It had become commonplace for Adamanta to join Bilbo and Frodo for tea three or four times a week, sometimes alone or sometimes accompanying Gandalf, as well as her walks on the beach with Frodo every two or three days.

So when she missed coming around for several days, both hobbits missed her. Yet they were reluctant to question the reason she was not coming.

"We should ask Gandalf," Frodo said one morning. "I am sure he would know."

"Perhaps he would," said Bilbo, "but would he tell us?"

And they put the subject aside. Truthfully, each secretly feared that they had in some way offended her; or worse, that she had tired of them and decided to put off her hobbit form once more. These were things they did not wish to speak aloud even to one another, for fear they might be true. They resigned themselves to her absence, and pretended they did not really miss her.

So they were very surprised one afternoon at teatime to find her at their doorstep, after she had been absent for a good two weeks, smiling and bearing a basket that smelled of cinnamon and honey.

They had her cakes with their tea; she asked them about what they had been doing since she had seen them last. They patiently answered, suppressing their own questions.

"You must have wondered about my absence," she said.

Both hobbits blushed, and Frodo ducked his head. "We did," said Frodo, "but we didn't think we ought to pry."

She smiled at them in a way that implied she knew exactly why they hadn't asked, saying "I was quite busy making plans for a new venture."

"What venture is that?" asked Frodo.

"I have made plans to have my own smial built on the island."