[Child of the 7th Age]

Miz Bella stood beside the open door, carefully listening to the conversation that was going on between Neviel and his father. At first, she could scarcely believe her ears. A young Elf wanted to come and join her little school! In all her years travelling about Middle-earth, she had never heard of an Elf attending a classroom with hobbit or mannish children. In fact, she had never even encountered an Elvish child before in all the places she had journeyed. Fewer Elves were having families, and, of that small group, most had already trekked to the Havens and sailed away across the seas. Miz Bella wondered how many young Elves still remained in Middle-earth, and whether this lad might possibly be a little lonely, since he would have had few playmates of his own. She was proud, however, of the way the other hobbit lads had gently taken him under their wing and taught him to play their game.

For one moment, Miz Bella considered the problems of having an Elvish lad in the classroom. She simply did not feel qualified to teach such a youngster. For all she knew, the lad had probably heard a thousand ballads and poems about the early history of Arda and would be bored by the few little stories she could bring to the class. And how could she teach the alphabet to someone who already knew how to read and write runes, a skill that she did not even possess? And what about his father? The older Elf had a distant and slightly disdainful look on his face that suggested he was less than pleased with the idea of having his offspring in a classroom full of young rough and tumble hobbit lads.

For a moment Miz Bella hesitated and then, just as quickly, she decided. No matter who this was or what he already knew, she could not turn away a child who was eager to learn. The only problem would be persuading his father of that important fact!

Turning to face Neviel's father, she bobbed a curtsey in front of the Elf and addressed him politely, "We should be honored to have Neviel join us. I am sure we will be able to learn as much from him as he will from us."

Thalion shook his head and seemed to be going to say 'no' when Miz Bella sidled up to him and spoke in a whispered voice, "Please, give us a chance. Leave him here for the first day and see how things go. Then you can come back this afternoon to fetch him, and we can talk. I promise to take good care of him." With that final assurance, Thalion nodded, glancing back at Neviel who was beaming with excitement, and then headed reluctantly for the door.

Miz Bella turned to the other newcomer, an adult who was seated near the girls on the far side of the room. He evidently had something to say to her. "You wanted to speak with me?" she politely asked him. Miz Bella walked over to where the gentleman was seated, and was about to start a conversation, when she caught a glimpse of the way the school books were arranged on the shelf. Despite all her efforts to suppress a chuckle, she found herself giggling. With an effort she put on a straight face, cleared her throat , and looked kindly at Camille and Marigold, "Well, girls, this is most unusual. Either before or after our visitor speaks with me, you must tell me how you have arranged these books. It looks quite ingenious. The rest of you...., " Miz Bella added, "Please go ahead, take one of the slates, and sit down. We'll be starting our lessons shortly." Miz Bella looked at the stranger and the young hobbit lasses, waiting for one of them to reply.