Primula kneeled down beside her two most loved men. Frodo turned to her, complete bliss shining through his eyes.
“With you two as well, Ma, Pa?”
Primula gave a meaningful smile and Drogo squeezed Frodo’s shoulders lovingly from behind.
***
~ At the dawn of Halimath 22, 1381 ~
Frodo hugged his bent knees closer to his chin, leaning back more deeply into – no, no. Not into his father’s chest as he had last year, but into the damp, moss-grown wall of Brandy Hall, a big smial belonging to his grandfather, Rorimac Brandybuck. Frodo looked up to the sky and saw the stars still shining in spite of the breaking of the dawn. Which one is Earendil? He wondered silently.
Frodo’s birthday night a year past was certainly not the last time he watched the sparkling little dots in the sky with both of his parents. But that, sadly, was the last time Frodo had ever celebrated his birthday together with them, the only people he ever loved more than anything in the world.
The little hobbit, only one year older than he was before, rubbed his eyes bitterly with the back of his hand. Only a year ago. He was thirteen now, yet, he had been left alone in this universe. Utterly. Completely. Frodo had forced himself not to cry or complain since the death of his parents, but the burden had become so heavy he was unable to hold back tears any longer. Not even the promised company of the star Earendil would be able to lift the heavy stone burdening his heart.
Frodo tried to draw a deep breath, calming himself, only to end up sobbing uncontrollably. It had been a year, a year living in solitude, loneliness, helplessness. And though there lived more than two hundred dwellers in this massive house, no one had ever really looked Frodo in the eye and stayed with him and talked to him. Simply talked to him, asking how he felt and what he wanted to do. No one. Just no one. Frodo could not guess whether things would go differently with his birthday approaching, but the thought of his relatives ignoring it was just too much to bear.
“That is impossible, darling,” the soft-spoken Primula reminded Frodo. “Just look at the trunk and take anything out of it. These things will make great presents for all your cousins.” Frodo ran into the house after finishing almost half of the birthday-book cake, and went to a big, decorative box in the middle of the study.