'Again she fled but swift he came.
         Tinuviel! Tinuviel!
      He called her by her elvish name;
         And there she halted listening.
      One moment stood she, and a spell
         His voice laid on her: Beren came,
      And doom fell on Tinuviel
         That in his arms lay glistening.'

   "Yeech!"

   Hallam and Amin looked up from their own work to
stare at Estel in surprise.

   "They're *kissing*!" he complained. "Pages and
pages and they haven't even left Doriath yet. At this
rate I'm never going to get to the good part!" *1

   "What about me?" Hallam asked, "Seven verses and
Turin's *still* moaning about his mother!" he glared
at the pages on the table before him. "Why do heroes
in song always act like such fools?"

   "They do don't they." Amin agreed. "I mean here's
Isildur going around telling his mother, his father,
his brother and anybody else who'll listen he's going
to try to sneak into the palace and steal a seedling
of the White Tree!" 

   "He can't have done that really or the King's Men
would have caught him." Estel pointed out.

   "More likely his mother and father would have
locked him in his chamber." Amin answered. "But you're
right. The songmakers must have made that bit up."

   "They probably make a lot of it up." Hallam agreed.
"At least I hope so. I'd hate to think Turin really
was this wet."

   At that moment tall, smiling Elf appeared in the
entrance to their chamber. "The Lord Elrond releases
you from your word." he announced. "You have the
freedom of the Valley again."

   "Hurrah!" pens and paper went flying as the three
boys made a dash for the outdoors.

   They found their foster sisters on the terrace
below the nursery hall. Berya had a smudge of ink on
her nose and Meleth's eyes were pink rimmed, as if
she'd been crying. "I had Lamentation for the Fallen."
she explained, an endless poem mourning the many dead
of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.*2

   Estel offered a handkerchief. "Blow your nose." he
told her kindly, continuing to them all: "Let's go
down to the guest house and see if the Dwarves are
still there."

   Guests at Rivendell were quartered in a large
building facing onto the west entrance court just
below the Banquet Hall. Approaching it from the east
the children were delighted to see the small, curly
headed figure of the Dwarf child descending the back
stair to gardens.

   They might have caught up with him and introduced
themselves in the proper way if only he hadn't been
heading *right* for the place where they always staged
their Outlaw Ambushes. The tempation to make a more
dramatic entrance was irresistable.

   Ambush glade was, as Uncle had once remarked,
tactically perfect for the purpose being surrounded by
tall hemlocks and pines giving plentiful cover and
with a meandering stream cutting off possible escape
on two sides. The children took up their usual
positions and waited.

   The Dwarf child certainly did take his time, it
seemed quite a long wait before he finally hove into
view, nose buried in a book, and walked slowly past
Hallam's position and Berya's and had just come
abreast of Amin's when Estel gave the signal and they
all leapt out.

   "Lay down your weapons and you will not be harmed!"
Estel cried.

   "Oh my goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the visitor
dropping his book. Though no taller than Estel or Amin
it was instantly quite clear to all five children he
was in fact a grown-up person - though of what kind
they couldn't think.

   "I beg your pardon, sir." Estel stammered,
recovering himself. "We didn't mean to startle you."

   "Well actually we did." Meleth explained. "But you
see we only saw you from a distance and thought you
were a child like ourselves."

   "It was a play you see." Amin finished. "We're very
sorry." and picked up the visitor's book for him.

   "Quite all right, quite all right. Perfectly
understandable mistake." the grown-up said, still
looking just a bit rattled.

   "I am called Estel." he said politely. "This is my
little sister, Meleth and our cousins; Amin, Hallam
and Berya."

   The visitor looked over his shoulder and gave
another start at the sight of the two elder children.
"How do you do? I am Mr. Bilbo Baggins at your
service." and he bowed to Estel who returned it.

   "At yours and your family's."

   "My word but you gave me a turn." Bilbo continued.
"Is there anywhere to sit?"

   "There are some benches a little ways up the path."
Berya offered. "We'll show you."

   There was a singing circle just around the bend
from Ambush Glade with seats formed out of living
trees. The little brook widened into a deep pool and a
gap in the trees gave a clear view eastward to where
the sun and the moon rose.

   Berya dipped a cup of water from the pool for Mr.
Baggins and the children watched anxiously while he
drank it.

   "Are you feeling better now, sir?" Hallam asked.

   "Oh yes, quite recovered thank you." Bilbo Baggins
studied them, frowning. "You're not Elves are you?"

   "No we're Mortals, wards of Lord Elrond." Hallam
answered.

   "I see." said the guest, though he obviously didn't
at all. "Er...who are your parents?"

   The children exchanged uncomfortable looks. "We're
not allowed to say." said Berya.

   "It's a secret you see." Estel explained.

   "A real secret not a play secret." added Meleth.

   "So we musn't tell. We're sorry." Hallam finished.

   "I wouldn't want you to say anthing you're not
allowed to." Mr. Baggins said quickly. Tried to change
the subject. "Er...very pretty place Rivendell."

   "Thank you." said Berya politely.

   "Where are you from Master Baggins?" Estel asked,
adding hastily. "If you're allowed to say."

   "Oh yes, there are no secrets about me." the guest
assured them. "I'm from the Shire."

   "Oh! You must be a Halfling." Hallam said,
enlightened.

   "Ahem, we prefer 'Hobbit'." Bilbo said with
dignity.

   "I beg your pardon, Hobbit." Hallam corrected
himself. "You hold the lands between the Baranduin and
the Western Downs from King Argeleb don't you?"

   Mr. Baggins blinked in surprise. "The Shire was
granted to us by the King, a very long time ago when
there still was a King."

   "We're supposed to know things like that." Estel
explained. "It's part of our education."

   "How do you come to be with King Thorin?" Amin
wanted to know. "I didn't know Halflings - Hobbits -
had dealings with the Longbeards."

   "Nor do we." Bilbo agreed. "Gandalf introduced us.
You see I am an Expert Treasure-hunter, Thorin has
hired me to help him steal his gold back from the
Dragon."

   The children were suitably impressed. "That's going
to be dangerous." said Berya.

   "Yes." Mr. Baggins looked a little worried. "I must
admit I've never faced a Dragon before."

   "I'm not surprised." said Hallam. "There aren't
many left these days. Not south of the Withered Heath
anyway."

   "Oh, really?" the Hobbit seemed to be probing for
more information so they gave it to him.

   "We know all about Dragons." Estel explained. "Our
ancestors used to kill them."

   "When they didn't get killed themselves that is."
from Amin.

   Bilbo clearly didn't find that at all an
encouraging remark.

   "But of course you're a Burglar, nobody expects you
to kill Dragons." Hallam reassured him.

   "Quite right!" said the Hobbit with emphasis.

   "You may have to talk to Smaug though." said Berya.
"Don't look him in the eye, that's very important."

   "And don't tell him your name or anything about
yourself if you can help it." from Estel.

   "And above all don't believe anything Smaug tells
you." this was Hallam. "That may take some doing
because Dragons can be *very* convincing but listening
to them will lead you into all kinds of trouble."

   "They tell lies." explained Meleth. "Even worse,
they sometimes tell the truth but twist it so you do
just the wrong thing. Like poor Turin."

   "I see." said Mr. Baggins. "Turin?"

   "An ancestor of ours." Hallam explained. "He
listened to what a dragon told him and lots of
people died because of it."

   "Oh, I see. How very sad." Bilbo was begining to
look confused again.

   "Ah, there you are, Mr. Baggins."

   "Gandalf!" the children scrambled to their feet to
greet the wizard.

   He twinkled down at them. "I see you've been
keeping my friend Mr. Baggins entertained."

   "We've been telling him about Dragons." said Estel.
The Wizard's bushy eyebrows rose and he added
defensively: "They're in our books."

   "Yes, of course."

   "And we haven't said anything we oughten't." from
Meleth.

   "I'll attest to that." said Bilbo quickly. "In fact
I'm quite at sea."

   Gandalf laughed. "You're learning. Mr. Baggins,
learning fast." smiled down at him. "When the time
comes you'll know what to do or you're no grandson of
the Old Took!"

   Bilbo looked unconvinced.

   Gandalf turned back to the children. "I take it
you'll be joining us for dinner?"

   "Yes, Uncle released us just this afternoon." said
Berya.

   "Good. And I trust you've learned your lesson?" one
bushy brow arched.

   "Yes indeed." Estel said firmly. "We'll never go
out of the valley alone again - that's a promise."

   "We didn't even eat the things we'd hidden because
we were really sorry." put in Meleth.

   "That was very honorable of you." said the Wizard
maintaining a grave front with some effort. "We shall
see you this evening then. Mr. Baggins I would like a
word with you."

   "We'll be going." said Hallam taking the hint. The
other children fell in obediently behind him.
"Good-bye Gandalf. Good-bye Master Baggins."
    ************************************************

1. And now you know why Aragorn has a Westron
translation of the Lay of Leithian on the tip of his
tongue in LOTR. Needless to say he no longer complains
about the romantic parts. ;)

2. The Battle of Unnumbered Tears was a major defeat
that pretty much destroyed organized opposition to
Morgoth back in the First Age and killed lots of
heroes, including several of the children's direct
ancestors. Needless to say this poem is a real downer.