The two girls are, by and large, left to themselves. Still, the army must eventually move - and Estel eventually has a tearful reunion with Bellona. He updates them both on everything that's going on, speaking quickly - Steward Turgon of Gondor wants to reward them (and, he suspects, so does everyone else). He can run interference, though, if they want more time left alone...

"Thanks, Estel," she says. To El: "I'd maybe like to rest... But also wrap things up here, before we go home. Sensei's probably frantic, but... It might be dangerous, there. And - I'd like to get home. Sooner rather than later."

"Let's get things over with, then."

They're rather thoroughly honored, of course, cheered by the crowds - and several valuable social deals, like honorary titles (Gondor) and favorable trade agreements (the Dwarves) and promises to help (Gandalf). They, of course, also get audiences with the leaders of Middle Earth.

Bellona mostly focuses on the audiences - explains they'll be returning to their homeland, thanks people, and uses her moment of fame to push for amnesty - and aid - for the orcish people. There's some hesitance... But Thorin's already agreed, and voices his support again more strongly, and Turgon follows along, noting he'll take any neighbor who bears a banner of peace, and the king of Rohan nods and calls the girls honorable, and even the elves seem pensive. (King Thranduil looks like he swallowed a lemon, but pensively so.)

And -

Bellona says goodbye to Estel, and to all the friends she's made. Returns to Khazad-dum with El, where she makes more thorough provisions for their apartments to be looked after (since she's hoping to go back and forth) and for her cats to come back to Amestris with her, and sets up trusts for animal shelters and childhood education (explaining to the people who'll be handling it that she wants the orcs helped, too) and a peace corps... Packs a few interesting books, secures the others. She doesn't need to bring her fortune with her - it'd be suspect in Amestris, anyways - so she funnels all of that into the programs she's wanting to fund.

And she regroups with El, to return home.

El says mostly the same things to the dignitaries that Bellona does, in case they didn't get it the first time. Her bequests are focused on libraries and continuing education, with a portion set aside to serve as a seed fund for when they visit.

She's ready to go home.

Their array works perfectly - whisking them away in a flash of light, leaving their lives in Arda behind.

As for the dragons, well. They're never going to love mortals or be loved by mortals, but relations are easier than they have been in some time. The orcs are closest, Ellisaria making good on her promise for a new home. She uses her powers over the earth to create fertile farmlands surrounding her mountains and begin the process of rehabilitating Mordor.

Beyond that... There is still much of this world she has yet to see. She's not quite ready to settle permanently yet.

Brisingr travels with her, spreading her wings, laughing, learning the far-flung languages of the world and meeting new peoples - not all of whom have such a rocky relationship with the dragons.

It's a good life.

Agon quickly steps into - not quite a leadership role, she's too much of a wanderer at heart, but a diplomatic role. There are many, many tribes of orcs, and not all of them like each other; many actually turn down Ellisaria's offer, preferring to help in the reclamation of the Nurn region or - in the case of the more north western tribes - settle nearby the Shire (after a generous offer from the Hobbits). Agon floats between the main settlements, playing ambassador to the other peoples of Middle Earth, keeping her eye on problems and unrest among the orcs themselves. She makes fast friends with the Rangers of the North in the Lone Lands - once they get over their leeriness, of course - and recruits them towards keeping everyone out of trouble.

Estel learns who he is - who he could've been. Heir of Isildur's Line.

Steward Turgon offers to step down - or at least have Estel trained as his heir.

Estel flat out refuses - the line of the Stewards has done more good for Gondor than any king, he declares, and there's no need for him here - but there is a need for rangers, elsewhere, for those who know something of the woodscraft of the northern Men and the healing of the Elves.

(Turgon's friendliness to the orcish settlements increases, after that.)

Estel keeps his name - the Hope of the elves - and takes up a name in the orcish tongue as he somehow finds himself swept under Agon's arm, following along in her wake at times (they call him Dusk Whistler, the name of a bird that sings at dusk and dawn, and portents things to change).

He ends up gravitating more to the Lone Lands - familiar grounds, and the land here's less fertile than that blessed by Ellisaria, more in need of help. The people are more diverse, too, and it's good to have someone friendly moving among them.

He's teaching a class of mixed hobbit and mannish and orcish children about what plants are and aren't safe to eat when he sees her. He stares, slack jawed, until she shuffles off, embarrassed, and his students' laughter rouses him.

It takes him longer, to learn her name. The orcs call her Silk Spinner. She's an elf, though not one he recognizes - she doesn't give her elven name.

(Arwen keeps the slightly awkward fact they're adoptive siblings and blood cousins under wraps, not wanting - recognition, she guesses. She defied her father and grandmother to come here. She's been trapped her whole life, and - she wanted to do something - so she's been teaching reading, and math, and how to use the fancy elven looms, and the last makes her the most friends. She finds herself with a fiber crafting circle mostly composed of orcs of any gender and hobbit women - the hobbit women teach her to knit and crochet - and the orcs teach her to tan and sew leather.)

(Arwen will never be a Queen. But there's a cute boy who's good with kids hanging around (not that that matters, stupid brain, they're related and he's currently much too young...), and there's friends she can trade knowledge with, and there's people she can help - it's more than enough, actually, even if her friends embarrass her horribly with their relationship advice.)

Russet works hard on her people's hearts and minds, giving speeches, attending tea parties, speaking to the right grandmothers -

It's easiest, getting the hobbits to help the Lone Lands orcs. Neighborly, that, and look at those children, they're downright starving - there hasn't been a bad winter in a while, and the granaries are stocked, so they can afford to subsidize the settlements while they're establishing - and of course teach the orcs how to make proper holes to live in. (The orcs seem to appreciate that, expressing admiration for the hobbits' underground dwellings, sharing in their gripes about drafting houses above ground.)

It takes two years longer to get anyone out to Nurn or the dragon-lands - helping neighbors on the same side of the mountains is one thing, and expanding the Shire in a hodgepodge mess into orcish land is actually a great way to bleed off population pressure, but -

Everything else is so very far.

Still, Russet convinces a few fellow Tooks with some relevant expertise to follow her to the other settlements, and after they send letters home, the reluctance of the other adventuresome sorts lowers enough for them to put their feet on the road.

She oversees getting the right sorts of roads put in, too, and electric lights in the new settlements, and power generation set up - coordinates truck caravans between the farmlands of the West and the dwarven settlements in the Blue Mountains. It'll be a long, long while, before they can revolutionize food transport, but they're getting the start of it laid in.

And King Thorin keeps his promise to trade with anyone and everyone.

He has to reign in some of the Eastern Kingdoms, has to push to make sure their neighbors out east aren't being overtaken or exploited, but he has enough attention to spare to make sure there's productive trade in his own region. Khazad-dum rapidly becomes the wealthiest city in the known world, a major nexus of trade and innovation, and Thorin makes sure that wealth stays spread throughout their entire society, not concentrated entirely in the hands of a few (which also helps undercut any nobles scheming against him).

He also makes plans for the future, foreseeing future population increases - inevitable, given all the advances around him.

Things improve. The Mirkwood becomes the Greenwood again, after much effort on behalf of the elves and the wizards. New societies establish themselves. Gondor stands down her army. It'll take far more time, for Mordor's scars to lift entirely from the land -

But, at last, things are healing in Arda.