"My dear and beloved Cait.. I love you above anything else, you are my everything and I know you feel the same way to me. I...this is hard to write my dear but I have been sent away in my fathers place to Elthengels to serve, I swear by Eorl that I will return to you, not a day longer than two years and when I will come back I will take you as my wife if you would say yes. I love you so much.
Your sweet and dearest Milcroft."
((This is the very same note that Milcroft wrote to Caithrin the same morning he left for Elthengels, a note her father made sure she never got.))
How do one pick up the threads from a life that was there four years ago..impossible some say, time goes on and so does people as well. A young man that had as he saw on it everything, a family and a wonderful and addorable woman that loved him as much as he loved her. The following is the story about when Milcroft returned from Elthengels to Bree
The night was young, the cold winter air from the north, from the lands of Forochel had began to find its way to Bree as Milcroft walked towards the southern gate of the town. His warm exhaled breath formed small mist clouds as he walked on. "Will she remember me? will she still live in Bree? Will she still love me?" he thought for himself, mumbling the words for himself where he walked. Milcroft, son of a blacksmith and a tailor in Elthengles had returned to Bree.
He walked through the gate and made his way into Bree after talking a few words to the gate watchers. Nothing had changed he could see, Bree was still Bree as he remembered it from four years earlier. Well familiar with the twists and turns of the streets going through Bree he made his way to the Inn of the Prancing Pony. Why did he go there? There was one reason, Caithrin.. He had heard words that she still lived in Bree and was said to be in the Inn for the night with friends of hers. Again his thoughts came to his mind "Will she remember me? Does she have her feelings for me still?"
His hearth began to beat faster as he saw the sign of the Inn in the distance. Oh the steps, how heavy they felt and how guilty he felt for leaving her that night four years ago. "It does not matter now" he said to himself, she would have forgotten about him, she would have went on with her life and found a man that could love her and be there for her. He found himself standing by the top of the stairs all of a sudden.. a simple handle and a door away from finding out if she was there and if she was would she recognize him when he entered? He felt his armour beginning to feel heavy, yet his heart probably weight heavier as he grasped the handle and opened the door to the Inn.
A sweet smell of pipe weed mixed with the strong smell of alcohol and the noise of a busy tavern greeted him as he stepped into it. A tired man on twenty seven years now stood and eyed a few patrons that was in the Inn, foremost searching of any signs of Cait.. There, over by the fireplace..a woman, was it her? He took a second look, the hat seemed familiar, the armour as well along with the voice but could he be certain? No he thought for himself and made his way over to the fireplace and said, what he felt was blunt "Cait, is that you?" Oh please let it be her his mind said, the split second that went on before the woman answered felt like an eternity for him and then came the answer "Yes?" she answered him.
A rock fell from his heart then but he could not say anything so instead it was her that spoke "Milcroft...is that you?" she asked him. Oh boy she remember he thought from himself a split second and answered "Yes its me" and they both smiled at each other and then they began talking about what they both had been, she asked what he feared, why he left her. He then told her about the note he had given to her father to give to her and there he found out that she never had seen such a note, burnt by her father most likely they both said, that man had never liked Milcroft that good as he one time gave chase after Milcroft with a hayfork, why? Milcroft did think he knew, her father had found them in the hay in the barn that evening as he was about to feed the horse they had.
Suddenly Caithrin started to tell him what she had been through recently, but she said that there was something else as well, something that she did not dare to speak about within the walls of the Inn, not really sure about what to say Milcroft were taken by surprise when she asked him if he had a place to stay "No" he replied for that was true, he have had a room in Combe for a few nights but he had to move out of it by now. So she took him home to her own house where she told him about what had happen to her, telling him how her father had hurt her and how she had been attacked by some crazy man. She assured him that this crazy man would not be to any problem now. He took her into an embrace then and there and it was there she asked him if he wished to live with her.
He gave her a nod along with a smile "That I would" he replied to her question "But we then need more space" he said and she agreed. They went out and found a larger house and thanks to a friend to Caithrin, Cenwynne who was willing to lend money they brought the house together and with some few touches had the home looking like a home where they could live. Of course in a separate bedroom for now, after all he had just returned and she had just broken up with her fiancé. Her soft voice rang through his ears as she asked him if he wanted to join her by the fire place in something more proper than armour. They bot changed in their room and when he appeared he found her in a beautiful dress, this beautiful woman he loved so. She told him that he looked good and he told her the same and so they talked for a while about jobs, memories. She had told him she was a good with massage and he offered himself to be someone to test new techniques on. She gave him a smile and pulled him to his bedroom and told him to lay down on the bed, on his back. He did as she asked him and then she started to give his tense muscles a massage.
These skilled hands he once knew, soft and nimble as they worked the knots away. This was better than any tent and bedroll he had slept in and under the last four years. So good it felt that he forgot time and space and slowly drifted away into sleep. A sleep so good was long since he had last and he woke early the following morning as he had began to do and as he was lying there in the bed he could her hear soft breathing from her bedroom and smiled amused for himself in a good way "I am home.." he said for himself and home he was. Back in Bree.. back with his youths love. This was the life he had left.
A life he have had little problem picking up again. These days he can be seen either his parents farm with Cait or around in Bree town together with her and there is no place in Middle Earth that would make him happier than the place he is in now if you were to ask him.
