[Child of the 7th Age]

Child felt the hull of the ship lurch forward. Daisy instinctively reached out to grab Child's hand.

The older woman spoke soothingly, "Don't worry, it's probably some navigational problem. You never know when Piosenniel takes the helm."

Silently, however, Child wondered. Had the time-travel device activated prematurely because of the storm, or had the winds intensified to throw them off course? Still, as long as Ulmo himself had not come to tip them into the water, Child decided to remain where she was and to find out something about the girl.

"Daisy," Child continued, "The first thing you must do is stop calling me 'Mistress Goodchilde.' Your family, like mine, were farmers in the Shire. There is nothing dishonorable about that. So I am certainly not your 'Mistess'. Please call me Child, which is what all my friends do."

"Secondly, you must tell me exactly how you got here, and why you crept onto this vessel without permission. I am concerned that your parents, or Thain Peregrin, may be worried about where you are."

Daisy sullenly shrugged, "You needn't worry. My mother died last year, and I've been on my own ever since. I started working for the Tooks last month as I had no other place to go."

"But why didn't you stay with your own kin?" questioned Child, as this would have been the normal pattern for a young hobbit.

Indeed, after her own parents' deaths, Child herself had been cared for by Cousin Bell Goodchild, wife of Hamfast Gamgee. This was how she had first met Bilbo Baggins who had then done everything possible to encourage his young neighbor in her strange bent for learning.

Daisy shook her head, "My relatives were not eager to take in the daughter of a seafaring hobbit. My mother's family were Greenhands, but my father was a Stoor, and the Sea called to his heart. He went over the waters, and I have never seen him since."

She continued, "I let Master Pippin know that I would be absent several days to visit a friend. But I did tell another servant to tell him the truth after your ship pulled out of port."

"The truth? countered Child, "What is the truth?"

Daisy replied, her eyes glittering for the first time, "The truth is that I was with Masters Pippin and Merry, helping in the marketplace, when Mistress Rose came to speak with them, talking about her adventures. I decided then that I wanted to be like my father. I would never return to the Shire, but would sail out with Mistress Rose and her friends upon The Lonely Star."

"I actually planned to speak with her because she promised to visit the next day. Instead, she sent Pippin a note of apology, explaining that her friends had an audience with the King. So I disguised myself, ran away, and slipped onto your ship while you were at court. Later, I found my way to your cabin and your papers because I wanted to understand where we were going. And, yes, I did borrow a bag of mushrooms from the galley so I would not starve."

The hull of the vessel again lurched forward. Child looked at Daisy and thought, "You do not know what you have gotten into!" Aloud, she merely told her to lie down and rest, while she went up on deck to find out if anything had happened.

[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]