Bingo #: B6

Prompts: Denethor/Finduilas; dock/quay

It was here that they had met, and now, as Denethor found himself retracing her gentle footsteps on that day so long ago, the ancient dock felt so worthless without her presence. He remembered their first introduction, when he had wandered onto the quay, only to be told by the ocean-eyed beauty that this was her dock.

How could he forget the next visit, how surreal it had seemed as they walked this same expanse with hands entwined? Her laughter was like wine, making the couple merrier and merrier until it seemed for once to Denethor that the whole world smiled upon him, and that all was right.

They had been upon this very dock in the sunset, with only the softly crashing waves for an audience, when he knelt before her and proposed that they wed. To see the smile on her face when she said yes, all creation must have sung for joy.

Until this last month, though, they had never returned to the dock, the beach, the sea, where their love had been sown, had taken root, had blossomed and grown. The busy life of the Lord and Lady of Gondor had left the couple little opportunity for the seaside vacations Finduilas so desired. It was not until it was too late- she was too ill to enjoy it- that they had made the journey again: so that she could die in the place she loved best.

He had meant tonight, carry her though he would have to, to take her here for one final stroll down the memory-filled pier. He should have done it the day they arrived, for even as he entered the room, heart breaking for the thousandth time to see her lying so frail and helpless in that bed, she was stolen from him forever.