Spring 1372

        "Esme!" The little voice was full of excitement. "Esme!"

        Esmeralda Brandybuck hurried along the path to join the little boy and his mother. They were standing under a gnarled beech tree, looking up at a pretty little blue and yellow bird which was perched above him on a twig.

       "Hello, my little love. What can you see?"

       "Birdie," said the fauntling, pointing one chubby finger at the tree. "Pwetty."

       "Yes, it is pretty. It's a blue tit. Look, there's another up there." She pointed to another branch, where a second bird hung upside down to peck at some seeds.

       "How it do dat?" The small face wore such an expression of puzzled wonderment that Esme and Primula could not stifle their giggles.

       "His toes curl round the branch and hold on tight." Esme crouched and pulled the child close. "There's a greenfinch up higher - see him?"

       "Uh-uh." he nodded.

       "There's a robin over there in the flowerbed," Primula whispered.

       "If you stay very still he might come closer," Esme told Frodo. "Here he comes."

       Frodo was motionless as the bird hopped between his feet, looking for insects in the freshly-turned earth. His eyes widened and his mouth became a round O of delight.  

       "He's fascinated by everything! I can't keep up with his questions," Prim whispered to Esme. "Such a curious little mite, always wanting to know why and how and where. It must be a Tookish thing. He certainly doesn't get that from dear Drogo."

       "Took and Brandybuck," replied Esme. The Tooks are adventurous but the Brandybucks are the ones who want to know all the answers."

       "I suppose we do..............but the Tooks want to know all the questions!"

       "A perfect combination." She and Saradoc had not been married long, and everyone teased them that they were as spoony as when they were first betrothed.

       "What he looking for?" queried the little lad, fixing Esme with his enormous blue eyes and glancing back at the robin.

       "The robin likes to eat insects which live in the soil. The gardeners turned this patch just now, so there are lots of things for robin to eat. It's why he's known as the gardener's friend."

       A sudden movement in the tree caught the child's attention and he pointed. "Squirl!" he said with a chuckle.  "Look, Mama! Squirl!"

       Primula whisked her son into her arms. "Yes, a squirrel. And what do squirrels have?"

       "Fuffy tails!" Frodo squealed and giggled as his mother hugged him. "Upsy-down, Mama! Upsy-down!"

       A beaming Prim turned him slowly until she held him securely by the ankles. "Such an adventurous baby."

       "A small pout formed on the sweet face. "No baby! Big lad now."

       "Yes, you are, aren't you? Out of swaddling, so I hear?" said Esme, taking the opportunity to tickle her little cousin. He nodded proudly.

       Primula sighed. "I suppose he'll be wanting to leave his Mama soon, growing up so fast."

       "No, Mama. I not leave - but I not baby."

       His mother laughed. "Well, that's me put firmly in my place. Very well, my treasure. I shall call you my big lad from now on. Will that suit you, my master?"

       "Yes!" he cried, wriggled out of her grasp and ran lightly across the spring grass.

       Esme giggled. "He's so determined. He has the Baggins stubbornness at any rate. If I have a child I hope he and Frodo will be friends."

       "I feel sure that your son and Frodo will be as close as brothers, my dear."

       Esme tucked her arm through Prim's and they walked back towards the Hall, watching little Frodo as he ran and jumped, stopping now and then to admire the daffodils. She was surprised when Primula halted and turned to face her, her expression earnest.

      "Esme? Promise me one thing. If anything ever happens to Drogo and me, look after my lad."

      "Of course I'd look after him. But nothing is going to happen to you and Drogo."

       Primula held Esme's hands in hers for a moment. "I........don't know...........sometimes I think I shall not live to see him grow up. I had such strange dreams while I carried him, and even now I sometimes see him in my mind as he will be as a teen and tween, and I know I'm not there. He will need looking after - lots of love and caring. I don't know why, but I feel he is important. Oh I know you'll think I'm silly, but I think he has something to do - I don't know what, but when I told Gandalf my dreams he didn't laugh, and I saw surprise on his face. Surprise and alarm. I wish I knew what it meant."

       Esme embraced her friend. "It means you're a mother, and mothers always worry. That's what my Mum says.  Now let's go and find some elevenses, because I suspect this young gentlehobbit is hungry. Am I right, Master Frodo Baggins?"

       "'Levenses!" he said. Taking their hands in his, Frodo dragged them back to the Hall at a run.