INTRODUCTION

Althia sat under the stars writing poetry as usual.

'Though no one has found me yet
I know someone shall get
through the locked door
the one i've been waiting for
my heart shall not open for just anyone
just love me until the job is done'

Althia looked up at the sky while dipping her quill in the ink which was set on the rock by her side. "Ah, and there's Little Dipper." she said to herself. The sky was so very clear that evening. Every star was in sight. Althia sat on a small wooden chair out in the front yard of her hobbithole. Her younger sister, Annabelle was laying in the grass by Althia's chair, holding the rag doll that Uncle Al gave to her. Her older brother Alfred and her mother Amelia were inside making a big dinner.
"So when do you think our next visit to Uncle Al is?" Althia asked Annabelle.
"I don't know really. I hope it's soon though, I miss getting gifts." Annabelle replied.
"Me too," Althia paused for a moment and wrote her name at the bottom of the page. "Want to see my poem?"
"Sure!" Annabelle said, taking the scroll being handed to her.
After reading the poem, she smiled, handed the scroll back to Althia, and looked up at the sky. "So... when do you think dinner will be ready?" Annabelle said with a twinkle in her eyes. Althia rolled her eyes - she knew what Annabelle meant by that question. Merry and Pippin, Althia's two closest friends, were coming over for dinner tonight, and Annabelle had a crush on Merry. "Go ask mum." Althia said dully.

A few moments later, Althia still sat out front in the warm night air. She then looked up to see Pippin opening the gate, followed by Merry, both of them grinning and rubbing their tummies. "Hello!" Althia smiled.
"Still writing those poems, are you?" said Pippin.
"Yeah, Althia. We thought you were going to be a healer, but if you want to be a writer, that's fine by us." Merry added.
"Well I don't see why you can't do both," Pippin said. "Like eating and visiting at the same time?"
"Sounds like a good idea, Pip." Althia said.

Inside the hobbithole, Ms.Amelia served fresh hot bread, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, steak, and sweet tea for dinner. Pippin and Merry took their seats at the table and began stuffing their faces. "So how is Bilbo? Is he doing alright?" asked Ms.Amelia. "Better than ever!" said Merry, stuffing a biscut in his mouth. "Yeah, I've noticed Gandalf hasn't led him into mischeif lately. That's fine by me," stated Althia's older brother, Alfred. "Poor old lad is just too elderly to be getting into that kind of thing." Annabelle noticabely knocked her tea cup off the table when Merry bent over to pick up a carrot he'd dropped on the ground. The rest of them tried to hold in their laughter. "Sorry!" Annabelle blushed and wiped up the spilt tea with an old rag. Althia winked at Annabelle, and the words "Shut up!" were immediately written all over Annabelle's face.

After dinner, Pippin and Merry hugged everyone good-bye (Annabelle obviously hugging Merry longer than normal) and left. So Althia shut all the curtains and locked the doors before going to bed as usual.

Later that night, when Althia was just about to go to sleep, Annabelle knocked softly on the door. "Come on in, Annabelle." Althia whispered. The door creaked open and Althia scooted over on the bed, making a spot for Annabelle to lie down. As Annabelle tucked herself under the quilt with her doll in her arms, she asked, "Will you tell me about daddy?"
Althia looked dissapointed. She sighed. "I don't know if I can, Annabelle, but I know for sure that Bilbo could." Althia looked at the ceiling. After a while, both hobbits fell into a peaceful sleep.