The first two parts of this story were posted at wee!hobbits a few years ago, but it languished in incomplete-land. I decided to finish it just for Shirebound! I have posted it here all as a single story.
It's very silly. Rated G.
Summary: A very unusual visitor comes to Bag End.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARY SUE (A WEE!HOBBITS AU)
Frodo is 23, Sam is almost 11, Merry has just turned 9 and Pippin is almost 2, Pearl is not quite 16, Pimpernel is 12, and Pervinca is 7. ( 15, 7, 5½,13 months, 10, 7 ½ and 4 ½ in Man-years.) Our guest star is 2 ½ in Man-years, or 4 in Hobbit-years.
PART 1
It was a warm and pleasant spring day at Bag End. Frodo sat on the kitchen steps, telling a story to Merry, Sam and Pearl, while nearby, Pimmie and Pervinca were playing at being fine ladies, and using their baby brother as their "child". The Gaffer was at the bottom of the garden thinning scallions and Paladin and Eglantine were still at the table inside, visiting with Bilbo.
"…and so the next morning when the Sun peeked her way over the edge of the wood, Mr. and Mrs. Badger led Tip and Tulip from their sett, and put them on the right path to home. Their parents were so glad to see them that they quite forgot to be cross with them, and gave them warm milk with honey and cinnamon and scones and porridge for first breakfast. But I am very much afraid they did not believe what their children had to say about their visit with the Badgers!"* As Frodo finished the tale with a flourish that would have done Bilbo proud, he could overhear the two younger lasses.
"Won't you come into my smial, Miss Pervinca?" Pimmie was saying in a high and affected voice, as she jiggled the baby on her hip. Pippin was beginning to get too big for his middle sister to carry, and he was restless to be put down. "Be still, Pip!" she ordered in her normal voice.
"Yes, thank you, Mistress Pimmie-" Pervinca answered in her "grown-up" voice.
" 'Mistress Pimpernel'" her sister hissed.
" 'Mistress Pimpernel,'" Vinca repeated.
"Come this way," and Pimpernel led her "guest" towards the lilac bushes beneath the kitchen window. They were ideally suited to hide behind, or to serve as a "smial" in such games. Frodo watched as Pimmie put her squirming brother down, and pretended to open a door.
Suddenly, both lasses let out with a shriek, and Pippin began to wail as they frightened him.
Frodo was up in a flash, followed by the others. His first thought was that perhaps Widow Rumble's ginger tom was back there. He was generally a placid and safe creature, but he was a fierce ratter, and Pippin wasn't much larger than a squirrel. His second thought was that it sounded like two babies crying-but that was impossible. Then the squalling stopped, and Pippin had begun to crawl under the bush.
Pimmie and Vinca clung on to Pearl, weeping and babbling nonsense, so far as Frodo could tell, but Pippin was vanishing behind the bushes as fast as his little hands and knees would take him.
"Pippin!" Frodo yelled. He grabbed Merry who was starting to go after Pippin. "Go get Uncle Bilbo and the others!"
Merry shot him a glare but obeyed. Sam had run down to the bottom of the garden to get his Gaffer.
The crying had stopped, and all Frodo could hear behind the bush was a rather ominous rustling. With his heart in his stomach, he picked up a large stick and stuck his head behind the bush.
His jaw dropped. So did the stick.
Pearl and the other lasses had come up behind him. "Is it an Elf?" whispered Pimpernel.
Frodo swallowed. "I don't think so." he whispered back. "Elves have pointed ears, as we do."
Pippin looked up into the face of his captor, who held him firmly about the waist. "Gah!" he said, and grinned.
"Hewwoh," she answered, and giggled.
"Well I'll be!" came the Gaffer's voice from behind Frodo. "What is it?"
"Bless me!" that was Bilbo. Paladin, Eglantine and Merry were now staring as well. There was a brief silence.
Finally, Merry whispered "It's a giant faunt!
She was at least as tall as Frodo, though not quite so tall as an adult hobbit, but she was much larger, chubby in the way of babies and faunts. Her hair was so pale it was very nearly white, fine as silk, and nearly straight. Her eyes were deep brown, and puzzled. She turned to look at Pippin, who suddenly decided to reach for her nose. "Babbee-doh?" she said.
Pippin gurgled, and pulled at her nose rather hard.
With a cry of pain, she let go of him, and he tumbled to the ground, to land rather hard on his well-nappied bottom. He let out a shriek at this unceremonious event, and now both of them were wailing again.
Suddenly, Eglantine moved with determination. Pushing Bilbo and Paladin aside, she brushed past Frodo, and stooping slightly went behind the bush to retrieve her son.
"It's all right, Pippin dearest, mama is here. Come to mama." And she quickly scooped up her tiny son and began to back away.
Their unusual guest sniffed, stopped crying, and said "Mommy? Where mommy?"
There was no response to this, and the expression on her face began to grow frantic. "Mommy!" Once more she was sobbing, this time rather quietly, and the sound was heart-breaking.
Eglantine handed Pippin to his father. "Poor little lass!" she said.
"Little?" said Bilbo, astonished.
They stared at her. She was clad in a short dress of a violent shade of pink. The buttons were also brightly colored-they looked like very hard and shiny flowers. Her feet were also clad, in some sort of pink knit cloth, and over them she wore white shoes which were decorated with triangles of garishly bright pink and purple.
"Where did she come from?" asked Paladin.
Bilbo shook his head. "I've no idea!"
After a moment, she stuck her thumb in her mouth, though the tears were still crawling down her cheeks. She gave a sniffle.
Eglantine turned to her husband and Bilbo. "Well, we can't leave the poor child there! I wonder where she came from? Have there been any Men in the Shire recently?"
Paladin shook his head. "The last Men to come through were a tinker and his son on the East-West Road, about a month ago." As the Thain's Heir, he was well-informed about such things.
The child was still sniffling, her brown eyes filled with confusion. "Want Mommy," she said sadly. Then she bit her lips, and her eyes grew wide with consternation. "Potty?" When there was no response, as the hobbits all looked at one another in dismay, she repeated, "Haffa potty…oops!" The rather ripe smell made it clear just what "oops" had meant.
"That's it!" said Eglantine, putting her hands on her hips. She evaded Paladin's grasp and went back behind the bush.
"Come here, dearling," she said in a gentle reassuring tone. "Let's see about getting you a clean nappy…" She reached out both hands, and the child took them with her own. "Can you walk with me?"
The child wobbled to her feet uncertainly. She was less than half a head shorter than Eglantine, but she seemed comforted by the stream of motherly encouragements, and followed the hobbitess out of her little cubby-hole.
Bilbo, Paladin and the Gaffer were gaping in astonishment, but the children had recovered from their fright and were looking curiously at their odd visitor.
Eglantine looked at Sam. "Samwise, would you mind fetching your mother? I think that I am going to need some help."
Sam took off at a lope, with Merry at his heels, while the Gaffer's mouth opened and closed rather like a fish out of water.
Bilbo reached over tentatively, and placed a gentle finger under the child's dimpled chin. "Can you tell us your name, lass? Who are you?"
She gave a shy smile from under lowered lashes. "I's Mawy Sue."
Bilbo's eyebrows rose. "Marisu?" he asked.
"Um-hmm." She put her thumb back in her mouth, and studied him seriously.
A few minutes later, Eglantine and the strange child were in Bilbo's second best guest room, and Bell Gamgee was also staring in astonishment. It had taken some coaxing to get Marisu to climb upon the bed, but she lay there now, giving the two hobbit mothers a trusting look.
"Poor thing!" said Bell. "I wonder where her parents are?"
Eglantine shook her head. "We've no idea. And there are more immediate concerns." For the aroma of soiled nappy was beginning to be rather overwhelming. "Obviously, none of Pippin's nappies will fit her."
Bell looked troubled. "The only thing I can think of that might do would be one o' Mr. Bilbo's bath towels. One o' them might be big enough, Mistress Eglantine."
Eglantine nodded. "That's an excellent idea, Mrs. Gamgee! I am sure that Bilbo will not mind under the circumstances."
There was a tap at the door, and Bell opened it. Bilbo stood there with a steaming kettle in one hand and a ewer in another. "I thought perhaps you could use some water?" he asked diffidently.
"Thank you, Mr. Bilbo!" Bell took the water, and mixed it in the basin on the washstand, while Eglantine attempted to remove the soiled nappy.
"This is the strangest nappy I've ever seen!" she exclaimed in frustration. "There are neither buttons nor pins! I do not know how it fastens. And I've never seen cloth of this sort before-it is all brittle and slick."
After several moments attempting to puzzle it out, they determined that it was fastened by two tabs of what appeared to be white paper of some sort. Pulling those away released it, although they could not be fastened back. The inside was both wet and badly soiled. Eglantine was surprised that it was also wet-the outside had been quite dry. She concluded that the strange fabric must be waterproof. They dropped it into the bucket that Eglantine had brought to use for Pippin's nappies. It quite filled it up. Bell closed the top on it.
"I hate to say it, as shouldn't, Mistress," said Bell, "but I'm thinking as we ought to just ask Hamfast to bury it. I don't see as how we can get that thing clean-it's like to fall apart already."
"I notice that. I quite agree. Go ahead and take it out to him, and when you come back, bring one of those towels and we will see what we can do to make this little dearling comfortable."
Marisu was smiling now, as Eglantine took a wet flannel and began to clean her up. She giggled and babbled, but otherwise lay obediently still, glad to be clean. Eglantine chuckled, thinking how active Pippin was when she changed his nappy. Changing her son was always an adventure. But Marisu seemed quite glad to be changed-what a sweet little lass she was! Eglantine reached up to run her fingers through the fine pale hair, so different than a hobbit's.
After a moment, Bell came back in with several thick white bath towels. "Mr. Bilbo said as we might need more of them later," she explained.
Lacking any other means of fastening the improvised nappy, the two hobbit mothers settled for a couple of well-placed knots.
As soon as they were finished, Marisu sat up, swinging her chubby legs over the edge of the bed. Then she took one foot, and used it to cause the shoe on the other foot to fly off.
"Poor mite!" said Bell, "those horrid unnatural things on her feet!" She picked up the shoe curiously and turned it over in her hands. She could not begin to imagine what they were made of-they most certainly did not look anything like leather!
Eglantine nodded, and took the other shoe off, examining it as well. "I have heard that Men have rather tender feet, and no hair upon them. Doubtless she needs them to protect her feet and keep them warm when she is out of doors." She looked doubtfully at the pink coverings that had been beneath the little shoes. "I do not know if we should take those off or not-she might get cold feet without them?"
But Marisu solved the dilemma herself. She reached down and yanked off first one and then the other.
Bell and Eglantine stared, appalled. The chubby feet seemed very small for the child's body-and as Eglantine had said, they were quite hairless. The skin on the soles was as soft and pale as that on the palms of the child's hands! To the hobbits, they looked deformed.
But Marisu wiggled her toes delightedly.
xxxxx
*The idea of hobbits telling stories about badgers comes from Pearl Took.
PART 2
A short while later, all the young ones, including Marisu, were gathered round the table of Bag End's cozy kitchen, with mugs of cold milk and Bell and Eglantine were cutting bread and spreading it with strawberry jam.
Only Frodo had hung back, tugging on Bilbo's sleeve, and pulling him into the small passage leading into the kitchen.
"Bilbo, what are we going to do about her? What if she doesn't have any parents?"
Bilbo looked into the troubled blue eyes, realizing that he should have known how his lad would have already begun to worry about that. "I don't know, Frodo. We will have to make every effort to find out, first."
"What if she's an…orphan? Would we-could…?" his voice trailed off uncertainly.
Bilbo bit his lip. "It's too soon to worry about that, my lad," he said slowly. But he was very doubtful-it had taken all his considerable persuasion, and the authority of his position of head of the Bagginses to get Menegilda and Esmeralda to allow him, an old bachelor, to take on a tweenager. He could imagine the uproar if he were to take in this faunt. He tried not to allow any of that to show on his face, however, and instead said, "hopefully we will discover how she came to be separated from her family, and can restore her to them, Frodo."
Frodo nodded. Of course it would be best if she had her own family to look out for her. He saw Merry sitting next to the one empty chair, and looking at him hopefully, so he went to join the others.
Pippin was in his high chair, squealing, and happily smeared with jam. Marisu was eating hers very daintily, and washing it down with sips of cold milk from a mug.
Eglantine was making tea for the adults, and talking with Bell. "What will we do about clothing for her?" she wondered.
Bell furrowed her brow in thought, and then said "I know, Mistress Eglantine! My sister-in-law May gave me some smocks and chemises she didn't need no more. I'd planned to cut them down to make nightdresses for Daisy, but I'm thinking they might fit the lass."
So it was agreed, and Bell went out to the garden to send Sam down to Number Three, to fetch them.
Sam soon came running back, two smocks and two chemises, flapping over his arm, and one of them almost dragging the ground.
His mother shook her head. "Have a care, Sammy!" she scolded mildly.
Sam glanced at his burden, and looked abashed. His mother clucked and patted him on the head. "No harm done," she said, "but next time just be a bit more careful, lad."
He nodded, and stood in the kitchen door, looking wistfully at the other children. Bilbo noticed. "Come on in, Samwise," he invited, "I'm sure there is plenty of bread and jam to spare."
Bell sighed, and rolled her eyes, but smiled her consent at her son, who grinned and went over to the space on the other side of Master Merry. Hamfast would be all a-dither at Mr. Bilbo bringing Sam in to have a bite with the other children. He reluctantly allowed it when it was just Master Frodo, or when Master Merry was a-visiting, because Mr. Bilbo made it plain he wanted Sam's company for the lads. But for him to be in the kitchen with the Tooks and all-well, he be of a taking, that was certain! Not that she saw the harm in it-none of these children thought themselves better than her Sam-but his father was a different story altogether.
And perhaps he'd take no notice-not with all else that was going on. She looked at the strange giant child, who was laughing at the antics of the others. Merry and Frodo were making faces at her, to see which of them could get her to laugh more, and little Pippin was squealing his own delight. The lasses were studying the new arrival.
"Mother," said Pearl, "what do you think those buttons are made of?"
Eglantine, who had gone over with a wet dishtowel, to wipe her son's face, shook her head. "I am afraid I've no idea, Pearl dear! I am quite sure they are neither bone nor wood nor metal."
Bell had wondered about that as well. Like the strange nappy, and the shoes, it was another puzzle.
Bilbo went over to Marisu, who looked up from her treat and grinned at him. "Hi!" she said. "Dis good jam!"
"I am glad you like it, my dear." Bilbo reached over and touched the top button. It was shaped like a daisy, with a large round center of a very loud purple, and petals of a brilliant blue that had never been seen in nature. The buttons were shiny and hard and slick.
He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it myself. They are no sort of gem, either. I might have thought them glass, but they seem to be rather light for that."
Paladin, who had been watching the scene quietly, spoke up. "This is all very peculiar. I suppose that I should send a messenger to Great Smials. By rights, Ferumbras ought to be informed." But he sounded doubtful.
Bilbo sighed. "I suppose. But I am not sure a messenger would be believed. And I don't like the thought of Lalia getting her hands on this child."
Eglantine exchanged a look with her husband, and said, "I am quite sure that tomorrow is soon enough to send a letter from the post office."
"Of course," said Bilbo, "no need to go to the expense of a Quick Post rider, after all."
Frodo looked at Bilbo, briefly puzzled. Bilbo never thought the Quick Post was too costly-then he grinned, realizing that a regular letter would take two or three days to arrive.
After the children had finished their treat, Eglantine shooed them outside, except for Pippin and Marisu, whom she thought might be in need of naps.
She took them into the same room where they had changed Marisu's nappy, and put Pippin in the middle of the bed, then she coaxed the other child into climbing up beside him. Eglantine sat there for a while, humming a soft lullaby, as Pippin played with his toes and gurgled, and Marisu watched her with wide brown eyes, a thumb in her mouth. After a while, those eyes began to droop, and soon the lass was snoring softly. Her thumb fell out of her mouth, and she drooled slightly on the counterpane. Pippin took a while longer to fall asleep, but he tucked himself up against his newfound friend, finally, and allowed his eyes to close. He lay on his tummy, with his knees under him and his little bottom sticking up. Marisu reached out in her sleep, and put one arm around him, looking for all the world as though she were snuggled up with a doll.
After a few moments, the door opened quietly, and Eglantine looked over to see Bilbo and Paladin standing there.
"Whatever are we going to do about her?" said Paladin softly.
Bilbo shook his head. "I don't know. I wish Gandalf were here."
xxxxx
Striding easily across a field just east of Bywater, Gandalf wondered at himself. For some reason he had decided to pay another visit to his old friend Bilbo…
PART 3
It was teatime at Bag End. The hobbits were in the front room-Bilbo and Frodo had put out a simple teatime repast of egg and cucumber sandwiches, tea cakes, seedcake and strawberry tarts. Marisu and Pippin were playing by the hearth; there was no fire this afternoon as it was a warm spring evening. Marisu was playing with Pippin's toes, wiggling them and saying "Dis iddle piggy, wee wee wee", making Pippin squeal with laughter. Frodo and Merry were serving the older lasses their plates when there was a resounding knock at the front door. Frodo did not even wait for Bilbo to call his name, but ran to answer it.
"Gandalf!" he exclaimed with glee, and as the wizard bent down to greet him, he leaped into his arms. "Oh, Gandalf! It's so good to see you!"
Gandalf smiled at the enthusiastic greeting. Only hobbits could be so exuberant! "It is good to see you as well, Frodo Baggins!"
"Thank heavens you are here, Gandalf! Do you know, we are quite in need of your advice!" Bilbo was standing in the hall, having heard Frodo's exclamation.
The wizard stood carefully. Bag End's front hall ceiling was high enough for him to stand upright if he paid attention to the beams and the chandelier. "My advice?" he asked.
"Yes," sighed Bilbo. "We have another unusual guest, and are quite at a loss as to what to do about her..."
Gandalf raised his brows in surprise and followed Bilbo into the other room, where he stopped and stared in amazement at the "little" one who sat by the hearth with the hobbits. "Bless my beard!" he exclaimed. "Who do we have here?"
Marisu stood up with a big grin. "Santa?" she chirped. Gandalf bent down on one knee and she toddled over to him and gave his beard a tug. Then she frowned. "Skinny Santa."
The wizard looked intently into her eyes, and then smiled. "I am Gandalf."
She nodded. "Not Santa? Gandalf?"
"Yes, indeed, little one. I am Gandalf."
A short while later, Gandalf sat next to Bilbo's chair, with Marisu on his lap. Pearl had taken the other children (including Pippin) to the kitchen to finish tea, while Frodo remained to explain how they had found Marisu under the lilac bush. Eglantine had fetched the child's strange shoes to show him.
Marisu laid her head against the wizard's chest, playing with his beard with one hand, the thumb of the other firmly in her mouth. He studied her silently, well aware that all the hobbits in the room were watching him look at her, expectant expressions on their faces.
"Ah, little one," he thought "Somebody, somewhen, has been playing about with things they do not understand. I do not know that I will be able to get you home, my child."Aloud, he looked at Bilbo, and said "I cannot say exactly who she may be or how she got here. But I think between us, we can think of what to do with her."
"Can't we keep her?" asked Merry. Frodo said nothing, but the look on his face showed that while he agreed with Merry, he did not think the adults would be likely to agree.
Gandalf shook his head. "She is not a hobbit, Meriadoc. She would be most uncomfortable growing up in a hobbit-hole. She will grow up, you know!" He returned his gaze to Bilbo. "I will stay here for a while and we will consider the problem. It may be that I shall have to take her to Rivendell, to consult with Elrond. We shall see." He glanced down at the child in his arms to see she had fallen asleep. "What arrangements have you made in the meanwhile? I am sure you had already been considering what to do with her just for tonight."
Bilbo nodded. "Mrs. Gamgee has been kind enough to agree to stay at night and watch over her in the second best guest room. We did not think it would be good for her to be alone, but she is too large to sleep all night among the other children."
"That is wise," said Gandalf.
Eglantine smiled. "I think that Mrs. Gamgee is quite as taken with her as I am. She is such a sweet child."
"She has gone back down to Number 3 to have supper with her family, and afterwards she will return with her things. Hamfast is not happy about it, but he understands this is an emergency, and agrees that it is best," added Bilbo.
That evening after supper, Eglantine and Bell together bathed Marisu in Bilbo's spacious bathtub, and dressed her in one of the hand-me-down chemises that Sam had brought up earlier. The lass was sleepy after the warm bath, and had to be coaxed along to the bedroom, for of course neither Eglantine nor Bell could possibly have carried her. As they turned down the covers, she began to sniffle and to cry quietly. "Want Mommy," she sniffed. She climbed into the bed. "Want Mommy. Want binkie." She put her thumb back in her mouth.
Eglantine and Bell exchanged a sad look, and then Eglantine gave a nod to Bell, and went out to leave her with her charge.
Bell reached up and patted the child's arm, then quickly got into her own nightdress and climbed up onto the bed. She sat back against the pillow and began to smooth the fine pale hair with one hand. After a moment she began to sing:
Sleep, little lamb, sleep.
The Sun has said "good night."
The shadows are deep.
The shepherd watches tonight.
Sleep, little lamb, sleep.
The Moon with his light
The sky will keep.
The shepherd watches tonight.
Sleep, little lamb, sleep.
The stars shine bright
On all the sheep.
The shepherd watches tonight.
She finished the song, one that had often soothed her own little ones into slumber. And so it had this one, who was now sound asleep. Bell turned and blew out the candle, and pulled the blankets over them both.
In the garden, Gandalf walked beneath the stars and the Moon, thinking and watching.
PART 4
It had been three days, and Gandalf found he was no closer to thinking up a solution to the problem than he had been the day he arrived. While he knew that if he could think of nothing else, he would take her to Rivendell, the journey would be difficult with a little child of that age. There were still many dangers to be found in the Wild. He would probably need to stop at Bree and send for an escort of a couple of Rangers. But it would still be a slow journey. It would be good if he could hire a goodwife in Bree to come along and care for the little one, but he knew that would never happen-no respectable woman would go into the Wild with an old wandering conjuror and some of those "stick-at-nought" Rangers.
He still wondered at what he could sense from Marisu. She had been sent by someone, and seemingly by accident. Perhaps whoever had done it would be able to come up with a way to retrieve her; but he could not count on that.
He sat on the bench by Bag End's front door and watched the children in the front yard.
The Took lasses were skipping rope; Merry and Frodo sat upon the front step playing at stones.* A blanket had been spread out upon the soft lawn, and Marisu and Pippin were playing upon that. Eglantine sat with them, doing a bit of tatting as she watched the little girl with Pippin. Marisu played with the baby as though he were a doll, or perhaps a kitten. She was surprisingly gentle with him as she coddled him and cooed at him, singing wordlessly.
Now she had found a new game to play. She had seen Frodo do it to Pippin earlier in the morning, and so she would hold him up and blow raspberries against his little tummy, saying "Pip-pip-pip!" Pippin squealed with laughter as it tickled him. Eglantine smiled, but watched carefully, knowing that while Marisu would not mean any harm, she could drop Pippin or hold him too tightly. Still, she had seldom needed to intervene.
However, she had just such a moment as Bell Gamgee with young Sam assisting her, appeared at the front gate with a basket of clean laundry. Marisu stood up abruptly and would have dropped Pippin if his mother had not moved like a flash to catch him from her. Marisu squealed and toddled quickly down to greet the new arrivals, almost knocking Bell over in her enthusiasm. She had grown to quickly love the hobbitess who came and sang to her at night and held her safe.
Bell had to drop one end of the basket to return Marisu's hug. "It's good to see you, lass," she smiled. Sam attempted to pick up the basket by himself, but Frodo had moved quickly and took up the other end. These were the towels they'd been using for nappies, as well as the chemises they had been using to dress her in. Today she was once more wearing her original clothing, save for the shoes and stockings. Frodo and Sam took the basket indoors, and soon came right back out.
Bilbo and Paladin had been talking, and now they asked Gandalf, Eglantine and Bell to come into the smial, for they wished to have a discussion about the situation without the children listening in. Eglantine put Pippin back on the blanket.
"Watch your little brother, Pearl," she instructed, as she went inside.
In the parlour, Bilbo gestured for all to sit, and he brought out the teapot and teacups that were so much a part of any hobbit conversation. As he poured out and passed around the tea, Paladin spoke.
"We put it off when you arrived, Gandalf, but I am afraid we cannot put it off any longer. I am afraid that Lalia and Fortinbras will be annoyed at the delay of informing them as it is. If we put it off much longer, they will be angry. And I would much rather not have to face an angry Lalia."
Gandalf sighed and nodded. He had not been welcome at the Great Smials since the death of Thain Fortinbras II. Lady Lalia had never liked him, and once her son became Thain, she made certain that Gandalf would not return.
xxxxx
Frodo was now sitting on the bench reading a book about Westernesse. He had barely noticed all the adults going in, out of the corner of his eye. Marisu and Pippin were back on the blanket, and Marisu was wordlessly humming at Pippin as she rocked him.
Pearl sat on the blanket as well, making a daisy chain. Merry ran up to Frodo, followed by the other younger children. "Frodo! Enough reading! Let's play hide-and-go-seek!" He tugged at his older cousin's book, and laughingly Frodo put it aside. He knew Merry's persistence. "Very well. I shall be the Seeker, then."
He stood up and faced the front door, leaning up against it and burying his eyes in his arm. He started counting: "One, two, three, four..."
The children scattered to their various favorite hiding places. Pearl looked on wistfully for a moment, and then looked over at Marisu. Perhaps it was that Marisu's size reassured her, or perhaps it was the gentle way the little girl was playing with baby Pippin that made her think it would be all right. She stood up and said "Watch Pippin, Marisu!" and when Marisu grinned up at her and nodded emphatically, she grinned back and took off to find a hiding place.
Marisu stood up and looked around. Everyone was gone except Frodo, who was still diligently counting. "Fifty-one, fifty-two..."
Holding Pippin under the arms she looked at him. "C'mon Pip-pip! Us hide too!"
"Ninety-nine, one hundred! Here I come!" Frodo turned around to see the front lawn quite bare of young hobbits, and began to seek. Sam was easily found behind the rain barrel, and Pimmie and Pervinca were behind the bayberry bush near the front gate. Pearl was hiding behind the well. Merry took much longer to find, as he seldom hid in the same places all the time. Finally Frodo called out his surrender. "I give up, Merry!" he shouted. It was still a moment or two before Merry came out from behind the garden shed door.
"Well," said Frodo, "you are the Seeker now!" The children had returned to the front garden, when Pearl gave a small shriek.
"Where are they?" she wailed.
"Who?" asked Frodo.
"Marisu and Pippin!" she exclaimed, a desperate note in her voice.
"Didn't they go indoors with your mother?" asked Frodo. "I thought they did."
"No!" She looked around wildly. "They were on the blanket. I told Marisu to watch Pippin!"
Frodo resisted grabbing her and shaking her. It would only frighten her and would not find them, but he could not help wondering how she could have been so reckless as to tell a faunt to watch a baby!
"They went to hide too!" said Vinca. She could remember only too well that it had not been so very long since they thought her too young to play such games. Of course Marisu wanted to play too, and she would take Pippin with her. It's what she would have done if it had been her.
"Well, we'd better seek for them, then," said Frodo. He was not too alarmed. After all, what could happen in Bag End's garden. He turned a gimlet eye on Pearl. "Pearl, you need to go and tell your mother what happened."
Pearl blanched, but gave a shamefaced nod, and entered the smial. Frodo and the rest of the youngsters fanned out across Bag End's grounds, calling out: "Marisu! Where are you?" while Merry threw in an occasional "Pippin!" as though the baby would be able to answer.
When no answer came, Frodo began to be anxious. He was relieved to see the adults come out of the hole and join in the search. Gandalf did not call out, but stood quietly with both hands on his staff. "Frodo! Where did you say you first found Marisu?"
"Of course! The lilac bush!"
All of them raced around to the back, Merry reaching it first, followed by Eglantine. Merry peered into the hollow between the bush and the smial. He looked around. "Well, there's Pip!"
He started to go under the bush, but Gandalf held him back. "Merry, look carefully when you go in, to see what you can see."
Merry nodded, and then went in. He scooped up his little cousin, who gurgled and reached up to pull his curls. Merry paid no attention, but looked very carefully at the soft dirt beneath his feet. He looked up at the faces peering at him. "I see her footprints," he said, for her little bare feet left prints far different than those of hobbit feet, "she was here! But she isn't anymore." As if the others could not see this fact for themselves.
"Do her footprints come out?" asked Gandalf.
Merry looked once more, and shook his head. "Uh-uh. I don't see any. I might have stepped on them when I came in, though."
"That's quite all right, Merry-lad. Bring Pippin out with you now."
Merry placed Pippin into Eglantine's waiting arms.
"Perhaps we should search a little longer," said Gandalf, "although I do not believe we will find her. I think she has gone as mysteriously as she came.
That did, indeed, prove to be the case. Paladin was relieved, for it meant he did not have to write to the Thain. Bilbo was also relieved, for it meant that she was probably back with her family and he would not have to tell Frodo that they could not take her in. Eglantine was sad, and so was Bell, for they had grown quite fond of her-and the children felt the same.
They never knew whence she came or where she went.
xxxxx
EPILOGUE
Geoffrey jumped with startlement as his baby sister suddenly reappeared in her playpen. At fifteen, his parents thought he was old enough to watch her for a day while they travelled to the funeral of an elderly relative that Geoff had never met.
He'd spent a few hours on the computer playing games until he got bored. Then he'd taken out the old book a friend had given him. It was supposed to be a book of magic spells, but most of them were rather useless: spells to take off warts or insure a good crop of turnips or to make hair grow on a bald man. But one had looked interesting: a spell to open a portal to another world. He wouldn't mind seeing another world!
He'd been shocked when his baby sister had vanished instead of him, so he'd been frantically trying to get her back for hours. He repeated the spell, but nothing happened. He'd searched for another, and had no luck. He had begun to panic, imagining as he tried to tell his parents how Mary Sue had disappeared without a trace. The police would come. No one would believe him. If they did a lie detector test, and it showed he wasn't lying, they would think him crazy!
Nearly weeping with frustration, he had tried just once more, this time reciting the little cantrip backwards.
There she was, grinning up at him, saying "Pip! Pip! Pip!"
He picked her up and hugged her. Then he noticed she had no shoes and was wearing a cloth diaper...
xxxxx
*"Stones" is a popular game in "my" Shire, in which children take a handful of small stones, anywhere from four to eight depending on the child's skill level, and toss them up to catch on the back of their hands.