The Hand That Gives The Rose
Chapter 1 - Apples
The dawn light came dappled through Arabella's small bedroom window, where she was bent over her small, sloped writing desk, putting the finishing touches to her latest creation: a very detailed and intricate drawing of Smaug the Golden. The drawing had in fact been a request from one Frodo Baggins, who had wanted to surprise Bilbo Baggins for their Yuletide celebrations.
Foreyule, or winter as we know it, was a strange time of year for Arabella Cotton. There was not much to do on the farmstead, except for tending to the small number of animals they owned: a smallish herd of Oxen they used to plough their fields, a small brood of chickens Nibs liked to chase around the courtyard, and of course Horace, the very useless truffle pig that Tolman Cotton was very attached to. This was because, and like many other farmsteads around the Shire, their farming was mostly arable and so nothing would grow during the winter months, meaning that there was less work for the family to chip in and help with.
Arabella countered this by taking on more artwork requests from Hobbits around Hobbiton and Bywater, as she was not so familiar with the Hobbits from Tuckland, Bywater or any other small villages between. Not that she minded much of course, the days that she spent doing what she loved most were some of her favourites; drawing by candlelight of a midwinter evening was the best to her after all, but some small part of her dearly wished to join her fellow Hobbits at The Green Dragon, or at the Ivybush – a luxury she simply could not afford herself whilst she was working. She could, of course, have used these places as a means to sit down and draw but in the past when these attempts had been made, she found herself getting distracted and neglectful and her artwork had suffered as a consequence. Shoddy work was something she simply could not tolerate in herself. So, despite having a large family, and a few scattered friends, Foreyule was a lonely time for Arabella.
Deep in concentration, Arabella at first did not notice the soft knock at her bedroom door. She only noticed when the knocking became more impatient, and louder.
"Come in," Arabella said in a hushed voice, hoping not to wake anyone else in the Hobbit Hole up.
Her mother entered the room, took a fleeting glance around it, and softly tutted.
"Have you been up all night?" she asked Arabella, who shook her head.
"I've been up since before dawn, but I slept well, even if it was short."
This was the truth. She had been awake before the crack of dawn, which was not unusual for her even when she didn't have a pile of work to catch up on. She hated laying in bed doing nothing.
"That as it may, I need some help with breakfast, if you can tear yourself away from that drawing."
Her mother peered at Arabella's drawing book, which she promptly snapped shut. She hated showing people what she was working on before it was finished for some reason or another, she was never sure why. And she absolutely loathed people watching her work.
Her mother took another glance around the room, shook her head and left, shutting the door softly behind her. Arabella sighed, placed her coloured pencil back onto the desk and leaned back in her chair. Stretching, she looked around her room and realised that she desperately needed to clean up around her. Stacks of notebooks, random pieces of parchment and drawing utensils spilled out from piles all around the small room. No wonder her mother had shaken her head, even she was disgusted by it.
She stood up from her chair, deciding that she did actually need a break regardless of what she was doing, and left her room quietly to go and help her mother in the kitchen. It was only a few short steps away, as it was situated at the front of the Hobbit Hole looking on towards the small farm courtyard. Her bedroom was also situated at the front of the Hole, which was a blessing and a curse. She got most of the dawn sun, but she could also hear every conversation held in the kitchen and at the dining table, which could be annoying when she was trying to concentrate, or to sleep.
When she got to the kitchen, Ma Cotton was already busy at the stove, stirring a large pot of what Arabella assumed to be porridge, judging from the smell. Porridge was her mother's usual go-to for breakfast, especially in the winter months where it filled hungry Hobbit bellies with warmth and nourishment.
She wandered over to the stove, and watched as her mother added nutmeg and cinnamon to the large bubbling pot and at once Arabella's nosed was filled with the loveliest smell, and warmth.
"Looks good Ma. Smells even better"
"Would smell better with some apples, don't you think?"
Arabella nodded. "Shall I get chopping?"
"Thought you'd never ask!"
Chopping apples was not Arabella's favourite task in the world, but it was better than peeling taters. She chatted and chuckled with her mother whilst doing so and decided that it wasn't so bad after all. They did take care to keep their voices down so as not to wake the entire Cotton clan, but once her mother cracked a joke, Arabella found it hard to keep the volume down and ended up waking Nibs and Jolly (though they soon went back to their slumber).
Once all of the apples were chopped, Arabella grabbed as much as she could carry and added them to the pot, handful by handful. The delicious scent was making her stomach rumble.
"And that's what you get when you wake too early," her mother said matter-of-factly. "'fraid you'll have to wait until the apples are cooked"
"Had no choice but to get up early," Arabella replied. "Those drawings won't draw themselves."
"No, my love, but do you really have to stay up so late and get up so early? It can't be good for you in the long run."
Her words rang true, of course, and Arabella hung her head. If only she hadn't heard her parents arguing over money those few months ago, she would not have made the Pact with Rosie and Tom. She would not have had to push herself so hard, nor Rosie take on all of those extra shifts at the inn, and of course Tom would not have to go weekly to the Buckland and Tuckborough markets and spend so little time at home. But she had indeed heard the argument and so she had told her elder siblings and in secret they had been working as hard as they could in order to save as much money as they could for their hardworking parents and use it as a way to surprise them at Yuletide.
Arabella bit her lip. She wanted to tell her mother more than anything, but she just couldn't find the words.
"Aye, you are right mother," she said. "And I promise it will not be this way forever."
"I just hope that these folk appreciate all of the effort you are putting in. Never seen such fine work, even if it means your room is a mess."
Ma Cotton loved her cleanliness and order and Arabella was honestly most surprised that she had not barged in one day and attempted to clean the room herself.
"It'll get cleaned soon Ma," Arabella replied.
"Good. Now, this porridge is done. You can have the first helping, for helping me of course."
She winked at her daughter whose stomach had just let out another large rumble, as if on cue.
"Mind you don't burn yourself. There's a good lass."
Arabella helped herself to one of the medium sized bowls in the cupboard under the sink and proceeded to ladle herself a rather generous portion of the heavenly smelling porridge. She was very hungry after all, but took care not to take too much. She did live with a large family after all. Once she had done so, she got herself a spoon from the cutlery drawer, plonked it into the bowl and kissed her mother on her cheek, to say thank you for breakfast and of course, the chat.
She made her way back to her room, taking every care to tread carefully. Even though Hobbits could be silent if they wanted to be, a couple of her family members were really light sleepers and even a tiny mouse peeping could indeed wake them up. On the way, she ran into a bleary-eyed Nibs who yawned at her when she ruffled his hair with her free hand.
"What's for breakfast?" he asked her, and Arabella gestured for him to keep his voice down.
"Apple porridge," she whispered in reply.
Nibs' eyes widened and he ran straight into the kitchen. It was no secret that the young Hobbit loved apples, probably more than he loved mushrooms.
Arabella chuckled lightly and opened the door to her room. She slid in, and closed the door softly behind her. Setting the bowl porridge down on the desk, she gingerly lifted her drawing book and set it down on her bed making sure not to crumple any of the pages.
The drawing she had been working on for the most part was the drawing of Smaug for Frodo, but the others she had been working on were much simpler and did not take as much time: an intricate drawing of a rose for Hamfast Gamgee – another Yuletide present, and a drawing of one of the Proudfoot's newest addition to the family, a lovely little baby girl swaddled in a cloth.
With the exception of Hamfast's picture, and ones she chose to give as gifts, Arabella did charge money for her works though it had to be said she did not charge half as much as she probably should have done. She would have drawn them for free had the Pact not been made, she loved drawing that much.
Arabella sat back down at her desk and took a mouthful of porridge. It was beautiful; subtly salty and very sweet with a hint of warming spice to boot. She took another mouthful almost instantly, until the bowl had been practically licked clean. Her mind then strayed back to the drawing of Smaug, which was due to be delivered to Frodo tomorrow though she knew he would not mind so much if she were a couple of days late. She did like to be prompt however, and it was practically finished. Arabella did have a couple of tweaks in mind though, and some flashes of colour needed to be added here and there. She got herself up and out of her chair, swapped her bowl carefully for the drawing book on her bed, and got back to work.
A/N - hey there, and welcome to the beginning of what I hope will be an entertaining read. Now, I kind of have a confession to make as this is the first time I've written anything in over ten years and I'm quite rusty! Please please let me know if you don't like what I've written and I'll try my best to fix it. I'm also sorry it's so short, if I'd carried on the first chapter would have probably been over 6,000 words or something like that!
Please RR if possible