Disclaimer – Lord of the Rings belongs to Tolkein.

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Elessar, King of Gondor, stood at the gates of Imladris and looked in. Rusted for the first time since the Last Homely House had been built, the great iron gates hung at their hinges and creaked softly in the breeze. In the courtyard beyond, he could see dead leaves dancing in the wind, swept up and then brought down again in graceful arcs.

He pushed the creaking gates open, motioning to his guards to stay behind. Weeds and grasses pushed their ways up through the paving stones, ivy creeping up the walls. He could remember other falls, when elves had harvested from the gardens that now lay neglected, and he and his brothers had chased each other into heaps of leaves.

His footsteps echoed in the halls of what had once been his home; the chill wind blowing harder now, through the open windows. Piles of rotting leaves lay in the corridors, lending homes to the mice that he could see fleeing from him.

He stopped in a courtyard across from Elrond's infirmary, smiling. There was the fountain where Elrohir had almost drowned Legolas. Beyond it were the stables, where he and Elladan had painted Glorfindel's horse green. His smile faded. Elladan and Elrohir had sailed into the West, and Legolas would soon join them. But he would never sail across the sea, nay; he would remain here and die a mortal death. With Arwen.

Here was Elrond's study, where the elf-lord had begged him to put aside his thoughts of marrying Arwen. Now, Elrond would never see either of them again.

Glorfindel's room was across the hall, where he had fled when he was still young and afraid of thunderstorms. Erestor's room was not far beyond, with a black stain on the sill where the twins had once dropped a bottle of ink and hadn't been able to clean it up.

His own room lay beyond that, stripped bare after he had left to rule Gondor. He slipped out the window, climbing the stones up to the roof. For a moment, he left the king behind and took only Estel with him.

On the roof, shingles were rotting, and the wind was even colder. He stopped himself from pulling his cloak around him, letting it fly out behind him in the wind. All of Imladris was bathed in the setting sun, a golden light that outlined each tree as if it were on fire. The sight blurred suddenly as he realized he would never see it again. After this, he would return home to his wife and son.

But it was tempting to leap from the roof, and leave Elessar behind. To run until men could find him no more, and to convince Cirdan to build him a ship, so he could join his family in the West.

Then the sun set, and twilight fell over Imladris. He knew that he would stay; returning to his people who still needed him. He climbed carefully down from his perch, rejoining Elessar. There was still so much work to be done, and he reminded himself of the reason he had come back to his childhood home.

He found what he was looking for in the library, a large moldering tome left exactly where it should have been. Erestor would have been glad that so long after Imladris had been deserted, books could still be found with such ease. He headed out towards the gates, making sure not to glance behind him over his shoulder.

He carefully closed the gates behind him, before packing the book carefully into his saddlebag. Then he turned to the guards. "Ready?"

One nodded. "Yes, your majesty. Did you find what you needed?"

Elessar patted the saddlebag containing Kayrin's Quenya-English Dictionary. "Yes."

Eldarion had much learning to do.