Ch. 19
The week after my mother left for Rivendell, Rosie, Bilbo, Athelas and I met at the outskirts of Hobbiton to begin our last journey to Rivendell. We arrived four days later and was shocked to see what had become of this beautiful place. The trees were dead, the waterfall was now completely empty as my mother had predicted, and the grass was course and felt rough under our feet.
We entered the beautiful House of Elrond and made our way upstairs. Rosie and Athelas were in tears even before we reached our mother's room, and when we finally did see her fair body laying on the settee completely lifeless, even Bilbo and I burst into tears. Finally after composing ourselves, we wrapped our mother's body in the sheet she had over her and that is when we found the letter she had written us. I will not record it here, but I will only say that neither of us could finish the letter without grieving even more for our mother.
It was physically very easy to move the body downstairs and out beside of the dead waterfall, but emotionally, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. After we had dug the grave and placed the body inside, I carefully laid the portrait of my father beside of her as Bilbo laid a portrait of Sam on the other side. With that, we said a small prayer and then began covering her with dirt. Rosie began to softly sing an elvish song of death as we did this that had been taught to all of us when we were very young. Mom always said that it was a song to ensure the soul was at peace, so we all sang it for her in the hopes that she could hear us.
After this was done, we went inside and lit a fire and took a cheerless meal by the fireplace. Then, we all talked about Mom and shared beautiful memories of her and Dad. That night, we decided to stay by the fireplace and sleep together instead of in separate rooms. When we had all drifted off to sleep, I had a dream that put me at ease. I spoke with my brother and sisters about it in the morning and they had all had the same dream as well.
I could see Mom standing by a beautiful river. Her hair was blowing in the wind and she seemed years younger. Suddenly, I heard the voice of Sam calling her name and she spun around to see him standing behind her, years younger himself. They embraced and kissed happily. Then, I saw another figure approach. It was a girl with long red hair and when Sam saw her, he ran to her and embraced her as well. I heard him say the name of Rosie and guessed that this was his first wife.
I then saw my father. He ran to my mother and they embraced for a long while. Then, he turned to Sam and said, "Thank you for taking care of her, Sam, and for also taking care of my son."
"It was my pleasure, Mr. Frodo."
The dream ended and I awoke with tears in my eyes. It was the first time I heard my real father call me his son, but I knew it wouldn't be the last. I wish I could have told him that I loved him, but I knew that I could not, at least, not until I had joined them in death.
That afternoon, we left Rivendell. I knew in my heart that I would never come back here and that it would soon be completely gone. Even the glorious House of Elrond didn't look like it would stand much longer. As we rode out of sight, I could hear my sisters weeping.
When we arrived back in Hobbiton and went our separate ways, I quickly made my way home. Lily was there with my eight beautiful children and she held me as I broke down and cried. But I knew I couldn't cry forever. Tomorrow morning, we would start packing and hopefully by the next month, we would begin a new life in Bag End.
The End