[Ithaeliel]

"You wanted to hear my life story, eh, Pippin? All right then, here we are then:

I am not entirely sure of my birthplace, although it would not really matter much anyway, as all our kind were migrant back in that time; but my parents used to tell me, when I asked, that I was conceived here in Eriador, somewhere in the land that is called Eregion by the elves that you were raised by. I had to get used to travelling perpetually at a very young age. My immediate family was reluctant to be moving from place to place all the time, having no land to rightfully call one's home, living in grubby holes by the riverbank instead of wondrous, comfortable, safe homes such as the elves were rumored to live in, and those are what our hobbit-holes in the Shire are now. Thus, I grew up traveling, although I always wanted to settle somewhere eventually. When I was around three and thirty years old, Mr. Marcho and Mr. Blancho, along with their tribe of Harfoots, came to our tribe of Fallohides, announcing that they had found a pleasant land of rolling green hills scattered with tall trees, and it was just beyond the lovely Baranduin River. They claimed it was a perfectly quaint and homey land, and I believed them, be sure I did. I, along with a small number of others, decided to go with them. Many of my relatives refused to come, claiming they liked to see new places and have adventures. Bah! This whole land is an adventure every day. There's the old forest, the river running beside it, where so many can take a boating trip if they can brave the water; then there's the Barrow Downs, full of dangerous wights and ghostly princes who sacrifice with their cold hand anyone who ventures into the place... but then there's that merry ol' feller, Tom Bombadil. He is said to reside there, driving out many of the ghastly haunters in the barrows, although many hobbits, including myself, have never seen him. So, at the moment, I've taken to wife the prettiest, kindest hobbit lass in all the Southfarthing, and we have a grand home in Buckland. I will miss the Shire whilst we are gone... but all the better to return to. All the better."

Pippin smiled. "Oh, Mr. Ardo, that was wonderful! You're amazin' with stories, sir."
Ardo laughed. "I'm not quite so prosy as I'd like to think, Pippin. Say, you and I ought to be partners on this journey, young lad. I could show you some things that I've seen in my time as a vagrant."
That was exactly what Pippin had wanted to hear. "It would be my greatest honor, sir! I can't wait!"