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Chapter Fourteen

"Linwe, wake up, you are wasting day light." Linwe smiled at the sound of Rosie’s cheerful voice, "I’m awake," she replied. Linwe stretched from finger tips of her delicate toes, luxuriating for brief moment in the snug feel of the bed before finally opening her eyes. The blur of sleep quickly cleared from her eyes and her gaze was met by Rosie’s own sunny smile. "Come along," said Rosie "you need to eat breakfast and go meet Healer Burrows for today’s round of patient visits."

Linwe quickly got out of bed and got dressed. A week had passed since she had arrived in Hobbiton and it had been the happiest week of her life since the day she left Bree with her parents.

Life on the Cotton family farm and in Hobbiton were comfortingly familiar to Linwe. On the farm her willingness to help with the daily farm chores was much appreciated. In Brandy Hall Linwe had been an honored guest of the Master and Mistress of Buckland and was therefore expected to live a more leisurely existence. To Linwe ’leisurely’ meant taking her time while feeding the chickens and gathering eggs, to the in habitants of Brandy Hall it meant sitting quietly and doing some form of needle work. Tasks that would not overly tax the delicate skin of a lady’s hands.

In Brandy Hall Linwe had been treated with special consideration because of her position of being a member of the Master’s immediate family household, a distinction Linwe had never been entirely comfortable with after her simple upbringing. In Hobbiton Linwe was treated with respect and consideration because of her talents as a healer. From the very first day Linwe had gone with Healer Burrows to check on his patients from the Battle of Bywater, word had started to spread that she had a talent for knowing just how to give comfort and for getting her way with even the most difficult of the patients.

Everyone in the Cotton home had come to accept and appreciate Linwe’s quiet ways. She willingly and happily did her part to help out, saying very little but generally smiling a shy yet contented smile so it was a great shock when on her fifth day there, Linwe showed her steely side.

It was a bright and cheery morning, and everyone was busy eating his or her breakfasts and then setting out for a day of work. The Gaffer had been out and busy as everyone else for the last several days, the work and the November chill had started taking a toll on his old joints. That morning he barely managed to get out of his bed and make his way to the breakfast table. "Gaffer" said Linwe "You seem to be in an awful lot of pain, why don’t you go back to bed and I will come in and rub your joints down with a soothing oil."

"Nonsense! Now you listen here little lassy, I think I am perfectly capable of deciding when I need to be in or out of my bed. I do not need a little upstart like you telling me what to do." Snapped the Gaffer.

All activity in the room came to a standstill as everyone watched to see what would happen next. Linwe’s quiet smile and pleasant demeanor fell away, her eyes blazed and her jaw was firmly set. When she spoke her voice was low and steely, a voice that could not be refused. "Old Hobbit! You will go and get back in that bed or rue the day you ever crossed me."

 The words were few but they were enough. Not even the Gaffer could stand up to the fury he saw in the gaze Linwe had fixed on him. In a quiet voice, he said "Yes Ma’am," and made his way back to his room.

Linwe slipped back into her usual pleasant self so quickly, that she left everyone in the room wondering if they had really seen what they thought they had. Linwe just went about her way; she rubbed the oil into the Gaffer’s tired joints, with her usual gentleness, as though the entire episode had never happened.

Later that same day, Linwe was helping Rosie prepare dinner. Rosie watched, as she had several times before, as Linwe seemed to choose herbs and spices for the Stew, seemingly at random, and showing little concern for specific amounts. This amazed Rosie because she knew that when Linwe was done the stew would be delicious. Finally, unable to contain herself any longer, Rosie asked "Linwe, several times in the last five days I have watched you as you went about preparing one dish or another and not once have I seen you consult a written recipe, do you have them memorized?"

Linwe looked up, blinked, then shrugged her shoulders and said, "I suppose I do, I have not really thought about it."

"And are you following a recipe now?"

"Well… no, I don’t think I am, now that you ask."

"So you are choosing ingredients for that stew at random?" asked an incredulous Rosie.

"Yes, I suppose I am. I am terribly sorry, would you rather I not?" a small frown creasing her brow.

Rosie sighed, "That is quit all right Linwe. I have watched you work like this nearly everyday this week and each dish has turned out wonderful. What amazes me is that you seem totally unaware of what you are doing. Take this morning, you ordered the Gaffer back to bed, and he actually did as he was told."

"Oh really Rosie, that was nothing." Protested Linwe, a blush starting to spread across her cheeks.

"It was something! One minute you were all that is sweet and gentle, the next you were a barely contained fury. One look at you and I thought the Gaffer might die of fright. Then as soon as he left to go back to his room, you went back to be nothing but sweetness again. All as though it had never happened."

"I was not a ‘fury’ or how ever it was you put it. I was firm that is all."

"That was more than being firm, dear. And what is more is that the Gaffer did as you ordered him to. I didn’t think anyone could order the Gaffer around, but there you were doing just that as I might order a small child about."

Linwe smiled fondly at Rosie "You are exaggerating. It could not have been as you describe it, surely I would remember a scene like that."

"You truly don’t see it?"

"See what?"

"All that you do? All of the effect you have on everyone around you?"

"Do what? What effect?"

"Linwe!"

"Yes Rosie?" said Linwe wide innocent eyes

"Oh, never mind!" Rosie smiled and said, "I am glad you are here."

"You know, Rosie, I think I am too." Said Linwe with a smile that lit up the room.

For the seventh morning in a row, Linwe rushed off to breakfast, and looking forward to the rest of the day with happy anticipation.

~~~~~

Frodo walked through a grove of trees, deep in thought. His return to the Shire was not what he expected it to be. Instead of finding a peaceful place to rest after his long quest, he found remnants of the evil Sauron had unleashed on Middle Earth, lingering in the last place he could of expected. Instead of spending his days quietly at Crickhollow, he was the acting Deputy Mayor for the Shire and overseeing much of the restoration of Hobbiton. And as if that wasn’t enough to have on his mind there was Linwe.

Frodo had barely seen Linwe since she had arrived a week ago. Shire business kept him from the Cotton home most of the day. He would return in the evening and there she would be, smiling her quiet smile. All he could ever manage to say to her was ‘Hello’ then he would spend the rest of the evening trying to avoid looking at her, then catching himself looking at her anyway. Something about Linwe seemed so familiar to Frodo and he wasn’t comfortable with that at all.

Frodo looked up and could see where a creek went twisting its way through the trees. He had started walking towards the creek when the sound of a voice raised in song, come floating to him on the crisp autumn air. The voice touched his heart and he followed the sound of it. There, sitting by the creek, under a large tree was Linwe. She wore a crimson cloak, Frodo had seen her in it several times that Linwe looked quite nice in that cloak her, with her brown and gold hair hanging in a loose mass of curls around her shoulders and framing her lovely face. Suddenly aware of his presence, Linwe left off with her song and looked up at Frodo with wide startled eyes. "Hello" said Frodo, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hello" said Linwe just as quietly with the barest smile touching her lips.

"I heard you singing as I was walking through the grove. I am sorry for disturbing you." Stammered Frodo. His mind was racing, the only thought that made sense was that he should leave and quickly but he could not take his eyes from hers.

A long moment passed with Frodo and Linwe just looking into one another’s eyes. Then Frodo found his voice at the same time Linwe found hers. "I will leave you now." Said Frodo just as Linwe said "Wont you sit down?" They smiled at one another and Linwe said, "You don’t have to go. You are more than welcome to sit here with me if you like."

"I don’t want to disturb you."

"You’re not, please sit with me for a while."

Unable to resist her invitation but still feeling nervous Frodo sat on the ground an arm’s length from Linwe. Together they watched in silence as the last of the autumn brown leaves drifted down from the trees and into the shallow water of the creek where they swirled away on the current. Frodo was reminded briefly of the golden leaves in Lothlorien. Wishing to push back dark memories that soon followed, he said, "You have a lovely voice."

"Thank you" said Linwe turning her face from him to hide her blushing cheeks but Frodo had seen the pink glow bloom across her creamy skin anyway, it made him smile. ‘She has a lovely blush’ he thought to himself. Another long pause then Frodo spoke again, "Your name, Linwe Taralom, that is an Elvish name, isn’t it?" Frodo was pleased to see her blush prettily again, before she answered.

"Yes, my name is Elvish. And of my four wandering cousins, whom have all spent considerable time among Elves, you are the only one to have taken notice." Smiled Linwe.

"I think I may have an advantage over the others in that I can actually read, write and speak some Elvish."

"I suppose that does make a difference."

"I am curious as to how you should be given an Elvish name."

Linwe hesitated a moment a whisper of a breeze lifted a lock of her hair and blew it into her eyes, absently she brushed the lock aside. A gesture that Frodo was already becoming familiar with. "Well…My parents always said that it was just a name they had heard in Bree, and happened to like."

"But there is more to it than that, isn’t there?"

"Yes" Linwe hesitated, she looked out across the creek, golden shafts of light from the afternoon sun, seemed to dance among the trees. "My mother and father had been married for eight years before they had me. In that time my mother became pregnant many times but each time the pregnancy would end too soon. One day as my mother sat in the woods, weeping for her most recent loss, she was overheard by an Elf, her name is Merenwen. Merenwen took pity on my mother and offered to use elvish lore to help my mother have one healthy child. Before I was born my parents decided that to thank Merenwen for the gift she had given them, that they would give me an elvish name, so I was given the elvish variation of my mother’s name."

"I am guessing, that since the entire Shire is not talking about this, that very few if any know your story. "

"Esmeralda and Saradoc know. Mother felt someone else needed to know, so before she died she told Esmeralda."

"Why have you trusted me with this?"

"Because you asked." Said Linwe with an impish grin.

"You have spent too much time with Merry and Pippin." Chuckled Frodo.

"I suppose I have."

"Truthfully, we are little more than strangers, why have you trusted me with this?"

Linwe turned and looked deeply into Frodo’s eyes, "Somehow you seem familiar to me. I think I could tell you anything."

It was Frodo’s turn to look away and blush. Hearing his own thoughts echoed in her words was disconcerting. Confused thoughts and feelings tumbled over one another in his mind and heart. "Do you ever see her?" He asked barely aware of what his question was.

"See who?"

"Merenwen"

"On yes," Linwe smiled, "she helped raise me. After my parents passed away, I begged her to take me with her as she roamed the wilds around Rivendell. But she refused me, she felt that I needed to stay here."

"Do you still wish you could leave with her?"

Linwe thought for a moment then answered slowly, "I don’t know. Until nearly a year ago my whole life centered on Mother, Papa, and Merenwen. I never felt that anyone could come close to taking their place."

"But things have changed?" prompted Frodo

Linwe smiled and said softly, "They have, Esmeralda and Saradoc have treated me like a daughter, I would want to give careful thought before leaving them for a long time."

"Esmeralda and Saradoc are wonderful. I was twelve when my parents died, so Esmeralda and Saradoc looked after me until I was about twenty-one. Then Bilbo asked me if I wanted to come and live with him at BagEnd. I had always loved visiting there and spending time with, he always had such wonderful stories to tell." Frodo looked away from Linwe but not before she caught a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.

"How did your parents die? That is if you do not mind my asking." Linwe asked quietly.

Frodo took a deep breath then said "They took a boat out on the Brandywine River one day, they never came back. No one saw what happened."

"Do you still miss your parents?" Linwe asked quietly.

"Yes I do. I was terribly young when I lost them but I remember how badly I wanted my mother to come hold me and comfort me. I wanted my father to come and toss me in the air again. He used to make me laugh so hard I could barely breath."

Linwe smiled, "They sound as though they loved you very much."

"Yes they did."

"I am sorry you lost them."

"Thank you."

For many moments the only sound to be heard was the soft gurgle of water flowing by in the creek. "What happened to your parents? How did they die?" Frodo asked, his voice gentle.

"My mother was very sick once when she was a child, it weakened her. Her weakness was what made it very difficult for her to have a baby. Every winter she would get a bit of a cough but she told me it was nothing. Last autumn the cough set in earlier than usual, and it was worse than ever. Esmeralda said the stress of moving was largely to blame. I had become quite ill myself after the move and Mother took care of me through that. I am sure my own illness made her’s worse. Mother got weaker and died. Father died of a broken heart about a month later."

Frodo looked at Linwe, she kept her gaze fixed in front of her, but even in profile Frodo could see the pain that filled her eyes and the tears that flowed freely down. A sudden flash of insight came to Frodo. "You feel responsible don’t you?"

"Yes;" Linwe said. She didn’t bother to wipe away her tears, "I suppose I do."

"It isn’t your fault you know. You couldn’t help getting sick. I am almost certain that your parents would not want you to blame yourself." Frodo’s voice was soft and gentle, like nothing Linwe had heard before.

"I know." She sniffed

"I am sorry you lost them."

Linwe could only gaze down at the fallen leaves on the ground before her and say quietly, "Thank you."

In the distance there was the sound of a branch knocked loose by the breeze falling to the ground. Linwe shivered. "I suppose we should be going back now." Said Frodo as he rose to his feet then offered a hand to Linwe to help her stand up. Linwe took Frodo’s hand, noticing how warm and comforting it felt in her own. Once she was standing, Linwe did not let go of Frodo’s hand, but instead turned towards him. "Frodo" she said "Does it ever get any easier? Does it get easier living with the pain of missing someone you love, of missing your parents?"

Frodo smiled, a bit sadly "It does in a way. You get used to it I think and learn to sort of step around it and keep going on."

Turning away, Linwe nodded her head once as though in agreement, then started walking back towards the Cotton farm, without letting go of Frodo’s hand.