The Seafarers' Tree [Bilbo, Aragorn] G

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Title: The Seafarers' Tree
By: HF
Work: Lord of the Rings, references to Silmarillion
Rating/Warnings: None
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: The genius is Tolkien's.

Notes: Sequel to The Mother of Day. Answers to Bilbo's riddle are contained herein.


THE SEAFARERS' TREE

“Master Baggins!”

Bilbo peered up at the Ranger.

“Yes, Master Strider?”

“I have found the answers to your riddle.”

“Well, let’s hear them!” the hobbit said, impatient.

“I walked under the mellyrn of Lórien; to my despair saw Celebrimbor’s holly on Durin’s doors. I once saw your Party Tree from afar, and though I swam the Entwade, I never saw a shepherd-tree. I learned from Elrond’s scrolls that Yavanna filled Anar from the radiance of Laurelin.”

“You missed one,” said Bilbo.

“That Tree has died,” said Aragorn. “Since then, no man has seen a child of Nimloth East of the Sea.”

END

Notes: The sequence of Aragorn's answers is pretty much the same as the riddle Bilbo poses, except for the last two. The mallorn is the "gold-crownéd tree"; the "door-keeping tree" is the holly carved on Durin's doors by Celebrimbor (I figure Bilbo might have read about them); the "tree ‘round which revelers sway" is the Party Tree in Hobbiton; the Ent, though technically not a tree, is the "shepherding tree"; the Seafarers’ tree is the sapling of Nimloth rescued by Isildur, and the "one white tree" in the ancient rhyme; and "the tree that’s the mother of day" is the tree Laurelin, from which Yavanna took the light to make the sun.

Yes. Yay for riddles :)