[Child of the 7th Age]

Lyra's post

30 October

Bill grimaced to himself as he made his way east. It wasn't that it was any surprise to him that his orders had been changed suddenly- that was a frequent occurence. It was annoying, that was all. Instead of being able to plunder the rich pickings of the Tooks, he was sent to guard the gate from Bree. From what? Those trees that the Hobbits seemed so scared of perhaps?

An honoured duty, the note from the boss had said. Bill snorted. Oh yes, honoured alright. Still, if he made fast progress perhaps he could drop in on the Brandybucks. They were little better than the Tooks. He couldn't do anything drastic, not without orders, but they must have some things lying around. In this life you had to take what you could when opportunity showed itself.

*****************************************

The sun was now quite high in the sky, and morning was passing fast. Josh stretched himself lazily, struck by a sudden lethargy. His stomach felt pleasantly warm and full. What he needed now was a nice lie down. A picture of his bed, covered in greenwool blankets drifted across his mind. A short nap would set him up for the day. He didn't see the point of this leaving-at-dawn thing. Not that it was dawn. Surely it would make more sense to leave in, say, the early afternoon? Just after lunch? It wasn't like Longbottom was going anywhere. Surely Pippin and Merry, wherever they were, weren't expected to leave at dawn to go off on their adventures. It was quite impractical. In fact, perhaps today was not the right day to start after all? Maybe...

Josh shook himself. He looked around, as if to work out whether any of the other Hobbits had seen that his courage had failed him. He felt ashamed of himself. The adventure hadn't even started and he was being a coward- there was no other way to put it.

With quiet determination Josh began to plan out the route in his mind. He knew the area well from his childhood, which was perhaps why Paladin had put him in charge of finding the way. They would make their way through the hills, avoiding the villages, towards the river. There was a grove of trees there, sheltered, with a sort of travellers resting place- a fire pit and that sort of thing. It was the only place near there that was any use to camp, because it was surrounded by marsh. Josh wondered about the past time when that had been necessary for safety. Perhaps the Shire wasn't even the Shire then. Men might have lived there, or even Elves. The camp spot was a little out of the way because it meant you had to go back through the marsh on the safe path to get back onto the way, but Paladin thought that was the safest place to camp. Josh had been surprised Paladin knew about the campsite. He couldn't imagine his uncle as a lad, exploring.

Then it was simple to travel to Longbottom. They would go part of the way along the road, even. This was the dangerous part, because men and Shirriffs used that road. Josh felt a little rumble of anxiety, and squashed it. They would be fine.

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Paladin gazed on the assembled Hobbits with an air of paternal pride. There were the party who would be going to Longbottom, as well as relatives and well wishers. And what were they doing? Not checking the equipment and bidding tearful farewells, but eating second breakfast and laughing. It was at times like this he was most glad to be Hobbit.

"Friends" he announced, clapping his his hands together. It took a while because of the chatter, but gradually the Hobbits fell silent and looked at him. "We are here to bid goodbye to these brave Hobbits who, knowing the risks of the present situation, are off to do a good deed for us- and a bad one for those men!"
There were a few cheers.

"Even with the state of things how they are, I have no doubt that they will return safe and well in a few days time. Nevertheless I salute these Hobbit who are not accepting the situation, who aren't just getting on with their lives and ignoring everything else, but who are doing something about it. I look forward to the time when the rest of us will follow their example."

There was little reaction to the speech. Paladin could see expressions of confusion on quite a few faces. They couldn't work out exactly what he was trying to say. He smiled fondly, and nodded farewell to the valiant young Hobbits who were setting off. At least he'd made them think.
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Child's post

Niluial had found herself growing more and more impatient as Dury and Josh sat down to eat an overflowing platter of sausages with several stacks of pancakes served up on the side. Cami had been right about that second breakfast. Niluial pouted in frustration; she'd had her fill of eating and waiting and talking.

Let's get on with it! she thought to herself. There's no sense sitting here while the better part of the morning slips by. What was wrong with these folk? It was as if they really didn't want to go. Frustrated and unable to sit still, Niluial gathered up her pack and headed down to the nearby stream, throwing pebbles into the water.

It was then that she heard a familiar voice calling out to her from across the distant field. "Niluial, it's me. Cami..."

Glancing up, Niluial saw Cami emerge with her pony from the thick grass and bracken. Niluial ran forward to greet her, barking out her questions, "Any luck? Have you seen Hob? Are you coming with us?" The queries all came rushing out of Niluial's mouth with no rest in between.

"No, no, and no!" Cami responded with a vehement shake of her head. "I've seen nothing of Hob or his companions. I must have asked two dozen folk, and no one has caught a glimpse of any Shirriffs in these parts. I've scoured the central part of town from one end to the other, including the market place and the Great Smials itself."

Cami ruefully looked at her friend with a discouraged expression on her face, "You and your friends will have to go ahead without me. I'm really sorry, but I refuse to leave this place until I give Hob a piece of my mind! He and the other Shirriffs must be camped somewhere on the outskirts of town. I'll ride out on Dandelion and have a look all about the surrounding countryside. They can't have vanished into thin air."

With that, the two friends parted for the second time that day. Cami mounted up on her pony and quickly headed out, hastily cutting across fields and wooded groves, leaving the main roadway behind her. Niluial went back to her friends and was pleased to see that all the company had finally finished their breakfasts and gathered together with their packs and weapons strapped to their backs. Paladin was just finishing speaking to them and final goodbyes were said to the few friends who had come along to bid them farewell. The band set out and made its way steadily eastward on the main road that ran towards Stock. Long before that point, Josh intended to have the hobbits veer off towards the south, heading east of Pincup towards the Shirebourne, which Paladin deemed a safe place to camp for that night.

[ September 29, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]