When they left, they had made her a promise:
they would come back to her.
Not just one, but all. They would return, or they
would send for her. All would be right again, and
she would not feel like a sailboat trying to keep
upright in a roaring gale.
Dol Amroth was her home, her beloved
city, but it was not the same without
her father.
So she sought comfort in the sea, taking advantage
of a rare spare moment to wander barefoot along
the sand and rocks. Here was where land ended
and sea began, here cold seawater lapped over
her toes with every rhythmic rush.
Here it was peaceful, here this moment
hers. But the spell of it was soon broken
by an unfamiliar figure's approach
She watched the stranger come, weighing her options,
and held her ground with eyes fixed ahead as the figure
grew larger, came into clearer focus. And though she did
not recognize the face, the newcomer's ears were pointed.
An elf, come to Dol Amroth? This would be neither the
first nor the last, and yet the timing seemed so strange.
"In happier times, I would gladly greet you," she said,
the stranger at last within earshot. "Instead, I'm afraid
I must ask what business you have with Dol Amroth.
What strangers we have come more often by sea
than by land."
