Anna was no stranger to sea voyages. When her adoptive parents still lived, she had accompanied them on a Caribbean cruise. She remembered how ill her mother became when their ship reached its first port of call at Grand Cayman. While Anna marveled how the ocean currents rocked the great cruise ship, her mother confined herself to their stateroom and insisted that Anna and her father enjoy their planned excursion without her.

Cìrdan's ship was much smaller than a cruise ship, but contrary to Anna's expectations, it advanced towards its destination as smoothly as a pat of butter glides over a warm dinner roll. Occasionally Anna peered out over the water, but a dense fog prevented her from seeing very far.

"How certain are we that the ship has even left the Havens? I've not felt any movement at all for some time," Anna observed to an Elf close by.

The Elf smiled. "There is no reason why Ossë would not allow Cìrdan's ships to sail the Straight Road peacefully."

Anna returned his smile uneasily.

Then he returned his gaze to the west and suddenly gripped her arm, pointing towards a growing light in the distance. "Look there!" he said. "You should not miss your first glimpse of the Emerald Isle."

Anna emerged from the haze of her thoughts just as light broke through the fog to unleash a barrage of colors the likes of which she had never seen. She felt her eyes must have been starved in the modern world as they fed hungrily upon the sight of the justly named green country. Her companion must have been likewise affected for he shared her silence. Others on the ship suddenly broke into song. Anna wondered at them until she heard a chorus of voices rush forward to meet them from the approaching shore. An assembly of Elves waited there with hands raised in welcome.

Of its own volition, Anna's hand reached up to pull the hood of her traveling cloak over her head. She turned to glance at her belongings where they were secured to the ship and bit her lip. Her rolling case looked odd among the parcels brought onboard by the other passengers.

The Elves around her began to drift to the area of the ship where they would soon descend the boarding ramp. Anna was one of the last to follow and one of the last to step foot onto the ramp. She cringed at the noise her rolling case made as she pulled it across the wooden planks, however, she need not have worried. A swell of joyful voices rose as the ship's party met the assembly on shore, and few glanced in her direction.

As she left the dock and her foot touched the soil of the Blessed Realm for the first time, she gazed awestruck along the beach. The sand was nearly pink and glittered unnaturally. She could not resist the temptation to kneel down and run her fingers through it. Her eyes were not deceived, for what appeared to be tiny faceted gems mingled among the grains caught the light as she held a handful of sand aloft to be carried by the wind. The line of green that began where the beach ended promised many more such visual pleasures. Anna could see flowering trees with slender, silver trunks and lush grasses promising a soft welcome to unshod feet.

When she could tear her eyes from her natural surroundings, Anna turned her attention to the scenes unfolding around her. She curiously watched the many tearful embraces, the claps on the back and the laughter knowing she witnessed reunions that had been thousands of years in the making. Yet, as she passed among clusters of rejoicing Elves and found herself ever closer to the outskirts of the group, her memory drifted to another time when the question 'Why am I here?' crept to the forefront of her thoughts and gorged itself upon her last shreds of confidence. She had been a university freshman inadvertently caught in a tangle of sorority hopefuls, but Susan had been there to rescue her and be her friend. Who would rescue her now?

"You are here."

Anna stiffened. Whatever she expected to be waiting for her upon her arrival, it was not this – not him.

She felt a hand gently take the handle of her rolling bag and another clasp her arm above her elbow to pull her around towards the source of the voice. When she faced the speaker, she could not bring herself to raise her eyes above a pair of worn traveling boots, and she intently studied the simple but elegant designs in the leather.

"I knew it would be so. The knowledge of it brought me from Mandos' halls at last. Even so, I cannot help but be astonished to find you living and breathing before me," he continued.

When he brushed aside the hood of her cloak, she had no choice but to meet his achingly bright eyes which hungrily absorbed every detail of her face. Anna almost felt guilty when she witnessed the joy and wonder on his. At the moment, she could conjure up little more than embarrassment and anxiety. Yet she could not deny an inexplicable longing to satisfy the hunger in his gaze. It terrified her.

"You are Angrod then?" Anna whispered.

He nodded, smiling at her knowledge of his name. An endless number of questions rushed to Anna's lips, but the one that reached them first was: "How do you know to speak to me in English?"

Angrod laughed lightly and took her hand. It did not occur to her to protest.

"You have always spoken to me in Westron, and I have always taken it in stride," he said.

"I have, have I?" Anna considered the implications of his statement and felt warm blood saturate her cheeks. "Sorry, I did not expect to find you waiting for me, much less behaving as if we are longtime friends."

"I would imagine not. You did not have the benefit of a Vala guarding over your fëa for thousands of years, counseling you over your perplexing visions and dreams."

Anna pressed a hand to her forehead. "Forgive me. I need to sit down somewhere – anywhere – but preferably in the shade. Everything is… so bright."

Angrod placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. "Come, the trees there will afford a comfortable place for you to rest. Perhaps…," Angrod frowned, "perhaps I was wrong to present myself so soon."

Seeing the concern in his gaze, Anna forced her emotions under control. "I'm sorry. You would understand if you knew…"

Gently tugging her hand, Angrod led her to the wooded area that had previously caught her attention. "Do not apologize. I hope someday we will understand one another very well."

Collapsing beneath the shade of the trees, Anna felt instant relief. The trunk she leaned against was surprisingly comfortable and seemed molded to the contours of her spine, and the grass was cool beneath her fingers. She idly traced the delicate petals of a white blossom at her side and did not look up when her companion sat beside her. He noticed her reserve and sighed.

"I think it is only right that I be absolutely candid with you," Anna began. She made every effort to steady her voice. "I grew up in a very different world than yours. I suppose you would say it is a world of Men. I always thought I was one of them, just different. I never knew why until I came here."

"There is no knowledge of our people there," Angrod said.

"No," Anna said, meeting his eyes.

"In spite of that, you miss your former home."

"Yes."

Angrod plucked the flower Anna had been studying and regarded it intently. "How old are you, Annalië?"

"When I was an infant I was placed in a home for orphaned children in the year 1954. That would make me around 53 years old."

Angrod winced, whether at her age or the circumstances of her childhood she was uncertain. "It is as I thought. You have only just come of age. You are far too young to understand the weariness that would await you should you have remained in a world of Men."

Anna bit her lip and raked her hand roughly through her hair. "I intend to ask the Lords of the West if there is a way back."

Angrod looked sharply at her. "And if there is?"

"I do not know."

The Elf Lord looked away. Anna could not read his expression, but she pondered his words. She remembered her grief at the passing of her father, then her mother. It was only after their deaths and the settling of their affairs that she began to attend a university and befriend others. Then she would have gone on to Columbia for a few years and met other people. What would have happened after graduation? She would eventually have to break contact with anyone she met in college and move to a new place to find work. When enough years passed, she would have to move again. Soon she would have to somehow falsify her identification or else become suspect. All the while, she would not be able to risk anything more than a few casual acquaintances, each of whom she would lose over time.

"I will be candid with you in turn," Angrod said with a sigh. "I would have remained in the Halls of Mandos with my brother Aegnor but for you. Though you may regard me as a figment of your dreams, I love you as the elleth who would have been my wife had not a great evil come between us; but as you say, you have a different understanding of what you have seen. I will not blame you for it, though I cannot deny that it grieves me. Neither will I speak further on this matter if it causes you discomfort."

Anna nodded slowly. She glanced down the beach and saw that most of the Elves had moved on to their homes. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the mountains in the west. "Where will I go now?" she asked softly.

"I would take you with me to Tirion if you are willing. The journey will take some time, but perhaps time is what you need."

Anna paused before responding. Something deep within that she struggled to ignore urged her to accept, eager to be near this Elf lord who has shared in her most intimate and secret dreams, who might have been her husband. However, what she chose to believe was that the opportunity to uncover the mysteries of her past and learn of her family was what encouraged her to accompany Angrod.

"I will come with you, Angrod," she said. His answering smile was infectious, and she could not help returning it. "But why did my own mother not come? I was told that she is still living."

"She is, and she is the only other one of our people on this side of the sea who knows of your voyage hither. She waits for you. I promised her I would see to your safe return."

Anna frowned. "Is she unable to travel?"

Angrod stood and extended a hand to Anna which she accepted. "Nerdanel will not come to the Bay of Eldamar."