This chapter, too, is quite a time after the last. You can either go figure it out using the index (but I don't think that will ultimately work for this story, yes, I'm breaking out of the timeline) or use your imagination, which is probably best.

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Gimli grunted and backed away from the edge of the talan, his graying beard waving in the gentle breeze that swept through the upper branches of the tree. "A wood-elf haven," he grumbled, looking at the talans mostly hidden in the trees around him.

Legolas smiled slightly and led Gimli on to the talan he had been given for his use the first time he had visited.

"This is still available?"

"It was built with guests in mind," Legolas agreed absently. Of course, they had not gotten many guests. Some elves had traveled from Mirkwood, but the journey seemed pointless when all would be reunited in the undying lands before too much time had passed. Aragorn and Arwen had come a few times, but he and Lunian usually visited them every three or four years until Aragorn's death. Since then they hadn't made the journey once. "You are welcome as long as you like, my friend," Legolas murmured softly, seeing Gimli was aging as well.

It seemed like everyone around him was aging, while he never did.

His disgusted thought was brought up short as a bit of common sense hit him square between the eyes. Of course they did! Of course he didn't! He was an ELF, he didn't age in a way that was noticeable in the lifetime of any mortal!

He had never wished that it had been any other way. He would not change his race if he could. Though he didn't age, he certainly changed, as his friendships outside the elves would show anyone at first glance. He had, after all, been born a Mirkwood elf, at the time when they were as suspicious of strangers as dwarves who guard gold.

He did still wish Lunian had been born an elf, as she should have been, of course, but he had given up hoping she would live forever. He had many years yet to live.

Gimli's huffing brought him back from his musings.

"Dinner will be shortly. If you do not join us, some food will be brought up to you."

"Thank you, Master Elf," Gimli muttered gruffly, his small dark eyes shining as he looked up at Legolas.

Legolas smiled slightly and bowed his head. "It is good to see you, too, Master Dwarf."

At dinner Lunian saw the sympathy in Gimli's gaze as she slowly managed to get her bones to move her to her feet, then into a crouch so she could greet him at eye-level. "It is about time you returned, Gimli," she murmured softly. "It is good to see you well."

Gimli frowned slightly, sending a worried glance to Legolas from the corner of his eye. Then he looked back at her and nodded. "You too, Lady Lunian," he muttered gruffly.

She smiled, seeing in the exchange he hadn't told Legolas her request of him the last time he had visited. She had told him then to return in a few years. He had, and it was time. She nodded and braced herself for the pain she would encounter when straightening. Thankfully, Legolas hadn't picked up on it yet. It had only become bad in the last season, her joints protesting nearly every move she made. Slowly she eased herself up, bracing herself on Gimli's obliging shoulder.

"Tomorrow, I think," she whispered softly, knowing Legolas had heard but wouldn't ask until they were alone, if then.

After dinner she pulled Nallina aside and handed her a letter, making her promise to read it on the next full moon. Nallina tilted her head at it, then shrugged and laughed at being handed a puzzle, hugging Lunian quickly before flittering off somewhere else, still as youthful as when she had first approached the young woman Lunian had once been.

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