(They won.

It took centuries and left the continent in ruins, but they won, and it was over, and they began to rebuild. After an Age trees grew where Angband once stood. After three more Ages glaciers swallowed it, and then receded, and a ski resort was built. 

Eventually they figure out how to make sure mortals don't die. 

Eventually he is king of the world. He is good at it. There are too many people to know their names but then computers are developed and he has the next best thing.)

Idaia kicks herself. It's real, it's all real, how could she not have figured it out, these are her memories, this is her self, and she almost lost it to--what? The social pressure not to think of yourself as more special than you are? Fuck that.

...

Oh, hell, Tyelcormo. At least he didn't die of grief--or if he did he got out of Mandos like Finwe apparently did, that's good--

She has to find him, has to let her family know she and Imliss are alive--

They won too late, Idaia's dead, Idaia's dead, and the glaciers walk very slowly back and forth across the land and he and Huan climb every mountain on a newly rounded world, walks every path, does disaster relief, is unreachable even to his family (Maitimo probably has slipped a tracker into his wedding ring or something, but has the decency to pretend he hasn't.)

They won. They build a glorious new world. Idaia's dead. 

Idaia has a minor breakdown over how much time he must have spent grieving her--the call him the Grieving Prince, she did that to him--and the starts planning.

She'll go to the capital, that part's easy. The king takes audiences--of course he does, he's Maitimo, he loves people--but it's not easy to get one, not competing with all the other people in the world who might want one.

She will dump an iceburg on the palace if that's what it takes to get the attention she needs but she doesn't think it'll come to that.

The filtering process for the audiences is that you can buy them (money can be used to do other things! he also accepts bribes, though he's never altered his behavior because bribed. He's never pretended he's selling influence.) or you can escalate a concern to your local and then to your state governor, both of whom throw out claims to be the dead wife of the Grieving Prince.

Yeah, she didn't really expect that to work. She expects to look like a crazy idiot, and then eventually for something to work and everyone who laughed at her to have to eat their words.

She goes to the capital. Getting attention somehow once she's there should be doable.

It's a stunning city, very Elven, though the majority of the population here as anywhere else is human. No cars within city limits; Elves think they're too loud. Great trees lining the quiet streets, stunningly healthy and achingly old. Pretty buildings. Fountains. The palace. 

She knows Maitimo. Imliss knows him better. She's not sure if getting someone's attention by osanwe from a distance works if they have it but you don't but it would be really, really dumb not to try.

Maitimo? It's me, Idaia. I have no idea how the fuck I'm not dead but this is in fact the case, I need to find Tyelcormo faster than humanly possible.

...where are you? 

If this is some kind of prank we will take it very seriously.

She sends him her location. Also memories of the house in Formenos, meeting him for the first time and being ecstatic to discover chocolate, and lighting the fields after the Darkening.

And approximately a minute later a dozen uniformed officers find her and escort her palacewards.

She has nothing to fear. She is who she says she is.

And a minute later the King is blinking at her. "...how?"

"I got--reincarnated. Me and Imliss both. I got my old life back as dreams but I didn't take them seriously until I accidentally did magic and then everything clicked..."

"Is this the first time, got your old life back - all of it? - do you know if anyone else -"

"Don't know if anyone else, yes all of it, no other lives that I know of."

"I'm getting him. Sit down. Do you need anything -"

"I need him to stop being in pain because I was dead for a long time and he thinks I still am. I can hardly think about anything else right now.

Uh. I should probably like eat something and drink something and get some sleep. Especially if it's going to be a while before he gets here."

"I'll have those things brought in. Where's Imliss?"

She names their hometown. "We figured that since I was haring off to look like a crazy person she'd be better able to get me out of trouble if she stayed home and kept looking sane."

"Fair enough. He makes himself deliberately difficult to find, it might be a couple days..."

"I understand why he would do that."

"Not your fault."

"It was supposed to be impassable for Elves. Did I drop my brain thinking I could rely on getting across like that without dying."

"We all made a lot of mistakes."

"And mine resulted in carving my husband's heart out with a rusty spoon for I don't even know how the fuck long."

"Wasn't just you. Or even primarily you."

"I just want us to be okay again."

"Yes, I can imagine. I'm getting him."

"Good."

And she will eat and drink and sleep and worry.

And eventually - Idaia?

Darling? I'm--where are you--I'm at the palace--

Yeah, they said. I'm coming. How -

She sends him literally everything she knows about it. How far out are you?

Three hundred miles. We're flying, should be - forty minutes?

Okay.

I don't know why I'm alive. But--if there's an afterlife--I would absolutely have clawed my way out of it to come back to you.

I know. I know.

I love you. I'm sorry I didn't realize the dreams were real sooner.

We've got time - would have been weird when you were five anyway -

True.

I love you very much.

I love you too. 

I loved you even when I thought you weren't real.

I can't even think where to start to make it up to you-

...What?

You grieved me for I don't even know how many thousands of years; I had a bit of an unpleasant time and then woke up and had a good childhood--I've been happy--why are you the one who needs to make anything up to me?

We left you to die!

I was supposed to be on the boats. You were unconscious. I'm fine.

I'm glad you're fine.

I wish you were fine.

Then just be real.

I am. I'm real. I'm sorry it took me so long to claw my way out of the afterlife or whatever but I'm real and here and in a little while you can hold me again.

Not your fault. Not your fault at all. Oh, Idaia Idaia Idaia -

I'm here. I'm here. I love you so much.

And a car takes her to the airport and the officers escort her to wait on the tarmac and the plane lands and then he's racing over to pick her up.

She clings to him as tightly as physically possible.

He doesn't, he'd break her. But he clings.

Oh, dearheart, I love you, I love you so much.

Idaia Idaia -

I'm right here, sweetie, I'm here and alive and oh I missed you even when I thought you weren't really real to miss I'm so glad we have each other back--

It's been thirty thousand years.

Oh.

Oh, dearheart.

Hugs hugs never letting go.

That sounds about right, yep. Such hugs.

If he gets to decide they will not move for hours.

He had to endure thirty thousand years without her. He totally gets to decide.

Then in hours he will pick her up and consent to a car carrying them back to the palace.

People are probably going to stare. She is not wholly comfortable with this so she will just bury her face in him and not look out any windows.

He is not even going to notice this is a thing.

Fair enough. She can worry about it later. For now she can just focus on him.

"Tell me all about - this life -"

She tells him about their new parents and hometown and a series of endearing childhood anecdotes and her disappointing foray into RPF and everything she can think of.

"You poor - I should have published enough of the truth you could verify your dreams - I'm so sorry - is any of the war even public knowledge anymore?"

"Not really, no."

"Did someone tell you everything?"

"I don't know anything that happened--after."

"We won."

"...Okay, well, I guessed that part."

"Hey, you never know, maybe we lost and this is the afterlife."

She giggles and attempts to snuggle closer but is thwarted by the extant thoroughness of the hug. "Well, I did say guessed, not knew."

"Humans awakened, turned out to be pretty great. We got more extradimensional help. I think I might be a magnet for it or something. The locals were mostly still alive and kind of jerks but Lúthien's cool - her you must have heard about in school -"

"Well, not all the way that far back, but yeah."

"She and Huan get along, I used to - sort of visit. Sometimes. Go within osanwë range and let Huan run off."

"I can't possibly think ill of someone Huan likes."

"My father said he'd try resurrection after it ended. He did try. He tried really hard."

"I believe you. I wish it had worked."

I love you so much. My fault or not I hate that you got hurt like this.

Yeah. It's okay. We have the rest of forever.

You suffering is not okay. But yeah.

Oh, god, Idaia, I missed you.

I know you did. You know people call you 'The Grieving Prince,' right? she asks wryly.

No, I didn't, that'd require paying attention to people.

They do! I am kind of not looking forward to the media fallout when it becomes reasonably public knowledge that your wife is back from the dead and me.

We could just go to a pretty island somewhere for a hundred years and ignore them all.

This is actually really tempting except for parts like "I don't want to go a hundred years without frequent contact with my sister and she wouldn't want to come live on a tropical island with us" and "the war is long since over and the internal family drama seems to have resolved in one way or another and what if we want to have kids in less than a hundred years, they should be able to socialize with people their own age."

Well. We can just not give a fuck about them.

Okay.

I love you so much.

Never should have let it happen. Never going to let anything hurt you again.

...To what extent, because I'm pretty sure childbirth still hurts...

...I'm not ready to think about that yet. By the time I am we'll have a lot more tech, probably. The world's growing fast.

Yeah, it is.

Love you.

Love you. Want that with you, thought about it sometimes. Just. Not yet, I only just have you back -

Yeah, definitely.

You're alright? You're happy?

In general? Absolutely. Right now? With the exception of the fact that you had to mourn me thirty thousand years.

Over now.

Yeah. I'm here. I'm right here and I love you so much--

Never ever going to let you go.

'Kay. Another noble but futile attempt to increase level of snuggle.

After a while he starts singing.

She listens for a little while, picks up the key and starts humming softly.

Snuggles and singing and kisses.

Mmmkisses she was not going to go for kisses independently because it is actually kind of hard to not just wind her fingers in his hair right now but since they are happening she will definitely enjoy them.

Light, careful, exploratory kisses, like he is trying to remember what it felt like.

Oh.

Well.

She remembers everything, and since they are married this means she does in fact contain information on what this felt like from his end, would he like her to share that?

Yes.

Their wedding night--that one time she had to conjure a shrubbery on the way back from Tirion--everything she can think of.

How old are you right now-

Seventeen, physically.

What's the law -

Twenty.

More chaste, careful, exploratory kisses. Years are shorter now. A lot shorter.

Not short enough!

I missed you so much. Idaia Idaia -

Oh, darling.

It is completely unfair to expect me to be in constant, largely full-body physical contact with you for the next three years and chaste.

I see your point.

Also, psychologically I'm not seventeen, psychologically I'm a Kilaiuossan fifty-three--admittedly only early twenties by this system but still--plus the Years spent in Valinor, plus seventeen years here. The reasons for age of consent laws do not apply to me here.

I generally don't give a fuck what everyone says but 'the grieving prince doesn't let his child bride leave his sight' would be a bit much.

One, I imagine I'm not leaving your sight regardless of whether or not we have any sex, two, can't we just make Maitimo declare me legally my actual age or something.

We could do that.

And then we don't have to bet that I won't run out of willpower some time in the next three years under highly tempting circumstances.

What would that look like?

At a guess burying my hands in your hair and kissing you as deeply as possible and remembering things like our wedding night at you.

Okay, that'd probably work.

I mean, if you actually don't want to have sex with me for the next three years, I can learn to deal, but if it's just that you feel like we shouldn't...

Kind of not - there - yet - but I bet I"ll want to.

Okay. It's probably a good idea to have Maitimo declare me legally old enough first, anyway.

Yes. Let's have that happen. And legally married, that's important.

We can just get Maitimo to declare that one so too, right? Obligatorily ostentatious royal wedding does not appeal more when we're royals over more people.

Yeah, definitely.

Oh, good.

I love you so much. I'm so glad I decided to challenge you to arm-wrestling.

I'm so glad you came back.

Me too.

Thought that was just - it.

I'm so sorry.

Not your fault.

It's still not okay that that happened to you.

You dying was not okay but it wasn't a thing that happened to me.

You having to deal with it for thirty thousand years was.

Over now.

Yeah. I'm right here. I love you so very very much.

And they get to the palace and he carries her inside and tells Nelyo from a distance that he should declare her of age and them married and has a suite been set up for them? (Yes. It has.)

Also, Idaia would like to know what other people know about the situation.

That I sent for Tyelcormo urgently.

Do you have any plans for how/when that changes?

Rather up to the two of you.

I don't want to be a secret and I don't want to be a sensationalist news story either and I am rather concerned about the possibility of having to pick one of those.

It will be a challenge for a dead person reincarnating not to be a sensationalist news story even without you being the Grieving Prince's lost wife.

Yeah. Ugh.

Do I have to interact in any way with being a sensationalist news story?

I shouldn't think so.

Let's get Imliss first, and maybe our new parents--they shouldn't have to deal with it either--but yeah, that sounds like the lesser evil.

I'll send someone for them.

Thanks. You okay?

I am very glad you're okay.

I have no earthly clue how it happened but I'm not complaining!

Once Imliss and your parents are here I will ask them about how to break the story, okay?

Yeah, okay.

You overwhelmed? I can manufacture a distraction for Tyelcormo if you need a break at some point.

I'm a little overwhelmed by the whole 'thirty thousand years' thing, but the best thing for that is to help him heal as much as possible; I'm a little overwhelmed by the whole 'sensational news story' thing but distracting Tyelcormo isn't really productive towards making me not need to deal with that.

Okay. Let us know if you need anything.

I will. Let me know when my legal situation's been fixed?

I will.

Thanks.

I'm glad you're real. I mean--I knew the King was real, I knew the royal family was real, but I didn't know the people in my dreams were real, even though they were supposed to be those people.

I can imagine. I wish we'd known to be looking.

How?

We might have to figure out how this happened to guess whether we could have anticipated it.

So far the closest thing I have to a hypothesis is 'managed to claw our way out of the afterlife if there is one somehow or something'.

Shame you don't remember it. That'd be quite a story.

No kidding. I wish I could be--more helpful, to people whose dead loved ones haven't had miracles happen...

We will be trying very hard to figure it out. 

Good.

I'm convening people to explain that we're declaring you legally Idaia.

Okay. Thanks for the update.

Is there a way of announcing this that will be upsetting to your current parents, such that we should be really sensitive to that?

If they find out when literally everyone else does instead of being contacted beforehand this will upset them.

I'm sending people for them. I mean that we're declaring you to be legally someone else.

...If declaring me to be myself necessitates declaring me not related to them they won't be best pleased but they'll understand.

Shouldn't inherently necessitate it. How quickly do you want me to get you declared yourself, because I can do it more exactingly and consult with them first if I have a few days.

Waiting a few days is fine.

In that case we'll do that.

Okay.

She updates Tyelcormo on the situation.

Blah blah blah politics blah blah blah official declarations?

Blah blah few days blah my parents blah.

As long as you stay right here in my arms.

Yeah.

...You know this has not actually made me less sad that I can't introduce you to my original parents, but...

I'd be happy to be introduced to this set!

They're great. Not the same way the originals were, but.

Wish you could have gotten them back too.

Would've been nice.

No one's going to think grieving is the most salient possible adjective to describe me with if I never get them back.

Good.

She kisses him. She can't quite manage light-exploratory-chaste but she stops short of "openly seductive."

And he will sit down and hold her tightly and sing.

And she closes her eyes and puts her head on his shoulder and hums along.

And meanwhile some people arrive at their family home.

"Just a moment!" someone calls from inside when the door is knocked on. "...Ah. Hello," the woman says when she opens the door and sees who's on the other side.

"Hi! No one's in trouble, but we want to talk with you - it's about your daughters - is this a good time?"

"Now is fine."

"Is anyone else home?"

"My husband's at work and Imliss went to the library half an hour ago. I'm guessing you know better than I do where Idaia is right now."

"Oh, good, if she told you what was going on this'll go faster. She and Imliss are reincarnations of people we knew from the First Age of the world; she was able to prove it."

"Yes. She's been telling her father and I about the dreams her whole life--the general strokes, if not the details--and I was there when she accidentally did magic and realized it was all true."

"So we're convening to discuss announcing her legally to be a reincarnation of Idaia Zavari Lessnari and anticipating a rather sensationalist news story which we wanted to get out ahead of when it comes to your family. She's going to be living in the palace awhile, are you going to want to be there when this all breaks? Is there a good way to keep in touch?"

"How much detail are you releasing on who she is when she's not going by 'Zavari Lessnerai'?"

"That seems like something you and your husband and Imliss might want to weigh in on."

"Rather, yes. I'm sure Imliss would rather be closer to her sister whatever else ends up happening."

"What's she doing, how easily can it follow her to the capital?"

"She's learning things. I'm sure she's not going to be less able to do that in your vicinity."

"And the two of you?"

"I'm a librarian. My husband is a pharmacist. You'd know better than I would how--relocatable--those things are.

...I'm sure you can imagine I have intensely complicated feelings about this situation."

"Just a little. Can we be reassuring there?"

"I don't know. I--

I love them both so, so much. I am intensely glad they are my daughters. But they wouldn't have been if they hadn't died horribly. When Idaia did magic by accident she filled the room we were in with ice. I hate that that happened to them but the idea of--giving that up--choosing for that not to have happened--I would. But it would hurt more than anything has ever hurt."

He nods.

"I should come," she murmurs. "You don't--know the habits they've developed in this life--I think Imliss has issues she didn't before--if you can't find me meaningful librarian work in the capital I'll come anyway, I can always return to it later, because of your family--their family--I have all the time in the world..."

"I am pretty sure finding librarian work won't be a problem. Do you require assistance with moving out of here, should we delay the announcements until you've had time to resettle -"

"Need? Technically not, I'm sure. Would like? Absolutely. And--that might be for the best, is there any reason to announce things sooner than later?"

"I think my brother Tyelcormo wants Idaia legally declared his wife sooner rather than later but we're Elves, a month would be fine."

"Oh, does the announcement need to be made for the legalities to be cleared up?"

"A dozen people need to sign off for the legalities to be cleared up, and a sensationalist secret known to a dozen people outside our family ought to be assumed to not be a secret very long after that."

"Well, given that the anecdote about your youngest brothers saying your-brother-the-King talked people out of their souls and keeping them somewhere cozy and well-lit and singing to them and Imliss agreeing after she had known him for a while actually happened, I'm a little surprised, but in general that makes sense."

"I mean, could Nelyo just wave his hand and make it true? Yes, but we don't know if your daughters are the only people, if there's a way to cause this to happen, if there are others who didn't have the magic and just dismissed the dreams..."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"So, all nice and orderly, even if that means some needless waiting."

"Alright. This all sounds fine to me, but I shouldn't do anything about it until the others get home and we've had a chance to talk about it. Can I get you anything in the meantime? A snack, a beverage, an effusively complimentary book someone wrote on your music?"

"Any of those sound lovely!"

She acquires all three of these things. "You know, as a librarian it's really surreal to me to have a daughter who in a past life introduced the printing press to this universe."

"I can imagine. It was lovely, tremendously helpful in the war."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that."

"Should I give you some space to process all this?"

"I'll be fine. I'm not less able to process with you around, and I'm sure Imliss will be glad to see you when she gets back."

"When's that?"

"She didn't say. Probably at least half an hour from now."

"I will be happy to wait."

And he seats himself and closes his eyes.

Okay.

She's not going to actively start packing up the house to move without talking to her family, but she can tidy things to make them more packable later and cook with perishables and sit down opposite him with an old favorite book.

And eventually there are the sounds of feet outside and then the door opens and a familiar voice calls, "Mom, I'm--" before she sees him and cuts off.

"Hi. Long time, no see, hmm?"

"Oh, good, Idaia got in to see you guys without ending up on the news, I wasn't sure she was going to manage that," she says, and then walks over and hugs him.

"Osanwë still works fine. She interrupted the King in an important meeting, though I don't think he told her that." Hugs.

"Given that if she had any way of telling if it was a convenient time to be interrupted she wouldn't have needed to get his attention in the first place because she would have to already have had it I don't think she's going to feel especially guilty over that one.

I missed you guys kind of a lot."

"Likewise. How -"

"I don't know! We thought we were just having weird dreams until less than a week ago!"

"Must have been quite a week. Anyway, Idaia's well, I was asked to come by to work out with the rest of your family how and when we want the news to break."

"Ohhh yeah that's a thing we're going to have to deal with um."

"Yep, exactly. You can decide how you want to deal with it but short of keeping it a secret it'll be a sensation."

"I realize that. What've you got so far?"

Her mother summarizes things.

"...Uh, there is kind of a problem with the idea of waiting a month and it's that I don't think they waited a month to get married the first time and until that gets fixed we're technically three years under the age of consent."

"This is a concern the King's apprised of. Might just pardon it but that doesn't set a great precedent."

"It really doesn't!"

"So faster than a month would be useful."

"Yeah, agreed."

"How fast are you guys going to be able to move to the city?"

"Uhhh good question, I'm not sure. I don't think we've ever moved before. Not while Idaia and I were alive, anyway. I don't really know how long it takes to move..."

"If we have reason to want it done in under a month, help would definitely be appreciated."

"Help is definitely a thing we can provide!"

"I hope this whole business doesn't spill over onto my parents. There's no way you'll get them to move to the capital."

"I have no idea if it will, but we can try to at least make sure it minimally does."

"Thanks."

"Should they hear the news from us?"

"That would definitely be better than hearing it from the news."

"How many people should hear it before it makes the news, do you have a list of names?"

"Not off the top of my head, but I can compile one."

"I would appreciate it."

She grabs a pen and a pad of paper and starts writing down names.

And he hugs Imliss. "It's good to have you back."

"You'd think that thinking you weren't real would make me not miss you, but actually all it meant was that I didn't hope I would ever get to stop missing you. I mean. I knew that you were real, but--you the public figure and you the person I knew were--different things, I had no reason to think you were actually who I wished you were..."

"I am very glad that we are!"

"I mean, given that you are, obviously!"

"I am also here to answer questions, if anyone has any."

"So how upset were their respective dads when Maitimo and Findekano got married?"

"It took them a couple thousand years to come around."

"I am less sorry about missing that part than most of the rest of it."

"Were you expecting there to have been a wedding party you'd missed?"

"No, I didn't say I'm surprised."

"Dad's issue was not with Nelyo marrying a man."

"Somehow I can't say that shocks me."

"I take it everything else is adequately in the history books?"

"Not really? I have no idea how the war went after--everyone got to the other side."

"Wow, really? That's - a long one, but I suppose we have time now."

"That we do."

"When we arrived we learned you two weren't the only interdimensional visitors. It was - a good moment for it. Pityo died in the boats, you two - hadn't been on the boats, but we still thought you were safe until Tyelcormo woke up - the Enemy sent everything he had at us the minute we arrived, and there was a few weeks of horrible senseless slaughter in which we had the upper hand but it helped morale less than you'd think. And when every orc that had been ordered to run at us was dead - and there were so many orcs - we charged Angband, and then he broke out the real terrors in his arsenal. We drove them off. But Father was dying.

And then someone pops up having witnessed - I don't know how much she saw - we thought she was a Maia, right approximate power level, but it was eventually explained she was from another world. Had something to heal Father. Had - you know, we always thought 'well, the Valar tried fighting Morgoth last time and it was a long and terrible war, perhaps they can't do better than that'. And they can't. Because they suck, not because their powers don't permit it. I think Alcallah's weaker than Yavanna, if faster-"

"Oh, so that's where she comes from. She might be more creative, too, I went to one of her lectures once."

"The Trees could be faulted in many respects but they weren't really very unoriginal. Anyway, shortly after that, Melkor offers us a parley, which it'd be stupid to go to but which is tempting because he swears we'll come to no harm and he's offering a Silmaril and a year to evacuate the continent, says his grievance is with the Valar."

"Oh dear."

"We were debating what to do. She goes 'I could make you biological bodies you can puppet remotely, send those?'"

"How much awful did that avert?"

"Depends whether you're comparing it to 'we go in person' or 'we stay home', but we'd all have died, if we'd gone in person. It was an ambush. Enemy's good with illusions, if he makes an oath can't trust he's actually speaking it."

"I'm glad that didn't happen."

"Yep. So from there we shore up our positions and make contact with the locals and heal everyone we could - from the other host, too, when we found out they'd marched across the Ice - and then started thinking how to kill the Enemy. 

You know those fungi that can grow in ants' brains, affect their behavior?"

"...Yes?"

"Started experimenting to see if she could do it with orcs. I, um, know, on the ethics, but -"

"But Morgoth, yes."

"Valar did something useful and put the Sun and Moon up. Moon first, it glowed on its own back then - don't ask -"

"Don't ask you or don't ask anyone because I am actually curious about that."

"I mean, the answer is just really unsatisfying. They weren't the Moon and the Sun, they were fruits of the dying trees carried on chariots through the sky. ...cosmology got normal later, but it's not a happy story -"

"Okay."

"So we settle in, there's a battle, we besiege Angband, and they finally get somewhere on the deeply unethical human experiments. Well, orc experiments - humans had also made their appearance by then, but well away from the main fight - and the first set of orders we try is kill all the prisoners in Angband as quickly as possible - Enemy was being horrible to them - and it works.

So then it's just a question of what set of orders to give. You know of Lúthien, right? I think half the population's descended from her at this point..."

"I'm pretty sure I'm in the other half, but yeah."

"She's not better than me at music. She is better at specific kinds of magic music but only because she has an outrageous advantage. 

She got a sleep song that could take down a Vala working. We worked with the Dwarves and got record players working. And then Alcallah got more sets of orders for orcs. Play the song, was one set. 'grab Morgoth's crown and run when you get the chance' was the other one. We attacked Angband at the same time as activating that, the orcs didn't manage to get the Silmarils out the gates but we managed to batter them down -

And then we had the Silmarils and Father at his leisure, only not really because does he ever even take breaks, figured out how to use them to kill a Vala. And then we were all very patient while he additionally figured out how to do it while slowing down the crumbling of the continent we'd landed on, enough that everyone could get off. And then we won."

"I'm glad you won. I'm glad she showed up."

"Yeah."

She hugs him again.

I--I'm not going to spend my time wishing I hadn't died. It sucks in a lot of ways but I can't change it and I have parents I love. I did miss you, though, I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore. I love you.

Love you too. Honestly I was expecting some yelling-at-us.

It's been thousands of years. What would even be the point?

If it made you feel better...

Knowing you're real makes me feel better. Knowing I'm going to see everyone again soon makes me feel better. Knowing Findekano forgave Maitimo makes me feel better. Being able to move on with my life makes me feel better. Rubbing salt in the wounds when you've spent thousands of years missing us wouldn't make me feel better.

Maitimo didn't know about the ships. Father hadn't told him. They nearly came to blows over it - I - intervened, I did not want to watch my father draw a weapon on his son - and then he refused to participate in it.

Doesn't surprise me that your dad decided to pull something without telling Maitimo about it first again, after the time he pulled a sword on Nolofinwe.

We didn't think anyone'd crossed the Ice, we didn't know they were in danger until - Tyelcormo woke up -

Idaia was so scared that her death would literally kill him.

Don't think it could, at first. The oath.

When she knew it was real the first thing she said was, "Oh, god, I really did that to him."

Well, not on purpose.

Doesn't change the fact that everyone knows him as the Grieving Prince.

We have forever. He'll be okay.

Yeah. But it's going to take her a little time to get over how much suffering she caused him, however not-her-fault.

Is it going to take her longer than him?

I don't know. Best guess is she's not going to be completely okay until he is but she's going to be more okay than him in the meantime.

Alright.

However it happened I am glad it did.

Agreed.

I don't know if I don't remember anything from being dead because there isn't anything or because it's less amenable to being dreamed back, but you guys are here, so even if I was in the nicest Heaven one could ask for I'm still glad I came back.

And we did a pretty good job of Arda, I should think.

It's a very nice place to come back to and grow up in!

As nice as Valinor, not that I'm competitive.

I mean, I never grew up there to compare. But Valinor had that nasty little homophobia problem, and this time and place does not. So I like this better.

I'm glad. Do you have anywhere in particular you want to transfer to, research-wise -

I'm mostly working on chemistry right now.

Can do. 

I'm quite sure. 

I can't wait to see everyone again.

I assure you it's mutual. We can send a moving team here tomorrow, if that works for you.

"Mom?"

"That should be fine."

"Done. I assume you all already chose to be immortal -"

"I don't really understand why anyone doesn't."

"Oh, I don't know, I've felt the temptation. People mourning your tragically short life, revisiting all your artistic achievements over and over again because there will never be more of them...if I were a sufficiently dramatic sort of mortal I'd definitely stay mortal."

"I suppose. But if you don't even get to see it..."

"Anyway, you're all immortal, which is lovely."

"It is!"

"And it doesn't sound like you particularly need anything besides a nice relocation?"

"No, we're pretty much good."

"Great.  In that case we will all look forward to seeing you in a few days."

"Awesome."

"Anything else..."

"Uh, unless you want to wait around to meet my dad, probably not."

"I'm happy to."

"There's that then. So, um... How have you been doing?"

"Okay. Ruling the world suits some of us splendidly, some less."

"Where do you fit on that spectrum?"

"I like it fine."

"I'm glad.

I don't need to ask how Tyelcormo feels but I'm sure he's glad he and therefore Idaia have access to a convenient way of getting her identity back."

"Yeah, I'm glad we were easily accessible once you found out the dreams were real. It's probably ideal timing."

"Oh?"

"I'm not sure what we'd have done if twelve-year-old Idaia found us. Probably not rush her into Tyelcormo's arms, but they'd both be really irritated with us if we didn't -"

"Oh that would have been so very awkward yes. I thought you meant in terms of when we came back, not when we realized it was all real."

"It'd have been lovely if you came back with the first Men, yeah."

"Oh well. We're lucky to be alive at all, I don't want to complain."

"We tried to get resurrection working. Tried for a really long time."

"Well, there's still a lot of other dead people, so once I've gotten--caught up on everything--and trained my magic back up to a reasonable strength we can see if we can get anywhere with the interactions between the systems, if we can get them to interact..."