Comfort Food by StarSpray

Chapter 1

March was cold and windy on Tol Eressëa, with many days of rain or of threatening clouds. It was usually a bad month for Frodo, even without ugly weather—especially the twenty-fifth. He was much better than he had been when they first came into the West, of course, but according to all of the Wise, and even the Powers, those sorts of shadows took a long time to recede.

Bilbo left the athelas and the songs of healing to Elrond and Estë and those great folk. They did help, of course—else it would have been a silly thing to come all the way across the Sea—but he remained of the opinion that the best comfort was a proper meal. And the most proper meal was a hobbit meal. Fortunately, he had accumulated a great many recipes over his long life, most of which had been passed down through the Bagginses for generations—and not a few from the Tooks as well.

On a chilly and blustery March day, however, Bilbo did not turn to the Bagginses or the Tooks for supper ideas. One of the Elves had been kind enough to go to the market for a few nice plump rabbits, and as the wind howled through the kitchen garden (where someone was sitting and singing with it, of course), Bilbo set about peeling potatoes and washing carrots.

"Good afternoon, Bilbo!" said Glorfindel as he stepped inside. "How is Frodo today?"

"He's rather tired, I'm afraid," said Bilbo. Tired and unhappy and homesick, more like, but Frodo preferred to keep those sorts of feelings to himself. "So I am making him a proper rabbit stew for supper."

"Is that wise?" Glorfindel asked. "I remember such a stew receiving an entire chapter in his part of your book."

"Bad memories, you mean? Oh, no." Bilbo shook his head. For all their wisdom, Elves sometimes did not seem to understand quite simple things. "It was one of the brightest points of the whole journey! Why else do you think it had its own chapter?"

Glorfindel laughed and sat down at the table with Bilbo. "A very hobbit-ish sensibility," he said. "But there was much darkness after the stew."

"And I daresay that stew helped Frodo and Sam both get through it all," Bilbo said primly. "You are very great and wise, Master Glorfindel, but I know my business