Elanor had missed Bag End terribly, but without Rose-Mum there any longer, it felt different. It felt wrong. It felt empty. And it felt terribly, terribly large. Rose-Mum's presence had filled up all of Bag End with love, so much love, for her husband, for her children.
Elanor wondered if this was how Sam-Dad felt when he'd returned from the Havens without his master. Had it felt just as big and empty without Mr. Frodo there?
Her siblings had all gone since Rose-Mum's burial, back to their families and lives. And soon she would go too, but not till she was sure Sam-Dad would be alright.
She would stay till Sam-Dad was well enough to care for himself, and now was not that time. Sam-Dad slept little. He ate little. But what worried Elanor the most was that he cried little. Her father had never been one to hold back tears and she wondered why he was doing so now when they would have been most appropriate.
It had distressed Ruby, seeing her father so stone faced in the days following Rose-Mum's death.
"It's as if you don't even care!" she had cried. Elanor had shushed her, scolding her privately later. She knew better. They all did.
One night she found him awake, in Mr. Frodo's study, nearly untouched since the master had left. Elanor pulled him into the kitchen and made him a cup of tea, then she had fetched the athelas, hoping it would ease his mind enough to bring on sleep. When the steam reached him and he breathed deep, Elanor saw his eyes at last mist over, and his shoulders finally begin to shake.
"What is it, Sam-Dad?"
"The smell's changed. It's the Havens now, salt air and sun rays. Only, not the sun rays that come down on the Shire, if you understand me."
Elanor did. And her heart should have broken all over again. She ought to have been sad. But she could not be. For now, at last her Sam-Dad felt at peace about what he must do, where he must go. He would at last be made whole again, and Elanor was glad for him. She kissed him as he cried.
"You'll go with all our blessing and love. You go find him. You go and don't worry about any of us."
"Thank you, Ellie. It's time for me to follow on."