Epilogue
(because I wanted to respond to those last reviews and had to have a chapter to do so)
"Ben, what on earth are you doing?" Maggie laughed as she climbed up the creaking ladder.
"Cleaning out," her fiance answered as he moved aside some shingles. "Since that storm blew the roof in I thought I'd clean up my aunt's old place again. Funny, I never thought to do the upstairs when I cleared everything out after she died."
"I'll help, then," said Maggie decisively as she began to pick up the remains of a chair and bedstead. "That was a mighty strong storm," she commented. "Why, it drove this chair leg clean through the floor. Oh, hang on, it's coming loose now."
When the chair leg came out from under the drying wood a miniature avalanche of dust, wood splinters, and water droplets ensued, revealing an oilcloth bundle from underneath. "Ben, what d'you make of this?" she handed him the bundle carefully.
"I dunno," he said, examining the outside. "I don't remember seeing this before."
"Why don't you open it?" Maggie suggested, eyes wide with curiosity.
Ben shrugged and undid the leather tie, letting the oilskin come off. "Well," he said, surprised, "I never thought to see this again."
"What is it?"
"It's a book. It belonged to the only girl my aunt ever hired as help- nigh on twenty years ago." He looked wistfully at the book "I wonder what became of her. One day, two people showed up from east of the Misty Mountains, some place called Rohan, and she went away with them; she never came back."
"What's in it?" Maggie asked impatiently.
"I dunno," Ben said, opening the book. "I don't know how to read this. But," he said suddenly, "I know of someone who can."
"Who?"
"I've heard that the Master of Buckland east of here is quite learned. He probably knows how to read it, or will know someone who does."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" demanded Maggie. "Let's go so we get there before dark." She turned and climbed down the ladder so fast it nearly broke.
Ben shook his head slowly. He was in for a long day.
Reviewer responses:
Cainwen the Warrior: do you realize that I do not have to write a sequel? That's what the other stories are for! And more are coming. Oh yes. As for your ch 13 review, I did mean pheremones. Pheremones are chemicals that all animals use to identify the opposite gender; we send them off subconciously all the time. Once a person recieves the pheremones from a member of the opposite gender (or same gender if the person is homosexual), the brain reacts by sending a message to the pituitary gland telling it to send out horomones. Capiche?
Angeltread: Tell Marina hi too. Or better yet, I'll tell her myself: loarho;iuh BN;PIARJWEH hp; ouaqruiop. I copied and pasted from your message to make sure it was spelled right. Ah, yes, I stormed- I mean, rang the doorbell- of Barad-dur. And guess what? Saruman wears a pink gingham apron! So there! And his oatmealis really good. I should hire him as a cook... oh, wait. I'm blackmailing him.
FallenTruth: do you want a tissue? Hmm, transport will be a bit of a problem though. But make sure you drink lots of water to replace fluids lost in crying.
Laer: Why thank you. That was actually one of the goals of this story: that the character not get married to any major canon character. The other goals were to portray some of the more common Sue experiences (i.e. changing into an elf, battle experiences, falling in love) from a different perspective and to assume nothing as true unless stated in a Tolkien book (i.e. the ears. I also came across the glowing-elf fact in search of the ear fact.) Although dragging in all my friends wasn't intended. But they found out I was writing it and said that I had to match them up with their respective hotties... or else.
Crecy: If you loved it, keep an eye on the "Mhera's Story" err... story. And there should be another one coming as well. And there will be random vignettes! But we have to reach a certain point in Mhera's story before we can post them. They won't make sense until then.