Tearose Underhill, according to rumours circulated in the Shire, is not the smartest hobbit. According to most hobbits, smart hobbits never leave the Shire if they know what’s good for them. Any hobbit who leaves the Shire is just asking for trouble!

Tearose thought about home as soon as she entered the mines of Moria. She immediately felt the oppressive darkness and it felt like she was doomed to certain death if she continued her trek through Moria.

The dwarf guards and miners in Moria were friendly enough, but they liked to tease Tearose when she suffered from vertigo traversing the various precarious stairs and bridges throughout Moria.

The warrior side of Tearose was determined to help the dwarves rid Moria of all manners of evil creatures, the least of which were goblins and orcs who had already murdered many dwarves and were now making their way towards Lothlorien in search of the Company who they knew had something of value to their evil Master.

The hobbit-sense side of Tearose wanted to turn back, and leave Moria, never to return. After all, there was plenty of work for her in other parts of Middle Earth, including in the Shire. So it was several days before Tearose made up her mind.

In the meantime, she hunted and slew many creatures, and though it took her longer to travel through the various deep caverns of the mines than most warriors, she still earned the respect of the dwarves and they would sing her praises in her absence.

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Pareth of Gondor and her companion Tule Sloughfoot waited patiently in the freezing cold outpost in Sûrî-Kylä for the other members of their hunting party. They would be travelling to Kuru-Leiri and it would be a cold long journey.

Pareth hated the cold and longed for the warmth of her home in southern Gondor. But she could not desert her companions now. There was so much to do and warriors of all races were desperately needed to stem the flow of evil creatures, all servants of Sauron.

Even in this frozen tundra, evil lingered. And the Lossoth peoples, who were not the most trusting sort, began to show their admiration of Pareth’s fellowship. The Lossoth gave Pareth some special ice wine that helps to dispel the cold which she gladly shared with her companions.

It wasn’t much, but that small gesture, gave Pareth hope. Even in this cold dreary place, people were generous if they trusted you, and that was all she needed to know to keep on going. Tule Sloughfoot’s cheerfulness helped too. The hobbit minstrel sang and played music whenever they weren’t fighting, and so Pareth couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. Tule charmed everyone she met. She was quite a likable hobbit but dangerous if crossed and Pareth respected her many abilities.

That night Tule, Pareth, and others in their group slew many evil creatures and their heroic deeds were talked about for many years to come.

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Throughout the Shire, rumours were circulating among the hobbits that trouble had reached Breeland. Ballanor set out to Buckland to meet with Celandine Brandybuck to find out just what was going on. Celandine was quite frank with Ballanor and admitted in confidence that she was frightened by the strange happenings as of late.

Not only were the creatures of the wild acting strange, but bands of brigands had been seen terrorizing travellers along the East Road, and worse still, there was talk about Black Riders who questioned residents about the whereabouts of “Baggins”. Of course, they were looking for Frodo Baggins, whom Ballanor knew was travelling East on a most urgent mission.

Most of the hobbits in the Shire thought Frodo was even crazier than his uncle Bilbo, and somehow that bothered Ballanor. From what little she had been told of Frodo’s secret mission, he was a brave young hobbit worthy of respect for even choosing to leave the Shire rather than bring trouble to its borders.

And so for several weeks Ballanor stayed in and around Buckland, the Old Forest, and the Barrow Downs, helping out as much as she could.

It seemed that word had spread to the Breeland hobbits that she was capable of inflicting serious harm to the enemy and she was kept quite busy. Ballanor didn’t mind. She was, in fact, quite fond of the little folk, and the hobbits knew it, so they came to love her too. Ballanor continued to protect the hobbits, a task she was quite willing to do, and she became known as the Friend of the Halflings.

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