an: hey guys! first off for those of you who've kept up with this fic, i wish i could hug you lot to death to show how much i appreciate your steadfastness with this zany story. and secondly if you have just stumbled upon this fic, 1. this is a continuation where Crownless Kings and Lionhearts left off so if you're not familiar with either story please feel free to read the mentioned story to keep up; 2. this continuation pertains moreso to the original canon timeline not what PJ dictated was a "suitable time lapse", and some faces in the predecessor are making a comeback but am i going to tell you right out? nope~ that's the fun part! lol i kid i kid.. anywho, i'll just shut up now and let you read so please enjoy! :)
I don't own anything aside from my character and the tweaked plot of this story; Tolkien owns everything obviously.
prologue
A smile briefly graced her lovely face, as her pale blue eyes looked on her walking companion with warmth.
"She seems to be faring well."
He looked to his old friend who had come to find him looking on the two, and a slight smile played on his lips. "It has been some time since there was a smile on her face…" His smile faltered a smidge as he recalled his conclusion on the matter only a decade ago.
'She would be better off sailing to Valinor… perhaps there she would reunite with her beloved king, along with Húldaer and Elenathiel…'
'There is still life in her eyes, I am sure of it. Give me five years… five years and she will smile once again.'
'… She will still carry the weight of the loss on her shoulders.'
'She has much to live for still; you know this… do you not, Ada?'
"She is strong… you know this as you are the one who raised her, after all." His friend reminded knowingly, receiving a glance from him, and his lips twitched upward. "I too have watched her grow, and into a most resilient and honorable woman, if I may add."
He looked on both women once more. "There is still much for her to see, though for the moment, I believe that her grieving period is nearly come to full term." Said the elven lord.
oO0Oo Some Time Later oO0Oo
The pale grey mare gave a slight whinny as she and her master hurriedly shuffled aside to let a cart move past them up along the path at a rather anxious pace, the horse's ears flicking to and fro in mild annoyance at being spooked.
A slight chuckle came from her master, and she looked over her shoulder at the steed before continuing to her destination, following the cart's wake. "Seems the esteemed burglar has got the entirety of Eriador in a tizzy, doesn't he?" Wondered the woman.
It was not as if this surprised her, because it didn't; she had visited him enough times within the last count of years to know when he felt like being a socialite and when he felt like being a hermit.
Unsurprisingly when birthday-parties were on the agenda, he was the talk of the town!
The round green door of Bag End closed just as the cart that had carried all sorts of odd do-dads and other things doubled back on the winding path down, making its way to the main and likewise-winding small paths of the village, just as both horse and woman appeared at the foot of the home's gate door.
A slight furrow appeared on her brow as the woman read the sign that had been nailed to the gate front, "'No Admittance Except on Party Business'…" Her nostrils flared with a soft snort of amusement, and her lips quirked up at the corners. "Haven't changed a bit, have you?" She muttered. She then fastened the mare's reins to a sideboard of the fence and allowed her to graze on the verdant grass at the foot of the small hill, shrugging her quiver and bow onto her shoulder as she opened the gate and closed it shortly after stepping foot on the small path, walking up to the green door of the home.
A momentary surge of nostalgia tugged at her conscious but she shoved it away as quickly as it had come, clearing her throat and knocking on the door.
"No thank you! We don't want any well-wishers, visitors, or distant relations!" Came a male voice from inside the home.
"Not even an elf-lord's daughter!" Huffed the woman, valiantly keeping a grin from showing on her face as she then heard a pause before hurried shuffling, and she straightened slightly only seconds before the door was pulled open from inside.
Bilbo Baggins was not the rumpled fifty-something year old hobbit he had been in a different time but rather an esteemed hobbit who had seemed to age with grace from how she had seen him a decade ago, his curly mop no longer brown but grayed with growing white patches, and had seemed to shrink an inch or so since last they met… But there, in his brown eyes that lit up at seeing her on his doorstep, there was the only indication that he was the same halfling who had come face-to-face with a dragon and trolls and orcs and elves… the same halfling she had considered as one of her dearest friends for the last century.
"Good gracious, I did not think you would arrive so soon! It's good to see you, Eäriel!" The former burglar laughed as he stepped forward to embrace her tight.
Eäriel laughed as well and had knelt to properly embrace her old friend, beaming as they drew away and she added gently, "I wouldn't miss your birthday for the world, Bilbo!" She arched a brow in bemusement, "Seems you've been busy getting the Shire in a tizzy once again, Master Burglar."
an: short i know but hope you guys liked it(?)! reviews aren't mandatory but just a few kind words go a long way 'round here, so keep that in mind yeah? :))