A fanfic about an adventurous hobbit and her elf rescuer.
First: A hobbit in trouble
“Mentha ‘Lost-foot’ Greenhill! Where have you been?”
Her mother’s voice cut through the house, as Mentha tried to silently close the front door, who betrayed her with a loud creak. Three of her nephews came running and flooded her with questions.
“Why are you coming home so late, aunt Mentha?”
“Have you got a boyfriend?
“Do you know it’s dark outside?”
Mentha managed to scoot her way between them, patting a curled head here, tickling a chin there.
“Your aunt Mentha knows exactly how late it is. And that means bedtime for all of you, nosy scoundrels! Off with ya.”
Her mother sent the children father into the house, where Mentha’s older brother, Wes would tuck them in.
Mentha lived with her parents along with her older brother and his wife and three kids. It was a lot of people, but the house wasn’t small, and it always felt homey. Mentha’s best friend, Kisha, often said it would be too crowded for her, but Mentha liked it. There was always the sound of activity; a hammer working, a child playing, a pot stewing. And there was always someone to talk to, someone to laugh with and someone to make schemes with. Growing up with three elder siblings and a grandmother who was half deaf, Mentha was used to the noise and the people. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kisha thought that the busy house was the reason Mentha was always on her way to a new adventure, but that was not the case.
Mentha’s mother stood in the door way, fists on her hips and gave Mentha the ‘I’m so mad because I was worried’-look that most mothers master.
“I’m sorry, I lost track of time,” Mentha apologized.
“You have lost track of time before, but you have always been home before dark. Do you know how worried I have been? This is a whole new level of late, even for you, young lady. Where have you been?”
“I said I was sorry!” Mentha repeated and headed for another room where her mother wasn’t standing guard in the doorway. The guard followed her.
“That is not an answer. I want to know where you have been. Was it Millstone? Was it a party? Have you been to some party in Millstone! You know, you could have told us, then we could have picked you up with old Claus and the wagon, instead of walking that long way alone in the dark and-“
“It wasn’t some dumb party in Millstone! I went to the woods, and I lost track of time and I’m sorry.”
Mentha went to her room and slammed the door behind her.
. . .
“I hear someone was out late last night,” Kisha teased.
Rumours sure ran fast in the village.
“I think I’ve met someone,” Mentha heard her mouth betray her.
Kisha tossed her hoe and sat down in middle of the vegetable garden between the cabbage, not even pretending to work.
“Tell me everything,” she whispered, not able to hide her excitement.
“I… well… When I say ‘met someone’ I might not mean ‘met someone’ in the sense that- argh!” Kisha had grabbed Mentha by her skirt and dragged her down on the dirt.
“Sit down and start at the beginning. So, you were at a party and then?”
“No. No party. I went to the woods. Yes, again, stop looking at me like that. And I completely lost track of time. I must have wondered far beyond the Bubbling Brook, when I… met someone.”
“Was it someone from Millstone? What would a hobbit do that far from the main roads – apart from you, obviously?”
Mentha felt her face blush.
“It wasn’t a hobbit.”
Kisha gasped unable to hide both her delight and shock.
“You met a human?” she whispered and twisted her hands with pure excitement.
“No,” Mentha answered, her voice even more quiet. “It was an elf.”
For once, Kisha had no immediate words, so she grabbed Mentha’s hands until she finally could manage a choked giggle.
“Tell me everything,” she ordered again and Mentha told her how she got caught by the humans and how the elf saved her life.
“It was so romantic!”
“But you don’t even know his name!”
“Then I better ask him next time.”
Kisha threw her head back and laughed heartily.
“Oh Mentha, you crazy but lovely gal. How will you even find him again? He’s an elf and it’s a big forest. Not like that bush over there.”
Mentha couldn’t help laughing herself. It felt like her heart was bubbling over with joy.
“I just have to, Kisha. I can’t stop thinking about him.”
But she never got Kisha’s answer to that, because at that moment they were busted by Kisha’s mother.
“Get back to work, you lazy giggling girls!”
The girls jumped to their feet and began weeding the vegetable garden.
Previous: I’ve never met someone like you