Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Lord of the Rings.
Note: Thanks for the reviews and the patience. Let's begin.
The elves stood off to the side as one of the greatest kings of Gondor was laid to rest. The queen stood weeping, her dark hair bound back and a veil across her face, hiding her tears and dulled eyes from view.
Alassë could feel Legolas tremble beside her. She knew the prince longed to go forward and stand beside Arwen but he had no right, he was no immediate family of the deceased king, only blood counted, not kinship born from years of friendship, the shared hardships of a war long forgotten and battles that they shared.
The once sparkle blue eyes of her husband were dulled in the same manner as the queen but last night they had shown with a different emotion, passion, passion to sail and she knew that soon they would sail for he would not be able to contain the sea longing any longer.
Eldarion glanced up, his arm around his mother as the once proud head of the young man was bowed with the weight of responsibility he had not really wanted and thought too soon to accept and grief.
Arwen's daughters pressed around her, eager to express their own grief and comfort their mother who knew all hope had been lost.
Alassë couldn't cry. She couldn't find the tears she had shed when she had heard the cries that Arwen had uttered when Aragorn had died. The hopeless in Arwen's fair voice had her heart breaking and she had fled, not knowing what to do or to say to comfort a friend who had lost the love of her life.
What would she have done if Legolas would die? What if on the way to their home, he would be killed by orcs? Could she go on or fade? Arwen had no choice; she had given it up when she married Arwen. She had the memories but even memories faded after time and Alassë knew that soon Arwen would leave, unable to take the memories of her golden years with Aragorn any more.
Their children would remember their parents' tales but what of the rest of the world? Would in a lifetime the story till be told of the King of Gondor and his elven Princess?
Even now the stories were fading from the deed of the War of the Ring. People knew what had happened but they were exaggerated and Alassë winced every time she heard another spin on the famous tale. Legolas' eyes always flashed in anger and it had been more than once then he had retaliated sharply to one of those tales.
It was time that they left. The time of the elves was past and there were no more comfortable woods or homes to go to. Sightings of the Firstborn were rare and people feared them. It hadn't changed and Alassë wondered when the people would forget what the elves had meant for the world.
"We will leave after the funeral." Legolas whispered, his voice guarded as he continued to look forward.
"Are you sure that you are ready to say such a big goodbye?"
The haunting blue eyes closed and Legolas sighed nearly inaudible. "I have already said the hardest goodbye, meleth nin."
Alassë reached out and squeezed Legolas' shoulder. "Do you wish to stay?"
"Yes, for just a little while longer." Her husband murmured as thick drops started to fall from the heavy rain clouds. She drew up her hood, blending in nearly effortless with her surroundings. She stared at Arwen, moving forward when the queen suddenly collapsed on her knees but two other hooded beings moved forward and picked up their queen.
When they turned, Alassë gasped loudly. It was Elrohir and Elladan but they had changed. They had aged, not as much as a mortal man but you could see the years in the lines around their eyes and especially in the depths of their grief.
Elrohir's grey eyes met hers and he nodded at her, asking her to come. She glanced at Legolas and her husband nodded his blue eyes grave. His hand was over hers and she knew, Legolas had known all along that the Imlandris' twins had chosen mortality.
She turned to follow, not giving Legolas anytime to call her back but he didn't as he drew up his own hood and then went forward to Aragorn's gravestone, his boots soft on the stone floor out of respect for his friend.
It didn't take long for them to reach a guest chamber in the citadel and for the twins to lay their sister down upon the bed, Elladan giving her a mild draught that made Alassë's nose wrinkle.
Elrohir pushed her out of the room and she waited as he stepped out with her, turning to regard her before he said. "How are you, princess?"
"When have you ever called me by my title, Elrohir? Around the same time when you made your choice?" Her tone was weary for the past few days had been exhausting.
Elrohir's eyes flashed in anger before he recognized the tone and said. "We cannot sail. There is too much to see and I cannot sail while Elladan remains behind."
"You must taste a very bitter side of your choice then now…."
"The choice is bitter either way, Alassë even if we knew that we had to leave our loved ones or friends behind, it is never easy. That is why so many elves are torn and stay behind."
"We are the last to sail, Elrohir. Eryn Lasgalen is no more and even the colony is emptying. Within the next lifetime, tales of the elves will only be that, tales and legends." She sighed and glanced at him.
"I will make sure that those tales and legends are never forgotten."
"Our legendry remains in our children and to make sure that our tales are preserved and never forgotten be the lessons that we taught." She sighed and smiled at him, Elrohir smiled back, his eyes wrinkling a little.
"Atar never knew that we never intended to sail. It would break his heart and our mother's if she knew that we wanted to stay behind." Elrohir looked weary and old.
Alassë drew closer. How different would her life have been if she hadn't chosen Legolas but stayed with Elrohir for he had promised her love. But she had never regretted her life and she raised her head higher. Elrohir smiled at her and then continued. "It will be hard but it is harder to roam these lands, unable to sail because we are torn and to watch the things we know and love fall into decay. It finally drove the elves over the sea and we will have our memories to comfort us in the end."
"In the end even memories might not be enough. How do you think Arwen will cope when she remembers his smile, the way his eyes lit up when she saw him and the way he touched her? Some things cannot be replayed by memories. They will only create more longing."
"She will live. She is strong and she will overcome this…"
"Overcome the loss of her greatest love? She gave up the life she knew to be with him. How do you think that she will overcome this as you say it? This is not the death of a sibling but of the love of her life…"
"She is strong, Alassë!" Elrohir's voice was tight and she growled at him.
"You are a fool if you think that she will survive this, Elrohir. It is already happening. Her life is at an end and she might decide to live for another year but no longer than that. Can you be there for her in the end of will you plead with her to remain, unable to come to terms with her passing and her longing to join Aragorn?"
"Just like you will leave her and pass over the sea….!" Anger colored his voice.
"I have made my choice and it isn't you. It hasn't changed, Elrohir!" She snarled at him.
Alassë forced herself to be calm. Getting angry wouldn't help anyone. Tempers were running high and everybody was filled with grief. She could see the pain of losing Aragorn in Elrohir's grey eyes and she reached out with one hand. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Will you forgive me?"
"Yes, I am sorry too. I guess it is the grief. I do not know how long Arwen will hold on but I do hope that she will try. She does still have a lot to live for, her children and the people of Gondor, even if Aragorn is gone…"
"It is hard to return to the life you once knew when everything has changed, even the way the sun shines down upon you and especially when you have lived with such love." She sighed and saw the sad smile.
"For all my life I have always dreamed of such a love as my sister shared and once upon a time I thought I had found it, but she passed beyond my reach." Alassë pulled away and softly said.
"Perhaps you can still find such love. You can find love in the most strangest of places…."
"Or perhaps I am not destined to love." Elrohir smiled sadly.
"Then there is that. I have to leave, Elrohir. I have to be with Legolas…"
"So this is goodbye then?" He drew closer and she felt his hand on her shoulder. She merely gave a nod. He had guessed correctly that soon they would sail. When the ship was done, they would leave these shores, unable to find a reason to stay behind.
Alassë didn't have the heart to stay behind until Elrond's children were dead. Now that they had made the decision to sail, she wanted to go. She couldn't stay behind, she had said her goodbyes or was in the middle of saying them but she needed to go, to see the new shores and find new adventures.
The embrace that she shared with the older elf made her eyes sting but she merely glanced at the closed door and said. "Would you mind…?"
"Arwen will not like…"
"I will return but I cannot do this tonight. My place is beside Legolas for this evening…" She smiled at him and then walked away, knowing that as her tears fell down her cheeks, that her place was beside Legolas as Elrohir's place was with his family.
I hope you liked it. The next part is them sailing. Review of course.