Family Matters
Prologue: Background and Explanation
It can sometimes be difficult to write reams of fanfic, all intertwined and related, and keep track of all the threads. The "writing reams" part came about almost by accident; LOTR was my comfort during a long stretch of ill health; I read and re-read the epic and imagined what happened to the characters during gaps and after Sam returned from seeing Frodo off at the Grey Havens. Then after the first film came out, someone introduced me to the phenomenon of fanfiction, and I had an outlet for my imaginings! Plus a wealth of related reading material. It felt, somehow, like I'd won the lottery.
The Greening of the Year (set in the summer of the year the Treasury was recovered after Pippin became Thain; see StarFire) has been nagging at me for a while now, and while re-reading Runaway I suddenly realised why. Tolly's children in Runaway are older than they ought to be, considering the timeline of stories that have written themselves over the past years. (And the fault is mine, not Jo's, for I gave her free rein in the writing, and didn't think to cross-check older stories when I fixed the date of Tolly's wedding in StarFire.)
The Muse has been chewing at the problem for some time now, and suddenly snatched this story from where it had been ripening on a dusty shelf in the lumber room, laying it out on the table and demanding that something be done.
Originally an epilogue of sorts, detailing Eglantine's triumphant return to the Great Smials after going missing and being feared dead, this sort of ballooned into a larger story centred around Tolly, his coming to terms with being rescued by one he was supposed to be safeguarding, and just how he and his wife came to have children older than their marriage.
Don't worry; the other in-progress stories are still in progress. Will keep posting updates to all the WIPs as planned. While much of this is from the viewpoint of an OC, Pippin (and perhaps Sam and Merry) will have much to do in the story, at least the way the draft reads at present. I even managed to have a little fun with Pippin, who has to deal with something of a role reversal when, as the story plays out, he finds himself the only sensible one in a growing body of (seemingly) nonsensible Tooks.
Short synopsis of The Greening of the Year:
Tolibold Took, a hobbit of the Thain's escort (expert archers who are responsible for the safety of the Thain and his family), is escorting Pippin's mother, Eglantine, through the wild Green Hills as she returns to the Great Smials from a visit to her daughter Pearl on the family farm near Whitwell. Heavy rains have led to instability, and a landslip occurs as the travellers are riding across the flank of one of the great hills. Eglantine and her escort are trapped in the debris. The mother of the Thain manages to free herself, but Tolly is caught and helpless under the bole of a large fallen tree, reversing their roles, where she is protecting him, making Tolly endure the humiliation (as he sees it) of needing help and protection. When the travellers are overdue, and a farmer brings word of the unfolding natural disaster to the Great Smials, Pippin (pardon the impending pun) moves heaven and earth to find his mother and her protector. Family Matters begins just after the missing hobbits have been found and rescued and are on their way back to the Great Smials.
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