The Shire was not prepared for a family that could rewrite the laws of thermodynamics before breakfast.
While Kaelen had officially "rented" a plot of land near Overhill, he hadn't exactly moved into a hole. Instead, he had folded a pocket of the Ethereal Plane into a small, ivy-covered cottage that looked like a humble gardener's shack on the outside but contained a library the size of Alexandria and a pantry that refreshed itself every time the door closed.
The Little Void's First Lesson
Lúthien-Ael sat in a field of pipe-weed, her silver-white eyes fixed on a ladybug. As she reached out a tiny finger, the air around the insect began to flicker, turning into a grey, grainy static.
"No, sweetie," Kaelen said, appearing instantly beside her. He knelt in the dirt, ignoring the fact that his robes were made of starlight. "Don't erase it. Capture it. The ladybug isn't a mistake; it's a point of data in the Great Empty."
He placed his hand over hers.
The Stasis Field
Kaelen showed her how to shift her power. Instead of the "Negative Void" (which deletes), he taught her the "Zero-Point Void."
The ladybug didn't vanish. Instead, it became a perfect, living statue, frozen in a micro-second of time. It was a beautiful, crimson jewel held in a bubble of absolute stillness.
"See?" Kaelen whispered. "You are the keeper of moments, Lúthien. Thranduil removes the bad, Ereinion brings the good, but you... you keep the world from moving too fast."
The Brothers' Protective Streak
Thranduil and Ereinion were taking their roles as elder brothers with terrifying seriousness.
A group of local Hobbits, led by a particularly brave Gamgee, had approached the cottage to ask about the "Golden Cloud" (Smaug) that was currently napping behind the hill.
"Is that... a dragon?" the Hobbit squeaked, pointing at a massive, snoring tail poking out from the mist.
Thranduil stepped forward, his eyes like twin abysses. "It is a localized weather phenomenon. I suggest you return to your gardening before the 'weather' decides it's hungry."
"Thranduil, be nice," Ereinion scolded, though he was currently using his spear Aeglos to hover a dozen apple tarts in the air to keep them cool for Lúthien. "He's just curious."
Ereinion turned to the Hobbits with a blindingly handsome smile. "It's a very friendly cloud. It only eats Orcs. Do you have Orcs in Hobbiton?"
The Hobbits scrambled away, decided that "Old Kaelen's" family was best left to their own devices.
The Family Dinner
That evening, the four of them sat around a table that Kaelen had carved from a single block of obsidian.
Thranduil was busy cutting Lúthien's meat into perfect, geometrically equal cubes using a micro-thin Void-blade.
Ereinion was telling a story about the stars, making tiny, glowing constellations dance above the soup.
Lúthien-Ael was practicing her new "Stasis" trick on a carrot, looking incredibly proud of herself.
"Master," Thranduil said, glancing at Kaelen. "The Rangers of the North have been hovering near the borders. They've heard whispers of the 'Lords of the Silence' living in the Shire."
Kaelen sipped his tea—a blend of chamomile and cosmic dust. "Let them whisper. They're good people, the Dúnedain. They just don't understand that we're on vacation."
"I like the small people," Lúthien chirped, her voice like a clear bell. "They have very loud spirits. They taste like... honey and dirt."
"That's 'courage' and 'gardening,' kiddo," Kaelen laughed.
The Night Watch
As the kids went to bed—Lúthien curled up in a bed made of soft, solidified clouds—Kaelen stood on the porch with his two sons. The Shire was dark, the only light coming from the distant, watchful eyes of Smaug on the hilltop.
"We've built something here," Ereinion said softly. "A home."
"It's more than a home," Thranduil added, looking at the matte-black ring on his finger. "It's an Anchor. As long as we are here, the Shadow cannot touch this land."
Kaelen leaned back against the doorframe, watching the stars. He had been reincarnated with the power to destroy worlds, but as he looked at the two young men he had raised and the little girl sleeping inside, he knew his greatest feat wasn't the Void magic.
It was the family that filled it.
"Tomorrow," Kaelen announced, "we're going to teach the Hobbits how to brew 'Void-Ale.' It's like normal ale, but you never get a hangover because the alcohol is technically in another dimension."
Thranduil sighed, but he was smiling. "Yes, Master. I'll get the buckets."