[Child of the 7th Age]

Dishes, food, and clothes were scattered haphazardly about the burrow as Maura and Cami finished their supper and gazed out the window that stood facing the pool. A full moon beamed down on the pond and the surrounding foliage, outlining the small burrow that Cami had chosen to be their own.

Everything was peacefully quiet. The only sounds heard were a few frogs croaking their nightime melodies and a lonely neekerbreeker weaving its counterpoint into the song. Cami wondered if the neekerbreeker could possibly be Bird, but thought it unlikely.

She knew that only a few guests were left at the Inn. Most had departed for Bag-end or to the dinner party that Amaranthas was giving. Last minute invitations had even been found for Zira and her family, and Cami's daughter Rose who had recenty arrived in the Shire.

Maura extended his hand to Cami and gently guided her to the simple pallet that lay on the floor in front of the hearth. The two snuggled close, their hands clasped together, tickling one another with their toes.

"I love you, Cami Goodchild," Maura whispered softly into her ear, as Cami reached up and slipped her arms comfortably about his shoulders. The two hobbits nestled close, with Cami's small heart thumping wildly. For a very long time, neither of them moved, afraid to break the spell of intimacy and moonlight that seemed to be flooding into the burrow.

Cami stared intently at this hobbit whom she cherished more than any other in the world, and then asked, "Do you know the words to say?"

"Yes, don't worry. We recite the promises in the morning, as the sun rises."

"Your own parents did this?"

Maura laughed, "Yes, and every other hobbit in Beleriand. Enough talking, Cami." He reached out eagerly towards her soft form and drew her ever closer, their arms and legs intertwined. Then, with no prior warning, Cami suddenly pulled back to her side of the mat and sat straight up, with a puzzled expression spilling over her face.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Shh! Listen." She reached out and tugged Maura into a sitting position, placing her hand on his knee and cautioning him to remain silent.

For half a minute, nothing happened. Then a series of caterwauls split the air, loud and insistent wails. Instantaneously, Maura's eyes met Cami's, the two hobbits' jaws dropping open as they shoved open the door and rushed out of the burrow in the direction of the crying. Lying in the water, directly before them, was a large wicker basket, such as a Stoor might use to float a young child in a tranquil pond.

"By the One, what is this?" Maura intoned in disbelief.

"A little one," Cami chirped in.

"That I can see." Maua looked puzzled as he pushed through the reeds at the edge of the pond, intending to retrieve the small boat and its occupant. He drew the large wicker basket out of the waters and handed it directly to his wife.

Cami lifted up the coverlet, and took a peek inside, "It's a girl. A Stoor, I think. About two-years old. Perhaps she's lost her mother. We'd best run to Bag-end and tell Sam to find her parents."

"I don't think so. Look at her clothes." Maura took the young lass into his arms to look at her more closely. She was still howling miserably. He leaned over and let his mind float and merge with hers, searching through the images that the child had seen. He cradled the toddler in his arms, pressed his lips to her brown curls, and placed her back on Cami's lap.

The two hobbits were talking loudly to make themselves heard above the child's ever growing racket. "I can't be sure of everything. But she's from Greenwood. Someone placed her outside your door. Then Lorien's dream pulled her here wth us."

"But who did that? Who brought her to me? And why?" Cami countered.

Maura shook his head as he looked down into the child's small face, "I'm not sure. But I can guess why. They wanted someone with a soft heart to take her in." Maura hesitated a moment, then continued. "This place where you live, are there Orcs?"

"Orcs? No!" Cami shuddered slightly. "I haven't seen an Orc since I left Beleriand." Maura said nothing but wondered, since he'd had a clear glimpse in the child's mind of her mother and father hewn down by great Orc blades.

The hobbits took turns walking with the young lass, improvising a sling made with some cloth torn from Cami's petticoat. It was over an hour later when the little one finally fell asleep, after a whole string of hobbit and Elvish lullabyes and three cups of milk that had been left over from supper. After tucking the lass into the basket, Cami tugged insistently at Maura's arm. They made their way back to the pallet, intending to take up where they'd last left off. Maura clasped his arms gently about Cami, as she gradually relaxed and moved in closer. Then suddenly, from nowhere, another loud and even more discordant noise began to grate against their ears.

A look of horror flashed over Maura's face as he put his hand on his brow and sat up groaning, "Oh, dear! Cami, I forgot to tell you."