before stepping back, planting a kiss on his cheek. Beside her, Cathy was trying to get her attention and had tugged her arm several times. When Mouse turned, her friend reared up and exploded on her.
 
            “You have some explaining to do Mimi. You’re not telling us everything.” Cathy said, “What’s going on? How and why are you walking why are you not in your wheelchair? What happened here, what is going on? This is not making sense.”
 
            “It’s not needed.” Mouse replied simply, and turned.
 
            “That’s no answer Mimi.” Cathy told her and Mouse only shrugged.
 
             “But... HEY…” Cathy exclaimed as her friend walked away.
 
            “Mimi…” Steve grunted and yet hesitated as she left the table, walking through the door.
 
            “Why didn’t you tell them?” Becky asked, and Mimi turned her head.
 
            “How can I?” Mouse replied, “How can I explain to them how and what Rijiin did and that an Elf healed me. They’d think I was nuts and get people stirred up to lock me away.”
 
            “MMM, Good point.” Becky replied.
 
            “Can you walk with me to class?” Mouse asked, “I just want to make sure of a few things. About Friday, I want to go to this place in Eastridge, and find out what this is all about, and what really happened here. What time you want to leave, Four?”
 
            Becky nodded and walking with Mouse, they headed toward the Art’s Quad. As they approached, they were shooting back and forth for times to go. 
 
            “How bout six instead,” Becky asked and Mimi managed a nod.
 
            “Good. I will meet you here.” Mimi told her, approaching her class.
 
            “I’ll see tonight at six then, on Friday.” Replied Becky, as Mimi nodded and entered the classroom leaving Becky alone in the quad.
 
            Turning the young woman walked toward the main quad and the sunken garden nearby, reflecting back to what she had seen earlier this morning. An event that she had hardly understood what exactly had happened other than it had seriously affected her friend by the use of something that had not been on Earth for the last five hundred years.
 
            “But it did happen.” Becky said, pulling out the card, examining it, reading it several times, “And this card is the key.”
 
            The young woman named Becky Stack held the business card that Rijiin had given them, and like Mimi sensed a great change in which their time now here in the future seemed to be uncertain for them all. They had no idea of the journey that lies ahead, in which the trio, Becky, her husband and Mimi would be drawn somewhere to the East. A journey that would no doubt would be a very long one.
 
            However, at the same moment as the young woman stood on DeAnza College campus of the future, five hundred years ago, that Rijiin and Natil appeared from the swirling energy, opened by Rijiin that would take them home in the twelfth century. The elves were glad to be home when they stepped into the familiar clearing in the forest of Malvern, the same clearing their adventures had begun not long ago and Rijiin met the surprised looks of Terrill and Mirya. He raised his arms in greeting.
 
            “Ah home.” He murmured to Natil and she heard him, managing a quiet chuckle.
 
            Mirya smiled when she saw the Harper, running toward her, embracing her once, and turning to greet Rijiin with the same embrace.
 
            “By our lady you are both safe.” Mirya said “And welcome home you two.” 
 
            “Aye welcome home.” Terrill murmured, “I trust your mission was successful.”
 
            Rijiin considered, looking into the stars and at the futures that he had before him that lay out like a river flowing in its bed.
 
            “To repay a long outstanding debt, and to help and heal an old friend.” Rijiin replied, “Aye it was worth it, and our mission was successful.”
 
            “It feels good to be home.” Rijiin added, “Right Natil?”
 
            “Aye,” She replied, “Very much so.”
 
            Mirya’s head turned, noting the strong inflection in his voice now and even Terrill had picked it up too. They both had exchanged a look, knowing who and what they were seeing now. Rijiin was an Elf and starlight flowed freely through him. He had helped and healed. He had a home, purpose, and even some renewal. Terrill had been surprised when he saw his friend, seeing the very noticeable differences of a person who had once been human. It had been exactly as he had seen in Mirya before, and not unlike Rijiin had walked the same path to embrace the change to become Elven. The Elf had taken his place with them in the world and given himself to their purpose here. Both Mirya and Terrill could not say they were wrong.
 
            “Come, the others await you both and your return.” Terrill said and together the four walked down the path, hidden and known only to the Elves.
 
            Before Rijiin left the clearing, however, he turned, briefly examining it for a moment and closed his eyes, letting the stars comfort him. A moment later, he turned his head meeting Natil’s questioning, loving gaze. He nodding his head as he joined her and embraced the young Harper, longing in his eyes, and leaning down to kiss her on the lips.
 
            Surprised, Natil had gasped when he kissed her and just as they had on the campus. When they broke, Natil blushed even more furiously as before, but found she smiled more too in these last few weeks.  
 
            “Amin sandae mela lle, Natili,” Rijiin said, “Tenn’oio… Enyala sina vesta a’mael. Amin selya va’ ranya hae, N’uma erma manke lye na lye selma tenn’oio na- alye.” 
 
            “Lle cael- ahya a’re…” She replied, “Sut um- lle tyav?”
 
            “Amin ie’ seere, amin tyav quateya, ar va on- ta de ten’ ai’nat e’ i’ palurin, na sinome yassen lle.” He replied, making her gasp, smiling when he saw her reaction.
 
            “Amin gorga mani amin selya vela sii’, i’ winya yestien amin anta.” Natil understood and embraced him.
 
            “Lle cael mellone a’ astya lle fallan- ar evinyatae lle sint.” She replied, in a soothing voice and yet both turned their heads at Terrill who had paused with Mirya at the forest’s edge.
 
            “Lle sinta, a’mael,” He said, holding her and they heard a clearing of the throat.
 
            “Are you two coming?” Terrill asked, hiding a smile with his hand. He motioned to Rijiin in silence, as if to test him, and have him lead them back to the encampment.
 
            “Shall we go?” He asked, offering her an arm and she laughed quietly, taking it. They exited the clearing into the forest, quickly catching up with Mirya and Terrill.
 
            Less than a half hour later, they walked into the clearing of the encampment of the Elves and entered the cave together. Varden, Sana, Cara, Talla were there, as were many others. They greeted Rijiin and Natil. The couple talked very little about the journey, after being warmly embraced by Charity, Roxanne and Talla.
 
            “Did you…?” She asked him suddenly and Rijiin grimaced, but managed an affirmative nod.
 
             “That and worse.” He replied, sitting next to the fire and watched its flames. He knew he had something to look forward to now, and expected no doubt for his friends whom he healed by Elven Magic to come to him soon enough.
 
            “If they want to come they can and are always welcome here.” Rijiin murmured, “I wonder if they will…?”
 
            “Rijiin… Beloved, Are you alright?” Natil asked, and he met her questioning look.
 
            “Aye Natili,” He replied, “Seere a’mael, amin cael- utue amin telaien, amin yesta. Amin utue amin yana’”
 
            Natil smiled, and he put his hand on her knee. Rijiin knew he had finished his inward transition of changing into an Elf. He knew he was here and knew what he was. There was nothing for him in the future, and the memories of that time had ended. He was free and ready to start this new beginning. It was here that he would remain, this time always his proper place and with the bound love of a certain young Harper. However, he also looked forward to what was to come for him.

            The elf seated next to Natil glanced to the pendant around his neck that reflected the light before putting his arm about her waist. He held her warmly as he accepted a cup of wine and met Talla’s amused smile. Natil managed a short laugh. A moment later, the Harper pulled out her harp, and her hands danced across the strings. The ripple of notes made Rijiin look up and smile, as her hands danced across the strings, a healing melody she played for them all; and for Rijiin, a perfect start for the beginning of a new adventure that awaited them.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Literary Notes:
 
Story is based on Gail Baudino’s Series Strands of Starlight, Maze of Moonlight, Shrouds of Shadow, Strands of Sunlight, and Spires of Spirit. This story is a fan fiction that takes place in 40 years between first and second book. It is dedicated to her and the Elves, because something in the story was able to touch me, and allow me a bit of healing too. It uses and features, three dialects of real Elvish tomes, based on Tolken, Gray Company and Quenya Elvish.
 
There will be two sequels to this story, between books 2 and 3 and one after book 4 in her series. This is a FICTIONAL, Fan Based story and it may or may not be accurate to the storyline. Amin hiraetha (I apologize to Ms. Baudino and the Elves, in advance)
 
Below are some phrases that were not translated in story. 
(The Elvish phrase) = (English Translation.)
 
Diola lle, Rijiini = Thank you Rijiin
 
Lle Creoso = You're Welcome
 
Amin uuma merna a’ entul eller. Eller na il- ai’nat’ eller ten' amin sii' = I will not want to return there. There is not anything there for me now.
 
Eller na il- ai’nat’ eller ten' amin sii' = There is not anything there for me now.
 
A! I’- yeste elen. = Ah! the first star.
 
Ta I’ alaseeien elen. = It/It is a radiant star.
 
Seasamin, A’mael = My pleasure Beloved.
 
Ta vanima = It/It is Beautiful.
 
Aye Natili, ta. = Yes Natili, it/it is.
 
Sai- saesaminien = Very pleasurable
 
Alanae ea yolisi Elthia! By our Lady Elthia!
 
Aye, Manea = Yes, To you also.
 
Lle creoso Natili. = You/You are welcome, Natil
 
Tanya naa amin quel edhel wen = That is my good elf maiden.
 
Tulien… = Coming
 
Natili = Natil
 
A! Quel, Diola lle, Tallai. = Ah! Good, Thank you Talla.
 
Ta yassen amin saesamin = It/It is my pleasure. 
 
na- ie’ seere, Rijiini, Lle naa a’maelamin = Be at Peace Rijiin, You are my beloved.
 
“Amin nyarea lle, Natili,” = I told you Natil
 
 “Amin sint mani lle cael elea. Lle quenea noldo nar sanda.” I know what you have seen. I spoke wisely and true.
 
Lye raa? = You are.
 
Manke, Rijiini…? = Where Rijiin?
 
Tula, A'mael = Come, Beloved.
 
Lle cael-il elea ai’nat’ am, Natili = You
 
Lema ed’templa = Portal (Spell)
 
Ede lye arwin! = By our Lady!
 
Rijiini…! Mani, naa lle’ umien a’mael? = Rijiin! What are you doing beloved?
 
Ta na an lema a’mael. Lye asc’e manka lye saes, ri i’ templa selya olvann. =
It/It is a long journey beloved. Your haste if you please, or the portal will vanish.
 
A’mael. = Beloved
 
Manke naa lye sii’ Rijiin? = Where are we now, Rijiin?
 
ta ikotane a’mael, = It is so Beloved.
 
Amin arwen, sinome na’ I’ men a’ manke lye ant aut-. = My lady, here is the path to where we need to go. 
 
Tul-e Natili, Ta sina men = Come Natil, It/It is this way.
 
Tulunka, Natili = Steady Natil.
 
Ta ve’ sina, ilya ‘i coiasira. = It/It is like the time.
 
Rijiini, tir- iilea, astael. = Rijiin, watch your stars.
 
Amin fir neuma sinome = I/My/Mine sense a trap here.
 
Aye, Amin, fir-ta vithel. = Yes, I/My/Mine sense it also
 
Eller re naa, a'mael. = There she is, Beloved.
 
A! = Ah!
 
“Ta yassen ilya amin sai- bragol thailon ar erya.” = It is with all my very strength and soul.
 
“Amin mela lle Natili ar il auta lle.” = I love you Natil and not leave you.
 
Ikotane tanya naa mani nornhamae na. = So that is what wheelchairs be.
 
Iye Natilli, ta he nornhama = Yes Natil, It/It is her wheelchair.
 
Ile naa ikotane, n’ataya, a’mael… we/us/ours are so different, beloved.
 
Iye = Yes
 
“Ta il’ deanam!” = It (is) not possible!
 
 “Amin uuma rangwa sina!” = I don’t understand this.”
 
Ta ilya forya, a’mael. = It/It is all right, beloved.
 
Re’e forya, Natili. Mimitti yassen’e sinta quenaya noldoe = She's Right Natil, Mimi without knowledge speaks wisely.
 
He nanquet i' amin manquetta selma farnuva. = Her answer to my question will Suffice.
 
Seere a’mael. = Peace beloved.
 
Amin… Amin caela utue seere manke lle tul-a’... = I had to find peace, to come to.
 
Mani amin cael harya a’mani wanya naa ere'amin erin. = What I/My have left to come from departed and only I remain.
 
Dina Ungai, ri’ wany. Be silent Unga, or depart.
 
Lle Desiel? = You ready.
 
Amin’ e Desiel = I am ready.
 
Amin sandae mela lle, Natili = I truely love you Natil
 
Ilyamenea… Enyala sina vesta a’mael. = Always. Remember I this promise beloved.
 
Amin selya va’ ranya hae. = I will never stray far.
 
N’uma Erma manke lye na lye selma tenn’oio na- alye’.” = . No matter where we go we will always be together
 
lle cael- ahya a’re. = You have changed today…
 
Sut um- lle tyav = How do you feel
 
Amin ie’ seere, = I feel at peace,
 
Amin tyav quateya, ar va on-de ten'ai'nat e'i'palurin na sinome yassen lle = I am energized, and will not give it up for anything in the world to be here with you.
 
Amin gorga mani amin selya vela sii', i' yestien amin anta. = I fear what I will see now, the new beginning I face.
 
 
Lle cael mellone a’ astya lle fallan- ar ten llea evinyatae lle sint. =
You have friends to help you heal and for your renewal you know
 
Lle sinta a’mael = I know beloved.
 
“Aye Natili.” = Yes Natil
 
Lle cael-il elea ai’nat’ am, Natili. Feith, ner lirille yenya lye. = You have not beheld anything yet, Natili. Wait, more lies before us.
 
Seere a’mael, amin cael- utue amin telaien, amin yesta. Amin utue amin yana’” =
Peace beloved. I have found my ending, my beginning. I have found my sanctuary.
 
Iye… amin mela lle, Natili, sii, nae ten’oio… Lle ra' ikotane vanima nandaro. = Aye, I love you, Natil, now and always... You are beautiful Harper.
 
“A’mael, naa lle tanca ta de simomne?” - Beloved are you sure it is up here?
 
“Sina na aut-ien a’ net sarda vee lye kam sina rosta.” = This is going to get harder as we make this ascent.”
 
“Ta il- fae Natili.” = “It is not far Natil.”
 
“Amin mem- na salphadun a’mael.” = “I want this to be a surprise beloved.”
 
 
Best Regards, Rijiin L’Thiejiev, Elf of Malvern & Erwin Stevens, Author.     
Author: namiller
-A +A


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