Title: Climbing to the Clouds
Author: Melilot Hill
Beta: Llinos
Summary: Seven year old Pippin falls from a trap and gets hurt.
Rate: G
Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to J.R.R. Tolkien

I want to thank Llinos for wonderful beta-work and Anso the Hobbit for her comments and support.

Climbing to the Clouds

“Pippin, sit down!” Paladin scolded. “If you stand up one more time, I’m going to get some rope and tie you to the trap!”

“But Dad,” Pippin whined. “I thought I saw a rabbit.”

“Whatever you saw, you can watch it just as well sitting down!” Paladin replied. “It is very dangerous to stand up in the trap while we’re moving.”

It was a lovely, sunny summer's day and Pippin and his father were on their way to Brandy Hall. Pippin was going to stay there for a little while. He was excited to see his Aunt Esme and Uncle Sara again. But he had missed Merry, his ‘favouritest’ cousin, the most. Pippin kept chattering about all sorts of things. Things he wanted to do with Merry, things he discovered on one of his many ‘expeditions’ and animals he saw during the trip.

Look, Dad!” Pippin shouted, jumping up enthusiastically. “Can you see that strange bird over there?”

At that moment the trap drove over a hole in the road. Pippin lost his balance and fell off. He hit his head on the side of the trap and fell on his arm. He started to cry at the top of his lungs. Paladin stopped the trap, jumped of and ran over to his son. Startled by what had happened he started to shout at Pippin:

“I told you not to stand up in the trap! But you just wouldn’t listen!”

“I’m s-s-sorry Dad,” Pippin stuttered, looking truly miserable.

"No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted at you, lad,” Paladin said, kneeling in front of his son. But you gave me such a fright! Did you hurt yourself badly?“

“My head hurts a bit and my arm hurts lots,” Pippin sobbed holding up his right wrist limply.

“All right, let’s have a look at your head and arm, then,” Paladin said soothingly, while searching his son’s body for injuries. You have a big bump on your head. Can you move your fingers for me?

Pippin moved the fingers of his left hand while looking up at his father, smiling through his tears.

“Are you trying to tease your old Dad?” Paladin laughed. “Would you please move the fingers of your other hand now?”

“They still work,” Pippin informed his father, managing to move his right hand fingers. “But it really hurts.”

“I don’t think anything is broken,” Paladin said. “You are a very lucky lad. You only have a bump on your head and a sprained wrist. Peregrin, will you promise your father that you will never stand up in the trap again while it is moving?” Paladin asked while picking Pippin up and walking back to the trap.

“Yes, Dad,” I will,” Pippin sniffled.

*~*~*~*

“Dad, I don’t feel very well,” Pippin said after they had been driving for a while. “My arm and head still hurt.”

“Well, it was a rather nasty tumble you took,” Paladin replied. “Do you want me to stop for a while?”

“No, don’t stop! It will take even longer before I see Merry again!” Pippin said. “But can I sit on your lap?”

Paladin lifted his son on his lap and kissed the bump on his head and gently took his son’s arm in his hand and kissed the sore wrist too.

“There, I kissed it all better,” Paladin smiled. “Just be brave, son, we’re nearly there.

Pippin wriggled a bit, trying to get more comfortable.

“Don’t fall asleep, lad,” Paladin warned. “It is not good to fall asleep after you hit your head.”

“But I am sleepy,” Pippin yawned. “Shall I tell you a tale so I stay awake?”

“You are going to tell me a tale?” Paladin asked. “Don’t you mean it the other way around?

“No, I got it ‘the right way around’, ”Pippin said, sounding impatient. “If you tell me a tale when I’m tired, I fall asleep! So now I’m going to tell you a tale to stay awake.”

“Well, you had better start then,” Paladin smiled. “You've got me curious.”

“Once upon a time there was this lad,” Pippin began. “Who’s name was, err, Branco. He was always climbing trees, because he wanted to reach the clouds, you see. Because they look like whipped cream, but only fluffier, Branco thought they would taste really good.”

“Tasting the clouds?” Paladin laughed. “Wherever did you get an idea like that?”

“Oh, please hush, Dad! I’m not finished yet.” Pippin said and continued with his story. “First he climbed the tree in his dad’s yard, but even when he sat on the highest branch and reached out his arm really far, he couldn’t reach the clouds.

"So he tried higher trees, but there was none that was high enough. After a whole year of trying he had climbed all the trees in the Shire and in Buckland. Only the highest tree in Buckland he hadn’t climbed, because he was afraid of that tree. It stood really close to the High Hay and could very well be one of those evil trees from the Old Forest.

 "But he really wanted to taste the clouds, so he decided to climb the tree anyway. Because the tree was so high it took him a whole morning to reach the top. When he finally reached the highest branch he stretched out his arm.

 "And then he had a hand full of cloud! It felt a bit woolly. Branco opened his mouth wide and ate a large piece of cloud. He chewed and then started to laugh. The cloud was delicious. It tasted even better than he had thought. But it didn’t taste like whipped cream at all. It tasted like sugar.”

 Paladin laughed and kissed Pippin on the top of his head. “You have a vivid imagination, lad. I think you will be a better story-teller than even your Uncle Bilbo is.”

 *~*~*~*

 When they arrived at Brandy hall, Merry was waiting outside to greet them, shortly joined by Esmeralda.

 “Hullo Merry, hullo Aunt Esme,” Pippin said, wobbling a little when Paladin set him on the ground.

 “Oh dear, what happened to you, lad?” Esmeralda asked, worried.

 “I fell from the trap and hurt my arm and my head,” Pippin explained.

 “Yes I can see the bump,” Esmeralda said. “It’s the size of an egg!

 “Poor Pip,” Merry said. I hope you feel better tomorrow, because I planned a lot for us to do and to see.

 “Let’s all go inside, dinner is waiting for us,” Esmeralda said. “And so is Saradoc.”

 During dinner Pippin favoured his hurt wrist and he didn’t have much of an appetite.

 *~*~*~*

 Pippin, do you want to go to the barn with me?” Merry asked him after dinner. “One of our ponies has a foal. It was born just two days ago.”

 “Is it all right if I go?” Pippin asked his father. “I would really like to see the baby pony!”

“Yes, you can go,” Paladin answered. “At least, if you’re feeling better.”

“I am,” Pippin replied, while grabbing Merry’s hand. ‘My head hardly hurts anymore, and my arm is a bit better too.” But Pippin’s posture belied his words.

“Brother, I think I’d better send for a healer,” Esmeralda said when Pippin had left the room. “I don’t think Pippin is as well as he says he is.”

“Nonsense, Esme,” Paladin answered. “He’s just feeling out of sorts a bit because of the fright. He’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep. Besides, he was already joking with me and telling tales just after the accident.”

Nothing else was said on the subject. Paladin and Saradoc lit their pipes and sat in companionable silence while Esmeralda did some embroidery. Suddenly Merry burst through the door, carrying his cousin, who was crying.

“Pippin hit his wrist against a wall,” Merry explained, panting. “And it really hurt him. He started to cry and wouldn’t stop!”

Paladin took his son from Merry and cuddled him. “I think you were right about that healer after all, Esme,” he said. “You’d better send for her at once!”

After only a short wait they heard a knock on the door, and Lilac, the Brandy Hall healer, came in.

“I heard there was a little hurt lad in here,” Lilac said, kneeling in front of Pippin. “What happened and what hurts? “

Together, with his father‘s help, Pippin told Lilac what had happened in the afternoon and during his visit to the barn.

“All right, let me have a look at you,” Lilac said, while helping Pippin down from his father’s lap. “Let’s get this shirt off so I can have a good look at your arm and see if you hurt anything else with your tumble.”

Pippin winced when his shirt was taken off. When Lilac was examining his wrist he bit back a sob. “That really hurts, he said accusingly.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Lilac informed him. “You broke your wrist, lad. But other than that, you’re fine. That bump on your head will hurt for a few days, though.”

“But I thought his arm was only sprained,” Paladin said, sounding very surprised. “I didn’t recognise any signs of a broken bone.”

“Well, Sir,” Lilac explained. “The bones of young children don’t break in the same way as bones of older children and adults, often the bone splits only on one side. You can see his wrist is a little bit bent. I will have to splint it until it mends together completely."

“Is that going to hurt?” Pippin asked in a small voice. “I don’t want you to touch my arm if you’re going to make it hurt more,”

“But I have to,” Lilac replied. “Otherwise it won’t heal properly and it will keep on hurting. Let’s get it over with right away. You just hold your father’s hand really tightly.”

Pippin climbed back on his father’s lap and grabbed his hand. Paladin wrapped his other arm around his son and pulled him close. “You are such a brave lad,” he whispered in his son’s ear.

Lilac took her supplies and sat down next to Pippin. “Could you hold his arm, so he won’t move it when I apply the splint?” She asked Paladin.

Pippin wanted to cry when Lilac took his arm and started her procedure, but instead he chewed on his lip. He wanted to be brave, but couldn’t prevent a few tears from escaping his eyes.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Lilac asked when she was finished.

Yes it was! Pippin thought, but he wouldn’t tell the healer that! So instead he said, “No it wasn’t.”

“You were very courageous, son” Paladin told Pippin.

“What does courageous mean?” Pippin asked, drying his eyes.

“It means that you are very brave, that you can manage even difficult situations,” Paladin explained.

“Like climbing to the clouds?” Pippin asked.

“Yes, like climbing to the clouds,” Paladin said, trying not to laugh, but failing. “But don’t you dare climb a tree, Peregrin Took! I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

The End