Chapter 3
It is Círdan who supports him when Elrond decides to return to Rivendell. There are a variety of logical reasons for the decision, but the only one Elrond shares with his court is that Gil-galad always loved Imladris. Mithlond had always been an arbitrary seat of power, and for the elven people the location hardly mattered. Rivendell was, at least, more central to all the elven kingdoms and only a few weeks of reasonable travel from the coast.
And Erestor had simply refused to take over the governance of the house in any sort of permanent capacity.
Elrond knows that this, more than anything, is the reason he moves the king's seat across Eriador to the mountains. He has spent half of his life building Imladris and he cannot let it go. Since he is now trapped in a life he did not want, the least he feels he deserves is to actually wake each morning and look outside at his small world and be content with it. Lindon reminds him too much of Ereinion, too much of Elros, too much of everything he has lost. Rivendell, at least, does not have those connotations.
The decision is easy enough. It has been two decades since the war ended and the crown still sits uneasily on Elrond's head, though he rarely wears the real one. Many of the Eldar have sailed west and the population of Lindon has nearly halved. Elrond is only surprised it was not more.
There is little enough to do now as High King. Which makes Elrond even more annoyed, when he lets himself be, that he got drawn into this. Because he is more a figurehead then anything else. The Greenwood rules itself. Amroth rules Lindórinand. Erestor keeps Rivendell, and there are less than ten thousand elves and men left in Lindon. Elrond spends most of his days reading and studying, more so than he has done since he took up the lordship of Imladris seventeen centuries before. There are always audiences to hold, but they number in the dozens per week and not the hundreds before the war.
There is the army still to consider and no one is naïve enough to believe that they have fought their last battle. It took half a year for Ohtar to bring word to Rivendell that Isildur had perished, and with him his three sons. Elrond mourns them, but mostly he mourns over human pride. The loss of the Ring concerns him the most, as it should. At least Gondor is situated to take care of itself, and Elrond has no worry about what will become of the southern kingdom. It is the north that concerns him most closely. Valandil is but thirteen years old, and so Elrond spends several weeks in meetings until a regent of Arnor can be agreed upon. It is of no surprise to anyone, except perhaps Elrond, that the decision is that he should rule in Valandil's stead, for the time being. Elrond cannot quite express in words how uncomfortable the thought of taking on such a position makes him. And so, for seven years Elrond is both High King of the Noldor and Regent of Arnor, and somehow the irony that in him, at last, is the fate of the sons of Eärendil realized. Elrond spends most of his time thinking about his brother during those long years.
It is after this that he begins to make comments to Círdan about removing the capital to Rivendell. At first, Círdan cautions him otherwise, but the north settles when Valandil takes up his father's place and there have been no stirrings about the Ring and so, after a few years, Círdan lets it go.
Moving a capital is not, as it turns out, as simple as Elrond might have hoped. First, there is new construction needed in Rivendell to ensure the room necessary for the court that must, unfortunately, come with him. Círdan will not be moved himself, and so Elrond gets some amount of pleasure out of naming him Lord of the Havens. It is a title he has born in all but name for many yéni.
Elrond is also equally as unsurprised when Galadriel and Celeborn and their daughter Celebrían decide to relocate as well. Before that night they had come to him with the plan to force a crown upon his head, Elrond had thought they would return to Lórien with Amroth. He has been wondering if they might still do so, as Galadriel has made it clear she no longer wishes to dwell at the Havens and Celeborn has been almost anxious as of late. It is only later that Elrond realizes that he was right the first time, Galadriel still desires what power she might find in the eastern lands and though she does not want the High Kingship, she most certainly does want her own rule, and she will not find it in the Havens.
Elrond refrains from telling her she will not find it in Rivendell either. He refrains from telling her because her presence in Imladris means Celebrían's, and Elrond is beginning to consider that that might not be such a bad thing. He is starting to consider what might come next in his life.
But before then, he has too many duties to see to. They are neither of them young, even by the count of the Eldar, and marriage can wait. Celebrían seems to agree, though later Elrond will realize he failed to ask her her opinion outright.
But it means more provision of room in the Valley, and it takes nearly ten years before Elrond can even consider relocating. They are restricted in how much space there is in the narrow confines of the steep gorge, but it is large enough. It is also a blessing, the lack of space. More than half the court, and all the ones Elrond deems unnecessary, are left behind in Lindon with Círdan to govern them. Elrond takes only those he needs to continue the rule. No one argues over it, which Elrond allows himself a brief moment to appreciate.
Rivendell is exactly as Elrond remembers it, and yet not like. Gone is the small haven of Eregion that he left before the war. Now it is a bustling, if still small, center of a large elven kingdom. But there is still peace there that Elrond could not find in Lindon, much less in Mithlond itself, and he knows he made the right decision to move.
In the years that follow, Elrond orders that the passes over the Misty Mountains are secured and better constructed and once that is done, communication with Thranduil's and Amroth's realms are much easier. Galadriel still makes no mention of what her future plans are, so Elrond attempts to stop questioning her motives. Ereinion had spent more hours than he should have wondering after Finarfin's daughter and none of it had done any good.
In Rivendell, it is much easier to act as the mid-point of communication between Gondor and Arnor. Valandil seems grateful for it, and Elrond will be the first to admit that Isildur's son has become a fine king. Wherever possible, Elrond stays out of the politics of the Númenórean kingdoms, but he makes no secret of the fact that he considers that they are, and will ever be, allies of the Eldar.
Valandil does not send his children to Rivendell to dwell at the court of the Noldor, as he did, but his son Eldacar does sent both of his children there, when he deems them old enough. It is the start of a long tradition after that, and Elrond is only too happy to serve as teacher and many times removed great-uncle to the various children of Arnor that come his way. There are several Gondorian kings who do likewise, though Elrond can count on one hand how many. Eldacar's son Arantar becomes an instant companion of Elrond's young twin sons and the High King is only too pleased to see the meeting of his and Elros' children in such friendship.