A/N:  For Dreamflower, who requested that I write the plot bunny she was kind enough to give me.  Thanks to Marigold for beta-reading this story.

DISCLAIMER:  The characters all belong to the amazing world of Middle-earth created by the genius of J.R.R. Tolkien.  I just borrowed them for a little while.

Yuletime Wishes – In Brandy Hall

Eglantine was not a Took.  Oh, yes, she had married into the Took family, but she had not a drop of Took blood in her.  Never was that as apparent to her as on the eve of First Yule when, as tradition dictated, all musically gifted hobbits of Took descent present at Brandy Hall proudly played a tune written long ago by Thain Isumbras III - The Tookland Air. 

Everyone gathered together in the Great Hall where the musicians were already carefully tuning their instruments before the hearth’s roaring fire.  Even the Thain was playing tonight, the shepherd’s pipes.  Eglantine was grateful that she had been able to talk him out of bringing his Tookland pipes for the occasion.  Pearl had always played the harp beautifully, and tonight would be no exception.  Pervinca had brought her triangle and Pimpernel her fiddle.  Naturally, Paladin’s sister, Esmeralda, was playing her fiddle as well.  Berilac and Celandine were both playing their flutes tonight.  Seredic and Merimac … Doderic and Ilberic ... for just this moment all were Tooks, not Brandybucks. 

Eglantine was a Banks by birth, and so she watched and listened with a nice hot cup of steaming mulled wine in her hands.  She couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be than at Brandy Hall for Yule.  No matter what happened, she could count on Saradoc and Esmeralda every Yule making the Hall shine brightly with the warm love and mirth of family and friends.  Nothing rivalled the wonderful scent that meant Brandy Hall Yule, a lovely mixture of peppermint, spices from the mulled wine and myriad desserts, and the clean woodsy scent from garlands draped on every mantle and the pine wreaths Esmeralda placed around each candle.  And the dancing and singing.

But as Eglantine listened to Paladin and her daughters and Took-blooded Brandybuck kin playing such gay music, she was very aware that tonight, the picture was incomplete. She was certain that the musicians played as beautifully as ever.  It didn’t sound as though anyone struck a single wrong note.  But the music sounded hollow to her ear tonight, as if it too were grieving for those missing.

Eglantine’s bottom lip trembled and it took all of her determination to keep tears from forming.  She forced herself to concentrate on the jolly Air and smiled.  Yule was a time for happiness, Esmeralda had told her firmly.  They must keep up a brave front for their husbands, for Eglantine’s daughters, and for the others gathered in the Hall.

It was obvious to her after so many years of marriage that her husband was not having an easy time concentrating on his pipes this evening.  And her daughters’ faces did not shine with their characteristic Took smiles as they played.  That worried her.  For a Took always enjoyed making music.

At last, the Air was over for this year and most of the musicians mingled with the crowd again.  Seredic and Ilberic and several others continued to play after The Tookland Air was over, but Paladin immediately bolted outside, mumbling something to Eglantine about going to catch Saradoc up.  Pearl, Pimpernel, and Pervinca all followed their Brandybuck cousins, Celandine and Melilot, out of the room, talking quietly.

The cheery façade Eglantine had put on in front of her husband and the rest of her family evaporated and left her with the heavy weight of sorrow she had been trying to silence.  All around her the air was filled with the sounds of family and friends making merry, something that she could do no longer. 

She wondered vaguely if she should make her excuses to Esmeralda but decided against it.  No, Esmeralda would be better served were Eglantine to leave without drawing her notice.  Placing her empty cup on a nearby table, Eglantine made her way back to the quiet of the apartments she and her family were occupying during their visit.  But even there she found no escape from the ache of despair that tugged at her waning hopes of ever seeing her dear son again. 

Pippin. 

She crossed to the window seat in the little sitting room and put her face up to the glass, mindful of the peppermint candle burning brightly on the sill.  As Eglantine stared out of the frosted panes, she shielded her eyes from the candle’s glare on the glass with one of her hands.   Her eyes strained to pick up any movements that might belong to a pony or a hobbit, though none should be out on First Yule Eve.  As she did so, she could hear the beating of her own heart as it raced in anticipation.  Where were they tonight?  Were they cold, were they hungry?  They had to find a way back home.

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Esmeralda had been glad when Saradoc had left the Hall to give the ponies their annual Yule treats. That hobbit loved the ponies almost as much as their son did.  While her husband usually enjoyed celebrations, there were times when nothing soothed him as much as tending the ponies and talking to his mare, Biscuit.

This was one of those nights.

While Saradoc could escape to the comfort and privacy of the pony barn, Esmeralda remained in the Hall and supervised the food and entertainment.  Not that Esmeralda minded; she was glad of anything that would help heal her beloved husband’s aching heart.  For her, that salve had always been music.  But tonight, even that did not suffice. 

Things were not made any easier when Esmeralda caught her brother’s eye and noticed the same sad and far away look there that she knew was reflected in Saradoc’s and her own eyes.  Their sons should have been with them tonight, Pippin playing his fiddle and Merry the tambour.  But Merry and Pippin weren’t there.  They had left the Shire with Frodo and Sam over three months ago and there had been no word of them since.  Middle-earth was such a vast place for four hobbit lads to be wandering about in, especially when they were in as much danger as Fredegar Bolger had hinted.  

She tried to shrug her sad thoughts away as the song ended and Paladin gave his pipes to Pervinca before slipping outside into the cold Foreyule night.  No doubt he was going in search of Saradoc.  Perhaps they could find a way to cheer each other, or at least ease their common pain.

It was very crowded in the Great Hall with so many hobbits gathered there.  Esmeralda was kept very busy making certain that all had plenty to eat and drink.  Although there were plenty of little cakes and pastries and biscuits and puddings for filling up the corners, even for so many hobbits, Esmeralda knew from years of experience that it would not be enough.  It was time to instruct the head of the staff, Violet Goodchild, to bring out a few more of the cheeses and loaves of savoury bread for those who did not wish sweets.

She had barely finished giving Violet instructions about the cheeses and breads as well as for the midnight toast in welcome of First Yule when she spotted Eglantine leaving the room, her face lined with sorrow.  Oh, dear. 

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Esmeralda knocked upon the door to the apartment.

“Eglantine? Are you well?”

Although faint, she heard someone give her permission to enter.  Once inside, Esmeralda looked for Eglantine.  She should have known.  Eglantine was standing in the bedchamber usually occupied by Pippin when he was visiting Merry.  She stood before an oak table, gently fingering the old fiddle that Pippin kept in his room “just in case” he happened to end up at Brandy Hall.

Esmeralda came up behind her sister-in-law and placed a hand gently on Eglantine’s shoulder in understanding.  Eglantine turned her face up and gave her a sad smile.

“He didn’t even take any of his instruments with him.  Not one.  How will he ever get by without his music?  There will be naught to help him calm when something unsettles him in the wilderness.”  Eglantine returned her gaze to the fiddle and plucked the strings on the fiddle slowly, one after another.  It needed tuning. “They’re out there, Esme.  Our lads are somewhere out there in the Wild.”

Esmeralda sighed heavily.  “I’ve tried all evening not to dwell on it, but it has a firm hold of my mind and there has been naught else I could think of, especially when we were playing.  I had thought that I couldn’t miss our lads any more than I already did, but at that moment...”

“Pippin always was quite fond of the Tookland Air.” Eglantine reached into one of her pockets for a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes.  “He’d often play it at the Great Smials, holiday or not, especially when Merry or Frodo visited.  You should have seen Pippin’s face if he caught either of them rolling their eyes as he started up another round of the Air.  His face shone with as much delight as if you had set a feast before him.”

“Merry thought that if anything, rolling their eyes in exasperation only made Pippin play the Air all the more,” Esmeralda said with a hint of a smile. “But then, when Pippin came here to the Hall, Merry would enlist Berilac’s aid in repaying Pippin for his kindness.  I believe he said it was Frodo’s idea and that he always made it a point to mind his older cousin.  Merry would sing while Berilac played ‘The Oldbucks Have Led Longer Than the New Thains’ – over and over again.”

“My, but it’s been years since I’ve heard that silly old tune!”  Eglantine chuckled.  “That would explain why Pippin took such an interest that summer long ago in early Took and Brandybuck history.  Paladin mentioned that Pippin kept muttering about how it was unfair since Isengrim II hadn’t even been born when old Gorhendad led the Oldbucks across the River and changed the name to ‘Brandybuck.’”

“But that was just the point of that song!  One Brandybuck or another has been exchanging jests with the Tooks ever since.  Why, it even played a rather special part in Saradoc’s and my courtship.  I suppose the lad thought that he and Merry were the first?” Esmeralda thought not only of her courtship with Saradoc, but of the stories she had heard growing up of her great-grandfather, The Old Took, Gerontius, and Saradoc’s own great-grandfather, Marmadoc.  Some of their exploits in their youth had become legendary and were still told from one generation to the next by Brandybucks and Tooks alike.

As both mothers laughed heartily, Eglantine spared one last look for the fiddle before moving to sit in a chair before the window and gazing out once again.

“Merry and Pippin have been teasing each other in one fashion or another since Pippin first learnt how to talk as a faunt,” she said wistfully.

“So they have,” remarked Esmeralda as her eyes followed Eglantine’s.  “More often than not, Frodo was a part of it as well if they were all together.”   She shivered.  Both of her lads were out there somewhere, out of her reach and protection.

“The candle’s burning low,” Eglantine commented absently.  “It will burn itself out soon.”

A soft, thin chuckle escaped Esmeralda as she took the seat next to Eglantine.  “The candles … it just didn’t seem right to make them without Pippin being there this year.  He and Pervinca always have liked to take it in turns to add the peppermint leaves to the boiling wax.  This year, Pervinca was alone, adding the leaves through her tears.”  Usually, all of the Took children were there to help Esmeralda make the peppermint-scented candles.  It was one of her favourite things to do with her nieces and nephew. 

She sniggered as a thought suddenly struck her.  “But Pippin is the only one of your children fond of making wax impressions of his fingerprints.  I don’t think that there have been many Yule candles in Brandy Hall that did not bear at least one of Pippin’s fingerprints since the lad has been old enough to help.”  Until this year, she thought to herself sadly.

The corners of Eglantine’s mouth rose slightly.  “That lad of mine…  I doubt there are any peppermint candles wherever our lads are tonight.”

Esmeralda turned to look at Eglantine.  It was chillier over here by the windows. “Probably not.  But our lads would still wish us to carry on with all of our normal traditions despite their absence.  Saradoc went alone to give the ponies their Yule present of apples and carrots.  It was his and Merry’s own special Yule tradition.  Saradoc left just before The Tookland Air.” 

“Yes.  And Paladin just after.  But you are right,” nodded Eglantine.  “That’s just like our lads, to want the merriment to continue for the sake of the others.  Frodo would feel the same.  The Gamgee lad too, I suppose.”

“Samwise.  I’ve been so worried about our own lads that I’ve barely spared a thought for him!”  The tips of Esmeralda’s ears reddened as guilt spread over her and she wondered how she could have forgot about Samwise.  She had known him since he was just a little fellow, and Frodo had just moved to Bag End with Bilbo.  “I expect Hamfast and Bell Gamgee are just as worried about their lad as we are of ours.”

Eglantine nodded her head sadly.  “Paladin said that when he told them that the lads had left the Shire, Hamfast just thanked him for the news and said that he was proud of his son for doing what was proper by following his master even in the face of danger.  But Bell ... Bell and their youngest daughter, Marigold, hugged each other tightly and cried.  Nothing Hamfast and Paladin did would ... Bell was inconsolable.”

Esmeralda knew that feeling all too well.

“As if the Gamgees didn’t have enough grief with all the strife in Hobbiton these days,” Eglantine continued.

“What?”  Esmeralda sat bolt upright.  She had heard nothing out of Hobbiton since Merry had brought word that Frodo was moving to Crickhollow.  “What strife?”

Eglantine glanced at Esmeralda in surprise.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Of course you wouldn’t have heard anything yet, living here in Buckland,” Esmeralda said.  “We were going to wait until after Second Yule to tell you and Saradoc, no need in getting anyone in the Hall upset just now, but there’s been word that there are some very strange happenings in Hobbiton.  Whatever is amiss, that Lotho seems to be in the thick of it.  Paladin can’t abide him.  Ever since the lads … left … and Lotho moved into Bag End, there have been all sorts of rumours of how well to do Lotho is now and how he is buying up a great deal of property, particularly in the Southfarthing, and that things are changing for the worse.  It seems that folks up in Hobbiton and Bywater are feeling none too comfortable about the situation, and neither is Paladin.”

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Esmeralda.  “It makes me almost glad that Frodo is not around to hear of such news!  He would feel responsible.”  She gasped and held her hand over her mouth, ashamed of her thought.

“I’m glad Merry and Pippin are out of it as well,” Eglantine reassured her.  “If they caught wind of how Lotho was rumoured to be acting and thought he had done anything to harm Frodo’s beloved Bag End … well, neither one of our lads are likely to have stood by and watched Frodo be hurt, are they?”

“No, you have the right of it, Eglantine.  Merry would fight tooth and nail against any he thought had upset Frodo.”

“And Pippin would have been right beside him.” Eglantine paled.  “Even though he is still but a tween.”

Esmeralda nodded in agreement.  “They are sweet-tempered lads, but when it comes to the two of them or Frodo … they love each other so… neither of them could abide it if there was any threat of harm to the other or to Frodo, and Frodo would do the same for them.  I do believe they would give their lives for each other, those three.  They would try to protect each other, come what may.”

There was a pause.  There was no sound as they both seemed to be turning this rather sobering thought over in their minds.  At last, Eglantine grasped Esmeralda’s hands firmly and spoke.

“Well, Esme, I suppose that’s just what our lads have done.  If what Fatty Bolger says is true, and we’ve no reason to doubt him, then Frodo is in more peril than we could ever imagine.  Meriadoc and Peregrin would not rest easy unless they were there to protect and defend him as best they could.”

“I don’t think either of them would have been able to live with themselves had they stayed home knowing the danger Frodo was in,” replied Esmeralda. 

“Even though Peregrin is but a tween, he would not allow his Merry to leave without him, though I am sure Merry would have argued for him to remain behind.”

“And Merry would have received the same argument from Frodo, knowing my cousin, especially since he already had Samwise by his side and Gandalf was to meet them.”

“I can’t imagine it being otherwise,” agreed Eglantine.

“Then our lads, Samwise, and Gandalf are giving Frodo the best Yule gift they ever could and I would not begrudge them for it, though it distresses me all the more.”

“Nor I.  It is a fine gift, and one that they give each other as well.  May it be enough to keep all of our lads safe and hale.  And see them returned to us.”