She had really tried. She had spent quite some time with the gardeners in Duillond, she had listened to them, watched them - but there was nothing new, she knew it all from her parents. In vain she had waited for a little spark of interest, but gardening was simply nothing she was born to do. The other elves in Duillond started to smile about her trying to be someone she simply was not. In the end, they wrote a letter to Plinnlim's parents, assuring them that their daughter had much more impressive talents than gardening, and that it was best not to suppress these talents.
Two days later, also hiril Erydhriel agreed to send Plinnlim home, who then happily packed her things and bid farewell to the gardeners and the other elves that had cared for her these days. She crossed the Shire as fast as possible and stopped only in Bree-land to have a look at the maze the gardeners had told her about. Now, that was a piece of gardening art she did enjoy - although actually not the gardening aspects of it.
At first she had planned to spend the night in Bree-town, but she found out soon enough that she disliked the place and rode on through a small forest. A large tree at the verge of the Midgewater Marshes looked far more welcoming, so she lit her small fire here and made camp. The treetop and the stars would be her roof for this night. She leaned her back against the bark of the tree and looked into the distance. She would ride all day tomorrow, pass the mountains that were now still far away at the horizon and her next camp would be much closer to Imladris already. With any luck, the letter she had in her bag would finally convince her parents that their daughter was going to have a bright future - but not as a gardener.
