Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait. Hope you like this chapter.

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Until We Meet Again

Chapter Three – Celebrian

Celebrian fidgeted nervously next to her parents as their guests made their way up the talan, to meet the Lord and Lady of the wood. It was a few centuries since she had come of age, but had yet to learn the effortless grace and poise with which her mother moved, or spoke, or indeed, did anything. Many were the occasions on which she had embarrassed herself (and her parents) by uttering a tactless comment, or being too clumsy. But, as her parents said (or rather, hoped), she would soon grow out of it.

As for now, she was content to finally get a chance to properly meet elves that were not of her homeland. Her parents were so protective of her. They had ensured that she was not touched by any shadow of the wars taking place. She had never been outside the borders of Lothlórien. Until now, war had assailed Middle-Earth. But now was a time of peace. The Third Age had begun.

The elves from Imladris had come, not to discuss war, but to discuss peace. She had never met the lord of Imladris before. She had heard of him, of course. Her parents often talked of him. And everyone knew the tale of the children of Ëarendil. She wondered how much it had grieved him to be parted from his brother, knowing they would never meet again.

Up till now, it had always been Gil-galad who sent messages or messengers. But he had fallen... Celebrian forced herself to put aside such thoughts. After all, the Dark Lord had fallen. The shadow had passed. What could possibly go wrong now?

Celebrian was brought out of her thoughts by the arrival of the guests upon the talan. They were escorted by Haldir, the marchwarden. She looked on as a golden-haired elf, taller than all the others, walked in front. She had seen him before once, when she was very little. Of course! This was Glorfindel, the legendary balrog-slayer. To be honest, she had been quite frightened of him before, not because he was intimidating (even though he was, slightly), but because he gave the impression that he was a bit mad. Or maybe that had just been her imagination.

She moved on to look at a dark-haired elf standing just behind Glorfindel. He was unknown to her. He was incredibly fair, and judging by his ears, which were slightly less pointed than they should be, she guessed that this was Elrond, Lord of Imladris.

Celebrian was very good at reading people and sensing their feelings, something she had inherited from her mother. There were a few very faint scars still to be seen on his face and neck, remnants of battle, but she could sense that he was slightly weary. He had not yet overcome his sorrow, his troubles. His body has healed, but his mind has not.

Caught in her own musings, she did not notice that he was now looking at her, until she finally looked up and found herself looking into his eyes. His eyes... Celebrian felt something flutter inside her. She found herself unable to turn her gaze away. The two of them simply stood there, looking at each other.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Galadriel watched them, so captivated by each other. She heard herself sigh. It looked like she wouldn't be protecting her little girl for much longer. I was right, she thought. This will be an eventful visit.

And so it began.

---------------tbc----------------

Notes

It never actually says anywhere that Elrond's ears were less pointed than usual, but again, it doesn't say that they weren't. I assumed that, because he had some mortal blood in him, his ears would be slightly rounded.

Again, Celebrían's age is not given anywhere. I felt she would be quite a bit younger than Elrond. I wanted her to be quite innocent and untouched by war and grief, which you will see is one of the things that draw Elrond to her. So in this fic I would say she is about six centuries old. As for 'coming of age', it says in 'Morgoth's Ring' (Part 10 of Histories of Middle Earth) that elves came of age i.e. became fully developed in mind and body at the age of fifty. It says that elflings grew in the same way as mortal children till the age of about three, but then their physical growth slowed down. Mentally, they developed at about the same rate as mortal children, if not quicker. Logically speaking, this would mean that their minds were developed well before the age of fifty, so I'm presuming that probably their mental growth also slowed down after a while. In Celebrían's case, even though she is well over fifty, she is still not quite an adult (at least that's what I think). When you think about it, she is the only child of Galadriel and Celeborn, both powerful elves in their own right; of course they would pamper her and ensure that no harm came to their precious daughter. Especially Celeborn, cos you know that most dads have this thing about their daughters. In my view it is her falling in love with Elrond that propels her full force towards maturity (hee hee I'm starting to sound like my English teacher!). But that's only my opinion. I hope you don't mind if it doesn't agree with yours.

According to the Appendices, Unfinished Tales, and a couple of other sources, Elrond first met Celebrian in Rivendell. After the war, Celeborn went back to Imladris with Elrond, rather than going to his wife, and so after a few years Galadriel and her daughter came to Imladris to meet him and take him back with them. So really this strays from canon slightly, but I couldn't help it. I wanted Elrond to first meet Celebrian on unfamiliar ground, and I wanted Celebrian to never have left her home. So in this fic, Galadriel got Celeborn back slightly sooner, and she went to get him alone. Sorry if you feel I should have stuck to the original events. : ( Anyway, I have rambled on for long enough now. I should probably stop before you fall asleep.

But very quickly, before I go, thanks a bunch to Malara and Vicki Turner for reviewing. I really appreciate it. And Malara, thank you for all those wonderful things! You made my day. Tell me what you thought of this chapter, and whether it lived up to your expectations. Until the next post, bye!

- Narwen Almiriel