Chapter 10
"What are you thinking?" Legolas asked.
"I'm thinking that I'm too comfortable and things are too easy," Lily said.
Her husband laughed. "Well, I'm not going to stir up trouble to make you feel better," he said, kissing the tip of her nose and arranging the blanket around her. They were in a flet that he had built in a tree just outside and above Minas Tirith, not far from where Aragorn had found the sapling of the White Tree. Lily and Legolas had been there since their wedding and the celebration two days earlier, enjoying the Elvish foods and comforts that had been brought for the purpose from Rivendell and Lórien and the additional provisions supplied by the royal cooks and household of Minas Tirith.
"I believe we have been invited to dine with King Aragorn and Queen Arwen," Legolas said, "If that disturbs your peace at all."
"So soon we are called to duty? That is disturbing, my lord, although hardly equal to facing the hosts of Mordor or the Paths of the Dead."
"No," Legolas said, sobering for a moment and then smiling. "But we are not expected for a time."
Lily looked around the flet. "I suppose that after living in the House of Elenriel when I was younger, I should be used to the idea of living in a house in Minas Tirith," she said, "But I still think that a flet is the best place to live."
"You may not think so when it snows, or when we have to tramp back and forth to the highest level of the city to serve Aragorn and Arwen as we should," Legolas said. "We will be fine in a house. But I think we should leave the flet here, for times when we want to get away and be the two of us together."
The meal was in part a feast to celebrate the betrothal of Faramir and Éowyn and in part a farewell feast, because a large party would be departing for Rohan on the morrow. Celeborn, Galadriel, and Elrond would travel as far as Rohan and then turn toward their homes in Lórien and Rivendell; Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin would do the same but then turn toward the Shire, accompanied by Gandalf. Éomer was returning to Rohan as its king; his first duty would be to lay Theoden King to rest among the other kings of Rohan. Faramir and Éowyn were also going to Rohan to honor Theoden King, and Legolas and Lily would represent Aragorn there. But they would not remain long, for after Éowyn and Faramir were wed in the Golden Hall of Meduseld, they would return briefly to Minas Tirith before assuming their duties as Lord and Lady of Ithilien. Legolas and Lily would accompany them to Ithilien so that Lily could help restore Minas Ithil. But they were not to remain long, as Aragorn wanted Legolas as his close counselor, and Arwen wished to spend time with her sister. And in any case, Lily wondered if she would be needed in Minas Ithil—according to reports, not long after the fire that had been sparked by the Sword of Celebrian and had cleansed the vale, sprouts of healing, healthy plants and trees had begun to appear and to grow at an unusual rate. Lily's chief, and perhaps only, task was to take a cutting from the bush of Celebrian's herb that grew in the Garden of Elenriel, plant it in the valley, and see that it took root.
"I am sorry that your parents could not stay longer—it seems they arrived for the wedding and then had to leave almost immediately," Lily said, stroking Legolas' fair hair back from his forehead. "I like them very much, and wish I could have come to know them better."
"Father believed he is needed in the Northern Realm—many evil things were already awake in Mirkwood, even before the Dark Lord's growing strength cut it off from the world," Legolas said, studying his bride's deep blue eyes. "And Father and Mother feel that they have known you all your life; apparently I was not particularly subtle about my interest in our hoped-for mutual future after we returned from Lórien that first time."
"But that was so long ago."
"They've paid attention all this time, although I'm sure they were surprised by all your adventures since we met again in Lórien when I came with the Fellowship. I don't think they expected you to grow up to wield a sword or a bow as well as their son, or to fight beside him. We will visit them sometime, I'm sure. They think I've married well."
"I believe that I have married well, too, Prince Legolas. And all my family are pleased with my new husband."
"What a wonderful thing to be called," Legolas took Lily into his arms. "I am so happy to be your husband."
After a sumptuous meal, Aragorn stood and welcomed his guests once again. "And yet the time has also come to say farewell," he said. His face, which had seemed so resolute and weary in the last days of the War of the Ring, was now relaxed and even youthful, despite his years of labor in obscurity to do his part in the victory over Sauron. "Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel of Lórien and Lord Elrond of Rivendell will soon take their leave of us, having witnessed their granddaughters and daughters married—long may they grace our fair city of Minas Tirith," he continued, placing a hand on Arwen's shoulder, who smiled up at him from her seat by his side. "No less will we mourn the homegoing of our dearest Hobbit friends, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, although it pleases us to know that they will be accompanied by Gandalf the White for much of their journey. Alas, the Fellowship of the Ring was only briefly reunited on the Field of Cormallen, for our beloved Gimli left this morning to meet a company of Dwarves at Helm's Deep, there to aid the Men of Rohan in opening the vistas of its caves to the light, where they can be appreciated by all those of good will."
Legolas leaned over to Lily and whispered. "I promised Gimli we'd come and see the caves, you know."
"Yes; we will—as soon as we can," she replied, taking his hand beneath the table.
Aragorn spoke further. "And I fear the time has come when Éomer King of Rohan and his sister, the Lady Éowyn, will accompany our much-loved Theoden King to his resting place in Rohan, and with them will travel Prince Faramir, betrothed of Lady Éowyn, and our trusted counselor Prince Legolas, and his wife, Lady Elanor of Lórien. And so we shall be bereft of so many brave friends, with joy in the knowledge that many of us will soon meet again. I have no grander way to say what I wish than to offer you my deepest thanks and love, and that of Queen Arwen, and to wish you safe journeys."
"Hear, hear!" Pippin said. "A fine speech. Are there more of those sweets they served at the end of the meal?"
"I'm sure there are," Arwen said, smiling and gesturing to a serving man. "As many as a Knight of the Tower could want."
"There aren't that many," Merry said, to the amusement of all.
The next morning witnessed a scene at the gates of Minas Tirith that the guards would speak of for years: the farewell of the great Elves of Lórien and Rivendell by Queen Arwen. The ways of the Elves and of the travelers to the Shire lay together with that of the travelers to Rohan, but Arwen would remain with Aragorn in Minas Tirith.
"Will you come again to Gondor, dearest Father?" Arwen asked, tears coursing down her cheeks as she embraced Elrond.
"I do not believe I will," Elrond answered. "I long to go to the Grey Havens, Daughter. I do not know how long it will be before the Last Homely House grows dark and the Elves of Rivendell take their final journey, but I do not think it will be long. And even so, there is much to do in Rivendell to repair the depredations of evil in that part of Middle Earth."
"And much to do in Lórien, as well," Galadriel said, taking Arwen in her embrace. "Many wounds to be healed, and our time here wanes."
No one said what they thought, that Lily and Legolas would see all their Elvish kin someday in Valinor, but that Arwen would remain in Middle Earth. And so Arwen's grief was great, although not as great as her love for Aragorn.
At long last, but still before the Sun had risen in the newly clear skies to the East, the Elves set forth with the large party of travelers to Rohan and the bier of Theoden King to ride through the Pelennor Field and back along the way the Riders of Rohan had come to aid the besieged city. The trip to Rohan seemed long in comparison to that crucial ride. But Lily did not find it tiresome—she had brought Sarrose of the Houses of Healing with her as an attendant, and as a result, Éomer King spent as almost as much time at their fireside as he did at his own, and was quick to point out landmarks of their earlier journey and to tell of the Riders of Rohan, with Sarrose, Frodo, and Sam as especially willing listeners.
"Do you think Éomer is in love with Sarrose?" Legolas asked Lily as he unbraided and brushed her hair inside their tent one evening as they prepared to retire.
"I think he is," Lily said. "She has confessed that she admires him greatly, not just as a king or a hero in battle, but as a person—and her mother was from Rohan, you know. She would be a fine wife. And Rohesa would be thrilled to her toes."
"Do you think the people of Rohan—or anyone else—will care that she is not of a royal family?"
"I think perhaps not," Lily said. "In these times, when so much of more importance has been lost and won, her deeds as a Healer and her strength of character give her all the recommendation the people of Rohan could desire. And certainly they do not want to see their king alone and unhappy, if he can find love with Sarrose. I have come to appreciate her very much—she desires to learn all that she can of the ways of Elves, and of the Hobbits, and of the long history that led to the last alliance of Elves and Men and the unmaking of the One Ring. She seems a steady young woman—and she is learning to ride like a true woman of Rohan. I think she will make a fine wife for Éomer and a fine queen."
"The royal house of Rohan seems diminished, in any case," Legolas said. "I do not know where Éomer is to look for a bride there. And Sarrose seems worthy in every respect."
And so the travelers watched and rejoiced as the friendship between Éomer and Sarrose seemed to deepen during the journey. Sarrose spoke to Lily of her delight in the relationship, and Éomer was frequently seen in serious conversation with Éowyn and Faramir, but nothing could be said or done properly on the road, or before Éomer had taken his place before his people as Rohan's king after the funeral rites for Theoden King had been completed.
Although they had repeatedly been offered the hospitality of Rohan, the Lords of the Elves, the Hobbits, and Gandalf did not go to Meduseld but said farewell to their companions when the road divided and went north through Rohan toward Caradhras and the Dimrill Stair, by which Galadriel and Celeborn would make their way to Lórien. Elrond would continue with Gandalf and the Hobbits as far as the Great East Road, where he and his companions would turn toward Rivendell and others would turn west toward Bree and the Shire. And so another parting took place not far beyond Dunharrow.
Lily remembered her first meeting with the Hobbits, when they came to Lórien after the tragic loss of Gandalf to the Balrog in the Mines of Moria. They had been so tired and spent with grief, but so much had happened since that day—Merry and Pippin were seasoned warriors, with the strength and growth that had come from much more experience than just the draughts of the Ents. Sam was still Frodo's faithful servant, but his experiences had turn him from a youth into a wise adult, without diminishing his sense of humor or his wonder at the great things of the world. While he had become familiar with Legolas and Lily, he still held the other Elves in awe, especially Galadriel. And Frodo—Frodo had a quality that was almost impossible to define, as though he had been refined by the fires of Mount Doom and the most precious aspects of his character revealed.
"You will come to the Shire and visit us?" Sam asked Legolas and Lily as the travelers prepared to say goodbye. "And do you think the Elves—even the Elves from Rivendell and Lórien—will come to the Shire on their way to the Grey Havens? Oh, not for many years, I hope. But I can't bear the thought that I will never see Elves again."
"Of course you will see Elves, again, Sam—you are an Elf-friend," Legolas said. "When you want to spend some time in company with Elves, take an evening walk by Woody End. Frodo will go with you. I'm sure you'll see many Elves there, and they will be honored to meet you."
"That will be nice," Frodo said, "But we will want to see our friends among the Elves—you and others we know from our travels. Although I should not wish it, for that would mean that you are on your way to the ships, and leaving Middle Earth forever."
"I'm thinking we may want to leave from the Bay of Belfalas," Legolas said. "When the time comes—I can't help but remember the bright Sun of the Southern Lands, and the cry of the gulls."
"Those ships will take you home, as well," Galadriel said, and turned to the West, raising her arms to the setting Sun. She sang softly,
Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling,
In Eressia, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,
Where the leaves fall not—land of my people forever!
She lowered her hands to her side. "I think you have heard that song, Legolas."
"I have, my lady," he said. "But I turned to my duty to Aragorn, and my love for Lily, and away from those sweet voices until they call me again."
"Which may be some time, as Aragorn prizes your counsel," Celeborn said. "But we shall meet again, dear grandson and granddaughter."
"We shall, and so I will not grieve at this parting," Lily said, although the tears in her eyes belied her statement. "Legolas and I hope to see the great waterfalls of Rivendell and the golden woods of Lórien ere they fade and you are gone away, my beloved ones." She embraced her father and her grandparents, and knelt before the Hobbits and embraced each of them as well, and kissed Frodo in his forehead. "And you, dear friends—we shall come to the Shire to see you, I have great hope."
"You seem to be planning a lot of travels," Gandalf said raising Lily up and enfolding her in his arms. "Perhaps you will find an old Wizard along the road."
"Where will you go, Mithrandír?" Legolas asked.
"For now, with the Hobbits, in case they find more trouble before they can get back to the Shire."
Lily looked far away to the North, and caught a glimpse in her mind of a village of comfortable houses with round doors, but with trees cut down and sorrow on the faces of people she knew to be Hobbits.
"I hope we find the Shire as we left it," Merry said.
"So do I," Sam said, and looked sadly at Galadriel, who returned his sorrowful glance.
"The darkness of these times has reached into every corner of Middle Earth," the Lady said, "But I do not doubt that the Shire will ultimately be cleansed of that influence, and you will find peace in your homes and among your friends."
"If I find peace anywhere, that will be the place," Frodo said, clasping his hands to his heart.
"Come now, this should be a fond farewell after all we have been through," Gandalf said, "And we must let these people get to Meduseld before sunset. The days grow colder and shorter. Here, Shadowfax," he said, and mounted lightly on the great steed's back. The Hobbits bowed low and the others took their leave with courtesy and affection, and soon the travelers to Rohan watched as their companions disappeared briskly on their road.
"Well, friends, shall we try to see Meduseld in the last glow of sunset?" Éomer said, and turned to Sarrose. "The Golden Hall is a fine and welcome sight—even more so, I'm sure, since Lord Legolas and Lady Elanor scrubbed the roof."
"What?" Sarrose replied, humor and disbelief in her voice. And so the road to Meduseld went quickly as Éomer told the story of how the people of Rohan had come home from Helm's Deep and set their city to rights. Those watching the approaches to Rohan sent messages to the city and the travelers were met by crowds of people, who had learned from returning Riders of Rohan and messengers sent from Minas Tirith of the great events of the last few weeks. They soberly lined the roads in respect for Theoden King, but after the bier and its honor guard passed, they quietly called their greetings and support to Éomer King, and their congratulations to Éowyn, who looked beautiful and calm as she rode between her brother and her betrothed. The Golden Hall did not disappoint as its roof gleamed in the setting Sun, and the party was welcomed as befitted royalty to Meduseld and the kingdom of Rohan.
The days passed swiftly as all attended to the funeral rites for Theoden King, a period of mourning, the coronation of Éomer King, and the wedding of Faramir and Éowyn, joyful as she left her place at her brother's side and took her place beside her husband according to the tradition of Rohan. The years, as reckoned by Men, seemed to pass swiftly for Lily and Legolas as they served in Ithilien and in Minas Tirith and saw an heir, Arwen and Aragorn's son Eldarion, born to the House of Telcontar. They returned to Rohan, escorting Sarrose to her place as the bride of Éomer King, and were happy to see a new time dawn in that kingdom as the people welcomed their new queen. Rohesa, as mother of the bride, was almost as happy as her daughter, and to see her home country again. Legolas and Lily returned to Helm's Deep and Gimli showed them through his beautiful caves, which they duly admired. Messages came from the Shire and they knew that the Hobbits were thriving.
After seeing all settled in Gondor and the South, Legolas and Lily traveled to Lórien, Rivendell, and the Northern Kingdom to bid farewell, for a season, to their loved ones among the Elves, for almost all had gone to the Grey Havens or to the Bay of Belfalas and the rest would soon be leaving. The golden mallorn trees in Lórien seemed to have dimmed, as had the warmth of the Last Homely House in the vale of Rivendell. The descendants of the Beornings and the Men of Dale had the safety of Mirkwood well in hand. Lily and Legolas tried not to mourn the passage of their kin from Middle Earth, or even of Gandalf and Bilbo and Frodo, for they were taking the ship from the Grey Havens along with Elrond, Celeborn, and Galadriel. Legolas and Lily returned to Gondor with heavy hearts, knowing that they were among the last Elves in Middle Earth.
At last the day came when Aragorn, King of the West, called his most faithful counselor, Prince Legolas of the Northern Realm, and his wife, Lady Elanor of Lórien, to the formal audience chamber of Minas Tirith. Aragorn's hair was streaked with white, but he stood as tall and straight as ever, and his eyes were undimmed. Queen Arwen Evenstar, who looked wiser and kinder, but otherwise as beautiful and youthful as she had in her younger days in Rivendell, sat on a throne near her husband, with their son standing next to her.
"Come, my friends," Aragorn said. "This formality seemed necessary to what we have to tell you. Although there are many years yet remaining to us," he continued, taking Arwen's hand and smiling at her, "we have decided that it is no longer a kindness to you and no longer needful to the kingdom to keep you from going to your home. I know the sea has called Legolas from the time he saw the gulls wheeling above the lands to the South, so long ago."
"Oh!" Legolas exclaimed, and Lily saw in his eyes a longing that she had seen several times before during their lives in Minas Tirith. "But, my king, we are ever at your service."
"As you have ever been, my friend, and it grieves us to see you go, and greatly grieves the queen to bid goodbye to you and to her sister, and yet it seems to us that the time has come for this parting."
"Your wisdom serves us, my king," Lily said, "for only lately have we learned that the house of Legolas is to increase, and it would be well, I feel, for my son and daughter to be born in Valinor, for Middle Earth shall never be their home."
"Lily!" Arwen said, rising and going to embrace her sister. "Twins?"
"That is what I have foreseen," Lily said. "Although I wish that they could know the great king and queen for whom they will be named. But we will tell them all about their aunt and uncle."
"A son and a daughter?" Aragorn said, going to clasp Legolas' hand.
"Aragorn and Arwen," Legolas said. "Your names shall always be known among the Elves."
It was a matter of only two weeks before Legolas and Lily set out for the North, for their path would take them through the Shire and to the Grey Havens, as there was one last task to be done there. Lily and Arwen had taken long walks through the fields and woods surrounding Minas Tirith in the days before they parted, and all who saw them wondered at the sisters, shimmering like stars in the hours of dusk and dawn as they spoke to one another's hearts the things that only they could share. Aragorn and Eldarion similarly spent time with Legolas, gleaning all the wisdom and cheer they could from the Elf's mind and heart during their last times together. But finally Legolas rode up the Greenway on Mithroch, a great dark-grey horse of the Mearas of Rohan, who suffered himself to pull behind him a palfrey in which Lily rode. They came to Hobbiton on an October night when Remmirath, the Netted Stars, was high above them and Menelvagor, the Swordsman of the Sky, with red Borgil at his belt, shone at the eastern horizon. Their horse clopped softly up the road to Bag End, where Sam's daughter greeted them in the warm light that spilled from the door, sending her son to tend to Mithroch as she welcomed the Elves to the fireside. There sat an old, wizened Hobbit with a small box in his hand, staring at the fire with a sad look on his face, but as soon as the Elves entered the room they saw his cheerful smile and knew their friend, Sam Gamgee.
"Lady Elanor! Legolas! Here you are at last, come to visit the Shire as you promised so long ago!" he exclaimed, putting the box in his pocket as he stood to welcome them.
"Please, Sam; don't get up!" Lily said, going to lean down and hug the Hobbit. "How well you look!"
"Oh, I've gotten old," Sam said. "But look at you two! You'd think not a day had passed since we parted in Rohan!" He and Legolas embraced as companions greeting each other again after many years, remembering all they had been through in their time together. "Ellie, bring the drinks and food, and where's that husband of yours? Bell—his name's Bellflower, but he prefers Bell—has wanted to meet some Elves since he was just a boy. Here, sit down, sit down, before you knock your tall heads on the rafters."
Lily and Legolas sat by the fire with Sam, and soon Ellie and Bell and their sons, Tom and Three, whose name was really Frodo the Third after his Uncle Frodo and "The Frodo," as he was often called, came in with food and drink. A table was pulled over to the fire and the Elves had dinner while the others joined them in a "bedtime snack, to be companionable."
"My daughters will be over to meet you tomorrow," Ellie said. "They can't wait to meet the real Lady Elanor."
"Well, you're the real Lady Elanor of the Hobbits," Sam said. "Your mother and I named you after her—although 'Elanor' seemed a bit grand for everyday use, so we've just called her Ellie all these years."
"I understand," Lily said. "I've almost always been called 'Lily.'" They laughed and talked until late, when Ellie showed the Elves to a room where bedding had been laid out for them, the beds being too short for Elvish comfort. So Lily and Legolas began a few days' stay in Hobbiton, although their presence was not known except to Sam's family.
"So you're a grandfather, Sam," Legolas said one evening as he and Lily walked with the Hobbit through the woods near Bag End.
"Yes, and proud of them all. Rosie was, too—you know I lost her three years ago," Sam said. "She'd have been so honored to have Elves staying in the house."
"We're honored to be here," Lily said. "It's so good to see you again, Sam."
"Well, the family's all I've got now, and I'm feeling like a grandfather—maybe a great-great-grandfather some days. You know Merry and Pippin aren't with us any more, and of course Mr. Frodo and Gandalf went off on the ship at the Grey Havens, with Mr. Bilbo and all." Sam pulled the little, old box from his pocket. "This is the box the Lady Galadriel gave me, with the seed in it, the one that grew the Party Tree again as a Golden Tree, and with the dust from her garden that we used to bring back the Shire after we got home and so much bad had been done—you heard about that?"
"Oh, yes," Legolas said. "You are heroes of the Shire."
"I wish you'd been here to help—that would have staggered everyone. But it's all healed now. I've wondered sometimes if I outlived everyone because some of the dust from the Lady's garden got on me or I carried it around so long," Sam said. "You'd think that for all the fright I got on the journey, it would have scared some years off my life. But here I am, and that's a fact."
"Here you are, Sam, and I'm sorry it's taken us so long to get to the Shire," Lily said. "Your home and family are beautiful, and the Shire is as wonderful as you and Frodo and Merry and Pippin always described it."
"You should have come sooner," Sam said. "Some years ago, you'd have met some of your kin in these woods, you know. This is where I first met Elves, with Mr. Bilbo." He sighed. "I love it here, but I've missed being with Elves. Such wonderful songs! Always took to the Elves, I did."
"And Elves to you, Sam," Lily said.
"We've come, Sam, because we're on our way to the Grey Havens, Lily and I," Legolas said.
"Oh, I know—I can hardly bear to think of you gone, too—and me here, still in the Shire—much as I love it—but feeling like it's time to move on, you know, sometimes, especially in the autumn. Mr. Frodo and I left the Shire in October, all those years ago. I wouldn't go through all that again for anything, but it was what you'd call a 'grand adventure.'"
"Perhaps it's time for another grand adventure, Sam," Legolas said. "That is, if you think you are ready to move on—to leave the Shire—Lady Galadriel suggested long ago that great gardeners are always welcome across the Sea."
Sam turned and looked at them, wondering. "You mean—go with you? Oh, my. Could that be what you mean?"
"That's what we mean, Samwise Gamgee," Legolas said, putting his arm around the Hobbit's shoulders. "If that's what you want."
"You were a Ring-bearer, Sam. Without you, Frodo would not have been able to fulfill the Quest of Mount Doom and destroy the One Ring. You have been granted a place in Valinor," Lily said. "But if you'd rather stay in the Shire, of course—"
"No—no, I've thought so much lately that I wish—I don't know how to say it. I don't belong in the Shire any more, somehow. Oh, to see the Lady of the Golden Wood again! And Mr. Frodo and Gandalf!" Sam had tears running down his face. He whispered, "Me, going to see Elves and all!"
Lily knelt beside the Hobbit and took his hands in hers. "You can come with us, dear Sam."
Only a few days later, after a large gathering to celebrate Bilbo's and Frodo's mutual birthday, now celebrated as an annual holiday among the Gamgees, Sam left with Lily and Legolas, riding in the palfrey with Lily. He left the little box that that had been made in Lothlórien so long ago to be an heirloom for his family. It sat on the shelf beside Sam's great book, the continuation of Frodo's story of the Hobbits' part in the Great War of the Ring, with a record of all the important events afterward. Lily and Sam spoke of their memories as they rode. Lily shared with Sam the happy news of the son and daughter she and Legolas would welcome after a time, beyond the western Sea. He took her hands and spoke an amazed blessing upon her, laughing at the thought of being honorary uncle to young Aragorn and Arwen in that fair land.
They came to the Grey Havens at evening and saw a small grey ship waiting at the quay. Cirdan the Shipwright was waiting as well, and welcomed them warmly. Legolas whispered to Mithroch to make his way back to Rohan, saw the horse away, and then the three friends walked onto the ship. Cirdan joined them as their pilot and furled the sail to catch the rosy light of sunset. The companions looked back at Middle Earth, lost for a few moments in a rush of memories. Lily raised her hand in token of farewell, and Cirdan nodded approval as the light caught the ring on her finger—the Ring of Galadriel, given to Lily before the Lady of the Golden Wood made her journey to the Grey Havens. Now the last of the three Elven-rings would leave Middle Earth. Lily's voice was like a clear bell as she sang a variation of a verse that the Elves had sung:
O Lórien! Too long I dwelt upon this Hither Shore
And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.
But now of one last ship I sing; the ship has come to me,
The ship to bear me ever back across so wide a Sea.
For now I stand beneath the sail that takes me to the West,
To meet again the friends and those whom I have loved the best,
To be with my dear husband and the children who shall come
To bless us with the joy of new life in our Elvenhome.
Our memories of Middle Earth will never fade or tire;
Nor will our love for those whose joy is all our hearts' desire—
But comes the hour of parting and we could desire no more
Than life beneath the sun- and starlit heav'ns of Valinor.
O Lórien! Too long I dwelt upon this hither shore.
Legolas said to Cirdan, "Let us cast off," and the companions turned their gaze toward the sea as their vessel slipped past the harbor entrance and out into the breakers. The Sun shone a last beam above the horizon. They heard the cries of the gulls as though they were already far behind them and smiled as a sweet breeze filled the sail and they tacked to the West. Lily scanned the skies and saw the Evening Star against the indigo of the coming night. Legolas followed her gaze. He put his arm around her as Lily took Sam's hand in her own. Legolas spoke: "Beyond the night, the Morning Star, and sunrise, and home."
Thus Are Fulfilled the Visions and Prophecies of
Lady Elanor Tindómiel of Lórien and Prince Legolas Greenleaf of the Northern Realm.