Chapter 1: Preface

The day Gandalf paid Miss Belladonna Baggins of the Shire a visit was a day like any other. She was tending to her garden, like any respectable Baggins, pulling up errant weeds and making sure her prize winning tomatoes were in tip-top shape.

She looked up just as an enormous shadow overtook her lovely flower bed and came face to, well, not face to face, but more like face to knee with her mother's very dear old friend, Gandalf.

"Good morning" she said happily whilst craning her neck to catch sight of the wizard before her.

"What do you mean?" Gandalf inquired

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? How many different meanings can one take from a simple good morning?" Bella asked baffled.

He simply looked amused so she continued. "As I was saying, good morning Mister Gandalf, what can I do for you on this fine morning?"

"Ah so you do remember me!" Gandalf said with a look of mild surprise on his face

"But of course!" Bella exclaimed, "Mother spoke of you fondly and quite often. Father was under the assumption that she would have much preferred to be off traversing faraway lands with you than stuck here in the Shire."

Gandalf simply laughed.

"Oh how rude of me! Please do come inside, it is almost time for tea and I'm sure you're weary from all your traveling." Bella said, the Baggins side of her horrified for forgetting her manners.

"No time, no time at all my dear Belladonna." he sighed.

"Then what can I do for you today Mister Gandalf? And do please call me Bella; Belladonna will always be my mother, a name that I've not yet lived up to." Bella asked quietly.

"In that case, you might just get the chance!" Gandalf exclaimed, "I am looking for someone in which to share in an adventure. Perhaps you may be the hobbit to undertake this challenge?"

'An adventure! It's been so very long since I've even entertained the thought of leaving the Shire.' she thought.

"I am very interested Gandalf, but I would very much like to know more about this adventure before I agree to anything, if you don't mind." Bella said with certainty. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in? Perhaps to discuss this venture in more detail?"

"That is very wise, your mother would be proud of your thoroughness. I should like to stay Miss Baggins but I must alert the others; we shall all be around for dinner this evening. Good day Bella." He said pleasantly and then he was gone.

'Oh dear, I've got so much to do' she thought to herself frantically.

Bella quickly ran towards the market after making herself presentable first of course, to purchase a feast fit for a king. She must have startled many a hobbit with the way she ran from vendor to vendor purchasing the finest cuts of meat and freshest greens that weren't already available in her own garden.

She didn't know who Gandalf's companions were or even how many would be arriving at her smial that evening, but she would make sure her guests wanted for nothing.