When Frodo sat back on his heels, Gandalf sat down next to the hobbit and tweaked his nose, like he had done so long ago when Frodo had accused him of being late....he smiled.

   Frodo had many questions, but first he looked to Sam. �Sam.....is he all right?�

   �Sam is fine - just sleeping.�

   Frodo turned back to Gandalf. �I am glad. He has been so brave through the whole journey....helping me when I couldn�t go further.....I could never have done it without him, Gandalf.�

   Gandalf nodded. �He is a dear, brave hobbit....I was sure I had made the right choice of a traveling companion for you. Remember when I pulled him through the window?�

   Frodo laughed out loud, and found that it was wonderful to laugh. It had been so long since he laughed......how long? Weeks and weeks - months. He laughed again for the pure joy of it, throwing back his dark head and letting his laughter ring out, and then the tears came again, and he was laughing and crying at the same time. He looked at Gandalf out of eyes lit with pure joy. The sight brought tears to Gandalf�s eyes; it was one of the most beautiful sights he had seen since the beginning of the War. The deep blue eyes had so often been filled with pain and sorrow, but now they were brimming over with joy.

   Finally Frodo dashed away the tears and sighed happily. �But Gandalf, tell me of the others. Strider......Merry and Pippin.....are they all well?�

   �All of them, dear Frodo.....alive and well.� And Gandalf went on to tell Frodo of the doings of the broken Fellowship since Frodo had left them on Amon Hen. He did not go into details, saying that Frodo would hear all that from them later, but he told him briefly of all the great events. Frodo listened in rapt attention, his eyes still glowing with happiness. Then suddenly a question struck him, a question he had forgotten in the joy of meeting Gandalf again.

   �Gandalf, how did I get here?�

   Gandalf smiled. �I was wondering when you would ask that. At the moment that the Ring was destroyed, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin and I and a great host of men of Gondor were outside the Black Gate, to challenge Sauron.� Gandalf skipped over the part where they had been told by the Mouth of Sauron that Frodo was taken - Frodo would learn of that soon enough. �He had just released his army upon us when the Ring fell into the fire - I knew at once that you were on the Mountain of Doom, for Sauron was destroyed and his armies fell to pieces. And the Eagles came flying - the same Eagles Bilbo once knew, and I mounted their king and he bore me into Mordor, accompanied by two others. There we found you, lying unconscious at the foot of the Mountain. You were nearly dead, but that is over now.�

   �Yes, it is over - the whole Quest is over, and we are all safe. All save for Boromir....� For the first time a look of sadness filled Frodo�s face. �I have always been sorry that our last moments together were unfriendly....but I have forgiven him. He was a noble man. I am sorry that he died. Gandalf, how did he die?�

   �Aragorn can tell you better than I - he was with Boromir when he died.�

   Frodo nodded, and felt a little tired again. Gandalf saw it. �Dear me,� he said. �How could I have been forgetting? You are as yet tired, my dear Frodo - you�re not completely through it yet. Lie down and sleep some more - you have many things waiting for you later today.�

   �What things?�
   Gandalf only smiled, and blew out a small cloud of smoke.

   �All right, have it your way then. You haven�t changed that much!�

   Gandalf grinned, and Frodo hugged him one more time. Then he crept under the coverlet again, and fell asleep gazing at the leaves over his head, and smelling the beloved smell of Gandalf�s pipe-smoke.
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