Just a Note: I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story, and review it. This has been one of the most fun stories that I’ve written in a while. Being a former Sailor, I felt I was in my own element as I wrote “below the decks” or “handling the lines”. I did have to be careful as my nautical jargon, though steeped in tradition, only goes back so far.

My aim was to parallel the adventures of Gandalf/Isengar with Gandalf/Pippin, though I believe Gandalf was enthralled with hobbits in general. I did as much research as I could with Gandalf, reading parts of the Silmarillion to get a good feel for the Maia/Ishtar. I even went as far as viewing ROTK for the umpteenth time (oh, darn!) so I could get a grasp of Gandalf, as I feel Ian McKellan portrayed a fantastic Gandalf. I can’t help but think the Maiar and the Ishtar are one and the same--especially Olórin.

I hope I have not A/U’d Gandalf too bad in the end…but I have another belief about “what he feels” at the end. In my imagination, Gandalf has been around war, battles, and assisting in the effort against evil for so long that he’s forgotten what the simple feeling of pure love was, and I sort of gave him a glimpse of that feeling--of ‘why’ he was doing what he did, through Isengar’s hug. And I did it again with Pippin--the parallel. If something is horribly amiss, please email me and let me know.

Thank you again for sharing in the Seahobbit. Fair winds, and following seas….