Ruby awoke early one morning just as the sun was rising. She opened the little window of her little room in her little hobbit hole at Buckleberry Fern. A soft breeze blew in and tousled her short cropped, light brown hair. She smiled. Ruby Hamwich rarely woke before the rest of her little village, but when she did she liked to go for long walks. The morning air felt wonderful and crisp on her face and the world was quiet. She changed from her night dress to a gray dress and red bodice, pushing her unruly mane of hair behind her ears.

Azaelia woke up to the morning sun rising. She pulled back the curtains and looked outside to a warm sunrise. She pulled on her gardening clothes and went outside to plant some new rose bushes she'd bought in town. After that she'd have to weed out the flower beds and trim her hedges. Today was going to be just perfect! She loved gardening, and got the best tips from Sam Gamgee, who was a friend she had grown up with. She went outside and started digging a hole for a bush when she spotted Ruby walking by on an early morning stroll.

"Hallo, Ruby. What a fine morning it is today!"

Ruby turned, hearing a familiar voice behind her.

"Oh, Azaelia!" She smiled at her dark haired friend. "How are those new bushes coming?"

"They're wonderful! Just look at the wonderful crimson color! And look! This one's blue!"

Ruby let out a small trill of laughter. Azaelia was a very funny person, always on the hunt for new and interesting flowers.

"Well, I hope they grow lovely for you. See you later!" She waved good bye to her good friend, off to continue her walk.

Azaelia smiled, but as she was going back to her flowers, she saw a familiar face coming around the bend and dashed to Ruby's side.

"Hallo again! Um, just thought I'd join you…could use some good exercise…"

Ruby could always tell when Azaelia had seen Meriadoc Brandybuck. She smiled, understanding exactly how her friend felt. She, too, had a secret love...but no one, not he, nor Azaelia knew about it. In truth, he was Merry's best friend, Pippin. The four of them had grown up together, along with Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee.

Azaelia's heart dropped as she realized that she left her front door open…She moaned and started fidgeting; she'd have to go back and close it…but that, of course, meant she had to pass Merry. "Ruby…" she whined, "will you go back to close my door with me? I left it open…"

Ruby smiled. "Would you like to wait here while I go close the door?" She put a supportive arm around her friend's shoulders. "I don't mind."

Azaelia shook her head. "No, it's probably for the best that he see me hideous, can't do anything worse now can it?"

Ruby sighed, smiling. "All righty." She linked arms with Azaelia and together they walked back toward the house. As they neared the very cute fuzzy blonde, Ruby gave Azaelia a little. "Go on, I know you want to talk to him."

Azaelia's eyes widened and she stumbled forward, almost falling into Merry. "H-hallo Merry." She looked down at her dirty gardening dress and tried to dust off some of the dirt still clinging to it.

Merry smiled his cute, goofy smile and dipped into a very silly bow. "How are ya, Zaelia?"

Azaelia felt her heart leap. "I'm doin' good, and yourself?" She tried unsuccessfully to mat down her frizzy hair.

Ruby stepped up to Azaelia's side and gave her friend's hand a quick squeeze. Merry grinned.

"Better'n ever, I'must say." He swept into another one of his bows. "But I have to be runnin', miss's, Pip n' I are goin' for a..." He looked about slyly. "A walk."

Azaelia laughed. She knew what THAT meant. Many a time she had accompanied Merry and Pippin on their…walks…

Ruby looked at Merry with concern, attempting to mask her grin. "Merry, you better not be off to bother that poor old farmer again..."

Merry laughed out loud. "What? We're off to no trouble, Ruby, Pip an' I mean only for a bit of fun."

"Yes, but your idea of fun consists of getting into Farmer Maggot's crops and then running through the countryside trying to escape from his hounds!" Azaelia laughed, thinking to herself as she did so, "If I didn't have more roses to plant I'd come with you…"

Merry laughed again, trotting away down the path. "I'll tell Pippin hallo for you, bye!"

Ruby suppressed a blush. Pippin. Pip. Peregrin. Stupid annoying sweet cute kind Peregrin Took. She sighed, but put on a smile and waved good bye to Merry.

"Don't forget to close your door, Azaelia."

"I won't, thank you very much." Azaelia raised her voice and yelled after Merry, "And if you need to escape from the hounds again, just come back here and I'll get you a bit of tea!" To herself, she added, "Curse those roses. it would have been fun to join them again-for old time's sake." She looked over at Ruby and laughed. She knew her friend was thinking about Pippin. Yes, so she never actually told Azaelia about it…but best friends always know.

"Well, I'll let you get back to those roses of yours, Zeal, I will be returning to my walk." She turned back to the path and toward the trees of the wood, calling good bye to her friend.

Azaelia finished planting her roses and took a nice long bath. The lavender she grew made the best scent for baths. She'd have to get some to Ruby, or was it the Gardenia that Ruby liked…? Maybe it was none; she'd have to ask…

Ruby, now apart from her friends, allowed her smile to fall away and heaved sighed. It being late summer, the crisp morning air was gone and the hot sun was now making its appearance. She had lost her walk and now she would have to simply find a shady place to avoid the heat. Oh well. Maybe she'll make it for a walk the next day...maybe...To forget about the heat, Ruby switched off her perception of all things in reality and allowed herself to surrender to the thoughts of the land of her mind. A world where she went on cool morning walks, talking forever with him.

Azaelia heard a frantic knocking at her door just as she had taken the tea kettle off of the fire. "Right on time!" She giggled to herself as Merry and Pippin came running through the door, their arms full of vegetables. "I see we're hungrier than usual." She closed the door just as the hounds came running up her walkway. Merry grinned, breathless.

"I think we're getting faster, Pip, we've never made off with this much before!"

Azaelia laughed and poured them their tea.

"You must be getting faster! Those hounds were nearly 15 seconds behind you today! It's a new record!"

She saw Farmer Maggot coming down her walkway and ushered the two young hobbits into a spare room. She opened the door, assuring him there were no guilty hobbits in her house. When the coast was clear, she knocked on the door, her signal for "Hey. The coast be clear."

"Farmer Maggot's getting more and more suspicious; maybe you should start making the stretch a little further and try to make it to Ruby's house." Azaelia giggled at the thought of Ruby seeing Pippin at her door…

Pippin, past a mouth full of carrot, laughed, "But then that 15 seconds would shrink...you charm that old man fine enough for us, I think." Merry gave a laugh of agreement, flopping down at the table and beginning to stuff his own mouth. Azaelia shook her head.

"It's getting a lot tougher to shake him off now. He insists on inspecting my house. He's even suggesting that I'm hiding you in MY room, as if I'd ever do that!" She stopped, thinking about what she just said and blushed a little. She shook it off and got some bread and cheese for the two hobbits. Merry, oblivious, crammed some mushrooms into his mouth.

"Hey, that's an idea-next time, you should put us in the closet."

Ruby wandered through the wood, hardly noticing what she was doing or where she was going until she was ankle deep in a pond. She looked down at the now dampened hem of her dress and sat down on a dry rock by the pond. She left her feet in the water, enjoying the coolness of the crystal water against her feet. She sighed again, then mentally reprimanded herself for developing such a habit.

"Stupid Ruby, if you sigh like that all the time, everyone will think something is wrong and we simply can't have anyone thinking something is wrong with us...especially not..."

She sighed. Again with the sighing! Oh well...She laid back on the warm rock and stared up into the canopy and fell asleep, and dreamed of black clouds and raging waves.

Ruby woke up to Azaelia shaking her gently. It was getting dark out.

"You're going to catch yourself a nasty cold if you don't stop doing this! Come on…Hey, want to sleep over at my house tonight? I have a couple of your dresses to return to you anyway. I could make you your favorite tea, or maybe we could snack on some of the vegetables Pippin left for you?" Azaelia loved teasing Ruby, only a little though. Ruby shrugged, yawning.

"I'll never sleep tonight." She said, smiling a little. "I don't know why I still take those naps..." She laughed, following Azaelia back to her house.

Azaelia walked with bounce in her step as she thought of the stew cooking over the fire, chock full of fresh vegetables and herbs, and some chicken as well. Then there was the sourdough bread that was just setting out to cool. She had invited Merry, Pippin, Sam, Rosie and Frodo over for dinner. They did this often…which makes sense, when you think of it. Best friends like to eat together. Food is a healthy hobby, you know.

Ruby was surprised when she walked into Azaelia's house to find all her childhood friends mingling in the front room. As she scanned the crowd, her eyes fell on Pippin. Oh what a sight he was. Everyone thought he was clumsy and awkward, and in truth he was, but she thought he was lovely. His hair was just darker than hers, and longer, too. He was wearing his uniform of a yellow scarf and blue-green jacket. He was laughing and talking with Rosie and Merry. She looked away, slipping shyly behind Azaelia.

"Don't worry Ruby, if I have to be courageous with Merry, you can try to put aside your shyness just once, it's not like your birthday comes everyday you know!" Azaelia whispered in Ruby's ear.

Ruby stood suddenly very straight. She hadn't noticed the beautiful, bright packages in everyone's arms at first.

"Oh, stupid Ruby," she thought, "How could you forget your own birthday?"

Now she found herself more speechless and shy than before. All these people gathered together for her birthday, and without her even knowing it. Ruby felt oddly special in that moment, looking at the group of happy people who had still yet to notice her arrival.

Azaelia laughed softly. "My gift's in my room-go in and try it on. It should be just the right size!"

Azaelia shoved her down the hall. Waiting in her room was a lovely dress, one that Ruby had been longing for ever since she saw it on a passing hobbit from another town. Azaelia had made her one just like it. She hoped the velvet was what she wanted.

Ruby was happy to slip into Azaelia's room undetected. She looked at the box nestled safely in the middle of her friend's bed. She opened it and removed the protective paper covering. Instantly, her breath was stolen from her. Inside was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. Everything about it was deepest velvet, the finest she had ever seen or felt. It fell heavily about her ankles in shimmering folds of gray. The bodice was black and red velvet, embroidered with a twisting, silver design. The collar of the dress dipped low, disappearing beneath the bodice. The sleeves laced up the length of her upper arms with red and black cording, then gave way to long, draping gray velvet curtains, exposing the even cream color of her skin. She turned to her best friend and threw her arms around her.

"Oh, Zaelia, how did you know? How did you know how much I loved that dress? Oh, Zaelia, how can I ever thank you?"

Azaelia smiled and returned the hug. "The velvet was not without its faults though, the pinpricks are testimony enough. Now put it on and flaunt it! You deserve it! You're going to catch a thousand eyes in that outfit!" Azaelia giggled lightly as she left the room and went to finish the cake.

Ruby blushed. There was only one person in all of Middle Earth that she wished she could catch the eye of. But there was no way it could ever happen, and no way for anyone to ever know. Some of that sadness from earlier in the afternoon hit her like a rock, but as she put the dress on, it faded away. It truly was a beautiful dress. The problem now was...going into public in it. She was so embarrassed by how lovely she looked. Was she overdressed? Would they think she was overdoing it? Was she trying to hard to get his attention? No...Impossible, she'd never even tried to get it in the first place. Oh, the agony of being noticed...

Azaelia knew her best friend well enough. She let Ruby be noticed on her own, instead of announcing her as everyone was accustomed to. Everyone commented on how lovely she was in the dress. Pippin even said a few things about. Ruby, embarrassed by all the attention, retreated to a comfy chair in the corner of the room to watch everyone enjoy themselves. It was habit, she supposed, for her to seat herself slightly apart from everyone...she didn't like to crowd. Besides, she loved watching people.

Azaelia brought in the cake and the candles and held it in front of Ruby, starting the birthday song. Once the song was finished, Ruby got to blow out the candles. Everyone watched the cake, waiting with watering mouths for a slice of their own. She had Pippin give Ruby her slice and, out of the kindness of her heart, gave Merry the wooden spoon, covered thickly in delicious frosting. Then again…she'd do anything to get that goofy smile out of Merry…And Merry obliged, not only with his smile, but with a loud "whoop" and a hug. Funny, how a little frosting could make a young hobbit so happy...Ruby took her slice of cake from the cute, smiling hobbit standing in front of her, thanking him quietly before returning to her corner.

She never knew what to say to him. Not since...well, you know. Not since before things. Before, when they were young, they would talk for hours upon hours about everything and nothing all at the same time. How Ruby did miss and long for those days...

Azaelia blushed at making Merry so, well, merry. She smiled and looked to Ruby, wishing there was something she could do to make her smile for Pippin. When Ruby smiled, she could see Pip look at her with a bit of a different light…something not unlike to how Ruby looked at him; but she couldn't get Ruby's hopes up until she was sure he returned the feelings…which, she hated to admit, in truth, was somewhat unlikely…stupid Took.