This story was written for Marigold’s Challenge 16.

I don’t own any of the places or characters. I have merely been fascinated with them for the last 28 years. Please don’t sue me; you’d get more from a turnip.

Shadowed Rain

By Garnet Took

The rain had fallen hard for three days straight, and continued to pound insistently upon the windows, as if trying to force its way in. There was no change in the weather in sight. The late Winter and early Spring rains could go on for a week or more without letup.

Pippin was bored, not to mention uncomfortable. He hated being stuck indoors, but, now, his old injuries ached too. He found pacing the room tiring but sitting too much caused his joints to grow stiff.

At the moment he was pacing. It was better than watching the rain continue to fall.

"Would you stop that?" snapped Merry. "Why don’t you sit down and read a book?"

"I don’t feel like sitting," Pippin shot back, "and I can’t focus long enough to read right now. I just want this rain to end. I’m sick and tired of being cooped up. I’m just restless, that’s all."

"Well, would you mind being restless someplace else? I’m not feeling that well myself, and I’m trying to concentrate on what I’m reading."

"Fine," huffed Pippin and stomped from the room. In his haste and frustration, he never noticed that Merry had been holding his book in his lap and turning the pages with his left hand.

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Pippin decided to vent his irritation and nervous energy by fixing lunch, but there was no rule that said he had to be quiet about it. He was feeling even more out of sorts after Merry’s comments and he was now almost trying to provoke his cousin. He slammed the pantry door, banged pots about, whistled tunelessly, anything he could think of to be annoying.

Without Pippin noticing, Merry entered the kitchen. "What do you think you are doing, Peregrin Took?"

"Fixing lunch," Pippin answered nonchalantly. He turned just in time to see Merry descend upon him like a thundercloud.

"Why," demanded the older hobbit, "do you always have to be so annoying? I asked to be left in peace, and you deliberately disturb me. I just don’t understand you, Peregrin: not that I’d want to. Now, get out of here! I’ll fix my own lunch, thank you very much." Merry pointed emphatically toward the door that led back into the sitting room.

"I’m sorry, Merry," Pippin mumbled, heading for the door.

"You always are," was Merry’s retort. "Now, leave."

Pippin did as he was told, without a single word, for a change. He went to his room and sat down on the bed. He was starting to get worried. He’d made Merry angry before, but the mood had always been short-lived. The only exception to this had been the incident with the palantir, and even then, the whole thing had been forgiven long before they were reunited. What, Pippin wondered, is causing this? I know the weather has me climbing the walls, but Merry usually takes being closed up inside much better than I do. He’s not as restless and flighty as me. There’s got to a reason for the way he’s acting. I just have to figure out what it is. Without even realizing it, Pippin got up and began to pace about his small room. His mind was far away, thinking of any possible explanation for his cousin’s odd behavior.

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Meanwhile, Merry was struggling with fixing himself something to eat. Every time he tried using his right hand he’d drop things or misjudge where something was and not be able to grasp it. He tried valiantly to ignore the obvious signs that were right before his eyes. It’s nothing, he told himself. I’m just distracted, that’s all. Pippin has simply pushed me to the brink of insanity lately. This has nothing to do with the fact that tomorrow is the 15th. Maybe the weather’s affecting me more than usual. After all, Pippin still has problems sometimes when it rains, and heaven knows it has rained a lot lately. That has got to be it. I’ll feel better once I calm down. Now that Pippin is out of my hair, I can finally relax. Merry continued to ignore the deathly since of cold that was slowly creeping up his right arm.

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Suddenly Pippin stopped pacing and snapped his fingers. "That’s it!" he exclaimed to the empty room. "It’s the Shadow, it’s got to be. Peregrin Took, you really are a ninnyhammer, as Sam would say. All the evidence was right there and you missed it. Merry’s not going to like me interfering, but I can’t let him go through this alone." Without even thinking through just what he should do, Pippin ran from the room to find his ailing cousin.

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"Merry! Merry, I know what’s wrong!" shouted Pippin, running down the hall and into the kitchen.

Merry never even turned to acknowledge Pippin’s presence. "So, what if you do? There isn’t much you or anyone else can d..." His statement ended in a gasp.

Quickly, Pippin moved forward to help his cousin. In his irritation, and because of the numbness in his right hand, Merry had allowed the knife he was using to slip. Blood now seeped from a sizable cut on his left hand.

"Here," said Pippin, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around Merry’s hand. "Hold that there while I get some ice to put on it."

When Pippin returned, some time later, with the ice; Merry was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked terrible--worse than would normally be expected for someone with only a cut hand. His face was pale, his eyes were glassy and he was trembling slightly, as if he had a chill.

Without a word, Pippin folded the ice in another towel and put it in Merry’s hand. "Hold that there. Now let’s see about dealing with the real problem here."

"And just what would that be?" muttered Merry, but his heart wasn’t in arguing with his cousin any more, and Pippin could tell.

"Don’t try to be the strong hero suffering in silence around me. Merry, I know what happened--I was there, remember. Aragorn and Gandalf both knew this could happen to you. Even if they never said anything to me, I could tell by the way they acted. They knew each of us was going to have to fight an ongoing battle against our emotional scars. Why do you think I didn’t hide anything from you last week when I had my nightmare about the palantir? I knew that I couldn’t go through it alone. I needed you there to keep me tied to this world when the world of dream-shadows seemed so much more real. Now it’s my turn to do the same for you. That’s part of why I’m here. Frodo knew we’d need each other. He knew we’d need the peace that this house offered. He knew that the people who could understand what we had gone through were us. Don’t you see, that’s part of the reason he gave us this house--to be a place to heal and rebuild our lives away from the curious and the unsympathetic."

Merry looked up into Pippin’s golden-green eyes, so intense with emotion. "When did you get so wise?" he asked.

"I’m not wise, I just know things, that’s all," Pippin replied, smiling to try to reassure and encourage his cousin. "And what I know now is that I need to get you into a warm bed with a bowl of Athelas, that Aragorn sent for this purpose, steeping on the nightstand. Come on, up you get. Just think, this will just be a bad memory in a couple of days. Get through this, and before you know it Spring will be here and the whole world will seem brand new."

Gently Pippin helped Merry down the hall to his room and into bed. He then set the water to boiling for the Athelas. When it was ready, he crushed the leaves, with a prayer to the Valar, and dropped them in the water. Lastly, he sat down in the chair beside Merry’s bed and took his cousin’s hand. "I’ll be right here," he promised.

Knowing that all would be well, Merry drifted into sleep. His dreams were terrible, but the waking was a reassurance.

The End