AUTHOR’S NOTE: The characters of Tanto Hornblower and Largo Hornblower were created by Lulleny, in her story “The Prodigal Took”.

DISCLAIMER: Middle-earth and all its peoples belong to the Tolkien Estate. I own none of them. Some of them, however, seem to own me.

IT TAKES A TOOK

CHAPTER 1

The three hobbits felt the first few drops of rain with dismay. Although the sky had been threatening for some time, they had hoped the rain would hold off until after they had returned to the Great Smials. There was a crash of thunder and the rain quickly turned to a downpour.

Pippin laughed. “Well, now we’re as wet as the fish.”

His brother-in-law Milo Goodbody shook his head. “You are daft! What is so funny about being soaked to the skin?”

“I have to agree, Pippin,” said his other brother-in-law, Tanto Hornblower; “I don’t find this at all amusing.”

Pippin grinned. “There are worse things than wet. And being cross about it will not get us one bit dryer. Nor will running. It’s still almost a mile to the Smials. So why not enjoy it?”

They looked at him incredulously, and turned to head for a small copse of trees that might offer slight shelter from the torrents of rain. Pippin shrugged, and followed at a trot.

The three of them put down their creels, and leaned the fishing rods against the bole of the giant tree beneath which they huddled. Pippin remembered huddling just so, with his cousins and Sam, beneath the rocks in rain-swept Eriador. They had been surrounded by Big Folk, trying to keep the worst of the storm off the smaller ones. He felt a lump of sorrow at the thought of poor Boromir; he wondered how soon Legolas and Gimli might visit the Shire again. He missed his friends.

There was another crash of thunder, much closer this time, and Pippin began to think that being under this tree was not such a good idea. He was turning to point this out to his brothers-in-law, when another crash of thunder and a flash of light gave him only just enough time to register the ominous crack above.

With the reflexes honed by his warrior training, he had barely enough time to shove the other two hobbits out of the way before the giant tree branch came hurtling down upon them. But he was not quick enough to get himself out of the way. Oh, no! he thought, here we go again--as the limb pinned him to the ground, he felt an excruciating pain in his left leg. At least this tree limb doesn’t stink like a troll, he thought.

Milo and Tanto scrambled back over to where he lay pinned.

“Pippin!” shouted Tanto. Milo was tugging frantically at the massive branch.

“I’m alive,” Pippin gasped. “Leave it, Milo. It’s too heavy, even for both of you.” He groaned at another wave of pain. “I’m pretty sure my leg is broken.”

Calm yourself, Pip, he thought. Remember what Strider taught you. Focus on your breathing. The pain receded: there, but manageable.

“Tanto,” he said “I think that you had better go for help.”

His younger brother-in-law gave a nod and headed off into the storm.

Milo came over and knelt next to Pippin, who was beginning to shiver. It was hard to focus on one’s breathing when one was so very wet and cold.

“You saved our lives, brother,” Milo said, taking Pippin’s head into his lap.

“Y-you’d have d-d-done the…the s-same f-for m-me.” Pippin’s teeth were chattering, and the pain was threatening to overwhelm him.

“I would have *wanted* to. But I don’t believe I could ever have moved so quickly.”

Pippin wanted to reassure him, but it was taking every ounce of his concentration not to scream. You are a Knight of Gondor, he told himself, and you have been hurt far worse than this in battle. But that was then, part of his mind said, and this is now, and it hurts!

There was another peal of thunder, further in the distance, and the rain began to slowly slack off as the storm moved on.

Pippin was shivering even harder, and in spite of his best efforts, a whimper occasionally escaped him.

Milo was beginning to wonder if any help was ever coming (though it had not, in fact, been very much more than half an hour ) when he saw them coming: at least a score of sturdy hobbits, Tanto and the Thain in the lead, with the healer, Lavender Bunce, and her apprentice, on their heels.

Paladin sped to Pippin’s side. Pippin looked up at him fuzzily and managed a weak smile. “Hullo, F-father. I s-seem… t-to b-be… in a b-bit of…a p-pickle…”

“Hush, now, son,” he said, placing a hand on the wet brow, “we’ll have you out of here soon.” He looked at the other hobbits, who were trying to find the best way to move the branch. “Move it from the broken end, up and over! We don’t want to drag it across his legs!”

“No, indeed,” said Lavender, from her place by Pippin’s side, where she was taking his pulse. He was shivering violently now, and his pulse was thready. She was afraid he was going into shock. “Diamond,” she said to her apprentice, “you and the Thain hold onto his shoulders. The pain when they remove the limb is going to be intense.”

She took Pippin’s hand and looked into his face. “Don’t try to fight the pain when they do this! You will almost certainly pass out, and that would probably be for the best!”

Pippin swallowed the wave of nausea, and nodded slightly to show he understood. One thing he had learned at Cormallen: the body had its reasons when it decided it was time to be unconscious.

The hobbits had got a firm grip on the huge branch, and Cousin Reggie was counting: “One, two, three, and lift!”

Pippin cried out once, and then went blessedly limp.

The rain stopped.

Lavender moved to examine the broken left leg. It was a clean break, below the knee, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She remembered all too clearly last spring when poor little Opal, Reggie’s daughter, had needed an amputation for a leg shattered beyond repair. But it looked as though this break would respond to being set and splinted.

“Thain Paladin, I am going to set the bone and splint the leg before we take him back to the Smials. If you and Mr. Reggie would hold him, in case he comes to, I will need Diamond’s assistance here. Also, I suggest you send someone back with word to start fires and prepare some mulled wine. I want everyone who came out here to get clean, warm and dry as soon as we return. I expect to have my hands full with this one,” she nodded at Pippin, “and I do not need a hole full of people with colds to worry about. That includes you, as well, sir,” she ended firmly.

Paladin nodded. She made perfect sense. He looked about him at the circle of hobbits, all looking down at his son in concern, and felt touched that they were so worried. “Evvie,” he caught the eye of Reggie’s younger brother Everard. “Run on back and give Eglantine the healer’s instructions. Make sure she knows that Pippin is alive, though sorely hurt, and is in no immediate danger. And roust out a messenger to head for Bag End. He’ll need his cousins here once he comes to.”

Lavender nodded her approval. The Mistress would have things well in hand by the time that they were able to return to the Smials; and he was right about Peregrin’s cousins--they’d want to be with him as soon as they heard of his hurt. She’d not really known much of them until she had come to the Great Smials this spring, to take over for the Took family healer, Poppy Burrows. Poppy was taking a year off to journey south and learn new healing methods, and Lavender had agreed to serve in her place until she returned. Although Peregrin was no longer living here, but in Buckland, Poppy had told Lavender of the extraordinary bond between the three, especially since they had returned from their mysterious journey.

She moved down by the broken leg, and prepared to set it. Fortunately, Tanto had mentioned what Pippin had suspected, and she had brought splints and bandages along.

The healer and her apprentice quickly did what needed to be done. Pippin jerked convulsively, but did not regain consciousness. Working quickly, she and Diamond splinted and bandaged the leg, and she had the other hobbits lay down the litter she had them bring. Carefully they moved him onto it, lifted it up, and began the trek back home.

_________________________________________________

Eglantine had wasted no time. Even before Everard came in with his message, she had ordered a huge fire built in the main hall, as well as a quantity of wine to be mulled; hot baths were to be drawn for the hobbits who had gone out, and blankets were being placed in front of the fire to warm. She had sent her eldest daughter Pearl to prepare Pippin’s room for him--to light the fire, see to clean linen and hot water, get extra blankets. She also sent for Mistress Appleblossom, the head housekeeper.

“Mistress Appleblossom, please see to the guest rooms that Mr. Meriadoc and Mr. Frodo use. Prepare a room for Mr. Samwise as well--he may accompany them.” She had been firm with herself in using this new form of address for Frodo’s gardener. Frodo had every intention of seeing Samwise take a more prominent place in society, and this was one way in which she could help him.

“Cousin Tina?”

“Yes?” It was one of Reggie’s daughters, Garnet.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, dear. Would you please go and check on Pimmie and Vinca? They were very distraught over their husbands’ close calls, and they also may need some help with the children.”

“Yes, Cousin Tina.”

Eglantine drew a deep breath. She was beginning to run out of things to do, and that would not be a good thing--then she would have too much time to worry.

__________________________________________________

From the stables, a messenger on a fast pony headed cross-country towards Hobbiton.

__________________________________________________

Frodo, Merry, Sam and Rose were taking tea in the cosy kitchen at Bag End. After The Birthday last week, Merry had stayed on to visit for a while, and Pippin had gone to Tookland, to spend a bit of time with his family, and his new niece and nephew.

Frodo and Sam were discussing the building of a nursery. Frodo thought perhaps they might have workers come and dig a whole new room, while Sam thought it might be better to use one of the many guest rooms. Rose was smiling and shaking her head. She was not particularly concerned about a nursery, as she fully intended to keep the babe and its cradle in the room she and Sam shared. But she supposed that eventually they would need one.

Merry was not paying much attention to the conversation; he had felt uncomfortable and edgy all afternoon, as though something were wrong.

“Merry!” It was Frodo. He had obviously called his cousin’s name more than once.

“I’m sorry, Frodo. I’m afraid I didn’t hear you.”

“What is the trouble, Merry? You’ve been restless for hours, and you’ve scarcely touched your tea.” Frodo was worried. Merry had his own troubles from their time away, but it usually came in the form of nightmares, and rarely seemed to bother him during the day.

Merry shook his head. “Perhaps it’s the storm,” he said. And a crash of thunder punctuated his sentence.

Sam glanced out the window. “It moved up from the southwest; it’ll soon enough be passing over.”

Merry sighed. “I imagine Pip’s had a wet afternoon as well, then. If it’s over us now, it must have been over them before. I hope he’s stayed in and dry.”

Ah, thought Frodo, that’s it. He’s missing Pippin. Out loud he said “He’ll be back tomorrow, and then the two of you can get back to Crickhollow.”

Merry nodded. He’d enjoyed this visit with Frodo and Sam a great deal, but he was missing his other cousin, and their cosy little house in Buckland.

Just then there came a pounding on the front door.

“Who on earth would be out in this nasty weather?” asked Rose.

Sam went to answer the door, and they could hear his exclamation of surprise. He returned to the kitchen with a dripping hobbit following him. His expression was serious.

“This here’s a messenger from the Thain. Mr. Pippin’s been hurt.”

Merry gave a cry. “I knew something was wrong! We must go to him!”

CHAPTER 2

Pippin’s mind struggled towards awakening. There was a strange hand soothing his brow. It wasn’t Merry. He knew Merry’s hand better than his own. It wasn’t Frodo’s long, gentle palm, which he knew nearly as well; nor was it Sam’s sturdy one. The hand was too small and too soft to be Strider or Legolas or Gimli. It was a hobbit’s hand, a lass--oh, that’s right: he was back home! But if he was home, why did he hurt so much?

That throbbing agony in his leg? Suddenly he remembered--fishing with his brothers-in-law, the storm, the tree. He had a broken leg.

He forced his eyes open, and was pleasantly startled to see, only inches from his own, another pair of eyes, Tookish green, but with tiny golden flecks. There was a little tilted nose, and a pink bow of a mouth, bracketed by a pair of dimples, all of it framed by wisps of dark curls.

“Oh,” he whispered.

To his dismay, the lovely face moved away.

“Mistress Lavender, Mistress Took! He is awake now.”

Diamond--that was her name--Miss Diamond, the healer’s apprentice, was replaced by his mother and by Mistress Lavender. His mother bent over and kissed his brow, and Mistress Lavender possessed herself of his wrist, taking his pulse in a business-like way.

The healer moved her own hand next to his brow. “His pulse is steady, but he does have a very slight fever; only to be expected after such an injury. Mr. Peregrin, how do you feel?”

“I’ve felt worse.” This much was true. How could he complain about a broken leg after everything else he’d been through? And though his leg did indeed hurt him most horribly, he was not about to make a baby of himself--especially in front of that lovely vision he could still make out, though she had moved away to make room for her elders.

Mistress Lavender, though, would have none of that. “I asked how do you feel *now*?” she repeated firmly. She drew the leather cord over her neck, with the bit of amber that was suspended from it, and dangled it over his leg.

“Hurts.” He could admit that much, as she could see for herself anyway, with that thing swinging erratically over his leg. Healers! His eyes sought for Diamond’s face again.

Lavender noticed. Uh-oh, she thought, can’t have the wind blow that way. “Diamond, go and prepare some willow-bark tea; make it fairly strong.”

“Yes, Mistress Lavender.” Pippin thought her voice was lovely. Her accent was a bit different; he remembered that she was a North-Took--one of old Bullroarer’s descendants.

Now that he was awake, he was aware of certain things. He needed to relieve himself, but he was surrounded by females. Never mind that one of them was his mother and the other two were healers. At least at Cormallen his companions had all been his friends and fellow warriors, and he wasn’t embarrassed to ask for the chamber pot. But he supposed he wasn’t going to have much choice.

“Erm--Mistress Lavender?” He blushed. This was going to be hard. He didn’t know her nearly so well as he had Poppy, who had taken care of him for as long as he could remember. And he was all too aware of the lovely apprentice hovering in the background.

But Lavender was an observant healer, and she knew exactly what was in her patient’s mind--she’d seen that same blush on male patients before.

“Mr. Peregrin, why don’t we see if your father would care to step in here for a moment, and we’ll go out and give you a bit of privacy?”

Eglantine chuckled, and went to the door. “Paladin? Would you come in for a few minutes?”

Pippin’s father came in looking anxious. He’d been waiting for some time as his wife and the healers had been busy with his son. He gave Eglantine a peck on the cheek. “Is everything all right, dear?”

Lavender spoke up. “Everything is as well as can be expected right now, Thain Paladin. I believe, however, that your son could use your assistance.” She explained how he could help Pippin up to relieve himself without putting any pressure on the broken limb. Paladin listened attentively, and then the two healers and his wife went out, leaving him alone with his son.

“Hullo, Father. I’m sorry about this.” It was still a bit embarrassing to have his father help him, but better than the alternative.

“Don’t be sorry, son.” Following the healer’s instructions, he helped Pippin to take care of his needs. His son was as white as the sheets, broken out into a sweat, and had bit his lip until it bled to keep from crying out, by the time Paladin got him back in the bed.

As Pippin lay trying to get his breath back, Paladin sat down next to his bed, and took his hand. “Son, you know that it is thanks to you that your sisters are not widows today. I am so proud of you.”

“It was--”

Paladin interrupted. “Do not dare to say ‘it was nothing’. Do you value your life or theirs so little?”

Pippin flushed. “No, father, that is not what I would have meant. But I did not do anything extraordinary--I just saw what needed to be done and did it. It’s not like I even *thought* about it before hand.”

Paladin patted his hand. “You may not have thought it extraordinary. You have saved lives before. But it will always seem so to me, and I marvel that I have a son like you.” His eyes were moist as he spoke. He had not always shown his pride in his son. There had once been a time when he despaired of his ever learning responsibility; those days were past. He had seen too much since Pippin’s return not to know how amazing the lad was.

Pippin’s own eyes teared up. He had put his parents through so much grief in the past, it meant a lot that his father could finally say he was proud of him.

“Father?”

“Yes, son?”

“What can you tell me of Miss Diamond, Mistress Lavender’s apprentice?”

Paladin raised his eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. But a glance at the deliberately casual expression on Pippin’s face suddenly enlightened him. Aha, he thought, and he smiled inwardly, though he didn’t allow it to show on his face.

“Well, being a North-Took, she is a descendant of the Bullroarer, so that would make her a sixth cousin on her father's side, I believe.”*

Paladin thought for a second. “I think that your mother said she has been Mistress Lavender’s apprentice for about two years, which would mean she has about five years left until she becomes a full healer. And I think from what your sisters have told me, that she is about a year younger than you.”

“She’s very pretty.”

“She is indeed. But I must remind you, Pippin, that lasses who study to be healers very seldom have the time or thought to spend on lads.”

“Oh, I know that,” said Pippin artlessly, “but I like lasses who want to be healers.”

Paladin remembered that Pimmie had told him Pippin had been paying some attentions to Poppy’s apprentice Viola, before they had left on their journey. “Why is that, son?” he was curious. He’d never heard his son express any sort of preference in feminine companionship before.

“Well, it’s because they seem to have more in their heads than worrying about clothes and parties. They know that life can be serious, they know what‘s really important, and they don’t seem to mind hearing about things that might be a little unpleasant.” His voice trailed away, and his face looked a bit drawn. “You won’t say anything to anyone, will you, Father? Especially Mother?” he asked anxiously.

Paladin grinned. “Your secret is safe with me, son.” This could be interesting.

_________________________________________________

“Are you going to be all right, Rosie my love?” asked Sam anxiously, for about the fourth time.

“Of course I am, Samwise Gamgee! The very idea! Now you just get yourself going. Poor Mr. Merry is going to take off all on his own if you don’t move along right smart now. Don’t worry about me at all!” She gave her husband a firm peck on the cheek and a bit of a push out the door. Mr. Merry and Mr. Frodo were waiting very anxiously indeed, and yes, Mr. Merry did look ready to take off like an arrow from the bow, if he had to wait another minute. He had already saddled the ponies, and was champing at the bit just as much as they.

So Sam hurried on out. The rain had slacked off to a mere drizzle, and the thunder was now sounding far to the east; they would be riding out of the storm, at least.

Rose shut the door to Bag End, and leaned back against it. There was no way she would have told Sam how nervous she was about staying here all alone. Mr. Pippin was more like kinfolk than a friend, even if he was gentry, and of course Sam needed to go to him, which he wouldn’t if he thought she was even the least bit afraid of being alone.

Sam mounted Bill, and Merry turned to look at him and Frodo. “Let’s go,” he said tensely, and started off at a trot. Frodo and Sam soon caught him up, and they kept a smart pace. They’d be at the Great Smials shortly after midnight if all went well.

__________________________________________________

While Paladin spent a few minutes with his son, Lavender took a few minutes to speak to her apprentice.

“Diamond, do you remember what the first principles are of being a healer?”

She looked at her mistress with surprise. A sudden quiz was not that unusual, but these were things she had down pat months ago. “To do nothing that would cause further harm, to use the best of my knowledge and abilities, to not try something that is clearly beyond my ability unless it is a matter of life and death, to keep a clear head, and to care for each patient as a person, but not personally.”

“I think that it is that last principle that may come to give you some difficulty in the days ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Diamond was mystified, and just slightly offended.

“I think that Peregrin Took finds you attractive.”

Diamond laughed. “Surely not!”

Lavender shook her head. “I might be mistaken, but I think not. You must know that you are a pretty lass.”

“Well, I’m not ugly, I know,” she laughed, “but I’m going to be a healer.” She said that as though it put her beyond being thought of as a potential mate.

Lavender laughed. “What has that to do with it, dear? *I* am married.”

“But that’s different!”

“In some ways. Polo and I did not even meet until I had been a full healer for several years, and he was never my patient, though his mother was. But simply being a healer does not mean that you will never be thought of as a pretty lass, nor as a potential wife.” Lavender shook her head. Many people did feel that way. The majority of healers never wed. But it was more to do with being absorbed by the work than of not wishing to marry.

And female healers held privileges that the average hobbitess did not. No one thought ill of a healer who wished to travel about the Shire on her own.

“Well,” said Diamond, “I suppose I should be flattered if he feels that way, but I am far too busy to be worrying about a lad. Even one as handsome and dashing as Peregrin Took.”

“That’s my lass.” Lavender was reassured. Diamond was an excellent apprentice, one of the best she had trained in years. She did not want her distracted by romance. And she would need her help in caring for the patient.

__________________________________________________

* Thanks to eiluj and FantasyFan for helping me reflect the degree of relationship accurately.  Your reviews were of great help.

CHAPTER 3

Pippin’s eldest sister Pearl sat by his bed, doing a bit of mending while she watched. Both the healers had gone to get a bit of rest, but they were in a room nearby if needed. Mistress Lavender had shooed her parents off to bed before she would seek her own rest.

She had been casting frequent glances at her brother; he still had the flush of fever, although he had been given willow-bark tea, as well as a rather strong sleeping draught. She was a bit worried. Shouldn’t it have broken by now? She finished his shirt--she had been mending the seam beneath the sleeve--and folded it up to put aside. She smiled at him; he was almost as hard on his clothes now as he had been at seven. Right now, his face relaxed in sleep, he still *looked* about seven. But he definitely wasn’t--in fact he was a hero yet again.

Pimmie and Vinca had been nearly hysterical when they found out what had happened, that their husbands had nearly been killed, and that their brother had endangered himself to save them. Mistress Lavender had given Vinca a sleeping draught nearly as strong as the one she had given Pippin, but she could not give one to Pimmie, who was nursing her newborn twins. Pimpernel had finally cried herself to sleep out of sheer exhaustion. Pearl had stayed with her until then, and afterward come to stay with her brother. She could rest tomorrow. She’d never be able to sleep tonight.

On the other side of the room, Diamond sat on a blanket chest, trying to study the herbal that Mistress Lavender had recently given her. But her mistress’s words kept coming back to her. Did Mistress Lavender really think that the Thain’s son found her attractive? She was a pretty observant healer, and sharp about people, so if that’s what she thought--but that was ridiculous. Why would he have any interest in a lass who would have no time for him? There were any number of lasses in the Shire who would be more than glad to dance attendance on him, she was sure. Although in her brief contact with him, she had to admit, she’d seen no signs of it.

At the thought of him, she glanced over once more at her patient.

He seemed to be twitching a bit restlessly, and he looked more flushed than before. “Mistress Pearl?”

“Yes, Diamond?”

“Would you check his brow? He looks a bit more fevered to me.”

“I was thinking that his fever should have broken by now,” she said reaching her hand over. “He’s burning up!”

“I’ll go fetch my mistress!” Diamond moved quickly to the door. Lavender was just across the hall in one of the spare rooms.

Pippin coughed, and moaned a bit in his sleep.

____________________________________

Frodo, Merry and Sam rode up to the stables at the Great Smials, surprised to find a hobbit waiting there with a lantern.

“ ‘Evening, Mr. Merry, Mr. Frodo, Mr. Sam.” He got up off the hay bale he had been sitting on. “They are expecting you up at the Smials. I’ll see to your ponies.”

The three walked up to the main entrance, and Frodo pulled the bell. He had barely touched it when the door opened.

“Hello, Mistress Appleblossom! I am surprised to see you up so late!” he said, as the housekeeper let them in.

“Well, Mr. Frodo, the Master and Mistress were that tired after all the excitement, the healer made them go to bed. But they knew you three would be coming, and your rooms are all prepared.” She glanced at the other two. “Welcome, Mr. Merry, Mr. Samwise.” As she led them down the passageways, Sam looked at her quizzically.

“Mr. Frodo?” he whispered, “what is this with the ‘Mr. Sam’?”

Frodo looked at his friend, amused. “I would imagine that is how Eglantine has told them to address you. I suppose you will have to get used to it.”

They came to the passageway leading to the family sleeping quarters, and headed for Pippin’s room.

“Merry!” said Pearl, quite startled. “I didn’t know that you had arrived.”

Merry did not waste time in greeting her. “What’s wrong?” he said. “Is there a problem?”

“He’s running a fever,” Pearl turned. “Hullo, Frodo and Samwise.” She started to speak to them, but just then Diamond returned with Lavender in tow.

Lavender went over and checked her patient, who coughed again, this time a bit harder.

“What’s gone wrong?” Merry asked her. “I thought he had only broken his leg!”

“He did. But he also was out in the rain and cold for a good long time. I was afraid he might become ill from his exposure. I was hoping I was wrong, but apparently not.” She turned to Pearl. “We need to start using cold cloths to bring down his temperature.”

But Merry had already gone to the washstand and poured water into the basin. He picked it up, along with one of the towels and carried it over to the chair by Pippin’s bed without another word to anyone else, said “I’m here now Pip,” and began to wet the towel.

Lavender looked a bit taken aback at the way his cousin had taken over the sick room. No one else seemed to find it the least bit odd. Frodo had gone over to the other side of the bed and taken Pippin’s hand, and Sam sat down next to him. It was as though they had done this many times before--then she realized, remembering things that Poppy had told her--they probably had.

Pearl looked at the scene and shook her head. If Pippin had his Merry, he didn’t need his sister, too. But that was how it had always been, and she could not imagine it any other way. She murmured “good night,” and went her own way to bed.

Lavender looked over at her apprentice. “Diamond?”

“Yes, Mistress?”

“I need you to prepare some more willow bark, but make it half as strong. It’s a bit early for another dose. Add mint, sage, thyme and honey.”

Diamond nodded, and went across the hall to fetch her mistress’s medical satchel. She quickly returned and went to the hearth to begin preparing it.

Pippin had begun to toss about, and cry out. “Gandalf! I’m sorry, Gandalf! I didn’t mean it!”

Frodo, Sam and Merry all looked at one another. “Moria?” asked Frodo.

“Probably,” said Merry, making soothing noises as he re-wet the towel and placed it on his cousin’s brow. “Or the palantír. But I think Moria.” Pippin’s dreams of the stone were far more frightening to hear. He would shout out, and sit up with staring eyes, though he still slept.

Lavender went over to them. “Do you know then, what troubles his dreams?”

“All too well,” answered Frodo. “Do you know of the athelas?”

“Poppy told me a bit about it before she left. You had given her some to use for Opal. But I have none.”

“That’s all right. Pippin has his own supply, and so do I,” said Merry. He turned to Pippin’s nightstand and looked in the drawer. “Yes, here it is.” He took out one of the little sealed parchment packets. Each one held a single dried leaf, harvested by the King himself, to give it extra virtue.

“Don’t mix it with other herbs,” said Sam. “It works best on its own.”

“It will soothe his dreams, and help him rest,” Merry added. “He only needs to breathe it, though it also works as a tea.”

Diamond brought over the tea she had prepared and Merry took it and began to gently spoon it into his cousin’s mouth, a few drops at a time. She watched in amazement. She’d never thought lads were of much use in a sickroom, but obviously she was wrong. Peregrin’s cousin had the manner of an experienced healer. The sight of the obvious love between them touched her deeply.

Lavender took the precious athelas leaf, and pouring some hot water in one of the bowls from her satchel, she crumbled it in. The smell was wonderful, and it seemed that a fresh breeze had come through the sickroom. It was heartening and invigorating. It lifted the spirit. She brought it over so that her patient could breathe the steam.

The two healers watched as the troubled, fevered face relaxed, and they saw the other three hobbits visibly relax as well. For Merry, Frodo and Sam the smell brought with it the memory of a beloved face: the grey eyes with a twinkle beneath the seriousness, the high wise brow, the wry smile that he often had for his hobbits, the gentle hands that brought healing, their King and their Strider.

Gradually, the herbs did their work, and the flush began to leave Pippin’s face. A light sweat broke out, as the fever broke. Merry gently lifted his cousin’s head, and without a word, Frodo turned the pillow over. Lavender nodded approvingly.

She wished she knew a bit more of Peregrin’s cousins. Although she had served her apprenticeship in Hobbiton, under old Mistress Salvia, she had never had occasion to treat either of the Bagginses, who had seemed almost unnaturally healthy. She did recall once being called in to patch up Merry as a little lad, when he had been hurt by a bully. He’d been a sweet lad, and uncomplaining. She was glad to see he had grown into the promise he showed then. And of course all four of the hobbits were now the famous Travellers, who had gone away, and then come back to put an end to the Troubles. She studied Frodo carefully with her healer’s eye. Poppy had told her he appeared to suffer from melancholy, and it was clear that her colleague was correct. But there seemed to be something more there…

When it was clear that the fever had been vanquished for now, and that the cough did not seem to be getting any worse, Lavender shooed Diamond off to her bed. She turned to Pippin’s three friends. “I suggest that at least two of you go and get some sleep.”

They nodded tiredly, and Frodo and Sam got up to go to their rooms. Merry stayed where he was. Lavender shook her head. “Mr. Meriadoc, I think that if you are careful, you could probably lay down beside him, and get a bit of rest yourself.”

So Merry got onto the bed, fully dressed, and turned on his side toward his cousin, much as he had done throughout their journey. He soon drifted off. Lavender took the chair he had vacated. If there were further complications, she would be right there.

___________________________________________

CHAPTER 4

Just before dawn, the healer found herself beginning to drowse. She sat forward and looked at the bed. Her patient was in good hands. She got up to leave, but before she did, she unfolded a coverlet from the foot of the bed and laid it over Merry. She placed a hand on Pippin’s brow, to be certain no fever had returned, and then went out and shut the door.

______________________________________________

Pippin’s leg hurt. His head hurt. His nose was all stuffed up. And he had to relieve himself again. All in all, he was fairly miserable.

On the up side, Merry was here. His cousin lay on his side, far enough away not to jostle Pippin’s injury, but close enough to lay one hand on his arm. It was the same way Merry had stayed with him in Ithilien; the same way Pippin had stayed with Merry in the Houses of Healing. His cousin was snoring very softly, as he often did when laying on his side, and his face looked quite peaceful. Pippin regretted having to wake him, but it couldn’t be helped; he had to cough.

Merry’s eyes flew open. “Are you all right, Pip?”

“Good bording, Berry,” he croaked.

Merry sat up and pushed the coverlet away. “Lawks, Pippin, you sound dreadful.”

“Thag you bery buch, as Bibo once sed.”

They both chuckled, and then Merry assisted him as Paladin had done the night before. Merry was a little better at it than his father had been, but even so, Pippin could not help a yip of pain. Merry winced. He was just getting Pippin settled back when there was a knock on the door.

Merry looked at Pippin who nodded. “Come in,” he called.

It was Diamond. Pippin stifled the urge both to groan and to pull the blanket up over his head and hide. It was foolish to mind her seeing him like this--she was a healer, for goodness’ sake! But there it was: he didn’t mind her seeing him in pain when it was from a noble heroic injury; he very much minded her seeing him all red-faced and puffy from a stupid cold!

She had brought a tray with a kettle, cups and the herbs she needed to mix the medicinal tea. “Good morning,” she said cheerily.

“Good morning, Miss Diamond,” said Merry, moving to build up the fire on the grate, so that she could heat the kettle.

“ ‘Bordig,” said Pippin reluctantly. Only his eyes peeked out from the blanket as he glanced in her direction.

“He’s a bit stuffed up this morning,” said Merry.

“So I hear,” she laughed. Her dimples flashed, and Pippin’s heart gave a little flutter at the sight of them. “This tea will help, as will sitting up. Mr. Brandybuck, could you be so good as to help me?”

“Only if you will call me ‘Merry’!”

“Then you must drop the ‘miss’ and call me ‘Diamond’.”

Pippin felt a stab of entirely unreasonable jealousy. This was ridiculous. He knew Merry had eyes for no one but Estella Bolger. Get a grip on yourself, you silly Took! he told himself. Out loud he said “ ’d you bust ca’ be ’Bibbid’.”

“Very well, ‘Bibbid‘,” she laughed.

Oh! There were those dimples again! He thought he could say any number of ridiculous things to see those dimples.

Merry went to the head of the bed, and helped Pippin to lean forward, while Diamond put an extra pillow behind his back. Then they each took him by an arm and pulled him back and up.

Pain shot through him; he let out a gasp as the blood drained from his face. He felt more than a bit woozy.

“Oh, Pip! I’m sorry!” said Merry, distressed.

“My apologies, Pippin!” exclaimed Diamond. “We should have done that more slowly.” Diamond was embarrassed. It was a good thing that Mistress Lavender had not seen her be so clumsy with a patient, she thought.

“ ’S all right,” he gasped.

Diamond held the tea up to his lips; it was much the same as the night before, though he could taste more of the bitter willow-bark in it. In his upright position, with the warmth of the steaming tea wafting up, he could begin to feel the congestion as it drained away. He found that in just a few moments, he could breathe through his nose once more.

“Ah, that’s better,” he sighed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, flashing her dimples once more, as she turned to put the empty cup away. Pippin could not tear his gaze away.

He could feel a pair of grey eyes boring into the back of his skull. He turned his regard to see Merry standing there, arms crossed, smirking at him.

“What?” he mouthed, silently and crossly.

Merry grinned, raised a brow, and flicked a glance at the young healer, who was busy setting the tray to rights.

Pippin blushed.

Merry chuckled.

Pippin shrugged, and looked a bit wistful.

Diamond turned around, and the amused expression vanished from Merry’s face as though it had never been there.

Pippin looked grateful.

Merry smiled fondly.

_______________________________________________

The sound of her newborn twins crying brought Pimpernel instantly awake. She could hear them in the next room, but before she could get out of bed, the door opened, and her cousin Garnet came in with a babe on each arm.

“I’m sorry, Pimmie,” she said, “but I do believe that they want their breakfast.”

Pimpernel sat up to take little Drogo and Primula in her arms. “I think that you are right.” She soon had them nursing. “Where is Milo?”

“He took the lasses with him to the family quarters for first breakfast, so that you could have a bit of a lie in.”

Her husband was thoughtful that way. She felt tears spring to her eyes as she thought of what *could* have been this morning.

“Garnet, when the twins have finished nursing, could you watch them for a bit. I want to get dressed and go see my brother.”

“Of course, cousin! I’d be glad of a chance to watch the little dears. They are such lovely babies.”

Pimpernel smiled her thanks, and thought of how only a few months ago this cousin would have been just about the last person she would consider asking to mind her children. But Garnet and her sisters had changed a great deal over the last little while, and all of it for the better.

____________________________________________

Tanto leaned up on one arm, and reached over to brush away the curls from his wife’s brow. Vinca was still sleeping deeply after having taken the sleeping draught the night before. She had been so distraught.

As soon as she woke up, they had a call to make. Pippin needed to know just how grateful they were. It gave Tanto the funniest feeling in the pit of his stomach, every time he realized how nearly he had come to death, and how his brother-in-law had been willing to sacrifice himself to save him. Could he have done the same? He wished he knew.

____________________________________________

There was a knock on Pippin’s door. This time, Merry went over to open it himself.

It was a maidservant, with a tea trolley, loaded with a lavish first breakfast, enough for all three of them.

Pippin was not sure he could face food right now.

But Merry wheeled the trolley over, and began to prepare three plates. There was porridge, laced with honey and cream; there were apples cooked with cinnamon; there were some lovely, yeasty buns, piping hot. There were boiled eggs. There was butter, and a jar of blackberry jam, and the honey pot. There was a fragrant pot of tea, and a pitcher of fruit juice.

After the first few bites, Pippin felt his appetite return, and he polished off all his first serving, and over half of his second, before he was sated. He began to feel drowsy.

Merry sat on the foot of his bed, eating his third serving, while Diamond sat in the chair by the bed. Pippin began to doze off as the food and medicine did their work, keeping his eyes on the healer all the while.

As he ate, Merry observed her while she ate. So this was the lass who had caught Pippin’s eye? She seemed a good sort; young, but then so was Pip, for all the maturity he had gained on the Quest. The question was, was she good enough for Pippin? He’d make it a point to find out. And if she was, then perhaps he could use a bit of his older and more experienced cousin’s advice…

CHAPTER 5

There was a rap on Pippin’s door. Merry glanced over, but Pippin didn’t stir, so he went to open the door. It was his cousin Pimpernel. She looked tired and fretful, and he didn’t think it had to do with her new babies. He reached out and embraced her. She trembled a bit in his arms, and he looked at her with concern. She obviously had not had much sleep the night before.

“Oh Merry, I’m so glad you got here! How is he?” she said.

“He’s sleeping right now.” He stood back so that she could enter the room.

Pimmie saw Diamond. “Hullo, Miss Diamond,” she said softly. “Is everything all right?”

Diamond smiled at Pippin’s sister. She liked Pimpernel. She had assisted with the delivery of the babies, and helped to tend them afterward. She thought Pimpernel was a wonderful mother. It would have been horrible if she had been widowed so soon after the twins were born. “Aside from a broken leg and a nasty cold,” she said, “he seems to be faring quite well.”

Pimmie went over, and looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Do you think I could be alone with him for a little while?”

Diamond hesitated. While Mistress Lavender had not said she *had* to stay with the patient at all times, she was a bit unsure about leaving him without permission.

Merry spoke up. “I’ve an idea, Diamond, why don’t we rouse up my cousin Frodo and my friend Sam, and take a little turn around the south garden before second breakfast. I’m sure Pip’s sister will be fine with him, and I know that if he wakes, she wants to talk to him privately.”

She agreed to the sense of this, so Merry went down a couple of doors, and rapped on the one to Frodo’s room. “Come in, Merry!” came the reply.

Merry turned and gave her a smile. “I’ll see if he’s decent. You wait here.”

She stood there pondering how his cousin could have known it was he at the door, when it suddenly opened and they both came out. “Good morning, Miss Diamond,” said Frodo gallantly.

“Good morning, Mr. Baggins.”

Merry turned to her. “It seems Sam is already out in the garden. Shall we see if we can find him?”

It was not really a good time of year for viewing the garden. Most of the plants had been put to bed for the winter beneath a blanket of mulch, and the trees had already lost most of their foliage, though some still had a bit of their fall color still clinging. Sam, of course, could find pleasure in a garden any time of year. He was deep in a conversation with the Took’s head gardener about bulbs and wintering over. They did not interrupt him; he acknowledged their presence with a nod.

For Frodo, Merry and Diamond, the main attraction was the crisp fall air and the sunny blue sky--very pleasant after a night spent in a sickroom. They walked about a bit, and then availed themselves of one of the many benches scattered about the garden walks.

“So, Diamond,” said Merry, “how do you find it, being here in the Great Smials? Are your southern relations driving you mad yet?”

She laughed pleasantly. “I’ve never been among so many Tooks all at one time before! We North-tooks are a scattered lot. We live in holes and houses of only one family. That probably seems odd to you as well, since I have always heard that Brandy Hall is just as much a warren as the Great Smials.”

“Indeed, it is. In some ways even more so,” Merry grinned. “Even to one raised in it, it can be overwhelming at times.” He glanced across Diamond to Frodo, who laughed wryly.

The gardener had gone back to his work, and Sam came over to stand behind Frodo. He listened quietly.

“I know that Bag End was a pleasant respite after all the racket at Brandy Hall,” said Frodo.

Diamond looked at Frodo. She was curious about this mysterious cousin, who had taken away the heirs to the Tooks and the Brandybucks for a whole year, and brought them back just in time to save the Shire. He had an air about him that teased at the edge of her healer’s instincts. She knew she had a lot more to learn before she could begin to understand what she sensed from him. She glanced at the way he had put his right hand in his pocket, though they were seated. It could not be terribly comfortable to sit that way, but it was clear he was self-conscious about his missing finger. She had asked Mistress Lavender about it after the first time she had seen him, but her mistress only seemed to know that it was something that had happened when the Travellers were away, and that all of them were reluctant to speak of it. And then there was the business of the athelas leaves. And the business of his healer--and actually Pippin’s healer, and if she understood correctly, Merry’s and Samwise’s as well--having been the new King. That seemed so odd to her. Male healers were rare in her experience, but how in the world could one also be a King? And why would these hobbits be so important as to rate his attention? She found herself very curious indeed.

“And what kind of patient are you finding Pippin to be?” asked Merry. “He’s been known to drive healers to distraction.”

“So far he’s been a good patient. At least he takes his medicine without a lot of fuss, though I know some of it has been rather bitter--unlike his father!” She gave a wry expression. Just a few weeks ago, the Thain had needed to be treated for an infection from a bad tooth, and oh! the fuss there had been over taking the bad tasting medicine. It had taken Mistress Took to finally overcome his objections, and even afterward, he sputtered and complained for hours.

Frodo, Merry and Sam all laughed. Merry shook his head. “As a lad, Pip used to be much worse about taking his medicine. I can recall having to chase him down and drag him out from under a bed by one leg to make him take a cough tonic. But he learned a hard lesson about that!”

Diamond looked over at him, curious.

Frodo took up the tale. “Pippin was very young, only about twelve. It was the first year after Bilbo had left, and Merry and Pippin had come to spend the spring with me at Bag End. Pip fell ill with a cold, and the healer gave us a tonic to dose him with, to help keep it from settling in his chest. I admit it smelled foul, and tasted even fouler. He did everything he could to avoid taking it. We had to chase after him every day when it was time to take it.”

“And then,” said Merry, “one day, he suddenly stopped resisting. He put up a bit of a fuss, and made awful faces, but he quit giving us any difficulty. I suppose that *should* have made me suspicious, but I put it down to the fact that we had bribed him with tea and cakes, and he just wanted more of the same. Then a few nights later, he had a relapse, a serious one.” Merry’s face grew sober, remembering how scary it had been to wake to Pippin coughing and barely able to breathe. “Not only had his cold come back even worse, but it had settled in his chest with a vengeance.”

“It turned out,” put in Frodo, “that the silly child had emptied the tonic out and replaced it with cold tea! The healer was not available that night--she‘d gone out to deliver a baby, if I recall correctly, and Merry and I were at wit’s end. If Sam and his father had not remembered how the tonic was made, I shudder to think what could have happened.”*

“ ‘Tweren’t nothing,” murmured Sam, a bit embarrassed at the praise.

“I beg to differ, Sam,” said Merry. “I think that it was a great deal, indeed!”

“So do I,” said Frodo stoutly. “You and your gaffer saved his life, I do believe.”

Sam blushed.

“At any rate, it gave Pippin such a fright that he stopped putting up a fuss about taking his medicine when he needed to. I suppose Strider should have been grateful for that--” Merry cut his eyes at Frodo “--since you gave him enough trouble for two on that score.”

Frodo laughed. “It doesn’t do to have the healers have things all their own way, now does it?”

Diamond gave him a mock stern look. “I don’t know why not. Personally, I think that healers should *always* get their own way!”

“You would!” laughed Merry, and the others laughed as well. “Is that why you decided to be a healer--to get your own way all the time?” He asked it lightly, but he listened intently for her answer.

“Oh, I had an aunt, Mistress Jewel North-took. She was a well-known and well-respected healer there in Long Cleeve. I thought she hung the moon, and all I ever wanted was to be just like her. She never wed, but she had her own little hole all to herself and whichever one of her apprentices she happened to be training at the time. I always thought that I would one day be her apprentice myself, but she died of a sudden apoplexy before I was old enough for it.” Diamond looked a bit sad.

“I’m sorry,” said Merry, contrite.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I am enjoying my time with Mistress Lavender. But I had thought we’d be spending our time in Budgeford. I was very surprised when we were asked to take over here while Mistress Poppy is gone, and even more surprised when we did so.”

“Why is that? Wouldn’t any healer consider working for the Thain a plum assignment?” Again Merry was listening very intently, as though to draw out any subtleties in her answer.

“It’s not so much that, but you know that Mistress Lavender is married. That’s unusual for a healer, you know. We generally tend to feel that marriage is a distraction. But her husband, Polo Bunce, did not object although it meant a year apart, except for the occasional visit.”

Merry raised his brow and pursed his lips. “And so, do *you* think marriage is a distraction?”

She laughed. “I don’t have time to think about it one way or the other. In fact, I shouldn’t be taking this time right now. If you gentlehobbits will excuse me, I need to go see if Mistress Lavender wants to wake for second breakfast. And I believe she will be wanting me to check some of her other patients for her today.” Diamond rose gracefully, and Merry and Frodo stood. She took her leave and headed back into the Smials. Merry watched her thoughtfully.

Sam looked at him curiously. “Mr. Merry! If I did not know you better, I would think that Miss Estella might have a rival, the way you was chatting Miss Diamond up!”

Frodo chuckled. “I don’t think so, Sam. There’s only one reason Merry would be paying so much attention to the lovely healer’s apprentice! So she’s caught Pippin’s eye, has she?”

Merry shook his head ruefully. Frodo knew him all too well. “Well, I wouldn’t have said anything, but since you’ve guessed it, yes she has. I think he’s fallen pretty hard.”

“So did she pass your inspection?” Frodo asked. He thought that Merry was getting a bit carried away, but he knew better than to advise him to stay out of it. It would never happen. Merry felt that any business of his cousins’ was business of his, and always had done.

Merry looked thoughtful. “She seems intelligent and level-headed. I’d say that she just might be the kind of lass he needs--she’s certainly not overly impressed that he’s the son of the Thain, nor with his status as a Knight of Gondor. On the other hand, she doesn’t seem to see him as anything but a patient. That is probably very professional of her, but it’s going to make things hard on Pip if she doesn’t return his interest. It worries me that she doesn’t seem to care about getting married.”

“Well, you know, Mr. Merry, that’s how most healers are! Why this Mistress Lavender is the only healer I’ve ever met myself who *is* married, though I’ve no doubt as there‘s a few others,” put in Sam. “But you know, if anyone can overcome that, it’s Mr. Pippin once he makes his mind up. And I don’t know about you, Mr. Frodo and Mr. Merry, but I think I’m going in to see about a bit of second breakfast. And then maybe we can get a turn to see Mr. Pippin.”

“That’s the best bit of wisdom I’ve heard this morning,” said Frodo. “And Merry, I know saying this to you is like talking to a wall, but try not to worry so much about Pip. He’s got a lot going for him, and if this is indeed the lass for him, he will make it happen; if she is not, then your interference is not going to mend matters.”

“I don’t interfere!”

Frodo and Sam frankly goggled at him.

He had the grace to blush, and they laughed.

“Well, it’s not *interference*. I just need to take care of him.”

And Frodo shook his head in defeat. Merry was right. But the need was more Merry’s than it was Pippin’s.

__________________________________________________

*This is a reference to the first Round Robin story done on the PippinHealers Yahoo! group.  It's called "Of Tonic and Tea" and is found here on Stories of Arda at:  

  http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterview.asp?sid=3485&cid=13247

CHAPTER 6

Pimpernel sat in the chair by her brother’s bed, and studied him. She could see the scars on his wrists, where his arms lay outside the blankets. She’d seen most of his scars by now. They still troubled her mightily. She wondered if there would be outward scars from this injury.

Pippin blearily opened his eyes to see her sitting next to him. He blinked. “Pimmie?”

She looked at him sadly. “Hullo, Pippin. How are you?”

“I’ve been worse.”

She shuddered. She hated to think that while he was gone this little brother of hers had been hurt nigh unto death. He was so casual about it.

And now he was casual about this. But she could not be.

“Peregrin, I have to thank you--” she started.

He sighed. “No, you don’t, Pimmie. I did what I did. I didn’t even think about it. But I wouldn’t let harm come to Milo or Tanto. They are family; no thanks is involved.”

“But--” she stopped; she did not even know how to express what seemed to her the most dreadful thought. If he had not acted, she would be mourning her husband now, yet the knowledge that he had been a willing sacrifice to stop that ate at her. What if he had died instead of merely being injured? How would she have faced her husband every day knowing that he was there at the cost of her brother’s life? She shook her head and tried again. “But Pippin, how can I not thank you? This is a bit more than just taking the blame for me when I broke Mother’s best mirror. This was a matter of life and death!”

Pippin sighed. It was hard to see his sister so upset. He wished she would just be happy that everyone was alive, and leave it at that.

“Pimmie, don’t you understand? I can’t not react when someone is in danger. And think of the alternative. How do you think I would feel today if I had *not* acted, and just stood there? I’d be watching you and Vinca bury your husbands and have to live for the rest of my life with the knowledge that I could have done something and didn’t?”

Pimpernel was taken aback. She had not thought of it from that point of view. “Oh, Pippin!”

“I am just glad that I had the training that allowed me to act quickly. And I’m not killed, I’m just injured. I’ll be right as rain in a few weeks, you’ll see.” He gave her a smile that was a sweet reminder of the little lad he once had been. “I’m a Knight of Gondor, Pimmie, and I’m glad I can live up to that at home as well as in Minas Tirith.”

There was a tap on the door. “Come in,” Pippin called.

The door opened to admit Pervinca and Tanto. Pippin sighed. It looked as though he would have to have this whole conversation over again. And probably at least one more time with Milo. He supposed it was inevitable. But sometimes gratitude was more of a burden than a blessing. He began to understand how Frodo felt sometimes. He wished Merry were here. Merry could always find the witty remark that would lighten the mood.

_____________________________________________________

Diamond knocked on the door of Reginard Took’s apartment. This was a patient she had come to enjoy checking on.

The door was opened by an attractive lass a bit older than she. It was Reggie’s oldest daughter. “Good morning, Amethyst. Is Opal awake?”

“Yes, Diamond, she is. She’s up and dressed. Let me tell her you are here.”

Opal’s face lit up to see Diamond. The two lasses had struck up a firm friendship. Diamond had never known Opal before the accident that had cost her a leg, and so had never met the petulant spoiled brat that she once had been. And Opal’s ambition to become a healer herself gave them even more in common. Mistress Lavender and Mistress Poppy both felt that with determination, Opal’s handicap should be no bar to her goal.

She sat down and took both of Opal’s hands in hers and looked at her. “Is something troubling you?”

“Garnet told me of what happened to Pippin. How bad is it?” She felt quite worried, for the broken leg she had suffered had been so bad that they had no choice but to take it off; she dreaded the idea that her cousin might face a similar fate.

“No, no!” Diamond was quick to reassure her. “It was a clean break and should mend.”

“Well, that’s a relief! Do you suppose he’d mind if I visited? I know how dismal he must be!”

“I’m sure he would welcome a visit from you, if you feel up to walking that far--” for Opal was still learning to use crutches and tired easily. “--but he does not seem terribly dismal. I think he is grateful not to have been hurt more seriously.” She turned Opal’s hand over, and then took her wrist to take her pulse. Then she took from her neck the silk cord, from which dangled a heart that had been carved of some dark and finely grained wood. It had been the pendulum that had belonged to her Aunt Jewel, and was her most prized possession. She dangled it over Opal’s legs. The right leg, which ended just below the knee, seemed to be doing well, as far as she could tell from the patterns. Her left leg, which had also been broken in the same accident, however, was showing some residual pain.

“You’ve been overcompensating, haven’t you?” she asked her patient.

“Well,” said Opal, with a rueful laugh, “when you’ve only the one to stand on, it’s hard not to put too much weight on it.”

“Opal, dear, that’s what the crutches are for.” She reached over to where the crutches leaned on the wall and handed them to Opal. “Here, let me see you use them.”

She watched Opal raise herself up only a bit awkwardly. It was amazing how far she had come in the last few months. Then her patient walked a few steps from the chair to the bed and back. She sat back down.

Diamond looked a bit puzzled. Something was not quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “I think maybe the crutches are wrong somehow, Opal. I’m going to have Mistress Lavender take another look at you. I’m not experienced enough to be sure, but I think perhaps the crutches are the wrong size.”

“That’s possible. They were the only pair of crutches to be found in all the mathom rooms; I’m sure that they were probably meant for a hobbit a bit taller than I.” She laughed.

“I will definitely speak to Mistress Lavender. You will probably need to have a pair made for you.” She stood to go. “I’ll see you again soon, dear. I need to go check on a couple of other patients.”

“Well, give Cousin Pippin my regards when you see him again, please!”

“I will.”

From the family quarters, Diamond went to the servant’s wing--there were two other patients there: one of the kitchen lasses had burnt her arm on hot grease a couple of days before. She had to check on the burn and change the dressing. And one of the undergardeners had put his back out when he tried to shift a rock without bending his knees. He was dismayed to find he was going to have to remain in bed for a few more days, and tried to argue about it, but Diamond was firm with him. She would mention this to her mistress. Mistress Lavender would make sure that the head gardener did not allow him back to work before he had healer’s permission.

Then she went to one of the smaller kitchens, and helped herself to some elevenses. She mulled over in her mind her report for her mistress; this was only about the third time she had been allowed to see all the patients alone, and she wanted to get it right. After she reported, then she wondered what Mistress Lavender would have her to do? Would she send her to watch after Pippin again? There was definitely something interesting about him. She wondered if she could coax him into telling her some of his travels.

_________________________________________________

Frodo and Sam arrived just before elevenses. They had insisted that Merry take his own meal with his aunt and uncle, and that he should have a nap afterward. He’d argued a bit, but Eglantine backed them up. She knew her nephew would wear himself out tending her son if she was not firm with him.

“Hullo, Mr. Pippin,” said Sam.

“Good morning, you young rascal,” said Frodo. “Are you feeling any better?”

“No complaints,” said Pippin.

“Don’t try that on me, dearest.” Frodo looked at him sternly.

Pippin wilted under his cousin’s fond gaze. “All right, if you insist on knowing, it hurts like the billy-o! And I’m glad you two are here, because I need to, well, you know…” So Frodo and Sam assisted him to relieve himself, and then settled him back down.

“You know, a broken leg does hurt a lot worse than a broken foot. But it’s nice not having broken ribs to go along with it. Though my knee is hurting me, too.”

“Let me see, Pip!” Frodo looked at the knee above the splint. It was a bit inflamed. “It looks a bit red and swollen, to me.” Pippin had suffered a dislocated knee at the Battle of the Black Gate, in addition to his many other injuries. Unlike most of his other wounds however, the knee still bothered him occasionally. “Sam, would you go across the hall and see if the healer is there. I think she should take a look.”

Sam nodded and quickly went out, and just as quickly returned with Mistress Lavender.

She examined the swollen area. “Yes. It looks like the new injury has definitely aggravated the old. It’s nearly time for another dose of willow-bark anyway, so I’ll increase the amount to help the inflammation.” Pippin made a face, but did not otherwise complain. “I’ll make up a salve for it as well.”

“Thank you, Mistress Lavender,” said Frodo. 

“Thank you for bringing it to my attention.” She turned to Pippin. “As for you, young Peregrin, there is such a thing as not complaining enough. You need to let your healers know about any pains that grow worse, or are different. There is a difference between being brave and being silly.”

Frodo and Sam laughed. “Where have we heard those words before, Mr. Frodo?”

“Well, not those *exact* words, but I think I heard several variations on the theme from our King from time to time.”

Pippin chuckled. “I seem to remember hearing similar words to *you* cousin, from Lord Elrond as well!”

Lavender’s ears twitched. She had heard several times about the King, from Poppy, but-- “Who was Lord Elrond?”

Frodo smiled. “Elrond Half-elven, Lord of Rivendell. He is a great healer, perhaps the greatest in the world, and he saw to the King’s training.”

Lavender’s eyes grew wide. No wonder Poppy wanted to learn from this King. The marvels of Elven healing were only a distant memory in the Shire, hints of wonders barely mentioned in the oldest of medical texts, and even then only saying “it is said that once upon a time”. And then she wondered something else: the greatest healer in the world, and he had treated Frodo Baggins? There was a story there, to be sure!

Just then a maidservant arrived with Pippin’s elevenses, again bringing enough so that his visitors could enjoy the meal with him.

“I will go and see to the making of that salve, and leave you to your meal.” Lavender left, as Sam began to dish up the plates, and Frodo poured the tea.

__________________________________________________

Lavender was working on the salve when Diamond returned to the room to make her report. She listened intently to her apprentice. The report was thorough, but concise.

“Very good, Diamond. You did well indeed. I believe you may be correct about Opal’s crutches. I will go along there tomorrow to check for myself. Her father can easily afford to have some new ones made just for her. The old ones were used simply as a matter of convenience, in order to save time. And I will have a word with the head gardener as well. I mean to do that anyway; he should teach his helpers to lift heavy things properly, so that things like that don‘t happen.” She finished mixing the salve, and put it into a small jar. “I’d like you to take this and use it on Peregrin’s left knee. His new injury has inflamed the old one.”

“Yes, Mistress Lavender.” Diamond took the jar and went across the hall to Pippin’s room. The three had finished their meal, and Frodo was perched at the foot of Pippin’s bed, while Sam was in the chair beside it. The dirty dishes had all been neatly piled on the trolley to be returned to the kitchen later.

“Hullo, Diamond!” said Pippin, brightening visibly when she came into the room.

“Mistress Lavender sent me to apply this salve, Pippin.” She turned to draw the covers away, in order to see his knee, and so missed his rosy blush.

“Do you want us to leave, Miss Diamond?” asked Frodo.

“Oh, no, this will only take a moment.” She gave him a smile which revealed her dimples again, and Pippin’s heart gave a flutter. “By the way,” she said to Pippin, “your cousin Opal sends her greetings.”

“That’s very kind of her,” he answered absently. He was noticing that the way she had her hair pinned up left little curls to escape around her ears.

She had a very pretty neck, as well.

Pippin’s eyes grew wide as her cool smooth fingers began to massage the ointment into the painful area around his knee. Then they rather glazed over, and he smiled foolishly. This was bliss, this was. He hoped that she would never stop.

Frodo saw his reaction, and studiously avoided meeting Sam’s eyes. After what Merry had revealed it was all they could do not to burst out laughing. If they once looked at one another, all was lost.

In only a moment, Diamond had finished.

Pippin sighed. “Is that all?” he asked, in a disappointed tone.

“The medicine should start working shortly. I think your knee will feel better soon.” She gave a farewell nod to Frodo and Sam, and left. Pippin was crestfallen. Then he noticed how Frodo and Sam were acting and saw the amused expressions on their faces.

“Merry told you, didn’t he?” He frowned. It wasn’t like Merry to break a confidence, even an unspoken one.

“Actually, no,” said Frodo, “he just confirmed my guess, so don’t go blaming him.”

“I suppose everybody in the world knows by now,” he said bitterly.

“It’s not that bad Mr. Pippin,” said Sam helpfully. “I don’t think Miss Diamond knows.” He stifled a chortle at the young Took‘s indignant expression. Mr. Pippin had teased him enough about Rosy, now he’d get a bit of his own back.

“If I had something in my hand right now, Sam, I’d throw it at you!” Pippin responded crossly.

“Take it easy, Pip,” said Frodo. “It’s early days yet. I believe you’ll find that your Tookish charm won’t fail.”

Pippin looked at him hopefully. “Do you mean it, Frodo?”

“I wouldn’t say so if I didn’t, dearest.”

Pippin lay back against his pillows contentedly. If Frodo said it, it had to be so.

_____________________________________________

CHAPTER 7

Frodo and Sam stayed until Pippin’s luncheon arrived, accompanied by his mother. They had agreed that Sam would stay with him that night, and Frodo the following night. Then. if all was going well, the two of them would return to Bag End. There was no question that Merry would remain as long as Pippin did.

Eglantine crossed over to drop a kiss on her son’s brow. “Good afternoon Frodo and Samwise.”

“It’s good to see you again, Cousin Tina,” said Frodo. “We’ll leave this rascal to his mum now.” He reached over and deliberately ruffled Pippin’s hair the way he had done when he was small. Pippin never minded when Frodo did that; even Merry no longer had *that* privilege. Only Frodo.

Pippin stuck his tongue out, but spoiled it by laughing.

“We will see you later, Pip.”

“ ‘Bye for now, Mr. Pippin.”

_________________________________________

Merry wakened from his brief nap feeling refreshed. It seemed as though Frodo and Aunt Tina had been right. They had insisted that he could not have slept properly alongside a sick Pippin, and that he needed some more sleep. He had been quite cross with them, sending him off to take a nap after elevenses as though he were a faunt. But he felt a good deal more clear headed now.

He realized that he had some letters to write, so he got up and went to the small desk, and took up the quill.

Dear Mum and Da,

I know that you are expecting Pippin and I to be returning to Buckland about now, but I am sorry to tell you that it will be some time before we can do so.

Yesterday Pippin was in a serious accident. He actually saved his brothers-in-law from being killed by a falling branch during a storm, but ended up being pinned by it. He fortunately suffered no worse than a broken leg and a severe cold (from exposure to the weather) but of course it will be a while before he will be able to leave. I am sure Uncle Paladin will write you of this in more detail.

Frodo, Sam and I came to the Great Smials as soon as we heard the news. They will be returning to Bag End in a day or so, but I intend to stay with Pippin, as I daresay you have guessed.

Try not to worry about this too much. The healers seem to feel the break is a clean one, and you know that both he and I mend more quickly now than we used to. There is no reason for either of you to feel that you need to come here; we will be fine. But if you care to write Pippin, I know he would be glad to hear from you. Once he starts to mend, he’s going to be considerably bored, and any news will be welcome.

In other news, Pimpernel’s new babes are doing very well, growing and thriving. Frodo was no end bucked that she named them after his parents, and I know that must have pleased you both as well. And you will also be pleased to hear that Sam and Rose are now expecting a little one sometime this spring!

I’m writing Dodi to let him know that he will need to keep an eye on the house for us for a little while longer.

I’ll write again soon.

All my love,

Your son,

Merry

***

My dear Doderic,

I’m sorry to have to impose on you for a bit longer, but Pip’s gone and broken his leg; needless to say that this will delay our return to Crickhollow for quite a while.

I appreciate your keeping an eye on the house for us. If it would make things more convenient for you, please consider moving Hilde, Pybba and Butter to the stables up at the Hall until we get home.

I’ve written Mum and Da with a bit more information. They can give you the details on Pippin’s accident.

Thanks again for taking care of our house for us.

Love,

Cousin Merry

***

My darling Estella,

I know that you are expecting us to stop at Brock Hall on our way home to Buckland, but our arrival is going to be postponed indefinitely.

Pippin is here at the Great Smials laid up with a broken leg. You know very well I won’t leave him, so I am more or less stuck here as well.

I’m so proud of the silly lad I could burst. He broke the leg saving his brothers-in-law from their own foolishness. The two of them and Pip were out fishing when yesterday’s storm broke. Instead of sensibly coming on back, wet or no, they decided to seek shelter under a huge tree. In a thunderstorm, I tell you! When lightning sent a branch down on them, Pip shoved them away, and ended up pinned. It was lucky he was not killed instead! I like Milo and Tanto well enough, but I have to say I am feeling a bit angry at them right now. Of course, I wouldn’t say that to anyone but you, dear. Even Pip wouldn’t understand, and he’d be all worried that I would say something to them. I wouldn’t. It’s not like it would mend matters now, and would just cause hard feelings. But I have to say I would have thought them to have more sense!

At any rate, I’ll be here for a good while. Frodo and Sam are here as well, but they will be heading back to Bag End in a day or so. Poor Sam, I know, is fretting over having left Rose alone. I’d not had a chance before to tell you, but they are expecting a baby in the spring! So you can see why Sam wants to get back as soon as possible.

I miss you so much. I was really looking forward to spending a day or so with you. I know we agreed to wait until Freddy came back from abroad to announce our betrothal, but it’s decidedly hard on me, my heart. I hope you have made it clear to your mother that once the announcement is made, the wedding is to proceed fairly quickly! But Rosamunda will have her own way, I know. (I’m smiling, dearest, and not cross. I can’t be cross when I’m thinking of you.)

It’s very possible that I may have a bit of interesting news to share with you about Pip as well. I can’t say anymore at present, except to say that I am hopeful he may soon be finding for himself the kind of happiness I have with you.

Love always and forever,

Merry

There was a tap on the door, and at his answer, Frodo stuck his head in.

“Are you still angry, or would you care to come to lunch with me?” Frodo did look a bit worried. He had been a bit heavy-handed, and he could understand Merry’s resentment. He never liked people telling him to take naps either--even when they were right.

Merry shook his head and sighed. He couldn’t stay angry when he knew it was all out of concern for him. And he’d done the same thing himself to Frodo in the past. “No, I’m not angry. A bit annoyed to be treated like a child, but not angry.” He got up and came along. Sam was waiting in the passage.

“Hullo, Sam.”

“ ‘Afternoon, Mr. Merry.”

The three headed to the family quarters, where luncheon was being presided over by Pearl. Paladin was taking his lunch, as he often did, in his study, and Eglantine was with Pippin.

The meal was cheerful. Pippin’s sisters had all tendered their thanks to their brother, so that was off their minds, and the little ones were all there to be doted over. There were Pimpernel’s two older daughters, Flora and Alyssum. Flora was a sweet little four year old, still a faunt, while Alyssum was only two and a half. The twins were sleeping, both of them in a single cradle placed to one side of the dining room. Pervinca’s son Largo was an active fourteen month old.

In addition to the immediate family, Cousin Reggie and his daughter Garnet had joined the rest of them.

“Frodo, Samwise, it’s good to see you again,” he said.

“It’s good to see you as well, Cousin Reggie,” answered Frodo. “How is Opal doing?”

“She is coming along very well. She is quite impatient for Poppy to return, so that she can begin her apprenticeship.” He turned to Sam. “And how is your lovely bride, Samwise?”

Sam blushed. “Rose is keeping well. She--erm--we, uh…”

Frodo grinned. “Out with it, Sam!”

“Well, it seems as if we’ve found ourselves in the family way, as it were.” Sam felt a bit awkward. This was his first time to tell anyone besides family, and he was a little embarrassed.

There was a general buzz of delighted congratulations all around, and Sam rather basked in the attention. Pippin’s sisters were thrilled. They had all become fast friends with Rose last spring before the wedding, when Sam had accompanied Frodo to the Great Smials for the convocation of family heads.

Sam wondered how Rose was doing right now. He really wished he could get back to her soon.

_____________________________________________

Rose had sat down to her lunch without enthusiasm. After she had finally dropped off to sleep the night before, she had slept very hard, indeed. But when she woke up, it was in confusion. She missed Sam’s presence next to her.

She had got over her nervousness at being on her own, but Bag End felt very large and empty to her, alone as she was. She wondered how Mr. Frodo, and old Mr. Bilbo before him, had managed to endure it, year after year. She supposed a body could get used to anything eventually, but the thought of so much loneliness just caught in her throat. She wondered how soon Sam would be coming back to her, and wished he had not gone. Then she felt guilty. Poor Mr. Pippin, hurt like that. If she were not in her interesting condition, she would have just gone along with them.

How *did* Mr. Frodo stand it?

There was a knock at the door, and she jumped, startled. Then she hurried to answer it; anyone would be a welcome visitor right now.

It was her brother and her sister-in-law. “Mari, Tom! Oh, do come in!”

Marigold embraced her. “Rosie, you’re trembling! Whatever is the matter?”

“Oh, Sammy and Mr. Frodo and Mr. Merry had to rush off to Tookland last night. Poor Mr. Pippin was in an accident and broke his leg!”

“And they left you here all alone?” asked Tom angrily.

“Don’t be like that Tom! I made Sam go. Mr. Pippin is almost like kinfolk, too, you know that, after all that they went through together. It would be heartless of me to keep Sam back!”

He gave his sister a fierce hug. “Rosie, sometimes you are too good. But I suppose you are right; and you couldn’t be anyplace safer than Bag End. Still, I think perhaps we will stop here tonight, and stay with you instead of going down to the Gaffer.”

She smiled up at her brother. “Well, I have to say I’ll be glad of the company. But you can’t have known of this--what’s this visit in aid of?” For she knew very well that they had plenty to keep them busy at the Cotton farm, and little time for casual visits.

“We wanted to share a bit of news,” said Mari, blushing. “It seems that you and Sam are not the only ones adding to the family.”

Rosie gave a great cry of delight, and threw herself into her best friend’s arms.

_______________________________________________

Eglantine watched Pippin drop off to sleep again after they had eaten. The medicine and the pain were keeping him drowsy, and the food had done its work as well. She looked at his face, relaxed in sleep, and marveled at how young he could look. Sometimes he still seemed to be the sweet little seven year old who plagued everyone with his chatter.

There was a very light rap on the door, and Lavender’s apprentice Diamond stuck her head in.

“Mistress Took? Would you like me to watch over him for a while?”

Eglantine was about to say ‘no’, but then she recalled several duties that she had left undone. If Pippin were not doing well, they would not have mattered. But he was fine at the moment, and she could not justify the neglect on his account. “Yes, Miss Diamond, if you would. I believe his cousins will be back shortly.”

She vacated the chair next to the bed, and slipped out of the room.

Diamond sat down there, her herbal in her hand. But she did not open it to read. Instead, she studied the face of her patient. He looked so young and untroubled right now. But she remembered the evil dreams that had plagued him the night before. He was a curiosity, that much was certain.

CHAPTER 8

Pippin’s cousins and Sam had kept him company for supper; Frodo sat next to him, and they were having a little conversation about Aragorn and Faramir. Pippin had received a letter from the Prince of Ithilien a couple of weeks ago, and was filling Frodo in on some of the news from their friends down south. But both of them were keeping half an ear on the conversation Merry was having with Sam on the other side of the room.

“You do know where he keeps the athelas?”

“You already asked me that, Mr. Merry.”

“And don’t forget the healer is leaving him an extra dose of the willow bark tea.”

“No, Mr. Merry.” Sam’s tone was somewhere halfway between amusement and exasperation.

“And Sam, it might be a good idea to build the fire up before you go to sleep--”

“Mr. Merry--” The amusement was fading and the exasperation was beginning to win out. Frodo decided it was time to intervene.

“Merry, I do believe that Paladin wants to have a conversation with the two of us this evening. Let’s permit Sam and Pip get some rest, shall we?” He got up and steered Merry out of the room by his elbow, and when Merry hesitated, he pinched it. Merry subsided. Frodo had not done *that* to him in years, but when he did, he was serious.

He turned at the door. “Good night Pippin and Sam. Say ‘Good night’, Merry.”

“Good night,” Merry responded, a tad sullenly. The door shut behind them. Sam blew out a deep breath, and Pippin spluttered in laughter.

“Mr. Pippin, if you don’t mind my saying so, Mr. Merry seems to be even more careful of you now than he was when you were a wee lad.”

Pippin sobered up. “He is. I don’t think even my mother worries about me as much as he does. But Sam, he was so frightened when I was hurt at the Last Battle, and you and Frodo were so bad off as well. He had a horrible fear that he would be the only one of us left alive. It left him very protective of me--I mean more than usual. He was beginning to get over it a bit, after we moved into Crickhollow, but I guess my accident has made it worse again. I hate that I have scared him like this.”

“I think I understand, Mr. Pippin, but it must be hard on you.”

“A little; but it’s even harder on him. I do wish that he would learn that he cannot control every single thing that happens to the people he loves. When things happen that he hasn’t planned for it throws him off balance.”

“It’s mortal hard, Mr. Pippin,” Sam shook his head. “But he’s a level-headed sort. He’ll figure it out, once his fright is over.”

“Well, I hope he does.”

___________________________________________

On the other side of the door, Merry rubbed his elbow. “Ouch, Frodo! What was that in aid of?” he asked resentfully.

“You know very well. Sam is perfectly capable of watching Pip tonight, and you are to get some rest yourself. And the same goes for tomorrow night. Once we leave, if you want to be the mother hen, then do so as much as Pippin will allow. But give Sam and I *some* credit for a little sense, Merry!”

Merry flushed. “I’m not a mother hen!”

Frodo shook his head. “Are you trying to convince me, or yourself? You know, Pippin’s been pretty tolerant of this for a good long while, but sooner or later he’s going to get tired of it.” He turned to look his cousin in the eye. “It’s going to hurt when he does Merry, unless you learn to ease up a bit before it happens. He’s not of age yet, dear, but he is far too grown up to be babied.”

Merry shuddered. “He could have been killed, Frodo.” His grey eyes were full of pain.

Frodo gave him a hug. “I know that Merry, I do. But he wasn’t. And getting yourself all wound up about it is futile. Try to relax and be glad that he was not hurt any worse.”

“I’ll try. I will.” Merry drew himself up with resolution.

“That’s my Merry. Now, Paladin really does want to see us. Seems he got in some new brandy from the Southfarthing, and he wants our opinion on it.”

Merry chuckled. “Well, let us not disappoint Uncle Paladin, by all means!”

___________________________________

Sam had built up the fire, and he had prepared the willow-bark tea. Pippin made an awful face, but drank it down without a fight. His leg was throbbing painfully, but his cold was very nearly gone. Sam aided him to relieve himself, and then settled him once more beneath the blankets.

Then he stretched himself out alongside Pippin, flat on his back, with his hands cupped behind his head. “Just let me know if you need anything, Mr. Pippin.”

“Sam, are you ever going to stop calling me ‘mister’?”

“Probably not. ‘Twouldn’t be proper,” Sam said with a smile, repeating their age-old conversation. They’d had it so often it was almost a joke.

Pippin chuckled, and fell silent for a moment. Sam had thought the lad was dropping off to sleep, when he spoke up again. “How did you know you were in love with Rosie?”

Sam thought for a moment. “I don’t rightly know, Mr. Pippin. It just seemed as though I always loved her. But I was not so sure we’d ever get married. I knew I had aught to do for Mr. Frodo, and something always held me back. It weren’t till I was sure that it would never happen that I knew it was what I wanted.” He fell silent in his turn. “When we were in the Black Land, and I was so sure I would never see her again, that was when I knew she was what I wanted in life.”

“You are such a lucky hobbit, Sam.” Pippin sounded wistful.

“I know that right well, Mr. Pippin. I’m sorry I teased you about Miss Diamond today.” For Sam knew quite well what this conversation was in aid of. Pippin had never asked him anything about lasses before this.

Pippin sighed. “Oh, that’s all right; you were right, after all. She takes no more notice of me than if I were little Drogo.”

“Now, I wouldn’t go giving up on her, Mr. Pippin. She’s a healer, and they don’t usually wed, but it’s not unknown. Her Mistress is wed, anyway.”

Pippin brightened up a bit at this. “Why, you’re right, Sam! So she must know it’s possible!” He turned his smile on Sam. “Thank you, Sam.”

Sam chuckled. Once Mr. Pippin decided to turn his smile and his big green eyes loose on Miss Diamond, she’d not stand a chance. “You’re welcome, Mr. Pippin. Let’s get some sleep now, if you don’t mind!”

There was no answer. Pippin had drifted off with the smile on his face.

Sam looked at him fondly. “Sweet dreams, Mr. Pippin,” he murmured, and went off himself to dream of his Rosie.

______________________________________________

The next day found a steady stream of visitors passing through Pippin’s room. While he found himself pleased for the distraction while awake--for his cold was quite gone, and he was beginning to feel the boredom of convalescence--it made it difficult when the pain from his leg made him wish for the oblivion of sleep.

He didn’t much mind that Frodo, Merry and Sam were basically spending the day with him. He didn’t need to talk to them or even pay any attention to them if he didn’t want to. It was nice just to have them there. It was all the other folk, who seemed to feel the need to re-hash his accident or talk to him about other times he had been sick or hurt as a lad. Or worse yet, talk about the times *they* had been sick a-bed, or tell him of this or that friend or relation who had *also* suffered a broken leg, and all of the complications involved. It was all very dreary, really, and he couldn’t simply tell them to be quiet and go away, not when they had the concern to come see him in the first place.

He was more than a little pleased after luncheon when the two healers came in and shooed everyone except Merry out of the room. Merry took himself to the other side of the room and leaned against the wall to watch their examination.

They drew back the covers, and Lavender stood back.

“Let me see you work, Diamond.”

So Diamond took off her pendulum and began to dangle it over him, beginning at his feet. “His left foot was broken at one time…”

Lavender nodded, and Diamond continued. “The break in the leg is properly set, and healing…healing more quickly than I would have thought…his knee is inflamed again…”

Pippin was watching her. He usually closed his eyes and relaxed when the healers were doing this kind of assessment, but it was different when Diamond was doing it.

Merry was wincing each time she mentioned one of his cousin’s injuries.

“His cold is gone; it never even settled.” She looked at her mistress in surprise. A cold usually settled for a while in the head or chest before it departed. She went on to catalog some of his other previous injuries. Then she stopped.

“Go on.”

She looked at the patient for a moment, and Pippin’s eyes met hers. She hesitated. “Uh, he…” she still found it a bit difficult to master the healers’ trick of discussing someone as though they were not there. But she felt Lavender’s eye on her. “He--he seems slightly agitated, and unrestful?”

“Indeed.”

“That’s all, Mistress.” It wasn’t quite all, but Diamond was not certain what interpretation to put on some of the other things she noticed. Lavender nodded, satisfied. She too, was aware that there was a bit more, but Diamond had not been doing this long. Her apprentice was doing very well, in fact.

“Very good, Diamond. Now stand aside.”

Mistress Lavender took out the little jar of salve. To Pippin’s disappointment, she did not ask Diamond to apply it, but rubbed the medicine on herself. It helped relieve the pain very quickly, but it certainly did not feel the same.

He turned his head and met Diamond’s gaze squarely, with a glint in his green eyes, and turned his smile on her. She smiled back very briefly, and flashed her dimples. Best of all, she blushed and looked away.

Pippin caught Merry’s eye for an instant, and flashed him a triumphant grin, which Merry returned.

“I think that you are overtired, Mr. Peregrin,” said Lavender. “I am going to give you some chamomile as well as willow-bark this afternoon. Mr. Meriadoc, I am leaving orders for you to turn other visitors away until after teatime. I would like him to get some rest.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Merry. That suited him fine. He had seen how the last few visitors had been a bit of a strain on Pippin.

“Mr. Peregrin, you try to get a bit of sleep this afternoon.” She prepared the medicine, and he drank it down obediently. Then the two healers left the room.

As soon as the door had closed, Pippin threw up his hands. “Yes!” he cried. “Did you see Merry? She smiled back at me!”

Merry laughed. “She did, indeed. It looks like there’s hope for you yet!”

_______________________________________________

Diamond left the room with a slight feeling of disorientation. She had begun to think that Mistress Lavender had been mistaken about Pippin’s interest in her, but there was no doubt of it now, after that look he had given her. She ought to be dismayed at this complication--he was a patient, for goodness’ sake! So why, then did she feel so giddy and gratified? Get hold of yourself, she thought, you have no time for this sort of nonsense! Even if he did have a smile like sunshine.

Frodo and Sam had been waiting in the passage.

“Mr. Baggins and Mr. Gamgee, I have given him a mild sleeping draught, and orders for only one visitor this afternoon. But I would like to speak with the two of you. I need to know a bit more about his old injuries.” Actually, Poppy had told her of most of them, but she wanted an account from these two who had been there. Some things did not add up.

Frodo and Sam looked at one another. Another accounting of things they were trying to put behind them. But this was Pippin’s healer, they couldn’t tell her ‘no’.

“We will do our best, Mistress Lavender,” said Frodo, “although you must realize that we were apart from Pippin during that time.”

Actually, she had not realized that. But she didn’t think it would have kept them from knowing the details. Out loud she said “Anything you may tell me would be valuable.”

They nodded reluctantly, and she led them into the spare room she and Diamond had been sharing since the accident. “Please be seated.” She sat down herself. “Diamond, if you would take notes please?”

So Diamond sat down at the small writing table and took up a quill and some blank paper.

“Well,” said Frodo, “the first of their injuries occurred the very day we parted. Sam and I had a task to undertake, alone, to the East. So all of this was told us later, you understand. Merry and Pippin were waylaid by a band of Orcs--”

*****

“So, you say that you were asleep for two weeks after this battle when he was injured so sorely, yet when you awakened, he had healed enough to wait on the table at the feast?” This seemed very strange to her, that the son of the Thain and the heir to Buckland would wait on the table like common servants, and that this was supposed to be an honor. “He was walking on a broken foot and a dislocated knee after only two weeks?” Not to mention wearing that heavy armor over broken ribs after the same short period of time.

“Yes.” Frodo spoke shortly. He was beginning to feel cross at this interrogation.

“I see. And you say that the King put all this rapid recovery down to the strange drinks they had taken from the talking trees?” If she didn’t have the evidence of seriousness in front of her, as well as some of the strange anomalies she had herself observed, she would have thought them guilty of trying to make a fool of her.

This time it was Sam who spoke up. He could tell Frodo had nearly had enough. “Yes ma’am. That’s exactly what Strider--King Aragorn, told us. But we weren’t awake ourselves; if you want to know more, you have to ask Mr. Merry, or better yet, Mr. Pippin himself!” He sounded angry, and Lavender relented. She had enough to chew on for now.

Frodo and Sam left. Sam had Frodo by the arm; Frodo was trembling.

Diamond watched them go thoughtfully, and then looked at her notes. As incredible and outlandish as the tale seemed, she believed it. But the two had said no word of their own task that had taken them away from the rest of their friends. She shuddered to think that it might be even more awful than the other horrors she had heard today.

____________________________________________

Frodo was on the verge of tears. Sam didn’t feel any too well himself.

“Come, Mr. Frodo, me dear, I think we will use up a couple of the King’s leaves on a cup of tea. And then I think you need to take a nap as well.”

CHAPTER 9

“Well, Diamond, what do you think of their story?” Lavender asked her apprentice thoughtfully.

“It sounds incredible, Mistress Lavender, but I do believe them. They were too solemn and serious for it to be anything but the truth.” Actually, Diamond felt that was an understatement; they fairly screamed of melancholy and sorrow, which was understandable, if the world Outside had done such horrid things as they had told of.

“They could be mad.”

Diamond knew that the healer did not mean this. It was a test. “Both of them? The exact same madness? And if they were mad, they would not have resisted telling us. They would have included every detail in an effort to convince us.”

“Very good. No, they are not mad. And yes, they did keep a lot back from us. You are right; I believe them also. Which eases my mind a great deal on several scores.”

Diamond looked at her questioningly.

“First of all, it means that young Peregrin should heal fairly quickly. And second of all it means that my good friend Poppy made a wise decision to go and seek out the King, and to try and learn of some of these healing methods in the South. I had feared she had gone on a wild goose chase, and would return with nothing to show but a wasted year. I am glad to know that she was right. I just hope we will be able to use some of what she learns. Unfortunately we do not have any talking trees in the Shire to make healing draughts for us.”

Diamond smiled. She was fairly sure that her mistress was being humorous.

“Well, lass, we have a lot to do yet today, and other patients to see. We had better get busy.”

______________________________________________

Merry and Pippin were just finishing up a lovely tea, when there was a rap on the door.

Merry looked at Pippin, and raised a brow.

“She said I could have visitors again after tea, right?”

Merry nodded, and called out “Come in.”

It was Paladin.

“Father!” said Pippin with a smile.

“Uncle Paladin!”

Paladin gave Merry a pat on the shoulder, and leaned over to kiss Pippin on top of his curly head. “How are you feeling, son?”

“It still hurts like mad, but it’s only been a couple of days yet. Otherwise I’m fine! It’s good to see you, Father.”

Paladin gave his son and nephew a mischievous look. “I thought you might be a bit bored. Frodo and Samwise are visiting with your mother and sisters until suppertime, so they will be otherwise occupied--” He drew a pair of dice out of his pocket. “--therefore we don’t need to worry quite yet.”

Merry and Pippin grinned at one another delightedly. Paladin liked to indulge in games of chance from time to time, but Eglantine did not approve. She especially did not approve of him encouraging their son and their nephew to wager. Frodo did not approve of gambling, either. But for a while they would be safe from Eglantine’s lectures and Frodo’s disapproving looks.

Merry quickly moved to allow his uncle to have the chair. “How are we going to work this, Pip?” He glanced about the room, and then went over and removed a tray from the tea trolley and placed it across Pippin’s lap. Then he sat at the foot of the bed.

“Now I know a couple of wealthy lads such as yourselves--” Paladin chuckled “--can afford higher stakes. But I think that we will limit this to coppers?”

They nodded. The money was only a way to keep score, after all.

_________________________________________

In addition to Pippin’s mother and his sisters, Pippin’s aunts, Primrose and Peridot were in the family sitting room. Sam had found himself a spot somewhat out of the way, and was observing his friend visiting with his kin. He was still a bit upset from the healer’s questions, but he had put a good face on it, and seemed to be getting over it.

“Samwise,” said a soft feminine voice at his elbow.

He turned to look, and saw Pippin’s eldest aunt. He did not know her well at all, though they had met last spring. “Miss Primrose.” Her gaze was fixed on Frodo, and he was surprised to see she had tears in her eyes.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned, and unsure what to make of it.

“He looks so much like his mother.” She sounded wistful.

“You knew Mr. Frodo’s mother?” Sam did not know why he should be surprised, as they would have been of an age.

“Oh yes, Primula Brandybuck was my very dearest friend.” She shook her head. “It’s hard to see her son like this. He has suffered a great deal, hasn’t he?”

Sam nodded. “More than anyone will ever know,” he said softly. But he was heartened to hear Frodo laugh at something his cousin Pimpernel told him. Beside him, Primrose smiled, too.

______________________________________________

Merry was winning. He usually won. The room was wreathed in pipe-smoke, and the little pile of coppers on Merry’s corner of the tray had grown alarmingly. Pippin had been entertaining his father with a tale of an evening they had spent in Minas Tirith, learning a game played with cards, which had numbers and pictures painted on them. “Strider and Faramir and Gimli thought it was immensely funny that we had never seen such things before, but once we learned the game they didn’t find it funny at all. Merry cleaned them all out.” He sniggered. He’d not done so badly himself.

Merry smirked. “The luck of the Brandybucks.”

“Which lasted until you made the mistake of teaching the game to Legolas,” laughed Pippin.

“Oh, well, he’s an Elf,” Merry said dismissively.

Paladin laughed. “It sounds fascinating. It sounds like something I might like to learn how to play.”

“Well, we brought a deck of the cards back with us, but it’s at Crickhollow,” said Merry. “Maybe the next time you are in Buckland we can teach you. I imagine Da would not mind learning the game as well.”

“So the Brandybucks can double their luck?” Paladin laughed.

Just then there was a rap on the door. With the ease of long practice, all signs of the game vanished, coppers into Merry’s pocket, dice into Paladin’s, and Merry quickly put the tray back on the trolley. “Come in,” called Paladin.

It was Diamond. “I’ve brought your evening medicine, Pippin. Good evening Thain Paladin and Merry,” she added politely.

She flapped a hand at the smoke, and putting the tray with the medicine down on the nightstand, she went over and opened the window. “Let’s get a bit of fresh air in here, shall we?”

“You remind me of Legolas,” Pippin giggled.

Merry snorted. Paladin looked puzzled, but said nothing when Merry shook his head.

“Legolas?”

“Our Elf,” answered Pippin, with a mischievous glint in his green eyes.

Merry laughed. “You know, you’re right, Pip!”

Diamond looked taken aback. “Now I know you’re making fun of me!” She suspected some kind of joke, but couldn’t for the life of her see what it might be. “How could I remind you of an Elf?”

Pippin caught Merry’s eye, and they both burst out into a guffaw.

Paladin shook his head. “Lads, lads! It’s hardly polite not to share the joke!”

“Oh,” said Pippin, “it’s just that he was such a fresh air fiend! Why, he’d come into a room that had a bit of nice honest leaf smoke, and the first thing he’d do is open a window.”

“And even outdoors, he always made it a point to sit upwind,” added Merry with a grin.

“He sounds a very sensible person,” said Diamond with a smile, hands on her hips. “I wish that I could meet him.”

Pippin looked at her intently. “I’m very sure that you will some day.”

Unaccountably, she blushed, and looked away. She looked at Paladin. “Thain Paladin, please see that he takes his medicine,” and then she left, but not without a quick backward glance at her patient.

Pippin grinned, and put both hands behind his head.

“I’d say you’re making progress, son,” said his father mildly.

“I’ll say!” added Merry.

They decided not to resume the game. Supper arrived soon, and with it Frodo and Sam. Paladin took his leave.

They enjoyed their meal and a smoke, and then Pippin’s friends helped him get ready for sleep. Pippin downed his medicine; he noticed that there was chamomile in with the willow-bark again.

Merry and Sam took their leave. Merry looked at Frodo as though he were going to give him some last minute instructions, but at the expression on Frodo’s face, he shut his mouth with a snap.

______________________________________________

It must have been sometime after the middle of the night. Pippin woke for some reason he could not understand. He turned his head, to see Frodo laying next to him.

His cousin’s face was peaceful, yet sorrowful. Pippin could see the tracks left by tears. His hand was clasped around the Queen’s jewel, and a very faint glow peeked between his fingers. In the moonlight, Frodo looked like a statue carved out of the marble they used in the White City, except for his inky dark hair. Pippin felt his heart wrung by the sight.

He sighed and closed his eyes, but the image remained, and a cold touch of fear for his cousin.

CHAPTER 10

Frodo and Sam were leaving the following morning after second breakfast. Merry had gone out to see to their ponies, and check on his Stybba and Pippin’s Sable--he’d not seen either of them since his arrival the night of the accident, and though the Took’s stable hands were perfectly reliable, he wanted to see to them personally.

Frodo and Sam came to give Pippin their farewells.

“Well, Mr. Pippin, you take care of yourself, and get better soon. I know Rose will want to see you once you are out and about again.”

“You give Rosie my best, Sam.”

“I will, Mr. Pippin.”

Frodo leaned over and kissed the top of his cousin’s head. “You mind the healers. And don’t you let Merry drive you mad with his coddling.”

Pippin tittered. “Would Merry do a thing like that?”

“In an instant,” said Frodo, “and have a perfectly logical reason to hand as well. Do take care, dear.”

“I will. I’m going to miss you.” But he knew they needed to get back to Bag End and to Rose.

“And good luck with Miss Diamond, Mr. Pippin.”

“Thank you, Sam. That’s my next major undertaking. Miss Diamond North-took.” He laid back against the pillows with a grin. His visitors returned it fondly.

Merry came in. “The ponies are ready. I’ll come to see you off. Then I’ll be back in a few moments, Pip.”

“Take your time, Merry.” He looked again at his oldest cousin and his friend. “Good-bye, Frodo and Sam. You take care of yourselves on the way back.”

They took their leave, and shut the door. Pippin blew out a deep breath. He loved his cousins and his friends and family dearly--but this was the first time he had been *alone* since the accident. Blessed, blessed peace and quiet! He knew it wouldn’t last long; in the Shire a sick or injured hobbit was never left alone for more than a few moments at most. Merry would be back very soon indeed. But in the meantime, he could just relax, and think about--Diamond.

_________________________________________

Mistress Lavender had sent Diamond back to their little cottage on the grounds to replenish their supply of medicinal herbs, and to pick up some clean clothing and a few other items. They would probably stay inside the Great Smials for at least two to three more nights. Then if Pippin were doing well, they would go back to the cottage.

Diamond moved about the rooms, setting some things to rights that had been neglected due to the emergency, in particular there were some dirty dishes left which needed a scrubbing after having sat for nearly three days. She also tidied up the sitting room, and did a bit of dusting. She had already packed up the medical satchels, and the bundle of clean clothing waited by the door, but she was in no hurry. She needed a chance to be alone with her thoughts, to clear her head and try to make some sense of things.

It was very plain to her now that Peregrin Took was attracted to her; and now she had to be honest with herself. After last night, and the way he had met her gaze, she knew that she returned his regard. He was very nice-looking, and he had an almost unfair share of the famous Took’s charm, but what really fascinated her was his casual courage and his quick wit.

She found herself curious to know more of the details of his time away from the Shire--he was only a year older than herself, and according to Shire custom and law, could not yet be called an adult, yet it was clear that his experiences had caused him to be one nevertheless. Whether the Shire would acknowledge it or not, he was definitely a grown-up. She recalled the horrors his cousin and his friend had revealed to the healers yesterday.

What must it have been like--to be carried off by monsters, bound and cruelly whipped, and threatened with even worse torture? And then to go to a battle? A battle which he had every reason to believe was hopeless? Hobbits were not warriors, yet this one was. He had killed a monster so large that it had nearly crushed the life out of him, and had fought his way back from the brink of death. And then he had come home and done more than his share of ridding the Shire of the ruffians that had overrun it. Not one to rest on his laurels, he had now bravely risked his life once more, this time for family. Yet he seemed to think nothing of it.

What he had done was so far outside the normal experience of hobbits that she could not even begin to imagine it.

But she found that she wanted to imagine it, she wanted to know it. She wanted to understand it.

And there was the problem. Her curiosity was not that of a healer.

This was wrong! It was totally irresponsible! It was unprofessional! He was a patient! He was the son of the Thain, who was for the time being, their sponsor! And she had far too many important duties to indulge herself this way! Mistress Lavender would upbraid her sorely if she knew the kind of improper thoughts that were passing through her apprentice’s mind.

Diamond had always thought herself to have more sense than this; to be mooning over a lad was the last thing she needed. How her sisters would tease her if they ever found out--she who had always boasted that her life would never revolve around a lad!

How was she going to be able to maintain her professional demeanor around him? She could not bring herself to confess her feelings to Mistress Lavender, or to ask to be relieved of caring for him. For one thing, she was needed. She could not leave all the work to her mistress because of her own unseemly thoughts.

This was a knot she was going to have to untangle by herself. There was no one she dared confide in.

______________________________________________

“So, Merry, how did you win Estella?” Pippin brought the question up seemingly out of the blue, but Merry was not fooled. He’d been noticing the little signs that showed Pippin wanted to talk, and he knew that right now there was only one topic on his younger cousin’s mind.

Merry smiled, as he thought of his love, soon to be his betrothed--or at least as soon as her brother came home from abroad. He remembered coming home to Brandy Hall, and finding her there, in hiding from the ruffians, full of gratitude for her brother’s rescue from the Lockholes.

“I told her stories, Pip.”

“Stories? What kind of stories?”

“Well, first I told her about Éowyn and Faramir, how they met in the Houses of Healing, and how I got them together--”

Pippin interrupted with a sharp bark of laughter. “*You* got them together?” he asked incredulously.

“Of course,” answered his cousin smugly. “Well, naturally I gave you credit for saving Faramir’s life in the first place--”

“Thank you very much.”

“--but it was my doing that they got together finally. Anyway, she enjoyed that story so much that then I told her about Aragorn and Arwen. I gave Frodo credit for that one.”

“How generous of you.” Pippin smiled. He was beginning to appreciate Merry’s strategy.

“Of course by that time I had run out of lovers that we had met personally on our journey. I didn’t know Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn’s story--”

“Merry! I can’t believe even you’d have had the nerve--”

“Well, I would have, but no one told me their story. So I had to wrack my brains for some of the Elven stories I’d had from Bilbo and Frodo. There was Lúthien and Beren of course, and then there was Eärendil and Elwing. I rather ran out after that.” He sounded disappointed. “But anyway, it did the trick. She thought of me as terribly romantic and sensitive.”

Pippin didn’t say it out loud. His cousin would have scoffed at the idea, but the truth was, Merry did have a romantic and sensitive side. He kept it well hidden behind his skeptical practicality, but it was there nevertheless, or he never would have thought of using those stories to win Estella’s love in the first place. “Well, I can certainly see how those stories would put her in a receptive mood. Very shrewd of you, cousin,” he said aloud.

“Thank you.” Merry lapsed into a smiling silence, obviously thinking of Estella.

Pippin shifted his position slightly, and gave a little gasp of pain at the movement of his leg. “I’m getting really very, very tired of this bed,” he said.

“Are you bored, Pip? I can read to you, or I can get you a book if you want to read yourself? Or I could go ask Uncle for the loan of his dice.”

“I don’t think so.” Pippin sighed, then brightened. “I know. Hand me my fiddle.”

Merry grinned, and got down to retrieve Pippin’s fiddle case from its place under the bed. He opened it, and handed his younger cousin the fiddle and the bow before returning to his chair.

Pippin tucked his instrument under his chin, and gave a few draws of the bow. It was slightly out of tune, so he spent a few moments tuning it. Then he began to play, a sprightly little tune that was well known throughout the Shire.

Merry leaned back and put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes to listen, his toes began to tap. He enjoyed hearing Pippin play second only to hearing him sing.

Pippin played on, following one air with another; absorbed in the music, he could forget his pain.

___________________________________________

Rose had said farewell to Tom and Marigold after luncheon. Although she had hoped they could remain until Frodo and Sam got back, she knew it was not possible. Now she was hanging the wash on the line, and wondering what she could have for her tea, when she heard the sound of pony hooves.

She tossed the pillowslip in her hand back into the basket and rushed down to the gate; there were Sam and Frodo. Sam leaped from Bill’s back and caught his wife up in a passionate kiss. She responded in kind, and it was several minutes before she pulled away.

“Sam! What will the neighbors think?”

Frodo had dismounted and was watching them with fond amusement. “I think Sam’s Gaffer had a saying for that. At least I heard him once tell Sam’s sister Daisy ‘Don’t make love by the garden gate, ‘cause love is blind but the neighbors ain’t!’ Or something to that effect.”

Sam grinned. He remembered that incident only too well. Daisy had been mortified. “The neighbors will think I missed my wife. And they’d be right!” He drew back, his hands on her shoulders, and looked at her face.

“How did you fare while we were gone, Rosie-love?”

She smiled at him brightly. She would never let him know how lonely and afraid she had been that first night. “I wasn’t alone but the first night. Tom and Mari came over from Bywater, and stayed with me. They only just left a short while ago.”

“That was right nice of them! But why did they come in the first place?” For Sam knew only too well how busy things were on the Cotton farm; it would be unusual for them to be making a casual visit.

“They had a bit of news to share. Seems that our little one is not the only one to make an arrival next year. He or she is going to have a little double cousin just about a month later!”

Sam gave a whoop of delight, and Frodo added his joyous congratulations. Then Sam took the ponies to the stable, and they all walked up to Bag End, Sam and Rose with their hands entwined.

“I think we will have an early tea today!” said Rose.

“That sounds like a lovely plan.” Frodo was glad to be home. “We can tell you all the news from Tookland. Pippin sends his regards to you, by the way, Rose dear.”

Sam grinned. “Why don’t I make up a quick batch of scones while we talk?”

_____________________________________________________

Laden with the bundle of clothing and both medical satchels, Diamond made her way awkwardly through the passages to the room the healers were using.

“Excuse me, miss,” said a shy voice, “could you use some help?”

Diamond turned to see one of the young maidservants. “I suppose that I could, but I don’t want to trouble you if you have other tasks.”

“Oh no, miss. I just finished delivering the fresh linens. I don’t have anything else to do that won’t wait for a few moments.”

“Well, I thank you then--” she stopped, waiting for the lass to supply her name.

“I’m Moss, miss, Moss Heathertoes.” She blushed.

“Then thank you, Moss. I appreciate the help.” She handed over the bundle of clothing, keeping the two medical satchels herself, and they continued down the corridor.

As they neared the wing where the healers were staying, Diamond thought she heard music. “Is that a fiddle?”

“Oh,” said Moss, her face lighting up in a smile, “Mr. Pippin must be playing his fiddle!”

“He plays the fiddle?” And quite well from what she could hear.

“Oh, yes, miss! He plays the fiddle, and the Tookland pipes, and the lap harp, and the shepherd’s pipes.” Her plain face was lit up with enthusiasm. “And he can sing ever so sweetly as well.” She blushed.

Oh dear! thought Diamond. This child has a crush on him too. Listening to the sweet music, she thought it no wonder. Was there no end to the hobbit’s talents?

They soon reached the door to the room Diamond and Lavender were using, and Moss gave over the bundle in her arms. “Erm--miss?”

“Yes, Moss?”

“I know as it’s not my place to ask, but--Mr. Pippin? He’s going to be all right, isn’t he? Not like Miss Opal?” The little maidservant blushed again, red as fire.

“There is no harm in asking, Moss. Your concern does you credit. I do think that he will be all right, though I should not say any more than that.”

“Oh thank you, miss!” She dropped a curtsy, and scurried away, a huge smile on her face.

Diamond watched thoughtfully as she went on her way. Indeed, she had a lot to consider.

_______________________________________________

CHAPTER 11

The next day found Pippin cross and out of sorts. When the healers came in right after second breakfast he told them that it was time to try out his broken leg; needless to say, he found Mistress Lavender less than cooperative.

“But I was walking on my broken foot after only a few days!” he protested.

It didn’t help matters when Merry said “Not true, Pip! You were unconscious for several days before that. It was over a week after the battle before he let you stand on that foot, and then just briefly! You only thought it was a few days because that’s all you can remember!”

“Fine!” snapped Pippin. “Be that way.” He was stung by Merry’s lack of support.

“I will,” said Merry unrepentantly. He was feeling out of sorts himself.

Lavender took out her pendulum, and was dangling it as Diamond watched.

Pippin noticed that the pretty apprentice was looking at him as though he were a wayward child. He flushed. He couldn’t have that.

“I’m sorry, Merry,” he muttered.

Merry was not fooled by the reason for the apology, but decided to be gracious and accept it anyway. “It’s all right, Pip. I know it’s hard for you to be laid up.”

Pippin looked at him now with a sincere apology. “Thanks; I know you do.” He also knew that Merry was right. But he was *so* tired of this bed!

Lavender stepped back. “Mr. Peregrin, you do seem to be doing extremely well. The break *is* healing quickly, but it is not ready for you to be hobbling about on that leg. Another day or so in this bed, and we will see if you can perhaps spend part of your time on a settee in another room. Perhaps there is a wheeled chair in one of the mathom rooms we can find for you to use. I do know how difficult it can be for an active young hobbit to be confined to bed.”

Pippin shuddered at the thought of a wheeled chair. He didn’t think he would want one of those, not after what happened to old Lalia the Fat. But the idea of being in another room was appealing.

Lavender turned to Merry. “Mr. Meriadoc, I want you to go out of here and not come back until after luncheon. Go outside and get some exercise and fresh air. Diamond will stay here with Peregrin until some other relation can come in for a while.”

Merry opened his mouth to protest being thrown out of Pippin’s room, but he suddenly got a look at the appeal in his cousin’s eyes: a chance for Pip to be alone with the lovely Diamond. He shut his mouth and nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

“After lunch, Merry?” Pippin looked at him with such gratitude that it was worth it.

“All right, cousin, I’ll see you then.” He went out quickly, before he was tempted to argue again. After all, why should he worry? The lass was a healer after all, and should know just what to do in any emergency.

He went out and shut the door, ignoring the part of his mind that was reminding him that she was only an apprentice, and that healer or not, no one knew how Pip was feeling quite like he did.

Merry took himself to the stables. Since he was ordered to get fresh air and exercise, he might as well go for a ride. He had some thinking to do, and he thought better on ponyback than anywhere else. He decided to take Pippin’s Sable out first for a bit of exercise, and then come back for his Stybba, and a good long ride.

He could not understand why he was feeling so anxious and restless today. Pippin was, in fact healing just fine, and his crossness was a result of that. There was no reason for him to be worrying like this. Frodo was right. He had to face it, he *was* a mother hen! It was a wonder Pippin didn’t hate the very sight of him, but then that was the wonder that was Pippin. If it had been anyone else, they would have told him quite rudely by now to go away--and in language much less polite.

So now he knew that he had a problem, and that he had to stop this nonsense.

So, stop it already, he told himself.

It wasn’t working.

________________________________________________

Lavender left the room, leaving her apprentice behind, alone with the patient. She was not blind to the attraction there. This was a test. She wanted to know if Diamond could hold up to it. She had a lot of faith in her apprentice. Now she would see if it was justified.

________________________________________________

Diamond sat in the chair by Pippin’s bed. Her mind was in a state of turmoil. She was well aware of what the healer was up to, and knew she had to pass this test. But how? She turned to look at him. He was openly staring at her, smiling.

Oh dear! It wasn’t *fair* for him to have a smile like that.

Just to have something to say, she blurted out “Your cousin and his friend told us some of what happened to you while you were away.”

Suddenly the smile was gone, like a candle snuffed. A glint perilously close to anger gleamed in the green eyes.

“Frodo and Sam?” His voice was soft and wary.

“Yes,” she answered, wondering what she had said wrong.

“And they just offered up this information freely, out of the blue, did they?”

Uh-oh. “Mistress Lavender was asking them about how you came by some of your old injuries.”

“I see,” he said flatly. “And she didn’t see fit to ask me?”

“Well--” Diamond shrugged. Actually she had wondered a bit about that herself.

He pursed his lips. “Frodo and Sam are *not* to be pestered. Especially Frodo. If I know healers, she was just as curious about him as about me. It’s a good thing they went home.”

Diamond flushed. “I’m sorry.”

“I daresay it’s not *your* fault. But I’m having a word with her myself. Frodo does not need anymore painful reminders of something he already has to live with every day. She’d better hope that Merry doesn’t find out that she was interrogating Frodo and Sam.”

He turned away and looked at the ceiling.

Diamond fought down the urge to apologize once more. She supposed she ought to be glad that he wasn’t using that smile on her again. But she missed it.

There was silence for a few minutes.

“Why did you go?” she finally asked.

He remained silent. She thought perhaps he was still angry, but when he spoke finally there was no trace of it in his voice.

“Frodo *had* to go. Whether he stayed or whether he left, he was in peril of his life. But if he stayed he would have drawn all that peril down on the Shire, and he knew it. The wickedness of the ruffians would have seemed like nought more than annoying pranks compared to the true evil that *could* have come here. Someday, I might tell you the whole of it, but not today.” He stopped for a moment, and Diamond thought she might have seen tears.

“There was no way Merry would have allowed Frodo to go without him, and there is no way I could have borne it to stay behind in the Shire with *both* of them gone.” Now she knew she saw tears. He blinked. Then he gave a rather forced chuckle. “They needed *someone* of intelligence in the party. And I‘ll never be sorry I went. I was able to help. And not all of it was so terrible. I made some wonderful friends.” He sighed, and fell quiet once more. She could tell he was wearying.

“I think your leg is paining you again.” She prepared another cup of the willow-bark draught, and he took it without complaining, though he made a face as he swallowed it down.

“Thank you,” he said. He lay his head back again, and soon began to drift off.

She watched his sleeping face, and marveled at how young he looked--like a little lad of no more than seven. Having heard his story, she thought that now, perhaps, she understood.

____________________________________

She had only just been apprenticed to Mistress Lavender a few weeks when they brought Fredegar Bolger home from the Lockholes. Physically, he was in sad shape: starved to the point of emaciation, beaten and abused. But there was something else there that Diamond could not understand, something darker, something deeper. She had watched her mistress’s pendulum in puzzlement, as Lavender had made the assessment. The healer noticed her apprentice’s confusion.

“What do you see, my dear?”

“It’s--it’s like he is not all there?” Diamond was not sure if this explained what she saw in the patterns, but it was the best she could come up with.

Lavender nodded.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Did you hear about Folco Boffin?”

Diamond shuddered. Everyone in the Shire had heard about poor Folco, and how he had been brutally murdered by Lotho Pimple’s Big Men.

“Folco was Fredegar’s best friend. There was a very deep bond between them. The breaking of that bond is the cause of melancholy.” The healer shook her head sadly as she explained. “When a babe is born, it forms a bond with its parents, that goes both ways. To a lesser extent, a bond is also formed with siblings and other family members, though these are not usually so deep. In the normal course of events, as the babe grows up and forms its own family bonds, the parents grow old, and time is taken to grieve and plan for the breaking of the bond. But if the bond is broken abruptly, by sudden death, before the normal span of life, then a melancholy takes root in the broken place; it’s as though a part of that child is missing.”

Diamond nodded, absorbing this new information.

“Occasionally a child is born whose capacity for love is wider and deeper than most. This child may form early bonds of friendship every bit as strong, sometimes even stronger, than those formed with the parents. A sudden breaking of that bond is just as devastating. To have it broken by such violence is unthinkable. Fredegar and Folco had such a bond, and now he feels as though a part of him has died as well.”

_____________________________________________

Having observed the interaction between Pippin, his two cousins and their friend Sam, she believed that there were such bonds between them. Possibly the strongest she had ever observed since she first became aware of the possibility. It would explain a great deal. And it would certainly explain why he could not let Frodo and Merry leave the Shire without him.

She had a lot to think about.

______________________________________________

Merry had stabled both ponies, and now headed back into the Smials in search of elevenses. He was still thoughtful, and no closer to solving his dilemma. In fact, he felt even more anxious than he had before, in spite of realizing that he was being ridiculous.

_______________________________________________

Sam and Rose came into Frodo’s study, where he sat at his desk working on old Bilbo’s book.

“Mr. Frodo, are you sure you don’t need nothing before we leave?”

“I’ll be fine, Sam, I’m sure. You go on down and spend the day with the Gaffer, and I will see you again after supper.” For Sam’s sister May was visiting with her children, and this was a chance for him to spend some time with the family. He and Rose had not seen May since the wedding.

“After all, you are just going down the Hill.”

“Well--”

“Go, Sam, and do not worry about me!” Frodo’s tone was bordering on sharp. So Sam and Rose took their leave.

But as they left the smial, Sam could not help but worry that something was wrong. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

________________________________________________

Elevenses arrived, and Pippin awakened from his nap, refreshed. Along with the food came his brother-in-law Milo, who at first merely stuck his head in the door.

“Are you up to having more company?” he asked.

Pippin raised a brow. “As long as they don’t come full of flowery speeches of gratitude.”

Milo entered the room. He had little Alyssum by the hand. “Unca Pip!” she started to dart over to him, but her father kept tight hold. She did not need to go bounce on her uncle’s broken leg.

“Hullo, Lyssa,” said her uncle. “Did you come to see me?”

She nodded, and looked up at her father, who let go. “Be soft with your uncle, sweetheart. He has a hurt leg.” The fauntling toddled over to Pippin’s bed, holding up to him the toy she had brought with her.

Diamond smiled at the little one. She had spent a good deal of time with her after Pimpernel’s twins had been born. “What did you bring with you, Alyssum?”

“Unca Pip’s o’phant!” She thrust the toy at her uncle, and presented her face for a kiss. He couldn’t reach her, so Milo came and lifted her up. Pippin bestowed a kiss on her brow, and she gave him a sloppy wet one on his cheek. Her father put her back on the floor. Pippin wound the key in the toy, and handed it back to her. She crowed with laughter to watch it walking across the floor.

“We thought we might come join you for elevenses,” said Milo.

“Sounds jolly to me,” said Pippin, smiling as he watched his little niece playing with the toy he had given her from his travels.

____________________________________________________

By the time Merry arrived after luncheon, Milo and Alyssum had been replaced by Pippin’s cousins Amethyst and Garnet. But he was surprised to note that Diamond was still there as well. Pippin, he thought, must be gratified.

However, his return put an end to the party. Diamond decreed that it was time for Pippin’s medication again. Afterward, she shooed everyone but Merry out, and left herself.

Merry sat down by Pippin and took out his book, but he did not read. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Merry, is something wrong?”

“Not really, Pippin, I’m just feeling unsettled today.” He turned to his cousin. “I am sorry for the way I hover over you all the time.”

Pippin gave him a sweet smile. “You don’t have to apologize for that. You’ve done it all my life. I’m used to it.”

“Frodo seems to think I overdo it a bit. And you are not a faunt anymore.”

“Well--” Pippin chuckled. “Let’s just say that you can be a bit single minded about some things.”

“I will try to do better, I really will.”

“I know you will, my dear old goose. Why don‘t you see if you can pilfer the draughts board from the sitting room, and we can pass the time with a game?”

_____________________________________________

Sections in italics are taken directly from The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapter IX, “The Grey Havens”

_________________________________________________

CHAPTER 12

Mistress Lavender was not in the room they were using. She must have gone to see to some of their other patients. Since they had so few right now, Diamond soon located the healer as she was leaving the servant’s quarters. Her mistress was in a mood of amused irritation.

“Why are males so loathe to take good medical advice? After all these years, I should be used to it by now!” It seemed that the undergardener had taken himself out of bed and attempted to return to work without saying anything to anyone, including the head gardener. Of course his back had locked up on him, and the other servants had needed to carry him back to his bed. Now he was right back where he had started from, and looking at another week in bed.

Diamond nodded. She’d seen some of that male stubbornness herself, though her experience was not as wide as that of her mistress. She drew herself up to speak. She was not looking forward to giving her mistress this particular piece of information.

“Mistress Lavender?”

“Yes, child?”

“I need to talk to you about Pippin.”

The healer looked at her apprentice apprehensively. Perhaps she had made the wrong decision to throw them together in the hopes that Diamond would come to her senses. Was she about to lose her most promising apprentice? “What about him?”

“I am afraid that he is angry with you.”

Lavender’s eyes widened. That was the last thing she expected Diamond to say. “Angry with me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Diamond hesitated, and then continued. “I am afraid I let it slip that you had spoken to Frodo and Samwise yesterday. He was very upset about that--he thought that it would distress his cousin and his friend to have to speak of their time away, and that you should have spoken to him directly. He seems very protective of them. I am afraid he thought your questioning was due more to curiosity than the need for medical information.”

The healer sighed. It was quite possible he was correct. At the time she had not thought so, but she had to admit to herself that she was mightily curious about Frodo Baggins. Perhaps her own motives had not been so benign as she thought them. “I will speak to him, then, and apologize if necessary.”

Diamond nodded. “Mistress, do you recall telling me about bonds of friendship? You explained them to me when we were treating Fredegar Bolger.”

“Yes, dear, I remember.”

“These four, the Travellers, they seem to have such bonds; yet it seems more complex than that.”

“Yes, you are correct about that. But Mr. Peregrin was right to be angered, and I will doubtless be rebuked. His friends are not our concern except as they affect his recovery. So we will simply have to restrain our curiosity. Thank you for warning me.”

Diamond nodded, relieved. She had worried that her mistress would blame her for letting it slip that they had questioned Frodo and Sam. But she should have known better. Mistress Lavender was nothing if not fair.

___________________________________________________

Eglantine and Paladin came to take tea with their son and their nephew.

Later on, after they left, Merry noticed Pippin scratching his arms, and moving restlessly.

“Would you like me to give you a bed bath, Pip?”

Pippin’s face lit up, but then he shook his head as he said “I don’t want to be any trouble to you Merry. You had enough of that kind of thing to do for me in the past.” For Pippin remembered how dutifully Merry had attended him when he had been injured after the Last Battle.

“If it were that much trouble I wouldn’t have suggested it, you silly goose! But I suppose I had better check and make sure that it’s all right with your healer.”

Lavender thought that it was an excellent idea and said so. “You seem to know your way around a sickroom, Mr. Meriadoc. I trust that you will be careful of his leg, and keep him warm.”

Merry nodded and returned to Pippin’s room. He heated some water in the kettle on the hearth and moved the washbasin from its place on the washstand to Pippin’s bedside table. He also brought over the soap, the flannel for washing and some clean towels. When the water was heated, he poured some into the basin, adding just enough cold water from the ewer to make sure it was not scalding. He drew down the covers and assisted his cousin to remove his nightshirt. Then he wet and soaped the flannel, and began by washing Pippin’s back.

“That feels wonderful, Merry, thank you!”

“I’ve given you enough baths in your lifetime! Some are more memorable than others. Do you remember the day the Dwarves came to visit Bilbo? You were coated head to toe in flour and honey, because Bilbo had allowed you to help him make honeycakes!”

Pippin smiled at the fond remembrance. “They were lovely honeycakes, too!”

“That they were!” Merry rinsed out the flannel, and then got the soap off his cousin’s back. Next, he turned his attention to the arms. “Bilbo made Frodo and I give you a bath and you nearly drowned us.”

Pippin chuckled. “I don’t know about ‘drowned’, cousin, but I do remember that lovely tea we had. But Bilbo always had a nice spread. He was a very good cook.”

“Yes, he was. Very nearly as good a cook as Sam.” Merry sighed. Sometimes he wished he could turn back time, to those days when Bilbo was still at Bag End, and he and Pippin would come to visit Frodo. Life was a lot simpler then.

Merry continued his gentle ministrations, and then toweled the younger hobbit dry and assisted him into his nightshirt.

“I feel ever so much better, Merry,” Pippin said. It was nice to be clean. They had of course cleaned him up when they brought him in, but it had been very superficial.

About that time, the supper tray arrived, along with Pervinca and Tanto. When they had finished eating, Merry left Pippin with his sister and brother-in-law long enough to take himself to the bathing room. He was feeling anxious again, and thought perhaps a bath might help him to relax.

____________________________________________________

Sam and Rosie had spent a pleasant day in the company of the Gaffer, and his sister May and Sam’s little nieces and nephews. May had been thrilled at the news that not only were Sam and Rose expecting, but that Tom and Marigold were as well. They talked about the idea of double cousins. It was not a very common thing.

Yet at the back of his mind, Sam felt unsettled. He was not sure what was wrong, but something was.

While Rose and May cleaned up the dishes, Sam and the Gaffer went outside for a sniff of air and a pipe or two.

“Something’s worriting you, Sammy. I can tell.” The Gaffer looked at his son shrewdly.

“Not to say worriting, so much, like--as I don’t know what it is. It’s more a prickle at the back of my mind, like I’ve forgotten somewhat as is important.”

“Whatever ‘tis, it will come to you in time. If it don’t then it’s not important after all. Let it go.”

“I suppose.”

__________________________________________________________

The shout came from Pippin’s room and awakened the two healers immediately. They grabbed their dressing gowns and rushed across the hall.

Merry was weeping, and moaning “Frodo”, as Pippin clutched him, trying to soothe him.

“Merry, Merry, I’m here! I’m with you Merry!”

Pippin looked at the door as it opened. “Athelas! Quickly! His right arm is like ice!”

_________________________________________

Sam and Rosie headed back up the hill, hand in hand. As they neared Bag End, they noticed that the smial was totally dark.

Sam looked puzzled. There should have been a light from the study window at least. Mr. Frodo never went to bed this early. And even if he had, he would have lit the lantern by the front door, seeing as how they were out.

He entered the smial with Rosie behind, and then used his striker to light one of the candles they kept on the table by the front door. “Mr. Frodo?” he called softly.

He went into the study where Frodo was sitting in the dark, and found his master looking very strange. He was very pale, and his eyes seemed to see things far away. There was no reaction to Sam’s entering the room. Sam waved his hand in front of Frodo’s face and there was still no response.

Sam took his face in his hands. “What’s the matter, Mr. Frodo?” said Sam.

“I am wounded,” he answered. Frodo's voice was a croak, as though he could barely remember how to speak. “wounded. It will never really heal.”

Horrified, Sam touched his master’s left shoulder. Frodo flinched. Sam drew back his shirt to look at it. The skin was cold, the scar was livid.

“Rose!” called Sam, “I need you to make up some of that special athelas tea, right now!”

With a groan, he embraced his master. “Oh, Sam, you ninnyhammer! You knew as something was wrong! Why didn’t you listen to your heart?”

He rocked the unresponsive Frodo back and forth like a babe. “Oh Mr. Frodo, it’s going to be all right. I’m here now.”

______________________________________________

Diamond quickly lit the bedside lamp, and handed her mistress one of the precious leaves from the drawer. Lavender came over and examined Merry critically. “What is the matter with him?”

“I don’t know! This shouldn’t be happening now! He was injured in the spring--”

Merry was still moaning Frodo’s name. “Frodo, please be all right,” he whimpered. “Strider, is he going to be all right?”

Suddenly, Pippin looked even more alarmed. “What is the date?”

“The date? What has that to do with anything?” asked Lavender.

“It is the sixth, Pippin, the sixth of Winterfilth.” replied Diamond.

Pippin paled, and breathed out “Oh, no, Frodo--” he whispered, “Weathertop!”

________________________________________

CHAPTER 13

Rose had taken a startled look at the scene in the study, and then hurried to prepare the athelas tea. Sam sat next to Frodo. He had taken his friend’s cold left hand and lifted it up to the white gem at his throat; as it came in contact, Frodo’s hand closed on it almost convulsively, and his ragged breathing began to steady. The trance-like expression on his face gradually softened, and a very faint glow came from between his fingers.

After only a few moments, Rose came in, bearing the steaming cup, wafting its reassuring fragrance. Sam held it to Frodo’s white lips, and as he sipped, he gave a shudder. “Ah,” he sighed. He relaxed into Sam’s embrace.

“Sam?” he looked at his friend with a touch of embarrassment and confusion.

“I’m afraid we forgot the date, Mr. Frodo.” Sam was ashamed of himself. He had no excuse to be forgetting this.

“I did not forget, Sam. I just did not want to be a bother to you.” Frodo’s voice was more tired than Sam had heard it in a long time.

“Mr. Frodo, how can there be talk of ‘bother’ between us, after all we did together?” Now Sam was hurt that his master had not wanted his help.

Frodo shook his head, and rubbed his scar. “I am sorry, Sam. I just did not want to upset you, or frighten Rose. And truth be told, I thought if I ignored it, it might go away and not happen at all.”

He got up rather shakily, and the turn seemed to pass. “I believe I will go to bed now. Things will be better in the morning.” But the blue eyes were haunted, and Sam knew that there would be little sleep for Frodo this night, or if there was it would be troubled.

Little sleep for him, either. He looked up at Rose, who had stood silently by. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and he covered it with his own.

________________________________________________

Pippin’s hold on his cousin was awkward. With his broken leg, he could not get close enough to hold him comfortably, but he did the best he could. In his Tookish lilt, he murmured “It’s all right Merry, come back to the light, now. He can’t hurt Frodo anymore, you killed him, remember? It’s all right, Merry…” The sound of Pippin’s gentle voice penetrated the fog in Merry‘s mind, and his distress began to abate.

The water heated, and Diamond brought over the basin of steaming water, and Lavender crumbled in the precious leaf. The scent soon lifted all their spirits.

Merry shuddered, and gasped, and color began to return to his face. He looked at Pippin. “Frodo! Pip, he’s--”

“Shush, Merry, Sam’s with him, he’ll be all right.”

Just the door opened. It was Paladin. “What’s all the commotion?” he asked with a worried frown. Then he took in the sight of his nephew. “Oh.”

“Father,” asked Pippin, “could you do us a favor?”

“Of course I will, son. What is it?”

“Merry is worried that Frodo may be ill also. Could you send a messenger to Bag End? Just to relieve his mind?”

“Certainly, I’ll see to it at once.” He looked at the healers. “Mistress Lavender, do you need anything?”

“No, Thain Paladin,” she answered. “I think that we will soon have everything settled.”

He nodded and backed out, relieved in one way, that it was not something more serious, yet troubled all the same. He remembered Pearl’s account of Merry’s illness last spring at Crickhollow. He wondered how much longer these two lads would continue to be troubled with these horrible night terrors.

Pippin was smoothing Merry’s brow, and his cousin seemed to have calmed after his fright. He looked up at the healer. “His arm is still cold, but not icy. Strider used to lave it with the athelas water--it seemed to help. At least he‘s not running a fever this time.”

Lavender nodded. Diamond held the basin while her mistress took a soft cloth and wet it in the fragrant water, and began to wash the cold arm. Right now, she was doing as she was directed, by one who obviously had experience of a sort with the problem. But when the crisis was over, she was going to need some answers.

“Pip,” Merry struggled slightly against Pippin’s awkward grip. “What about Frodo?”

“It’s going to be fine, Merry. Father is sending a messenger to Bag End right away.” Pippin blinked away the tears that were trying to form in his own eyes. Trust Merry to be thinking only of Frodo at a time like this.

He turned again to the healers. “There is a small porcelain box in the drawer with the athelas. There’s a special tea in there made up from it. I think some of it would help.”

Lavender paused in her treatment of Merry’s arm to give Diamond a nod. The apprentice quickly found the little box and prepared not one, but two cups of the tea.

She held one of them up to Merry’s lips, and he took a few small swallows.

He soon grew drowsy, but before he drifted off, he looked up at Pippin again. “He really is gone, isn’t he?” he whispered. “He can’t hurt Frodo anymore..”

“Yes, Merry. He really is gone, thanks to you. Get some rest, now.”

As Merry’s eyes closed in slumber, Lavender eased him away from Pippin’s embrace. “I would imagine your arm is uncomfortable.”

“It is rather pins and needles,” he said. “Thank you,” this to Diamond as she handed him the second cup of tea. A good idea. It would stave off any impending nightmares of his own. Merry did not need to be disturbed any further. He sipped it slowly. He was puzzled. He could not understand why Merry was reacting to Frodo’s anniversary this way.

__________________________________________________

Sam stood in the doorway to Frodo’s room. The moonlight showed him moving restlessly, clutching Arwen’s jewel for all he was worth. He seemed to have once more fallen into ill dreams, but at least he was not in the awful trance-like state that Sam had found him in at first.

Rose came up behind Sam. “This is how he was last spring, Sam, when he was so ill, and did not want me to tell you. Except for the pain in his shoulder--that is different. What can we do for him?”

“Other than what we’ve done already, Rose-love, I can’t say as I know. Strider and Lord Elrond, even old Gandalf, they didn’t think he’d ever get over it, I don’t think. But it’s better than it was before Queen Arwen gave him her jewel. Only thing is, I think using her jewel makes him sad.”

“Better a bit sad than in such a state as he was tonight.” She slipped her arm around her husband’s waist. “Come, my Sam, let’s go to our own rest. There’s naught else we can do tonight.”

Sam allowed her to draw him away, but his troubled gaze lingered on his master.

____________________________________________

Lavender let Pippin drink some of the tea in silence, before she put forth her question. “Young Peregrin, I think that you had better tell me what this is all about. This is not idle curiosity now, this is in aid of his health--” she nodded at the peacefully slumbering Merry, “--and yours.”

Pippin nodded. She was the healer, and without Strider, who would have known instantly why this happened, he was going to have to make her understand. “I don’t fully understand myself. This should not have happened *now*, not to him.”

“Tell me what you can.”

“I’ll do my best. But do not blame me if you do not believe me. The truth of this sounds mad enough.” He sucked in his cheeks, and pursed his lips in thought, and after a moment continued. “Did you hear about the Black Riders that invaded Buckland right after we left, and attacked Crickhollow?”

Lavender nodded. Fredegar Bolger had been distraught afterwards, and she had attended him once he had come home from Buckland. He would not say much about it, but enough to know that there had been Big Men, seeking Frodo Baggins, with ill-intent. She had always assumed that they had been sent by Lotho Pimple. It was the most logical explanation.

Pippin looked at her. “I know what a lot of people think. But those Black Riders had nothing to do with Lotho. They were Nazgûl, servants of--” his voice dropped to a strained whisper, and his green eyes grew haunted. “--of--of the Dark Lord in Mordor.” He shuddered, and took a sip of the tea, inhaling the healing fragrance, and reminding himself that Sauron was destroyed, and Aragorn was King, and they were home, now, *home*. His voice grew stronger. “The chief of them, you will have heard of, for every hobbit-child learns the story of the last King, who fought against the Witch-king of Angmar.”

Lavender and Diamond looked at one another. That battle, from which no hobbit had returned, had been over a thousand years ago. How could that be?

Pippin shook his head. “Believe me or not. You want the truth, here it is. Anyway, about two weeks into our journey, they caught up to us, at a place called Weathertop. He stabbed Frodo with a poisoned blade. It was a miracle he survived at all. Lord Elrond had to cut into him, to get a piece of the poisoned blade out of him. But Frodo has never been the same since it happened. And it seems that when the anniversary of the day it happened arrives, he goes through it all over again, as the King and Lord Elrond warned us might happen.”

Pippin stopped for a moment, and looked fondly and proudly at Merry. “Anyway, much later in our travels, well, Merry and I got separated. He ended up at a battle in the company of the King of Rohan’s niece, who is a great warrior herself. The two of them slew the Witch-king. But there was some kind of spell at work; Merry’s sword arm went cold and dead, and he was cast into a dark melancholy that almost killed him. Strider saved him. ‘The hands of the King are the hands of a healer.’ But Merry also seems to re-live his experience on the date it happened. That’s why I don’t understand what happened tonight. Merry slew the monster on the fifteenth of Rethe; this is *Frodo’s* anniversary.”

Lavender nodded her head. “I think I may know part of the problem.” She glanced at Merry’s slumbering form, and reached for her pendulum. “Since he sleeps, I will ask you--do you think he would mind?”

Pippin shook his head. “He might. But if it will help him, go ahead. If he wants to be angry later, he can be angry at me.”

Diamond watched intently as her mistress swung the amber over Merry’s prone form. If she concentrated, she could see much of what Lavender saw.

“He’s sleeping peacefully now,” said Lavender. “I think all will be well by morning.”

Pippin shook his head. “So why did this happen?”

“Mr. Peregrin, you are aware that there is an unusually strong bond of affection between the four of you, who went away?”

Pippin blinked. He didn’t understand. “That’s what some people have told me. It doesn’t seem all that unusual to me. That’s just the way things are. After all, we’re family, except for Sam, and he might as well be, with everything we went through.” He said this last a bit defensively, as there were still some people to be found who did not approve of his friendship with the gardener.

“Trust me, young Took, there are brothers who are not so close.” She sat back for a moment in the chair by his bed, and put her finger up in front of her lips, as she tried to think of the best way to explain. “You have heard of the saying ‘family ties’?” Pippin nodded. “Now it helps to think of them as actual ties, cords binding you together with the ones you love. All of you have the strongest I have ever been privileged to see.” She stopped and looked at Merry. “He has a tenacious nature.”

Pippin gave out a short surprised bark of laughter. “Tenacious? That’s the best word for Merry I have ever heard!”

“He is holding on very tightly to those cords. In fact, he has pulled them as tightly as he can, especially the ones to you, and to Frodo Baggins. It is putting a strain on him. He is fearful of losing both of you. This makes him pull even harder. He is reaping the result of this; he is more aware of both of you, even when you are not present. But if he does not learn to loosen the cords, he will be lost when they inevitably break.”

Pippin’s protest died on his lips. What if he *had* been killed the other day? What of Merry then?

Lavender saw the realization dawn. She carefully did not say what else she had seen: that the cords to Frodo were already beginning to fray.

___________________________________________

Rose had finally gone to sleep, her breathing soft and even.

Sam lay awake. He wished he could cry, could weep, could mourn, but he did not. This was a pain that gripped him from the top of his head all the way down to his toes, and left no room for tears.

In the Black Land, Sam had seen despair, agony, fear, even hatred for the Ring and for the Dark Lord, in Frodo’s eyes. But at least there had been feeling, emotion, there.

Tonight, he had seen nothing but emptiness in those eyes, as though Frodo were too weary even for pain.

But that’s all right, he thought. I have enough pain for the both of us.

CHAPTER 14

Diamond lay awake for the longest time. She had a great deal of thinking to do, whether she wished to or no. She could not get the scene with Pippin and his cousin out of her mind.

There were some things that Lavender had seen and not spoken of, that Diamond could not interpret. And there were things that both of them had seen, and not spoken of, that Diamond understood only too well.

For the last few days, she had watched Merry care for Pippin. She had been impressed by his devoted protectiveness, and surprised by his efficiency in the sickroom. She knew from what she had been told by Pippin’s sisters that Merry was eight years older, and had often helped nurse his young cousin through various illnesses and mishaps.

Yet tonight she had watched Pippin display that same careful devotion to his older cousin. In spite of his own obvious pain and distress, he had focused on soothing Merry.

And both of them had been worried about Frodo Baggins.

Her mind kept skittering around the question that she really did not want to ask, because asking it would mean she was far more interested in Peregrin Took than she had any *right* to be--

But--

Still--

She could not keep her treacherous mind away from it.

If she were free to return his interest, where would her place in his heart be?

_____________________________________________

Sam was in the lower part of the front garden tidying up some of the leaves and other small debris left behind by the storm of a few days earlier. It was something he would have dealt with the next day, if they had not been in Tookland.

He heaved a weary sigh. He was tired this morning, after such a night as Mr. Frodo had. Mr. Frodo was still sleeping, but Sam hoped that he would be feeling better when he finally awakened.

He was startled by the sound of pony hooves, and looked up at the approaching rider. Another messenger? He hoped Mr. Pippin had not taken a turn for the worse. He walked apprehensively down to the gate.

“Mr. Samwise,” said the messenger, and he held out a sealed envelope.

Sam took it, and was surprised to see it was addressed not to Frodo, but to himself. He looked up at the messenger.

“I’m to wait and take back an answer, if you please.”

Sam nodded. “Go on up to the kitchen. My wife will give you a cup of tea and a bit of breakfast. I’ll read this, and give you an answer.”

“Thank you kindly, Mr. Sam.” He dismounted, and tethered the pony by the gate. Sam watched him absently, and then looked down at the message. With a worried frown, he opened it.

My dear Samwise Gamgee,

Sam recognized the Thain’s strong and elegant hand.

Last night, I am sorry to say, Meriadoc was suffering from some of those dark dreams of which I am sure you know all too well. He and Peregrin seemed convinced that all was not well with Frodo, and Pippin asked me to send to Bag End and inquire. I send the message to you for two reasons: I know that Merry and Pippin would rather I not worry Frodo on their account, and also, if Frodo is indeed unwell, then it would be you who could answer best.

I hope very much that they are wrong, but I have seen too much in the last year not to put some stock in their feelings.

Please give the messenger your reply.

Regards,

Paladin Took II, Thain

Poor Mr. Merry! It did not surprise Sam that this had happened. Mr. Merry had been wounded by that same evil creature who had hurt poor Mr. Frodo. And Mr. Merry worried and fretted about his cousin almost as much as Sam did--maybe more, because Sam was lucky enough to be with him, but Mr. Merry was not, and that made all the difference.

He walked up to Bag End, and went to the desk in the study to write his reply.

He thought carefully about what to say. Mr. Frodo would not be pleased to have everyone know his business, yet he knew that he would feel obliged to answer.

Dear Thain Paladin,

I guess I am that sorry to say that Mr. Merry was right. Mr. Frodo did have a bad turn last night, and was quite ill. But he is resting peaceably enough now, and I think that it has passed.

I hope that Mr. Merry is feeling better today as well. I am sure that Mr. Pippin had some of the kingsfoil to use for him, and that helps a lot.

I also hope that Mr. Pippin is still on the mend.

Please tell them that Mr. Frodo will be all right, and that me and Rosie will watch out for him, and not to worry too much. I would say not worry at all, but I know that is a useless thing to say to Mr. Merry.

I guess that I should show your letter to Mr. Frodo when he wakes up. I know it might fret him, but it would fret him worse if I don’t and he finds out later.

Tell Mr. Pippin and Mr. Merry hello from me and Rosie.

Yr. obedient servant,

S. Gamgee

Sam folded it up and sealed it, and took it to the messenger, who was just finishing up a plate of eggs and sausage.

_______________________________________________

Merry woke to find Pippin still sleeping soundly next to him. Easing himself away carefully in order to avoid waking him, he tended to his morning ablutions, and got dressed. He clearly remembered the night before, the events at Weathertop playing themselves out in his dreams just as they had happened the first time, except that he had known what was coming, and was helpless to prevent it. And when Frodo had screamed out on being stabbed, his own arm had gone cold, just as it had done at Pellenor.

What it all could mean, he didn’t know, but he was very worried about Frodo. Yet he could hardly leave Pippin and go to Bag End. He seemed to recall Pippin telling him that Uncle Paladin was sending a messenger. He sighed. He seldom dithered like this, but he really was unsure as to what to do. The last time he had felt like this was just before the Quest, when he truly thought he would have to leave Pippin behind in order to follow after Frodo. He was just so tired.

“Merry?” Pippin was awake. “Are you all right this morning?”

“I’m fine Pip.”

“Tell me another one, Merry. I know you too well.”

“Well, I am as fine as I’m likely to be after a night like last night. Does that satisfy you?” He was too weary to even put much irritation in his voice.

“No, of course it doesn’t.” Pippin scooted himself up on his elbows, wincing as his leg moved. “Merry, we have to talk. Between worrying about me, and worrying about Frodo, you are making yourself sick.”

Merry sat down with a thud. “I’m sorry, Pip. I don’t mean to make you worry about *me*!”

Pippin made a noise somewhere between a groan and a growl, of pure frustration. “Meriadoc Brandybuck! Listen to yourself!”

Merry stared at him for a moment, and then gave a little chuckle. “I do sound a bit ridiculous, don’t I?”

“Ridiculous does not even begin to describe it, my dear fellow! I cannot even begin to imagine that you could come to care any less for us, but you need to realize that we are not the only people in your world. Would it do any good if I should ask you to go home, for your own sake?”

Merry glared at him. “No,” he said flatly, a dangerous glint in his grey eyes.

“I didn’t think so.” Pippin sat up. “The only solution I can think of is for Mother to invite the Bolgers for a visit.”

Merry’s jaw dropped as he stared at Pippin, and then his face cleared into the biggest grin Pippin had seen on his cousin’s face since the accident happened.

_________________________________________

Frodo came into the kitchen, to see the messenger sitting there.

“Is something wrong? Did Pippin have a set back?”

Sam handed Frodo the Thain’s message. “I already wrote, Mr. Frodo, to say that yes, you had a turn last night, but you are better.”

Frodo shook his head. “Poor Merry! Well, I can set his mind at ease, at least.” He turned to the messenger. “If you can wait just a few more minutes, I will send a few lines to my cousin, Mr. Brandybuck.”

The messenger nodded, and Frodo went to the study, and penned a quick note to Merry. The messenger took it, and soon was off the way he had come.

As soon as he had gone, Frodo turned to Sam. “Whatever are we going to do about Merry? We can’t have him making himself sick over me!”

“I don’t see as how there’s much of anything we can do to help him, Mr. Frodo. It’s just ‘cause he loves you so much.” Sam knew exactly how Mr. Merry felt. He felt the same himself often enough, though he had his Rose to see him through.

Rose turned from the dishes she was washing. “Begging your pardon, Mr. Frodo, but what Mr. Merry needs is Miss Estella.”

Frodo stared at her for a moment. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a resounding kiss on the brow. “Rose you are a marvel! Sam, did you know you are married to a genius?”

Sam gave his wife a teasing grin. “Oh, I don’t know how smart she could be, Mr. Frodo, when she decided to marry the likes of me.”

Then he ducked the wet dishcloth that hurtled in his direction.

Frodo hurried off to write another letter.

_________________________________________________

Diamond was glad that her tasks this morning did not involve checking up on Pippin. After she had tossed and turned half the night, she had gone to sleep, only to have some very embarrassing dreams. She was not sure she could face him today without blushing.

She busied herself with taking inventory of the herbs and medicines, the task which she had been set that day, and tried to stop thinking of herself. She only wished she had someone she could confide in.

CHAPTER 15

Three days later, Estella Bolger and her mother had sat down to second breakfast. Odovocar was taking his in his office.

“Well, Estella,” said Rosamunda to her daughter, “I’m wondering if we should have the dressmaker in. It really is not too soon to be thinking about frocks for the Yule season.”

Yule. Estella was hoping to spend Yule in Buckland this year instead of Tookland, though she had not yet broached the subject with her mother. Her mother was pleased with the understanding she had with Merry Brandybuck, but since they had chosen to wait on announcing a betrothal until Estella’s brother Freddy came home from the South, Rosamunda tended to pretend that things were the same as before. And her mother did not care for Buckland. In a way that was a blessing--they’d have a lot less motherly interference once they were wed and living there. But for now, that left the question of Yule. And Estella did not want to think about frocks right now, either.

Just then the maidservant brought in the morning post. There was a letter for each of them.

Estella’s heart lifted. Perhaps hers was from Merry? No, how odd. It was from his cousin, Frodo Baggins.

Rosamunda had opened hers. Estella knew immediately, from the stationary that it was from Cousin Eglantine Took. “Estella, dear! We are invited to come to Tuckborough for a few weeks!”

Estella schooled her face. She did not want to show too much enthusiasm, as she knew that Merry was staying there now, helping Pippin with his broken leg. If they went to the Great Smials now, it also might help pave the way for Yule in Buckland later.

She turned her attention to her own letter.

My Dear Estella,

I hope that you will not think me an interfering old busybody to write to you so, but I think you should know that Merry has been having a trying time lately. Between his fright over Pippin’s mishap, and his worry over my health, he is having a recurrence of some of his difficult dreams and sleepless nights.

Perhaps if you could see your way clear to visiting at the Smials while he is there, you might be able to bring a bit of much needed brightness to his life at a time when he is struggling with darkness.

I certainly hope that this might meet with your approval. I only wish that I knew some way to spare him these troubles.

Fond regards,

Cousin Frodo

Oh dear! Oh, Merry--she really had to go to him at once. But her mother had to think it was her own idea. “Well, Mother, what do you think? Is this a good time of year to go to the Great Smials?” She was glad she had not yet told her parents about Pippin’s mishap and Merry’s stay there. Until the betrothal was formalized, her mother had far too many worries about the proprieties.

“Anytime Eglantine Took invites us can be a good time. I am just not so sure about going away right now. The dressmaker--”

Estella interrupted. “Well, Mother, when we were there last Spring for the Ball, you much admired Pearl’s new frocks, and she was full of praises for that new seamstress in Tuckborough.”

Rosamunda tapped her lips with the letter. Eglantine Took was not always so free with the invitations that she could really afford to ignore them, and Estella was right about Pearl’s dressmaker, as well. “Yes,” she said, “yes, perhaps it is a good idea. Let me go speak to your father. I think we will leave tomorrow.”

Her mother got up and swept from the room, and Estella permitted herself a victorious smile. It faded though, as she remembered the contents of Frodo’s letter. Merry truly *needed* her. She only hoped she’d be able to cheer him.

___________________________________________

For the last two days, Pippin had been carried into the family sitting room and installed on the settee there. He had been very grateful for the change of scene, and for the company, although there had been one moment of excruciating pain when little Alyssum, a precocious two and a half year old, had latched onto his leg to pull herself up. He had managed to contain his yell, in order to avoid frightening her, but the face he made was eloquent. Pimpernel had detached her daughter in short order, and kept a more careful watch thereafter.

Right now his mother and his sister Pearl were sitting on the other settee opposite him; Pearl was mending, and Eglantine was working on a bit of embroidery. Merry, who had been playing draughts with him, was now playing with Paladin. It was late afternoon, and soon his other sisters and their families would be showing up for tea.

It had been eight days since Pippin broke his leg. He was getting very restless.

He recalled the conversation he had earlier that morning with Mistress Lavender.

“When will I be able to get up? It’s been more than a week! I was standing on my broken foot after about a week!”

“A broken foot is not a broken leg. While it is true that you are healing more rapidly than the average hobbit, rapidly is *not* instantly. A broken leg, even with no complications, takes at least six weeks to heal--as well as spending a couple of weeks on crutches. At the rate you are healing, you may be able to cut the time down to about four weeks, but any less than that is going to be pushing your luck, young hobbit!”

“But--”

“But me no buts. You are healing well; if you continue to follow my direction, and remain patient, you will heal with a minimum of permanent damage, perhaps not even a limp, except in bad weather. But if you try to go too fast, you risk a number of set backs, some of which could be permanent. I don’t care how many magic elixirs from talking trees you drank.”

Pippin opened his mouth, and then closed it with a snap. Diamond was standing behind her mistress, and the expression on her face said she was not impressed with his arguments, either.

So now he was stuck sitting here on the settee, bored. Bored.

Bored.

Eglantine glanced up from her stitching and saw Pippin’s face. She noticed that his foot on his good leg was twitching, and a few other subtle fidgets, and felt dismay.

Pippin had entered that dangerous stage of convalescence when he was still too badly off to be allowed out of bed, but was well enough to get bored. Though he was much older now, and nearly grown, she had no hopes he would ever outgrow this impatience with being laid up. His father certainly never had. Fortunately, Paladin generally enjoyed good health.

She decided to try a trick young Merry had taught her, when Pippin was still quite small, for temporarily staving off his boredom. It would not work for days on end, but it might stave off an impending outburst this afternoon.

“Pippin, it’s rather quiet around here. If you are feeling up to it, why don’t you sing for us?” She smiled at him. She enjoyed his singing anyway, as all the family did.

His face brightened at once. “What should I sing?”

Paladin glanced over at his son. “None of those scurrilous tavern songs you brought home from foreign places!” he said sternly, but with a twinkle in his eye. Some of those songs were quite amusing, but not for the ears of Pippin’s mother and sisters.

Merry glanced at his aunt, and winked. He knew what she was doing. “I know, Pip, how about that song for Aragorn’s coronation? I don’t think any of the family have heard it yet.”

Pippin nodded, with a grin. This was a favorite of his, and none of the family at home had heard it yet. He opened his mouth and began.

Eglantine sat back, satisfied for now, and listened with enjoyment.

_______________________________________________

Later that evening when Pippin had been re-installed in his room, Eglantine sought a private word with her nephew.

“Merry, what are we going to do? Keeping him down for another month is going to be nearly impossible!”

Merry looked troubled. “I’m not sure, Aunt Tina. He was hurt so badly after the battle that it was not hard to make him rest, but still he was able to get up and hobble around before even two weeks were up. And Strider had a lot of little tricks for keeping him down that I’m not sure a hobbit healer could use. For one thing, if it came right down to it, he could use Pip’s oath of obedience as a knight when nothing else worked. Pip hated that, and it would make him extremely angry, but he’d obey. Now, I don’t know. There’s nothing else wrong with him but his leg.”

Eglantine nodded. “I was afraid of that.”

“If only there were something useful he could do that would keep him busy, even if it were something he didn’t much care for, it would help to pass the time.” Merry thought of some of the annoying busywork Éomer had given *him* to do when he had been wearing himself out taking care of Pippin and worrying about Frodo and Sam. He’d not much cared for it, but it had given him a badly needed break.

His aunt nodded. “I’ll put it to his father. Maybe he can think of something.”

__________________________________________________

The next morning, it was only Merry and Pippin in the sitting room. They had played two games of draughts, which Pippin had lost because he was not concentrating. Then Merry had fetched him his fiddle and the shepherd’s pipes that Legolas had made for him. Pippin had played for a good long while, but he was starting to get a bit twitchy again. Merry decided he would draw the line if Pip asked for his Tookland pipes. Bagpipes were *not* meant to be played indoors, especially in a room like this, with no windows.

He had been saved from having to assert himself by the arrival of a servant with elevenses, and so for a good long while they were able to busy themselves with eating. Food, at least, was one thing Pippin had never yet been bored with.

They were down to the last little crumbs of apple tart and cheese, and their last cup of tea, when Paladin entered the room. He had his arms loaded with rather dusty yellow books. Behind him was a servant with another armload of newer looking books, and another servant carrying a small lap desk and writing implements.

“Good morning, lads,” said the Thain amiably. “Since you don’t have anything else to do, I have a task to set you.” He gave Merry a look, as if to say “you asked for it”.

“What’s that, Father?” Pippin asked warily. He was not fooled by his father’s hearty manner. Whatever he wanted them to do was probably *not* going to be much fun. But at least it would be *something* to do.

Paladin set his armload of books down upon the nearest side table. “These are some of our oldest records. They need to be recopied before they fade away altogether.” He gestured to the servants, who also found a place to put their burdens. “Here are some blank books, and plenty of quills and ink. Have fun, lads.” With a wink, he left.

The two hobbits looked at one another with dismay. With a sigh, Merry reached over and picked up the top one of the old record books. Maybe the bagpipes would not have been so bad after all.

_________________________________________________

The next day after tea, Frodo was enjoying a pipe on the bench by the front door, when a pony trap pulled up at the gate. He walked down the path to see Rosamunda and Estella Bolger being handed down by their driver.

“Good evening, Frodo,” said Rosamunda loftily. “We are on our way to Tuckborough, and wondered if we might impose on your hospitality at Bag End for the evening.”

Frodo was a bit startled, but ever the polite host, he graciously said, “Why certainly, Rosamunda, my dear. Let us go up to the smial.” And he lent his arm to the older hobbitess, noting Estella’s apologetic expression as she stepped up to his other side. He politely showed them to two of the guest rooms. “I shall go let Sam and Rose know that we are two more for supper.” He nodded and left them.

Rosamunda looked at Estella, surprised. “You don’t suppose he is expecting the gardener and his wife to join us at the meal, do you?”

“Mother, I have told you before that Frodo no longer considers Samwise a servant. He is his friend, and I would think that you would remember the fact that Sam is considered to be of very high rank now, Outside. Do not make the mistake of snubbing him, or Rose, in front of Frodo if you ever want to enjoy the hospitality of Bag End again. And I must tell you that Cousin Tina is one hundred percent behind him in this, so you must not be complaining to her, either.”

Rosamunda looked at her daughter. “And I suppose that Meriadoc feels the same way,” she said, disgruntled.

Estella drew herself up proudly. “Of course he does. Merry stood with Sam at his wedding, if you will recall.” She smiled at the memory.

Rosamunda shook her head. There were entirely too many changes in the Shire these days. But she was wise enough to know when to bend.

______________________________________________

The next morning Merry and Pippin had sorted out their task. Pippin would decipher and read out the faded documents, and Merry would take quill in hand to enter the information into the new books. This worked much better than both of them trying to read and write, especially as Pippin’s penmanship, while fairly legible to friends and family who were familiar with it, was not really tidy enough to preserve for posterity.

They were trying to make out the information on Isengrim II, when Diamond entered the sitting room. This was the first time in several days that Mistress Lavender had sent her to check on Pippin by herself, but her Mistress had been called out late to one of the tenant’s holes, where there was a faunt suffering from a severe case of whooping cough, and had been up nearly all night seeing the child over a crisis. She was now a-bed in the healer’s cottage, and Diamond was taking her rounds this morning. Diamond had left Pippin until last.

“Good morning, Pippin, Merry. I’m here to check on you, Pippin.” She did not meet his eye, but took off her pendulum.

“Good morning, Diamond,” said Merry absently. He was vainly trying to spell out the name of Isengrim II’s wife. Pippin grinned at her, his ancestor completely forgotten.

“Hullo, Diamond.”

She risked a smile at him. His eyes widened at the sight of her dimples, and he gave an audible sigh.

She flushed. This was not going the way she had planned it. This was supposed to be completely professional and impersonal.

She took a deep breath, and sought the calmness at her center, counting her breaths, the ritual soothing her enough so that she could concentrate on what she needed to do.

She began to dangle the wooden heart on it’s silken cord, intent on the patterns it made. This was good. This was very good. He was continuing to heal at the rate he had begun, and it looked like Mistress Lavender’s prediction of only about four weeks to heal was correct. In fact, she might tell her mistress that it looked to her as though it might even be only about three weeks. She knew better than to say anything about it to the patient, though.

There was still a good deal of pain there to be endured.

“Are you still taking your willow-bark tea?” she asked sternly.

He sighed. “Yes, but not as frequently. It seems to be upsetting my stomach. I can put up with the pain.”

She nodded. That was a problem with willow-bark. It was rather acidic, and frequent dosing could cause some stomach irritation eventually. If he was able to manage his pain without it, that was probably good. She would mention this to Mistress Lavender as well.

“Have you given any more thought to Mistress Lavender’s suggestion?” The healers had learned why the Tooks all seemed to have an aversion to wheeled chairs, but they were trying to get them around it. It would make Pippin’s convalescence much easier.

He just shook his head. He hated to disappoint Diamond, but *some* things he could not do.

Just then Eglantine stuck her head in the door. “Oh, hello Diamond! Pippin, Merry, we have some guests come to stay for a few days.” She stood back and opened the door, allowing Rosamunda and Estella to enter the room before her.

Merry looked up, and the book in his hands dropped to the floor with a thud.

Pippin grinned at him. “Cousin, I ask you, is that any way to treat our illustrious ancestor?”

Merry didn’t answer. He didn’t even hear him.

______________________________________

CHAPTER 16

Estella had known she was going to get cornered by her mother for a scolding sooner or later. It had been obvious to Rosamunda from the moment they arrived that her daughter had known all along about Pippin’s broken leg, and Merry’s presence at the Great Smials. But it didn’t matter now, because they were already there. So she was not surprised at all as she sat at the dressing table in her guest room brushing her hair when her mother came to the room.

“Estella, why did you not tell me that Meriadoc was here?”

“Because at first I did not have any reason to. His letter was to me, not to the family. I did not know then that we would be invited to come to the Great Smials.” She had no intention of sharing her correspondence with Merry with her mother.

“You could at least have told us of Pippin’s accident! After all, we *are* family!”

Estella flushed. That part probably was true. But it had been easier just to say nothing.

“Estella, I am well aware that you do not like to confide in me. I don’t understand why you are so secretive with me; after all, I am your mother. But you carry it beyond all reason--it was very embarrassing to arrive and have everyone assume that I already knew what was going on. I’m sure that Eglantine thinks I am some sort of half-wit, the way I reacted to some of the things she said. Perhaps you do not care for appearances, but you will find as you get older that they are more important than you think. I am half-tempted to turn right around and go home tomorrow.”

Estella was not the least bit alarmed by this threat. She knew that once her mother was here, she was not going to leave before she had to. It had always stung Rosamunda that however prominent a family the Bolgers were, they were behind the Tooks, the Brandybucks and the Bagginses. It was one reason her mother did not object to her attachment to Merry, or Angelica Baggins’s to her brother. She would see those alliances as steps back up the social ladder for her children.

“Well, Mother, we are here now. And I am glad to see Merry again, and won’t pretend I am not.”

Rosamunda shook her head and sighed. Estella was far more Tookish than her mother ever had been, for all that she was half Bolger. She would feel sorry for young Meriadoc taking her on, except that he had plenty of practice in managing Tooks.

____________________________________________

“Well, Merry, I would say that today has not been a total waste. You seemed rather pleased, at any rate.” They were back in Pippin’s room and preparing for sleep.

“Thanks, Pip.” His gratitude was heartfelt. He had not known until the minute he saw her face just how much he had been missing Estella.

“Don’t thank me, thank Mother. She sent the invitation.”

“Because you asked her to. I know Aunt Tina is not fond of Rosamunda Bolger.”

“But she *is* fond of her favorite nephew.” Pippin sighed. “Now if I could solve my own problem so easily.”

Merry shook his head. “I know Diamond’s interested in you as well, Pip. You only have to look at her expression to know that.”

“Well, it seems that way. But then she won’t give me the time of day unless she’s having to take care of this--” he gestured at his broken leg. “I don’t understand.”

Merry leaned back against the headboard, arms behind his head, as he thought. “You know, Pip, that might have something to do with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, generally speaking, it’s considered bad form for a healer to get involved with a patient.”

Pippin looked puzzled. “I never heard that.”

“Well, it’s not something that often would come up, is it? Healers usually don’t get involved with *anybody*, much less patients. You know how rare it is for one to get married. I know Diamond is still an apprentice, and really, you are her mistress’s patient, but I would not be surprised if she is thinking about that.”

“Oh.” If this was true, it put a whole new complexion on the problem. If she thought that it was wrong for her to return his interest, then would it be fair of him to keep after her? But he had never wanted to go after anyone quite like this before. He couldn’t give up, even if he ought to.

“Let’s sleep on it, Pip. Maybe we’ll think of something. G’night” And Merry blew out the candle.

____________________________________________

In the healer’s cottage, Lavender watched her apprentice cleaning up the kitchen after their supper. They had eaten late, after having come in from checking up on some patients.

“You are awfully quiet this evening, Diamond.” Lavender had a good idea of what was troubling her apprentice, but she was not going to broach the subject until Diamond did.

“I’m just a bit tired, Mistress Lavender.”

“Ah. Well, lass, in that case leave the rest of this. I’ll take care of the rest when I’ve finished my tea.”

Diamond looked about her. There were only two small pans left to wash, and the table to wipe down. “Very well, Mistress. I will go on to bed now.” She wrung the cloth out, and hung it on the side of the sink, and went out with a sigh.

Lavender watched her, and gave her own sigh. “Ah, Peregrin Took, you have a lot to answer for,” she muttered to herself. She really hated the idea of losing so promising an apprentice.

_________________________________________________

The following afternoon, Merry and Estella went for a walk in the garden. Pippin had Pimmie and the little lasses keeping him company. Rosamunda and Eglantine were discreetly trailing the young couple. Eglantine was keeping Rosamunda a bit farther back than Estella’s mother would have preferred to be.

“I’m glad you came, dear,” said Merry.

Estella blushed. “I’m glad I came, too. Have you been all right?”

He looked at her sharply. “Who’s been talking to you? I don’t want you worried.”

She shook her head. “No one *talked* to me, yet. But your cousin Frodo did write to me. He thought perhaps you were having a difficult time.”

Merry chuckled ruefully. “I guess I would be a fine one to complain about someone else worrying over me, hmm?”

She laughed lightly. “Your title as champion worrier is still safe. But you have to give others a little credit as well.” She took his hand. She didn’t care if her mother did see. “Merry, please talk to me. I need to know some of the things that haunt you, I need to understand them as much as I can. We will be sharing our lives, and I want nothing left out.”

He stopped walking, and moved his hand away. “I would rather it be a new beginning. We don’t need to carry those dark things with us.”

“Merry, how can we know where we are going, if we don’t remember where we’ve been?”

“I’ve told you some of it.” His voice was flat.

“Not the worst. And you have glossed over a lot of what you did tell me. I am nobody’s fool, Meriadoc Brandybuck.”

He looked startled. “I have never thought of you as a fool, Estella! I just want to protect you!”

“You do protect me in many ways. But I don’t want to be protected from your thoughts or your dreams. Don’t you know that if you don’t tell me the truth, I will imagine much worse?”

“Let me think about it, dearest. I don’t believe I can bring myself to talk about it now. But I’m not just putting you off. I need to collect myself.”

She nodded, and took his hand once more. Even getting him to consider telling her was a small victory.

___________________________________________

Pippin had been spending some time with Pimmie and his oldest niece Flora, while Merry was with Estella. He was feeling a bit bereft. It had been his own idea to bring her here, and she was definitely good for Merry, but she was cutting into the time he had with his cousin. And that would not be such a problem either, if he could only get some time with Diamond!

He had been thinking over what Merry said, and remembering the times he had seen her. He was beginning to believe that his cousin was right, and that she was avoiding him for what she thought were good reasons. But were they really? That was what he had to decide, before he made any more attempts to gain her attention.

“Unca Pip!” an insistent voice broke into his thoughts. “Unca Pip! What do now?”

“I’m sorry, Flora sweetest. Here, put your hands out like this--” he was trying to show her how to play at a simple cat’s cradle. She giggled as he pulled her hands apart, and the string figure appeared.

“Here, watch this one.” He took the string and passed the loop behind his neck, and then holding the ends between his fingers at the front, he pulled his hands quickly apart.

Her eyes flew wide. “Oh! Magic!”, for it gave the illusion that the string had passed through his neck. She reached out and touched him where the string had been, as if surprised to find his head still attached to his body. “Do again, Unca Pip!” She stared at him intently, her expression one of great concentration.

He laughed, remembering when Merry had showed him how to do this. Had he been any older than Flora was now? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he had been very young.

Just then the door to the sitting room opened. It was Diamond, and Pippin’s face brightened to see her. Pimpernel smiled. By now, everyone in Pippin’s family was aware he was interested in her. But Eglantine had firmly ordered her daughters to stay out of it unless their brother *asked* for their help.

“Hello, Pippin. Are you up for a visitor?”

He nodded, and she came in, opening the door wider, and he saw behind her his cousin Opal. Diamond stood aside, and Opal maneuvered her way in on her crutches.

The two lasses entered the room, and Pimpernel quickly stood, so that Opal could have the chair she had been sitting in, next to Pippin.

“Hullo, Opal,” said Pippin amiably. As always he felt a difficult mix of emotions on seeing her. He felt a bit guilty because he had not always liked her (though she had not *been* likable before the accident) and because he felt in some obscure way that he had some of the blame for what had happened, though Merry told him often enough that was ridiculous and that all the blame squarely rested with the Bankses. He also felt pity, that she should be so maimed, and admiration for the way she had handled it.

And today, seeing her, he also felt extremely lucky--what if his leg had been broken as badly as hers had been? He tried not to shudder at the thought; he would not want her to think that he was repelled by her.

“It’s good to see you, Pippin,” Opal responded, almost shyly. She seldom ventured out of Reggie’s apartment yet, so this visit was a momentous one for her. Diamond stood protectively behind her friend’s chair. “I thought I would break in my new crutches with a bit of a walk.”

He smiled at her. She was definitely an improvement over the old Opal. He pondered how the tragedy had benefited her. “I suppose I will have to be getting myself a set of those sometime soon.”

“Well, I would offer you my old ones,” she laughed, “as they were too long for me. But I think they would be too short for you.” Standing behind her, Diamond chuckled, a throaty sound that caught Pippin’s attention and made his spirit soar.

“Ah,” he said, “that’s a sad thing for them, either too long or too short and no in between.”

Just then, little Flora, who had retreated behind her mother’s skirts when the others had entered the room, suddenly peeped out at Opal, and then walked over to her. “Opa’ look!” She held up her chubby fingers with the loop of string, and attempted to make the cat’s cradle Pippin had showed her. Unfortunately, it did not succeed. Her little lip trembled, and tears welled up. She turned to look at her uncle.

He held out his arms, “Come here, little flower, Uncle Pip will help you.”

She went over to him, and he gently helped her to fix the string.

Watching, Diamond felt her heart give another treacherous lurch.

_____________________________________________

Walking down the passageway toward her guest room later that evening, Estella was thoughtful. She hoped that she could soon get Merry talking about the things he feared.

As she passed by a small room sometimes used as a spare study, she noticed the door ajar. She thought she heard a whimper. She stopped, and glanced in, to see Diamond seated at the little desk, her head pillowed on her folded arms, and her shoulders hitching. She heard a sniff, and she impulsively entered the room.

“Diamond, are you all right?”

The healer’s apprentice jumped as if stung. She sat up abruptly and wiped her eyes with her arm. She took a deep breath and started to deny any problem, except it suddenly occurred to her how ridiculous it would sound when Estella had caught her crying.

She shook her head, instead, and the tears welled up once more.

Estella strode into the room and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

__________________________________________

CHAPTER 17

Diamond lay awake, thinking over her conversation with Estella. She had not *meant* to tell anyone of her dilemma; after all, what good would it do? But it felt so good to confide in someone sympathetic. Estella had listened patiently.

__________________________________________

“So,” she said, “you are interested in Pippin and he is interested in you. But you think that this is wrong, because he is Mistress Lavender’s patient?”

Diamond nodded. She sniffed, and Estella handed her a handkerchief.

“So, Merry was right.”

Diamond looked at Estella with alarm. “What do you mean? What has Merry said?” She flushed to think that her feelings were being discussed by other people.

“He guessed that might be the reason you were not responding to Pippin. The poor lad was getting quite distraught over the fact that you did not seem to be bowled over by his charm.”

“Oh dear. I have been making a fool of myself, if everyone and his uncle can guess how I feel better than I know myself.” For a moment, she thought the tears were going to start up again.

“No, you haven’t made a fool of yourself. But you have to realize something--there is nothing Merry does not notice, if it concerns his cousins; especially Pippin. It goes the other way around as well, by the way. And that is leaving Frodo out, which you should never do, if it should concern Pippin or Merry.”

Diamond chuckled ruefully. “I had begun to realize something of the sort. But you don’t sound jealous.”

“I might as well be jealous of the sun rising or water running downhill. I have no doubts whatsoever of Merry’s true devotion to me. I know that I am in his heart, as he is in mine. But Frodo and Pippin are in his very soul, and he wouldn’t be who he is if that were not true.”

Diamond looked at Estella in amazement. “But what am I to do?” she asked.

“I can’t tell you that; it’s something you will have to decide for yourself. I can tell you what I would do if I were in your position.” She stopped for a moment. “Let me ask you something: *why* is there this tradition that a healer must not get involved with a patient?”

“Well, I have always thought that it must be to preserve my clear judgment, so that I would not be swayed by emotion when I treat someone.”

Estella pursed her lips. “I think there must be more to it than that. If I were you, I think I would have a talk with my mistress. Ask her *why*, and get a full reason from her. And here is something to think on: first of all, Pip’s only got a broken leg. Other than that he’s disgustingly healthy, so he’s not going to be a patient forever. He doesn’t even *live* here at the Smials anymore. And both of you are young--close enough to coming of age to begin to know what you want, but nowhere near close enough to have to announce any kind of decision.”

Diamond’s eyes grew wide. These were things that had not yet crossed her mind, for she had been too intent on keeping her mind *off* Pippin.

“And then--“ Estella continued, “if my mistress did not actually forbid me to do so, because of course your first obligation is to her--I would have a little talk with one Peregrin Took.”

“Do you really think so?” That seemed too simple; she thought of all the maneuvers her sisters used on their suitors. Straightforward conversation had a certain appeal to her.

Estella nodded firmly. “I do. Pippin values honesty, and he understands duty and honor better than anyone else in the Shire except for my Merry and Frodo and Samwise. One day I hope you will know the full extent of that.”

Diamond was impressed. “Thank you, Estella. I’ll think it over. Are you going to tell Merry what I said?”

“Unless you ask me to keep it confidential. I don’t like to hide things from him, especially when I am trying to get him to open up to me.” And now it was Estella’s turn to look a bit distressed.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Estella chuckled ruefully, “you may have noticed that Merry has a small streak of protectiveness in his nature?”

“Er--yes, I might have noticed something like that.” Diamond grinned in spite of herself. She liked Estella’s sense of humor.

“While he’s not really *kept* anything from me about what happened, it’s all been rather glossed over. I’ve had only the skimpiest of accounts. It’s the details that are distressing, and that’s what he won’t talk about--protecting my sensibilities, I suppose.” She smiled. “It’s silly really, ‘oh, we fell in with some Orcs for three days, and then we got away’, as though that were all there was to it.”

“Well, I won’t ask you not to tell him if he asks,” said Diamond. She felt a bit exposed saying that, but she really needed Estella’s friendship, and she had to show her some trust.

____________________________________________

Now she lay awake, wondering what she was going to tell her mistress. It had seemed very simple when she was talking to Estella, just to ask Mistress Lavender “why?” yet now that it came to it, she found the prospect daunting.

_________________________________________

As it happened, she was to get no chance to speak to her mistress for a few days. There had been an outbreak of spotted fever among some of the children in Tuckborough.

Lavender had headed out, leaving Diamond at the Smials. For Diamond had never suffered from spotted fever as a child, and Lavender did not wish to have her exposed. Sooner or later, she would have to be, as a healer. But right now it would be too difficult to get along without her.

“I will be staying in town, at the home of the Goodchilds, as they have three children ill, one of them only a faunt. But there are several families in that neighborhood who also have children down with it.”

Diamond nodded.

“I will tell the Thain before I leave that no one who has not already had the spotted fever is to go into town, most especially the children. I do not want an outbreak here at the Great Smials. There are too many who would be vulnerable to having a really bad case.” Generally spotted fever was not fatal, but it could be, especially with young infants. Diamond immediately thought of little Primula and Drogo, who had been born a bit early.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“There are very few patients here right now: Opal, of course, and young Peregrin, then there is Tib, the undergardener, and we have a couple of lasses in the tenant smials about to come into confinement. If you need an extra pair of hands for a delivery, Mistress Appleblossom has some experience of midwifery.”

“I understand, Mistress Lavender.”

“I will return as soon as I am sure I will not be bringing anything contagious back with me.”

And her mistress was off, leaving her with more responsibility than she ever had before.

_________________________________________________

Merry nodded. He was glad Estella had decided to tell him what Diamond had to say.

“Would you be upset, Merry, if I asked you not to repeat all this to Pippin? I know that she has to sort her feelings out, and she will be awfully embarrassed if he knows before she has a chance to tell him.”

Merry frowned. “I don’t like not telling Pip. But I guess it can wait.”

“I’m sorry. At least, you could tell him that you were right about *why*. Maybe he will be a bit more patient then.”

Merry turned his head--Pearl was supposed to be watching them, but she was pointedly examining the small fountain in the middle of the garden, with her back turned to them. He grinned. Good old Pearl.

Estella was thinking the same thing. They stole a quick kiss, and then another, before getting up from the bench to join her.

______________________________________________________

Pippin was talking to his Aunt Primrose, who had come to sit with him.

“So you were good friends to Frodo’s mother, then?”

“Oh yes, dear, we were the closest of friends, much like yourself, Merry and Frodo.”

Pippin’s eyes grew wide. He had never realized this. It must have been horrible for his aunts when Primula Baggins had drowned! He remembered his feelings of despair when he had taken Merry to the Houses of Healing, sure that he might be losing him. He reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Auntie Prim.” He looked at her, seeing tears in her eyes.

“Yes, we were there in Buckland, on our usual spring visit. Peridot had your cousin Hildibrand with her--he was just a bit younger than Frodo--and the two lads had enjoyed themselves immensely. There had been a large dinner in the Hall, with everyone in attendance. Old Gorbadoc was much more one for formalities than Rory or Sara after him. After the dinner was over, Primula asked Peri to take Frodo back to stay with Hildi. The first of Thrimidge was Primula’s and Drogo’s anniversary, and he was of a mind to indulge her whim for a romantic moonlight outing on the River.”

Primrose stopped for a moment and fumbled for a handkerchief; Pippin looked at her tears, and realized he had never before thought of this aunt as a young girl. She blew her nose.

“Anyway, no one really realized until the next morning that they had not come back, until someone reported to the Master that a capsized boat had washed up, and it was one of the Hall’s. No one has ever known just how it happened, although I can tell you for certain that it was *not* what some gossips have said.”

Pippin held his breath. He knew the gossip she meant. It still had the power to wound Frodo and infuriate Merry, even after all these years.

“It was late afternoon, when their bodies were found. Peri and I were at the waterside, we saw them raised from the River. Unfortunately, little Frodo, distraught because no one would tell him anything, had slipped out, and he, too, saw. It was a horrible sight, and I will never forget his screams if I live forever.” She stopped and blew her nose again.

Pippin shuddered. Frodo’s parents had always seemed like dim history to him, though Merry had never met them either, Merry seemed somehow to have known them anyway. He guessed that was because he had heard all the talk from an early age.

“Auntie Prim, I think his mother would have been very proud of him. Frodo’s the best hobbit in the Shire, you know. In fact, he’s the best hobbit anywhere--if you ever meet him, you could ask the King, and he’d tell you that.”

“He’s so sad, Peregrin. I could tell that when he was here. I hate to see Primula’s son so sad.”

“He went through a lot. But he’s always been sad, ever since I’ve known him. I guess I know a little more of why, now.”

His aunt smiled at him. “Thank you, Pippin, for listening to an old spinster’s ancient gossip. It wasn’t very cheerful sickbed conversation.”

“I’m glad we had it. Cheerful’s all very well, but we sometimes need to know the other side of life as well.”

“Oh, lad, how *did* you get so wise?”

“I think I had it squashed into me!” he laughed.

______________________________________________

His aunt was still there when Diamond came to examine Pippin.

“You are looking very tired, child,” she said.

“I am having to do it all, right now,” replied Diamond. “I know you have heard about the spotted fever outbreak?”

Primrose nodded, but Pippin perked his ears up.

“What’s that? I hadn’t heard.”

“There are several cases of spotted fever in the town, and Mistress Lavender is having to stay there to see to it, as she does not want to risk bringing the infection here.”

Pippin looked at her with concern. She did look tired. Her lovely eyes were shadowed, she was pale, and her curls were escaping from their confinement. He hoped that she did not have to work too hard with her mistress gone.

She checked him over thoroughly.

“You are doing quite well, Sir Peregrin.”

He gave a start to hear her calling him by his Outland title. He peered at her to see if she was being sarcastic. But her eyes twinkled a bit, and she was suppressing a smile.

“I’ve been hearing stories about you.”

“Oh.” Probably Estella. That was hopeful.

Just then there came a knock at the sitting room door, and one of the servants stuck her head in. “Miss Diamond? Mistress Appleblossom’s asked me to find you. Moss Heathertoes is all broke out in spots.”

____________________________________________

CHAPTER 18

Diamond followed the maidservant out into the passage, a flutter of alarm in her stomach. “Wait!” she said, “before I see Moss, I must speak to Mistress Took herself; if she is not available, then I must see Mr. Reggie or the Thain.”

The servant stopped and looked at her with wide eyes, and then giving a nod, led the way to a small study which Eglantine used as her office. Diamond knocked.

“Come in!”

She opened the door to see the Mistress of the Smials seated at a small writing desk. Her oldest daughter Pearl was in a nearby armchair, thumbing through correspondence.

“Good morning, Diamond, what can I do for you?” asked Eglantine coolly. She took in the healer’s tired and alarmed appearance, and knew she needed to present a calm front.

“Mistress Took, you are aware of the outbreak of spotted fever in town?”

Eglantine’s expression did not change, but she felt her heart plummet to her stomach. “Yes, I am, Diamond. I know that Mistress Lavender left you in charge here in her absence.”

“I have just received a report that one of your maidservants, Moss Heathertoes, has broken out in spots.”

Eglantine sat forward attentively, and Pearl gasped, putting down the letters in her hand.

Diamond continued. “I have not yet examined her, as I needed to speak to you first. If it is the contagion, I needed to let you know before I exposed myself. It may very well be something altogether harmless, but the timing of it is suspicious at the very least, and calls for some precautions.”

Eglantine nodded, noticing that the apprentice was gaining confidence as she spoke of things of which she knew.

“First of all, I myself have never had spotted fever, so that once I am exposed, it will be at the most seven days before I too, am stricken. If that is the case, there is no need for Mistress Lavender to stay away, if the infection has already been brought into the Smials. Secondly, we need to find out who has already had the fever, so that they may be of help.” Diamond paused for a moment.

“I also think that Mistress Pimpernel and Mistress Pervinca need to take their children away from here. While this is not that serious for older children, it can be very serious indeed for those under five, and most especially infants. They should not take them into town. We need to find out first, however, if they have already been exposed.”

Eglantine went pale. Outbreaks of spotted fever were common among children, and it was usually considered a good thing for them to take the disease young and get it over with. It was seldom fatal. But in the case of the very young, especially fauntlings and infants, it was far more likely to be serious and life-threatening.

“Actually, I think any children under the age of seven need to leave. They should go to the countryside, or to other towns. This is not the usual time of year for spotted fever, and so Mistress Lavender and I hope that this outbreak is confined to the Tuckborough area.”

Eglantine looked at her daughter. “Pearl?”

She got up immediately. “I’ll go talk to Pimmie and Vinca at once.” She gave Diamond a little pat on the back as she left.

Eglantine got up also. “I will come with you to see little Moss. I had it many years ago, so you needn’t worry about me.”

_______________________________________________

Diamond felt a bit frightened. She had known when she decided to become a healer, that it would sometimes mean that she would have to deliberately expose herself to possible illness, but this was the first time for her to actually have to do that for anything more serious than a cold. Spotted fever was a common childhood disease, and when caught by children from about seven years up through their teens, it was usually over and done with in a week, with no complications. But the older one got, the more likely there would be serious side effects to the disease: deafness, pneumonia, brain fever, weak heart--any of these could be the result if an older tween or adult caught the illness.

She put the fear aside, and ran through in her mind her mistress’s teachings on the subject.

______________________________________

Pippin watched worriedly as Diamond left. Poor lass! If they had an outbreak here in Smials, she’d have more work than she knew what to do with.

Primrose noticed his alarm, but did not realize the cause for it. “Don’t worry, Peregrin. You had the spotted fever years ago--you were, I think, nine?”

He nodded. “Yes. Merry and I had it together. He was a lot sicker than I was, for a change.”

“What’s that, Pip?” His cousin and Estella had entered the room just then, accompanied, to Pippin’s dismay, by Rosamunda.

“Spotted fever. They think one of the servants might have it.”

“Oh, dear!” said Estella’s mother.

Estella rolled her eyes. “Mother, we’ve nothing to worry about. I had it long ago, and I know that you did, too!”

“Yes, but Eglantine’s not going to have much time for guests with such a thing going on! Perhaps we should consider going home.”

“Mother, that is just silly. Perhaps,” she said with emphasis “we should consider offering Eglantine our help.” She smiled cunningly. “I’m sure she would be properly appreciative.”

Merry and Pippin were very carefully not looking at either of the females, but Primrose gave a snort. With the privileged tactlessness of the elderly, she snapped “Rosamunda, don‘t be ridiculous. We don’t even know for sure if it’s true yet. If it is, we will be able to use any hands we can to help. You might try thinking of someone other than yourself for a change.”

Rosamunda drew herself up, offended, but she dared not say anything. Primrose had all the authority of seniority in the family. “Very well. We will see whether it is spotted fever or not. If it is, I will offer Eglantine our help.”

She turned to her daughter. “Estella, since Cousin Primrose is here, I think that I shall go and lie down for a while.”

She left the sitting room abruptly.

Estella giggled. “That was priceless, Cousin Primrose!”

Primrose raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t be impertinent, Estella, she is your mother.”

Estella flushed.

Merry and Pippin looked at one another and let out the breaths they had been holding. They very carefully did *not* laugh.

____________________________________________

Mistress Appleblossom was waiting for them in the servant’s quarters. “I thought she just had a cold, Miss Diamond,” said the housekeeper. “I put her in a room to herself, and had planned to call you in today if she was no better, but today, she had the spots.”

Diamond nodded. “She began with a runny nose and coughing?”

“Aye, two or three days ago.”

“I shall need to examine her.”

Appleblossom led the way to the small single room that was set aside for the use of servants who needed to be isolated for one reason or another.

“I will need some light.” There were no windows, of course.

Appleblossom fetched a lantern, and the three of them entered the room. Diamond went over to the bed, where the tween was sleeping fitfully.

“Moss?” she said gently.

The little maidservant opened her eyes, and then closed them again quickly. Well, there was one indication. Spotted fever made the eyes extra sensitive to light.

“Open your mouth, Moss,” Diamond told her.

She obediently did so, and Diamond held up the lantern to peer within. There it was--the spots in the mouth, always the first to appear, angry and red with little bluish-white centers. Spotted fever.

_______________________________________________

CHAPTER 19

Paladin found Merry and Estella still in the sitting room with Pippin, keeping him company. Primrose had left some time ago, but Rosamunda had not returned.

The three were laughing and talking, remembering some scrapes that Merry and Pippin had been in with Estella’s brother.

“Hullo, Father,” said Pippin. “You’re looking a bit grim.”

“Well, it seems we have spotted fever in the Smials. Merry, if you’d like to send a message to your parents, Pimpernel, Pervinca, Tanto and the children are all leaving for Buckland in an hour.”

Pippin looked alarmed. “Leaving?”

“Yes, Miss Diamond seems to feel that the small children need to be away from here, and Tanto has never had it either.”

Merry stood up. “Thank you, Uncle Paladin. I’ll send them a quick message. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not at the moment. We will be needing every person who has already had it before we are through. I am having to send away at least twenty people, both family and servants, who have not yet had it, as well as anyone who has children under seven. So you can see we will soon be confoundedly short-handed.”

Merry quickly left to write a brief note to his parents in Buckland.

Estella said “Cousin Paladin, I had it when I was ten. I will be glad to help out any way I can. I think that I will go speak to Cousin Tina, and see what she might need.”

Paladin sat down next to Pippin. “There is something you ought to know.”

Pippin looked at his father inquiringly.

“Miss Diamond has never had the spotted fever. She has examined the little servant who has it, so she has been exposed. She thinks that she has between five and seven days before she herself is stricken.”

“Father!” Pippin grew pale. “How could she *do* that?”

“Peregrin, you more than anyone should know the answer to that. You take your duties as a soldier of the King seriously, and never question that you should risk yourself for others. In a way, Miss Diamond has the same kind of duty as a healer. The King is both a healer and a warrior--would he hesitate to expose himself in order to help a patient?”

“But Father, Diamond is but a young lass!”

“As to the ‘young’ part, she is older than you were, when you left because you thought your duty was to Frodo. And as to the ‘lass’ part, I think that you should know there is little truth to the notion that a lass is any less brave or capable than a lad.”

Pippin flushed. “It’s not the same,” he said lamely.

Paladin smiled at his son. “It is not the same only because you care about her and want to protect her. But if you try to protect her from doing what she sees as her duty, you will most assuredly be making a mistake.”

Pippin nodded. He understood what his father was telling him. He just didn’t like it.

__________________________________________

Merry handed Pimpernel the message to his parents. “Will you be passing through Hobbiton?”

“Yes, we had thought to impose on Frodo for the night.”

“Good. Here’s another message for him.”

Tanto was handing Pervinca into the carriage, and then passed little Largo up to him. Milo was helping Pimmie into her seat, and then he passed the twins to her. He handed up little Alyssum, and Merry helped Flora. The lass gave him a kiss on the nose. “T’ank you, Unca Mer,” she said gravely.

“You’re welcome, Flora-lass. Say ‘hullo’ to my Mum and Da for me.”

“I will. Bye-bye.” She scooted up, and he could hear her “Mummy, *I* want da window!”

He and Milo laughed, but Merry could see the worried expression on the Goodbody’s face.

He clapped him on the back. “They’ll be fine! And Mum will be thrilled to have all those lasses there at the Hall!”

___________________________________________

Lavender had just stolen a few moments to rest, after making the rounds of her little patients. All of them were doing as well as could be expected, and the only one she was truly worried about was little Robin Goodchild, who was just barely three, and that only because of his age. She was seeing no signs of new infections, which was hopeful.

“Mistress Lavender! Mistress Lavender! There’s a messenger for you from the Smials with a note for you!”

With an effort, she dragged herself to the door to take the message. It was from Diamond. A chill of alarm banished her sleepiness, as she opened it.

Dear Mistress Lavender,

I regret to tell you that our precautions were in vain, and we already have a case of spotted fever here at the Great Smials.

One of the maidservants, Moss Heathertoes, age twenty-one, was visiting her married sister in Tuckborough late last week. She now lies ill of the spotted fever. I have examined her, and she shows all the signs: cough, runny nose, fever, and the spots, which started in her mouth, and now cover most of her body. So far she is the only case, but she has been carrying the illness about for several days, so I anticipate more cases soon.

I have alerted the Thain and the Mistress, and we have taken the precaution of sending away all children under seven, and any adults who did not take the disease as a child, with the exception of three, who had already been exposed to the patient. Since they are likely to be already infected, I kept them here, so as not to spread the illness into the countryside.

Fortunately none of the very young children were exposed, and it will be well that they are being sent away. I believe the Thain’s daughters will be going all the way to Buckland.

Of course a major concern is that in order to care for the patient, I had to expose myself. This means a very high likelihood that I shall soon fall ill with it as well.”

Lavender bit off a choice word that was not at all ladylike. Just what she had *not* wanted to happen…

Our other patients seem to be faring well. Peregrin’s leg continues to heal at a more rapid than normal pace; Opal has begun to venture outside the apartments with her crutches; Tib, the undergardener, I have examined, and he is now fit to return to work, although I have told the head gardener not to allow him any heavy lifting by himself for at least another two weeks. Mistress Greenhand seems ready to deliver by the end of the week, and Mistress Brownlock appears to have another two weeks to go. If I am incapacitated, Mistress Appleblossom and Mistress Took have agreed to deliver the babes.

Since the infection is already here, I am wondering if you might be able to return now without fear.

Regards,

Your Apprentice,

Diamond North-took

With an exasperated sigh, Lavender refolded the letter. The lass had done the best she could under the circumstances. She turned to the messenger.

“Please wait a moment. I will send a reply.”

_________________________________________________

The Thain looked up from the letter that Diamond had brought to show him. “So she will return in two days if none of the children under her care take a turn for the worse?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you for letting me know. Please, sit down, Miss Diamond.” He gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk, and she sat down gingerly. She really had not much dealings with the Thain since coming here--it had mostly been her mistress.

“I just wanted to tell you that I have been most pleased with how you have handled yourself in Mistress Lavender’s absence. This outbreak was completely unanticipated, and you have dealt with it in a calm and competent manner.”

Diamond blushed. She had not expected such praise.

“I am also impressed with your bravery in allowing yourself to be exposed to an illness you have not had. It was well-done, lass, and shows that you care about your calling and your patients. I will be letting your mistress know this when she returns.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Oh, sir!”

Paladin cleared his throat. He’d not meant to make her cry. He handed her a handkerchief.

“Thank you. I am sorry; it’s just such a lovely thing to say. I didn’t really think about being brave.”

“Well, it was, lass. Most of the truly brave don’t really think about it at the time. Look at my son.”

She blushed fiery red. What was he getting at? But he was smiling at her.

“I know that you have many duties while your mistress is still away, but I do hope that you will find the time to get a bit of rest. You will likely be laid up sooner than you wish, if you do not.”

She realized this was a dismissal, and rose to her feet. “Thank you, Thain Paladin.”

“No, thank *you*, Miss Diamond.”

He smiled as he watched her leave. Pippin had set his eye on a good one. He hoped his son was eventually successful in his suit for her. She would be an asset to the family.

____________________________________________________

Rose came into the front room where Frodo and Sam were enjoying a last pipe.

“Everyone is set up in the guest rooms, Mr. Frodo.”

They had been surprised at the sudden influx of guests from the Great Smials, but had quickly risen to the occasion.

“Will you be going back to Tuckborough, Mr. Frodo?” she asked.

“Well, I would if I thought I’d be of any assistance, Rose, but in this case, definitely not.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve never had the spotted fever myself. I would simply end up being another burden on them.”

____________________________________________

When Diamond entered the sitting room, she was surprised to see Pippin alone. That was just not done, to leave a sick or injured hobbit alone. Her expression must have been eloquent, for Pippin said:

“Merry just had to step out for a few minutes; he’ll be back any time now. Come on in and sit down.”

Diamond hesitated. She did need to examine his leg, and she was tired.

And Merry should be back soon.

“I need to check you out,” she said, and took off her pendulum.

Pippin watched her dangle it over his leg. He had this done to him often enough that he could see a little of the more obvious things himself. He knew for example that the way it was swinging now showed he was in pain--which was true, he was.

“When did you last have any of the willow-bark tea?” she asked.

“At luncheon. I know it hurts; but I can put up with it. To be honest, I’d rather have the pain in my leg than the burning in my stomach.”

“There are other pain medicines, but I can’t make any changes without Mistress Lavender’s permission.”

“I’m fine. Have a seat.”

She sat down in the armchair next to the settee. It was not until she did so that she realized just how tired she was.

“Are there any more cases of the spotted fever yet?”

“There are a couple of people with the early symptoms--but those could just as easily be colds. I won’t know for certain for another day or two.” She sighed.

“And you are going to be coming down with it yourself,” he said gently. “Are you frightened?”

She looked at him, startled. She shouldn’t answer that. But the look of understanding he gave her cut through her defenses. “I am. I am frightened. But it was something I had to do.”

“Not much different from going into battle, then,” he smiled. “I know I was scared spitless every time.”

“Oh.” She thought of how fearless he appeared to be.

“But I think that I would be far more frightened to do what *you* did. In a battle, at least I could fight back. But just to let a sickness take me?” He shuddered. “You are a very brave lass.”

Just then the door opened and Merry returned. Diamond excused herself, and left.

Pippin watched her leave with open admiration on his face.

____________________________________________

I apologize for the shortness of this chapter.  I had some re-thinking to do over the direction it took, due to some suggestions made by Bodkin in a review...

CHAPTER 20

The next two days were hectic for Diamond: two adults and five children began to show the early signs of spotted fever. One of the adults she thought, was just getting a cold, as he claimed to have already had spotted fever, but she was isolating him just the same, in case he was wrong. By the end of the second day, four of the children were showing the spots in their mouths. All of them were between the ages of nine and fourteen, just about the perfect age to contract the illness and get it over with.

She had barely had the time to check on Opal and Pippin; thank goodness both were doing well. She hoped that she’d have no other patients or emergencies before her mistress came home.

It was with a great deal of satisfaction when she looked up from her solitary tea in the healer’s cottage to see Lavender coming in the front door.

“Welcome home, Mistress Lavender!” she said with heartfelt relief.

Lavender looked at her apprentice. The lass’s usual look of well-groomed professionalism was sadly awry. Her hair was escaping its confinement, there were dark circles under her eyes, which were also red and bloodshot, and she was pale. Her simple grey dress was badly wrinkled, as though it had been slept in.

“I’m glad to be back, Diamond. It looks as though you have not been getting much rest.”

Diamond shrugged. Of course, not getting rest during a crisis was the norm for a healer.

“After you finish eating, I suggest you retire early, and sleep late. I am back and can handle things on my own for a while. I do not want you to already be run down if you should take this illness.”

It was a measure of just how tired Diamond really was that she offered no arguments to this. She got up and put her dishes in the kitchen, and headed to her own small room. Lavender put away her traveling case, and went to fix her own tea. Afterwards, she would go to the Smials and speak to Mistress Took, and make rounds of the patients.

____________________________________________

Lavender was pleased with the progress Opal had made in her absence. The new crutches of proper size were making all the difference. She was pleased to tell her so.

“I think, Opal, that you soon may once more have the run of the Smials, if you keep up this progress! I am sure you will be ready for your apprenticeship when Mistress Poppy returns.”

Opal smiled proudly, and then turned to look at her father, who sat by during the examination.

“Father?”

Reggie cleared his throat. “Mistress Lavender, we know that Miss Diamond is likely to fall ill of the spotted fever soon. You will be busy having to care for everyone yourself. Miss Diamond has been a good friend to my daughters, especially Opal. All of us have had the spotted fever, and so we were wondering if it might help you to let her stay here with us while the fever runs it course with her. She has no closer kin here to watch her, and you will not be able to stay by her all the time.”

Lavender was touched and surprised by the offer. But she wondered if it might be too much for Reggie and his daughters.

Opal saw the doubt in the healer’s eyes. “Mistress Lavender, please, it would mean a great deal to me. Diamond is the first friend I’ve ever had. I know Amethyst and Garnet feel the same. And it would give me a bit of practice tending a sickroom.”

Lavender looked at her patient carefully. There was nothing but sincere confidence on Opal’s face. This was one lass for whom pain and tragedy had been a benefit. “Very well, Opal, if, as I expect, Diamond falls ill in the next few days, we will put her here with you to recover. I warn you though, that it may be more work than you have anticipated.”

“Thank you, Mistress Lavender.”

Reggie nodded. “I thank you as well. My family owes you healers a debt that goes beyond mere coin; I think you know what I mean.”

___________________________________________________________

Her next stop was to see Peregrin. Diamond’s report on his progress had been glowing, but Lavender was uncertain of her apprentice’s objectivity when it came to the son of the Thain. She found him ensconced on the settee in the family sitting room, his cousin Meriadoc keeping him company as usual.

She did not miss his anxiety when he did not see her apprentice with her.

“Mistress Lavender, is Diamond well? She’s not got the spotted fever yet, has she?” he asked before she could say anything else.

“No, Mr. Peregrin, she has not. But she was a bit overtired from all she had to do in my absence, so I sent her to bed early.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed now.

“Buck up, Pip. Mistress Lavender’s here to check on *you*,” said Merry in an amused tone of voice.

Lavender examined the leg, and then took out the pendulum. She was pleased to realize that Diamond had not exaggerated his recovery. “You are doing well, Mr. Peregrin. How is the pain?”

Pippin made a face. “It’s there. I can live with it.”

“Diamond tells me the willow-bark is upsetting your stomach?”

He nodded.

“That is not unusual for the doses you have been given. I do not care to use poppy; it is too strong for what you need right now, and can be habit forming as well.”

Pippin nodded. Aragorn had used poppy on him sparingly in the first days after the battle, but had very quickly switched him to something milder, lest he get addicted to it.

“I am going to give you a lighter dose, as I feel willow-bark is still the best pain relief I can give, but I will add some things to it, so that it will not be so acidic on your stomach. Do you like buttermilk?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Very well. I will tell them to give you buttermilk to drink with your meals, that should help.”

“Thank you.”

Lavender smiled. “And I think that if your progress continues as it has, you may be able to try out crutches as early as the end of the week.”

Merry gave an exclamation of joy, and Pippin rewarded her with a grin that lit up his whole face, and made her suddenly realize just what her apprentice was seeing in him. My word, she thought, he *is* a very attractive lad!

“Mind you,” she said “you will have to take it very slowly at first!’

“I understand.” But from the look on his face, she knew that once he was at all mobile there would be no keeping him down.

__________________________________________________

She found Eglantine in her small office.

“Mistress Lavender! I am so glad to see you back!” the Mistress of the Smials exclaimed.

“Well, I am glad to be back,” she said. “Has Diamond been satisfactory?”

“Oh, she has been more than that! The child has been very competent in this unexpected emergency. I know that the Thain feels the same way, and he plans to tell you so himself. We are both very impressed with your apprentice!” There was no mistaking the warmth of affection in Eglantine’s voice.

Lavender reported to her the offer that Reggie and his daughters had made, and Mistress Took nodded as though she had already known about it. She was thrilled at the news that Pippin’s progress was so good, though, like Lavender, she had her doubts about keeping him down once he got his crutches.

They talked briefly about the spotted fever, and then Lavender took her leave.

_________________________________________________

By the next day four more children were showing symptoms of the illness, though no more adults. One of the adults however, was having a very severe case; his fever running very high and he was showing signs of developing a lung infection.

The two healers were pre-occupied with him when word came that Mistress Greenhand had gone into labor.

It was a long day.

They finally got the patient’s fever down, and had left medicines to help him cough up the congestion in his lungs.

And after several hours, they delivered Mistress Greenhand of a large and healthy lad.

As they started back to the healer’s cottage for a well-deserved respite and a late tea, Diamond sneezed.

Lavender turned to her immediately. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m tired. I have a headache, and my eyes burn…” she stopped. “Has it come on then?”

“I am afraid so, my dear. We will go directly to Mr. Reggie’s apartment. They have made a room ready for you.”

_____________________________________________

CHAPTER 21

They gave Diamond a guest room in Reggie’s apartment. It was quite nice, though it had no window, being on the inner side of the Smials, but that was actually an advantage, as her eyes were already becoming sensitive to the light. She was already coughing and sneezing by the time she clambered in between the cool sheets. Opal came to sit with her.

“Opal,” she said “you don’t know how much I appreciate this.” Diamond had never been ill away from her family before. She was usually very healthy.

Opal took her friend’s hand. “I just knew I had to, Diamond. You are my first real friend; I never tried to be friends with anyone before, and after the accident, people were friendly to me out of pity, for it surely was not any liking for me.”

“I know that you say you used to be different, but I can’t imagine that you were so awful as you say.”

“No, I was worse. And so were Ammy and Garnet--we were spoiled and selfish and rude. I didn’t realize how bad we were until I saw how nice all the people I had been mean to were being. Has anyone ever told you just what happened with my accident?” Opal asked this last, quietly, and looking away from her friend.

“No, not really. I know that it was somehow the fault of the Banks brothers, who were banished for it, and that you were trampled by one of the Big Folks’ horses that they let loose. But I don’t really know any details.”

“I want to tell you; then you can decide if you will still be friends with me.” She moved her hand away, and looked down at her lap.

Diamond started to protest that of course she would still be her friend, but Opal stopped her with a gesture.

“I would not have been out that night when they let the horses loose if I had not been running away. And I was running away because I had been a thief and got caught.” She paused for a moment, and dashed a tear from her cheek.

“Do you know Samwise Gamgee’s wife? She used to be Rose Cotton?”

Diamond shook her head. “I have never met her, though I have heard her spoken highly of by several people.”

“Well, when she was here last spring before her wedding, she had a beautiful gold necklace that had been sent her by the King as a wedding gift. I was jealous of it, and I tried to steal it. I came away instead with only the empty box it came in, but I was caught. I was supposed to be locked in my room until they decided what to do with me, and I went out the window and ran away.” Her voice shook. “I don’t remember the accident at all, thank goodness.”

“Oh, Opal,” Diamond said sadly. “It must have been horrid.”

“So you see why no one wanted to be friends with me before; I’ll understand if you don’t want to either, now you know I’m a thief.”

“Of course you’re not!” said Diamond stoutly. “You are not the same person you were. I never knew that Opal, but I know *this* one, and you are not at all ’selfish, spoiled and rude’. Not since I’ve known you.”

Opal turned a smile on her. “Thank you, Diamond.” She reached a hand to her friend’s brow. “I think you have begun to run a fever.” Opal maneuvered herself up on her crutches and went to prepare the elderberry and comfrey tea that Mistress Lavender had left for that purpose.

_____________________________________________

Pippin was worried. Merry had brought him the news that Diamond had succumbed to the spotted fever and was going to be staying with Opal and her family during the illness. That wasn’t so bad--he had envisioned her left all alone in the healer’s cottage while her mistress had to go out and tend her other patients. But he had hoped she might not take the illness at all, or perhaps take only a light form of it.

He could tell from Merry’s grave face that was not so.

“How bad off is she, Merry?” he asked. “Don’t try to hide it from me.”

Merry shook his head. At one time, he might have tried to protect Pippin from the bad news, but he had learned better. Pip would only fret more if he were not given the truth.

“Her fever’s been very high; in the last few days they’ve been having to give her cool baths to bring it down. And Mistress Lavender is afraid the fever is going to settle in her lungs.”

Pippin went pale: as a child he’d suffered from weak lungs. He remembered only too well how every cold seemed to settle in his chest; how he struggled to suppress the urge to cough because coughing was so painful it made his stomach hurt and his ribs ache; how the healers would beat him to make him cough up the phlegm; how every breath was a wheezing gasp for air.

The Ent-draughts had changed all that for him. The healers told him his lungs were as sound as anyone’s now. But he would never forget what it had been like.

“Have you seen her, Merry?” Pippin asked somberly.

“No, but Estella has.” Merry pursed his lips in thought, trying to decide how much to tell. “She said that Diamond is very sick indeed.”

Just then, Pippin’s parents came in to the sitting room, and they dropped the conversation. But Merry knew that it wasn’t over yet.

Eglantine told the lads that Lavender thought the spotted fever had run its course in the Smials. “We had a total of three adults and ten children take it, but there have been no more new cases in a couple of days.”

“That’s good,” said Pippin absently. He was still thinking about Diamond, and wondering just how sick she was going to be.

__________________________________________________

Amethyst wrung out the cloth in cool water, and replaced it on Diamond’s feverish brow. She looked over at Opal. “She is almost completely covered in the spots--she looks almost as though she’s been sunburned.”

“I know,” said Opal, “I hope this solution that Mistress Lavender gave us will help.”

Diamond was moving restlessly in her sleep, trying to throw off the light covers. “Don’t let her throw off the blankets,” Opal said, “or feverish as she is, she will take a chill.”

Amethyst nodded, and turned her attention to Diamond once more.

__________________________________________

“Easy does it, Pip,” said Merry, “the healer said to take it slowly.”

Pippin moved the crutches forward, and then carefully swung himself up a step. “I couldn’t possibly go any more slowly than this, Merry.” He winced, and then grinned, as he moved another step.

Merry shook his head. “You’ve come halfway across the room already. I think you need to turn around and go back. Rest a bit, then try it again in a little while.”

Pippin looked for a second as though he wanted to argue, then nodded. He turned awkwardly on the crutches. “Looks like I’m going to need to practice that some,” and headed back to the settee. He dropped down onto the cushions with a plop, pale and perspiring a bit. Merry went over and took the crutches, and gave him a cup of tea.

Pippin made a face. “Willow-bark?”

Merry nodded.

Pippin drank it.

____________________________________________

Diamond was listening to the pitch of the wheeze in her chest, a high raspy whine like the buzz of an insect. She felt a cough building, and tried to suppress it--it would hurt and the sound of the wheeze would change if she coughed. She felt hands drawing her forward, and then one hand began to rub her back and pat it--no! She couldn’t hold it any longer, and the cough burst forth painfully, and then again and again. She heard a voice saying “There now, that’s a good lass, let’s get it out of you, dear,” and she felt a handkerchief held to her mouth to receive what she had coughed up.

Another harsh bout of coughing, hard enough to make her see stars behind her closed eyelids. A cup of something warm, tangy, but sweet with honey, was held to her lips and she took a swallow. Then she was allowed to lay back down. There was a welcome minty smell, and she felt something cool and soothing being rubbed across her chest. The sound of her wheeze had changed again.

________________________________________________

Lavender let herself back into her cottage, and wearily dropped into the nearest chair. The outbreak in the Smials was nearly over. The only ones still suffering from the spotted fever were Diamond and one of the adults. All told there had been three adults, twelve children and one tweenager--Diamond--to fall ill. Diamond’s was the worst case by far, partly because she was older than was usual, and also because she had been so tired when it took her.

Her apprentice was actually over the spotted fever itself. It was the infection in her lungs that was worrisome now.

______________________________________________

Diamond had lost all sense of time, but somehow she thought it must be night. She had the dizzying sensation that her bed was floating in the air, and spinning around. Looking up near the ceiling she thought she saw a parade of figures moving around the perimeter of the room--creatures made of light, that seemed to vanish if she looked at them directly.

She coughed weakly, and then felt a movement next to the bed. Someone sitting there--there was always someone sitting there. A hand was placed on her brow, and her hair was smoothed back--it wasn’t her mama or Auntie Jewel; no, she was at Great Smials. That wasn’t Mistress Lavender’s hand either. It was a cool and calloused hand, but very gentle.

She opened her eyes, to see a pair of green eyes leaning close, a worried expression in them; there was a sharp nose and a bow of a mouth and a cleft chin.

“Hullo, Diamond,” said Pippin. “Are you with us again?”

CHAPTER 22

Light came briefly to her bleary eyes. “Pippin?” she whispered hoarsely, “How?” As she began to focus, her gaze fell on the crutches that leaned by the chair where he was sitting. “How…how long?” It was hard to get words out, her voice felt rusty and unused.

He smiled that sweet smile of his, and brushed her forehead gently. “A little over two weeks, dear.”

She gasped, not certain whether it was from the knowledge of how long she had been ill, or from his use of the endearment. Then she began to cough again. It was painful, and tears came to her eyes.

Pippin sat forward. “Mother!”

Eglantine got up from where she had been sitting at the other side of the room, carrying with her a cup containing a mixture that had been left by Lavender.

Pippin sat back out of the way, and Eglantine held the cup to her lips. “You are to drink as much of this as possible, my dear,” said Pippin’s mother.

Diamond recognized the taste, tangy and minty, laced with honey and vinegar, and smelling of herbs, it was a drink that not only eased a cough, but helped to replace the fluids that were lost during an illness due to fever and sweating. She must have been very ill indeed for Mistress Lavender to be using this on her.

She forced herself to drink the whole cup full. At first, she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep it down, but she did, and in a few moments was feeling much clearer. She drew a deep breath, and did not feel the urge to cough. The coughing wasn’t over, she knew, but it was no longer the deep and wracking cough she remembered. The pain of her cough now was left from her earlier trials, which had left her sides and stomach sore.

“Thank you, Mistress Took,” she said, blushing. It felt strange to have herself tended by the Mistress of the Great Smials.

“You’re welcome, Diamond, my dear.” Eglantine stood and went to the door of the room, and called out “Garnet?”

Diamond looked at Pippin, who was frankly staring at her with pleasure. “I must look a sight,” she said, more to say something than anything else.

“A sight for sore eyes,” he said. “It’s good to see you feeling better. I was horribly worried.”

“Were you?”

He nodded. “I’m glad I got my crutches, so I could come and look in on you. I don’t think your mistress was well-pleased.”

“Pippin, I--”

“Shush, now, lass. You don’t have to say anything now. There’ll be time enough for talking later. I’ll tell you a secret:” he leaned close to her ear, “I *can* be patient when I have to, whether anyone believes it or not.”

His voice was furrily pleasant in her ear, and sent a chill of a wholly agreeable kind coursing through her. She blushed again.

Eglantine chose that instant to return, with Opal’s sister Garnet.

“Oh, Diamond! It’s so good to see you awake! I’m going to tell Mistress Lavender. She wanted to know, you see, as soon as you were.” Garnet bent over, and gave Diamond a little peck on the cheek, and hurried out.

Diamond lay back on her pillow, feeling tired out. She meant to stay awake until her mistress came, but she soon drifted off.

______________________________________________________

Garnet made her way to the healer’s cottage, and knocked briskly on the door. It was opened in only a few minutes by Lavender, looking as though she had been awakened, but still, fully dressed.

“Mistress Lavender, I know that you wanted to be told as soon as Diamond awakened.”

Lavender nodded. “Let me get my satchel. Who is with her?”

“Cousin Tina and Pippin,” said Garnet.

The healer sighed. She had begun to realize she was fighting a losing battle. The Thain’s son was completely enamored of her apprentice, and with his whole family apparently approving the match, she had no chance to stand against it. And if she were certain it would truly make Diamond happy, she’d gladly withdraw any opposition. But Diamond, she knew, had a healer’s heart. How could the lass be happy if she gave up her life’s ambition now? True, *she herself* was married and practiced her profession. But Polo was a remarkably understanding spouse, and being wife of the Bunce was not nearly as demanding a role as being the wife of the future Took and Thain of all the Shire. She could not imagine Diamond, for example, being able to drop everything to go elsewhere than her home to work the way she had, for a whole year.

And then, of course, there was the whole ethic involved. Peregrin *was* after all, a patient, even if he were the one who initiated things. Grabbing her medical satchel from the hook by the door, she sighed, and followed Garnet to the Smials.

______________________________________________

Merry and Estella were in the Took family sitting room, on the settee usually occupied by Pippin. Paladin had engaged Rosamunda in conversation across the room, and Pearl was occupied with some embroidery in the armchair by the fire. It was as much privacy as they were likely to get for a while.

“Well, Merry? Have you thought any more about what I have asked you?” said Estella seriously.

He sighed, and leaned forward, his hands clasped, his arms leaning on his knees. “I suppose that I am as ready as I will ever be to talk about this to you. I wish that you would re-consider--” he looked at her face, “no, I thought not. You are very stubborn, Miss Bolger.”

“I’m half Took.”

“So am I for all the good it does me,” he said with a rueful chuckle. “This is not something we can talk about right now, though, and--” he stopped. “I can’t really tell all of it to you by myself.” He glanced at her, and she was surprised to see tears standing in his eyes. “Would you mind, terribly, if Pip helped me talk to you? I know it makes me sound a coward, but--some of it, I’m not sure I can get out by myself.” He remembered telling his father, and how drained he had felt afterward; he had thought then that he would never have to recount the full tale again. He was not sure he could.

Estella glanced over to where her mother stood. She was ever so grateful to the Thain for absorbing Rosamunda’s attention. She placed her hand on Merry’s, and bent close to him. “Merry, the last thing you are is a coward. And if having Pippin with you will help you to talk to me, then I don’t mind.” Actually, she did, just a bit, but not enough to matter.

He nodded gratefully. “Give me a day or so to talk to him, and then we will try to arrange a time when we won’t be interrupted.” And he too, gave a brief glance at his future mother-in-law.

__________________________________________________________

Diamond dozed only lightly, and she opened her eyes immediately at the sound of Mistress Lavender’ s voice in the doorway. She turned to Pippin.

He gave her that smile again, and said, “I know you’ll want to talk to your mistress. I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

Pippin got up a bit awkwardly with his crutches. He was still somewhat wobbly on them, but doing well. He swung himself out of the room, Eglantine hovering at his elbow. His mother was not sure exactly what she would do if he should start to fall, as he was much too large for her to support him. He glanced down at her.

“Mother, I don’t think you should try to cushion my fall,” he laughed, “for though I’m not quite so large as a troll, I’m afraid that I should squash you just the same.”

She looked up into his twinkling eyes, and grinned. It was so good to have him at home.

________________________________________________

Lavender walked over to the bed, and looked at her apprentice. Diamond was pale, her eyes bloodshot, with dark circles underneath. She had clearly lost weight during her illness, as well. The healer placed her hand on her brow--”You’re running a low fever again, Diamond.” She turned to the nearby dresser, and prepared some willow-bark tea, which she brought over.

Diamond scooted up in the bed and took the cup, making a slight face. She began to sip it. “I am sorry to have been so much trouble, Mistress Lavender,” she began.

“Nonsense, my dear. You will learn that healers are *not* immune to the illnesses they treat. You are going to fall ill from time to time. It is inevitable. However, you will never again fall ill from spotted fever. I know that you have had both kinds of pox, and the swelling sickness, so most of the illnesses of children are behind you. There are other sicknesses that are contagious, but many of them are uncommon, and you may never encounter them.”

Diamond nodded.

“You do still hope to become a healer, do you not?” Lavender asked.

“Of course I do!” Diamond was shocked at the question. “Just because I was sick, you think I might back out?”

“No, not just because you have been sick. There is a question between us that we have both been avoiding. Do you return Peregrin Took’s regard?”

Diamond blushed. Then she looked Lavender in the eye defiantly. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“I see.”

“Mistress, tell me, *why* is it that healers do not get involved with their patients? Many times you can’t help but feel affection for someone!”

“It’s true that you may often find yourself feeling an attachment to a patient, of friendship, or sometimes with children you may feel almost as a parent to them--and while these kinds of involvement are still unwise, it cannot be helped if you have any kind of heart at all. When you care too much about a patient it can sometimes affect your judgement of his or her treatment. It is why a wise healer will ask a colleague to treat family for anything but the mildest of ailments.”

Diamond nodded. She had worked that much out for herself. But it still was not what she wanted to know.

Lavender continued. “A romantic attachment, my dear is different. It is not unknown for a patient to mistake gratitude for love; the healer who takes advantage of that is unethical. A healer with no scruples can even induce a patient to fall in love, especially one of wealth or standing.”

“But what happens if they are truly in love?” she asked. The part about wealth and standing stung. She did not care about Pippin’s wealth or standing, but she was sure there were others who would think she did.

“It’s a prickly question, Diamond.” Lavender’s voice was sad. She was sure she was about to lose this most promising lass.

“Well, I have no intention of giving up on being a healer, Mistress. Neither of us is of age, so we can’t do any formal courting anyway, not and remain respectable. And it will only be a couple of years after that when I finish my apprenticeship.”

“And you think you will be able to practice your profession as the wife of the Thain’s heir?” Lavender was both surprised and hopeful.

“I don’t see why not.” Diamond brought her chin up stubbornly.

Lavender smiled at her. “Well, you are certainly a Took already! Perhaps if anyone is stubborn enough to do that, you will be.”

Diamond sighed with relief. It would be good to have her mistress on her side again.

_____________________________________________________

CHAPTER 23

It was nearly time for elevenses when Merry finally found Pippin awake. He himself had been up in time for first breakfast, but Pippin, who had been watching over Diamond the night before, had slept in.

“Good morning, sleepyhead! Do you need help this morning?” He’d been helping Pippin get dressed for the day ever since his cousin had been allowed out of the bed.

“Let me see if I can manage with the crutches today, Mer. But stay just in case.”

Merry nodded and sat down in the bedside chair, watching Pippin move about somewhat awkwardly with the crutches. He did need just a bit of help in getting his injured leg into his trousers, but otherwise managed fine.

When Pippin finally finished dressing, he plopped back down on top of the bed clumsily, with a sigh. It was funny how something so simple as dressing could be such a job of work. And he was still a bit tired out from his vigil of the night before.

“Merry, Diamond’s on the mend, now!” he grinned.

Merry’s face lit up; he knew how worried Pippin had been. “Is she now? I’m relieved to hear it!” He stopped for a moment, and there was a slightly awkward silence.

Pippin cast him a sideways look. “All right Merry, out with it. What’s wrong?”

Merry sighed. “You know Estella’s been at me to tell her of the Quest.”

Pippin goggled. “Merry, you promised her days ago that you would tell her. You mean to say you haven’t done so yet? That’s not like you!”

“I’ve tried. She knows some of it. But she wants it *all*--especially the parts that I haven‘t wanted to tell. Pip, I’m not sure I can do that again, not by myself. It was hard enough to do it once for Da. I try to plan it out in my mind, and when I get to certain parts--I just don’t think I can get them out again.” He looked up at Pippin hopefully. “I was hoping you could help.”

Pippin nodded. He remembered telling his family as well. It had very nearly made him sick, having to relive certain parts of it. “I know.” He stopped to think. “Merry, are you sure Estella is all right with me being there? I’d think she’d want it to be just the two of you.”

“She didn’t object.” He looked at Pippin. “Please.”

The pleading look on his face nearly broke Pippin’s heart. He begged and wheedled Merry all the time. It was nearly a game with them, and had been all their lives. But Merry should not ever have to beg him--it wasn’t right, it wasn‘t the way of things.

“Of course I will, Merry. In fact--” Pippin wondered. If he was to be courting Diamond, sooner or later, she’d be wanting the same of him. Might as well get it over with. And it might make it easier to get away from Rosamunda if it were the four of them. “--I think I have an idea. Can we do it in a day or two? And I will speak to Estella myself first.” He wanted to make sure she really would not object to what he had in mind.

Merry nodded, relieved. He had hated to ask this of Pippin, for he knew how hard it was for him as well. But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, with the both of them.

With Pippin managing his crutches, they slowly made their way to the small private dining room in the Thain’s family quarters, where a nice little elevenses was laid out: sandwiches, fruit and for a change from tea, some mulled cider. Eglantine and Pearl were there; it still seemed strange not to see Pimmie, Vinca and the little ones. They had yet to return from Buckland.

Pippin sat in his chair, still a bit clumsily, “Good morning, Mother.”

Merry gave her a peck on the cheek as he passed to his own seat, “Hullo, Aunt Tina.”

“Good morning, lads.” She put down the letter she had been reading. “The post has been; you have letters.”

There were two, one addressed to Merry from his mother, and one addressed to both Merry and Pippin, from Frodo.

Merry handed Pippin the letter from Frodo.

“My Dear Cousins,

I am hoping that by now the spotted fever has run its course at the Great Smials, and that none were too severely afflicted. Please tell Cousin Tina I would have come to offer my support if it had been wise, but that never having been affected myself, I thought it better to stay away.”

“That’s odd, Merry, I didn’t know that Frodo’d never had spotted fever!” said Pippin.

“Apparently, he had never caught it as a young lad.  And every outbreak we had there later was in the spring, when he would have been at Bag End. Just he and Bilbo living there, he’d not have much reason to be exposed.”

Pippin nodded. “And of course, later, the Ring…” his voice trailed off. Of course the Ring would have prevented his cousin from falling ill of any common ailment. He returned to the letter.

“It is probably as well that I did not do so. Rose is going through a time of not feeling very well, especially in the mornings, and Sam is being kept quite busy right now. For the Gaffer has finally been persuaded to move in with Tom and Marigold.

This means that Sam has been occupied with getting his father moved. In addition, he’s been busy helping several of the hobbits here get prepared for the winter. You know our Sam; he’s not happy if he’s not busy.

Will Whitfoot and a few other hobbits, including Chico Chubb and Polo Bunce, came to see me the other day and tried to persuade me to take up the Deputy Mayor job again. I think that Will feels a bit out of his depth with some of the new responsibilities involved now that the King has returned. But I am simply not up to the task any longer--I do not have the energy to deal with it.”

Merry made a little noise of distress, and Pippin sighed. It had to be pretty bad for Frodo to admit that much.

“I do have an idea, and I would like you to sound your parents out as to its advisability. I think that Sam would do quite well at the job of Deputy Mayor. I would be able to advise him, and he has the practicality and strength to handle the duties that are involved. Of course, there are still those who are foolish enough to think that a gardener should not be in such a position, and who could make things difficult for him if they wished.

Do you think that you could speak to your fathers about this? If I could assure Will that he had the backing of the Thain and the Master of Buckland, he might be persuaded to offer Sam the chance.

Certainly my most difficult task would be to persuade Sam to take on the job. But I think that I can get Rose’s support, and between the two of us, we can talk him into just about anything.”

Merry and Pippin chuckled at this, and Eglantine and Pearl laughed outright.

“What do you think, Mother?” Pippin asked.

“I think it’s a splendid idea. Sam would do very well at the job. And it would go a long way toward finishing what we started at the Ball.” For Frodo was determined to get Sam all the possible respect he could, and for a number of reasons, he had easily persuaded Eglantine to assist him in it. It helped that at the Ball, they had announced to all and sundry Sam’s high favor with the new King.*

Merry furrowed his brow. He loved Sam himself, and wished to see him garner respect as well, but he was puzzled at Frodo’s need to push this so quickly. Hobbits do better with slow change, and Frodo knew that. Why was Frodo in such a hurry on this? Something was not right with his cousin.

“In other Hobbiton news, once the Gaffer has moved from Number 3, Sam has persuaded his sister Daisy and her family to take over the hole, so there will still be some of his family nearby once his father has removed to Bywater. Of course, that is not so very far off, and Sam and Rose take supper there with the Cottons at least once a week, so they will be seeing plenty of him.

I think that the old hobbit was ready to make the change because the new Number 3, snug and well built as it is, just does not feel like the same home anymore.

Pippin, I trust you are doing well with your broken leg. I am sure that the two of you will be heading back to Crickhollow soon, and I hope that you will stop over at Bag End for a few days visit on your way.

I miss you both dreadfully.

Your loving cousin,

Frodo”

Pippin read the last few words out, and looked at Merry. He didn’t say anything, but the glance conveyed the question: “Is Frodo all right?”

And Merry’s perplexed eyes said: “I’m afraid not.”

And Eglantine read the silent exchange, and felt her own worry.

Merry took up the letter from his mother.

“Dear Merry,

Your father and I are quite well. We are enjoying having Pimmie and Vinca and the little ones here, and your father has taken a shine to young Tanto. The two of them have been enjoying one another’s company, and they have been taking little Largo on their various outings.

Doderic reports that your little house is holding up well, and he has hired a hobbit to prepare it for the winter, not knowing if you will be home in time to do so yourselves, and also knowing that Pippin might not yet be able to take on such tasks. Following your suggestion, he has removed Pybba, Hilde and Butter to the stables here at Brandy Hall. I am afraid they will be dreadfully spoiled by the time you get back. Pybba, especially, is a favorite among the stable lads, and they all argue over who gets to exercise him.

The last King’s messenger from Bree brought a letter from Berilac to your father. He sends his own greetings and Fredegar’s. They have reached Edoras and at the time of writing, were enjoying the hospitality of the King of Rohan, who also sent greetings to you. It was only a brief personal note. He said that he and Fredegar will be preparing a longer and more detailed report to send later.

I hope that the spotted fever has run its course, and that Pippin’s leg is getting better. Please give our love to Paladin and Tina.

I am looking forward to you lads coming home to Buckland soon. We will be making Yule preparations soon, and we miss you.

Love,

Mum”

“Well, that’s a nice letter.” Merry folded it back up and put it in his pocket. He’d be writing her back soon. He let Pippin keep the letter from Frodo.

“Pip, I’m going out to exercise Stybba and Sable. I’ll be back before luncheon.”

Pearl also took her leave.  She had some errands to run.

“Take your time, Merry. I need to talk to mother for a bit.”

Eglantine raised her eyebrow. What was her lad up to now?

_____________________________________________

* Chapter 40 of "A New Reckoning"

CHAPTER 24

Lavender was pleased with Diamond’s progress.

“Another three days a-bed here, and then I believe you may get up and about some. But I want to wait at least a week before you return to the cottage. And you will take up your studies again *slowly*”

Diamond opened her mouth to argue, but Lavender stopped her with a gesture. “Think, lass. If you were your own patient, what would you be advising?”

Diamond gave her mentor a wry smile. “I see what you mean, Mistress. I will try to be patient as a patient. I think I am realizing now why we use that word. But it’s hard. I don’t want to lose the time.”

Lavender gave a little snort. “Don’t you realize that you can neither lose nor gain time? There are seven days in a week and six meals in a day, no matter what you yourself do or not do. We all have the same amount of time: the moment in which we now live.” She patted her apprentice’s hand and stood up. “I have other duties now. Get some rest, lass.”

As she left the room, Opal passed her coming in. Lavender murmured “She’s getting a bit bored, Opal. Watch out for her.”

Opal laughed. Tooks made notoriously difficult patients. Poor Lavender.

_____________________________________________

That afternoon, at tea with Merry and the Tooks, Estella steeled herself. “Mother--Merry, Pippin and I thought we would sit with Diamond for a while tomorrow.”

Rosamunda made a little bit of a face. She had hoped to go into

Tuckborough the next day. Pearl had finally agreed to introduce her to the coveted dressmaker. She really did not want to spend hours sitting with a sick apprentice. But if Pearl was in town, and both Pippin’s other sisters were still in Buckland, she’d not have much choice; one underage young couple was no chaperone for another couple that was of age.

Just before Rosamunda could answer, Eglantine leaned forward. “That’s perfect, then. You can come into Tuckborough with Pearl and me. We plan to visit her dressmaker, and then meet Dee--” ( this was her good friend and cousin Dianthus Goodbody) “--for elevenses. And we thought afterwards to make the rounds of some of the shops. I heard that Brownlock’s just got in a shipment of silk ribbons.”

Rosamunda wavered. “Well--”

Eglantine gave a little patronizing chuckle. “My dear Rosamunda, are you worried about the *proprieties*?” She gave a slightly amused and ironic inflection to the last word. “Reggie’s daughters will be in the apartment, after all! And what mischief could they possibly get up to with Diamond still so ill, and Pippin’s leg in a splint?”

Estella’s mother subsided. She did very much want to meet Pearl’s wonderful dressmaker. And a new shipment of silk ribbon! The truth was she did trust Merry and Estella--Merry actually the more so, as she knew how seriously he seemed to take his knightly honor. It was just the look of things--gossip needed very little fuel. But if Reggie’s daughters were at the apartment, then that should satisfy appearances.

She smiled at Estella. “Very well, dear. It is kind of you to offer to sit with the sick.”

Estella smiled back, seriously relieved. “Thank you, Mother.”

Merry, who had very carefully kept his mouth shut, suppressed the urge to yell “Yes!” Pippin winked at him across the table, and then turned to give his own mother a grateful smile.

___________________________________________________

The next morning, Amethyst showed Merry, Estella and Pippin to Diamond’s room, and went out, leaving the door halfway open. That should satisfy the appearance of things.

“I’ll bring you some elevenses in a while,” she said, and took herself back into the sitting room, where she had some stitchery to work on. From there, she could just hear the murmur of voices, but not what was being said.

Pippin sat down in the armchair next to the bed; Merry had drawn up a small side chair; Estella sat on the bed, beside Diamond.

Merry was pale, and Pippin could tell he was apprehensive. Pippin felt more than a little nervous himself. Talking about these things except among themselves was never easy.

Estella and Diamond looked alert and attentive. Diamond had a brief coughing spell, and Pippin handed her a cup of water.

“Are you sure you are up to this, Diamond-lass?” he asked worriedly.

Diamond shook her head. “I am fine. You lads are not going to use me for an excuse to get out of this.” She had been very surprised, but gratified, the day before when Estella had come to tell her of their plans. She had to admit to herself that her curiosity was fully aroused.

Pippin nodded and looked at Merry, who took a deep breath. Pippin reached over and gave his cousin’s hand a squeeze. Merry looked at him gratefully, and sighed.

“I’m going to start at what was really the very beginning for me. Even you have never heard all of this, Pip.” Merry leaned back and began his tale.

_______________________________________________________

“It was the during the spring, the year before the Party. I was eighteen and you were ten, Pip. It was only the second year your parents had allowed you to come stay at Bag End while I was there, and they wouldn’t let you stay for the whole time, but only for a month.”

“I remember that visit. That was the year the Dwarves came.”

Merry nodded, and took up the narrative once more.

“They had just taken you back to Whitwell the day before. Bilbo had gone into Hobbiton to run some errands, and Frodo was absorbed in some of his studies of Elvish. He was barely aware of my presence, and I soon grew bored. Truth be told, I missed you.

I took myself off for a ramble, and if it so happened that I found myself in the Cotton’s strawberry patch at Bywater, it’s not really relevant to the story. I was coming along the road when I saw Bilbo. I tried to decide whether to say anything to him or not when he slowed down, with a look of annoyance on his face. The Sackville-Baggins were coming in our direction. Bilbo stuck his hand in his pocket; then suddenly, he vanished! Well, I was that taken aback that I very nearly forgot to hide myself behind the hedge. I walked along, puzzling over what I had seen. I was looking right through the hedge when I saw Bilbo suddenly re-appear--even more startling to me than his vanishment. He stuck his hand in his pocket, and I saw a brief glint of gold, as he put something back there.

Well, after that, I frankly spied on old Bilbo. I am surprised that he didn’t feel my constant staring after him. I never caught him out with the Ring again, but I began to wonder about that Red Book he constantly wrote in but never offered to show anyone. This seemed strange to me, as he easily shared all his other writings and tales to any who showed an interest. But when I would ask him about the Red Book, he would shake his head and say ‘Nothing of interest to you in there, Merry-my-lad. Dry as dust and boring as well’.”

Merry stopped for a brief moment, and asked Pippin for a cup of water. He sipped it for a few seconds, and then began the account once more.

“Of course I didn’t believe that for a moment. Bilbo could make even those long strange stories of the ancient Elves interesting. I seldom got a chance to venture into his study unless it was occupied, however.

One day, though, just a few days before I was to come to Tookland to join you for the usual summer visit, I got my chance. Bilbo needed to go to the stationer’s, and he asked Frodo and me to come along. Frodo needed some things as well, but I told them it was too hot for the tramp, and begged leave to stay at the hole by myself. As soon as I saw throught the window that they had gone out the garden gate, I hied myself to the study, and opened the book, where it lay on Bilbo’s desk.

It was a written account of his Adventure with the Dwarves, including many stories we had heard before, such as his encounter with the Trolls. But there was a very different account of his riddle-game with the Gollum-creature than ever I had seen before. I finally learned what it was Bilbo had in his pocket--a ring, a little gold ring that could make one vanish!

This explained much of what had always puzzled me about Bilbo’s stories, for though I had never thought he was making them up, I still had wondered how an ordinary hobbit was able to do many of the things that he did without getting caught.

Well, of course I kept my mouth shut. It was not my secret, and I was quite chuffed enough to think that I knew something that no one else did. When Bilbo pulled his vanishing act at the Party, I was probably the only one besides Frodo and Gandalf who knew exactly what had happened.

You know, Pip, that I stayed at Bag End that night, to help Frodo out. He was so crushed by Bilbo’s leaving--and I was quite angry at the old fellow for deserting Frodo. I was supposed to be getting my guest room ready, and taking myself off to sleep, but I heard him talking to Gandalf, and overheard the fact that Bilbo had left the ring to Frodo.

After that, I did go to bed. But I did not get much sleep. I was frankly terrified that with that ring in his possession, Frodo would take off after Bilbo and I wouldn’t be able to follow. And though over the years, we had often talked about an Adventure of our own, I knew it would be many years before Frodo would think me old enough to go with him--I wasn’t even in my tweens yet.

For a few years there I kept as close an eye on Frodo as I possibly could. He did not, of course come to Buckland that fall, and I got permission to stay with him for several weeks, during the time he normally would have visited. The following year, he came, but only for a couple of weeks. At least he continued to spend Yule with us. I also began to pay him more visits during other times of the year besides the spring, and wrote to him more frequently. It’s a wonder he didn’t chafe at all my extra attention.”

“You know, Merry, I remember during that time. You often seemed distracted, and you didn’t pay me nearly the attention you usually did. I remember telling Uncle Sara once that I was worried about you, and he told me it was just because you were becoming a tween. But I always had the feeling it had something to do with Frodo. You stopped telling me stories about you and Frodo when you were a little lad, for one thing, and for another, when we visited, you hardly liked to let him out of your sight.”

Merry looked at Pippin in surprise. “I never knew you realized that! I always thought I was being rather subtle. But I should have known.”

“Gandalf was a frequent visitor as well during that early time, sometimes coming as often as twice a year, before his visits stopped for a long time. But as Frodo approached forty and showed no signs of haring off alone, I began to relax and think perhaps I had misjudged him. Do you remember how happy he was at his fortieth birthday?”

Pippin nodded. “I remember watching him dance, and thinking I had never seen him so relaxed and contented.”

“And then, on his forty-ninth birthday, I noticed once more that old sadness and fear on his face. It occurred to me that Bilbo must be getting very advanced in years, and that if Frodo still hoped to see him alive again, he would be off soon. And that in spite of all our talk about it when we were younger, he’d never really try to take me out of the Shire. I was no longer in a position to keep so close an eye on him. Having come of age, I had a lot of responsibilities myself. So I enlisted Sam’s help…”

Now that Merry had approached the actual beginning of the Quest, his voice began to falter.

Pippin took up the story for a few minutes, and told of how he had discovered the “conspiracy” Merry had started, to sneak off with Frodo. He explained about how Sam had discovered that Bilbo’s little magic trinket was really the Enemy’s One Ring.

This was something Estella had known already, from the few things Merry had let drop in the past. But for Diamond, this was new information, and her eyes grew wide--*the* Enemy? The Dark Lord of Mordor? She shuddered. This was *not* something Frodo and Samwise had revealed to the healers, and now she began to have some vague idea of why he had gone off on his own, with only Sam.

“I think for us cousins that was one of our worst times. We were all keeping secrets from one another, and that was something we were not used to.

I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I was finally able to tell Merry that I knew what was going on.” His own voice faltered for an instant, remembering how furious Merry had been at first.

Merry reached over and patted his hand. “I’m sorry now, Pip, that I grew angry with you. I had been so horribly worried about leaving you behind.”

Pippin gave Merry a little smile. “I know Merry. But it would never have happened. As Gandalf would say, we were ‘meant’ to go. And the way things turned out, he was right.”

Just then, there was a rap on the door, startling the four young hobbits, who had been so completely absorbed in the tale that was unfolding.

It was Amethyst and Garnet, with nicely laden trays for elevenses: fruit, cheese, fresh juice, and savory biscuits. Opal came in behind them.

“I’m sorry for the interruption, but Mistress Lavender wanted me to remind Diamond of her medicine." She indicated a small bottle on the nightstand.

There was a spoon next to it.

With a grimace, Diamond sat up and administered a spoonful to herself, though not without making a horrible face. Pippin gave her a sympathetic smile--he’d had his share of that very same awful tonic himself. It was one of the reasons he could not to this day stand the taste of brandy, as that was used to make the base for the medicine.

Surprised to realize they were hungry, the four young people tucked into the food.

__________________________________________________

The visit to the dressmaker had gone quite well, and Rosamunda had been only too pleased to have her measurements taken for two new frocks. Now they sat in the front room of the Goodbody’s lovely hole, and enjoyed a very nice elevenses. She had nearly forgotten how nice it was to spend a bit of time with ladies of her own age and standing. She loved Estella and was proud of her lovely daughter, but the child’s headstrong resistance to anything her mother wanted could be very wearing at times.

And she was quite looking forward to looking round the shops later.

The talk turned to Yule.

Eglantine said to Dianthus “You know dear, we will be leaving Reggie to preside over the Great Smials this year.”

“Why, no, Tina, I didn’t!” exclaimed her friend. “Do you mean to spend the holiday elsewhere?”

Rosamunda pricked her ears.

“That’s so. Last year Sara and Esme and everyone came to Tookland for Yule. So this year we are all going to Brandy Hall. It only seems fair, and it was very nice to have all the family together for Yule. After all, the lads will be returning to Crickhollow as soon as Pippin’s leg is able to manage the trip.”

Rosamunda drew in a breath. The Thain’s family would not be in residence for Yule? Now that was going to spoil her own plans. Unless, of course, they could wangle an invitation to Brandy Hall as well. She suppressed a shudder at the thought of Buckland. That was something she was going to have to get over if her daughter was eventually to be its Mistress.

_____________________________________________________

CHAPTER 25

Estella took the food tray back out, and gave it to Garnet, who was sitting with her sisters in the front room.

“Thank you, Estella. Do you need anything else right now?”

“No, that’s all right, we’re fine.”

“We’ll check back when it’s time for luncheon,” said Amethyst.

“Thanks.”

When she went back to the room, she could tell that Pippin and Merry had been discussing something while she was gone, and she gave a questioning glance to Diamond, who shook her head.

“We’ve got to do this right, Merry. That’s why you asked my help. No skipping things just because you think the lasses might find them unpleasant.”

Estella sat back down on the bed in her former place, and leaned forward. “Meriadoc Brandybuck. Look me in the eye, and tell me that you are backing out on this now.”

He glanced up at her. He was very pale. “No. I won’t break my word. But you can’t ask me to like the idea of inflicting my nightmares on you.”

“No, you don’t have to like it,” she said firmly. “Now, inflict away. You haven’t even left Bag End yet, and the day is half over.”

Merry flushed. Perhaps he had been taking his time on the preliminaries in order to avoid the main part of the tale.

“Well, once Frodo’s birthday was over, Fatty and I went on over to prepare Crickhollow. Of course, we knew Frodo wouldn’t be staying long, but we were unsure of just how long he *would* stay. I thought he might want to wait there a few days for Gandalf.” He sighed. “I guess Pip could tell you more about the trip there.”

So Pippin began, telling of his prank on the S.-B.s, and of how they had waited until dark to leave, walking through the night under the stars, and then the next day their first encounters with the Black Riders.

“We’d no idea of course, what they were at the time. If we had, I think we’d have been too frightened to move--”

The tale moved forward, and finally they told of their arrival at Crickhollow, and of telling Frodo what they knew.

Merry took up the story once more, explaining how they had convinced Frodo to let them come along, and how Estella’s brother had agreed to remain at the little house as a decoy. “You know, Freddy never gave himself enough credit for that, Estella. Your brother was a stout fellow in a pinch, and I don’t think he ever knew how grateful we were to him.”

Her eyes shone. “Oh, I think he knew. If he had not done that, I don’t believe he’d have been able to do any of the other things he did, even--even after Folco…” Tears welled up, remembering their other dear friend, and Diamond took her hand.

Merry and Pippin sighed. All they had done had not kept the Shire safe, not when they had left a traitor like Lotho behind.

Merry continued the story. They had made their way through the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs to Bree when Garnet knocked, and asked if they wished to have luncheon.

The four of them looked at one another. They were feeling very subdued, and none of them had much appetite.

Diamond shook her head. “I don’t think so, thank you, dear.”

The other lass nodded and went out. She felt troubled--the two young couples looked very serious.

Pippin told of what had happened at the Prancing Pony. “Merry went out and he encountered one of the Black Riders--” he glanced at Merry, a cue to take up his part of the story, but Merry refused to meet his eyes. So Pippin continued with the attack, and their departure with Strider.

Diamond interrupted. “That was when you met the King?” For she was familiar with the nickname the hobbits sometimes used for the King.

Pippin chuckled, and Merry glanced up, amusement briefly lighting his troubled face. “We’d not a clue he was the King. If it hadn’t been for Gandalf’s letter, well, we’d probably never thought he was anything more than a common vagabond.”

Merry and Pippin now began to alternate telling of the trudge from Bree to Weathertop--and then abruptly fell silent. They stared at one another, and their hands reached out automatically to clasp.

The silence stretched. Diamond and Estella looked at one another, puzzled. Diamond pursed her lips.

“Weathertop?” She sat up. “You told Mistress Lavender and me about that already, Pippin. The night Merry had the nightmare--” That, she thought was a mild word for what happened. “--and you had to explain it.”

Pippin nodded, and Merry looked at him, not really remembering very well.

Diamond turned to Estella. “It seems that in this place called Weathertop, those Black Riders caught up with them, and stabbed Frodo, nearly killing him.”

Estella’s eyes grew wide, and she reached over and took their joined hands in her own. She looked at Merry. “Oh, no.”

Diamond’s intervention seemed to have broken their silence and Pippin and Merry once more began to talk, telling of the desperate flight to the fords, and their arrival in Rivendell, not sure if Frodo was yet alive.

Once again, they rather faltered, then both started to speak at once, and then fell silent again. Finally, Merry whispered, “It was pretty dreadful for a few days. They knew a piece of that poisoned blade was working its way towards his heart, but they’d not yet been able to remove it. No one wanted to give us false hope, and no one wanted to really *tell* us anything, either. If it hadn’t been for Bilbo being there, I’m not sure we could have been able to endure the waiting.”

“Tell me about Lord Elrond,” Diamond said, when the two had once again fallen silent. “Frodo said that he is the greatest healer in Middle-earth, and that he trained up the King?”

Pippin smiled. Her mention of Frodo helped remind them that their cousin *had* survived that danger. “Lord Elrond? Bilbo told us in the tales that he was ‘kind as summer’. And he was, but he was also very stern as well. He is Half-Elven, not an Elf. When I found out that his father was Eärendil the star, I couldn’t look him in the face for days. I wish I could tell you more about his healing methods, but I am afraid I am woefully ignorant of that. When he cut into Frodo to remove the shard, we were not allowed to watch.”

Now they both began to take up the story once more. They told of the outcome of the Council, and of their own desperate fear that they would be sent home, away from Frodo--something they found nearly unbearable to consider, having come so close to losing him.

“I was fairly certain they’d be trying to send us home, and was working on plans for getting away and following Frodo, when Lord Elrond finally told us we’d be allowed to go. I think that Gandalf and Bilbo between them had finally convinced him we’d be of use after all. I was so relieved, as I’d no idea how we’d have fared on our own trying to follow.”

“After that, we started to get to know the others of our Company; especially Boromir--he started giving us lessons on using our swords.”

“Do you remember--” Pippin asked with a smile, and for a time the story grew lighter and almost pleasant, as they spoke of the days in Rivendell and of the early part of their journey through Hollin.

“And then there was Caradhras.” Merry shuddered. “There is cold, and there is Caradhras-cold. I hope never in my life to be that cold again.”

“Boromir saved our lives on the mountain,” put in Pippin. “If he had not thought to bring firewood--” He shook his head. “Not that Gandalf did not worry about us, but I don’t think he really understood how cold we were. Wizards are not Elves, but they are not Men or hobbits, either.”

And now they once more began to falter, but stumbling, sometimes whispering, the two continued the tale until the fall of Gandalf in Moria. Pippin was weeping openly at the horror of the memory, and Merry reached over and embraced him. Estella and Diamond were weeping as well.

The little room was silent, and so they all jumped when there came a voice at the half-open door.

Opal stood there, on her crutches. She cleared her throat nervously, as the scene in front of her was so disturbing. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it is almost teatime, and Cousin Tina sent word that they are back from town, and you are expected to tea with the family.”

Merry cleared his own throat. “Erm, thank you, Opal. We’ll be right along.”

When Opal had gone, Merry turned to Estella. “We’re not even half-way through, my love, and it only gets worse from here. Are you still certain you wish to hear the rest?”

The two lasses wiped their eyes and exchanged a glance. “We are,” Estella said firmly. “I just hope that we can get some more time.”

Pippin finished wiping his own eyes, and blew his nose. “I’ll see what can be done about that.”

_______________________________________________________

Merry and Pippin were silent as they reached Pippin’s room. Pippin was white, and Merry was pale as well.

Merry looked at his younger cousin in concern. “Sorry now I let you in for this, Pip.”

“It’s no harder for me than for you, cousin. It has to be done; those are two stubborn lasses, and if we want them to share our futures, then it looks as though we have no choice but to share our pasts.”

Merry nodded. “I think that we will make an early night of it. And a cup of the athelas tea before we go to bed might not go amiss.”

____________________________________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Quotations in italics are taken directly from The Return of the King.

________________________________________

CHAPTER 26

Surprisingly enough, Merry and Pippin slept soundly and well, with only pleasant dreams to find their slumbers. Perhaps it had been the athelas, they told one another, when they wakened the next morning.

Outside the window, an icy rain was pouring down, interspersed with sleet and flurries of snow. It was a rather miserable day, and completely typical of Blotmath.

“Do you think we will get to talk to the lasses again today?” asked Pippin.

Merry made a face. “That’s entirely up to whether Aunt Tina can keep Rosamunda out of the way or not.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure what I want. In a way I dread taking the story up again. It’s just going to get worse. But I have to admit, it’s a relief getting it out of the way.”

Pippin nodded. “I know what you mean. But I am proud of the way Diamond and Estella are taking it. Some lasses would have been in hysterics--either that, or called us liars.”

“They know we’re not lying. They’ve seen too much already for that.”

____________________________________________

Lavender came in briskly to check on her apprentice. “I had hoped to move you back to the cottage today, but not in this weather.” She glanced at Diamond’s face.

“You are a bit flushed.” She placed a hand on her brow. “You have a slight fever, as well. It’s just as well you stay here a-bed for another day or so.” The healer looked at her shrewdly. “You didn’t sleep well last night, either.” It was not a question.

“No, ma’am.” But Diamond offered no further explanation; she had no intention of sharing what she’d been told without Pippin’s and Merry’s permission.

“Well, it’s willow-bark and rest for a while yet, lass.” Lavender mixed up the bitter tea, and placed it by her apprentice’s bedside. “I’ve some other patients to see. I will check on you again this evening.”

______________________________________________

Rosamunda stood in the Tooks’ private dining room, staring out the window at the inclement weather. She had hoped they could go into Tuckborough again today, but that wasn’t going to be possible.

Eglantine gestured at the generous array on the sideboard. “Come, Rosamunda, help yourself to some second breakfast. There is no need to wait for the others. We’re very informal here of mornings.”

Rosamunda glanced at Estella, who was in conversation with Pearl. Her daughter had been very quiet and withdrawn since teatime yesterday. She hoped that there had not been a tiff with Meriadoc. The last time her daughter had quarreled with her beau, she had moped about for days, making everyone miserable.

But no, Merry entered the room with Pippin in tow, and his face lit up to see Estella, who returned his regard with a smile.

Merry saw Pippin seated, and put the crutches out of the way, and went to get his cousin a plate. “Do you want sausages, ham or bacon, Pip?”

“Yes,” replied Pippin. “Mother,” he addressed Eglantine “we thought we’d go visit with Diamond again today, if that’s all right with you.”

Rosamunda frowned.

“I do not see any problem with that, Pippin,” said his mother, before Estella’s mother could say anything.

Pearl looked up. “Rosamunda, I was thinking of asking you and Mother to come to my apartment today. We could look at those fabric swatches and the sketches from my dressmaker if you like.”

Rosamunda began to get the feeling she was being maneuvered, but the idea of spending the day planning a splendid wardrobe quite made up for it. And, after all, what was the harm? It was clear that even though they were far too young for it, the Tooks were determined to promote Pippin’s courtship of the healer’s apprentice, and when Merry wed Estella, Pippin would be just as close as a brother-in-law. It would be as well if Estella got on with his future wife also. With good grace she gave in. “That sounds like a lovely idea, Pearl,” she said.

_______________________________________________

Opal showed them into Diamond’s room. Pippin much admired how well his cousin was getting around on *her* crutches. But for him this was temporary. Opal would be on hers for the rest of her life. He shook his head. He hoped he’d never find reason to be as good with his crutches.

Estella went over and gave Diamond a little kiss on her brow as a greeting, before she sat down once more on the side of the bed.

Merry and Pippin looked at one another sheepishly. It was hard to get started. With a sigh, Merry took up the tale, beginning in Lothlórien. Between the two of them, they tried to describe the Lady Galadriel, and then finally gave up, as they did not feel they were doing her justice.

“She could see right through you,” Pippin finally said. “And it was very uncomfortable at first. But when we left, it was as though she *knew* us, like a mother would. Oh, that’s all moonbeams, anyway…” He shrugged.

“The Lady Galadriel--she’s the one who gave you those lovely cloaks and brooches, isn’t she?” put in Estella, remembering something Merry had once told her.

“That’s right.” Merry fell silent for a second, and Pippin looked at him wondering if he should speak, when Merry took up the tale again.

“The Elves gave us boats, so we wouldn’t have to decide right away where our path led…”

Merry continued the story as far as Parth Galen, with Pippin occasionally interrupting and adding things. Then suddenly they both fell silent, and they reached for one another’s hands, gripping tightly. In a voice little more than a whisper, Merry told of the breaking of the Fellowship, and of Boromir’s sacrifice, and their capture by the Uruk-hai. Once more there was a silence, as tears silently ran down their faces. The lasses were weeping, too, remembering the valiant Man, and how he had tried to protect the two hobbits.

After a moment, Pippin wiped his eyes with his other hand, but he kept his grip on Merry. He took a deep breath. “Merry was unconscious for most of this next part,” and he turned to glance at the scar on his cousin’s brow. “So this is what happened next…” he began to recount their captivity and their escape into Fangorn, skimping somewhat on the details. But Diamond noticed how he winced slightly speaking of the whips, and she and Estella both glanced down more than once at the scars on their wrists.

The day wore on, much as had the day before--with interruptions for meals at which they merely picked. By luncheon they had gone as far as the palantír and their separation. After a sparse and quiet meal, they returned to the story.

Merry and Pippin looked at one another. This was going to be more difficult--for now each had his own side of the story to tell.

Pippin gave a sharp, decisive nod. “Right. Well. I guess I’ll go first…”

As Pippin, in a low voice began to recount his time in Minas Tirith, Merry watched his face, and suddenly realized this was the first time he had really heard the story told properly and in order. Of course they had told one another everything, but it had been all jumbled up, as they switched back and forth and skipped around, telling whatever had just popped into their heads at the time. The same thing had happened when they told Frodo and Sam, and heard their stories.

As Pippin spoke now of the dreadful siege, and of dealing with the madness of Denethor, certain things began to come together in Merry’s mind, and for the first time he realized just how very much “in the nick of time” his arrival among the Rohirrim had been. Only a few minutes longer could have been fatal for the City and those caught within--Pippin.

Oh, blessed Dernhelm, he thought, thank you, Éowyn, my sister. Now, when it was his turn to speak, he felt his voice stronger, and his courage the more for understanding.

And now, as Merry spoke of the Riders of Rohan, his face glowed with love and pride as he spoke of Théoden King, and of Éomer and of Éowyn. He actually laughed. “I can’t believe now that I didn’t realize Dernhelm was Éowyn. I am sure all the other Rohirrim in our éored knew, and were pretending they did not, just as they pretended *I* was not there.” He shook his head, amused at how clueless he had been.

It was Pippin’s turn now to listen, and to realize the same thing--that this was his first *real* hearing of Merry’s story himself. As Merry came to the battle of Pelennor, though, his voice began to falter again. Even to Pippin, Merry had only once directly spoken of the encounter with the Witch-king--instead speaking around it, and giving most of the credit to Éowyn. Pippin felt the hand in his growing cold, and he reached over with his other hand, and felt Merry’s arm. Merry turned to look at him with bleak eyes.

“Merry, can you do this?” Pippin asked softly.

“I think I have to. If I stop now, I will never be able to do it again,” he whispered.

Estella and Diamond were listening with wide tear-filled eyes. Estella was beginning to regret her insistence on hearing this. It was hurting Merry so much to speak of these things. She reached across to his other hand, and gave it a squeeze.

Merry looked at her almost as though he were just remembering she was there, and gave her a sweet smile. Then he took a deep breath, and for the first time fully described his encounter with the Captain of the Ringwraiths. In a tearful whisper he spoke:

“I was lost in dark terror and despair. I told myself: ‘King’s man! King’s man! You must stay by him. As a father you shall be to me, you said,’ But I could not make my will answer, my body was shaking; I could not open my eyes or look up. And then, then I heard Dernhelm’s voice, though it seemed strange and different.” And as he described Éowyn’s defiance of the Nazgûl, his voice grew stronger, seeming to draw on the remembered courage of his shield-sister, in the same way she had given him his courage on the battlefield. “I could not see him strike her down, alone and unaided, so beautiful and brave. As he stooped to smite her with his mace, I drew my sword. I remembered all that Boromir had taught us about striking at the feet and legs of our enemies, and I thrust it into the back of his knee, calling her name…” He stopped abruptly and looked at his cousin. “I do not really remember anything more, Pippin, until Aragorn woke me in the Houses of Healing.” And he began to weep.

Pippin took his cousin in an awkward embrace, and Diamond gave Estella’s hand a squeeze. All of them had tears on their faces.

_____________________________________________

At the half-open door, Pearl Took drew back, and looked at her cousin Amethyst. They had been about to knock, and tell the young couples that it was nearly teatime, when they had overheard the last part of Merry‘s story. Pearl put her hand on Amethyst’s arm, and gestured. They moved away from the door.

“I don’t think they will be up to tea with the family, Amethyst, and I don’t particularly like the idea of them coming under Rosamunda’s scrutiny right now.”

Amethyst nodded. She was a bit shaken by what she had heard. Few of the Tooks outside Pippin’s immediate family had heard very much of the story of their travels.

Pearl looked into the sitting room, where Reggie sat with his other two daughters. “Cousin Reggie, I’m taking it on myself to tell Mother and Father that you have invited the lads and Estella to stay to tea?”

Reggie nodded. “Certainly, Pearl. We’ll be glad to have them.”

Amethyst shook her head. “They may not feel up to actually joining us.”

“I understand,” her father said.

_______________________________________

Back in Diamond’s room, there was much patting of backs and blowing of noses. Finally, Diamond took a deep breath, sighed, and said “Estella, look in the front right-hand corner of my night-stand. You’ll see several little cloth bundles. Take out the one tied with a blue ribbon.”

Estella nodded and went to do as Diamond directed. “Here it is.”

The apprentice took it, smelled of it, and nodded. “Go see if you can use it to make a pot of tea. It’s mostly chamomile, with a bit of lemon balm and a very small amount of valerian--I think all of us could use a bit of soothing right now.”

“I think you’re right, Diamond.” And she went out, taking the small packet.

Merry and Pippin both looked a little embarrassed, but Diamond just said “I know it is not as good for you as the athelas, but I don’t have any of that available.”

The lads did not say anything, but both of them looked grateful. In just a few moments, Estella came back with a tea tray, laden not only with the teapot and cups, but with some sandwiches as well.

“Pearl had come by to let us know we will not be expected to tea with your family, Pippin,” she said.

“That’s good,” he said, “I’m not sure either of us is really fit for company right now.”

For a while, the young people were silent, as they made inroads on the teatray. They had not eaten very much, any of them, earlier in the day, and were surprised to discover that they were actually hungry. Finally, Estella took the emptied tray back out, and returned.

She sat down and looked at Diamond, and then turned to Merry and Pippin. “Are you up to doing this anymore today?” she asked.

Pippin pursed his lips, and looked at Merry’s set face. “I think we had better. For one thing, I don’t know that we would get a chance to finish tomorrow, and for another, I for one, want to get it over with.”

“I agree, Pip.” He looked at Estella and Diamond. “Do you really want to hear the rest of it?” In his mind he could see the battered bodies of his cousins and Sam as they lay in the healer’s tent in Cormallen. It did not present a pretty picture.

Both the lasses nodded firmly.

Pippin told of realizing that Merry was lost, and Gandalf sending him out to find his cousin. “I searched the City for ages, and was almost on the point of heading out to the battlefield when I finally came on you.” He fell silent for a second, and then said, “You looked awful. And I don’t think any evil thing we encountered till then--no, not even when I saw Him in the palantír--frightened me so much as when you looked at me with empty eyes and asked ‘Are you going to bury me?’ It broke my heart, it did.”

“I’m sorry, Pip.”

“None of that, cousin. I just wanted you to know. I was dreadfully worried.” They had nearly forgot the lasses were there. “Then Bergil came along, and went for Gandalf, and we got you to the Houses of Healing…”

On the story went, Aragorn’s use of athelas to heal Merry and the others suffering from the Black Shadow, the decision to make a feint of attacking the Black Gate, and Pippin marching out to an impossible battle in the desperate hope of providing a distraction for Frodo.

And the moment when he thought all was lost: seeing Frodo’s things in the hands of the Mouth of Sauron. “I can’t really tell you of the battle. All I could see were Orc legs, and then a troll falling on me. But just before all went dark, I saw the Eagles, and I realized that things might turn out all right, even though I’d not be there to see them.”

He said nothing more. Let Diamond and Estella think he could not remember what it was like to lie for hours under a stinking troll’s corpse.

It was Merry’s turn to give comfort now. And then he said, “I was convinced when I arrived that all three of you were going to die. You already looked dead, all of you, so white, and battered and broken, and Frodo and Sam so thin I could count their ribs. I would have given up, but Gandalf gave me hope. And then you began to stir, though they kept Frodo and Sam asleep for two weeks.”

There was silence, and Diamond timidly said, “I don’t understand how they could do that, sleep for two weeks with no food or water?”

Merry shook his head. “That’s not how it worked. Only Strider or Elrond’s sons had that trick of keeping them asleep. But they regularly trickled water, broth and medicine down their throats, and several times a day, attendants would come in and turn them, or move them a bit. Strider said they could get sore from lying in one position the whole time.”

Diamond nodded. That was true. Bed-sores were a constant problem for healers with bed-bound patients.

The two went on to tell what they knew of Frodo’s and Sam’s dark journey. Though when they spoke of Sammath Naur, all Merry said was, “Gollum caught up with them there and attacked them. He took the Ring and fell into the fire with it.” What they knew of Frodo’s claiming of the Ring they kept to themselves. No one who had not been a part of the Fellowship could have understood what the Ring had done to Frodo, or the burden it had laid on him, that yet was there.

“Oh, Frodo!” said Estella. She could remember him from her childhood, a joyful storyteller, and a dear friend of her brother’s. She had not understood until now just why his bright spirit seemed to have been so quenched, and it made her unbearably sad. She recalled something Angelica Baggins had confided to her, that Frodo would never wed nor father children; now she knew why. She reached over and took Merry’s hand. She knew her love well enough to realize that he would have made Frodo’s sorrows his own.

Diamond had never met Frodo until she had come to the Great Smials as Lavender’s apprentice, but what she heard now explained a great deal of the dark melancholy even her relatively untrained healer’s eye had seen in him. She flushed with embarrassment, thinking of the way Mistress Lavender had questioned him. How painful that must have been!

“Well,” said Pippin with a bit of forced cheer, “that’s all of the bad news. After that, really, we had quite a lovely time what with Aragorn’s coronation, and his wedding, and Faramir’s and Éowyn’s betrothal, and buying gifts. We were a bit homesick, truth be known, but I’m still glad we had that time. Although if we’d known what was going on here, we’d’ve hurried a bit more.”

Merry nodded at this. “You know what happened here in the Shire, so really that is all there is to tell.”

Estella leaned forward, to catch Merry’s gaze. “Thank you. I know that it was hard, dearest. But you can see can’t you, that it’s best I’ve been told. Now I’ll know what’s troubling you, and not imagine horrors.”

“No, now you know of the real ones,” he said ruefully.

“Ah, my love! But the real ones are vanquished, and I can be so proud that you helped to do that.” She laughed. “Why, when you have a bad dream, I can truthfully tell you there are no such things, because you slew them!”

Pippin gave a sharp bark of laughter at the amazed look on Merry’s face. “I daresay you never thought of it that way before, cousin, did you?"

________________________________________________

CHAPTER 27

Diamond gathered up her few items that had been in the guest room she had been occupying in Reggie’s quarters, and looked about to make sure that nothing remained.

“I’ll take that,” said Garnet. “You will have enough to do, carrying yourself.”

Lavender nodded her approval. She took the heavy cloak she had brought from the cottage, and wrapped it securely around her apprentice. “We are going to take this walk very slowly. I expect that you will need to sit down and rest several times along the way.” The healer shook her head, and mumbled something about “Tooks” under her breath.

“What was that, Mistress Lavender?” asked Garnet.

“This would be far easier on Diamond if we had a wheeled chair.”

Garnet stared at her in horror, as though she had sprouted a second head. “Oh dear me! No!”

Lavender sighed, and they headed out of the apartment.

By the time they got to the door, Diamond was feeling breathless and lightheaded. Was this how patients felt after weeks in bed? She’d have a lot more sympathy in the future.

But when they came into the main passageway, Merry and Estella were there, as well as Pippin‘s sister, Pearl.

“Miss Diamond,” said Merry, “I think that this walk might be a bit much for you.”

“I thought it might help if you would let Merry carry you?” asked Estella, almost apologetically.

Diamond’s eyes grew wide, and she was about to protest, but Lavender nodded approvingly. “That is an excellent idea, Mr. Meriadoc. You’re a strong and sturdy lad, I don’t think it would be too much for you.”

Since her mistress had already given permission, Diamond could scarcely object now. Merry swept her up in his strong arms like a mere child. Diamond flushed. He leaned his mouth near her ear and said “Pip’s really disappointed he could not do this for you. But he couldn’t figure out how to carry you *and* use his crutches.”

Estella walked close to Merry and her new friend, and Pearl walked along behind with the healer.

“Mother is wondering if she will be all right alone in the cottage when you have to be out seeing patients.”

“Diamond is recovered from her illness; she just has to regain her strength after being so long a-bed. Once we are back in the cottage, I will find light tasks for her, to help her build back up her endurance. She should be just fine.”

_________________________________________________

Pippin sat twitchily on the settee in the family sitting room, and gave his mother a reproachful look. “I don’t see why I could not have at least walked down there with them. I’m doing fine on my crutches.”

“Inside the smial,” Eglantine said calmly. “It’s cold and icy out there, and you’ve not been outside with them enough to try going such a long distance.”

“Oh, come now, Mother! It’s not *that* far! It‘s only the other side of the garden.”

“It’s far enough. I’m tired of this conversation, son. Play me a song.”

Pippin sighed, and picked his shepherd’s pipes up from his lap. He began to play, a soft and melancholy Elven air that Legolas had taught him. Soon the music soothed his nerves, and he started to play some other more lively tunes.

Eglantine smiled, and gave a sigh of relief.

__________________________________________

Rosamunda looked with relief at the letter in her hand. This was wonderful.

My dear Cousin Rosamunda,

I am hoping this letter finds you still at the Great Smials. Pimpernel and Pervinca have told me that you and Estella are visiting there. In case you have already left, I am sending another copy of this letter to your home at Brock Hall.

It is an open secret that we can expect the announcement of a betrothal between Meriadoc and Estella sometime next spring after Fredegar returns. It is my hope that we can get the families together, and begin to know one another better before that time comes to pass.

I would like to extend an invitation for your family to join ours here at Brandy Hall for Yule. A Yule in Buckland is a merry time, and the celebration could only be the warmer for your presence.

I understand that Odovocar has a certain aversion to crossing the River, as indeed did your son. Our healer can recommend a calmative elixir which would ease his passage across the Bridge.

I am quite certain that Meriadoc and Peregrin will have returned to Buckland and Crickhollow prior to that time, and that Meriadoc will be available to partner Estella at the dancing and to show her about Buckland.

Please, do say you will all come. Saradoc and I look forward to becoming better acquainted with you.

Fondly,

Your cousin,

Esmeralda Brandybuck

Well, she and Estella would have to head home soon, to prepare for this. But not before they had finished doing business with Pearl’s dressmaker. Still, a week more at the most. That would give them barely a month and a half to get ready.

____________________________________________

Merry, Estella and Pearl came bursting into the family sitting room, laughing, noses and cheeks rosy with the cold.

“Goodness!” exclaimed Pearl, walking over to the hearth with her hands extended, “it’s nice and warm in here!”

Merry flopped down next to his cousin, and put his hand to the back of Pippin’s neck.

“Oi! Get your cold hand off!” Pippin swatted at Merry, and they spent a few minutes in horseplay.

Estella giggled, Pearl rolled her eyes, and Eglantine watched indulgently for a few moments, until Pippin turned to try and pin Merry down. She was afraid he’d get carried away and hurt his leg again. “Enough of that, lads!”

They stopped immediately. “Sorry, Mother,” mumbled Pippin.

“Yes, Aunt Tina,” said Merry at the same instant. They looked at one another and grinned unrepentantly.

Pippin flopped his head back and sighed. Diamond was back in the healer’s cottage, and he wouldn’t be able to see her easily now. She wouldn’t even be coming to check on him with her mistress, as she would be confined to the cottage with light duty for several more days. And he was really getting tired of the Smials. Besides, as long as he stayed here, he’d still be considered one of her “patients”.

“Merry? When are we going home?” He hadn’t meant for the question to pop out like that in front of everybody, and he blushed, realizing just how that was going to sound to his mother.

Eglantine felt a bit of a pang, true, but she had known for a while that Pippin considered Crickhollow his true home.

There was a slightly awkward silence, and then Merry said “Well, that’s going to depend on what Mistress Lavender says, isn’t it?” He glanced over at Estella.

Now Pippin felt abashed. He’d hurt his mother’s feelings, and he realized that with Estella here, Merry was in no hurry to leave. He wanted to apologize, but not really--he was not sorry he wanted to go home, only that he had blurted it out like that. He was actually relieved when the door to the room opened and Rosamunda came in. He’d never thought to be glad to see Cousin Rosamunda before.

She greeted everyone and took a seat in an armchair next to Eglantine’s. “Meriadoc, I’ve had a letter from your mother.”

Merry raised an eyebrow. “A letter from Mum?”

She nodded. “Your mother has graciously invited us to spend Yule at Brandy Hall.”

Merry restrained himself from giving a joyous yell, and contented himself with grinning at Estella, who also wore a broad smile. She looked at her mother. “Are we going to accept the invitation, Mother?”

Rosamunda nodded. “Yes, I do believe that we will. I know that your father may balk a bit, although I am sure he will be persuaded. However we will need to go home no later than the end of this coming week if we are to get everything properly prepared.”

Well, thought Pippin, that solves *that* problem. Now if only the healer will cooperate.

Eglantine shook her head. Pippin’s thoughts were obvious.

_______________________________________________

That afternoon, Lavender came to check on his progress. In addition to feeling of his leg and using her pendulum, she asked him to walk about the room on his crutches.

“You are doing quite well with those,” she said as he came back to where he’d started at the settee. “I’d like to see you try just a few steps on your leg without them.”

His eyes grew wide with anticipation. He leaned the crutches against the settee, and put his weight on both his legs. He felt a pain, but not the kind of sharp, white pain that had shot through him only a few days earlier when he had jostled his leg. This was a duller pain, though insistent. He walked about five steps, before feeling a bit wobbly.

“That’s enough.” She handed the crutches back to him. “I think that you are almost well enough to begin doing without these some of the time. Start out tomorrow, I want you to take five steps morning and evening, and if you don’t wobble too much, then increase it to ten the next day.”

He sat down abruptly. “How soon can I go back to Buckland?”

“Who is your healer in Buckland?”

Merry, who had been watching with bated breath, lest Pippin stumble, spoke up “My cousin, Dodinas Brandybuck.”

Lavender looked at him and nodded. “Ah. I know Master Dodinas. Excellent healer.”

Merry felt gratified that she didn’t add--as so many did--”for a male”. The rest of the Shire put down the male healer to just one more oddity of the strange Bucklanders. But Cousin Dody really was a very good healer, and was one of the reasons he’d not found it so strange to be tended by Strider. It had taken Sam back a bit, though.

The healer looked at Pippin. “I think that if you start to work on doing without the crutches, you might be fit to travel in a few days. *But* you are not to travel pony-back. A waggon or carriage or coach. You *will* keep bundled up warmly, with a goodly supply of willow-bark on hand. I will give you a letter to Master Dodinas, describing your injury and your progress, and I expect that I will hear from him if you do not obey his direction. And if you intend to continue having my good opinion, you will not give him any trouble.”

Pippin caught the underlying meaning. If he wasn’t a good patient, she’d tell Diamond on him. He blushed. That was hardly fair. “I’ll mind Cousin Dody.”

Merry chuckled. “I will see that he does, Mistress Lavender, and so will my mother.”

“Very well.” She picked up her medical satchel, and left the room.

Pippin looked at Merry and bounced up and down where he sat. “We’re going home, Merry!”

Merry grinned. “It does look that way. But won’t you miss seeing Diamond?”

Pippin sobered up. “I will miss her--dreadfully. But if we stay here, I’m not going to be seeing much of her anyway. She’s cooped up in the healer’s cottage, and I’m cooped up here in the Smials. And once I’m better, I won’t be a patient anymore, and I can come back and start courting her *properly*!”

Merry laughed. “If you are talking about ‘proper‘--I think you’ve been around Sam too much--then you have to wait a few more years.”

Pippin took up a cushion and flung it at Merry’s head. Merry reached up and snagged it from the air before it hit him in the face.

“You know very well what I mean!”

“Yes, Pip, I do!”

__________________________________________________

CHAPTER 28

The Thain’s coach pulled up at Bucklebury Ferry. Merry jumped out. “You stay inside out of the wind, Pip. I’ll get the lads.” He went around to the back of the coach where Stybba and Sable were tethered by their leading reins. Giff, the driver, was already getting their gear down, as well as several boxes. They were coming home with a good deal more than they had left with.

Merry unfastened the leading reins, and then took a moment to slip Giff some extra coin.

“Here, now, Mr. Merry! There’s no need of that--the Thain’s pay is good enough for me!”

“I’m sure Uncle Paladin is generous enough. But you’ve been put to a deal of extra trouble with us. Consider it an early Yule gift, and use it on that darling little faunt of yours.”

“Well, thank you very much, Mr. Merry! Whatever folks may say of Brandybucks, stinginess is not one of them ! You take after your dad, you do!”

Merry grinned. “Thank you! That is a great compliment!” He was going to have to be generous indeed to live up to Saradoc’s reputation as “Scattergold”.

Pippin leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. The past week of getting ready to come back had been hectic.

The day before he left, he had persuaded Merry to escort him to the healer’s cottage. He had used his crutches, and Merry had carried with him a wooden stool, so that he could stop every so often and take a rest. Lavender had not been best pleased to see him at her door, and had only been a bit mollified when Merry held up the stool to show her that he’d not allowed her patient to walk the whole way down without rest. She’d muttered again about hard-headed Tooks and wheeled chairs.

Still she had allowed them in, and Diamond was in the front room, studying a medical book. She left the two of them there, and went into the kitchen with Merry, where Pippin could hear her scolding her cousin for allowing him to do this. He was going to owe Merry.

He sat down across from Diamond. “You know we are going back to Buckland tomorrow, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I know that you want to get home.”

He smiled, and was rewarded by a smile from her and a flash of dimples. “Once I leave here, I won’t be your patient anymore.” He grinned.

Her eyes widened at the implication.

“Oh yes.” he chuckled. “The next time I see you, there won’t be any complications between us.”

She laughed. “Except for our ages, and the fact that I am still an apprentice, and that we are going to be half the distance of the Shire apart.”

“Oh, that!” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “That’s nothing. We both get older every day, and you are learning more every day as well. And I can tell you from personal experience that ‘half the distance of the Shire’ is no distance at all to one who’s travelled the length of the Two Kingdoms.” He stopped and grinned.

Just then Merry passed through the room, and waved at them. “I’ll be back shortly,” he said, as he went back outside. Pippin had looked briefly puzzled, and then shrugged, and he and Diamond began to talk once more.

He was amusing her with the story of how he and Merry had one time slept the day away in the gardens at the Houses of Healing. “Apparently we had attracted a crowd. Can you imagine? All those Big Folk were standing around watching us sleep?” He shook his head in amusement. “When Frodo found out, he made the King send our audience away. I’m rather sorry he did. It would have been an interesting sight to wake up to!”

Diamond giggled. From what Pippin told her, Big Folk could sometimes be a strange lot.

Just then Merry returned, and handed Pippin his crutches. But Pippin carried them, and walked the ten steps to the door, with only a slight limp. Merry pointed, and Pippin stared. “You are joking, aren’t you, Merry? Where did you get that?”

“No, and from the potting shed. Sit yourself down. I am not going to have your healer tear another strip off my hide for letting you walk back, crutches or no.”

Pippin stared at the wheelbarrow in dismay, and Diamond giggled.

Lavender came up behind her apprentice and put her hands on her hips. “If you do not want me to withdraw my permission for your departure tomorrow and put you back to bed for two days, you will get in.” She gave a rather smug look. “If you Tooks were not so stubborn about wheeled chairs, you’d not have this problem.”

With a shudder, Pippin allowed Merry to help him sit in the wheelbarrow. It was rather awkward, and his cousin then put his crutches and the stool in his lap, before taking up the handles and pushing.

He could hear Diamond’s laughter following him halfway back to the Smials.

The ferry was on the opposite bank, but a sharp whistle from Merry on their arrival, and it had set forth in their direction. In addition to the ferry attendant, their cousin Doderic was aboard. He tied the ferry up, and they assisted Merry in boarding the ponies, and then helped Pippin aboard.

“Hullo, Doderic. How is everything up at the house?” asked Merry.

“Everything is just fine. I’ve been going over at least three times a week to check. And this morning Aunt Esme sent a couple of maidservants over to lay the fires and change the beds before you got here. There’s a pony-trap waiting on the other side to take Pip. Are you going up to the Hall, before you head there?”

Merry looked at Pippin, who had just a bit of a plea in his eyes. “No, Pip needs to get put. But once I get him settled, I’ll come up to say hello to Mum and Da. And I need to speak to Cousin Dody. I have a letter for him from Mistress Lavender.”

Doderic nodded. “Did Pimmie and Vinca and their families get back all right?”

“They did,” said Pippin. “in fact they all got back to the Great Smials yesterday. I can’t believe how much the twins grew in just a few short weeks!”

“Those are beautiful babes your sister has! And you’ve no idea how happy Uncle Sara and Aunt Esme are that they were named after Primula and Drogo--in fact, most of the older Brandybucks are beaming with pride, and saying that little Primula is going to be just as much a beauty as her namesake.” He chuckled. “Little Largo and his da were pretty popular as well, and went everywhere with Uncle Sara--in fact your brother-in-law was calling him ‘Uncle Sara’ too, before they left. And as for Alyssum, the lass is going to be spoiled completely rotten. Merry, I don’t think your mother ever had so much fun as she did making up little dresses for that lass. When you wed, you had better give her a granddaughter!”

Merry and Pippin rewarded Doderic with some of the gossip from the Great Smials, and news from Bag End, as well, and soon they had reached the other side of the Brandywine.

Merry and Doderic helped Pippin into the pony trap, and Merry attached the ponies’ leading reins to the back before clambering up into the driver’s seat.

Merry waved farewell to Doderic, and called “Tell Mum and Da I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

Soon they had turned into the lane to Crickhollow, and Merry pulled up as close to the door as he could. He hopped down and turned the key, throwing open the door. Turning he saw Pippin climbing down by himself.

“Pip!” he said sharply.

“I’m fine,” said his cousin, “and I’m walking back into my house on my own two feet, thank you.”

Merry gave an exasperated sigh, and watched hovering, as Pippin limped into the little house without his crutches. He flopped into the nearest chair with a sigh.

“Home at last.”

Merry grinned.

____________________________________________

Diamond thanked the servant who had brought their post down from the Smials. There were two for her, both from Pippin, and one for her mistress from her husband Polo Bunce.

Her mistress was in the little kitchen, preparing tea, and took her letter with a little smile. Diamond, smiling as well sat down to open hers. Pippin had warned her that he wrote short letters. “But” he had said “I’ll make up for it by sending lots.”

She opened the first one.

“Dear Diamond,

We’re staying in Pincup tonight. I hate riding in a coach.

I miss you. A lot.

Love,

Pippin”

She giggled, and opened the second one. At least she’d never have to worry about hiding these love letters. And yet, in spite of how little it said, there was something sweet about it.

“Dear Diamond,

We’re finally home. It’s really good to get back to Crickhollow. I’ve missed it.

But I’m already missing you more.

Love,

Pippin”

She blushed. She wouldn’t show these to her Mistress. But she would show them to Opal.

Lavender opened her letter with anticipation. This separation had been hard on her and her husband, even though they had agreed it was a wise thing to do for her profession.

“My dearest Lavender,

I miss you so much. Especially since I was unable to come visit you last month, due to that spotted fever outbreak.

I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I am going to come and visit over Yule. I know that we had not planned that, for we thought that the grandchildren should have at least one of us home for Yule, but our son and his wife have decided to spend the holiday with her family this year. I think that Rollo realized that I was missing you, and hoped to give me this opportunity.

I thought that I would arrive a few days before Yule and stay for at least a week. I can’t wait to see you again, and hold you in my arms once more, my love.

Yours always,

Polo”

Lavender blushed as well, and cast a glance at her apprentice. She was glad the lass was absorbed in her own letters.

_______________________________________________

Eglantine and Paladin were talking over their day before going to sleep. “It seems awfully quiet with Pippin gone again,” said Paladin.

“I know,” said his wife. “Dear, how do you think Mistress Lavender would take it, if we asked to steal her apprentice away at Yule?”

“I don’t know, Tina. She might not like the idea. But I don’t think she’d tell us ‘no’, either.”

“I’ll think on it.”

_______________________________________________

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The healer, Dodinas Brandybuck the Younger, is a tribute to Ariel’s wonderful story, “Fear”. Though he is not actually the same character, the name is used with her permission.

_______________________________________________

CHAPTER 29

Master Dodinas hung the pendulum back around his neck, and sat down in the chair next to his patient.

“Mistress Lavender said you had made remarkable progress. I am amazed myself. You are very nearly healed.”

Pippin grinned. “So that means--”

“That means you take it slow. Just because the break is mended does not mean you can automatically resume all of your other activities.” The healer got up and went to a nearby cabinet, and brought forth a walking stick. It was a silver headed cane, and the head was in the shape of a bird’s head. “This belonged to old Rory.” He handed it to Pippin. “I think that you can graduate to this from the crutches. You still need to be cautious. I know that is the same leg as your bad knee. You do not want to aggravate that as well. Do not walk any further at first, than you can go in twenty minutes’ time. Continue to use the pony-trap for any distances longer than that. I’m giving you a new powder for the pain. It does have some willow-bark, but it has a few other things that should help to make it easier on your stomach, and ease your rest. Do not stint it. ”

Pippin made a face. “And *when* can I ride? Sable is going to forget he belongs to me, not Merry!”

“If you follow my instructions carefully for the next couple of weeks, I will see about letting you ride *short* distances again. But you are going to have to be very cautious at first. I cannot stress enough how much of a setback you might have should you get thrown.”

Pippin heaved an impatient sigh. “Slow. Go slow. Healers always tell you to go slow.”

“And we are right. Now if you follow my directions and we are able to gradually increase your activities, then by the beginning of the New Year, you should almost be back to your normal routine.”

Pippin’s face brightened at once. “Really? You really think so?”

“I do. In fact, if you choose one of the more decorous measures, I daresay you might even be able to dance at least once at Yule.”

“Oh, Cousin Dody, thank you!” He threw his arms around the startled healer’s neck.

“You are very welcome, Pippin,” he laughed. “Now, be off with you. I need to make time for hobbits who are actually sick. Unless you have a problem, I will see you again in a week.”

Dodinas chuckled as he watched Pippin leave with as much alacrity as he could manage, crutches left behind and the walking stick in hand, his limp was much better. In only a few more weeks it would probably be gone except in bad weather or when his knee flared up. He enjoyed the young hobbit’s exuberance. He sighed. He had often thought that if his cousin Frodo had not lost his parents so young, he would have been much like Pippin as he grew older.

______________________________________________

He made his way to the Master’s apartment, where Merry was visiting with his parents. They were thrilled at the news that he could now dispense with the crutches.

“And what *else* did he tell you, Pip?” said Merry insistently. Not using crutches did *not* mean a clean bill of health.

Pippin sighed. “Go slow. Don’t walk for more than twenty minutes. But he said I might be able to ride a little in the next week or so. Oh, and he gave me a new pain mixture.”

“Thank you, Pippin. Anything else I need to know?”

Pippin shook his head. Sometimes having Merry know him so well was a disadvantage. It made it hard to keep things from him. Now he would be stuck with that twenty minute rule at least until he saw Cousin Dody again.

His Aunt Esmeralda smiled at him. “I’m pleased you are doing so splendidly. I was just about to tell Merry of the letter I got from your mother this morning. It seems that a certain Miss Diamond North-Took is going to come with them when they arrive here for Yule.”

Pippin let out a whoop, and gave a little jump. His face went white, and he sat down abruptly in the nearest chair.

“Are you all right, Pippin?” Merry hovered over him, and Saradoc and Esmeralda looked concerned.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just have to remember no jumping yet, either. It was just a twinge.”

_________________________________________________

A little over a week later, Merry looked on as Pippin carefully mounted Sable for the first time since his accident. Merry had already exercised the little stallion, to take the edge off. Sable was from Dol Amroth, and more high-strung than his own mounts from Rohan.

“Remember, Pip--he said only a few minutes.”

Pippin nodded, grinning, and carefully walked his pony around the paddock. His mare, Butter, was still up at Brandy Hall. She was a much more placid and steady pony, and he would probably do any riding he needed to do on her for the first few weeks. But he had missed his lad Sable, and this first time pony-back, he wanted to be on him.

Twice around the paddock, and Merry was insisting that was enough. He didn’t argue.

__________________________________________________

Several days later, Pippin got down from the pony-trap, barely using his cane, and went into the house where Merry was preparing tea.

“Guess what, Merry?” He grinned. “Cousin Dody has said I might walk as far as I’ve a mind to as long as I pay attention to what my leg is telling me!”

“That’s wonderful, Pip.” Merry poured him a cup of tea, and put a plate of scones in front of him.

Pippin held out two letters, kept a third one back. “I met the post hobbit on the lane.”

Merry’s letters were from Estella and Frodo. He opened the one from Estella first, and smiled as he read. Pippin was busy reading his own letter from Diamond.

Merry put it down, and picked up the second one. He opened it with a smile of anticipation, and Pippin expected him to read out some of it to him, but Merry suddenly gave a cry of anguish, and put the letter down roughly, half-crumpling it. He got up and rushed out of the house.

Pippin’s eyes grew wide, and he picked up the letter.

“My dearest Merry,

I hope that you will not be too terribly disappointed when I tell you that I will not be coming to Buckland for Yule this year. I know that you were looking forward to my being there, but I really do not feel that I am up to facing a Brandy Hall Yuletide.

Instead, I will stay here at Bag End, and have a quiet time alone, as Sam and Rose will be expected at the Cottons’.

Sam invited me there as well, but I simply cannot face so many people right now. I fear that I would just be a pall on anyone else’s celebrations.

I do hope that you will have a joyous Yule in spite of my absence. I am given to understand that the fair Estella will be there, and I am sure that in her presence, you will not even notice I am not there.

Please give Pippin my love. I do miss you both, and perhaps after the bustle of the holiday is over we might have a good visit then.

Love,

Frodo”

Tears sprang to Pippin’s eyes. No Frodo at Yule? Merry!

He took up his cane, and headed out of the door. Where was Merry? He looked over at the small stable. Probably with his ponies, then--ever since they had returned from the Quest, Merry had seemed to be half pony.

He slowly made his way there; he was getting better with this thing, but the ground was icy, and it was as well to be careful. Still he was horribly anxious about his Merry.

Pippin poked his head in, and sure enough his cousin was there. But he wasn’t just seeking comfort from the animals. He was busy saddling up Stybba.

“Merry, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to Bag End, of course. If I hurry, I can be there by midnight.”

“If you ride Stybba into the ground. Which you won’t do. What will you do at Bag End?”

“I’m sure if I talk to him in person, I can persuade him to come back with me. I’ve done it before when he didn’t want to make the trip.” Merry began to tighten the pony’s tack.

Pippin put his hand on Merry’s arm. Merry shrugged it off. “Merry, that was *before*. I don’t think it will work any more. Why put yourself and Frodo through that kind of pain? If you can’t get him to come, both of you will just be more miserable! Besides, even if you hurry now, you won’t be able to hurry back. Estella and her family are going to arrive in the next day or so--you have to be here!”

Merry stared at him in shock, and then his face crumpled. He sank down onto a bale of hay, and put his head in his hands. Pippin sat next to him and put an arm about his shoulders.

“Pip, there’s never *been* a Yule without Frodo.” He started to weep. “I just want things back to normal, Pip! Last year, we were in Tookland, and no offense to your parents, but it’s just not the *same* as here in Brandy Hall. And the year before that--” he shook his head.

“The year before that, we were sitting on a rock in the middle of the wilderness, homesick, while the rest of the Fellowship tried to cheer us up.” Pippin shook his head. He felt like crying, too.

“I’m so afraid, Pip. I’m afraid we’re losing him after all. And it hurts just as bad as seeing him--after--you know--”

“I do know, Merry.”

And the two cousins wept in each others’ arms until they were wept out, and too cold and numb to sit there any longer.

________________________________________________

CHAPTER 30

Opal giggled at the sight of the stack of letters that Diamond showed her. The healer’s apprentice was visiting her friend in the Smials. Lavender had finally allowed her to begin working again, but only for half a day at a time, so she had plenty of spare time to herself.

“How many are there?” Opal asked.

“Thirty-five. He sends me one every day, although you know how the post is. Sometimes I don’t get them for a few days, and then they show up in a batch of four or five at a time” She took one out and opened it.

“You’re going to show them to me?”

Diamond grinned. “I don’t know why not?” She passed one over to her friend.

“Dear Diamond,

We had a little bit of snow yesterday, but none of it stuck.

I miss you.

Love,

Pippin”

Opal let out a splutter, and then burst into laughter. “Are they *all* so romantic?”

For answer, Diamond handed her another.

“Dear Diamond,

Merry and I are going up to Brandy Hall for supper tonight. Merry said they are having pear tart for afters.

I really miss you,

Love,

Pippin”

Diamond grinned. “Here’s the longest one I’ve had from him.”

“Dear Diamond,

Cousin Dody has said that I might do without my crutches now, and can start walking more. He gave me a splendid cane to use. And he said that if I keep it up I can dance one slow dance at Yule.

My favorite dance is ‘Circle of Joy’ and it’s got a lot of bouncing about, so it’s out. Do you have a favorite slow one? If you do, I will practice that one.

I miss you,

Love,

Pippin”

“So what dance did you tell him, then?”

“I thought maybe ‘Candles’. It’s only two couples in the set, so we could dance with Merry and Estella.” Diamond smiled, imagining it. “Here’s the shortest one, I got it a few days ago.”

“Dear Diamond,

I still miss you.

Love,

Pippin”

Opal felt tears come to her eyes. “Awww,” she said.

“I know,” said Diamond. But there were two letters she kept to herself, the two most recent. The first one had said:

“Dear Diamond,

I dreamed about you last night, your smile and your dimples. I woke up really, really missing you. I’ll be glad when you get here.

Love,

Pippin”

Which had made her blush when she read it. But the second one had made her a bit sad and fearful.

“Dear Diamond,

Frodo’s not coming. Merry’s really upset, and I’m not so very happy either. We didn’t sleep so well last night, and Merry had one of his dreams. I wish you were here.

I miss you,

Love,

Pippin”

Diamond thought of Frodo’s melancholy, and felt a chill. Somehow this news was ominous. She shook her head to clear it. “I suppose you are used to Pippin’s way of corresponding, Opal?”

Opal shook her head. “I’ve never had reason to get a letter from Pippin, but I had always heard he wrote short letters. I had no idea how true it was.” She sighed. “I didn’t really know Pippin well when we were younger, in spite of us living here. I’m afraid I let my mother’s attitude influence me--I never appreciated him, and always thought he was just a mischievous lad who was always getting in trouble, and wasn’t very bright.”

Diamond looked shocked. She had heard a little bit about Reggie’s wife, but no one had been very forthcoming about the reasons she had been banished from the Great Smials. How could anyone know Pippin at all and not realize how very intelligent he was?

Opal flushed. “No one’s ever told you about my mother have they?”

Diamond shook her head. “You don’t have to.”

“No, I want you to understand. My mother only married my father because he was in line to be Thain. Cousin Paladin was ahead of him, but he only had the three lasses for children. And then Pippin was born and ruined all my mother’s ambitions. She never stopped wishing he was dead, so that she would have another chance to be the Thain’s Lady. And then when I had my accident, it all came out. I don’t think she would actually have *done* anything to him,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “but sometimes I wonder.”

“Oh, Opal, how awful for you.”

Her friend shrugged, and changed the subject. “So, what are you going to wear for the Yule parties?”

“Well, I wrote my mother to send me some of my good frocks. They are supposed to arrive before we leave, and I am hoping they will. It’s less than two days now until we depart.” She had a bit of a worried frown, and then shook her head. “So, your father is in charge of festivities here--what’s he got planned?”

“Well--”

________________________________________

Pippin tucked the quill away, and put the stopper back in the ink bottle. He held the page up to blow on before folding and sealing it.

“Dear Diamond,

Since you are going to be here in just a few days, I will stop writing to you for now. I can’t wait to see you.

I miss you very much,

Love,

Pippin”

He glanced out the window, where he could see Merry and Estella walking in the lane. Very soon his own lass would be here for him to walk with.

CHAPTER 31

Diamond wakened, briefly confused for a moment--ah, yes! She was in the Bridge Inn, sharing a room with Pippin’s eldest sister Pearl. She glanced at the other side of the bed--Pearl was still sleeping soundly.

Diamond slipped out of the bed quietly so as not to disturb her. She had come to know Pearl well in the last few months--for Pearl often functioned as her mother’s right hand when Eglantine was unavailable. Pearl was one of those rare figures in the Shire: a young and childless widow. After her husband’s sudden and unexpected death, she had simply fit back into the Great Smials as though she had never left. Almost nobody even remembered that technically she was now a Bolger--most still thought of her as “Pearl Took”, though attention was paid to her widowed status and she was addressed as Mistress Pearl. Pearl had been full of stories about Pippin as a lad last night--Diamond had laughed herself silly at some of the scrapes his sister told her about his getting into, usually along with Merry, and often needing to be rescued by their older cousin Frodo.

She went to the washstand, and quickly washed her face and hands, and then quietly dressed and went into the public room. The Thain was sitting at one of the tables, eating a first breakfast; he looked up and gestured for her to join him.

She sat down across from him gingerly. She still felt a bit abashed in the presence of the Thain, though he had never been anything but friendly and cordial to her, she could not forget his position, nor the fact that he was Pippin’s father. She was still somewhat amazed at the family’s invitation to include her in the journey to Buckland.

He smiled at her. “I shan’t bite, lass.” He looked up, and caught the eye of the innkeeper. “Please bring another setting for my young friend here.”

The hobbit nodded, and soon brought Diamond a plate and cup, and she poured herself some tea, and helped herself to one of the scones.

“I can’t thank you enough, Thain Paladin, for inviting me to come with you. I’ve never been across the Brandywine before.”

“In spite of what certain folk say, Buckland is not so different from the rest of the Shire.” He spread some butter on another one of the scones, and then said with a twinkle in his eye, “I know that Pippin will be very glad to see you again. I have heard that the post between Brandy Hall and the Great Smials has been very busy lately.”

She blushed. She was still surprised by the easy way Pippin’s family had encouraged his suit of her. Perhaps it showed on her face, because the Thain shook his head.

“You don’t understand why we are willing to consent to the understanding between you and Pippin right now.”

“No, sir, I don’t. It really is not considered proper, since we are so young.”

“Oh, I suppose. But you see, it really is not that uncommon. Why, Pimmie and Milo had an understanding far younger--they were still in their *teens* not even tweenagers, when they began to realize that they were meant to be together. I know that Samwise Gamgee and his wife were childhood sweethearts, and my own sister Esmeralda actually had to wait for Saradoc to come of age, though they too, had known for years they would someday wed. Of course, it is still a bit unusual, but it is not the horrid thing some would like to have it. And you and Peregrin are not run-of-the-mill young people; Pippin has changed and matured a great deal because of his experiences, and you are a very serious lass with a wise head on her shoulders.”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. The compliment made her eyes sting.

“Pippin was a scapegrace in his younger tweens. He and I had a difficult time--he did not want the responsibilities of the Thainship to fall on him, and I was not very patient with his fears. Before he went away, the two of us quarreled frequently and loudly. I hate to say this, for the fear and waiting was not pleasant for any of us, but Pippin’s journey was the making of him.”

“He’s a wonderful hobbit,” she said.

“He is.” Paladin’s pride showed in his face. “I would like to ask you, my dear, have you made your mother aware of how things stand with you?”

She shook her head. “I wanted to talk to her in person. But I will not have a chance to go home until the anniversary of my apprenticing, after my birthday in Rethe.”

Paladin shook his head. “Would you mind very much if I gave you a bit of advice, lass?”

She shook her head.

“This visit to Buckland is going to set tongues wagging all over the Shire. You do not want garbled versions of things to reach your mother’s ears.”

“She knows your family invited me to join you for Yule. I wrote and told her that much when I asked her to send me my party frocks.”

“But she does not know why?”

“No, sir. She just thinks it’s so Mistress Lavender can have some time alone with her husband.”

“Well, Miss Diamond, I suggest you write to her and give her at least an inkling of the way things stand with you and Peregrin before she hears it from people who have an ax to grind.” He smiled to take the sting out of the words. Diamond’s mother was a widow, with three daughters to take care of. She had probably thought that Diamond, apprenticed to become a healer, was safely taken care of, and beyond any thought of being courted or wed. “My wife and daughter won’t be down before second breakfast. You probably have plenty of time to get a letter into the post.”

She nodded. The Thain was probably right. She wondered what it would be like if her father were still alive. He would watch out for her like this. And then suddenly she realized, if things continued on their present course, in a little over six years, Paladin might very well *be* her father.

It took her breath away.

________________________________________________

“No, Pip, I *don’t* think it would be a good idea for you to ride to the Bridge to meet Uncle Paladin’s coach.” Merry took the pan off the stove, and poured the boiling water away, as he took out the eggs.

Pippin stopped slicing the bread for toast, and looked up resentfully. “Why not?”

“You know very well why not. Cousin Dody has not said that you can just ride as far as you want to yet. He said you could *begin* to lengthen your rides gradually. Such as maybe from here to the Hall. *Not* very nearly fifteen miles to the Bridge.” Merry transferred the eggs to the egg cups.

His cousin sighed. “I suppose you’re right, Merry. But I really want to see her. It‘s been ages and ages!”

Merry shook his head. He couldn’t help but sympathize. He knew only too well how impatient he had felt the day Estella was due to arrive. And, he thought guiltily, he *had* gone to the Bridge to meet the Bolger’s coach.

He, however, was not still getting over a broken leg.

“But you want to be able to walk with her, and dance at the party, and spend time with her when she gets here. Not be laid up again, and have her start thinking of you as a patient again.”

Merry was gratified to see that the last argument was enough to bring a look of alarm to Pippin’s face. He knew Pippin did not want Diamond to see him like that again.

“After breakfast, though, we *could* ride as far as Newbury--” he held his hand up as Pippin started to give an exclamation of joy “--after all it‘s no further from Crickhollow than the Hall is--*if* you ride Butter, not Sable, and *if* we wait at The Willow and Otter until we see the coach, and *if* you then ride the rest of the way back in the coach and lead your pony back.”

Pippin turned to give Merry an enthusiastic hug. “Merry, you’re a wonder!”

“Mind the toast, Pip!” Merry exclaimed as the smoke rose up from the toasting fork Pippin had set down right on the fire.

_______________________________________________

The preparations for Yule were going on a-pace at Brandy Hall. Esmeralda directed the servants who were going out to take cuttings of evergreens for decorating the Hall, and then turned to Estella and Rosamunda.

“I’ve already given Cook the menus for the dinners on First and Second Yule. I need to go and check on the state of the table linens, and then we can have some time to just visit a bit,” she said. “I thought you might like to see the new frocks I have for the occasion.”

Rosamunda smiled. “I’d like nothing better, my dear! And perhaps you would like to see our latest frocks, the newest styles from Tuckborough!”

Esmeralda plastered another smile on her face. “Oh, that would be wonderful,” she said brightly. Only Estella noticed the brittleness in Esme’s tone. Rosamunda had not been completely able to disguise her condescension for “quaint” Buckland. Behind her mother’s back she rolled her eyes, and mouthed an apology. Esmeralda just shook her head. She’d known Rosamunda of old, and had really expected nothing different.

“When will the Thain and his family arrive?” Rosamunda asked.

“We are expecting them by luncheon.” Esmeralda was really looking forward to reinforcements in the forms of her sister-in-law and niece. Eglantine and Pearl had extensive practice in Rosamunda managing.

____________________________________________

In front of The Willow and Otter, Pippin and Merry sat on a bench facing the road, each nursing an ale, and eating a sausage roll for elevenses.

“How much longer do you think?” said Pippin, his right foot jiggling anxiously.

“Pip, you know your mother and Pearl as well as I do. Do you really suppose they got away from the Bridge Inn until after second breakfast? They’ll be along very soon.”

“I suppose.” Pippin took another bite of his sausage roll and another sip of ale.

Just then they heard the rumble of wheels and the clop of a team of ponies. He crammed the rest of the roll in his mouth, and downed the ale as he stood up suddenly. He gave a little gasp of pain--he’d moved too abruptly, after all, but it quickly passed.

Merry hovered for just a moment to be certain all was well, and then he went to the hitching post and fetched Pybba and Butter. They walked the ponies to the road. The coach was soon approaching, and Pippin waved an arm out and called “Giff! Stop please!”

Seeing Mr. Pippin and Mr. Merry standing there, Giff pulled up. Pippin walked to the door of the coach and peered in. “Hullo, Father, Mother, Pearl. Hullo, Diamond. I’ve missed you.”

CHAPTER 32

The Yule feast for First Yule had been magnificent. The always abundant tables of the Master of Brandy Hall had groaned even more than usual under the weight of the victuals. Saradoc’s reputation for generous hospitality was beginning to rival that of his legendary grandfather, Gorbadoc.

In the main dining room, the servants had taken away the last of the empty dishes, and hobbits--both servants and guests--were busily shoving the tables and chairs back to the edges of the room, to clear the floor for dancing. Through the wide open doors on one side, other servants could be seen busily setting up tables of drinks and nibbles in the smaller second dining room.

In one corner, the musicians had gathered. Esmeralda and Pippin were tuning their fiddles, and Pippin spared a smile for his cousin Ilberic, who was nervously practicing his shepherd’s pipes. Pippin had been giving him lessons since coming to live at Crickhollow, but this was Ilbie’s first time to play in public, and he had a bit of stage fright. Pippin winked at him and mouthed “You’ll do just fine.” Cousin Melilot was setting up her large harp, and her sister Mentha was tuning her lute, while young Myrtle Burrows had taken out a tambour.

Merry came up, flushed with the exertion of helping move tables and chairs. “Hullo, Pip! Are you doing all right?”

Pippin finished giving a twist to one of the tuning pegs before looking up. “I’m fine! Where are the lasses?”

“They went with Pearl to ‘freshen up’ before the dancing starts.”

Pippin felt a bit on edge at the thought of Diamond dancing with other lads, but he couldn’t deny her the fun of dancing --and since Cousin Dody had been adamant about his only doing one dance, he was going to be playing his fiddle instead, at least until it was time for “Candles”.

“Relax, cousin,” laughed Merry. “My da and yours are going to take turns dancing with Diamond and keep the other lads off.”

“Oh, bless them!” said Pippin, with a sigh of heartfelt gratitude. “Merry, I’ve been meaning to ask you how you and Estella have been managing to evade Dragon Rosamunda for the last few days?”

Merry laughed. “That was Da’s doing! He had a quiet word with Odovocar, and explained that here in Buckland, such close surveillance could damage Estella’s reputation, as it would indicate her parents thought her untrustworthy.”

Pippin grinned. “Like Celly?”

Celandine’s reputation as a flirt meant she was constantly under her mother’s watchful eye. She’d been told in no uncertain terms that tonight she was to dance with no one but her father, brothers and uncles.

Merry nodded. “You could imagine that did not sit well with my future mother-in-law. She cut Estella loose fairly quickly after that, I assure you!”

Pippin’s answer died on his lips as his face lit up. Merry turned to look over his shoulder, to see Diamond and Estella approaching.

Merry took Estella’s hand in his, and raised it to his lips. Hand-kissing was a custom he’d learned in the courts of the South, and Estella found it quite charming. She blushed prettily.

Pippin’s hands were occupied by his fiddle and bow. He contented himself with a brilliant smile, and said “Hullo, Diamond.”

Diamond blushed as well, in the radiance of that Tookish grin, and said “I’m looking forward to hearing you play.”

Esmeralda looked up from her own fiddle, which she now had adjusted to her satisfaction. “Then you will get your wish now, my dear, because we are ready to start.”

“What’s first, Mum?” asked Merry.

“Southfarthing Brawl,” she answered, with the name of a popular circle dance.

Merry grabbed both the lasses by the hands and headed toward the center of the floor, as the musicians struck up the first notes. This dance did not call for partners, and was popular with the children, who flocked to join in. It was a rather breathless dance, in which the music went faster and faster toward the end.

There were a few more of the circle dances, and then they began to play the dances that called for sets of partners. Pippin smiled to see first his Uncle Saradoc, and then his father, squiring Diamond across the dance floor. Paladin was kept busy, as in between dancing with Diamond, Eglantine was demanding his arm for her own dancing. He scowled a bit to notice that Moro Burrows kept trying to catch up to Diamond in between dances. Fortunately, Moro did not quite have the nerve to cut in on the Thain or the Master. He supposed that no one had clued the young Burrows in on the state of things between him and Diamond. He might have to have a talk with him.

On the sidelines, Celandine was gossiping with her friend Heather Bunce.

“Celly, that lass over there is my Aunt Lavender’s apprentice!”

Celandine smiled smugly. “It certainly is. Don’t you know that the Thain and his family invited her to come because Pippin is smitten with her?”

“Captain Peregrin? Smitten with a healer’s apprentice?” Heather’s eyes were a tad disappointed. She was a little bit smitten herself with the dashing Thain’s son, so handsome and heroic. “I wonder if my Aunt Lavender knows. It could hardly be proper for her to get involved with him, if she’s going to be a healer and all.”

“Oh, well they’re Tooks, after all. What does proper have to do with it?”

Celandine was watching Moro. He was a very nice looking lad, and if she could evade her mother, she might be able to have a little chat with him.

She had disdained to dance with her father, and Doderic was nowhere to be seen. With Ilberic playing in the band, she didn’t think she was going to get a chance to dance anytime soon. Her eyes roved the crowd. There was sweet old Uncle Dinodas. Maybe she could prevail on him to partner her during “Exchanges”. Then if she worked it right, someone might cut him out, and leave her to dance with someone more interesting.

As the musicians began to play Circle of Joy, another circle dance, but one done by a set of four couples, Pippin found his toe tapping twitchily. This was his favorite dance, but there was quite a bit of skipping about in it, and Cousin Dody had told him ‘no’ in no uncertain terms. He felt a bit wistful. For a second he caught Merry’s eye, and both of them felt a sharp and sudden pang of sorrow, for this had also always been Frodo’s favorite dance. But Estella caught Merry’s hands as they twirled in place, and the moment passed.

There was a brief breathing spell when the dance ended, and then the musicians began the opening notes to “Exchanges”. Couples quickly formed and lined up on the floor, lads in one line, lasses in the other, side by side, his hand over her palm. A stately bow to one another, and the dance began. The first few measures went by without incident, and then in the fourth measure, Eglantine cut in on Cousin Hilda, and spirited off with Cousin Seredic. Pippin watched his father and Diamond anxiously; sure enough, Moro cut the Thain out. Anyone was fair game in “Exchanges”. But Merry and Estella had been standing the dance out just in case this happened, and Estella deftly cut Diamond free. Diamond stood back and awaited her chance, and cut in on one of the younger lasses who was dancing with an elderly hobbit. By chance, it was Celandine, who grinned, and used the opportunity to cut Estella out and end up with Moro.

Paladin waited for two measures, and then stepped in to take old Dinodas’s place with Diamond, so that as the dance ended with an elegant bow, she was dancing with her original partner.

She smiled up at him. “Thank you, Thain Paladin, that was very skillfully done!”

He looked down at her with a laugh. “I still have a few trick left, lass. And I did promise Merry I’d keep the other lads away while Pippin is playing.”

Celandine risked a glance in her mother’s direction. Hilda was distracted in conversation with Moro’s mother, Peony Burrows. She batted her eyes at Moro. “Would you like to go get a bit of fresh air?” With a stealthy skill that would have done a Ranger proud, she spirited the lad out of the Hall.

Pippin noticed, but merely rolled his eyes. He glanced over at Ilberic, but his cousin was too preoccupied with his instrument to notice what his sister had done. “Watch yourself, Moro,” he muttered under his breath.

Esmeralda looked at Pippin. “It’s the Tangle Dance next, and then a short break before we do ’Candles’. Will you come back to play after you dance, Pippin?”

“Maybe not, if you don’t mind terribly, Aunt Esme.”

“Well, we’ll miss your fiddle, but we can get along without it, lad. You’ve been very patient up here watching your lass.” She put her own fiddle up to her chin, and that was the signal to begin the opening notes of the Tangle Dance.

Hobbits young and old came bustling up to join in, and soon nearly everyone was holding fast to two hands, except Merry, who as Son of the Hall, had the honor of leading the tangle. He was very good at it, and there was much hilarity as the tangle grew more and more complicated. By the time the dance ended, they were all so entangled they could no longer even take the steps of the dance, and broke apart at the last notes with breathless laughter .

While the dancers were still extricating themselves, Pippin put his fiddle down carefully, and made his way to the second dining room, where he filled a cup with punch. He returned to present it to Esmeralda with a little kiss on her cheek.

“Thank you, nephew. You are such a thoughtful lad. Now, go find your lass.”

But he didn’t have to search. Merry, Estella and Diamond were right there. He was not best pleased to note a bit of a shadow in Merry’s eyes. Still missing Frodo. Well, he did too, come to that. But as he watched the bustle in the room, he realized that Frodo was wise in not being there. He would have felt overwhelmed by the crowd.

“Well, Pip, your dance is next up, so Mum tells me,” Merry said. “Do you want to help me pass out the candles?”

“Candles” took its name from the fact that in years past, the dancers carried a lit candle taper in one hand; nowadays it was not so often done, but when Esmeralda learned that her favorite nephew had chosen that as his one dance of the evening, she had decided to lay in a supply, to make it even more special.

As those who were dancing took their candles, Saradoc passed among them with a similar taper already lit, and soon all were a-flame. He gave the signal to the servants, who dimmed the lamps, and dancers sorted themselves into sets of two couples.

Of course, Merry and Estella and Pippin and Diamond made one set.

The lights were lowered, giving the dancers a mystical glow from the candlelight on their faces. The first haunting notes of the music began, and Merry bowed slowly, as he rose, Estella dropped an elegant curtsy. The notes sounded again, and Pippin bowed, pleased at feeling no more than a very slight twinge in his leg. Finally, Diamond made a graceful and profound curtsy, rising up in time to the long plaintive note.

As the first measure of the dance began, Merry and Estella moved to the center, dipping slightly as they met, holding their candles in one hand, and touching palms with the other. A half-beat behind them, as they moved backwards to their original places, Pippin and Diamond did the same. Then Merry and Estella moved to the center again, but passed one another at the right shoulder, and continued for three steps. As they turned to face one another, Pippin and Diamond repeated their move; then as they backed away, Merry and Estella passed one another again, this time at their left shoulders, and as they slowly turned around they extended their right hands to the center, holding the candles. After a quarter turn, Pippin’s and Diamond’s candles also met theirs in the center, and soon they had all turned back to their original positions, and the movements began once more.

It was a quiet, slow and graceful dance, with the moves as intricate as a clockwork. In fact, it reminded Pippin of the lovely clockwork music box he’d had as a gift from old Bilbo. But the thought of Bilbo made him think suddenly of Frodo, and he very nearly missed a beat. He stepped quickly to regain the proper spot, and Diamond smiled at him. The sight of her dimples quickly banished the sad thoughts.

The dance ended with an elegant bow, and as the couples rose, the lamps were raised and the candles extinguished. Pippin grinned at Diamond, and said “Well, I didn’t disgrace myself. And my leg did not give out on me. I should say that was success. Would you like something to drink?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Pippin turned to Merry and Estella, who were holding hands. “How about you? Some punch?”

Merry shook his head. “I think Estella and I are going to take the air.”

Pippin smiled. “You do that. I think that sounds like a splendid idea--after we have some punch.” And he led Diamond away in the direction of the second dining room.

____________________________________________

Merry and Estella fetched their cloaks, and headed out of the smial. As they went, they were passed by Merry’s Aunt Hilda, wearing a grim expression. Uh-oh, he thought. Celandine’s slipped her leash. Probably with poor Moro. He caught Estella’s eye, and she giggled. She had come to know Celandine’s ways pretty well when she had stayed at Brandy Hall during the Troubles.

They passed outside into the chill of the Yule night, and holding hands, wandered in the direction of the River. They did not at first speak, but just enjoyed being together and not under scrutiny. The wind picked up a bit, and they stopped beneath a large oak, with a bole wide enough to break the wind. As they leaned against it, Merry drew his Elven cloak out enough to bring it around Estella, and draw her close.

They leaned together, and looked up through the canopy of tree to the stars sparkling in the clear winter sky. Merry pointed. “There. That’s Eärendil. Did you know that star is actually Lord Elrond’s father?”

Estella looked at him incredulously. “Do you really expect me to believe that? I know you told me about Eärendil and Elwing, but surely that’s just a pretty story!”

“That was my reaction when Frodo told me. I never believed it, either, until it was confirmed for me from Lord Elrond’s own lips. And if you’d ever met him, you’d know that he’d never jest about such a thing.”

She looked at the stars with renewed interest. Amazing.

Merry squeezed her shoulders a bit. “Have you enjoyed your Brandy Hall Yule?”

“I have. And you?”

His eyes briefly clouded. “Only one thing would have made it better.”

She knew he was talking about Frodo. But she didn’t say anything. She really didn’t know what to say to his obvious sorrow at Frodo’s absence.

“Estella, I was thinking--why don’t we have our wedding next Yule? We will have been betrothed for a decent interval by then. I don’t want to wait all the way until spring. And by then, surely Frodo will feel up to coming to Brandy Hall. He can’t say no if he’s standing for me at my wedding.”

Estella gave a little shiver, this time not at all caused by the cold. “Merry, it’s not very good luck to talk of the wedding before we’re officially betrothed.”

He looked down at her, distress in his grey eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just thinking aloud.”

She shook her head. “I’m being silly! Of course a Yule wedding sounds lovely!”

_______________________________________________

Pippin fetched his cloak and Diamond’s from the cloakroom, and they passed through into the garden. As they headed up the path, they saw Hilda coming, her forefinger and thumb gripped firmly on a scowling Celandine’s ear. Celandine’s hair was mussed, her lips were swollen, and there was a little mark like a small bruise at the base of her throat. Moro followed several steps behind, looking not a little mussed himself, a shame-faced expression on his countenance. He saw Pippin and Diamond looking, and blushing, turned his face away.

Pippin grinned and Diamond giggled.

Pippin looked down at Diamond, and for a brief moment thought wildly of mussing *her* up so. He flushed, and reached up to touch the Lórien brooch at his throat. Don’t be a cad, he thought. You are a Knight of Gondor. Six years loomed before him like a long dark tunnel, but he thought of his King. Aragorn and Arwen had waited a lot longer than six years. He could, too, if he had to. And that had to be said.

“Six years is not so long, you know.” He hoped he didn’t sound as pitiful to her as he sounded to himself.

Perhaps not, because she said “It seems like an awfully long time to me.”

“We have a lot to do before that.”

She stopped, and took both his hands in hers, and looked seriously into his eyes. “I *am* going to be a healer!”

He felt a bit startled at the seeming change of subject, but he answered “Of course you are! I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

“Truly?” she asked. “It’s not easy to be married and be a healer, you know. Mistress Lavender has suffered this year, being apart from her husband. And even when we were at her home, she spent much of her time being called out for patients, or teaching me. Poor Polo does not get nearly as much of his wife’s attention as most husbands do.”

“I don’t think I could ask you to give that up, Diamond. It’s part of who you are. And I fear that you will find that I’ve got a lot of demands on my time as well. I have sorely neglected my duty to the King since I broke my leg. Now that it’s healed, I’ll be heading to Bree the first week of each month to meet the King’s Messenger once more. And our fathers gave Merry and me the responsibility of training the Shire Muster, so that we will not be such easy prey for ruffians again, if there is ever a next time. And one day--one day--” this was still something Pippin wished to avoid thinking of, but since he had been on the Quest he understood his duty better “--I will be Thain, with all the work which that involves.”

She smiled. “When you put it that way, I see that perhaps six years will not be too long after all--between my studies and your duties, the time will fly.”

Pippin gave a low chuckle. “I don’t know. When you are not around, I really miss you.”

She grinned. “I did rather get that idea.” She gazed up into his green eyes, which were unreadable and glittering.

He looked down at her for a moment, and then put a finger under her chin, and made a question of his look.

She gave the tiniest of nods, and slowly, with much reverence, their lips met gently in the tenderest of kisses.

________________________________________________________

EPILOGUE

Diamond and Pippin crossed the assembly fields below the Great Smials amid the gauntlet of friends and well wishers, all eager to bestow a hug or a handshake or a kiss upon one or both members of the happy couple. Pippin drew Diamond along by the hand, laughing, happy and breathless, to the road where their pony trap waited.

Their very closest dear ones were gathered there: parents and siblings, and special friends. Diamond found herself getting teary-eyed as she gave and received hugs from Opal and Estella and Rose. Mistress Lavender was there as well, her own eyes moist. There, too, were new friends. She reached up on tip-toe to pull down Gimli son of Gloin where she could kiss his brow--the only non-hairy spot she could find.

“Thank you, lass! You take care of that young scalawag, now!” he said gruffly.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and turned to find herself looking into the ageless eyes of the Elf, Legolas, who was kneeling there.

He took her hand, and said gravely, “May the blessings of the Star-kindler be on your marriage to my friend.” Then he stood up laughing, and scooped her up as though she were a faunt to deposit her in the seat.

Pippin stood on the other side, embracing both Merry and Sam. “Thank you, Merry.”

“Well, I was standing for you, after all.” He looked at Pippin with pride. “You take care; they are expecting you tonight at The Oak and Thorn in Pincup, and I have reserved their finest room for you. And Mum has left instructions for everything to be ready for your arrival when you get home with your bride.”

Pippin turned to Sam. “You’ll not mind having this overbearing Brandybuck around for a couple of weeks?”

Sam grinned. “Makes no never mind what I’d mind. Our wives have their hearts set on a visit. We two will just have to make the best of it.” Pippin clambered onto the seat. Sam’s face became serious for a second. “Pippin, I have somewhat more to give you--it’s not from me, so to speak.” He held out a large white envelope. Pippin looked at it, puzzled. It was blank. He shrugged.

Merry put a hand on his arm. “I have an idea what that might be,” he said. “Estella and I, and the baby, will be back in two weeks. Hopefully, that will give you and your bride time to settle in together before we get back.” He bit his lip for a second. “You are certain about our arrangement?”

“Of course we are Merry! It’s going to be wonderful.” Pippin was quite looking forward to settling Diamond into their modest household at Crickhollow. Their little family would finally be complete.

Diamond had finished calling out her final good-byes, and leaned into her new husband’s side. He put one arm around her, and with the other, shook the reins. The ponies trotted off, to the accompaniment of loud cheers.

Pippin drove the ponies at a smart trot until they were completely out of view of the crowded assembly field and then a little further yet, and then pulled the ponies up.

Diamond looked at him quizzically. “What is it, Pippin?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but my curiosity won’t wait any longer.”

He opened the large envelope, and took out a second smaller one, and gave a gasp of shock.

“What is it, love?” asked Diamond worried.

He held the envelope over for her to see: There, in Frodo’s distinctive and elegant hand were the words “For Peregrin Took, to be given to him on his Wedding Day.”

With a trembling hand, and eyes blurred by tears, he ran a finger beneath the little blob of blue wax, and opened the envelope. His hand still shook, and he could not get his vision to focus. He handed it to Diamond and with a catch in his voice said, “Read it to me, please, Diamond. I can’t see to read it.”

“Are you sure?” To Diamond this seemed the most personal of moments, to be between her new husband, and the cousin who had gone from him forever.

He nodded, the tiniest of sobs escaping him.

Now she found her own eyes a bit teary, and her voice trembled.

“My Dearest Pippin,

I write this knowing that I cannot be by your side on this, the happiest of days, and I am saddened by knowing that you will miss my presence.

For some reason, you always loved me, your strange old cousin who was solitary and bookish. And no one who knows you can imagine doing anything but loving you, which I have done from the time you were the tiniest of babes. I know, of course, that Merry is your favorite cousin, but you did me the honor of making me a close second in your heart. Some of my fondest memories are of the wide green eyes looking up at me with a stream of endless questions, and the lad who could never seem to stop moving.

When you and Merry chose to go with me into peril, I feared so much for your safety. And I was right to do so, for it hurts me to think of the pain and fear and sorrow you had to endure on my behalf. But I have come to realize that it was a choice I had no right to try to take from you, and that much that is good and green and great in the world would not be, if it were not for the courageous actions taken by my Pippin.

You are so very Tookish--I do not know any other Took alive who is more so than you. You are bright and inquisitive and adventurous and brave, and I am so very proud of you.

On this day, you have finally wed the lass who has held your heart these last few years, and for whom you have waited so devotedly. She is a wonderful person, and will make you a fine wife, and she will make her name as well, as a great healer.

You will be happy together, I know, and there will be at least one little Took lad to be Thain after you, and he will have sisters, as well. You have a happy life together, ahead of you both.

And you will go down in Shire history as the greatest Thain to ever hold the office, and rightfully so. All your tasks are not over, and there will be many things yet for you to do, but you will accomplish them all with the help of your wife and the future Master of Buckland, and with my dear Mayor Samwise.

Do not forget the debt we owe to our King, our own dear Strider, and do all that you may to bring prosperity to his realm. But most of all, do what you can to be his friend, and to ease his loneliness on his lofty throne.

I wish that I could be there to embrace you, and to kiss your bride. But know that however long I have in the West, you, Merry and Sam are never out of my thoughts, nor is the Shire, my true home.

I will leave this letter with Sam, along with one for Merry, to be given to you at the right time.

I will always love you, and will never forget you.

Love,

Your cousin,

Frodo”

By the time she was finished, Diamond was sobbing as well.

Pippin sat up and blew his nose, and pulled out a clean handkerchief for her. His eyes were still watery, but he smiled through his tears.

“Bilbo always said Frodo was the best hobbit in the Shire.”

Diamond nodded, and folded the letter back up and returned it to the envelope. She handed it to Pippin, who put it in his breast-pocket, and took up the reins once more.

“Well, Mistress Took, shall we get on to Pincup, and the finest room in The Oak and Thorn?”

Diamond blushed. “Yes, please, let’s.”

They rode silently for a few miles, thinking of the hobbit who had sacrificed so much, and received so little in return. Then Pippin cleared his throat and began to sing:

“Upon the hearth the fire is red,

Beneath the roof there is a bed…”*

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*From The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter III, “Three is Company”