Goldilocks woke the next morning feeling much better then she did the day before. She looked out the window and saw all the preparations for the party. She sighed, it would be her last chance in quite a while to see her best friend. She would have dwelt on this thought but there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called out to the door trying to sound cheerful. It was Frodo. "Hello,"

"I'm sorry Goldilocks, I really am." Frodo apologized. Goldilocks smiled at her brother.

"It is fine, I was not even angry, nor knew that you told him." Frodo looked slightly relieved.

" Oh thank you. I tried to keep from telling, I really truly tried hard. It is just that, I won't lie to father, and he questioned me." Goldilocks thought for a moment of how this could have come to be,

" Brother, how then could father have known? If he questioned you?" a strange look appeared on Frodo's face.

" It was Elanor. She brought it to father's attention. I don't think it was with cruel intentions though." Frodo told Goldilocks. Goldilocks bowed her head slightly and smirked,

" I would have thought her to have told on me. It matters not though. I deserve what I got." Frodo did nothing. He would have argued but really didn't find anything to argue to. It was all true that she could have made wiser decisions, but made foolish ones instead. He told her goodbye and left the house to go to the party. Goldilocks sat alone in her room for a long while. She watched some of the party through her window, but it made her long even more to be there. So she resolved to sitting and staring at the wall, doing what she seemed to do best, daydreaming of adventure.

Even that though soon grew boring. She became restless and wandered around the house in search of something to occupy her time. She found nothing. So, she began to wander back to her room when she saw it. The room that her father forbid and locked saw open. She gave a nervous glace around her before tiptoeing into the darkened room. She looked around the well-kept room. There were shelves of books along one wall, and a small desk on the opposite side of the room from which the window was. She looked at the bed. There was a silver mail coat and a sheathed sword neatly lain across it. She walked over and carefully lifted the sword and drew it from the sheath. It shimmered in what little light there was. Goldilocks smiled,

" Elvish," she whispered to herself, mentally leaping with joy. This is what some of the adventures she dreamed of were based on. She set it down in the exact position it was in and left the room. Then the idea occurred to her, her father's study. She might as well have a look in there. maybe get a book to read while she was punished. It wasn't like they could punish her any further if she was caught with the book. She carefully opened the door and stepped in. It was a terrible mess. There were papers and shelves upon shelves of books. She glanced around taking in the messy environment, then she saw it there was a large red book on a shelf she couldn't reach. It seemed to call for her to take it. ' It looks chalk-full of adventures for me to read about!' she thought to herself as she walked towards it. As she reached out to take the book, she heard a distinct tap on her bedroom window. Hoping that it was not someone like her father she ran to her room. There was no one outside the window. Cautiously she approached the window and looked out. At first she saw nothing, then she looked strait down. It was Faramir!

"Faramir! What are you doing here?" Goldilocks cried out happily.

" Hey, remember they punished you not I. I should be aloud to visit my best friend." Faramir responded. "Come on out! We can play in the fields or talk about our times in the woods, so we are not seen." Faramir smiled, he was a year older then her and had many more friends then she, but still, they had the best friendship between any Shire lass or lad. Goldilocks smiled at him, they thought the same way. He knew that she wouldn't refuse because it would be worth any punishment or lecture either would receive.

" Hold on, I will be out in a moment." She walked over and locked her door. That would allow her some time if she saw her parents going to check on her. Then she briskly swung her legs out the window and Faramir caught her with open arms. They laughed and ran towards the direction of the woods.

Once safely behind the forest wall they sat together and laughed over their cunning escape. Both had pulled of better, but none-the-less they were proud of it.

" So how have you been here in Hobbiton?" Faramir said smiling at Goldilocks.

" I hate it here. Everyone expects me to be so proper and everything, but I would rather be out in Buckland or live with you in the Smials. Have you leaned to write or read yet?"

" I have. I have been pestering my father to teach me, and he finally did. So now we can write letters and speak through that as often as we want!" Faramir told her excitedly.

" My father was the same. He was reluctant to teach me for some odd reason he didn't like very much that I had a passion for reading and writing so suddenly." Goldilocks explained. She turned and climbed the large tree behind her. Faramir and Goldilocks often would climb this tree and hide away from the grown-hobbits that would be after them for stirring up some form of a nuisance.

Goldilocks and Faramir talked about everything that was important to them. The other was the only one in the world that seemed to care about their simple squabbles and problems. Perhaps that is why they seemed to get along so well. They were both raised by some well-known Hobbit that was either highly respected or thought to by slightly off. They spent the entire afternoon in that tree and well into the evening, only at sunset did they show sings of letting up.

" Oh no," Goldilocks moaned looking to the horizon. She watched as the sun slowly began to disappear behind it. Faramir too looked and began to fear the problems he would face from an angry mother. His father would most likely understand, he was usually a troublemaker himself. Diamond of Long-Cleeve, his mother, on the other hand was not a force to be reckoned with.

" I think we stayed out a bit too long what do you think?" Faramir said only half joking.

" I think I shall be grounded for ages." Goldilocks said with a sigh.

"Well," Faramir told her, " I guess I shall see you in ages, if my mother hasn't totally destroyed my body."

"Goldilocks!" A voice called in the darkness,

"Faramir!" another called, torches soon became visible through the wall of trees. "Where are you?" another recognizable voice called. It was Both their fathers and

their Uncle Merry. " Split up, Sam you go that way, Pip, you that way I will go this way, and we'll meet back here as soon as someone has found something." Goldilocks made her way down the tree but as her foot touched the second lowest branch, it cracked and fell to the floor. She screamed as she almost fell a decent fifteen feet to the foliage below. For a young hobbit-lass fifteen feet is quite a ways, for any hobbit that is quite a ways. Faramir grabbed her arm just as she fell.

" Uncle Merry!" Goldilocks screeched.

"Uncle Merry, Come quick!" Faramir called. Merry heard the frightened calls and ran towards the tree. He looked up and saw Goldilocks dangling above his head.

" Okay!" Merry called to them, " Let go and I will catch you!" Goldilocks whimpered in fright. " Believe me I will not let you fall!" He called up again. Goldilocks looked up at Faramir, his face was resolute,

" I am going to drop you now, alright?" He whispered, Goldilocks clenched her eyes shut and nodded. "Okay!" Faramir called to Merry as he let her slip from his grasp. Goldilocks felt herself falling through the air for a brief instant, and everything seemed to freeze.