Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1

Chapter 2: The Day She Stopped Running

Celebrían was tying her cloak beneath her chin when Gaerdhal appeared in her front door. She saw his shadow fall across the floor as the early morning sun glinted behind him and she did not even have to turn to see who it was. He leaned against the doorjam, crossing his thick arms over his chest.

"You have to stop doing this," he ordered quietly.

"I don't know what in the blazes you're talking about," she said in mild annoyance, casting her blue eyes over her shoulder for a long moment.

Gaerdhal sighed in exasperation, "You can't disappear into the hills every time a ship comes from the east. You could be hurt or lost out there."

"We're in Valinor," she said with a toss of her silver hair, her voice now distracted as she threw a lunch into a canvas sack, "I have nothing to fear here. Besides, we live on an island, how can I possibly get lost?"

"What if he's on this one?"

"He's never coming," she spat, the venom in her voice surprising even her. She sobered quickly, glancing down in shame. She took two deep breaths, and finally raised her gaze to Gaerdhal's sympathetic green eyes, "You don't know what it's like, hoping every time you see sails that this will be the one. Thinking that your wait will finally be over. I can't stand the disappointment anymore," her voice caught, and she bit her lip, "I can't be here to watch that ship empty and not recognize a single face. I can't watch everyone else reunited with those they love while I stand in the shadows, wishing it was my turn. Wishing they had not all forgotten about me."

Gaerdhal drew a few steps closer to her. The sun shone through his dark hair, his fine-boned face tilted to one side as he said, "I remember when you first came here, when you were brought to me for care. You were a broken creature, you had no hope. But I could also see a glimpse of what you had once been...a vibrant and caring elf, a child of legends. And here you are now, as beautiful as the stars themselves." Gaerdhal lifted a hand to her face, brushing his knuckles over her cheek, "They haven't forgotten you. No one could ever forget you."

Celebrían smiled fondly at the gentle healer, but edged away from him. Elrond's hands were rougher. The thought came unbidden to her mind, and she nearly cursed aloud. It didn't matter what Elrond had been like. She was never going to see him again.

Most of the time, she could resist such bitter thoughts, but whenever word reached them that a ship was soon to dock, she lost her resolve. It was resentment that drove her from the city, but behind that, deeper in her heart, she felt hurt. She never spoke of it, but she felt so abandoned and lonely sometimes. Though she lived in this realm of indescribable beauty and spent her days surrounded by kind friends, contentment eluded her.

"I'll be back by nightfall," she promised and Gaerdhal nodded, his eyes tight with concern.

"You know I'll get worried about you and come looking for you by noon," he quietly confessed.

Celebrían shot him a long-suffering look that turned into a reluctant smile, "I'll save you an apple," she promised.

As Celebrían strolled through the cobbled streets of Tol Eressea, she smiled at those she passed, and was stopped several times to chat with elves she knew. The people of this city were truly the kindest she had ever known, tranquil people who revered the sea. Her Noldor blood had not earned her a single angry glance, and for that she was grateful. She had been taken in immediately, and felt at home in a way she had not since last she was in Caras Galadhon, the land of her birth.

The houses soon began to thin, replaced by stands of ancient oaks spattered with the bright white of birches. The road grew rougher, and Celebrían picked her way around the wide mud puddles, gradually working her way into the verdant hills above the city. The air was cooler and fresher out here, and she sucked it greedily into her nostrils. The breezes and birdsong soothed her, in a way not even Gaerdhal's calming presence could.

She thought of him and a small smile crept across her lips. He was the healer who cared for her upon arriving in these lands five hundred years ago, his loyal ministrations that had brought her back from the brink of darkness. She would be in his debt forever for the second chance he had given her, and yet...and yet she could not bring herself to give him what he so clearly needed. Her friends had carefully asked why she did not just accept Gaerdhal's love, why she resisted him all the while claiming that Elrond would never leave Middle Earth. They wondered why she still clung to the memories of her husband when it appeared they would never be together again. Celebrían always changed the subject, but she knew she denied Gaerdhal for the same reason she refused to move away from this port city even though the arrival of every vessel caused her pain. She had not given up on her husband. Though her mind screamed for her to move on, to forget, to start over, every fiber of her being resisted, with every waking thought and with every dream at night, she pleaded with the fates to bring Elrond back to her.

Celebrían looked down at the satchel of food swinging at her side. Why did she wait half an age for one man to cross the sea, while right before her was another who could never be more than a mile from her without worry? On days when the ships arrived, Celebrían always packed enough food for two, for Gaerdhal usually tracked her down before the sun was high. Wasn't that a sign? Shouldn't his devotion mean something to her?

For the first time in all these years, Celebrían paused with a frown, and sat down on the side of the road. She arranged her plain blue skirt beneath her and pulled her knees up to her chin. She had always seen how far she could get before Gaerdhal found her, tried to disappear into the woods and test his skills as a tracker. Never before had she just waited, made it easy for him to find her. Maybe it was finally time to stop running.

Gaerdhal smiled a little, kneeling beside the muddy path and studying the small footprint. She was keeping to the road longer than usual, she should have veered off by now. They had been playing this game for so many years, but she still managed to surprise him from time to time.

When he rounded a corner, he saw her there, sitting on the road with her legs drawn up and her eyes closed. Gaerdhal's eyes widened in terror and he called her name, running to her.

"Cel! Cel, are you all right?"

He dropped to his knees at her side, and she looked up at him with a quiet grin. Gaerdhal looked sheepish, "I thought you might be hurt or ill. Instincts of a healer, I guess. What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you," she said simply.

Gaerdhal held his breath, settling back on his heels to study her more carefully. There was something different in her eyes, something he had never seen before. When in the past there was always a distance she maintained from him, he could see it had now disappeared like a fog dissolved by the touch of sunlight. He leaned in closer to her, and noticed she smelled like strawberries. His hand shook as he reached up, meaning to touch her perfect jawline with his finger, trace the jagged white scar that snaked across her cheekbone, a faint remnant of her stormy past. He thought that the scar somehow added to her allure, that her beauty was only amplified by the mysterious mark. Her lips parted and she gazed up at him, trust shining from eyes the color of the sea. But, with the same tempestuous volatility as the ocean, her face suddenly changed.

He could see her lips were trembling, her bright blue eyes widened in some nameless emotion. He drew back, sure he had startled her, but then saw she was looking not at him, but at something over his right shoulder. Gaerdhal spun, and saw at the curve in the path a strange elf watching them in silent rage. Gaerdhal stood, raising a hand in greeting, or to fend off an attack, he was not sure which. The stranger's voice seemed to rumble through the rocky ground all around them as he growled, "Get away from my wife."

Huge thanks to my reviewers Zammy, raine, KissTheRainGirl12489, Losseniaiel, and Nightshade3!!