Chapter Two: Reaching the Dock
Disclaimer: I own – drum roll please – nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing.
"That was the last time I shall ever see the Shire. How ironic it is that it has never been more beautiful. How ironic that I should have to leave now, as my friends are just starting to live their lives again."
Frodo closed the door behind him. His walk had lasted a long time. He ventured farther than he had ever done before, and it was just before dark as he entered Bag End. "I am glad, now, that Gandalf is coming. I do not think I would have the strength to leave on my own."
He walked around Bag End, collecting the things he could not bear to leave behind. He placed them in the bundle by the door that he had prepared weeks ago. His cloak put on, and his walking stick waiting for him, he sat down by the fire in the sitting room to wait. "Bilbo once told me his part in this tale would end... That each of us must come and go in the telling. Bilbo's story was now over. There would be no more journeys for him, save one. I supposed my part, too, has ended. I must go with him, and those who must continue the tale will carry on where we left off."
"Tell me again, lad, where are we going?"
Inside the carriage, Frodo sat next to his aged uncle. Gandalf had come, soon after dark, to start the journey to the shore. "To the harbour, Bilbo. The Elves have accorded you a special honour, a place on the last ship to leave Middle-Earth." "And I shall go with you, away from our home."
"Frodo, any chance of seeing that old ring of mine again? The one I gave you..."
Frodo sat silently for a moment. "How shall I remind you of that evil ring that I destroyed? That ring that is making me leave?"
"Sorry, uncle... I'm afraid I lost it."
"Oh... pity... Should like to have hold it one last time." Bilbo nodded off, and Frodo was left to his thoughts. "Yes, I lost that ring. But with it, I lost something else. Perhaps I shall find what I lost across that horizon."
A gull cried in the distance. As Frodo looked out of the carriage, he could see a lone, grey ship gently rocking by the dock.
"A journey to end all journeys."
::twitch::
Yes, short, I know, and I'm extremely sorry.
Better? Worse? Should it burn?