EPIC: A Demigod's Tale by Frodo Baggins

Chapter 16

The quartet of demigods strolled out to the edge of a balcony, and Frodo peered over the edge to see the expanse of the valley spread out before him. Lower down, an elf practiced waterbending. Frodo watched as the waterbender created graceful motions that moved the water alongside him in a natural flow. 

"By the way, what happened to Strider?" asked Frodo. Because of the injuries he had sustained in the fight, details of the battle were hazy to him. Sam shrugged. "I haven't seen him since the battle."

"He's a lot more powerful than I would have guessed," Merri added. 

"But at least he was trustworthy, unlike someone else I could mention," Pippin groused. 

"Yeah," Sam growled darkly. 

Frodo moved to leave the balcony, planning to roam the rest of Rivendell before it was dark. He was about to embark down a garden path headed by a statue of a woman, but was shocked when he saw a familiar figure seated on a stone bench sequestered between overgrown foliage.
Frodo's face lit up and he approached the figure, who was busy scribbling words in a book spread over his lap. While the man had aged since the time Frodo had last seen him, there was no mistaking that it was none other than Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. 

"Bilbo!" Frodo cried excitedly, running toward his uncle. 

"Hey ho, Frodo!" Bilbo greeted, standing up stiffly as if he had been sitting in the same place for a while.

Frodo threw his arms around Uncle Bilbo and the two embraced. 

"Good to see you, my boy," said Uncle Bilbo. 

"What's that?" Frodo asked, glancing at the book that Uncle Bilbo had left spread out on the stone bench. 

"Oh, this?" Bilbo said, picking up the book. "Want to have a look?"

Excitedly, Frodo took the book and sat down on the bench. Bilbo sat down next to his nephew and watched as Frodo flipped through the book's pages. 

"There and Back Again: A Demigod's Tale by Bilbo Baggins, Son of Athena," he read out loud from the book's title page. "This is wonderful, Uncle Bilbo," he exclaimed as he flipped through the book's pages. The pages were filled with neatly written letters and Bilbo's own hand-drawn illustrations and maps. 

Pippin popped up behind Frodo and peered at the book. "You're writing it all by hand?" he asked, crunching into an apple. "Wouldn't it be easier to type it all up?"

"Hey, I told you to give them some space," Sam growled, heading up the garden path. "And where did you get that apple?"

"Trade secret," Pippin said with a mysterious wink. 

"You mean you stole it!" Sam accused, looking aggravated. 

"Aw, come on, give it a rest," Merri said, popping out from behind a bush not far away from Pippin's. 

"And why are you two sneaking around anyway?" Sam demanded. 

"Like Pip said, all part of the trade," Merri said smugly. The trio launched into a squabble, while Bilbo turned his attention back to Frodo. 

"So anyway...I had planned to return to the sites of my adventure long ago. I thought it would be nice to revisit Mirkwood, Lake Town, and the Lonely Mountain, and maybe see some of my old friends again, but it seems my old age has caught up with me at last."

Frodo continued to flip through the pages of the book, past maps of the star systems and planets, and some ground maps, like of Mirkwood and Camp Halfblood. Frodo hungrily drank in the layout of his home, realizing how much he missed sleeping in his mansion and being around other fellow demigods in the safe borders of the camp.

"I miss Shire," he said, while in the background the sound of Sam arguing with Merri and Pippin continued. "I spent my childhood dreaming that I was off somewhere else with you on your adventures."

"Ah yes," Bilbo said with a wry smile. "I'm sure a son of Hypnos dreams quite a lot."

"But my own adventure turned out to be totally different. I'm not like you Bilbo. I mean, I almost died."

"I had a few close brushes with death myself," said Bilbo. "That's just a part of adventuring."

"It might would help if I didn't fall asleep so much," Frodo yawned, his eyes suddenly feeling droopy. "But I just...feel so...tired...all the...time." 

With that, Frodo's head slumped on Bilbo's shoulder; the son of Hypnos was now fast asleep. Bilbo smiled and wrapped his arm around Frodo as he snored.