Story Downloaded from Open Scrolls Archive (https://www.openscrolls.net)

Title: Wounded Children (#1866)
Author: ScarboroughFair
Chapters: 7
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Archive: Tolkien
Category: Alternate Universe (AU)
Description: When acting as Deputy Mayor in Hobbiton, Frodo discovers a girl with an abusive father and whose mother was his former flame. He reports the father and takes the girl into his custody. When the mother returns, however, how does Frodo deal with the love he once lost? (Rating may go up.)
Published: 09 May 2005
Updated: 02 Jun 2005
Warnings: Descriptions of abuse, and sensuality.
Type: Romance
Characters: Frodo; various OC's


Chapter 1 - A Little Friend of Sorts

Wounded Children

Hey, fanfic readers. This is the first fanfiction I’ve actually ever written and published. I wrote this to give Frodo a chance to act like a father, you know, the kind that actually sees his kids through babyhood and childhood. It’s not great, but see what you think! 

-	Scarborough Fair

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Chapter One: A Little Friend of Sorts

Frodo sat in Will Whitfoot’s office, shuffling through a stack of papers Merry had given him. They were accounts of all the shirrifs in Hobbiton. Frodo looked at one after another with disinterest. How many more of these are going to come through? He thought.
 
He put the whole lot aside on the desk and closed his eyes a bit, rubbing his temples. He had a faint headache. So much stress, from the Quest, from his work…

 “Frodo?” Merry came in. He had another stack of papers with him. 

“Oh no, not another lot of shirrif records, Merry.”

“There’s just one here, Frodo. And it’s important.”

Merry stood beside Frodo, who took the papers. “We’ve not been having any cooperation from Olo Bracegirdle, that shirrif from near Bywater,” said Merry. “We’ve tried to get him back to his posts, where he should be, but he’s never on duty.”

“Olo Bracegirdle is bad news, Merry, what do you expect?” replied Frodo. Olo Bracegirdle had always been a disreputable shirrif.
 
“Well, maybe he has a reason. We’ve heard his wife is missing.”

Frodo turned in surprise. “Eos Took? Adelard’s daughter?”

“Yes. Pippin told me she’s been gone a month now.”

Frodo wrinkled his brow. “How come no one was told until so recently?”

“Until recently Hobbiton was in chaos. Nothing could get across to the shirrifs then.”

“As Deputy Mayor, I think if I talk to him maybe I can get things straight,” said Frodo.

“Well, you can try, but it’ll be hard talking reason into him.”

~~~~~~~~

Olo Bracegirdle was a burly and rough looking hobbit. He always looked as if he was going to snap someone in half. Frodo knew this wasn’t going to be easy as he walked through the door. 

The whole smial was ill-kept. Cloaks and bits of leather were strewn all over the floor that was coated in what must have been a month’s worth of dust. There was the stench of beer and vomit in the air, as if drunks came here every night. Olo showed the two other hobbits into the sitting room. 
 
“So Mister Bracegirdle, I’ve had reports saying you haven’t been on duty,” began Frodo. 

Olo narrowed his eyes. “This is what you came to talk to me about, Mister Deputy Mayor? My job?”

“Why, yes. Your post in Bywater is crucial at present, and we can not do with no shirrif on duty here.”

“Take heart, Mister Baggins, me wife has been missing a month, I’m trying to look for her, and you want me to go back to my post?”

Frodo felt Pippin tense beside him. Eos Took had been Pippin’s favorite cousin. “A missing spouse is hardly a reason to abandon your post, Mister Bracegirdle. Can’t we take care of that for you? Especially now that the ruffians are gone.”

“Ay, Mister Baggins, thank you kindly,” replied Olo, though he didn’t look too pleased.
 
“I will have Mr. Took make arrangements with you. You do the talking, Pip, I’ll be outside.” 

Frodo left Pippin with Olo in the sitting room, and went to wait outside. He sat in a chair in the foyer. He felt someone’s eyes on him. He looked up and saw a little girl, about nine years old with huge brown eyes staring at him from behind a cloak hanging from a peg. 

“Hello,” said Frodo, trying to be friendly, “are you Eos and Olo’s daughter?” The girl nodded, but did not move from her hiding place. 

“Come here.” Frodo beckoned kindly to her. The girl took two steps toward him. 

“Come,” he repeated. “Don’t be afraid. I don’t bite.” Is she so afraid of strangers? Frodo didn’t remember being this tentative when someone he did not know approached him when he was little. 

The girl stepped until she was in front of him. Frodo took her hand, gently, lest she became afraid again. “I’m Frodo,” he said. “What is your name?” he asked softly. 

“Crystal,” was the barely whispered reply. Frodo studied her. Crystal was small, no more than four years old. Her dress was made of some brown, rough material and was much too small and tight. The doll she clutched to her was nothing more than an old sock, stuffed to form its head. It had no face.

“Your doll, does it have a name?”

“She’s called Opal,” Crystal replied, still quietly. “Do you want to see her?”

Frodo nodded and took the plaything. While pretending to look at the doll, he observed the girl. She seemed smaller than she really was. Her eyes darted to and from the door behind which her father and Pippin were talking. Was it fear of Olo that made her movements so fluttery? It must have been. It couldn’t be Eos. From what Frodo remembered of her, she was a gentle creature who rarely had a sharp word for anyone. Frodo doubted she had changed so drastically.
 
“Why are you so quiet?” he asked Crystal. “Not many little girls are as still and silent as you.”

“Mommy told me I should be quiet,” she said. “She said if I’m quiet Daddy won’t hit me as much.” As she moved to take her doll back, Frodo’s gaze moved to her hand. There was a great bruise near her wrist, and also a slash across her knuckles, probably from a whip. He looked at the tiny hand he held. There were a series of cuts across it. 

So Olo beat his daughter, cruelly, it seemed. Of course, all hobbit fathers beat their children at times, but who would give a nine year-old bruises and whip lashes, so many of them too? Did this have to do with Eos’s disappearance? Perhaps her husband had beat her as well?

Crystal rubbed her doll’s blank face, her eyes gazing at it intensely, as if thinking if she tried hard enough, it would acquire eyes, a nose, and a mouth. “Do you have any other dolls?” asked Frodo. Crystal shook her head. 

“Daddy took all my dolls away,” she replied. 

“Except Opal,” said Frodo. Crystal nodded. At the use of her plaything’s name, her eyes seemed to look upon him with more trust. She knew for sure that this gentle, blue-eyed hobbit would not hurt her. He was not like those drunken friends of her father’s that often came home with him in the evening, who taunted her and sometimes tugged a little on her pinafore. For the first time in a month, she felt safe. 

“I’m sorry about your mother, child,” he said, laying a hand on the girl’s head. 

“Maybe she’s happier away,” Crystal replied. Frodo’s eyebrows knitted slightly. 

“And why’s that?”

“Daddy always hit her and she cried.” Crystal bounced Opal on the floor, trying to “walk” her. 

“Crystal,” said Frodo, “If I come back, I’ll bring you another doll. I promise.”

The little girl flew up. Her eyes brightened. “Another doll?”

“Yes. But don’t tell your father, hmm?” Crystal nodded excitedly. Just then, they both heard the scraping of chairs from the next room. Crystal fled down the hallway just as the door flew open.

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Like my first chapter? It may take a while to get the next chapter up, but when I start getting to the juicy parts I might speed up. Anyway, R & R!


Chapter 2 - Reminiscing

To Southern Gaelic: For goodness’ sake, check the book!! If you do, you’ll find that hobbits do in fact call their sheriffs “shirriffs”, thank you very much. And Frodo was in fact Deputy Mayor for a while after the war with Sharkey, when Whil Whitfoot, the real mayor, was indisposed. I can change Crystal’s age if you like, but it’s just to say that I got her name off of the Barrow-downs name generator, and I rather liked it. Anyway, Crystal and Opal were the only gem names I could think of that weren’t taken already. Also, can you explain what you mean by events moving too fast? Anyhow, thanks for your input. 

Chapter 2: Reminiscing

Frodo was silent on the way home. If Pippin noticed, he did not show it, only went over Olo’s money issues with him. It was a few days away from December, and the red-gold leaves that had scattered the ground were turning a dull brown. Bright green lawns steadily turned yellow, and the trees, while still stretching their arms toward the grey, late November sky, were stripped bare of their adornments. 

The two hobbits soon went their separate ways, Pippin to the Great Smials and Frodo to his current residence with the Cottons. Upon entering the cozy farm house, he went to the kitchen, where a fire was burning in the hearth. He hung his cloak on a chair and searched the counters for a kettle. Sam came in. 

“Hullo, Mr. Frodo! How was your meeting with Olo Bracegirdle?”

“Fairly well. After a little chat, Pip had a private discussion with him. Apparently, he’s agreed to go back to work, and Pip made arrangements with him to look for his wife. I still don’t trust him, though. Definitely not after I talked to his little girl.” Frodo filled the kettle in the sink and put on the stove. He then rummaged through a cupboard for a mug. 

“You talked with the child? Crystal?”

Frodo put a brown mug on the little wooden table. “Yes. I saw her peeking at me from behind a cloak, and convinced her to come closer so I could take a look at her. Queer, pretty little thing. Quite clever, too. She knew that she could trust me. From the state of the place, I think Olo has some friends that come home with him often from the nearby inn. Whew! The stench there, and the mess!”

“How old was the girl?”

“I’d say about eight or nine years old.”

Sam shook his head. “So young and what a childhood she has.”

There was a pause, in which both hobbits were lost in their thoughts. At length, Frodo spoke. 

“I promised her that I’d bring another doll to her next time I came.”

Sam turned in surprise. “Why?”

“The only thing she had was a stuffed sock with no face. Is there anything wrong about that?” Frodo noticed Sam laughing to himself. “What?”

“No.” Sam chuckled. “But in the time I’ve known you, it never occurred to me that you would bring dolls to little girls! Most of the time, you fetched the lads’ balls when they lost them!”

His smile faded a little when he saw Frodo’s grave face. “If you could see her, Sam,” said Frodo sorrowfully. “If you were there to see how pitiful she was, you would understand. Now that Eos is gone, the poor thing has no mother to give her what she wants.”

Sam’s eyes softened. He put an arm on his master’s shoulder. “I understand. You’re acting like you always have, doing good service for others.”

~~~~~~~~~

Frodo climbed into bed that night with a book on elvish philosophy as light reading. “Don’t all that reading hurt your eyes, Mr. Baggins?” Farmer Cotton had teased him. Frodo smiled. He was with good people, he thought. He was lucky to be staying with some of them.

Now that he was with a book, however, he couldn’t concentrate on the Tengwar characters. No matter how he forced his eyes to stay on the pages, they always jerked back up to the wall opposite. Finally, he gave up, shut the book, and lay it on the bed. He leaned against the pillows. 

He had been thinking of the little girl, Crystal, and her mother. They looked so much alike, Eos and her daughter. They had the same deep brown eyes that seemed to know your soul when they lay on you. Crystal’s gestures were identical to Eos’s, the way they both held their fingers to the corners of their mouths when in thought. Frodo had seen that gesture when he saw Crystal peeking at him, as if she were wondering, Who is this new man Father has brought in? 

From what he could see, the child was not one bit like her drunkard of a father. 

Frodo closed his eyes and thought of Eos. Eos had been the youngest daughter of Adelard Took, and also the most dynamic of the Took girls. She was gentle and fiery, moody and cheerful, ladylike with the touch of a tomboy. She had started out by following Pippin and his cousins around and nagging to join their sports. That was how Frodo had met her. 

He could still remember that day, when he was twenty and she was twelve. 

-----FLASHBACK------

“Reginard!” Little Eos’s high pitched voice pierced the hot summer air. “Are you going to the swim hole now?”

“That’s none of your business, little squirt,” replied her big brother. “Run along into the house and do something with Celandine and Berylla for a change.”

“Celandine and Berylla are at the Burrows’ for the day. Anyway, Ma told me that you were supposed watch me today. That means I’m going where you are.”

Reginard and his friends, Frodo and Pippin among them, had been planning to take a trip to the swim hole nearby – without a clinging little girl. 

“Eos, just get back in the smial and stay out of trouble, will you?” pleaded Reginard. 

“I ain’t going back in there!” 

“Fine, just stay put right there, then.”

“Alright, go to the swim hole. And I’ll tell Ma that you left me here in the dirt all alone, and she’ll tan you!”

Frodo tapped his cousin’s shoulder. “Just let her watch, Reggy. She may not be that much trouble.” Other lads joined in. 

“Yea, Reg, she can keep a distance...”

“We can swim and keep an eye on her at the same time, can’t we?”

“Maybe we can make her keep quiet, bribe her, or something.”

“If she gets run over by a horse and cart, it’ll be your fault…”

Overcome by his peers’ urges, Reginard relented. At the swim hole, Eos sat near the bank while the lads raced across the water. 

Suddenly, they all heard a loud splash. They all looked behind them to see ripples in the water near the bank. But before any of them could work up a shout, Eos was already trudging out of the water and returning to her grassy spot. 

Reginard’s friends had started laughing hysterically, initially to his great dissatisfaction, but he eventually laughed along with his friends about the antics of his baby sister. 

That had been the first time Frodo had ever paid attention to the youngest Took girl. 

They had met a month later, on one of Frodo and Bilbo’s visits to the Smials. They were at a party, where Frodo noticed Eos standing to the side, watching the dancers. 

“Are any of your friends here?” he asked, walking over to her.

“Yes, but they all want to dance with them boys from Buckland,” she replied, pointing.

“Why aren’t you dancing?”

“I would if Ma would let me. She says I ain’t old enough for dancing.”

“Twelve is rather young, wouldn’t you say?”

“I suppose.” The girl sighed. “But I guess even if I were old enough no one will dance with me.”

“Why’s that?”

“I follow older boys around and I like to swim. And my dresses are always all messy and I like to use ‘ain’t’. I also read anything in sight.”

Frodo had to laugh at this statement. In the back of his mind he was delighted to find someone who read.

“You like to read anything, you say?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll promise you something. When you’re old enough to dance, I’ll dance with you for sure. In the meantime, come up and read as long as you like.”

The deal was too good to pass up. 

-------END FLASHBACK------

Frodo grinned to himself. They had both been young and silly then, despite their difference in age. He had kept his promise, though. 

Frodo did dance with her, when she was eighteen. They danced often after that. Eos came up to Bag End almost once a fortnight to read in his library. The two became friends, and had much to talk about on these visits. Frodo even had time to teach her runes and some of the elvish tongue. 

Frodo supposed he had begun to love her as time went by. But Frodo seemed to always have difficulty grasping what love of a female was during his youth. Just as he took hold of what he felt, Eos was engaged to the son of a Bracegirdle who worked with her father. She was already pregnant by the time Frodo even thought of the possibility that he could have married her instead. 

He had gone on the Quest partly to forget about her, the love he had been too asinine to recognize. He had intended to forget so that he would not have to look back and regret. But had his travels helped anything? He came back with haunting memories and ever-lasting wounds. He knew not what seeing Eos’s child would bring. 

Mind worn from memory, Frodo blew out the candle on his bedside, turned over, and had a night of fitful sleep. He only dreamed of one. 

--------FLASHBACK-------

“Frodo!” exclaimed Eos. “Come in! What is it?” she asked, noticing his anxious face.

“Is Olo here?” Frodo asked.

“No, he’s out…” Eos furrowed her brow. “Why?”

“I need to talk to you…” Frodo’s movements were strangely urgent and jittery as he hung up his cloak. 

“Do you need anything? Tea?”

“No. I shan’t stay long.” Frodo took Eos’s hands in his. There was a pause.

“When are you due?”

“In June. Frodo, you said you wanted to talk.”

“Yes. Eos – “ Frodo held her hands to his breast. He laughed nervously. “I guess we’ve been friends a while.”

“Yes…?”

“I just needed to tell you…” He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly, sorrowfully.

They both stepped back when the kiss ended. They stared at each other. 

“I loved you all along, Eos. I was too foolish to see that until you married.”

Tears glittered in Eos’s eyes. When his vision began to blur, Frodo decided to leave before he wept fully in front of her. 

“I just wanted to apologize for not telling you earlier.” He reached for his cloak. “I suppose I shan’t see you for a long time, Eos love.” Turning to look back at her with deep sorrow in his eyes, he left. He did not see Eos blow a kiss after him and whisper, “Goodbye, Frodo.

-------END FLASHBACK-------


Chapter 3 - For A Little Girl

A.N.: Thanks for the reviews, people! Keep it up! I may go a bit slow but don’t give up on me. By the way, there’s a vague reference to opium in this chapter, and I do hope no one gets offended. 

Chapter 3: For A Little Girl

Eos Took looked into a little mirror in her tiny hobbit-size room in the Prancing Pony. She hadn’t bothered to look at herself carefully before when she came here a month ago. She had grown thin and the roses that had once lit up her face before she was married had nearly all faded into lilies. She was still quite pretty, and would be beautiful if she weren’t so haggard. 

There was something else too. Her eyes seemed alien, almost wild. She supposed it was from all her fights for survival for the last ten years. Most of them had been when she was with Olo. Then when she had escaped, there was the wild forests and the feeling of having no place to go. When she came to Bree, she had had her first experience with the Big Folk. 

No, Olo Bracegirdle had not been an evil man. It was his drinking that had done it, and his smoking of that horrible weed the ruffians from down South had brought to the Shire, instead of good, proper pipe weed. She had heard it had come from a flower called the poppy that was grown there. Eos had known for years that he and his father had been illegally trading goods with ruffians. Like father, like son, she thought scornfully. Back then, she had been afraid to mention any of her knowledge to anyone, for fear that her husband would find out and beat her. Now, she almost hit herself for not being brave enough to do what was right. 

Then, maybe she could have saved more than one person, her husband from further addiction and her daughter from being exposed to its usage. Ah, her little daughter. 

That was another thing she hated herself for. When she ran away, she’d left little Crystal behind. I think I was going insane, she thought bitterly and with guilt. So insane that I couldn’t think of what was more important, my life or Crystal’s. 

She hadn’t thought it possible, but she had found herself thinking that if that Frodo Baggins hadn’t ducked out of her life, things would seem less out of order. After he’d told her abruptly of his love and then left, she had found herself longing for him to come back to her, to kiss her again and to hold her. That had been the last time she’d spoken to him. Afterwards, whenever their eyes met at parties, Frodo would quickly look away with hurt and regret in his eyes. She trusted her parents’ judgement, and thought she would eventually come to love her husband. But after a few months, she knew it was impossible, even though she became pregnant quickly. I had a fruitless fantasy, a child to protect and a husband who abused his beer. No wonder I became insane. Oh Frodo, if only you were there to save me…

No! She must not think of Frodo! Frodo was far from here and could not comfort her now.

Eos was famished. She wrapped a shawl about herself and headed downstairs to get a meal to bring up to her room. 

~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Frodo went into the market and headed toward the millinery, owned by Mrs. Chubb. 

“Ah, Mr. Baggins!” she exclaimed. “This is a pleasant surprise. May I help you?” 
 
“May I see the dolls that you have, Mrs. Chubb?”

“Certainly, follow me.”

Frodo looked carefully at all the dolls. He decided right away he wouldn’t choose one with blonde hair, they didn’t seem right for the little girl he had in mind. He selected one with dark brown hair, and a silky blue dress. Its dark brown eyes gazed innocently back at him. 

“May I ask who this is for?” asked Mrs. Chubb, as she wrapped up the doll. 

Frodo smiled mysteriously. “For a little girl,” he replied. 

As he left with the package, Mrs. Chubb smiled amusedly to herself. “Well, I never!” she thought.

~~~~~~~~

Pippin and Frodo returned to Olo Bracegirdle’s hole. Once again, Frodo stepped outside, leaving Pippin and Olo alone. 

Crystal ran up to him in the foyer. Frodo knelt beside her, took the brown package from under his cloak and handed it to her. He had to laugh when he saw her radiant face as the paper fell away. 

“Do you like it?” he asked, as Crystal clutched the doll. She nodded happily, and threw her arms around his neck. Frodo returned the embrace. He felt a rush of affection for the little girl. If her mother could see her now, he thought. She’s so happy. Eos, where are you?

When she drew back from him, he held her face in his hands and said to her, seriously, “Can you promise to keep this from your father?”

“I promise,” Crystal replied. “Frodo?”

“Yes?”

“Can I come and live with you?” she asked shyly.

The childish question both surprised and amused Frodo. And yet, a possibility dawned on him. Chuckling, he drew the girl to him and, rocking her softly, replied, “Maybe, Crystal, maybe.” Then, whispering, “I’ll get you out of here.”

~~~~~~~~

“Merry, I need you to help me with something,” said Frodo in the office. 

“What would that be, cousin?”

“It’s about Olo Bracegirdle…”

~~~~~~~~

A.N.: To be continued, readers! By the way, did you know that I named Eos Took after the second violinist in the string quartet Bond? I just thought it was a pretty name. I read in the flippy thing that came with their album “Born” that Eos means “nightingale” in Welsh. Sorry, random fact.


Chapter 4 - A Ray of Hope

Chapter 4: A Ray of Hope

There was a knock on Olo Bracegirdle’s door one afternoon. When the shirrif answered it, Merry stepped in, along with a few other men. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Bracegirdle,” he addressed him politely. “We are sorry to trouble you now, but I’m afraid that we have a warrant to search your smial.”

“Why’s that, Mr. Meriadoc?” Olo asked suspiciously. 

“One of our people back in Hobbiton expressed some concerns about you and the condition of your child, Miss Crystal Bracegirdle, I believe?”

“Who - ?”

 “The hobbit in question wished for us not to disclose his name. Now, if you would just step aside and let us carry out our duty, things will go much easier…”

~~~~~~~~~

Merry reported back to Frodo’s office around five o’clock. The search had lasted for about two hours. 

“How did it go, Merry?”

“We found that illegal southern weed from the poppy flower in his cellar. Opium, I believe it’s called.” Frodo looked at him in surprise. “It’s true. It turns out our beloved hot-headed shirrif has been involved in underground activities for years with ruffians. Same with his father.”

“What did you do?”

“I had him arrested and sent to the Lockholes. He’ll probably have quite a bit of time to do.”

“What did you do with the girl, then?”

“She’s with Mosco Fields right now. He’s going to bring her over.”

“Good, good.” Frodo nodded. Merry thought he saw a hint of a smile across his face. He sat in a chair by Frodo’s desk.

“You were right about him and his girl, too,” he said quietly. “She was curled up in a little ball in the corner of her room when we got there. We saw the whip marks and the bruises. And I think you should move for a change in custody on grounds of physical abuse.”

“That’s what I’ve been planning to do.” Frodo got up and looked out the round window in the office. It was a week into December, and the sky was growing dark due to the shortening days.

Merry watched him closely for a bit. At length he asked, “Is it true that you went and bought Eos’s girl a doll?”

Frodo’s back was turned to him, so if he was surprised, Merry could not tell. “Yes, I did,” Frodo answered. “How did you know?”

“After they took Olo away, we had to coax little Crystal out of her room. She brought a little stuffed bag with her and the doll as well. She asked us where we were taking her, and we told her we were taking her to you. She held up her doll and said, ‘He gave me my doll!’” 

Frodo laughed softly. “She remembered,” he said. 

“But Frodo, why?”

“Why what?”

“You and Pip went over to make arrangements with Olo only a week ago. In that small amount of time, you get her a doll. Knowing you, you would probably do the same for any other lad or lass, but in a week?” Frodo said nothing. “What made you do that much for her?” 

Frodo shrugged. “It was because her mother was Eos, wasn’t it?” Merry demanded. “Because she was the daughter of the woman you loved.”

He saw his friend’s shoulders tense. Then, “How did you know?” His voice was quiet, steely. 

Merry, sensing Frodo’s discomfort chose his words carefully. “I’m not blind, Frodo.” For a few moments silence screamed. “Are you angry with me, Frodo?”

“No, not at all. Just… don’t talk to me about her, alright? I – I don’t want to suffer any further if I ever find out she’s - dead, or maybe remarried. I don’t think I could bear it if I kept yearning for her.”

“Well, she can’t remarry, she hasn’t even divorced yet! Why, she’d be guilty of bigamy!”

“If she’s gone outside the Shire – Bree, for instance – our laws won’t apply to her.” Frodo turned back to Merry. “I don’t know, Merry. All I want to care about right now is Crystal.” He paused. “If I can’t have Eos, I’ll have her child.”

~~~~~~~~~

Mosco brought Crystal to the office half an hour later. She had his overcoat dragging behind her. It flew off as she ran to Frodo, doll in hand. 

“What are you planning to do with her, Frodo?” asked Merry. 

“I believe I am allowed to have custody of her, as Deputy Mayor,” he replied, as the girl wrapped her arms around his waist. He put a hand on her head. “Eos has two sisters, we’ll see what they say about the matter later. For now, I’m bringing her home.” He took his coat, wrapped it around Crystal, then picked her up and wrapped her cloak around the both of them. 

“Are you ready, Crystal?”

“Are we going to your home?”

“Yes we are, when you’re warm.”

Partway back to the Cottons’, Crystal fell asleep leaning against Frodo’s chest. He was warmed by her soft touch and the trust and affection that poured out from her into him. He enjoyed the sensation until they reached the front door of the farmer. 

Frodo shook her gently awake. “Crystal… Crystal, we’re home.” Sam and Rosie went up to him as he set Crystal on her feet.

“So this is the Crystal we’ve been hearing so much about,” Sam said as he helped Frodo get his overcoat off of the slightly drowsy child. 

“Most certainly, Sam,” said Frodo as he grinned back at him. “Did you hear about Olo’s arrest?”

“Why, it’s already halfway around town how one of our shirrifs has been smoking illegal weed and is having his daughter taken from him on grounds of abuse.”

“And by tomorrow it’ll be news from here to Michel Delving, I should guess,” Frodo replied idly as he chafed Crystal’s cold hands. He pushed her gently toward Rosie. “Rosie, could you give Crystal a bath and something light to eat? I swear I can hear her stomach roaring from here.”

“Of course, Mr. Baggins. If she trusts me enough to come without you,” Rosie added jokingly, gesturing to Crystal, who was still hanging on to Frodo’s sleeve.

“Go on,” Frodo coaxed softly. “I’ll still be nearby. Aunty Rosie will be good to you. Go on.” 

Crystal let go of him and took Rosie’s hand. As she took her down the hall, Sam followed Frodo to the small kitchen, where Frodo collapsed into a chair. Sam sat beside him.

“Long day, hm?” he asked. 

“I guess. I think it just seemed long, from all the waiting in the office and thinking about how the girl was, if she was being treated decently.” He paused. “Well, she’s here now, that’s all that matters.”

“But her sisters – Celandine and Berylla – they might want to have custody of their niece, seeing that they’re relatives.”

A shadow came over Frodo’s face. “I was thinking of that. Oh, Sam, I know that rightfully they should have her, but… I just don’t want to let her go. I already care for her so much.”

Frodo and Sam talked quietly for a while Frodo had his dinner (Sam and the rest of the Cottons had already had theirs). Rosie came in to get a plate of food for Crystal to eat in her room, and told Frodo that she’d given Crystal some small lass’s clothes from when she was little. As she went out, Frodo caught a little loving smile that passed between her and Sam. He grinned inwardly to himself. It was about time Sam settled down with a wife, he thought.  

A quarter of an hour later, Rosie came back to say she’d tucked Crystal in, but she wanted to see Frodo before she went to sleep. Frodo got up to go to her room.

“She’s in the last room at the end of the hall, where Nibs used to sleep,” Rosie called after him.

Frodo opened the bedroom door and quietly shut it behind him. Crystal was sitting up in the little bed, waiting expectantly.

“Crystal,” said Frodo in a mock exasperated tone, “little hobbit girls are supposed to be asleep by now.”

“But I wanted to ask you something.”

Frodo sat on the bed with her. “What’s that?”

“Will I have to go and live with Aunt Celandine or Aunt Berylla?” 

“We’ll see, we’ll see. I told them to come here tomorrow so we could talk about it.”

“I want to stay here, Frodo.”

Frodo was quiet for a moment. “Don’t you love your aunts?”

“I love them, but I want to stay here.”

He sighed. “Maybe you’ll stay, maybe you won’t. I can’t say, baby.” He bent his head for a moment, as if in thought, then he looked at her and said, “Go to sleep now, Crystal. Don’t worry about this until tomorrow.”

Crystal lay back on the pillows, and he tucked the blankets more snugly around her. He was about to lean over and kiss her goodnight, when another question came. “Frodo?”

“Yes?” Frodo took one of the little hands that lay on the pillows. 

“Did you know my Mommy?”

Even at the young age of nine, Crystal saw a brief flash of grief in Frodo’s eyes before he replied, “Yes, I knew her.”

“Did you like her?”

Another pause. “Yes, I liked her very much. We were friends.”

“Did she like you?”

“I would think so.”

“Why did you like her?”

“Well, she was beautiful, she was intelligent. And she was very kind to people. Your mother was a good woman.” Frodo’s eyes went to a shade of ethereal sky blue, like they did when he was pensive. Crystal lay there, silent, fascinated by the emotions chasing each other across his face. There was a mixture of sadness, love and deep thoughtfulness. Presently, he looked up and smiled at her. “You look very much like her. She should be proud.”

She smiled back. Frodo kissed her forehead, blew out the candle on the bedstead, and left. She curled up into a ball under the covers and fell into undisturbed sleep.

Crystal did not know that when Frodo got back to his room, he pressed his back to the door, his eyes closed tightly with the agony in his heart. 



A.N.: In hobbit years, Crystal would be about four years old, though she’s nine in human years, a correction I made to this story with the guidance of Southern Gaelic. So think of Crystal as a preschooler, not a third-grader.


Chapter 5 - The Guardian

Chapter 5: The Guardian

Celandine Took was older than Eos by four years, Berylla by two years. Eos had been the smallest of the three, Berylla the tallest, Celandine the most powerfully built. 

Celandine had the darkest complexion, and disobedient dark brown curls. She had always been the most stubborn and staunch of the Took girls. The people on the farms and remote countryside said that this was the reason for which she had not found a husband until very recently. Many men found her hard to reason with. Still, she made a loyal housewife, and was never known to shirk any of her duties in her life. 

Berylla, the middle sister and the most cheerful, was Eos’s favorite, as rumors had it. She was round-faced and had golden-brown hair, along with unbeatably good humor. The latter complemented her main vice, which was her feebleness. She had married shortly before Eos did, and now had a son who was about eleven. 

The two came to the Cottons’ shortly after second breakfast. Farmer Cotton cordially invited them in and ushered them to the sitting room, where Rosie had set a tea tray. He then called to Frodo that his guests were here. 

Frodo greeted them and sat across from them. Frodo was about to speak when Crystal ran in, clutching her doll and sporting the clean hand-me-down pinafore Rosie had given her. She climbed into Frodo’s lap. “Frodo! Frodo! Rosie says she can take me down to the Tunellys’ farm and I can meet their little girl and the baby. Can I go, Frodo?”

“Whoa, Crystal,” said Frodo, setting her down. “Before you do anything, say hello to your aunts.” He turned her around to face the two women. 

“Hello, Aunt Celandine. Hello, Aunt Berylla.” Crystal went up to each of them and kissed them on the cheek. Then she ran back to Frodo, face expectant.

Frodo sighed. Should he start acting like her parent when her guardians were here? “Maybe, Crystal. We’ll see. Just run along and play now. I’ll tell you later.”

Crystal went obediently to her room. Berylla glanced at her thoughtfully and turned back to Frodo. “I wonder, has she given you a hard time yet, Mr. Baggins?”

“Quite the opposite, Miss Berylla. The girl’s been good as gold, thus far.” He glanced after the little girl. “I wouldn’t think it possible for her to trouble you too much to take her back?”

The sisters glanced at one another. “That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” said Berylla. She held up a hand as Frodo opened his mouth. “It is not what you think. For now, I only ask you to hear our explanation. Celandine?”

“You see, Mr. Baggins,” said Celandine, “Our family does business with the mills around the area. While Sharkey’s occupation, his people took away most of our mills. So now we are rather tight on money, having been out of business for a while. Everard and Reginard are in the same status as well, down in Tighfield. Mr. Baggins, we cannot afford to accommodate any more children.”

Frodo could not believe what he was hearing. “So… you are telling me…”

“Keep the girl, Mr. Baggins,” said Berylla. “I believe Eos would have appreciated it,” she added, quietly. Frodo almost drew back. How many people knew about him and Eos? 

Celandine laughed softly. “So send Crystal to visit the Tunellys’ farm and their daughter. From now on, she will be your little girl.”

~~~~~~~~~ 

Frodo was reading by the fire when Crystal came back. She immediately climbed into Frodo’s lap, bubbling with excitement.

“The girl said she liked my doll,” she said, “and the baby has brown eyes, like me, but its hair sticks up, like grass!”

“Hm,” said Frodo a bit lazily, softly stroking her hair. “And does she want you to go back?”

“She didn’t say, but her mama does.” Crystal settled back in Frodo’s arms. She became fascinated in Frodo’s book. “Why doesn’t it have pictures?”

“Because, when you grow up, you don’t need pictures anymore when you read,” he replied, kissing the tousled brown curls. 

Crystal yawned, saying, “I’m not growing up. I want books with pictures.” Frodo laughed softly, then put the book down. “I think I do have a book with pictures,” he said, leaning over to reach a pile of books at his feet. “Ah, right here.” It was a volume in which elves had translated some of their legends, including Luthien and Beren. The water colored paintings drew Crystal to it at once. 

“But I can’t read though.”

“Then, I think it’s about time.”

~~~~~~~~~

Eos was hunched over a beer in the Prancing Pony. She hadn’t bothered to tie her long black hair back, for it shielded her face from anyone who would recognize her. 

Barliman Butterbur came by and placed a plate of food in front of her. Her fingers shook from the lack of nourishment as she brought it closer and attacked it like a wolf would fresh meat. I’m pathetic, she thought. Who would have thought Eos Took would be living a hand to mouth existence, and in Bree of all places?

There was always a group of drinkers in the inn that brought in news from the Shire and the borders of Bree. Eos liked to listen to what they had to say. 

“Tom, there is no danger of ruffians anymore,” said one of the gossipers. “Sure, there’ll be a pickpocket now and then, but no more army under that Sharkey we heard about yonder. I have better news, my fellers.” 

They all leaned in closer. “That Mr. Baggins, you know the one who came back?” Eos’s ears pricked.

“You mean, the one who said to call him Mr. Underhill the first time?”

“Yeah, that one. I heard he took a little girl into his custody.”

Eos’s heart did a somersault. 

“What?!” They leaned in even closer. “Now, where’d ye hear that, Bob?” 

“That Robin Smallbarrow, the member of the Shire Watch. He was put on patrol on the borders and dropped by.”

“Mr. Baggins, you say, took a girl into his custody?” Eos asked quietly as she approached them. The man named Bob nodded to the rest, and they shifted to allow the hobbit lady in. 

“Quite true, madam, quite true.”

“Are you sure this is no rumor?”

“As far as we know, Robin Smallbarrow tells no lies.”

“May I ask which little girl?”

The men guffawed loudly. “Why, a drunkard shirriff who bought illegal pipeweed from southern ruffians! Olo – Proudfoot – yes, that’s the name. Someone reported him, Mr. Baggins took his little girl, and he’s been caring for her ever since. He dotes in her, and taught her to read, even, as I gather.”

Eos struggled not to look astonished. “And what say had the mother in this?”

“Ah, that’s the interesting part. ‘Round the end of October, she disappeared, without a trace. Had a queer name, Eos, I think. She was one of the Tooks. Anyway, people came up with all kinds of stories. Some say Olo knocked her cold and abandoned her somewhere far away, others say she ran away to escape from her marriage. Oh yes, they also say Olo beat Eos and their little girl often.”

“In that case, I shan’t blame her for running,” said the man named Tom. “But I wonder, why wouldn’t she bring her girl with her?”

“No one knows. But curious, anyhow.”

Eos was silent for a moment. Then she stirred and said, “Thank you gentlemen, for this piece of news.” She took the mug of beer from her table and went to her room. The group of men began speaking of the anticipated harvest and the farmers.

Eos closed the door and leaned against it for a few minutes, quietly letting the news she had heard sink in. Was she supposed to laugh or cry? Frodo’s got my little girl. Was she to feel shame or joy? He taught her to read. He dotes on her, that man said.

She started throwing items into the pack she had brought along. Among them were her crochet hook, knitting needles, needle book, and cards of wool. She put on a pendant her mother had given her as a baby, a silver nightingale. 

An hour later, she was camping in a bramble of bushes at the edge of Bree. 

She was going back. 

~~~~~~~~~

Frodo and Crystal had developed a nighttime tradition of reading in the big armchair by the fire before Frodo carried Crystal to bed. Crystal quickly picked up reading, and soon, Frodo let her read tall tales and elvish lore to him. 

Tonight, though, Frodo was reading more advanced lore to Crystal. When he looked at her after he was finished, she was fast asleep in his arms, her lips in a little pout. 

Frodo loved looking at her pout long after she had gone to sleep. It made her look so impotent and innocent that it melted his heart. It also reminded him of Eos when he knew her, and how her lips were in each of her different moods. Frodo shook his head. Would he ever stop thinking of Eos when he looked at her daughter? 

He took a quilt draped over a nearby chair and covered them both with it. Crystal made a small mew in her throat and snuggled closer to his chest. Frodo’s arms held her tightly. He would always love this little girl, even when she grew older and wanted to run after the lads at parties. He would always be the father figure in her life, if not her blood father. 
And she would carry his love throughout her life. 

There was a knock on the door, and Sam came in. “It is way past Her Royal Highness’s bedtime,” he said, grinning at the sight of the two of them. He liked to call Crystal Her Royal Highness these days, since she demanded so much of Frodo’s attention. 

“I’ll take her to bed presently, Sam. She’s asleep anyway.”

Sam watched Frodo cradle her. A question came out of the blue. “Why do you care so much for one girl? Surely you don’t do all this out of charity?”

“What does ‘all this’ mean?”

“Reading to her every night, buying her trinkets every week, doting on her.”

“I guess…” Frodo paused a moment. “I guess… I couldn’t take misery out of everyone’s lives by destroying the Ring, but I feel whole when give one person happiness.”

There was silence. Then Sam said, “I guess Olo wasn’t too happy at the trial when he saw his daughter clinging to you. I remember that he said, ‘Don’t hide behind someone who ain’t your father!’”

“I can understand. I wouldn’t like to be in his position. Ten years in the Lockholes, my, my.”

They both laughed. Frodo stood up, picking up Crystal. As Sam went past him to bank the flames, he carried Crystal to her room. He tucked her in, kissed her forehead, and left. 

Crystal curled up into a ball under the covers in the moonlight after he had gone. She dreamed that her mother had come back to her, saying, “Sweet, where is Frodo?”

~~~~~~~~~

A.N.: Readers, if Frodo starts sounding a bit too much like Atticus from “To Kill A Mockingbird”, do tell me.


Chapter 6 - Come Back To Me

A.N.: In this chapter will come the moment you’ve all been waiting for, and that’s all I’ll say. 


Chapter 6: Come Back To Me

Eos had bought a pony from a farmer in Buckland that took her swiftly past the Old Forest. She then had sold it for enough money to buy her one night at the Floating Log. She had been traveling a week and a half, and it was now the third week of December. 

On the way, she had inquired about how to reach Frodo Baggins, and an old farmer’s wife had directed her to the Cottons. When asked why, she had answered simply, “He’s a friend of mine.”

~~~~~~~~

“Crystal, I have a present for you,” Frodo called to her. Crystal wondered over, with a look of boredom. Frodo chuckled. Gifts were nothing new to her now. He and the Cottons had bedecked her with toys and new clothes over the past few weeks. The blue linen frock she was wearing was among those new things. Now, she probably thought it would be more of the same. 

“Close your eyes, that’s it,” he said. He took her hands and placed a picture book of abridged elvish stories in them. She gasped when she opened her eyes and saw it. “Thank you!” she squeaked. She hugged his waist tightly. 

“Do you feel like reading it to me?”

“No.”

“No?”

“I wanna read by myself.”

“Alright then, suit yourself.”

Crystal ran down to her room and flopped onto the bed to read. When Frodo went to check on her, she was propped against the headboard, sucking on the sticks of malt candy Rosie had bought her on market day, and clutching her doll, which she called “Big Opal”. He smiled to himself, and closed the door quietly. 

Two hours later, Frodo went to bring her to dinner. The last piece of malt candy was jutting out of her mouth like a pipe, and she was still running her fingers over the drawings. 

Of course, Crystal loves toys, he thought. But none can inspire her like books can. More books are what she needs, not dolls. Oh, Eos my love, if you saw your little girl now, you would be so proud. 

~~~~~~~~~

The soles of hobbits’ feet are thick enough for them to travel long distances barefoot. Yet Eos’s feet were blistered and bleeding, and the pain made worse by the winter’s chill. 

A few yards from the Tunnellys’ farm, there was a hollow at the bottom of a tree, whose roots spread over it, making a crude but sufficient shelter. Eos settled down in it for the evening. Her fingers were too cold to hold the crochet hook, so she kept them inside her cloak, which had a hole in it.  

All her clothes were worn, as she had had no means of purchasing new ones during her life with Olo. They were all patched and frayed. Life as seamstress with a drunkard shirriff as a spouse was not an easy one. 

When Olo started beating her, Eos had been worried that her constantly tremulous hands would spoil the quality of her work. But business remained steady, though it brought in little money. After Crystal was born, some did business with her out of sympathy. That didn’t make life easier, though. That had been the point when Olo had started looking up the legs of other women, the first of which had been Asphodel Fields. She’d thought Asphodel was her friend until that fateful night. 

Eos was coming home from work late with Crystal. Mrs. Banks had held her up with the sale of one of her embroidered tablecloths. She had stopped by one of the food stalls that remained open to buy some bread for tomorrow. 

She opened the front door of the smial and, balancing the infant on her hip, hung up her cloak and put her basket of bread in the kitchen cupboard. The baby was fretting from tiredness, so she took her to the nursery and tucked her into the crib. Eos hoped not to wake her husband, who was probably in drunken sleep by now and would fly into rage if woken. 

Eos was heading toward the bedroom, when she stopped. What were those rhythmic groans and moaning from, those grunts and cries of – pleasure? Was that the squeaking of a bed frame? She walked to the door, and holding her breath, pushed it open. 

What a shock she had when she saw her husband’s large brown form in their bed, lying prostrate and pushing over and over into a woman’s white body below him. There were clothes scattered all over the floor, and the room was rank with the smell of sex and alcohol and foreign pipeweed. 

Wait a minute…she knew those stringy red curls, and that rounded body. Then it clicked. Asphodel. That woman was always after one man or another. 

Asphodel had heard the door open, and she turned her face in Eos’s direction. Eos could not help crying her name in shock. “ASPHODEL?!” 

That was clearly a mistake, for Olo, hearing her shout, rose in fury from the covers. “Why, you spying little slut!” In three strides, he went and grabbed and threw her out into the hall. 

Eos was still recovering from being thrown against the wall when Olo emerged again, this time with his horsewhip. He was a horrifying sight, naked and red with rage. He brought the whip down, and Eos’s back burned as it cut into her. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. She would not scream. She would not give Olo the pleasure of seeing her so obviously in pain. Eos was so concentrated on resisting her screams that she even blocked out what Olo was roaring.

“You little slut! Why’d you walk in if you can’t even give me a man child? You going to keep from getting one?” 

After he had put several whip weals into her back (along with a few older ones), he picked her up and threw her into the nursery. Eos banged her head on the edge of the crib, and Crystal started to wail.

“And get that thing to shut up, you hear?” Olo shouted as he slammed the door behind him. Eos lay there shaking for a few moments, then went to Crystal, rubbing the bruise that was rising in her forehead. She picked up the baby.

“Shh…shh…Mama’s here…there, don’t cry…”  

She had dared not leave the nursery until early morning, when it was time to leave for work. Of course, later in the day, Asphodel had come to pay her respects at the stall. 

“So, Eos, who do you think does it better with him, you or me?”

“I think nothing. I just wish you’d done it someplace other than the bed I’m suppose to sleep in.”

Asphodel’s face seemed to droop a little. “You’re not irked to know that your husband beds other women?”

“Take Olo for all I care. But Del,” Eos said, using the name all their friends had used when they were girls, “Del, despite your love of men, I thought you had more respect for both yourself and your friends.” 

~~~~~~~~~

Frodo tucked Crystal into bed, as he did every night. As he did every night, he sat on the bed a bit, stroking her hair and admiring her beauty and how much she had grown that day. Always he would wonder how much she would be like her mother when she grew up. 

He got up and stood by the window. The winter moon was shining at its fullest tonight. It lit up the tops of the trees, and the barns on other farms beyond. He could even see that figure walking near the fence…

Wait… the figure looked like that of a woman. Frodo saw the outline of a ragged cloak, and disheveled curls. Perhaps she was one of the homeless ones who came by looking for help. 

He grabbed his cloak and headed outside the hole. The woman seemed to be holding onto the fence and using it to boost her progress along the road. Was she ill?

“Good evening, miss,” he called, “May I be of some service to you?”

The woman looked up at him. Her face was illuminated in the moonlight, and Frodo could see who it was. 

“Eos?” he said. 

“Frodo,” she whispered. 



A.N.: Sorry to leave off here, folks, but I thought it’d be fun to expand using a cliff hanger.


Chapter 7 - Miss Took's Testimony

Chapter 7: Miss Took’s Testimony

“Frodo,” Eos whispered. He still looked beautiful after all those years. Was he too beautiful to be real? She must be dreaming…

She felt herself falling, and her vision blurred. She wondered if she would wake up anytime soon.

“Eos!” Frodo ran and caught her as she fell. “Oh, Eos, darling…”

“Is that really you, Frodo?” she asked faintly.

“It’s me, Eos, it’s Frodo,” he almost sobbed, burying his face in her hair. He noticed that she was shivering, and lifted her up. A few snowflakes fell into his hair.

“A snowstorm is threatening. I ought to get you inside. Can you walk?”

“Yes – I think so.”

“Here, lean on me.”

Frodo held Eos up as they made their way back to the Cottons’ hole. Coughs wracked Eos’s body. Frodo wrapped his cloak around her. She is ill, he thought.

Eos clung to Frodo’s arms as he helped her through the door. He held her as a huge cough tore through her. He took her cloak and hung it up on a peg. He then took a good look at her. Eos was much thinner than Frodo had remembered. In fact, she looked awfully famished. Also, the roses that once had seemed to bloom in her cheeks for eternity had now turned to pale lilies. Her dark eyes were morose and seemed almost wild from malnourishment and mistreatment. Her black hair had a single streak of grey running through it. 

What had happened to the vivacious, innocent Eos, whose smiles always held three large dimples, and cocked her head when one spoke to her? Who was cruel enough to make this happy beautiful creature so sad? 

Eos, half coughing, half sobbing, allowed Frodo to embrace her tightly and murmur her name over and over into her hair. “Oh, Eos, what happened?”

She tried to hold back a cough when she spoke. “It’s a long story, Frodo.”

“Mr. Frodo, do we have company at this time of night?” Sam’s voice came from the back of the hole. 

“Sam,” said Frodo, as his friend came into the foyer, “I think we should welcome back Miss Eos Took.” He put his hands on her noticeably frail shoulders. 

Sam’s eyes looked on the verge of popping. He leaned forward slightly, as if to affirm that it was indeed Eos. He then gathered himself together and said, “Eos – this is a surprise!”

Eos smiled shakily before another severe coughing fit came over her. “Rosie!” Sam called over his shoulder. He ran over to help Frodo keep her from collapsing. Rosie appeared. Her reaction was about the same as Sam’s. 

“Eos!? Is that you? Wha – ?” 

Sam put a hand on her arm. “Rosie-lass, I don’t think we should make her speak right now. She’s tired, she’s ill. Can you get her to your room to rest a bit?”

Rosie, lost for words, went and took Eos by the shoulders and gently steered her toward her room. Farmer Cotton was walking past when he saw Rosie with Eos. “What’s going on?” 

“Calm down, Mr. Cotton, Miss Eos just came by, and she was sick, so we had her come in,” Sam explained. 

“Does any of her family know about this?”

“I don’t think so,” said Frodo.

“Well then, we should at least tell her father – “

“No.”

Sam and Farmer Cotton both looked at Frodo, surprised at the firmness of his response.

“Why ever not?” asked Sam.

“I haven’t seen Eos in a long time, so I may not interpret her actions accurately, but I think if she had wanted her family to know she was back, she would have gone to them, not us.”

“Why do you think she wouldn’t want to go to her family? Her sisters, maybe? Berylla?”

“I don’t rightly know. But I wouldn’t take action until she tells us what she wants.” Frodo touched Eos’s blue cloak. It was ragged and barely wearable. Frodo remembered when it once had been new. In the few times he had glimpsed her over the years she had been married, he noticed it had gained patch upon patch, until the patches needed patches themselves. Someone hadn’t been treating her right. 

Olo Bracegirdle. It had to be. Memory of when he first saw Crystal came back to him.

“Daddy always hit her and she cried.” Crystal’s bruises and cuts from a whip. Her fluttery mannerisms when he first saw her. 

Frodo had got his man. And he didn’t think he was counting his chickens too early.

~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Rosie came to Frodo and Sam in the kitchen. “Frodo, I need to talk to you for a moment.”

They both stood in the hall outside Rosie’s room. “Frodo, Eos desperately wants you to be with her, but first I have to tell you something.” For a moment she wrung her apron nervously.

“What is it?”

“Eos seems to have been abused for over a number of years. When I was bathing her, I saw her torso, which was covered in yellow bruises and a good deal of whip weals. She has scars all over her, Frodo.” 

Frodo’s brow furrowed. “Did she tell you who beat and whipped her?”

“No. She was very scared. She wanted you to know first.”

Frodo put his hands in his breeches pockets and stared at the floor. At length he looked up and said, “How is she now?”

“She has a mild fever. She’ll recover within a week with the right treatment. Now please, go to her. She needs you.”

Frodo sighed and opened the door. The room was dimly lit. Frodo could see a dark-haired head propped up on the pillows. “Frodo?” Eos’s voice called to him in a faint, thin voice.

“Eos, I’m here.” Frodo sat on the bed beside her and took one of her tiny hands. It was bony and cold. “You needed me?”

“Just stay here with me, Frodo. I don’t need more.”

She regretted saying that. Her old sweetheart’s hypnotic blue eyes seemed to pierce her soul. “You’re not telling me the truth, Eos.”

Eos closed her eyes and breathed out hard. She squeezed Frodo’s hand. 

“Just tell me everything. From when you married till now.” Eos’s eyes fluttered open to gaze back at him. 

“Please tell me – Eos.” He said this in an almost begging tone. Frodo reached out to caress her cheek. The look of pure and utter love she saw in his eyes melted her heart. She began.

She told of her arranged marriage to Olo Bracegirdle and the pain of their wedding night. He had threatened to sleep with other women if she did not let him have his way with her, so she had let him. She had thought they would eventually come to love each other, but Olo knew no love, only lust. 

When the baby came, Olo slept other women anyway. And he started beating her often. 

“Olo was clever. When he beat me, he never touched my face, so that all my wounds would be hidden under my clothing. The only time that he ever harmed my face was when he threw me into the nursery, and I hit my forehead on a table.” She reached up and touched the scar, wincing from the memory. 

“I remember!” Frodo leaned forward to touch the scar. “I was walking past your stall one day when I noticed you in the back, nursing a huge cut on your forehead. That was the only time you were hurt in the head.” He looked at the cut thoughtfully. “Why did he throw you that time?”

“I caught him bedding another woman, and he became angry.” Eos tried to hide the tears leaping into her eyes, but Frodo saw. He wiped them gently away.

“But if he treated you so, why does it upset you?” he asked.

“It’s the woman that he was rutting in our bed with. Oh, Eru…” Eos turned away, weeping openly. Frodo took her in his arms and propped her head on his shoulder, shushing her softly. “What is it, Eos?”

“She was my friend, that is, up until that incident,” she spat bitterly. “Olo was sleeping with Asphodel Fields.”

“I remember Asphodel,” said Frodo. “Stringy red hair, quite round, right? Wasn’t she a tart who flirted with everyone at parties?”

“That’s the one.” Eos was quivering with anger in his arms. “I can’t believe I was once her friend. Asphodel, who bedded her friend’s husband!” 

Frodo sensed she wanted to explode right there in his embrace, so he held her closer to comfort her. “Eos, Eos, I need to know your story. I can’t find out if you don’t keep your hurt get in the way of your reasoning.”

Eos calmed down and snuggled closer to Frodo. “He did sleep with more women,” she said, “but I never found out which ones. I learned not to enter the bedroom if I heard noises from inside. I would sleep in the nursery. But he still kept beating me on a daily basis. The minimum was a smack in the shoulder. The worst times were when he was drunk. He once chased me around the hole with a belt in his hand.” She shuddered. “And as soon as Crystal could walk, he kicked her around also. I think you have an idea of what he did, having taken care of her.”

Frodo nodded. “When I first saw her I noticed the cuts and bruises on her arms. She told me Olo took away her playthings.”

“That he did. The thing was I was too scared to tell anyone what everyone what went on in my home. Not even my dear Berylla… Oh, Berylla.” She buried her face in Frodo’s vest.

“What about Berylla?”

“Asphodel and Berylla remain friends to this very day. When we were little girls, Asphodel would drag Berylla with her to spy on lads. Berylla was always her favorite, and Berylla always considered her as her best friend. I loved Berylla dearly, and I could not bear to have her think me a liar if I told her about Asphodel and Olo. Oh, Frodo, you do take my word, don’t you?”

“Don’t worry, Eos dear, I do.” Frodo kissed the top of her head. “Just tell me about when you went missing,” he whispered. He felt as though if he spoke any louder, he would break her. She felt so delicate right now. “Was that Olo’s handiwork too?”

“No.” Eos choked back a sob. “I ran away.”

“You ran away? But – but without Crystal - ?”

“I think I was going mad. Two months ago I – I guess I just became focused on one objective, and that was to get away. It was like an animal instinct, I just had to be free of everything in my current life. So, I – ran. You must think I’m horrible.”

Frodo shook his head. “Trust me, Eos, I’ve done worse. Where did you go?”

“I went to Bree and stayed there.”

“You just – stayed there? What did you do in Bree?”

“I did some crochet work which I sold. Then I would wonder around and watch people. Most of the time I just hid in my room in the Prancing Pony.” Eos’s eyelids were beginning to droop. But Frodo could not let her sleep yet. He needed to know a little more.

“What made you come back?”

“I heard – some of the locals talking. They said – Mr. Baggins had taken – custody – of Olo Bracegirdle’s - daughter.” She coughed. “I heard – she was under better care – so I decided to come back…” She struggled to stay awake. “I wanted – to know she was – under better care – that she was happy and thriving - Frodo, where is my little girl?”

“I tucked her in bed before I found you. She is happy, Eos, she’s fine.”

“Good.” Frodo let her lie back on the pillows. Eos turned to lie on her side, facing him. Eyes closed, she said, “There’s – another reason – I wanted to come back…”

Frodo waited.

“I wanted to know – that you still cared for me – like you once did.”

“I do, Eos, I do. I never stopped caring.” 

“That’s good,” Eos murmured sleepily. And she was asleep. 

Frodo kept gazing at her, never wanting to leave. Finally, he laid a lingering kiss on her knuckles and blew out the single candle in the room. He left and closed the door softly behind him.  

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