Mary

(East of the Sun)

"Don't fidget," Rosie said again, pushing Elanor's shoulders straight again as Rosie braided the seven-year-old's golden curls into some semblance of tidiness. "You have to look your nicest."

"But I always look nice, don't I?" Elanor smiled cheekily. "That's what you usually say."

"Face front," was Rosie's only reply, securing the end of the braid with a length of cornsilk ribbon.

"Do you think Frodo of the Ring knows that we have a party for his birthday, Mum?" Elanor's voice was musing. "With cake and mathoms and all?"

"I'd say he wouldn't be surprised that your Dad insists on it, yes." Rosie gave her eldest one last glance over and nodded to herself. The mid-morning sun came through the kitchen windows and painted the pair of them gold.

Elanor twisted the end of the ribbon between two slim fingers. "Is he giving presents to all the folk around him, then? Since he can't give them to us?"

"He gave us Bag End, didn't he? And that book you're always begging Dad to read from. Don't bite your ribbon!"

"But my gums are achy," complained Elanor, who currently only had one front tooth.

"A ribbon's not going to fix that, lass. Only time."

"Stupid time," Elanor grumbled, sitting down on a kitchen chair and tapping her fingers on the wood of the table. Then she stopped, and looked up at her mother guiltily. "Sorry. I expect you hate it even more than I do."

Rosie looked puzzled. "Why on earth would I hate time, El?"

"Because... it makes things go away," Elanor trailed off.

"It makes new things come, too." Rosie patted her plump stomach with a gentle smile. "Don't look at me like I'm cracked, girl, I know a slight more about things like this than you're aware of yet. Sometimes love is like... well, it's like that plait you're biting at. The three bits all twist around each other as it goes on. First it was me who was the one apart from the other two pieces, when your Dad and Mr Frodo went off on their journey. Then we all came back together, just like in plaiting, and then another had to be the one alone. We didn't want it, of course," Rosie blinked a few times and Elanor decided that the kitchen was terribly smoky and needed a good airing. "But he's happy where he is, and we're happy where we are, and that's more than enough for all of us, for now."

"But how do you know he's happy?" Elanor could never let a mystery rest. She was gaining quite the local reputation for trouble. Her mother just gave one of those infuriating 'you're-still-a-baby-and-this-is-not-a-baby-lesson' smiles that were mostly shut up in a person's eyes. "And what's 'for now' mean?"

"Well, the plait's not ready for a ribbon yet. I know it scares small ones to hear it, but some day I, or your Dad, will finish doing the living we've got ahead of us. And then there will be one left apart here, and they'll go find Frodo again. Then it will be two together and one apart, more of the plait. And then, after that, the two that are together will set out on another journey and find the third, and none of us will be apart again."

~

Pretty Good Year | email Mary