[Child of the 7th Age]

Later that same morning, Cami raced down the lane from her family's burrow heading in the direction of Bag-end. Unlike the other children, she'd spent the night at home with her parents, eating dinner and finishing chores, and so had heard nothing about Belle's accident or the subsequent arrival of Ned.

She found Bilbo sitting on his doorstep, smoking a pipe and taking in a bit of the cool morning air. He wished her a hearty good morning, then began explaining everything that had happened since the night before. As Frodo had left the house to go walking in the woods, there was little need for them to try and mask their conversation. Cami inquired if she could come in to see Marigold, but the younger hobbit had aready slipped off to sleep and Bilbo thought it best not to wake her.

The two of them sat together on seats by the round green door, chatting of this and that, as Bilbo blew out beautiful grey rings of smoke, watching them float upwards and disappear over The Hill. When it was time to leave, Cami picked up another packet of invitations that she promised to deliver that afternoon. Then she asked Bilbo a question, which no one had thought of before.

"Why don't you give me Belle's too?" she suggested, "The ones she never got around to delivering yesterday."

Bilbo furled his brow and looked up surprised, "Belle's invitations? There weren't any. When Sam brought Belle back, he wasn't carrying any invitations. Perhaps Belle finished delivering them."

Now it was Cami's turn to look puzzled, "That's strange. Yesterday, in the market, near the end of the day, I ran into two of the families who live up by the Water, and they swore they never received any invitations at all."

"Is that so?" Bilbo narrowed his eyes and looked suspicious, but then said very calmly, "I expect it was just a mistake. Sam just forgot to pick them up. Belle probably dropped them on the path, and they're still sitting there. Naturally, Sam was more concerned with Belle and her injury, than in trying to retrieve any lost packets."

He looked over at Cami, "You know where Belle fell down?" The girl nodded her head in response. "Please do me a favor. Check the pathway where Sam found Belle, and retrieve the missing ones, then bring them back here so I can have a look at them. Be careful not to run into Frodo, or let him know what you're doing."

Cami promised she would take care of that, and was about to run off on her errands, when Bilbo's voice again called out to her, "Cami, take care. Keep a good eye on what's going on, and if you see anything that looks suspicious, don't wait around to investigate, just get out of there." Cami nodded and, as she left Bag-end, wondered what Bilbo's last words had really meant.