return

1284 the return of the king
to the King, to whom it belongs. Though maybe he will not
need it.’
‘That will be seen later,’ said Aragorn. ‘But I will give to
Ents all this valley to do with as they will, so long as they
keep a watch upon Orthanc and see that none enter it without
my leave.’
‘It is locked,’ said Treebeard. ‘I made Saruman lock it and
give me the keys. Quickbeam has them.’
Quickbeam bowed like a tree bending in the wind and
handed to Aragorn two great black keys of intricate shape,
joined by a ring of steel. ‘Now I thank you once more,’ said
Aragorn, ‘and I bid you farewell. May your forest grow again
in peace. When this valley is filled there is room and to spare
west of the mountains, where once you walked long ago.’
Treebeard’s face became sad. ‘Forests may grow,’ he said.
‘Woods may spread. But not Ents. There are no Entings.’
‘Yet maybe there is now more hope in your search,’ said
Aragorn. ‘Lands will lie open to you eastward that have long
been closed.’
But Treebeard shook his head and said: ‘It is far to go.
And there are too many Men there in these days. But I am
forgetting my manners! Will you stay here and rest a while?
And maybe there are some that would be pleased to pass
through Fangorn Forest and so shorten their road home?’ He
looked at Celeborn and Galadriel.
But all save Legolas said that they must now take their
leave and depart either south or west. ‘Come, Gimli!’ said
Legolas. ‘Now by Fangorn’s leave I will visit the deep places
of the Entwood and see such trees as are nowhere else to be
found in Middle-earth. You shall come with me and keep
your word; and thus we will journey on together to our own
lands in Mirkwood and beyond.’ To this Gimli agreed,
though with no great delight, it seemed.
‘Here then at last comes the ending of the Fellowship of
the Ring,’ said Aragorn. ‘Yet I hope that ere long you will
return to my land with the help that you promised.’
‘We will come, if our own lords allow it,’ said Gimli. ‘Well,