Author's Note: Written for LJ's Writerverse challenge – the title of each chapter is the prompt being filled.
Single and Alone (Hobbiton, the Shire)
Miss Belladonna Lilly Baggins, daughter of the proper Bungo Baggins and his infamous wife Belladonna Rose Baggins, née Took, muttered to herself as she made her way back to Bag End after a trip to the market. The earlier visit by the wandering Wizard had thrown off her entire schedule – not to mention throwing her emotional state into a tizzy. Imagine! Inviting her on an adventure as though she lingered in her tweens! Insisting that it would be very good for her – and amusing for him!
Of all the nerve!
Belladonna, called Bella to differentiate her from her mother, might be a daughter of the Tooks, but the folk of the Shire all exclaimed over how much she resembled her father when it came to proper behavior. She might have had her moments as a child and a tween, but she settled down, right and proper, as an adult.
It was sad that her parents passed away before they could see it.
Most folk could only find minor issues for which to take Bella to task - with the notable exception of the Sackville-Baggins portion of the family. They thought she perhaps read too much, those books and scrolls all involving the various Big Folk types outside of the Shire, and she remained single, quite alone in her smial. It seemed a shame to waste all of that room on a single Hobbit when her father designed it for a family. Still, again putting aside the opinion of the Sackville-Baggins', Bag End did belong to her; there could be no doubt about that. Uncommon as it might be for a young female to live on her own – most married before they ever left their parents' home. You could find the occasional widow living alone of course, though their children tended to keep them company quite often.
In every other way, however, Miss Bella lived an exemplary Baggins lifestyle, so folks accepted the few oddities as the outcome of losing her parents so soon after coming of age.
For herself, Bella often felt her single state looming over her. While she possessed a large family – as most Hobbits do – she did not feel close to anyone in particular. Her Took family found her agreeable, but a little too staid for their tastes while her Baggins family despaired of her unHobbitlike education though they approved of her manners.
Now she sat down to a solitary dinner, still uneasy over Gandalf's visit as it stirred old memories of sitting near her mother and listening to her stories of various journeys and the longing that young Bella felt to be just like her mother.
A knock at the door brought a bewildered frown to her face. She wasn't expecting company.
Bella opened the door to find that her surprises for the day were not yet at and end.
"Dwalin," announced a tall, menacing Dwarf with a bow, "at your service."