Merry and Pippin were greeted with a very Joyous tea and luncheon. There was much talk of past adventures and those they hoped to have.
After a silence Merry spoke, "One of these days I'm going to come back to the Shire to stay," taking a moment to light a pipe, "Rohan is nice, but one does wish for one's home after a long time. The woods, fields, and rivers."
"Not to mention kin your own size!" Pippin popped in, "As for me though I think I still want to serve Gondor for awhile. Not to be disagreeing. I too miss the Shire at times, but you know The White City is amazing. And it 'tis an honor to serve a great king."
"You couldn't settle back into Shire life if you wanted to Pippin," said Violet who sat in a corner of the room for hobbit chairs were too small, " You love Gondor too much. There's not enough adventure around here for you. Much too curious for a hobbit."
"Mister Frodo was like that too," said Sam in a reminiscent voice, " He did like the adventurous side of things ever since we were children. I wonder what he and old Bilbo are doing now."
"From the tales I've heard about him he's probably driving Gandalf insane!" said Violet and everyone laughed.
"When does this party start! We need some fun!" cried Merry.
" 'Bout an hour," replied Sam.
" Ah! I have to get going then," said Violet ," I need to clean up a bit before the party."
As Violet started home she thought she saw riders in the distance, but soon dismissed the idea. After changing into her nicer Ranger's clothes she saved only for special occasions she fastened a black cloak round her neck with a silver Ranger's pin. She then shined her boots. Looking in the dusty mirror she couldn't help, but think something was missing. She then noticed that she didn't have her regular load of weapons on her. A quiver of arrows, a bow, a sword, and an assortment of hidden knives for when all else failed. Deciding she didn't need the weapons she almost left the house, but something made her return and get out her long sword which she attached to her belt.
Maybe it was loyalty to her father's lessons or the nagging fact that this Shire wasn't the Shire of Bilbo or Frodo Baggins. Along the path to her home she passed through a section now known as the Dark Woods. Perfectly safe during the day, but at night not quite as safe. Old nasty Uruk-Hai prowled these woods a night, remnants of the dark times, remnants of the War of the Ring. There were safe places, plenty of woods for hobbit children to play in, but even those weren't too safe at night. She decided though that no one would stare at this sword because it was quite decorative. It had been given to Merry by a Rider of Rohan and Merry had then given it to Violet. The sheath was a beautiful black and the handle was a strong silver with the sheath decorated at the top by the sign of Rohan. The blade was sharp and shiny and showed few signs of use. Then pocketing a small flute to play at the party she left whistling a traveling song of the elves.