Just a very short chapter from Bofur's POV of Iris.
Chapter Eight
He couldn't understand why she seemed to dislike him so much.
During dinner, she hadn't spoken to him although she'd seem to make a point to introduce herself to just about everyone else. Then during the clean up, she pointedly side stepped his invites to join in the dancing. Finally, she'd snapped at him when he'd just been trying to give some information about the dragon. Well, maybe he did deserve that one.
He'd never met another Hobbit other than his Bella that he'd spent any time with outside of the markets in Needlehole, so he really didn't understand it. His belly hadn't even lived in this portion of the Shire from what he understood from the maps. Instead, she should be at least half a days walk away from here. Something he was glad about really, it means he didn't have a chance to see her, since they weren't planning on going in that direction. Having your heart broken once in a lifetime was enough.
There was something about the lass though, she reminded him strongly of his Bella. Not that a spark was lit, but tat he felt as if she should be known to him. She must be one of her many siblings (and wasn't that a shocker when he first heard ho many she had) or one of their pebbles.
Though, if he remembered her stories correctly, usually the Baggins and Took's didn't get along because they were too different in personalities. Yet, she'd been good friends with one, even with his fussy ways.
He was finding a bit strange in the Shire, he thought he would be feeling a pull now that he was closer to her, but his heart was still silent. Although distance could do the same thing, he would think he was close enough by now. Perhaps she hadn't settled when she left him, instead traveling It would explain why he'd felt so lost when his heart went silent 35 years earlier.
Of course before then, it had been barely a whisper. When she'd left him all those years ago, he'd felt it becoming silent. Of course, he thought then it was just because she was still mad at him and it wasn't until he'd left the mine that he'd been hiding in, he found out it was something different. For that mistake, he'd been alone for over 50 years.
Well, perhaps he would get the chance to get to know Iris and perhaps find out more about her.
Next chapter: Setting affairs in order and leave taking.