Little Elanor had been waiting for her dad to come home for hours. He had promised her he would be back home that day before lunch. She was sitting on the doorstep with her head cupped in her hands feeling the refreshing autumn wind. He should have already arrived.
Elanor didn't like when her dad went to far away places. He was the one who would wake her up every morning when breakfast was ready. He was also the one who taught her everything she knew about gardening and about the world. Elanor loved her dad's stories, and Mr. Frodo's too. They went on so many adventures together! And Elanor loved adventures. She wanted to go on at least one when she was older.
Her mom would always say how silly she was for wishing such a thing. She said Elanor should stay in the Shire, get married and have a very beautiful family. But that was not what Elanor wanted. She dreamed of meeting the Elves and hearing the beautiful songs she had heard about.
Just when Rosie opened the door to call her daughter to have lunch Sam appeared with Bill, the pony.
"Daddy!!" Elanor's eyes widened with happiness and she ran to meet her dad.
Sam hugged his daughter tightly with one of arms, holding a tick red book in the other. Then he let go of Elanor to kiss Rosie softly on the lips. They went back inside and directly to the kitchen. Elanor pulled a chair to her dad and another one for herself. Sam smiled and sat on the chair.
"So…" Rosie said, bringing a large bowl full of lettuce salad and another one with many golden chicken legs. "How is old Bilbo Baggins?"
"He's alright." Sam answered with a weak voice, getting a chicken leg for himself and hungrily biting it.
"You don't sound very happy, Sam… something happened?" Rosie questioned, sitting by the table.
"Well…" Sam looked to the large red book he had put on the table beside his plate. "I'm not really sure how to explain this, as I'm don't understand it all. But let's just say Mr. Frodo and Mr. Bilbo are staying somewhere very far for a very long time."
Rosie blinked puzzled. "And when are they returning?" Sam looked sadly to his plate and didn't answer; he simply bit his chicken leg again. "Don't tell me they are-?" Sam shook his head negatively.
"I'll explain later." He said, getting more food for himself.
Elanor watched carefully her dad through the whole lunch. He was very quiet and thoughtful and barely looked to her or even her mom. Something had happened during the trip and it had something to do with Mr. Frodo. The whole meal was quiet and when Elanor finshed her food she left the kitchen, still without a word. She wasn't very surprised when she heard her mom's voice as soon as she left the kitchen. Elanor stopped to listen.
"Now tell me everything." Rosie demanded. "What happened to Bilbo and Frodo?"
"It's not that simple, Rosie…" She glared at him. "But perhaps you'd like to know anyway, eh?" Sam avoided his wife's glare and took a deep breath before starting to explain. "You know Mr. Frodo had wounds that wouldn't heal here. So he decided to leave Middle Earth to heal with some other people with the same problem."
"That's better than nothing I guess." Rosie rolled her eyes and hugged her husband, resting her head on his chest. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see him again some day. Just focus on your life now, ok?"
Elanor wasn't quite happy yet. She knew why her dad was so sad, but she still had no idea what that book was. So she waited until that night, when everyone was asleep. Elanor left her room, walking very quietly. She was walking to her dad's study when she saw light coming from the living room. Elanor pulled some blond hair of her eyes and ran to the living room, still very quietly.
Elanor pecked into the room and saw her dad sitting on a chair with the book on his lap. She could see he was reading it very carefully. Sometimes he read some pages more than once, letting out long sighs. If they were of sadness or not Elanor didn't know.
She watched his emotions change for some time. Sometimes Sam left, others he was very serious and Elanor thought he was about to cry many times too. She couldn't keep up with that constant changes for too much time and when she least expected she fell asleep right there.
When Elanor opened her eyes again she was on her dad's lap. He was still reading the book, though. She blinked. "Daddy?"
"Oh, you're awake." He said, smiling. "What were you doing behind the door at that hour?"
"I was… I…" Elanor couldn't find a good excuse. Even if she did it wouldn't be enough; He knew.
"This book-" Sam started, showing the red book. "-Is Mr. Frodo and Mr .Bilbo's book." He turned the pages slowly. "There and back again is by Mr.Bilbo, and The Lord of the Rings is by Mr. Frodo. See?" Elanor nodded, still puzzled.
"But what is this book about, and why is daddy so weird 'cause of it?" she asked.
"It's about our adventures, my little Elanor." He explained with simplicity. Elanor smiled, she knew what adventures he was talking about and she couldn't blame him for feeling that way, even if she didn't really know the whole story.
"Read it to me, daddy!" she said cheerfully. "I wanna' hear about your adventures!!"
"Mr.Frodo left the book for me to finish. I don't yet know how I'm going to do that, but I'll figure it out soon. And then I'll let you read the book, and keep it. It's very precious and full of very important information that must be passed on to prevent other horrible things like these to happen." Elanor's eyes filled with excitement. Was her dad really creating a prophetic moment? How exciting!! "But only when you get older." Sam noticed his daughter's sudden excitement and grinned. "Mind you, I might only give you that book if you're a good girl and don't go running around looking for adventures." Sam poked Elanor's tiny nose. "They're not as much fun as they seem and you can get hurt. Ok?" She nodded.
Elanor loved her daddy and she would do anything for him. And that was why she would be the one to keep it when he left many, many years later. But that's another long, complicated story that shall not be told now.
Tbc? Yes, one day.
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This was supposed to be the first chapter of a kind of epic fic of mine. But I gave up, as I don't know as much of the book as I should to write the epic I wanted. So I'll just leave it like this until the day I can turn it into a real first chapter.