Title: Curving Paths

            Rating: PG-13 (Just to be on the safe side...Probably mostly PG)

            Disclaimer: I am not, and do not claim to be, at all associated with J.R.R. Tolkien, the brilliant author of Lord of the Rings, whose characters I am borrowing temporarily.

            Time Period: Mid to late 1420 of the Third Age, by Shire Reckoning.
           

            Note: I hope you all like it, despite the fact that it's a lot of exposition. No worries, it sets things up for the interesting stuff in future chapters.  And even if you don't like it could you please review when you're done? I gladly accept any form of feedback!

            Additional Note: This is a revised version of the previous draft of the story.  The plot has remained intact, for the most part; I have simply made a few adjustments so that everything fits into canon a bit more smoothly.

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            Sue Proudfoot lived up to her name. She was proud, nearly haughty, and eternally mindful of her own reputation among the townspeople, as well as the reputations of everyone else. Though somewhat elitist, she was always gracious around Frodo, being fully aware of his status with the king, though secretly agreeing with the town talk that he had been a little queer ever since he had come back to the Shire.

            A well-dressed servant led Frodo into the parlor when he knocked at her door, and in a moment she glided in, hands clasped together demurely, all smiles and welcoming words. Her gray hair was swept into a stylish twist, a strangely youthful 'do for the older hobbit. She modeled the latest fashions in female clothing, a benefit of having her husband involved with many of the highest-class merchants who traveled through Hobbiton.
           
             "Well, Mr. Baggins, what a pleasure!" she cooed in her well-bred drawl. "We see you so little in town these days; it's such a delight to see you out and about! To what to I owe this lovely surprise?"

            Frodo was silent for a moment. He had been so eager to get proof of Jasmine's duplicity for Pippin that he had rushed over without considering how to present his rather odd request. Then again, he considered, she had sounded so upset at the market when discussing Jasmine that he was quite sure she would be game for anything having to do with revealing the truth about her.

             "Mrs. Proudfoot, I hate to bring up a painful subject, but I had a few questions regarding Jasmine Greenbarrow." She flinched at the name, and he continued, "I believe you and your daughter were acquainted with her in some way?"

             "Jasmine Greenbarrow!" The old woman began violently. "Acquainted with her? I suppose. Mind you, I only caught sight of her once, but my Lily knew her quite well, the poor thing! Why, that minx flaunted herself all over the place, and it was just too much for Lily's Bo! He took to her like a moth to a flame, and left Lily in the dust. That lass's heart was broken for months afterwards, she refused to leave the house for the shame of it!" She squinted at him, suddenly suspicious. "Why are you so curious about her, Mr. Baggins? Don't tell me she's got you trapped in her wicked web of seduction!"

            He struggled to contain a ill-timed laugh at her melodrama. "No, no, Mrs. Proudfoot, not me. I'm concerned about a friend of mine. Do you know anything about her? Her family, her friends, anything?"

            Mrs. Proudfoot pursed her lips. "Well, I can't say that I know much about her personally. I never truly met her in all honesty. Lily, though, Lily knew her. Some of her little friends were pretty close to Ms. Greenbarrow I believe." She paused, and seemed to think for a moment. "Now, where has that lass gone off to? She should be home by now." She turned and spoke to the attendant who stood by her chair. "Till, has Ms. Lily returned from her outing?"

             "Yes ma'am, I believe she arrived a few moments ago. Would you like me to call her?"
           
             "Yes, please tell her we have a guest who would like to speak with her. And tell her to hurry, for mercy's sake." Turning to Frodo, she added, clucking her tongue, "Sometimes that child can be as lolly-gaggin' as a dreamy tween!"

            Frodo smiled faintly, inwardly wondering how the girl would react to his questions. Would she really be willing to open up to a near-stranger about the lass her promised had left her for? He found himself hoping that Lily Proudfoot has inherited her mother's eagerness to speak, no matter how personal the issue.

            A few minutes later, Lily entered the room, apparently having been encouraged to hurry by the announcement of a guest interested in seeing her.

            She took a seat by her mother, murmuring hello as she smoothed the pale lavender dress around her legs. Tucking a lock of light brown hair behind her ear, she gazed expectantly at Frodo.

             "Lily, dear," her mother began, "You know Mr. Baggins of course. He has a few questions for you about Bo and that lass. Now, I want you to do your best to answer him, you hear?"

             "Yes, Mother," she replied sweetly, but it was evident to Frodo that she was simply indulging the older Proudfoot; she was clearly too old to be addressed as though she were a child.

            An awkward silence filled the room momentarily, as the two women stared at him curiously. Suddenly realizing that this was to the arrangement for their discussion, he turned to Sue.

             "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Proudfoot, but would it be suitable if I spoke to your daughter privately? Perhaps it would be easier to discuss this with the least amount of people as possible. Of course, I have no right to ask you to leave your own parlor." Frodo used the most respectful voice he could muster, hoping she wouldn't be too offended but praying that she would leave them to be alone.

             "Oh, no, no, of course, Mr. Baggins. Of course! I'll just scoot out of here, and leave you to your business. Take all time you need!" And with that she glided of the room, dress swishing behind her, clearly a tad irritated that she wouldn't be around to here the conversation.

            Silence reigned once again when she was gone, but soon Frodo began.

             "Lily, I know we don't know each other very well, and I hope I don't offend you with my questions, I'm simply quite eager to learn all I can about Ms. Greenbarrow. You see," he continued, deciding it would be best to be truthful from the beginning regarding the nature of his curiosity, "she is engaged to be to married to a good friend of mine, and I have recently come to the realization that her motivations may be...less than pure. I was wondering if you knew anything about where she comes from or who she associates with. I realize this may sound quite odd, but I feel that I must pursue this for my friend's sake, if you understand me."

            She didn't reply right away, her pale green eyes focused downward as she fiddled nervously with her tea cup. After a moment, she began slowly, as if deliberating over what exactly she should share with him.

             "That's quite alright, Mr. Baggins. I understand. Believe me, I understand, and I'll try to do my best to answer your question. It's true that I was acquainted with Jasmine, but I didn't know her that closely. My cousin Bella was friends with her, and that's how we met." She paused. "The first time I saw her, I was at Bella's house for her brother's birthday celebration. She had invited several of her friends from town over."

            Stopping for a moment, her eyes darted up to glance at Frodo. His eyes were directed at her, eager, but compassionate. Encouraged, and deciding that he seemed kind enough to trust, she continued.

             "She had mentioned her friends before, but this was the first time I'd seen most of them. They were all gathered together in her upstairs parlor, laughing and talking amongst themselves. They seemed nice enough. When Bella introduced me as her cousin, they all became quite friendly, and welcomed me without hesitation."

            A faint blush tinged her delicate cheeks. "The lads were quite charming. They all seemed to have a companion with them, but nevertheless they gave me all the attention I could ask for. And the lasses were sweet as well. I remember seeing Jasmine there, but I hardly noticed her particularly. Everyone sort of blended together after a while. After that night, I went out with them several times. My mother and I visited Bella and her family last summer, her father being Mother's brother. During those weeks, especially, I became quite entangled with Bella's ways. Essentially I followed her wherever she went. You see, Bella, well, Bella's quite appealing, being lovely and talkative. I've always been rather envious of her looks, and the way she has with hobbits. She always seems to know the right thing to say around everyone, and she's ever so fun to be around."

             "I'm sorry, Mr. Baggins, you don't care about this. I shouldn't be rambling on so." She dropped her eyes, once more, clearly embarrassed at the description she had given of her cousin.

             "No, no, Lily, that was fine. Please, go on." Nodding his head downward in an attempt to catch her eyes, he finished, "Don't be embarrassed. I understand. And please call me Frodo."

            Smiling slightly and taking a deep breath, she started once more. "Well, anyway, I must have gone to six parties the first week I was there, and this continued throughout my entire visit. I feel so naive now, looking back, that I didn't realize the truth right away. You see, they were all quite good-looking. All of them came from well-to-do families. Whenever they went out together, they were the envy of the town. Many hobbits would try their luck with the lasses, and all sorts of lasses would flaunt themselves in front of the lads. It was quite a rush for someone as plain as me to be out with them. I wasn't used to receiving that sort of attention. It wasn't until I had been out with them many times that I first began to understand the kind of 'fun' they would get into."

             "After a while, when some of the initial novelty had worn off, I began to actually pay attention to the conversations they had between themselves. It was the lads I noticed first. In the beginning, I was under the impression that they were all seriously involved with certain lasses, as I said before. They always seemed to treat the lasses they brought along well, always playing the gentlehobbit, if you understand me, opening doors, pulling out chairs and such. I would hear them praising each of their companions specially, telling them they cared them and all, and so naturally I assumed that they were all taken, as it were. It was only after I had attended several parties with them that I began to realize that the lasses they entertained were never the same from week to week.

            "This may not seem odd to you, Frodo, " she said, becoming more heated as she continued, "After all, they were mere lads, handsome and young, but you should have seen they way they spoke to them! The poor things didn't realize that they were most likely the third lass that week that those hobbits had called their "dearest." It was sickening, seeing how they'd charm their way into a lass's favors, fool her into thinking she was special, only to leave her. And you should have heard they way they'd talk! Always boasting and bragging about everyone they were seeing!" She shook her head in anger, seemingly too upset to go on.

             "Thank you, Lily," said Frodo, "You've shed a lot of light on her friends and their various amusements. But what about Bella's female friends? Were they the same way? That would certainly explain a lot."

             "Oh, yes, they were just as manipulative," Lily replied, regaining her momentum. "Only they went about things a tad differently, seeing as they could hardly do the wooing themselves, being lasses. They didn't need the money. Like I said, most of them could have bought just about anything they wanted, just by running off to papa. No, they simply took pleasure in what they did. By controlling the hobbits they were with, they fooled themselves into thinking they had achieved some sort of independence from their families. Honestly, the way they-"

            Lily stopped herself and took a sip of her tea. "I'm sorry, I'm getting a little ahead of myself." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear once again, in the nervous manner Frodo had become accustomed to throughout the conversation. "You see, Mr. Frodo, it was just a grand game for them. All the lasses would cheer each other on as each seduced a different hobbit, who naturally would be unable to resist their 'charms'. You see, they didn't just leave the poor lads they deceived a day or two later. No, indeed, they would play out the whole charade, sometimes continuing for months with one hobbit, just acting as sweet as anything. Oh, and they didn't complain when he just insisted on showering her with jewels and other gifts either. And this would go on for while, until eventually they'd get bored of whichever lad they were with at the moment, and leave the poor suitor in the dust, heartbroken and wondering what in all Middle-earth he had done wrong."

            Lily lowered her eyes as she came to the end of her explanation, clearly surprised that she had spoken for that long, something she didn't seem to be in the habit of doing. Frodo bemusedly wondered just how much of that she would have told him if her mother had been in the room. Mostly, however, he was absorbing what she had said, slowly shifting various pieces of the puzzle into place in his mind. Lily certainly had cleared up a great deal of his questions about the friends Jasmine had written to in her letter, and the circumstances under which she had left Bo.

             "Lily, I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I know this was likely the last thing you wanted to talk about, especially with someone you hardly know, but you have helped me a great deal. I fear I have held you far too long and your mother must be quite anxious to-"

             "Wait a moment," she interjected suddenly, as Frodo stood, a strange look coming into her eyes as though something had just occurred to her. "This may sound odd, but you asked about Jasmine, and I have only just thought of something that may be useful to you. You see, as close as Jasmine was to Bella, she is rather the "odd lass out", besides me, of course, when I tag along. Not that she's disliked, mind you. No, she's one of the prettiest and forward of all of them. It's only that she wasn't originally part of 'the group.'"

            "One of the hobbits, a lad named Will Baker, had met up with her in some village or other and taken her up as his latest lass. But when he introduced her to the rest of the group, for some reason they welcomed her with generally open arms. Bella told me that she was so sweet the lasses took to her at once, and the rest of the lads were just about falling all over each other, she was so good-looking. She and Will only continued on together for a few more days, but even after they were no longer seeing each other, Jasmine remained part of the group. And now everyone hardly remembers that she hasn't been with them all along."

            As she spoke, Frodo had sunk back down into the chair he had vacated a moment before. He sighed inwardly. 'Yet another twist in the continuing mystery of Jasmine.'

            At that moment Mrs. Proudfoot reentered the room, looking immensely curious and clearly anxious for Frodo to leave so that she could grill her daughter about their conversation. 'After all, it's not everyday that mysterious Mr. Baggins stops by on some sort of secret business,' she thought to herself.

            Seeing Frodo stand and don his cloak once more, she addressed him, saying, "Oh, Mr. Baggins, it was such a pleasure to have you. Thank you ever so much for stopping by! I trust Lily answered all your questions." Ushering him to the door, she added as a final note, "Feel free to drop in whenever you're nearby. It's always a delight. Good day!"

            After thanking the women once more, and leaving Lily with a conspiratorial wink when her mother's back was turned, Frodo headed down the street to the left as he continued out of town. He had much to share with his friends, being quite eager to hear their thoughts about Jasmine's background and to talk about what their next step should be in dealing with the girl.

            Merely thinking of Jasmine caused his blood to boil in anger and frustration for Pippin. What those folks did was positively…man-like! He couldn't imagine any respectable hobbit carrying on like they did.  Truly, their careless and willful behavior was a shame to all hobbits everywhere.

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            Hope you liked it! The next chapter should be out soon, where we really get into some angst, romance, drama, etc...so maybe that will be a little bit more fun :) Please remember to review! Thanks.