65: The Three Amigos Go to College

In the morning, as Alex and Derek, joined by Findalaurë and his gwedyr, were enjoying their breakfast, Amroth came into the cafeteria and made his way to where they were all seated, giving them a smile in greeting. He leaned over and spoke softly to Alex.

"I went out as soon as it was light," he said. "The car hasn’t been tampered with."

"Then why did Loren insist he give us a lift?" Alex ask, feeling perplexed. "If the car was safe...."

"I didn’t say it was safe, I said it hadn’t been tampered with," Amroth retorted, then fished something out of his pocket, handing it to Alex who stared at it in disbelief. It was round and appeared to be somewhat larger than the typical button battery. He glanced up at Amroth.

"A tracer?"

Amroth nodded.

"How long has it been there?"

Amroth shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"But why? I haven’t gone anywhere."

"What about Wild Lake?" Derek offered. "Could Farrell have had you traced there? What if he saw everything that went on there?"

"Impossible," Amroth said firmly. "If Farrell or any other Mortal had been in the vicinity, Loren and the others would have sensed them, Loren especially, as he’s been trained to it."

"Would they know to sense intruders, though?" Derek insisted.

"When I showed this to Loren, I asked him the same question. He assured me that from the moment you arrived at Wild Lake he was extra vigilant."

"So we really don’t know if this was on my car then or not," Alex said, looking troubled. "It makes no sense. I don’t understand what Farrell hopes to gain by putting a tracer on my car."

"He’s merely keeping tabs on you," Derek said. "And I don’t believe it was just a coincidence that he showed up at the café last night when we were there, no matter what Nate says."

Amroth raised an eyebrow. "Nate? Nate was there?"

Both Mortals and the three ellyn all nodded. Amroth gave them a considering look. "Did he say anything?"

"You mean important?" Alex shot back. "Not really. He congratulated these three for not dying. By the way, which of those drinks was your creation? Loren said it was fit only for cleaning out engines and Nate agreed but would not say which one it was."

Amroth grinned. "The Mithril Madness and no, I won’t tell you what I put into it. You better finish up with your breakfast as classes will be starting soon. Give me your keys and I’ll bring the car back over."

Alex reached into a pocket and pulled out a set of keys, handing them to Amroth along with the tracer. "Destroy that," he said, "or better, put it somewhere safe and let Farrell figure out what’s up with it."

Amroth just nodded, wished them a good morning and left. Alex sighed, then picked up his glass of juice and drained it. "Well, we better be going," was all he said and he stood up to return his tray to the kitchen and the others followed suit.

As they left the cafeteria and headed for their rooms, Alex spoke to the three Elves. "Now remember, you’re clueless about everything that’s going on here. When we are in our Sindarin class you have to pretend you can’t understand a word of it and try not to laugh."

"And why would we laugh?" Calandil asked.

"Because you’re going to hear a lot of mistakes and strange accents and all," Alex replied. "I’ve seen Gil trying hard not to laugh at some of our gaffes as we’re learning the language."

"We will keep it in mind," Findalaurë said and he and his gwedyr waited outside Alex and Derek’s room while the two Mortals grabbed their book bags. Then they were headed for the classrooms along with everyone else.

Entering the room, they saw Gil there. He gave them all a smile as they approached. "Good morning. How are you all this morning? Alex?"

"I’m okay," Alex said with a shrug.

Gil nodded. "And you three?" he enquired of the ellyn. "How are you getting along with everyone else?"

"It is not as we expected," Findalaurë said, acting as their spokesman as usual, "but we are adapting. Alex hath... I mean, has reminded us to act stupid."

Gil raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Alex who shook his head. "That’s not what I said. I said they have to be clueless about things, pretend they don’t understand Sindarin and not to laugh at all our mistakes."

"Ah, well, that makes sense," Gil said. "Why don’t you take your seats and we’ll get started. Lawrence, you and your gwedyr can sit in the back." He pointed to where there were some empty desks in the back and the three ellyn complied while Alex and Derek took their usual seats. Gil greeted everyone in Sindarin and the class dutifully responded in kind, then he switched to English. "We have three visitors," he said, and everyone turned to look at the three ellyn who started blushing at the attention. "This is Lawrence, Cal and Alan. They are here to see what Elf Academy is all about with the intention of joining us next term. So, how do we greet people in Sindarin?"

Everyone dutifully uttered a ‘Mae govannen’ and the three ellyn nodded in greeting.

"So, we have today and Friday and then we will be finished with this course," Gil continued. "You’ve all come a long way since the beginning of the term and while you may think you haven’t learned much, you actually have learned a great deal of this language, certainly enough so that when you are with your tour groups, you can greet them in Sindarin and throw a few apt phrases into your speech. You might even teach the children simple phrases and numbers, make a game out of it when you are traveling from one event to another. So, why don’t we use the time we have left in recapping some of the major points of the course?"

He paused and picked up several index cards from his desk. "I have written out plausible scenarios which you may encounter while acting as tour guides. I’m going to split you up into three teams, and each team will be given a scenario with instructions on what grammar points you need to cover. So, for instance, you may be asked to use the past tense and mention at least three different colors. You will have a few minutes to decide who will act as the guide and who will act as tourists and then you will role play the scenario given to you, using Sindarin the entire time, or as much as you can manage. If you are unsure of how to say something, you need only ask. Lawrence, Cal and Alan, if you wish, you can each join a team and act as a tourist."

The three ellyn looked at one another and then they were nodding. Gil then proceeded to have everyone count off by threes and then the groups were separating into different parts of the classroom. Findalaurë joined Alex’s group while Calandil joined Derek’s, leaving Elennen to join the third group, looking a little unsure of himself, not recognizing anyone there. His teammates all smiled at him and softly introduced themselves. Gil went around, handing each group an index card, assuring them that everyone would have a chance either in this class or on Friday to act as a tour guide.

Alex’s group was given a scenario in which the tour guide had to use the future tense in describing what activities the group would be doing that day, each activity written out with its Sindarin equivalent. Alex volunteered to go first, not so much because he was confident that he would be able to speak fluently, as he just wanted to get it out of the way and then spend the rest of the time acting as a tourist. No one countered him, and so, for the next couple of minutes, they all offered him suggestions on what to say and how to say it. Once or twice, Alex noticed Findalaurë about to speak, as if either to offer his own suggestions, or perhaps to correct what the others were saying, and then stopping himself in time, seemingly frustrated, or perhaps amused, when people began consulting their textbooks for the correct grammar.

Then Gil called time and everyone took their seats except for the first group, which included Derek and Calandil. It turned out that Derek’s group had to use the active participle and the gerund-in-dative along with the names of the animals that would be commonly seen by the tourists. One of the women in the group was acting as the tour guide.

"Mae govannen, mellyn nîn...."

There were many false starts and much stumbling around for words and the occasional mix up of grammar as each of the groups took their turns. Alex fared a bit better than the others, but even he used a word that sounded very similar to the word he really wanted to use but with an entirely different meaning so that, when the others finally figured it out, it set them all laughing. It took them a few minutes to calm down while Alex just stood there blushing and looking sheepish. Gil, smiling the whole while, gently corrected him and then he continued with his scene. The three ellyn, he could tell, had been hard put to act clueless when they knew perfectly well what he had actually said and he had to give them full credit for that.

And so the class continued with about half of the students having the opportunity to act as tour guides. As the class came to an end Gil told them to remember which team they were on and they would continue with the exercise on Friday. He assured those who’d done the scenarios in this class that they had all done a very good job and he was proud of their efforts.

Alex and Derek purposely held back, letting everyone else file out of the classroom, so that they and the three ellyn were the last to leave. Gil had gathered the three together and was speaking to them in softly spoken Sindarin while Alex and Derek looked on.

"That was funny, what you said," Derek said softly to Alex as they were waiting for Gil to finish speaking.

"Oh please," Alex groaned. "It was not my intent. Damn language. With all those mutations, half the words sound like other words and it’s hard to keep them all straight."

"Well, it was still funny," Derek said with a shrug. "I hope I do half as well as you when it’s my turn."

"You’ll do fine. Unlike some of these students, you’ve the experience of learning a couple of other languages including one that has no correspondence to English. That, I would think, would make it easier."

"In some ways, but you know way more languages than I. Have you found it easier?"

Alex shrugged. "Maybe. My problem was that I was so convinced that the language was made up I couldn’t be bothered with it. By the time I realized that it wasn’t, I had to do a lot of catching up."

Derek nodded and was about to comment but Gil looked over at them and gestured for them to join the others. "You should not linger, your next class will be starting soon. You did very well, Alex, in spite of your... um... gaffe. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. We all make such mistakes when learning a new language."

"Even you?" Derek asked in surprise.

Gil laughed. "Oh yes. Remind me to tell you the time I almost started a war between two clans somewhere in Africa because of a slip of the tongue. We almost didn’t make it out of there alive and the others spent the next hundred years never letting me forget it."

"You guys ought to write a book. It would make for interesting reading," Derek commented. Alex nodded in agreement. "Well, let’s grab some tea or coffee before we head over to our next class," he said and they bade Gil goodbye and headed for the lounge where, by now, the line was nonexistent so they were able to get their beverages of choice immediately and then found a place to sit together.

"So, what did you think of Gil’s class?" Alex asked the three ellyn.

"It was most amusing," Findalaurë answered, always the spokesman for the other two. "I think my lip is swollen from having to bite it so many times to stop from laughing."

"But it was very interesting," Elennen said hurriedly when both Alex and Derek scowled at Findalaurë’s words. "Lord Gilvegil is a very good teacher and he has taught you all well. That you have all progressed as far as you have in this short time in mastering the language speaketh... I mean, speaks well of his teaching skills."

Calandil nodded, but did not otherwise comment. Findalaurë gave Elennen a cool stare but then shrugged and concentrated on his tea. An awkward silence ensued for several minutes and then people started to move, returning empty mugs to the counter and grabbing their book bags. Alex and Derek did the same and the three ellyn followed them out of the building and across the campus to where the Nature Studies class was held. The three Elves kept an interested eye on everything around them, observing the other Mortals as they went about their own business. Then they were inside the classroom finding seats and Vorondur greeted them all.

"Today, we’ll review all that we’ve been learning about the animals and plants that exist in this area of Alaska, then on Wednesday, we’ll do a combined exam with your Wilderness Survival class. It will be mostly multiple choice, so don’t worry too much about it. This is just to help you focus on the relevant parts of these two courses before you go out for real with your tour groups. So, let’s put away our books and we’ll see what we can identify without looking. Everyone take out a sheet of paper and we’ll begin."

As the students complied with his orders, Vorondur dimmed the lights and then, using his laptop, displayed an animal on the screen behind him. "Name the animal and draw as best you can what its paw print would look like." He gave them a minute before moving on to the next photo, which showed a close-up of a group of needles from a particular fir tree. "Name the tree based on what you see of its needles."

All the while, as Alex scribbled down his answers, he noticed the three ellyn, who had taken some empty seats just below him, had their heads together, obviously speaking to one another so softly that none of the Mortals around them were distracted. He wondered what they were saying, but then put them out of his mind as Vorondur went on to the next slide and he went back to concentrating on what was being shown, trying to remember what type of food this particular animal ate.

At some point the slide show ended and then Vorondur went back to the beginning and the rest of the class time was spent in going over the answers with the air filled with groans and cheers depending on who got an answer correct or not. Alex was pleased that he only missed two; Derek missed three, but that was still very good. As the class came to an end, Vorondur reminded them to review all their notes for the Wilderness Survival class and then dismissed them. Alex and Derek made their way down to where the three ellyn were seated while everyone else filed out. Alex noticed that all three had excited looks on their faces.

"You have many animals that can be found in Valinor," Findalaurë said before either Alex or Derek could say anything, "but there are many that we have never seen before."

Alex shrugged. "I would suppose so. Each continent has animals that never evolved on other continents. I don’t see why Valinor would be any different."

"Thou... I mean, you do not understand," Findalaurë insisted. "All know that the Lady Yavanna and the Lady Vána brought forth all the animals and plants which inhabit this world. In the Earth Queen’s court in Valmar one can find every species of plants known to us. That you have animals that do not live in Valinor is a marvel to us and we wonder why it is so."

"We have no idea," Alex said with a shake of his head. "Do you, Ron?" He looked up at the Noldo, who was putting away his laptop. The Elf paused in his task and shook his head.

"Hadn’t really thought of it. Never having been to Valinor, I was unaware that some animals might not live there. I’m sure there are some creatures living in Valinor that have never been found here, or if so, they have left only skeletal remains to puzzle the paleontologists. Well, you should get on to lunch. By the way, I got a message from Glorfindel. He wants you three ellyn to return to Edhellond after lunch."

"Why?" Findalaurë asked, looking puzzled.

"Something about identity papers," Vorondur answered. "I think Daeron will be producing documents for you and you need to be there."

"I can bring them over before archery," Alex offered and Vorondur nodded, dismissing them and they left, stopping first at Alex and Derek’s room so they could drop off their book bags before heading for the cafeteria.

****

The archery class was coming to an end when Findalaurë, Calandil and Elennen showed up with Glorfindel and Finrod. They stood to one side and watched as the Mortals aimed at the targets with Elrohir and Elladan moving up and down the line, giving pointers and correcting people’s stances. Then the class ended and several minutes were spent putting the equipment away. Alex, looking to where the Elves were standing, noticed with some surprise the look of hunger on Elennen’s face and even Findalaurë and Calandil looked mildly interested. He remembered that it was Elennen who had been sporting a bow when they were first introduced. Obviously, the ellon was an avid archer himself.

"So, everyone get new identities?" he asked with a smile as he and Derek, along with the Twins, joined Glorfindel and the others. The three younger ellyn all nodded. "Good. I’m glad that little detail has been taken care of."

"It should make things easier," Glorfindel said. "Come spring we’ll also have them take driving lessons so they can get proper licenses."

"Oh lord," Derek said, giving a convincing shudder. "I’m glad I’m not going to be their instructor. I pity the poor smuck who gets to teach you lot how to drive."

Glorfindel and the Twins chuckled. "We’ll handle the lessons," Glorfindel said, then he turned to the Twins. "I’m giving Finrod a tour of the campus. You want to join us or do you have other plans?"

Both ellyn shrugged. "We’ll join you," Elladan said.

"Good. What about you two?" Glorfindel turned to Alex and Derek. "What are your plans for tomorrow?"

"I think we’re scheduled for the post office in the morning," Alex answered, "and then I have a session with Ron after lunch."

"Ah, the letters to Santa," Glorfindel said with a smile. "It was most enjoyable to read what the children wanted for Christmas and to write a response."

Both Mortals shrugged. "I guess," Derek said somewhat diffidently.

"Well, we won’t keep you from your dinner," Glorfindel said. "Enjoy the rest of the evening."

They bade the Elves goodnight and the two groups went their separate ways. As they were walking back to the Academy, Calandil asked who Santa was and why did children write letters to him. Both Alex and Derek were at a loss as to how to explain a cultural concept that had been evolving for centuries and finally Derek just told them that it was a Christmas tradition and that Santa, even if not a real person, represented the spirit of giving to which the season was dedicated. It wasn’t a perfect answer but it seemed to satisfy the Elves well enough.

The next morning, after breakfast, those who were scheduled to help at the post office hopped on one of the campus busses and they were soon in Wiseman and entering the post office where a woman named Joan greeted them and led them to a back room. "You-all know what to do," she said as people took their seats at the tables and began reading the letters that were piled before them. Alex took a moment to introduce the woman to the three ellyn, explaining that they were prospective students shadowing them for the week. Joan gave them a bright smile. "Well, why don’t you sit on over here and I’ll show you what to do," she said and as Alex and Derek took their own seats, Joan spent several minutes explaining the procedure to the three Elves and a few minutes later they were cautiously opening their first letters and reading them, then carefully writing out what was written on the large posters hanging above them. Findalaurë was the first to finish a letter and hesitantly showed it to Derek who was seated near by. Derek took a quick glance at it and nodded and Findalaurë gave him a relieved look as he set that letter aside and went to the next one.

And so the morning passed quietly and soon it was time for lunch. While some students elected to remain in town to eat lunch and do some shopping, Alex and Derek decided to return to the college and the three ellyn joined them.

"The letters were interesting, but most confusing," Findalaurë commented. "I did not understand most of what was in them. What are transformers?"

"And this Star Wars," Calandil added. "What is a light saber? It soundeth... sounds like a weapon. Do you give your children weapons as gifts? I thought you said this was a season dedicated to peace."

Alex and Derek exchanged amused looks and then endeavored, with little success, to explain. In the end, the Elves seemed no more enlightened than before but decided to leave it. As they entered the building Alex said to them, "You go on to the cafeteria. I’m just going to check my email and then I’ll join you shortly."

Derek nodded and they separated at the top of the stairs. It was fifteen minutes later before Derek realized that Alex had yet to show up. "Something’s wrong," he muttered and without another word he stood up and got rid of his half-eaten lunch with the three ellyn close behind him. Opening the door to his room, he saw that it was empty but Alex’s laptop was open. He turned to Elennen. "Check the bathroom and see if he’s there. Maybe he’s had a relapse of the virus."

Elennen nodded and headed for the bathroom while Derek and the others went inside. Derek glanced at the laptop which had not yet gone into sleep mode and found himself reading the email that was up. As he read it, he began to swear.

"What is it?" Findalaurë asked. "What have you found?"

Derek looked up. "It’s apparently from one of Alex’s coworkers at the Agency," he answered, even as Elennen returned, shaking his head. "According to her, there’s no one matching Farrell’s description working at the Agency."

"What does that mean and where has Alex gone?" Calandil asked, his expression one of puzzlement.

"Those are two very good questions," Derek said with a sigh, even as he started fishing out his cell phone. He checked a number in his phone book and soon was speaking to Glorfindel, explaining what he’d discovered.

"Alex is missing and we have no idea where to start looking," he ended. He listened for a moment to whatever Glorfindel was saying then nodded. "We’ll be here," he said before shutting down his phone. "Loren says to stay put. He’ll be right over."

"Farrell," Findalaurë said. "Was he not the obnoxious person we met the other night?"

Derek nodded.

"Dost thou... I mean, do you think Alex has gone in search of this Farrell who seems not to exist?" Findalaurë ventured.

"I wish I bloody knew," Derek said with a sigh as he sat heavily in the chair before Alex’s desk, staring at the damning email, worried for his gwador, as they waited impatiently for Glorfindel to arrive.