Originally this was the end of Chapter 14, but I decided that this bit just had to be isolated. 

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Epilogue:  Flown

For all the time spent in preparation, when the moment came, it could not have been easier.

Like a diver at the edge of the cliff, she closed her eyes and took the step that led her beyond the world she could see.  She flew, free from the constraints of place and time, as light as a feather on the wind.  For a moment it was dark: then the golden glow of a summer morning gleamed on her eyelids and warmed her flesh and the scent of mellyrn made her giddy.

She felt at ease, held in a gentle cocoon so soft that she could not feel its embrace, but that reminded her of sleeping in her naneth’s arms in the Hall of Fire while elven voices sang of the creation of the stars.  She was deeply serene, at peace, able at last to shed the shadow of years and loss and duty.  All that was asked of her was that she should simply be.

It was the touch of a well-remembered hand and the feel of a bearded face against her smooth skin that roused her.  ‘Welcome,’ he said.

She smiled. ‘I hope I have not kept you waiting,’ she said, as she looked into a face that was young and joyful and free of the marks of a lifetime of responsibility.

He laughed, a laugh of pure delight such as she had not heard since their early days together.  ‘Here there is no time,’ he told her.  ‘No time!’

What did he mean, she puzzled?  Why should the absence of time beyond the circles of the world mean anything to them?  She reached up to run her fingers through his dark hair and reassure herself that he was one and whole.

‘He is well, my daughter,’ Elrond’s familiar voice assured her.

She span, more frightened than comforted.

‘Truly, Naneth.’  Eldarion’s face, so like Aragorn’s and yet so different, grinned mischievously.  ‘As are you.’

‘What are you doing here?’ she blurted out, more awkward than she had ever been.

‘Greeting you, Naneth.’

‘Do not worry, my Undómiel,’ Elrond said calmly.  ‘You, too, will be here to greet us.  There is, as Estel said so pertinently, no time here.   The long ages of Arda are as nothing.’

‘Adar!’  Arwen pulled herself free of Aragorn’s grasp and flung herself in her adar’s arms.  ‘I have missed you!’

‘But not me?’ Eldarion protested.  ‘I am hurt!’

‘You I left in perfect health in the White City,’ she said sternly.  ‘And I did not expect to see you here so soon.’ 

‘But what is soon in a place where there is no time?’ Aragorn approached her again, drawing her back into his arms with a remarkable lack of self-consciousness.

Arwen frowned.  ‘I do not think I can deal with this,’ she protested.

‘No,’ her husband agreed.  ‘It works better, I find, if you ignore what your mind tells you is logical and just accept the presence of those with whom you wish to be.’

‘Naneth,’ she whispered, as if almost frightened to voice the hope.

Her adar’s smile was radiant.  ‘Naneth,’ he agreed.  ‘And your brothers and their families, your children and grandchildren, your grandparents, my brother – everyone you have ever longed to see – all are here.  Together at last, in safety here beyond the end of days.’

Arwen drew a deep breath and the joy within her blazed into brilliance.  Not what she had feared, not what she had expected, not what she had hoped – what she had found here was already more, so much more than she would have thought possible.  She doubted that any of them had believed her choice would lead to this final reunion beyond Arda’s confines – but it had, and she knew now, incontrovertibly, that it had been right.

Aragorn dropped a gentle kiss on her hair, knowing only too well how overwhelming these first moments could be.  ‘Come, my love,’ he said gently.  ‘Let me take you home.’