Rise (Lord of the Rings)

Epilogue

            How do you have things go back to normal from such a grueling time where the world was almost lost to darkness? How do you forget such a past, one that almost led to a horrifying future?

I stepped out of Bag End to be greeted with a chilly autumn morning. It was still dark out, but I knew the sun was on its way to greet the village of Hobbiton. I sat on the bench, basking in the quiet early morning. I had never been a morning person, but lately that changed. To this very day I still couldn't understand why I woke up so early.

I messed with a strand of messy, dark hair. So much had changed since the War of the Ring ended. There was no great threat of darkness to take over Middle-earth anymore. It was a calming thought, to know that the world was at peace. When one major chapter of my life ended, another began.

It began when we Hobbits—Sam, Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and I—had returned to the Shire.

The thought of Frodo made my heart ache. He and Bilbo were no longer in the Shire, having sailed for the Undying Lands. Since they left for good, I inherited Bag End as I originally had the right to the home when Bilbo first left the Shire on his one-hundred and eleventh birthday.

Frodo and Bilbo left four years after the War of the Ring was over.

Even though he was trying to be sly, I heard the hobbit-hole door creak faintly open. I smiled; he must've noticed I was out of bed.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, joining me on the bench.

"Of course," I replied. "I'm just enjoying the air."

"Are you sure it wasn't because you had another nightmare?"

I sighed. "There's no fooling you, is there?" I looked into his blue eyes. "It's been years since the Ring was destroyed, yet the nightmares keep coming."

"I get them every now and again, if it makes you feel any better." He grabbed my hand gently.

"It really doesn't, only because it still affects us both in bad ways." My shoulders slumped. "Besides, what nightmares could you possibly have?"

He shuddered. "The ones that remind me of the dreams I used to have about you, when we had been apart. I always dreamt the same thing: losing you."

"You don't have those now do you?"

He smiled weakly. "Of course I don't, not anymore."

I stole a glance at the green door. "You didn't wake them, did you?"

"I was careful. They don't need to be up so early, they're still young."

"They still get up early; it's like they know when the sun rises." I burrowed my head into his shoulder. "It's as if their internal alarms are set to that time."

"They must take after you on that."

"I never used to be like this," I said defensively. "You can't blame genetics."

"Do you think we should tell them?"

"About what?" I lifted my head off his shoulder.

"You know...about the Ring and everything."

"Do you think that's a good idea, Merry?"

"Think about it, Marley. Would you want to live your life keeping your children in the dark about your past? Someday, they'll hear about the Ring, and then they'll come to us asking questions. We can't act as though we had no part to play in the war."