Hobbiton, Astron, 1396

“But Mr. Frodo, you can’t do that!” Sam protested. “You can’t give me a present on my own birthday! We ain’t kin. It’s not right.”

“Nonsense, Sam,” Frodo countered. “Of course, you’re family. We’re brothers, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but...”

“But nothing, dear Sam. I know you will love the gift. Bilbo helped me...”

The lad’s eyes widened. “Mr. Bilbo?”

He looked and sounded so scandalized that both his present and future masters were involved in such a breach of etiquette that Frodo reached out to take his arm for fear he would faint. The elder hobbit smiled. “Yes, it’s a perfect gift for you, my Sam. It’s not every day you turn 16 and we both wanted to do something special for you. It’s not really against the rules and it’s as much a present for me as it is for you. Would that make you feel better about it?”

Sam still looked uncomfortable. “Couldn’t it wait until you can give it on your birthday?”

“Well, I suppose it could. But I’d rather give it now. I know when you hear of it, you won’t want to wait either.”

The lad sighed. Mr. Frodo could be so stubborn at times. “What is it?”

The tween’s face lit up with an even more beautiful smile. Sam couldn’t help but be happy to see it. Mr. Frodo always seemed to glow softly and Sam didn’t think anyone but he and Mr. Bilbo could see it, but the lad wondered how anyone could have missed how bright he was now. “Oh, Sam, it’s the most wonderful thing! It might take some time to unwrap, but it will be worth it. I promise you that.”

Sam was getting intrigued despite the horrible breach of the rules. Frodo was practically bouncing in his excitement.

“Then thank you, Mr. Frodo. It’s very kind of you to think of me.”

The tween let out a cheer and hugged his friend. “We’ll set out this afternoon then, after your chores are done.”

The lad hugged his future master back. “It’s not here?”

“No, my Sam. It’s out in the woods somewhere. If we are very lucky we’ll find it on our first trip out. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep going out until we do. Either way, it’ll be so much fun. Just you and me! Now get out into the garden and get your work done! And don’t forget to please beg permission from your mum and Gaffer that I be able to steal you away overnight.”

Sam nodded and hurried out. He was very through, but he finished his allotted work in record time. He ran home to wash up, gave a hurried explanation to his parents why he was running right back out again, then rushed back to Bag End. He saw two packs full to bursting of bedding, a change of clothes, a couple books and much food and drink.

“Just in time for tea, Sam!” Bilbo called. “A fine beginning to your adventure.”

Sam sat down with both his masters. Frodo was barely able to sit still. Sam was only a little less anxious, though he minded his manners and tried to not let it show. Bilbo looked at them both mischievously, taking his time with the tea.

“Well, I suppose it’s time for you two to go,” he said after he felt he had drawn out their agony long enough. “It’s said that evening, just as the sun has set is the best time. You should be able to make it out there in plenty of time.”

Sam looked at his masters confused. Bilbo’s expression did not change and he did not give any explanation to his mysterious words. Neither did Frodo. The tween leapt up though as one had been straining at the leash and was now released.

“Come on, Sam! We don’t want to miss anything!”

“Enjoy yourselves, lads!” Bilbo said with a smile as he handed Frodo one last thing.

“We will, Uncle!” the tween assured as he accepted what Sam saw was a map his master had drawn.

The tween practically ran to the front door, put his pack over his shoulders and helped Sam on with his.

“Now we’re off!” he said and they walked down the path together, hand-in-hand. They turned once to wave at Bilbo who stood on the stoop and waved back.

Frodo swung Sam’s hand wide as they turned off the road and into the woods. He began to hum, then sing softly. Sam listened contentedly. He loved listening to his friend’s lilting voice.

“Where are we going, Mr. Frodo?” Sam asked when the song ended.

Frodo stopped, let go of his friend’s hand for a moment and consulted the map he held in his other hand. Sam looked over at it. “We should be coming up to the first possibility just over that hill,” the tween said.

“First possibility of what?”

Frodo looked over and smiled brightly at his brother-friend. “Elves, my Sam! Elves! Oh, I wish Merry was here, too, but he doesn’t get as excited about meeting them as much as you and I do.”

Sam looked harder at the map. Several places in the surrounding woods were marked. The lad remembered that Bilbo had met Elves at times in the woods, just one of the things that marked his master as odd by other hobbits, but made him even more beloved to Sam and Frodo who had absorbed the elder’s love for the fairest of the races to grace Middle-earth. Many a dream they had of meeting Elves themselves who they read and heard so much about. In fact, they hoped one day, when they did meet them, they would be able to greet them in their own language. Frodo and Sam were both learning Sindarin with Bilbo and Frodo hoped one day to learn Quenya.

The Gaffer had just shaken his head in wonder when Sam had asked permission to learn another language that the old hobbit knew his son would never have any use for. He didn’t even see the point of learning to read or write one’s own language. That he knew how to sign his name and could count the number of plants and flowers Bag End needed each year was enough for him. His youngest son was entirely different and after Hamfast had said he would think upon it, Bell waited for their son to leave, then gently but firmly told her husband that he was not to deny their Sam what could not hurt him and obviously gave him joy, even if they couldn’t understand it themselves. Hamfast had grunted his disapproval, but did not gainsay his wife.

Sam had nearly burst into tears when his father had told him ‘yes’, first that he could learn to read and write Westron, then Sindarin. The Gaffer had received a huge hug and Bell also. They had watched Sam run up the hill as fast as his legs could carry him each time, shouting out his excitement. The lad clearly adored Mr. Bilbo and Mr. Frodo and the Gaffer honored them as well and if it had been anyone else teaching his Sam his letters, he would have said no, but he couldn’t to his master, nor even wanted to. They didn’t come finer than Mr. Bilbo and Mr. Frodo was unfailingly polite as well. It was clear that he doted on Sam as much as Sam doted on him.

Frodo took up Sam’s hand again and they traveled to the first possible place. They settled down against a tree for a little snack and waited for the signs that Elves were near, the tinkling of bells or voices raised in song. There was nothing. Nor at the second where they had an early dinner and read out loud some of the history of the Elves they had almost memorized from hearing or reading them so often. Night had fallen by the time they reached the third spot and they made camp there.

“Don’t worry, Sam,” Frodo said as they rolled out their bedding for a good night’s sleep. “I’m sure we’ll see them one day, even if we don’t this time.”

Sam hugged his friend good night. “I hope so, Mr. Frodo. But even if we don’t, I still think this was a wonderful present, because I am with you.”

The tween hugged his brother tightly in return. “And I’m with you, my Sam. We’ll have to start back tomorrow, but we’ll just have to go out again. Maybe we can start talking in Sindarin on the way back and they’ll just to come and see who else is speaking!”

They laid out in their sleeping bags side by side, the open sides of the bedding overlapping each other so it was like they both slept in one big bag. They stayed awake as long as they could, looking up at the stars, silently listening for the bells or the songs they had up to then only imagined how they would sound. But sleep finally found them, their listening in vain.

“Good night, my Sam,” Frodo murmured just as he fell asleep, his head touching his friend’s. “Happy birthday.”

“Good night, Mr. Frodo.”

It was only in their dreams that they saw and heard the fair folk. Frodo dreamed of one of them shining brilliantly on a riverbank. There was great darkness too, though, and the elder hobbit cried out softly in his sleep. Without even fully waking, Sam reached over and took his future master’s hand. As Frodo’s fingers curled around his friend’s, he slid back into sleep, no longer troubled.

The next morning dawned bright. They rose to birdsong and eat a hearty breakfast before rolling up their bags. They washed in a nearby stream. Frodo deliberately splashed Sam who looked rather surprised and even more so, when he was splashed again. “Come on, Sam, let’s have a contest. We can see who can splash who the most!”

The lad looked uncomfortably at his future master. “I can’t do that, Mr. Frodo! My Gaffer would have my hide if he knew I mistreated you.”

“You won’t hurt me, Sam. I promise.”

The tween splashed his friend several more times in quick succession which left Sam spluttering. “Come on, Sam, fight back!”

Once the younger lad got over his fear of bad manners, he splashed back vigorously and the contest began in earnest. If anyone had seen them, they would have wondered about all the giggling and happy shouts and gouts of water that sprayed so high it was hard to see who was causing them. Finally Frodo called out for mercy. “I...I concede the...contest...to you, Sam,” he said, nearly out of breath, the water streaming off his hair and nose. He half-waded, half-crawled to the riverbank, wiped his face, blew his nose into his spare handkerchief and dried himself off before dressing again.

“Well, I know now not to tempt you into another contest,” he said as his friend dried and dressed.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Frodo.”

The tween laughed. “Oh, my dear Sam, don’t apologize! I know when I’ve been bettered. Fair is fair. But I suppose there shall have to be another contest at some point. I have to regain my honor, you know, or try to at least.

“We should be able to make two more of the possible spots until we have to turn back,” he said. “Too bad we can’t go all the way to the Havens. We’d see Elves for sure there.”

“Maybe we’ll go there one day, Mr. Frodo.”

“Maybe.”

They reached the next spot in time for second breakfast and settled in to listen and watch. When they didn’t hear anything, they started to converse in Sindarin to see whether that would draw anyone out, but it did not.

Elvenses was taken at the last spot they could reach. “Ah well, Sam,” Frodo said as he munched on an apple. “We still have three more spots to try next time when we go further afield and can stay out longer. But I won’t have Bilbo and your parents worrying about us. If we start back now, we should make it back by tea. And we’ll have time to stop at the other spots again. I’m sorry that we didn’t see them this time though.”

“That’s all right, Mr. Frodo,” Sam soothed. “Haven’t you always said we will one day?”

“But I wanted to make this birthday special for you.”

“That you did, Mr. Frodo. Don’t you fret about that.”

The tween looked over at his friend’s earnest, loving face and smiled. “Dear Sam, you could make me happy even on a cold, rainy day. I wonder whether it was you giving me the gift instead.”

“Well, that would be more proper.”

Frodo looked again at his friend’s face, wondering whether he was being teased, but the lad remained deadly serious. The tween laughed out loud and hugged him. “Oh, Sam, dear, dear Sam.”

Sam hugged his future master and dearest friend back. He delighted to hear Frodo laugh, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard outside of his mother’s, though he was a little confused as to what had caused it.

They packed their basket back up, took up each other’s hands again and began to walk back. Frodo alternately whistled, hummed and sang and Sam was simply content to listen. They stopped briefly at the two spots they had had breakfast, but moved on shortly afterwards and when they reached again the spot they had stopped for the night, they had lunch, the last of the feast they had packed.

The rest of the walk back was spent mostly in silence, listening. It was at the last spot that they suddenly stopped and listened hard. Was it merely the wind or the sound of birds or was that, very faintly, the sound of bells?

The two hobbits stepped forward very cautiously, noiseless as they could be when tracking something. Their hands tightened around each other and they held their breaths as they got closer to the sound. Without needing to speak to communicate, they reached a small rise and got down on their stomachs and inched forward. Yes, definitely, bells and the sound of a horse traveling the path below them. Several horses, it sounded like.

Frodo and Sam looked at each other with huge grins and back down below as first the first horse, then its rider, carrying a unfurled flag that flapped gently in the wind, appeared. The two hobbits watched in wonder at the long-haired, silver-blond, male Elf that rode at the vanguard on his white horse. He seemed to glow in the sunlight. Behind him rode two another males, one with brown hair and another whose hair was black as night. They too glowed. They all wore cloaks of dark cream. Between them was the fairest of all beings the two hobbits had yet seen, a female with blonde hair that streamed from her head as light streamed from her body. She was dressed in a dazzling white cloak with gold trim. They rode by underneath the hobbits, seemingly oblivious to them, but then the lady looked up right at them. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at Frodo, then she smiled and nodded. Frodo and Sam could barely contain their excitement. They couldn’t do anything but smile back. Words fled at the sight of such beauty. The four of them passed out of sight, though the two hobbits strained to see and hear the last of them and barely held themselves from running after them.

When the Elves had passed beyond them, they did a little dance to celebrate their discovery and then Sam looked at his friend. “Did you see how she looked right at you, Mr. Frodo?” he asked excitedly. “Like she was surprised or something. I think she saw your light. She was glowing just like you but even brighter.”

Frodo tore his gaze away from where the Elves had disappeared and looked at his friend, amused and touched. “No one’s ever told me I glowed before, Sam. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Frodo, but I can’t believe no one’s ever noticed before. It’s as plain as plain. That’s why you are so beautiful, I think.”

Frodo smiled wider and kissed his friend’s head. “Thank you again, my brother. Now, let’s get home so we can tell Bilbo all about our adventure!”

He took Sam’s hand and they ran practically the whole way home in their excitement to tell Bilbo and Sam’s mum and Gaffer. The latter wondered what the hubbub was about as he could only understand every other word that tumbled out from his lad’s mouth. Bell smiled, hugged and congratulated her son, though she was almost at the same loss as her husband was. Bilbo laughed and hugged them both. He had trouble keeping up with the two lads also as they both talked very rapidly and over each other, but he didn’t need to hear every word to understand and share in their joy.