Elanor’s Gift

The day had been as it always was on September 22 at Bag End; quiet, restful, filled with memories. It was as it had been for nineteen years, since the first of Frodo and Bilbo’s birthdays that the Travellers had celebrated without either of them. The Travellers and their families (as families had gradually come to them all) met at Bag End to share once more in the bonds between them. To play with their children, to sing songs of the Shire and to recount the Adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the Quest of Frodo the Ringbearer. Sam, Merry and Pippin had pledged to each other that at least their children would know and never forget, the true hero of the War of the Ring. This year made the twentieth since Bilbo and Frodo had left to find peace in the Undying Lands of the Elves.

Elanor Gamgee watched as her father and his two best friends one by one disappeared from the gathering into the gloaming. Silently, she followed her Uncle Pippin who was the last to walk away. Everyone in the families knew they did this each year. Everyone in the families, even the youngest ones, knew it was not to be mentioned nor have attention drawn to it. But for Elanor, this year, her own twentieth year, was different. She kept her tall uncle in sight as he made his way behind The Hill and across the fields. In a clearing in a copse of oaks the Travellers met, embraced and sat around a small campfire. Elanor wrapped her cloak tight about herself as she took a seat on a boulder beyond the circle of light.

Merry worked the tap of a keg perched beside him, passing foam topped mugs of ale to his comrades before pouring out his own. "The Green Dragon’s very best, my friends, as always."

They raised their mugs to bump them together. "Bilbo and Frodo!" Sam intoned. "Bilbo and Frodo," the cousins echoed then in unison they drained their ales. Pippin rose, collected the empty mugs, refilled them then returned to his place.

"He had to leave or die in agony." Elanor heard her father softly say.

"Evil was laid low, but not destroyed," said Uncle Merry.

" ‘Twould never allow him to live in peace," came a soft Tookish burr.

"He had to leave." Silence followed Sam’s last words as the liturgy ended, for a liturgy it was. Each year the three friends spoke these words at the start of this special time.

"The children are learning the stories well." Sam broke the silence.

"Aye," said Pippin, "I could see the older ones saying the words along with us, and the light in their eyes was a true joy as well. They will keep it all in their heads and hearts I’m sure."

Merry gazed into the fire. "At least the major families of the Shire will know that there was much more to Bilbo and Frodo than their being "Mad Baggins’"

Their talk rambled on toward midnight, turning slowly to the reason they had these secluded meetings. Elanor knew she had not heard all that had happened to these three, dearest to her of all the hobbits in the Shire, though she knew more about their journey than most. The darkness drew cold around her as her father and uncles shared what they felt their families were not ready to hear; the details of the quest they usually glossed over. Elanor wept. The night crept on.

The stars wheeled above and the tween was growing anxious. She knew midnight was drawing near and it would be too late. She had a reason for following her father, Merry and Pippin into the night and it was starting to look as though her hopes would be snuffed like the flame of a candle. It was then that she and her Uncle Merry simultaneously noticed Peregrin Took’s odd silence. He stared into the fire, its embers and sparks shining brilliantly green in his eyes. He did not move, he barely seemed to breathe.

"Pip?" Merry nudged his younger cousin. Sam, and in the darkness beyond the firelight, Elanor, sat up attentively. "Pippin?" Merry nudged the Took harder.

Elanor held her breath, was this her moment? From the day she had been born, many had wondered, many had whispered; had some Elvish magic worked its way into Sam and Rosie’s wee child? It was said far and wide as she grew that she had the poise, bearing, the look about her of the Fair Folk. Their guesses were not far from the mark. Perhaps Sam had breathed in some of the fine dust-like soil that had been his gift from the Lady of the Golden Wood. Perhaps. Elanor only knew that she had somehow been touched by the Lady. She had met her in dreams for as far back in her life as she could remember, though the dreams grew less frequent as Elanor had grown older.

The night of her twentieth birthday Elanor had again met with the Lady Galadriel in a dream. She pled her case for the granting of a request, not for herself but for the hobbits that she and the Lady held dear. For that very day Elanor had become aware of something, something different in her Uncle Pippin and she hoped she had rightly understood what she saw in his features and his strange green eyes.

"He is well."

"What, Pip? Who?" Merry and Sam leaned closed to Pippin.

"He’s . . . it’s a beautiful place. Too beautiful to describe; I’ve not the words for it." Pippin’s voice was a whisper yet seemed to ring in the ears of those listening. "Bilbo has gone. Bilbo has gone on . . . to the Halls of Mandos, he is explaining to me. He is smiling. He is smiling and at peace in the Undying Realm. He knows of our concerns for him, he bids us put them all aside and to think instead of when we shall all once more be together. Frodo says, ‘Live your lives in joy, my two dearest of cousins and my dearest brother, Sam. I know your lives are full to overflowing. Don’t waste a drop of them in mourning for me. Gandalf, Elrond and the Lady Galadriel send greeting and blessings to each of you."

Merry and Sam sat in stunned silence. Pippin turned to gaze into the trees of the oak grove. Elanor felt his eyes upon her. They drew her in: into a dance of green stars floating in a deep blue sky filled with the fragrance of autumn leaves.

"The Lady of the Golden Wood has a question for the hobbit child of her heart: ‘Has your gift to those you love most dearly pleased you, Elanor?’" At her gasp, her father and Merry were able to just make out Elanor’s form in the darkness. " ‘It has brought joy to the Ringbearer, and to our dear brave Hobbits of the Fellowship.’"

Pippin’s gaze turned to Merry and Sam. "Frodo is speaking again, ‘Sam. You and your family are so dear to me. I don’t know that dear old Bag End has even known such a loving brood. I am so proud of all you have done, and will do for the Shire. I think of you always. Merry. You are as noble a Master of Buckland as any other has ever been, you are Magnificent indeed! I’ve popped a few buttons off my waistcoats out of pride in you."

The Took and Thain of the Shire went silent, but soon tears trickled down from his eyes. "Thank you, Cousin," he whispered as he smiled.

Pippin closed his eyes then opened them to look affectionately at Sam and Merry. "You may as well come over here, Elanor," he called out without bothering to look in her direction. She got to her feet and walked a bit unsteadily toward the trio by the fire’s dying embers.

"Your gift?" her father raised an eyebrow at his eldest child.

"You . . . you all know that I have seen the Lady sometimes in my dreams. It has been awhile, but she came to me on my birthday and I . . . well, I begged her to somehow let the three of you have some peace in your hearts about Uncle Frodo. I asked that it be a birthday present from Uncle Frodo to his three dearest friends." Elanor blushed and looked a bit embarrassed. "I knew that you always left to do something together on Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday. I hoped it would be something my present would suit. I’m glad that it was."

Merry rubbed at his eyes. "Oh, Elanor, that was the most loving gift you could have given us." He sighed and smiled at his niece. "It’s a burden that has grown on each of us as the years have gone by, worrying over Frodo. Thank you, dearest."

The sky lightened as the four talked long over Elanor’s gift, over what Pippin had seen and what Frodo and the Lady Galadriel had said. After a good many hugs and happy tears the group began the walk back to Bag End to enjoy first breakfast with the ones in Middle-earth they all loved most dearly, at peace in their hearts for the loved one who was, for now, beyond their reach.