Note: This, my friend, is an epilogue. "They come in epilogues? Then I'm reading one!" (I know, cheap joke! So sue me!)
***
The young woman in the dashing green scarf scribbled the last lines and put down her quill with a sigh. Surveying the paper, she absently began sucking on her reddened fingertips.
"Finished, my lady?" asked Elen, leaning over her shoulder. The girl nodded vigorously. "Excellent. What do you intend to do with it?"
The writer took her fingers out of her mouth and grimaced. "Ugh. I'll never get used to quill pens." She looked up at the inquisitive elf. "Oh, I suppose I'll take it home with me. The world needs good fanfiction."
"Very well, my lady." Elen smiled. "It's getting darker. Shall I fetch the candles?"
"No, thank you. I'll be going presently."
"Won't you say goodbye to the others?"
"If they come in time." She stood up and folded the paper, handing the quill to Elen. "Let's go."
***
"Órëndil!"
The girl turned and smiled. "Ah, caught me!" She bowed. "Elen síla lúmenn omentilmo."
"Why, so it does!" Frodo glanced up at the darkened sky, spangled with stars. "Did you think you could leave without a proper farewell?"
Órëndil shrugged. "I've done it before."
"When?"
"Beats me." She turned back to the large tree she had been facing before Frodo's interruption. "I'm just waiting for Carmen to open up the tree so I can go. I have to get this posted before Mainecoon gets home."
"Oh, all right." Frodo sighed. "I wish that you could stay. I find your company-"
"-quite amusing," finished Órëndil with a grin. "Yes, I know, but I do have to go home."
"Not before you explain something," insisted the hobbit. "The last words – what did they have to do with anything?"
"Tominë's and Loín's, you mean?" She chuckled. "Absolutely nothing. False hints. I had originally intended to make them be of some significance, but that would be too predictable."
"Ah."
The tree trunk suddenly sported a large, gaping hole. Órëndil began climbing into it. "See you chaps later, I hope. Namárië."
"Namárië," Frodo murmured as she disappeared. The tree closed up again, leaving no sign that it had ever been a portal between worlds.
"Until our next meeting," chimed Elen. Frodo looked sideways at her; she shrugged. "Okay, so it's Gandalf's line. So what?"
Chuckling, the hobbit turned and walked in the general direction of Elrond's house. Sam was asleep; Frodo wanted to be there when he woke up.
Elen just looked up at the starry sky, and wondered vaguely what the world would be like without Órëndil Mouseapple.
***
The end. *bows* -ÓRS