Sorry its late again, had essay for due for monday to do. Of which i've just lost the last hour and a half/ two hours worth of work on due to the fact that the doc being downloaded from the internet meaning the comp couldn't recover it. I b***y well hate computer right now. 'Scuse you author's bad language, she is very annoys, esp as all those books weigh a ton!

Anyway... On with the story...

Grey Dawn 29

The ship, as the messenger said, was slightly strange in design, though still had elven grace. One of the most noticeable differences was that, unlike the ships of Mithlond, it was made of a dark wood that was more common to human ships. Whatever the design, though, it sailed through the water as beautifully as the ships Cirdan and his apprentices made.

Other than Mithiliel and her family, there were several others waiting at the pier for the ship to come in. Mithiliel smiled as the ship came closer and she was able to see several of the Elves on the deck, including her sons, standing at the bow of the ship. Elurin held her tight as he felt her reaction to the Elves on board. Without realising it, she held her breath, anticipating who else might be on board.

"Breath, Mithiliel, it helps," her father whispered in her ear. She laughed slightly and began breathing again. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the boat actually reached the dock and Elves, many of whom Mithiliel recognised, began throwing ropes over to the waiting ellyn, who helped moor the boat. Then a large gangplank was lowered and several Elves disembarked.

The first one off was Anfaron. Mithiliel broke away from her father and ran forward to be pulled into an embrace by her youngest child, who held her like there was no tomorrow, shaking hard. Shortly after, Mithiliel and Anfaron were encased in another set of arms. Mithiliel didn't need to look up; she could sense that it was her elder son who held them. Legolas was also shaking hard. It was hard to miss her children's raw emotions at the meeting.

Just as she was drawing away from her sons' tight embrace, having failed to notice several other Elves disembark, she turned to see Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair disembark with two ellyn Mithiliel didn't recognise. When the girls saw their mother, they broke away from the ellyn and ran to hug her as well and the five Elves, Mithiliel and her children, stood there in one tight embrace, quivering with raw emotion.

Eventually, they let go and Mithiliel led them to the shore and her family. Ivochyl was standing there, clasping her two younger daughters to her with Erestor holding his women-folk to him. Celebrían stood wrapped in Elrond's embrace, watching the two emotional reunions, her face slightly wistful. Neither of her sons had come with the party, though she might get news of them from Mithiliel and Ivochyl's children.

From the sides, Galadriel, Finarfin, Elured, Elurin, Eglel and Dior were all watching the reunion as well. If any of them felt anything at the conspicuous absences from the party that had arrived, then they didn't show it. Suddenly, there was a sharp intake of breath and Galadriel grinned uncharacteristically. In confusion, Mithiliel looked where her foster mother was looking and her eyes widened in surprise. Down the gangplank came a singularly decrepit-looking Dwarf, who was grumbling about 'prissy Elves forgetting his old bones' under his breath. Legolas suddenly laughed and broke away from the family embrace to go to the Dwarf and help him off the boat.

Mithiliel's and several others' eyebrows rose into their hairline, though noticeably none of the Elves who had come with Galadriel and Elrond seemed all that surprised. Legolas, grinning at everyone's expressions, brought the Dwarf forward.

"Nana, meet Gimli, son of Gloin." Mithiliel greeted the old Dwarf cordially, and then gave her son an intensely curious look. Galadriel was the one to assuage her curiosity.

"Remember I told you about the Dwarf he made friends with on the Ring Quest?" Mithiliel nodded, and then understanding hit her. She had almost forgotten that Galadriel had said her son fully intended to bring the Dwarf along as well. The Pereniath that had been brought with Elrond and Galadriel had been weird enough. On the other hand, the stories of her husband's reaction to his eldest making friends with a Dwarf were highly amusing. Mithiliel couldn't wait to find out what Oropher's reaction would be. She, Ivochyl and Celebrían took morbid amusement in the things that sent that particular Sindar King into fits of horror.

Soon they got on to introducing Mithiliel's parents and grandfather to her children and that resulted in more interesting moments, especially the bit were her daughters introduced the ellyn they had arrived with. Mithiliel had to laugh at the protective looks that crossed both Dior's and Elurin's faces as they introduced their husbands. Elured found it even more amusing than her uncle did.

Then Tinnuchíl decided to make life even more amusing by announcing that she was pregnant. All of the women-folk buried their heads in their hands as they saw the collective click in the minds of the males present that signified that all of them would be annoyingly protective. Eglel looked up at her granddaughter and spoke softly,

"I should warn you that your grandfather and great uncle will treat you as if you are made of glass and are totally incapacitated by your condition now they know that, and I suspect that your great grandfather will as well. They were both absolute nightmares when I was pregnant with Mithiliel." Tinnuchíl smiled slightly and laughed nervously. Apparently she was quite unsure about the new developments.

XXX

All of Mithiliel's children were housed in the house of Dior at first, though both her daughters' husbands started work of houses of their own fairly nearby as soon as possible, Tinnuchíl's particularly wanting to make sure he had a good home for his wife and child before the baby came along. Thankfully for both, many other Elves were willing to help in exchange for stories of Arda in the Fourth Age. Apparently it was a source of major interest.

Tinnuchíl herself was, it turned out, very scared of her first birth and was extremely grateful for the presence of her mother, grandmother and foster grandmother to calm her and reassure her about the process.

Gimli was an interesting presence, who was also house in the house of Dior, and suddenly they began to receive a greatly increased number of visits from Galadriel's older brother, Finrod Felagund. He had died in the First Age, but had made friends with the Dwarves of the Age, hence the name Felagund, which the Dwarves had given him. He was absolutely fascinated by the one member of the race to reach Valinor.

The other interesting visit received because of the Dwarf in residence was that of Aulë himself, who wanted to meet the one member of the race he had created to carry on his crafts. Absently Mithiliel wondered what the presences of the other Valar were like, as she noticed that Aulë had an even strong presence than that of Finarfin. She hadn't realised it was possible to have a stronger presence than the Noldor King; she hadn't been entirely awake the one time she had been round Mandos.

XXX

Tinnuchíl, Mithiliel and Ivrangelair were wondering round the new house Tinnuchíl's husband had build, looking round at the large spacious rooms that were very open and airy. It still needed decorating and furnishing, but the furniture was already being made in a workshop, so they should be able to have the house ready shortly before Tinnuchíl was due to go into labour, in about a month's time.

As they were walking out of the house and around the grass land outside, planning how to do the gardens nicely, Tinnuchíl just stopped and clasped her swollen stomach before screaming, her legs buckling.

Ivrangelair went white and she looked completely lost. Mithiliel swore, immediately knowing the problem, and wrapped her arms round her daughter, gently lowering her to the ground. She then tried to calm her clearly terrified daughter.

Tinnuchíl's husband came running up to them, white as a sheet, weapon drawn.

"What's wrong? Why did you scream?" he asked breathlessly. Mithiliel looked up at him with a hard expression.

"Put that knife away and help me get her into the house, she's gone into labour."