The Green Dragon Inn #11 - The Last Chapter

[Elora]

It was not long at until their feet found familiar paths and Uien and Falowik were walking calmly towards the stables that had once been her home. She cast a glance up at the hay doors, high over the stable's main wide doors and smiled faintly. It was from there that she had watched over Falowik's sleep, pondering the strange restlessness that seemed to accompany her thoughts of him then. At least, it had seemed to be restlessness. Uien knew better now.

Twilight would be upon them soon. Indeed, they walked into it. That time, suspended twixt day and night, was as magical now for Uien as ever it had been. Moreso now that she shared it with another. Her hand stole lightly around Falowik's arm and she pulled closer as they walked. There was a silence between them that was neither heavy nor awkward. After the bustle of the inn, it was a pleasant change. Neither of the pair had spent a great deal of time in so much company and Uien had nearly been overwhelmed by the waxing demand for beer, ale, wine and so on. Had it not been for Aman, she would have been lost in a maze of empty tankards.

Falowik had scooped her free just in the nick of time. The passed the well and made for the day pastures that Uien had brought the stable's horses to each morning and fetched them back from each evening. A breeze drifted softly over them, through her hair. The last rays of the day were caught in Falowik's hair. She watched them glimmer gold and bright nearby, his head gilded by the glorious sun.

"Do you remember the stream and lake, Fair One, Falowik asked after a time. She turned her face up to his, memory bright in her gaze. "I do, but that is not to say that I would not welcome the sight of them again with you." She smiled into his eyes and ran her fingers gently through his hair, chasing sunlight. Not long now and the stars would cast aside their veils. Uien fell silent, filled with wondering and a sudden trepidation that flittered like a moth on the edge of her otherwise undimmed spirit. How could she not feel as though she shone herself, filled with thought of her Laurëatan?

When the Twilight came and the green earth for a moment stilled before venturing into night, so too would come to Falowik what she had known for some time now. She would tell him. All she could do was hope the telling would not be the undoing of what they had both endured so much for. Surely it would not, she mused, as she drifted in his cornflower gaze. But, even if it did, her heart was given and she could not take it back. In the giving lay the truth of her future - a mortal life. Uien took a deep breath and attempted to prepare within herself the words that Twilight would wait for. How did one say that one had chosen death and love over eternal life and frozen loneliness? Falowik likely guessed at what stole through her and pulled Uien a little closer in reassurance. Her uncertainty lost it's power as he did so, and her thoughts were unbound. Yes, she would tell him the truth beneath the mantle of Twilight. It seemed right to Uien that it be so, the man she loved told of her choice in the very time that the world seemed as wondrous as what turned within her heart and mind and sent her spirit soaring so.

"Heavy thoughts," Falowik said softly. The breeze caught in Uien's hair and skirts, pushing both to one side but not pushing aside her smile. "But glad ones, my love," she said with some mysteriousness, "Glad ones."