Hobbits love celebrations of any kind and Yule, in particular, is one of their favorites, because they are so fond of feasting and presents. In truth most hobbits don’t need any excuse for a celebration, and Pareth embraced their carefree attitude.

This year, Pareth was determined to enjoy the festivities and entertain her hobbit friends, so she decorated her temporary home in the Shire. The Elves gave her beautiful garlands for her parlor, and a lovely snow globe which she placed in her bedroom so she could day dream while she stared into it.

She laid out some food for her guests and she changed out of her usual warrior armour, to a dress. It felt good to feel feminine and pampered. It was a very pleasant change from hunting orcs and the like, when she was constantly dirty from the travelling in the wild.

“Well”, thought Pareth with a sigh, “Thank goodness for hobbits and their good cheer. They make my heart glad. Now where are they? They’re late!”

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Pareth rode back to the Shire for a short rest before leaving again the next afternoon. She felt completely at ease waiting alone at night for her friends to arrive.

Pareth enjoyed looking at the stars in the sky from the top of a hill in the Shire neighborhood of Folkhop. It was quiet and peaceful and she had time to think. Her thoughts turned towards concerns about her home. She wondered how things were going in Gondor. She sensed that she was needed home but she knew she couldn’t get there yet.

She sighed in frustration because it was out of her hands. Pareth knew that she had many commitments – promises that she had made to the Elves in Rivendell and in Lothlorien. And she knew first hand that the Elves were right. Evil lurked in every corner of Middle Earth, and no race was safe.

And if Pareth had a special concern for the little people, these hobbits in the Shire, whose love of life was legendary, no one could blame her. She couldn’t bear the thought of any harm coming to them for she had grown to love hobbits, whose simple happy ways delighted her.

So she waited for her friends in the dark, these wonderful folk who had taken residency in a quiet town in the Shire. And she chuckled to herself, for she knew that tonight they would laugh and they would sing and dance until the wee hours. And they would all forget for a while.

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Tearose was spotted at the crafting booths of Michel Delving recently and it wasn’t long before news of her return spread through the Southfarthing. Tearose, weary and with her mind on other matters of importance, was oblivious to the stares and the whispers from nosey hobbits.

Indeed, weary as she was, Tearose was preparing for yet another journey, and this time she was not going too far. So she sold her crafts and purchased more supplies and rode on to her humble hobbit home for a much needed rest.

She was not seen for many days after her return home and visitors were sent away and told that she needed her rest and did not want to be disturbed. Her friends and family were concerned. She was like a different hobbit, quieter, almost sad. And that wasn’t like Tearose at all.

What happened to Tearose in Forochel? Her friends and family never found out, for she never spoke of that place again and when the topic came up she changed the subject politely but quickly. So they didn’t pry. But they watched her protectively for they knew she had been injured badly, and not physically as far as they knew.

Tearose had changed forever and it was no wonder. For few hobbits knew what evil lurked on the very borders of the Shire. But Tearose had seen evil first hand. She had battled orcs and goblins, vicious wargs, trolls that knocked her senseless, and all manner of creatures who had become vicious and diseased. She had seen too much and she was overwhelmed and very frightened for her people.

What was to become of Middle Earth if brave protectors like Tearose Underhill were badly injured or worse? For hobbits, elves, dwarves and men had banded together for the first time in the history of Middle Earth to fight against the minions of Sauron and his puppet Saruman, and many had been slain or badly hurt. And before the wars were all over, and the King returned to Gondor, many warriors would not return home.

Tearose knew that she was lucky to be alive and she also knew that she wanted to stay that way. So she made an important decision, the only decision that made sense to her at the time. “After all”, she thought, “I’ll be needed close by soon enough”.

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