Birdie, having done her best to prune herself into a pleasing Entwife fashion, morphed back to her original shape, then watched, aghast, as Child took the really cool keychain palantir and gave it Frodo!
"How come Frodo gets all the good souvenirs?" she sulked. "Rings, phials, swords, chain mail. I've been buried at the Downs a lot longer than he has, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
She wanders back over to the pack, and pulls out the four maps. Why four?
"Hey Pio! Child! Why do you think we'll need four maps? I mean, Fangorn's right here, right? No wait, that's The Trollshaws...must have had the thing upside down..."
Pio sighs as she watches Birdie make a futile attempt to refold the maps. Taking them gently from her hands, she explains, "Rose started out in Fangorn, but she could wind up anywhere with the REG. Time and space have no meaning to it. For instance, she could seek out Second Age Glorfindel and do him in, so Third Age Glorfindel wouldn't be there to save Frodo at the Fords."
"Yeah", said Birdie, "but the Valar, or Ataris, or someone can just reanimate him anyway, so that wouldn't work." Birdie knew the story when something like that, but she was a little vague on the details.
At that moment, the little dragon came zooming over to the trio. Birdie instinctively ducked. She was tired of being singed. Dragons are like cats, in that they always want to bother the people who don't like them. The wyrmlette let out a tiny roar, and whizzed three times over the heads of the crowd, passing like an express train and turned a somersault. Birdie waited hopefully for him to burst over Bywater, but instead, he settled on the buffet table with a satisfied look.
"OK, so we could very well wind up anywhere, in any age of Middle Earth or Over Heaven. Even the Undying Lands? Or...Mordor?" Birdie shuddered.
"Well, Mith, this is a fine kettle of fish you've gotten us into." sighed Birdie. At that moment, a small sloshing kettle pranced up with an expectant air. "That was a figure of speech, newbie." growled Birdie. The kettle slumped in disappointment.
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