TITLE: For Frodo

AUTHOR: Anso the Hobbit

BETA: Marigold

SUMMARY: Merry and Pippin have a little talk one morning in Rivendell

RATING. G

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, promise to put them back

NOTE: Written for Marigold’s challenge #2.

WEB-PAGE: www.livejournal.com/users/ansothehobbit

E-MAIL: ansohobbit@hotmail.com

 

"Pippin? What are you doing up? Come back under the blankets before you get a chill." Merry himself had no intention of getting up. He wanted to stay in comfortably in bed, and what his cousin was doing up was something he could not understand. It was nice and snug under the blankets, why get up before it was necessary?

 

When Merry had been woken up, probably by his cousin`s soft footsteps, it was a soft awakening where sleep slowly gave way to wakefulness. He lay in bed in his usual curled up position, feeling the soft heaviness of the woollen blanket above him, relishing the feel of a soft pillow under his cheek. He felt the warmth of the hearth coming towards him, a snug and cosy feeling. Merry shifted a little, the soft mattress yielding under his body, the blankets rearranging themselves around arms and legs and large hobbit feet. Merry let his head sink deeper into the pillow and he tucked the blankets nicely up under his chin. He would not get up. This was too cosy a haven for cold winter mornings to give up.

 

When Merry decided to open his eyes, just to check on the world, he had found the bed next to his empty. Where had Pip gone? He called again. “Pippin? Come back to bed. It’s early yet, and you don’t have to be up.”

 

They were still in Rivendell, still waiting for Frodo to get well enough and scouts to come back, to start the long walk south. Or would they ride? There was still too much not prepared or decided yet. One thing not yet decided was if Merry and Pippin were even to be allowed to join the Fellowship. Merry had made up his mind. He would not leave Frodo behind even if he had to follow behind on his own. The fierceness of his thoughts almost made him get out of bed and talk to Gandalf again. But then there was this cosy haven of blankets and sheets and soft pillows that trapped him. Merry shifted again, and tangled his feet in the soft blankets. There, now he was trapped. He could not go to Gandalf now. Not this very moment. He would have to get out of this tangle first. And Lord Elrond had said that the final decision was some time ahead. He could untangle himself later.

 

“Pip. Go back to bed.”

 

Merry watched Pippin turn from staring out of the window, evidence of tears on his cheeks. “Pip, dearest. Why have you been crying?” Concerned, Merry sat up in the bed, and before he had managed to straighten his back and put pillows behind it, his bed was full of arms and legs and curls and tears.

 

“Pippin?” Merry helped his cousin up into a sitting position, hugging him. “What is it? What is wrong?”

 

“I want to go home.” Pippin said between tears. Merry dried some tears from Pippin’s face with the back of his hand, not quite knowing if he had heard right.

 

“Really?” Merry knew Pippin was as determined as him in following Frodo, but maybe his cousin had decided against it?

 

“It’s not that I have thought better or different about following Frodo, it’s just… “ Pippin sniffled a little. “Well, it’s Pearls birthday today, and I had promised myself last year that this year I would be nice to her and make up for all of the pranks that have ruined her birthdays before. Besides, I am too old for that sort of mischief, and was then too. She was so terribly angry last year, Merry. And I promised myself that this year I would behave really well, and maybe bring her a gift, even if that is unorthodox. And now I won’t even be there, and maybe they don’t miss me at all!”

 

“Oh Pip. I’m sure they miss you. I bet they think of you every day. And I’m sure Pearl has forgiven you.”

 

“But what if they think I’m dead?”

 

“They won`t” was Merry`s almost automatic reply, reassuring Pippin was one of the most natural things for him. Then, “Oh… “ Merry had not thought much about that. He had of course thought about what their families would think when they “disappeared”, and had reasoned that surely they must have been informed about, well … something. Suddenly, a pang of homesickness struck him with great force, and tears started gathering in his eyes.

 

“Oh Merry. Don’t cry.” Pippin was the comforting one now. He hugged Merry and wiped the tears that fell down his cheeks.

 

“I had not thought about that.” Merry said. His mind had mostly been occupied with thoughts about Frodo or the upcoming quest, and how he could protect Frodo and Pippin in all this. He missed his family and friends, and thought about them. But he had not thought they would believe them dead. Merry knew his father trusted him and knew that Merry could take care of himself – and Pippin. He had not said anything when they had left, and that pained his heart.  He had so wanted to, but knew he could not. What if their families did think them dead?

 

“Oh, Pip. There must have been some word of us sent back to the Shire. At least from Bree. There were hobbits there, and Gandalf did say he had spoken to Sam’s Gaffer. Maybe he informed our families?” He would have done that, Merry thought, if Gandalf had said anything about the four of them. But then, he had talked to the Gaffer before speaking to Butterbur in Bree, and meeting the hobbits in Rivendell, so it was possible that Sam`s father did not know anything other then that his Sam had followed Frodo on some journey. Gandalf after all had not known that Merry and Pippin intended to come along. He would have to talk to Gandalf about this.

 

“Do you think we should write home, Merry? To tell them where we are, and say that Frodo is all right too?” Pippin shifted a little and sniffed.

 

“No. They might come looking for us, and then we would have to tell them or involve them more in this Quest. And Elrond did say that this had to be a small company that must travel in secrecy. Sam told us that, after the Council, remember?”

 

Pippin nodded. “But I miss them terribly.”

 

“I know, Pip. I miss them too.”

 

“Is there nothing we can do then?”

 

“We can stay by Frodo, and do our best to protect him and shield him and remind him of the Shire in every possible way. “And hope we get home safe and sound, he added silently to himself.

 

“I will do my best, Merry. I will.” Pippin said with fierce determination, and sneezed.

 

“See, now you’ve got yourself chilled. Get in here” Merry said, lifting the blankets. “It’s warm and snug, and I don’t want to get up yet.”

 

Pippin wriggled close, put his arms around Merry and laid his head on his cousin’s shoulder.

 

“We will make it, Merry. I know we will.”

 

“Yes.” Merry said, determined. They had to. He hugged Pippin tight, snuggling down in the nest of blankets. “For Frodo.”

 

 

END