Frodo opened his eyes and sat up on the mountain. He looked around. Stargrass stood over the cold figure of Alesu. Pulin turned his face from his brother, tears falling from his eyes. Beside him, a weary and frightened child-otter stood over Sam.
Sam. Could it be? Frodo scrambled weakly to his friend, who he had not seen for so long. Frodo reached out to touch Sam's face, to make sure what he was seeing was real.
Stargrass turned to Sam and Frodo, Reaching down, he placed a hand on Sam's wound, healing it with the touch. Sam's eyes fluttered open. He looked up into the face of his master.
'I've come home,' he whispered.
Frodo took Sam's hand and helped him up. The two hobbits stood there looking at each other. 'I've come home,' Sam said again.
Eyes into eyes, a life to a life, and finally, Sam held Frodo in his arms again. Both caught in an embrace that spoke of years alone, they wept.
Back at Frodo's house, Sam sat before the fire going through all he had written since Frodo left. Aunie watched, mesmerized by the movement of the pages and the language of Sam's descriptions. Stargrass kept close, tending to the fire and the wounds of the otter child. She was now also a Ringbearer, for all the time Alesu had fought physically, he had fought her mentally. Pulin slept and brooded over the situation.
After they had gone through Sam's notes, and all the telling of tales was done, Frodo said 'You are all welcome to stay here if you wish.'
Pulin and Stargrass declined the offer. They were elves. They intended to stay with elves, to die with elves. But Aunie would stay. She would stay and learn all that Frodo and Samwise had written, and live to carry on the stories after they were gone.
So the next morning, Stargrass and Pulin packed their things and left. Frodo, Sam, and Aunie stood at the door and watched them leave before turning back to the warm fire and soft blankets. As they sat together on the sofa, Frodo with his arm around Sam's shoulders and Sam with Aunie in his lap, they hummed a final song of home.
Where are the haystacks of my youth
Where so long, so long I would lie?
So long, so long to the music
Whispering from the azure sky.
I've traveled far and laughed too little
Since I stepped outside my door.
Come look into my eyes and notice
One more story, just one more.
And after all, we've spent our time
Away, away from clover fields.
Our fingers have been pricked. We've found
The thorn that even our rose yields.
Rejoice, my friends, for days are long
And nights are ever longer.
Rejoice in prisons forged of steel.
Your hearts grow ever stronger.
Where are the forests of my youth
Where so long, so long I explored?
So long, so long to the music
Whispering from beyond my door.
I've grown too old to hear the fairies
Dancing in their mushroom rings.
My heart is weary of the wanderings
And the spell their music brings.
Children live to see the sun,
They love to drink the rain.
Now rain is bitter to my lips.
Shall I ever taste again?
Yes, I taste and drink so deep
I taste and find my home.
Now here again I'll see you safely
Back from where you've roamed.
As the last notes of the song faded, all three nodded off to sleep. They were home at last.
The End