b2mem | On The Banks of the Baranduin, by Kaylee Arafinwiel (Reply)

B2MeM Prompt, Card and Number: B10, Adjectival ABC, Colors, Color Burst 3 - Yellow, Color Burst 4 - Green, In the Words of Shakespeare, Landscape, Language of Flowers, Last Lines, Snippets of Verse, Talents and Skills, Third Age Locations, Waters, Weather
Format: 500 word ficlet
Genre: Family, chaptered story
Rating: PG for mentions of drowning
Warnings: Background F/F (this brings my story of Lenglinn and the hobbit lasses together with that of the Gamgee/Gardner brood)
Characters: Elanor Gardner, Frodo Gardner, Rose Gardner, Merry Gardner, Pippin Gardner, background all the other sibs except Tolman
Pairings: Samwise Gamgee/Rosie Cotton, background OFC/OFC mentioned
Creator’s Notes (optional): This follows on from both "And Day Brought Back My Night" and "Urgent Summons" (which itself followed from "Perhaps the Greater"). All these were written for B2MEM this year quite recently and are posted here. Title is a reference to "On The Banks of the Anduin", yet another recent-ish B2MEM of mine but shouldn't be confused with it.
Summary: Frodo-lad spends some time outside, watching over his younger siblings and conversing with his older sister before the latter begins her journey with their parents to Gondor.

Frodo-lad stared out at the Brandywine, absentmindedly raking his fingertips through the earthen bank as his younger sibs ran shouting behind him. The trip to Buckland had gone well, a dozen young ones divided between three coaches; he had shared a coach with Merry and Pippin, as well as little Hamfast.

Ellie had Rosie, Goldie, and Daisy to herself; Sam-dad and Rose-mum rode with Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, and baby Robin. The littles needed Mum and Da for as long as possible, before Ellie, Mum, Da, and Robin went ahead without them after luncheon.

The blue sky was mostly clear, just a few puffy white clouds. It would be a perfect day for working in the garden, back home. Brandy Hall didn’t feel like home yet - still, it was home for the next year, he reminded himself. That piney smell on the cool air made him hunger for the soft earth.

“Rosemary,” Frodo perked up, climbing the bank to the kitchen garden. The herbs were grown in pots so they could be brought in over winter when the weather grew cold, but they were still outside now. The tween sat between two pots and brushed the needles with his fingers, releasing more of the rosemary’s fragrance.

“Rosemary, that’s for remembrance,” Elanor murmured as she drifted over, quoting something from one of old Mr. Bilbo’s books, Frodo thought. “Pray you, love, remember.” She gently broke off a twig and tucked it in Frodo’s weskit pocket. He blushed redder than their mum and sister’s nameflower.

“I’m not your love, Ellie,” he said.

She laughed. “I know, and I hope not to go drownding in any lakes anytime soon! But I am going away; and I want you to be sure to remember me while I’m gone.”

“Drownding,” Frodo stirred, looking out at the river. “Like Uncle Frodo’s parents.” The former door where dead feet walked in, he thought, making him shiver. Let’s talk of graves, and worms, and epitaphs...That always made him think of Da’s tale of Moria, and the lost Dwarves, though there it had been Gandalf who fell into mountain gaps and deep water.

“Aye, that’s why the Hall keeps so much rosemary about, along with the primroses,” Elanor explained. “Auntie Blossom was just explaining it to me. Leastwise she’s asked us to call her that; she’s the head cook here at Brandy Hall, but she’s part of Uncle Merry’s family too. She said it was difficult to explain, maybe you can discover her secret while I’m gone.”

Frodo nodded, and turned back to the Brandywine, where it seemed the lads were playing at being Corsairs. They’d heard the tale of Castamir from Uncle Pippin - he was quite cryptic in his motives, Frodo thought. He wondered if pirates had sailed up from the mouth of the Brandywine.

Just then, Rose-lass came outside; she had adorned her plaits with lime-green and lemon-yellow hair ribbons.

“It’s time,” she said to the little ones. “Go wash up.”

Startled from their play, they jumped.