Estel
By Ar- Elenriel
Summary
What if Aragorn at the end of his life was granted the choice of the Peredhil? After all the Silmarillion mentions that Elrond's descendants were granted this choice. What if Elros's family was granted the same choice? In this fic Arwen and Aragorn are granted the choice at the end of his 120th year as king. What would they choose? What would their lives in Valinor be like? The story starts in Valinor as Elrond stands on the docks of Aqualonde for the last ship from Middle Earth.
Chapter 1: Elronds Hope
Elrond stood upon the docks of Alqualonde waiting for the last ship from Arda to arrive. His two eldest children, Elladan and Elrohir would be arriving on this ship as would Celeborn, Thranduil and the remaining Silvan elves of Lothlorien and Eryn Lasgalen. Even though he would be reunited with two of his children this day he still hated coming down to the docks. He much preferred the forests to the sea. After all the Sea was to blame for almost all of the bad events that had occurred in his life. Losing his parents, losing Celebrian, and the loss of his twin Elros to the rule of Numenor. Not too mention he was eternally waiting for an event that he knew would never come. The arrival of his daughter Arwen and her husband Aragorn on the same ship as he sons and Legolas and Gimli. He sighed with depression and pulled Celebrian closer as the ship pulled into the dock.
All of the sudden the docks fell rather quiet as Eonwe Herald of the Valar strode onto the docs. This was a rare event as the Valar were rarely seen in the cities of the elves and many were awe stricken. "Elrond son of Earendil I would speak with thee." stated the tall Vala firmly. Elrond was quite startled. The last time Eonwe or any of the Valar had spoken to him was when he and Elros had been offered their choice at the end of the First Age. "Elrond the Valar have heard your hearts desire. Your two youngest children Arwen Undomiel and Aragorn son of Arathorn along with you brother Elros are now to be counted amongst the Eldar for the heroic acts that they have performed in the preservation of Middle Earth. For the sake of you children all of the other Heroes of the War of the Ring will be released from the Halls of Mandos as well. Elros, Eomer, Faramir, Eowyn Boromir, Meriadoc and Pippin will all be waiting at you House. Meriadoc, Pippin and Eomer's wives have all been released as well. Arwen and Aragorn will arrive on the same ship as you sons." With that Eonwe walked away, the crowd parting for him as he went.
Elrond stood staring at the departing Valar in shock. This was certainly an unexpected event. He did not know what to say or do. The Valar had told him the choices of the Peredhil were irreversible choices. All of the sudden he had a splitting migraine. Celebrian and Galadriel were holding tightly onto both of his arms and unfortunately he could not even move enough to reach into his pocket for his headache medicine.
Suddenly before he could even look up the ship was docking. Two figures were the first down the gang plank and from the look on the face of Thranduil' wife Laeriel it was her husband Thranduil and her son Legolas. Thranduil raced up to his wife swept her up into his arms and kissed her passionately. He set her back down upon her feet just in time for Legolas to crush his mother in a bear hug. Elrond knew that wherever Legolas was Gimli was not far behind him, and surprise of all surprises the dwarf was the next one off of Cirdan's last and finest ship. Gimli looked rather green and sickly to Elrond's practiced eye and he realized that the dwarf had suffered from sea- sickness the entire voyage. Stupid elf ship, stupid wood elf putting a dwarf on a ship. Dwarves don't belong on water. I told him I would never go on water again after that stupid trip on Rauros Falls. Stupid elf king and his #$ Dorwinion. grumbled the dwarf as he stomped down the gang plank.
Elrond grinned stepping forwards to greet Thranduil, Legolas and Gimli. "Welcome Home everyone." he said simply. He then touched Thranduil's mind grinning at the thoughts running through his old friends head. 'You fed Gimli Dorwinion to get him on the ship." thought Elrond with a grin on his face. "Good Job." He then turned away to allow Thranduil some privacy for his reunion with his family. He was waiting to see who the next people off of the ship would be, and hoping that some of his children would disembark next.
Celeborn looked down off the side of the ship and saw how anxious Elrond and Celebrian were looking. He then looked at his twin grandsons and his granddaughter and grinned. "Are you sure you want to make your parents wait. Have they not waited long enough for this day?" Celeborn hugged Arwen close seeing how tired she was considering that she was in the later stages of pregnancy. This was a surprise for her parents, and she had begged Eonwe not to tell them about this baby. Celeborn was very glad that Elrond and Celebrian would get to know at least one of their grandchildren. The twins were not yet married. This was rather obvious as there was quite the shortage of eligible elf- maidens in Arda. Celeborn looked down onto the bustling city and grinned. There was no shortage of elf maidens here. He had bet Thranduil his last bottle of Dorwinion that both of the twins and Legolas would be married within five years of arriving here. Celeborn looked down at his wife and decided that he had better not keep Galadriel hanging on tenterhooks anymore. He purposefully strode down the gang plank and grinned as he saw the look on Galadriel's face. He shook Elronds hand and gently hugged his daughter. He was overjoyed to see her healed. He then pulled Galadriel close and kissed her as if she was a stream and he an elf long deprived of water.
Elrond watched his in-laws reunion grinning at Celeborn's reaction to his long separation from Galadriel. He then looked up to see his two tall sons stepping off of the gang plank. "Ada we brought books for you. All of the remaining scrolls from Imladris and several new books that have been written since you left." The twins unceremoniously dumped the trunk of books into the back of the wagon that Mithrandir had driven down to the docks to handle all the luggage of his returning friends. "Mithrandir we brought Radagast for you although he almost missed the ship." said Elrohir with a grin at the Istari. Both twins then enveloped their parents in a giant bear hug. Elrond could not wait to tell them about their new sisters and little brother that waited in New Imladris. The triplets were of course the fruit of his long awaited reunion. They had erased much of the pain that both parents felt at the delayed arrival of their older children.
Finally, the moment for the reunion with Arwen and Aragorn had arrived. The entire family waited anxiously on the docks as two figures with snowy white hair emerged onto the gang plank. Aragorn came first leading Arwen by the hand. Arwen was shyly hiding behind her husband and they were both grinning like little children. Elrond moved forward and embraced the King of Gondor that had once been a lonely foster child in his home. He grinned and said 'Ion-nin you have white hair. Don't tell me you and Arwen's children gave you enough trouble to make up for all of the trouble you both created when you were small." It was then Elrond noticed the slight bump to Arwen's stomach. " Iell-nin, I am to be a grandfather. " Elrond smiled and pulled Arwen into his arms and now he knew that life was good and that everything was going to be alright.