Dear Readers,

I forced myself to reread the entirety of Traveler before I posted this final chapter (I even listened to Sk8er Boy to try and figure out what I was thinking), to make sure that I wouldn't miss anything. And at only the beginning I was struck by so much awe over how many of you have continued to stick around, despite Riley's rocky start. I feel your pain. The first chapters (back when I was updating on a regular schedule) are of the sort of writing that now makes me want to grate my eyes out. It's so genuinely horrible.

So I wanted to take the time to thank not just those of you who have stuck with me from the beginning (to whom I have clung in the worst moments of self-doubt), but those of you who have since taken me at my word and powered through the trash to reach Traveler at its heart.

My having finally reached the end of this story at all makes me endlessly indebted to your boundless enthusiasm. Without you, I would have quit long ago, and I would have never known that I can, in fact, write.

I want to thank every one of you. My original plan was to go through each chapter's reviews and thank you each individually. Regrettably, I've run out of time.

So thank you for your reviews and for your support, for continuing to read, for adding me to your favorites, for telling your friends about me. For as much as each author creates their own world, I owe you the world.

Thank you!

Love,

Kasey … aka Captain Oblivious… aka Elfin Child.

P.S. Mondo-burger sized thanks to Risa for beta-ing this last, great chapter! :D Thanks, Risa!

Previously:

Legolas's grip loosened and dropped away. She twisted her hands to find his before he could move away. Abandoning all pretenses, she stepped closer until they were standing together. "When you come back," she said with soft conviction, "I'll be waiting for you." She pushed up onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his jaw. She squeezed his hands, then stepped back, squared her shoulders, and headed past them all to the caves.

…

Riley wandered up to the top of the Keep and stood for a long time, looking down at the churning crowd. At first it was only because she thought it would be easier to spot her friends, but for as much as people rushed past her, she began to feel a disconnection from the people below. The more she tried to focus on them, the more she felt pulled away from them, to the extent that the sounds around her faded away, and she felt as if she were floating far above the world, looking down at a scene that she had so longed to be a part of all those years ago.

Do I still think that way? she wondered quietly. When she looked down at these people, she no longer saw characters in various roles. She saw Shawn and Lana with their family. She saw her mom and dad reuniting after her dad's business trip that had stranded him in Japan for weeks after 9/11. And on top of it all, she remembered Sam's voice over the picturesque scenes of reunion below her that had so strategically avoided the blood and mayhem of loss. "There is some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for." She would never escape unhappiness, Riley now realized. There would always be trouble in any world she traveled to. It was determination to encourage the good that saved people, not the longing for unhappiness to disappear.

Watching the sunlight break over the crowd below, Riley shoved that familiar feel of anticipation down. She was ready, finally, to commit to fighting for good in the world to which she was born. "But not yet," she told the feeling, and immediately, it dissipated. "I'm not done fighting for good here yet." With that, she caught a glimpse of the sun glinting off a familiar blonde head, and she pulled herself back down to that reality and raced down the steps into Legolas's arms.

"I've gotta feelin' that tonight's gonna be a good night." --Black Eyed Peas

"I can fight."

"Riley."

They were approaching the dock at Osgiliath, and Legolas had begun giving her instructions on what to do should anyone board the ship once he and Aragorn and Gimil (and their ghostly back-up). Riley had immediately made to stomp off to prepare for battle, but Legolas had caught her arm and pulled her back, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring her point-blank in the eyes.

"This is not your battle."

Riley opened her mouth to snap back, but froze at a sudden thought. He wouldn't have said that had he expected her to stay. She stared back at him, wondering if he could possibly mean what she thought. She hadn't spoken a word to him about seriously going home in so long. He meant something else, she was sure. But she kept searching his face, wanting him to confirm it. She didn't want it to be callous, didn't want to be cruel; when she told him she's decided to go home, she wanted to explain why. She and Legolas had come miles and had finally settled on a mutual understanding of what they were to each other. It seemed like such a dead end to know that what they were would never come to anything.

Legolas smiled sadly, not wincing away or moving his hands. "Do you think I haven't always known that one day you would need to return? When you would, one day, understand that you love your home and are ready to stop clinging to life here and live to the fullest extent where you were meant to? Did you think that in choosing to love you, I was any less the wiser to your future?

"Riley, there was always going to come a time when we would be parted. You are not living here. You don't age, you don't change, you don't leave footprints in your wake. You are not tied to this world. That is what it means to be an Elfin Child, Riley. To never be a part of this world the way you should."

She stumbled over responses in her head, trying to find a way to justify going home, to push the blame to someone else. But it had been her decision, and she knew it, and she knew that she had done the right thing. Still, her guilt choked her and she couldn't stop the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Legolas watched her patiently, maintaining his calm grip on her shoulders, not one bit of his expression bitter or angry.

When she finally could speak, it was still in sobs. "I can't just watch you go out there without knowing you'll come back."

"Soon, I am going to have to let you go, Riley. I am simply asking for you to do the same for me now."

So instead of helping as she'd planned, instead of fighting as she'd trained, instead of being involved at all, Riley crept out of the ship after Legolas and Aragorn and Gimli and the ghosts had driven the orcs off. She found the closest substantial pile of rubble and strategically hunkered down in it, keeping her sword drawn just in case, but for the most part making herself small.

Legolas had known. It repeated over and over in her head. The complete lack of surprise in his eyes, the understanding as he'd watched her reaction to his words… he had known, and he had known for a long time. Long enough to have come to terms with it. Long enough to have resisted giving into a love that could not end happily. Long enough to have learned to simply be with her without demanding more.

This man was better than her a thousand times, and she finally had the perspective to realize what it meant that he loved her in spite of herself. And she wanted to be like him.

She wanted to be a little like all of these good people that she'd met. When she got back home, she was going to prove that she could be.

She was huddled in the rubble for a good long while before the battle slowed. As soon as the orcs realized that they were losing, they turned and ran straight for the river. The ghosts were able to keep them at bay when they were gradually escaping from the battle. But as soon as they went into full retreat, they began to slip through the cracks. And they ran straight for the pirate ship.

Riley could have stayed hidden or run for it. But if those orcs got away and lived to torture more people… she began to picture little Freda and Eothain and their mother and father… always running, always followed by the horrors of the war. Well for God's sake, she could at least make sure they didn't get the boat.

She raced on board ahead of the orcs and retreated below deck as they poured onto the ship. When she had been in the hold, kept captive, she had been near the supplies… and she knew exactly where they kept the oldest, most primitive version of a cannon she'd ever seen. It didn't look like the rest of their weapons and she had assumed at the time that it was supplied by Saruman.

The movies had taught her how to properly load a cannon, and it was easy enough to find the gun powder… or the Middle Earth version of it. She knew how to start a fire, thanks to her time traveling with the boys…

In the end, it might have been a better idea to slow down a bit. Granted, if she had, the orcs filtering down the stairs to investigate all the noise might have gotten to her before she lit the fuse, done more than startle her and make her trip and knock the cannon toward the powder and…

Well, like any logical person she screamed and found the most expedient exit – moving so quickly that the orcs couldn't get a hold of her – right into the river just in time to escape the rocking explosion. The force of it knocked her sideways through the water, and it took her almost too long to right herself and figure out which way was up. She surfaced mid-river, gasping for air, and stared.

The pirate ship was on its end, burning and sinking into the harbor.

"Hooooly crap," she gasped.

The blast had given her a relatively wide berth from other escaping orcs and she was able to swim most of the way to shore without being noticed. Once she got close she had to dive under the water to avoid being caught, and finally hauled herself onto the shore behind a pile of rubble and stayed there until the surge of orcs had slowed and she was sure that they wouldn't bother with her when she ventured out.

Soon after she emerged, she spotted Legolas worriedly scanning the harbor where the boat had been, and she ran to him.

Riley threw herself, sopping wet, into Legolas's arms, and held on tight. She couldn't think of what to say in a moment like this, and so she settled for humor. "I'll give you points for the individual men, but I agree with Gimli. That Oliphant still only counts as one."

The joke had its intended effect and Legolas laughed lightheartedly. "And I suppose you could do better?"

She nodded and gestured to the bubbling river. "I blew up a boat that had a bunch of orcs on it!" she said proudly.

Legolas stared at the water in surprise. "You really… blew up a boat?"

"Well," she muttered, scratching her nose, "I may have caused some… minor irreparable damage to the integrity of the hull."

"And you did that by…"

"Pointing a cannon vaguely toward the floor and then tripping and knocking it to face some… er… flammable material?"

"I'll give you points for your intentions but only half, because you didn't actually intend to see those specific results."

She grinned, falling back into banter mode with relief. "Not fair! I didn't know you needed specific goals for this game; no one gave me the syllabus! I demand a recount!'

"We'll convene the council later to determine how the matter shall be handled. Do you have official representation?"

"If you mean a lawyer, no. And I don't need one; I have the truth on my side."

"Melanin, you cannot comprehend the truth."

It was Riley's turn to stare. Who the heck let Jack Nicholson into her story? "If you say 'All work and no play makes Legolas a dull boy,' I am so going to freak out and axe you to death right now. Or electrocute you. Or throw you in a vat of toxic waste, though, let's face it, you'll probably just wind up with a superpower. Not that the Joker had a superpower. But most people who get doused in something toxic wind up pretty cool. Like Daredevil, or Alex Mack. Unless you're Britney Spears and then your life just turns to –"

"I have not heard you ramble in this way for months." Riley was startled out of her conversation with herself so abruptly that she couldn't quite remember what had been going on. "Well, you know…" she said, shrugging vaguely.

Legolas laughed. "Yes, I know," he said, steering her toward Minas Tirith, her had tucked safely in his.

Gimli joined them partway there with a characteristic grunt. "I see you managed to avoid injuring yourself," he said.

"She blew up the ship, however," Legolas offered.

Riley cried out indignantly. "Why? Why must you say it like that? I was keeping orcs from escaping and um… yeah, so they won't be able to get anywhere! Like Mordor or Rohan or… those… other places…"

Gimli snorted at her and Riley bashed a fist down on his helmet. "I was trying to be useful, you grumpy… oh my gosh. I can't believe I haven't used one Snow White and the Seven Dwarves reference this entire time!"

"Snow what?"

"Snow White! She's this princess who sings in a really high voice, and her stepmother wants to kill her because Snow White is more beautiful than she is. And the stepmother is actually a witch (but nobody knows it), so she… well, first, she's the queen, so she sends this dude to take Snow White to the forest to pick flowers or skip and hold hands or something, and she tells him that he has to kill Snow White and cut out her heart. But she's so innocent that he feels bad, and he tells her that she has to escape, and he brings back an animal's heart instead.

"But the queen finds out what he did so she has to think of another way to get Snow White. And in the meantime, Snow White runs through the forest and freaks out and then finds this random house and no one's home, so she just invites herself on in and she and a bunch of animals clean the house and make a ginormous pot of like… broth. And then she decides she's tired and she pushed together these mini beds that she finds upstairs and goes to sleep on them.

"The whole story is that there are seven dwarves that live there – Grumpy, Doc, Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Happy. And eventually they win and whatnot, but yeah. There are dwarves."

Gimli appeared even more surly than usual after that, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from pointing out that he was being grumpy as they carefully avoided walking through ghosts as they approached the city. It wasn't long, though, before the ghosts, with a universal, peaceful sigh that was carried on the wind, faded away, and they could see the land around them.

It took hours to meet up with everyone. Legolas and Gimli went off to help carry wounded soldiers to the city gates, and Riley was about to go with them when she spotted Pippin wandering through the multitudes of bodies lying on the ground.

Trying not to think too hard about how she was wading through corpses, she went to meet him.

"Hey, Pip!" she said when she got close. "Watcha doing?"

"Looking for Merry," he replied, voice weighted down with suppressed panic. "No one has seen him."

"Okay," Riley said. She patted him on the back. "I seem to remember an oliphaunt being involved."

The news didn't lessen Pippin's panic. "He's all right, isn't he?"

Riley squinted her eyes, trying to remember exactly what condition they'd find Merry in. "He's hurt pretty bad, but it had to do with the Nazgul, not the oliphaunt."

"What?"

"Yeah, long story, right?"

They spent the next hour or so wandering from oliphaunt carcass to oliphaunt carcass, looking for any signs of a Hobbit buried under a body. Riley hadn't realized how very large the Pelennor fields were, or the massive scale of the battle that had just occurred until she was wandering around the entire place. The oliphaunts hadn't exactly all died close together or in a straight line. They were scattered across the field, and she had absolutely no idea which one Merry was near.

There was a certain point at which she could no longer stand her stomach rolling as she stepped over bodies, avoided pools of blood, and, gruesome as it was, slipped on spilled innards. It hurt to stare at face after face and know that these were empty shells of people that were cared about, that had goals and dreams. And after a while, she stopped wondering who those people were and hurting for them now that they were gone. She kept her eyes focused ahead and pushed away the part of her that wanted to hurt over everything. This was the way it was. She could not change it. She could not influence it. It was time to accept the situation and move ahead.

As night began to fall that they found Merry. They rushed to his side, and Riley helped Pippin tug the body off of him. Pippin immediately bent over Merry and urgently began to prod him into consciousness.

Once they had begun to speak to each other quietly, and Riley was assured that there hadn't been some grand mishap and Merry was not dead, she straightened and scanned the horizon, wondering at the best way to get Merry back to the Houses of Healing in the city.

Everyone else had already started back for the city and were a considerable distance from them, so there was no one to help carry Merry. She reasoned that she could manage it fairly well so long as she didn't trip as much as one their journey out. Still, though Merry was quite a bit smaller than her, he was a bit wider than she was, and didn't weigh so much less. Carrying him back would take far too long.

How did Pippin manage to get him back on his own, she wondered. He must have run for help, or else screamed his head off…

She ruled that out and was just deciding to go back and hoist Merry into her arms when she heard a snort from the other side of the oliphaunt. Oh of all the luck… It was probably the one remaining orc in the entire field, who would now kill them all dead. Or it could be an injured soldier who had yet to be found! Riley stepped forward, hand on the hilt of her sword, but she didn't need it.

Oolore came slowly around the oliphaunt's hindquarters, sniffing the ground curiously.

Riley stared. The last time she had seen Oolore, she'd instructed him to run as fast as he could away from the pirates that had caught them both by surprise on the riverbank.

"Well aren't you just the convenient plot point!" she exclaimed.

Oolore snorted in response.

Riley sheathed her sword and put her hands on her hips. "So I suppose, all-knowing horse that you are, you already know why we're here?"

Oolore walked straight past her to Merry and Pippin.

"Of course you do." Riley sighed heavily and decided she just didn't care anymore. "Do you think you can carry all three of us?"

Oolore made it easy on them by kneeling as he had done when Riley's leg was broken, so it was easy to make sure Merry was secure in the saddle and supported in Riley's arms, with Pippin holding on behind her, before they were high up in the air. He walked slowly through the field, but this time it was a straight, steady line to Minas Tirith.

Legolas was looking for her at the city gates, and led them swiftly to the Houses of Healing. He and Riley saw Merry safely into a bed and Oolore to a nearby remnant of a stable before they retreated deep into the city to find a quiet place to sit and rest. As they had in Helm's Deep, Legolas sat against the wall, and Riley curled into his arms.

They didn't speak, just closed their eyes and relaxed into each other, savoring what they could of their remaining time.

The next day they made their way to meet Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer, and Gimli to discuss the next course of action.

Riley amused herself by wandering up and down the steps to the throne in the Hall of Kings while the others took account of their losses. Theoden dead; Eowyn, Faramir, Merry injured. Countless others the same.

She didn't have it in her to be grave anymore. She understood. She empathized. But she was going to squeeze every last delicious drop of life out of these experiences that she could, and she refused to let depression slow her down.

"Do you have any suggestions?" It took her a moment for her to realize that this question had been directed at her. She turned, wide-eyed, to face the leaders in the room. Each of them stared at her expectantly.

"Uh… where were we?" she asked.

They all but rolled their eyes at her, with the exception of Gandalf, who actually did roll his eyes at her. "We were formulating a plan for what to do next," he said with exaggerated slowness.

She stared back at him, feigning boredom. "And you have decided… what?"

Aragorn stepped in quickly before Gandalf or Riley could throw a temper tantrum. "There are only two choices left to us. And with your… knowledge of what will befall us… do we run and hide for as long as we can? I would rather fight, if not to save ourselves, then—"

"Then to give Frodo a chance to succeed," Riley finished. Her body tingled in a moment of déjà vu. This… this was finally when she could tell them. They were all at that certain point when it didn't matter what they had to give; if it was everything they had and more, they would give it because that's the sort of men they were. It made her grin. She couldn't screw anything up. She couldn't change their minds. It was plain as day that they were resolved, and she rejoiced. "You need to go to the Gate and draw Sauron's eye to you long enough for Frodo to make it into Mount Doom. Gollum will take care of the rest. And soon you'll have both Hobbits back safe and sound. Well… Frodo will be missing a finger, but all things considered…." She shrugged and grinned.

Slowly, the faces that stared back at her began to beam. Riley beamed back, fidgeting with giddy happiness. "Just watch out for trolls!" she declared, laughing. "Especially you, Aragorn, that thing heads straight for you. Oh, and don't stray too far from the group, cuz that blow-out's going to be huge and the ground underneath will cave in…."

She kept talking. She talked over maps and in armories. She talked to leaders and to her friends. If it had been a movie it would have been shot in a montage of war preparation and pep talks.

"Can I come can I come can I please, please come?" The montage came to a screeching halt when Riley started begging to come and Legolas said no. "But I know exactly where to stand so I don't get hurt or in the way!" She huffed. "Look, I always wanted to be there for that moment, to experience something that big, to know what a real war with this significance is like. I'm not a moron; if I actually made it into a situation like that, I'd be killed, probably before anyone else, because I'm no warrior. Valar, I can barely hold my sword. But this time I know where to be. If I stand at the back I won't even be touched. The back of the formation hardly sees the battle come their way before everything collapses and the enemy runs.

"Look, if I sound like a petulant child, then… well, then I sound the way I always do, don't I? If that's the case, then tell me no and do what you need to, to keep me safe.

"… but we both know I'm going home. And I want to be there. I want to be there with you."

There, she had said it. It wasn't unsaid, it wasn't subtle. She was going home.

Legolas never let go of her hand after that, and once Haldir (who had joined forces with the Rohirrim and continued fighting) heard of the predicament, he grudgingly offered to stand guard over Riley at the battle. He did, after all, owe her his life.

All the way out to the Gate, Legolas kept her close by his side. He made sure that she had a decent bow with her and that she was positioned at the back of the formation. "If they get too close or the fight turns sour, get her out of here," he told Haldir, both grave.

She'd never seen Legolas so serious, and she told him so. "I am always serious where you are concerned," he told her.

"Except when we're discussing points."

"Except when we're discussing points." He glanced behind him at the still-forming lines. "I had better join the others at the front," he said.

"See you on the other side, Tex." He gave her a puzzled, albeit amused, look. "Tomorrow is another day. It is my density. Sincerely, the Breakfast Club. Follow the yellow brick road. I feel the need, the need for –"

"Oh shut up!" Haldir snapped. "Valar, that you had stayed in the caves at Helm's Deep and I had died."

Riley gave him what she considered her Glare of Doom, muttering beneath her breath, "Scruffy-looking nerf herder."

He muttered something Elvish and rude back.

"Well, I am glad to be assured of your safety," Legolas said sarcastically. Riley laughed.

"Don't worry about a thing; Haldir and I'll fight 'em off." She patted his arm.

Legolas kissed her forehead, and then left for the front.

In the midst of a horde of soldiers, Riley and Haldir stood awkwardly side-by-side. Riley could only stand still for a few minutes before she started bouncing on the balls of her feet and then rocking from heel to toe. Haldir ignored her for a good while, right up until she started performing clumsy renditions of N*SYNC dances (she'd never been much of a dancer. The most she could pull off was some short versions of the current club beat-driven dances).

"Will you stop that?"

Riley switched to a new dance. "Stop what? Is this better? What are you talking about, Haldir?"

Haldir inhaled and exhaled slowly through his nose.

"Do you know the Macarena?" she asked, demonstrating.

He didn't respond, ignoring her completely.

Riley huffed and fell back into a normal stance, giving up. After a while, the stirring of the soldiers around them slowed, and Riley could vaguely make out that someone from far away was yelling. Must be Aragorn, she finally concluded.

She peeked sideways at the stoic Haldir. "So… can you hear his epic speech?"

Haldir remained silent, pointedly ignoring her.

"Aw come on, Haldir. Won't you be my neighbor?"

His lip curled in distaste. "You have suggested that before."

"Have I, seriously? Dude, I need to go back if only to get some new lines." She rocked on her feet quietly for a moment. "So… can you hear Aragorn?"

"… but a faint murmur."

"Oh geez. Should we yell when everyone else yells?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Okay, good. Cuz otherwise we'll seem even punier than we already are. And size does matter in these things, I've heard."

"As in others."

It took her a second. And then she turned, ever so slowly, to gape at the Elf. "Did… did you…"

A tiny, insolent smirk quirked his top lip.

"OH. MY. GOSH!" Riley yelled, then lowered her voice. "You made a penis joke." She about died laughing. Luckily, Aragorn had chosen that moment to conclude his inspiring speech, and everyone around them had taken to screaming their support, so the hysteria near the back went largely unnoticed.

When she came back to herself, Riley basked in the now-companionable silence. They had a minute or so until Aragorn dismounted at the front of the line and they all charged forward, she remembered, so she tried to think of something to say to Haldir.

"Why haven't you gone to the Havens yet? Why fight?"

Haldir eyed her suspiciously.

She shrugged. "Well, I mean, why risk your life when you could be safe with your people far away from the danger?"

He nodded, visibly considering his answer. "That is the stance that 'my people,' as you call them, have generally taken. But there are those of us who recognize that while it is more pleasant to imagine the Elves has a superior race, we are in just as much danger as the rest. Even the Havens will not go completely untouched should we lose this war."

Riley stared in awe. She hadn't thought of that. She, too, had considered the Elves mostly untouchable, and hadn't concerned herself with their race.

"I am old enough to have known many of the race of man. So I do not fight only for Elves. I fight in honor of the friends that I have made throughout this world in my life."

There was a long silence between them. Far ahead, they could hear shouts as the front began their fight against the hordes flowing from the gates of Mordor.

Taking a deep breath, Riley turned to her companion. "You're totally cool, Haldir."

"I shall take that as an expression of admiration."

"You should."

As she had said, the fight never really reached them. When she could see Mordor between heads of the soldiers in front of her, she looked out for any danger coming their way, but mostly observed the actual expanse of Mordor. The gate itself was huge, expanding far into the sky above their heads, blocking most of the land behind it from view. What she could see, though, was frightening.

The army of Mordor streamed endlessly through the gates, never faltering or staggered in amount. Surrounding them was a grey landscape of jagged hills, pockets of crevasses, and bursts of flame lighting only some. Most of it was dark, simply empty of anything. Far away, a mountain rose up, massive and ominous. It cast the most light on the land below, firelight from within shining through cracks on its sides. Its mouth poured darkness into the skies above, casting the entire land into shadow. Mount Doom.

Stationed far inside the gates, between them and Mount Doom, was a huge black tower, which was chilling and threatening, and on top was the most frightening thing Riley had ever seen.

All comfort and ease left her as she stared up at the great, lidless Eye; it scanned the battle below, its attention drawn just as they'd hoped. But it was terrifying. Her heart felt as though it had fallen into her stomach, and her breath seemed to be caught, motionless, in her lungs. She could not take her eyes away; they were glued to it in horror. Her limbs felt weak and her eyes stung as she watched, unblinking.

A hand clapped down on her shoulder and startled her enough that she could peel her eyes away. Haldir was watching her stonily, but kept a bracing hand on her shoulder. "They are coming near," he said.

Riley turned her attention back to the ground outside the gates, standing on tip-toe to see what was going on. There were lines five-men deep standing between them and the battle. The men around them were shifting impatiently, waiting for there to be room for them to leap into the fray. Riley drew her bow and an arrow, strung the arrow, and held it pointed toward the ground, ready to lift and fire. Haldir held his sword casually beside him, still keeping his hand on her shoulder.

"I promised Legolas that I would keep you safe. Please do not run off."

"You betcha."

"You understand that, do you not?"

"No exiting Haldir's vicinity, check."

"Stay within the swing of my sword."

"What if you accidentally chop my arm off?"

"I will not."

"What if you do?"

"… the prince asked me to keep you alive. He said nothing about loss of limb."

"… are you kidding?"

"We shall see when it comes to it."

"When?"

"If."

Riley narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you really going to chop my arm off?"

"I will do what I can to prevent it."

"Is that all you can do?"

"It is."

"Well, so long as you at least try and keep in mind that I'd like to keep my limbs intact."

"Duly noted."

By the time the battle reached them, it was largely due to the enemy encircling them. Riley focused on using her bow, because at least with that, she had some semblance of skill. Haldir covered her, weaving a circle around her as she first struck the enemy down, and then collected the arrows. In all, they saw very little action before a rumble caused the ground beneath their feet to quake. Riley paused with everyone else to stare up at the Eye, which was pointed in the exact opposite direction, at Mount Doom, as it roared and quivered.

The air filled with an angry, terrible scream, and the tower, which had stood so tall and menacing, began to crumble.

Riley, who knew for sure what it meant, shrieked and leapt in the air, cheering. As the tower collapsed and the Eye fell with it, the others followed suit and broke into a massive huzzah. The Eye winked out just before it plunged to the ground, and the innate fear Riley felt in its presence vanished. They all screamed even louder. They had done it; Frodo had succeeded.

But when the Eye disappeared, the force holding Mordor together also ceased, and the land exploded. It started with the mountain, and its force stopped everyone mid-cheer. Even this far away, they could feel the heat as the volcano burst, shattering the ground around and under it. All of Mordor began to sink.

She knew what was happening, and she knew that she had nothing to fear. But for the same reason that a sudden drop on a roller coaster can choke you with inexplicable fear, so this startled Riley into silence. She edged closer to Haldir, who stood in Elvish alarm – that is, he frowned slightly and stood perfectly still.

The subsequent explosions that accompanied the collapse of the earth around them made Riley start, and she huddled in on herself and closer to Haldir. Haldir moved only slightly, but managed to strike a protective angle near her. Riley covered her ears with her hands to block out the thunder of rocks crashing and sliding and cracking into one another.

Everyone stood silent, edging close to each other and into a circular formation as the collapsing ground spread around them, swallowing every bit of the enemy into the depths of the fiery, molten rock current far below. The heat of it rushed up and engulfed them, but the cracks in the ground did not spread any closer.

Riley was still staring around at what was happening when suddenly someone was shaking her, gripping her roughly by her upper arms. "Where are they, Riley?" Gandalf was standing before her, demanding to know if it was time to retrieve Frodo and Sam.

"You're still here?" she shrieked. "Dude, they're melting!"

She hadn't even noticed the eagles that had set down around them until Gandalf was off, flying toward the remains of Mount Doom, with them. The gates had fallen with the rest of Mordor, and the destruction was plain to see. Where there had been a land, now there was only an enormous crater that bubbled and surged at the bottom. Everything had fallen away… she stared.

"Are your limbs intact?"

"What?" Riley turned her attention back to her own vicinity and found herself surrounded by her friends. Aragorn was adjusting his armor. Merry and Pippin were counting something on their fingers, while Gimli rolled his eyes at them. Legolas was standing directly in front of her, bent to her level. Haldir was next to her, albeit a bit farther away, and exasperated.

"Are your limbs," he repeated slowly, "intact?"

"Oh," she said. "Yes." She got the feeling that they'd been trying to get her attention for a while, and had only just succeeded.

"We should begin our journey back," Aragorn said, drawing Merry and Pippin's attention. "Gandalf will be far ahead of us, and I for one would like to hear Frodo and Sam's tale."

"Frodo doesn't have a tail, nor does Sam," Pippin offered.

"No, tale, not tail," Merry muttered to him quietly as the rest sheathed their weapons and called the attention of the soldiers around them to begin the journey.

Some stayed behind to gather the wounded or dead and to carry them back. Aragorn, Haldir, Legolas, Riley, Gimli, and the two Hobbits, traveled in front, leading the way. While the gate had seemed extraordinarily close on the way out, on the way back to the city, it seemed to have moved miles away. The journey was slow and long, and they were all exhausted, but exhilarated.

They were finally rid of the enemy. The sheer length of the struggle hadn't seemed real to Riley until she had been in the midst of it. And what she had seen was a mere sliver of the horror that Sauron had unleashed on Middle Earth. She was perfectly willing to believe that they were, indeed, rid of him, but the very concept of it must have baffled everyone around her. The Hobbits seemed slightly shell-shocked, and they hadn't even known about Sauron until a couple of years ago. No one knew how to react.

So Riley held Legolas's hand and kept quiet.

It took them days to begin to understand that they were free. In that time, Frodo and Sam (who had, of course, been retrieved by Gandalf and transported safely back to the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith) awoke.

Sam woke up first, looking around the room at his reception much more calmly than anyone had ever seen him. Riley greeted him with a potted plant and told him that it was a job well done, and that it was very much worth it. He still remained composed, only smiling for the first time when he came with them to greet Frodo when he had woken up too. They were both far more grave than anyone could remember.

It was weeks before Aragorn's coronation was held. The weeks were filled with repairs on the city, organization of the citizens to make sure there was enough to eat and places for them to stay. Absolutely everyone helped. Riley helped the most with Eowyn and Faramir, who were desperate to work, but too weak to yet do much. They found a central place at which to collect all available food and hand it out. They kept it organized, clean and dry, and directed the preparation of meals for the workers who were rebuilding the city. Eowyn was not involved in making the soup.

The coronation seemed to be the event of the age, and was approached with as much anticipation. The entire city halted reconstruction the week before so that they could prepare.

Riley, Legolas, and Haldir sneaked out to greet the delegation of Elves the evening before. Riley squealed and ran to hug Arwen as soon as she saw her. Haldir and Legolas greeted the other Elves in a much more dignified way and traditional way. Riley, however, felt absolutely no need to do any of that and continued going from person to person, hugging and greeting and generally exuding happiness. It was all a massive secret from Aragorn that the Elves, and most especially, Arwen, were here. They were ushered quietly to their quarters and the others left to assist with final preparations as if nothing had happened.

The next day, the Fellowship parted company and went to their people for the coronation. Legolas took Riley with him, insisting despite her protests that she was welcome among the Elves and that she would not, as she said, "ruin their rep, yo." As the Elves gathered in preparation, Arwen pulled Riley aside.

"Galadriel thought you might like this," she said, displaying a long, flowing gown.

Excitement bubbled in Riley's stomach. The Elves of Lorien had some of the most beautiful, most comfortable clothing Riley had ever experienced, and to have a gown specifically made for her… she couldn't help an excited giggle as she and Arwen practically dove into a nearby room. Arwen helped her into the gown, which both hugged her and flowed. It was a gorgeous mix of pale shades of white and pink, with light yellow embroidered around the edges.

Riley had never been one to display a particularly daring side when it came to the cut of her clothes; the plunging, swooping neckline made her feel beautiful without compromising her modesty, and without displaying the scar from having Frodo's mithril shirt ground into her chest in Moria.

She looked light, summery, and rosy as the colors complimented her skin. Arwen set to work, taming Riley's hair into Elvish elegance, and they stepped out of the room a short while later to join the other Elves.

Lord Elrond smiled at his daughter, bringing her close to say a last goodbye to her. Riley had given up pretending she didn't want Legolas's approval. She smiled warmly and walked to him, quirking an eyebrow in a silent "How do I look?"

She needn't have worried or even asked. They were far past the time for pretending to each other, and Legolas held his hands out for her the moment she stepped from the room. As far as anyone was concerned, Riley belonged to Legolas, and vice versa. Legolas drew her close and wrapped her hands around his arm. "We are to lead the delegation, as part of the Fellowship," he told her. "Aragorn has requested that the Fellowship be held in high esteem."

Riley gulped, eyes widening in the slightest. She'd barely been talked into joining the Elves in the first place, and now she was to help him lead it.

"You look beautiful," Legolas told her, leaning close to kiss her cheek.

She grinned. "Thanks."

They took their places among the throng of people and the coronation began. Riley reached behind her to hold Arwen's hand; she could practically feel the nerves rolling off of her. In all, the ceremony was very short. Riley watched tearfully as Aragorn took his rightful place as king, and her friends' lives began to finally change for the better.

Aragorn walked through the crowd, greeting his friends and acknowledging leaders.

He passed Eowyn and Faramir, and Legolas led Riley forward, the delegation of Elves following them.

True to form, Riley leapt at Aragorn when he reached her, hugging him tightly round the middle. Aragorn chuckled and hugged her back fondly. "Thank you for your enthusiasm, mellonim." Riley laughed along with him. She stepped back and exchanged a look with Legolas, and they stepped aside to let the others forward.

Riley watched Aragorn's face as Arwen stepped from behind the banner she was carrying. Manly man though he was, Aragorn's reserve crumbled as he realized who stood before him. Riley reached for the banner and took it from Arwen's hands, leaving them free to reunite. Beautiful, right. Oh how she wished she could have had that assurance with Legolas.

The two composed themselves quickly so that Aragorn could continue honoring his guests, but their smiles continued to quiver with excitement. Riley carefully displayed the banner and followed along behind them with the delegation. They turned a corner in the crowd and were suddenly facing the four Hobbits.

The crowd bowed along with Aragorn, and Riley followed suit. Did half these people understand what they were honoring? Did they have any inkling of what these Hobbits had endured? Riley knew she must have been one of the few. The people from Gondor had lived in oppression and without leadership. The Elves had long memories, and the Dwarves kept their stories. But the Hobbits had been untouched, had been completely unaware. And they had learned to shine.

After the coronation, the entire city began to celebrate. The leaders and close friends gathered in the hall of kings to have a massive banquet. The entire Fellowship took their places at the head table near the king and his soon-to-be queen. The hall partied into the night with giddy abandon.

Riley listened as the Fellowship excitedly began to discuss what they could do with their lives. They'd all gotten a taste for adventure – a peaceful, non-threatening adventure that they could enjoy without fear for the fate of the world. Aragorn was looking forward to rebuilding Gondor; Eowyn and Eomer (and soon, Faramir) would be doing the same in Rohan. Merry and Pippin were excited to move ahead with their respective jobs. Legolas and Gimli were discussing where else they would like to explore before they headed back home. Even Frodo and Sam were happy to be going home, exchanging stories of what they were most looking forward to.

Riley watched quietly. The weight of the war had lifted, allowing her to see them as though she was looking back in time. They belonged in this world, and she was struck, for the first time, with how much of an outsider she was, how disconnected. These people had never longed to leave, had never wished for a different land. They simply lived, as best they could, as fully as they could. She smiled.

She rose and crept through a side door out into the night air. She breathed deeply, shutting her eyes and wrapping her arms securely around herself.

"It has been quite a long time since you came to us," a voice came from behind her.

She smiled. "Do you see an improvement?" She turned to look at him.

Gandalf smiled back, stepping forward to encircle her in his arms. "I see a great amount of change, some of it better than others." Riley snorted. "You have grown, as we all must do. Your confidence in yourself now would astound the Riley of long ago."

"And the bad stuff?"

"Oh Riley; had you not toyed with others' lives and manipulated them because you selfishly chose to better yourself… you would not have been able to make the decision you are about to carry out."

It stung. "Was I wrong to try to better myself?"

"Everyone must choose whether to better themselves or not. And unfortunately, often the good decisions we make hurt those around us. Choosing to do what is right will never make you wrong, Riley. It just hurts because you are not choosing to follow the easy road."

A gentle humming swept around them on the breeze. Riley smiled bitterly and sang softly, now understanding. "The road goes ever on and on…"

Gandalf nodded, singing the rest with her.

"Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say."

"Good luck at home, Riley," the wizard said, gathering her in his arms and giving her a warm hug. "You now have all you need to thrive. The others will understand."

She burst into unhappy tears as Gandalf stepped back inside.

She loved her friends dearly, cared about their happiness. She would never see them again. Somehow, it was right that she was not saying goodbye. They had always accepted her as the tag-along, but had never needed her company. In the darkest days, perhaps she had brought some liveliness and reminded them of the joy they had forgotten. But their lives were right now. They had opportunity before them and much to look forward to.

Even Frodo could look forward to the Havens.

She could slip quietly from their lives as suddenly and inexplicably as she'd come.

Still, a deep, aching sadness made it difficult to breathe. She'd always been sentimental, and a complete separation from everything that she had held dear for so much of her life made her feel empty, devoid of support. For the first time since she had first come to Middle Earth, Riley felt a crippling insecurity grip her, and she struggled to throw it off.

But then, this entire journey had been about being secure in herself without anyone else's help, hadn't it?

"It is lucky that I noticed you leaving. I could accuse you of not saying goodbye."

Riley laughed and turned to him. "I would have come to find you, Legolas, you dork."

He was holding something in his hand – a leather satchel, much like a backpack. "Ah, dork am I? Perhaps I should rejoin the others inside…"

"No!" Riley grabbed his hand, pulling him further outside with her. "Stay with me a little while longer, okay?" She leaned against the stone railing and gazed out over Gondor. For once, it was simply night, the only light from the moon and glittering stars. There was no ominous darkness hovering in the distance, casting shadows over the valley. It was peaceful.

Legolas wrapped his arms around her from behind and leaned his cheek against her temple. "A different world than you've seen before."

She nodded. "It's harmless."

They stood quietly together for quite some time, neither willing to let the other go so soon. Eventually, though, they parted.

"What will you do?" he asked.

"Take a break," she said. "I don't really know. I'll try to fix my life, I guess."

"You won't have much to fix."

"Not my life, exactly… more my attitude toward it. Toward the people I knew."

Legolas smiled at her, genuinely, teasingly. "And will you finally marry?"

Someone who's not you? "I don't know."

He pulled her close and wrapped her securely in his arms. "Riley if you hope to succeed there, you cannot keep clinging to this life."

"Can't I cling to you?" She buried her face in his chest.

He chuckled, holding her away from him so that he could look at her. "No, melanin. Not even me."

"I don't want to waste my time looking for someone new. I want you."

"And you cannot always have what you want, can you?"

There was a long silence between them. Riley struggled to find the strength to step away. It had been such a long road to finally find him. And even though she knew that she was doing what was right, she just couldn't bear to let go.

Tears choked her. "I'll never find anyone as good as you."

He smiled and brushed his hand across her cheek, catching the tears before they could go far. "I think… that you may come out of this experience a bit wiser… and a bit more willing to look at the world and the people you know from a different perspective."

"You… you think I already know him?"

Legolas smiled secretively. "You are asking me about other men?" he teased.

Riley flushed, throwing her hands in the air. "Oh for the love of P---" He pressed his lips to hers, effectively cutting her protests short.

That sensation could never have lasted long enough, and he pulled away too soon, resting his forehead against hers. "I love you, dear melanin."

"I love you too, Leaf."

He kissed the back of her hand, a gentleman always, and pressed something into her hands. Riley pressed her eyes shut, savoring each fleeting touch, and then, before she had even come close to her fill of just being near him, there was a shift in the air around her. Legolas wasn't touching her anymore, and she couldn't bear to open her eyes. Everything around her and in her felt empty. Slowly, achingly, instinctively, she curled in on herself.

The entire club was in an uproar. For seconds after the disappearance, no one had been able to move, and everything had gone deadly silent. The first sound had been a scream, and had snapped the stunned audience out of their shock.

Jeremy's mind had gone numb and everything moved slowly, like molasses, but one thought was screaming at him. Riley had known. Maybe not that it would happen again, but she had known that it could happen.

Jeremy had been snapping pictures with Riley's digital camera, when someone had bumped into him and he had fallen to the ground. The camera had skidded out onto the stage next to Riley's feet, and then it had happened, and the camera was gone too.

Jeremy followed Dean as he ran out onto the stage, searching in vain for the superstar. The audience was scrambling in all directions, shouting and crying. Security was trying to keep the crowd under control, but it wasn't working.

Stopping in middle down-stage, Jeremy gazed out over the crowd. It had been at least two minutes… hadn't Riley said that her first adventure was instantaneous? Shouldn't she be back by now?

Everyone was in a frenzy. Television cameras were sweeping the audience, looking for any sign of order. Just then, there was a collective gasp, and Jeremy spun around.

The only sound then was the echo of shifting weight and the clatter of cups tumbling to the floor as they all stared at the woman huddled in the middle of the stage.

After a long moment of not thinking at all, Jeremy shook himself into action. Slow, hardly-moving action, but still. He crept toward the woman not quite believing what he had just seen – Riley had popped out of existence to be replaced a moment later by a woman clothed in a light, shimmering gown.

The woman took a slow, shuddering breath, and Jeremy froze, not wanting to frighten her. He crouched down so that he was eye-level with her. Her head tipped up, her eyes cracking open. Jeremy was struck simultaneously with a powerful relief and a bone-chilling horror.

The woman in front of him had been through wars. She had the air of someone who had suffered, had been dragged through the muck of the world and prevailed. Gone was the carefree girl who had been on-stage only minutes before. This, indeed, was a woman, and she had lost too much. Where before, he could literally see her sensibilities bouncing along high above his head, this new Riley's eyes held a subdued quality. As she squinted, scanning the area around her blankly, Jeremy watched in startled awe.

Her mind – the way she process information – was much the same as it had always been. But she was grounded, the way you become when you fully understand and correlation between action and consequence.

She had grown up.

At that, her wandering eyes landed on him. A flicker of recognition made her pause to study him. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Jeremy," she said softly, the croak in her voice drawing his attention to the tear tracks on her cheeks.

He moved immediately to her side and brushed her hair – so much longer than it had been minutes ago – away from her face gently.

"Can you help me up?"

He lifted her to her feet; though her limbs trembled with the effort, she tried to do it herself, seeming to try and force her body to cooperate. The Riley he knew would have collapsed in his arms and clung to him as if he was her shield.

Riley put one shaking foot in front of the other until she had made her way off stage. In one of her hands, she clutched a sort of backpacking satchel you might find in Nepal. She made her way backstage, past her crew and the club owner and manager. Shawna and Dean ran to join them but Riley didn't seem to notice. In the club, the crowd had begun to stir anxiously.

"Riley!" Riley's parents burst through the backstage. Instead of reacting slowly as she had to Jeremy, or barely seeming to register them as she had with Shawn, Riley threw herself at her parents, falling into their arms and clinging to them. "I love you I love you I love you," she kept saying over and over as she buried herself in their embraces.

In the weeks that followed, Riley settled back into her life with all the grace of a newborn colt. It was lucky, all things considered, that she had been on the verge of a very large vacation, because it meant there was no hectic routine for her to struggle back into. The uproar at the club caused by her disappearance and subsequent reappearance had a lot of important people scrambling for interviews, but in an uncharacteristic twist, Riley Ashton had broken her lease at her Manhattan apartment and disappeared off the map. Very few people (her manager included) could find her in those days. Even fewer could find out what was actually going on.

Riley's parents had accepted her back home eagerly. She was so catatonic to begin with that she didn't notice that her room had gone unchanged, and that Jeremy, Shawna, and Dean hardly left. The one thing that she did notice was that no matter what time it was, no matter how far she buried herself under her blankets and pillows, this world was so friggin loud. There was always a hum, always something mechanical causing noise somewhere, and she couldn't sleep through it. Jeremy crouched in front of her for hours, speaking quietly into a cell phone while they made arrangements to accommodate her. Her parents shut down all atmosphere controls in their house, doing what they could to quiet things down. In her more lucid moments Riley recalled that her house had always been a quiet place, as if her parents had purposefully made it a place of retreat.

Her mother was a fantastic cook. Very little of her meals came from boxes or cans, for which Riley was now grateful. Her dad knew how to tickle her funny bone and make her feel better about everything. Riley found herself horrified over how ungrateful she had been for her life in the past.

Shawn got fed up waiting for Riley to readjust and finally burst into her room one day, ripping open her curtains and declaring loudly, "Got something for you!"

Riley only stared at her, squinting in the light.

Shawn chucked a hefty package onto Riley's lap. "There," she said. "Looked through your backpack do-hickey and found your camera. Figured you'd want those asap given last time and the whole… picture deal."

It was the first thing that had made Riley sit up besides the need to pee. Her camera… she hadn't even thought of her camera in a year, and she certainly hadn't had it with her for that last bit of their journey.

Riley tore frantically at the wrappings, dumping thousands of pictures into her lap all at once. She found herself staring at picture after picture of candid shots. Whenever she had set the camera down, someone must have picked it up and continued its journey.

Everyone was there, from Legolas to Fifi to Freda. There were landscape shots and awkward shots of people who had clearly not known what was going on. There were pictures of her sitting with her friends and laughing with them. There were some pictures that were deliberate, some by accident, some staged. Pippin licking a wall in Gondor, Faramir imitating Boromir's scowl, Elrond with a grape in hand, Aragorn grinning insanely as he had in his more playful moments, Arwen pulling Riley's dress for the coronation from a wardrobe.

It was everything.

Riley burst out laughing, rifling through the pictures rapidly, trying to scan them all at once. She reached the bottom of the pile… and froze.

Two pictures immediately caught her eye. One was of Legolas holding her on the balcony in Minas Tirith that last night. The other was of the rest of the Fellowship, standing far back in the shadows, watching with smiles. Some of them were waving, some simply grinning. It was them saying goodbye.

Riley was never exactly the same. She moved to a secluded cabin deep within the Sierra mountains and entirely abandoned her pop star image. Even after she regained her footing in her noisy world, she spent most of her time in the cabin, writing music on her own terms and learning to apply all that she'd learned to what life she had now.

Jeremy was the one who eventually pulled her back into the open, provided her a way to share herself with the world without falling victim to it. A lot of people liked her new genre. A lot of people didn't.

Often, she ached for her old friends, for life to be familiar and easy. But she knew she was in the right place, and that eventually this would be familiar too. What made Riley happy was doing what she was good at. She had worked long and hard to find out who she was, and what made it all worth it was the fact that, now, she knew what she wanted, knew what she was good at, knew that she didn't need to be needed to do something meaningful.

And after a while, her memories of all that had happened faded. At first it was set aside, as our memories sometimes are when we are occupied.

Few actually knew where she had been. Fewer believed it. Jeremy and Shawna had experienced her after her first trip, and knew it was real. Dean had spent enough time with them that he was sure something they said was true. Dean and Shawn began a romance that was heated and passionate and faster than anything. After a while, they too forgot the truth in it, and humored her more than anything. Riley knew her parents could not quite grasp it, and so never asked them to.

Jeremy was the one that kept her going. When Riley couldn't remember the color of Aragorn's eyes, he framed a photo for her. Years later when she began to forget the names of places, he commissioned an artist to make her a painting of Middle Earth the size of a wall. When she decided that she was too alone in her cabin, he moved in and designated an upstairs library as the Lord of the Rings room, and proceeded to fill it with tangible bits of evidence: her gowns, her pictures, her necklace, and other souvenirs.

When Jeremy and Riley had been married for 10 years, Riley began to forget where she had been. Jeremy combined her music room and her LotR room so that she would be surrounded by her friends always. When their children would ask for stories, Jeremy would encourage Riley to tell them about her time in Middle Earth, and would fill in the gaps of what she forgot.

He worked hard throughout their life together to never allow her to let go. He had watched Riley grow, had seen the difference that her journeys had made in her, and had rejoiced when she had finally come back whole. Riley dedicated her life to mentoring and giving people the tools to express themselves. Jeremy did what he could to keep her Middle Earth experiences fresh in her mind in an attempt to honor those people who helped her to become who she was.

By the time they had grandchildren, her memories had become a simple story she had created when she was young. The library was mostly packed up and set in the attic, but Jeremy insisted that some of the more important pictures – the Fellowship setting out from Rivendell, Boromir and Riley attempting to simultaneously ruffle each other's hair, Legolas holding her hands – be kept framed and strategically placed throughout the room.

When she passed the pictures, Riley would always smile. It may have only been a story, but she was fond of it and always had the vague feeling that she'd forgotten a key element.

When Riley passed away, Jeremy had her dressed in a combination of the two dresses she had brought back, and had her beautiful, intricate, delicate flower necklace placed about her neck; the pictures were scattered around her, and a bouquet of dried flowers (a gift from Jeremy on their fiftieth anniversary) placed in her hands.

Instead of a wake, the family held a celebration of life. Their little secluded cabin was filled with laughter and joy as they shared story after story of Riley's life.

She had done good.

Epilogue.

The last boat is waiting for him, most of the others already aboard. Gimli is grumbling that the boat is far too Elvish for his taste. His voice is lower than it once was, and more gruff. The gentle lapping of the sea against the hull nearly drowns out the shouting of the men farther inland, who are in the midst of building some sort of "running water" experimental contraption that has become popular in the last few years.

Middle Earth does not exist to the other people in my world. It is a fictional place from a well-known story.

"I fear that the Middle Earth that we both knew is nearing its end," he murmurs, clutching the book tighter.

Darn straight, she chimes in softly.

"It is difficult to believe that I am never to see this place again."

If I did it, you can definitely do it, Mr. I-Can-Do-Anything-Because-I'm-An-Elf.

"You had a home to return to. I am leaving mine."

You left your home a long, long time ago. Have you really been so unhappy with your life?

He chuckles. "No, I have never been unhappy with my life."

Even when I left you?

"Not even then. During the time that you were here, you made my life better. You could never have made any part of my life worse."

Except now you're talking to yourself, so I must have done something to screw you up.

There is a long pause when he simply scans the landscape, taking in what he can of this familiar land. An Elf's memory is long, but his memory of this place will fade once he reaches the Havens, and there are some parts that he does not want to forget.

Will you forget me?

"No, Riley. I will never forget you." His hand tightens again on the book he is holding. "I will carry your voice with me always."

Cool beans, dude. I mean, not that beans are particularly cool, and no, I don't mean temperature, because I'm quite aware that beans can be cool temperature-wise. I mean that it's awesome that you found my book and all… I totally thought that it must have fallen in a river or something. It would have been just like me to drop hundreds of hours of work into a river or a bat cave or something and that means that to retrieve you would have had to, like, face Batman, and…

"We are casting off, Legolas!" a voice calls, interrupting her rambling diatribe.

Legolas turns to acknowledge Haldir, and then chuckles and looks down at the bound parchment. "It does not extend past your time in Lorien, but it reminds me of how you express yourself."

Yeah. At least I didn't write it all in song lyrics. Like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Into the West." Which, come to think of it, would be appropriate for this moment, don't you think?

"Aye. The deeds of men have outlasted us at last."

Ray of sunshine, you are.

"And patriot I am, to the last. Thus, I leave my home in Ithilien to rejoin my people. Perhaps in the Havens, we may continue to exist."

You know you're talking to yourself, right? You're worse than Pippin and his licking walls. Or Boromir and how he started that grape-throwing fight…

He laughs. "No one on this earth or any other believes that anyone but you started that, Riley." He takes a deep breath. "I will miss you always."

Me too, Leaf. Now go do what you're meant to. She gives him a mental wink, and with a last smile at the expanse of the harbor, Legolas turns and boards the boat with the others, ready to continue on.

No, he will never forget that girl.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…

to leave the world a better place… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson