Despite a cold, late start to Year 1344, the month of Forelithe had been sunny and fine so all hobbits were looking forward to their midsummer festival – a four day party this year with an extra Overlithe day. Gorboduc had created the most perfect little nursery at Gogglegard, but was returning to Kings Worthy with Primula who wanted to be with her mum for the birth. Edgar and Bella’s rooms at High Hay Hall were filled to overflowing with all the really interesting mathoms which they had collected but, as Bella was also expecting, their deadline for clearing at least one room for a nursery loomed large. Fortunately both Mungo and Marroc were eager to sort and catalogue items for return. Tobold had continued to write to any dwarven tinker from the Blue Mountains that he could find and had received a wide variety of watermill plans back, ranging from finely detailed etchings to kiddy sketches. He had started to create a series of wooden scale models of these. Marroc sent package after package of honey samples and cakes to Estella down in Hobbiton and had received several friendly if bemused letters in reply. Halfred worked day and night at both Pitterfields and The Old Harp Tavern in an attempt to work off some of his huge social debt. But the busiest of all, of course, was Isenbold, who had to get new rooms ready at Mugglewort Place for his imminent marriage to Miss Poppy Dibbs at midsummer. Despite these growing signs of maturity, the hobbits also found themselves at the centre of stories from East Farthing about a group of foolhardy youngsters who had been messing around on boats – in the middle of the Brandywine – for fun!
It was thus an older and wiser crew who gathered at The Three Pigs Tavern for a celebration. With the ease of practice they booked a private room and beer for Isenbold’s stag party, and Marroc contributed a small jar of poppy mead thefted from his smial for the occasion. Begonia bounced in to hand over specially engraved wedding rings to Marroc for safekeeping as best man, but he wimped out of telling her about Estella. It was left to Edgar to go and arrange food from Goodwife Alice and for Gorbadoc to talk to Begonia and warn her that Marroc’s interest had moved elsewhere. By lunchtime the summer fair had finished setting up on the meadows so they ventured out to buy wedding presents and other gifts. The most successful haggler by far was Halfred who managed to acquire an entire ‘sample set’ of brightly coloured silk pieces (each big enough for a hobbit-sized scarf) from Master Bernard Colwater, a human merchant of luxury goods from Tharbad who foolishly expected a great deal next year. Notably the usual dwarven quarter was looking decidedly empty apart from one forlorn tent being set up by Bifin and Bifog, sons of Bifur, who had not found rooms in town. The group promptly invited them to crash at the party and join the wedding too. The dwarves declared themselves honoured to ‘witness the legal continuation’. As they put finishing touches to decorations, Edgar found himself preventing a mock pirate voyage onto the millpond. He could not believe that he was becoming the responsible one.
That evening the music and entertainment started in the town square, and their stag party began in the overlooking tavern room. Edgar managed one good song before being dragged off by Isenbold to retrieve Chalky the no-longer-so-little pig. Halfred continued his run of luck and pulled Marigold away for a dance or two. Tobold could not cheer up Begonia but was passed along to Pearl Hedgehopper, the baker’s daughter, for a lively gavotte. Eventually Marroc gathered everyone together for a formal toast to the happy couple using special, watered-down, medicinal mead which he had provided just for this occasion. The hobbits declared it a fine liqueur indeed but it had an unexpected effect on their dwarven guests. Bifog slid under the table after his very first cup, and Bifin was weaving so badly he sat on the floor until the room ceased rotating. Dwarves appeared to be especially susceptible to this drink. During the commotion Mungo slid out the window to compete in a riddle contest taking place in the town square. He began well but the crowd were hoping for much more wedding innuendo. Happily this was provided by his cousin Marroc who hung out of the window heckling with a length of black pudding in hand. Marroc won the applause.
Sometime after midnight, when all were very inebriated, they decided to fry up more snacks and the black pudding in dwarven waybread toast was consumed with gusto. Thus fortified they decided to re-examine all their pirate clues and other items from Gandad Otto’s legacy. By this point the battered old tricorn had endured a lot of handling during the party; its inner band broke off to reveal some strange stitching on the inside. With yet more mead of inspiration they managed to copy down four lines of stitching with reasonable accuracy; it looked like chicken scratchings. Bufin managed to focus long enough to confirm that those were not any type of dwarven writing. There were many, many suggestions on what it might mean, but eventually they decided to wait until they were all much less inspired. They had no further memories of that night.
The dwarves roused everyone early next morning simply by pouring a bucket of water over each reveller. They cleaned up, got changed and ordered breakfasts. While tidying up both Gorboduc and Marroc noticed the Burrows family booking into The Old Harp Tavern opposite. Mr Baggins was also booking in. They both hurried over to welcome the party and Marroc as official representative of the groom’s family got them all organised, paying particular attention to Estella. Goboduc excused himself and headed back to the Dibbs household to check on Primula and make sure the hen party had all survived. The gentlemen got themselves sorted and trooped over to the Town Hall where most of the Hackenbottoms were already waiting. Unfortunately, Uncle Carl and family had sent their apologies as they were too busy with the harvest. Both dwarves attended and made sure to bring their best and sharpest axes. The Dibbs party paraded in and the very first thing Isenbold noticed was that Poppy was looking mildly irritated. Insight from Gorboduc and Tobold revealed that this was most likely because the white decorations were being re-used from her sister’s wedding last winter. There was a small delay while Gorboduc organised some of the hobbit children to go collect poppy petals for confetti afterwards.
The ceremony started with the usual checking of names and legal obligations. But when Dame Jowett got to the part asking if anyone had any objections, an unknown hobbit lass at the back stood up and loudly declared that Isenbold was already married and that she had the papers to prove it. Everyone was astounded, especially Isenbold, but when he turned around she realised that she was at the wrong wedding. There was a longer delay while she was escorted out and pointed in the general direction of Hardbottle. Poppy was by now decidedly annoyed. The ceremony resumed but before they could get to the exchange of vows they were delayed again. This time because Primula’s waters broke dramatically and messily in the hall. Fortunately there were plentiful clean, white drapes around. Poppy was by now enraged and flung her white bouquet across the hall with considerable force. Dame Jowett sent for the midwives and shooed out all the menfolk apart from Gorboduc. Some of the bachelors were inclined to think that either it would all be over in a few minutes, or that the ceremony could continue around the blood and screaming. They were quickly disabused of this idea and retreated to The Three Pigs.
As the afternoon wore on the hobbits continued to puzzle at the chicken scratchings. Mungo established that it wasn’t any kind of substitution code. A select portion was shared with Mr Baggins who confirmed that it was neither dwarvish nor elven, but he did join them to speak to Masters Bifin and Bifog and they were soon deep in discussion about matters in Erebor. Halfred was inclined to agree with the notion that the scratchings were missing lines, but couldn’t quite figure out what that reminded him of. Other hobbits were busy trying to reschedule the wedding once Dame Jowett sent over a note that the Town Hall would not be reset until the morrow. It quickly became obvious that the backlog of weddings would fill up that next day, so Edgar set off to persuade the good dame to give up her Overlithe holiday and redo the ceremony then. With eloquent persuasion and the gift of a fine dwarven brooch Dame Jowett agreed that this was a splendid idea. Marroc arranged for new, colourful flowers for decoration. Mungo confirmed folklore that it would be an auspicious day. Eventually, as evening drew in, a stunned Gorboduc appeared at the tavern to announce the arrival of his daughter, Iris Shelltoe, in good health (she had unusual very pale hair). Everyone cheered. Mr Baggins fetched a bottle of Old Winyard to toast her arrival and the Arkwrights broke into song celebrating wedding disasters.
Next day, Midyear’s day, was unexpectedly clear so the hobbits arranged a picnic and sightseeing trip to Dumblebee Dale for their guests. They took a few wagons and ponies so as not to fatigue anyone and started eastwards at a gentle amble. Isenbold spent the morning carefully mediating between the Hackenbottoms and the Noakeses in an effort to resolve the old feud. As it was such a nice day and happy occasion his efforts went well and it eventually became apparent that no-one could remember what the original cause was. All was forgiven, whatever it was. Mungo shared a wagon with Master Reginald Burrows and effected a second interview of sorts, impressing the elder with his knowledge and studiousness but still suppressing any flashes of wit. Halfred spoke to all of the older Hackenbottoms and gained an adult perspective on his Grandad Otto and the problems that his long absences caused. They described him as more feckless and unreliable than Halfred guessed. Marroc acted as a tour guide as the road wound through the dramatic landscape and found opportunity to recount their heroic rescue of hobbit children from a blizzard. The Burrows family, and Estella, were suitably impressed.
By late morning the expedition pulled to a halt in lush haymeadows densely planted with colourful wildflowers of all kinds. The day was sunny with cooling gusts of breeze and the picnic spread out on blankets was especially magnificent. Everone complimented the beautiful scenery and the spectacular views in all directions; they particularly admired the sunlit meadows contrasting with the dark clouds passing by way up in the hills to the north. The local hobbits reassured them that the storm would miss their picnic but Marroc, after a second assessment, realised that those very dramatic stormclouds indicated a flash flood higher up the Wan Burn valley. This would threaten part of Kings Worthy and especially stonemasons’ docks where the bridal party were staying. Immediately Tobold, Edgar, Mungo, Gorboduc, Isenbold and Halfred insisted on riding back to raise an alarm. Marroc opted to guide their guests onward to Dumblebee and await news.
The hobbits took the ponies and sped back across country to Kings Worthy where they noisily raised the alarm and managed to evacuate all the smials and workshops along the banks of the Wan, including the Dibbs household. Despite it being bad luck to see the bride, Isenbold was not able to rest until he had found Poppy, but could not spot her amongst the throng. The townsfolk were just starting to pile up barriers when they heard a distant, dull roar growing in magnitude accompanied by sickening crunching sounds. The flood surge swept through the east meadows carrying a mass of splintered timber within it. Thanks to their timely warning there were no injuries and the damage to property was repairable. Unfortunately, by this point Isenbold had manaded to speak to most of Poppy’s friends and family, none of whom had seen her recently. Lily and Rowan remembered that she wanted some quiet time to do a little theraputic painting, and Primula knew that she often headed to her favourite riverside picnic spot. Isenbold immediately called for a search party.
With time of the essence, friends and family and neighbours spread out to hunt through the floodwaters and debris all down the valley. The lads opted to tackle the most difficult terrain and soon discovered that the task was very difficult amongst the tangle of uprooted trees, new boulder fields and sudden swamps. Gorboduc co-ordinated as best he could and tried to keep the search systematic. Mungo intended to fetch maps, until he noticed that Bilbo and Lily were headed out to search together so he volunteered to go with them instead. Edgar confidently searched the valley sides immediately below High Hay Hall but found nothing except an unexpectedly deep bog, from which he emerged covered in leeches and mud. Halfred also waded through extensive new wetlands below Toft Bridge and was concerned to notice that standing water was already teeming with larvae and new insect life; he would need to watch for diseases in the coming weeks.
Tobold struggled over and through a maze of boulders snagged in amongst sodden tree roots and was not making much progress until he ran into a family of curious otters. They chattered away at him and he felt like he really ought to have understood what they were saying. He dug in his pockets to offer some food scraps and other oddments but unusually they snatched up shiny trinkets (a few dwarven springs and widgets) to keep. Thereafter his search became a lot easier as they helped him find paths through the debris, although they never did stop scolding him and chattering along the way.
Mungo, Lily and Bilbo picked their way through the swirling sykes of the northern dells and were in frequent danger of being swept off their feet by draining floodwater. They relied heavily on their walking sticks to stay upright and probe for safe footing. Eventually, after dodging half a dozen whirlpools, Lily stuck her head close to the water and spoke a few pleading words before dumping her ham sandwiches into the stream. The swirls and undertow immediately subsided; Mungo and Bilbo both looked a question at her. “Well the nixie at home likes meat, so I thought the ones here might want the same,” she explained, apparently unaware how much that comment unsettled both her suitors, for a number of reasons.
Elsewhere Isenbold was putting all of his hunting skills to good use and had searched deep into the willow woods and tall reeds of the far Norbourn. He found a promising trail of disturbed vegetation but his way was emphatically blocked by a pair of irate nesting swans. Tempted as he was to just shoot them and press on, hobbit folklore was full of stories about swans’ close connections with elves and even that some might be shape-changing princesses in disguise. He wisely opted to circle wide around them. A little while later he was intercepted by an agitated Gorboduc who had noticed, from his vantage point, that all the hobbits had somehow become diverted by their encounters away from one particular place. They headed towards that area and soon found themselves looking at a wooded isle in the middle of the rushing river. There, on the far bank, was Poppy looking dazed but unharmed, much to Isenbold’s relief. Gorboduc helped Isenbold to rig a rope crossing but left the actual rescue to him. As they helped Poppy to safety they heard, faintly on the wind, the glissando of a laughing harp.
During this hectic afternoon Marroc had been extremely busy keeping the rest of the Hackenbottom party entertained and frankly showing off the wonders of his home smial to the Burrows branch in particular. Dumblebee’s extensive collection of hives, bees and bee products were admired and Estella was treated to a demonstration of basic bee-keeping. Both families were cautiously approving of Marroc’s obvious interest but they did have to point out to him that she was only 29, which was a little young for betrothment by hobbit standards. Since the young lass herself was unaware of the significance of his special attention Marroc was warned to exercise patience, which was not his strongest attribute. An attempt to enlist his Grandma’s support was thwarted when she retired early pleading old age and infirmity. He was not fooled but she refused to be drawn on her opinion. The guests were persuaded to stay overnight and enjoyed an evening of songs and riddles from the musical side of the Noakes family.
Back at Greenfields the search and rescue parties gathered at Pitterfield smial to revive themselves with a feast and roaring fire. Everyone was delighted at Poppy’s lucky escape; she was found to be physically uninjured and her worrying daze soon wore off. Edgar took a little longer to stop shivering. The group agreed to head back to town at dawn the following day. They planned to cut over to Dumblebee Dale to avoid the worst flooded areas. That evening they raided the Pitterfield pantries for a heartening supper and Halfred caught sight of his Nana’s old rolling pin, now mostly used as a tenderiser because of its deep striations on the barrel. The markings put him in mind of those chicken scratchings from the pirate hatband and sure enough, after a little turning around and reversing, the two sets of marks eventually matched up. This excited great interest in the Kings Worthy hobbits and it became difficult to conceal all the extra activity in the pantry. Fortunately, Lily was able to keep Bilbo distracted in the parlour while both Tobold and Mungo used the dwarves’ simplified Angerthas primer to translate:
At dawn the Pitterfield party set off and reached Dumblebee in time to join the rest of the wedding party. Poppy was much taken by the colourful flower meadows around the smial and recruited the ladies for a rapid gathering. The wagons set off back to town and arrived in good time for everyone to get changed for the rescheduled wedding. The lasses hastened off to decorate The Willow Lords Arms as their improvised reception venue, and neighbours rallied around with gifts of extra food dishes. At 11 of the clock all gathered at the town hall and it was noted that the Dibbs procession arrived with many summer flowers and all the most colourful layers of dresses that they could get hold of. Poppy especially was wearing as many different clashing colours as possible. Dame Jowett collected everyone’s attention. The dwarves glared menacingly at the audience. Vows were finally exchanged and everyone cheered heartily. The reception afterwards spilled out into the square as it seemed the whole town wanted to celebrate. Isenbold attempted a speech of thanks but was mostly incoherent so Marroc quickly took over. He delivered a cracking best man’s speech with many layered jokes that impressed Estella with his wit and, although he didn’t notice, also her papa. The tables were cleared aside for music and dancing at which point the hen party, at a signal from Poppy, stood up and started throwing paint powder everywhere. Soon the tavern, the town square, family and friends (including Mr Baggins and two dour dwarves) were covered in a splendidly multicoloured haze.
Everyone dyed.
