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~ Ten ~
The Lady was glad to be back home walking the halls where she had dwelt for so long, and the company of her children and lord husband brought her comfort and cheer. For a time she seemed that she yet may well enjoy many happy years among her family in the Last Homely House. But as winter set in, and she would try to join in the periodic festivities celebrated by their people, she grew more tired, more burdened by troubled memories. It began to feel harder to take joy in the life she had lived in merriment in Middle-earth as she once had.
But then one day as she walked the halls of the great house a weariness suddenly fell very heavy upon her. She caught herself against the wall, nearly falling into a swoon, and made her way to her quarters. A year had passed since she had been struck by a dart and captured.
The lord of the house administered treatment to the patient as best he could. He knew, as she did, what must happen next, and the thought grew heavy on his mind as he and his children in turn sat in an anxious watch over her troubled sleep over the next few days.