Chapter One: Surprises, Surprises…

Disclaimer: This is an after-story of The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. He has copyrighted the characters except the ones I made up.

(To see what happened to all of the LOTR characters before this story, see LOTR Afterthoughts. This is building off of what is described there and it is recommended that you at least skim through it before reading this. Also, the timing is not exactly right here. Legolas and Gimli did not actually leave in the books until Aragorn died, but that would take away from the story. Sorry, a few things like that might be a little off. Forgive small mistakes please, and R&R!)

Legolas and Gimli talked and laughed as they strode through the forest. The leaves and branches cast strange shadows on the two

friends, and the cool breeze shifted the patterns of light. They were approaching the river Anduin, and spray from the water hit their much

differing faces. The water seemed to favor the dwarf for beads of spray were gathering on his beard. Gimli was finishing an impression of

Gandalf, complete with riddle speech and odd choices of words. The trees parted and showed the rushing river. It was, as Pippin pit it, "Running

along as fast as the children ran after we set off that enormous firework at Bilbo's party!" He had also said that he wouldn't have come any

nearer to the river than to Old Man Willow. He had been around young hobbits at the time, and loved talking about his adventures in front of

them. He had laughed and refused to sail with them to Valinor. He was still only 50 years old, and had quite a life still to live in Middle Earth.

They stepped onto the gray ship they had together built, tied up on the bank of the river. Legolas swung up onto the top of the mast. His

elf-eyes saw the Shire to one side of his looking point, with children staring up wide-eyed at Pippin's storytelling. In Minas Tirith, Arwen was

sleeping soundly in a silver tree and mumbling something that sounded vaguely like "hoom, hoom…" He wondered what that was about.

Aragorn stood in a watch tower, gravely eating a pastry as he surveyed the land. For a moment, their eyes seemed to meet, though they were

many miles apart. Aragorn's face softened and seemed to show a bit of sorrow as he realized he was gazing at the point where his dearest

friends were departing. "Good bye, my friends," he whispered. , though he could not know that Legolas could see him. He knew it was absurd,

since he was going to sail away from Middle Earth, but Legolas felt that he would see Aragorn again…

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Gimli's call of, "Oi, Legolas! Where can I find some food on this ship? Twas' you who put it

away and I'm quite hungry!" Legolas dropped down from the mast and pointed out the food hold, hinting that they should use it sparingly.

He had forgotten that Gimli could not take the most obvious hint in the world if it pertained to saving food. Gimli settled down on a crate of

apples and began to chow down on the first week's worth of food. "Why did the laddie say he was not coming?" he inquired between

mouthfuls. Legolas smiled. Only Gimli would think of food as they departed from their home forever and call the king of Gondor laddie.

"Arwen is recovering from being ill, and he wants to be there if something goes wrong," replied Legolas. Both where quiet for a moment.

Even though Gimli was semi-absorbed in his food, he knew that Aragorn was lying. Arwen had never been sick. He knew that Legolas

secretly thought that she had just wanted to be away from the world of men for a few days. She had been quiet for a while, and then been

all right. Nothing serious had ever happened, and they both knew that nothing could go wrong when there was nothing to recover from.

Gimli thought for a moment, and then decided that Aragorn did not want to see his two dearest friends leave him forever. He did not

know what his reaction could be, and emotion could be seen as weakness from the point of view of a passerby. He was about to ponder

this further, but noticed a delicious looking basket of fruit and went back to his eating.

Legolas knew what Gimli was thinking. He had other things on his mind though, like actually getting around to leaving instead of just

sitting on the boat all day. "Let us sail, Gimli. We do not want to miss the sunset from the Gray Havens," he said over his shoulder as he walked

to untie the boat. As he stepped down to the post, he couldn't help remembering all of the adventures he had had in Middle Earth and faintly

wishing that he could stay. But he knew that his father was in Valinor, as well as all of his kin. Even he, a quite respectable and wise elf, privately

thought to himself that relatives could be a bit troublesome at times. At least his best friend would be with him… At that point he nearly tripped

over the rope. He swiftly turned it into a leap and hastily untied the knot. Even now, as best of friends, he knew that falling face-flat into the mud

would cause some laughter from Gimli. He stepped back onto the boat. He drew his bow from his back and an arrow from his quiver to do a

salutatory shot for sailing to Valinor. He bent his bow, aimed right at the sun, and shot the arrow sailing into the sky. He turned and started to go

and steer. It was when he heard his arrow meet a mark and something fall from the sky that he stopped.