bloom

[bronwe]

Who: Frodo and YOU!
What: fail gardening
When: morning of April 4
Where: by the orchard
Rating: PG

It is warm enough now that Frodo can walk about barefooted without worrying that he might lose both legs to the frost. He remembers how Sam would start his planting at around this time of the year, just when the seasons turn and the sweet smell of spring is almost here. But not quite.

There is a tin bucket of flower bulbs some ways from the apple tree, set beside the small crouched figure digging little holes into the ground with his hands. He has a pile of pulled weeds and rocks on his other side, having cleared a small patch there for his makeshift garden. Planting the bulbs confuses him though. Which way is up and how deep should it go?

Times like these, more than ever, makes him wish Sam were here to give him all sorts of wise advice, and not only for gardening. He can already imagine one hundred and one quips from the hobbit. But his friend isn't here, yet, so Frodo just keeps squinting at the bulb, hoping some revelation will miraculously come to him eventually.

Comments

[bronwe]

Frodo stops his digging to look at Will, not quite understanding what he means. "The youngest and the oldest of what?"

It seems strange that there would be no one younger than the boy beside him, no babies?

[lightbranded]

"Of the Old Ones." Will's gaze turns distant as he speaks, as if his mind was a very long way away indeed.

"We were a great circle, born into every time and place. I was the first to be born in 500 years, and the last. After me there will never be another. The Youngest of the Old, they called me."

[bronwe]

An irony, he thinks.

"But why has your line stopped?"

[lightbranded]

Will thoughtfully traces a pattern on his arm as he answers.

"There was no need for any more, I suppose. The Old Ones always knew that one day the need for us for come to an end. The world belongs to humans, now. As it should."

His gaze turns distant again.

"And all the Old Ones have sailed away. To rest in the land behind the North Wind. Only I remain. And that, too, is as it should be."

[bronwe]

Frodo falls quiet at that. He knows what that reminds him of though the boy seems nothing like an elf. He should know better than to judge anyone by appearances now, though.

"The Lady Galadriel's people are also sailing away. They walk past our forests sometimes, that is when I would hear them sing as they go to the harbors."

[lightbranded]

"She told me so, once. I suppose it is similar, in a way." They had spoken much on that topic.

[bronwe]

"She said it is because their time has passed and men should now take the reins, so to speak." That still feels bittersweet though, and Frodo tries to smile to himself to drive away the sadness.

"Is that also true of your people?"

[lightbranded]

"It is very similar, yes. The time of the Light and of the Dark and of the High Magic has passed. The world belongs to men now, and it is up to them to decide what the future of it may be. Whether that may be for good or ill."

[bronwe]

"But I never understood why they have to leave," even if that may just be him and his love for the elves. "They could stay and advise us. We don't yet know what to do, which is good or evil."

[lightbranded]

I can't speak for the elves, of course. But the reason my kind left is exactly that. We existed simply to save the world from the Dark. To protect humans from them and to ensure that they could choose their own futures free of any influence from the Dark. But once the Dark was gone we no longer had a purpose.

Oh, we could have stayed, like you said. We could have reveled ourselves to the world, and offered our advice and guidance.

But that is not our nature. The world belongs to humans, and it is their choice what its future must be. And whether it is for good or for ill, it must be their own choice, and they must take the consequences that come with it. It would be wrong for my kind to interfere with this.

[bronwe]

Frodo is silent for the longest time, mostly to try to better understand what Will just said.

It seems terribly sad to have worked so hard to secure peace for the world, pour out so much of one's love to a place, a home, only to then leave it for others to take pleasure in. He can't help but wonder if, to a certain extent, it would be his fate too. The quest will claim his life. He would never see a world without the great enemy.

"Where will you go? What will you do there?"

[lightbranded]

Will plucks out a piece of grass and stares at it idly.

"For myself? I will walk the world for some time yet. I am the Watchman of the Light. It is my task, yet, to stay within the world and to watch."

He smiles distantly.

"I was left behind. Because I am the Youngest by far and because I am still the closest to my human family of all my kind. And so I will stay.

The others? They will rest, I think. They have all gone to the castle behind the North Wind, in the home of Arthur. It is a restful place, there. With many apple trees."

[bronwe]

That seems a lonely life, to be left behind without the rest of his kind. No matter his other friends, it must be difficult.

"And what you see in the world, is it good?"

[lightbranded]

It is well enough. The world moves as it always has, full of people both good and bad.