Uien and Falowik
She watched the Fellowship paddle down the Anduin in the elven boats they had given them, and listened to the song the Lady Galadriel sang. It was then that the sea-longing had come over her, and she knew that she must pass over sea.
Uien passed out of dream and looked down at Falowik, whose head rested on her lap in the small bower not far from the Green Dragon Inn's kitchen door. She would not be passing over sea after all. She had tied her fate to this Man, her Laurëatan; golden man.
She looked up. The hawthorn tree no longer stood before her. Uien smiled a private smile. Blessings, fair one. May your leaves ever find the sun and your roots the good drink of Ulmo; and may your gardens bloom bright always.
She bent down and kissed Falowik's brow. "Wake up, my love. 'Tis time to go."
He stirred and frowned. "Go? It is still night."
"Then let us walk in the night."
"What of Kírsul?"
"Let him walk with us."
Falowik sat up and stretched, then looked around. "This place looks a little different than it did before," he mumbled.
"The starlight is different." ...because a tree that stood here no longer casts its kindly shadow here.
Falowik rose to his feet. "Let me get my feet properly under me, then we can be off."
"While you are busy with your balance I will go to Kírsul," Uien replied.
"Very well. What of Eswen?"
Uien stopped and turned. "She shall know of our parting, and will follow us if she chooses, or follow her own road. She shall know that we go to Annúminas." Falowik nodded and shrugged, bemused as always by the ways of Elves, sure that what she said would be so.
Not long after, their fares having been paid already for board and stabling, they passed out of the village of Bywater, following the Great Road until they had passed the last outlying house, then off into the countryside to north and east. The sun was still a long way from dawn's rising, and they expected to be far away by then, with only the stars for companions.
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