Author's notes: This is my first fic so please be kind when reviewing. Constructive but kind.I also need a Beta if anyone is interested in the non-paying job.

Summary: Erestor loses his mate and thinks he will never find love again. Years later a certain reborn elf makes his way to Imladris. This is slash but nothing too graphic. Hence the PG-13 rating I've settled on.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the occasional OC. Please don't sue. I don't have much except for a cat. And he's not a pure breed or anything so you wouldn't get much for him. Thanks!!

Prologue:

Erestor closed the door to his study; grateful this day was over. He briefly considered locking the door but decided against it. Lord Elrond or the twins may wish to look in on him. Heavens forbid he was given more than five minutes to himself. He immediately regretted that thought. The entire household had been nothing less than supportive over the last few days. Erestor sank into the chair closest to the window. He almost stood again when he realized it was her chair, but after the past week he lacked the energy. "Sabariel, how do I go on without you? I have no reason to remain here."

"That, dear Erestor is a lie and you know it," a soft feminine voice answered him. "You have a very good reason to continue to live."

For one moment his heart skipped a beat as he thought his wife had returned to him. Then sanity took hold as he placed the voice coming from his now open doorway. "My Lady, I am sorry, I didn't hear you come in." He made to rise, but Celebrian waved him back down.

"Erestor, I cannot begin to comprehend the pain you are experiencing, but you must not give into this despair," Celebrian soothed sinking into the chair opposite of the counselor. She may not have her mother's powers, but she could easily see the depth of the elf's pain.

"Why?" he asked.

"The one good reason I mentioned," Celebrian said.

"Which is?" Erestor prompted wearily. He wanted, no needed, to be alone, but he could never throw Celebrian out. Even if she wasn't Elrond's wife she was one of Erestor's closest friends.

"Seven years old with her mother's hair and her father's eyes."

Erestor cursed himself silently. He was so caught up in his own misery that he had ignored his own child. He couldn't even rightly say he knew where his daughter was at that moment.

"I saw her go into the stable shortly after the service. Lindir followed her to make sure she was okay. Sabariel loved you and she will always be with you. I know you miss her, but you are the adult. Your daughter cannot afford to have you break down." Celebrian rose to leave but turned back at the door, "But, when you can break down we will all be here to help." With that the Lady was gone.

Erestor thought about what the Lady had said. He was wise enough to realize she spoke both reason and truth. He couldn't come apart now. That would come later. But now, he had to find his daughter.

Lindir did not want to interrupt the girl while she was grieving, but the kind hearted minstrel could not ignore the child's pain. "Lorwen," he called out softly so as not to startle her. "Are you all right?" he asked wincing at the stupidity of that question. He peered over the closest stall and felt his heart break.

Lorwen lay curled up on a bale of hay hugging her knees to her chest. Silent tears poured out of her green eyes to wet the front of her dress. She gave no indication she had heard the minstrel.

Lindir entered the stall and sat next to the child and reached out to rub her back soothingly. "It's okay," he whispered. "I know how you feel. I lost my mother and father at an early age as well. I know you feel alone, but you are not. You have the Lord and Lady, the twins, me, Arwen, and above all you have your ada. Things will grow easier over time."

The girl lifted her face for the first time to look at the white-haired elf. She truly liked Lindir and if he said things would become easier then they would. She decided to ask the question that had been weighing on her mind for the last few days. "Does Ada still love me?"

Lindir was startled at the question. Why would she ask such a thing? "Of course your father still loves you! He loves you more than anything on Arda."

"It's just that he hasn't paid me any mind since they told him Nana fell off her horse," Lorwen whispered. "The only thing he has told me was to stay out the way. That's why I came to the stables." She practically begged with her eyes for Lindir to reassure her.

"Your father had many grown-up things to do over the last week. He probably just meant for you to stay out of the study instead of hiding in the stables," Lindir soothed. Silently he was cursing the advisor. How could he spot a lie coming from a Mirkwood ambassador but fail to see his daughter was in such pain? "He loved your mother very much, and when someone loses someone they love they may not see the pain of others."

Lindir was unprepared when the child threw herself at him. He quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around her. "Let us go get something to eat. I wager you are hungry." At the child's nod the minstrel rose and headed back toward the Last Homely House. He would get the child a snack and then have a word with her father.

Erestor was close to approaching panic. His daughter was not in the stables. The advisor also checked their rooms, the library, and the music room. Lorwen was nowhere to be found. He lost his wife and he couldn't stand to lose his daughter. Relax, he ordered silently. She is fine. Lindir is with her and he would let no harm come to her. Don't panic! She is with Lindir. Lindir who once, while still in his youth, thought it was a good idea to jump from a balcony with one of the Lady's finest table clothes as a cape. With that though he took off running down the corridors of the House.

Five minutes, and a few inquires later, Erestor found his way to the kitchen. Lorwen was asleep with her head on a table next to a plate with a half-eaten sandwich. Lindir was seated opposite of her and Erestor could hear him humming a lullaby. Smiling softly, he approached his daughter. The look the minstrel leveled at him made him come up short however. He had never seen such a look of anger on the normally easy going elf's face before.

Both elves realized the kitchen had emptied out upon Erestor's arrival. The head cook had seen the expression on the minstrel's face when he first entered with the crying child and had correctly surmised it had something to do with the advisor. So she had hustled out her staff the minute the advisor walked in.

"Lindir, what is the matter? Is Lorwen all right?" He started forward toward his daughter.

"I found her crying in the stables earlier. She asked me if you still loved her and why you had ignored her for the last week," Lindir all but hissed.

"She asked what?" Erestor asked stunned.

"I reassured her that you love her above all things. I also told her that you did not mean to ignore her," Lindir rose and started toward the door. "Do not make me into a liar." With that he was gone.

Erestor sighed and gently picked his little girl up. They would make it through this. They had to. "Come, pen neth, it is time for us to carry on with our lives." Erestor walked out of the kitchen carrying his one reason for living with him.

Next chapter: Erestor meets an elf that will challenge the walls he has placed around his heart.