".....my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born............"  'Much Ado About Nothing'  Shakespeare

He was conceived by the light of the moon and stars, of that she was sure. She remembered the winter night, just before Yule, when she had asked her husband to pull back the curtains because she liked to see the sky. Moonbeams streamed across the counterpane and made patterns on the wall. They lit her husband's face as he drew her towards him, and afterwards they watched the stars dance in the sky.

        She knew within a day that she had conceived a child. It was as though the starlight had come to earth and entered her body, and she felt the light of this child immediately. She had lost several before this, and only carried one babe to term - a girl who lived but an hour and never suckled or cried. Her grief had been overwhelming, but she tried to be brave because she knew her husband was grieving too. They comforted each other, but there were more losses and she had given up hope that she would be a mother.

       "Prim dear? Don't fall asleep - it won't be long now."

       Her sister-in-law's voice broke through her reverie. She was aware of another contraction beginning and she gripped Gilda's hand and tried not to cry out. Her body felt as though it was being squeezed, but she took heart from Gilda's remark and tried to think that soon she would hold her child in her arms.

       The midwife smiled. "It won't be much longer, dear. You're doing very well and things are coming along nicely."

       Primula glanced towards the window, where the stars were still shining in the western sky, although it was almost dawn on a mild September morning. One star was still bright, and she smiled as she remembered.

       "Earendil the Mariner, Bilbo says that is. He will see my child come into the world.........."

       Gilda and the midwife exchanged glances. The midwife shrugged, thinking the patient was becoming slightly delirious. Anyone who started quoting Mad Baggins was viewed with suspicion. Primula glared at them.

       "Earendil is the father of Lord Elrond of Rivendell. He travels above the world in a ship, with a great jewel to guide travellers. Look, the stars are dancing as they did at my babe's making......... ......"

       "Pant, dear. I can see the head. That's it, good girl."

       "When this pang is over I want you to push. Do you understand?" Lilac Longbanks asked.

       Prim nodded. She waited for the contraction to loosen its grip, then pushed as hard as she could. There was a moment of excrutiating pain, followed by Gilda's triumphant cry.

        "The head's out! Well done, Prim. Now push."

       She pushed hard and felt her child slip out. Exhausted, she fell back on the pillows, then opened her eyes, anxious about the silence. "What......what is it? What's happening?" Her voice was shrill with terror.

       "Calm yourself. Baby's fine - waving his little hands. You have a son."

       "A son? Why isn't he crying?"

       "Not all babies cry, you know. He is a beautiful baby, Prim. They can't really see properly when they're born but I swear he is looking at me. Such eyes too!" Gilda lifted the baby, and placed him on Primula's stomach.

       Mother and son regarded each other. She marvelled at the tiny, perfect fingers, each with a little nail, and the mass of dark curls which topped a slightly red and indignant face. Huge blue eyes blinked as they grew used to the dim light. The small hand uncurled slowly and the fingers wrapped around hers.

       "Hello, my little one. Welcome to the world, little lambkin."

       When the afterbirth was delivered, the cord cut and mother and baby cleaned and tidied, he was placed in her arms again. The rosebud mouth moved and he nuzzled against her. The little girl had never tried to feed - she had been limp and floppy, her breathing growing weaker - but this one was a typical hobbit baby. Primula was overwhelmed with joy and relief, although this was tinged with regret that her own mother was not alive to see her youngest child in this moment.

       Drogo crept in, his face still showing the signs of strain and his eyes full of tears. He could do little except hold his wife and marvel at the new life at her breast.

       "What shall we call him, my love? We never did decide on a name."

       "I don't know yet - we must wait and see what suggests itself. It certainly won't be Bingo!" she added with some heat. "He is much too special and too beautiful to have such a commonplace name." She leaned against her husband's shoulder and gazed down at the child, feeling such a rush of love she could scarcely contain it. The fine features were partly Baggins but there was a lot of the Old Took in this one. He would be a handsome hobbit lad although she felt sure no lass could ever be quite good enough. There was something about him which almost frightened her - a light within. She had never seen an Elf but she had heard Bilbo's tales and she was sure there was something Elf-like about this babe, with his pale skin, enormous blue eyes and delicately pointed ears.

       Drogo was smiling and stroking one tiny foot, which reminded Primula that her baby was most definitely a hobbit. His feet were covered with thick dark hair, and he obviously disapproved of having them wrapped up. Most hobbit babies hated any covering on their feet.

       "Dear Bilbo was jumping up and down in his eagerness to see this child. Do you feel up to letting him have a peep, dearling?" Drogo asked softly.

       "Of course. Do let him come in. He's been such a comfort with his visits, particularly when I had to rest."

       Bilbo almost fell in at the door as Drogo opened it. He pattered across the room and hovered nervously beside the bed, then peeped at the baby, his eyes widening.

       "Dear me, he does have a look of the Old Took, doesn't he? And a lot of Baggins too." He stroked a soft cheek with one finger, and glanced up as Drogo slipped out to speak to the midwife. "He has something about him.............."

       "As though he were made of starlight?" Primula asked. Drogo had not noticed, stolid Baggins that he was, but she and Bilbo were both grandchildren of Gerontius Took, and the Tooks were known to have second sight.

       "The light of the Eldar. I've only seen it in Elves - and a wizard - but it is very strong in this little one. I wonder what this means?"

      "I don't know," Primula whispered. "I had such troubling dreams while I carried him, and I don't know what they mean either."

       Bilbo leaned down to kiss his cousin's cheek. "Well, he's certainly a very beautiful baby, my dear. Now you have a rest and I'll ask them to bring you some tea and toast."

       "He came on your birthday. This is your cousin Bilbo, little one. You will grow to know and love him and you will be the greatest of friends. Happy birthday, Bilbo."

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       Bilbo looked out of the window at the person approaching along the path to Brandy Hall. He could hardly believe his eyes, and rushed to the door as the tall figure ducked to enter, his staff clutched loosely in his right hand.

       "Gandalf! My dear Gandalf!" The hobbit found himself embraced by the wizard as various members of the family clustered round, wide-eyed.

       "Bilbo Baggins, you old rascal. Some thing made me bend my footsteps in this direction. I am delighted to find you here. A new life has come into the world I take it, and on your birthday too."

       "Yes, Primula and Drogo have a little lad - at last. They've lost so many but this one seems healthy. In fact he's.........well, I think you should see him, Gandalf, if you would."

       Drogo looked rather doubtful. He was not sure he trusted wizards and Elves and all the strange folk Bilbo knew and liked. He himself was a typically unadventurous Baggins who had never been further than Buckland, while Bilbo had journeyed far and seen many strange things. Even Primula had travelled to Bree once or twice with her parents, and had met Men and Dwarves.

       Bilbo led Gandalf down the corridors, chatting animatedly. "You felt his Light of Being, didn't you, Gandalf? You'll be surprised I think."

       After a brief rest to wash and take tea, Gandalf went to Primula's room. She was awake, having just fed the baby, and seemed genuinely pleased to see the wizard.

       "How wonderful to see you again! Did you really come to see this little one?"

       "Another little hobbit and one who combines Baggins with Took and Brandybuck? I would not have missed the opportunity to see him." He peered down at the bundle and Primula impulsively held him out.

       "Would you like to hold him?"

       The old man settled himself in the chair and took the baby carefully, holding him in the crook of his arm. He pushed back the folds of the blanket and gazed at the sleeping face. As though he was aware that he was being looked at, the baby opened his eyes. Gandalf was astonished. He had never seen such eyes save in the Eldar. The gaze was steady and somehow curious. One tiny hand opened and closed like a pink flower, and Gandalf placed his finger in the curl of the fingers, feeling them close around it.

       "Nothing wrong with his grip," he commented drily. He looked more closely, opening himself to the Light of Being, and was so startled he said, "Good gracious!"

       "You see it too, don't you? So does Bilbo. I have said nothing to Drogo because he would never understand, but Bilbo and I are descended from the Old Took. What does it mean, Gandalf? I felt the Light of his Being in the moment he was conceived."

       "He is obviously special in some way although the ways of Iluvatar are not revealed to me. There is no reason why a remarkable soul should not be born in the Shire. Perhaps the Valar are beginning to share my opinion that hobbits are amazing and interesting people." He twinkled at Primula and stroked the baby's cheek. "His eyes are very striking. The only eyes I have seen which compare belong to the Lady Evenstar, but her Light is different."

       "I had strange dreams during my pregnancy and I feel afraid.........."

       "What sort of dreams, my dear child? I should be interested to hear about them, and perhaps it will help you to speak of them."

      "Sometimes I seemed to be on a journey. There were plains and forests and wide rivers......... mountains and marshes - places I've never seen............. Then there were rocks and a fire mountain growling and hurling rocks and flame high into the air. I saw a great dark tower crumble and huge pits open in the earth, with hideous creatures falling into them." She glanced at Gandalf, who was watching her with a deeply interested expression. "Then I seemed to see a city - much larger than any place I have seen. I was standing in a courtyard of stone, and there was a fountain and a tree in bloom. Such beautiful white blossoms, with a perfume I did not recognise."

       Gandalf forced himself to look away, hiding his surprise. He knew of the Took sight, and Primula's mother was a Took in every way, but to see so much was beyond his understanding.

        "But the dream which frightened me the most was not particularly terrible. It was just so .......so strange. I was standing beside the Sea and there was an Elven ship. Many Elves were boarding, and Bilbo was there - very old and frail - and you were there too, holding ......holding my son's hand. I know it was my son because he was so lovely but so pale and fragile. I watched until the ship sailed out of the harbour and into the sun, and was lost to sight, and I felt as though I'd lost the greatest treasure of my life. Why would my son be going to the West with the Elves? To what end will he come?"

       Gandalf looked again into the trusting little face. "The future is hidden from me, and sometimes it is dangerous to speculate. Who knows what comfort the Valar may afford to those who perform some great task? The mercy of Iluvatar is beyond the understanding of those who dwell in Arda. We must trust that the Valar have chosen well if this little one is destined for something important."

       "What worries me the most is that we shall lose each other before these things are fulfilled. Three stood upon the shore to watch the ship depart, and Drogo and I were not among them." She looked pleadingly into the eyes of the wizard, and he smiled.

       "Even if that is the case, you will meet again in the world beyond this one. Beyond the Halls of Mandos there are no horizons and no barriers. The love you have for each other will ensure that your son will never be far from you, nor you from him. The surest bond in the world is love, especially the love between mother and child."

       His words seemed to comfort Primula and she laughed. "We still don't have a name for him. Drogo suggested Bingo, but that doesn't suit him at all and it's such a Bagginsy name."

       Gandalf chuckled. "No, no. That will not do. Let me see.........The Bagginses have been through most names beginning with B and Drogo and his siblings all had names beginning with D. What comes next...............F? Mmmmm............" He tried a few names softly under his breath. "What about Frodo?"

       "That's it! Oh Gandalf, that is perfect. Dearest," she called to Drogo as he entered the room, "Gandalf has suggested the name Frodo and I think that is ideal."

      "Frodo?.... Frodo.......Wonderful! Yes, he does look like a Frodo. Thank you, Gandalf, that is truly the right name for our son."

       "And now I shall hand him back to his mother." Gandalf passed his hand over the smooth brow and murmured an Elven blessing before placing him back in Primula's arms. "Now I shall join Bilbo for a pipe before supper. I bid good-night to the Baggins family." He bowed and departed, leaving the new parents tenderly watching their child.

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       "So Primula told you about the dreams?" Bilbo blew a smokering and fixed Gandalf with a beady eye.

       "Yes. Very strange." The wizard re-filled his pipe, lit it and puffed strongly for a few moments.

       "Don't flim-flam with me. It is strange, but do you think they're true?"

       "The future is not easy to divine and I am but a servant. It is not given to me to know the secrets of Iluvatar and the intentions of the Valar are not mine to know. Only those of the dark powers rely implicitly on visions and prophecies, often to their downfall. Having said all that, I agree the dreams are very unusual."

       "Do those places exist, Gandalf? I can make an educated guess about the city of stone, but the White Tree is dead - it died during the Great Plague. How can a dead tree bloom again?"

       "I cannot answer that question, Bilbo Baggins, except to say that there are two answers. Either the tree is not dead but only seems so, or there is another tree somewhere. Yes, there are such places........dark and evil places. The fiery mountain lies in the Land of Shadow, as does the Dark Tower known as Barad-dur, but for it to crumble would mean that he who dwells there is destroyed, and I do not yet know how that may be possible."

       "We should watch this little one at any rate. He should be an interesting and spirited lad with so much Took and Brandybuck ancestry. Perhaps I can teach him Elvish and tell him stories?"

       "I'm sure you will, my dear friend. I can see he will be a regular visitor to Bag End, and will turn out to be a well-read and learned gentlehobbit. I'm sure he will have an adventurous spirit and no doubt will beg to be taken on travels with you. It will do him good to learn more about other races in Middle-earth, and who better to teach him than you?"

       "But there is one thing I should like to know....."

       "Only one 'but' will I allow tonight, even though it is your birthday," said Gandalf sternly, although his eyes twinkled with mischief. "What is it you wish to know, my dear hobbit?"

       "What am I doing going with the Elves? What in Middle-earth do I manage to do to tag along and travel to Valinor?"

       "Nor is that granted to me to know. Who knows what the ridiculous Bagginses may be capable of in the years to come? I am as intrigued as you, I assure you. Now I think we should go in for a supper or Rory will be very displeased, and I should hate to incur the wrath of the Brandybucks." The wizard rose from the bench and he and Bilbo walked into the Hall together, leaving the stars to dance in the evening sky.