Tell Aydanci I love him I'm sorry come find me I'll try to come back

"Kill me," Kib whispers to his Charp when the doorknob turns, and the wrought iron fist caves in his skull too fast to feel.

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The first thing Lu dreams is Kib realizing that Aly spoke Harthanic and must have been real.

He realizes this in that southwest common tongue. She can't hold together enough of the Harthanic to check up on it, but the common she can get down several words, and she has a friend who speaks it, who doesn't ask too many questions, confirms the translation.

Lu has eight more dreams before she buys a phrasebook and tells her teacher that she's taking a vacation and she gets on her zebra and she heads for Wrebb.

There are Elves there, but not her Elves. But once she's called a stork down and sent it on its way again they believe she's who she says she is, and they fill in a lot of her gaps. She's guessed enough from the Little Valinor information sheets not to fish too hard about information on her Elves but she can cover for a lot by remarking on how spotty the dreams are, she had one about this guy, was he important, who is he, fill her in she's forgotten so much and doesn't have her notes...?

Aydanci's not there either, Aydanci's in the Elves' world because he couldn't do without her and now he's doing exactly that, poor Aydanci - she doesn't even know how Kib died, the Elves assume "in the war" but they can only guess about possible details - the portals are closed -

Lu restricts herself to checking for her Elves by osanwë once each a day, Findekáno in the morning and Maitimo in the evening, they'd be reasonably likely to arrive together and they'd probably be told by the Little Valinor Elves that she was present at once anyway but she wants to check and she can so she does. Every now and then she composes a breathtakingly diplomatic speech to the Valar and tries addressing them in case they can hear her even when the portal's closed.

Years go by and the dreams speed up and Lu wakes up alone alone alone in the Little Valinor apartment she's moved into and Aydanci's not there and Maitimo's not there and Findekáno's not there -

Well, she can occupy herself. The Little Valinor Elves have a worthy project going and she can help. And she can give them news about how things are going back home - seventeen years out of date and then some - in little bits and pieces - and she can wait.