Chapter 27 --- Aragorn's Plight
"Now the guests were ready, and they drank from the stirrup-cup, and with great praise and friendship they departed, and came at length to Helm's Deep, and there they rested two days." --- The Return of the King, Many Partings
~~~
The Fellowship sat round the warmth of a fire and joyful was their speech and soft were their words of all that was and all that may be, without mention of pain of war. Merry and Pippin spoke so long of the Shire that at length Gimli offered to bound and gag the chattering hobbits before they wasted all the air. Sam laughed as the hours grew dark and Pippin yet again interrupted Legolas with a memory that had just surfaced about an incident at the Green Dragon.
"Master Pippin! I did not know our Shire had been round long enough for all these tales o' yours to have happened!" laughed Sam.
Gandalf clenched his pipe in his teeth. "For a head that seemed so empty, Peregrin Took, I know now what nonsense it has been stuffed with for it not to have allowed in the simplest of orders."
Merry laughed loudly at this. "Oh Gandalf your words ring truth!"
Pippin's face went from aghast to crimson until his eyes narrowed and glared at Merry who was making such a raucous at his side. Pippin reached for the small pale near the fire and dumped the cool water over his cousin's head. "I'll have at you, you scoundrel of a Brandybuck! For my honor and pride!" The slender and young Peregrin leapt on his cousin who quickly subdued him all the while laughing and choking.
Gandalf shook his head and Aragorn smiled affectionately. "I suppose we must talk late into the night so we stay awake long enough to be sure the fire goes out, since we have no means of stoking it."
Gimli chuckled, then turned to Legolas. "I suppose now, friend elf, would be a good time to repay your promise."
"Alas my fate is grim!" lamented the elf.
"Dare you deny the wonder and beauty of the caves twice!? Then you must repay it thrice!" Gimli growled.
"No no!" cried Legolas, laughing lightly. "Pray save me someone!" Legolas looked to Aragorn pleadingly with a smile gracing his features.
"I'm afraid your doom is beyond my means of preventing. I shall say my farewells now and think well of you often. Alas the loss of Legolas Greenleaf! I shall weep late and long! A dear friend was he! Lost to the glittering caves of Helm's Deep!" Aragorn threw a hand to his heart and laughed.
"My king has forsaken me!" cried Legolas as Gimli lead him away grumbling.
Sam laid a hand on Frodo's shoulder as it always seemed to ease his master's fright. Frodo sat at Sam's feet looking into the fire and paying no heed to the conversations that were being exchanged over his head. Frodo's frame relaxed under the kind hand of Samwise and he rested his head on Sam's knee, staring deeply into the fire.
Aragorn closed his lips around his pipe thinking long on many matters those old and those new that all still pressed his mind. He cared little for the matters that now pressed him as king but would not have decided to set them aside if it were not for Frodo. His thoughts dwelt long as he gazed at the simple hobbit under his keen grey eyes. Frodo seemed as he was when he was laid down upon the field by the Eagle that bore him from the darkness of that forsaken land.
~~~
Aragorn's eyes had never felt so eased, nor his heart so aflutter, when he saw the forms in the distance. He sprang forward and his long legs bore him swiftly up the hill as Frodo's limp figure was laid upon the earth. But Aragorn threw himself back a step when his eyes beheld the hobbit he had once known, so pale and gaunt and robed in filth. But what frightened the man and made his face grow pale was the eyes, open and unseeing. Gandalf was dismounting Gwahir but Aragorn knew nothing beyond the sight before him. His heart fell in misery as he dropped to his knees before the hobbit he assumed dead. Tears wet his cheeks and he placed a hand upon the dirty brow and ran his fingers gently over the open eyes. But before he let them fall closed he felt a flutter within.
Aragorn's tear filled eyes soon cleared and he pressed his palm upon Frodo's brow. Alive! He gathered the broken form in his arms and wept Frodo's name into the hobbit's ear but there was no response. He looked once again into the unseeing eyes. But why? This was no sleep nor swoon. Nor was this death or madness. Aragorn pressed his lips to the filthy brow and willed the spirit within the hobbit to give him some answer. And there was nothing! Distantly Aragorn could hear Gandalf crying out to him but he was deaf to it. Aragorn's mind traveled deeper into that of the hobbit and all he could see was darkness, and all he could feel was burning, and all he could hear was the distant roar of chaotic murmurs and hateful cries... condemning... and cursing... bringing down a terrible doom! Aragorn thought he could not bear much more and yet he dared not give up. He traveled deeper and felt that he walked in circles, aimless and hopeless. He thought he might go mad... only darkness and foul words in a foul tongue willing one to madness... or just quickening one to it. The man did not heed any thoughts of turning back. He would go as deep as he must, he would stay as long as he must, he would bear the pain and madness until he found Frodo. This and so much more he owed to the brave hobbit. He would have gone on till death but he was grabbed by a rough hand and a booming voice filled the world. A command from the white wizard. Aragorn was dragged reluctantly back. But not without hearing a shrill shriek from within Frodo in response to Gandalf's voice. Aragorn fought Gandalf to search for the owner of the shriek but he was no match for the white wizard.
Frodo was stumbling wearily through the thick land of mist. His faltering feet found no purchase and every step sent his senses lurching as if he were about to plunge. He was slouched, nearly broken by aimlessness. He tottered and swayed, the semblance of his true self flickering like a candle in a damp cave. Mist sought his sight, veiling it yet he felt a great trembling disturbance. There was a change in the maddening voices though he could barely sense it, long had they been driving him to and fro from sanity. Yet they shifted like great gales of wind from east to west. Someone was seeking him, nearing him. He had not the time to clear his sight before he was utterly blinded by a howling monstrous sound. Sound of great power that sought to bend and break all that held him within, yet he too would be broken. He was cast down instantly and shrieked shrilly for he sensed his own destruction nearing. He could not bear such power any longer.
Once Gandalf had secured Aragorn he wrenched them both from Frodo's mind before the hobbit was utterly broken. As the man's eyes were clearing Gandalf was already blinking and soon enough glaring down at a trembling Aragorn. "Foolish, foolish man! You would have been lost as well! The madness that has claimed Frodo would have also claimed you!" roared the wizard.
"No!" cried Aragorn as he opened his eyes to the great shock of the real world. His senses that had seemed to go ages in emptiness were now filled and he thought he might swoon, but lo! his will remained for the moment. "I could have found him! I heard him!" Aragorn was about to turn to the wizard and strike him and had every intention to until he noticed the hobbit thrashing in his arms.
The blank eyes were wide and full of fear yet still unseeing. He fought and thrashed with all his remaining strength so terribly weak it was that Aragorn had nearly failed to notice. But the small chest heaved as if the heart behind would burst and the limbs flailed in search of some hold. There were broken shrieks so faint and hopeless, his gasping breath rasped and choked him. But time drained him and his limbs stilled and the only movement was the heaving of his frail chest and the curling of his lips in failed attempts to scream with his broken voice.
"Oh Frodo!" Aragorn cradled him and wept. "What has befallen you? For this I have never seen! Death yet agony! Madness yet stillness! Silence yet roaring!"
Frodo was slowly stilling in Aragorn's arms his eyes staring blankly and empty and what darkness they saw Aragorn knew not. Now turned to Gandalf, Aragorn was pleading with the wizard for aid or answers. "I know not, Aragorn, whither the Ring has banished Frodo nor what fate the Dark Lord has last reaped upon the Ringbearer in his rage and desire for vengeance."
Aragorn did not seem to understand at first. He gaped at Gandalf for a long while and he felt his mind desperately grasping at every thought and sense. He shook his head. "I am sorry Gandalf. I feel... lost. I have no words to fit it."
"The doom of Frodo would take a will stronger than that of Aragorn's to break." Gandalf narrowed his eyes and they clouded for a moment. Frodo's body twitched violently in Aragorn's arms and then stilled again. Gandalf's eyes cleared, "I have not the skills to soothe him. As you have seen, when I entered to save you from the same doom Frodo reacted with great panic. Panic that I fear may kill him if he must perceive a presence as overbearing as that of the white wizard's let alone hear my voice."
Aragorn nodded blankly then shook his head. "And, and Sam. What of Sam?"
"He is yonder, and in much better states than his master. May I pay for whatever harm I have brought upon these noble hobbits!" With that Gandalf turned bitterly and took up Sam and Aragorn gathered Frodo laying another kiss upon his brow.
"I and all the people of Middle-Earth owe our lives to you, Frodo."
~~~
Aragorn's eyes cleared. Pippin was chattering again and Sam was smiling lightly. Merry was dozing from the ale he had imbibed and Gimli and Legolas were just returning. Gandalf's eyes were resting on him but they soon darted towards the elf and dwarf as they entered the circle again.
"What of the caves, Legolas?" said Gandalf. "I feared Gimli would have returned without you, leaving you to the fate you so feared."
Legolas seemed somber and remained silent as he sat, his eyes distant and his features peaceful. Gimli nodded approval and he too seemed thoughtful.
"Well answer us, Legolas!" laughed Pippin. "Tell us of your survival against all odds!"
The elf turned to Pippin and smiled and then to Gandalf he said, "I will say only this. Gimli alone can find fit words for the wonders in those caves and never before has a dwarf claimed victory over an elf in a contest of words."
Aragorn smiled at Legolas's words but his eyes did no leave Frodo who seemed to be the lifeless doll that he was before Elrond salvaged some small remains of the hobbit. Alas! Not enough to make him the Frodo that he once was. A warm glow framed his curls and lit his pale and placid face, shining off of his clear and distant eyes. His shaking hand rose and sought Sam's, which tightened on his shoulder to comfort. The diminishing flames seemed to carry Frodo's gaze into oblivion with them.
Gimli was speaking in words rich and fair to describe the caves and Sam sat in wonder. "I wish I could have gone, sir. It sounds right wondrous!" Gimli smiled at Samwise and nodded as he spoke. The glitter of the caves seemed to linger in the words of Gimli and it distracted the company from the flickering fire.
Frodo closed his eyes tight and started pressing his head into Sam's knee whimpering loudly. Aragorn stood, "It seems, friends, that we should go to our dreams now lest we lose all of tomorrow's light in dosing."
Gandalf agreed and lead Pippin and a swaying Merry to their beds. Gimli and Legolas took their leave and the elf reminded Gimli of his promise to even their deal the next day under the trees of Fangorn.
Aragorn placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and offered to take them to their beds. The two helped Frodo to his feet who seemed distracted that night and very concerned with the presence of Sam. He leaned heavily on the gardener and Aragorn was glad to be of help.
Aragorn bid them sleep well and offered to stay a while until they were peaceful in dreams but Sam declined. "Tomorrow we go to Isengard and then depart, Samwise."
"Aye, sir. Thank you for all you've done for him, Strider. I should have never doubted you, sir, begging your pardon that I did but I was worried for my master's well being and all..."
"I do not begrudge you for trying to protect your master, Sam!" chuckled Aragorn. "I admire you for your courage and loyalty and I now know why you wish to protect him so much. Frodo, though I knew him short and may hap never see his return, I know this: He was a good hobbit, brave and wise, he may be so again some day if you keep hope."
Sam bowed his head. "I'll thank you then, sir, on the 'count of Mr. Frodo. He'd be mighty obliged to hear you speaking of him so, but right you are! Always too modest he was but he knew his capabilities so to speak. Oft there was a rare occasion he doubted himself afore, I don't know why he started to... in the end."
Aragorn knelt before Sam and laid a hand upon his shoulder. "In the face of darkness even the strongest and the wisest quail before the end. If it brings you any comfort, even Aragorn and Gandalf held doubt in their hearts for a time... when the battle seemed darkest."
Sam sniffed slightly before he was able to look Aragorn in the eye again. "Right sir. Goodbye then."
"Farewells are for partings and sweet dreams are for sleeping. Let not your sorrow weigh on you this night. It is a fair night and bids a fairer day."
"Good night then, sir."
~~~
A/N: Sorry for the delay. It seems fanfiction.net has been having quite a few problems with reviews and I happened to receive only one of your reviews about eighty times a day. If there are any responses to reviews I have left out I am sorry but I did not receive them yet. Also the site has been having problems logging me in which is why the update took so long. I do hope this does not happen again.
Cstini – So many questions so little time. I must know your review by heart now, after all the times I've gotten it! I hope the wait was not too long. Damn you fanfiction.net! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm glad you think the story is becoming more complete, I think so too ^^.
ShireElf - ::grins at hopeful look:: readers are so cute when their hopeful... eh em anyway sorry for the rather long wait. Fanfiction.net has been a little iffy lately. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Laurajslr – I realize that you have posted Chapter 13 but I have been waiting for ff.net to fix up their review problem before I risked losing another. I will give you a very very long review for it no need to worry. I'm glad you liked the Merry and Eowyn interaction. Just me having a bit of fun. I do so love the characters Tolkien has created so much. Also I wanted her to bring some peace into the hobbits' hearts. I've been tormenting them too much lately and there's more to come!
FrodoBaggins87 – I'm glad we have the same taste in stories here. There is too much tripe on this page for one Tolkien fan such as myself to bear so I try to counteract the evil by rewarding the good. Alas it does little for my malcontent. I hope you enjoy my little fic though it is hardly what Tolkien would do to his characters I've gone too far with the plotline now.
Bookworm2000 – As do I! But it is up to Sam now. He possesses the jewel and will be given the choice to send his master West when the time comes. Now the question is if there is enough time between now and then to get the real Frodo back!
Endymion2 – Ah no offense taken I look forward to the life ahead of me and if I happen to mature more than I am now all for the better! I do have quite a few paths up my sleeve. As for "silver glass". I chose it much for the reason Tolkien has chosen it for he has used it many times. I notice he often uses it to give the reader a sense of relief that he gives the character, like the heavy burden of tension being lifted off of one's chest. At least that is what I felt when he used it in some of his descriptions. It is also fair and lovely to use and simulates more of Tolkien's universe. I just better not get too used to using it. Don't want it in my original work because well... that wouldn't be very original of me would it? I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
"Now the guests were ready, and they drank from the stirrup-cup, and with great praise and friendship they departed, and came at length to Helm's Deep, and there they rested two days." --- The Return of the King, Many Partings
~~~
The Fellowship sat round the warmth of a fire and joyful was their speech and soft were their words of all that was and all that may be, without mention of pain of war. Merry and Pippin spoke so long of the Shire that at length Gimli offered to bound and gag the chattering hobbits before they wasted all the air. Sam laughed as the hours grew dark and Pippin yet again interrupted Legolas with a memory that had just surfaced about an incident at the Green Dragon.
"Master Pippin! I did not know our Shire had been round long enough for all these tales o' yours to have happened!" laughed Sam.
Gandalf clenched his pipe in his teeth. "For a head that seemed so empty, Peregrin Took, I know now what nonsense it has been stuffed with for it not to have allowed in the simplest of orders."
Merry laughed loudly at this. "Oh Gandalf your words ring truth!"
Pippin's face went from aghast to crimson until his eyes narrowed and glared at Merry who was making such a raucous at his side. Pippin reached for the small pale near the fire and dumped the cool water over his cousin's head. "I'll have at you, you scoundrel of a Brandybuck! For my honor and pride!" The slender and young Peregrin leapt on his cousin who quickly subdued him all the while laughing and choking.
Gandalf shook his head and Aragorn smiled affectionately. "I suppose we must talk late into the night so we stay awake long enough to be sure the fire goes out, since we have no means of stoking it."
Gimli chuckled, then turned to Legolas. "I suppose now, friend elf, would be a good time to repay your promise."
"Alas my fate is grim!" lamented the elf.
"Dare you deny the wonder and beauty of the caves twice!? Then you must repay it thrice!" Gimli growled.
"No no!" cried Legolas, laughing lightly. "Pray save me someone!" Legolas looked to Aragorn pleadingly with a smile gracing his features.
"I'm afraid your doom is beyond my means of preventing. I shall say my farewells now and think well of you often. Alas the loss of Legolas Greenleaf! I shall weep late and long! A dear friend was he! Lost to the glittering caves of Helm's Deep!" Aragorn threw a hand to his heart and laughed.
"My king has forsaken me!" cried Legolas as Gimli lead him away grumbling.
Sam laid a hand on Frodo's shoulder as it always seemed to ease his master's fright. Frodo sat at Sam's feet looking into the fire and paying no heed to the conversations that were being exchanged over his head. Frodo's frame relaxed under the kind hand of Samwise and he rested his head on Sam's knee, staring deeply into the fire.
Aragorn closed his lips around his pipe thinking long on many matters those old and those new that all still pressed his mind. He cared little for the matters that now pressed him as king but would not have decided to set them aside if it were not for Frodo. His thoughts dwelt long as he gazed at the simple hobbit under his keen grey eyes. Frodo seemed as he was when he was laid down upon the field by the Eagle that bore him from the darkness of that forsaken land.
~~~
Aragorn's eyes had never felt so eased, nor his heart so aflutter, when he saw the forms in the distance. He sprang forward and his long legs bore him swiftly up the hill as Frodo's limp figure was laid upon the earth. But Aragorn threw himself back a step when his eyes beheld the hobbit he had once known, so pale and gaunt and robed in filth. But what frightened the man and made his face grow pale was the eyes, open and unseeing. Gandalf was dismounting Gwahir but Aragorn knew nothing beyond the sight before him. His heart fell in misery as he dropped to his knees before the hobbit he assumed dead. Tears wet his cheeks and he placed a hand upon the dirty brow and ran his fingers gently over the open eyes. But before he let them fall closed he felt a flutter within.
Aragorn's tear filled eyes soon cleared and he pressed his palm upon Frodo's brow. Alive! He gathered the broken form in his arms and wept Frodo's name into the hobbit's ear but there was no response. He looked once again into the unseeing eyes. But why? This was no sleep nor swoon. Nor was this death or madness. Aragorn pressed his lips to the filthy brow and willed the spirit within the hobbit to give him some answer. And there was nothing! Distantly Aragorn could hear Gandalf crying out to him but he was deaf to it. Aragorn's mind traveled deeper into that of the hobbit and all he could see was darkness, and all he could feel was burning, and all he could hear was the distant roar of chaotic murmurs and hateful cries... condemning... and cursing... bringing down a terrible doom! Aragorn thought he could not bear much more and yet he dared not give up. He traveled deeper and felt that he walked in circles, aimless and hopeless. He thought he might go mad... only darkness and foul words in a foul tongue willing one to madness... or just quickening one to it. The man did not heed any thoughts of turning back. He would go as deep as he must, he would stay as long as he must, he would bear the pain and madness until he found Frodo. This and so much more he owed to the brave hobbit. He would have gone on till death but he was grabbed by a rough hand and a booming voice filled the world. A command from the white wizard. Aragorn was dragged reluctantly back. But not without hearing a shrill shriek from within Frodo in response to Gandalf's voice. Aragorn fought Gandalf to search for the owner of the shriek but he was no match for the white wizard.
Frodo was stumbling wearily through the thick land of mist. His faltering feet found no purchase and every step sent his senses lurching as if he were about to plunge. He was slouched, nearly broken by aimlessness. He tottered and swayed, the semblance of his true self flickering like a candle in a damp cave. Mist sought his sight, veiling it yet he felt a great trembling disturbance. There was a change in the maddening voices though he could barely sense it, long had they been driving him to and fro from sanity. Yet they shifted like great gales of wind from east to west. Someone was seeking him, nearing him. He had not the time to clear his sight before he was utterly blinded by a howling monstrous sound. Sound of great power that sought to bend and break all that held him within, yet he too would be broken. He was cast down instantly and shrieked shrilly for he sensed his own destruction nearing. He could not bear such power any longer.
Once Gandalf had secured Aragorn he wrenched them both from Frodo's mind before the hobbit was utterly broken. As the man's eyes were clearing Gandalf was already blinking and soon enough glaring down at a trembling Aragorn. "Foolish, foolish man! You would have been lost as well! The madness that has claimed Frodo would have also claimed you!" roared the wizard.
"No!" cried Aragorn as he opened his eyes to the great shock of the real world. His senses that had seemed to go ages in emptiness were now filled and he thought he might swoon, but lo! his will remained for the moment. "I could have found him! I heard him!" Aragorn was about to turn to the wizard and strike him and had every intention to until he noticed the hobbit thrashing in his arms.
The blank eyes were wide and full of fear yet still unseeing. He fought and thrashed with all his remaining strength so terribly weak it was that Aragorn had nearly failed to notice. But the small chest heaved as if the heart behind would burst and the limbs flailed in search of some hold. There were broken shrieks so faint and hopeless, his gasping breath rasped and choked him. But time drained him and his limbs stilled and the only movement was the heaving of his frail chest and the curling of his lips in failed attempts to scream with his broken voice.
"Oh Frodo!" Aragorn cradled him and wept. "What has befallen you? For this I have never seen! Death yet agony! Madness yet stillness! Silence yet roaring!"
Frodo was slowly stilling in Aragorn's arms his eyes staring blankly and empty and what darkness they saw Aragorn knew not. Now turned to Gandalf, Aragorn was pleading with the wizard for aid or answers. "I know not, Aragorn, whither the Ring has banished Frodo nor what fate the Dark Lord has last reaped upon the Ringbearer in his rage and desire for vengeance."
Aragorn did not seem to understand at first. He gaped at Gandalf for a long while and he felt his mind desperately grasping at every thought and sense. He shook his head. "I am sorry Gandalf. I feel... lost. I have no words to fit it."
"The doom of Frodo would take a will stronger than that of Aragorn's to break." Gandalf narrowed his eyes and they clouded for a moment. Frodo's body twitched violently in Aragorn's arms and then stilled again. Gandalf's eyes cleared, "I have not the skills to soothe him. As you have seen, when I entered to save you from the same doom Frodo reacted with great panic. Panic that I fear may kill him if he must perceive a presence as overbearing as that of the white wizard's let alone hear my voice."
Aragorn nodded blankly then shook his head. "And, and Sam. What of Sam?"
"He is yonder, and in much better states than his master. May I pay for whatever harm I have brought upon these noble hobbits!" With that Gandalf turned bitterly and took up Sam and Aragorn gathered Frodo laying another kiss upon his brow.
"I and all the people of Middle-Earth owe our lives to you, Frodo."
~~~
Aragorn's eyes cleared. Pippin was chattering again and Sam was smiling lightly. Merry was dozing from the ale he had imbibed and Gimli and Legolas were just returning. Gandalf's eyes were resting on him but they soon darted towards the elf and dwarf as they entered the circle again.
"What of the caves, Legolas?" said Gandalf. "I feared Gimli would have returned without you, leaving you to the fate you so feared."
Legolas seemed somber and remained silent as he sat, his eyes distant and his features peaceful. Gimli nodded approval and he too seemed thoughtful.
"Well answer us, Legolas!" laughed Pippin. "Tell us of your survival against all odds!"
The elf turned to Pippin and smiled and then to Gandalf he said, "I will say only this. Gimli alone can find fit words for the wonders in those caves and never before has a dwarf claimed victory over an elf in a contest of words."
Aragorn smiled at Legolas's words but his eyes did no leave Frodo who seemed to be the lifeless doll that he was before Elrond salvaged some small remains of the hobbit. Alas! Not enough to make him the Frodo that he once was. A warm glow framed his curls and lit his pale and placid face, shining off of his clear and distant eyes. His shaking hand rose and sought Sam's, which tightened on his shoulder to comfort. The diminishing flames seemed to carry Frodo's gaze into oblivion with them.
Gimli was speaking in words rich and fair to describe the caves and Sam sat in wonder. "I wish I could have gone, sir. It sounds right wondrous!" Gimli smiled at Samwise and nodded as he spoke. The glitter of the caves seemed to linger in the words of Gimli and it distracted the company from the flickering fire.
Frodo closed his eyes tight and started pressing his head into Sam's knee whimpering loudly. Aragorn stood, "It seems, friends, that we should go to our dreams now lest we lose all of tomorrow's light in dosing."
Gandalf agreed and lead Pippin and a swaying Merry to their beds. Gimli and Legolas took their leave and the elf reminded Gimli of his promise to even their deal the next day under the trees of Fangorn.
Aragorn placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and offered to take them to their beds. The two helped Frodo to his feet who seemed distracted that night and very concerned with the presence of Sam. He leaned heavily on the gardener and Aragorn was glad to be of help.
Aragorn bid them sleep well and offered to stay a while until they were peaceful in dreams but Sam declined. "Tomorrow we go to Isengard and then depart, Samwise."
"Aye, sir. Thank you for all you've done for him, Strider. I should have never doubted you, sir, begging your pardon that I did but I was worried for my master's well being and all..."
"I do not begrudge you for trying to protect your master, Sam!" chuckled Aragorn. "I admire you for your courage and loyalty and I now know why you wish to protect him so much. Frodo, though I knew him short and may hap never see his return, I know this: He was a good hobbit, brave and wise, he may be so again some day if you keep hope."
Sam bowed his head. "I'll thank you then, sir, on the 'count of Mr. Frodo. He'd be mighty obliged to hear you speaking of him so, but right you are! Always too modest he was but he knew his capabilities so to speak. Oft there was a rare occasion he doubted himself afore, I don't know why he started to... in the end."
Aragorn knelt before Sam and laid a hand upon his shoulder. "In the face of darkness even the strongest and the wisest quail before the end. If it brings you any comfort, even Aragorn and Gandalf held doubt in their hearts for a time... when the battle seemed darkest."
Sam sniffed slightly before he was able to look Aragorn in the eye again. "Right sir. Goodbye then."
"Farewells are for partings and sweet dreams are for sleeping. Let not your sorrow weigh on you this night. It is a fair night and bids a fairer day."
"Good night then, sir."
~~~
A/N: Sorry for the delay. It seems fanfiction.net has been having quite a few problems with reviews and I happened to receive only one of your reviews about eighty times a day. If there are any responses to reviews I have left out I am sorry but I did not receive them yet. Also the site has been having problems logging me in which is why the update took so long. I do hope this does not happen again.
Cstini – So many questions so little time. I must know your review by heart now, after all the times I've gotten it! I hope the wait was not too long. Damn you fanfiction.net! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm glad you think the story is becoming more complete, I think so too ^^.
ShireElf - ::grins at hopeful look:: readers are so cute when their hopeful... eh em anyway sorry for the rather long wait. Fanfiction.net has been a little iffy lately. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Laurajslr – I realize that you have posted Chapter 13 but I have been waiting for ff.net to fix up their review problem before I risked losing another. I will give you a very very long review for it no need to worry. I'm glad you liked the Merry and Eowyn interaction. Just me having a bit of fun. I do so love the characters Tolkien has created so much. Also I wanted her to bring some peace into the hobbits' hearts. I've been tormenting them too much lately and there's more to come!
FrodoBaggins87 – I'm glad we have the same taste in stories here. There is too much tripe on this page for one Tolkien fan such as myself to bear so I try to counteract the evil by rewarding the good. Alas it does little for my malcontent. I hope you enjoy my little fic though it is hardly what Tolkien would do to his characters I've gone too far with the plotline now.
Bookworm2000 – As do I! But it is up to Sam now. He possesses the jewel and will be given the choice to send his master West when the time comes. Now the question is if there is enough time between now and then to get the real Frodo back!
Endymion2 – Ah no offense taken I look forward to the life ahead of me and if I happen to mature more than I am now all for the better! I do have quite a few paths up my sleeve. As for "silver glass". I chose it much for the reason Tolkien has chosen it for he has used it many times. I notice he often uses it to give the reader a sense of relief that he gives the character, like the heavy burden of tension being lifted off of one's chest. At least that is what I felt when he used it in some of his descriptions. It is also fair and lovely to use and simulates more of Tolkien's universe. I just better not get too used to using it. Don't want it in my original work because well... that wouldn't be very original of me would it? I hope you enjoyed this chapter.