I Choose a Mortal Life by Uvatha the Horseman

The Great Ship

The horses labored up the final crest of the hill. When they reached it, the entire expanse of the harbor opened up before them. Sunlight glittered from the surface of the water and beyond the harbor's entrance lay the open ocean, cold and deep and unimaginably huge.

Elros reined in and dropped from the saddle. Beside him, Elrond did the same.

"There she is, the ship to Númenor." Elros gazed at it, his eyes dreamy.

The great ship was tied up at the wharf. Low and wide at its midsection, its bow and stern curved upward like the neck of a swan, ending in a spiral figurehead at the prow. A single mast reached a towering height, and an enormous steering oar hung from the stern.

It must have been a warship once, now fitted to carry settlers and their families and all the gear they would need to colonize the uninhabited island.

"When she casts off, I'll be on board her, headed for the new land." Elros was practically bouncing up and down.

He's really going to do it. Elrond's heart sank.

They left the horses with a servant and went down to the harbor.

"I still don't understand why you're so determined to join this expedition," said Elrond. "I know you've had more dealings with Men than I have, and you have friends among the settlers, but is that reason enough to join them?"

"It's not just that. We've been at war far too long. I want to make something, build something, grow something that won't be destroyed right away."

You could do all that at home. Why this fixation on joining the colonists? but held his tongue. They'd had this argument already.

They reached the broad stone plaza of the wharf. At least a hundred settlers waited there, some groups of single men but mostly families, their small children running among the bundles of belongings and stacks of farming tools.

As a group, the men were short and stocky with coarse features. Almost all of them were bearded, and the ones that didn't had days of stubble covering their chins. They wore the costume favored by the race of Men, a loose tunic belted at the waist.

Elrond studied the long line of people waiting to board and didn't see a single Elf among them. "It looks like the colonists are all from the race of Men. You'll be the only one of our kind. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure."