"The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that."
Fairies are one of the oldest race of beings in Arda -once they called Numenór home- but Arethusa watched as the sea claimed the island from the helm of a ship as the survivors fled to...
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"OH, that smells heavenly my dear Bilbo." Her nose had guided her to the kitchen at nearly seven o'clock on the dot. Eggs, bacon, sausages, and crumpets had been set out on the table. With a rumbling stomach, Arethusa assembled two egg crumpets and settled on a slice of cheese and an apple, not particularly caring for meat at the moment.
Bilbo reached out, taking his cup of orange juice in hand. "What is the wandering healer going to do today?" She mused over the question for several long seconds.
"First, bathe Mazey. She's filthy from the mud and I promised her a bushel of carrots and apples. I suppose I'll go gather some of the flowers and grasses to start preparing my balms and tonics again afterward," Arethusa paused for a moment to remember the mental list of supplies she wished to obtain in the Shire, one of them being Southfarthing pipeweed (it worked marvelously on burns). "I promise to be back before sundown that way you can hear all about my adventures over supper," she added.
The hobbit smiled, "Yes, that sounds like quite the plan."
Arethusa finished off her plate and placed it in the sink. She thanked Bilbo and gave the hobbit a small peck on the cheek before running out the door to complete the tasks she had laid out for the day. Mazey was munching on flowers and tall green grass atop the hobbit hole that lived below Bag End. Untying the reins, Arethusa led her pony to the stream and began scrubbing away caked on mud from her legs and underside.
The sun was at its highest point by the time she had finished washing and grooming the pony, as promised she bought a bundle of carrots and a basket of apples leaving them and Mazey in a close patch of grass. Arethusa ventured back to the most populated part of Hobbiton. Hobbit children gathered round her, pleading to hear of her stories, unable to resist she sat on a bench and spoke of the time she had encountered an estranged warg and of the time she had met the elves of Rivendell, and even mentioned a tale or two about a skinchanger. Her stories about the elves were by far the most popular; they had a strange fascination with hearing stories of Lord Elrond and his people. By the time her tales had been told it was growing late and she had yet to even begin collecting herbs and flowers.
Arethusa hadn't seen him at first, but she bumped into Bilbo as he hid behind a cart piled high with straw and hay. "I already told you Gandalf, I want no part in your adventure." His voice was clipped and curt.
She tapped his shoulder, startled the hobbit turned, "Bilbo?"
Bilbo breathed a deep sigh of relief, "Arethusa, I thought you were Gandalf," he confessed, eyes lowered to the ground at his outburst.
"I can see that much. I knew that wizard was up to no good." His attention snapped to Arethusa at the mention of the wizard again as he took a fish and tossed a coin to the seller.
The hobbit padded back up the hill, toward Bag End. "You saw him too?" He asked.
She nodded, "Yes, on the way here. He stopped for only a minute or two and said that he would see me again soon. I knew he was meddling in something," her voice was amused, long had she admired the wizards ability to keep secrets but this kind of meddling was unprecedented.
