***************

She defied description, trembling in the air. Everything about her was ethereal and unreal, like a ghost in broad daylight, which was what she could have been. This was the woman who had held Sam's heart for so long, and now had come back to make it whole again.

Sam was frozen. How long had he dreamed of this moment, alone in a cold bed, wishing he was somewhere else, among roses that never died? Oh Anemosi!

She walked towards him, her eyes never leaving his and echoing that powerful need that was almost overpowering him. Suddenly, he was conscious of being very old and tarnished against her unwithered beauty.

"Oh Sam," she breathed, her voice stirring winds inside he had forgotten existed. Elanor watched as she came to stand before her father, and he raised his hands to either side of that face and held them there as if fearing the lightest touch would destroy the fragile dream before him. Anemosi shivered, tears streaming down her face, when Sam burst into tears again and threw his arms around her, sobbing against her glorious spill of hair, whispering muffled words of love that only she could hear.

He pulled away suddenly, his face pained. "Oh, Anemosi," he whispered. "I got old, so old, and you're just the same as you were..." He turned away from her, hard as it was, but her voice stopped him.

"Sam, do you think that would stop me? They will take your years away." He turned back to look at her in confusion, but even as his head was turning, the fey were raising their hands and chanting softly, a rise and fall like the tides of the sea. Elanor felt a heavy weight lift as the air around her rippled, and she gasped as the air returned to normal and she saw her father before her, younger than even she remembered him, as young as the day he had first awakened in Siobhangé to mee the silver gaze of his true love.

With a cry of joy he swept his arms around, laughing and kissing and talking all at once. There had never been a more pure show of joy in Middle-Earth, and never would be again. When teh first madness had subsided, Anemosi turned her eyes upon Elanor, who felt a chill at finally facing the Lady Radika.

"Elanor," she breathed, her voice gentle, like water over smooth stones. "I name you fey-friend, tanhu, and the recipient of my taena." Anemosi lifted the trinket from Sam's hand, breathed a word that made Elanor shiver deliciously over it, and handed it to Elanor with the most beautiful smile that Elanor had ever seen.

"Call us, when you are in need, my friend." Elanor nodded, her heart too full for words. Anemosi lightly kissed a delicate palm, and laid it against Elanor's heart.

Without thinking, Elanor did the same, making Anemosi's eyes fill with tears as pure as rain.

Anemosi turned to Kerra, her most beloved friend, who stood weeping silently in wondrous joy. She laid her hands on Kerra's cheeks, and whispered, "My friend, you must lead them on. I am no longer for Middle-Earth...my service to the Lady here is ended." Kerra nodded briefly, and turned away, tears coursing down her cheeks.

"My life and heart for you, Lady Radika," was all she could say.

Anemosi smiled sadly. "Someday, Kerra, I will see you again. All of you," she said, and spread her arms to the fey gathered before her, who all raised their hands in a sad, sad gesture of love and respect.

"Farewell, my dearest friends," she whispered, and caught Sam's hand in hers. A golden note was sounded by a horn from far off, warning them off the imminent departure. Sam ran to Elanor, still shocked at her father's new and yet old appearance, embracing his daughter one last time as Anemosi kissed Kerra lightly on both cheeks. Linking hands tightly, the pair tore themselves away from their loved ones and mounted the stairs to the ship just as it began to pull out of the harbor.

But at the very last, just before the ship was gone, Elanor could see her father's figure waving at them as they sailed into the sky.

Moments passed in silence, falling into eternity, when Kerra broke the stillness and turned to Elanor.

"Well, my friend, your father said there are adventures left to come...shall we begin them?"

Elanor stared into the distance, watching a tiny speck moving on the horizon. "Yes," she said. "Yes, we shall."

They mounted their ponies, and without a backward glance at the sea, and with much laughter and song, the hobbit and the fey rode back into Middle-Earth, and the rest of the world left to discover.

***************

They could see the Undying Lands. The shore was coming up fast, and seemed to glow in the light of the virgin morning. Anemosi was already at the prow of the ship, quivering with excitement when Sam came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. He could never say it enough, and now he had all of eternity to do so.

"I love you, Master Samwise the Strong, Last of the Ringbearers," she replied teasingly. He sighed happily, her sweet nature and pure love making him feel stronger than he ever had when the Ring was tempting him.

They stood in silence for a time, still reveling in the joy of being together once more, when Anemosi's eyes caught movement on the shore.

"Why, Sam, there's someone waiting for us on the shore!" she said, and pointed at a figure which was just becoming recognizable.

Sam squinted to try and see it better, and in a rush of purest joy he laughed out loud.

"Why, bless me," he said in wonder. "It's Mr. Frodo."

And Samwise Gamgee, like this tale, was complete.