Title: FOR CONTINUING STRANGE (28) 
Author: Annie Harris 
Email: annie_mouse2001@yahoo.co.uk 
Pairing: Legolas/Gimli 
Rating: R. 
Summary: Wedding preparations. 
Disclaimer: The usual: No claims, no pack drill - and of course no 
profit. Just living in the gaps and round the edges. 
Warning: None. 
Archive: Library of Moria; Axe & Bow. 
 
28 
Soon there was more than enough work for Gimli and everyone to do, 
clearing and sorting the fallen stone, and planning the work to be 
done. Then, two days later, after Gandalf and the King had been 
mysteriously absent for a while, all the Fellowship were summoned to 
the Fountain Court to see the newly planted sapling, the sign that 
had been awaited. 
They marvelled at the slender young tree, which seemed to grow as 
they watched. Legolas moved towards it as if drawn by a magnet, 
scarcely able to take his eyes off it long enough to request with a 
look permission from the King to lay his hand upon the stem and feel 
the life of the White Tree flowing strongly under the smooth pale 
bark. Gimli followed, drawn by the Elf as the Elf by the tree, gazing 
up at Legolas' face as he smiled with closed eyes, lost in the life 
of the tree. Then he awoke suddenly, took his comrade's hand, and 
guided it to the tree, so that they stood for a while with the Elf's 
hand wrapped over the Dwarf's on the tree stem, and they looked at 
each other with an understanding that neither could have put into 
words. 
That look was enough to turn even Aragorn's mind away for a moment 
from his own joyful expectation; and that was so great that its 
influence spread through the city like the summer breeze, filling 
everyone with greater hope and vigour. 
Afterwards Gimli hurried down to begin work with the men of the city 
at the ruins of the tower. 
'Better to greet those who will come with a great hole and work well 
set in hand than with a shower of falling stones!' he said, and no 
one could disagree with that, but even as he worked the Dwarf wished 
he could be with the musicians or in his workshop, for the finishing 
touches to his crowns, and to their caskets (works of art in 
themselves) were still wanting. 
At the same time, Legolas was constantly being sought out or sent for 
by Faramir or by court officials in search of information on the 
lodging and entertainment of the expected elvish guests. He was 
bombarded by questions both sensible and trivial concerning the 
actual and possible likes and dislikes of Elves on any subject 
imaginable, until he did not know if he was driven to distraction by 
'mannish nonsense' or more saddened to know that even here, where the 
old tongues were spoken and the old lore known, men had been so long 
sundered from the Eldar as to lose confidence in their knowledge and 
understanding. 
In the evenings, Elf and Dwarf would meet wearily in the quiet of 
their house, deeply grateful for the kindness and patient energy of 
Sam, who came and cooked for them and then disappeared promptly and 
discreetly. As soon as he was gone, Gimli would work for a while on 
the new pans while Legolas took refuge from the noise of the 
hammering by which the pans were raised out of flat metal. 
For five days and nights it seemed they scarcely rested, for Gimli 
still had to finish the crowns and their cases in his 'workshop' in 
the small inner room. Legolas would help him, working late into the 
night, polishing the fine woods and metal inlays, fitting the white 
wool padding and velvet linings that would protect the delicate work, 
or making refreshing tea for Gimli as he toiled over scribing out the 
channels for the inlays and cutting the brass and silver filigrees. 
Sometimes the Elf would gather a handful of herbs from the terrace 
and brew up an infusion to bathe Gimli's eyes; sometimes in the early 
hours he would make a few sandwiches to sustain the Dwarf through his 
works. (He had learned this art from Sam, and Gimli was almost 
certain that when he spoke the word he was saying 'sam-wedges', but 
was unable to decide whether this was because he thought it was the 
right name, believing that Sam had invented this form of food 
preparation, or whether it was an elvish joke, a humorous attempt to 
recognise Sam's skill.) And when work was over, always he would hold 
Gimli through their brief hours of sleep, helping him to sound rest 
and renewed strength for the next day. 
 
At last the long-awaited day came, and people lined the ways of the 
city to see the last great ones of the Elf-kingdoms in Middle-earth 
ride in. This was not a time of loud music and triumph, but one of 
quiet wonder, as the legends of the past came to greet the birth of a 
new Age. The Fellowship waited with the King to receive the visitors, 
and Gimli saw again the queen whose champion in Middle-earth he would 
be all his days. 
After the formal greetings, the party walked up through the city to 
the palace. Legolas and Gimli took their places escorting Celeborn 
and Galadriel, and the lady's eyes flashed approval of the handsome 
Dwarf, who had chosen to appear in his indigo velvet, now augmented 
by a deep hood with a silver tassel in the best dwarvish style. Gimli 
marched proudly at her side and answered her questions about the city 
and the gate, while she noted the changes in him since he left 
Lórien, and smiled inwardly with pleasure at what she saw. 
The evening was one of rest for the travellers, and the marriage on 
the next day was a more intimate and quiet ceremony than the 
coronation. The companions soon understood that this was not an 
occasion of pure joy for all concerned, but something very grand and 
serious, and strangely final. Feasts, celebrations and public 
rejoicing would not even begin until the day after the wedding. 
'Now the two lines of Lúthien are reunited; said Legolas, as he and 
Gimli returned home from the ceremony; - Elves and Men meet and part 
for the last time. In all the lands of Men, the new Age has begun, 
but for the firstborn it is, if not the end, then an ending, the 
ending of our time in Middle-earth. 
Gimli sat silent on the courtyard bench for a while and gazed at 
Legolas in his wedding garments: a long surcoat of pale grey-green 
with silver and green embroidery over a fine tunic and leather 
breeches of the same shade, and grey boots. He was wearing the silver 
leaf-circlet of Mirkwood, and seemed to shimmer from head to foot 
with a soft radiance that made him look more like the great Elf-lords 
than he had ever done before in Gimli's eyes. 
'Gimli, what is it?' asked the Elf, as his silence continued. 
Gimli blinked. He had grown so used to his 'everyday' Legolas that to 
see him now in his princely state was a shock. The Elf had tried hard 
to draw closer to the mortal world, but now as he spoke of parting he 
looked so noble and remote that the people of the lower city would 
surely have failed to recognise their helper, and the little boy the 
'pretty Elf' to whom he had given his brother's toy horse. Gimli felt 
that the Elf was passing beyond his reach. 
'You look so different today'; he said hesitantly; - 'Fair and 
strange, as if these last weeks have been a dream, and I must wake 
and find you gone back to your own.' 
A pain seemed to grow in his heart, like a fire slow to kindle but 
strong to burn: surely he must lose this glorious being who had 
deigned to love him for a while. But Legolas was moving forward, 
dropping on one knee before him, taking his hands. 
'Strange it may be, but no dream, Gimli. Go back to my own? You are 
my own now. And different? You too are different. Did you not see 
Galadriel's eyes upon you, admiring my lord of Dwarves? And the 
others too. Haldir was amazed. He wishes to apologise again for the 
blindfolding.' 
He raised Gimli's hands and kissed them, and went on: 
'The union of Elessar and Undomiel is not the only ending that begins 
this new Age. I have long known that I am the last of my line in 
Middle-earth, and yet, through you, I find at the end a new 
beginning, a joining of those who have long kept apart. Another piece 
of the old evil is undone, a sign of what may be in the new Age, 
though the paths of Elves and Dwarves may never cross in this way 
again.' 
Gimli sighed, ready to be persuaded, but at the same time a new and 
unwelcome idea was beginning to form in his mind. 
'You - the Elves - know that you must leave Middle-earth at some 
time, and you believe that that time is now very near. We - the 
Dwarves - come like you from the time before Men, but we have no lore 
to tell us what our end may be. Will Mahal who shaped us gather us 
all again, to await the end of all things in the halls of our 
fathers? 
It has seemed to me that a new age of prosperity would open before 
us, that we would live and work in new lands alongside the kingdoms 
of Men. Will this then not be? Must we follow the Eldar out of 
Middle-earth even as we followed them here?' 
'The Elves have no knowledge of that;' said Legolas. 
Gimli seemed to change his mood with a physical shake. 
'Then maybe it is not for us to know. This is profitless questioning, 
and not the way to lay my axe to the right tree. I shall change my 
finery and start on a certain piece of silverwork that you spoke of 
recently.' 
Rings! To be a sign of their bond. Legolas stood up smiling. 
'May I watch your work?' 
'May? Crazy Elf! Must! Can I do it without you?' 
Legolas laughed aloud, and went off to change as well. He returned 
swiftly, clad only in shirt and breeches, enjoying the smooth 
coolness of the marble paving under his bare feet. 
Gimli noticed at once that the fine white shirt was not of his usual 
elven style with its neat stand collar; instead he was trying the 
more voluminous mode of Gondor with a drawstring that produced a 
ruffled finish at the neck. Even the cuffs had ruffles, which looked, 
thought Gimli, very well for setting off graceful elvish hands, but 
were the sort of detail any archer would normally avoid. In the heat 
of the afternoon, Legolas had tied the drawstring only loosely, so 
that the shirt neck lay wide, revealing all his throat and most of 
his collarbones as well. The mallorn leaf pendant on its silver chain 
lay with the green enamel face outward, glowing richly against 
Legolas' pale skin. 
Gimli stood and stared at him, part startled by the speed with which 
he had gone and returned, part spellbound by the beauty of his 
appearance in this simple garb. Legolas smiled, about to make a 
jesting remark on his tardiness, but the Dwarf's expression stopped 
him and he changed his words.' 
'I move like a whirlwind, do I not? So eager to be rid of the finery! 
'Though both are fair, I like the wild Wood-Elf better than the 
prince;' said Gimli. 
'And so do I. No wonder, when I have spent most of my days in the 
forest, and few at court. Now, let us transform you to match. You are 
too grand for me now.' 
The change was not effected without many gentle touches and caresses, 
and Legolas insisted on taking off Gimli's boots for him, to stroke 
the small shapely feet and ankles that had so surprised him in the 
early days of the Quest. 
Once Gimli was dressed as simply as himself, Legolas smiled again and 
said; 
'You know too well that my folk think Dwarves shapeless and 
ungraceful creatures; but you also know that they are wrong. The 
trouble is your dwarvish garments. A little less bulk here and there 
would do you more justice. Those breeches ...' 
Gimli interrupted him: 
'You will NOT get me into breeches like THAT!' 
Legolas laughed aloud at his indignation, remembering his words about 
'provocation or outright challenge'. 
'No, no! Nothing so extreme! Besides, I would not want anyone to - 
know so much about you. I would be jealous!' 
Gimli felt himself blushing under the Elf's bright appraising glance, 
even as he laughed. Legolas relented. 
'Very well. I will not offend your dwarvish modesty further. Let us 
look at the silverwork.' 
In the small inner room, Gimli started by asking the Elf on which 
finger he would wear his ring. Legolas chose the third finger of his 
right hand. 
'So your love may speed my arrows and not hinder the string.' 
Gimli decided to do the same himself, and then when he came to take 
the measurements, found a surprise. Despite the very obvious 
differences between their hands, there was so little between their 
ring sizes that one would fit either. 
Legolas stretched out his right hand, palm forward, and Gimli raised 
his left to mirror it. Then it was clear that their two palms were 
alike in breadth, though Gimli's hand was thicker, and the elegant, 
even delicate, appearance of Legolas' hand was a matter of 
proportion, due to the length of palm and fingers. Neither would have 
believed this easily without the evidence of touch and sight. 
'Well!' said Gimli. 
'Not so different after all;' said Legolas. 
They smiled again, and Gimli carried on working for a while, but the 
evening seemed to be growing hotter rather that cooler, and more 
humid as well. Clouds rolled up from the south, and the light began 
to fail. 
They locked the gate and went to bed, lying side by side with the 
covers folded down and just a sheet over them, and with their hands 
loosely joined. 
 
Title: FOR CONTINUING STRANGE (28) 
Author: Annie Harris 
Email: annie_mouse2001@yahoo.co.uk 
Pairing: Legolas/Gimli 
Rating: R. 
Summary: Wedding preparations. 
Disclaimer: The usual: No claims, no pack drill - and of course no 
profit. Just living in the gaps and round the edges. 
Warning: None. 
Archive: Library of Moria; Axe & Bow. 
 
28 
Soon there was more than enough work for Gimli and everyone to do, 
clearing and sorting the fallen stone, and planning the work to be 
done. Then, two days later, after Gandalf and the King had been 
mysteriously absent for a while, all the Fellowship were summoned to 
the Fountain Court to see the newly planted sapling, the sign that 
had been awaited. 
They marvelled at the slender young tree, which seemed to grow as 
they watched. Legolas moved towards it as if drawn by a magnet, 
scarcely able to take his eyes off it long enough to request with a 
look permission from the King to lay his hand upon the stem and feel 
the life of the White Tree flowing strongly under the smooth pale 
bark. Gimli followed, drawn by the Elf as the Elf by the tree, gazing 
up at Legolas' face as he smiled with closed eyes, lost in the life 
of the tree. Then he awoke suddenly, took his comrade's hand, and 
guided it to the tree, so that they stood for a while with the Elf's 
hand wrapped over the Dwarf's on the tree stem, and they looked at 
each other with an understanding that neither could have put into 
words. 
That look was enough to turn even Aragorn's mind away for a moment 
from his own joyful expectation; and that was so great that its 
influence spread through the city like the summer breeze, filling 
everyone with greater hope and vigour. 
Afterwards Gimli hurried down to begin work with the men of the city 
at the ruins of the tower. 
'Better to greet those who will come with a great hole and work well 
set in hand than with a shower of falling stones!' he said, and no 
one could disagree with that, but even as he worked the Dwarf wished 
he could be with the musicians or in his workshop, for the finishing 
touches to his crowns, and to their caskets (works of art in 
themselves) were still wanting. 
At the same time, Legolas was constantly being sought out or sent for 
by Faramir or by court officials in search of information on the 
lodging and entertainment of the expected elvish guests. He was 
bombarded by questions both sensible and trivial concerning the 
actual and possible likes and dislikes of Elves on any subject 
imaginable, until he did not know if he was driven to distraction by 
'mannish nonsense' or more saddened to know that even here, where the 
old tongues were spoken and the old lore known, men had been so long 
sundered from the Eldar as to lose confidence in their knowledge and 
understanding. 
In the evenings, Elf and Dwarf would meet wearily in the quiet of 
their house, deeply grateful for the kindness and patient energy of 
Sam, who came and cooked for them and then disappeared promptly and 
discreetly. As soon as he was gone, Gimli would work for a while on 
the new pans while Legolas took refuge from the noise of the 
hammering by which the pans were raised out of flat metal. 
For five days and nights it seemed they scarcely rested, for Gimli 
still had to finish the crowns and their cases in his 'workshop' in 
the small inner room. Legolas would help him, working late into the 
night, polishing the fine woods and metal inlays, fitting the white 
wool padding and velvet linings that would protect the delicate work, 
or making refreshing tea for Gimli as he toiled over scribing out the 
channels for the inlays and cutting the brass and silver filigrees. 
Sometimes the Elf would gather a handful of herbs from the terrace 
and brew up an infusion to bathe Gimli's eyes; sometimes in the early 
hours he would make a few sandwiches to sustain the Dwarf through his 
works. (He had learned this art from Sam, and Gimli was almost 
certain that when he spoke the word he was saying 'sam-wedges', but 
was unable to decide whether this was because he thought it was the 
right name, believing that Sam had invented this form of food 
preparation, or whether it was an elvish joke, a humorous attempt to 
recognise Sam's skill.) And when work was over, always he would hold 
Gimli through their brief hours of sleep, helping him to sound rest 
and renewed strength for the next day. 
 
At last the long-awaited day came, and people lined the ways of the 
city to see the last great ones of the Elf-kingdoms in Middle-earth 
ride in. This was not a time of loud music and triumph, but one of 
quiet wonder, as the legends of the past came to greet the birth of a 
new Age. The Fellowship waited with the King to receive the visitors, 
and Gimli saw again the queen whose champion in Middle-earth he would 
be all his days. 
After the formal greetings, the party walked up through the city to 
the palace. Legolas and Gimli took their places escorting Celeborn 
and Galadriel, and the lady's eyes flashed approval of the handsome 
Dwarf, who had chosen to appear in his indigo velvet, now augmented 
by a deep hood with a silver tassel in the best dwarvish style. Gimli 
marched proudly at her side and answered her questions about the city 
and the gate, while she noted the changes in him since he left 
Lórien, and smiled inwardly with pleasure at what she saw. 
The evening was one of rest for the travellers, and the marriage on 
the next day was a more intimate and quiet ceremony than the 
coronation. The companions soon understood that this was not an 
occasion of pure joy for all concerned, but something very grand and 
serious, and strangely final. Feasts, celebrations and public 
rejoicing would not even begin until the day after the wedding. 
'Now the two lines of Lúthien are reunited; said Legolas, as he and 
Gimli returned home from the ceremony; - Elves and Men meet and part 
for the last time. In all the lands of Men, the new Age has begun, 
but for the firstborn it is, if not the end, then an ending, the 
ending of our time in Middle-earth. 
Gimli sat silent on the courtyard bench for a while and gazed at 
Legolas in his wedding garments: a long surcoat of pale grey-green 
with silver and green embroidery over a fine tunic and leather 
breeches of the same shade, and grey boots. He was wearing the silver 
leaf-circlet of Mirkwood, and seemed to shimmer from head to foot 
with a soft radiance that made him look more like the great Elf-lords 
than he had ever done before in Gimli's eyes. 
'Gimli, what is it?' asked the Elf, as his silence continued. 
Gimli blinked. He had grown so used to his 'everyday' Legolas that to 
see him now in his princely state was a shock. The Elf had tried hard 
to draw closer to the mortal world, but now as he spoke of parting he 
looked so noble and remote that the people of the lower city would 
surely have failed to recognise their helper, and the little boy the 
'pretty Elf' to whom he had given his brother's toy horse. Gimli felt 
that the Elf was passing beyond his reach. 
'You look so different today'; he said hesitantly; - 'Fair and 
strange, as if these last weeks have been a dream, and I must wake 
and find you gone back to your own.' 
A pain seemed to grow in his heart, like a fire slow to kindle but 
strong to burn: surely he must lose this glorious being who had 
deigned to love him for a while. But Legolas was moving forward, 
dropping on one knee before him, taking his hands. 
'Strange it may be, but no dream, Gimli. Go back to my own? You are 
my own now. And different? You too are different. Did you not see 
Galadriel's eyes upon you, admiring my lord of Dwarves? And the 
others too. Haldir was amazed. He wishes to apologise again for the 
blindfolding.' 
He raised Gimli's hands and kissed them, and went on: 
'The union of Elessar and Undomiel is not the only ending that begins 
this new Age. I have long known that I am the last of my line in 
Middle-earth, and yet, through you, I find at the end a new 
beginning, a joining of those who have long kept apart. Another piece 
of the old evil is undone, a sign of what may be in the new Age, 
though the paths of Elves and Dwarves may never cross in this way 
again.' 
Gimli sighed, ready to be persuaded, but at the same time a new and 
unwelcome idea was beginning to form in his mind. 
'You - the Elves - know that you must leave Middle-earth at some 
time, and you believe that that time is now very near. We - the 
Dwarves - come like you from the time before Men, but we have no lore 
to tell us what our end may be. Will Mahal who shaped us gather us 
all again, to await the end of all things in the halls of our 
fathers? 
It has seemed to me that a new age of prosperity would open before 
us, that we would live and work in new lands alongside the kingdoms 
of Men. Will this then not be? Must we follow the Eldar out of 
Middle-earth even as we followed them here?' 
'The Elves have no knowledge of that;' said Legolas. 
Gimli seemed to change his mood with a physical shake. 
'Then maybe it is not for us to know. This is profitless questioning, 
and not the way to lay my axe to the right tree. I shall change my 
finery and start on a certain piece of silverwork that you spoke of 
recently.' 
Rings! To be a sign of their bond. Legolas stood up smiling. 
'May I watch your work?' 
'May? Crazy Elf! Must! Can I do it without you?' 
Legolas laughed aloud, and went off to change as well. He returned 
swiftly, clad only in shirt and breeches, enjoying the smooth 
coolness of the marble paving under his bare feet. 
Gimli noticed at once that the fine white shirt was not of his usual 
elven style with its neat stand collar; instead he was trying the 
more voluminous mode of Gondor with a drawstring that produced a 
ruffled finish at the neck. Even the cuffs had ruffles, which looked, 
thought Gimli, very well for setting off graceful elvish hands, but 
were the sort of detail any archer would normally avoid. In the heat 
of the afternoon, Legolas had tied the drawstring only loosely, so 
that the shirt neck lay wide, revealing all his throat and most of 
his collarbones as well. The mallorn leaf pendant on its silver chain 
lay with the green enamel face outward, glowing richly against 
Legolas' pale skin. 
Gimli stood and stared at him, part startled by the speed with which 
he had gone and returned, part spellbound by the beauty of his 
appearance in this simple garb. Legolas smiled, about to make a 
jesting remark on his tardiness, but the Dwarf's expression stopped 
him and he changed his words.' 
'I move like a whirlwind, do I not? So eager to be rid of the finery! 
'Though both are fair, I like the wild Wood-Elf better than the 
prince;' said Gimli. 
'And so do I. No wonder, when I have spent most of my days in the 
forest, and few at court. Now, let us transform you to match. You are 
too grand for me now.' 
The change was not effected without many gentle touches and caresses, 
and Legolas insisted on taking off Gimli's boots for him, to stroke 
the small shapely feet and ankles that had so surprised him in the 
early days of the Quest. 
Once Gimli was dressed as simply as himself, Legolas smiled again and 
said; 
'You know too well that my folk think Dwarves shapeless and 
ungraceful creatures; but you also know that they are wrong. The 
trouble is your dwarvish garments. A little less bulk here and there 
would do you more justice. Those breeches ...' 
Gimli interrupted him: 
'You will NOT get me into breeches like THAT!' 
Legolas laughed aloud at his indignation, remembering his words about 
'provocation or outright challenge'. 
'No, no! Nothing so extreme! Besides, I would not want anyone to - 
know so much about you. I would be jealous!' 
Gimli felt himself blushing under the Elf's bright appraising glance, 
even as he laughed. Legolas relented. 
'Very well. I will not offend your dwarvish modesty further. Let us 
look at the silverwork.' 
In the small inner room, Gimli started by asking the Elf on which 
finger he would wear his ring. Legolas chose the third finger of his 
right hand. 
'So your love may speed my arrows and not hinder the string.' 
Gimli decided to do the same himself, and then when he came to take 
the measurements, found a surprise. Despite the very obvious 
differences between their hands, there was so little between their 
ring sizes that one would fit either. 
Legolas stretched out his right hand, palm forward, and Gimli raised 
his left to mirror it. Then it was clear that their two palms were 
alike in breadth, though Gimli's hand was thicker, and the elegant, 
even delicate, appearance of Legolas' hand was a matter of 
proportion, due to the length of palm and fingers. Neither would have 
believed this easily without the evidence of touch and sight. 
'Well!' said Gimli. 
'Not so different after all;' said Legolas. 
They smiled again, and Gimli carried on working for a while, but the 
evening seemed to be growing hotter rather that cooler, and more 
humid as well. Clouds rolled up from the south, and the light began 
to fail. 
They locked the gate and went to bed, lying side by side with the 
covers folded down and just a sheet over them, and with their hands 
loosely joined. 
 
Title: FOR CONTINUING STRANGE (29) 
Author: Annie Harris 
Email: annie_mouse2001@yahoo.co.uk 
Pairing: Legolas/Gimli 
Rating: R. 
Summary: Gimli meets Galdriel again. 
Disclaimer: The usual: No claims, no pack drill - and of course no 
profit. Just living in the gaps and round the edges. 
Warning: None. 
Archive: Library of Moria; Axe & Bow. 
 
29 
The King and Queen allowed themselves but three days of seclusion 
follwing their marriage: no wedding journey into Ithilien for them, 
as had been the custom in times long past. Such pleasures would have 
to wait. 
Meanwhile the city prepared fot the official celebrations, and Gimli 
divided his days between work at city gate and practice with the 
court musicians, and in the evenings worked on the rings or on Sam's 
pans when his eyes grew tired of close work. 
Legolas spent much time with the elves of Lorien and Imladris, who 
wished to hear all he could tell them of the Quest, and Gandalf and 
the Hobbits were likewise in demand. 
Faramir, together with Prince Imrahil, acted as host during this 
time, and was in his own way as delighted as Sam to be in the company 
of so many of the highest Elves in Middle-earth. The principal 
absentee was Thranduil, who had sent with the company of Lórien a 
message declaring Legolas his representative. 
In the early evening of the third day, Gimli went down to the gate to 
see what progress had been made in clearing fallen masonry from the 
area which would have to be excavated before the culvert for the 
underground river could be rebuilt. He saw that the work was being 
done carefully, if no faster than necessary, and felt satisfied. But 
there was much to be done before new gates could be considered. 
Probably it would be necessary to build forges and furnaces outside 
the city. He had seen nothing within the walls that would be equal to 
the task, nor was there space to build. 
He saw long years of work ahead, hard as any battle, but longer, much 
longer ... and Legolas would be in the city, or not ten leagues off, 
in Ithilien. 
He looked around once more at the heaps of stone, now partly sorted 
by quality and size. Much would be fit to use again, but more would 
be needed. And where exactly had the stone come from in the first 
place? And what was it that had been said about the Woses showing the 
men of Rohan a forgotten way called the Stone-wain Valley? Would that 
lead to the source of new stone to match the old? It was something to 
consider, to find out when Éomer came to take the body of Théoden 
home. 
He looked round again, and halted at the sight of a tall grey-clad 
figure stepping towards him among the stones. His first thought was 
of Legolas, but almost at once he saw that the masculine garments 
clothed the form of the lady Galadriel. He was dimly aware of some 
other Elves a little way behind her, but had eyes only for the 
shining presence of her who was to him the fairest of all. 
She wore a tunic and surcoat of softly blended greys, reaching a 
little below the knee, with boots and leggings of the same colours. 
Gimli had not yet learned that in her youth in the distant West she 
had been called Nerwen, 'Man-maiden', but knew at this moment that 
she looked as much a warrior as a queen, and bowed low in greeting, 
thrilled and a little alarmed by her sudden appearance. Unconsciously 
he laid his hand over the place where her gift was hidden inside his 
tunic. 
'Greetings, Gimli Elf-friend;' she said with a smile; - 'It seems I 
have heard truly, that you do not spend your time in idleness.' 
'No indeed, Lady, it is not our way. And I find that the skill and 
knowledge needed here are stronger in my people than in this city.' 
'Then it is well that you were chosen, and are here at the end - or 
the beginning.' 
She ended on a quizzical note, with a smile and a little lift of her 
golden brows. 
'It is the beginning;' Gimli replied, meeting her eyes. 
'I am glad to hear it. Now, tell me what happened here, and how you 
would hope to mend things.' 
Gimli launched readily into an account of all he knew concerning 
Grond and the destruction of the gate, and soon was regaling the lady 
Galadriel with an expansive lecture on the fall of the tower and the 
problem of the underground river. 
'So all was not well built in the first place?' she asked. 
'Well enough;' answered the Dwarf; - 'Yet I would say the work smacks 
of overconfidence.' 
'Ah! Numenor!' she responded cryptically. 
She seemed very interested in the underground river, and Gimli soon 
knew from her questions thatshe had a quick understanding of all he 
had told her. The Noldo love of craft and making were roused in her 
by the Dwarf's enthusiasm for his work, and she seemed so young and 
eager that though he kept telling himself that she REMEMBERED the 
wonders of the first works of the Elves in Middle-earth, he could not 
truly believe it. 
She even lay down with her ear against a rock, the better to hear the 
river below, like the blood of the earth flowing. She had kept, or 
renewed, her delight in the life of Middle-earth, and listened 
attentively as Gimli spoke lovingly of the great works already 
devised in his mind to support a new tower above the hidden stream 
and of the new gates of mithril and steel that would defend the entry 
to the city. 
At last, as they walked about the site, with Galadriel's escort 
waiting a little way off, they saw Legolas coming out of the city in 
search of his friend. 
'Here is one who has missed you;' said the Lady, smiling again; - 
'And the King tells me that this fortunate Elf owes his life to your 
love.' 
'No more than I owe mine to his, for his deeds in Moria, my lady.' 
'Then you are well matched;' she said softly, before Legolas came 
within hearing, and then turned to greet him warmly. 
Once again they walked by her side through the city, and Legolas 
quickly saw from Gimli's confident manner that they would have little 
to fear from her. As they reached the second level, she invited them 
to share an evening meal with herself and Celeborn. 
'It will be our last quiet evening for some time, I think;' she 
added; - 'A very informal affair. Come up as soon as you are ready.' 
 
Returning afterwards, they spoke scarcely a word as they descended 
the steep ways of the city in the very last light of the summer 
evening. Stars were shining in a sky lightly dappled with small 
clouds that still caught the faint glow of sunset at the crown of the 
year. 
Cressets flared by doorways and courtyard arches. Many people were 
abroad tonight, in the general mood of celebration. Passers-by 
greeted each other cheerfully; voices, music and laughter floated 
through open doors and windows, and over garden walls. But Legolas 
and Gimli threaded their way quietly through the lively city, too 
full of mingled thoughts and feelings for much speech yet. 
Gimli's mood wavered between dazed euphoria and sadness. He had seen 
the lord Celeborn greet Legolas as a kinsman, with a formal yet warm 
embrace, and had then been greatly shocked to receive the same 
welcome himself, most adroitly managed, he realised later; for 
Celeborn had turned to him as he waited, a little way behind Legolas, 
on the step leading down to the little courtyard where Celeborn had 
been sitting. The the Elf lord had been able to embrace him without 
awkward stooping from his stately height, and Gimli had begun to 
understand his acceptance as an 'Elf-friend'. 
He could have laughed aloud for joy, and yet had often sensed a 
melancholy mood in the Elves, who had given the Evenstar of their 
people to bring light to the new Age of Men. Celeborn and Galadriel 
would see their daughter again, but Arwen had chosen a sundering way. 
During the evening, the Dwarf had seemed to find himself constantly 
the centre of attention, whether the talk turned to the city, the 
coming festivities, or the blackthorn circlet that Legolas wore. 
When Celeborn had sent for lamps partway through the meal, the 
crystal 'raindrops' on the blossoms sparkled and caught Galadriel's 
eye. 
'Does the blackthorn bloom so late in Gondor?' she had asked, and 
Legolas had replied: 
'These blossoms will not fade, for they flowered at the hands of a 
master of craft.' 
Then she had to hear the full tale, though she had learned the bones 
of it from Aragorn, of what had befallen in the lower city, and how 
Legolas had feared that the morgul-stuff would keep him from seeing 
even the last of the blackthorn in bloom. Then she wished to see the 
sprays of blossom, and was surprised by the band that held them, and 
would know how it was contrived. 
So Legolas asked Gimli to remove it, and show it to the lady and her 
lord, and those two understood much from the Dwarf's skilled and 
gentle handling and the Elf's quiet confidence. 
Galadriel had taken the open circlet in her hands and turned it 
about, praising the skill and invention, and asking how the petals 
and dewdrops had been formed and placed. Gimli had explained, knowing 
that she would understand all the craftsman's terms he used, and had 
sensed with surprise how her thought turned away from asking if he 
had made any other such work. Then he knew how greatly she admired 
it, and that she would gladly have a like thing for herself; so he 
too kept his thought from the forget-me-nots now finished and ready, 
and they seemed to conspire silently together to create a welcome 
surprise. 
As their later talk ranged to and fro over the events of the evening, 
Gimli returned again to one thing: 
'The lord Celeborn received me as a friend!' 
'And so you are! A true friend of the Elves. And I hope others of 
your kin may be so too.' 
Gimli wondered how much chance there might be of this, if the Elves 
were soon to leave, but said nothing, thinking that 'soon' for an Elf 
might be late enough for other folk. 
'So;' said Legolas, as they lay at last curled comfortably together 
in their now familiar bed; - 'You have seen your lady again, when 
once you feared you would not, and were full of lamentation.' 
'Aye; for I only knew we were sailing into darkness on that river, 
and neither we nor even my lady herself had any surety of light to 
follow - but we had hope, and hope was enough.' 
'And hope we have still;' Legolas said softly against Gimli's hair; - 
'Having been so well received by the great ones.' 
'So I believe, dear Elf; yet it troubled me to hear the lady make so 
much of what you are learning through being with me - learning to be 
fitted for what you must do in the world of Men. Surely I have more 
to learn of you.' 
Legolas had noticed his discomfort and how he had tried to turn the 
conversation, even saying at one point rather drily: 
'And I have learned to look on blackthorn with an eye to more than 
cutting cudgels and walking sticks for trade.' 
And again later he had made a more expansive attempt to redress, as 
he saw it, the balance between them: 
'It is a wider and fairer world I live in now, with Legolas to guide 
me.' 
But still he sensed that both lord and lady saw things somewhat 
otherwise, and now, lying beside Legolas again, he remembered 
Legolas' words on the the first night they shared a bed, and knew 
what the great ones meant: that the Elves had kept apart from the 
other peoples of Middle-earth so long that they could scarcely come 
together even to say farewell. It was all part of the fading, the 
dark thread woven into the fabric of Arda from the earliest days, 
that entangled all dwellers in the realm. 
But even at this time of ending, he thought, something new could be 
found, the gleam of one precious stone at the end of a worked-out 
seam, the clue to a new vein of the unexpected. And so Celeborn had 
cast away the ancient grief and grudges that had stung so bitterly at 
their first meeting; so he himself and Legolas had crossed a divide 
never bridged before. 
Gimli felt his head spin with the strangeness of it: Galadriel 
attending to his exposition of the problems at the gate; Celeborn 
welcoming him as a friend; Legolas commended for learning from him. 
All he could say was: 
'Either I am dreaming, or this is a new world.' 
'It is a world renewed;' said Legolas; - 'Shedding its skin like a 
snake.' 
'Ah! But a snake remains a snake nonetheless. How much has 
Middle-earth shed with its old skin, I wonder?' 
It was a train of thought he could not follow to any useful 
conclusion. He was simply glad that the new bond of Elf and Dwarf had 
gained the acceptance he most desired.  That one gate had opened 
quite easily. He was content to lie close to Legolas and sleep.