Story [LOTR] After the Adventure (Frodo)

Author: NYCitygurl
Title: After the Adventure
Timeframe: Near the end of ROTK
Characters: Frodo
Summary: The journey is over, but Frodo can't find peace.
Notes: My first LOTR fic EVER, and the first NSWFF story I've posted Kind of spur-of-the-moment (and on the short side ), but the bunny bit hard, and I wanted to write it.



The hardest part, Frodo learned, wasn?t the adventure. It was what came next.

The journey of the Ring was incredibly difficult, so much that he didn?t have the words to describe it. He had told the story once, and only once, to his friends, after they were healing in Minas Tirith. And after that, he had never spoken of it again.

It was too difficult to contemplate, though Frodo found himself in a half-stupor sometimes, thinking of nothing else for hours at a time until he could shake himself out of it and return to his task. Sometimes that only took a few minutes. Lately, it could sometimes take hours.

After the horrors of the journey, Frodo found that a quiet life in the Shire didn?t suit him at all.

A part of it had been taken from him. He could never again wander the fields and forests of his home and feel at peace with the world. Instead, he felt restless, but weary at the same time.

The others didn?t feel that way. Sam had settled down, just as he?d always talked about doing. Merry and Pippin did feel restless these days, but they spent their energy travelling Middle Earth and visiting old friends, exploring new places. None of his friends had been under the power of the ring as he had, and none of them felt the aftereffects of their adventure as he had.

The journey had been hard, and he?d spent much of it wishing he was home. Now that he was, he didn?t know what to do with his days.

The Shire was no longer his home.

Some days, he thought it might have been better if he?d fallen off the bridge into the chasm of flowing lava, and been burned in the fires of Mount Doom as the Ring had, as Gollum had. That would have been easier.

The scars from that night still pained him, and he often found himself unconsciously rubbing the spot on his hand where two of his fingers had been. That, and the never-healing wound on his shoulder from the blade of the Witch King, had never stopped hurting.

The Shire no longer soothed him as it once had, and it gave him no peace. There was no place in Middle Earth Frodo felt the need to go. He had seen Rivendell, home of the elves; he had seen Lothlorien, where Galadriel, the fairest of the elves, dwelt. He had seen the mines of the dwarves and the horrors they could hold. He had seen the spires of Minas Tirith and the slopes of Mount Doom. There was nothing left.

He was convinced that nothing else could give him the peace he sought. He could leave the Shire and return to any place he desired. He could wander the woods with tom Bombadil. He could visit the peace of Lothlorien. He could climb the mountains, and see the dragons.

But none of that would bring him the peace he sought, and much of it would be closed to him. The time of the Elves was over; Elrond had said that. Middle Earth was entering a new age.

And age, perhaps, that held no place for Frodo Baggins.

Frodo glanced at the letter sitting, open, on his desk. He had read it several times. It was a hard decision to make, and yet . . .

There was really no choice.

Sam, Frodo knew, would not understand. None of them would. But this was his only chance, and he had to take it. His friends would come to understand, and they would move on. And perhaps Frodo would finally find peace.

Frodo sat up straighter, decision made. He quickly penned and sealed a note to Gandalf, responding to the letter.

Yes, I will come with you to Valinor.

 

This was so heartbreakingly beautiful! Poor Frodo!

 

NAT! You have descended into LOTR love! Yay! Idri is thrilled!

Very lovely viggie. The ending of the books (and the film series) always gets me because it's so bittersweet in so many ways, Beautiful, but bittersweet. Great job capturing that.

 

Aww yay! Beautifully written!

And first NSWFF fic? You fail as a NSWFF mod.

 

Wow. Very good! You really got into Frodo's head!

Sad though.

 

LilyHobbitJedi: Thanks!!

Idri: Yes, I have! I?m glad you?re thrilled Thanks!! I always cry when the ship sails away to Valinor.

Miana: Thanks!! I know

HelloKitty: Thanks!!

 

Oh, Nat! Wonderfully moving and real. After such an adventure, peace would be hard to find and fleeting at best.




Ah! Valinor. [face_wistful]



!!!!!!!!!!

 

Such a simple yet beautifully written story. I never thought that returning home would be the hardest part, especially considering that he couldn't walk up Mount Doom without Sam's help. I never thought that he would contemplate traveling but there's really nowhere in Middle Earth that would enable him to run away from his pain.

This is my favorite line of the story. What I like even more than the contradiction is that it's so concise.

 

Jade_eyes: Thanks!! Yeah, I really believe there was no place in Middle earth he could find peace after that.

celera: Thanks!! I agree ? there was no where he could go to escape the pain. One of my favorite stories has a line about dying for someone being easy, but living for them being harder. I think that applies here ? as hard as the journey was, once it?s over, with the Ring and his wounds haunting him and his life changed so completely, it was too hard to stay.

 

Poor Frodo...one can understand about being restless when home doesn't feel like home any more. Though we all know how it turns out, it had to ride hard on him on deciding to join Gandalf on that trip. He knew he'd be leaving his friends, but he had been thru a lot and he deserved some peace. One has to wonder if he did, if Valinor did help him out.

Great job!! Thanks for sharing!

 

Great capturing of Frodo's feelings upon his return. His feeling of restlessness makes perfect sense.