She dreams of Golden Hope

Hundred Flowers

„I will be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one." Afternoon on a Hill- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Laurel Arya Took was kind, beautiful, but incredibly sad.

That would be the answer one would get from any of the hobbits in Hobbiton concerning the niece of the late Belladonna Took. They would comment on her kind heart and her sweet gentility. How eventhough some hobbits were initially wary of her, because she was a half-elf, half-hobbit, they could not help, but lay down their initial worry, simply when they saw how kind-hearted and agreeable the young woman was. On her daily walk from and to the market, coming from Bag End, a smile would light up her features constantly and she would greet her acquantainces, as well as any strangers with the same gentleness, not making any distinctions. Having inherited Belladonna's green thumb, she would assist her neighbours with any quandary they had in their garden, endearing herself especially to Hamfast Gamgee, who shared a similar affinity and interest for anything that could sprout from the green grass, that was so healthy and abundant in this part of Middle Earth. Belladonna Took had been an exceptional baker and cook. Not even the most conservative of hobbits, such as the Sackville-Bagginses, who had had a distaste for her unruly and adventurous spirit could have denied that Belladonna's apple and spice pie was divine. Laurel had been raised to have the same talent for cooking, providing the Baggins of Bag End with nourishment and warm meals, when Belladonna had grown too weary to cook the six meals a day, that hobbits routinely ingested. Eventhough she was not as skilled, Laurel's pies were still delightful to eat and in an effort to display the hospitality and courtesy commonly known of the race that inhabited the Shire, she would spend an amount of time daily in the kitchen, baking pies or pastries to offer any guests, who may frequent her hobbit hole for afternoon tea or simply to share with any of her neighbours, who would come by unannounced. Yes, Laurel Took was a kind, congenial and hospitable young woman, and had been brought up to show the same manners, as the other hobbit lasses in Hobbiton and throughout the Shire had. So her kindness would perhaps not too uncommon, yet it was laced with such a heart-rendering honesty and genuinity that made it commentable and mentionable, when questions about her arose.

Another aspect about her manners was that you could often see a fierceness, a Tookish tigerishness veiled by her kindness. She was a fiery and often times hard-headed girl, who would defend things and matters that she held close to her heart with a vehemence and an assuredness, that often startled others. Eventhough, out of convention's sake, she would try to surpress her fiery temper, it would still surface more often than not, especially where her cousin Bilbo Baggins was concerned, whom she loved more than anything else. Her fiery temper was often a matter of discussion, unusual as it was. It was often the subject of gossip, especially for Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, who despite the girl's continued politeness to her, had grown a contemptous distate for her, due to her dislike for anything that was out of ordinary and unconvential.

And Laurel Arya Took was most definitely unconventional.

It was not only her sometimes tigerish manner, which differed so greatly from the more subdued and domestic handling of the other hobbit lasses in the Shire. No, another facet of her that was unusual and at times disconcerting in its alienity was her appearance. For Laurel Took was startingly lovely, yet looked so different from what the other hobbit lasses her age looked like. She was just as small as the hobbits, and was a few inches shorter than her cousin Bilbo. She had been the same height as Belladonna Took had been. But differently from the hobbit women, who were often chubby and buxom in their stature, a motherly figure with wide hips and softness oozing from their dress and apron-clad forms, Laurel was much more slender, having inherited her mother's figure, yet she still possessed tantalising womanly curves, that did not make her stature appear too boyish, but distinctly female. Her feet were bare and had stronger soles, similarly to the feet of other hobbits, but they were smaller and more dainty. Her skin was white like wax and cream, which was most unusual considering the amount of time she would spent out daily, either sitting beside Bilbo on the green bench beside their entrance door, contently observing the green, rolling hills of the Shire, while he smoked his pipe, or was in her garden tending to her aunt's flowery hedgerows in an attempt to preserve her aunt's legacy through the flora. Her skin was also soft like summer peaches and her features were so delicate and almost too beautiful to behold, with full, rosy lips, a small nose and doe-like cornflower blue eyes. Her hair cascaded down her back in a savage sea of red curls, that reflected the girl's spirit most accurately, with its fire-like quality; the colour was most unusual just like her father's hair had been, when he had lived in Hobbiton. With her fragile and dainty beauty, Laurel was unusual and had been often teased as a child for her mixed heritage. Yet the hobbits of Hobbiton had grown to accept and, in some cases, appreciate her clandestine appearance. Her fiery red hair, her delicate form and her blue eyes that had a melancholic undertone that made her so heartbreakingly exquisite, yet that had been present in these deep-pools of blue since the inhabitants of Hobbiton could remember.