An Age for Love

By The Last Evenstar

Disclaimer: I am not the genius J. R. R. Tolkien and therefore do not own anything mentioned in this fic. If I were, you can bet that the RotK movie would have included the House of Healing, Scouring of the Shire, NOT had Merry at the gates of Mordor, and for heaven's sake, GOTTEN THE CHRONOLOGY RIGHT!!!!! (Hey, there's a day-by-day appendix at the end! How could they have screwed it up???)

A/N: I usually prefer the book's version of events, but the Aragorn/Arwen storyline in the RotK movie just inspired me to write this. Based on the movie version of events. You want the book, go read Elessar and Evenstar Tie the Knot. R&R, and may the Valar bless you.

Arwen's smile felt dangerously close to cracking her head in two. She was seated in the shade beneath the White Tree, peering peacefully over the land of Gondor.

"You are beautiful when you smile." Aragorn came up behind her seated himself also on the bench. "Who is it that you smile for?"

She turned to him, his royal clothes wrinkled and crown decidedly lopsided after a hard day of shaking hands and bidding farewells. "A man I love. Once a ranger, he is now a mighty and handsome King."

He pulled her close. "Tell me about this man."

"You know him well." With that, he drew her into a deep kiss, a sweet and perfect moment. She felt neither the wistful yearning nor the bitter hopelessness of times past. "I can hardly believe that everything has come true so beautifully."

He looked seriously at her. "Do you mean that?"

Her heart swelled at the hope in his eyes. "Estel," she murmured, "the Valar themselves could not have planned it better. The chance of a lifetime with you was all that kept my will strong in the past months."

"You do not regret your choice?"

"Regret a life of love over an eternity of sadness?" She smiled happily. "Never."

He continued to look at her seriously. "You changed your mind. Elrond told me how you rode back to Rivendell. Why?"

She gazed up at him. "Is my love for you not reason enough?"

"It was not before."

She lowered her gaze. "It was not the choice I felt in my heart. He told me there was only death waiting for me here. Only the passing of years." She spoke softly, her voice trembling. "But as I rode toward the Havens, I knew he was wrong. I felt a lifetime of doom and despair awaiting me there. Only sadness awaited me in Valinor. A half-life. Ages and ages of pain and regret." She felt his arms tighten around her shoulders. "But when I looked back, I saw hope. I saw you, Estel." She remembered the vision from the road. "I saw a son; I saw life. And in that instant I realized that I had made my decision thirty-nine years ago on Cerin Amroth in the land of Lorien."

He embraced her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you through that."

She kissed him lightly on the mouth. "It was all worthy."

He looked down at her sadly. "And you thought nothing more of Valinor? Of the chance to see your mother again? Of not having to part with your father?"

She smiled at him sadly. "They will have each other. No one will be alone."

"You would have been alone had you gone?"

"More so than if I was doomed forever to sit in solitude on a mountaintop for all eternity. I need you, Estel." She gazed at him fondly. "I am in love. There is no turning back."

The love and happiness and relief in his eyes was so transparent that Arwen felt light-headed. He spoke, his voice low and choked. "I should have known what I was getting myself into. My mother always said that the love of an elf was for all eternity."

Her face was inches from his. "She was right."

And she kissed him, a long, passionate promise of love and devotion. The Fourth Age was thus begun, and its future was marked by the love of one lifetime, and the same love for all eternity.