Epilogue: Going and Coming Back

The Doctor wasn't quite sure how long the boys traveled around Time and Space with him – it was hard to keep track in the TARDIS, after all. But they had both grown a handful of inches, and he had overheard them whispering about their home the evening before. They were homesick, and it was probably well past time he took them back to Middle-earth.

He walked around the console, hitting buttons, pulling the occasional lever, trying to decide where to take Eluréd and Elurín. Not to Beleriand – he couldn't think of a safe place, there. And anyway, they were supposed to stay out of the tales of the First Age.

East, then, of the Blue Mountains. The Doctor leaned against the railing and pulled out his copy of The Lord of the Rings to take a look at the map on the inside of the front cover.

His gaze immediately fell on the Shire, and then on the Old Forest, and a grin spread across his face. Yes, the Doctor knew just where to take the boys, where they would be quite safe – if Old Tom Bombadil and Lady Goldberry would agree.

When Eluréd and Elurín appeared in the doorway, hearing the TARDIS preparing to land, the Doctor asked, "So what do you two think of willow trees?"