[mark12_30]

The dragon had faded from sight about an hour ago. Lindo looked around. Hobbits were clustered in little groups all over the mountainside; although many were finally done weeping, some were still not finished.

But now, the very last distant sense of the dragon's mind was gone, and Lindo knew that Angara had gone somewhere else in time. He hoped that they were all safe; somehow he did not fear for them.

Maura stood alone far from the rest of the group, looking westward, with his hands in his pockets. Zira and Ban were watching him, waiting for him to turn around; they would not approach him til then.

Lindo looked down at the curly head resting on his knee, and the other two boys that sat together by his side. They did not look at each other or at him as they wept, but they had deep comfort in each other. The storm was gone by; the light rain still fell. Lindo waited.

Tomba and Kemba had picked up the ugly knives that they had taken from the orc-bodies, and gone off to explore. Lindo wanted to go with them, but his own boys weren't ready, and so he waited. Finally he touched each one on the shoulder.

"None of us have ever seen the sea, " he said, "but today the sea has come to us. Let's go down, and see what it is like. We have a whole mountaintop to explore. Are you ready?"

Tocca and Tem nodded, expectantly, and stood. Retya raised his head off of Lindo's knee, slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, and gazed at Lindo. "Won't they ever come back?"

"No, not for hundreds of years, " Lindo replied. "We will write songs about them, and remember them, and teach the children's children to look for them. But you and I will never see them again. We will be long gone by the time they return. I'm sorry."

Retya heaved a great sigh. "But I wanted you to marry Azra."

There was a moment's stunned silence, and then, "What!?" Lindo burst out laughing and mussed Retya's hair. "Retya, that's silly! She's still in her teens. She's much closer to your age than mine! She's nowhere near being of age. "

"I know, but still. She was always good with all the children in the Workhouse. She would have been a good mom."

Lindo's laughter slowly faded, gradually replaced by something akin to panic. "Ah-- eh, well-- let's go and explore the water's edge, " he replied nervously. "Come on. Tomba and Kemba have already gone."

"We've got to bring Estel, " Retya replied, and locating the pony, he jumped up and ran off to fetch him. Lindo, wildeyed, slowly stood up and scratched his fingers through his hair and shook his head.

"Don't worry, Dad, " Tocca replied, and for a second, Lindo glanced around to see who he was talking to, and then he realised Tocca meant him. "We'll do all right by ourselves. Won't we?"

"Yes... yes, right," Lindo replied with an uneasy laugh, and gave Tocca a hug. Tem lined up for a hug too, and nearby, Retya spoke from the pony's back. "What are we waiting for?"

"How come you always get to ride?" Tem groused indignantly, and Retya, selectively drumming with his heels, expertly turned the bridle-less pony, and headed downhill. Tem and Tocca followed, gamboling.

Lindo looked westward, and saw Zira and Ban talking to Maura. Maura still had a sad, slightly distracted air about him, but he was already looking around the hillside, gesturing and talking with Ban and Zira, and Lindo knew he was planning where to put burrows and what ground to till. Lindo was satisfied. When Maura's expressive hands were moving, he was all right.

And that meant the whole settlement would be all right.

Then Lindo turned and watched the boys, laughing and frolicking dangerously around Estel's heels, and aiming for Tomba and Kemba. But then Retya turned, looking back at Lindo, and as Retya called, Lindo heard an echo of the tumbling mountainside, where it reached down, down, down, finally plunging into the depths of the sea below. He drank in the sweet mountain air, now mixed with the tang of the sea, and it brought a wild laugh out of him before he knew it. Suddenly abandoning himself to the mountainside, he threw himself into a full run downhill after his sons.

[ August 22, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[ August 22, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]