Chapter Eighteen

~*~*Part Eighteen: Epilogue~*~

I watched as she did what I could not. As she saved a world that I had
helped to create and, in doing so, had allowed evil to come into play.

I watched, and was amazed by her capacity for love and courage. Did I once
hold those same values within myself? The obvious answer being ‘yes’, I
still find it hard to believe. Though she is who I was so long, long ago,
she is different nonetheless. My heartache and crimes are not hers to bear,
nor will they ever be. Only the memories of those things, suitably softened
and dampened lest they hurt more than caution, are within her.

//You have done well.//

My head bows, as it always does when They are around. The Powers that rule
all things, above and beyond the Gods that we worship in our mortal coils.
They are the beginning and end – of time and space, and everything in
between.

And it is they who called for this to happen.

“I did nothing,” I whisper.

//You did everything.//

I will not argue with them, not when they can see into my heart and know the
truth of how I feel anyway. They know that I claim no honor from this, that
I sought no recognition, and neither does my other self, sitting there in
Middle Earth, looking out over a crowd. I can see her in my mind’s eye, so
radiantly happy. So joyous that things worked out.

I feel the same.

//Are you ready?//

I nod, though it is pointless, feeling the weight of my crimes ease in my
soul as they do their thing. I don’t deserve this. I did so much wrong, and
so little right. Yet they’re forgiving as always.

And with their blessing, I am sent on to the After. In a flash of Light, I
am no more.

~*~*~

Willow looked up at the heavens, her brow furrowing with sudden, sharp
confusion. She could have sworn she heard someone laughing up there. A
ringing harmony of happiness, that spread out from one corner of the sky to
the other. Yet, no one else seemed to notice. They were all still watching,
listening attentively as Aragorn became Elessar and took up that which was
his birthright.

She smiled as he turned, and the crowd knelt in a folding wave of bodies.
Without even thinking on it, she sunk low, her light blue dress dipping to
the ground with her body; heart awash with utter joy as the last of her
burdens were lifted away, echoing off into the sky, following the laughter
that only she had heard.

And moments later they were kneeling again, except this time to the
hobbits. To the ones that had made all of this possible with their bravery
and loyalty. Even the King was kneeling, paying tribute to what had come and
gone by their small hobbit hands. And she was smiling still, so hard that
she felt her face might crack under the strain of it; and her heart felt
near to bursting with happiness.

She rose with the others, a soft murmur drifting through the crowd, as she
stretched her neck this way and that, trying to see what was going on.

“She’s here. . .” someone to her left was whispering.

“. . .elf. . .”

Willow felt her heart shudder. She. Elf. There was only one person that it
could be, one person that would hold such infamy that the entire crowd would
be abuzz with her arrival. So she hadn’t left, after all.

She turned her eyes away from the crowd, downwards to the ground, meeting
Eowyn’s gaze. The blonde haired woman held pity in her eyes, and that made
Willow all the more sad.

Out of the corner of her eye people were moving away, and she knew that she,
too, should go. Find somewhere to live out her life, away from the pain that
this ‘might have been’ was causing in her heart. She didn’t begrudge them
their happiness –

She had only hoped for a little of her own, now that all was said and done.

“Willow?”

Aragorn’s soft voice was once again an impetus to bring her back to the land
of the present, she found; blinking out of her thoughts to look at him. And
the beauty that stood beside him. Arwen. She knew her from her dreams, and
unconsciously reached up to touch the pendant that she’d worn since that
time.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” the elven woman offered with quiet
sincerity.

“Pleasure,” Willow echoed woodenly, forcing a smile to her lips. She looked
around, at the thinning crowd, and wondered why he had brought her over
here. Just to rub it in? No, he wasn’t like that. He was just being polite,
letting her know in no uncertain terms that he was no longer interested.
That was fine. She’d manage. “Well, I’ll just leave you two crazy kids
alone.”

“I’m sorry?”

She sighed. Of course he wouldn’t know what that phrase meant. “I meant that
I have to be going. Now that this is all over with. Besides, I’m sure the
two of you have a lot to catch up on.”

The red head offered Arwen another tight smile, and then a curtsey towards
Aragorn. “It was an honor to meet you, m’Lord.”

She turned, weaving her way through the dissipating crowd, fighting back
tears in her eyes. She would not cry.

Not right now, anyway.

~*~*~

“I do not understand.” Arwen turned to Aragorn. . .no, Elessar, she reminded
herself; her brow knit in confusion. “I thought that the two of you had come
to terms with what is to be?”

“I thought we had as well.”

She looked at the retreating woman, her eyes softening as realization hit
her. Her hand fluttered to her mouth and she gasped, a light laugh escaping
her mouth. “Go after her.”

“If she does not wish to remain –“

“I do not think that is the case at all,” Arwen smiled, tenderly brushing
aside a stray lock of his hair. “She is merely confused by my presence. How
is she to know that I am on my way, even now, to the ship?”

His eyes widened, and she could almost hear the mental curse of frustration
that echoed through his mind, before a not-so dignified King of Gondor went
running after her.

They would be good together.

~*~*~

She shoved her few possessions into the travel pack she’d acquired somewhere
along the line, a lonely tear finally escaping her eye to fall listlessly
down her cheek, onto the bed that she’d planned on sleeping in tonight, so
happily.

“Don’t go.”

Willow fumbled with the catch on the pack, her hands slipping at the sound
of his words. She turned, shaking her head. “This isn’t the place for me.”

“It was last night.”

She blushed, remembering the stolen kiss in the hallway, just outside this
room. One kiss that had turned to a half hour’s worth. Minutes stolen when
he had a coronation to finish planning. Minutes he had, seemingly, given her
willingly.

Minutes that she would now treasure for the rest of her life.

“Things change.”

He frowned, giving her a look she knew all too well. He thought she was
being silly. “And some things do not. Some things are not as they appear,
for instance.”

Willow sighed, sitting heavily on the end of her bed. She bit the inside of
her cheek, hard, forestalling any future tears with a burst of pain. “Can we
just skip to whatever reason it was that you came in here?”

“Very well,” the corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. “I came only to
inform you that Arwen will be leaving shortly, should you wish to speak with
her before she must go.”

Her mouth opened and closed, confusion clouding her mind. “Huh?”

He sat down next to her, chuckling softly. “She came but only to say
goodbye. Not to take away that which she had given freely.”

“Oh, Goddess,” Willow whispered, face flushing hotly. “So. . . she’s not
here to . . .”

“Her ship is leaving tonight,” he reiterated.

“Ah. Okay. Color me embarrassed.”

“You appear to have that covered,” he smiled winningly, running a finger
along her cheek. It was pink, she knew it. She could feel the embarrassed
flush coloring her. “Did you wish to speak with her before she leaves?”

Willow snorted, nodding. She could feel the heat leaving her cheeks, and the
welcome coolness that it provided. Unthinkingly she leaned into the hand
that still cupped her cheek, smiling.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few things to say to her.”

Starting with ‘thank you’, the witch laughed quietly to herself as she stole
another kiss and sent up a silent thank you to whoever was watching over her
in this life, vowing to make the best of it with every breath she took.

~*~End Fic – No Prequel. No Sequel~*~