Author's Note- I have taken one line of dialogue from LOTR.  The line appears in italics.

Chapter Eight

Lila sat in as overstuffed chair, her feet propped on an equally overstuffed foot stool, about her shoulders was a rose colored shawl made of the softest wool. A thick colorful quilt made from bits of dresses Linwe had worn as a child, was tucked snugly around her legs. Lila’s chair was by the window in her little sitting room. She gazed out the window at the clouds that raced across the bright blue sky, as one worried thought after another raced across her mind.

"You are quiet this morning, Lila," observed Esmeralda from where she sat working on her knitting. "Are you comfortable?"

"Yes, dear, I am." Replied Lila turning from the window to smile at Esmeralda, one of her oldest friends. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind."

"You mean you are fretting over Linwe again," Esmeralda said gently. "I keep worrying for her myself then I get distracted with worrying for the boys."

"I have been going back and forth as well. I also have this general feeling of uneasiness. Marmadas and I thought we were leaving this sense of foreboding behind when we left Bree, but it seems to be here as well. What is happening, Esme? Why does it feel like it is a dark and stormy day when I can look out my window and see blue sky and sunshine?"

"I don’t know, Lila, perhaps because there have been many events recently that are so frightening and even worse our children seem to be at the center of it." Esmeralda said sadly.

Minutes passed, the only sound to be heard in the room was the ticking of a clock on the mantel and the soft clicking of Esmeralda’s knitting needles. Lila had her own knitting sitting in her lap untouched. Lila had not the energy nor the heart for knitting. Caring for Linwe had tired Lila more than she had expected. She was starting to suspect that she herself might not be in the best of health.

Lila pushed concerns for her own well being aside and went back to thinking about Linwe. Physically, Linwe appeared to have made full recovery, but Lila could tell that something still weighed heavily her daughter’s spirit.

"Why do I feel it is all tied together?" Lila muttered to herself.

"I’m sorry, what did you say, dear?" Esmeralda asked with a quick glance towards Lila.

"It’s silly, but I get this oddest feeling that all of this is tied together some how. What ever it is that is troubling Linwe and the disappearance of the boys, it feels connected for some strange reason, but I can’t, for the life of me, think of how it can be."

"You are not being silly, you are being ‘Tookish’ almost everyone in the Took family knows that some Tooks are born with a strong intuitive sense."

"That is fine for you, Esme, you have had such sense all of your life, but I take after the Brandybuck side of the family. I have never had a strong sense about anything, in that way." Lila said firmly.

"There is a first time for everything. Perhaps this is your first time to feel such insights. I am not really surprised as it involves your daughter."

Lila didn’t say anything at first, she just sat looking down at her hands. Esmeralda could tell that Lila was thinking hard, and Esmeralda sensed that she was about to be told something very important.

"I don’t know that I should be having such insights about Linwe. I never really should have been able to have Linwe to begin with. I love her more than life but how can I have a hint of what troubles her so deeply when she is so different from Marmadas and myself?"

"Now you truly are being silly," chided Esmeralda. "Linwe takes a lot after you and Marmadas, and it has been a blessing to her, she really is a very lovely child."

"I know you’re right, Linwe does take after Marmadas and myself quit a bit, but there is a part of her that is not even really all that Hobbit like." Lila paused the said quietly, "One might even say she seems sort of Elf-like."

Esmeralda looked hard at Lila, "What is it you are trying to say?"

Lila sighed "I don’t know what I am trying to say either. Don’t mind me, I’m just an old woman worrying for her child."

"No, Lila, I will mind you. I think there is something you are wanting to tell me, and I intend to here what it is."

Several moments passed before Lila said anything and when she did she spoke softly. "Esme do you remember just after Linwe was born, you asked me how we came by her name?"

"Yes, you said it was a name you heard in Bree that it is a very old name among the Big Folk."

"That isn’t where her name comes from. Esme, Linwe’s name is Elvish. A rough variation of my own, actually."

Only a slight widening of Esmeralda’s deep green eyes gave any clue to her surprise. Esmeralda continued to stare intently at her friend and cousin. "How did you happen to learn this variation on your name?"

"My friend , Merenwen, told me." Lila said quietly.

"Merenwen is an Elf, I take it?"

Lila only nodded her head.

"Lila, please don’t make me drag every last detail out of you. Tell me everything and tell me now!" demanded Esmeralda.

Lila smiled to herself. "Dear Esme, you are so good to me and for me. I will tell you everything, it is time someone else knows. I met Merenwen in the woods not far from our home. I had been crying over having recently lost another baby. Merenwen heard me with those sharp Elven ears of hers and came to see what was the matter. Being a very compassionate soul, Merenwen offered to use her knowledge of Elvish healing to help me have a child. Over the next several months I had to drink some of the most dreadful concoctions, but they made me stronger and insured Linwe’s health as I carried her. Some of what Merenwen did involved Elven magic. Merenwen suspects that Linwe’s lost-spells are a product of her intervention. The methods Merenwen used were created to insure the birth of a healthy baby elf. Merenwen believes they worked a little to well and tried to make Linwe a healthy elf, what we got was a very healthy Hobbit with apparently some elvish characteristics. One of those characteristics is the ability to see events in other places and time. When Linwe was twelve Merenwen found the child sitting in the woods one day, crying. On a hunch Merenwen spoke to Linwe in Elvish and asked her why she was crying. Linwe said something about ‘His heart is broken,’ Merenwen asked who’s heart but Linwe did not know."

"Has Linwe ever been able to tell you any more?" asked Esmeralda

"No, on that one occasion, Merenwen was able to question Linwe while she was still caught in the vision. Linwe never remembers them when they are over."

~~~~~

Yule came and went, then the weather turned bitterly cold. Folk in the Shire were feeling nervous. The hushed conversations by nearly every fireside were about the same thing. Someone in the Shire had managed to buy much of the land in the Shire anonymously and had then hired rough men and disgruntled greedy Hobbits to go around and gathering the harvest from the families that worked those lands. The families were threatened and told some spurious story of gathering and sharing. But the families were stripped of nearly all their winter stores and now had barely enough to live on and get them through the bitter winter. At first the gathering had been only on lands owned by this nameless Hobbit, but rumors were coming from the South Farthing that the ‘gathering’ was now happening on other holdings as well.

None of this mattered to the Gamwhiches of Bree who now resided in Buckland. Lila’s suspicions about her own health had proven to be true. Towards the end of November Lila had developed a cough and had started to have a difficult time keeping up with her usual tasks. Through December the cough steadily became worse. By mid January Lila was confined to her bed and spent most of her time sleeping. Marmadas and Linwe were worried.

Early one morning Lila woke up to find Linwe by her bedside. She held a book in her lap but her hazel eyes were turned towards the window and the cold gray landscape beyond. "Linwe, my sweet child, what is it you are thinking?"

Linwe turned towards her mother and smiled, "Nothing important, Mother."

" ‘Nothing’ can be very troubling at times, it most certainly has you looking worried at the moment." Chided Lila.

"If I worry it is for you. You are not getting enough rest." Linwe scolded gently.

"Please don’t talk to me of rest, I think I sleep too much. I am ninety-four years old, there will be plenty of time for rest after I have taken my last breath."

"You shouldn’t say such things, I don’t like to think of you no longer being here with me."

"I’m sorry, dearest, but you cannot stop what is meant to be. I have lived a respectable length of time, I think I will be ready to go when the time comes." Said Lila while reaching out and taking hold of her daughter’s hand.

"I wish you would let me go in search of Merenwen, she could heal you. I am not afraid of traveling by myself, you know." Linwe said with a stubborn edge to her voice.

"We have been through this far too many times already. Would you have me sitting here worrying for you as Esme worries for Merry? That would most likely bring my end long before you could ever get here with Merenwen."

Linwe sighed, " I wish there were something I could do for you, I feel so helpless."

"You can do something, you can stop sitting and watching my every breath. Go make yourself useful to this over grown Hobbit hole, I am sure Amethyst can find something for you to do."

"Oh all right. I will go but I will be back to have elevenses with you."

"I will look forward to it, now run along." Lila said firmly.

Linwe got up to leave. She had walked halfway across the room when she gasped and put a hand to her side.

"Linwe! What is it?" Cried Lila

Linwe did not answer. She felt herself falling to the floor and unable to breath. A veil of gray fell down before her eyes obscuring her view. Linwe fought to remain conscious but lost the battle when her vision was filled with images of dark creatures battling with what looked like men and Hobbits. The shock of her vision was so strong she quickly slipped into oblivion, unable to hear her mother’s cries for help.

Darkness

Linwe found herself in darkness. Her side ached as though severely bruised. She was moving, someone was carrying her. The pain was great, she wanted to stop but some how knew she had to go on. They were being chased. "I am all right. I can walk. Put me down!" she heard herself say, but it was not her voice.

Linwe started to feel dizzy. ‘Why can’t I see where I am going?’ she wondered to herself, ‘Where am I?’

Suddenly a bright light stabbed out from the darkness, then all was completely black again. Linwe’s only coherent thought was to run.

Darkness continued, Linwe could not be sure of how fast time was passing. She was bewildered and confused. She felt like she was awake but she obviously was not in Brandy Hall. She must be dreaming.

Then there was fire. Linwe saw fire and darkness and she felt fear. She felt the need to run even faster. It was after her. It would kill her and take It. Take what? She didn’t know.

Linwe heard a voice filled with power. She turned and saw a pure white light standing before the fire and shadow and felt a glimmer of hope. The light flared up making her heart feel lighter. Then suddenly it was gone. Linwe felt as though her heart had stopped with sudden and severe pain of loss. She heard a voice screaming. ‘Gandalf! NO!’ She was only dimly aware that the voice she heard was not her own. Linwe wept as she slipped into merciful sleep.