[littlemanpoet]

"You wonder why I did not go with my kin over sea."

Mithalwen nodded.

"Caradhras proved my foe and fate. I was separated from my father, mother, and brother in a blizzard. Orcs found me and I ...." She stopped, her hands shaking on her cup. Falowik stopped his fork half way between plate and mouth, and set it down. His eyes softened and he reached across the table, setting his hand gently over Uien's. She looked to him gratefully; in that moment Mithalwen saw how it was between the two of them. Strange were the twists of fate. Uien opened her mouth to speak again. "I was imprisoned in the mountain for a time. How much time I do not know." She said this quickly. "A Dwarf found me; I assume the orcs did not survive him and his party. He left me in the care of those at Imladris. 'Twas there that I learned that my kin had left over sea, though they waited many a day for me. At last, the ship would wait no longer and they had to choose."

"You may then cross the sea and be reunited with them," Mithalwen said.

Withdrawing his hand from Uien's, Falowik shot Mithalwen a surprised glance. She expected his eyes to fill with anger; instead she saw resignation. He turned and watched Uien to see how she would respond.

"Nay," Uien said, smiling. "I have foresworn the straight way into the west. I will remain with Falowik." Uien reached across the table, revealing a bright jewel at her breast, hanging from a necklace. Within it was bright light that formed the formen of the Sindarin runes. Uien took Falowik's hand in hers. Mithalwen saw that he bore at his neck a twin to the jewel Uien wore; its light formed the úre.

"But he is mortal," Mithalwen said.

"And so I have become," Uien answered, her face a mix of joy and sorrow in equal portions.

Mithalwen looked at Falowik measuringly, and touched the edges of his mind. He turned to her as if startled, then nodded in understanding, and met her eyes with his own, allowing her to know his thought. There was much darkness inside the man, much bitterness of loss. But overmatching all of it was boundless wonder that this beautiful Elven woman loved him and had chosen his fate in place of her own. More, he was determined to be more than he was for the sake of her love and choice. Mithalwen withdrew from his thought; he sighed and slumped at the shoulders, clearly tired.

Mithalwen sipped her tea and looked to Uien, whom it was clear, knew intimately what had passed between her Lauréatan and the Elvish woman from Lindon.

Uien smiled and said, "We seek a place to settle this side of the sea. What can you tell us of Lindon?"