The caravan arrived as dusk set in. The golden light of the setting sun, streamed in to touch the golden leaves of Lorien.
The trees themselves, stood tall and proud, much like the elves that dwelled among them.
And as Thorongil helped them out, they were greeted by an elf, dressed in white, with long fair hair adorned with a simple circlet. While he looked at ease, the handle of a thin, long, curved and quite vicious looking sword, hung by his side, well concealed among the many yards of flowing clothing he wore.
She instantly recognised him, as Caleb's doppelganger from when she had met him in her own world, all those many years ago.
Suddenly her thoughts returned to Thorin, as her memories returned to those days when they were strangers getting to know each other.
And while it made her yearn for him, it then brought back her most recent memories from Erebor.
"My lady?" Thorongil brought her thoughts very much back to the present. "Allow me introduce you to Lord Celeborn."
He held out his hand to usher her ahead. So pushing back her sadness, she stepped forward, with the twins and her little toddler clutching at her skirts.
"Well met, my Lord Celeborn," Thorongil bowed his head. "May I introduce, Lady Shobha, Consort to the King under the Mountain..."
"Although it appears the lady no longer believes this?" Celeborn observed her with curiosity as she dropped into a curtsy.
"My Lord, forgive me for this intrusion..." Suddenly she felt herself jostled about by Dwalins broad form. He stood there frowning angrily at their host.
"Lorien is a protected Kingdom. You are here because my wife is expecting you.." he bowed his head in reply to her greeting and gestured.
"Not without me." Dwalin growled still standing beside her like a very angry guard.
"There is no need. The lady will be safe here."
"The Lady is me sister - so I ain't going anywhere -"
"It's okay Dwalin. We need to see Lady Galadriel." She tried to reassure him when Thorongil stepped in.
"Let us keep the little ones..." Thorongil held his hands out to the children, but when the little girl clung to her mother, he did not coax her. He turned to the two boys instead. "Let us find some food.."
"Now yer talkin'!" Dwalin seemed to visibly relax at the word. "None of that tree food though!"
The boys took their hands but hesitated for a moment, watching their mother gather up their little sister into her arms.
"Your Mama will be fine..." Thorongil reassured again. "She has an important meeting with Lady Galadriel."
Thrain and Arun, still tired from the long journey and their late arrival, simply nodded and followed, while Shobha turned back to Celeborn.
"Your journey has been long. But your story is not yet done." Celeborn spoke quietly as he led her up a set of stairs built among the tall trees. "You are not the only one to travel here from another land..."
She tried not to read into his words. She was tired. And her life here seemed done. She needed to find a safe place to raise her children, which meant going back home. Without Thorin, her life in Erebor was done. And from what she saw there was no safety here from orc attacks or others for that matter.
The sun was setting now, and it made the canopy of leaves above them glow like a golden roof. She couldn't help slowing a little to look around as she climbed up slowly. Even Seraeya, who had grumbled a little at first, now stared up mesmerized in silence.
Her memory of Caleb, seemed now so very long ago, and to her mind, although the two men were identical in appearance, they seemed so different in demeanor.
They continued to walk up various stairways and long corridors covered by magical canopies of leaves until they arrived at a courtyard.
There was a perfect pool of clear water filled by a flowing stream that seemed to appear out of several rocks.
And then almost out of the night itself, a tall lady dressed in long flowing shimmering white just seemed to appear. Her mere arrival elicited a gasp out of the little toddler who clung to her mother now, peering through her long dark waves of hair that flowed down her shoulder.
"You have finally arrived then..." Galadriel seemed to emanate some sort of glow all about her. And unlike her husband, bore a smile. Then suddenly her face saddened. "Although it is under sadder circumstances than I would have expected to meet."
"My lady..." Shobha curtsied as best as she could while her little girl clung tighter to her.
"Your...relationship...with the Vala of the waters has become apparent. It is causing a shift in nature," Celeborn spoke somewhat sternly now. "It cannot be so. For the happiness of a Great One should not rely upon the changeable life of a mortal woman who belongs to another."
His words, however careful, calm and measured, were clearly a warning.
"It is dangerous to all who dwell here upon middle earth." Celeborn concluded. This time he seemed to observe her more carefully and with some curiosity.
It made her feel self conscious and a little ashamed, given the nature of her dreams with Ulmo. She wondered how they had come to find out, her cheeks heating up at the thought. But what made her feel ashamed was how much she seemed have missed Ulmo these past few weeks. She longed to lay on his warm, golden beach. But her heart beat faster at the thought of laying beside him, even if she was completely naked. And even if he didn't even touch her. It was a strange yearning.
"So then you both understand why I need to get home now." She looked back at Celeborn, a little annoyed frankly. She had not intended for all these things to happen.
"By this I mean the difficulties you have faced of late." Galadriel bent down slightly to inspect her face closer, before gently moving her hair aside to smile at the little girl who was now using her mother's hair to mask her little face. "And this must be your little Princess..."
Galadriels smile brightened until she seemed to look positively glowing, not unlike the moon or some celestial body.
"You are indeed a most beautiful being...but then it was inevitable given your mother." The elven lady stood up and looked back at Shobha again. "Even if you return home, your children a forever linked to Arda and their return will be inevitable when their time comes."
"Perhaps, but at least until then I can keep them safe." She thought out loud. "The truth is, I am tired and I have played my part. So I just want to go home now..."
"And the King under the Mountain?" Galadriels question was spoken with such plainness that it barely sounded like a question.
In fact she remained silent for a few long moments at first. The pain she felt at even speaking his name suddenly felt new. It took her back to when she first met him: it had felt as though there had been no other choice but for her to join Thorin, and when the quest had come to an end, the idea of leaving him had felt horrendous.
Now in this very moment, that pain felt renewed. So she had to force herself to recall how he had looked at her that day on the stone bridge at Erebor when she first told him about Arun. And then again the way she felt he had looked right though her after the Aida incident.
Her heart had felt ripped out of her body as all her memory came flooding back.
And now she ached for home again. It was not a new ache. Every time the children did something funny, took their first steps, spoke their first words, or did something amazing, she would always think of her parents. It just made everything feel that much worse.
"I think Thorin will need to remain." She forced the words out. They had not even said goodbye. And she felt bad for her children. But she could only imagine any new bride he chose would push him away from his children, and there was no need for them to lose both parents.
"What will your life be when you return?" The elf asked, her words quiet and clearly well chosen.
"To focus on my children." She replied with complete conviction for that was what it would be now.
"Would you find another husband?" This time Galadrields question seemed out of genuine curiosity.
"I really have no interest in another husband." It was the truth. But a small part of her wondered whether she would still have a connection with either Thorin or Ulmo in her dreams even back home. After all they had become part of her very being like the blood that flowed in her veins.
"Are you in love with him?"
She knew exactly what Galadriel was asking of her.
"I..." She clutched her heating cheeks with one hand. The truth was that she had begun to doubt her own sanity over this.
How could anyone fall in love with someone they had never met in real life?
And was it all in her head? Really?
She had come to learn that Ulmo was as powerful as his brother, Manwe, but unlike the other Valar, he was kinder to all living creatures and mankind. And often only turned up to the gatherings of the other valar if important decisions has to be made.
So perhaps she had mistaken his kindness for something more?
"You have travelled a long way. It is time to rest..." This time Celeborn interrupted them, and suddenly looking up she found the Elven lord stood beside his wife. His face looked softer and more pitying. It was almost as though he could read her mind. "Your little one has already fallen asleep..."
He gestured towards Seraeya who had leant her head on her mother's shoulder and now breathed deeply in her sleep.
She nodded, wondering whether he felt sorry for her little girl, or whether he now felt sorry for her. Whatever it was she needed to convince these two somehow that her return to home was essential.
...
She watched the gentle crashing of waves on Ulmos golden sands from the shade of some palms, sitting there hugging her folded legs with her chin tucked on her knees.
The Vala of the Ocean lay opposite her calmly and silently watching his strange chess-like board with various pieces shaped of coral and shell. He would occasionally move a piece before falling into a statuesque stillness in silence.
All of his long muscular form lay reclined in the sand on his side. His strange sea-green eyes focussed on the board. But she still felt as though he was watching her.
It was all normally what she found to be comforting. But today after her discussion with Galadriel, her mind was not still and relaxed. Instead it was racing around in circles and it was now at the point of bubbling over.
She suddenly turned around to face him, sitting up on her knees to make herself taller. And he too seemed to immediately look up as if he had been anticipating this all along.
"Why did you choose ME?" She began. It was of course where all the trouble started. "I mean you could have had a child with anyone...like an elf - they are not bound to the rules of mortality and are magic right, so -"
"Any child of mine would be blessed with immortality and my gifts anyway so that is not a concern." He replied calmly.
"So why ME?" She asked again after a deep breath.
"Because the only reason you could return to life was because your heart stopped beating that day in MY realm. The battle for your life force between Mandos and I had been won by ME and quite clearly..." He explained carefully. "That is why I marked you to show you now belonged to me."
"So I was your spoil from some battle?" She frowned.
"Let me put it in words you would use - 'you owed me'...for your life." He too sat up now, crossing his legs, which made him taller than her again. But his strange eyes kept their gaze focussed on her throughout. "But the truth was, that when you were in that water, which flooded through all of you, I could feel you..."
She remained silent, urging him to explain himself better.
"I understood your thoughts - your dreams...and even your desires...I could feel what lay within your heart... You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save so many. There was something beautiful about you." He explained quietly without any hesitation or restraint. "And I had not intended for anything beyond supporting you as you desired."
He paused again to give her a chance to interrupt him, so when she didn't he carried on.
"So I chose you, because of all the many I had ever watched, I envisioned you as the mother to my only son. And in return for breaking the laws we Valar must abide by, when you as a mortal came to carry my child, he would grow to guide and protect his people when the darkness returned once more in the future."
She sighed looking down at the strange chess board before looking back up at him again.
"And is this...what we have now...real? Or is it all in my head?"
"Well...some of it is what would make you comfortable - like this very beach...it has in part taken form from your imagination..." He watched her closely again. "Even my form is perhaps the same...in part what you would imagine..."
She pushed Ulmos game board aside and moved forward on her knees so that she could study his face better.
"I had not expected to fall in love with you though...is that what I imagine...because of how things are with Thorin...?"
She moved closer again until she could see the uncertainty in his sea-green eyes, where the colour almost shimmered like the deep ocean.
"But how can we be in love with each other when we have never met outside of my dreams...or touched...or kissed...?" She asked quietly. "How can this go on?"
"It's peculiar because it all began with you being being offered to me..." He reached out and picked her chin up in his large hand. "But it appears that it is I that will become whatever it is that you wish of me..."
There was a strange sadness in his beautiful eyes, that he didn't show on his chiseled features. He had been there for her twice, when she had been on the very edge of death itself. And yet he loved such a solitary life. He even missed out on raising his own child! And there was something about his sadness that touched her to the depths of her very being.
"Maybe it's time to put that right then..." She straightened herself up on her knees this time and leant in to press her lips to his gently.
His lips felt soft and warm. It was nothing like what she had expected. And soon she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck as he too gently snaked his strong arms around her waist, pulling her against his large frame.
"Why can you not show me what you really look like?" She whispered against his lips. "I want to see you...all of you..."
She suddenly found his deep ocean-eyes boring into her as he pulled away from her lips, and they were as warm and comfortable as the water in his ocean.
"Let me show you..." He smiled, kissing her again.
...