Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, ideas or anything else from Lord of the Rings. I do however lay claim on Elrond's twin daughters as Tolkien never wrote about any twin elven girls anywhere in his books. Everything else though, as much as I wish it, is not mine and belongs to the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien (a wonderful, wonderful man). Except for a 2-year-old toddler by the name of Estel (forever called tithen min by his siblings) who needs looking after.
AN: Last full chapter. Epilogue will follow tomorrow. The beginning quote is from Two Towers.
~~~~OOOOO~~~~
Minlû pedich nin, i aur hen telitha. ~ You told me once, this day would come.
"We will not leave, Ada. Not yet at least. We cannot leave her here, to fade alone after he is gone. She is our sister. We will sail West soon enough with the twins, or with Legolas. But we cannot leave now. I am sorry Adar."
Elrond looked at her, grief marring his face as it had for the past two months. Ever since Estel had been crowned. Ever since he had realized without a doubt that he would loose Arwen as he had lost his brother. And now, here were his youngest, telling him he was to loose them as well.
"It is not forever Ada. You will see us soon enough. Time passes differently in the Blessed Lands. Our parting will not be long." Arómenë's eyes said what her voice could not: It will not be long before he dies. Before she dies.
Elrond was struck suddenly with how selfish he was being. He was leaving, abandoning Arwen forever more; the least he could do was allow his other daughters to remain with her until her end. And to wish for their quick arrival in Valinor was to wish for the quick death of his foster-son, and he did not want that. Not truly.
"And what of your mother? She has waited five centuries to see you. You will make her wait more?" but even as he said it he knew it was a feeble plea. Celebrían would understand their choice more than he ever would.
"A small number of years more will not matter Ada. We miss her, yes, but we will spend eternity with you on Aman. Fate has granted us only a few remaining years with Arwen. We will not waste it." The twins had obviously made up their minds in this. There would be no changing them.
"Then I cannot condone forcing you to accompany me West against your will. I give you my blessing, however much I grieve for the separation. May you not regret your choice. And may you come West, with your brothers and the Prince, for I would not loose any more of you to mortality."
Dúnë smiled sadly at him. "We swear we will come. You have our word. And our word also that we shall not leave the twins nor my betrothed here."
For the first time in days a smile touched the Lord's lips. "No, I would not believe for a moment you would leave Legolas behind! But I will surely cheer your mother by telling her she will have a wedding to plan, on your arrival."
He acknowledge the fleeting look of longing that appeared in his youngest's eyes before she pushed it away in favor of a supporting grin for her sister. Inwardly Elrond sighed. He hoped that she would one day be able to love; on Aman and not here, in a mortal as her sister had.
Andúnë stepped up to her father and embraced him, taking his mind off his saddened thoughts. "Everything will be fine, Ada. I know."
He froze at that comment, staring at her sharply, but she would not elaborate more. Perhaps he truly did worry for naught, and his daughters had seen their futures and knew what they contained. But suddenly he wasn't afraid of loosing them anymore.
"Hannon le, iell nin. You gladden my heart."
"That is what I am here for Ada; that is what we are here for," the twins smiled at him.
~~~~OOOOO~~~~
Of all the grief that Elrond had suffered in his long life; all the death he had witnessed; all the farewells he had ever had to say; all the things he had wished never to do; this, he reasoned, had to be the hardest.
To be reunited with his wife who had been wrongfully parted from him for neigh on five hundred years should have been perhaps the happiest moment of his life; and one he most certainly deserved after everything. But there was little joy in this, and much more sorrow, for the both of them.
To loose a daughter was unthinkable, but to have to inform the mother belatedly of that loss was that hardest thing Elrond had ever had to do. He was sure of it.
As the green shores drew closer and the forms of those waiting on the pier became visible to even mortal eyes, Elrond beheld his wife awaiting him. And he grieved for what was to come.
"She will understand more than you think, I believe. She is her mother's daughter in that, if only."
Elrond glanced beside him to find the former Lady of the Golden Wood. "But it will grieve her nonetheless. Even more, that I have left all of them there, though some may pass this way yet."
"They will pass; did not your daughters promise you?"
"Yes, but small consolation it will be to their mother. Ai, to know joy once more; what a thing that would be!"
Galadriel looked out towards the approaching shore and saw her daughter there, and she smiled. "You will know joy again, Elrond, I promise you," she said and turned away.
Elrond looked back towards his wife's growing form, and for the first time in many long months, he found cause to smile.
Yes, he had left his children behind, and two of them he would not see again till the world's ending; but the others would come, soon enough. And perhaps here, on these green shores, they would have the chance at a new life. A chance, once again, to find the joy of living so long denied. He would try at the least.
~~~~OOOOO~~~~
A green shore under a shinning sun. A tall, regal elf with midnight hair. Hadn't that been her vision in the mirror? Her future?
And here she was, standing in the shadows of white sails as the deck swayed under her feet and the sun shone down from a sapphire sky. And before her lay green lands and high mountains, and her parents waiting on the wharf with a strange elf.
But as she stepped off the ship with her sisters and brothers and into their parents waiting arms, she knew, and she wondered at how she had not known before who this king among elves was. For indeed, she now knew he was a king, or had been. Ereinion Gil-galad, last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth; her father's own foster-father and, she recalled her grandmother's close kin.
The Mirror of Galadriel did not show all things; and those things it did show were not always true. But that small vision of the future she had seen as a mere child all those yéni ago was standing now before her. And suddenly the cry of a babe echoed in her mind and she knew, with absolute certainty that he was hers, and the child was theirs.
"Arómenë, may I present Ereinion Fingonion. Erei, this is my youngest daughter." She would have continued to stare at him forever had her father not spoken. But now that he had she wished he had been silent, for she wanted suddenly to gaze at this elven king forever, if only from afar.
She flushed like a young maiden and dropped a curtsy to him. "My Lord Gil-galad," she whispered, as if the name itself was something to be revered; and perhaps it was.
"You need never bow to me Lady Arómenë. You are after all, almost my granddaughter. 'Tis I who am honored to meet one whose father speaks so highly of her." And he bowed his head in respect.
She loved him then, from that moment; if she hadn't already loved him from before.
He would later tell her that he had loved her then too, and wanted nothing more than to look upon her face all the rest of his days; till the ending of the world itself.
And that he had dreamed of her as well.