A/N: Tiberic and Opal Tunnelly are my original characters, as are Mistresses Lilac Grubb and Gladiolus Brownlock and a few others mentioned here (though two of those mentioned are canon characters, found on the Took family tree). The characters of Ben and Orchid (Goodbody) Tunnelly belong to Dana and can be found in her story One At A Time.

A Fine Match

I. S.R. 1377

There was a sickness, a fever, in the Great Smials that winter. Whole families were ill and for days now Adelard Took lay abed, delirious, not knowing that the fever had swept through the nursery, and his little Reginard and Emerald, and even tiny Amethyst, had not been spared. Not knowing that another of his children would soon be born.

Ruby, too, burned with the fever and cried for her husband, not understanding why he didn’t come to her, why she was surrounded by strangers. Opal held her hand and whispered to her, offering comfort while Mistress Lilac examined her and determined that, yes, the baby was still alive.

One of the healers came in – no, not one of the healers but an apprentice like Opal herself. Tiberic Tunnelly was his name, not that Opal had been introduced to him – there was no time, too many were ill to bother with formalities. But he smiled reassuringly at Opal now, the first smile she’d seen in so many days, and it lit the room.

Opal smiled back. This baby would be born, healthy and whole, and Ruby would live, and Adelard and the other children too. They would see to that.

II. S. R. 1378

It wasn’t until Midsummer that Opal saw him next – not that she was thinking of Tiberic Tunnelly at all. She was far too busy; Mistress Lilac did not allow idling and there was always another baby to deliver. No, Opal did not think of Tiberic Tunnelly – he had gone to Bree or Staddle or some other outlandish place, it was said, for he had family there. Not that he’d shirked his apprenticeship: his master was a Took, and they’d gone together to learn healing techniques from the Big Folk, it was rumored. The Big Folk! Mistress Lilac had sniffed at that, saying it’s no wonder that young Tiberic was a bit odd, with his father from the Outlands and his mother some wild, wandering Took.

So Opal didn’t see Tiberic until she spotted him at the Great Smials’ Midsummer feast. He saw her too, and left his friends to speak with her. His cheeks burned bright red and he took her hand in his icy cold one.

“Miss Opal,” he said gravely. “Will you dance with me?”

When she agreed Tiberic smiled, the very same smile that Opal remembered and (was surprised to discover) had kept close to her heart.

III. S.R. 1379

That spring Mistress Gladiolus Brownlock, longtime healer of Whitwell, retired and Tiberic was unexpectedly released early from his apprenticeship to take her place. His master insisted that Tiberic was more than qualified for the task, so Tib left the Smials and returned home to Applegrove and his brother Ben.

It was strange at first to adjust to his new role, but all went quite smoothly and the people liked him.

Tiberic was utterly miserable.

One afternoon Ben led Tib through the orchards, past the brook and willow trees before stopping abruptly. “For you,” he announced, his wide-spread arms encompassing the rest of the property. His property, as the eldest son. “A wedding gift.”

Tib gaped at him. “But I’m not – that is, I haven’t-”

Ben grinned. “And now you have no excuse not to.”

The next morning Tiberic rode out to Tuckborough, to Mistress Lilac’s smial. She wasn’t there, and neither was his Opal – the neighbors said they’d gone to Tookbank for a birth. Tiberic sat in the doorway, waiting nervously until they returned home that evening. Then, right on the doorstep, he dropped to his knee and asked for Opal’s hand.

And Opal kissed him soundly, and said yes.

IV. S.R. 1380

The wedding was held at Applegrove on Midsummer’s Day, and was well-attended by their friends and relations; even Tiberic’s family from Bree made the long journey.

The weather was fine, if a little windy, and when Opal tossed her rose and peony bouquet the breeze lifted it up and delivered it right to the hands of her cousin Orchid Goodbody. Not that Opal had needed a tradition to tell her that her cousin was sure to be next, not when she saw the way Orchid and Ben looked at each other.

There was feasting and music and dancing, and Opal and Tib went around hand in hand to welcome their guests. They were young, and in love (and rather hopelessly so at that) and people called them a fine match, and a good team: they would both serve Whitwell long and well in the years ahead.

Later, when it grew dark and the party neared its end, Opal and Tiberic will slip away unnoticed (or at least politely ignored). Then they will make their way through the apple orchard, past the brook and the willows, and across the fields to where their smial – their own little home – waited for them.