Alright, since I'm in a good mood, here is another chapter. Kinda short, though. Enjoy!

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Arrival

            "Look, there is a village up ahead!"

            Elrond glanced to where Glorfindel was pointing. Sure enough, the small town from the vision lay before them. The people were at work rebuilding the homes and businesses that had obviously been destroyed by fire. Most of the army tents from the village were gone, but Elrond recognized some of the workers as soldiers from Faramir's personal guard. The black tent was nowhere to be seen.

Elrond and Glorfindel urged their horses on, cantering into the village and shocking the townspeople, most of whom had never seen an elf before let alone two great elven lords. Lord Elrond payed no attention to the stares as he searched the crowd for his son. //Find Estel and I find Tir.//

Aragorn hammered the last board into place, stepping back to look at his work. He and the Gondorian soldiers had offered to help the people of Tumbar rebuild and had spent the past couple of days hacking wood instead of orcs. The King of Gondor had just finished helping rebuild the Houses of Healing when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down at the little girl. "Yes, Silhin?" The girl, along with Faramir, had been taken into the care of Galwen, the woman who had first found Faramir, and her husband Adin.

Silhin smiled excitedly. "Your highness, sir, come and see!"

"Please call me Estel and see what?"

"The elves, si. . .Estel! At least, Adin said it was elves. They're so pretty!"

The King raised his eyebrow. //Elves? What are elves doing here?// "What do they look like, Silhin?"

The girl's eyes sparkled. "One has brown hair like you and looks kind of worried. The other has pretty yellow hair, it looks like straw made of gold!"

Aragorn followed Silhin who was skipping ahead, anxious to see the elves again. //Not a very useful description, could be any pair of Wood-elves from Lothlorien.// They came to the large crowd. The people were following the elves at a careful but inquisitive distance. Pushing his way through, the King of Gondor yelled out to the elves. "Mae govannen hîr nin."

                Faster than most of the crowd could blink, the dark-haired elf dismounted and strode up to Aragorn. "Estel, there you are!"

            Aragorn stared dumbfounded at the elf. "Ada?" A thousand questions ran through his mind, but Elrond did not give him time to voice any of them.

            "Where is Tir?"

            As Aragorn was still trying to process that his father was here, Silhin had moved cautiously next to Glorfindel who by then was standing net to Elrond. "Who are you looking for?"

            Glorfindel looked down at the girl. "We are seeking the lord Faramir, Steward of Gondor. He is a friend of ours."

            "You mean 'Palan? He's this way, at Galwen and Adin's house." Grabbing Glorfindel's hand, Silhin started pulling him away. The surprised elf lord only had time to tap Elrond on the shoulder and tell him where they were going before being dragged off. Elrond walked quickly after them, a still slightly confused Aragorn and most of the town of Tumbar in tow.

            As they walked to the house, Aragorn finally found his voice. "Ada, what are you doing here? How did you know about Faramir, the messenger would have only just reached Lothlorien today?"

            Elrond spared a glance at his foster son. "Galadriel's Mirror. She sent for me from Imladris and when I looked into it I saw. . .I saw. . ." The elf lord couldn't finish his sentence but the look in his eyes told Aragorn all he needed to know.

            The King of Gondor put a hand on his father's arm. "He is fine, Ada. In fact, we will be returning to Minas Tirith soon."

            It startled Aragorn to see Elrond's shoulders slump slightly in relief. //The vision must have been awful.// "Thank the Valar. I had feared. . . "

            Aragorn understood completely. He had feared the same thing. "Come Ada. He is this way."

            Meanwhile, Silhin continued to drag Glorfindel to the house. //Eluial would be laughing so hard she would be crying if she could see me now. The great Lord Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower, being pulled along by a little human girl who is not even a hundredth of my age.// "Here we are Mister. . . "

            "Glorfindel. Lord Glorfindel."

            Silhin paused, her eyes going wide. "Like in the story about the big elf-city and the attack of Morgoth? The elf who fought legions of Balrogs in order to protect his family and friends?"

            Glorfindel grimaced at the memory. The betrayal of Maeglin, the death of Lord Ecthelion who was Glorfindel's friend and mentor. His mother and sister, slain by the Balrog as it attacked the fleeing elves from behind. "Yes, I am that Glorfindel." //Ai, even mortals know my story!//

            "I'm sorry." Surprised, Glorfindel looked at Silhin. She stared sadly at him. "I lost my family too. I don't remember Mama or Daddy, but I had Gramma until the monsters got her. Now I don't have anyone either, like you."

            The blonde elf lord felt his heart ache for the little girl. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he smiled encouragingly. "Most people do not know the end of my story. Yes, I fell with the Balrog, but I returned home. I was welcomed into the House of the Peredhil, and I fell in love and married my beloved Eluial. So the story does have a happy ending."

            "Do you think my story will have a happy ending?"

Before he could answer, they reached the house and Galwen hurried out the door. "Silhin, there you are, I was so worried about you! You should not run off like that without telling anyone."

"I'm sorry Galwen, but I got to see the elves and this is Lord Glorfindel from the story about the Balrogs!"

Galwen gawked at the elf. "My lord . . . please, come in. Oh dear. . . Silhin, please start doing your chores, we have. . . more guests. . .oh dear!" The young woman nearly fled back into the house, having a sudden urge to clean her house more.

Glorfindel smiled. He saw the motherly look Galwen had given Silhin. "Do not worry, little one. You will have your happy ending as well."

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Ok, I'm not really sure why I put in the part with Glorfindel except I like Glorfindel and I wrote this chapter after I read the Fall of Gondolin in the History of Middle Earth and it progressed from there. I don't know if Glorfindel's family died then, or if he had any, (which is a possiblity if he was a really really old elf who was awoken at the Shores of Cuiviénen) but since the Balrog started attacking the women and injured, I figured that was a possibility. Glorfindel was the Head of the House of the Golden Flower and he died fighting the Balrog. I took the position that he returned to Middle Earth and was the Glorfindel that saved Frodo at the Ford of the Bruinen. And I made up Eluial just because I thought he needed a wife. Possibly I'll write a backstory for them later. The ideas keep rolling around in my head. =D