A very small birthday mathom. Also, Lady Lindariel asked me to write Elrond and Celebrían meeting, and I finally was inspired.
He'd made the jump before, so he had no reason to think he couldn't make it this time.
Sitting in the mud watching his horse careen away, bucking and swatting its tail at the cloud of bees following, Elrond huffed and slapped the mud. It splattered on his face and he blinked, automatically reaching up to rub it off his cheek when he heard it.
A very definitely feminine laugh. Not a titter or high-pitched giggle, this was a true laugh and against his will he smiled, but all the same he was annoyed. "Come out, whoever you are, and laugh at me to my face!"
"All right."
She sauntered towards him to stop in a shaft of sunlight and her hair was glorious, dizzyingly silver. Elrond stared, unaware his mouth had fallen open.
"Well?" The smile called forth dimples on either side of her mouth and lit the light blue eyes.
Reaching up, dribbling mud across his shoulders and chest, Elrond searched his head for a bump.
Eye merrily gleaming, the vision stepped closer and leaned forward. "You're not dreaming and I doubt you're concussed."
"No?" He felt dazed. "You...you seem so familiar, as though..."
"As though I've dreamed of you." She laughed again, but this time there was joy that seemed to make the very air shimmer. "Come out of the mud, Elrond Eärendilion."
He stood, slipped and gained his balance after a bit of flailing. "Your name, please. What is your name?"
"Celebrían."
Standing up to his knees in mud, feet sinking a bit deeper every passing moment, a cloud of gnats around his head, Elrond could only smile. "I think I've been waiting for you all of my life."
She nodded, staring at him with equal amazement. "I'm so glad." A smile made the dimples re-appear. "But I insist on holding final judgment until I see you without the mud."
There might be more. Who can tell lately.