The next few days were some of the happiest in Katie's life. She was surrounded by loved ones and good company in a positively stunning locale. And always, there was the delight of the company of elves, a delight which would never cloy. Beauty of face and form was everywhere she looked, and their pure voices singing over the lake in the evenings… In short, she felt she was in absolute heaven.
One late afternoon, as the sun was sinking low in the sky, Elrohir and Katie went for a walk by the lake. The breeze blew softly, ruffling the water and tossing their hair about in the golden sunlight.
They joked and laughed as they walked away from the palace, talking of nothing important whatsoever. Some way from their point of departure, they stopped and looked back at the King's house, sitting by the lake. It was a masterpiece of architecture, and both of them drew a breath of delight at the sight of it, shining in the sunlight like a white shell by the water.
Elrohir took Katie's hand and drew her a little nearer to him. "Katelyn, there is something which I have been wanting to say to you for some time."
Katie's heart gave a little jump in her chest as she looked up at him. His gray eyes were solemn and joyful in his handsome face, and his black hair, straight as a silk curtain, moved slightly in the breeze. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles, then turned it and laid a kiss in the palm of her hand. She caught her breath at the intimacy of the gesture.
"Katelyn Elvellon, Estel-oneth—" He paused, and gathered his words. "Katie, I love you more than anyone that I have ever known. …Will you marry me?"
Katie felt like she had stopped breathing. She had known this was coming, but now that it was here… She felt hot tears start into her eyes, and she bit her lip, turning from him.
"What is it, Beautiful?" Elrohir asked.
"Oh, don't—please don't!" she pleaded. "We can't, Elrohir!" But she didn't try to move away from him.
"Why can we not?" Elrohir asked reasonably, as if he had expected this reaction, which indeed he had.
"Why not? There are a million reasons! You are an Elf, and I am a Human woman. Even Finrod said it in the Athrabeth— if any marriage can be between our kindred and thine, then it shall be for some high purpose of Doom. Brief it will be and hard at the end. Yea, the least cruel fate that could befall would be that death should soon end it." It proved how often she had thought about this, that she knew the passage by heart.
"Ah, but I am not fully Elven, as Aikanár was. And Andreth was a Woman of Men—you are not," Elrohir pointed out.
Katie turned startled eyes on him. "I'm not? Well, what am I, then?" she demanded.
"You are a Woman Remade," Elrohir said softly.
Katie bit her lip and shook her head, but he persisted. "You think it makes no difference. But the difference is very great. You are something the same and yet altogether different than what Andreth was. She had no Hope. You are the Hope-giver. And you have given that Hope to me, so that death is not such a cruel fate to us as it was to them. In fact, it will become indeed the Gift it was meant to be.
"And pity you will not have from me, as Andreth would have had from Aikanár. For though your Form may grow old and stooped, still your Spirit will be brighter than that of any Elf. Though you might hobble along on two sticks, with your hair all thin and white and your teeth all fallen out—" he was laughing gently, and she began to chuckle too through her tears, in spite of herself. "Still I will call you the Most Beautiful Being on Arda. You are more beautiful than even Galadriel, pure though she is. She is the old beauty, the morning star of the first day. But the joy when the first night turns again to the first dawn!— You are the Beauty Reborn."
Katie looked up at him, a desperate hope in the pit of her stomach. She had always known love was supposed to give you butterflies in your stomach; she didn't know it was supposed to make you feel like you were going to puke.
"You fear the death of those you love, Elrohir. It is almost certain that I will die before you. Will you be able to bear it?"
His face was solemn. "Even if I lose you and all I love, still I will Hope—still I will trust in the purposes of the One. I may release my spirit and fly to the Halls of Mandos, and there await the end of time, but I know that when Time and Arda end, I will meet you again, and there will we two and all those we love will walk together in Arda Remade. I am a slave no more to despair. Sorrow may loom over me, but despair shall bind me not. It has lost that power forever. The good news your grandmother and you brought to us has broken its power."
They both stood in thoughtful silence for a long time as the sun began to go down and the purple lights of evening glowed over the lake.
"It is possible," Katie at last conceded. "But there are still things that might hold us back. You would have to give up your immortality to marry me, I think."
"That decision has already been made."
Katie started and stared up at him in alarm.
"When our father made ready to sail over the sea, Elladan and I remained behind. We have never said as much, but we have decided to remain forever."
"But—you'll never see your father again—or your mother! I know how much you miss her."
Elrohir nodded. "It is hard. But it would be harder to sail away and never return, to lose our friends, our home—and you. And you will have to give up more—not only all your family, but your friends, your people, your home—you will have to give it all up, and never return to them."
Katie's face was surprisingly serene when she answered. "I know. I have known that for a long time." She turned to look him squarely in the eye. "I am willing to give it all up for you. I feel I belong here—and more than that, I feel God wants me here. If I chose not to stay, he would give me my wish: he always gives us what we ask for in the end. But—" She spread her hands. "I knew that the next time I came here, I wouldn't be going home. I even wrote a letter to my parents and left it where they will be sure to look, explaining everything that has happened, and where I've gone. They may not believe it at first, but I told them to talk to my roommate and my friends from college for elaboration—they met you, when you visited. They will believe in the end. I've taken care of all of that."
It was Elrohir's turn to look at her with wonder in his eyes. "You knew?" he said softly.
"Yes. I almost didn't dare to believe it—there were so many reasons it couldn't be true. But that's the great thing about Eru: He calls things that are not as though they were. I think this was my purpose in Middle-earth after all. To save people, yes—but most of all, so that Eru Ilúvatar could bless me." She laughed in delight at the thought. "He just wanted to make me happy, after all!"
"Enough of speeches," Elrohir said at last, running his hands through her hair with a chuckle. "Stubborn girl, are you done arguing? Will you marry me?"
"Yes, you ridiculous person, I will!" she answered with a laugh. As he leaned down to kiss her, the last lights of evening flashed over the lake, and it seemed the sun herself was laughing with them.
000
It was well after dark before they turned to walk back to the palace. They amused themselves by making wedding plans.
"We must officially announce our betrothal," Elrohir said.
"Of course," Katie answered, happy that she knew Elven marriage customs. "And then we'll marry a year after that. Only—" She frowned a little. "Your father and my mother can't do the ceremony."
"No. My mother's father might do it, though—for Celeborn is still in Lórien, you know," Elrohir said. "And perhaps you would like Arwen or Lithorniel to represent your mother?"
Katie nodded glumly. "I only wish my grandmother could see it."
"Does it bother you much, Beautiful?" Elrohir asked quietly.
Katie looked up at him with a quick smile—she liked his new nickname for her. "No; I've got the husband I want; I suppose the wedding guests aren't that big a deal." Elrohir laughed. "But I'm afraid you won't be getting a gift from my side of the family."
"I got you; that is gift enough for me," Elrohir pointed out. Katie stopped walking.
"Are you always going to be this flattering?" she asked suspiciously.
"I think you would agree: it is better than the alternative," Elrohir answered blandly. Katie tried to scowl at him, but they both ended up laughing.
"You know," Katie said slowly, "I think this was the reason. This was the reason Ilúvatar sent me here in the first place!" She smiled at Elrohir, her green eyes shining. "I came here first so I would get to know you. Then you came to my time so that you could save Grandma's life. Then she and I came back so that you and I would both learn of the Old Hope. And then—"
"—And then you came back so that we would finish falling in love, and now you are here so that we can marry!" Elrohir finished for her, the look of excitement on his face mirroring hers. "It is amazing!"
They both began to laugh again, and didn't stop until they reached the door of the palace.
"Elrohir, Katie—there you are!" Arwen exclaimed as Elrohir was shutting the door. "You missed the arrival of our latest guests!"
"Guests?" Elrohir said, puzzled. "Surely Éowyn could not have ridden here from Gondor so fast?"
"No, of course not. Come on!" Arwen said, and Katie could swear she caught a mischievous gleam in her eye. Very curious, they followed her into the great hall.
There was a party of elves there, dressed in silvery gray, chatting with the guests and inhabitants of the King's house.
"Grandfather!" Elrohir exclaimed, and rushed over to the tall ellon in their midst with his silver hair. Looking at him now, Katie could see the great resemblance between him and the elleth in her dream. No one who had seen Celebrían could doubt that she was Celeborn's daughter.
Elrohir's maternal grandfather would represent Elrond in their betrothal feast, then! Katie smiled at the thought. But Elrohir, suddenly smiling even wider at something Celeborn had said, beckoned her over.
"Greetings, Katelyn Elvellon," Celeborn said warmly. When she had said hello, he continued, "We met someone going our way as we were almost to Annúminas this evening. I think you will be most delighted to see her."
Katie frowned in confusion. But before she could ask who he was talking about, a tight knot of elves behind the Lord of the Wood stepped apart, and a much-loved face smiled at her gleefully.
Katie was robbed of speech for a moment. "Grandma!" she finally cried, and flew to Vivien's waiting arms. Everyone in the hall cheered as the two of them embraced, laughing and crying at once.
"Thank you," Katie whispered—not to her grandmother, but to the One who had sent her. And she was sure that somewhere in his heaven, he was laughing merrily.
TBC
AN: It's not quite over yet, but just almost!
You should be thankful. Originally, I was going to put in a lot more text, and then end the chapter right where she said, "I can't marry you!" Wouldn't that have been awful?
"If any marriage can be between our kindred and thine, then it shall be for some high purpose of Doom. Brief it will be and hard at the end. Yea, the least cruel fate that could befall would be that death should soon end it."—Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, Tolkien
"As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."—Romans 4:17 NIV
Thought I would share the origin of the title of this last part of the series: "Prospice", by Robert Browning. I think you'll probably understand the significance now.
Fear death?—to feel the fog in my throat,
The mist in my face,
When the snows begin, and the blasts denote
I am nearing the place,
The power of the night, the press of the storm,
The post of the foe;
Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form;
Yet the strong man must go:
For the journey is done and the summit attained,
And the barriers fall,
Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained,
The reward of it all.
I was ever a fighter, so—one fight more,
The best and the last!
I would hate that Death bandaged my eyes, and forbore,
And made me creep past.
No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers,
The heroes of old,
Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears
Of pain, darkness and cold.
For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave.
The black minute's at end,
And the elements' rage, the fiend voices that rave,
Shall dwindle, shall blend,
Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain.
Then a light, then thy breast,
O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,
And with God be the rest.
I know I promised a "deleted scenes" thing, but I'm not sure, now—I think I'll leave the door open to write more parts to this series, eventually. And I may want to use some of those deleted scenes as ficfodder! (I've invented a new word. I'm very proud.) But you will be getting an epilogue, yet.
Lady Dragon, Jammchra: Oh yes, I agree there; that chapter did read quite fast. And as for the other bit—I don't quite see what a description of the heavenly bodies has to do with the age of Wicca, or any other religion, for that matter. I don't mean to be rude, but I was honestly confused. I looked it up in wikipedia, which said that Wicca was "first openly revealed in 1954" but that "The history of Wicca is much debated… Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal Pagan religions of pre-historic Europe… Others posit that he invented it himself, following the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray and sources such as Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland, and the practices of Freemasonry and ceremonial magic… The spiritual content is inspired by older Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences. Whether any historical connection to Pagan religion exists, the aspiration to emulate Pagan religion as it was understood at the time certainly does." So I think the age of Wicca as a religion is probably debatable, and if it was indeed "inspired by Hindu influences", we're back to the age of Hinduism. Wikipedia says, "Hinduism is the world's oldest major religion in existence… Modern Indology, based on the linguistic and literary dating of the Rig Veda to 1500-1300 BCE, dates the roots of Hinduism to this time." Wow, this was a really long reply, wasn't it? lol Sorry about that!
Skye: Those darned dustbunnies haven't arrived yet, and I'm trying to fend off the plotbunnies with a pair of scissors and a spork! It isn't working too well…
I hope everybody had as great a Christmas as I did! Thank you to all who reviewed! Happy New Year—oh yes, and please review!