Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, unfortunately. I am only borrowing them fora little while.

A World Away

Chapter One: And So It Begins

Everything had been prepared. The small boat was laden with supplies of food and water, and a little beer to keep Gimli happy. He really was rather fond of the drink, and he and Legolas had argued about it. The elf wasn't at all impressed with the thought of having to share a very small boat with a very drunk dwarf. But in the end he had relented, knowing that Gimli was stubborn enough to keep the fight going for years.

The pair stood on the docks, friends and acquaintances gathered around them to wish them fair well, fair weather and a safe journey. All around there was happy chatter, loud and excited as the hour of departure drew closer.

"You are sure there is nothing more that I can do for you?" A tall regal man asked. The respect that the ordinary folk showed him marked him out as the King, once called Aragorn, now known as Elessar.

The elf shook his head and replied before the dwarf could ask for more drink. "No, friend. Anything else to be done, we must do ourselves."

Legolas looked around the dock, and at the world beyond. Yes, he would miss it deeply. But just as the Lady had said, the sea now held his heart in the place of woodlands, and he could not deny its call. The steadfast friendship he shared with the dwarf was all that he needed to survive the oceans. For a pair whose people had once been enemies they were now nigh on brothers.

"Your good advice will be sorely missed." The King said, with the slightest trace of sadness in his voice. "And none will know how much we are loosing until you two are gone. May your journey be a swift and safe one."

"Safe? What work shall there be for my axe if the journey is safe?" The dwarf demanded, bringing laughs from those who knew him well. "Boring it'd be." He added, looking like a sulking child.

"A safe journey, by sea." The King obediently amended, putting an emphasis on the last word. "May there ever be a fitting occupation for a warrior such as yourself whenever his feet touch land."

At that moment, one of the dockhands shouted high tide and a fair wind. It was time to leave.

"Farewell," Legolas said. "Until we meet again," He continued, his voice soft with the thing that they all knew: He and Gimli may never return, and if they do their friends who were on the dock before them may not be there to greet them.

"Keep and eye on those pesky hobbits," Said Gimli with a wink. Everyone knew that in his own way he was quite fond of the halflings that had been part of the Fellowship. They were also aware of how much trouble the Shire folk cause if given the chance.

"Mischief requires idle hands. I'll give them something to do and they shall be fine." The King spoke in a tone reminiscent of his days as the Ranger Strider, when much of what he had said had been in halves and riddles. Every so often he would fall back into the habit and only tell half of what he was thinking.

After a little more irrelevant chit-chat, the elf and the dwarf boarded the small boat and pulled the plank aboard. They stood at the rails as the steady wind billowed out the sails and sent them on their way to many new adventures, and even more marvellous discoveries.

They stood watching the dock disappear as they turned a bend in the river and headed out to sea. They moved over the boat, adjusting the sails and the wheel. Legolas, ever agile, climbed up the mast to play look-out while Gimli stayed with his to feet firmly planted on the wooden deck. Both were trying to anticipate what might come at the same time as taking their last glimpses of places that they knew to store like treasure in the chests of their memories.

Their journey had begun…