Sam shielded a small candle with his hand as he made his way down the hall to Marigold's bedroom. He looked nervously toward his parents' room, worried sick that at any moment they'd wake up and he and Marigold would be found out, punished, and sent to bed. Then Marigold would get out of the oath and tell everyone, and Cami, Belle, and Elanor would be furious for getting out of bed and into the barrows for no purpose. And for the rest of his life, Sam would hear about it.
"Marigold," he whispered, pushing her gently. "Marigold! Wake up, it's time to go."
"Okay," she said with a little groan, and rolled out of bed. He waited for her, then blew out the candle, watched Marigold climb out of the window and then followed her.
"Hurry, or we'll be late," Sam whispered, taking his sister by the hand and breaking into a run once they were sufficiently far from their home.
"North," he murmured to himself, turning slightly. "Not much farther," he assured Marigold, watching her stifle a yawn.
Finally, the barrows came into sight. The mounds rose ominously before them, much more ominous in the dead of night (Sam scolded himself for his choice of words) than it was in the day. But whether or not Sam liked it, they had arrived.
On the road right outside of the barrows, Sam stopped, motioning to Marigold to wait. "We'll see Cami and them better if we wait here," he lied, not wanting to tell his little sister that he just didn't want to go in to the barrows alone, without any other children his age. He crouched down, keeping a keen eye on the road.
"Ooh!" he grunted as somebody tripped over him.
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"Sam!...It's Elanor- I had the worst time getting rid of Frodo."
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Sam stood up and nodded, dusting himself off. "I understand," he said quietly, looking down the road again. It was awfully dark...no, he wouldn't think about that. Elanor was here now, and they could talk, keep his mind off of the barrows. He gestured for Marigold to stand up and come by him--he didn't like the barrows, and he was sure that his sister didn't either. One look at Elanor's face told him that the feeling was unanimous. "Did Frodo ask a lot of questions?" he inquired, to take both of their minds off of their surroundings.
[ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Orual ]