Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
It was the sound that first reached Olórin’s ears as he stepped off the boat at Mithlond’s pier. A sound he had not heard in well over an Age or two. In the gloaming, the lament sang of loss and regret, and it touched a part of him that Olórin thought he’d left behind.
“I did not know one still lived,” he said to Círdan that night as they supped together.
“Survived is perhaps a more fitting term for that state of existence,” the shipwright replied. “Living requires a purpose. I fear he has none.”
Olórin rubbed a hand over the new beard he was still getting used to. “And I take it you offered him…?”
“I have offered what was in my power to give. He refused. I felt no inclination to foist upon him what he did not wish to have.” Cirdan’s tone brooked no further argument.
“I see…”
“Now, for your true mission…”
As Círdan talked further into the night, Olórin tucked this bit of information away, to return to once some of the more pressing matters were attended to. After all, Middle-earth being full of potential, who could say in what form an opportunity might present itself?
==========
CHAPTER ONE
THE THIRD AGE - 1369 (Shire Reckoning)
“Esmeralda Took, you come back here this instant!”
The young Hobbit spun around, her light brown curls whipping around her face as she planted her feet and glared back at her father. “No!”
“Don’t you take that tone of voice with me, lass, or—”
“You’ll what? Disinherit me?!” Her hands went to her hips. “Pray tell, what do I inherit exactly?”
“And that’s why I want to make a good match for you, for your future!”
“I’ll not be tied down to live my life on the arm of some… some stranger!” She raised her chin in defiance, and partly to keep the tears that burned in her eyes from falling down her face. “I’ll be choosing my own future, thank you very much! And it is not stuck in here!”
The elder Took sighed. “Y’can’t just go runnin’ off intae the blue.”
Esmeralda huffed. “Just watch me!” She spun back on her heel and stormed out the door, slamming it hard behind her.
Adalgrim Took winced and brushed the dust from his hair.
“Aye, that went well,” a voice said from a neighbouring room, and he looked up to see his oldest daughter emerge. “Did ya really think threatenin’ her would bring her round?”
“Don’t you start,” he replied as he sank down into an armchair. “Please tell me y’ve put the kettle on?”
“There’s water brewin’,” she replied. “And would it be so bad if she took a couple of years t’live a wee bit before she settles down? She’s only just come of age.”
Adalgrim scratched an ear. “You were married the same year you came of age.”
“And that worked out really well for me, didn’t it?” She levelled him with a look, but before he could reply, the kettle hissed. “That’s the water boiled. If you’re wantin’ tea, the leaves are in the cupboard above the fruit bowl.”
She headed to the door and followed her sister outside.
~*~
“Amber.” Her sister acknowledged her as she joined the younger Took at the garden gate.
In the distance she heard cartwheels scrape along the path and looked up the lane to see the tip of a hat disappear where the road went downhill.
She nodded in the general direction. “That him away, then?”
“Aye, off to Hobbiton,” Esmeralda replied. “Think he’s lookin’ to wind them up again.”
A snort. “Wouldnae be so wound if that lot weren’t so tight-strung.”
The younger Hobbit smiled a bit before moving to sit on a nearby bench. She looked up at her sister. “I’m not goin’ back in there; I’m not takin’ back my words.”
Amber sat beside her. “I’m not askin’ you to.”
“Then why’re you out here? Da send ye to talk some sense intae me?”
She nudged her sister in the ribs. “May surprise you to learn, but I don’t take my orders from him. Not these days anyway.”
Esmeralda ran her toes through the springy grass. “So why should I? I’m not a tween anymore, and he needs to remember that.”
“Oh I think you made that perfectly clear.” Amber smiled wryly. “Alright then, since yer all grown up, what’s your plan?”
The younger hobbit looked past the gate and sighed wistfully. “I want t’be like Uncle Bilbo. I want tae run off and have an adventure, meet other people; do somethin’ important.”
“Y’know he was almost eaten by trolls, and a dragon…”
Esmeralda shot her a look. “Yes, I know, but at least he got to do those things. What have I ever done except make tea and embroider handkerchiefs?”
“You were a wean!”
“And now I’m not!” She stood up. “I want t’see what’s out there. All those places he keeps talkin’ about.” She pointed down the lane. “I want to follow that road out the Shire and see where it takes me.”
Amber nodded slowly. “So what’re you waitin’ for?”
“What?” Esmeralda turned to stare at her.
“If you want t’go out there explorin’, lass, then you should.”
“Just like that?”
“I’m sorry. Were you wantin’ permission?”
“No, but…” the younger hobbit looked back at the house.
The elder snorted. “He’s got two other daughters, and a son. He can spare us. Now come on, the packin’ won’t do itself.”
“Wait… you want to come with me?”
“Well someone has t’keep you from gettin’ eaten by trolls.” Amber came up to her. “And besides, an adventure is somethin’ that’s meant t’be shared.”
Esmeralda launched herself at her sister with a squeal and wrapped her up in a tight hug, before letting go and skipping up the steps to the front door. “This is going to be so much fun!”
=============