The last chapter…

CHAPTER XXV: PARTING WAYS

Helped by Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn built a kind of bier and with that they carried him to the riverbank. Victoria dipped her white-and-green scarf in the clear water of the river and gently bathed her father's face, cleaning the dirt and blood.

By her side, Aragorn got ready to extract the arrows. He could feel her eyes upon him.

When he pulled out the first one, Victoria startled as if he had torn it away from her own living, aching flesh. More then she had done when he had pulled the arrow out of her right shoulder, before she could heal it herself with a simple spell. "Take it easy…" She whispered. "Be careful not to hurt him…"

Aragorn did not have the courage to answer: he nodded briefly.

Gimli bowed his head. He understood perfectly Victoria's feelings and he knew that her request was not a sign of madness.

The arrows were removed and the body was laid down in one of the gray boats. Victoria folded the gray cloak of Lorien, so it would serve as a pillow to lay his head on. They buried him with his sword in his hands and his shield stood behind his head. They placed the Horn of Gondor – of which he had been so proud – in his lap. On his chest shone the silver cross and, hanging from the same chain, the five lire coin Victoria had given him long ago in Rivendell. When she saw it, her eyes filled with tears and she lay one of her Slytherin-colored scarves into the boat. Then she stepped back and there she stood, watching Aragorn and Legolas as they pushed the boat into the river.

The stream captured it and pushed it toward the falls. The Dwarf, the Elf, Isildur's heir and Boromir's daughter stood on the bank, watching the boat as it glided on the water.

In the silence, Aragorn intoned a sad melody, a funeral lament.

"Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows
The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes.
'What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring to me tonight?'
'I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and gray;
I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away
Into the shadows of the North. I saw him then no more.
The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor.'
'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar,
But you came not from the empty lands where no men are.' "1

Victoria started crying silently. Legolas' voice took Aragorn's place.

"From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones;
The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans.
'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring to me at eve?
Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'
'Ask not of me where he doth dwell--so many bones there lie
On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky;
So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea.
Ask of the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!'
'O Boromir! Beyond the gate the seaward road runs south,
But you came not with the wailing gulls from the gray sea's mouth.' "1

Then Aragorn sang again.

"From the Gate of Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls;
And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls.
'What news from the North, O might wind, do you bring to me today?
What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'
'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought.
His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.
His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'
'O Boromir! The Tower Guard shall ever northward gaze
To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.' "1

The song ended, lost in the roar of the Falls.

"You have left me the Eastern Wind…" Gimli murmured, his head hung low. "But I won't speak about it."

"And so it must be," Aragorn answered. "For in Minas Tirith they bear the Eastern Wind, but they do not ask him any question."

Victoria let out a sob. She came near Aragorn as she pulled something out from under her cloak: it was Boromir's leather bracers that bore the White Tree of Gondor. "I think you should have these…" she murmured, offering them to him.

The Man looked at her, astonished. "Are you sure?" She nodded. Aragorn took them from her hands and put them on, casting a long glance toward the falls.

Legolas' voice awoke them. "Boromir has taken his path, now we must take ours." The others turned to look at him. "We must hurry: Frodo and Sam have reached the other shore long ago…" He turned to Aragorn and their eyes met. It took him a few moments to understand. "You mean not to follow them…" he finally murmured.

"Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands," Aragorn replied.

"Then it was all in vain!" Gimli lamented. "The Fellowship has failed."

Aragorn looked at his two companions, then he turned toward Victoria, who had dropped down on a rock and looked a thousand miles away from there. He came near the other two and laid a hand on their shoulders. "Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left." He took back his Elvish dagger, putting it back in its sheathe with a sharp click. "Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light. Let's hunt some Orc."

"Yes!" Gimli shouted.

"No," said a calm voice behind them.

The three of them turned to Victoria. The girl now stood on the shore, clutching a white-and-green scarf in her fist.

"No?" Aragorn repeated disbelievingly and worriedly, hoping he had misunderstood her.

"No. I won't come with you. I could never keep up with your pace, I'd just slow you down." The girl explained.

"What will you do, then? You cannot stay here on your own!"Legolas said worriedly.

Victoria lowered her gaze.

"Maybe…maybe she could go back to Lothlorien." Gimli suggested.

"Never," the girl growled, clutching her scarf so tightly that her knuckles paled.

"What do you want to do, then?" Aragorn asked as he came near her.

Victoria kept on avoiding his gaze. She glanced at the Last Ring she wore and turned around, looking at the opposite shore with a strange look of longing on her face.

"Are you sure that this is your road?" Aragorn asked cautiously. Victoria nodded without looking away from the other riverbank. "The Ring hasn't called you yet…But what if It did? Are sure that you would be able to resist it?"

"No," Victoria replied. "But if I couldn't, there would always be this to stop me." She unfastened the scabbard of a dagger from her belt and showed it to the others, who immediately recognized it. That dagger came from Gondor and once belonged to her father. Victoria's voice did not shake and her gaze was firm as she said those words. No one could doubt that she would have done what she had promised.

"I can't allow you to follow them, Victoria, I'm sorry. I promised Boromir that I would have taken care of you and I will, even if you don't agree." He moved to walk away, but she caught him by the arm. "I've already had a father, Aragorn…I don't need another one. I don't want another one." She looked for his eyes. "Please…"

In that moment, Aragorn realized that she was asking for his leave. The Last Slytherin and the Isildur's Heir stared at each other for a moment, then, finally, the Man nodded. "So be it."

/But Aragorn…/ Legolas tried to object, but he cut him off. /If this is the road she has chosen, we can't forbid her to take it./ He turned to the girl, speaking in Common Tongue. "Frodo will kill me for letting you go…"

Victoria looked at him, puzzled. "Frodo?"

He nodded. "He asked me to…keep an eye on you."

"Oh," she whispered.

Legolas and Gimli came near. "I think we should hurry," the Dwarf muttered.

Aragorn nodded and hugged the girl. "Take care of yourself, Victoria."

"I will," she replied as she hugged him back. "Good luck, Indiana Jones." She freed herself from his embrace and turned to Legolas, throwing her arms around his neck. "Goodbye, Legolas."

"Please, be careful," he recommended.

"You too. And don't worry," she added.

There was only Gimli left. Victoria knelt down to his height and then, without any warning, hugged him tightly.

"Ehm, ehm…" the Dwarf coughed, taking a step back. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you too, Gimli." She stood up and took a couple of steps back, staring at them sternly. "Ehy…Don't you dare get yourselves killed!" Her gaze became softer, sadder. "Don't make me cry, guys."

"We shall do our best," Aragorn reassured and laid a hand on her shoulder. Victoria half-smiled at him, then pulled herself together. "Well? What are you doing here? Shoo, be gone!"

Sir, yes, sir, Aragorn replied, springing in a playful salute. Then the three men left.

Victoria stood there, watching them as they followed the Uruks' trail. Suddenly, she realized that there was something she had forgotten to tell them. "GUYS! She shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing among the hills. KILL THEM FOR ME TOO!"

Without stopping, Legolas turned back and widely waved at her. They had heard. They had understood. The daughter of Boromir of Gondor raised her arm and waved goodbye at them until they disappeared from her sight.

The girl sat back down under the great tree. She was alone, now. She still held her Slytherin scarf in her hand. Victoria lowered her gaze on that piece of her past and tightened her grip around it. Slowly, she took off the silver coronet that her father Boromir had given her and wrapped it into the green and white scarf. She still felt her father's hand caressing her face and in the breeze among the branches she could hear his words. "Élif neièn. My daughter." "Be brave, Little Soldier."

Victoria raised her head, straightened her back and turned toward the falls. "I won't let you down, édnie."

She started gathering some things that might have been useful during the journey, putting them into her pack with her scarf and its precious content. When everything was ready, she automatically slipped her hands in her pockets looking for a cigarette. Her fingers touched something metallic. Victoria took her hand back and stared almost spellbound at her keys and her key-ring that shone in the sun. She smiled when suddenly the lyrics of a song came into her mind.

"I've never been so lost

I've never felt so much at home,

please write my folks and throw away my keys."2

That was exactly how she felt…even if, truth to be told, there was no one to write to in her world.

Victoria turned toward the lake, pulled her arm back and threw the keys as far as she could, following with her eyes the shining arch they draw in the early-afternoon sky until they fell into the deep water. She recalled the night on the Caradhras, when she had told the tale of Robin Hood. She thought about the archer of Nottingham, about the last arrow he had shot and how he had wanted to be buried wherever it would fall. She didn't have the Second Sight, but in her veins flowed part of the blood of Gawain Morgan the Seer: she had the feeling that water would have had quite an important part in her future. She slipped off her ring, studying it attentively. Slytherin's Ring, the Last Ring…The key of the door between her Earth and Middle Earth, with its green gem that shone and sparkled. For some moments, Victoria contemplated the possibility to make it follow the same fate of the other keys, but then she placed it back around her finger. She knew the story of the One Ring, the route It had taken and all the lives It had destroyed before It came to Frodo. It was definitely better not to misplace any magic Ring, or, at least entrust them to Bearers who had no intention of using them.

She recalled Galadriel's words. Victoria turned Northward, toward Lothlorien. She had made her choice. Maybe she should have said some epic sentence, but it clearly had no sense since nobody would hear it. And then, she had never really liked those kind of things: they sounded artificial…false. False as the speech of the Headmaster at the end of her Fifth Year. After all, those things sounded good only in the movies. And, as they say, life is no movie. But Victoria already knew that.

She grabbed her things and threw them in the last boat left. She was about to get onboard when a faint noise behind her back caught her attention. She draw her sword, but immediately put it back in its sheathe when she saw two yellow eyes staring at her from the high branch of a three. "Are you still here?" she asked, folding her arms. "I thought you'd go with Aragorn and the others…However, you can still reach them." Duke positively shrieked with indignation and flew down the branch, landing on her shoulder and pecking her. "Ouch! Just kidding, you hysterical crow." She stroked his feathers. "So, it's just me and you again, isn't it?" Duke screeched again. Victoria smiled. "Come on, let's go."

She jumped into the boat and started rowing with a will. "Frodo and Sam must have a great lead on us by now and I don't even know which direction they have taken…Duke, try to find them, but don't let them see you." The hawk shrieked and flew away.

Later, Victoria reached the Eastern shore. Duke was nowhere to be seen, so she sat down on the banks and waited. She hoped that he would arrive soon, for staying there hurt her, the wound open by Boromir's death was too fresh. Maybe she would never be able to pass upon those shores and keep her eyes dry.

Clutching her crucifix between her hands, Victoria prayed for her father's soul. A father much loved and lost too soon.

A flapping of wings tore her away from her thoughts. Duke landed on a branch in front of her. "Did you find them?" The hawk shrieked, as if he had been saying yes. Good. Lead the way, then.

Victoria put on her backpack and wrapped her Slytherin scarf around her neck. She turned to Rauros and the western shore for the last time, whispering the words of a song as a last prayer.

"God bless cowboys,

Gob bless all,

God bless my father

God rest his soul."3

Then she turned around and marched Eastward, on the Halfling's trail. She had to find them at all costs. Frodo needed her.

As the sun began to set behind them, Frodo and Sam reached the top of a stony hill. In front of them spread the sharp peaks of the Emyn Muil and the dark crests of the reign of Sauron.

"Mordor…" Frodo murmured. "I hope the others find a safer road," he added, thinking about his young cousins and the girl he had left behind.

"Strider will look after them," Sam comforted him.

"I don't suppose we shall ever see them again…" he whispered, a deep sadness marring his fair face.

"We may yet, Mister Frodo. We may," Sam replied.

Right in that moment, they heard a sharp sound above their heads. The two Hobbits raised their gaze and saw a dark hawk flying above them.

"It looks like…But no, it cannot be…" Sam muttered, staring at the animal with his mouth open.

Another cry was heard. "Frodo! Sam!"

The Hobbits turned around just in time to see Victoria hobbling up the hill, with her backpack on her shoulders.

The girl threw herself on her knees, hugging them. "Oh, guys, I'm so happy to see ya, I feared I wouldn't find you! I've been following you for the whole afternoon."

"What are you doing here, Victoria?" Frodo asked as soon as he managed to find his voice, trying to mask the guilty happiness he felt.

"I'm coming with you," she replied good-heartedly, as if he had asked her what time it was.

"No. Absolutely no. You cannot come, Vivi, it's too dangerous."

"Honestly, I don't give a damn. I'll go wherever you will go," the young witch said firmly.

"Mister Frodo is right, you shouldn't have come," Sam spoke up. "You must go back.

"Yes, you must stay with the others, Vivi,"Frodo agreed.

"Which part of "I'm coming with you" haven't you understood?" she shot back.

"There's nothing to understand, you aren't coming and that's all!" Frodo argued.

"We won't allow you to follow us!" Sam added.

Oh, just come and try! She replied as she sprang to her feet and drew herself up to her full 160 cm4 of height, which, Humanly speaking, wasn't exactly a great height. However, it was always 40 cm4 higher than the maximum Hobbit height.

"Ehm…" they coughed, blushing for the poor figure they ad just cut out.

"Next time check that you brain is linked to your tongue before talking…" the girl teased them as she moved a little her backpack. "So, am I a part of the team?"

"Will it change something if I say no?" Frodo asked, rubbing his forehead.

"No."

"I expected it…Come on, let us go. It's getting dark and we have yet to find a place to rest," he sighed.

They started climbing down toward the Emyn Muil and camped among the first rocks. The pale moonlight shone on Victoria and Sam's faces. Frodo watched them with a half-smile upon his lips.

"What's up, Frodo?" Victoria asked, softly smiling at him.

"Nothing…I was just thinking that I'm glad you two are with me," he answered.

Victoria leaned toward him and took his hand. "We're glad to be with you as well, aren't we, Sam?"

"Of course we are," the Hobbit replied, almost scandalized. "There's no other place we'd rather be."

A long road lay in front of them, but they were not afraid because they were not on their own.

The End

1: J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Two Towers."

2: Something Corporate, "I woke up in a car."

3: John Denver, "Me and my uncle." I just switched "uncle" with "father."

4: Victoria is about five feet four, which makes her one foot three taller than a Hobbit.

Author's notes: so, this is the end. I decided to finish this before my birthday comes up – consider it a Hobbit-like birthday present.

I'd like to thank my friends Veronica and Lara for supporting me,

My beta readers Funny-Neko and Daughter of Olorin – especially Daughter of Olorin, who helped me with the translation.

Thanks to everyone who read this story and a super-mega-special thanks to everyone who reviewed: Xoulblade, Alanna Aurdomiel, Alassea2 (I wonder if she's still reading), Lady Phoenix Slytherin, Kurleyhawk2, Mirkwoodleaf101, Elrohir lover (again, sorry for my mistake…), Lightning Rain, Senshi of Books, Empress Guinevere Sparrow, Disama, Sweetlittlecherry, Shine-Dusk, Kerla, Olwyen/Hopewithin, Chronicles Bailey, Shadow, Fredthebaker, Catgirl1989, Neosun7, Tinkerbell033, Celebwen Telcontar, Mercva, Tenshikoneko03, Lady Vamp1, Arami, Lothliana, Ailias Kurai.

Sorry if I've been lazy and I hope to see you in the next parts of the story:

The Long Way – Traveling Soldiers.

You'll find it in the Lord of The Rings section by selecting Frodo & Sam as main Characters – this site doesn't have a "OC option".