A huge Thank you! to Ariel for doing such a wonderful job in betaing.

Times and Troubles

Life became dreary after news of the assault on Crickhollow reached Tuckborough. The Thain was furious, foaming with fear and anger. He cursed Frodo Baggins describing many ways to make him suffer tenfold the pain and worry he now endured. Every so often she saw him pacing to and fro in his study cursing the eldest cousin and more than once breaking into tears for fear of never seeing his son again. It pained her more than she wanted admit even to herself, for she missed him too.

In childhood they had hated one another or so it seemed. They'd quarrelled day and night, fighting until tears and blood flowed. He had never missed an opportunity to pull her leg or make her the target of his mischief and in return she had denied him even his slightest wish. And he played very nasty tricks. Once he put a stinking, dead frog into the wardrobe next to her best dresses and another time, after she teased him, he'd grown angry enough to throw the eggs they had been collecting at her.

The worst thing he had ever done to her was quite different, but even that she could forgive if only his return could erase the worry from her father's face. One night he had got hold of the scissors, which he was not allowed to play around with, and had used them well. While she slept, he had cut off her hip-length hair, leaving locks that barely reached to shoulder.

In the weeks that followed, her mother tried to comfort her while she refused to leave her room. Eglantine saw to it that young Peregrin was punished, but her father would chuckle whenever he saw her. "Like a plucked chicken!" he would say, fighting to hide his amusement so as not to encourage his son. She had hated them both at the time.

Pippin had always been their father's darling. Her mother would often say that Paladin flourished in the company of his daughters, but his whole being lit up when he was with his son. As soon as he learned he would be Ferumbras' successor, he had put all his time and energy into educating his son, forming the Thain Pippin one day would be.

There were times when she envied her brother their father's affection, but as she grew older she came to understand what a son, an heir, meant to the Thain and did not begrudge Pippin his place any longer. She held close to their mother accepted the tasks Eglantine appointed to her and watched her brother slowly growing into his future duty.

They still quarrelled, but as they grew older they came to understand one another. Her young brother would even seek her guidance at times. She became fiercely protective of him, often shielding him from their father's strictness or helping him out of the troubles he had got himself into, and looked over every lass that caught his eye to make certain they weren't the wrong kind of girl for her little brother.

But then, Pippin had left to help cousin Frodo move. And had not come home again. Her uncle, the Master, said the cousins and Frodo's servant had taken a route through the Old Forest, but where to no one could tell. Since that day, the light had left their father's eyes and their mother turned paler and quieter every day. In the beginning, Eglantine would still talk to her about her fears, but when the Troubles came, she began to keep them to herself.

She thought then that she had come to hate Pippin again. He had left her alone after all, for her sisters were all married living in other parts of the Shire with their families. It was his fault she now had to watch their mother grow years older for every passing day.

But as time went on, she thought better of it. She found she did not hate him for not suffering these dire times with her, but prayed to the stars that he would lead a better, safer life wherever he now was. She hoped Merry and Frodo would protect her little brother while she could not.

Every so often she found herself in her brother's room gazing at the freshly prepared bed that stood in the corner as if waiting for him. Sometimes she would pick him flowers and leave them on his desk for him. And sometimes she wept. It was not that she had given up hope, but her heart ached to see him again.

His laughter and cheerfulness would be able to defeat the silent oppression that had taken hold of the once lively Took-smial. Though the Thain had so far succeeded in keeping the ruffians out of his land, every hobbit, young and old, knew the situation was worse than any they had yet known. There was no coming in or getting out of Tookland anymore. Many folk were missing relatives from other parts of the Shire and what joy the families of Great Smials had once possessed was spent. She wept for the brother she loved, not wanting to presume him dead and yet not daring to hope he would return. Not in times like these.

So summer passed full of worry and fading hopes and when the days grew short and dark she wandered more often into her brother's room unable to bear any longer her father's tired and worn-out expression, and her mother's thin, pale face. It pained her deeply to see them so and with every day that went by their sorrows gnawed at her heart a little more.

One night she lay in his bed again praying for a hope she didn't hold any longer when the sound of galloping hoofs met her ears. A rider was coming down the lane, doubtless a messenger from the border coming to raise her father and tell him that Tookland was under attack again.

She got up swiftly, smoothed her skirts, dried her tears, and hurried down the corridor. Her heart was beating fast at the thought of her father having to fight back the brutes again. As she passed the Thain's door, he dashed out of his room, clad only in a nightshirt, looking still half-asleep. Before she could reach it the front door was pushed open.

She froze drawing in a sharp breath and then, next to her, her father did the same. In front of them stood a lad taller than any she had yet seen, probably taller than Bullroarer Took himself. His thick, auburn hair shimmered in the golden lamplight and his green eyes glistened. But what caught her eyes, what left her breathless were his clothes. They were of the finest make and black as the night's sky. On his breast was a silver-white tree embroidered that shone in the lamplight like hope rekindled. Hidden by the black cloak he wore she saw the hilt of a sword hanging at his side. This was the gear - no, indeed, the armour! - of a warrior, not that of a hobbit.

Yet, as she watched him her eyes filled with tears and she felt her body trembling. "Pippin," she whispered in disbelief, finally finding her voice again.

A smile spread across the newcomer's face and a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "Hullo, Vinca. I hope you've missed me."

~THE END~