Wow, there were times when I never thought I would complete this this story. But after almost 11 years, 55 chapters, countless batches of writer's block, here at last is the ending.

There will be one more chapter to go - a small epilogue. Thank you so much to those of you who have stuck with the story over the years, who have left me such lovely reviews and who have enjoyed the story as much as I have writing it.

Faelwen, Haldir, Elladan, Elrohir and Legolas had been dwelling in Ithilien for over sixty years when the stark reality of living amongst mortals began to be driven home in earnest.

First had come the news that Eomer, King of Rohan had died and half of the Ithilien colony, along with the royal party from Minas Tirith, journeyed to Edoras to see him buried in honour. Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, grey haired and wrinkled but as charming and cheerful as ever, then joined Aragorn in Gondor permanently.

Some years later, they lost Lady Eowyn; straight backed, noble and determined to the very last. Faramir, who had so adored her in life, soon followed her in death and their son Elboron, who had married Aragorn and Arwen's daughter Morwen, became Prince of Ithilien. Several other men and women who had been there since Legolas founded the colony were also lost to them in that time period and they mourned all their friends bitterly. Faelwen had come to dread the arrival of any missive in Ithilien; certain that every letter contained news of yet another death.

Within weeks of each other, both Merry and Pippin died in year after Faramir. The loss of such cheerful, merry souls shook all who had known them and both Ithilien and Gondor were united in grief. Aragorn insisted that as heroes of the War of the Ring, they would be laid in Rath Dinen along with the kings of old. The entire city and all the elves of Ithilien turned out to mourn their passing and see them laid to rest.

Faelwen wept for the memory of the pure, happy young souls who had asked her to help them eavesdrop on her father's council so long ago but it was Legolas who bore their loss the hardest. He had shared peril and triumph with them on their great quest, and for some days after the ceremony to commemorate their lives he was inconsolable. Thereafter, he fussed over Gimli almost obsessively until the grey-bearded dwarf took him aside and explained gently that he wasn't planning on going anywhere just yet so Legolas could stop clucking like a mother hen and 'get yourself some much needed sleep, ye daft laddie!'.

Conscious after these dreadful partings that time was running out, the elven party spent more time in Gondor than ever before. Aragorn's hair was white now and though he was still reasonably fit and had all his wits about him, it could not be denied that old age was at last laying claim to him as it had to all the other great men of the age.

And thus it came to be that, in the last days of February in the year 120 of the Fourth Age, a letter arrived in Ithilien just as Legolas, Gimli, the twins, Faelwen and Haldir were breakfasting together.

The table grew silent as the messenger passed the missive into Elladan's hand and politely departed. "It is addressed to all of us," Elrond's eldest son said quietly.

The mouthful of bread she'd been chewing seemed to turn to ash in Faelwen's mouth. She saw Elrohir turn grey and Haldir close his eyes in dread.

"Open it," said Legolas, his taut with anxiety.

Elladan unfolded the parchment and Faelwen held her breath, feeling her heart thunder so hard, she was certain it was going to burst out of her chest. Haldir's hand reached for hers under the table and she clutched at him in desperation.

Elladan went so white, no one even needed to enquire whether the news was unpleasant. "It is from Arwen," he told the party, voice hollow. "She asks us to come to Minas Tirith with all possible haste. Estel…Estel…"

"What?" Elrohir gasped urgently. "What has happened, Elladan? Is he…?"

"He has passed the tokens of his kingship onto Eldarion," Elladan read dazedly. "And he is preparing to go to the House of Kings to await his passing there."

They all sat in stunned silence for a minute and the world seemed to swim before Faelwen's eyes. She held Haldir's hand all the tighter, as though it were the only thing keeping her breathing, and felt an answering despair in his grip. Her brain refused to make sense of what she had just heard.

Not Estel. Please, by all that was good and sacred in this world, not Estel!

"We have to get to Minas Tirith," Elrohir said, surging to his feet and speaking in a voice that sounded too high. "We must saddle the horses and be on our way this very hour, there is not a minute to be lost!"

Elrohir's edict seemed to bring them to their senses and they realised the truth of it. If the King really was preparing for his last journey, then every single second was precious. They ran for their horses as they were, not stopping even to pack a change of clothes or find their riding apparel. They mounted the second the horses were saddled, Gimli riding behind Legolas as was their custom, and were past the borders of Ithilien within the hour.

How they actually made it to Minas Tirith safely, none of them could ever recall - for they were distracted to the point of carelessness and journeyed as fast as it was fair to demand of the horses. They rode through the evening and into the night. They did not stop for food or sleep and arrived, weary and dishevelled at the gates of Minas Tirith some hours after dawn the following morning.

If the guards were surprised to see five half-wild looking elves and a weary old dwarf bursting upon the gates of the city, they said nothing of it. All of the visitors' faces were well known, as the king's friends and relations and so they were admitted without question. They pelted through the streets like rogues on the run, passing upwards through each level until they came to the citadel. They were admitted to the king's house immediately by a mournful looking servant and taken to the Queen's rooms.

One look at Arwen's devastated face told them that there had been no mistake in the content of the letter. They had never seen her look so utterly bereft before, not even when Celebrian had left them for Valinor. She seemed to Faelwen to look suddenly and terribly fragile, so much so that when she crossed the room to take her sister's hands, she held them as though they were of glass.

"Oh Arwen!" she began, but words utterly failed her after that and she could do nothing but embrace her sister then stand aside to let Elladan and Elrohir do the same.

"Where is he, sister?" asked Elrohir shakily once Haldir, Legolas and Gimli had also offered their sympathetic greetings to the Queen of Gondor.

"He went down to House of King's yesterday evening," said Arwen hoarsely. "He wanted to bid farewell to our children and speak some more with Eldarion so they have been with him there since dawn. The girls returned not long ago, but Eldarion is still with him. Come, I will have some water brought to you so that you may wash and you can break your fast before you go to see him."

Though no one was fit for breakfast, they were very grateful of the hot washing water and, after hurriedly completing their ablutions, they were satisfied that they could at least go to see Aragorn one last time no longer looking as though they had spent the evening rummaging in hedgerows.

A guard escorted them to the sixth level of the city and a porter permitted them to pass through the gate of Fen Hollen. They stepped out onto an oppressively silent street, lined with the images of the great kings of Gondor who had come before. It was eerie and rather unnerving.

They were spared wondering which of the buildings was the House of Kings by the emergence of a distraught-looking Eldarion, stepping out into the street.

"He will be glad to see you," the dark-haired prince informed the party when they had welcomed him with subdued affection. "My father seemed certain that you would get here today - he said he could not rest until he had made his farewell to you."

"How is he, Eldarion?" Legolas pressed, anxiously.

Eldarion reported mournfully that the King seemed very peaceful and ready for the end and then informed them that Aragorn had requested that Hadir, Legolas and Gimli be his first visitors when the elven party arrived. The two wood elves and the dwarf duly proceeded into the building, while the other three remained out in the hallowed street to respect their privacy and tried in vain to comfort their nephew.

"He…asked me to fetch my mother and sisters back again," Eldarion said shakily, seemingly all too aware of what that signified. "I must do as he bids."

The three elves watched their nephew stride away in the direction of the gate once more, to complete his errand. They exchanged stricken, despairing looks, but none of them could find any words. They took up residence on an old stone bench, sitting very close together and awaited the return of Haldir, Legolas and Gimli.

When they emerged some thirty minutes later, Legolas had evidently been crying, Gimli was clearing his throat in a way that showed he was close to a similar state, and Haldir was ashen, his eyes far too bright.

"He requested that you three go in now," Legolas hiccupped, and allowed Haldir and Gimli to lead him to the now-empty bench and sit him down.

Elladan, Elrohir and Faelwen, stepped inside; pale, shaking and full of dread as they passed old tombs until they found the room where their brother lay. The chamber they entered was warm and quiet, though dimly lit. Faelwen could see that the walls were painted to depict some of the great deeds of the Fellowship of the Ring. Evidently those who had prepared this room had wanted their king to remember his triumphs at the end.

Lying on the bed in the middle of the chamber, clothed in robes of deep midnight blue, was Aragorn. Faelwen bit her lips so hard she tasted blood. Her brother was a thin, weary old man; far more so than when she had seen him only a few months ago for the Midwinter celebrations. She hoped the twins would be fit for speech, for if she opened her mouth right now, she would shriek and sob.

He held out his hands to them in welcome, and they drew closer to sit beside his bed, laying their hands upon his.

"I am glad you were able to arrive so quickly," he said, and even his voice sounded older and frailer than when last they had seen him. "I could not have gone comfortably to my rest until I had made my farewells to you."

"Estel," Elladan tried to speak, voice thick with unshed tears.

"Do not weep for my sake," Aragorn pleaded to them, looking at each of the twins and then at Faelwen, to whom the room was just a blur of shape and light now, so blinded was she by tears. "Please do not, Fae. I have been granted a far longer time on this world than many others of my race and I am content to go to rest now before I grow weak and witless. I have led a good life and could have asked for no more. I have had more joy than I had any right to have in my time with Arwen. Eldarion is grown into a good man will be a fine king. I have seen all my daughters happily settled and now I know that you three may at last sail to Valinor and be with Ada and your mother. I know how hard it has been for you to stay here these last few years, surrounded by mortality."

"We would never have left you!" Elrohir choked out, tear tracks glistening on his slender face.

"That I know," Aragorn smiled at them, his old eyes full of warmth and love. "For you never did before. If the Valar had granted me one thousand wishes, I could not have wished for better siblings than you. You have been my strength and stay these many years and had we shared the same blood, I could not have loved you more."

"Nor we you," Faelwen spoke with difficulty, going to stand by his head and smoothing down his hair as she had done when he was but a child, though his wild dark curls were white and brittle now. The tears were running off her chin and dripping down onto her collar bone. "You have been…a light…and a hope…to us, since…since the twins first brought you to Imladris. I never thought I could love a human…but you…but you, Estel…"

"I know," Aragorn assured her gently, reaching up to wipe a tear away. "I do know, Fae."

"It was our greatest privilege to watch you grow," Elrohir told him tightly. "To watch our beloved little brother become a great man and a great king. It has been an honour to share your journey. I am so proud of you, Estel."

"We all are!" Elladan said fiercely, Faelwen nodded; beyond speech for a moment.

"You will give my love to Ada, when you get to Valinor, will you not?" Aragorn asked them, smiling when they vowed that they would. "Tell him that I was thinking of him, at the end, and of the love and guidance he always gave me. Be happy, when you get there. Please. I wish you three will always be happy."

Privately, all three thought that they would never be happy again, but they gave their word all the same.

"Good," Aragorn smiled again, looking content and peaceful as he clasped each of their hands in turn. "Your smiles brought such joy to me all through my childhood and beyond, I would never wish you to lose them. Will you send Arwen into me now? I believe I am ready. Goodbye, my best beloved friends."

First Elladan, then Elrohir and finally, Faelwen embraced him one by one and bid him a last adieu.

"Goodbye, little brother," Faelwen whispered in his ear as she hugged him one last time. "I love you. I have always loved you and I always will. Be at peace, Estel." She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it, then kissed his brow and received one last tender smile.

Face sodden with tears, she followed her brothers out of the room. Elrohir was sobbing openly, Elladan shaking and ashen-faced. They emerged back into the daylight to find Eldarion had returned with his mother and sisters, all waiting for the inevitable request with trepidation.

"He wants you to go in now, Arwen," Elladan murmured and the visitors to Minas Tirith stood aside to let the royal family pass over the threshold.

No one spoke. They waited in tense, dreadful silence that was punctured only by sniffles or hitched breaths. They could not possibly be of any comfort to each other. Time stretched on and then tension in their shoulders became stiffer and stiffer.

Then suddenly, Faelwen could hear Arwen's cries of grief, mingled with those of her children, from inside the chamber and she knew that Aragorn was no more. The world swam before her eyes again and she felt her legs give way beneath her. Someone was holding her up, though she could not have said if it was Haldir or one of her brothers. She sank onto the bench, too numb even for tears for a moment.

It began to rain gently, as though the very skies were mourning the passing of the King of Gondor and the small group were soon soaked.

"Come on," Gimli prompted them all gently, assisting Legolas onto his feet and shepherding the others as though they were little lost elflings. "You all need to get back inside. We can await the Queen at the citadel."

"Can I just…I cannot think straight…" Faelwen's voice seemed to say of its own accord once they had come to the end of the street of death and walked back up the king's halls. She looked at Haldir. "May I have just a minute on my own?"

"Of course, my heart," Haldir said gently, his face full of concern. "If that is what you wish. I will come back and find you in a little while." He kissed her brow and followed the others inside, casting anxious glances back at her until the door closed behind him.

Barely aware of where she was going, Faelwen wandered blindly over the court of the fountain. From the very day she'd first arrived in Minas Tirith, she, Haldir and Legolas had lamented the lack of trees in such an overwhelming mass of stone. There had been one notable one planted soon after Aragorn's coronation though, and the wood elf in her drove her to seek it out now in her pain.

And though the king was no more, the white tree he had planted still stood there, noble and proud. The news of the king's death had obviously begun to spread though, as the normally ever-present guards were absent.

Faelwen sunk down onto the ground, close enough to the strong white trunk to sense the life that thrived within it, the soft spring rain soaking her hair and making her dress cling to her like a second skin.

"Estel!" she whispered brokenly, tears spilling from her eyes to mingle with the rain as she whispered the name she would never again hear answered. Her precious, precious little brother was gone forever.

She had known it would happen eventually, they all had. They had known the minute Elrond had announced his intention to raise a human baby as one of his own that one day they must inevitably be parted from him. She had known it and dreaded it and still the crushing, devastating loss seemed to overwhelm her.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to rage and swear and howl at the sky at the unfairness of it all. Why were mortals granted such a short stay on Arda? Why did the Valar put such a wonderful, beautiful little boy into their lives and then cruelly take him away again?

Her breath hitched on a sob and then suddenly she could not stop. A guttural, hoarse roar tore out of her throat and then her tears came pouring out in a torrent. She was beset by a thousand beautiful memories; the first time she had ever held him, how he had learned to walk, watching him and the twins splash around on the river bank, the way he had woken her before dawn that Midwinter morning after she'd first kissed Haldir, his whispered vow 'I'll always need you, Fae', the day he had found out his true name, the day he had left them to join the Grey Company, the way she had wanted to burst with pride with Mithrandir crowned him…how could he be gone?

She cried and cried until she thought she would be sick from the force of her sobs.

She felt a cloak being wrapped around her shoulders and looked up just as Haldir sat down beside her. He did not speak, he only drew her into his arms and let her sob into his chest, her fingers clutching desperately at his tunic as though she feared he might be taken from her next.

He did not try to tell her everything would be all right and she loved him all the more for that. He just let her cry, then rage, then cry again; holding her all the while as they sat there in the rain by the tree. When she had no tears left and was too exhausted for even one more sob, he helped her back inside the king's halls and up to the room that had been prepared for them. He persuaded her to change into dry clothes and held her all afternoon and all night long.

She lay awake all that night, head pillowed on Haldir's warm chest, feeling his gentle fingers running through her hair in comfort. 'I would let Faelurinc flay the skin clean off me if only you will let me have my brother back!' she feverishly bargained with the Valar as she lay there. 'I will give you whatever sacrifice you would ask of me! Take my voice, take my sight, but let us have him back!'

But her prayers went unanswered. When morning came, her brother was still gone.

A week later, the people of Gondor – and indeed half of Middle Earth – came together to celebrate his life, mourn his loss and lay him to rest. Faelwen did not even hear half the ceremony, staring numbly at the beautiful stone tomb that had been created for Gondor's greatest king. They were putting Estel in cold grey stone in the House of Kings, while the beds of Merry and Pippin would be laid on his right and left. She knew it was the custom of mortals but it felt wrong to shut him away forever in cold darkness.

Haldir, his face looking as haggard as it had been the day Orophin had born him half-dead from Lorien, held her right hand, while Legolas stood wearing an expression of bewildered pain on her left. The twins were lending what support they could to Arwen and Eldarion, both pale and dressed in black. Arwen seemed to have aged decades in a week; she had always appeared to exude a light of natural beauty, but now she had grown cold and grey, like a night without its stars. She had told her siblings she meant to travel to Lorien to meet her end there, and Faelwen realised bleakly that that day would not be long in coming.

When the day finally drew to a close, and the visiting dignitaries were drinking to Aragorn's memory in the halls of the citadel, Faelwen saw her nephew, now King of Gondor, steal out onto the balcony alone, his posture slumped and dejected. Heart constricting for him, she fetched a goblet of warmed wine and followed him out.

"Here, pen-neth," she said gently, handing him the goblet. "Drink this. It has been a very hard day."

Eldarion obediently swallowed the wine, rubbing a hand across his face – so like that of Aragorn – wearily. "Did they want me back inside?" he asked tiredly.

"No," Faelwen assured him softly. "I do not think anyone spotted you leaving. And even if they have, it is of no concern. Grief is a heavy burden to carry; doubly so for the heir to the throne – there can be no question of your being entitled to solitude."

"It…it is not just grief. I am afraid, aunt," Eldarion confessed, his voice low and ashamed. "I know I am no stripling boy…but I am not ready to take my father's place."

"You are only taking his role, Eldarion," Faelwen told him gently, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He was taller than she was now; just as his father had been. "Not his place. No one could ever do that. But take heart – this is a role that you, and you alone, were born and raised to take. I have watched you grow into a wise and honourable man and I know that you will be just as excellent a king as your father was. He thought so too – it was a clear comfort to him when we had our last conversation."

"You will stay for the coronation, will you not?" Eldarion pleaded, suddenly looking desperately young. "I know that you promised to sail after my father was no more, but…will you stay for a just a little while longer? I fear we have so little time left with my mother now, I do not think I could bear to face another round of farewells."

"We will not desert you before you are crowned," Faelwen promised him, having already agreed this with the others that morning. "Legolas has made arrangements for the ship we will take to Valinor and it will be a couple of months before we are ready to depart. We will be there for you on your coronation and I shall be the proudest aunt on all of Arda to watch you carry on your father's legacy and become king."

"I should like of all things to do justice to his memory," Eldarion said seriously, grey eyes determined.

"And I know that you shall," Faelwen told him firmly. "We all do."

"Thank you," Eldarion managed an attempt at a smile and, offering his arm to his aunt, they returned to the halls together.

Eldarion's concerns regarding his mother turned out to be well-founded. Only a few days had passed since Aragorn's funeral when Arwen invited the visitors from Ithilien to dine with her and her children and told them all that she meant to depart for Lorien by the end of the week.

The next few days passed in a grieving haze. Arwen's children were of course distraught, and so the focus of Faelwen and the others was to give comfort and support to Eldarion and his sisters. Privately though, they too were struggling. The bottom was being taken out of their world again, so soon after Aragorn's loss…it seemed that there would be no end to their grief and heartbreak.

On the morning of her departure, Arwen summoned her siblings and friends to her room to make her farewells to them. Faelwen was again struck by how fragile and cold she seemed; almost a shadow of the sister she had loved for so many years. She was the first of the group to lose her composure, a twin pair of tears sliding silently down her cheeks.

"Do not mourn me, sister!" Arwen told her, almost sternly. "I have had the happiest years I could ever have wished for with him. I had rather that than any number of eternities alone and I would make the same choice a hundred times over. I go now to be reunited with him in another place. I do not fear what comes next, so please do not weep for me!"

"We will come with you…" Elladan began, an offer he had made several dozen times that week.

"No," Arwen cut him off decisively, giving him the same answer as she had every time he had said it. "This I will do alone. Please try to understand, Elladan. Watching Aragorn be taken from me was unbearable. I love you all so very much. I do not wish for you or for my children to watch me die."

"But we cannot let you face it alone," Elrohir tried again.

"This is what I chose, Elrohir," Arwen told him gently. "And your coming with me would only delay your sailing all the longer. You all must make your own journey over the sea now. Legolas, I have seen the longing on your face these many years and I know that the rest of you are struggling now too. It will give me the greatest comfort you can imagine to think of you reunited with Ada and Nana and the others. I desire that you will give them my fondest and dearest love and tell them that I was happy. Happier than ever I could have hoped to have been. I do not regret a single second."

She embraced her siblings and friends, kissed them, and wished them well. And so doing, she made one last farewell to her five children, mounted a fine grey mare and rode down through the city – her subjects strewing flowers in her path. Then she passed out of sight and was gone from their lives forever.

That night, poor Elrohir got so incoherently drunk that Elladan and Haldir had to carry him up to bed between them. Elladan held his head while he vomited, Faelwen dosed him to prevent the agony he would inevitably have faced in the morning and the three of them sat with the youngest twin all night.

"It feels like we are falling apart," Elrohir mumbled tearfully around midnight. "I did not think anything could possibly hurt this much. How do mortals live like this?"

"I do not know," Elladan said bleakly, rubbing his twin's back comfortingly. "I do not even know how we are surviving."

"She will be alone," Elrohir cried. "Facing death cold and all alone. Oh Elbereth, let our poor sister be at peace!"

Days passed, then weeks, and though the pain of their terrible losses did not diminish, the five elves found that, slowly, they began to function again. One day, Faelwen found that she could smile at one of Elladan's reminiscences about Estel instead of weeping. In time, she was able to sleep without nightmares of seeing everyone she loved encased in cold stone. She made love with Haldir and did not feel like it was a betrayal of her grief to find comfort in her husband's arms.

She saw the same small improvements in the others; Haldir's face lost it's strained, haggard look; Elladan and Elrohir were able to smile and tease each other again and Legolas ceased to look like a bewildered wraith and had been seen to laugh with Gimli, who had been an invaluable support to all of them. There were still moments when one of the group suddenly felt the urge to weep or was unable to sleep, but step by step, they began to heal.

In early May, they all attended Eldarion's official coronation and watched with pride as the winged crown was placed atop the young man's head. They toasted him at the celebration feast and danced with him and his sisters in the celebrations which followed.

Then, in the last week of June, came the word that their ship was ready. It was time for them to sail at last.

"Must you really go?" asked Silivren tearfully, as she and her sister Morwen came across Faelwen sitting quietly by the White Tree on the day before their scheduled departure. "Can you not stay with us a while longer?"

"I am afraid we must, darling," Faelwen nodded sadly, gesturing to them to sit on either side of her. They were both grown into beautiful women now; no longer shy little girls. She reached out to clasp both their hands. "We promised my father that we would sail after your mother and father had come to the end of their days. He will be waiting for us, with my mother; as will Haldir's family and Legolas's father. If we promise to stay now, one day I will find that I promise your children the same thing, and their children after them. And so we will never sail and we will break our solemn vow and my father's heart with it. And I fear that I just do not have it in me to watch time steal you away as well. One more loss and I think I might go mad."

"I know that you will go on living forever, but you will not forget us, will you? A thousand years from now?" Dear, solemn little Morwen. Always so anxious!

"Forget you? Never!" Faelwen said thickly, wrapping her arms around both of them. "We could not have loved you any more though you were our own. You will always be in our thoughts. This I would swear to you by all the stars in the sky."

The king their nephew gave one last feast in their honour and many tears were shed by those who were departing and those who would remain behind. With the departure of Legolas and Gimli, the end would come to Middle Earth of the Fellowship of the Ring and their tales would pass into legend. And with the loss of their uncles and aunt, the children of Aragorn and Arwen felt that they had lost their entire family in less than three months.

The departing elves grieved to be the cause of such heartbreak to them, but the knowledge that it would destroy their families waiting in Valinor were they never to sail gave them courage to hold firm. They kissed Eldarion, Varanna, Merelin, Morwen and Silivren goodbye, blessed them and hoped for their happiness, and departed the White City.

Their journey back to Ithilien, in contrast to when they had left it at the end of February, was slow and silent. A sense of thoughtful melancholy had come over them all and they did not attempt to distract each other from it. Even Gimli seemed marked by it.

They spent one last night under the branches of Ithilien, where they had made their home for the past century. Together, they raised their voices in song to the friends and loved ones who had been lost, and those who they were leaving behind. They sang of the sea and the white shores and those who they longed to meet there. They sang of happy times and sad times and only parted when the sun's rays pierced the canopy of trees and reminded them that they had some last tasks to complete.

They gathered what belongings they meant to take with them, made one last goodbye to the elves and men of Ithilien they would leave behind, and made their way down to through the familiar trees to where the river ran deepest.

The ship, grey and simple, lay waiting by a small quay. They gave their horses back to the grooms who had followed them and carried their small bags along to where they might board. They had taken very little with them; only their most treasured possessions. Amongst Faelwen's things was a sketch done by Silivren of she and all her siblings. It was a perfect likeness and would make sure the memory of their faces would never fade. She had meant it when she promised to still remember them a thousand years hence.

Legolas boarded first, and assisted Gimli to do likewise. There had been no question of his not coming along. Legolas stated point blank that he refused to sail without his friend and the others would not have had it any other way. They had all grown fond of him, though his friendship and kindness to Legolas alone would have won their hearts. Elrohir went next, then Elladan.

Haldir held out a hand to his wife to help her board. Slowly, Faelwen took it and put her left foot on the boat, while her right remained on the quay. Her last step on Middle Earth...it was indeed a strange feeling and for a moment, she hesitated where she stood. This was it – the moment where she must really say her last goodbye. Goodbye to all she had known.

She glanced over her shoulder back into Ithilien, their home for decades now, and all that lay behind it. Estel; buried in glory in the city he had set to right. Arwen; who had gone alone to die a mortal death under the withering leaves of Lorien. Alyan, who had died so that Haldir might live; buried with so many others on the borders of the Anduin. Those dear, dear little Halflings, Merry and Pippin; their smiles and laughter grown silent. And her beloved Imladris – where she had been healed and loved and taught how to live; a place which had for so long echoed with song and laughter, now silent and empty.

"Faelwen?" Haldir's voice gently broke into her reverie. She looked round at him and smiled sadly, squeezing his hand, before turning her eyes back to what they were leaving behind them. She thought again of her beautiful nieces and nephew, who she would miss for the rest of her days.

"Be happy. Namarie," she said softly, and finally turned away. "I am ready, Haldir."

Haldir held her steady as she at last removed her foot from the ground beneath it, stepping away from Middle Earth forever. Haldir boarded behind her.

Legolas loosed the ropes and they guided the ship away from the banks and down the river, leaving Ithilien behind. The passed down the Anduin and at last came to the sea. Then they stood in a cluster, hands all joined together, and watched silently as the shore faded from sight.

Time seemed to lose all meaning for a while. They might have been at sea two days, or five, it seemed somehow impossible to keep track. Faelwen, exhausted by grief and by the endless times she had vomited that week, buried herself in the cloak that had so long ago been a present from Haldir and eventually fell into a long slumber

"I see it!"

She started awake an indeterminable amount of time later and for a moment wondered confusedly what on earth Elladan was hollering about. "Friends, I see the White Shores! Look they lie hence on the horizon."

Faelwen scrambled to her feet with the others as everything came rushing back to her. She trained her eyes hungrily on the white mass of land that lay directly before them.

Their excitement became palpable as they sailed closer and closer to the shore. The very air they breathed seemed to hearten them. Soon they were able to see a beach, and as they drew closer still, they were able to see that it was not empty.

"Look! Ada and Nana are already there!" Elrohir's voice was ringing with happiness. "They are there!"

Faelwen's heart quickened with joy as she could make out the faces of Elrond and Celebrian, standing on the white sands together and waving out to their children in delight. Soon beside them was the tall, slim figure of Thranduil, who looked no less overjoyed at the sight of his son; beaming from ear to ear. Two blond-haired figures streaked up the beach and suddenly there were Orophin and Rumil, shouting joyful welcomes at the tops of their voices, followed at a more sedate pace by Celeborn and Galadriel. Haldir's face lit up with sheer elation and he began to wave to them frantically.

Elladan and Elrohir threw themselves off the boat as soon as they were able, wading waist deep through the waves to reach their parents and throw their arms around them. Legolas, courteously mindful of his dwarven friend, waited until they were closer to the shore before helping Gimli off the ship and then shot off to knock Thranduil almost off his feet with the force of his hug, while Gimli muttered gruffly with twinkling eyes about 'daft pointy-eared princelings who behaved like wee bairns'.

Laughing happily at the antics of their friends, Haldir helped Faelwen off the boat, lifting her down into the water which coursed around their knees. Hand in hand, they waded towards the shore.

"Faelwen! Oh my darling child!" Celebrian cried in delight, moving away from the twins to embrace her daughter delightedly as Haldir disappeared under Orophin and Rumil who dove at him simultaneously and knocked him back into the water.

Faelwen threw her arms around her mother joyfully, breathing in the long-remembered fragrance of her hair. The sight of Elrond, too, still with his arms around the twins, made her heart soar. "Nana! I have missed you so much!"

"How I have missed you, too! Here, let me look at you!" Celebrian held her daughter at arm's length, drinking in every detail, before clapping a hand to her mouth in with a cry of delight. "Elberth Gilthoniel! Oh, my darling, how marvellous! How far along are you?"

The hubbub of conversation suddenly quieted and Faelwen blushed violently as several sets of eyes turned to look at her. She looked round for her husband, who seconds ago was being nearly deafened by his brothers.

"We uh...we had not actually told anyone yet," She confessed, sharing a happy smile with Haldir and then looking apologetically over at the twins and Legolas. Seeing their perplexed looks, she clarified. "Haldir and I are going to have a baby. I am with child; a few months along."

Orophin gave a yell of delight and decided to celebrate by attempting to hug his brother's head off, while Faelwen found herself caught up in Elrond's arms and lifted clean off her feet as a voice she had missed even more than she realised greeted her. "Iel-nin."

"Ada!" her eyes were swimming with tears as she buried her face in his shoulder but for the first time in many, many months, they were tears of happiness. She had her parents back. They all had their families back. She saw Celeborn, at last able to get to his eldest foster child now that Orophin and Rumil had released him and let him up out of the water, catch Haldir up in a fierce embrace while Galadriel was brushing his sodden hair out of his face with joyful tenderness. Thranduil, an express of serene happiness on his face, was welcoming Gimli the Elf-friend with one arm around his beaming son. Faelwen smiled again against Elrond's robes, and something inside her seemed to mend a little.

Eventually, they moved away from the beach, up to a large white house surrounded by birch trees, where to the further delight of the new arrivals, they were joined by Glorfindel and Erestor. There they ate merrily together around a great table and exchanged news with great joy, with Haldir and Faelwen's forthcoming child the subject of many toasts. There would be time for the sad conversations later, to talk about Aragorn and Arwen and their dreadful loss – but for now, all was delight as the company basked in the happiness of their reunion.

And sat at the table, between Haldir and Thranduil, Faelwen Elrondiel, who had been born Alassë Calannoniel and learned how to live in a place called Imladris, was well and truly at peace.

And there we have it, that is Faelwen's story. As I mentioned, there will be a small epilogue to come, focusing on Faelwen and Haldir and the progression of her pregnancy in Valinor. Thanks again for following this through to the end folks - I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

DOT