Chapter Text
... Some years later...
The tall stone gates of Menegroth, crafted by the Dwarves with all their skill, stood open to the purple evening. The tall trees whose roots held firm the rocky hill above the river were decked with many lights that twinkled gold and green against the fiercer elemental fire of the stars of Elbereth.
Melian stood there on the steps, golden-green and gracious, with Thingol silver-haired and greycloaked beside her, smiling. Lúthien was dancing on the space before the bridge, and Daeron, perched perilously on the bridge parapet wall, was playing his flute.
Most of the elves around the gates, talking, singing softly, and watching Lúthien dance were dark or silver-haired cousins of Doriath, but among them were distinctive golden heads: the princes of the House of Finarfin, and a handful of short broad bearded folk.
“Off on the road with Dwarves!” Finrod said to his sister. “What fun! I am looking forward to hearing all of your adventures. Where are you going first?”
“The Dwarf-road,” she said, smiling. “All the way across eastern Beleriand, Thargelion, and through the Ered Luin into the Laiquendi lands.”
“I have cousins there,among the Laiquendi” Celeborn put in. “It has been a few years since we have heard from them, and I have never seen the great forests and lakes beyond the Mountains. After that... Well. Your sister wants to try to find the fabled Dwarf-kingdom of the Hithaeglir. And beyond the Hithaeglir, who knows?”
Galadriel smiled, and put an arm around Finrod. “We’ll tell you all about it, when we get back. Beleg says that long ago, there were vast forests beyond even the Hithaeglir, where we may find Elves left behind on the Great Journey. Imagine their languages, the ways they will differ from our own customs! Perhaps we will even find our way all the way back to Cuivienen.”
“I hope you know what you’ve taken on, kinsman,” Aegnor said to Celeborn. “This new wife of yours will drag you half across Middle-earth and into a dragon’s den, just to find out what goes on in there, you do know that?”
Celeborn laughed. “Of course I do. I’m looking forward to it, in fact. Life with my beautiful Galadriel will, above all, never be dull.”
Galadriel picked up her pack. “Let us say our farewells to the King and Queen,” she said to Celeborn. “It’s a fine night for walking in the woods.”