[Child of the 7th Age]

As dawn broke over the horizon, only a few revelers could be seen tottering back in the direction of the hobbrim caves or towards the Elven ships. Two of the skiffs had been commissioned to ferry the partygoers back and forth across the small bay. One was just pulling out on its last trip. A handful of hobbit families had keeled over on the beach and fallen asleep on the white sands, each sprawled on top of the next, too tired to venture any further.

Other than that, only a few brave souls remained on shore trying to clear off tables and pick up debris. Gamba had a large burlap sack, and was wandering about the party site, haphazardly spearing garbage with a fishing harpoon and stuffing it into the bag. Cami was sorting through Pio and Mith's presents on one of the tables, stacking them in piles for one of the Elves to carry back to the Star. There were amazing gifts that grateful families had found or made with loving hands as a way of thanking the man and the Elf for leading the rescue in the tombs.

Gamba's four boys had not returned to the Star, but were sleeping by the edge of the beach, holding tight to one another. Rose had laid down near them, and also slept. She still was not completely healed from her wound. Gamba went over and covered them all with a large tarp he'd found from one of the tables.

Wearied from the long night, the last two hobbits still struggling to stay awake slid down onto one of the benches to rest a minute and catch their breath. Gamba had spent the night singing and dancing with friends and kin, acting as silly as any teener can act. But now he sat quietly, staring out to sea. The happiness of the party slipped away, as the boy fixed sad eyes on the distant horizon. Even Cami seemed subdued.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Cami broke into Gamba's thoughts. "Everyone thinks you should be over it, because it's been a few weeks. And they don't understand how you can be laughing and playing one minute, and then grieving and fussing the next."

Gamba sighed, not even questioning Cami's insights or her decision to bring up the topic. "It's the good times that are the hardest. I don't know why."

"When Pio said her vows, all I could think of was Esta. How we'd never stand together like that."

"I'm so happy to be here and alive. I just don't understand why she's not here too."

Cami looked away, and said nothing.

"Are you going to ask me to stop thinking about it? Some of my friends have suggested that."

Cami shook her head. "No. I think you should talk to someone who's willing to listen. Bottling things up won't get you anywhere. It only builds up and explodes."

"What would you know about that?"

Cami shook her head and laughed, "Plenty, I'm afraid. When I look back on everything, I think that was one of the hardest things about leaving Maura. There was no one to talk to. Rose was too young. I don't mean her actual age. It's just that she'd never gone through anything like that. And none of the others from the Star were there. I didn't feel I could say anything, not to Pio or Bird or Mith. They were my close friends, but there was always this one hole between us."

"So what did you do?"

"I found someone to listen, someone who let me vent when I was upset. Someone who had been there and who understood things a little."

"Ancalimon?" the boy asked.

Cami shook her head. "I saw great sadness and death in Ladros that I'll never forget, but nothing so hateful as what happened to Esta. You never get over that completely, no matter what people say. It changes you. But you do learn to live with it, and go on."

"I'm trying, I'm really trying." the boy replied.

"I know you are. I just want you to understand that I'm here if you need to talk, and if you don't want to, that's alright too."

The boy hesitated and asked. "Was it hard for you? When you left Maura. The songs are so sad. I never really understood them. At least not till I knew you."

She looked over at him. "I'm not like Pio, or even Bird. Maybe I wish I was, but I've never been good at seizing things and making them my own. Before this voyage, I spent a lot of time waiting and hoping. Things didn't happen very fast. And when they did happen on this journey, everything came and went so quickly. Too quickly."

"That's why you and Rose and the boys are so important. I refuse to sit and wait anymore. I can't have Maura, and I don't know what's going to happen. But at least I can stop waiting and start doing something that has some meaning for me."

Abruptly, Gamba threw his arms around Cami and buried his head in her shoulder, "I'm really sorry you couldn't stay there. I know you wanted to. But I'm glad you're here. I don't want you to leave."

"Who said anyone's leaving? Certainly not me. Not when I've found the folk I want to spend my life with." She kissed Gamba swiftly on the curls, and guided him over to lie down on the sands next to his children. She herself snuggled down beside Rose and almost instantly fell asleep, oblivious to the sun that had just crept up over the horizon to herald the arrival of a new day.

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Helen's Post:

Phura and Azraph surfaced a few scant feet from shore. Kesha popped up by Phura.

Phura and Kesha looked at the beach, as the sun rose. Kesha pointed to a tarp, and got out of the water and went to look at it. He lifted the corner, and suddenly waved to Phura and Azraph. They came to see.

Gamba and his four boys were sound asleep, and not too far away, Nitir and Azra were there too.

Phura sighed, and Azraph took his hand. "I miss them so, " Phura said, lifting Azraph's hand to his lips.

Azraph nodded. "I know we need to get some more sleep. But do we have to go back to the caves?"

"You could sleep near Nitir and Azra, " Phura realized, brightening. Azraph smiled, thinking back to several nights in the caves with Nitir and Azra, and then a mix of emotions crossed her face. She especially missed her sister, and mother too. But her whole family had returned to the ships.

"We'll be too clammy cold, and they'll complain, " Kesha objected.

"True, but we needn't snuggle right up to them; we can just sleep nearby. Come on." Phura found a corner of the tarp near Nitir and Azra, and Azraph climbed underneath it, and Phura tucked her in. Then he and Kesha went around near Gamba, and climbed under a corner of the tarp there.

But he did not sleep much. He lay awake, as he had done so many times in the Study, listening to Gamba twitch and mutter in his dreams. More than once, he heard Gamba calling Esta's name. It was such a lonely sound, that Phura sat up and made sure that Azraph was safe nearby several times before the sun was high.

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]