They'd made it through another year, and once again Ferdibrand spent the Yule celebration quietly with his father, who shared Ferdi's aversion to large, brightly burning fires.

Pippin seemed to be settling down, though he still chafed at his father's restrictions, especially the need for an escort whenever he left the Smials.

'It's not as if I'm about to get lost,' he said on more than one occasion.

'Lose yourself, more likely,' Ferdi heard Reginard answer him once, 'and then where would I be?'

'You'd be Thain one day, that's where you'd be, and a good one, at that,' Pippin had retorted.

Regi had shook his head. 'Lad, it takes spirit, and stubbornness, and imagination to be Thain, and I'm not going to make it on my obstinacy alone, I'm afraid.'

'Imagination,' Pippin snorted. 'That's the last thing my father wants to see in me.'

'That's not true, lad,' Regi had said quietly, 'and you know it. What he wants from you is for you to govern your impulsiveness. You have to be able to think things through. If you fly off the handle, do the first thing that comes to mind without considering the consequences, people get hurt.'

Later, over a beer in a quiet corner of the Duck, where they were unlikely to be overheard, Regi said to Ferdi, 'You know, he has the potential to be the finest Thain the Shire has ever known.'

'You think so?' Ferdi said, surprised.

Reginard nodded. 'I know so.' He sipped at his beer. 'One of the things I've had to do, in working for the Thain, is copy out musty old records. There's a lot of history in those records, and I've learnt much about which Thains were effective rulers, and which ones were mere caretakers.'

'O?' Ferdi said encouragingly.

'Well, for one thing, the Thain needs to be bold.'

'Pip's bold enough, I'll say that for him,' Ferdi said. He thought again of his cousin, throwing the ruffians out of the Shire. His Brandybuck cousin had done the planning, though. 'Not something you'll find in every hobbit, I admit.' Half of Ferdi's own boldness, he suspected, was restless energy, after all. If he could just bring himself to sit still, he could be as placid as the next hobbit. The trick was being able to sit still. Ferdi had never quite mastered it.

'He needs to have a heart for the people,' Regi went on.

'Aye, he's got a good heart, when he's not sunk too deep in his own affairs,' Ferdi affirmed.

'He has to have a good head on his shoulders, be able to see all sides of a problem, and find the best solution.'

'He's had enough practice carrying out mischief,' Ferdi said. 'He's shown that he knows how to make a plan and carry it out.' Mischief, anyhow. But how about something of use? Fool of a Took...

'He's brilliant,' Reginard corrected. At Ferdi's look of surprise, he slammed his empty mug down on the table in frustration. 'You don't see it, but he is. His father has everyone convinced that he's just a fool, and he acts the part, I don't know whether it's to please old Paladin, or if it's to spite him, but Pip's no fool...'

'Could have fooled me,' Ferdi said quietly.

'Look, I didn't say he was ready to be Thain now,' Regi said through his teeth, 'I said he's got potential. One of the things he needs to learn is to think things through.'

'If you say so,' Ferdi said. 'Who am I to say anything? He keeps me on my toes as it is. I just hope he doesn't cut my feet out from under me.'

'He'd never do that, Ferdi,' Regi protested.

Ferdi tilted his mug to get the last of the beer, then put it down on the table, slowly. 'I don't know, Reg,' he said at last. 'I just don't know. He's given us the slip twice already since the New Year. He hates the Thain's rules about having an escort. I'm afraid if he pulls it again, I'm out of a job.'

'He wouldn't do that to you,' Regi said.

'He might, if he didn't think it though,' Ferdi countered. 'You said yourself, that's the area he needs to work on.' He stared into his empty mug. 'I just hope he doesn't use me to learn his lesson the hard way.'

***

In the first week of March, Pippin asked his father once again for a holiday. 'It's not quite planting season, all the planning is done already, and we've some slack time. I've half a mind to visit the Bolgers at Budge Hall, and perhaps go on to Buckland.'

'The Bolgers, eh?' Paladin had said expansively. 'Well, now, that sounds like a fine idea to me.' He turned to Ferdibrand. 'So, Ferdi, you've never seen the Brandywine yet, have you?'

'No, Sir,' Ferdi answered. 'I've only been as far as Woody End, and Bridgefields, of course.'

'Well, it seems you'll be seeing it now,' the Thain said.

'Father, surely I do not need an escort to take me to Brandy Hall!' Pippin protested. 'I've ridden back and forth with Merry enough times I could make the journey in the dark, with my eyes closed, and blindfolded in the bargain.'

'Pippin,' his father said quietly. 'I should not even need to address the matter.'

'Yes, Sir,' Pippin sighed.

Later that day, Pippin and Ferdi were walking back to the Smials from the stables, having put their ponies away after running an errand for the Thain. Ferdi cast an eye at the sky. 'Looks as if we might be getting a storm,' he said. 'When did you want to set off for Buckland?'

'O, there's no rush,' Pippin answered, with his own look at the sky. 'So, you think tomorrow might be an ill day for travel?'

'I do not think it will be as fair as today,' Ferdi said. 'There's a definite change coming.'

'Ah, well,' Pippin said easily. 'We are not bound to leave on the morrow, if a better day presents itself. Let's keep our options open.'

'Fine with me,' Ferdi said.

***

The next day, when he arose, the wind had veered around from the north and was blowing raw and bitter. A steady rain began an hour or two after dawn, and Ferdibrand shivered as he went out, midmorning, to take Dapple, and his new mount, Star, a carrot. The mare greeted him warmly, and he stroked Dapple's soft nose. 'Good thing you're snug in your stall,' he said. 'It's going to be a nasty day, I warrant. I wouldn't be surprised if it started to snow.'

'Or sleet,' Old Tom said behind him. 'Nasty day, all right, and my bones is aching fierce. It's only going to get worse.'

'Are all the ponies in?' Ferdi asked.

'O aye,' Tom answered. 'D'you think I'd leave them out in this?'

Ferdi was aware of a growing uneasiness. 'But Socks isn't in his stall...' he said.

'Ah, the young master, he took Socks out last night, said he had an errand to run. I thought it odd he was not waiting for his escort, but I figured you'd be right behind him like you always are...' Old Tom said, then stopped short. 'You mean, you didn't know?'

'No,' Ferdi said shortly. 'I didn't.'

He started back to the Smials, to get Hilly, to ride after Pippin. Exiting the stables, he slipped on the stones, and felt on his face the sting of ice falling from the sky. The rain had changed to sleet, and it looked as if the ice was going to build fast. No one would be going out this day, not even after the errant son of the Thain.

***

Ferdi sat in shock in the little parlour where Pearl had put him. He didn't notice when she left the room, nor when she returned, Everard in tow. 'I found him wandering the tunnels,' she said, 'and he wouldn't say a word to me, not a word that made any sense, anyhow. Something's badly wrong, Ev'ard.'

'Something's wrong, all right,' Hilly said from the door. 'He's been sacked.'

'What?' Pearl gasped.

'That brother of yours chose last night to slip his escort again,' Hilly went on. 'And not just for a quick trip down to the Duck for a mug, no, he had to go off to Buckland, by himself, the night before the biggest ice storm in years broke out.' He shook his head and added morosely, 'Ferdi and I have been suspended for letting him go. I may get my job back, but Ferdi...' he shook his head again. 'He's lucky there's an inch of ice on the stones, or he'd be out of the Smials on his ear as we speak.'

'How could he do this to me?' Ferdi muttered to no one in particular. He shook his head in utter bemusement. 'How could he?'

'That's all I was able to get out of him,' Pearl said. 'Pippin slipped the escort?' Her eyes widened. 'He's out... in this?'

'Maybe he made it to Buckland before things got too bad,' Hilly said, but he was not hopeful. 'After all, from what Old Tom said, he left fairly early last night. Had he ridden straight through, he'd have been in Buckland before the dawn.'

'But if he stopped over...' Pearl said. 'Ah, well, so he's stranded at the Cockerel, I'd imagine, or some other inn along the way. He'll have quite a bit of explaining to do once the weather clears.'

'Being icebound, he'll have plenty of time to think of an explanation,' Everard said acidly. 'But that won't help Ferdi any.'

'How could he do this?' Ferdi asked again, still stunned by the completeness of his undoing.

'He'll never work here again, the Thain'll never trust him with any sort of responsible position after this,' Everard said.

'He might become a stable sweeper,' Hilly said sourly.

'No, not after he burned down the old Thain's stables,' Everard countered.

'O yes, that's right, I hadn't thought of that,' Hilly said.

'Nearly burned down the stables,' Pearl said, with a glance at Ferdibrand. Ferdi didn't appear to have heard, he was shaking his head again.

'How could he do this... to me?' he asked plaintively.

'He's in shock,' Pearl said softly. 'Ferdi, can you hear me?'

'How...?' Ferdi muttered.

'Let us put him out of his misery,' Everard said. 'I cannot stand to listen to this any longer.' He put a hand under Ferdibrand's elbow, urging him to stand.

'Where are you taking him?' Pearl asked.

'It's better that you don't get involved,' Everard said. 'After all, he's not exactly in your father's good books at the moment, and if your father finds you with him he'll only have all the more trouble.'

'But... is he going to be all right?' Pearl asked anxiously.

'No,' Everard said honestly. 'No, I don't think so.' He and Hilly escorted Ferdi from the room between them. Over his shoulder, Everard repeated, 'It's better you don't involve yourself, Pearl. Take yourself off now, there's a good lass.'

They took Ferdi down to the great room, seated him in a quiet corner away from the hearth, and then Reginard argued the cooks into giving him a pitcher of ale and three glasses.

'But it's not even elevenses yet!' the cook protested, scandalised.

'We want to get an early start on the day, before all the Tooks realise they're stuck inside and begin to get bored,' Everard said. 'Now are you going to draw me a pitcherful, or am I going to do it myself?'

The cook filled the pitcher and placed it on the tray. 'Make sure there's plenty where that came from,' Everard said. 'I'll be back soon.'

He poured a glassful and encouraged Ferdi to drink it down, and then a second, and shortly thereafter, a third. Ferdi turned toward him then, saying, 'How could he do this?'

'I do not know, lad,' Everard answered, filling the glass again. 'Drink up, now, you're falling behind.' Ferdi obediently drank, not seeming to notice that he was the only one drinking. Several times Hilly got up to refresh the pitcher, and he and Everard ended up having a couple of glasses themselves, shaking their heads over the ruin of one cousin by the thoughtlessness of another.

Hilly and Everard watched and poured as he drank himself into a stupour, then eased him to his feet, walked him to his room, and settled him on his bed. 'He'll sleep now,' Everard said, 'and it was easier to get ale down him than one of those healer's brews.'

'Aye, but will he feel better in the morning?' Hilly asked.

'No,' Everard said, 'but then, I don't think he'll be feeling better any morning soon, ale, or no ale. Why didn't Pip just shoot him? It would have been kinder than this.'

'Pippin never could shoot worth his salt,' Hilly said, but the joke fell flat. He sighed, and added, 'I guess he just didn't think it through.'

Everard pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. 'Well,' he said heavily, 'I'll watch with him the rest of the day.'

'I'll spell you after late supper,' Hilly assented. 'D'you think the Thain will really throw him out?'

Everard stared at the sleeping figure in the bed. 'Once he cools off, the Thain'll probably let Ferdi stay. Who else would visit old Ferdinand every night, were his son Ferdi to leave the Smials? But he'd be better off to join his sister and that woodcarver out to Woody End...'

'He won't do that,' Hilly said. 'You know he won't.'

'Too stubborn for his own good,' Everard said. 'Ah, well, it cannot get any worse than this.'

As it turned out, he was mistaken.