A/N I don't own LotR blah blah blah

This takes place Pre-LotR and I have none of the books so I don't know dates, ages, or anything like that. If you're fussy about that my stories will make you nauseous cause I'm not very good at keeping track of exact time.

Also the main character Padima (Pa-DEE-ma) goes by the nickname Paddy and Himanoon Tombtears, just so you know. On with the story!!!

Chaos Walk

The sun streamed through the trees as the small figured ambled down the weed-choked path. He was a hobbit and past his prime, but by no means bent and cane-ridden. He walked straight and tall, a sturdy walking stick in his hand as his furry feet plodded strongly underneath his round body. He dressed in a worn green tunic with yellow waistcoat with shiny buttons of wood. His pants were patched on the knees but weren't ragged.

Bilbo Baggins use to go out like this all the time. He's slip out whenever he pleased and hike till he thought his legs would fall off and then curl up in the nook of a tree and sleep. When fully rested he would journey back to his cozy hole.

Of course this was all before he adopted his nephew, Frodo.

The path forked and Bilbo rested for a moment, lost in his thoughts. When he adopted the boy, he put a temporary stop to his adventures, but now several months had past. Frodo had friends in his cousins and in Hamfast's son, Sam. He felt confident enough to slip out of the house while Frodo still slept. Today was his twenty-first birthday and Bilbo's sixty-third. This meant relatives, truly what it meant was Sackville-Bagginses and Bilbo was loath to see them without at least wondering a bit. Like he was putting distance between them although he knew he had to go back. Go . . . the forked path lay before him. Which way should he go?

Looking down the over grown paths he reached deep into his coat pocket and fingered the smooth surface of a ring.

Ah, yes, he still had his trinket from Lonely mountain, he felt compelled to bring it today, it and Sting, which was strapped to his hip.

The path forked two ways, one left and one right, he knew both very well. The left went to Sanil, a human woman's , house. Not many knew she was there. She played hostess to elves and wanderers and Bilbo had been the sweet lady's guest more than once. She had a young daughter, Padima or Paddy as all close to the child called her.

The path to the left snaked in and out of trees and to a lazy pool of water where Bilbo would lounge and write in his red book.

A smile crossed the hobbit's lips as he thought again of Sanil.

"I bet Paddy is around Frodo's age. Maybe a lass around his age would take his mind off things,"

Quickly Bilbo turned down the left path.

**************************************** **********************************************

The trees thinned as Bilbo came upon the clearing where Sanil's cottage lay, but something was wrong. The forest was too still.

Fear pricked the hobbit's heart.

Sanil and Padima owned two large dogs for their protection since Sanil was not married and there was no man around. They could sense an elf and always knew Bilbo. He crept close and waited for their thunderous barks and drooling growls but only silence.

Bilbo slipped on his ring.

Invisible, now, the hobbit took great care not to step in the sunlight and snuck to the house. He reached the door when an indescribable order filled his nostrils. It made his eyes water and flung the door open to see why the dogs had not made a sound.

The great stinking carcasses lay over the thresh hold and were thick with flies and rotting things. Surely they had been dead a week.

What of Sanil and Little Paddy? Bilbo wondered frantically. The inside of the house was in ruins, splattered with blood and littered with glass and broken wood, some places scarred black with fire.

"Sanil!! Padima!!" Bilbo called into the house but was answered with the buzzing of flies. Bilbo backed away from the stinking bodies when he backed into something. Then a sword nicked his shoulder.

"Who's there!?' Demanded a voice above him. Bilbo dodged the sword thrust again and took a look at the stranger. It was an elf. He looked around, straining his keen senses trying to find the ghost that had called out.

Bilbo ducked into some bushes and the elf turned toward the sound.

"There you are! Come out coward! Are you the one who slaughtered Lady Efinil?"

Efinil, Sanil's elvish name, Bilbo realized with a lurch in his stomach and quickly slipped off his ring and came forward. The elf looked at him in surprise.

"Excuse me, Master Hobbit, I-I thought," The elf sheathed his blade and kneeled down to be eye level with Bilbo. "My name is Tarrod Iceeyes, I am looking for the murderer of my heart-sister. Do you know anything?"

"Nothing, I have been Lady Sanil's guest often and came to gather her daughter Padima to meet my nephew. I have had no contact with her in some time. It grieves me to know she and little Paddy are gone," Bilbo said with tears in his eyes and heart.

The elf leaned over and touched Bilbo's injured shoulder. There was a moment Bilbo felt an extreme numbing cold but when he looked the wound was healed. The elf stood.

"My Efinil is dead, but little Himanoon, she is safe with my brothers. Now go, little Master, back to your hole and forget what you have seen,"

Tarrod began to leave when Bilbo called after him, with an unbidden request that burst from the hobbit's lips, "I would take care of Padima!"

Tarrod looked over his shoulder, his pale blue eyes flickering with amusement, "Then you shall have her to care for in one year,"

"Why a year, why not now?"

"Because I must respect Efinil's last wish for Himanoon to know her father." Then he walked again disappearing into the foliage like a ghost into mist, "I shall see you in a year, Bilbo Baggins," Said Tarrod Iceeyes from all around.

Bilbo shivered and quickly descended down the path and back to Bag-End.