Chapter 1. Spring Festival

It had been four years since Pippin's stormy arrival, four years of hard work, gradual change, grudging acceptance which was slowly turning into respect. The prodigal Took had made good on his return home, and his Mistress had won the love of the people as well.

Now Pippin and Diamond stood beside the Mayor, smiling and waving to the crowd, eight-year-old Faramir in front of them. Farry was bored, actually, bored with long speeches and having to stand with a smile on his face. He'd much rather be off playing with his cousins, but duty came before pleasure, and so he stood here, waiting for the opening ceremonies to end and the games to begin.

When his father looked down with a murmured, 'All right, Farry, you may go,' he was off like an arrow released from the bow. Pippin smiled to see him go. 'I'm glad he gets on so well with his cousins,' he said to Diamond. 'My father's older sisters were fairly snobbish, and it is good that their grandchildren are not so pretentious.'

Diamond refrained from pointing out that these particular cousins were playing with the son of the Thain and could hardly act snobbish around Faramir. He was about as high in the social structure of the Smials as a hobbit could get... only the Thain and the Mistress had a higher position. But then, she had not grown up in the Smials, and the put-on manners of the Smials Tooks did not impress her so much as they seemed to impress each other.

All she said was, 'Esmeralda is not snobbish at all.'

Pippin laughed. 'No, but she was the youngest of the family and terribly spoiled, you know. Though I do not know whether Grandfather was pleased or chagrined when she married into the family of the Master of Buckland.'

'Well Saradoc did become Master, so it worked out well, I suppose,' Diamond said.

'Indeed it did! Had Auntie Allie not married Uncle Sarry, there'd have been no Merry!'

'I can hardly imagine a Pippin without a Merry,' Diamond said dryly.

'Nor can I,' Pippin said, his face growing more sober. Diamond thought of all that the two had been through and held his arm a little more tightly; looking down into her face, he smiled, the past once more put away.

Mayor Samwise turned to them, then, saying, 'I think we're finished here. Didn't you promise me some of that fine ale the Smials is so famous for?'

'I did indeed,' Pippin said, taking Diamond's arm whilst Samwise took Rose's. 'Right over there, they will be pouring out as soon as they see us approaching.'

'You have your folk well trained,' Sam chuckled.

Diamond turned down the ale, electing instead to have a glass of cider pressed from the store of winter apples. She patted her protruding middle. 'Wouldn't want to turn the babe into a Brandybuck, now, would we, giving him drink at this tender age.' The party laughed.

Pavilions had been set up for eating and dancing, and the Thain and Mistress went to the largest pavilion to sit and watch and listen to the music. They acknowledged the greetings of their guests with smiles and cheerful talk while watching the dancers romp. This was not a formal ball, like so many at the Smials, but more of a farmer's dance with flying skirts and heels kicked high and much laughter.

Adriatus Brockhouse had quaffed a bit too much of the Thain's fine ale, as he stood with a group of Tookish farmers, talking about the planting and the fine prospects for the crops, so far as things looked. His eye was caught by the Thain, helping the Mistress to her feet, to lead her back to the Smials for a rest, and he laughed. 'Looks as if the Thain has done a bit of ploughing and planting, himself!' he said raucously, and laughed again at the shocked expressions around him.

One of the farmers excused himself, walking away to whisper in the ear of the steward, who gestured to the Thain's special assistant, Ferdibrand Took, who spoke to several servants, who scattered in various directions. Some time thereafter, Adriatus found his arm seized in a firm grip by Ferdibrand, who said loudly enough for the group to hear, 'It is a real pity, that you've been called away so suddenly.'

'Called away?' blustered Adriatus. 'What do you mean? I don't understand.' All the while, Ferdi was leading him from the pavilion to where his pony waited, saddled and loaded with his possessions. Some servants had been very busy packing up Adriatus' guest room whilst his pony was tacked.

'What is the meaning of this?' Adriatus demanded.

Ferdi loosed his arm roughly enough to cast him down on the damp, muddy ground under his pony's nose.

'Get out!' he said grimly. 'And do not bother to return until you have better governance of your tongue, or things will not go so well with you next time.'

Adriatus climbed to his feet, fists clenched, but several grim-faced Tooks stepped up behind Ferdibrand, and so he backed down, brushed at the mud on his clothing, mounted his pony, and rode out of the yard, muttering to himself. Somehow he'd have to explain his sudden departure to his relatives... Tooks! No sense of humour whatsoever...

'Good riddance to bad rubbish,' Ferdi said, and turned back to the party.

'What was that all about?' Pippin asked his special assistant as Ferdi returned to the dance. He had come back from tucking up Diamond in time to see Ferdi escort the late guest out of the pavilion.

'He was suddenly called away,' Ferdi said calmly. 'Expressed his regrets, very sorry and all that.'

'Ah,' Pippin said. 'A problem in the family? Anything I might do to help?'

'It's all taken care of, Sir,' Ferdi said. Pippin nodded. Ferdi was nothing if not efficient.

2. Sudden Loss

A few nights after the planting festival, Faramir cried out in his sleep. Diamond rose sleepily, but as her son began to sob and call out for his mother, she hurried, only to stumble on a loose corner of the rug by the bed and fall heavily to the floor. Pippin was out of the bed in an instant, kneeling by her side.

'Diamond?' he said anxiously.

'I am... well,' she gasped. 'See to Farry...'

'I don't want to leave you,' he said, trying to help her up, but she shook him off.

'Farry needs you more right now. I just got the wind knocked out of me, is all. Please...' He nodded and went to their son's room, where Faramir was thrashing and weeping. Pippin gathered him in his arms, murmuring words of comfort until the lad quieted again into peaceful sleep.

At that moment, Faramir's minder came in, stopping short in surprise to see the Thain cradling his son.

'Sir?' he said uncertainly. 'I just... had to take care of some business.'

'It's all right,' Pippin said, 'he just had a nightmare. I must get back to the Mistress now.'

'Yes, Sir,' the minder said, taking Faramir from his father and easing him back into the bed. Pippin smoothed the covers over his son, bent to kiss him, whispered an endearment, and with a nod to the minder, left the room to return to the Thain's sleeping quarters. He found Diamond tucked up on their bed, asleep, and sighed in relief. Still, he would ask Healer Woodruff to give her a thorough going-over in the morning... which she did.

'No harm done,' the healer smiled, straightening up from her examination. 'The babe has a good, strong heartbeat, and you, Mistress, don't even seem to have a bruise from that fall. Still, it would be a good idea for you to keep your feet up this day, and perhaps tomorrow as well.'

'You coddle me shamefully,' Diamond said, but Pippin leaned to kiss her.

'Nothing's too good for the Mistress of Tookland,' he said. A shadow crossed his face as he thought of his mother, gone these two months, passed on peacefully in her sleep. Diamond read the look and squeezed his hand.

'So you keep telling me,' she said gently. He kissed her again, then straightened.

'Duty calls,' he said.

'Then by all means you must answer,' Diamond said. 'Do not worry about me. I will be keeping my feet up and eating sweets and being shamelessly spoilt by the servants and relatives.'

'Almost makes me want to take a fall in the night,' Pippin quipped, and with a smile he was gone.

The pains started shortly before teatime, and the tween who was attending Diamond quickly rose to summon Healer Woodruff, who had spent the day only a few steps away in the living area of the Thain's suite.

'You're having some pain, Mistress?' she asked as she entered.

'Probably just false pains,' Diamond said, then gasped as another seized her. Woodruff hastened to examine her, then pulled the tween aside. 'Fetch Sandy,' she said, referring to the Thain's personal hobbitservant, 'and then go get the Thain.'

'Yes'm,' the tween answered, eyes wide, and with a quick bob she was gone.

Woodruff bent again to the bed, taking Diamond's hand. 'Steady, lass,' she said.

'It's too early,' Diamond gasped. 'Please, Woodruff, make it stop...'

'That's just what we're going to do, lass, be calm now, steady...' and the quiet authority in her voice stayed Diamond's panic. She lay quietly and looked trustingly up at the healer, who did not feel half so calm as she seemed.

When Sandy arrived, Woodruff gave him swift instructions, and with a nod he was off. Pippin arrived soon after, face anxious, but of course he put on a smile as soon as he entered the sleeping room.

'Hullo, my love,' he said. 'I know, I shouldn't work past teatime...'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Diamond said. 'This is not a ploy to pull you away from that desk.'

'I know,' he said quietly, raising her hand to his lips.

The pains were irregular, Woodruff was glad to note, and she told them that it was a good sign. When Sandy poked his head in the door, she rose, saying, 'I'll be back in a nonce.'

She was as good as her word, bringing glasses and the first of several bottles of brandy fetched by the hobbitservant from the cellars, some of the fine vintage produced by Brandy Hall, courtesy of Meriadoc Brandybuck, Master of Buckland.

'What's this?' Pippin asked.

'It can slow, even stop the contractions,' Woodruff said, pouring out a glassful. 'Here you go, Diamond. Drink up, now, there's a lass.'

'I thought you told me not to drink spirits,' Diamond said in bewilderment.

'We'll make a special exception in this case,' Woodruff said, pushing the glass towards Diamond's lips. Diamond drank obediently. The contractions continued.

Woodruff poured out another tumbler-ful, instructing Pippin to get it down his wife, and went out to the living area where she found water already boiling and herbs ready for the steeping.

Diamond obediently drank everything she was given, followed every direction of Woodruff's, tried to stay calm for the sake of the babe. When Faramir came in from playing, Pippin gave him a quick hug and sent him with his minder to sleep in his cousins' quarters for the night. Grimly, they fought on, but shortly before dawn it became apparent that they would lose the battle.

Pippin rose from the bed, where Diamond had fallen asleep, exhausted, in between the onslaughts of pain. He knew the pain would seize her again momentarily, that the babe could not be saved, that what they had tried to prevent was now inevitable. He hoped only that his wife would be spared, for Woodruff could not reassure him on her account, telling him only that they must watch and wait.

'I'll be right back,' he said to the healer. Finding Sandy in the living area, he sent the hobbitservant to waken Woodruff's husband and fetch him forthwith, then returned to Diamond's side just as the next pain seized her.

Within an hour it was over. The babe had been delivered, too tiny to survive, though the little lad clung tenaciously to life, struggling to draw breath into lungs that were not yet ready to embrace the air. Sadly, the Thain and his wife greeted their second son, saying their farewells scant moments later. Pippin held Diamond for a long time after, as she held their little one, until Woodruff finally took him away after his parent's final kisses, and then Pippin and Diamond held each other and sobbed until they had no more tears to weep.

Wearily, Woodruff stumbled from the room, stopping in surprise to see her own husband, called from sleep at the order of the Thain. He held out his arms, and she sought their refuge. She cried for a long time while he held her close, murmuring wordless comfort, for there were no words of any use.

***

Faramir was incredulous. 'My little brother's gone?' he said.

'Gone to be with your Gram,' Reginard Took said. 'She'll take good care of him, same's she did for you, lad.'

'He's gone?' Faramir said again. 'How?'

'It's something you'll know more about when you're older,' the steward said, falling back on the stock answer grown hobbits used to parry awkward questions. 'Just know that your parents need you to be extra good, right now. No mischief, do you hear?'

Faramir nodded, but he did not speak again, not even when his father came for him.

He walked along, holding his father's hand, to the burial, a look of bewilderment haunting his face, and he did not join in any of the songs, nor eat much at the feast that followed.

Pippin did not leave Diamond's side for a long time, and Regi and Ferdi between them conducted the business of the Thain, sending away any who insisted on doing business with the Thain personally. They understood, of course, seeing all the windows of the Smials hung with mourning.

One night, late, some days after the burial, Reginard was surprised to see light coming from the Thain's study. He cautiously pushed the door a little wider, to see Pippin at the great carven desk, his head pillowed on his arms, finally asleep. The Yellow Book lay open before him. Reginard gently drew the tome across the desk, his eyes automatically noting the last entry:

"6. April 1439, born to Diamond north-Took and Peregrin Took, son."

The blank space at the end of the entry spoke volumes; it would never be filled with a name, chosen by proud and hopeful parents, announced at a festive Naming Day celebration.

Reginard silently put the Yellow Book away, then carefully extricated the broken quill from between the Thain's fingers. Lighting a watch lamp, he blew out the other lamps that lit the study, and tiptoed from the darkened room.

***

Unfortunately, talk was all too common amongst the Tooks, and it was not long before Faramir found out about his mother's fall, in the middle of the night, because of his nightmare.

His parents saw him losing sleep and appetite and began to worry about their firstborn. Several of Farry's aunts, Pippin's cousins descended from his father's older sisters, noticed as well, and persuaded the Thain and his wife to let Faramir spend more time with their sons, lively lads who would perk up the grieving boy, take his mind off his troubles, entice him to play. They'd tire him out so that he could sleep, and jolly him into eating in the bargain.

It was a great comfort to have the support of family in a time like this.

3. Bad Company

'What did you want to talk to me about?' Pippin asked his special assistant. Ferdi had asked Regi to come a little late to the study this day, so that he might have a private word with the Thain.

Ferdi cleared his throat. Never at a loss for words, he had no idea how to say what he needed to say.

'It's Faramir,' he finally began. Instantly the Thain was alert, tense.

Ferdi held up a hand. 'Nothing like that,' he said. 'The lad's fine, eating well, sleeping again, seems to be full of spirits.'

'O you gave me a scare just now, Ferdi,' Pippin said, wiping his brow. 'Do not do that to me!'

'I'm sorry, cousin,' Ferdi apologised, 'it's just that...'

'What?' Pippin said.

'Those cousins of his are leading him astray,' Ferdi said.

'Which ones?' Pippin said. A reasonable question, since everyone at the Smials was cousin to everyone else in one degree or another.

'The ones he's been spending so much time with lately,' Ferdi said. 'Ever since...' He did not want to finish the sentence, but the Thain understood anyhow.

Pippin nodded, then looked puzzled. 'Astray?' he asked. 'Adelgrim, Palangrim, Odobard and Hildibald?'

'Those are the ones,' Ferdi said grimly.

'I cannot believe you, cousin, they're just high-spirited lads! What's a little mischief, after all? You and I did plenty of our own, in the old days. Nearly burned down the old Thain's stable, even.'

'They are leading him astray,' Ferdi reiterated. 'Not just pranks, mind, but serious mischief.'

'I cannot believe it,' Pippin repeated. 'They come of some of the finest families in the Smials! What are you on about?'

Holding on to his temper, Ferdi said, 'They may be the grandsons of your father's sisters, but they are trouble, Pip. Believe me.'

'I cannot,' Pippin said. 'What is this about?' He gave the other a searching glance. 'I know that Farry has not spent as much time in the company of your sons, lately...'

'No, for my sons do not spend time with those Tooks,' Ferdi answered.

Pippin shook his head. 'Ferdi,' he said seriously. 'I think you have an unreasonable prejudice against those families. I know that they were instrumental in your shunning, years back, but that was cleared up after my father died.'

'This has nothing to do with that,' Ferdi said in frustration. One simply did not shout at the Thain, no matter how blind and aggravating the hobbit might be acting. 'Your father put me under the ban, and it was his prerogative as Thain, unjust as it might have been. His sisters and their families didn't need to take such pleasure in carrying out his wishes, of course, but I can understand that they wanted to honour Thain Paladin's decision.' They still had avoided speaking to him, after the unjust ban was lifted, but that was beside the point.

'It is just that I do not think they are the best companions for your son.' Ferdi would not say the phrase "bad influence", but the words hung between them.

'Ferdi, Ferdi, Ferdi,' Pippin sighed, shaking his head. He put a soothing hand on his assistant's shoulder. Ferdi gritted his teeth and refrained from shaking it off. 'Calm yourself. Give the lads a chance. They're good lads, really, very polite and proper.'

Of course they were polite and proper in the Thain's presence. They weren't fools. That was part of the problem. Had they been fools, Faramir would not suffer their company.

'I cannot move you on this?' Ferdi said bleakly.

'I see no point in it,' Pippin said. Turning the subject, he added, 'We have a lot of business to cover this day; I'd suggest we get started.'

Ferdi sighed, and nodded.

'Very well,' he said.

***

That day at teatime, Ferdi had a serious talk with his children. Well, not his, not exactly, they were the children of his own Nell's first marriage, who'd become children of Ferdi's own heart when he married their widowed mother.

The topic, of course, was Faramir and his new bosom friends.

'They praise him and flatter him and laugh at his jokes, even the lame ones,' Rudivar, the eldest, said in frustration. 'They've turned his head, and he won't hear me.'

Ferdi made a difficult decision. 'Then you are not to associate with Faramir,' he said, and Rudivar, Odovar and Fredevar gasped. 'None of you,' he went on, looking from Rudi to his brothers. 'Not so long as he is going about with that crowd of cousins. Do you understand me?'

Rudi nodded slowly. 'I understand, Da, but...'

Ferdi shook his head. 'No, lad, I will not have your younger brothers spoilt... nor yourself, though I suspect you have too much sense to let that happen.'

'Yes, Da,' Rudi said obediently. Reluctantly, Odo and Freddy gave their word as well.

***

'Come with us!' Faramir called. 'We're off on an adventure!'

Rudi dug his toe in the dirt. 'I can't,' he said.

'O come on!' Faramir said. 'You've been busy every time I've invited you the past fortnight! Surely you're not busy today!'

'I've other fish to fry,' Rudi said sullenly. Faramir and the others had fishing poles over their shoulders; it looked as if they would be having much more fun this afternoon than he anticipated having himself. His da, Ferdi, was not going far from the Smials these days.

'Dunno where you'll find any, here at the Smials. Come along with us and you'll really have fish to fry,' Palangrim said.

'O leave the old stick-in-the-mud,' Odobard laughed. 'He'd just scare the fish away, anyhow, pulling that long face!'

'It's your burial,' Faramir said, turning to follow the others.

'No, more likely it's yours,' Rudi muttered after him, but of course Faramir didn't hear, running as he was to catch up with his cousins.

***

That evening, as Ferdi told stories by the cheerful fire on the hearth, Pimpernel gave a gasp. He broke off, anxious. 'What is it, Nell, my love?' he asked. 'Is it the babe?'

'No,' she said, then, 'Well, yes, it is, but not in the way you meant. He's not coming this minute, or even this night, but he is kicking hard enough to take my breath away.'

She looked around the circle of expectant children and said brightly, 'Your brother's dancing, who'd like to greet him?' An eager chorus broke out, and they swarmed around their mother, laying eager hands on her swollen belly, each one exclaiming as he or she felt the movement of the newest member of the family, eagerly awaited, and due any day.

4. Slippery Sons

On Mid-day of April, Faramir was late to tea. Pippin was careful to come a little early to the Thain's private quarters, to spare Diamond the walk to his study to fetch him. He found her on the sofa with her feet up, and smiled.

'You are looking better today, my dear,' he said.

She forced a smile in return, holding out a hand to him, which he took, tenderly dropping a kiss on the palm before settling beside her.

'I am sure the armful of wildflowers had something to do with that,' she said softly, nodding towards the vase on the mantel.

'Wildflowers?' he affected surprise. 'Wherever did they come from?'

'I'd imagine some Thain or other sent his special assistant out into the pouring rain to gather them this morning, early, before anyone else was about,' Diamond said dryly.

'Thains can be such tyrants,' Pippin said severely. 'There should be a law against that sort of thing.'

'O my love,' Diamond said, and buried her head in his shoulder. He held her gently until she was again in control of herself, pulled out a handkerchief, carefully dabbed at her eyes as if she were a child. She nodded, and he put the handkerchief away again.

'What's for tea?' he said affecting an appetite, but Diamond was not fooled.

She shot him a reproving glance as she answered, 'Dried apple tarts.'

'Mmmm,' he lied. 'Sounds delicious.' The hardest part of fighting to keep his health was eating, when so few foods had any flavour to his poor battered taste. Ever since the Old Gaffer's Friend* had tried to drag him into the grave a few years back, he'd fought grimly to hold on to the edge, and not topple the rest of the way.

Sandy efficiently poured out the tea to the taste of Thain (black and strong) and Mistress (lots of milk, a little sweetening), fixed a cup of cambric tea for Faramir (mostly milk, warmed with hot water, just a taste of tea, and lots of sweetening), and deftly served the plates, stopping blankly when he brought Faramir's portion over.

'Where's Farry?' the Thain asked, nodding his thanks and taking a sip of scalding tea, hot and black, just the way he liked it.

'He's late,' Diamond said.

'I had noticed that,' Pippin returned. 'Sandy, go scour the Smials, find Faramir. He knows better than to be late to tea.'

'Very good, Sir,' the hobbitservant said, retiring with a dignified bow. He looked in all the likely places, then started to check the unlikely ones. Snagging a few other servants, he expanded the search, until the entire Smials had been scoured from topmost storage rooms to bottom cellars, and the search had expanded to the yard and outbuildings.

The Thain and Mistress had just finished their tea, having decided that undoubtedly their son had been invited to tea by one of his cousins, when Sandy returned with the news that their son was nowhere to be found.

'His pony's gone,' he added, bracing himself for the explosion, for even after three and a half years of working for this Thain, he still sometimes forgot the differences between the old Thain and his son.

'In this weather?' Pippin said mildly, and Sandy relaxed slightly. 'Who went out with him?'

'All of the escort are still in the Smials,' Sandy said apprehensively.

'He's out without an escort?' Pippin said, raising an eyebrow. Faramir was only eight, over-young to be out of the Smials without adult supervision. 'I cannot believe that someone would saddle his pony for him and let him go without question.' His temper was beginning to rise, Sandy saw, but of course this Thain's anger blew cold, not hot like his father's before him. The hobbitservant did not want to get caught in the freeze.

'Certainly not, Sir,' he answered.

'Perhaps he's out with his cousins,' Diamond put in smoothly, but could not completely conceal her worry. Pippin rose abruptly.

'Do not worry yourself, my dear,' he said briskly. 'I will get to the bottom of this.' His tone did not bode well for Faramir's minder, or the escort, should they be found wanting.

The minder, however, had a plausible explanation. 'Palangrim came early to say his mum had invited the lad to spend the day in their quarters,' he said. 'I thought he was to come back to you in time for tea.'

The Thain went to the door of his cousin's suite. 'Poppy, why didn't you send word that Faramir was to take tea with you this day?'

Poppy raised a refined eyebrow in elegant surprise. 'He's not here,' she said. 'Palangrim told me he'd be spending the day in your quarters, for Farry had a new game to show him.' She looked down her nose at the Thain. 'Do not tell me you have lost our sons,' she said haughtily.

Pippin held tightly to his temper. 'It seems that they have lost themselves,' he said evenly. 'I knew nothing about it until just now. I would expect Palangrim to be more responsible, being twice Farry's age...'

'Well,' Poppy said languidly, 'be sure and let me know when you find them again. P'rhaps I shall send Palangrim to bed without supper, silly lad, to stir up such a hornet's nest. And Diamond not well...'

'Diamond is well,' Pippin said between his teeth. 'And I will let you know. Believe me, I shall.' With a sharp nod, he turned from the door, followed by Sandy and Farry's minder.

The Thain went to the second parlour, where the escort were to be found. Tolly and Hilly were battling it out in a game of Kings, while Adelard reclined on a sofa, lips moving as he studied the book he held above his face.

'All nice and cosy, I see,' Pippin snapped, and all jumped to attention. 'Tell me why I'm feeding the lot of you.'

'Sir?' Tolly said.

'Farry's apparently out without an escort,' Pippin said. 'His pony's gone. I haven't checked, yet, to see how many of his cousins' ponies are missing as well.'

Tolly nodded to Hilly, who darted from the room. 'May I have Ferdibrand, Sir?' he asked quietly. 'He's the best tracker I know.'

'I will spare him for the day,' Pippin said shortly. 'I'll send him to you in the stables.'

'Yes, Sir,' Tolly and Adelard said together, and he was off. 'Water rations, for certain,' Tolly said under his breath. 'And it's probably his minder's fault for not minding him in the first place.' Adelard nodded glumly. They picked up their cloaks, Tolly taking Hilly's as well, for the latter had run out to the stables without it.

Hilly met them at the stable door, taking his cloak "for all the good it'll do", for he was already damp from the short cloakless run from Smials to stables. 'Five ponies gone,' he said. Tolly nodded. He could guess whose.

Ferdibrand arrived then, settling his cloak more firmly around him. 'Someone spilled the bucket,' he said, shaking rain from his hair. 'What have we got?' Tolly rapidly filled him in, and he shook his head. 'Tracking's going to be a bit of a challenge, in this,' he said, indicating the rain. 'Still, time is a wasting. Ponies saddled?'

Tolly nodded. 'Good,' Ferdi said. 'Lead them out after me when I signal.' He went out into the yard, scouting the edges where the stones ended, until he straightened suddenly and waved. The escort, leading their ponies and his as well, walked across the yard.

'Quite a little group went out this way,' he said. 'Might have been five ponies. We'll walk, the better to follow the trail.' The others nodded glumly, and Tolly pulled his cloak a little tighter about his neck. They continued to follow the faint trail, which proceeded across the meadow towards the next large hill.

'Nice weather for an outing,' Hilly murmured to Adelard, and Tolly hushed him.

'Where would I go on a rainy day?' Ferdi was humming to himself, making a song of it. 'I'd stay in my hole, not wander away.' Breaking off abruptly, he said. 'The old diggings, d'you think? A nice place to play, and out of the rain.'

'The old diggings?' Tolly said, his breath hissing in sharply. 'They've been warned against going there.'

'Makes it all the more enticing, then, doesn't it?' Ferdi said dryly. 'Don't tell me you never did what you were warned against.'

'But...' Tolly protested. Ferdi stopped, took his reins from Tolly, swung up on his pony.

'Come along,' he said. 'The tracks are making a beeline towards the old silver mine. I'd wager the lads are to be found there, having a nice picnic of pilfered food, waiting for the rain to stop, and probably don't even know it's past teatime and the fat is in the fire.' The others followed suit, making good time to the abandoned mine, halfway up the next biggest hill to the one containing the Great Smials.

* The Old Gaffer's Friend: a Shire term for pneumonia, which took the elderly relatively quickly and painlessly

Chapter 5. Digging Out

The trail wound around the base of the big hill and up the backside in a zigzag until it reached a flat area halfway up, a kind of doorstep for the abandoned silver workings dug into the hillside. Here five hobbled ponies cropped away at the grass, not seeming to mind the steady drizzle.

'Aha,' Ferdibrand said, pulling his pony to a stop. 'Methinks we are on the trail.'

'Methinks we have arrived,' Tolly said, 'and not a moment too soon. Looks as if another downpour is about to start.'

'Let us seek shelter, then, within yonder hole,' Ferdi said.

'No need to talk like a storybook,' Hilly grumbled. 'Let us get out of the rain, and gather up the errant lads, and restore them to the bosom of their families.'

'Now who's talking like a book?' Ferdi wanted to know.

'Hah,' was Hilly's rejoinder, as he kicked his pony into motion. They reached the opening, with its posted warnings: "Danger! Abandoned mine! Do not enter!" and a red-painted hand, the time-honoured symbol to tell illiterate hobbits to halt, and go no further.

'Faramir!' Ferdi called, peering into the darkness. Strange that there was no sign of the lads; perhaps they'd heard the riders pull up and were hiding. But what was the point? Their ponies were in plain view outside. 'Faramir! Adelgrim! Palangrim! Odobard! Hildibald! Lads! Time to come home!'

A slight rumble answered him, a sliding of small stones and dirt.

'Stay back,' he told the others. He advanced into the mine, tripping upon something on the floor. Stooping down, he found a bag, and reaching in, found the remnants of a picnic. The bread was still fresh, packed that day, it seemed.

Ferdi waited, though it took patience, letting his eyes grow accustomed to the dim light. He was careful to keep his back to the opening. When he fancied he could see somewhat, he cautiously made his way further into the mine, calling softly. He didn't go far before he ran up against obstruction: putting his hands out, he felt dirt, rock, broken boards. The dirt was soft and crumbly, a fresh fall, then.

Spinning, he ran back to the entrance. 'Ride for the engineers,' he said to Tolly. 'There's a fresh fall in there. I suspect the lads are on the other side of it.'

'Trapped?' Hilly gasped, as Tolly swung aboard his pony and kicked it into a run across the plateau, to where the trail began its meandering descent.

'I hope they are trapped,' Ferdi said grimly. 'Better than being under it all.'

***

They weren't all that far from the Great Smials, and the engineers came relatively quickly, accompanied by the fathers of the missing lads, including Thain Peregrin. 'There are waggons coming, with shoring timbers, and more hobbits with mattocks and shovels,' Aldebrand, the chief engineer told Ferdibrand. Looking towards the Smials, Ferdi could see the waggons in the valley below.

'What are the chances they are still alive in there?' Pippin said.

'Good,' Aldebrand answered thoughtfully. 'As long as they didn't get caught in the fall. The workings go back quite a ways; they'll have plenty of air. I doubt they went very far in; there's a large crack about fifty paces from the door where the floor fell in some years back.' He scratched his head. 'And, from what you say, they've only been gone a few hours... since breakfast, at the earliest?'

'That's right,' Redibard Took said. 'Odo said he was going to Adel's hole to play for the day, and that was right after second breakfast.'

'Right,' Aldebrand said. 'Well, it's pretty unstable. We'll have to have some shoring timbers in place before we start to dig. You might as well make yourselves comfortable until the waggons get here.'

The four fathers settled uneasily, jumping up as soon as the jingle of harnesses was heard outside. Shouting hobbits jumped down, pulling boards from the first waggon. Willing hands helped to set them in place under the direction of Aldebrand, and his chief assistant Samenthal, while Everard Took organised the diggers, some to loosen the dirt and rock, others to scrape it aside, and a last group to shovel the loose dirt into buckets and empty them outside.

The work was going smoothly, when Ferdibrand noticed, in the torchlight, the Thain's pallor. 'Cousin?' he said. 'Are you well?'

'Just a little stuffy in here, is all,' Pippin said, his eyes on the progressing tunnel.

Ferdibrand had noticed a tingle in his nose, something he associated with mold and mildew, and he wondered how the Thain's lungs might be affected by such a thing.

'Perhaps we should go outside, seek some fresh air,' he said, eyeing Pippin keenly. He half expected a refusal, but to his surprise, the Thain agreed.

'Yes,' he said, 'I could use some fresh air.' Ferdi trailed him out of the mine entrance, catching him when he staggered on the threshold.

'Pippin?' he asked.

'Just... having a bit of trouble catching my breath, is all,' his cousin answered. His breath came in gasps, and he leaned against Ferdi as they stood in the rain.

'Steady,' Ferdi said, easing him down. 'Tolly!' he snapped. Tolly came quickly, seeing the Thain sitting on the ground.

'Get some shovels and a canvas out of the waggons,' Ferdi said, 'and send Hilly for a healer, right away. I'm surprised one didn't come with you when you fetched the engineers.'

Tolly dispatched Hilly to collect his hobbled pony and put the saddle back on, then fetched the wanted items. Ferdi jammed the shovels into the soil, laying the canvas over the top to make a makeshift shelter from the rain, then he crouched to address Pippin. 'Pip,' he said. 'Is the air out here any better?'

'It might be,' Pippin answered, 'if I could just persuade my lungs to take it in.' Ferdi nodded, worried.

'It seems there is a spate of babes aborning this day,' Tolly said, also crouching. 'All the healers are already occupied.'

'Babes?' Ferdi said sharply. 'What of my Nell?' he asked.

Tolly shook his head. 'Happily, she's still waiting.' Or unhappily, as it were. Ferdi's wife had been ready to have it over with for more than a fortnight, according to Ferdi.

Hilly came up then, to say he was ready. 'Get a healer,' Ferdi told him, 'preferably Woodruff, but I'll settle for Mardibold. Perhaps they can have their patients hurry things along, or else hold off a bit...'

'It's clear you've never been a father,' Pippin said.

'No,' Ferdi snapped, 'I'm just a da to Nell's children. Rudivacar was the children's father; he was at all their births. But I've a birth to be attending any day now.'

'Just don't tell Nell to hurry things along or hold off a bit,' Pippin gasped.

'You save your breath to cool your porridge and let me worry about Nell,' Ferdi said shortly.

'I'd save it if I could get a breath,' Pippin said. Hilly gave his shoulder a squeeze and turned away to mount his pony and take off at a run across the plateau, and on down the switchback trail, across the plain, around the back of the Smials, and on to Tuckborough.

Ferdi took off his own heavy wool cloak and eased it under Pippin. 'Shouldn't be sitting on the damp ground,' he muttered.

'And you shouldn't be standing in the rain, you'll catch your death,' Pippin retorted, but his words turned into a cough, which constricted his breathing even more. At the end, he whispered, 'Everything's closing up, Ferdi, I can't...'

'Hold on,' Ferdi said. He watched the workers bringing their steady stream of buckets out of the mine, emptying the dirt to the side. Quite a nice pile was growing. 'They're making good progress, it seems, Pip,' he said, to take their minds off the problem of breathing. He sat down next to Pippin, holding him upright to help his breathing, remembering how the healers kept him propped in a sitting position whenever he had a bad spell.

'Hold on, Pip,' he said again, and his cousin turned to look at him blearily.

'Air everywhere,' Pippin said, waving vaguely at the panorama below them, 'but none for me, it seems.' He closed his eyes, the better to concentrate on drawing each new breath. Ferdibrand could hear the air whistling in and out, an ominous sound.

'Where are those blasted healers!' he snapped, and Tolly looked at him in astonishment. It was even more worrisome, that Pippin did not open his eyes and reprimand him for swearing. Suddenly, Tolly pointed. 'There,' he said. Ferdi looked, and saw two ponies, crossing the plain at a gallop.

'They're coming, Pip,' he said encouragingly, but the Thain gave no sign of hearing.

It seemed to take forever, but was really not much longer before Healer Woodruff pulled up her steaming pony before them and jumped down, running the few steps to the Thain and kneeling on the wet ground. 'Thain Peregrin,' she said urgently. 'Are you with us?'

She spoke to Ferdibrand as she pulled up Pippin's shirt, smearing pungent ointment over his chest, and then over his back for good measure. 'How long ago did he speak last?' she asked.

'It was awhile,' Ferdi said. 'When you were perhaps halfway across the plain.'

She nodded, calculating, then pulled out a flask. 'It's not hot anymore,' she said to Pippin, 'but it's been steeping a good long time, so it's good and strong.' She viciously pinched an earlobe between thumb and finger, digging in her nails. 'Come on, Thain, rouse yourself, don't make me use a feeding tube.'

Pippin groaned and lifted his head. Woodruff released his ear, saying, 'That's right. Come now, drink up.' She held the flask to his lips and tilted. Pippin made a terrible face and she said, 'I know, it's awful stuff, but it'll open things up for you. Drink!'

After she got the contents of the flask down, she took his wrist in her hand and sat back on her heels. 'His heart is strong,' she said. 'Now if we can just get those air passages opened up...' She looked at Ferdi again. 'Mold, was it?'

'I think so,' Ferdi said. Woodruff nodded and turned her attention back to Pippin. It seemed to Ferdi that he was already breathing easier, and soon he opened his eyes and tried to sit up on his own.

'That's better,' Woodruff said. 'Let us get you back to the Smials.'

'No,' Pippin said. 'The lads...'

From inside the hole came a cheer. Ferdi said, 'Sounds as if we don't have to worry about the lads anymore.' He jerked his head at Tolly, and the latter entered the mine, only to return with a grin.

'All safe,' he said. 'Very dirty, but safe.'

'Very dirty,' Pippin said. 'That's a bonus. Hardly fair. They get an adventure, they get lots of attention, and they get very dirty. What punishment can overcome such advantages, I ask you?'

'Go saddle the ponies, Tolly,' Ferdi said. 'I assume the Thain's better riding back to the Smials with us propping him in the saddle, than lying down in a waggon bed.'

'You're probably right,' Healer Woodruff said thoughtfully. 'A smoother ride, and propped up is better than lying down, any road.'

'We'll make a healer of you yet, Ferdi,' Pippin said.

Ferdibrand shuddered. 'Spare me,' he said. 'Nobody ever listens to healers.'

'I can attest to that,' Woodruff said dryly. A crowd came out, then, grown hobbits leading blinking boys into the rainy daylight. The Took cousins' fathers had firm hold of their sons, and Aldebrand led Faramir to the Thain.

'Here he is, Sir, none the worse for wear. A bit hungry, perhaps,' he said.

Pippin looked up to Faramir's grimy face. 'What do you have to say for yourself?' he asked.

'Nothing, Sir,' came the answer.

Pippin lifted an eyebrow. 'Nothing? he asked. 'Not even a thank you to those who dug you out of that pit?'

'Thank you,' Faramir said, grudgingly, to the engineer.

Aldebrand eyed him closely. 'I'd say "Welcome", were the thanks more heartfelt,' he said.

'I'm sure my father will make it worth your while,' Faramir said sullenly, and Ferdi sucked in his breath. Pippin stiffened beside him.

'Faramir,' his voice cracked, and the lad had the good grace to flinch.

'I beg your pardon, sir,' the lad said to everyone and nobody, then added, 'Can we go, now?'

'Take him home for me, Aldi?' Pippin said. 'I'll deal with him when we get back to the Smials.'

'Certainly, Sir,' the chief engineer said with grave courtesy, taking Faramir's arm and leading him away.

As they walked away, they heard Faramir protest, 'I'm not a babe, that you have to carry me.'

'Could have surprised me, lad, the way you're acting,' was the engineer's reply, and then they passed out of earshot.

'Whatever's the matter with him?' Pippin asked in disbelief.

'He's merely reflecting the company he keeps,' Ferdi said quietly. He refrained from saying I told you so, but Pippin could see it in his eyes, and he nodded soberly.

6. Kicking at the Traces Diamond hugged her son, dirt and all, but his sullenness did not escape her.

'Not your fault?' she said in surprise. 'They bound you and forced you, pony-back? The ruffians!'

Faramir did not smile, merely tightened his lips and shuffled his feet. He was altogether too grown-up for an eight-year-old.

'Perhaps these cousins are too old for you to be going about with them,' Pippin said quietly. His breathing was easier than it had been at the abandoned mine, but there was no hiding the pungent odor of the salve. Diamond and Faramir both knew he'd had another bad spell, and it didn't help matters.

'No!' Faramir shouted. 'Just because you cannot follow where I go, doesn't mean you have to tie me to the Smials...' he stopped, shocked by his own words.

'You will bathe, and go off to your bed,' Pippin said evenly, and the fingers of Faramir's minder tightened on the boy's shoulders. 'You'll be on water rations for the rest of today, and tomorrow, to help you think on the consequences of your actions.' He'd be in good company. The minder, Stoney, and the escort were on water rations as well.

'Pippin...' Faramir heard his mother say as he was led away to the bath.

'No, Diamond, Ferdi was right...' his father was saying as the door closed behind them.

***

In the depths of the night, when all in the Smials were asleep save the bakers, shaping the loaves for early breakfast, and the guards who stood outside the entrances to the Smials, even in these times of peace, a small figure stole down the quiet, darkened corridors, eased open the door of the Thain's private quarters, and slipped inside.

Creeping on silent hobbit feet, he entered Faramir's bedroom, slipped noiselessly to the bedside, put a hand over Faramir's mouth. The son of the Thain came instantly awake, eyes wide with alarm, but recognising young Palangrim in the light of the watchlamp, he relaxed.

Palangrim smiled and nodded, pulling out a handkerchief stuffed with food. He put his lips close to Faramir's ear. 'I heard,' he breathed. 'Saved you half my supper.' He pressed the handkerchief into Faramir's hands, and with a glance at the snoring minder, he glided from the room.

Faramir wasted no time eating the cold, somewhat flattened food, thinking all the while how good it was to have a true friend.

***

The next few days were boring, forbidden as he was from playing with his friends. Palangrim brought him more food the next night, both young hobbits having to smother giggles at his boldness, and the stupidity of the grown-ups. Faramir barely kept his expression sober, at his first meal following the enforced fast. He had to stare at his plate and bite the inside of his lip, hard, when his father said, 'I hope you have thought on your actions.'

'Yes, Sir,' he muttered.

'Farry, look at me,' Pippin said, but Faramir kept his eyes on his plate. Pippin sighed. 'No need to be ashamed,' he said. 'We all make errors in judgment, at some time.'

Some more than others, Faramir thought to himself. From the stories he'd heard, his father had made more than his share. He didn't answer, and Pippin let it go, thinking his son properly chastised.

Faramir moped around the Thain's quarters for a day or two, refusing to play, even when Ferdibrand's son Rudivar stopped by to invite him. Rudi was so perishingly dull. He almost never participated in the mischief that the other lads thought so diverting.

'We haven't banned you from all your friends, you know,' Diamond said.

'I know,' Faramir answered. 'I just don't feel like playing.' He buried his nose in a book to forestall further comment. Diamond sighed. At least he was eating with good appetite, so she wouldn't worry about his spirits.

That night, Palangrim made another daring visit, and the two laid plans in whispers.

The next day, Faramir looked up at breakfast. 'I'd like to play with Rudi this day, if I may,' he said.

'That's a fine idea,' Pippin replied with a smile. 'Rudi's a good friend.' He drained his teacup and set it precisely on the saucer. 'Well, my loves, I must be off if I am to finish the day's work by teatime,' he said. He kissed Diamond, and ruffled Faramir's curls. 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do,' he added with a grin.

'I won't,' Faramir promised. After all, his father had done any number of stupid things in his youth. What Farry and Palan were planning hardly held a candle to him.

Faramir did seek out Rudi, and they played through the morning hours. He even sent word to Diamond that he would share the noontide meal with Rudi's family, and so he did. Shortly after that, as the two lads were tossing pony shoes in the yard, Faramir manufactured an argument and stalked away. Rudivar called after him, but he stiffened his shoulders and shook his head, plainly furious. Since Farry was headed into the stables, probably to feed apples to his pony, or maybe his father's, Rudi shrugged and turned away. Faramir couldn't get into trouble with the stable hobbits present.

At the far end of the stables, in an empty stall, Palangrim slapped Faramir on the back. 'Nicely done!' he said. 'You got rid of that old stick-in-the-mud very neatly, I'd say.'

'Yes, and he won't be calling Stoney back to duty anytime soon,' Faramir whispered. 'They figure that I'll spend an hour or two talking to the ponies and grooming them, 'cause that's what I always do when I'm mad.'

'You're not mad now, are you, cousin?' Palangrim said with a grin. He shook his head in delight. 'A neat trick, very neat indeed. They'll never miss us.'

'Where are the others?' Faramir asked.

'Gone ahead; they have the fishing gear and worms and everything, even a snack,' Palan answered. He poked his head out of the stall, to see no stable hobbits nearby. 'All's clear... come on!' The two eased themselves out of the stall, and out the side door of the stables with no one the wiser, save an old pony that pricked its ears at them and snorted in annoyance when they didn't stop to chat.

When Pippin missed Faramir at tea that afternoon, Diamond said, 'O that's right, he's taking tea with Ferdi's family this day.'

'Ah,' Pippin said. 'I'm glad to hear it.'

7. A Fishing Expedition

After tea, Ferdi kissed Nell and then put his lips close to her protruding belly. 'So, little one,' he said. 'And when are we to be greeting you, I'd like to know?' He put an ear to the spot and nodded solemnly while the children giggled.

'Should he tell you, be sure to pass on the news,' Pimpernel said. 'I am heartily weary of the waiting.'

'I never pass on gossip,' he said severely, shaking his head at her, 'but if he should tell me he's ready to come out, you'll be the first to know.'

'Somehow, I believe you have the right of it,' Pimpernel sighed, and he patted her belly gently.

'You be good for your mum, now,' he said, and rising, added, 'Nell, my own, would it be all right if I take young Rudi out for an hour or three this afternoon? We thought we'd seek for birds' nests, to see how Mistress Spring is coming along.'

'When would you be back?' Pimpernel asked, holding out a hand.

He took it and squeezed gently. 'Well before late supper,' he replied. 'I don't fancy stumbling about in the dark. Might end up with a footful of egg, should we be observing the ground-nesting birds at the time.'

Rudi made a sound of disgust, and his mother laughed. 'Very well,' Pimpernel said. 'The babe has shown no signs of arriving in the next hour or three, so take yourselves off.'

It was a misty day, after the previous days' hard rains, the Sun hiding her face behind heavy clouds as the twain tramped along. They started in the field, walked to the skirts of the little wood, quietly marked several nests as they walked. The woods opened up as they began to climb.

Partway up a hill, they were hailed by a panting, mud-covered youth. 'Help!' he cried. 'Please, help!' Ferdi caught him as he collapsed.

'What is it?' he snapped, recognising Palangrim Took, one of the worst troublemakers in the Smials. 'Is this some kind of prank? Get the whole Smials out on a bogus search, whilst you and your fellows sit dry and snug by the fire and chuckle over your tea?'

'No!' the lad gasped. 'No, we were fishing...'

'Fishing,' Ferdi said sceptically. 'In this? Stream's running too fast for that, 'tis much too dangerous.' The Tuckbourn, chuckling ankle-deep in the summer months, was a raging torrent in the spring freshet, dangerously swift, and deep enough to close over the head of the tallest hobbit, even were he able to keep his feet in the current.

'I know,' Palan said desperately, clutching at the grown-up's arm. 'Stream cut under the bank, the trail fell in, it washed away...' The rest of his words were washed away in bitter sobbing.

'Someone's in the stream?' Ferdi said, fear clenching his guts. Still sobbing, the lad nodded.

'Who?' he snapped.

'My brother, Faramir, and Odobard,' Palan said, finding his voice. 'Hildibald had to stay home, his parents were punishing him for going off to the mine.'

'Faramir!' Ferdibrand exclaimed. It was horror enough to lose three youngsters in one terrible happening, but to have one of them the only son of the Thain... 'Where?'

'The bluff,' Palan sobbed. Ferdi nodded, he knew the spot. The best fishing hole near the Smials was on the other side of a large hill, reached by a trail that wound up the hill, along a bluff overlooking the stream, and down again.

'Rudi,' he said now. 'Run for help. Ropes, for starters, and anybody that knows how to swim.' There were a few Brandybucks visiting. Pippin knew how to swim as well, and he was Faramir's father in the bargain, though Ferdi didn't know what he could do in the raging torrent, and with his lungs the way they were. 'Tell the fathers of the lads, as well.' Rudi nodded and took off at a run. He had a good hour before he'd reach the Smials, Ferdi calculated.

Turning to Palan, he said, 'Get up. Take me to where they fell.' The bodies would wash up well downstream, of course, but he needed to know the starting point for the search.

They slipped and slid up the muddy trail to the bluff, Palan pulling Ferdi to a stop just as they reached the top. Ferdi threw himself down in the mud, peering over the edge. He could see the stream below, churning white, singing a song of rage and triumph... but what was that, on the edge of the stream?

'Farry!' he shouted. 'Odo! Adel!' There were only two figures there, bedraggled and mud-covered, impossible to distinguish who they were, clinging desperately to some tree roots. A white face looked up, and Ferdi felt the clench of fear ease almost imperceptibly. Faramir had not drowned! ...not yet, anyhow.

'Help!' Faramir cried. 'I don't know how long we can hold...' A little more of the bank crumbled into the stream, and he paid more heed to his handhold, shifting his grip to more secure-seeming roots. Ferdi reached down, as far as he dared, but could not reach the lads.

'Hold on!' he shouted. 'I'm coming down to you!'

'No!' Faramir cried. The other lad looked up silently, and Palan sobbed his brother's name.

Ferdi found a fallen branch, blown down in a recent storm, not yet cleared away by the foresters. He tested it, and it seemed sound enough, not rotten. He extended it over the bank, down towards the young hobbits. 'Grab hold!' he shouted.

Faramir shook his head. 'Can't!' he panted. 'It's all I can do to hold on, here.' The other young hobbit didn't answer, just clung grimly to his own tree roots.

Ferdi urged them, but neither moved to grab at the branch. Finally, in frustration, he sat back on his heels. From the look of the bank, they wouldn't be safe there all that much longer. 'Here,' he said suddenly to Palangrim, indicating the branch. 'Take hold. We'll use it like a rope. I'll climb down as you steady it.'

The lad nodded. He was nearly a tween, and big and strong for his age. 'I could go,' he said bravely. 'You could hold the branch.'

'No,' Ferdi shook his head. 'I know how to swim, a little. I doubt that you do.' He'd had to learn, on Pippin's insistence, as part of his duties in working for the Thain. A distasteful chore, but coming in handy now, it seemed.

Palan nodded again, bracing himself as best he could in the mud, grasping the branch firmly. Ferdi took hold, turned feet-first to the stream, started to climb down the branch. Just like tree-climbing, he told himself, firmly ignoring the roar of the ravening stream. Easy as pie.

Reaching the lads, he took hold of the nearest, but unaccountably the lad resisted him, holding tighter to the sturdy roots sticking out of the clay. 'Come now,' he said through his teeth. 'You've got to climb.' He saw now that the mud-smeared face belonged to Odobard. Palangrim's brother must have been the one washed away.

'Farry,' he said, but the Thain's son shook his head.

'Take Odo up first,' Faramir answered. 'I have a good grip, here.' In fact, his roots were thicker than Odo's, and Ferdi nodded. He grabbed hold of a thick root between the boys with one hand, loosening and removing his belt with the other. He passed the belt around the thickest of the roots, then around Faramir, fumbling the buckle closed with one hand. Having broken an arm in the past, having to manage one-handed while it healed, certainly made things easier at the moment...

'That'll keep you, for the nonce,' he said, and turned to Odo again. 'Come, Odo,' he said. 'Time to climb out of here. You'll be late for supper.' He gently pried one of the lad's hands free of the roots, placing it firmly on the branch. 'Come, Odo,' he said again, loosing his own hold of the branch to grab at roots. 'Climb up. You're keeping Farry waiting; he's next, you know.'

Odobard swallowed hard. His hand gripped the branch more tightly, then his other hand loosed the roots. He did not look at Ferdibrand, but the adult hobbit squeezed him on the shoulder with his free hand. 'That's it,' he said encouragingly. 'Just like climbing a tree. Off you go.' Odo began to climb, slow but sure, as Palan steadied the branch.

'We're nearly home,' Ferdi said conversationally to Faramir. 'What d'you suppose we'll be having for supper?'

'Water rations for me,' Faramir said glumly.

Ferdi laughed. 'Could be worse,' he said. 'Water from a mug sounds a lot more inviting than water from the stream, at the moment.'

'You have the right of it,' Faramir said, watching Odo's slow climb. He was nearly to the top, and Palan had loosed one hand from the branch, reaching it out to Odobard, to help him up onto more stable ground.

'I'm glad my Nell cannot see me now,' Ferdi said cheerily. 'She'd have the babe out of sheer consternation, not to mention I would never live it down...' Just then, more of the bank crumbled away beneath him, throwing his weight fully upon the tree roots to which he clung... roots that did not hold his weight, but gave way...

Faramir cried out in horror as the stream claimed its second hobbit of the day, closing over Ferdi's head and sweeping him away. A moment later, there was no sign that he'd been there at all, save his belt, buckling the son of the Thain securely to a sturdy root above the raging waters.

8. Consequences

'Don't look,' Palan said to Odo, who had hesitated at Farry's cry. He pushed his hand out further. 'Here, take my hand,' he said. Odo reached, their hands met, Palan got a firm grip on Odo's wrist and hauled him upward. The branch slipped from his grasp as Odo kicked his feet against the slippery mud, trying for purchase. Palan hauled stubbornly, and at last both lads were panting on safer ground.

'Are you well?' Palan asked, and Odo nodded. 'Good,' he said, 'Stay here.' He crawled to the brink again, peering down, to see only Faramir. He rubbed his eyes, but the scene below did not change. Ferdibrand was gone. He craned to look as far as he could downstream, a vain hope.

A crowd of hobbits came up the path, leading ponies. 'Where's Ferdibrand?' the Thain snapped.

Odo pointed to the edge. 'He climbed down to help Farry and me,' he said.

'Farry!' the Thain exclaimed, but the youth was too exhausted and sick at heart, having seen Adelgrim swept away, to say any more. He did not yet know of the loss of Ferdi; Palan had not told him.

The Thain went to the edge, where Tolly and Adelard were peering over. 'Is Ferdi down there?' he asked.

'Ferdi?' Tolly said, surprised and alarmed. 'All I see is Faramir.'

'Farry!' Pippin shouted to his son. 'Hold on! Help is coming!'

Hilly had secured a rope to a sturdy tree and now held it ready. 'Adelard,' Pippin said, 'You're the best swimmer of the lot, you go down.'

'Yes, Sir,' Adelard replied calmly, while Tolly let his breath out in a sigh. He'd not been looking forward to the descent, himself, but Adel might have been born a goat for all his lack of fear of heights, or a fish, for his poise in the face of a dip in the roaring stream. He made a good addition to the escort, for all he was recently appointed to the position.

Adelard adjusted his leather gloves, tied a loop about his waist, took a firm grasp on the rope, turned his feet towards the stream, and began the descent, lowered slowly by the other rescuers. When he reached Faramir, the lad had buried his face in his arms. 'Where's Ferdi?' Adelard asked, but Faramir did not answer.

The escort saw to his unease that Faramir was buckled to a sturdy root with Ferdi's belt, easily recognisable, with its intricate tooling. 'Farry?' he said, but the lad made no answer. 'Farry, look at me.'

He was going to need another rope, for it looked as if the son of the Thain was not capable of climbing up himself. He called up to the watchers above, and soon another length of rope was lowered to him. He grabbed at the end, looped it swiftly about Faramir, called to the hobbits above to take up the slack, and released the belt. He watched as Faramir was hauled upwards to safety, his father grabbing him at the top, throwing both arms around him in a fierce hug.

The bank was crumbling away beneath him, and Adelard was glad for the rope securely knotted about his middle. With Faramir safely on solid ground, the rescuers turned their hands to hauling him up the slippery slope. He was covered with mud by the time he crawled over the lip, but he had tucked the belt into his shirt, and it was relatively clean and unscathed as he pulled it out and extended it to the Thain, who was still embracing his son. Hildigrim Took, on the other hand, had been apprised of the loss of his younger son, and he and Palangrim clung to each other, the one blank with shock, the other weeping bitterly.

Pippin looked from the belt to Adelard's grim face. 'Ferdi?' he said, realisation dawning in his face even as it struggled with disbelief.

Adelard shook his head. 'I saw no sign of him,' he said.

'The water took him,' Faramir sobbed into his father's shirt. 'It took him away.'

'No,' Pippin said softly, in pain. His arms tightened unconsciously on his son.

'We should start the search, Sir,' Tolly said respectfully, his own heart wrung with sorrow and anger that he was too proud to show. Just as they were leaving the Smials, word had come that Pimpernel was at last reaching the end of her confinement, and he had looked forward to speeding the expectant father back to the side of his wife in good time.

'Yes,' Pippin said absently. 'See to it. We need to get these lads back to the Smials, and into dry clothes.'

'Yes, Sir,' Tolly said, and stepped away. He began to issue orders as the three fathers and their sons started slowly down the trail.

They found young Adel's body two miles downstream, but there was no sign of Ferdibrand, though they ranged several more miles, on both banks, before darkness descended.

***

'Pimpernel is asking for her husband,' Diamond said, meeting them at the main entrance to the Smials. She looked beyond them, then back to Pippin, puzzled. 'Where is he?'

'Tell her I sent him on a special commission,' Pippin said heavily.

'You didn't,' Diamond said slowly, taking in the grief and exhaustion on the faces of the hobbits before her, the mud-plastered lads. 'Farry, what have you been up to?' But her son would not answer, nor meet her gaze.

'Better to tell her that, than the truth at this point,' Pippin said. 'She has enough to worry about at the moment, what with birthing a babe.'

'What more does she have to worry over?' Diamond asked softly. Pippin did not answer.

Hildigrim spoke up then, tentatively. 'If we may be excused, Sir?'

Pippin looked to him, and to Halibard behind him. 'Take your sons to my study and wait for me there,' he said.

'Yes, Sir,' the fathers said, and led their weeping sons away.

'What has happened?' Diamond whispered.

'Two drowned,' Pippin said. 'Adelgrim... and Ferdibrand.'

'Drowned!' his wife gasped, reaching to grab Faramir in a fierce embrace. 'How?'

'They took one of the trails that the foresters had marked "closed",' Pippin said grimly. 'So marked for good reason.' He took Faramir's shoulder in a gentle grip, all the more gentle because he felt like shaking the daylights out of the lad.

'Come, Farry,' he said grimly. 'We are keeping the others waiting.'

When they reached the study, they found the others waiting. The lads' mothers had been summoned to the study as well, and Adelgrim's mother was weeping on her husband's shoulder at the loss of their younger son. Reginard had served tea, in the meantime, and he and Halibard were encouraging the shivering survivors to take sips of the hot, sweet beverage.

'We need to get them into hot baths,' Halibard said, 'and dry clothes.'

'All in good time,' the Thain answered implacably. 'I want to hear their story, first.'

Haltingly, the lads told of the plans they'd laid, the deception to pry Faramir loose from his minder, the high-spirited hike on the trail to the fishing hole, the sudden disaster. Pippin listened in silence to the tale of Ferdibrand's end, how he'd risked himself to save the two young hobbits. Faramir finished his part of the tale and waited.

His father would not look at him. 'Ferdibrand was worth any ten other hobbits,' he said softly, 'myself included. And he's gone, swept away, because some lads thought they knew better than their parents.' He scanned the faces of Palangrim and Odobard, and those of their parents, then his gaze returned to the boys. 'Do you lads think that your parents sit about drinking tea and making up rules just to spoil your pleasure?' he said. 'Do you think we are lying awake at night, racking our brains for new reasons to say "No"?'

Odobard and Palangrim shook their heads, and fresh tears ran down Palan's cheeks.

'There are good reasons for the rules we give you,' Pippin continued, then dropped his voice. 'Good reasons,' he said, as if to himself. 'Had you listened, had you obeyed, two more Tooks would be alive in the world as we speak.'

'Da, I'm sorry,' Faramir said desperately.

His father did look at him then. 'Sorry,' he echoed bitterly. 'And you think that will make things "all better", do you? Is that what you'll say to his wife and grieving children, to the babe being born this very night, who'll never know his father? Sorry!' The Thain took hold of himself again. 'Go to your room, Farry.'

'Yes, Sir,' Faramir said brokenly. He'd never, ever been sent to bed without a hug before, but now, hugless, he slowly left the room. Careless of mud, he laid himself down on the bed and wept into his pillow. 'I'm sor...' he started to sob, to no one in particular, then stopped. There really were no words to be said.

***

Just after darkness fell, a silent group returned to the Great Smials, bearing the body of Adelgrim Took. He had celebrated his fourteenth year, the previous week, but there would be no more celebrations for him.

The escort, after delivering the body to the grieving family, went on to the Spotted Duck in Tuckborough, where they proceeded to get thoroughly drunk. It would make it more difficult, on the morrow when the light returned, to continue the search for Ferdibrand's body, but quite frankly, none of them cared a fig about the morrow.

9. In the Land of the Living

In the middle night, Faramir awakened. His eyes were heavy from having cried himself to sleep, and his head ached. He was aware of a weight on the bed, someone sitting with him, holding his hand. He groaned himself upright, only to be enveloped in his father's arms. Clinging tightly to his father, he wept again.

'I'm sorry,' he sobbed. 'I know it's useless, but I am.'

'I know,' Pippin replied.

'How is Auntie Nell?' Faramir asked.

'She is well,' Pippin replied soberly. 'You have a new cousin, Farry. She had a fine boy, and both are sleeping now.'

'Does she know about...?' Faramir couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

'No,' Pippin sighed. 'I don't know quite how to tell her. It seemed kinder to let her sleep, gather strength. She was quite put out with her husband for missing the birth of his first son.'

'O Da!' Faramir sobbed, heartbrokenly, and his father's arms tightened around him again as he buried his face in Pippin's shirt. Pippin held his son until, exhausted from weeping, he slept again.

***

In the dim early light, the Thain's escort blearily took up the search once more. The waters had receded, and Tolly decided to backtrack somewhat, in case Ferdibrand's body had been pinned underwater. He could not believe that the body had been carried so very far downstream, but they had scouted both banks of the stream for several miles before darkness fell. Now they went back to the start, to cover the same ground again. There was no hurry, after all, but there was need to be thorough. It would be some comfort, not much, but some, for Pimpernel to bury her husband, rather than wondering forever where he had found his end.

***

A hobbit does not go willingly into water, not even when a shaft, skillfully shot, brings down a fat bird, sadly, with a splash into pond or stream. For this, there are dogs. A good water dog, his instincts honed with training, will swim the swiftest stream or deepest pond to retrieve his quarry, and thus, many a bird ends up in the pot that otherwise would have to be written off as lost to chance.

In the dim mist of the early morning, an eager spaniel was coursing along the bank of the Tuckbourn, not far from his master's farmstead. The water had gone down after the deluge of the previous day, the ducks were out, and his master thought to bag a brace of fat birds to roast for second breakfast. He'd taken early breakfast with him, potatoes, fresh from the coals, warming the pockets on either side of his coat. His bow and quiver hung from his back, and at the moment he was warming his hands in his pockets, prior to getting ready for some serious shooting.

As they tramped along, the dog gave a bark and ran ahead, heedless of his master's whistle. The hunter shook his head. Dog needed more training, like as not. Funny that he should take off like that. He whistled again, grumbling to himself. 'Daft beast.' Antics like these might scare off all the birds before he could line up a good shot. Just in case, he strung his bow and plucked an arrow from the quiver, to be ready should the spaniel flush a bird that he should properly stop and point.

The dog had caught a scent, all right, of something in the water. All his training had taught him to fetch things that didn't belong in the water, birds, mostly, shot by his master, but once he had retrieved a fat coney that had jumped into the water to try to swim away. Now he lifted his nose to the air, to catch the elusive scent of something in the water that did not belong there. His tail quivered with excitement at this self-appointed task. He loved his work.

The dog reached the still form, half out of the water, a hobbit. Hobbits did not belong in the water. Any self-respecting water spaniel knew this fact. The dog barked in excitement, tail gyrating wildly, but the hobbit remained half-submerged in the stream. The dog nudged at the arm in its sopping woollen sleeve with an urgent nose, got a good grip, tried to pull, to no avail. He licked the cold cheek in entreaty, but the hobbit remained stubbornly in the water (where no hobbit belongs, as has already been stated).

Happily, his training informed him what to do in an event like this, where his quarry was too big to bring to his master. He barked twice and sat down in happy anticipation of the praise that was his due.

The grumbling farmer came up, seeing the sitting form loom up before him in the mist that came off the water. 'What'd you find, boy?' he said gruffly. 'What've you got?'

Coming closer, he bit off an exclamation and covered the rest of the distance in a stumbling run. Dropping his bow, he turned the drenched hobbit over, checking for life. 'I don't believe it,' he muttered. He fumbled the battered old horn from his belt and blew a lusty call.

Young Ned Sandybank heard the winding of the horn from where he was fetching the cows for the early morning milking. 'That's Da!' he called to his younger brother, Ted.

'Wonder what he wants?' Ted said. He was a stolid and unimaginative young hobbit, and he was more interested in breakfast than speculation.

'I don't know, but that call means trouble,' Ned said grimly, latching the gate again. 'Sorry, lasses,' he said to the cows. 'Breakfast has been delayed a bit. Don't go away.' The cows bawled their displeasure at this interruption in their morning routine.

'Trouble?' Ted said, slightly more interested as he paid more heed to the horn. 'Ruffians, do you think?'

His brother snorted. 'There've been no ruffians in the Shire for years,' he said disgustedly, 'and none at all in Tookland, ye daft coney, you.' His brother took exception to this epithet, and would have said so, but for the fact that Ned was already trotting in the direction of the horn. Ted put down the buckets of slops he was hauling to the pigsty and trotted after his brother.

When they reached their father, he had pulled the half-drowned hobbit out of the water and wrapped him in his own cloak of good, thick wool from his own sheep. Looking up at Ned, he said, 'Run back t'hole, tell 'em to heat water for a bath, we've got to get this'un warm, we do. And bring a pony back with you, we'll just slip this'un up on its back, easier than carrying 'im.'

'Who is it, Dad?' Ted asked, crouching down.

'Dunno,' his father answered shortly. 'One of them Great Smials Tooks, it looks to be, from the cut of the clothing.' He fingered fine wool of the soaking cloak he'd stripped off the figure.

'Is he dead?' Ted asked.

His father looked at him in exasperation. 'Are there any brains in that there head o' yourn?' he asked. 'Would I be popping a dead'un into a bath?'

'No, sir,' Ted answered, unabashed. He was used to being asked about the state of his brains.

***

Mid-morning, two farmers pulled up in front of the Great Smials. One helped the other down from the waggon as they eyed the windows of the sprawling dwelling, hung with the colours of mourning.

'That for you?' the one asked the other, who shook his head.

'There was a lad swept away as well,' came the answer.

The Took standing guard at the entrance to the Smials walked over. 'May I help you?' he said politely, then his jaw dropped in shock as he recognised one of the figures in farmer's togs. 'Ferdi?' he gasped.

'The same,' Ferdibrand said.

'But you're -- you're drowned!' the guard said.

'So I'm told,' Ferdi answered. 'Woke up in the stream, as a matter of fact.'

'Woke up in...' the guard said, then grabbed his arm. 'Come on, you've got to see the Thain! He thinks you're dead!'

Ferdi resisted long enough to tell the farmer, 'Put up your ponies and come in, we'll find you some elevenses. I'll change and get these clothes back to you.'

'No hurry,' the farmer said genially. 'Think I might stick around for the celebration, once they find you're not dead. Might even get some of that fine ale the Thain's so famous for, in the bargain.'

'I think we can arrange something to that effect,' Ferdibrand said, and then allowed the guard to drag him into the Smials.

The guard tapped at the study door and entered without waiting for a summons. Pippin and Reginard were talking quietly, and looked up at the interruption. The annoyance on the Thain's face faded when he realised who stood before him; the farmer's clothes had misled him at first.

'Ferdi!' he gasped, even as Reginard rose from his chair, to cross the study in a few great strides, to thump him soundly on the back.

'Did you tell my Nell already?' was the only question in Ferdibrand's mind.

'No,' Pippin answered, crossing the gap between them to take Ferdi's hand and wring it heartily. 'No, we were waiting for your body to be recovered.'

'Here it is,' Ferdi said, holding out his arms in an expressive gesture. 'All recovered.'

'Congratulations,' Pippin said with a broad grin.

'What, for surviving? No congratulations are in order, but I do feel I owe you some thanks for insisting I learn to swim in the first place. 'Twas the only thing that saved me, and at that it was a close call.'

'Not for surviving,' Pippin replied. 'For the birth of your son. You are a father, now, Ferdi, not just a "Da" any longer.'

'My son... born last night?' Ferdi said. He shook his head in wonder. 'You had better throw me back in the stream, cousin. I think I'm better off drowned.'

'What?' Pippin said, dumbfounded, as Reginard began to laugh.

'He means...' Regi said, but could not complete the thought for laughing.

'I missed the birth of my first son,' Ferdi said, 'Nell's and my own first child, together. What is she going to do to me?'

Pippin joined in the laughter, throwing an arm around Ferdibrand's shoulders, howling in joy and relief.

'I'm serious!' Ferdi said indignantly. 'You don't know what she'll say to me!'

'It's all right, Ferdibrand,' Pippin gasped, wiping a tear from his eye. 'We'll fortify you with a glass of the Thain's private stock, and then I will personally escort you to your wife's side and shield you from any darts she might toss.'

'Very kind of you, I'm sure,' Ferdibrand said with dignity.

Reginard quickly poured out three glasses of Tookland's finest ale. Raising his, he said, 'Here's to Nell and the new babe!'

'To new life,' Pippin agreed, raising his own glass.

'To life,' Ferdi said simply.