[Elora]

The day she had longed for, through night and day, joy and turmoil, had come and it was both sweet and solemn. Uien's heart was filled with many things, some difficult to name. Lira's passing was at first a sudden and bitter blow. Yet Uien still held a belief common amongst her kindred. Whilst the event that brought Death could be a terror, a horror beyond all imagining, Death itself was freedom for a while from the troubles of mortal lands. Lira would come, bound ever to the Circles of Arda by Illúvator to that from which the Elves were shaped, to peace in Mandos' Halls beyond the westward seas. For Lira, peace was a treasure she had precious little of here in mortal lands. It was a hard won boon, but a gift nonetheless and Uien's sadness stemmed from the sorrow of those around her and a sense of absence left by her passing into the Halls.

Yet her heart was not full only with such sadness. Uien's heart was filled with many bright things. The one who lit her thoughts and soul so stood with her again. She could not deny that a cold fear had stalked her that never would it be so. That always would she feel that absence, deep within her very being, a loss that not even Mandos' Halls nor the hallowed hill of Tirion or the jewelled shores of Alqualönde could assuage. Gone was the chill, banished with Falowik's words, presence, arms around her. Uien had not the gift of foresight. But hope was alive in her again and whatever the future held, she could face it gladly.

As they walked beneath the deepening twilight, a smile curved Uien's lips and her mind skipped, wandering at what would come. Where would they call home? The answer to that shone bright, already written upon her soul. Home, wherever it would be, was always in Falowik. She looked sideways, studying him through her lashes. He was quiet, wrapped in his own thoughts just as his hand was twined about her own. Soon they would come back to the others. Already the party would be preparing to set out, and they would want to know if any would accompany those escorting Lira to Eryn Lasgalen. Could she dare Ered Mithrin?

The name had lost some its dark power, a great deal, but not all. What if ruin again lay there? Yet deep within her a voice sounded asking a different question. How was to embrace the future with the man she so loved if she remained so enslaved to the past? Surely ruin lay in that. As the settlement came back within bow shot, Uien slowed and took a deep breath. What she was about to say would be the beginning of a path difficult at first, but would not end in woe.

"Beloved Lauréatan, the road our feet walk together will be long," she began slowly, gazing up into Falowik's face. She brushed her fingers down the side of his jaw and smiled. "That I do not doubt. Lira followed us, you, into a perilous place. She did so willingly, and proved to be a companion true and noble. If it be your wish to follow her now to Eryn Lasgalen, then by your side shall I happily be. It is you I embrace. I will remain a prisoner to dark memory no longer."

Falowik's brows rose in surprise, forehead furrowing. Never had he expected to hear her say that she would venture through Ered Mithrin.

"I will not bid you follow me there," he replied, shaking his head gently from side to side.

"I well know it, and that is why I will for my choice is to walk with you, my love, regardless of where it is that we find ourselves. Bree, Eryn Lasgalen, Ered Mithrin, Caras Galadon, the toppled ruins of Barad-Dûr. It matters not anymore."

"It doesn't," Falowik asked, mystified. Uien's smile deepened. "Nay, for I have found the only home I will ever wish for. Long have wandered seeking just that. Feckless would I be to turn away in fear now."

With that, she drew closer and rested her palms upon Falowik's chest over his heart. It's steady beat filtered through her hands and called to her own. Now was not the time to decide, and she knew that also. Falowik had only just arrived. But when it did come time to decide, she would not be the one to draw him from the path that he most wished to take. He was a man of honour, something she had seen in the very first twilight that brought him to her so many evenings ago. If he believed that it was right to escort Lira, then with him she would go. Who knew what would come then? The world was a new place, new lands, and it was theirs to make of it what they would.