Last Mathom
by North-took

"Diamond, you're shivering. Come and sit here by the fire and I'll bring you some tea."

As her aunt bustled away to bring her the tea, Diamond North-took gave her watching cousin Hildibold a feeble smile. It was Hildi's thirty-fourth birthday party, an occasion meriting finer clothes than the North-tooks' usual attire. For Diamond, that meant a dress adorned with lace and ribbons in her hair. She felt like a doll and longed for the sensible unbleached linen blouse and her best blue wool skirt. Her father pressed her into Great-Aunt Amethyst's last birthday gift to her. For a rough and tumble lass such as Diamond, the frilly frock was a torment. The skirt was noisy, it was too thin for autumn wear and its pale violet color showed dirt with ease; it was a cunningly devised snare to compel her to sit still with her hands in her lap.

"Poor lass," Hildibold teased as he studied Diamond with sympathy in his eyes, "all trussed up as fine as a hen ready for roasting."

"Don't be silly, Hildibold dear," his mother chided as she handed Diamond a cup of hot tea, nodding in approval of her niece's attire. "Diamond looks lovely this evening." There was a note of censure in her voice directed at Diamond's father. It was a slight rebuke, but Diamond could practically hear her aunt's thoughts: it was a pity Diamond's mother died before she could teach her daughter feminine ways. All of her female relations echoed this sentiment in words or actions whenever Diamond was around them.

If that was the only thing to miss about mother, Diamond thought as she sipped at her tea to prevent herself from saying something uncomplimentary to Aunt Wisteria. Her father seldom allowed more than a few days to pass without reminding his children of their absent mother and his great love both for her and the sons and daughters she gave him. Those were the teachings and memories Diamond wanted of her mother, not the proper way to lace a bodice to how to set a table for high tea.

"Don't worry Diamond," Hildibold murmured as his mother moved away. "Mother's in a fret because I'm to leave for Tuckborough next week."

"Tuckborough," Diamond regarded him with saucer-like eyes. "In the Westfarthing?"

"There's another?" Hildibold asked, amusement playing across his tanned face.

"Hildibold," Diamond huffed.

Hildibold laughed and gave one of her new hair ribbons a tweak. "Don't worry sprout, I'll send you enough letters that you won't even miss me at all!" he vowed.

"I'll miss you even with the letters," Diamond promised. She would never admit it to anyone, but she had fancied her handsome older cousin when she was a teen. Over time her infatuation faded into a deep and abiding affection.

Hildibold looked down at his embroidered waistcoat, patting the pockets before pulling out a bundle wrapped in a handkerchief that he handed to Diamond. "I haven't given you your birthday present, have I?" Under the handkerchief, Diamond found a small box of cherry wood the size of her hand, gleaming with a hand-rubbed beeswax finish. The lid was adorned with a fine carving of a squirrel clutching an acorn.

"For your best rocks," Hildibold said with a wink. Diamond's rock collection was something of a family joke. "Something to remember me by, sprout."

"Only my best rocks will go in here," Diamond said, running her thumb across the carved squirrel. From time to time, Diamond tried her hand at carving and could imagine the hours her cousin lavished upon the little box.

"I'll visit," Hildibold said. "I'll be back in time for Yule. Perhaps you can even come to see me. You've always wanted to see the Great Smials, haven't you?"

"I want to see everything!" Diamond sighed, unable to keep the wistful note from her voice. She was thought too young to travel unaccompanied and few of her relations wished to visit other places. Even though her cousins lived in Bindbale Wood, almost in the Westfarthing, Diamond knew they'd never been out of the North save to the fair in Michel Delving. She'd always envied them that trip for it was farther than she'd even journeyed.

Hildibold was the only person she could confide her secret dream of seeing the world in. Her brothers would tease her, her father would fear for her safety and her female cousins would question her sanity. Though Lavender sometimes expressed an interest in learning of far-off places, she had no desire to see them for herself. To Lavender they were children's tales and seeking those far-off places was akin to searching for the magic hole at a rainbow's end.

"Everything?"

Diamond knew everything was not possible so she decided to amend her wish. "The Three Farthing Stone, the Brandywine..." she closed her eyes trying to imagine a river as big as the one described to her. "And the Breeland; I wonder if it is as strange as the talk says. I hope so."

"Maybe you will see those sights," Hildi smiled.

"Why are you off to Tookland?" Diamond asked.

The mirth in Hildibold's face dimmed, he lowered his voice so that only Diamond could hear. "There are men wandering the South and Westfarthings. With the odd goings on, the Thain's looking to hire skilled archers to watch the borders of Tookland. With the gold he's offering, I'll be able to buy a little farm of my own."

"Men..." Diamond breathed, feeling fear flutter in her stomach like a flock of butterflies. She'd heard men were twice the size of hobbits and could crush them by stomping; her father said the tales were simply to frighten children but there was a grim look to her cousin that lent a shade of truth to the stories. "There are men in the Shire?"

Hildi gave a curt nod. He was not speaking her like a child, shielding unpleasant truths, and though she had longed for this now that she was being included among the adults in this confidence, Diamond wished she could have been left ignorant. Hildibold provided just enough for her to realize that he was underplaying the risk. "So they say."

"Will it be safe?"

"Most of them are around Hobbiton and Hardbottle, the Thain is simply taking precautions," Hildi assured her, noticing her discomfort and slipping back to cushioning the truth.

"Will you take care," Diamond asked.

Hildi managed a roguish smile as he ruffled her curls. "I always do."

As Diamond watched him leave, something told her that Hildibold would never return home from the Tookland. It felt almost as though it had already happened, already a memory. She shivered and shrugged the feeling off, but her unease lingered. Months later she recalled her premonition when word came that Hildi was among the nineteen slain at the Battle of Bywater.