When the Worlds Cross

By Heather and Jane

Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its peoples belong to the great J.R.R. Tolkien.  Mia, Rowan, and Randy belong to us.  Any and all similarities to real life events/people are pure coincidence—unless they appear with permission.

Summary: All good things must come to an end…or at least, the storytellers must take a break.

Authors' Notes: co-written between Jane and Heather, two Lord of the Rings fans that are trying to keep true to the story.  First part more movieverse than bookverse, but will soon go to bookverse.  Credit to Heather's father and our friend Wesley as story consultants.

Spoiler alerts: …heck, by now, just say the entire Trilogy.

Quotes/References: quote from Disney's Aladdin, bit of paraphrasing of a Buffy quote and flat-out referencing about the Buffy series, and if we missed any citations, please let us know!

Reader thanks following chapter.

Epilogue

The End is Near

~*~*~*~

An exact year after the death of Boromir, the remaining members of the Fellowship were invited back to Rivendell for a memorial.  Legolas seemed cheerful about this, even though Rowan protested that this hadn't exactly happened in the books.  The Elf Prince reminded her that the books 'are not law'—she refrained from saying that Tolkien had been fairly accurate about everything else.

Given that conversation, Rowan wondered if there was an ulterior motive to this but forgot about suspicion when Legolas insisted that they "make swift tracks."  Which was a good idea, as the two elves had been closer to Mirkwood than Gondor, but the elf seemed to be in a more competitive than practical mood.

Which wasn't really a change, given the good-natured contests and squabbles he'd had with Gimli over the past few months.  Except Rowan could only take so much.

Rowan spent half of the trip arguing about the merits of simply arriving on time, not beating everyone there, and the other half continuing their habit of kissing.  As it was, they arrived after the King and Queen of Gondor, with Gimli (whom they met on the way), and before the hobbits did.  Gandalf (who had to have been there since invitations were sent) said it was something about Sam being mayor.

"Color me unsurprised," said Rowan dryly.

"Unsurprised is a color?"

"Legolas!"

"She's being facetious again, elf, you need not take her so seriously," Gimli scolded Legolas.

Rowan snickered.  Legolas said, a bit put out, "But she is sometimes serious and I—"

"Shush."

Gandalf laughed, and stood up (they had caught him while reading over an old tome of some sort).  "I am not sure who is more right, the elf or the dwarf," said the wizard, and chuckled when the two frowned at each other.  He glanced at Rowan and smiled.  "My, Rowan, how you've grown."

"Ha-ha.  What did you have in mind—just leave things well enough alone and have messes with the whole aging thing?"  Rowan grinned, cheerily ignoring Legolas' curious look.  Some things were better left explained when there was no audience that might start snickering or gaping.  "Where'd Mia end up?"

"She'll tell you," Gandalf replied, and then glanced towards the door of the open room.  "Very soon, I might add.  They're here."

Legolas raised an eyebrow.  "They?"

"I don't understand it!" Samwise Gamgee said, from the other side of the door.  "The ponies are always—"

Oh, I bet I know what's coming! Rowan thought with a snort.  Everyone gave her a stern look.  She looked back at them innocently.

"Sam, horses and other equines don't like me," Mia's voice snapped back, sarcastic and tolerant as ever.  "I like them but the feelings not mutual.  Trust me.  I got the bite marks to prove it."

"Methinks Mia ended up in the Shire," Rowan said to Legolas with a grin.

"Bag End, to be precise," said a voice near Rowan's knees.  Rowan looked down and saw Mia the grinning hobbit.  "Hiya."

Rowan stared.  "You're short!"

"Oh, wow, there's a big surprise.  I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and DIE from that surprise," said Mia sarcastically.  Rowan laughed and her now short friend grinned again.  "Sorry, but Merry only reminds me of that twice a day."

"Well, three," Frodo put in, smiling at Mia fondly, "if she makes a big fuss about it."

Mia frowned at him.  "The last time I made a fuss about it, it was still snowing."

"Oh, well, two times then."

"For shame.  Bad, bad Merry," said Rowan, shaking her head in mock indignation.

Gimli let out a snort and left, probably to save himself from overly quippy females.

"Will you shut up?"  Mia didn't seem to upset with her lack of tallness—neither did the still smiling Frodo.  Rowan decided to make a threat about the PDA police, later.  Just to keep them from kissing or cuddling where I can see—overabundance of cuteness is not needed.  "And are you still fumbling with the Elvish language, Miss Elf?" Mia asked pertly.

"No," said Rowan in the common tongue.  In Elvish, she said what she hoped was, "I'm getting better."

Gandalf blinked, Legolas snorted, and Frodo laughed outright.  That was a bit of a bad sign.  Mia only rolled her eyes and said, "No duh."

"What?  What?"  Rowan looked from Elf Prince to hobbit pair suspiciously.  "What'd I say?"

"'I'm getting worse,'" Mia translated.  Rowan frowned and tried again, smirking once she'd finished.  The hobbit girl sighed.  "No, I don't think the falling star would make a good stick."

"Argh!"

"That doesn't make sense!" a bewildered Sam exclaimed, looking at Frodo.  Ever loyal, even when he was the mayor.  "Why—"

Mia shook her head.  "Don't ask, Sam.  Please, do not ask."

"You two are as amusing as ever," Gandalf said, sounding as if he were barely stifling a laugh.  Mia and Rowan gave him a look.  He smiled.  "And I take it enjoying yourselves."

"More or less," Mia grinned wickedly.  Frodo coughed.  "What?  I only—"

"Stop it there.  Yeah.  So, where's the rest of the crowd?" Rowan asked as they began to walk out of the open room and down the hall.  "And puh-lease don't—"

"Yep, Pip and Merry probably decided to visit the kitchen."

"There's a surprise," said a very familiar voice.

The girls froze in shock and turned slowly.  "Randy?" Mia said, while Rowan squeaked.

"In the house…of Elrond," Randy amended when two girls and one wizard glared at him.

Legolas frowned and looked at Rowan.  "Didn't you, ah, kill him?"

"Er…well, yes," said Rowan carefully, glancing at Randy to gauge his reaction.  He didn't seem too perturbed by the mention of his 'death.'  All right, then.  "Yes, I did."

"Then how is he here?" the Elven prince asked in bewilderment.

"It's a Buffy situation," Mia said gleefully.  Sam and Frodo glanced at her worriedly.  Oooh, boy.  Someone's been telling stories, Rowan thought, giving her friend a look.  Mia shrugged.  "Well, it is.  The man didn't stay dead—minus the blood sucking fiend issue.  Unless I missed something…"

"Don't worry, you didn't."

"Good, because I don't have a stake," said Mia with a grin.  Randy groaned.  "Oh, stop it.  What are you doing in Middle Earth?"

"Being a Ranger."

Rowan rolled her eyes.  "That makes sense…not!  Care to offer an explanation, Gandalf?"

Gandalf tilted his head thoughtfully and said at last, in a solemn voice, "We all have the potential to do great things."

"I've heard that before," commented Randy and glanced down, taking notice of Mia's 'shrinkage' for the first time.  He blinked.  "Mia, you're short."

Now Mia looked irritated.  "Anyone says that again, I'm gonna bite them in the kneecaps!"

"You always say that—let's go find Merry and Pippin before they decide to set off a firework for old times' sake," said Frodo, taking Mia's arm and dragging her off.  Oddly, Mia kept her mouth shut and followed meekly.  (More or less.)

Randy stared.  "There's a sight I never thought I'd see."

"Mia's been that way ever since December twenty-fifth," said Sam, who seemed oddly calm with his master suddenly running off.

"Since Christmas?" Rowan said in surprise.  She'd thought that her friend merely ceased acting sarcastically contrary for a two-week period at the end of the year.

Sam gave her a puzzled look.  "What's Christmas and what's that have to do with anything?" he inquired.  "That was their wedding day."

"Eeep," said Randy, his eyes bugging out.

Rowan swore that she could hear her jaw hitting the floor.  She recovered before Legolas could tell her to stop letting the flies in (she had made a big mistake in telling him that little joke) and said weakly, "Did I hear that right?"

"Yep."

"Oh."  Rowan blinked once, slowly, and stared to smile.  "Ahh.  They got married."  She turned deliberately to Legolas (who suddenly looked panicked) and grinned wolfishly.  "I knew there was something we needed to talk about."

"Um," said Legolas, quite brilliantly.

Technically, he would have said something earlier (since he was a prince) but he and Rowan had been a bit more interested in outdoors, exploring fun—and they'd been traveling with a dwarf, after all.  She'd thought of this from time to time, and Gimli had given them one or two odd looks, and still hadn't brought it up.  Opportunity had been hiding from them and at the time, no one had said a word.

And now opportunity was knocking quite loudly.  Rowan kept smiling.

~*~*~*~

It was highly amusing to see an Elf Prince look that worried, and Randy knew there was a fair good cause for that.  When Rowan smiled like that…people on her bad side started to back away slowly.  Those on her good side looked at her carefully and tried to calculate how long it would take to scurry away.

And boy, are we looking at her carefully, the Ranger-boy thought.  Though Elfy over there is going to be the one to scurry, oh yes…

Randy thought he heard Mia say, "Ha, told you!" from somewhere down the hall and then Frodo saying, "All right, you win."  He shook his head, dismissing it until he saw Sam snickering.  Oh, brother.  When the hobbits start conspiring, then…then you should check your food supply, I thought.  Eek…

"Don't 'um' me, Legolas," Rowan scolded the Prince of Mirkwood.  "We ARE talking about this and don't think you can wiggle out of it or give me the proper courtship business again."

"I'd listen to her," suggested Randy, when Legolas only stared.  "As you probably know, she can inflict some major damage on someone if they don't listen."

Gandalf chuckled.  "I will go speak with Elrond now—perhaps to warn him," he said thoughtfully, walking off at a rather brisk pace.

Legolas looked really panicked.  "Warn him—"

And now, somewhere that sounded suspiciously like 'right around the corner', Frodo was saying, "Hah, I was right!" to which Mia replied, "I knew this would happen to…but yes, you were."

Oh, good grief.  Randy decided everyone was insane.

"—about what?" Legolas shouted after the wizard, looking more than a little worried.

"Mellow out, Legolas," said Rowan, taking his arm.  Randy let out a snort.  "And you, shut up.  We'll discuss…the issue…in private."  Legolas muttered something about small favors, which she pointedly chose to ignore.  With some difficulty, Randy smothered a hoot of laughter.  "Let's go terrorize some hapless targets," the now-tall girl went on cheerfully.

"Stores?" Randy teased.

"With Randy as the first."

"Hey—!"

~*~*~*~

There were no great parties (it was a memorial reunion, after all) but the feasts were certainly cheery enough.  Rowan and Randy yelled at each other about old squabbles and created new ones, while Legolas tried to shut them up.  The rest of the Fellowship watched with amusement and hoped that Rowan wouldn't yank out her bow and arrow.  While that went on, Mia attempted to explain a certain religious holiday to the hobbits.  She wasn't having too much luck and decided to just leave it go for a while.  Everyone else simply enjoyed themselves—much as they could.

"Hey," said Randy at one point.  "I just thought of something."  He sounded rather proud of himself.  "We really were there and back again."

Everyone within earshot paused and turned to stare at Randy.  A few of the elves were a tad amused (though Arwen was not among those) but no one else thought that was funny, really.

Mia shook her head and said, "Can someone hand me a book, preferably a heavy one?"

Randy made a yipping noise and dove under the table.  This set the hobbits off, and Gimli too.

"Randy," Rowan said, peering under the table.  "You're a Ranger.  You're better than this.  So get your little heiny out from under the table.  Now."

"Okay, okay," Randy grumbled, doing just that.

"You could be a little nicer," Mia commented.

"Yeah, right."

And life continued on as it always had (with a few differences) for the three friends from Earth.

THE END

And it is FINISHED!  Wow…well, almost, there's an 'Extra Feature' Chapter in the works…but the main part of the story is done.  Comments (good or bad) please?

Midnight – once again, thank you very, very much for the comments.

gaile – glad you liked our resolution!  And as Heather said, we are thinking about possible spin-offs, but they're still in the planning stages…  Thanks for all the encouragement (and your stories rock)

Yavanna – thanks.  And…well, the story was headed towards a semi-open ending, hence possible spin-off ideas…  As always, thank you for the comments.

saiyan-girl-cheetah – we'll try to keep up the excellent work and thank you very much!

Sabriel – we're working on it…

Serenia-dreamer of the woods – glad that you like the chapters.  Thanks for all the comments. *grin*

[And please stay tuned for news on other writing projects]