Gulls. Their mournful cries filled the air, but the dark-haired woman walking along the beach at dawn didn't hear it as sad. The gulls were friends of hers, and when they noticed her, they flocked to her. The woman smiled, and held out her arm, gesturing for one of the birds to land there.
"He will be coming back soon," she whispered to it. "It won't be long now."
And she waited in silence for her love to join her. Minutes passed, the birds grew bored and left, save the one on her arm. The woman kept up a constant refrain of whispers of reassurance that seemed directed more to herself than the seagull.
Until, finally, a light appeared in the sky, coming ever closer, until it hit the water, making the rippling surface shimmer and glow. It moved towards her and she shielded her eyes from the brightness.
Though she did this every day, she never got used to the radiance.
Then the light was gone, suddenly, as though it had been put away in a box, which it had.
The ship docked in the special harbour there that had been built for it, and the woman struggled to maintain her patience, which utterly crumbled when she saw a handsome, blonde man walk off the boat and onto the pier, holding a bejewelled box in his hand. He saw her coming, and spread his arms to receive her as she ran to him.
"Earendil! You're back! You're safe!" she cried, as though it had been ten years since she last saw him, and not a day.
"Of course, little wife. When have I ever not?" he laughed.
"I was just so worried, after Ancalagon and the great war, how could I not be?"
"But that was ages ago, dear. Though…"
"What? Tell me, Earendil!"
"Well, they say Sauron, you know, Morgoth's lieutenant," here, Elwing nodded fiercely.
"Well, they say he has risen again. Just whispers, a shadow in the East, a dark force in the Greenwood, but it has them - and by them I mean Olorin - worried. I'm sure everything will be fine, though."
Elwing nodded nervously. "Yes, our Elrond defeated him once before, didn't he, with Gil-Galad and his other friends, didn't he? Though I would be happier if that Ring was destroyed."
Earendil smiled at her, and shook his head laughingly.
"You sound like a right mother hen, Elwing, you know that."
Elwing gently smacked him around the head.
"When you have lived as long as I, you can call me a mother hen."
"Two months. And you never let me forget it. Come now, lead the way inside like a good girl; I hope breakfast is ready."
Elwing chuckled and linked her arm through his.
"You know that it is. Now, follow me inside like a good boy, and make sure you wipe your feet before entering. I'm not having you track diamond dust all the way inside like last time."
And ignoring Earendil's partly feigned splutters of indignation, she led him back to her tower by the sea.