Here I stand on the shore, the white gulls flying. My companion is already aboard the ship he has built to carry us on our final journey together. His step is as light and as ageless as ever it was; while my body, once as hale and solid as the mountains, begins to crumble. Tears blur my vision even more than age. Such grace has been bestowed upon this humble dwarf – to go into the West, and look upon the fair Galadriel one last time.

“Gimli,” he calls. “It is time.”

It will be good to see this journey’s end.