New Neighbor by StarSpray

Chapter 1

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It was a week or so after parting on the beach that Roverandom saw Maglor again. He had spent that week mostly staying close to home, not wanting to worry Mother and Father by disappearing again so soon. They received two postcards from the boys during that time—it seemed they were having a delightful time in Greece. So delightful, in fact, that the first postcard had been written by the boys' aunt, because they had forgotten all about writing home. Roverandom hoped they would not forget entirely about home and decide to stay there in Greece. That would be horrible.

Eventually, though, he did leave home again, this time in the company of Mother, who had some shopping to do. He trotted along beside her until they reached town, when he did not stop outside of the butcher shop and instead went to the green, where he found Lancelot and a cheerful collie named Missy sniffing at each other in greeting. "Hullo, Roverandom!" said Missy as they all three sniffed their greetings. "Haven't seen you in a bit. How's your boy?"

"Off in Greece," said Roverandom as he sat down to scratch behind his ear.

"What's Greece?"

"Something to do with ruins," said Lancelot sagely. "Lots of pillars that don't hold up anything anymore."

"It's sunny and warm, too," added Roverandom, recalling the postcards that Mother had read aloud. "Lots of swimming in the sea. Though I don't see what's so special about that sea, since we have a perfectly serviceable one here."

Before long, they were joined by the tiny Yorkshire Terrier pups Fred and Ginger, and by old Wilfred with his grey snout, and a prim black poodle named Giselle, who as usual regarded Roverandom was deep skepticism and vague dislike. She did not approve of his appearance or the stories he told of his adventures. Roverandom wasn't even sure that she had been on a walk down to the beach, for fear of getting sand in her paws. The other dogs, however, were quite eager to hear about what he had gotten up to since they had last met, since they knew that he had gone chasing after the elf singer once he'd left the village. So Roverandom told them all about it, about the wood and the elves, and the spiders that had very nearly done him in, and about sailing down the river with Goldberry singing all the way.

"And of course once we got to the shore it was a simple matter of finding old Psathamos," he finished.

"I thought you were avoiding Psathamos," remarked Lancelot.

"Well, I was, but it turns out he wasn't really angry to begin with. And anyway, I don't think he would have tried to turn me into anything with Maglor there."

"Well, I know you're making this story up," said Giselle. "Who ever heard of spiders big enough to eat dogs!"

Roverandom woofed in amusement. "If I were going to make up stories, Giselle, I would have made myself much more heroic!"

"He's not making up the elves, anyway," said Wilfred. "I remember hearing music in the woods before, when I was just a pup, scarcely bigger than these two." He raised a paw so that Fred did not trip over it in his bounding around. "And we all met the elf musician here."

"I wish I had," said Missy with a sigh. "I was at the vet that afternoon." This earned her a great deal of sympathy, and for a time the conversation veered into complaints about thermometers and shots and too-cold exam tables, and the odd and unpleasant smells.

By the time this well-worn discussion had run its course, Fred and Ginger's little girl had come looking for them, and Wilfred followed them soon after, returning to his post outside of the candy store. Missy and Giselle also went off, though they went together, on the promise of Missy's owner being generous with kitchen scraps. That left Roverandom and Lancelot. Lancelot accompanied him to the grocer's, where Mother was just coming out. She treated both dogs to a quick scratch behind the ears. "Come along, Roverandom," she said. "Time to go home!"

"Whatever happened to that elf you followed?" Lancelot asked as Mother started to walk away.

"Oh, he said he was going to try to get a job here. As a music teacher. I don't know if he's done it yet."

"Oh, good. His music was very nice." Lancelot looked over his shoulder. "There's my man. Good afternoon, Roverandom!"

The next morning, as Roverandom was finishing his breakfast, Mother said to Father, "Don't eat all those cherries! I'm going to make a few pies today."

"What's the occasion?" Father asked.

"Well, one is for our new neighbor—I heard from Mrs. Smith yesterday that the school's already found a new music teacher, and he's moved into that cottage just down the road. The one with the blue gate, you know, and the sunflowers all along the fence."

This caught Roverandom's attention. So Maglor had indeed gotten a job as a music teacher! And they were now neighbors—that was excellent! Extremely pleased at this news, Roverandom went to sniff around the garden and lounge in the sun until the pies were done, and Mother was ready to take one over to the cottage with the blue gate. He followed her, and bounded ahead as they neared the place. The sunflowers were very tall, and beyond them Roverandom could smell a great many flowers—roses and daisies and lavender—and some herbs as well—rosemary and dill and thyme and basil and others. Maglor was already outside, and opened the gate for Mother with a smile. Roverandom licked his hand and earned a good scratching behind the ears. Mother introduced herself and Roverandom, holding out the pie as she did so.

Roverandom was busy sniffing around the nearby bushes, and paid little attention to what Maglor said in response, except to note that Maglor was not the name he gave. He supposed it was an Elvish thing, to be funny about names. And then Mother apologized for Roverandom, and warned that he might be a more frequent visitor, with his tendency to go roving.

Maglor laughed. "I don't mind," he said. "He's welcome to come sniff around my garden whenever he likes. Thank you very much for the pie. It smells wonderful."
They chatted for a while more, mostly about the boys, who would be Maglor's students come the autumn. Perhaps even before, if the oldest was still keen on the piano when he returned from Greece. And then Mother was calling to Roverandom to come back home. Maglor crouched down to pet him one more time. "There is to be another party tomorrow night on the beach," he said softly.

"Excellent!" said Roverandom. He gave Maglor a great big kiss, jumping up to knock him off balance onto the grass. Maglor laughed, and Roverandom bounded away to catch up with Mother. Psathamos's parties were always fun, and with Maglor there, Roverandom suspected that he might even find Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in attendance.