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MirachRavaia [2014-11-07 17:45:04 +0000 UTC]

Another passenger leaves the ship, walking with a slow step. I see white again, but it is not a proud, radiant white. It is a simple colour, humble, and yet solemn, like the colour of wisdom. An elven woman walks down the pier, looking uncertain, as if she is not sure if someone will be expecting her. I have been told about her departure, nearly three ages ago. She had been proud then, looking for a realm where she could rule herself, away from anyone who would tell her what to do – a queen she wanted to be, powerful and magnificent.

It was Artanis Nerwen who entered a ship to Middle-earth. It is Galadriel who returns. She passed the test of her own pride, and remained herself – and so she returns: not a queen, but a simple woman who knew both suffering and love, who knew that ruling means serving and protecting, knew grief for a land caught in a stream of time. She did not find power in Middle-earth. She found herself.

Now she looks around at the shores of her home, dignified and solemn as her bare feet touch the white sand, and yet there is uncertainty in her. Slow steps sound behind me, and from her look, I know it is the one whom she long and yet feared to see. Her father...

Finarfin walks forwards slowly, and stops before her. They are looking at each other for a few moments, without a movement, without a word. I know he has been waiting for this while too, waiting with hope and a little anxiety for the meeting with his daughter. How much did she change? Will he recognize her? Now they stand near each other, but the Sea is still between them, and they have to cross it themselves.

She takes a shaky breath, and bows deeply. "Forgive me, father..." she whispers.

Finarfin doesn't move for a moment yet, but compassion is in his eyes, imagining what his daughter had to go through to become what she is now. He lifts her up. "My child..." he breathes out, and embraces her tightly. "You returned..."

She smiles through tears. "Yes, father... I'm home again..."

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