Kira was not ashamed to slip out of the luncheon for her cousin Delphinium’s wedding. After all, she had never liked her that much and the tables were getting cleared out for dancing, and there were books to be found.

She still remembered the way into the library from her quarantine there years ago, but once she was within she could not for the life of her remember where specifically the books were. When at last she found the shelf that had had the Hall’s copy of the Red Book on it, she found that the book was not there at all. Walking around to one of the desks nearby, she was not terribly surprised to see a familiar curly head bending over it.

“Is The Downfall on loan in the Hall?” she said.

Kerry Brandybuck looked up from his work. “Actually it’s being copied at the moment.” He smiled. “Are you running away from the feast, too?”

“I was near a library so I thought it’d be a shame to waste the opportunity. Have you been doing any rearranging, or is my memory faulty?”

“We’re trying to reorganise. Some of our oldest and rarest specimens are back in private holding.”

“What, restricting books from leaving wasn’t private enough for you?”

“Well, we allowed you in here, didn’t we? However, as a family friend I suppose if you’d like to take a look at them…”

“What are they?”

“Come and see.” Kerry took out of his pocket a ring of keys and got up.

A few hallways over Kerry placed a key in the lock of a rather grand-looking door, turned it, and opened it.

“This must be your father’s study!” said Kira, looking at the items within. There was a banner of green with a white horse hanging on one wall, and the horn that Meriadoc had borne back with him from Rohan was displayed beneath it. “Is there a sword, too?”

Kerry stepped inside and pointed at the wall behind him. “Only one left that hasn’t been peace-tied.”

Kira followed him and looked.

“Of course, this is the one our great-sire had made after he lost his Barrow-blade, but it still works quite well.”

“You speak as if you’ve used it!”

“I assure you, the log was a real threat to the Hall at the time.”

Kira laughed. “All right, so where are these rare books?”

“On the bookshelf.” Kerry walked over to it and pulled one out, opening it to its title page.

“A Brief History of the Realm of Arnor and the People Who Lived Therein, as written by Meriadoc Brandybuck and supplemented by his heirs. Is that his handwriting?”

“Not the title page, but the first half or so of the text is.” Kira flipped forward in the book to see lines and lines of history written in a round, running hand.

“We’ve also got a chapter in his wife’s, and then a few more in his son’s, and his grandson’s, and—”

Kira flipped to the last page. “Kerry! You’ve been working on this and you never let me know?”

“We’re almost done, now. Just have to take care of the events in the War, and then we’ll rebind the whole thing.”

“Where did you get the material for this? You haven’t gone off on an adventure to Rivendell without letting me know, have you?”

“Ah, that’s the best part!” Kerry moved over and unlocked a small cabinet. “No need to when Rivendell’s been brought to you!” He took out a large, heavy tome as well as a thick stack of paper covered in notes.

“This is Meriadoc’s outline and notes for what he wished to be included, including eyewitness accounts. And this,” he hefted the volume onto the table, “is our source material.”

Kira opened it. “That’s—that’s in Elvish, isn’t it?”

Kerry grinned. “Sandra’s been helping me on the translations.” He lowered his voice. “And you know what the best part of all is?”

“What?”

“This is a private collection. Which means that the owners of it can do whatever they wish with it, including lending certain volumes out to interested and trusted parties.”

“Kerry! Whatever will your father say?”

“I’ll tell him that I need it for a private project, which I do—your education.”

“I’m not taking anything that there’s only one copy of, Kerry. And I’d rather not take originals.”

“Good thing I mixed some of the copies up with the originals when I was pulling volumes from the library, then, isn’t it? I’m afraid you can’t have the Arnor one, but we’re still working on it anyway. However, if you would prefer the realm of Rohan…” He took a smart green volume from the cabinet. “I believe this will pique your interest.”

Kira flipped through the book. It was also written by Merry Brandybuck. “Quite a scholar, wasn’t he?” she said.

“I believe it runs in the family.”

“I—I don’t know how to thank you,” said Kira.

“Then don’t. Read it, take good care of it, and return it by post when you’re done with it.”

“Well, thank you anyhow. I’ll certainly try.”

And no one could quite say how Kira received some small volumes by post from time to time, but most people thought it better not to ask.