The Grey Havens
By Meldewen Ilce

Rating: PG (angst)
Spoilers: The Return of the King

Summary: In this AU tale, what if Sam passed on before Rose? Would she have the desire to take the ship into the West in his stead? Would she have been granted the grace?

Disclaimers: I don't own "The Lord of the Rings" or any of its characters and no money has been made off of this story so I expect not to be sued!

1. By the Sea

'What madness has claimed ye, Rose Cotton Gamgee, that ye'd leave yer home in the Shire to go onto a boat that no hobbit in their right minds would board? Are ye so dafted that ye'd spend yer remaining time with strangers, though Fair Folk they be, only to be laid to sleep beside to a hobbit (a fine gentlehobbit though he be) who is still not yer Sam when all is said and done?'

Rose stood on the final hill that overlooked the small settlement, harbor, and waiting grey ships that made up the place that the Elves called Mithlond (or the Grey Havens in the Common Tongue). The sight was more breathtaking, beautiful than anything she could have ever imagined, and she found herself mesmerized by the rthymn of the waves crashing against the shoreline. Even if she turned back now to the Shire, she knew she would never forget the sound of the cry of the sea gulls as they floated high overhead caught up on a breeze.

The water itself mesmorized her more than anything as it was the deepest, most majestic blue she had ever beheld in the long years of her life, and with the Sun sending her Light down, it sparkled a thousand times more than all of Queen Arwen's jewels put together. And as she stared out at the sea, she recalled the last days she spent with her beloved Sam, remembering the last promise she had made to the love of her life as he left her for whatever lays beyond this life.