"Can't we go home, Rosie? Please?" Sam begged. "I don't like this."

"Nobody's asking you to," she retorted, flicking a long arc at the bank where Sam and Frodo sat. Rosie stood in water barely waist-high, but they'd staunchly refused to come out even that far. Her wet hair hung in dark half-curls past her elbows, she loved the feeling of the small current lapping against her bare skin.

Elanor kicked up a small splash, tilting her face down to blow bubbles. Rosie held her tightly and laughed to see such a happy moment from her baby.

"Come on! It'll make you strong and quick."

"In that case I'll stay weak and slow," Sam declared, resting his arm across Frodo's back, rubbing small circles with his thumb on the fabric over the bony shoulder. "And you'll catch a cold if you stay in."

"Shan't. That water's warm. Elanorelle seems to like it just fine."

"Why are you so adamant that she learn to swim, Rose?" Frodo asked as he tucked his feet away from the shoreline.
artwork by Hyel
"No baby of mine's going to grow up with silly ideas about what hobbits can and can't do. Swimming's good fun. My Elanor's going to have a big, wide, open brain, not one shut up like a dusty box."

"I suppose you still want to go away for a year, then?"

"What?" Frodo was startled by Sam's question. "You're going away?"

"With you as well, of course," Rosie added. "Don't think you can escape us that easily!"

"Oh, I thought you were leaving me." Frodo sighed with relief. Sam kissed his forehead gently.

"No, never. Rosie wants us all to go live in other parts, so Elanor grows up with more of a sense of the world."

"Let's go soon." Frodo grinned. "It'll be the right sort of adventure, a happy sort. You can see real kings and queens, Rose, just like in a story."

"Steady on!" Rosie laughed. "She's too little for it to do any good yet. And you're in an awful hurry to go on such a journey when I had to plead to get you out the front door today."

"I think she's right, Mr Frodo," Sam agreed. "Best take things slow. You've talked about going to see Bilbo for his birthday in a few months, see how that trip agrees with you before you undertake a longer one."

"Yes, you're right." Frodo's smile was tight and a little sad. "Silly of me."

"Not silly, just impatient." Rosie climbed out of the water, wiping Elanor dry and stowing her safely in the little basket before flopping down on the grass beside Frodo and Sam. "The world will still be there next year, after all."

"Put your clothes on, Rosie, you haven't been well," Sam chided.

"I'm comfortable as I am." She stretched her arms up above her head and smiled lazily. "You should join me, it's just the sort of day for sunbathing, and I have the feeling that the closest I'll get to either of you bathing in the river today."

"What if someone comes along?" Sam's voice was wary.

"Unless they're blind, they know what a naked hobbit looks like, and if they don't then they won't be able to see us anyway. Come on! Frodo?"

"No, thank you." He shook his head, but Rosie had guessed the reason.

"A tan will make your scars fade faster, they won't be so pink-on-white anymore. You'll look healthier, and feel it too. Hobbits need sun, just as plants do. Now, off with your clothes."

Laughing, Frodo and then Sam obeyed the order. The three of them kissed and made love on the lush green riverbank, lazy warm bodies on the cool grass through the afternoon and into twilight.

Sam had a length of twine in one of his pockets, and with that and a bent hairpin and a worm they dug up they managed to catch a fat silvery fish, scales glinting like chainmail in the fading light.

They dressed and walked home, Elanor still burbling from her swimming adventure. The fish was cooked and served with lemon and baked potato, and they ate it out under the night sky, singing old songs they often forgot the words to.

~

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