AN: It has been some time since I last posted a chapter to this tale however I have not given up on it entirely. You will notice that this chapter is simply filler. There were will many such chapters in this story filling in spaces of extend relatively peaceful time where little occurs. Don't run me through the grind stones for them. I hope to have more ambition for writing this semester and not leave you hanging for months.

Ten Years

After Laiqualassë's departure a number of years passed by without much of consequence occurring. Arvernien was an island under siege, one of the last places in Beleriand not under the power of Morgoth. Every once in a whole a group of wandering elves who had been hiding in the wilderness as exiles from their kin would find their way to the Haven as did the remnants of the houses of the elf friends, the last of those faithful to the houses of Hador, Beor and Haleth, who had once sworn their aid to the eldar. We were always glad when others came for in that time of despair finding any left alive was a blessing.

Laiqualassë had remained on the Isle of Balar acting as a liaison between King Gil-Galad and Arvernien. Occasionally Mirwen and I would receive a letter from him, but they were rare. He did not return once in the first ten years that we dwelt in the havens.

Lailitha grew towards adolescence, and we grew closer to one another. We were more like sisters then mother and daughter although when other's asked who I was she called me her foster mother. It was obvious that elflings did not grow as quickly as human children. I guess that is to be expected with an immortal race which does not reach full maturity until they are fifty years of age. Physically at seventeen Lailitha appeared as a human maiden of less then ten years.

Mirwen remained my confident to whom I felt I could speak of anything with out risking rebuke or ridicule. However the fact that Mirwen had given her heart to another was now public knowledge. She spent much time in those years in the company of Thranduil of Doriath when he was not on duty else where. I often wondered when I would see them wearing the silver rings of betrothal.

I had spent the first few years to read and written Sindarin and Quenya. I also learnt the elven mode of writing down music and how to play the harp. Not long after Laiqualassë had left I had began finding places to help around the havens were I could help much as I had in Nan-Tathen. At first I help in the kitchens but soon I found I was pulled more and more to the gardens and the houses of healing.

By the end of our first year in Arvernien I was always working in the gardens. From the elves I learnt about growing both food and herbs, as well as preparing herbs for use both in food and in healing. Between Lailitha and the gardens I was quite busy, but I enjoyed it.

After Laiqualassë left Elwing and Lailitha went to Lady Idril with a request for a change in accommodations. This would see Elwing sharing the large room in my apartment with Lailitha and myself having the room that Laiqualassë had used for the brief time he had spent in Arvernien. At first it was hard to know that I was sleeping in the bed that Laiqualasse had slept in for the short period of time that he had been there, but after a short time it stopped bothering me and the pain of his absence dulled.

The change in accommodations freed the large suit of rooms that Elwing had been granted when she had first arrived for the use of Lady Idril, Lord Tuor and young Earendil. Lady Idril had agreed and although some in Arvernien had found issue with Elwing, by right queen of Doriath sharing accommodations with the daughter of a baker and a Noldorin scout the two elleth found the arrangement most practical as they were rarely out of sight of each other as it was.

I worked out from the position of the solstices in the elven calendar just when my birthday fell while studying in the small library of Arvernien in my first year in the havens. It was on my birthday ten years later that I was looking in the mirror of the bath house. I was thirty years old but it seemed to me that I looked much too young. My family had a tendency of being long lived. My grandmother Buchanon had been 89 when I had left my own time and still lived on her own, and drove her own car. So I shock it off telling myself that I was being silly. It was not possible for someone to go such a period and remain physically unchanged not even the elves exhibited that sort of physical preservation. Although they remained youthful their were small signs in their faces of the passing of the years signs that one became more and more familiar with as one lived among them.

I had continued to learn the art of sword fighting through the years and although I had not yet had to use what I had learnt I had been assured by the sword master that after ten years I might possibility survive an encounter with an orc. The practicing of weapons was not a pass time that had waned in popularity even though we lived in relative peace. For those who lived in Arvernien did not for one moment forget the pain that they had suffered in seeing their cities sacked and forests burnt. How could any of us forget? I couldn't and I had not suffered near as much as many with whom I shared my day to day life.

I had taken Laiqualassë's last words to heart I strived to integrate myself into the fabric of life in Arvernien and accepted the sea coast fortress as my home. At first it was difficult accepting that I would stay here and that it was not only a temporary thing however over the years it became easier and easier to accept.

When the first group of humans arrived in Arvernien Lady Idril came to me asking me to help her settle them as she felt that they would be more comfortable with another of their own kind then with one of the elder. It was strange to be among my own kind again after so many years. I remember being amazed as the mental capacity of the elflings in relation to their size and age but over the years it ceased to be odd. Now it was the human children who seemed strange in how quickly they grew. From the time the first group came I was considered part of the informal welcoming committee from any group of edain that arrived in Arvernien.

These groups of wandering refugees were few and far between. The longer they had been wandering the more haunted their eyes were on their arrival. Some groups were made of entirely elves; others of entirely of men, rarer still were mixed groups. The arrival of these groups were bitter sweet occasions for it meant that more of our allies joined us but it also reminded everyone of those we had lost along the way.

All said I felt satisfied in my life in Arvernien. There were feelings that I had buried deep and that I hoped would never worry me again. Mirwen encouraged me to look for love to find someone who could be for me a life long companion. She having found her hearts true love seemed to want the same for me. However, after voicing her thoughts on the mater a few times it was a simple mater to disabuse her of the notion. I had loved and I loved and my love was unfulfilled. This would not keep me from living a full life. I had Lailitha and the gardens. And at thirty years of age I felt that this was all I would ever need.