“But you won’t have any luck in the Old Forest,” objected Fredegar. “No one ever has luck in there. You’ll get lost. People don’t go in there.”

“Oh yes they do!” said Merry. “The Brandybucks go in – occasionally when the fit takes them. We have a private entrance. Frodo went in once, long ago. …”

~ From The Fellowship of the Ring, A Conspiracy Unmasked.

That is the passage that prompted me to write this little fic. I knew that one day I would write a story based around Frodo's adventure in the Old Forest, but I never had any idea what the story would actually *be* about. This remained true even when I finally sat down and began writing this story last March.

This has been a labor of love for me, for what started as a small novella soon turned into something quite bigger than I had expected. It didn't help that as soon as I started to comprehend just what this story was about, the Muses went and left me in a lurch for a month. Coming back to this story after so long was no easy task. But finally, after many stalls, writing blocks, hair pulling and head banging, it is finally ready for sharing.

As the timing of this story is when Frodo is still very young, and the only other hobbit of the Travelers is Merry, who is still a baby at this time, I've had to rely on a great many original characters to tell this tale in full. They are Edon, Sed, Fendi, Morti, Gil, Fuchsia and Piper. You will get to know them well as the story progresses, Edon and Gil in particular, and their story is very much related to Frodo's.

Now, enough nervous rambling and on with the story. :)

GF 9/30/05