Just a few words to introduce this, the last of the "There and Back Again" trilogy. Firstly, if you have read the other two parts, I am honoured and thankful. Secondly if you intend to read this, the third, I hope you will love reading it as much as...
When they emerged squinting from the underground prison that had held Guy captive for those long weeks, they were almost too weary to place one foot in front of the other. They did not speak, because their hearts were filled with such sorrow at the death of their boy, they merely followed Thorin and their other dwarven rescuers back to the farm.
As they walked across the yard, Auriel saw a weeping Aunt Gwyneth with her grandson in her arms, walking towards the small barn, to the place where he had once recited his poem about his family.
Then she heard the gasping sobs in her husband's throat as he watched, his friend Thorin stepping forward to support him, as he swayed with grief and exhaustion.
She was without the words to give him the comfort she so needed herself, and wanting to be with their son, they both moved forward to follow, but they were held back by two of the witches who had come from the farmhouse kitchen.
"We will bring you to him after we have prepared him" one of them said softly, "you would not wish to see him as he is. We are able to return his body to how it looked in life and this is the memory you must keep in your heart. But know this, he died with honour and valour for one so young, and whilst we celebrate his life and what he could have become, he will be greatly mourned by all of the Magical Realm."
The dwarves went on their way to their own accommodations, leaving Guy and Auriel to enter their home. It was warm, homely and smelling of something delicious, thanks to the witches who still dwelt there.
Baby Abigail sat in her crib and smiled at their approach, the twins rushing from their lessons in the playroom to greet them. Auriel knelt to embrace them, a stiff smile fixed upon her face, as she fought the grief still threatening to engulf her.
The little ones were obviously unaware of the tragedy that had occurred, but Auriel reasoned that she and her husband would tell them together, though she knew not how they would find the words.
Guy did not greet his children, but slowly went up the stairs. Then she heard the bedroom door close and the creaking of the bed that he himself had built, as he lay down upon it. She sent the children back to their schooling and went to the bedroom herself, fetching clean clothes from the dresser and then two drying cloths from the linen press on the landing.
Guy remained silent as she entered and did not speak even when she stood over him before she left, unable still to find, or offer, any words of comfort for him. As she passed through the kitchen she picked up a small piece of soap from the shelf by the pantry, telling the witches that she was going to the river to bathe, knowing that the bath house would be unavailable for many hours as the dwarves who had built it sought to cleanse themselves after their labours.
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She spent two hours at the river, sitting silently on the riverbank after she had bathed, then she walked home leaving her soiled clothing outside the kitchen door and when asked by Tamsin the witch what she was to do with it, she merely said, "burn it!"
