Take The Gentle Path by Kaylee Arafinwiel

[kayleearafinwiel]

B2MeM Prompt, Card and Number: B11, Echoes in the Water, Landscape, Of the Sea, Currents, Shirish, Snippets of Verse, Writer's Block Smash, Worldbuilding, Tolkien's Trees, Second Age 2, Relationship, Person vs. Self, Injuries or Other Ailments, Hurt/Comfort, Genre 1, Apothecary Garden
Format: ficlet
Genre: family
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: canon death 
Characters: Fastred of Greenholm, Elanor Gardner, Firiel Fairbairn, Elfstan Fairbairn, Faramir Took, Goldilocks Gardner, Samwise Gamgee, Rose Cotton
Pairings:
Creator’s Notes (optional): Thank you to Dreamflower for Miss Dora Baggins' Book of Manners and the Writing of Letters, as well as On Funerals sections, with which this story would not exist. 
Summary: Fastred of Greenholm, Warden of the Westmarch, gets some terrible news from Great Smials a few days after Yule.

Monday, 9 Afteryule, 1482

Sterday, 7 Afteryule, 1482

Dear Fastred,

I am very sorry to have to tell you of the sudden passing of Mother Rose this Highday last. We had been together for Yule at Great Smials, of course, and she seemed in good spirits despite her recent bout of influenza, though tired. She went to rest after the Highday feast, and did not wake.

We are much distressed, as you can surely appreciate, and Gaffer Sam is--”

Fastred put the letter down. He could guess how the former Mayor was. Of course he and Elanor had been invited to Yule at Great Smials, but with Firiel’s sore throat, and Elfstan’s shoulder dislocated after his accident, they hadn’t wanted to risk the journey all the way from the Westmarch. He closed his eyes, swallowing hard. Would Elanor ever forgive him for not letting her go alone? Fastred turned back to Faramir’s letter, forcing himself to see what Thain Peregrin’s heir had to say.

Gaffer Sam is utterly inconsolable. The funeral is to be on Hensday at Bag End. I hope you and Elanor will attend. Elfstan and Firiel are welcome as well, of course.

Love,

Goldilocks and Faramir Took.

Of course Faramir had signed it from them both, but Fastred knew his younger sister-in-law well; she would have spent all her time by Sam’s side, the two trying to console each other. Well, there was naught to be done - he would have to tell Elanor. At least Aunt Linden was in Hobbiton, and she was a Healer! The children would not lack for care during their stay.

“Elanor?” Fastred called, hesitant. The undercurrents of anxiety in his tone were not lost on Elanor as she rushed into the study.

“What’s happened, Fastred?” she asked. “I was just reading Uncle Bilbo’s tales of Lake-town to the children. Has Goldi written to us chiding us for missing Yule again?”

“You’d best sit down, lass,” Fastred said heavily. “Aye, the post-hobbit came from Great Smials, but ‘twasn’t about Yule. Not exactly, at least…”

Elanor sank into a chair, hand over her mouth, trembling like a volcano about to erupt, and stared in horror. “Not...not Ma,” she whispered. “No. She was getting better! She was! Mistress Rowan said ‘twas all right for her to journey there and--”

“I’m sorry, love,” Fastred whispered. “Mistress Rowan was wrong. She...she’s gone.” He knelt by Elanor, and wrapped his arms around her, hugging his beloved wife close as Elanor sobbed. “The funeral’s on Hensday.”

“At Bag End?” Elanor whispered.

Fastred nodded, as Elanor looked at him again. “At Bag End,” he agreed. “Aunt Linden won’t mind looking after Elfstan and Firiel.”

Elanor scrubbed at her eyes. “I’d...I’d better start packing, then. We’ll have to leave today to make it in time.”

Fastred nodded. He understood Elanor needed the distraction. “I’ll pack for the children, and arrange the coach,” he said, giving Elanor a kiss. They left the study together before parting to fulfill their tasks, so the little family could all be on their way.

May you have taken the gentle path, Mother Rose, he thought, for he often read the Elven tales about Mortals going beyond the Circles of Arda. Whatever that path was like, he hoped it had been a painless one.