41. Elbereth

I hear singing and turn my head toward it. After a while, I open my eyes cautiously only to find myself in a hall of sorts, shaped from trees and hedgerows. A woman of unending beauty stands before me. She’s dark as night, her skin light as the moon and her eyes sparkle as stars. She is not the one who’s singing.

She smiles at me and kneels down to my level.

“Am I dead, fair lady?” I ask.

“Do you feel dead, Master Hobbit?”

“No, but I can’t be thinking of any other way as how I got here. I was watching Gandalf’s fireworks, then I was on Vingilot and now I’m here. Where is here?”

“These are the Halls of Mandos, but we thought it would be easier if I spoke with you instead. Do you know who I am?”

The answer comes at once. “Elbereth.”

“And what have you left undone, Master Hobbit?”

I think briefly as thousands of images go through my mind. “Nothing, fair lady.”

“Nothing at all?”

I think of my children and family in the Shire: they are taken care of, by and for each other. I think of my friends in Tol Eressëa: they’ll discover my absence soon. They’ll add a third marker next to Frodo and Bilbo. They’ll find the journal and read our stories. 

I think of everything I’ve seen since coming to the West: all of Frodo’s favorite spots, the elves so fair and yet so plain, the children with their laughter, the museums in Avallónë and my glimpse of home. 

“Nay, Lady, there’s naught left to do. I’m ready.”

Elbereth takes my hand and leads me to a door beyond which is a valley green and fair.

“Our adventures never end, Master Panthael. This is just the beginning.”

GF 11/11/12

To be concluded...