[piosenniel]

Let me up for air!

She laughed and stepped away from him, holding his hand in hers. A wave of children, Hobbit and Hobbrim together, swarmed round the pair, chattering and laughing, and pulling them toward the tables piled high with food and drink at the side of the beach.

‘Ah! Food at last!’ cried Pio in delight, reaching for one of the plates. ‘Not yet!’ said Coral, taking the empty plate from her hands. ‘We have a gift for you first.’

The little ones pushed and pulled them toward a small group of children who stood with something held in their outstretched hands. Shell motioned the other children forward, as both Mithadan and Pio knelt down to receive their gift. ‘What’s this?’ asked the Elf, as she took the folded blanket into her hands.

‘Open it! Open it, Mithadan!’ came the piping voices of the children, their faces beaming.

She gasped as Mithadan stood and held the quilt up. ‘How beautiful!’ she said, her lashes rimmed with tears. ‘We all made it for you!’ crowed Ban. Asta and Roka nudged him in the ribs, and he blushed. ‘With Mistress Nitir’s help, of course.’ Mithadan and she secured the quilt to the low hanging branch of a tree, and stood back to admire it, murmuring softly and pointing at the various images captured on it.

‘Come!’ she said to the children. ‘Tell me what we see here.’

Two of the Hobbit children pushed a mildly protesting Cami to the front. ‘We don’t remember all of it.’ they said solemnly. ‘But here is Mistress Nitir. She remembers . . .’