[Child of the 7th Age]

There was so much chatter and upset going on within the room that no one noticed the solitary figure hunched over just outside the window. It looked to be a male hobbit, stylishly attired and in his late tweens. The lad's left ear was pressed tight to the outer window pane, as he strained to listen to the words exchanged inside. The sheltering arms of the myrtle bush, still thick with purple blossoms, hung down obligingly and hid him from the eyes of all who tramped in and out the main doorway at Bag-end.

A muttered growl escaped the hobbit's lips. Just look at all these folk, he mused. They're probably friends of that dreadful Bilbo. And they're sitting there and enjoying themselves in what should be my personal sitting room. It was indeed a painful sight.

As the lad pressed his ear ever tighter to the pane, he began to pick up the gist of what was being planned. A birthday party for Frodo, and, even more than that, a surprise birthday party.

Lotho Sackville-Baggins sat back on his heels and laughed with glee! This was just the kind of thing he could use to his advantage. For a minute he contemplated racing off to the steps of the Green Dragon Inn in order to disclose the secret there and then to Frodo. Then he shook his head. That was too easy. He wanted to do something that would make all these silly people squirm, and maybe teach them a lesson or two.

What great fools these hobbits were. The children were already squabbling with each other. It wouldn't take too much to encourage their nastiness, and they'd be throwing rocks at one another, unable to cooperate or help plan any party.

As for the older ones who were to set out on the road, he'd have a stronger medicine in store for them. Bandits? They were afraid of bandits? He sneered to think that the hobbits actually took that rumor seriously. His family had reliable informers in several corners of the Shire and, as far as they could tell, the talk of bandits was just a lot of hooey, probably made up by mothers who didn't want their little ones to stray too far from home.

Well, if they wanted bandits, his own mother would probably be happy to oblige. Nothing too extreme, but enough to shake up Bilbo's frends and scare them aplenty.

Lotho stuck his head out of the bush, kept a watchful eye, and waited for the coast to clear. At just the right moment, he bolted out from the garden and sprinted across the field, straight back towards his home, bearing news that Loblia would surely welcome.