100 FA, quay, Grey Havens, Lindon
I was not made for this, Tinuleg thought for the time unnumbered. She hugged her husband, her children of both sexes, her grandchildren and unashamedly let her tears roll. The men folk gritted their teeth in a manly manner, letting the tears flow and disappear into their beards while her daughters were as red faced and puffy eyed as herself. The grandchildren wept out of companionship as everybody was crying.
Tinuleg and Kolbrandr had met barely thirty years ago. She, an elleth of the now restored Greatwood, had decided to accompany her relatives on the road to the Uttermost West. Although not as world weary as them, being only fifteen hundred years old, she chose this path as their departure would have left her without company and bored.
As theirs had been, by pure chance, a particularly elleth heavy group, the King of the Edain Elessar had lent them additional protection, a troop of mercenary cavalry drawn from the Rohirrim and Beornings. One of the Men, Kolbrandr, had captivated Tinuleg's heart by his zest for life. Unlike all the ellyn she had known he did not sing of days past, of the glory of yesterday, of ruins never to be rebuild. The Beorning was enthusiastic about what he was going to do once his service to the King was over, of the house he was to build, of the family he was to raise, of what he would teach his sons, of what sort of future he would seek to provide for his daughters.
As the other elves embarked for the Undying Lands Tinuleg had stayed behind to dance with Kolbrandr under the moonlight. There, on the meadows of Lindon, they had sworn their hearts before Tilion, the moon's Steersman. They had lived a happy life, raising four children - out of six begettings - to adulthood.
But she was not made to endure her mate wither and die. Tinuleg hated herself for this but she could not stand the sight of Kolbrandr balding, wrinkled and with almost half his teeth remaining. It was not his appearance as such which pained her, she'd still love him bald, limited by tooth loss to eating gruel only and not always making it to the privy in time, but it was the thought that Kolbrandr could die on her any minute that she could not stand to bear. Tinuleg wanted to remember him while - when looking at him - she still could easily envision the handsome man with a mane of brown hair, with the toothy smile he flashed whenever he set eyes on her.
Leaving Kolbrandr now was for the better. This spared her the sight of her husband, children, grandchildren all dying before her. She'd cherish and cry over her memories while her heart slowly mended at Valinor.
Looking over the stern at the group at the end of the quay, half-seeing them through her tear-filled eyes, Tinuleg envied Arwen the Gift of the Edain she had been given. Grieving over dead mates was not something elves were made for.
AN:
To quote an article I once read, "the Valar made up shit as they went along" in regard to children of Elf-Man unions. The choice - Elf or Man - was given to Elrond and Elros, their parents, and Elrond's children. Nothing was said of the others, with the princely family of Dol Amroth evidently being "Race of Man". So the children of Tinuleg and Kolbrandr are mortal.