Dusk Maiden
Chapter 8


I just got back from the Shire. Papa and I stayed there for about a week, but Aarivale went home after the tea with Peregrin and Diamond. I am used to being shorter than everyone else, back in Rivendel, but in the Shire, only Papa is taller than me.

Peregrin and Diamond gave us rooms to stay in, and in the morning, Papa took me to meet the other three hobbits from the fellowship. Meradoc and Samwise acted just like the way Papa said in his stories, but Frodo seemed dark and tortured. There was something about him that made me just want to stay with him in the Shire. He clung on to Papa and Samwise. It seemed like he needed a friend that was there for him, not someone who was only a friend because he was a hero.

On the third and fourth day in the Shire, Papa let me explore. Meradoc wanted to show me Farmer Magott's farm, but I refused. Papa told me about how they got in trouble everytime they went. Instead I followed Frodo around. He didn't know that I was following him, or until he stopped to write and I sat down next to him. He seemed to be writing some sort of story. I remember Gandalf once telling me when I was young, that Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's uncle, wrote a story about his adventure to the Lonely mountain and how he defeated Smaug the dragon. I wondered in Frodo was writing a story about his adventures to Mordor, but when I sat down next to him, I could see otherwise.

Frodo was keeping a journal. He seemed so serious when writing it and I began to wonder what he had written. When I peered over his shoulder I could read his writing:

So you see, everyone treats me like a trophy. They don't care how I act, they just want to be around a hero. Even Sam in preoccupied with Rosie, so I'm all by myself again. I just want someone who can appreciate me for who I am despite the fact that I was the ringbearer.


I was right. Journal, what I did then and there I will never regret. I sat down next to Frodo Baggins and put my arm around his shoulder. Frodo realized that I had read his journal and began to cry. Not bursting out in tears, but silently. Journal, I will never forget the feeling of his strong body heaving beneath my arm.

The night of the sixth day, we left. Meradoc, Peregrin, Rosie, Diamond, and Samwise gathered to bid us farewell. I looked for Frodo, but he wasn't there. When I mounted Papa's horse, Peregrin gave me the scarf that he wore on the adventure. I treasure that scarf. It has worn thin with age and use, but there is still some use left in it. Papa bid farewell to his friends and we rode off into the setting sun.

When I got back, Morwen seemed excited to tell me something that she had discovered in the library, but I didn't want to hear her talk. I retreated to my room. And sat on my bed. Papa had given me this journal many years before, but I found no reason to use it, until now. I opened up this journal, to this crisp, new page, and began to write. I learned an unspoken lesson back in the Shire. One that I will carry with me all my life.


Lomewen