Reflections




The sun was just beginning to rise over the lands of the Shire as the front door to Bag End slowly drew open, filling the halls with a cool autumn breeze. The door closed silently and the sound of soft footsteps fell upon the floor as a shadow crept through the darkened halls. A faint amber glow shone along the walls as the figure came further down the hall stopping near the entrance to the den where a small fire burned within the hearth of the fireplace. There before the fire lost within peaceful sleep rested Sam sitting in his wooden rocking chair with a feather down quilt resting in his lap. His hands were folded across his chest and his curls of silver grey hung along his brow. A tender smile fell across the lips of the quiet visitor as they came into the den standing before Sam as he slept soundly within his chair. A gentle touch then woke Sam as he felt the passing of fingers along his cheek.

"Elanor." Sam whispered as he opened his eyes.

"Yes, it is I." Elanor said smiling as she left a kiss upon Sam's brow.

"So many months have passed since I last seen you my dear." Sam replied drawing his quilt closer to his chest.

"That they have." Elanor smiled drawing her hand along the soft down quilt. "You still keep it close at hand I see." She said softly.

"Aye." Sam whispered as a faint sigh passed by his lips. "It was your mother's favorite." Sam then grew silent as he laid his hand over the small golden flowers that were stitched into the long faded deep blue fabric. His fingers traced along the shimmering threads remembering the day Rose had put them there shortly after the birth of Elanor. His eyes then began to tear and he closed them tightly turning away.

"There is no need to hide from me." Elanor said as she drew her fingers along Sam's cheek to dry his fallen tears. "I have shed my own tears father and you should do the same. You have held your sorrow within long enough for I know you miss her most of all."

"That I do." Sam sighed. "Though I have tried not to show it. I have wished to stay strong but I fear I have drowned my heart in all my sheltered tears."

"No tears could ever drown a heart so loving as your own." Elanor replied with a gentle smile. Sam then reached out to Elanor drawing her into his arms within a tight embrace. Elanor then came away leaving a tender kiss upon his cheek as she took his hands into her own.

"I wished to come and see you before you went away." Elanor said as she sat upon the stool near her father's chair.

"Away?" Sam asked softly.

"I know the time has come." Elanor whispered. "I can see it within your eyes. You have been longing for the sea."

"The sea." Sam sighed looking out through the open window facing towards the western sky. Indeed the thought had come to his mind for his heart was filled with much sorrow that would never be lost while he stayed within the Shire. The time had indeed come for him to return to his beloved master Frodo.

"Father." Elanor said softly drawing Sam's attention away from the window. He turned to her as she reached down to the floor picking up a large red leather bound book.

"This is Bilbo and Frodo's book is it not?" Elanor replied setting the book within her lap. She then opened the cover and began reading over the spidery letters last scrawled by Bilbo's aging hand. Soon a more elegant stroke came to the paper with words written as smooth as the river flows. Then she came upon the letters of her father, written bold and strong though a few were misspelled.

"It is." Sam said as he leaned forward in his chair. "It is almost finished, by my hand I can say." Sam replied looking over the pages as Elanor turned them aside. "Though the time will come when another hand will fall upon the pages when more tales need to be told." Elanor said nothing but a soft smile fell upon her face as she turned back another page reading on through the writings of her father. Sam felt a deep warmth fill his heart as he watched Elanor sitting before him lost within the story unfolding on the pages before her. She soon came to the last page that Sam had taken his hand to and she pulled the cover closed looking back at Sam.

"Your tale is a marvel." Elanor replied. "Both yours and Frodo's but I have yet to read all that was written by Bilbo's hand. His letters are rather hard to read." Elanor said with a soft laugh. She then brought the book away from her lap making ready to set it back on the floor when a paper fell from within the pages landing near her feet. It was folded neatly but filled with many long worn creases and yellowed with old age. Elanor placed the book back into her lap and she reached down taking the paper up into her hand. Sam grew curious and he watched with eyes wide as Elanor began to carefully unfold the paper reading the words faded with the passing of time.

"What have you there?" Sam asked as Elanor sat in silence before him. A smile then came across her lips and she turned to Sam her face wet with tears.

"It is something written by your hand." Elanor said softly. "Though it seems this piece has slipped from your mind. I never remember you telling me of it." Elanor replied handing the paper to Sam. With a trembling hand he reached out taking the paper and bringing it close to read. Slowly he read the words to himself and the memory soon returned of the day that he came to Frodo in the study on the day his pain had returned from his past wound. He then thought of the paper held within his trouser pocket that he had kept since they were last in Rivendell before returning home. It was this very paper. The one that bore the words he had written for Frodo so many years before. It was his poem that he had written for his master.

"All this time has passed and I had forgotten about this as it lay right under my nose." Sam whispered as he folded the paper in his hand. "Frodo had left it within the book saying that was the rightful place it should be." Sam sighed deeply and brought his hand close to his chest as he held tightly to the poem last touched by Frodo's hands.

"You miss him too do you not?" Elanor replied setting her hand on Sam's knee.

"Aye." Sam said quietly looking back out the window. "More so now than ever. His birthday is next month and on that day sixty years will have come to pass since I last seen his smiling face."

"So many years." Elanor sighed as she looked down to the book still sitting upon her lap. She brought it up into her hands and held it close to her chest as she watched her father sit before her in silence while tears slowly fell along his face.

"This is all you have left of him." Elanor said looking down to the Red Book resting in her arms.

"That and the memories within my heart." Sam whispered turning back to Elanor. She then held the book out to Sam and he took it into his hands drawing it close. He then set it down into his lap and opened the cover placing his poem back inside.

"Someday the story shall continue on." Sam said softly as he closed the cover drawing his hand along the book. "But for now my part has come to its end."

"Has it?" Elanor replied.

"Yes dear it has." Sam sighed as he sat the book on a small table nearby.

"So what name have you decided upon for your tale?" Elanor whispered looking to the book as the fading fire shone upon its cover.

"I have yet to say." Sam replied. "But I believe I shall leave it just as Frodo and Bilbo left it before their passing over the sea."

"I could think of nothing better." Elanor said with a smile as she sat her hand over Sam's. He grasped her hand tightly and looked to the book setting his hand over the cover.

"But what of you Elanor?" Sam said softly. "When it comes to you what name would you give to all that is written within by your own hand?" For a moment she was silent and then she took in a deep breath.

"I think…" She began looking over to Sam as the sunlight began to fill the room. "I would simply call it my Memoirs of the Shire."