Chapter Five
Gandalf came again, as he had promised. Lobelia started at his knock and looked for a place to hide, but caught herself.
"I wouldn't act like Frodo Baggins for any money," she said, and marched to the door.
Gandalf entered immediately and closed the door with a thump.
"I hope you have heeded my words and left the Ring alone," he said.
"I have."
"Excellent. Now we must make plans as to what you will do. I am sure you have relatives who can care for Otho in a pinch?"
"Well," she said, slowly. "I suppose there are one or two who might be bribed."
"No, you must not tell them that you are leaving." The wizard sat down and cupped his chin in his hands. "We need to be out of the Shire and well on our way before anyone notices that you are gone."
"But he might die before I get back," Lobelia said. She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "He's the only one who kept loving me all these years. How can I leave him when he's near the end?"
"Let me remind you that it was you who took the Ring and brought all this upon yourself. Bilbo chose Frodo especially to be his heir and the next keeper of the Ring; and I approved wholeheartedly of it. Frodo is, whether you believe it or not, the best hobbit in the Shire. And while he was foolish and careless enough to put the Ring on against my wishes, he would never have harmed anyone to get it; nor do I think he would have stolen it at all."
Lobelia huffed, but could not deny the wizard's words. "How could I have known?" was all that she managed to come up with.
Gandalf ignored her, deep in thought for a few moments.
"Write a note," he said at last. "Say that urgent business has called you away and that Otho is in need of care. Put money with it, and we will send the note to whomever you choose just before we leave."
"But when?" she asked. The words caught in her throat. The wide world was a place she had always prided herself in not being interested in. Not like those Bagginses, half-Took or half-Brandybuck as they were. She was a Sackville-Baggins. Those grey spaces on the edges of maps were for fools to wander in. She wanted to stay in the Shire forever. She wanted to be there, holding his hand, when Otho breathed his last.
Why had she ever taken the Ring in the first place? It was all Sandyman's fault, that's what it was. He'd gone poking and prying, just like a Sandyman, and gotten her into this trouble. And now he got off free as …
"Lobelia!" The wizard's voice hinted at impatience, and she realized he must have called her name more than once.
She looked at him, wondering if she looked as weary and afraid as she felt. She hoped she did.
"Prepare a pack for yourself; we leave tomorrow morning."