A/N: Takes place a few months after Arwen has left Rivendell.
Chapter 9.
"Lady Evenstar!" Primula Brandybuck called to her. "There are big men in the village asking after you."
"Thank you Primula." Arwen called back. "Do you know them?"
"No, Lady. But Mama bade me come and tell you."
"Tell your mother thank you as well then, young hobbit." She told the hobbit-lass, who was one of Merry's younger sisters.
Intrigued by the thought of people looking for her she shrugged, making sure that her dagger was secured on her belt, then walking out into her garden to tend some of the plants.
Long into the afternoon she remained alone, until working beside the pool in her garden Arwen felt the need to look up, towards the fields.
Away up in the trees two Men on horse back watched her from a distance. One of the riders dismounted, and began to walk towards her, the sunlight glinting off his long hair.
"Ada." She whispered to herself. "Ada!" She called to him, standing and brushing down her skirts.
"Arwen." Elrond bowed his head to her.
"Ada I have missed you." Arwen wrapped her arms around him, holding on tightly.
Smiling as he returned the embrace, Elrond spoke to her, the same words he had always spoken when she was a child. "Be still now little Evenstar. The nightmare is now over and the land of dreams awaits you once more."
"Oh, Ada." Tears prickled her eyes, making her vision blurry.
"I promise you Arwen. The nightmare is now over. Tinuviel is found and safe, though not yet where she belongs."
"Tinuviel is found?" She repeated, pushing away from him. "Luthien?"
"She is safe Arwen, long months has she been lost to us all, and now she is restored to us, to you, my daughter."
"Where is she?"
"Come Arwen." Elrond took her by the hand, leading her towards the Rider he had arrived with.
Reverently the Rider bowed his head to her, placing the child down.
The little girl stared up at the Elven Lady for a moment, then smiled. "Amme!"
Tear coursed freely down Arwen's cheeks finally freed after months of pain and suffering. "Luthien." Holding her arms out to her child, Arwen held Luthien tightly, sobbing into her hair, while Luthien cried simply because her mother did.
With a paternal air, Elrond removed his travelling cloak, laying it around her shoulders, then, sitting her down on a low stone-wall. "Arwen, be calm now. All is well." He spoke gently.
She managed to stop crying and look up at him. "Where did you find her?"
"Between Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul." The Rider answered her. "Do not fear Lady. She is well."
Arwen passed a gentle hand over Luthien's long, wavy tresses, then, looked up at the Rider. "You do not have to hide your face from me, Elessar."
He bowed and removed his helmet. "Arwen. How did you know it was me?"
"If I was blind I would know you." She said quietly. "Come now, you are all tired after your journey." She stood without any assistance from either of them, and carried Luthien, almost half asleep up to her house, which she had favoured over a hobbit hole.
*******
"This is nice." Elrond said, looking around at the different rooms. "You seem happy here."
"I have been. Hobbits are lovely creatures, very kind." She answered quietly, having laid Luthien down on her bed, the child already sleeping deeply. She appeared behind them, walking directly into the kitchen. "Would you like some tea? Or wine? Some cake?"
"Tea and cake would be lovely." Elrond said to her, sitting down at the table.
"I don't suppose you've looked in on the hobbits yet?" She asked them.
"No," Aragorn said, looking a little awkward. "We brought Luthien straight here."
"Sam is married now. Rose is expecting their first child. Pippin is courting a hobbit lass called Diamond." She told them. "Frodo is still weary, the weight of his burden has lifted all it ever will. Soon I will send him to the Grey Havens. I have given him my place on the ship to Valinor."
"What of you?" Aragorn asked.
"I had intended to stay here, until I fade. Time is mine for now, but soon the Valar will take me." Arwen told them.
"A Queen of the Eldar you are Arwen Undomiel." Elrond told her. "Beloved of the Valar, not cursed by them."
"Death has never appeared as a curse to me, Ada. It is a gift." She turned to Aragorn. "I expect you will want to take Luthien back to Gondor with you."
"She is Princess Royal, even to the people, my people who have never laid eyes upon her, save few of the Dunedain. She will return to Gondor. It is my hope though, that you return with us."
"Estel do not make me choose, because I cannot. I cannot be the woman you want me to be. Not anymore. The light of the Evenstar has faded. I am not the person I used to be."
"You are and more Undomiel. But you are right Arwen, you have changed. You are no longer the woman you once were, you are the dream afraid of waking."
"That is right Aragorn. That is all I am, a dream. Leave Luthien here with me. Gondor is no place for her."
"How can you say that Gondor is no place for a princess such as she?" Aragorn asked her. "She was born to rule in my stead."
"Luthien was born because I loved you, and we both needed hope. It was my downfall, and yours too it appears." Arwen answered him.
"How was needing hope my downfall?" Aragorn demanded.
"You said it yourself, Luthien was born to rule in your stead. She wasn't. She was born a Princess of the Stars, a Queen of the Eldar, a gift of love from the Valar to us both. Luthien was never meant to rule a country. The only Queen she will ever be is a Queen of the Elves." Arwen said quietly. "Queen of the Valar on my passing."
"What would you have me do then?" Aragorn asked her, shocked once more by her words. "Is my line to fail ere it has begun?"
"If I had the heart to I would bear you another heir." She answered him. "But shorter my days have become, and I do not think my body will take the strain."
"I don't understand Arwen." He admitted.
"I do not have the strength to give you another heir, Aragorn. I believe it would result in my death." Her eyes were wide and honest when she looked up at him. "I can embrace the coming of my passing, and I can remain myself as I fade. But I will not leave this place before my time. Leave Luthien here with me. Let me watch my child grow."
"What of when you pass?" Aragorn asked her. "I will not leave Luthien here with you, only to watch her mother fade from life."
"When I have faded, before I pass, Ada will take Luthien over the Sundering Seas. She will be raised in Valinor by my parents. This is the only time I shall ever ask anything of you again Elessar."
"There is nothing stopping me from taking Luthien now, and leaving this place, taking her back to Gondor where she belongs." Aragorn told her.
"You will not take her from me." Arwen told him. "I am not your subject, Aragorn, and you will not take Luthien from this house."
"I am King, Arwen. Not even you can disobey me."
"Then leave my house, and leave the Shire. This is a self-governing province, Aragorn. You named it so yourself, you have no power here."
"I will not leave Luthien here to watch you die, Arwen." Aragorn told her firmly. "And this last thing you ask of me I will not grant to you. Luthien means as much to me as she does to you."
"Leave this place then Aragorn, while you still have your life." She told him, her voice deadly calm. "It will take a greater army than you will ever be able to muster to take my daughter from me again."
"What kind of a life can you create for her? What kind of mother can you be? Arwen you are dying." Aragorn changed tactics again, trying to reason with her.
"What kind of a life did your mother give you Aragorn? She gave up everything in order for you to live, to be born even. In your youth she said to me, 'Onen i-Estel Edain, u-chebin estel anim.' I gave hope to the Dunedain, I have kept no hope for myself. In the moment of your birth she knew that she was dying. Gilraen gave you to the life she wanted for you. She bore you so that Arathorn would have an heir to the Throne of Gondor. Luthien was not born to be your heir." She shot back. "Let me keep my daughter Aragorn, then let her pass into the West, where her kin will take care of her until she is grown. Let her be with her own people."
"If she comes to Gondor she will be with her own people, Arwen."
"No, Aragorn, if she goes to Gondor, one day she will find herself alone, the only one Elven bloodlines left in Middle Earth. I do not want her to feel that sorrow. Let my father bear her to where the grass is evergreen, and this changing place shall be no more than stories for her."
"Stories? Dreams? Arwen you cannot run from life, nor make Luthien run from hers." Aragorn pleaded with her. "Just come to Gondor with us, let my people see my daughter. If you desire it, stay in Gondor, if only for a little while."
Arwen's expression was pained, for several moments she said nothing, just breathed slowly in and out. "You do not know just what it is you have asked me to do Aragorn."
"Please Arwen, if you love me at all, come, for Luthien's sake if not for mine." Aragorn pleaded with her.
"I will go to Gondor with you Aragorn. But do not try to deceive me. If you try to take Luthien I will fall upon you like Sauron never could. I will take your people, your land and your throne, and destroy you."
"That is some threat, Evenstar." Aragorn said light-heartedly. "I will keep it in mind."
"Do not call me Evenstar, Aragorn, and do not take me lightly. It is a grave mistake." Her voice was calm, and even when she spoke to him.
"Very well then. When can you leave?" He asked, not giving her any time to change her mind.
"Arwen! Arwen!" A voice called as the front door was flung open.
Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo burst in, all with matching expressions of worry and fear on their faces.
"In the village people were saying that big men were looking for you." Frodo said quietly. "We were worried for your safety." He looked up at Aragorn and Elrond warily.
"I am all right thank you." Arwen told them quietly. "Stay and have some tea and cake with us."
"Are you sure there's nothing wrong, Lady Arwen?" Sam asked, noting the glances exchanged between Arwen and Aragorn.
"My father and the king have found my daughter." Arwen told them, busying herself with finding four more cups and making another pot of tea. "It seems that I am going to have to make the journey to Gondor."
"You don't sound like you want to go." Frodo observed, his voice calm, with a trace of underlying weariness.
"I don't really." Arwen told him, placing the extra cups down on the table and beginning to pour the tea. "It seems I must do many things I am reluctant to."
"If you must travel to Gondor, I will go with you." Frodo told her. "I will not let you go alone."
"Arwen will not be alone on the road to Gondor, Frodo Baggins." Elrond said to him.
"I understand Frodo, and will be grateful for your company." Arwen answered.
"That is well then, Lady, for I would had insisted." Frodo smiled.
"When can you leave?" Aragorn asked again.
"When I am ready, two days, maybe." She answered, still not looking into his face.
"That is well then, Arwen." Elrond said to her. "It will give us time to rest the horses, and take leave ourselves."
"Thank you Ada."
Chapter 9.
"Lady Evenstar!" Primula Brandybuck called to her. "There are big men in the village asking after you."
"Thank you Primula." Arwen called back. "Do you know them?"
"No, Lady. But Mama bade me come and tell you."
"Tell your mother thank you as well then, young hobbit." She told the hobbit-lass, who was one of Merry's younger sisters.
Intrigued by the thought of people looking for her she shrugged, making sure that her dagger was secured on her belt, then walking out into her garden to tend some of the plants.
Long into the afternoon she remained alone, until working beside the pool in her garden Arwen felt the need to look up, towards the fields.
Away up in the trees two Men on horse back watched her from a distance. One of the riders dismounted, and began to walk towards her, the sunlight glinting off his long hair.
"Ada." She whispered to herself. "Ada!" She called to him, standing and brushing down her skirts.
"Arwen." Elrond bowed his head to her.
"Ada I have missed you." Arwen wrapped her arms around him, holding on tightly.
Smiling as he returned the embrace, Elrond spoke to her, the same words he had always spoken when she was a child. "Be still now little Evenstar. The nightmare is now over and the land of dreams awaits you once more."
"Oh, Ada." Tears prickled her eyes, making her vision blurry.
"I promise you Arwen. The nightmare is now over. Tinuviel is found and safe, though not yet where she belongs."
"Tinuviel is found?" She repeated, pushing away from him. "Luthien?"
"She is safe Arwen, long months has she been lost to us all, and now she is restored to us, to you, my daughter."
"Where is she?"
"Come Arwen." Elrond took her by the hand, leading her towards the Rider he had arrived with.
Reverently the Rider bowed his head to her, placing the child down.
The little girl stared up at the Elven Lady for a moment, then smiled. "Amme!"
Tear coursed freely down Arwen's cheeks finally freed after months of pain and suffering. "Luthien." Holding her arms out to her child, Arwen held Luthien tightly, sobbing into her hair, while Luthien cried simply because her mother did.
With a paternal air, Elrond removed his travelling cloak, laying it around her shoulders, then, sitting her down on a low stone-wall. "Arwen, be calm now. All is well." He spoke gently.
She managed to stop crying and look up at him. "Where did you find her?"
"Between Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul." The Rider answered her. "Do not fear Lady. She is well."
Arwen passed a gentle hand over Luthien's long, wavy tresses, then, looked up at the Rider. "You do not have to hide your face from me, Elessar."
He bowed and removed his helmet. "Arwen. How did you know it was me?"
"If I was blind I would know you." She said quietly. "Come now, you are all tired after your journey." She stood without any assistance from either of them, and carried Luthien, almost half asleep up to her house, which she had favoured over a hobbit hole.
*******
"This is nice." Elrond said, looking around at the different rooms. "You seem happy here."
"I have been. Hobbits are lovely creatures, very kind." She answered quietly, having laid Luthien down on her bed, the child already sleeping deeply. She appeared behind them, walking directly into the kitchen. "Would you like some tea? Or wine? Some cake?"
"Tea and cake would be lovely." Elrond said to her, sitting down at the table.
"I don't suppose you've looked in on the hobbits yet?" She asked them.
"No," Aragorn said, looking a little awkward. "We brought Luthien straight here."
"Sam is married now. Rose is expecting their first child. Pippin is courting a hobbit lass called Diamond." She told them. "Frodo is still weary, the weight of his burden has lifted all it ever will. Soon I will send him to the Grey Havens. I have given him my place on the ship to Valinor."
"What of you?" Aragorn asked.
"I had intended to stay here, until I fade. Time is mine for now, but soon the Valar will take me." Arwen told them.
"A Queen of the Eldar you are Arwen Undomiel." Elrond told her. "Beloved of the Valar, not cursed by them."
"Death has never appeared as a curse to me, Ada. It is a gift." She turned to Aragorn. "I expect you will want to take Luthien back to Gondor with you."
"She is Princess Royal, even to the people, my people who have never laid eyes upon her, save few of the Dunedain. She will return to Gondor. It is my hope though, that you return with us."
"Estel do not make me choose, because I cannot. I cannot be the woman you want me to be. Not anymore. The light of the Evenstar has faded. I am not the person I used to be."
"You are and more Undomiel. But you are right Arwen, you have changed. You are no longer the woman you once were, you are the dream afraid of waking."
"That is right Aragorn. That is all I am, a dream. Leave Luthien here with me. Gondor is no place for her."
"How can you say that Gondor is no place for a princess such as she?" Aragorn asked her. "She was born to rule in my stead."
"Luthien was born because I loved you, and we both needed hope. It was my downfall, and yours too it appears." Arwen answered him.
"How was needing hope my downfall?" Aragorn demanded.
"You said it yourself, Luthien was born to rule in your stead. She wasn't. She was born a Princess of the Stars, a Queen of the Eldar, a gift of love from the Valar to us both. Luthien was never meant to rule a country. The only Queen she will ever be is a Queen of the Elves." Arwen said quietly. "Queen of the Valar on my passing."
"What would you have me do then?" Aragorn asked her, shocked once more by her words. "Is my line to fail ere it has begun?"
"If I had the heart to I would bear you another heir." She answered him. "But shorter my days have become, and I do not think my body will take the strain."
"I don't understand Arwen." He admitted.
"I do not have the strength to give you another heir, Aragorn. I believe it would result in my death." Her eyes were wide and honest when she looked up at him. "I can embrace the coming of my passing, and I can remain myself as I fade. But I will not leave this place before my time. Leave Luthien here with me. Let me watch my child grow."
"What of when you pass?" Aragorn asked her. "I will not leave Luthien here with you, only to watch her mother fade from life."
"When I have faded, before I pass, Ada will take Luthien over the Sundering Seas. She will be raised in Valinor by my parents. This is the only time I shall ever ask anything of you again Elessar."
"There is nothing stopping me from taking Luthien now, and leaving this place, taking her back to Gondor where she belongs." Aragorn told her.
"You will not take her from me." Arwen told him. "I am not your subject, Aragorn, and you will not take Luthien from this house."
"I am King, Arwen. Not even you can disobey me."
"Then leave my house, and leave the Shire. This is a self-governing province, Aragorn. You named it so yourself, you have no power here."
"I will not leave Luthien here to watch you die, Arwen." Aragorn told her firmly. "And this last thing you ask of me I will not grant to you. Luthien means as much to me as she does to you."
"Leave this place then Aragorn, while you still have your life." She told him, her voice deadly calm. "It will take a greater army than you will ever be able to muster to take my daughter from me again."
"What kind of a life can you create for her? What kind of mother can you be? Arwen you are dying." Aragorn changed tactics again, trying to reason with her.
"What kind of a life did your mother give you Aragorn? She gave up everything in order for you to live, to be born even. In your youth she said to me, 'Onen i-Estel Edain, u-chebin estel anim.' I gave hope to the Dunedain, I have kept no hope for myself. In the moment of your birth she knew that she was dying. Gilraen gave you to the life she wanted for you. She bore you so that Arathorn would have an heir to the Throne of Gondor. Luthien was not born to be your heir." She shot back. "Let me keep my daughter Aragorn, then let her pass into the West, where her kin will take care of her until she is grown. Let her be with her own people."
"If she comes to Gondor she will be with her own people, Arwen."
"No, Aragorn, if she goes to Gondor, one day she will find herself alone, the only one Elven bloodlines left in Middle Earth. I do not want her to feel that sorrow. Let my father bear her to where the grass is evergreen, and this changing place shall be no more than stories for her."
"Stories? Dreams? Arwen you cannot run from life, nor make Luthien run from hers." Aragorn pleaded with her. "Just come to Gondor with us, let my people see my daughter. If you desire it, stay in Gondor, if only for a little while."
Arwen's expression was pained, for several moments she said nothing, just breathed slowly in and out. "You do not know just what it is you have asked me to do Aragorn."
"Please Arwen, if you love me at all, come, for Luthien's sake if not for mine." Aragorn pleaded with her.
"I will go to Gondor with you Aragorn. But do not try to deceive me. If you try to take Luthien I will fall upon you like Sauron never could. I will take your people, your land and your throne, and destroy you."
"That is some threat, Evenstar." Aragorn said light-heartedly. "I will keep it in mind."
"Do not call me Evenstar, Aragorn, and do not take me lightly. It is a grave mistake." Her voice was calm, and even when she spoke to him.
"Very well then. When can you leave?" He asked, not giving her any time to change her mind.
"Arwen! Arwen!" A voice called as the front door was flung open.
Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo burst in, all with matching expressions of worry and fear on their faces.
"In the village people were saying that big men were looking for you." Frodo said quietly. "We were worried for your safety." He looked up at Aragorn and Elrond warily.
"I am all right thank you." Arwen told them quietly. "Stay and have some tea and cake with us."
"Are you sure there's nothing wrong, Lady Arwen?" Sam asked, noting the glances exchanged between Arwen and Aragorn.
"My father and the king have found my daughter." Arwen told them, busying herself with finding four more cups and making another pot of tea. "It seems that I am going to have to make the journey to Gondor."
"You don't sound like you want to go." Frodo observed, his voice calm, with a trace of underlying weariness.
"I don't really." Arwen told him, placing the extra cups down on the table and beginning to pour the tea. "It seems I must do many things I am reluctant to."
"If you must travel to Gondor, I will go with you." Frodo told her. "I will not let you go alone."
"Arwen will not be alone on the road to Gondor, Frodo Baggins." Elrond said to him.
"I understand Frodo, and will be grateful for your company." Arwen answered.
"That is well then, Lady, for I would had insisted." Frodo smiled.
"When can you leave?" Aragorn asked again.
"When I am ready, two days, maybe." She answered, still not looking into his face.
"That is well then, Arwen." Elrond said to her. "It will give us time to rest the horses, and take leave ourselves."
"Thank you Ada."