Adventure Is Calling

1. Nothing Apple Pie Couldn't Fix

Joanna Took looked up from the flowerbed she was weeding when she heard the faint cry on the wind, and she wiped her small, dirt-smudged hands on her apron before turning her back on her flowerbeds—which were her pride and joy. Winning the Shire garden contest for the past five years in a row now, even beating Mary Burrows petunias, will attest for that. Squinting against the setting sun as it enveloped the rolling hills of Hobbiton in golden light, she spotted a small form slowly growing bigger the closer it approached on the dirt road.

"Joanna!"

Joanna blinked in surprise as she saw her cousin, Bilbo Baggins, scurrying up to meet her, his cheeks flushed and out of breath. Seeing as he had reached a respectable age, one could see why she found it so very odd to see him acting like a young hobbit yet again. She didn't mean to imply that neither of them had ever acted in such a foolish manner—because Took blood ran thick in their veins, adventure had spoken to their hearts ever since they were nothing more than children. Albeit, their adventures amounted to sneaking off into the woods in search of elves and the catastrophic incident with Farmer Noakes prized pumpkin collection—but they both swore never to speak of that again.

"Whatever is the matter, Bilbo?!" Joanna called, opening the gate that led up to her modest hobbit hole as he reached her.

Seeing as he was out of breath, he merely waved his arms about, his dark blonde curls flying all around his round face, and followed Joanna through the round, maroon door. Bilbo dutifully wiped his large, hairy feet on Joanna's welcome mat before following her into her kitchen. The flour that coated the worn-down table, the scraps that were left thrown about, as well as the pleasant aroma of apples, were all evidence that a pie had recently been put together. Bilbo gratefully took a seat as Joanna went about tidying up, washing her hands, cleaning the table, and pulling back her waist-length, dark blonde curls into a bun to keep them out of her face. She couldn't help but smile at Bilbo's flustered appearance and decided that if anyone needed a pie at that moment, it was Bilbo Baggins. She took it out of the oven and set it on her windowsill to cool before sitting beside Bilbo and taking his hand.

"Now do tell me what has got you all in a lather?" Joanna pleaded.

"Well, I have visited almost everyone I can think of—even the Sackville-Baggins' I might add—over this past week. You were all that was left!"

Joanna's brow furrowed, she didn't know if she should be offended or not. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about..." Bilbo looked around him before leaning towards her conspiratorially. "Adventures!"

"Bilbo Baggins!" Joanna cried, exasperated.

"No, no! You don't understand! Gandalf came—"

"Gandalf?" Joanna asked with a smile, remembering the tall, gray-clad man fondly. "I have not seen him since Louisa Roper's thirty-second birthday! Or was her thirty-third?"

"Not the point, dear cousin! He came by spewing nonsense about adventure and my role in it!"

"So?"

"So? So?!" Bilbo shook his head, muttering to himself. "So he informed me that he would be seeing me sometime soon."

"And you took it upon yourself to visit someone every night, is that what I am to make of this?"

"Yes!" Bilbo smiled, relieved.

Joanna didn't know whether to smile or smack her ridiculous cousin upside the head. They had always been very close, even though Bilbo was nearly twenty years her senior and she was just a few years past coming of age. But he was the one that carried her on his back when they went out on their so called "adventures" and it wasn't until Bilbo neared his forties that he realized adventuring was what no honorable hobbit did. Joanna was sad to lose her exploratory friend, but she was a home-body at heart, and was more than content to sit by the fire with him as he read aloud his storybooks. And though most of the hobbits of the Shire remembered her as a wild youth, she had since gained their favor with her focus on her garden as well as the pies she sold at the markets.

Placing her oven mitts back on, she picked up her apple pie and made sure to waft the fragrance in Bilbo's direction and bit back a smile of success when she saw his dreamy expression.

"I-is that your apple pie, Joanna?" Bilbo murmured. "Seeing as I'm here, you won't mind if I had a slice or two...or three?"

Joanna grinned, her white teeth and dimples flashing. "Why of course not!"

Bilbo smiled and made to tuck in, but Joanna strode to her front door and swung it open. "But we will be enjoying it, safe and sound from adventures, in Bag End."

With that, Joanna marched out into the fading sunset and smiled when, after a moment's hesitation, Bilbo shut her door behind him and scurried after her. It took Joanna much beckoning to get Bilbo to calm down once they had reached Bag End. They had stood outside his gate fora few moments until he determined he couldn't make out any travelers on the road. Then he had peered out the kitchen window into the night, his dark blonde curls—which they both shared—and his dark eyes the only things visible to the outside world. It wasn't until she had forced him to take a relaxing bath and he emerged rosy-cheeked and snug in his nightgown and robe, that Joanna finally decided to reward him with a slice of pie. He settled in with a grateful, if not bashful, smile and was just about to dig in when the doorbell sliced through the calming quiet.