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The Sundered Return

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It was a fine morning one summer as the tall hills came into view. The bright early sun warmed the plush grass waving in the cooling breezes that sang over the rolling plains. The Lady and her Lord and a following of their friends and kin made their way down the little valleys through the great mounds on their horses of gray and yellow and copper and white as they approached the gulf. Prodding their beasts along the river banks with ease at last they came within sight of the inlet, and in the distance they saw the king's city, where there were now magnificent cobbled streets and grand buildings of stone. The roofs of the king's court were lined with gold, and over the chief hall was a silver roofed dome with a spire of gold topped by a silver star set with many diamonds.

At last the lady and lord came to the king's yard, and the king came out with excitement to greet them. The shipwright happened to be there also, for the annual festival celebrating the founding of the kingdom was to begin that evening.

"Cousin!" he exclaimed. "You have come this year!"

"Long overdue, my friend," said Galadriel. "But something stirred my heart to leave my little lake."

Círdan the old shipwright nodded. "The winds are changing."

The lady smiled. "Indeed, old friend!" she said. "It is an auspicious day." Then she stopped to look around. "But where is young master Elrond? Surely he is not away for such an occasion?"

Gil-galad laughed. "Sometimes he is, when I send him off on the king's business. But not this year. I have him managing maneuvers up in the hills. He will return by tonight."

"You should send him with your forces to my realm," she said. "The plains beyond the hills are empty and open. And there is much I could teach him on strategies from the old battles of the First Age."

"A fine idea," affirmed the king. "But let us turn our thoughts to merrier things for now. I have a harp here for you, unless you prefer your own?"

"Nay, good sire," she said. "The king's harp will fit the occasion."

At sunset the festivities began with the Lady at a tall golden harp, singing of their forefathers among the elf kings and heroes of the First Age. In the warm golden light of the sun falling down toward the watery horizon in the distance, her hair seemed to light up with the glow of the yellow lanterns of the woodland elves. And her singing seemed to spur all the lamps, silver-blue and yellow-gold, to dance in dazzling flares like magical works of fire. Finally she concluded, passing the entertainment to the king's minstrel, whose song of the departed elves and mortals conjured illumined images of ships sailing on the waters nearby.

The next day the festivities continued, and as the sun was waning toward afternoon again, suddenly a cry of wonder rose over the crowd. Within a few moments Dúrlos was making his way through up to the king and his court. "Sire, look!" he exclaimed. "We have visitors."

All stood to peer out over the water, shielding their eyes to the sun falling low before them. Far in the distance they spied three ships making their way up the gulf toward the inlet. "They are not quite elvish ships, I think," said Dúrlos, "but neither do they look like those built by mortals."

The crowd stirred in curiosity, and a clamor of excitement rose up over who the visitors could be. At last the king spoke, "Calm yourselves, my friends!" he called. "These ships move swiftly, but not so fast that they could reach the docks before tomorrow morning. There is plenty of time to guess amongst yourselves." And so the elves all turned back to their merrymaking until the festival at last concluded in the wee hours of the night.

In the morning the elven leaders all came to the king's shipyard to await the arrival of their guests. Many had now guessed from where they hailed, having long seen the emblems on the sails and banners. At last the ships pulled up to the docks, and the elf shoremen received their ropes and planks, and the captains of the arrived vessels disembarked and came forth. The newcomers all looked in delight at their hosts, and especially Galadriel, fairest to now walk Middle-earth, with the light of Valinor in her face, and her hair bright like the beams of the morning sun.

The king walked up with his greetings. With him went Elrond, most interested of all to meet them.

"Welcome to my realm, friends!" said the king. "I am Gil-galad, high king of the elves in Middle-earth. From where do you come, and what may we call you?"

The foremost of the three, a tall man with sandy hair, gave a deep bow, and his friends followed suit. "Your highness!" he called. "It is an honor to meet you at last. Much is told of you in our legends. We are sailors of Numenor, the gifted land of star. I am Vëantur, captain of the flagship you see here. This is my sister Sirnendel and my cousin Glindur, who command the other two."

The king invited them and their crews into his halls, where another feast of welcome was prepared for them that evening.

"Are you descendants of King Elros?" Elrond asked the captain that evening.

"Nay, lord," Vëantur replied. "But our king is his great-grandson Elendil. Did you know that first king?"

"He was my brother," said Elrond.

Vëantur smiled in marvel. "Yes, I see the resemblance that you bear to the portraits we have in tapestries and statues in the king's halls. It is regrettable that we have not ventured here sooner. But it is said that our forefathers were so busy establishing the realm, and so blissful in their new land of peace and contentment, that it was long before any desired to leave it again. Also it was long before we had sufficient knowledge of ship crafting to come so far."

"And what has brought you here now?" asked the king.

"Well, lord," said Vëantur, "some of us who dwell by the shores of the sea began to feel the wanderlust that our ancestors of old used to have. Our elf friends from the Lonely Isle near Valinor come to visit us often, but we are not permitted to return the favor and visit that island, so we decided to go east. We had found the coast, and were deciding where to land, when we heard the fair singing of a maiden come to our ears. Like a dream it seemed, sounding both close and far at the same time, and we wondered if Uinen angel of the seas was calling to us. We deemed it hailed from the north, and so we made our way up here. Then as we approached and saw the lady here, for a moment we thought Lady Uinen had now appeared to us in woman form."

Galadriel smiled and laughed. "A generous compliment, indeed!" she said to them. "It is well you are here. Sorely have we missed our friends who parted with us many years ago."

The crew of the small fleet stayed there in the king's realm for a while, content to remain among their friends of the fair folk and their tranquil realm. Elrond would ask them many questions for his knowledge and comfort, of their king and their histories since Elros had parted with him, and of small matters like the layout of their land. And to the delight of their hosts the visitors regaled their new elf friends with extensive descriptions of the island and its cities and people and rulers.

During this time mortals from the midland forests to the south came asking for Elrond. He came out to the borders of the realm to meet them, and they told them that their settlements now stretched down closer to the mouths of their rivers, where they had seen the beautiful ships that were not elven, and desired to come meet the newcomers. Elrond's name was the only one their elders remembered, thus it was he they decided to seek out. So Elrond told them about the visitors of Numenor, a people somewhere between mortal and elf, hailing from their fair island far over the sea, and he escorted them to the king's city to meet them.

Vëantur and his companions were glad to meet these people, likewise holding them among long lost kin. Soon enough they set out again so they could sail their ships up the southern rivers to visit with that mortal folk where they lived, and teach them what they could of crafting buildings and boats and tools and weapons. So it was that the woodmen of the forest were reunited to their long-sundered kindred, the Numenoreans.