The road to the Shire was supposed to be a relaxing stroll through the rolling hills of Eriador. Kaelen had even enchanted Smaug to look like an oversized, golden-scaled cloud so as not to cause a mass panic among the local Bree-landers.
But as they crossed the Brandywine Bridge, the air didn't smell of pipe-weed and blooming clover. It smelled of Static.
"Master," Ereinion said, his hand tightening on the shaft of Aeglos. "The space ahead is... thin. It's vibrating."
Thranduil narrowed his eyes, his matte-black ring pulsing. "It's not a rift. It's a scream. Someone is unintentionally folding the local reality."
The Girl in the Glade
In a small grove of willow trees just outside Buckland, the world was unraveling. A young Elf girl, barely old enough to reach Kaelen's waist, sat huddled in the roots of a tree. She was dressed in rags, her dark hair tangled with briars.
She wasn't crying with tears. She was crying with Entropy.
Every time she sobbed, a small patch of the grass beneath her simply turned into grey dust. A butterfly that flew too close didn't die—it just ceased to have ever existed. She was a natural-born Void-Well, a rare anomaly where the universe had forgotten to give a soul a physical anchor.
"Stay back, boys," Kaelen said, his voice unusually gentle. "She's a 'Zero-Point' entity. If you touch her without a buffer, you'll be erased from the family tree."
The Harmonizing
Kaelen walked into the grey zone. His boots turned to dust with every step, but he simply willed them back into existence. He sat down a few feet from the girl.
"Hey there, kiddo," Kaelen said. "That's a pretty big hole you're making. You trying to dig to the other side of the galaxy?"
The girl looked up. Her eyes were unlike the boys'; they weren't dark or light. They were Clear. Looking into them was like looking through a clean window into a basement with no floor.
"Everything... goes away when I touch it," she whispered. "The Orcs who chased me... they just turned into smoke. My mother... she's gone."
Kaelen felt a pang of genuine empathy. He reached into the Void and pulled out a small, stuffed rabbit. It was made of "Neutral Matter"—something that couldn't be erased because it didn't technically exist in the first place. He handed it to her.
"I'm Kaelen. And I'm very good at keeping things from going away," he said. He looked back at his two "sons." "Thranduil, Ereinion! Come over here. We need to create a Tri-Point Anchor."
The Binding of the Sister
The Foundation (Thranduil): He placed his hand on the ground, creating a heavy gravity-well that pinned the girl's physical form to the earth.
The Illumination (Ereinion): He wove a cloak of "Solid Starlight" and draped it around her shoulders, giving her "Nothingness" a shape and a border.
The Name (Kaelen): Kaelen placed a hand on her head. "Your name is Lúthien-Ael—the Daughter of the Silent Mere. From now on, you don't take from the world. You just hold it still."
A New Family Dynamic
The "Road Trip" to the Shire suddenly became a family move. By the time they reached the borders of Hobbiton, Lúthien-Ael was riding on Thranduil's shoulders, fascinated by how his matte-black ring seemed to "eat" the shadows she accidentally created.
"She's very quiet," Ereinion noted, walking beside them. He had manifested a small, floating ball of light for her to play with.
"She's the 'Absence,'" Kaelen explained. "If you're the Light, and Thranduil is the Dark, she's the Pause. Every good song needs a pause, Ereinion."
The Void FamilyRolePowerKaelenThe FatherThe Source / The ArchitectThranduilThe EldestThe Dark Void / ErasureEreinionThe MiddleThe White Void / CreationLúthien-AelThe YoungestThe Still Void / StasisThe Hobbit's Nightmare (and Dream)
They arrived at Bag End just as Bilbo Baggins was coming out to check his mail. He saw:
A tall man in shimmering charcoal robes.
A regal Elf Prince with eyes like a midnight sky.
A High-Elven youth carrying a spear made of starlight.
A small girl who seemed to be trailed by a faint, ghostly mist.
And a golden dragon-shaped cloud hovering suspiciously low.
"Good morning!" Bilbo squeaked, his hand shaking.
"It is a good morning," Kaelen grinned. "We're looking to rent a hobbit-hole. Preferably one with a large kitchen. We've got a new daughter, and she's got a very 'empty' stomach."
Lúthien-Ael looked at Bilbo and gave a small, shy wave. A nearby flower instantly bloomed into a color that didn't exist in the visible spectrum.
"Oh dear," Bilbo muttered, retreating into his home. "I think I'm going to need more tea."
Thranduil looked at his new sister and then at Kaelen. "She needs a room of her own, Master. One that won't dissolve if she has a nightmare."
"I'll get right on it," Kaelen said, snapping his fingers. "In the meantime, who wants to help me teach the Hobbits how to grow pumpkins the size of their houses?"