Disclaimer: See previous chapter.

A/N: This is it, everyone! Please review, even if you didn't like it. If you do, I'm likely to read and review for you. I've noticed that I have way more hits than reviews, and I'd like to know whether you don't like it or you just aren't reviewing.

Chapter 13: The Last Parting

I heard from Frodo in April and stayed in the Shire for a short visit. But it was long before he wrote me again after that, and come the beginning of September, I began to eagerly await the invitation to Frodo's birthday celebration. None came, and a week to the twenty-second I started to wonder. At last, not three days before Frodo's birthday, a message came to me, but it was not from him. It was a terse message that read:

If you wish to see Frodo again then you must ride to meet him by the Gulf of Lune with all haste.

--Gandalf.

I did make haste to commence my journey, believing that Gandalf had departed soon after leaving the note. Whither he and Frodo were going, and why Frodo had not been with him in Bree was not clear. But I had a sinking sensation that, if I did not depart quickly, then the prospect of seeing Frodo again would be forever lost to me.

Therefore, I rode out from Bree the next day, even before dawn, and continued riding with all speed, rarely stopping to eat or sleep, and most of the little time I allotted to the latter was spent in tossing and turning uneasily. Though I had become accustomed over the years to functioning on few hours of rest, I became thoroughly exhausted after five days of pressing on thus, and had to devote half a day to rest. All the faster did I travel during the latter half of my journey.

As I neared the Gulf, I saw no sign of life save for the birds of the heavens that flitted about, and I wondered why Frodo had chosen to come to such a place, and whither he was proceeding from here. Doubts also arose in my mind as to whether I was too late and would never see him again.

Finally, I caught sight in the distance of a great company of Elven folk gathered near the Gray Havens. This, though I had never witnessed it directly, did not surprise me, for I knew it to be a fairly common occurrence in recent Middle-earth. The thought occurred to me then that, perhaps, Frodo had arrived hither in order to bid farewell to some of these fair folk, for in many circumstances he had been called an Elf-friend. But if that were the case, wherefore was I also here, who had never made friend of a single Elf?

Quite suddenly, I heard the sound of hoofs from somewhere off to my left, though I knew not how many riders approached. I decided to see the great assembled company for myself rather than seek out the other travelers. But when I reached the Havens, I saw that there were two of them, dressed in noble attire and riding atop ponies. And I recognized them as Merry and Pippin; they must have come on a more direct course, from the South, as I had thought it best to circumvent the Shire via a northern route, and thus I had not seen them.

Pippin said to Frodo something that I did not hear, but I rode closer, so that I was in view, and dismounted at once in order to speak with Frodo. I called his name, and he turned to me, quite shocked.

"Tallah! It is a surprise to find you here." And upon examining me further, he exclaimed, "But great Elbereth! How very different you look. Is it that you have eaten and slept so little over the past few months?"

"Over the past few days, yes," I said. "I made such haste to arrive here at the proper time that I have hardly paused in my journey at all. But you also appear different to me." I studied him and saw that, though his features and eyes held none of their former joy, his face was fairer than ever I had seen it, and he seemed almost as sad and beautiful as the Elves that were ready to depart. "Wherefore have you come here?"

"Have you not guessed it? It is my time to depart, Tallah. I have done what I have been assigned, but the traces of my former burden shall never lessen as long as I live in Middle-earth. My part in this tale is now over."

"Surely you are only jesting?" I asked, but I could tell by his face that he was not. "I do not understand why it must be so," I said at last, "But I see that it brings you contentment, though I will miss you dearly." However, I could not keep the tears from my eyes, and when I tried to wipe them away with my hand, Gandalf said:

"I will not say 'do not weep,' for not all tears are evil."

Then I wept openly, for I could not bring myself to believe that Frodo was leaving Middle-earth forever, a fact I had only discovered mere minutes ago. Frodo took hold of my hand.

"Do not think of this parting as only bitter," he said. "Now you may return to your City and spend many merry years there."

"This I shall do, though I shall not be as happy in a fair land where I have many casual acquaintances as in Bree where I was close to a few, dear friends."

Then Frodo stood on this toes so as to kiss my brow, and he kissed Merry and Pippin, and last of all Sam. And he went aboard, still appearing as fair as the Elves in the company. He looked back and smiled one last time before vanishing out of sight forever, not to be seen again by another soul on Middle-earth.

The three Hobbits wept as well, and eventually turned back, riding back to the Shire, all together. But I stayed long and watched the receding form of the ship. Life henceforth, I knew, would not be the same without Frodo. And then I acknowledged that I had never fully fathomed how much I loved the dear Hobbit. From the moment he had departed, I had wished for a different ending to this tale, a merrier one. And I imagined that all of us dwelt happily in the Shire, land of peace, and were never torn asunder. I then recalled the dream I had had before I awoke in Ithilien, and, vain as I knew it was, yearned, as I had as I dreamt it, that it would become a reality.

But it is over, I thought repeatedly. He is gone; I cannot change that. And, though it required hours, I finally determined to abandon my vain dreams. Rather than thinking only of my desires, I ought to dwell on how much more content Frodo must be now, for he had known much pain and illness even as he dwelt in the peaceful Shire. Now was his chance for eternal repose in a land of complete serenity, untroubled by any grief or illness. And all of this he had received, no more than he merited, though it still brought me some grief to dwell on it.

Even so, perhaps this parting, this last parting, should not be so entirely bitter for me. Would Frodo and I not meet again in death? When we did, would we not both be happy in paradise together and never be parted again?

Then I put my mind to rest and resolved to finally leave the past behind, not because I did not miss Frodo, but because it was vain to wish for the power to change that which had passed. Yet, if I did, there was but one event I would alter, and it was not Frodo's passing. Because I loved him, I desired what was truly best for him, and I was confident that he was now in true bliss, which I knew I could not have provided for him.

After a long space, far after the moon had ceased to glisten on the surface of the water, I arose and prepared for the journey home, long after the ship had sailed into and beyond the West.