4. The Pact

24 Halimath, 1401 SR

“Thank you for your help Merry,” Frodo said as Merry sat upon his pony. It was the morning of the second day after the Party and Merry’s time was up.

“I’ll come and visit again as soon as I am able,” Merry said. “I could probably get away after harvest.” Merry was not happy about having to leave his friend so soon. He could still see the shock in Frodo’s eyes, and he didn’t like that the wizard had left so unexpectedly yesterday afternoon. Merry had “accidentally” eavesdropped on part of their conversation and he had not liked what he heard. From Frodo’s silence at dinner, he could tell that Frodo hadn’t liked it either.

“It may be too cold to travel after harvest,” Frodo said now, thinking only of his friend’s comfort.

“Oh no you don’t, cousin. You won’t weasel yourself out of a visit,” Merry said. “But you’ll be fine by yourself until then? Maybe I could convince Father to let me come back immediately, once I smooth things over with Pippin. I could stay on a couple of weeks.”

Frodo smiled, grateful for his friend’s concern. He did not know how he would have made it through yesterday without Merry’s help. Between Lobelia and Otho, his numerous other relations running the tunnels and arguing over Bilbo’s gifts, and that tussle with Sancho Proudfoot, he had been sorely tempted to just pack it in and take after Bilbo as fast as his feet could carry him. To top it off, Gandalf had arrived and left just as quickly, speaking very mysteriously and clearly troubled about Bilbo’s ring. It had been one worry after another and Frodo was exhausted. He would accept his friend’s offer of help and company in a heartbeat, but he didn’t want Merry to feel obligated should Saradoc object.

“Only if Uncle Sara has no reservations,” Frodo replied. “I don’t want you coercing him into letting you stay here.”

“Of course not,” Merry vowed. Then he smiled mischievously. “That’s what Mother’s for.”

Frodo laughed and swatted the pony lightly on the rump. The pony started slowly. “Get on with you then. And I want to hear more about those tadpoles someday. You should have told me. I would like to have seen that.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Merry said with a too-innocent smile. He waved good-bye and checked his pony into a gait. He turned east when he reached the Road and began rehearsing what he would say to make Pippin forgive him.  

Merry set out to find Pippin as soon as he arrived at his uncle’s house. He knew his young friend was upset with him and he was eager to get back into his good graces, hoping it would not be too difficult. He had never seen Pippin angry before and it worried him more than he cared to admit.

After stabling the pony and greeting his parents, he went out in search of his cousin. He found Pippin in the first place he looked: the little pond at the far end of the lower fields. Pippin was busy pushing aside lily pads in search of frogs, fish and whatever else he could find. Merry approached from behind and sat down next to him. He smiled and nodded toward the pond.

“How’s the hunting?” Merry asked and was promptly ignored as Pippin abandoned his task and walked away. Pippin was angrier than he had thought. He stood up and followed his cousin closely.

“Have you used that fishing kit yet? I thought we’d ride out to the river later today or early tomorrow morning. Or you could bring it to Buckland, or we could wait for the next time we’re in Hobbiton. There’s good fishing in the Water.”

If Pippin was listening, he gave no indication of it and continued walking aimlessly away from the fields. Had Merry not been so desperate to make amends, he would have felt ridiculous to be tagging after his young friend as he was.

“I still have my sparklers,” Merry said. “Maybe after dinner when it gets dark we could light them up.”

Pippin stopped and looked around. Was he listening, or looking for the best way to lose him? He waited to see what Pippin would do next and was encouraged when the lad sat down under a tree, even if he did continue to ignore him by pretending to watch the ants climbing up the tree’s trunk.

Merry kneeled in the grass behind him. Charm would get him only so far. It was time to switch to pleading and reasoning. “Pippin, please,” he said. “I’m sorry, all right. I know you wanted to help, but I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to help all that much. As it happened, Bag End was stampeded by every single one of our pushy and rude relations yesterday. It was no place for a child. You would have been trampled.”

Pippin picked up a twig and coaxed some ants onto it. He watched them crawl up and down the small branch for a few moments, and finally spoke. “I’m not a child,” he pouted. “I could have helped.”

“Perhaps you could have,” Merry said. He doubted it still but was he was willing to say anything at this point to keep Pippin talking to him. “We certainly could have used your cheer after we evicted Lobelia from the grounds.”

“Did she say anything about the tadpoles?” Pippin asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting that he was angry.

“No, she was more interested in the will and sneaking things into her umbrella.”

“We should have put a tadpole in her umbrella,” Pippin said with regret. Why hadn’t they thought of that?

“Hindsight is always clearest,” Merry agreed. “I know Frodo could have done with some cheering up right about then.”

At the mention of Frodo’s name, Pippin’s glum mood returned. His smile faded and he squinted at his friend with scrutinizing eyes. “Why don’t you like sharing Frodo with me?” he asked at last.

“What?” Merry said in surprise. How could Pippin think such a thing? Pippin was always with the two of them at family functions and gatherings. Though he did admit he liked spending time alone with Frodo, but that wasn’t at the exclusion of Pippin. There was simply a bond there that his young cousin could not understand. “I share him with you. You know our group isn’t complete if you’re not along. It’s just, he’s more a brother to me than a cousin. I don’t have any siblings of my own and neither does he. We’ve always sort of relied on each other to fill that hole.”

“Well, you’re the only brothers I have too,” Pippin replied. “Do you have any idea what it’s like living with three older sisters? They’re always trying to dress me up like a doll or make me model their dresses.”

Merry raised his eyebrows at this revelation, suddenly very glad indeed he’d never had an older sister. No wonder Pippin was always so eager to see any of his male cousins and to sleep in Merry’s room when they came to Buckland, rather than the guest rooms with his sisters. Merry knew now what he had to do.

“Tell you what,” Merry offered, “next time something important comes up with Frodo I’ll let you help. We might even be able to convince our parents to let us visit Frodo at the same time, as long as Frodo approves of it. The three of us could be brothers to each other. What do you say?”

Pippin grinned, a wicked gleam in his eye. “I say: you owe me one.”  

There was no way he would get away with this. He muttered under his breath, cursing his diabolical cousin for making him prove his word. He had hoped to return to Bag End when he and his parents left tomorrow for Buckland, and had thought he would take Pippin with Paladin and Tina’s consent to prove he had meant what he said. But Pippin had a different idea and now Merry would be lucky if he wasn’t on restriction until Yule.

He stepped swiftly and silently to the bedroom window. The weather was warm still and the window stood open to the night breeze. He peeked inside and squinted into the darkness, trying to make out where the sleeping forms lay. Bracing himself for all manner of madness to break loose, he lit the makeshift fuse, tossed the bundle onto the bedroom floor and ran for it.

He was halfway back to Pippin’s room when the sparklers went off, waking the lasses with startled yelps. He heard the adults banging out of their rooms just as he reached Pippin’s window and jumped inside. He locked the window shut and jumped into bed, settling in and pretending to be sound asleep just in time for the bedroom door to open.  

Saradoc and Paladin looked at the still forms of their sons and shook their heads. Obviously, their sons were not sleeping. No one could sleep through the racket the Took daughters were making. One day, their sons would be expert troublemakers, but they still made mistakes from time to time. Had they wanted to put on a convincing show, they would be sitting up, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and acting confused about the noise.

Saradoc and Paladin looked at each other, conversing with their eyes.

‘Do we punish them?’

‘No, the lasses will take care of that.’

They smiled. The lasses were just as diabolical as the lads, though their sons had yet to realize that. They nodded in agreement and shut the door softly behind them.  

Several tense moments followed after the bedroom door opened, and Merry was positive they were caught and done for. But then the door closed again and he could hear the sound of footsteps retreating back to the lasses’ room. A few more moments later, the lasses had calmed down and silence reigned through the house once more.

Rather than being relieved, Merry was worried. Why hadn’t their parents punished them? This was not a good sign.

“Merry?” Pippin said, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yes Pip?”

“You didn’t really have to, you know?”

“Yes I did. That’s what a big brother would do, after all. Do you forgive me now?”

Pippin smiled and wriggled closer into his cousin’s embrace. “I forgive you always.”

Merry brushed Pippin’s curls away from his face and kissed his forehead tenderly. “Good night, Pipsqueak.”

“Good night, Mer-Bear.”

The End.

GF 6/26/04