[Child of the 7th Age]

As Cami glanced around the Star, she was pleasantly surprised to see so many hobbits enjoying themselves on deck, gazing out across the waters. When she had lived in the Shire, hobbits and the Sea were two ingredients that never seemed to come together. Before she'd met Mithadan and Piosenniel, Cami had not even visited the coastline, or gone adventuring in anything larger than a rowboat.

Although living on an island, the hobbits from the tombs also knew little of the Sea or its mysteries. Yet many now seemed to relish the voyage, hanging on the rail or leaning out to point their fingers towards the gliding seagulls. Their children regularly ran down to the galley to steal bread from the cooks. Then they'd stand in the stern of the vessel tossing their offerings into the sky and watching as the birds swooped down to catch the morsels between their beaks.

Sometimes, the ship stopped dead in the water for lack of wind, or because they decided to beach at one of the windswept, deserted islets along the way. Bird would plunge into the water along with Kali and Daisy, or Phura and Azraph, and Levanto would surface to join them. They'd bring some of the braver hobbit children in to splash and play and learn to paddle. Sometimes Cami would slip off her outer skirt, and jump into the waves from one of the side ladders, chasing Asta and Roka in circles.

They were making steady progress towards the east, but there didn't seem to be any real reason to hurry. However fast or slow they sailed, they'd get to where they were going at exactly the same time. Their arrival was to be the year 1000 in the Third Age, the end of a long period of relative tranquility and the distant beginnings of a new era that would see the shadow rise again to threaten the free peoples of Middle-earth. But, right now, those problems seemed happily far away.

Cami found herself enjoying this voyage on the Star more than the others she'd taken before. Perhaps it was because she knew this would be her very last time at Sea. She managed to push that thought to the back of her mind and concentrated instead on the little things that could be enjoyed and shared. She spent many hours with Andril, talking about hobbit culture and history from the First and Second Age. Sometimes, in the morning, soon after the sun peeped over the horizon, she met with Ban and a few other youngsters to help them learn their letters.

Even Mithadan and Piosenniel seemed to fall under the spell of the fresh sea breezes and calm afternoons. Mithadan's face looked more relaxed than Cami had ever seen it. As days turned into weeks, Piosenniel's slender frame was, for the first time, beginning to soften and fill out, the first outward hint of the new lives that were starting to take root.

The only puzzling thing to Cami was how Gamba acted towards her. Unlike their time on Meneltarma when she'd felt close to him, the boy seemed to go out of his way to avoid her company. He spent time with Phura, but even his brother confided to Cami that there was something strange about Gamba's behavior. The boy often ate alone in his cabin, taking plateloads of food out from the supper table, enough to feed three or four hungry hobbits. Once or twice, Cami thought she'd caught him swimming in the Seas late at night when the ship was standing still in the water, a very dangerous practice indeed. But she couldn't be sure. The voices and shadows melted away whenever she went to investigate.

Yet Cami really wasn't suspicious until one evening about three weeks into their sailing. Daisy and Cami had unexpectedly come into the galley after dinner looking for something. Daisy was complaining to her about a missing plate of searooms she felt sure she'd left here, hoping to share it later with Rose. At that instant, a strange shadow played on the wall and went creeping across, almost as if there was a small animal who'd decided to exit very quickly.

Daisy and Cami caught each other's eye with a puzzled expression on their faces. This was too familiar to be ignored. The women agreed to stay alert for the next few days to see if their hunch was right.

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For the next week, Daisy and Cami did a fair amount of scavenging over the decks of the Star. Yet, whatever closets or trunks they searched, they found nothing further that aroused suspicion. Cami was beginning to think she'd overreacted terribly and that she'd seen nothing more than the shadows of flickering candles innocently reflected along a wall.

One night, the women had been up on deck assisting with the sails and rigging after an easterly unexpectedly hit. Tired and strained from physical exertion, the two pushed their way back into the galley where they'd left their uneaten dinner plates. The plates still sat there, but the food that was supposed to be on them had totally vanished.

With the piercing insight of a veteran smuggler, Daisy cocked her head towards the garbage chute, hearing noises that merited investigation. It sounded as if several large rats were digging for cover, burying themselves under a pile of apple peelings and fish bones. Daisy grabbed Cami by the skirts and placed an index finger over her lips to inicate they should both be quiet. Then she seized the chute handle with both hands and wrenched it open, reaching down into the smelly debris to pull up two small heads.

"Look what I've found!" she chortled, lifting the culprits up by the hair.

Cami stared aghast to see Gamba and Kesha awkwardly clamber out of the trash.

Gamba placed himself in front of the younger boy as if he was expecting to be hit and stuttered out words of apology, "I'm so sorry. Kesha wanted to come, and I wanted him to. It's the last time we'll all be together."

"Please don't send him away. Please." The boy sounded desperate.

Cami shook her head, "Whoa. Calm down. No one's being sent away. Now, sit down and explain what's happened."

Cami coaxed the story out of the two bit by bit, including the part about Gamba's letter to Loremaster. The woman tried unsuccessfully to stifle a grin, thinking about poor Loremaster reading that letter, his last treasured legacy from a loving but wayward student. Cami suspected he'd appreciate that note a bit more, once he had Kesha back at his side and was assured of the boy's safety.

"Are you going to punish us?" Gamba queried.

"I suspect I'll have to do something, but that's not the point."

Cami sighed and continued. "Gamba, look at me. Listen up and listen hard. There was no need to do this. If you'd just come and spoken with me, I would have done everything in my power to have Kesha come with us. I understand perfectly why you don't want to be separated. Perfectly."

"In the future, I'd appreciate if you would trust me instead of going through a charade like this."

She bent down and kissed the top of his curly head, drawing sharply back at the mingled odors that lingered there. "Go on, both of you. Clean yourselves up and get to bed. I'll talk to Mithadan and Pio in the morning."

For the next two days, Kesha and Gamba spent their afternoons side-by-side assiduously polishing all the brass hardware on the ship.

Daisy came up to Cami and whispered, "Whose idea was this?"

Cami flicked her thumb backwards towards the Man and explained, "If you find an effective punishment once, and it has such good results, you definitely stick with it a second time."

Mithadan grinned impishly and nodded in their direction to acknowledge the truth in Cami's words.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]