Watch the Clouds Go Sailing By

Just for anyone who wants to know how old the characters actually are, here are the ages of the main characters of this fic: (note: this story takes place in the Year 1460, Shire-reckoning)

Goldilocks Gamgee – 29

Faramir Took – 30

Pippin Gamgee – 31

Samwise Gamgee – 80

Peregrin Took – 70

Meriadoc Brandybuck – 78

Chapter 4: A Frightening Discovery

"Ow, Goldi! Do you have to scream so loud?" complained Faramir’s attacker.

"Pippin!" Goldi cried. And with that, she fainted.

* * * * * *

Goldi heard voices before she was able to see anything. Two voices were having a conversation – and neither of them sounded particularly happy: Faramir and Pippin.

"Hurry up with the water!" said Faramir.

"Don’t you order me around, Faramir Took!" Pippin retorted. "I will remind you that I am a year older than you."

"Maybe. But you’re just a stupid Gamgee!"

"And you’re a fool of a Took!"

"Well, I cannot say that I’ve ever heard that before," Faramir returned, sarcastically.

A feeling of coldness hit Goldi’s face, and she realised that one – or both – of them had splashed her with water in an attempt to revive her. She sat up, spluttering. "I’m awake. No more water!"

Both Faramir and Pippin stopped bickering and looked at Goldi with smiles on their faces. In their own ways, they both adored her, and would do anything to protect her.

Goldi took a few deep breaths, before she glared at her brother. "Pippin! What are you doing here? Have you told Father? I bet you did! Tattle-tale!"

"No, I didn’t tell Father! I swear!" Pippin held his hand to his heart. "I followed you, when I saw you go into Bag End. Then, when you and Faramir snuck out, I realised you were going off on an adventure. Without me! And then I found the note, which proved it. Oh, and by the way, I added my name to the note." He stuck out his tongue.

"I cannot believe you followed us!" Faramir cried in dismay. "No one else did…did they?"

"No. Only me. Merry would have been the only other one who would have followed you, but he was too busy talking to girls to notice you leave! And now that he’s thirty-three, he can’t come on our adventures. He is too old."

"Our adventures? You were never invited, Pippin Gamgee!"

"Well, that is hardly fair. Goldi got all upset when we didn’t let her in on our little dancing joke, and this is much worse!" He looked at the two other hobbits slyly. "Unless…unless this is really a romantic getaway. You two are running off to elope, aren’t you?"

"NO!" both Goldi and Faramir cried. Fortunately for them, the pale moonlight did not reveal the glorious crimson shade that their faces now bore.

"Well, then there is no reason why I should not come along!" Pippin stoutly concluded.

Faramir looked at Goldi. She shrugged. Pippin really had them there. There was no reason why he could not join them.

Faramir sighed heavily. "Well, I suppose you may join us." As an afterthought, he added, "Besides, if we didn’t let you come, no doubt you’d just run back home and tell everyone where we had gone."

Pippin grinned, widely, and nodded. "You’d better believe it."

Both Faramir and Goldi sighed again in defeat. Goldi was about to stand up, but she thought of a better idea. "Well, since we have stopped already, we may as well rest here for the night. It is getting late, and we were dancing before hand, so I am quite tired."

Faramir nodded. "Agreed. I doubt that our parents have even found the note yet – or will for a while yet. And even if they have, they do not know where we have gone. It should be fine for us to rest."

The three hobbits found a patch of fir-wood, which they settled under. What they did not realise was, just over forty years earlier, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee and Peregrin Took had rested in the exact same spot, though their journey had been much more perilous. Goldi, Faramir and Pippin drifted into a peaceful sleep.

A fox ran past, perhaps a descendant of the fox that had spied Frodo, Sam and Peregrin. And just like that original fox, this one stopped and sniffed, thinking all the while, "Hobbits! Three of them. How strange. I do wonder why they are outdoors, sleeping under a tree. Nothing like that has happened in a long time." But a hare soon caught his attention, and he left, with no further thought of the hobbits.

* * * * * *

"Diamond!" Rose called

Diamond turned – the worried look on her face mirroring the look on Rose’s. "Yes, Rose. What is it?"

"I don’t suppose you have seen Goldilocks or Pippin?"

"I was about to ask you if you had seen my Faramir! They are all missing? How peculiar!"

"Where are Sam and Peregrin?"

"Well, last I saw, Peregrin was getting re-acquainted with an old friend he calls ‘Ale’, and Sam was helping Merry cut the cake. We had better find them, before they go missing too!"

Together, Diamond and Rose searched for their husbands, locating both of them after very little time.

"Samwise!" said Rose. "I can’t find Pippin or Goldi anywhere."

"And Faramir is missing, too, Peregrin," Diamond added.

"Have you looked everywhere?" Sam asked. Peregrin just smiled, lazily, and took another swig of beer. Diamond snatched the mug out of his hand, and frowned at him.

"Peregrin, this is no time for drink! Our son is missing!"

"I’ve looked everywhere…except for Bag End," Rose admitted.

"Well, then, let us check Bag End," said Sam. "No doubt we’ll find all three of them asleep in their beds, after having to much fun, and both you women will feel like fools."

Sam, Rose, Diamond and Peregrin made their way to the front door of Bag End. Meriadoc and Estella joined them along the way, mostly to help Diamond with helping Peregrin. Meriadoc, being eight years older than his cousin, had mellowed slightly more than Peregrin, and thus, unlike the Took, knew when he had had his fill of ale.

The hobbits found the door to Bag End unlocked, which was not at all unusual. Doors in Hobbiton (and in most of the Shire) were seldom locked after dark, even when there was a party on, and nobody was actually home. Meriadoc led Peregrin to an armchair, and left him there. The rest of the hobbits began to search the hobbit hole.

Sam checked in all of the missing hobbits’ bedrooms, but did not find any of them. Rose checked the bathrooms and kitchen. Meriadoc wandered up the hall calling out, "Faramir! Pippin! Goldi!"

All the searching was stopped, when an ear-piercing screech came from the living room, where Diamond had been looking. Sam, Meriadoc and Rose all raced to the living room, and even Peregrin woke, and sobered slightly at the sound of his wife’s screaming.

Diamond was holding a piece of paper, and crying. She held out the paper, in a trembling hand, to Sam. "They’ve gone!"

Sam read the note aloud. "Pippin, Goldi and I have gone on a little adventure. We shouldn’t be away for too long. Don’t worry about us. - Faramir Took. ‘Pippin’ seems to be written in a different hand. It looks like Pippin’s own writing."

Rose joined in with Diamond’s sobbing. Sam and Peregrin both tried to comfort their respective wives, Peregrin doing surprisingly well for a hobbit who had only just been unconscious in an armchair.

"My poor baby!" cried Diamond. "He must be so frightened."

"I doubt it, Di," Peregrin soothed. "I mean, he is my son."

Diamond swallowed all her sobs and looked Peregrin straight in the eye. "You must find him. You must find him and bring him home."

"But, Diamond, we don’t even know which way they have headed in!" Sam pointed out.

"That does not matter!" Rose joined Diamond’s side. "You must go after our children, and find them, even if it takes you a week!"

"I’ll wager it’ll take longer than a week to find them," Meriadoc mumbled.

Sam sighed. "You are right, Rose. We will have to go after them, but I am afraid we will have to wait until the morning. Peregrin is in no state to travel presently."

Peregrin stumbled, purposely, to back up Sam’s argument.

Diamond and Rose looked at Peregrin and Sam, then at each other. Together, they concluded, "Well, all right. But you are going to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yes, dear," Sam and Peregrin sighed in unison.

Meriadoc grinned. "It’s times like this I am so glad that Éowyn and Théodoc are so well behaved."

"Oh, and Meriadoc, you should go with them," said Estella.

"What!? Oh, that is not fair!"