by shirebound
Aragorn looked at Frodo, his eyes shining. "This means a great deal to me, Frodo. You have no idea how much."
"Truly?" Frodo was beaming with joy.
Aragorn lay the pipe in his lap and gathered Frodo into another warm hug. "Thank you, little one," he whispered. "I love it."
"I'm so glad," Frodo whispered back.
"And I wonder what this could be," chuckled Aragorn, opening Bilbo's gift. He was delighted to uncover a box containing a variety of pouches, each labeled to show the type of pipeweed it contained.
"You're too generous, Bilbo," he grinned. He looked down at Frodo. "I have a gift for you as well, but you'll have to wait until morning. It's starting to get dark."
"It is startin' to get dark," said Sam a bit nervously. They hadn't come across any goblins or dragons in the Westfarthing, but Mr. Bilbo had said they were in the Northfarthing now… "Can we make a bigger fire?"
"I don't know, Sam," said Aragorn thoughtfully. "Perhaps if we had a lot more firewood---"
Instantly, the two boys leaped to their feet and dashed about, gathering up sticks and fallen wood, while Bilbo and Aragorn repacked the baskets.
"I see what you're doing, Aragorn, but it's no use," sighed Bilbo. The Ranger had noticed that Bilbo used his real name only when no one else could hear him. "It will take more than chopping down a forest to wear out those two."
He was wrong. Once it got fully dark, with a large, comforting campfire to warm them, it didn't take long for both boys to start yawning. Sam, leaning against Aragorn, fell sound asleep and had to be carried to his bed. Frodo held out as long as he could, but after awhile he, too, could barely keep his eyes open. From his nest of blankets, he lay listening to the fire crack and pop until he fell into a contented sleep.