Of our travels.

The morning, after we returned home, was a very lazy one. We stayed in bed for far too long and when I tried to wake my wife she only moved her nose in a very cute way and kept on sleeping. Estelwen seemed to let us have the morning for ourselves and did not arrive until the sun had been up for far too long. While I waited on her I just smile and was happy that in this world we were not judged for whom we loved. Sure it was not common by any means, but for now we had not had any hate for it. Back in my old world, I knew we would have had haters calling us all sorts of things, from sinners, to disgusting because of faith and "in the name of god". Deep down such people were no better than Sauron for how they saw others as less worthy than themselves and used something as pure as faith in something more than themselves to hate on others and cause the deaths of millions. Who knows maybe such people became Sauron's orcs in middle earth I thought to myself and giggled.

Then Tauriel finally awoke and we got dressed after a quick bath and headed to Ada's office. He has asked us to report on the state of the lands to the south and if we believed they were ready for war.

"Ada," we said and smiled as we grabbed some bread, cheese, meat, and fruit from the kitchen before we got to his office. Some fruit juice too.

"My daughter, Tauriel. It is so good to see you home again, slept well?" He asked as he stood up and walked over to the chairs and the table he used for meetings with us after our travels or patrols.

"We did" Tauriel responded and smiled "It is so well to be home again and it was something else to be home in a warm bed" she then added and looked at me. I could not help myself as I looked at her and said "Really? You sleep so much over me even in the woods I did not think you noticed the bed" I giggled and she blushed hard. At this moment Glorfindel came in and took a chair beside Ada and he greeted us with a bow for he only wanted to be an observer.

Ada only smiled at us as we sat down and ate our food quickly and then we were ready for our tale.

"Now how is the situation in Rohan and Gondor," Ada asked.

"After we left here with Estel we traveled firstly to Rohan as we said Ada" I started and he nodded listening eagerly.

"There we met a king who tried to undo all his greedy and quarrelsome Father had done. Thengel is his name and with him, we rode for a time. The Dunlendings are a troublesome people and we scattered them wide and far. The Rohirrim are indeed amazing horse masters of men" I said before Tauriel continued. "We did see in them a glimpse of hope for the future, we tried to plant seeds that will in time aid them with their defense against the enemy…" She cut herself off. "We also scouted Isengard," she said after a few moments when I took over.

"Saruman has indeed fortified the fortress of the early Gondorians. He has employed what we think are either descendants of the former guards from Gondor or a mix of that and Dunlendings. I fear a great struggle will come for the Rohirrim even with what we have done" I said and took a sip of my juice.

Ada looked at us and nodded as we spoke.

"You say you scattered the Dunlendings far and wide. Did they have a part to play in the years to come?" Ada asked.

"They do or did, I cannot be sure of how it will play out now. But Thengel had no plans to drive them off as hard as we did. Whoever surrendered was taken in, and given food, water, and shelter. Anyone who stood against us was killed." I said.

"They are fierce warriors" Tauriel then added. "But in victory, we made sure the Rohirrim understood that only cruel punishments would lead to further suffering in times to come." He nodded. "I think that is wise, and now, cruel treatment cannot be used as a reason for the Dunlendings to attack the Rohirrim," Ada said.

"It cannot," Tauriel said "Dunland is flat, rocky even, and the soil poor for farming. Nothing can live there in hope of a better life so we asked the Rohirrim if the land west of the southburg could be the new home of that defeated people. Not only will it give them better lands to settle and easier access to food by farming and hunting. To which the Rohirrim agreed to, but only on the condition that they never go to war against their people again and aid the Rohirrim during times of war." She said and ada waited curiously for if they accepted or not.

"And the Dunlendings chieftains accepted. They truly feared Tauriel and me as we rode with the Rohirrim and an oath was sworn like to that the hill people swore to Isildur on the stone or Erech" I said.

"So," Ada said. The Rohirrim are safe and is ready for what is to come or at least are getting ready for it?" We nodded to him. "Yes, we believe so. Even if Thengel has a lot to undo from his foul Ada he has those around him that only want the best for their people. An agreement for mutual aid was even signed when it comes to food and military aid. The Rohirrim will help them guard their new borders. We do not think the clans of Enedwaith will oppose it either, they live far to the west now and have not been seen close to Dunland or Rohan in many a decade."

"Good," Ada said and filled our cups with more drink. "What of Gondor?" he then asked.

"Ahh Gondor," we said and looked at each other.

"The steward is a wise man, yet a desperate one. He called for any warrior of skill and offered rank and reward for it. The southern coast of the country has been plagued by the Corsairs and the Haradrim for decades. When we arrived we were first questioned for our looks were too fair for warriors and not until we proved ourselves as we accepted. Estel was on the other hand taken in by the merit of his looks of his own Fea" I said and smiled. He truly is a king of men in disguise I thought to myself.

"Not long after" Tauriel continued the story "We were sent with Estel to aid the coast and we did. We drove the enemy away and killed their chieftains. Estel begged for a small fleet to take to Umbar and burn their pirate fleet, but it was denied as too risky. For the time being, we traveled between the eastern border and westwards. Gathering any man or strong lad willing to fight" She said.

And I picked up again "We even spoke to some of the lords and gave them hints of what would be needed to be done. For the time is fast approaching when all must be willing to sacrifice or the world will end. Not that we told them, but we informed them of the power rising in the east and that the need for men at arms would be great."

Ada sat there with his hands folded. "I must say you two have been busy, but you did not tell anyone who you really were?" He asked. "No, we did not. Soon the Gondorians just gave us several names. She warrior, and elf captain for our looks even though we did wear scarves to cover our faces when outside the tent or a borrowed house. Little did we speak except when needed, but when we did all we could to mask it as is one of the powers of our kin" I said.

Ada simply nodded and hinted at us to continue.

"We spent a lot of time in Minas Tirith and helped their healers in their craft and healed many that if not for our presence would not have made it. Injuries of war and accidents were common and even the young in the city were used to help out in the houses of healing" We said in a sad tone and took a break and a sip of the drink before we continued.

"Our time in Gondor was coming to an end and Estel begged one last time for permission to gather a fleet and send it to Umbar and finally the steward gave it. We sailed down with only those willing to go with us and we attacked the old Numenorian harbor city at night." I said as Tauriel took over.

"It was glorious," she said. "They had no forewarning of our arrival and few defenders were stationed at the walls or harbor. When our ships were in place we fought everyone who tried to oppose us and we burned their fleet and sank it to the bottom of the harbor. Few did we lose and most were only lightly injured if any injuries at all"

I smiled at her excitement about that battle. We had indeed given the enemy a proper blow that day and we both were very happy about it and so seemed Ada.

"On the trip back to Pelagir Estel asked us if we would follow him for one last mission of the trip and we agreed," I said before I took a deep breath. "At our return, we asked the Gondorians to send a letter to the steward and tell him of our departure to the east. For we wanted to scout the enemy as best we could before Mordor would be fully sealed in." I said with a sad smile.

"With the Gondorians pleading us to stay we got into a little boat and was rowed over to the other side of the Anduin" Tauriel stated "And we disappeared into the wilderness, disappearing into nothing as of the nothing we had arrived from. It did not feel right to leave them, but Estel and Elwen were determined we needed to do what more we could to get whatever information there was. Many tribes of the Haradrim did we see, many travels from Vargas of khand did we meet, but at one point we all had enough and we turned back west and north to Lorien…" and I took over again. "We missed home. We missed the woods and forests of the north. We missed family for the years has grown even shorter for us and the time we have left here is coming to an end" I said looking at Ada and Tauriel.

"An end?" Ada asked. "It is. For better or for worse it will all be decided soon. If the work we, you, Mithrandir, nana nana, our elven kins, and all the other free folk has done will be rewarded or be in vain" I said and changed my seating position. "But Ada, Estel is coming to his own. Even in his old ranger clothing and trying to be no more than what he looked like he had the aura of kings over him. I am sure he will reunite the line of kings and that my foreknowledge about him is true" I said with a smile.

"He does indeed." Was all ada could say and he took a deep sad breath. "I remember long ago when I told Estel his real name and of his lineage, but I never believed his feelings for Arwen would be so strong or hold true as he told me that day. When he told me he wished for her to be his wife. But now. My daughter, with your foreknowledge I am sure that it will come to pass. That Estel will rise over all his forefathers and even the height of Elendil himself…" Ada cut himself off as his face turned into sadness and we both got up and hurried over to him and hugged him hard. "We know ada, we know." We both said as we started to cry too. For even if Arwen and Estel would redo the line of kings and their line would forever more be that of the greatest lines of kings ever to be in this world it still meant we would lose our dear Arwen and she would forever be connected to the land we could never return to after we sailed.

Ada's requirement for them to wed now seemed as a mere formality as he would indeed be the king of both Arnor and Gondor in only a few short years in elven eyes. But our tears were not of evil and in our hearts, we knew this was how Arwen would be happy in her life short as it would be in our elven eyes, but long had she lived in the eyes of men.

What that was once lost would come again into the world and our next adventure would see if our efforts had helped or if the song stayed unchanged.