The waggons were packed up again, the sun was westering in the sky, painting the wisps of high clouds in bright colours. The smell of good stew came to Ferdi and Hally as they roped the last of the cover over the second waggon.

'There,' Hally said. 'All we've got to do on the morrow is pack up the tent and sleeping stuff and we'll be on our way.' He gave Ferdi a sharp glance. 'Are you and Rosemary going to pay your respects this evening?'

'How could Rosemary leave without letting her father see his favourite daughter?' Ferdi asked wryly. 'He won't care a fig if he sees me, probably hasn't even noticed that my nightly visits have stopped, but he misses Rosemary.'

'Not enough to leave the Smials and move in with us,' Hally answered.

'And this is a bad thing?' Ferdi said. They laughed together, but then Hally looked up, his eyes widening, and Ferdi spun around, to see standing behind him... the Thain.

'I beg your pardon, Sir,' he said, bowing, and saw Hally make his own hasty bow.

'Walk with me a bit, Ferdi?' Thain Paladin said. 'I'd like to have a talk with you.'

'Certainly, Sir.' Who was he, to gainsay the Thain?

They walked past other hobbits packing up waggons or settling around cooking fires to eat their suppers, the Thain acknowledging their bows with a nod of his head. At last they reached the end of the fairing and walked out onto the empty meadow. The Sun had passed below the horizon, and the first stars were appearing in the fading sky.

They walked in silence until they were well away from any that might overhear, then the Thain stopped.

'I saw you shoot today,' he said quietly.

Ferdi nodded. He wasn't surprised. Sometimes it seemed to him as if the Thain saw everything there was to see, at other times he was surprised at how blind The Took could be.

'I know you can ride,' Paladin added wryly, and Ferdi wondered if he'd seen the race with Merry, himself, or if someone had reported the details to him.

'How far can you run?' came next, and this seemed to demand an answer.

'As far as need be,' Ferdibrand said.

The Thain nodded. 'Of course,' he said. He turned to face Ferdi directly. 'I want to offer you your old job back.'

Ferdi looked at him, puzzled.

'Not as doorward,' Paladin snapped, then shook himself. It had been a long day, and Pippin's performance had been more of a disappointment than he wanted to admit. That the lad should be out-shot by a Brandybuck...

Softening his tone, he continued, 'You've all the qualities I require in my escort. I want you to come back.'

Ferdi was silent. 'I'll give you some time to think on't,' the Thain said, and Ferdi was surprised again. The old hobbit must want him badly, to make such a concession.

'I will,' Ferdi promised. 'You'll have my answer on the morrow.'

'Fine,' the Thain said. He stretched, looking up at the brightening stars, then said, 'It's been a long day. Guess I'll take myself off to bed.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdi said. Thain Paladin turned and ambled back in the direction of the Great Smials, whilst Ferdibrand stood as if he'd taken root, and watched the stars spin around the night sky as the night slowly passed him by.

***

The next morning, Rosemary gave him an odd look as he reached the waggons. 'You missed visiting Father,' she said. 'He asked after you.'

'Did he, now,' Ferdi said. 'Wonders will never cease.'

'What did you decide?' Hally asked.

'How did you know?' Ferdi said.

'Why else would the Thain come out to chit-chat with you?' his sister said quietly. 'Has he offered to take you on as escort again? Now that he's seen you shoot?'

'It's what I always wanted to do,' Ferdi answered, a faraway look in his eyes. 'Seeing the Thain ride out, his escort with him, sitting so straight and proud, bows at the ready, as if daring a ruffian to strike or wild boar to charge...'

'Not as exciting as it looked to you as a young lad, I wager,' Hally put in, amused.

Ferdi came back to the present with a chuckle, shook himself. 'Not at all,' he said. 'Right tedious, most of the time.'

'But the pay's good,' Hally continued, 'and you have the added benefit of all those admiring looks from the pretty lasses...'

Ferdi laughed. 'Are you trying to talk me out of taking it on? Or not?'

'Don't throw your lot in with great folk, Ferdi,' Hally warned. 'Not unless they have your trust.'

'I'd trust Thain Paladin,' Ferdi replied. 'His course is as fixed as that of the Sun.'

'Right, then,' Hally said, holding out his hand. Ferdi grasped his arm, and Hally returned the squeeze with one of his own on Ferdi's arm. 'Just remember,' Hally said. 'We will always have a place for you, if you need it.'

'I'll remember,' Ferdi said. 'Don't be strangers, now.'

'We might come back for the pony races next year, what do you say, Rosemary? Can you stand to see your father again that soon?' Hally asked, turning to his wife.

'For the sake of seeing Ferdi again, I'll make allowances,' Rosemary answered, then threw her arms about her brother. 'Take care of yourself, little brother.'

Ferdi smiled at her. 'Don't I always?'

'No,' she said fiercely, 'You don't.' She blinked hard, forced a smile. 'So don't make me have to come and set you straight, do you hear?'

He returned her hug, and without another word, released her, took up his bag from where Hally'd set it by the waggon wheel, and turned to walk back to the Smials. They watched him silently until he reached the stones of the courtyard, then Hally said, 'Let's head out the waggons! Time's a-wasting, and I want to get to the Cockerel before they've finished serving tea.'

They climbed into the waggons where the children were already waiting.

'What's wrong, Mama?' little Lavender asked.

'Naught, child,' Rosemary answered, 'just a speck of dust in my eye is all.' She wiped her eyes with a corner of her apron, and picking up the melody her husband was singing as he started the first waggon towards the road, she slapped the reins on the ponies' backs to begin the long journey homewards.