Disclaimer: All characters, places, names, language and other, related to The Lord of the Rings belong to J.R.R Tolkien. The books used as resource and inspiration is: "The Lord of the Rings (illustrated by Alan Lee) published in 1991." "A guide to Tolkien" by David Day, "The Atlas of Middle earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. Any similarity to characters not related to the books is entirely coincidental. Any original characters belong to me.
Chapter twenty-six. Many Partings.
At last, the day of departure came and a great and fair company made ready to ride north from
the City. Then the kings of Gondor and Rohan went to Hallows and they came to the tombs of
Rath Dìnen and they burried King Thèoden upon a gold bier and they laid the bier upon a
great wain with the Riders of Rohan all about it and his banners danced in the summer
breeze.
Through the early summer, the travellers had remained in Minas Tirith, and no words are fit
to describe the inconsolable peace that settled over Feavair, Legolas and the others. Their
struggles were over, and at last, they could return home.
On July 19, the escort left with the bier of King Thèoden and going with without haste, they
reached Edoras on August 7. Not until August 14 they set out for Helm's Deep, though Feavair and Legolas remained in the distance, so Feavair would not have to suffer the haunts that still hung over the battle fields. After two days, they rode north to Isengard, arriving on August 22.
For a while the old travellers rested on where once the old gates of Isengard had stood, and there were now two tall trees, like guards at the beginning of a green bored path that ran
all the way to Orthanc. They looked in wonder at the work that had been done, but they
could still see no animals, the sky was dark and threatening over their heads, and some
of the household of Lòrien seemed eager to leave the still dead country.
They sat in silence for a long time, until a great Hoom-hom, hoom- hoom rang through the
silence like a great, deep horn and there came Treebeard, striding down the path to greet
them with Quickbeam at his side.
"Welcome to Treegarth of Orthanc" he said and scratched his long woolly beard.
" I knew you were coming, but I was at work up the valley, there is still much to be done.
However, you have not been idle in the south and the east I heard. That is very good, very good indeed"
Then the Ent praised all the deeds, of which he seemed to have full knowledge off, at last he stopped and looked long at Feavair.
"Now come here, Weaver of Spirits, there is still one thing you have to do" and before
anybody had time to say anything, Treebeard bent down and picked Feavair up as if she was a
doll and carried her away. They heard a great Hoom-hoom and both of them disappeared between the trees.
They were gone for a long time, and the only thing they heard were great hooms, from
Treebeard and other Ents between the trees. Then suddenly there was a crack of thunder, and
they all raised their eyes to the sky, excepting to see black clouds of thunder gather over their heads.
Instead, the dark clouds opened and the blue sky stared down on them, and the sun warmed the naked branches of the tree. Then slowly, spouts started to grow from the kindling and soon leaves blossomed.
Treebeard returned with Feavair in the crock of his arm, he homed thoughtfully and then sat
her down on her white horse again. None of them said a word.
"Now, my mighty friend" Treebeard said, looking at Gandalf. "Where are you going, and what are you doing here?"
"To see how your work is going, my friend" Gandalf answered, casting a questingonly glance at Feavair, who stared at the sky.
"Hoom, well that is fair enough. The Ents have played their parts, that is sure enough, in
dealing with those pesky tree cutting orcs that came over the River and down from the North
and all round the wood of Laruelindòrenan. Which they could not get into, thanks to the Great
ones who are here," he said, and then he bowed to the Lord and Lady of Lòrien.
"We know it well" Aragorn said "And never shall it be forgotten in Minas Tirith or in Edoras"
"Never is too long a word for me" chuckled Treebeard "Not while your kingdoms last, you
mean; but they shall have to last a good long time indeed, to seem long to Ents"
"The New Age begins," said Gandalf " and in this age it may well prove that kingdoms of Men shall outlast you, Fangorn, my friend. Now tell me, how is Saruman? Is he not weary of Orthanc yet? I do think he will not improve the new view from his window" Treebeard gave
Gandalf a long and cunning look that seemed to burn through him.
"I though you might come to that, and indeed he is very of Orthanc. He came to his window
and listened because he could not get news in any other way. I believe he hated the news,
but he was greedy to have it, and I saw that he heard it all. But I added a great many
things to the news, I believe it was good for him to ponder about. But he grew weary, he
was always hasty, that was his ruin"
"I observe, my good Fangorn, that you speak of him in past tense. Is he dead?"
"I let him go, seven days ago. Though I knew you told me to keep him safe, and I have until
he could do no more harm, you know I hate to keep things in cages, even him" Treebeard said, as the hobbits covered their mouth from gasps, how could he let Saruman go?
"He crawled towards the woods, were last of his minions greeted him." Treebeard said and
furrowed his eyebrow thoughtfully as he saw panic flicker across Feavair's face, Frodo
caught her sudden intake of breath and meet her gaze. Could they both be thinking the same thing, could Laivindur still do harm?
"Well then, the spider may still crawl and there is no more to be said. But the Tower of
Orthanc now goes back to the King, to whom it belongs, though maybe he do not need it"
Gandalf sighed.
"That we will se later" said Aragorn "But I will give to the Ents all this valley to do with as they will, as long as they keep watch upon the tower and see that none may enter without my leave"
"I ordered Saruman to lock it and give me the keys, Quickbeam have them" Treebeard said.
Like a tree in the wind, Quickbeam bended and handed to Aragorn, two great black keys joined on a ring of steel.
"Now I thank you once more" said Aragorn " and I bid you Farwell. May your forest grown again in peace. When this valley is filled, there is room to spare west of the mountains, where you once walked"
"Hm....this forest may once again blossom" Treebeard homed.
The leaves of the trees had continued to grow as they talked, and they now watched in awe as
the brown, mud filled earth sprung with grass, moss and flowers of all colours. Life grew
from the earth with grate haste, as if they wanted to make up for their lost time. The sun
shone down on the vegetation that stretched their arms to praise the warmth. Suddenly a dark shadow fell over them, and they all look up to see a large black cloud appear.
Then they heard the sound of hundredths of singing birds and flapping of eager wings as the
sky spread and the birds flew down to settled among the trees. Treebeard started laughing, and it sounded like great iron doors closing in a deep dungeon, at the shocked and surprised look on everybody faces.
"I am forgetting my manners. Will you stay and rest a while, the forest is not so gloomy
anymore, and maybe some will be happy to pass through Fangorn Forest and so shorten their
road home?" He said after he was finished laughing and looked at Galadriel and Celebron.
But, all said that they must take their leave and depart either south or west. All save for
Feavair, Legolas and Gimli. They looked at the rest of the Fellowship and Legolas said.
" I fear no words have to come my father, and I do not wish for him to grieve for me while I
still walk this earth" and Feavair nodded, there was nothing more she wanted, then to go home.
And so, at last the true ending of the Fellowship of the Ring came.
None of the hobbits wanted to let Feavair go, and before they let her leave, she had to promise to come and visit the Shire soon.
"I hope that ere long you will return to my land, with the help you have promised" Aragorn
said and shook their hands.
"We will come, if our lords allow it," said Gimli. "Well, farewell, my hobbits. You should
come safe to your own homes now, and I shall not be kept awake to fear your peril. Hammer and thong, smoking, smoking!" he muttered mostly to him self, while Merry, and Pippin laughed.
"We shall send word when we may, and some of us may yet meet at times; but I fear that we
shall not all be gathered ever again" Gandalf said.
Then Treebeard said farewell to each of them in turn, and he bower three times slowly and
with great reverence to Celeborn and Galadriel. "Stock and stone, it is long since we met.
And I do not think we shall meet again. The world is changing, I smell it in the air, I feel
it in the water and I feel in the earth" he paused and looked at Feavair and continued.
"There is a stirring in the earth, all what must be done, is still not finished"
And Celeborn said " I am not sure, Eldest. I believe the task is done"
Feavair cast a glance in the direction of Mordor, so did Legolas. They both remembered the remains of the dragon they had found. Could the fire serpents still be lurking among the shadows. "No, it is not" Feavair muttered, so nobody else heard it.
Then he waved his great hand to all the company and went off into the trees, humming between the birds.
After parting with Gimli, the two elves rode alone on the road to Mirkwood. The
forest was slowly greeting the fall and the plants were in the shades of the sunset. The
ground was dry and covered with a blanket of fallen leaves. The air was thinner and colder,
and there was a promise of winter in the clouds,
"Elrond said that many of the elves are passing over to the Sea to the Grey Heavens" Feavair
spoke as her horse waded through the sea of leaves.
"Yes I know. Father said that many of his household has also asked to leave," he
answered calmly.
"Why is that so?" she asked. Legolas looked up at the darkening sky and was quiet for some
time, before he answered.
"Have you noticed that each night, some stars fall from the sky? Perhaps they are afraid
that one day, the sky will be all together black," he said.
"I have seen the darkness, and even though it scares me, I am not afraid. There is still
much good in this land, or else men would not die for it" she said, feeling more confident then she was.
"You are the daughter of the Dark Lord. No ship will carry you across the sea""We shall fight for this land as well, even thought it might mean fighting a long battle"
"I believed that all I wanted was the peace they offered me in FeaTaur, turning it down was
hard" she paused and stroked the mane of her mare "but that is what living is all about getting through the struggles, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it"
And before them rose the great house of Lord Thranduil, they stopped and watched the green
and silver banners sway in the autumn breeze and saw the million of lights in the windows,
and on the trail leading up to the front door. Feavair was about to continue riding, when
Legolas stopped her.
"I have something for you" he said, and then slid down his horse. Frowning, Feavair did the
same. Legolas took something off his neck and then held it up for her to see. On the chain
were two golden rings, clad with twirling leaves.
"My ring...." she said, and he nodded. Then opened the chain took the ring off and then
placed it on her finger, as he had done all those years ago when they wed under the clear
skies. She then took his ring and slid his ring on his finger once again, and then he lazed
their fingers together. For a moment, they stood in silence, staring at each other, the
warmth from their touches settling in their hearts.
Then she whispered the gentle words of love, before he gently placed the palm of his hand
on her cheek and with his thumb wiped away a strain of hair and repeated them. Then he stared into her, crystal green eyes of his lover before he placed a kiss on her pale red lips.
The kiss was only broken, by a squeal of delight, from one of the watchmen who had come to
investigate what kind of strange people was kissing on the king's porch. Neither Feavair nor Legolas could not do anything but laugh. Two guards stared at them stunned, before they started shouting and jumping up and down.
Soon other guards came rushing, wondering what was wrong, thinking it was perhaps an attack. Then roars of cheers, more laughter and celebration fled to towards the king's chamber, where he sat in the darkness. As he heard the laughter, he rose slowly from his throne, wondering what could cause such a racked in the stillness of his night and grieving.
Then he saw that his son, Legolas, had returned and King Thranduil,
did not know what to do, but he stepped outside and joined in the celebration.
And so followed nothing but times of happiness for the Fellowship as they each
settled down in their homes and their routines again. Sometimes they wondered if everything
had just been a fairytale and they had to check their old scars to make sure it was true.
The King Elessar and his Queen ruled the peaceful kingdom in many months and the months that followed was called the Calm. There was no news from the Shadow Land, say for a few
fledging orcs and goblins that roamed the mountains.
But Feavair never forgot Treebeard's words, that something was not yet done, she could still
feel the cold wind sneak up her back, and in her sleep she was plagued by haunting imagines
and memory of pain.
It was no more then a few tender years later that one of the guards at the Black Gate, arrived at Minas Tirith. His face was nothing more then a reflection of horror and dread as he
gasped out what he had witnessed to the stunned king.
"Smoke.... smoke is rising from Mordor!"
FINISHED.
Thank you for reading, please review.
A/N: That was the last chapter, defiantly.
Watch out for the sequel: Elves Prayer.