The Odyssey of the daughter of the forest

Epilog

Tauriel could not help smiling as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. Gimli and Legolas were together filling the boat that would take the three of them to Valinor. And that was not his biggest surprise. Indeed, the elf and the dwarf had already been working hand in hand on the construction of the boat for many years. The work had begun as soon as the Valars had announced their wish to allow their friend to reach the elven Immortal Lands, to general elation.

Although the dwarf had retained his natural joy of life, and the spark of mischief in his eyes, old age was now taking its toll on his features. The redheaded elf peered at his long gray beard, tied in a myriad of tiny braids, which she had made herself in the morning. His face, too, was older : several wrinkles encircled the contours of his mouth, eyelids and forehead... His hands, too, had been battered by time. She knew that their days of joining Valinor were numbered.

Conversely, the elven prince was still the same as he had been a century earlier. She detailed his body, which she now knew by heart, sitting on a low stone wall in the Grey Havens. His smooth blond hair gleamed in the sunlight, his eyes were bright, and his features remained youthful. His silhouette was slender, slender as the first day. And it would always be the same.

She glanced around thoughtfully. The place was practically deserted. All the elves who wished to leave Middle-earth and return to the land of their ancestors had already done so, with the exception of the three friends. Thranduil himself had made the journey, some decades before, as had Sam, who, after the death of his wife, had chosen to join Frodo in Valinor, a privilege granted as a former ring-bearer. But Tauriel, Legolas and Gimli had had their reasons for staying.

At the end of the War of the Ring, Aragorn had ascended the throne of Gondor, alongside Arwen. Supported by the two elves, they had together created an elven colony in Ithilien, not far from Minas Tirith. Ithilien had long been under the control of Faramir, Eowyn's husband, appointed steward by the king. At the same time, Gimli had also founded a new dwarf kingdom in the Glittering Caverns. All the regions surrounding Gondor were pacified by Elessar, and added to the region. Middle-earth was now at peace.

They had all lived together for many peaceful years, with no dark clouds on the horizon. Arwen had given birth to a son and two daughters, who looked exactly like her. Eowyn and Faramir had also welcomed several children, as had Sam and his wife. The families had almost all grown, except for Pippin and Merry, the two inseparable cousins, and Gimli, who still saw no point in marrying.

For many decades, Tauriel had traveled the length and breadth of Middle-earth, alongside Legolas and the dwarf, from the Shire to Gondor, via Erebor and Mirkwood. They had visited their friends many times, supporting them in their most difficult times. The redheaded elf still remembered the grief of the three hobbits after Frodo's departure, the gleam of terror in Eowyn's eyes when she gave birth for the first time, and Gimli's wonder when they returned to Lorien. They had seen their friends blossom, evolve, grow wiser. They had seen wrinkles appear along their faces.

For men are not immortal. She knew this all too well. Faramir had been the first to leave them, on a stormy evening, in the middle of winter, from a long and terrible illness. Eowyn, overwhelmed by grief, had not survived him, and had quickly followed him to the grave. For a moment, Tauriel remembered her eternal smile and long white hair on the day of her funeral, as she sang in her honor. Then it was Eomer's turn. The proud warrior had been buried alongside his sister and brother-in-law one fine spring morning. His wife joined him some time later. Everyone was deeply affected by these losses.

A few decades passed, during which Aragorn devoted himself to his new kingdom, accompanied by his old friends from the fellowship. Sam left to join Frodo in the Immortal Lands after his wife's death, and in the same year, Merry and Pippin passed away in their turn. They were found one morning, on their beds, a big smile on their weathered lips, just a few days apart. Gimli mourned them for many weeks.