(no subject)

[gabriel_tam]

It's been seven years since the passage of the IIGA. Seven years since the assassination attempt. Seven years since Vincent Navarro had given Gabriel Tam his professional medical opinion and warned him in no uncertain terms what the results of his remaining in office would likely be.

He doesn't regret his choice.

Still, things are becoming more difficult, these days. He does his best to cooperate with Navarro's continued recommendations, working with his ever-efficient assistant Mark Jiang to make time for the additional treatments and the now-compulsory pulmonary rehab sessions (which take place in his office, in secret, as much as possible), to listen to Regan and reassure her as much as he can. Even so, it's difficult sometimes. Today was one of the harder days - and there's still a dinner party to endure tonight.

Gabriel makes his way slowly into the bar and to an armchair seat by the fireplace. He'll just rest a bit here, before he goes. Just for a while.

Comments

[starrydome]

Elrond replies with a "May the stars shine upon the hour of our meeting here."
His voice is rich and warm. And his eyes are bright, clear, and ancient.

The Man looks worn. And he carries himself as someone who cannot let his own tiredness and ill health show. It would not be fitting to address it. So instead, Elrond introduces himself.

"I do not believe we have met her before," he says. He is sure of it.
"My name is Elrond Half-Elven."

[gabriel_tam]

"I'm very pleased to meet you," he replies. "I'm Gabriel Tam."

There's a presence about the other man - and something unusual about the name, almost like a title.

"Are you new here, or have we just not crossed paths before?"

[starrydome]

"The latter I should think, although it is always hard to tell here, where time moves as it will," Elrond replies. "In my own land, only a season or two have passed, but it seems as if time has moved faster for many others here."

He has the schooled speaking voice of one used to make public speeches. Or commanding an army.
"You?"

[gabriel_tam]

"I certainly agree with you about the oddness of time here," Gabriel says. "I've known people who've aged years in the course of what were merely weeks or months for me."

He settles a little more carefully into his seat.

"I've been coming here for a while now, off and on. Seven years or so."

[starrydome]

Elrond nods.
"To me, it has become a harbour of sorts. A place to go and think. And stretch what time I have left in Arda."

Before his inevitable departure.