Disclaimer - Tolkien owns all.

Edit - Baby Poppy has been re-named, due to information newly found in "The Tolkien Reader".  Her name is now Fíriel.  Reedy for short.  Thank you for your attention.A/N - The kids are called, affectionately, "The Brood". Ages at this point - Elfstan, 24; Tom, 19; Paddie, 16; Sam and Sadie (the Twins), 14; Esmie, 12; Ruby, 11; Frodo, 9; Vinca, 5; Reedy, 5 months. The "unholy alliance" between Paddie, Sam, Sadie, and Frodo is a club of sorts. They call themselves the "Four Walkers of Westmarch".

The Fellowship of the Greenholms

Chapter One: Best Dress

"Well if Bess is getting married, she has to have a wedding dress!" Sadie declared as she tried to put a white, lacy dress on the family pig. Sam was nearby, bouncing nervously from foot to foot.

"But what if Ruby finds out we used HER dress?" he asked. "What if it gets ripped, or dirty?" Sadie rolled her eyes and finally succeeded in getting Bess' hoof through the sleeve.

"It's a wedding, Samwise Greenholm. She'll stand here, get married to Oscar, and then we'll take it off for the honeymoon. Nothing's going to happen." Sam looked dubiously at the spunky girl in front of him, but said nothing. Paddie and Frodo came jogging up just then with Oscar (the other pig) in one of their father's old waistcoats.

"Look!" Frodo squealed excitedly. "Look, Dee! I found clothes for Oscar!" Sadie grinned.

"Good job, Fro." Sadie hugged her little brother. "Now, as the only woman here, other than Bess, I think I should preside over the wedding." Paddie snorted.

"You're not a woman! Besides, I know more about this type of thing. I'll pre...pre-side." Paddie stumbled over the unfamiliar word.

"Since when," Sam asked, "Have you known more than us?" Paddie flushed a bit.

"Well, I'm older, so it makes sense that I'd know more--"

"I don't know what you think you're--"

"This is a lass' job, and--"

"--respect your elders--"

"--older doesn't mean smarter--"

"--should be a girl, anyway--"

"LOOK!" Frodo shouted over the argument, and the older three froze. "Bess and Oscar are taking their honeymoon!"

"What?" They all looked in the direction Frodo was pointing. Sure enough, the pigs were trotting happily toward the mud in the lower field.

"I told you..." Sam muttered, and Sadie's eyes went wide with fear.

"Get those pigs!"

"The Four Walkers to the rescue!" Frodo shouted gleefully, and took off running after the pigs, the other Walkers following behind (and soon passing him). Now, if they had calmly walked down to Bess and Oscar, chances are such that they could have probably gotten Ruby's best dress back without mishap. As it was, they ran down the hill at full speed, yelling at the tops of their lungs and waving their arms. Needless to say, the pigs took off running.

The most important thing was to corner Bess, as Oscar's waistcoat had been gathering dust and moth-holes for many years in a store-room. At first, they tried to simply catch her, but numerous falls in the mud proved that course fruitless. Their second plan was to chase Bess towards someone, who would grab her. This seemed to work - in fact they had her headed straight for Sam - but she bowled the poor lad over without a thought and ripped a long strip of fabric off the skirt. The only remaining option was to corner her and have three of the children block her escape while the fourth de-clothed her.

"Alright, here's the plan," Paddie gathered the younger children in a huddle. "Sam, you go on the left. Frodo, on the right. I'll go in from the middle and we'll corner her by the hedge over there." Paddie pointed to a dense hedge on the border of the property not too far away.

"What about me?" Sadie asked nervously. Paddie looked deadly serious.

"You have to take the dress off." he said, and Sadie nodded. "Let's go." The three boys headed purposefully towards the pig, Sadie trailing after them. Slowly...slowly...

Then Bess suddenly found herself cornered by the strange loud creatures, and Sadie slipped up behind her. Before anyone (except Bess, who had quite a good handle on the situation) knew what was happening, something ripped loudly, Frodo was stuck in the hedge, Sadie was sprawled out on the ground, and Bess was running as fast as she could towards the Bolger's farm.

"We're going to die." Sadie whispered, holding the mud-stained rag that had once been Ruby's best dress.

"Let's wash it," Sam grabbed it and headed towards the house. "And then we'll put it back. She'll never prove it was us." Paddie and Sadie followed nervously. The small figure tangled in the hedge was, in the moment of fear, unintentionally forgotten.

"Um, Sadie? Help?"

~*~

"Do you think she'll notice?" Paddie asked anxiously as the four siblings (Frodo duly unentangled from the hedge) sat at the edge of a pond, a large oak tree shading them.

"Maybe she'll think the Bolger's dog got in the house." Sadie suggested.

"Or that an Eagle thought it was a sheep and tried to eat it!" Frodo piped up. The other three looked at him, on ther verge of laughter, but a shrill scream coming from the hill dispelled any pleasent thoughts.

"Eggshells." Sam cringed. "She noticed.

~*~

Thirty minutes and four sore seats later Paddie, Sam, Sadie, and Frodo were back under the oak again.

"I think," Paddie grimaced, "That we need to make a pact against putting dresses on the pig."

"Yes, please." Frodo sniffed. Sadie nodded, and Sam pulled a small book and a jar of ink out of a hollow in the tree.

"Do you have a pen, Dee?" Sadie nodded and produced a rather disheveled goose-quill.

"'We, the Four Walkers of Westmarch,'" Sadie paused and thought a moment before continuing. "'Do...do promise never to put clothes on the animals. Especially Ruby's clothes.' That should do it, Sam." she added as Sam scribbled in the little book. Solemnly each of the children took the quill and signed their name beneath the newly written pact.

"Well," Sam sighed, "I think that's enough adventure for today."