Disclaimers: See Chapter 1 for more info.
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This is the last chapter.
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Dreams were something close to my heart. Without them, I'd be lost and yet at the same time, I couldn't but notice everything changing. I opened my eyes at last to a pure morning sunlight, the purest I had seen any sunlight being. I didn't look directly into the sun, but I knew from the light that it was pure.
It hadn't been so long ago since I left for the Undying Lands with Frodo, and yet my heart longed to see the mortal world again. Just for a moment. But this was better and with everything that went on, I couldn't have asked for better. No, this was just as good. For now, I could breathe, knowing that I was finally at peace.
"Aria, you want to come out here now?" Frodo called from down the hallway. His calls got closer, but I knew I wanted to stay in bed longer. Still, he didn't bother not to jump on the bed and kiss me. He was so sweet. "Come on. It's half past noon. You sleep in any longer and you'll be…" He pulled me out of bed. Did I have a choice? I was in his arms, after all. He chuckled. "Ah, still. You look beautiful."
"You say that about me all the time," I said, lovingly.
"Yes, but today you especially look it," he said, kissing me again.
Could I have asked for better? Well, it did get better the second I came out into the dining room and greeted our two children, Drogo and Primula. It's what Frodo would have asked for anyway, to have children named after his parents. I agreed with that, since I figured his parents' names would at least live on, if not our children acting a little like them. Drogo and Primula both had curly brown hair, a trait that didn't seem to falter.
"Well kids, do you want to hear another adventure story I've written?" I asked them, excitably. I glanced up at Frodo to see… oh. He was doing all right, smiling at me and all. Was it even okay this time to tell another story. "Can I tell it?"
"Go right ahead," Frodo said, pulling up two chairs for me and him.
"Thank you," I said, taking my seat. I turned to our children, telling them promptly. "Today's story begins where we left off: Mordor. The place was hot and sweaty and I knew as, being a tenth walker, that I may or may not have some involvement in the quest. Well, on that day, the Ring was nearly destroyed, but your father ended up falling over the ledge. I dived in and saved him, pulled him up as we speak. We managed to get out of there in one piece."
"You did not!" Drogo protested.
"That's not how it happened," Frodo admitted to me.
"In the dream it did," I said, remembering a few dreams where this happened.
Frodo shrugged. "Well, at least it's a true story."
"What can you tell us about dreams, papa, mama?" Primula asked, intrigued.
"Do you want to tell them? You're the expert," Frodo said, looking at me once again.
"Sure," I said, intrigued as well. I turned to our children, admitting, "Dreams has two meanings. You can either live out your dreams and have goals in the waking world. You can daydream about whatever fantasy suits your needs. But the dreams we're talking about, they don't require a lot of thinking, but they are important, for you see dreams can give us visions of the future, they can show us marvelous things we've only dared dream of, they can even lead to true love." I looked at Frodo then, surprised he was still grinning at me. I added in a warning to him and our children, "only on rare occasion do we attempt lucid dreaming, but even that comes with its warning: be wary of your projections. If you enter lucid dreaming, they will not be happy.
"Other than that, sweet dreams," I said, encouraging them all for better times.
"Go on, children. Have fun," Frodo said, gesturing with his hand for them to run along. Once our children were away, he turned to me, grinning, "And I hope you've had pleasant dreams, Mrs. Aria Baggins."
"I hope so too, Frodo Baggins, for you anyway," I said, welcoming the next kiss with blissful eyes.
The End.
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Thanks for reading. :) This chapter was a bit difficult to write, due to me working on a collab with another writer. Hopefully, I kept it interesting. And with that comes the end of the story, too. Cheers. :) I'll see you in the next story.
Aria Breuer