Fan Fiction ❯ Tên Mûel ❯ The love of home ( Chapter 26 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Tên Mûel
Authors: Makiko Igami (makikoigami@yahoo.de) & My-chan (My-chan@gmx.de)
Archive: http://www.yaoi.rulestheweb.com
http://www.fire-angel.net/Seek%20Truth/ main.html
http://lotr.lirimaer.com/
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfi c/src.php?auth=58906
http://fanfiction.alansworld.com/viewuser.php?uid= 74
http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/authors.php?no=2588
Legolas In Chains Archive
ALSlash Archive
Library of Moria, too
Category: AU, RPG
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon... *is getting poked by My-chan: "NC-17!"* *sweatdrops*
Pairings: Aragorn/Legolas, others as well *glances over to Elladan & Elrohir*
Warnings: Slash, OOC (of Arwen mostly), slavery, angst...
Spoilers: A few... not really as I don't remember much of the book, just that Aragorn became King of Gondor in the end and that Arwen was his Queen.
Summary: After seven years of marriage, the excitement of being together has vanished from Aragorn's and Arwen's marriage... maybe a present might change this.
Disclaimer: You know the deal don't you? J.R.R. Tolkien invented them, and if we owned them, we would be related to him, but since neither I nor My-chan are... we just play around with them, toy with their minds and use them for fun only. <insert evil laughter here>
Notes&Comments: This was written by me and My-chan as a rpg and ever since Pretending And Being, a wild mix of German and English, we have this nearly "exhibitionistic" need for feedback from various places. ^^;; So please be gentle.
Now on to the story itself. I know that this may look like a serious Arwen-bashing story, but please be reassured that we don't mean to cause any harm to anybody who likes her. She is just for causes of story-telling such a bitch here. ^^;
The Sindarin we used (and transformed for ourselves) comes from a little program called Dragon Flame (which I always think that it is this game I don't want to play unless I know I am on my own), but since it didn't have all the words we needed, we had to make them up. If you have any questions feel free to send an email to any of us... and hope that we still know what we wanted to say. ^^;;;;
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For a few hours Rhÿn's sleep was fast and sound and most of all calm, but then the horrifying pictures of the early morning returned to him with full power and he tensed in his sleep. One of his clenching fists grabbed a handful of hay, while the other one buried itself in Arwen's robes.

Arwen stirred in her sleep when she felt how the otherwise soft hold on her tightened. After a while she blinked her eyes open as the earthquake underneath her didn't cease. Rhÿn was obviously having a nightmare, but didn't wake up from it. So she gently shook him, kissed his cheek trying to wake him up.

"Rhÿn... wake up, Mîr... you're having a nightmare," she cooed gently, not wanting to start him again.

The half-breed felt a stinging pain in his chest and this made him wake up finally, his eyes snapping wide open. Silver pools stared up at the ceiling and his heart pounded in his chest, breath hitching as he clenched his right hand around the hay even tighter, his fingernails drawing blood from his palm.

"Rhÿn!" Arwen called him, now more than just a little worried. "Rhÿn! Mîr... it... it's just a nightmare..." Carefully she wiped the cold sweat from his brow, trying to sooth him with her presence.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment the boy raised his hands to his head, rubbing his face. "No, it's not," he muttered. "I wish it were."

Slowly he sat up, taking care that he didn't cause Arwen to fall off him and waited until she rearranged her position. Again he moved his hands over his face, wiping away the remaining sweat and also moved his hands through his hair to tame his wild black tresses.

The woman sat down next to him, watching him move with a tiny frown. Which turned into a shocked expression as she saw the blood on his hand and she snatched it into her own hand to take a look at it. "Rhÿn! You're bleeding!"

She gently kissed the little wounds that he had obviously caused himself, to make them better, just like she did when she was younger when her brothers were hurt. Then she looked up into his eyes.

"Why?" she asked, "What... what happened?"

Rhÿn pulled his hand out of her grip and clenched it again, welcoming the pain it brought as a very much needed distraction and a call back to the now and there. Another muttered "nothing" came out between clenched jaws before he turned his gaze away and stared nowhere with an icy glare.

"Rhÿn... I know it is not nothing, and it's upsetting you," she said firmly, this scenery being just too familiar to her by now with him. She laid her hand softly on his cheek, turning his face so that she was looking at him. "Talk to me... please..."

The boy stared at her for several moments, his gaze much softer now, but still cold. Pain shimmered in his eyes when he finally met hers and he parted his lips to comply her plea.

"There was a hunt... in the Grey Woods a bunch of Wolves raced down a hill and I was one of them. Hunters were on our track on horses, with hounds numerical superior to us. When the clearing turned into a narrow path they started shooting arrows. One of them hit my chest... " Absentmindedly his hand moved to the spot on his chest where he had felt the stinging pain. "Then I woke up..."

Arwen frowned, not knowing whether this was just the dream or what had really happened. She caressed his cheek softly, the tiny frown still on her face. Not everything he said made sense to her, but she gathered that it must have felt horrible seeing it as vividly as Rhÿn seemed to have seen it. "This... was the dream... right? What... what happened really?"

Pain washed over the boy's face when he remembered the events of the night and slowly he lowered his arm again, drawing up his leg. Slowly he pulled up his trouser leg, revealing a red and rather fresh looking bite mark.

"I left before the hunt began... They made me leave," he corrected himself bitterly, pulling the cloth back down.

"Who? The Wolves?" Arwen asked, not sure what else to say as she was a little surprised by the large bite on her lover's leg.

Rhÿn nodded. "Yes. Ayesha bit me slightly to tell me how serious she was about me leaving them... She said she would bite off my leg if I dared to return..."

Again he clenched his fists, his facial expression a mix of worry, rage and hatred. "Damn them... damn these Humans!" The words came out as a mix between a hiss and a growl.

Arwen was only hurt for a heartbeat. She was still married to a Human and there was still a place in her heart that loved him, but she could also understand Rhÿn's feelings. Some people of that species were really bastards. But she didn't want to talk about it right now.

She leaned in, at the same time tugging softly at his cheek and kissed him on the mouth, intending fully to make him shut up with that gesture.

The boy's eyes widened slightly when he suddenly felt his lover's lips on his and he hesitated for a moment before he closed his eyes as well. But still he didn't kiss back. He just sat there like this for a moment, until he finally moved his head to the side, slightly rubbing his cheek against hers and simply hugged her, pulling her close to him.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I just wish there was something... I could do to make them stop... make them stop hunting... for fun..."

Hugging him back tightly, the woman rubbed her cheek back against his, applying a light kiss on his earlobe. She knew it was not a good idea to say this to him, but the words fell as a murmur from her lips before she could stop them, "Elessar... could..."

When Rhÿn heard these words a bitter laugh fell from his lips and he wasn't able to hold it back. "Ah yes? Is he? Well yes, probably. But what are you going to tell him?" he asked, his voice sounding a tad colder than usually. "'Estel, darling, I'm sorry that we almost killed each other yesterday, but could you please make a law that forbids hunting wolves for fun? My lover the groom would appreciate it really much.'" His voice was almost void of emotions when he spoke these words but the following snort let the actual sarcasm show that lay behind them.

Slowly he backed away so he was able to look into her face. "Don't get me wrong, Meleth. I would be very happy if there was any chance that you could get him to do this, but there isn't. There is no way you could explain it to him without... well... making the scene even uglier than the one yesterday..."

Rhÿn gently took her hand in his and kissed her palm. "This is my problem and my sorrow, and you don't need to bother yourself with it..." he murmured, and his face lightened up a bit as he remembered a promise he had made before he fell asleep. "Let's forget about this for a moment, alright? There's a promise I have to keep..." And with these words he leaned in again and sealed her lips with his, silencing any protest that might come from her.

Arwen had looked away as he was mocking her and her relationship with Estel. Her own eyes became devoid of emotion as he spoke, feeling how tears crept slowly into the corners of her eyes. The pain she had felt the previous days still sat to deep and was not easy to get rid of, especially not with Rhÿn making fun of the whole scenery like that. Maybe he didn't even mean to make it sound like that, but his bitterness hurt her still wounded heart and she couldn't stop that tear falling from the corner of her eye as he kissed her.

She couldn't gather that Estel wouldn't help him just because he was her lover... of course, she shouldn't be the one to ask him, but why Rhÿn was too proud to ask him himself she didn't know. So now it was her turn not to kiss back although it had been her own wish and she had been looking very much forward to it.

When the boy noticed that she wasn't kissing back just like he hadn't, he backed away again looking deep into midnight blue eyes. A wave of guilt washed over him as he realized that he had hurt the girl he loved even more with his careless choice of words.

"I am sorry, Meleth...." He murmured and let go of her as he stood up and stepped to the window. "This is bothering me more than I can admit, even to myself. I shouldn't have let it out on you... I'm sorry... really..." His look was sad as he stood there, his gaze wandering to the west where the Grey Woods lay, even though he couldn't see them from this position.

It took Arwen some time sitting in the hay to stop her silent weeping and to wipe her tears away. She took a very deep steadying breath before she stood up and patted a few ears from her dress. Slowly walking over to him standing at the window she put her hand tentatively on his arm.

"It... it doesn't matter... I mean, it does. But it's alright... I will have to overcome this pain..." she murmured, just to sooth herself, not really thinking about the meaning of her words. Slightly red eyes looked up at him. "Will you... kiss me... try again?"

The half-breed still looked out the window, much too wrapped into his own worry to care about anybody else. It was hard to put it this way, but it was true. Right now he didn't have the power to spend solace to the girl next to him. And he needed a distraction or he would think about his friends and the danger they were in all day long for sure.

Sleeping with Arwen might have been a good distraction, and she was longing for it too, but it would be only temporarily and he also wasn't in the mood for that. So he finally turned to face her again, looking back into her eyes with his cool silver pools and shook his head slightly.

"I am sorry, Meleth. I can't give you what you want right now.... I should get to work..." With these words he stepped out of her touching range and walked over to his now dry shirt, putting it on.

Arwen stared at his back, not sure if she should be relieved or not. But she only nodded as she started to pick a few ears out of her hair, slowly moving into the direction of the ladder. "I... I'll come back later, okay?" she asked just before she started her descent.

"As you wish, Milady..." Rhÿn murmured absentmindedly as his gaze wandered out of the window once more, his eyes darkened with worry. He really needed to get back to his work, to distract himself. Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what he just said. Quickly he spun around to tell Arwen that he didn't mean to say that to her, but she was already gone and he could hear her steps approaching the exit of the stables.

The boy cursed himself for every reason he could find, just to let his utter rage out on something and himself seemed a good choice for this matter. Then he waited until he couldn't hear Arwen anymore and made his way down to the actual stables as well.

Meanwhile underneath the Mallorn trees of Gondor Aragorn had reluctantly untangled himself from Legolas embrace. The day was beautiful still, despite the way it had started, and for several hours the pair of them simply enjoyed sitting in the sun, or rather the few rays that made their way through the close roof of leaves provided by the trees.

Then, very suddenly, Aragorn remembered what he had been reading the previous day. "So... you told me that you had two brothers yesterday... Do you have any sisters?"

Legolas was slightly taken aback when the Human asked him about his family again all of a sudden. He considered his answer for a moment, but finally decided not to lie and nodded.

"Yes, I do." Inwardly he was wondering though if Aragorn was actually interested in this or if he was just trying to keep the conversation running. "Why do you ask?" he asked then, looking back into Elessar's eyes.

"You didn't answer my question if you had any other siblings yesterday," the man said with a sheepish smile. "And now that you got to know my siblings and their behavior, I was interested what people who are related to you are like. I would like to know more of you, if you don't mind," Aragorn added quickly as an afterthought.

Legolas chuckled softly. "That's not fair. My brothers and yours are... so not similar at all... and well... to bring our brothers' behavior in relation to our own seems... unfair... mostly because it makes me look really bad," he admitted with a sweat drop.

Aragorn tried hard to follow the Elf's elaborations, but in the end he only understood the very essence of it. "Why should it? What are your brothers like? I mean, you already mentioned that they are not as... 'lively' as Elladan and Elrohir are... but... well, what are they like that it would make you look so bad?"

It was clear to the Elf that he had to express his feelings a little better than that. "Well, you see... Your brothers are very interesting persons, full of energy, outgoing and kind. Your life with them made you just as kind and one can see that you love your life." He paused for a moment hoping he was easier to understand now.

"My brothers are stiff, introverted, bitter sometimes even. They rarely smile, take everything too seriously, keep me in leading strings whenever they get the chance and... Well.... It's hard to see if they even enjoy their life, and sometimes I think if it wasn't for our father they would have left a long time ago."

He paused again, shaking the almost sad expression off his face. "And now if somebody would think that if your brothers made you such a kind person, what would people think that mine made me?" he asked then with a wry smile.

"Well, if you use this argument, I'll have to tell you something else about my brothers," Aragorn said with a smirk. "They are lazy and most of all they are the horniest creatures I have ever seen in my entire life. And although I may seem infinitely young to you, I have seen a lot of things. All my life I tried to get away and hide from them... somehow they have the antics to see me as their toy." He shook his head.

"You are right, they are the exact opposite of your brothers, but still, I do not think of them as highly as you seem to, maybe just because they are my brothers. You are a kind person as well, so I don't think they can be as bad as you just described them," he said and instantly hoped that neither Elladan nor Elrohir had picked up anything he just said.

"I might be, but it's definitely not their doing," Legolas replied with a little smirk. "And my little sister actually saves me from them most of the time. It's due to her that I didn't die a horrible death of boredom by now... several times."

"Ah, so you have a younger sister," Aragorn repeated, making it clear to himself. "And she's different to what your brothers are like," he added, "more like my brothers, I guess? Without their horny antics though, I hope."

Legolas laughed softly with his clear voice and his eyes sparkled like the sun on the leaves of the Mallorns. Then he smiled warmly as he thought about his little sister, a gentle and warm smile as the thought warmed up his heart.

"Yes, she's wonderful. So full of life, so happy, filled with light as if she was reflecting the sun with her heart." The blond man knew he could probably go on like this the whole day and thus he stopped himself a sheepish smile on his features. "She's... my precious..." he added a little lower and his voice sounded a bit sad.

He was close to telling Aragorn what he had promised her, but he didn't want to put that pressure on the Human now. He had said he would let him go and he just had to trust in his words and wait until his time came. And so he just stayed quiet.

The King watched Legolas talk and laugh, a little appreciating smile tugging at the corner of his lips, while his eyes were twinkling with mirth. This was the Legolas he wanted to see, the one smiling and laughing, talking happily about the ones he loved...

"...but?" the man inquired as Legolas stopped with a rather sad expression on his face, although he sounded more like he wanted to say more, probably tell him that she missed him terribly and that he feared worse things about her than what had happened to him.

The Elf looked up, a little surprised about Aragorn's reply or rather his question. He held his gaze for a few moments, considering if he should really tell him what was on his mind. But on the other hand the Human had asked for it, more than just once.

"I promised her to ... to meet later when I sent her back home... I think she trusts my every word and that she still waits for me, that she didn't lose her hope yet. But still her feeling of time is different than mine... she is still young, and time runs awfully slow for those who're young..." his voice faded out as he realized for the first time how much he really worried about her. Worried that her heart might grow bitter and cold with grief.

Aragorn stayed silent for some time, letting sink in how important that girl was to Legolas. Not only did he miss her, no, she probably missed him just as badly, maybe even more. He never had a younger sister - or brother - so he did not really know what it felt like to be worried about them. Sometimes he was worried about his brothers' sanity or even lives, but that was not really comparable.

"How long?" he asked quietly, "how long since you last saw her?"

Legolas looked away for a second, taking a deep breath and blinking a few times as he felt how his eyes heated up. But he didn't want to cry again, it would neither help him nor his sister in any way. No, he had to be strong.

"A little more than six months, I think," he answered then, looking back into the steel blue eyes of the other man.

The man nodded slowly. This was indeed a very long time for Humans, but Elves usually needed more time than that to get really scared about somebody. But then again, the youngest Elves he had met were his own foster siblings, so he did not know how it was like for Elven adolescents.

"That... is not that long," he tried to sooth Legolas, doing his best at a wry smile. "She will still be waiting for you... One thing I learned is that hope dies the last..."

"Yes, it does," the Elf agreed since he knew that very well himself. "I guess I'm just too worried about it... but if she knows what happened... she might... spin her thoughts further... She has a very wild imagination, and in this case it might not be too good," Legolas murmured and lowered his gaze again.

Aragorn raised an eyebrow while exactly two things were on his mind. Firstly that she was probably right with whatever she thought and secondly that she must be very similar to Elladan and Elrohir indeed if she thought something like that. He shook his head slightly to get that thought out of his mind and bit his tongue so that he didn't say anything that went into that direction. But that limited his possibilities almost to zero.

"Do you think, she thinks... that you are dead?" he asked tentatively.

Legolas nodded slowly. "Probably..." He cleared his throat. "I mean... I was almost dead...close to it... maybe she felt that..." He closed his eyes and laid his head back, taking a deep breath. "I sure hope she didn't," he whispered before he opened his eyes again and looked up to the leaves of the tree above him.

Then he lowered his head again and looked Aragorn straight into his eyes. "Are you sure you want to talk about this?" he asked.

Holding this gaze for a moment, the man answered, "No. But only because I do not think that your sister thinks you are dead. She may be worried, but she should sense that you are still alive. Now even more than some months ago."

He made an idle movement with his arm. "Let's see that you get back in your old shape soon, well, better than before that is, so that she doesn't have to worry about you anymore," he changed the topic though. "As you are to rest today, I can only show you where we're going tomorrow... would you like that?"

Again the Elf nodded and a smile played with his lips. Aragorn was right. If she could feel when he was almost dead, she also felt that he was much better now, and that there was still hope. Lots of. "Thanks... and yes, I would love to see more of your home."

He didn't add though that he would prefer not to meet anybody on their way, wherever they were going, especially no Humans, but that was rather unrealistic since he was surrounded by them and it was time to get used to it.

Aragorn stood up and dusted some imaginary dirt from his behind before he offered Legolas to take his hand and pull him up to stand. "This... is not really my home," he explained with some regret in his voice. "It is supposed to be, but just like you I grew up in the woods... and well, I'm missing them from time to time."

Legolas took the offered hand and pulled himself up. But the sudden change between sitting and standing made his circulation go crazy for a moment and he felt dizzy. Out of a reflex he grabbed a handful of Aragorn's shirt, thus pulling himself closer to the strong body in front of him. The Elf leaned against him for a moment until his head was clear again and then looked up with a little sheepish smile on his features.

Then he nodded. "You miss your real home badly, don't you?" he asked softly. To Legolas it was clear that the Human didn't only miss the woods "from time to time" as he had said since he already talked about going back to the woods earlier today. "And if it was only for one day..." the Elf murmured.

When Legolas had threatened to fall, Aragorn's arms had found their way almost naturally around his shoulders to catch and hold him. He breathed deeply for a moment, thanking the Valar that he got this armful of Elf to take care of at least for a little while, before he looked down into that almost violet gaze in front of him.

For a heartbeat he wanted to protest, but then he simply nodded. "Yes," he admitted, "But my place is here..."

"Oh really?" Legolas asked with a bit of a smug grin. "Judging from what I read and the little I know about you, you did a lot better as a strider than you're doing as a king: It doesn't suit you and one can easily see that you don't enjoy it at all," he said, maybe a little too bluntly. But he meant it and he didn't regret saying it.

"Your place might be here, but your heart definitely is somewhere else, far away."

Aragorn's eyebrows shot up at this, slightly amused. "Oh really? Do I sense some criticism here? Is there someone who's not happy with my kingship?" he gave back, well knowing that the Elf in his arms was true about his real feelings.

He missed being a simple ranger, who went completely unnoticed from everybody else, who was free to go where he wanted to, where he was needed. But this was his destiny and he had somehow known it from the beginning, from the first day he had been able to think that he was bound with his blood to this fate.

The Elf shook his head, grinning slightly. "Oh... no... what makes you think that? I would never dare to criticize such a ... mighty King... as yourself..." He cleared his throat and looked to the side, trying to hide the much wider grin that made his lips curl up.

"I just heard a little bird whistle it," the man chuckled softly as he saw that grin Legolas sought to hide behind his chest. Right at that moment he heard a rather shrill chirp, coming from one of the Mallorns' branches that sounded somewhat familiar to him. He turned his head slightly just to see how a little sparrow was taking off as if he didn't want to have to do anything with the bickering of the two men and chuckled even more.

"And well, it was no sparrow as he seems not to like the idea very much," he added with a very sheepish snicker.

The Elf chuckled and turned his head to look after his little friend. Obviously he had enough of their company now and preferred to join his little bird-friends. And Legolas actually thought that he should since he was keeping his company for quite a long time and the other sparrows might become jealous because he was abandoning them.

After Blackspot was out of sight, the blond turned his head back to look at the Human, finally letting go of his shirt which he was still clutching as he noticed just now. "So... what did you want to show me?"

"Well..." the man said, still holding the Elf gently in his arms. "Do you like horses?"

He winced unnoticeably at this question as his mind made him remember just then, that most of his horses had been presents from his wife to him, either to his birthday or the celebration of their wedding day, just like Legolas had been. But he didn't know then who was crueler: his wife or his mind.

Legolas' face lightened when he heard that and he nodded. "Yes, I do... I love horses."

"Well, what would you say if I wanted to show you the stables?" the man suggested, deliberately ignoring the fact that one could easily say that Legolas was just another horse. Somehow the entire dark humor of this warped situation was not at all appealing to him.

"I'd say that I would love to see them," the Elf replied. Actually the thought that he could get the chance to see or feel one of these graceful animals made his heart beat a little faster. Mostly because he hadn't been close to one of them for such a long time as he had been locked up inside most of the time.

"Well then, what's keeping us?" Aragorn asked and then finally stepped away from Legolas to offer his arm instead of his embrace. It would be rather hard for them to walk like that.

"Your hug, I believe," Legolas chuckled with a soft teasing in his voice and then took the offered arm. It might have made them look a little funny, but his steps were still not as stable as they were supposed to be and he was grateful for something to hold onto, just in case that he stumbled or even threatened to fall.

"Well, I didn't mind hugging you... did you?" Aragorn said innocently as he bit his tongue so that he didn't say that it was Legolas who had sought his proximity first. And by the way he was now holding on to him, he didn't seem much like he would be able to start the practice they had talked about earlier.

Legolas shook his head. "No, I didn't," he said with a smile. He did not mind it at all, first of all because it was actually his decision to hug the Human and secondly... well, secondly because he found Aragorn's proximity very comfortable. More than just that. But the other man didn't have to know that.

He let Aragorn lead the way back inside and inwardly prayed that they wouldn't meet any Humans. Okay, not too many after a moment of consideration, since it was rather unlikely that they didn't meet anybody on their way through Minas Tirith.

A few moments after they had entered the fortress Aragorn saw the rather large frame of his guards' commander approach them rather quickly and he slowed his steps to welcome the younger man.

"Milord, I've been looking for you all over Minas Tirith... until I asked the cook who told me you were outside with your... slave," Greaw said, smiling a little sheepishly at the blond person with the large collar around his neck. "I... have... done as you told me to," he added, not wanting to elaborate his order further in public.

The Elf tensed when he sensed the bulky man approaching them and when Aragorn even slowed down to meet him. Automatically he bowed his head down, not looking at the other man as he started to talk, and he even seemed to shrink at least one inch as he stood there and stared to the ground.

He even winced slightly at the words about him and made a small step backwards that brought him a little behind Aragorn, just as if he wanted to hide from the other Human, which actually was the truth. He was afraid of the strong figure, even though his voice was calm and he seemed rather friendly. Legolas couldn't suppress a shiver that ran through his body and he was painfully aware of his arm that was still entwined with the king's, and how it made them look. Thus he made a weak attempt to pull it away.

Aragorn nodded and then felt how Legolas squirmed next to him. He frowned and then looked to his side, seeing the Elf hiding behind him, looking absolutely scared. If it weren't for the fact that he knew Greaw would rather kill himself than do something that would harm anybody the King liked he would have let him hide further. But thus he tugged gently at his arm and forced the Elf to stand in front of him.

"Legolas, this is Greaw, Commander of Security here. You did his job the other night," he said and patted his shoulder. Smiling at the taller man in front of them he introduced them the other way round. "Greaw, this is Legolas from Mirkwood. He's a little... shy towards Humans."

To be continued...
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I'm sorry to inform you all there won't be an update for at least the next two weeks. Makiko is going away next Saturday and there is little to no chance that there will be access to the internet for her where she stays in Denmark. But if anybody knows the place Viggo lived... please send it to makikoigami@yahoo.de. She'd love to see whether she can coax her parents to let them visit it. ^^;