They arrived in good time at a small wooden landing which led to the beach and their group walked, or it was more accurate to say they followed Tharanden and his siblings, up the well worn path which led them through the hidden valley between the steep mountains where they started the proper tour of the settlement.

Tauriel intently studied Lord Elrond's reaction to their city. It was exactly as she hoped, and maybe silently dreaded. Almost immediately, he found the hidden staircase and climbed to the highest terrace where he surveyed the forest and fields stretching out before them down to the distant river and the impenetrable wall of snow covered mountains to the west.

"You can't have built this city in such a short time," the Elf-lord stated, studying the stone under his fingertips. "This place is old. Ages old and long forgotten."

"Yes, you are correct," Tauriel told him. "The High King and Queen brought us here directly from the port where we landed much as you just did. The buildings were badly overgrown and completely gone wild."

He frowned, "The other mountain, further south, does it have buildings as well?"

"No, but Lord Aulë showed me a set of plans he made for a possible expansion onto the other mountain."

That seemed to satisfy Lord Elrond. "I see what you meant when you said Thranduil would need to look elsewhere for a place for the majority of the Woodland elves. There is only so much you can do here. It would be a shame to create overcrowding in such a peaceful, lovely place."

"Yes. The Valar offered guides to help us scout out other valleys and forests, but for now, we are busy with the end of the first harvest and preparing for the return of colder weather."

He turned to Tauriel and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Any questions you have which Lindir has been unable to answer, or other assistance you require, I hope you know you can come to me and ask."

She nodded, cheeks flushing a little, "I know, but I'm relieved to hear you offer, nonetheless, my Lord."

"Have the Valar been keeping others away? I don't see any here but your own."

"They were, at the start, but we've decided isolation is not what we want. It is our wish to know our neighbors and establish trade partners. We had enough isolation from the King."

They continued the tour with the makeshift meeting hall, the communal kitchens, and the community gardens.

"What you've managed to accomplish here in such a short time is nothing less than remarkable," Elrond told her. "I'm left speechless, not only by the grandeur of this forgotten city, but by the fact that you've managed a full season of growing and a harvest in only one and a half years."

Tauriel shrugged, "I have had very little to do, especially with the planting or harvesting. Lindir has made it quite clear my most important job has been to give birth and nurse my baby."

"Don't believe her, my Lord," Lindir said, coming up the path behind them and stopping beside his mentor. "I've kept journals of our work, including Tauriel's numerous contributions. We work hard, but the Valar it seems, work harder. I cannot tell you how many times items appear overnight in this land, simply because we discussed in a Council meeting how nice it would be to have them. Tauriel spoke with Queen Yavanna a few months past and we woke to find an entire vineyard seeded and grown in the span of a single night from six plants Tauriel brought with her as keepsakes of her estate in Dorwinion."

Tauriel nodded, "He is right. The Valar are always offering assistance, though many times we cannot see them. New clothing finds it's way into our rooms the night before a feast day. And the children's play area is always getting new toys."

Lady Galadriel had been walking with Lindir, and she smirked at their confounded expressions. "Have you not asked one of the Valar?"

The amused look she gave them made Tauriel feel a little foolish. "We are... Reluctant... to ask too many questions about where such things come from, we don't want to seem ungrateful, but they have made our lives much more comfortable."

Lindir mused, "The only thing from our home in Rivendell I truly mourn is my sheep wool mattress, but I manage to sleep enough without it."

"Hush, Lindir," Tauriel warned him. "We have plenty of sheep, unless you want to keep some in your rooms with you, please don't wish for more."

The Elf-lord raised an eyebrow at his former assistant. "Is it really as simple as wanting something and getting it?"

"I feel like we have ears listening to all we say, at times, but I'm not sure how they manage to know what we want."

Lord Elrond glanced at something behind them on the path and frowned, but didn't say anything.

"It is time for the mid-day meal," Tauriel told them. "I know where Lady Celebrian is and we can collect her on the way to the dining hall."

"Where did my wife become lost?"

"In everyone's favorite place." They rounded a corner and took a flight of stairs down one level and came to an elaborate wooden gate. Tauriel opened it and let the others enter before her, then she closed the gate behind. The gate opened onto a secluded courtyard busy with small bodies playing happily.

Their missing Hobbits were seated on a padded bench, watching the children play.

Half a dozen large logs were carved into the shapes of animals and sat at just the right height for the children to safely clamber up onto their backs. In a corner, an impressive castle made of wooden blocks was laid out and the children, including the youngest Prince, were knocking sections of the southern walls down with carved Trolls.

Mithrandir was perched on the wing of a carved Dragon nearby, surveying the battle with a small smile on his lips.

Tharaden looked up at his mother's appearance and scowled, "Trolls attacking our castle, Ama."

"I can see that. You need a higher wall, I think. And more archers to shoot them before they get to the city."

The boy pondered his mother's advice for a moment before shrugging and returning to his happy destruction of their creation.

Lady Celebrian appeared with a dark haired toddler on each hip. "Ah, I see you found me," she grinned at her husband.

The Elf-lord returned her smile with a smirk, "Yes, we wondered where you vanished to."

"They needed help getting everyone washed up for the mid-day meal."

"I see."

She set the children back on their feet and they scurried off to their respective mothers. "The parents, or anyone who wants to volunteer, take turns watching over them all and the young people who are not apprenticed help with giving the lessons for the younger ones. I could stay in here all day and just watch them play."

"They won't be this age for long," Lady Galadriel agreed, "Wood-elves are right to devote their time to the little ones." She offered Tauriel a smile, "I regret not spending more time just holding my daughter when she was a babe, but it always seemed there was some crisis which needed my attention."

"I know that feeling well," Tauriel sighed. "We have plenty of children to hold, if they will remain still long enough for you to get a grip on them. We encourage everyone to take some time here to play with the little ones, so the children are familiar with all the names and faces of their kin." She scooped Tharanden up and perched him on her hip. "The meal is simple fare at mid-day, as many are still busy with their appointed tasks. We all still gather for dinner most evenings and sit out under the stars long into the night."

The dining hall was a large open air patio with long wooden tables and benches. There was no designated Head Table. People sat where they pleased and Tauriel enjoyed the chance to converse with someone different at every meal. The table Lord Elrond chose for them was closest to the view of the valley below. He surprised Tauriel and Lindir by asking, "Are you going to build up the area around the docks?"

"What did you have in mind? We really hadn't thought about it as we only have a few small fishing boats," Tauriel admitted, a bit chagrinned. "As you can see from the meal, we have learned to fish with nets and catch sea creatures in traps to eat."

Lindir agreed. "There are Wood-elves who have showed interest in learning to sail in larger ships, though."

Lord Elrond's lips quirked, "I imagine Lord Ulmo is pleased to hear it. This city must have been built by sea-faring Eldar. I can't imagine a more perfect place to build a port. The cove's water is deep enough for ships to dock without needing small boats to ferry everything to the beach. The forest on the other side of this mountain has plenty of timber," he opened the journal Lindir had been showing him and asked to borrow the quill. He dipped the tip into the inkwell and started to scribble.

A few minutes later, Lord Elrond turned the journal around to allow Tauriel and Lindir to see it. "This is what I would do with the forest on the coast."

Tauriel was rendered completely speechless by his drawing.

Lindir's gaped at the paper and then looked to Tauriel, wide eyes glittering with excitement. "It never occurred to me to put talans in the trees along the beach, but they are certainly tall enough for it."

"The mountain shelters us from strong winds and sea storms. Do you think some of our people would want to live on the beach?" Tauriel breathed in wonder. "The area around the beach is under the shelter of the forest."

"There is only one way to find out and that is to ask them," Lady Celebrian told her. "If people show interest, build a few talans to start, like Elord drew in the picture, and have your people sleep there to see if the ocean agrees with them."

Lord Elrond nodded, but his forehead was furrowed in thought. "If someone was able to carve homes on this side of the mountain, it would stand to reason the stone is there to carve on the other side as well," the Elf-lord told them. "The Elvenking's Halls were carved into a mountain. As were the Halls of King Thingol in Doriath."

Tauriel stood up and walked around to the other side of the table, where she bent over and placed a kiss on Lord Elrond's cheek and one on Lady Celebrian's cheek. "Thank you, my Lord. It is good to have you here. In half a day you were able to show us something we failed to see in more than a year. And we walk the beach often. And you, too, my Lady. You will always be welcome here with us."

"And all of our vistors, of course," Lindir told Mithrandir and the Hobbits. "We need to put guest rooms at the top of our list of things finish."

"My father was a sailor," Lord Elrond told her. "We lived in ports for much of my early childhood. The rushing falls of Rivendell always made it seem more like home than places removed from the sounds of moving water. There is a coastal town I must have visited as a child and your bay reminded me of it when we arrived. It brought back pieces of a very old memory. I shall have to see if I can match the image in my head to an actual place."

"I know I would be interested to hear the story," Tauriel told him.

"Another time," Lord Elrond assured her. "We should be returning to the city before the hour becomes too late. I hope we can return soon."

"Of course, my Lord, you should come and stay with us for a while once you have your affairs in order in Valmar."

The Lord and Lady exchanged a look with Lady Galadriel, and she nodded, "We would like that very much."

"Why did we never think of this?" Lindir asked her later, waving the paper he'd ripped from his journal, after their guests returned to the city and they were alone under the stars.

"Because we are not as wise as Lord Elrond," Tauriel told him. "I must admit I was worried he would take one look at our as yet unnamed city and decide he wanted it for himself."

Lindir laughed, "If you saw some of the looks which passed between Lord Elrond and his lovely Lady, you wouldn't have such a fear. I am fairly certain all my Lord wants for the next decade is a nice room somewhere with a large bed and someone to leave food a few times a day outside their door."

Tauriel giggled. "I did see the way his eyes lit up to see Celebrian carrying children in her arms. It was sweet."

"Do you think they are too old to have the fertility of the Wood-elves rub off on them?"

"We are not different from other Eldar, Lindir," she huffed. "There is nothing out of the ordinary about our ability to procreate."

Lindir made a grunt that had come to mean he thought she was wrong, but was too polite or too tired to call her on it. "Did I mention we have two babies coming in the late spring?"

Tauriel hissed. "No. You did not."

"How many guest rooms do you think we will need? If Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrian plan to sequester themselves away and make love for the next ten years..."

"They went back to the city. And I thought they planned to travel to Valmar with the Hobbits."

Lindir made another grunt. "They won't be happy there," he muttered.

"Lady Galadriel wants us to come and stay with her in Valmar when Tharanden is a bit older and more amenable to travel."

"You won't be happy there either."

"Then, it is a good thing we will have you here to keep the city going until we return."

"I will be here, of course, but I was thinking we would be wise to have a limit to how long a person can serve on the Council. Ten years at a stretch sounds fair to me. Each decade will have new idea and fresh growth."

Tauriel looked over at him. "That is an interesting idea. It sounds reasonable."

"I can't take credit. Lady Galadriel gave me the idea."

"She did?"

Lindir nodded, "She said too much power for too long darkens a person's soul."

"Is she not the oldest, and most powerful, Elda we know?"

"She is."

"It would probably be wise to heed her advice on such matters, then."

Lindir shrugged, "Maybe she just wants a seat on the Council someday for herself."

"I can't imagine what we have to offer her here. We are forest dwelling Eldar. She is High Elven."

"Peace and quiet, plus lots of babies to cuddle?"

Tauriel pondered the puzzle of Galadriel as she carried Tharanden to their rooms. She couldn't imagine not having the boy. He was a blessing, as much as the twins, and in some ways more. He was a tiny embodiment of Legolas, as though his soul had come from someone old and wise.