A/N: Chantelli - Whoever said I was planning to make Frodo normal at all?
::laughs evilly:: this story has still got a long way to go for good or ill
it may turn out. The 'happily ever after' ending is not written in stone ya
know. Normal! ::laughs again:: That's funny. I am guarenteeing nothing! I
shan't give away the ending. Also I'm sorry that the link did not work I
shall post it in my bio so that you may see.
The Fellowship spent the rest of the day in that glade without so much as a complaint from Merry or Pippin about food and drink. They watched the sunset and the sky grow dark and Legolas named the stars as they came out. Aragorn sang softly but no one was in true mood for merriment. It would be often that they urged Sam for one of his own songs like the time he had made up the one about the troll. No one really pushed Sam to do anything. He harkened Aragorn's singing and tried to memorize the names of some stars and constellations.
Pippin and Merry snuffed out their pipes long ago and curled up next to eachother for warmth. Gandalf smiled as he looked upon them under the starlight as it lit their pale faces with a soft glow. "They look as the young elves before their wakening in Arda." Legolas smiled at this though he had been listening to Sam recite the stars he was just taught. Aragorn halted in his song about an elven maiden fair. He looked upon Merry and Pippin and smiled.
"I have grown to love these hobbits in such a short time. These four especially. I will take them to bed." He gathered up Merry and Pippin and they sighed contentedly resting their heads on his shoulders. He strode away with a smooth gait as not to rattle them from their dreams. Gimli slowly followed bidding the rest a good night and a welcoming morn. Sam and Legolas had not been listening though Gandalf nodded and wished him dreams of deep mines laden with jewels fair.
"Nay might I dream of better times for our young hobbits," said the dwarf and he turned and left.
Frodo had fallen asleep long ago, curled up like a faithful dog by Sam's feet. Pippin had not said it, but he remembered the night they met Gildor, Sam had done the same to Frodo. His breath hitching was the only sign he gave of the surfacing of the memory. He then drifted into sleep and dreamt of Gildor singing and walking under the stars with his cousin and Samwise.
Frodo murmurred incoherently in his sleep, no words could be made of his uneasy sounds and his body rose and fell unsteadily. Gandalf tried to push his mind into more peaceful dreams but the hobbit seemed blocked off from all of Gandalf's magic. He thought about this oddly. "Why is his mind blocked from mine? There is a wall." Gandalf did not voice these thoughts openly but kept them in his memory for more studying when he was alone.
The simple hobbit whimpered and curled tighter into himself brushing himself against Sam's feet for comfort. He sighed feeling the warmth of his protector and drifted deeper into abyss.
~~~
"Helluin..." Sam's tired eyes moved across the sky slowly. He felt very weary and his limbs lethargic. His pipe hung from the corner of his mouth as he mumbled the names he had memorized. Every so often his eyes would snap shut and he would pry them halfway open again to continue. "Borgil..." he yawned, "Nénar... " He had dozed by now and Legolas smiled as he ran his slender hand through the hobbit's curls soothingly.
Gandalf approached and cradled Frodo gently. The little hobbit furrowed his brow sensing that he was being taken away from his protector. Gandalf pressed a hand to his brow like a worried mother checking her child's temperature. "Dear friend, you have done so much for us, and you lost so much, still must you suffer?" Frodo turned his face away and whimperred.
Legolas lifted Sam and the gardener murmurred, "Valacirca... Remmirath..."
Legolas smiled, "I have been meaning to speak with you, Gandalf. Might we walk a while after we put these dear ones to bed."
"But of course, Legolas, I have had quite a bit on my mind as well."
The two figures moved under the stars bearing their precious burdens to the tent. When they entered they were met by a warm glow of firelight. They spied Envin slouched in a chair with a book layed upon his lap. He groaned as he slowly returned to consciousness. Legolas and Gandalf tucked Sam and Frodo gently into their quilts as Envin's eyes slid halfway open.
"What's all this?" he muttered, still half asleep. "I can bring him back... I know... I can... Just... More time..."
"A hótule asinye i meneltannar tirien," whispered Legolas and they departed silently.
The wizard and elf walked silently for a while gazing at the constellations. When they were safely on the path they dared to speak again. "That man, he is different," said Legolas.
"Envin is a young healer, skilled and very stubborn," said Gandalf gravely.
"Will you not tell him that the hobbits will be departing soon? What time he thinks he has, he does not."
"I will tell him," said Gandalf. "But I wish not for him to think his efforts are futile. He may perhaps be doing the right thing."
"Is it true? About his methods?"
"That depends on what you are asking is true. If it is that they are harmful to the hobbits then, no, I do not believe so."
"So it is true. He does cut them. I cannot see how that would ever help him," said Legolas doubtfully.
Gandalf laughed, "Yes and I could have never have seen a hobbit throwing down the reign of the dark lord Sauron that has plagued the lives in Arda for as many years as I can remember. But there you have it. I once said to Frodo that even the wisest could not see all ends. That there are things beyond yours, and even my sight."
"I trust you, Gandalf. And strangely enough, I trust that man, there is a light inside of him. I pray that it is in more than just him."
"There is a great light inside so very many souls. It is nothing to make light of. I have not yet seen darkness that could entirely consume it. Even Frodo may have hope."
"Gandalf," Legolas began slowly, "That brings me to what troubles me. When I looked at Frodo I saw a hole in him. There is a part of him that is gone."
"I know, Legolas. The Ring wound around him tightly. It wove within the very fibers of his soul and became an extension of him. I would not be surprised if during that last leg of the quest there was less of Frodo inside that body than the monster the Ring created."
"How horrid for Sam!" Legolas cried with dismay.
"For them both! For I believe Frodo knew well what he was becoming and what he was doing to Sam. He was wishing for death on that mountain. Sometimes I wonder if I should have left him. I will tell you, Legolas, that when I picked up their bodies I took Sam's first."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Through the filth and smoke of the Mordor sky Gandalf spied the two figures splayed upon the landscape. Flame surged down the sides of the mountain as embers filled the sky with the red fury of the mountain. Gandalf sheilded himself with his staff as he descended upon Gwahir. As they came into closer view he saw Sam slump over as he finally gave up the fight. He still leaned protectively over his master who had fallen into darkness in Sam's lap. Gandalf looked upon them with such pity that his ancient heart was rent.
"Take them, Gandalf," cried Gwahir above the turmoil and destruction. "The fire nears with speed. I will have not time to get us to safety."
Gandalf leaned over and took Sam. As he lifted him from under Frodo, the Ringbearer rose and fell with a hallow thud. Gandalf winced at the sound and how Frodo's limp body did not even react to the harsh fall. Sam was heavy with dead weight, limp and responded to nothing. Gandalf shook him roughly but Sam remained still, his eyes drooping and lined with exhaustion and his skin parched from dehydration. Gandalf could feel the little hobbit's ribcage as he placed him on Gwahir. He saw that Sam's breeches were completely soaked through with crimson blood and scattered with dark curls.
"Hurry Gandalf!" cried the eagal.
The wizard looked upon Frodo's broken features with pity welling inside of him. His eyes pierced the little body only to see that there was nothing left. The soul had either fled or fallen deep, even deeper than the wizard's eye could see. There was no hope for Frodo. He was dead and if not his wound would sooner kill him than the very fires rushing to his little body. Perhaps this was best. All Frodo had was a broken life to return to. He would no longer be the same if he survived at all.
"Alright, Gwahir!" he cried, "We will go!"
"The hobbit!" said the eagle impatiently seeing that his friend had left a body.
"He is dead," whispered Gandalf. Gwahir was about to rise when there came a groan from Sam.
"I ain't gonna let nothing happen, Mr. Frodo. We'll be back in the Shire soon, just please try an' take another step. I know it's hard... I know it..." his voice faded with a final note, "...hurts..."
Gandalf felt his heart twist as the small hobbit murmurred in his sleep. He looked once more upon Frodo and felt tears in his eyes."Wait!" Gandalf cried as Gwahir began to rise. "This one will surely die if I leave him." He bent and lifted Frodo as the fire touched his toes and burned the fur off of his feet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Legolas stopped dead in the road. "You were going to... going to...?"
"Yes," sighed Gandalf. "And perhaps it would have been a better fate. Ignorrance is the cruelest punishment that can be dealt. Even Melkor did not perfect such forms of punishment. This is the last thing Frodo deserves."
"Oh Gandalf," Legolas ran a hand over his eyes. "I thought I could weep no more tears and yet more come. I would rather die than see Frodo like this!"
Gandalf nodded, "There is a wall. I could feel it. Something is stopping him, from seeing all that he should. But even I could not go so deeply."
"I saw it too, Gandalf. I also heard something. Weeping. He was crying. Which reminds me of my question. If the Ring became a part of him. If it took hold onto a part of his soul and therefore was able to gain form. What was It? What did it become?"
"I am not sure. I think he became two people like Smeagol. There was a Gollum in Frodo, when the Ring died so did Gollum, it dragged Frodo down with it."
"No!" cried Legolas. "It hid him away! It must have known and caged him in!"
Gandalf nodded in understanding, "The Ring's final revenge."
"Then there is still hope!" cried Legolas with great joy. "Yé! Utúvienyes!"
"Yes, Legolas," Gandalf smiled. "It seems you have."
A/N: "Yé! Utúvienyes!" literally translates to "Horray! I have found it!" But it can be understood as "Horray! I have found the truth!" Also "A hótule asinye i meneltannar tirien." Is translated to "Come outside with me and look at the constellations."
The Fellowship spent the rest of the day in that glade without so much as a complaint from Merry or Pippin about food and drink. They watched the sunset and the sky grow dark and Legolas named the stars as they came out. Aragorn sang softly but no one was in true mood for merriment. It would be often that they urged Sam for one of his own songs like the time he had made up the one about the troll. No one really pushed Sam to do anything. He harkened Aragorn's singing and tried to memorize the names of some stars and constellations.
Pippin and Merry snuffed out their pipes long ago and curled up next to eachother for warmth. Gandalf smiled as he looked upon them under the starlight as it lit their pale faces with a soft glow. "They look as the young elves before their wakening in Arda." Legolas smiled at this though he had been listening to Sam recite the stars he was just taught. Aragorn halted in his song about an elven maiden fair. He looked upon Merry and Pippin and smiled.
"I have grown to love these hobbits in such a short time. These four especially. I will take them to bed." He gathered up Merry and Pippin and they sighed contentedly resting their heads on his shoulders. He strode away with a smooth gait as not to rattle them from their dreams. Gimli slowly followed bidding the rest a good night and a welcoming morn. Sam and Legolas had not been listening though Gandalf nodded and wished him dreams of deep mines laden with jewels fair.
"Nay might I dream of better times for our young hobbits," said the dwarf and he turned and left.
Frodo had fallen asleep long ago, curled up like a faithful dog by Sam's feet. Pippin had not said it, but he remembered the night they met Gildor, Sam had done the same to Frodo. His breath hitching was the only sign he gave of the surfacing of the memory. He then drifted into sleep and dreamt of Gildor singing and walking under the stars with his cousin and Samwise.
Frodo murmurred incoherently in his sleep, no words could be made of his uneasy sounds and his body rose and fell unsteadily. Gandalf tried to push his mind into more peaceful dreams but the hobbit seemed blocked off from all of Gandalf's magic. He thought about this oddly. "Why is his mind blocked from mine? There is a wall." Gandalf did not voice these thoughts openly but kept them in his memory for more studying when he was alone.
The simple hobbit whimpered and curled tighter into himself brushing himself against Sam's feet for comfort. He sighed feeling the warmth of his protector and drifted deeper into abyss.
~~~
"Helluin..." Sam's tired eyes moved across the sky slowly. He felt very weary and his limbs lethargic. His pipe hung from the corner of his mouth as he mumbled the names he had memorized. Every so often his eyes would snap shut and he would pry them halfway open again to continue. "Borgil..." he yawned, "Nénar... " He had dozed by now and Legolas smiled as he ran his slender hand through the hobbit's curls soothingly.
Gandalf approached and cradled Frodo gently. The little hobbit furrowed his brow sensing that he was being taken away from his protector. Gandalf pressed a hand to his brow like a worried mother checking her child's temperature. "Dear friend, you have done so much for us, and you lost so much, still must you suffer?" Frodo turned his face away and whimperred.
Legolas lifted Sam and the gardener murmurred, "Valacirca... Remmirath..."
Legolas smiled, "I have been meaning to speak with you, Gandalf. Might we walk a while after we put these dear ones to bed."
"But of course, Legolas, I have had quite a bit on my mind as well."
The two figures moved under the stars bearing their precious burdens to the tent. When they entered they were met by a warm glow of firelight. They spied Envin slouched in a chair with a book layed upon his lap. He groaned as he slowly returned to consciousness. Legolas and Gandalf tucked Sam and Frodo gently into their quilts as Envin's eyes slid halfway open.
"What's all this?" he muttered, still half asleep. "I can bring him back... I know... I can... Just... More time..."
"A hótule asinye i meneltannar tirien," whispered Legolas and they departed silently.
The wizard and elf walked silently for a while gazing at the constellations. When they were safely on the path they dared to speak again. "That man, he is different," said Legolas.
"Envin is a young healer, skilled and very stubborn," said Gandalf gravely.
"Will you not tell him that the hobbits will be departing soon? What time he thinks he has, he does not."
"I will tell him," said Gandalf. "But I wish not for him to think his efforts are futile. He may perhaps be doing the right thing."
"Is it true? About his methods?"
"That depends on what you are asking is true. If it is that they are harmful to the hobbits then, no, I do not believe so."
"So it is true. He does cut them. I cannot see how that would ever help him," said Legolas doubtfully.
Gandalf laughed, "Yes and I could have never have seen a hobbit throwing down the reign of the dark lord Sauron that has plagued the lives in Arda for as many years as I can remember. But there you have it. I once said to Frodo that even the wisest could not see all ends. That there are things beyond yours, and even my sight."
"I trust you, Gandalf. And strangely enough, I trust that man, there is a light inside of him. I pray that it is in more than just him."
"There is a great light inside so very many souls. It is nothing to make light of. I have not yet seen darkness that could entirely consume it. Even Frodo may have hope."
"Gandalf," Legolas began slowly, "That brings me to what troubles me. When I looked at Frodo I saw a hole in him. There is a part of him that is gone."
"I know, Legolas. The Ring wound around him tightly. It wove within the very fibers of his soul and became an extension of him. I would not be surprised if during that last leg of the quest there was less of Frodo inside that body than the monster the Ring created."
"How horrid for Sam!" Legolas cried with dismay.
"For them both! For I believe Frodo knew well what he was becoming and what he was doing to Sam. He was wishing for death on that mountain. Sometimes I wonder if I should have left him. I will tell you, Legolas, that when I picked up their bodies I took Sam's first."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Through the filth and smoke of the Mordor sky Gandalf spied the two figures splayed upon the landscape. Flame surged down the sides of the mountain as embers filled the sky with the red fury of the mountain. Gandalf sheilded himself with his staff as he descended upon Gwahir. As they came into closer view he saw Sam slump over as he finally gave up the fight. He still leaned protectively over his master who had fallen into darkness in Sam's lap. Gandalf looked upon them with such pity that his ancient heart was rent.
"Take them, Gandalf," cried Gwahir above the turmoil and destruction. "The fire nears with speed. I will have not time to get us to safety."
Gandalf leaned over and took Sam. As he lifted him from under Frodo, the Ringbearer rose and fell with a hallow thud. Gandalf winced at the sound and how Frodo's limp body did not even react to the harsh fall. Sam was heavy with dead weight, limp and responded to nothing. Gandalf shook him roughly but Sam remained still, his eyes drooping and lined with exhaustion and his skin parched from dehydration. Gandalf could feel the little hobbit's ribcage as he placed him on Gwahir. He saw that Sam's breeches were completely soaked through with crimson blood and scattered with dark curls.
"Hurry Gandalf!" cried the eagal.
The wizard looked upon Frodo's broken features with pity welling inside of him. His eyes pierced the little body only to see that there was nothing left. The soul had either fled or fallen deep, even deeper than the wizard's eye could see. There was no hope for Frodo. He was dead and if not his wound would sooner kill him than the very fires rushing to his little body. Perhaps this was best. All Frodo had was a broken life to return to. He would no longer be the same if he survived at all.
"Alright, Gwahir!" he cried, "We will go!"
"The hobbit!" said the eagle impatiently seeing that his friend had left a body.
"He is dead," whispered Gandalf. Gwahir was about to rise when there came a groan from Sam.
"I ain't gonna let nothing happen, Mr. Frodo. We'll be back in the Shire soon, just please try an' take another step. I know it's hard... I know it..." his voice faded with a final note, "...hurts..."
Gandalf felt his heart twist as the small hobbit murmurred in his sleep. He looked once more upon Frodo and felt tears in his eyes."Wait!" Gandalf cried as Gwahir began to rise. "This one will surely die if I leave him." He bent and lifted Frodo as the fire touched his toes and burned the fur off of his feet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Legolas stopped dead in the road. "You were going to... going to...?"
"Yes," sighed Gandalf. "And perhaps it would have been a better fate. Ignorrance is the cruelest punishment that can be dealt. Even Melkor did not perfect such forms of punishment. This is the last thing Frodo deserves."
"Oh Gandalf," Legolas ran a hand over his eyes. "I thought I could weep no more tears and yet more come. I would rather die than see Frodo like this!"
Gandalf nodded, "There is a wall. I could feel it. Something is stopping him, from seeing all that he should. But even I could not go so deeply."
"I saw it too, Gandalf. I also heard something. Weeping. He was crying. Which reminds me of my question. If the Ring became a part of him. If it took hold onto a part of his soul and therefore was able to gain form. What was It? What did it become?"
"I am not sure. I think he became two people like Smeagol. There was a Gollum in Frodo, when the Ring died so did Gollum, it dragged Frodo down with it."
"No!" cried Legolas. "It hid him away! It must have known and caged him in!"
Gandalf nodded in understanding, "The Ring's final revenge."
"Then there is still hope!" cried Legolas with great joy. "Yé! Utúvienyes!"
"Yes, Legolas," Gandalf smiled. "It seems you have."
A/N: "Yé! Utúvienyes!" literally translates to "Horray! I have found it!" But it can be understood as "Horray! I have found the truth!" Also "A hótule asinye i meneltannar tirien." Is translated to "Come outside with me and look at the constellations."