"Rosie," Frodo asked one chilly midwinter day, "do you mind if I take Sam away on a journey?"
Rosie smiled up at him from her chair by the kitchen hearth. "Of course not, Frodo," she answered softly, so as not to wake Frodo's infant namesake asleep in her lap, fair head pillowed on her growing belly; Rosie was expecting another baby in the spring. "You're always taking Sam off, and you always bring 'm back. I'll have Marigold and little Maya up to stay with us while you're gone. Is it another investigation?"
"No, not this time. Sam won't be gone very long--not more than two weeks. But I may be away somewhat longer."
Although he'd received a message from Gandalf before Yuletide that Bilbo was going to the Grey Havens, Frodo hadn't said anything to Sam about the journey they were to make until the night before. He didn't want to distress Sam before it was necessary. "They'll meet us here at daybreak," he had informed Sam in his study before he'd talked to Rosie. "Merry and Pippin should arrive tonight in time for dinner. I've written to ask them to join us. They'll want to be there, to make their farewells to old friends."
"I thought you was going to Rivendell this spring, to see Mr. Bilbo before it was too late?" Sam asked him.
"It can't wait until spring, Sam. I'm afraid it's already too late for Uncle Bilbo," Frodo replied; his friend's eyes widened in alarm, and he explained in more detail: "They've delayed as long as they dare. Uncle Bilbo had hoped to leave for the Havens on his birthday, our birthday, but according to Gandalf, he won't see another September if he stays on in Middle-Earth. Lord Elrond's done all he can for him here. Uncle Bilbo will recover his wits in the West and be healed. But they can't wait any longer."
What he didn't say was that Bilbo's departure had been delayed so long because Elrond and Gandalf had been waiting for him to decide: would he go to the Undying Lands with his uncle, or stay on in the Shire? In his message, Gandalf had invited Frodo to travel with them as far as he wished to go--to the Grey Havens... or farther, if he too was ready to leave Middle-Earth behind and seek his peace in the West.
Sam didn't dare ask what Frodo had decided. Instead, he said, "I'll pack your bag for you, Frodo. Will you want to bring that along?" He looked at the Red Book, lying open on Frodo's desk. The last lines on the page were still in fresh, wet ink.
"No, Sam. I've finished all I had to say about our adventures. There is still a bit of the tale left to tell, but the last pages are for you."
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Galadriel's Riddle by Kathryn Ramage
Story notes: This story takes place just after Yule, at the beginning of 1425 (S.R.).
Galadriel's stories and the poem Bilbo recites are taken from or based on "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn," in Tolkien's Unfinished Tales.
April 2009
The Frodo Investigates! series
