My first memory is of the expanse that is my father's kingdom. I was five years old. My brother, Eldarion, was ten. He helped me climb up the White Tree, telling me where to place my foot and which branch to grab as I followed him. We stopped in the middle, sitting on a thick limb, looking over the vast fields below up and the mountains that lined Mordor to the east. Deep black clouds still lingered there despite the Dark Lord Sauron's destruction seven years earlier.

"Everything you see before you is Father's land," my brother said, a gleam in his blue eyes that matched my own. "And when he dies, I will rule, and then my eldest son, and his eldest son. And over to the West is Rohan, ruled by King Éomer, and across the Misty Mountains, there is no King."

I looked up at my brother, my long brown hair tangled in the smaller branches near our heads, my dress caught in a branch below us. But I didn't care. "And then there are the Undying Lands where nana's people are going?"

"They are our people, too, Ersellwen, but yes. Ada told me that his rule ended the age of the Eledhrim. It also ended the War of the Ring, and now Middle Earth is safe from evil for as long as we know. Nana's father, her grandmother, and a wizard called Gandalf went to the Undying Lands after the One Ring was destroyed."

We sat in the tree for an hour, Eldarion telling me the story of our family and what we would become as I memorised each detail of the land stretched out before us.

17 YEARS LATER

"Ersellwen, echuiog!"

I groaned and turned over in bed as the covers were pulled off of me by my mother. "Nana, ni olthannen. Berig."

"Ersellwen, please get up."

I sighed heavily, sitting up in bed and rubbing my tired eyes. My handmaidens helped me out of bed and began to undress me. "Amman boe echuio duil?"

"Am Legolas nen o Mirkwood. A si nostor cîn."

I tripped as one of the handmaidens brought my nightdress over my head. "Amman ú-pedich, nana?!"

My mother shrugged. "It was supposed to be a surprise. Just act like I didn't tell you."

I nodded and put on a new dress. It was a copy of my mother's dress from my father's coronation 29 years earlier; light green, with sleeves that fell almost to the floor, and a train stretching two feet behind me. I slid a pair of white shoes onto my feet, and when one of my handmaids tried to do my hair, my mother shooed away her hands and took over.

"You know that there is a possibility of marriage."

I nodded as she braided my long hair, weaving together the sections framing my face to the back of my head. "Yes, nana. I understand."

"I know that your father may be wary at first, but it would solidify his alliance with what still remains of the kingdom of Mirkwood and with Thrandúil by blood rather than by word. I have told him already." She turned to my most trusted maid, Eleniel, and said, "My old crown is in the King's and my chamber. It has the Evenstar on the back. Fetch it for me."

"Yes, my Queen."

When the maid left my room, my mother held me lightly by the shoulders and turned me around. She smiled. "You look like me when I became Queen. My girl… There is good reason they call you the Evenstar of the Fourth Age."

I grinned and hugged her. "Do you know how long I've waited for him?"

She nodded and kissed my head. "You showed you loved him when you were just beginning to become a woman. And now you'll be his. Ah, thank you, Eleniel." She placed her silver crown on my head, untangling the slim chains at the back with nimble fingers. When she was done, she smiled at me again, and said, "Now you look like a queen. My daughter, all grown."

I rolled my eyes and walked out of my room. The crown on my head was much lighter than the one my mother wore every day. I wondered if she ever missed wearing it, but that thought was quickly dismissed when I entered the dining hall and was welcomed with hundreds of people wishing me a happy birthday. I felt my face heat up when I saw Legolas pushing through the crowd towards me. Since I started to leave childhood, I had thought that my best friend was attractive. I'd held a deep appreciation for him for most of my life, and as I got older, that developed into a desire to be close to his as much as I could. I made excuses to leave Minas Tirith with him. The most constant reason I'd tell my father was that I wanted to practice using a bow and arrow, and that Legolas was the best archer I knew. Which was true.

When he reached me, he swooped me up into his arms. "Nostor maer, Ersellwen!"

I laughed and buried my face into his neck. "Hannar ci! Mae govannen!"

My father tapped Legolas's shoulder and whispered something into his ear, and the two of them went off to a corner of the room secluded from the other guests. My mother sided next to me. "Cîn adar pêd na Legolas o ci. Ú-trass."

I nodded and stood with her, thanking the people who wished me a happy beginning to my 23rd year. The number of people was slightly overwhelming, but after what seemed like the 500th person, I was joined by my older brother and younger sister, Ardhóniel, who was almost an exact copy of my mother like me. But instead of blue eyes my brother and I had inherited from our mother, she had the silver eyes of our father. Her ears were rounded at the top like his, which hadn't been expected. Ada expected that it was because the life of the Valinor had completely left nana, and as she was now mortal, the human part of her took over. Which seemed accurate.

My sister still had the astonishing deep brown hair of our mother. It reached her lower back even in her fourth year, and by the time my 23rd year and her 10th had come, she had to get it cut every few months to keep it from sweeping the floor.

It was almost evening by the time everyone had started to get ready for my birthday feast. I was nervous enough as it was, but the suspense of my engagement announcement only increased when my father stood up in front of his throne and held his hands up, signalling the guests to be silent. He spoke as servants from the kitchens began to bring out platter after platter of food.

"I am proud to celebrate the 23rd year of my eldest daughter. Ersellwen has been a bright light in the lives of many people, especially her family. She is called Undómiel o Andrann Cannui, the Evenstar of the Fourth Age, like her own mother, and for good reason. Today also marks an important joining of two kingdoms." The crowd started to murmur, and they fell silent yet again as my father held his hands up once more. "I have spoken to the queen and to Legolas Greenleaf, as well. And we have decided that the joining of the kingdoms of Mirkwood and Gondor will be best if brought together by blood. Legolas and Ersellwen will do this."

My heart jumped in my chest as I looked at Legolas from across the room, him at me. Our union was now to be official.

SINDARIN TRANSLATIONS:

nana - mom/mother

"Ersellwen, echuiog!" - "Ersellwen, get up!"

"Nana, ni olthannen. Berig." - "Mom, I'm dreaming(or sleeping). Go away."

"Amman boe echuio duil?" - "Why must I wake up early?"

"Am Legolas nen o Mirkwood. A si nostor cîn." - "Legolas came from Mirkwood. And it's your birthday."

"Amman ú-pedich, nana?!" - "Why didn't you say, mom?"

"Nostor maer, Ersellwen!" - "Happy birthday, Ersellwen!"

"Hannar ci! Mae govannen!" - "Thank you! Hello (basically a greeting)"

"Cîn adar pêd na Legolas o ci. Ú-trass." - "Your father is talking to Legolas about you. Don't worry."