"And yet the hobbits bear much of your heritage about them still; not only Frodo, but the others who were with him, his cousins Meriadoc and Peregrin and his friend Samwise. I put them to the test. Their hearts were true. The Ring might in time have overwhelmed them, as it finally did Frodo in its place of greatest strength, but it never could have succeeded in seducing any of them. None of them had any greater ambition than to find peace and safety for those whom they loved."

"I do not know that could be attributed to me. For Tûk was true and brave long before I met him, and it there was always something special about him. Our children owed far more of their heritage to their father than to me."

"I believe you omitted a few 'greats' when you spoke of us, Adamanta," said Bilbo, raising his eyebrow.

Adamanta laughed and said "I have no idea how many 'greats' I omitted, but it comes down to the same thing in the end."

"Does it?" asked Galadriel.

"They are my children all the same," was the reply. "I am more than glad to know that Tûk's blood still runs strong among the hobbits."

"It does," said Bilbo. "The Tooks are the pre-eminent family of the Shire, and there are Tookish connexions among all of the Shire's Great Families, and I daresay some among the Lesser Families on the Roll as well."

"Tell us about your children," Frodo asked. Indeed, it was something he had wished to ask for some time.

"It would take some time to tell you of them all," Adamanta said with a smile, "though I am not at all averse to talking about them. What proud mother does not delight in speaking of her children?"