Author's note: No CWs, just a bloody miserable start.
Rosenthorne: Not going to lie, writing about Celebrían had me cut up for a while there. Elrond really drew the short straw when it came to luck, and it's almost like his misfortune affects everyone around him. Poor bugger just can't win. But hey, I'm so glad you like it!

If I needed any further confirmation that Celebrían's injury was to the fëa rather than her mind, it came in the days that followed. After she and Elrond had had some space to air their emotions a little, they asked Glorfindel and I to come to her study, where they told us that she would depart for the Grey Havens within the month.

"How will you stand being outside?" I asked her in confusion, my heart racing in panic as I thought of how much she had suffered from the sapling in the hallway.

The answer was that she would be drugged for the entire time with an even stronger sleeping draught than the red concoction given to Glamren. She would essentially be put into a medically-induced coma for the four weeks it took to reach the Grey Havens, and once on the boat, they would taper off the dose.

"You look a little improved already," I said with a sad smile.

Celebrían nodded. "I am. I dread leaving, but we have made peace with it, and truth be told, I think the prospect of healing in Valinor is what gives me a little more strength now."

Glorfindel and I nodded. That was the proof. Anticipatory healing. Not enough to return to normal, but enough to suffer a little less. I could see the flicker of a light in her eyes again. A hint of soul that was slowly starting to come out of hiding.

Though she didn't really leave the study any more except where absolutely necessary, she was a bit more talkative, ate a mouthful more, even smiled once or twice. It was a relief to know that she would be able to finally find healing somewhere, but it was clear that everyone around her was crushed all the same.

Over the last few weeks, Glorfindel and I took over Elrond's duties completely while he, Celebrían, and their children spent as much time together as they possibly could. We saw them only once or twice in the week for Happy Hour (sans the brisk walk, of course), which took place in Celebrían's study, and for those brief periods it almost seemed like things were the way they used to be. Almost.

The morning of her departure eventually rolled around, though, and everything in me felt heavy as Glorfindel and I got up early and walked out to her study, where people were coming in to wish her bon voyage. The last few visitors were in there, and when we stepped in it was just us, Galadriel and Celeborn, and Elrond plus the kids.

"We won't keep you," I said to Celebrían quickly as we embraced her. "Just wanted to wish you a good tri-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Rhodri," Celebrían interrupted me, rolling her eyes a little. "I specifically asked for you and Glorfindel to come now because I want you both to stay.' She glanced at the others and, seeing that they were distracted, lowered her voice. "Once I'm asleep, take them out for breakfast. I've arranged something special for you all there."

I raised an eyebrow at her but assured her that her wish was my command.

"Good," she said, pulling me and Glorfindel into another embrace. "I'll see you again in a little while, so behave yourself in the interim." Celebrían gave Glorfindel and me a knowing smile.

I struggled to keep my composure at this point, but managed to retort, "We will if you do."

She gently winked at me, and we stepped away to make room for the others to get emotional with her. After a few minutes, Elrond went and retrieved a bottle from Celebrían's desk which held a shimmering, deep purple liquid. He poured a few spoonfuls into a glass and passed it to her, his jaw trembling as he did. Celebrían's eyes filled with tears, but she forced a smile as she toasted us and drank it down. Elrond bent down and seemed to be whispering to her, holding her head steady as she dozed off. Within a few seconds, she was fast asleep. He picked her up and gently carried her out to the carriage that was awaiting her in the courtyard. He lay her in the makeshift bed in there and pulled a light blanket over her, and with that, she was away.

We all stood in the courtyard together, united in our very not-okay, moist-eyed state. Galadriel and Celeborn were clutching each other's hands tightly as they stared into the distance as the carriage bearing their daughter away disappeared down the path. Glorfindel had his hands resting on Elrond's shoulders as Elrond comforted a distraught Arwen. Elladan and Elrohir were concealing their faces in my shoulders, sobbing heavily. Everyone was rooted to the spot, scarcely knowing what to do with themselves, afraid that moving might make the situation somehow concrete, irreversible, even though we knew it already was. It had been for a whole year.

"Everyone," I said when we all had pulled ourselves together a little, "I am under strict instructions from Celebrían to escort all present to the dining hall, so I must request that you follow me there." The tear-streaked company exchanged curious glances now, but obliged me as I led them hence, faking that I knew what I was doing for all I was worth.

When we came in, the hall was empty, but the end of the table where we tended to sit and eat appeared to be set. We strolled up there and found that each of our places had a plate of our favourite food on it. It wasn't specified by mealtime, either: Glorfindel's enormous slice of bee sting cake featured alongside a roast lamb dinner for Arwen, who was sitting across from Elladan and Elrohir's favourites of berries and fried fish, respectively. I was surprised to see that Galadriel and Celeborn appeared to have the same top dish, which was some sort of vegetable stew, and Elrond rounded off the head of the table with a couple of sticky buns. A bittersweet moment blanketed us as we collectively held our breath for a moment, a renewed loss of composure alarmingly close. Eventually, though, we sat down and started picking away at our meals. I couldn't help but smile at mine: spaghetti and meatballs. Nobody knew what it was, but they didn't have it in them to enquire further, which was a relief, because I wasn't in the mood to regale the levity of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We were known to have a proclivity for making our favourite foods disappear in record time, but today we ate slowly and contemplatively, nobody saying much of anything.

It would be some time before any of us smiled again, but especially Elrond. Unsurprisingly, Elrond hardened a little after Celebrían left. Her absence seemed to make it impossible for him to be as happy as he used to be. Where he used to beam, now he merely smiled, and the twinkle in his eye when he was indulging his cheeky side was now largely extinguished. They were subtle but unmistakeable signs of an emotional wound that had cut Elrond to the bone, and just like that, his life was divided into another two stages: before Celebrían's kidnapping, and after it. He insisted that we continue Happy Hour, which was a relief for Glorfindel and me because we wanted to keep an eye on him outside of working hours, but he bowed out of a lot of other recreational social occasions and shenanigans.

Though it grieved Glorfindel and I to watch this newfound sobriety take over Elrond's disposition, there was nothing to be done for it. He knew the option of therapy was available, but he never took it. Fortunately, he was still amenable to friendly check-ins.

"You know, Elrond," I said to him half a year later as the two of us sat on his balcony with a wine, "Glorfindel and I are hoping to try out a new sport that I was fond of back in London."

"Oh?" he replied, looking at me with placid curiosity.

"Blobbing," I declared.

He blinked in puzzlement but patiently awaited elucidation.

"It involves a large, rectangular, airtight sack, partway inflated. Someone sits on the front end of it, and another person jumps down onto the back end from a high place, which projects the person in the front up into the air. We've just about finished covering the bag in wax. What do you say we get away for the weekend, just the three of us, and try it out in those huge pools a day's ride north of here?"

A gentle smile came over his face, and though there was clear amusement there, he looked fatigued at the thought of doing anything of an even vaguely leisurely nature, and declined with a nod.

"Thank you, but no," he answered quietly. "I think I need a quieter weekend presently."

"How are you doing, Elrond?"

"I… feel empty," he murmured softly as his gaze fixed on the glowing sunset. "But you were right, you know, Rhodri," he continued in a more matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh?" I enquired with interest. "What about?"

"Do you remember that evening you locked yourself out here with me and shouted me back to my seat to talk some sense into me?"

I felt my cheeks burn. "I do, and I'm still mortified about that," I mumbled awkwardly, clumsily pawing at my face with my hand.

Elrond chuckled weakly. "You told me that life was a gamble, and that I would never regret pursuing Celebrían if only I would take the plunge."

"I take it you don't regret getting together with Celebrían, is what you're saying?"

"Precisely," he confirmed.

I sighed. "Long distance relationships aren't much fun, I grant you, but once we're sorted out here, we'll leave for Valinor as soon as possible," I said, desperate to inject some hope into the conversation. "It'll be back to bliss before we know it."

"Not soon enough, for my liking," he murmured in a dissatisfied tone, taking a sip of wine.

"It never is," I conceded heavily. "In the meantime, though, is there anything I can do for you?"

Elrond shrugged a little. "I'd have asked you to check on the children, but with Arwen going back to Lothlórien and Elladan and Elrohir off with the Dúnedain again, your efforts there would be frustrated somewhat."

"And what about yourself?" I asked. "No time out at all for you? It need not be adventurous business."

He shook his head gently. "Not for me, I don't think. Not yet. I am not fond of the idea of having so much time with my own thoughts for now."

"Can I still invite you to do things with Glorfindel and me? Or will you tire of being asked?"

"Please do keep asking," he said quietly, looking at me with a slightly afraid expression.

"Hey," I said as I clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly. "I said it ages ago. You're our Elrond. We're here to pester you until the world ends, but I understand in shit times like this, it can get a little wearing, so the offer of temporary relief seemed only fair."

The worried look dissipated, and with a small smile, he rolled his eyes at me.

The process of settling into a freakish new normal was a painfully slow one. We didn't really seem to get the hang of it for a good few centuries, but the huge gash that we'd started out with eventually shrank down to a small, albeit still very deep puncture which took a lot more provocation to upset than before. Luckily, everything going on outside of Imladris appeared to be back in the swing of things, which made it much easier to handle. Conditions had settled down in Gondor and Rohan; the monarchs came and went as per usual, and trade was as comfortable as ever. Sauron was mercifully quiet in his conspicuous hidey-hole. All told, life was eminently doable.

And naturally, when things become too predictable, something comes along again and turns the world on its head. Fortunately, though, this was quite a pleasant surprise. Not that I knew it at the time. I had been indulging in a spot of trampoline diving with Glorfindel in the late afternoon, and we had been taking it a bit too hard, because we wandered up toward the house dripping wet and hearing slightly muffled from all the water in our ear canals. As we got into the main corridor, I heard a high-pitched shrieking that set my teeth on edge, even through the aqua sound barrier. It sounded like someone was plucking the feathers out of a live seagull. Worried, Glorfindel and I ran as fast as we could to the source of the noise, which took us to Elrond's office. The door was closed, but the screeches continued. Whatever was in there was frantic.

"Elrond," I hollered as I bashed on the door. "Elrond I'm sorry but there's a bird stuck in there, I just need to go in there and let it out, mate!"

I couldn't hear any noise from inside (aside from the caterwauling that brought us there in the first place, of course), and I threw the door open to find Elrond standing with a young mortal woman. She looked exhausted, and appeared to be holding an inconsolable toddler. My jaw dropped as mortification filled me from head to toe, and with that sudden drop in internal pressure my gaping mouth had created, the water gushed out of my ears.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," I said over the baby's crying. "I thought it was a trapped bird. We'll just… uh… go…"

But we did not 'just go.' I heard Glorfindel from behind me loudly exclaim, "Oh, my! A baby!" and clapped his hands in delight. The sound of the clapping alerted the screaming tadpole to us, and as he looked at the two of us silly clucks standing there dripping wet in our stripy swimsuits, he proceeded to laugh and clap his hands back at us.

"Ah, Rhodri, Glorfindel," Elrond said quickly upon seeing us, seizing the opportunity for free childcare. He beckoned us in so that we might keep the child quiet a while longer.
"This is Gilraen, descendant of the Rangers of the North," he gestured at the young lady, who gave us a shy but friendly smile, "and her child Aragorn, who will be known as Estel." He gestured at the infant. "Their husband and father, King Arathorn of the Dunedain, was recently killed by an Orc arrow while hunting with Elladan and Elrohir. It is Gilraen's wish that I foster Estel, so the two of them are the newest residents of Imladris."

"Ooh," Glorfindel murmured excitedly, waving gently at the baby, who squealed joyfully.
"I am sorry for your loss, Gilraen," I said solemnly, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder gently. "That must be dreadful for you. Would you happen to be interested in having a foster aunt and uncle as well?" I asked Gilraen with a small smile as I stuck my tongue out and got a giggle out of her child.

"Oh, I would be, if the offer is there," Gilraen replied with a nod.

Glorfindel and I both beamed with excitement. "Splendid, splendid!" Glorfindel gushed, eyes sparkling.

"If you wish to take advantage of the extra supervision," Elrond said with an amused smile to Gilraen, "you can pass Estel to these two and we can finish making our short-term plans. They have long experience from looking after my own children."

Seeming to be satisfied with our qualifications, Gilraen put Estel on the ground and watched him fondly as he toddled over to us.

While the grown-ups were talking, Glorfindel and I had an absolute whale of a time with our newest nephew. He had a thick crop of dark brown hair and grey eyes that glittered so enchantingly as he investigated his surroundings with fascination. The sound of his laughter filled the room like music as we played shadow puppets on the wall with him, and for the first time in centuries, Elrond appeared to soften, stealing a glance at the happy little sprout now and then.

When the discussions were finished and Gilraen's room was, we escorted her and Estel there and said our goodnights.

"I have a good feeling about this," I said to Glorfindel and Elrond cheerfully as we wandered back together.

"You don't say," Elrond remarked affably as he glanced over at me.

"No, but really," I continued. "We could use a dose of carefree children's antics around here. I think we're ready for a bit of happiness."

A contented "Mmm," came from both of them.