Bilbo smiled, taking in all the sights of Rivendell. He would miss this.

He turned a corner in the hall, out to the balcony. Then he noticed that, not far from where the dwarves were eating, four little elf children were playing a game in a small patch of dirt from a small garden of flowers. Out of curiousity, he went over.

"Whatcha' playing?" he asked, kneeling. He saw that there were two circles in the patch: a big one, and a smaller one inside the big one.

"Marbles!" the little elf girl exclaimed with a smile. A elf boy cradled a marble in his hand, then flicked his thumb. The marble shot out and just missed another one that was sitting in the inner circle. "Dang," he muttered.

"How do you play?" Bilbo asked. The first elf girl's name was Elaya. The other girl was Aliyah. The two boys were Namien and Jole.

"You draw two circles, one in the other. And each player had 6 marbles. Five go in the inner circle for each player. The sixth is the shooter. The objective is to claim as many marbles that belong to other players as you can, by shooting a marble out of the circle with the shooter. If you miss, you lose your turn. You get to keep any marbles that you shoot out," Jole explained.

"And to see who goes first, each player shoot a marble into the inner circle. Whoever is closest to the center goes first," said Elaya.

The hobbit smiled as Aliyah shot out a marble. "Yes!" she exclaimed, scrambling to snatch the marble. Namien scowled. "That was my favorite," he muttered.

He talked with them a bit, and learned their names. Aliyah and Jole were siblings, and Elaya and Namien were cousins.

On their side, they thought him as a very nice hobbit (as they'd never though they'd meet one before,) and he was quite good at Marbles after trying a few turns.


-After returning to the Shire-

Bilbo stepped out of his hobbit hole with a smile. It was a sunny day.

He walked down near the woods, on his morning walk between Second Breakfast and Elevenses. He found it becoming a habit now.

He'd been very sad when he learned that the elf children he'd met had been killed. It was a large surprise to him. They'd been ambushed by orcs, out in the woods with their parents. It was supposed to be a fun camping trip.

The adults had been talking over near the trees. The orcs had been quite silent. But the one thing that really effected him, was that they had been playing Marbles when they were killed.

He passed a few trees. Then heard the sound of hobbit children. Curious, he went over to the bushes and saw four little hobbits. They reminded him of Aliyah, Jole, Namien and Elana.

The hobbit kids were playing Marbles.

Suddenly feeling the same as when he'd met the young elves, he went over and talked to them; and they reminded him about the elves.

"You know, I met four little elves who played Marbles real well..." he said.

"Really, Mr. Baggins?" one asked. "Can you tell us?"

"Their names were Aliyah, Jole, Namien and Elana..." He proceded to tell them about the elves. The hobbits listened closely and smiled.

The elves had left a small mark on Bilbo. One that reminded them of youth. They had told him funny stories they knew. Just because of a simple game for children.