[Child of the 7th Age]

A gulf of silence hung between the women as they walked onto the deck. Child thought of a hundred questions which needed answers, but she couldn't put them into words.

Pio steered her to the ship's railing. "I need to ask a question." Child steeled herself. She expected a query about Numenor, or a discussion of the West, or even her relationship with Maura. But it was none of these.

Pio recalled, "When we first met, you worked in the home of Hurin, the Dunadan, caring for children. Yet, although you'd been there eleven years, you'd never revisited the Shire."

"When you first told me this, I found it hard to believe. You've said I have too many secrets, but it seems I'm not alone."

"You've sacrificed much to uncover your past. Every scrap you had was invested to chase after "sea-hobbits". You even volunteered to go into Morgoth's prison. Without you, there would have been no Star."

"And yet, this morning, when Rose mentioned returning to the Shire, you turned and left. Why would you do that?"

Child backed away, "My story is no different than many others. It's a long but common tale, and doesn't bear repeating."

Pio said sternly, "I'll be the judge of that. Now, start talking, and don't stop until you've reached the end!"

Child began as if she were reciting a family history from a genealogical book. "My mother, Honeysuckle Brockhouse, was from a reputable family in Coombe-under-Bree said to be related to the Tooks. My father was a simple Harfoot farmer from Hobbiton who worked his own fields. My parents' marriage was a happy one, but they were never accepted by my mother's kin. Even so, the Brockhouse family had been friendly with Bilbo and asked him to keep an eye on us. That's how, I came to know him. That, plus my friendship with his niece Angelica."

"Angelica and I spent every spare moment at Bag End, listening to stories. As I grew older, I began studying history and lore. Bilbo trained me as a teacher, since I was sadly deficient in skills for managing a household or coaxing things to grow. And it was clear I'd have to earn a living."

"That day, when Bilbo disappeared from the party...." Child halted. "He never told me, and I never saw him again. Of course, we know now. But at the time, I couldn't understand." Child's voice trailed off. "Before he left, he gave me a book of hobbit geneology, the one with faded words that sent us chasing after "sea-hobbits".

"Eight years later, my father died in a farming accident. My mother and I hadn't any idea how to run a farm, and lost everything. Her family wouldn't help, and my Aunt Bell was dead. Sam Gamgee and his father offered to take us in, but that would never have been accepted with Bell being gone. Aunt Amalda, my only other kin, had a tiny place with barely enough to keep going."

"In desperation, my mother approached Frodo Baggins. He secured positions for us in Buckland, my mother as a cook and myself as nanny. When my mother died some ten years later of natural causes, she made me swear that I would marry Hob Fields, a family friend. He was a kindly fellow, so we were handfasted and expected to wed that same year. Only Hob was from Tuckborough, and, like many there, followed Pippin to the Battle of Bywater. He was one of just nineteen hobbits killed."

My cousin Sam and his wife Rose invited me to be part of their family. Only I didn't want to live in Bag End like some hand-me-down piece of furniture. When I first heard Daisy's anger as she boarded the Star, I understood a little how she felt."

"Pippin helped me find a position in Minas Tirith where I could be near the library. Whenever I had a free moment, which wasn't often, I'd run there and search for sea-hobbits. For a very long time, I was the only kuduk in the entire city."

"I swore I'd never return to the Shire. I even kept thinking that none of this would have happened if I'd been a lad and could make my way more freely."

"But then I went to Beleriand and something happened. For the first time, I found what I was looking for." Child laughed, "I'm probably the only hobbit in the history of Middle-earth whose fondest memories grew out of a prison! It was Maura, but there were also other things. I felt so much a part of the community, so accepted and comfortable. And then, suddenly, I was torn away. I understood the reasons, but it didn't make the pain any less."

"I'm unsure what to do, but I need to find some way to go forward and be part of my people again. And I don't know if I should be thinking about all this now, when there's so much real suffering in Numenor. But lately, I've had this image of myself living with hobbits, owning a burrow, and maybe even caring for a child. That's not going to happen in the Fourth Age. Sometimes, I've wondered,...." and then she stopped.

"Go on." Pio encouraged her.

"I've wondered if I might not be happier and more useful in the early Third Age community in the Anduin. But I don't know if that's even possible."

She looked expectently at the Elf.

[ September 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]