Rating: PG
Pairing: Elrond/Gil-galad
Disclaimer: The characters and world are the creation of Tolkien and belong to him. New Line Cinema also has rights to them, which I cannot claim. No copyright infringement or offence intended by the use of them. No profit made.
Summary: In the land of Valinor, Elrond meets someone believed long lost to him.
Notes: This is set after Return of the King, when Elrond and others of Middle-earth have departed for the West and the Undying Lands.

Elrond travelled to the mountains some four years after the Coming of Age ceremony, his sons riding at his flank and Gil-galad at his side. Finally able to fulfil his promise to Idril and Tuor, Elrond was glad that he could bring his sons with him, and filled with sorrow that never would his daughter be able to meet kin that was rightfully also hers. The twins had sailed with Celeborn shortly after the demise of their sister, bringing news too that Thranduil of Mirkwood was building ships to bring his people across to Tol Eressea. Elrond was grateful too for Gil-galad's presence, despite the friction it cost him with his sons, and together they spent the turn of a ten-month with his kin. He learned much of his family even in that short space of time and told much of those whom they would never meet: Elros, and all his descendants, including Elendil and Isildur, down to Aragorn, and of course he spoke too of Arwen. It was only as he came to leave, with promises made on his solemn oath to return frequently, that he truly registered the presence of a great white gull that he had watched from his window many morns during their trip. A gull who perched upon the gatepost to watch them leave and then flew up into the skies until she passed beyond even elven sight, up beyond the air streams and the clouds. Watching her vanish, Elrond glanced at his companions, but the twins were talking together and Gil-galad's gaze was turned toward the wilds. Half wondering if he had imagined her presence, for no one had mentioned a single word of this bird that flew so far from the sea, Elrond spoke not of her.

* * * *

It was late and the great white face of the moon bathed the lands in consecrating silver beams, making ethereal the world with tessellations of silver and shadow. Elrond awoke for reasons he could not immediately discern. Gil-galad lay awake beside him; his cobalt eyes curious as Elrond rose from the bed and moved to the window. The soft pad of footsteps, almost inaudible even in the quiet of the night signalled the movement of his lover to his side and he felt the gentle touch of Gil-galad's hand upon his shoulder. But his eyes were drawn to the skyscape and the bright points of the stars that illuminated the night. A gasp was stolen from his throat and his eyes searched the midnight canopy; in the velvet infinity that lay high above, there was a patch of darkness where once a star had been. Gil-galad's startled intake of breath echoed Elrond's own as the peredhel turned to stare at his lover and then back to the night, willing himself to be mistaken.

"Your father's star..." Ereinion whispered, his voice low and shocked.

Elrond nodded, transfixed with disbelief as he gazed at the absence of Earendil in Varda's tapestry. Every night he could recall he had looked upon his father's star, the only contact he could share with the man he had never known in person, yet often felt in his heart. What fate could have befallen him that the light of his star has ceased? Elrond gripped the windowsill, scanning the night lest his eyes had deceived him.

The low, eerie cry of a gull swept the air and Elrond jumped as a great white bird passed the window and wheeled in the air streams, hanging before them and then swooping a little distance away.

"That bird..." Elrond said, puzzled, as he recognised the snow-white creature that had strayed as far inland as the realm of Idril and Tuor.

"Elrond, look!" Gil-galad's gaze had moved to the East and now he leaned over Elrond's shoulder to point to the cliff-head where a swan-shaped ship was docking, its sails aglow with light stolen from the moon itself.

The gull hovered before them, long wings tapering outward as she hung suspended for a moment; her eerie cry formed soft words in a voice that brought a lump to Elrond's throat.

"Come to us, Elrond; come, little one. My son we have missed you so."

And she was gone, flying on fleet wings to the cliffs, leaving Elrond swaying on the spot. Ereinion's hands on his shoulders steadied him, turning him and warm fingers brushed his cheeks.

"Go," Ereinion whispered.

Speechless, Elrond nodded. He took half a step from the window and then paused, gazing back at the nightscape, still searching for the star. The bright glow of descended starlight claimed his vision and he faltered, half afraid to leave lest the light failed, half afraid of what he would find at the end of the beams of light. Feeling Gil-galad's gaze upon him, Elrond met his lover's eyes.
"Come with me," he whispered.

Ereinion did not protest, instead he guided Elrond quickly to the door, pausing only when Elrond reached to snatch up both their cloaks. They raced together down the empty corridors and flights of stairs, until the cold night air ghosted against their cheeks.

"They have been here, all this time." Elrond found his steps unsteady, his voice harsh as he half ran to the stretches of field where the horses grazed nightly. "It's been so long - why now...why do they come at all?" He stopped suddenly and turned to Gil-galad.

"Now is the time," Ereinion gripped his arm and pulled him along once more, "to find that out."

Elrond paused at the side of his mare, looking back at his partner as Ereinion whistled to his stallion, a welling of child-like anxiety filling his breast.
"Ereinion, I... I know not what to say to them."

Gil-galad's features creased into a sympathetic smile. "Something tells me, beloved, that you will find the words." He crossed to Elrond and gripped him by the shoulders. "It is time, Elrond. All the long years I have known you, you have spoken to me of your admiration for your mother's strength; you are a father and know what it costs to let your child go, to choose between your family, your lover, your friends, and do what has to be done. If the choices your parents made for the sake of Arda can be undone, let it be so." Gil-galad paused, his dark eyes scanning Elrond's face. "Elrond, what is it? You told me that you loved your mother the more for what she did."

"I...I know," Elrond said softly. But inside he felt surge the resentment he had thought long passed away, borne of adolescent years and reflections upon the bloodstained house, the servants he had loved lying in pools of their own blood, and of facing the imposing sons of Feanor; resentment that was pure fear, altered in state by the passing of the years.

Ereinion's fingers tightened compassionately on Elrond's shoulders.
"You know the prices that the darkness demanded from us; you know the decisions we have had to take to make the world anew so that there is a place for the Followers, until the End of Days. She did only what she had to do."

"So logic says," Elrond murmured.

"You must forgive her, Elrond." Gil-galad's eyes were worried in the darkness.

"I have, I think... I do not know if I can..." Elrond stared at him, lost. The cold resentment that filled him disturbed him, the emotion seeming alien and belonging not to him but to Elros, whose anger at the desertion had been the product of his fear. Elrond himself had sought the reasons for his parents' abrupt departure from their children's lives, and their failure to return. He had thought he understood, but emotions he could not control swirled above the dam of reason.

"You are so used to loss, love," Ereinion whispered, his hands slipping to hold Elrond's. "You know who you are when everything is taken away; that is not going to change when things are restored to you."

Ereinion's fingers caressed his face, tilting his chin up as Elrond lingered.

"Is it not?" he whispered. He pushed Ereinion's hands away. "Let me go."

Ereinion gave him a none-too-gentle shake.
"Elrond, I owe much to your father - were it not for his plea to Manwe to lift the ban upon the descendents of the kinslayers, I could not be here with you. The very least I can do in return is not to let you throw this away." His voice gentled as he continued, "Elrond, love, you have learned all your life to accommodate people in your heart, for who they are and what they can be for you. Let your parents be your parents for you too. "

Very slowly, Elrond nodded, letting Ereinion anchor him.
"Come with me."

Ereinion nodded. He touched Elrond's face and this time Elrond did not move away. Instead he lifted his hand to grip Ereinion's tightly.
"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you."

Together they mounted the horses and rode out across the wilds, their horses stretching upon fleet feet to guide them toward the shores. The distance seemed distorted, as though time did not pass as they rode and the air was heavy with bewitchment, suspended in infinity to fill the void left by the missing star. On the edge of the moon-drenched dunes they halted and Ereinion dismounted, taking Elrond's mare by the mane as he slid from her back. Then Ereinion held still their horses as Elrond walked slowly toward the great ship and the two people who stepped from its gangplank to meet him. For a moment he stopped and stared at them, the faces of his memory taking the place of the portrait images that had lingered in their stead throughout the ages. With that change he felt his turmoil of anger and loss slip away, lost in the relief that his parents were restored to him. Then he stepped forward to embrace them, feeling the feather-soft touches of his mother's hands as she kissed his hair, her tears falling freely. Strong hands held his arms and the noble features of his father were tracked with pale lines of silver in the moonlight as Earendil finally embraced his son.

"We cannot stay beyond the light of dawn," Earendil said at last, breaking the silence that enveloped them while their eyes familiarised the people of the legends each embodied. "Our duties bind us to forms incorporeal or avian. But we can come, each year, upon this night to this place or any other."

"The night of your birth," Elwing added, smiling through her tears. "And your brother's."

Elrond nodded, still without words. Then he smiled.
"We have until dawn," he said quietly. "And many others thereafter."

Gil-galad smiled, taking Elrond's hand as he finally approached and greeted Earendil and Elwing solemnly.
"We have forever."

[End]

Thanks go to:

Nienna, for her prompt and thorough betas.

Dusk, for analysis of Gil-galad and Elrond, and their relationship - and for putting up with me complaining about a certain ex-high king!

Ilye, for discussions of the story and continued support.

Claudio, for Simarillion canon checks.

My brother, for helping write Elrond's story in Part 15 (forever ago now!).

CC, for helping me set up my website (at last!)

Everyone who has read this story to the end - thanks for all the feedback, it is much appreciated.

And of course Tolkien, whose wonderful creation was the inspiration for this.

(And to Gil-galad - for not shutting up until I wrote about him - and Elrond, for explaining everything! )

References:

Tolkien's works: "Morgoth's Ring" for rebirth. "The Silmarillion" and "Lord of the Rings" for basic canon.

[End]