Chapter Eighteen

Merenwen walked through the trees until she came upon a glade with a rock in the middle of it. There on the rock was a small figure with a wild mass of long loose curly hair, apparently lost in thought. The figure on the rock did not notice Merenwen standing near by.

"Little One, what troubles you so?"

The Hobbit on the rock looked up suddenly, at the sound of Merenwen’s voice. "Merenwen!" Linwe cried happily, as she rushed to give Merenwen a hug. "How long have you been here? How long will you be staying?"

Merenwen laughed "I have been in the Shire for a fortnight now and I will most likely be here and there for some months to come. King Elessar asked Lord Elrond if the Elves would keep watch over the Shire until things are more settled in Gondor. I volunteered for the task, so that I may spend even more time with you.

"Oh, that is good news!" Linwe cried happily. "I have missed you so much. It seems unfair that the one time in my life that so much has gone on is the one time that I have had to do without you."

"I know. I am sorry that it had to be so, but I am here now, so come;" said Merenwen leading Linwe back to the rock, "tell me how it has been with you since I last saw you. Do you still wish to leave the Shire to roam the wilds with me?"

"No Merenwen, at this moment I don’t think I do," sighed Linwe, "I am happy here. I feel needed here, I also have been enjoying the company of friends and family. When Merry returned to Brandy Hall he claimed that he still loved me as much as he did when he was a small boy. You know I think he does. He is very sweet. Then there is Pippin. When we first met he asked if he could follow me around so he could adore me as much as Merry does. Merry and Pippin are terrible flirts." said Linwe, chuckling at the memory. "Oh and Rosie is a dear. She has become like a sister to me. Sometimes I think she can understand all there is to know about me. Rosie is Sam’s intended. Everyone knows this though Sam has yet to ask for her hand. Sam takes his responsibilities very seriously and Rosie says he will not likely say anything until he has tended to other matters about the Shire, so that he can court her properly.

In Brandy Hall I was surrounded by relatives yet I never felt a part of that community. But then I came here, it turned out that again I was surrounded by relatives, but somehow it is different. Did you know I may very well be the only Hobbit in all of the Shire that can claim kinship to all four of the travelers. Sam is the one who seems to be the most effected by this. Rosie says that Sam would have loved me for being his kin alone, family is very important to Sam. I earn special consideration since it is through me that Sam is related to Frodo."

"That makes sense." Said Merenwen, "Esme, told me so much about them when you were sick. I stopped to visit with her before coming here to see you. She told me all that has passed since I was last here, including the changes she sees in the four. Frodo and Sam have obviously gone long past the ties of master and servant. Sam needs the relation through you to Frodo, to allow himself to feel he is truly Frodo’s equal."

"I believe you are right about that. Rosie has told me so much of what everything and everyone here were like before the occupation, before the lads left with Frodo. Linwe’s voice trailed off with out her completing her thought. When several moments passed while still she said nothing Merenwen broke into Linwe’s reverie. "What of Frodo, what is he like?"

"Frodo is different from the others." Linwe said, her voice sounding a little distant, "Merry, Pippin, and Sam are what I would imagine protective brothers to be like. I may be older, but they tend to act like I am the one that needs looking after. Even Rosie is watchful of me. It is nice in its way, so I don’t mind."

"But Frodo doesn’t treat you that way, I take it."

"No, Frodo and I are friends. We understand one another. I like going for walks with him. We can talk for hours or be comfortable in each other’s silence. I just like being with him."

"It sounds as though you have come to care for him very much." Merenwen said softly.

"I have. It is rather hard for me to explain, I am afraid."

Merenwen watched a blush spread across Linwe’s cheeks. Linwe did not see the knowing smile that touched her friends lips. "How is Frodo doing since his return to the Shire?"

Linwe sighed, "In some ways he is doing well, but there are times I can feel he is hurting so much still. For months he would not talk about where he had been, or what he had done. Merry and Pippin told me about many of the wonders they saw, but managed to never be specific about why they had gone. Merry only said that there was something that Frodo had to do. Rosie asked Sam where they had been and he told her that he would tell her later. Then six days ago, Frodo became ill." Linwe fell silent. The troubled look in her eyes giving away the turmoil whirling inside her.

"What is it, Linwe? What is wrong?"

Linwe looked into Merenwen’s eyes and smiled slightly nervous smile, "Merenwen, I hardly know where to begin. There seems to be so much to tell, so much to ask.

"Why don’t you start by telling me what happened when Frodo became ill."

"Rosie and I were coming home from market day. I suddenly felt dizzy then I felt a searing pain in the back of my neck. Suddenly I just seemed to know that it was Frodo’s pain I was feeling. Rosie and I got back home as quickly as we could. There I found Frodo in his bed in a sort of trance. I did not know what it was that was ailing him so we just made him as comfortable as we could and I stayed with him through the night, holding him while singing to him as you used to do for me. It seemed to soothe him.

Over the next several days he quickly recovered physically, but I could tell that in spirit he was still greatly troubled. He said very little to anyone, he just sat about brooding. Two days ago I got him to go for a walk with me and we ended up here. In all of the months I have been living here, in all the time Frodo and I have spent together I have not once asked him about where he had been or why he had gone. But I just knew that this illness had much to do with it. That day I pretty much demanded that he tell me what had happened."

Merenwen smiled to her self, remembering Linwe’s sometimes assertive ways as a child. "Did he tell you?"

"He did, though reluctantly at first. Once he started talking he did feel better. I know he did not tell me absolutely everything, I think that it would take months for him to tell me all of it. But I know now that he carried the One Ring to Mordor to destroy it, and I have a general idea of what happened along the way there."

"Frodo’s sadness isn’t all that is troubling you, is it?"

Linwe sat silently for a long time. When at last she looked up at Merenwen, her eyes were filled with tears. "I saw it Merenwen. I felt it. I saw it. I heard it. So much of what Frodo went through; it is as though I was there in his mind going through it with him. I have memories that are not mine and I have scars from when his wounds. There was that afternoon, six days ago, I knew he was unwell, I felt it. I don’t understand, and I am afraid! What is happening?"

Linwe lost control over her tears. Merenwen took Linwe into her arms, gently holding her. When Linwe’s sobbing finally subsided Merenwen pulled back to look into Linwe’s frightened gaze. "I can see the time has come for me to tell you a rather long tale myself, but perhaps what I tell you will bring you a measure of comfort." Merenwen took a deep breath. "Linwe, do you remember about a year ago when you first told me that you felt you were seeing memories that were not your own?"

"Yes, you said that I was possibly seeing other places and times like the Elves are sometimes able to do."

"What you were experiencing actually goes deeper than that. You were actually sharing much of what Frodo went through himself. This is a phenomenon that can occur when two people are very close in spirit. However usually when it happens it will happen between two people who have long known one another. To the best of my knowledge it has never been felt to the degree where the person sharing the experiences of the other is actually left with physical proof of it."

"But Frodo and I have never even met before last November, so how can this be?"

"That is what I went to Rivendell to find out. I learned something from Esmeralda that I thought might explain all of this. I needed to let Lord Elrond know about this mysterious tie you have with Frodo. I was hoping that he would be able to help me make sense of it."

"You knew!" Accused Linwe, "When you were here you knew the whole time, what was really going on, yet you never told me!"

"Yes, dear, I knew. I started to suspect the truth when you told me of your illnesses and your memories. When I saw that mark on you shoulder I knew. However I could not tell you. Sauron had servants everywhere spying. I felt that if I said a word of this, even just to you, that your life and Frodo’s life would be in danger. What you were experiencing could have been used to stop Frodo from ever reaching Mount Doom. You most likely would have both been killed. I did what I had to. I stayed and watched over you. I knew that through you I was likely to discover the fate of Frodo as well as the fate of our world. During those days I talked a lot with Esmeralda. She happened to tell me about when Frodo was born. It was then that I got an idea of why you had the bond with him that you do."

"September 22, 1368, just after sundown." Linwe said absently.

Merenwen smiled, "I see you have now discovered that fact yourself. You two have been talking a lot."

"Is that why I know so much of what he thinks and feels, because we were born so close together?"

"Lord Elrond believes it is either that, or that there was a spiritual bond before you were born with your shared birthday being a result of that bond. He would actually not be surprised to discover that the two of you took your first breaths at the same moment."

"But why? Why us? Why me? Why Frodo?"

"That I am afraid I do not know. The Elves know much but the spirit realm is still a mystery to us. I can tell you that Lord Elrond believes that the measures I took to insure your birth might have made you far more sensitive to the bond. Your shared experiences with Frodo were unusually strong."

"Does Frodo have these visions; has he felt what I have felt?"

"I am afraid you are in better position to discover that. The only way for anyone to know that is for him to tell about them."

Linwe sat thinking of all that she had just been told. She could not yet decide if she felt assured or even more confused. "Merenwen, what am I to do now?"

"You go on as you have been. I have not really told you anything new. I have only confirmed what you had already come to suspect."

"How very Elvish of you," Linwe said with a wry grin, "But seriously, should I tell Frodo?"

"I will leave that for you to decide. If you feel there is a need for it and a time for it then you are most welcome to tell him of what you have shared with him."

Linwe sighed theatrically, "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will answer both ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Really Merenwen, I thought you were better than that."

Merenwen’s answering chuckle was a silvery lovely sound, "Please forgive me if I go a bit backwards once in a while."

~~~~~

Sam returned from his efforts to plant new trees about the Shire on March 25^th. Frodo was fully recovered by then, and chose not to mention the illness to Sam himself. However with everyone in the Cotton household knowing about it, Sam soon heard about it anyway. He was upset that no one had sent word to him.

"Why didn’t you two send a message? I would have come back right away," demanded Sam of Rosie and Linwe. "Either one of you should have known that I would want to hear about this as soon as possible."

"We didn’t send word to you because Frodo asked us not too." Said Linwe

"I don’t care what he asked you to do or not do. Frodo is always trying to keep folk from helping him."

"Samwise Gamgee!" exclaimed Rosie in outrage "Just what do you think we did? Are you believing left him lying there all by himself to get along on his own as best he could? I will have you know that Linwe was with him all the first night and at his side everyday after until she was sure he was well again. Now try to tell me what you could have done that would have been better than what she did for him."

Sam dropped his head, his face turning red with shame. It was a repentant Sam who looked up at them again. "Your right, I’m sorry. I know I’m not the only one in the Shire who can take good care of him, Linwe." I’m just used to looking after him myself. He and I have been through a lot together."

"I know Sam," said Linwe giving him a hug. "Believe me, I know."

~~~~~~~~

Merry and Pippin had brought Frodo’s things form Crickhollow. Sam did one last inspection of Bag End. Everything was put back where it had been before Frodo had left what now seemed so long ago. Bag End was now ready to receive her rightful owner again.

The morning Frodo returned to his most beloved home, he went in the company of Sam, Merry and Pippin. Somehow it felt important to him that he go back with the very same friends he had left with a year and a half before. For all four it felt like they had at last truly returned home.

When he walked in through the large round green door, the welcoming aroma of fresh baked bread and stew simmering by the fire wafted over him. Linwe and Rosie had come ahead of the others to prepare a celebration luncheon for Frodo’s homecoming. But then had slipped out when they saw the four arriving, feeling that the friends should have this time to themselves.

Frodo felt tears sting his eyes as he looked about him in wonder. "How did you ever do it? It looks as though I never left."

"Well Sir," said Sam "between Merry, Pippin and myself there was not much of Bag End we couldn’t remember."

"What could not be repaired was replaced with an exact copy," added Merry

"Some of the wood work had to be replaced so Sam even had scratches and gouges that matched those in the original, put on the new pieces," chimed in Pippin.

"It is amazing!" exclaimed Frodo "It is so much more than I ever could have hoped for. How can I thank you all enough."

"I’m sure we can think of something." said Merry with a gleam of mischief in his eye, "Your un-ending gratitude could prove to be most useful."

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