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All That Glisters  by Lindelea

Chapter 28. News to Keep 

Most of the hobbits watched the drill and demonstrations by the guardsmen with some astonishment. The soldiers of the King moved as one, perhaps even breathed as one, so far as anyone could see. They clapped politely at the display of swordplay, but it was the wrestling matches that brought the hobbits to life—this was more like! Several of the younger hobbits even removed their fancy coats, rolled up their sleeves, and demonstrated a few winning strategies of their own to interested and appreciative soldiers, after the show was over and shortly before supper was served.

The tables had been taken away during the resting time and blankets spread on the flowery field for a picnic supper. Hobbits mingled with Big Folk, laughing and talking, shyness forgotten over the course of the day, and over the many courses of food and drink served. It was good, plain and wholesome food, too, as Pippin was glad to see. None of the fancy “court” food that had upset hobbit digestions in Minas Tirith. Evidently Elessar remembered the lessons of the past and had planned accordingly. No doubt the royal cooks had argued to show off their skill; Pippin was all too familiar with Diamond’s trials and travails with the chief and assistant cooks at the Great Smials. Fine, competent cooks they were, but temperamental, to say the least.

 ‘Ah, there you are, Hilly,’ he said, gesturing to his cousin to join him on a large blanket with Diamond and Farry, Elessar and Arwen, Sam and Rose, their children spilling onto an adjacent blanket. Hilly bowed to the King and Queen and stopped halfway to rising at seeing the tiny mite in Arwen’s lap, balancing on wobbly legs as the Queen held her steady.

 ‘This is Liriel,’ Elessar said, ‘our daughter.’

 ‘And the apple of her father’s eye,’ Pippin said with a grin. ‘She’s been in the world not even two years, and already she has the King wrapped around her least finger!’

 ‘Princess Liriel,’ Hilly said solemnly, bowing low once more. He was rewarded with a bright smile from the little one.

 ‘She was asleep earlier,’ Arwen said, dropping a kiss on the dark head before her. ‘Quite tired out from the journey and the excitement.’

 ‘And of course she was awake and ready to play during the resting time,’ Diamond said, ‘so that you had no rest yourself, my Queen.’ She’d had some experience along the same lines herself. Arwen, however, did not look at all weary.

 ‘Of course she was!’ the Queen laughed, while the baby danced.

Hilly smiled to hide the pain in his heart, but meeting Arwen’s eyes, he had the feeling that she felt what he felt and saw what he remembered: a little daughter of his own, whose flame had flickered and gone out much too young, whose absence left a void of aching heart behind. There had been no more little ones granted to Hilly and Posey but just the one. The healers couldn’t say why Posey’s arms continued empty, and though Posey sang the day long, Hilly often found his wife’s pillow damp upon arising.

He knew what he must do.

He bowed once more to the King and Queen in thanks for the meal and sat down where Pippin indicated.

 ‘So, cousin,’ Pippin said, tucking into the loaded plate Diamond passed to him. ‘You’ll be coming to the Lake with us?’

 ‘I’m sorry to say, I cannot,’ Hilly replied, his eyes on the succulent lamb he was cutting. Mint sauce and all the trimmings! Perhaps Big Folk did know a thing or two about cookery, despite the fact that they might eat only two meals in a day.

He expected a protest from the Thain, and looked up to see Diamond, eyes full of sympathy, rest her hand on Pippin’s arm. Rose beyond her blinked back tears; the Mayor and his family had been visiting the Smials at Yuletide when... Hilly swallowed hard and hastily shoved the thought away as he sprinkled salt over his meat with as much care as if the fate of the world depended upon his skill in seasoning.

 ‘Of course,’ Pippin said, nodding slowly.

 ‘I’ve been gone a week now,’ Hilly said low, glancing at the King and Queen who seemed immersed in their daughter, ‘and though you sent word I’d be accompanying you to the Bridge...’

 ‘Of course,’ Pippin repeated. ‘It would be thoughtless of me, cousin, to require your attendance at the Lake when you are expected home.’

 ‘Not to mention,’ Hilly said, ‘if somehow she had word of the... mishap.’ So far as he knew, Pippin had not mentioned Jack and the boys to the King or any of the guardsmen. ‘She’d be beside herself with worry if Ferdi let slip somehow that I fell in a bog.’

 ‘Ferdi?’ Pippin said. ‘That hobbit wouldn’t tell his sister what was for tea if he didn’t think she ought to know.’

 ‘Or Fennel, or one of the archers,’ Hilly said.

 ‘Fennel knows better than to alarm your wife,’ Diamond said smoothly, ‘especially when duty has called you from her side. And the archers have all gone back to their farms and shops...’

 ‘Archers?’ Elessar said. ‘You called a muster?’

Pippin made a dismissive gesture. ‘You know we’ve been having trouble with ruffians, lately,’ he said. ‘They seem to think the Thain has rather more gold than is good for him.’ He looked sternly at the King from under his eyebrows. ‘You’re much to blame, you know.’

 ‘I heard the treasure hoard of the Thain was recovered on the same day our gifts arrived,’ Elessar said smoothly.

 ‘That is beside the point,’ Pippin said, shaking a finger at the King. ‘Truth be told, I do have more gold than I know what to do with, and more popping up every time I turn around!’

 ‘Perhaps Tookland won’t enter any ponies in the All-Shire Race,’ Merry said, arriving with Estella on his arm. ‘That’ll help the gold to stop mounting up so alarmingly!’

 ‘Cancel the Tournament this year,’ Estella said. ‘Then you won’t have hobbits coming from all over the Shire to shoot in an attempt to win the golden arrow!’

 ‘You don’t have to hold pony sales in the Spring and Autumn, you know,’ Merry went on, ‘and you could always nail boards over that new mine...’

 ‘I heard about that,’ Elessar said, looking up from his daughter’s plate, where he was cutting her meat into tiny pieces just right for little fingers to grasp. ‘Your engineers were digging in various places, determining where to locate a New Smials, and they struck gold...’

 ‘Yes, that’s all very well...’ Pippin began.

 ‘Perhaps you ought to be sending gold to the King instead,’ Merry said.

 ‘Perhaps you ought,’ Elessar said, leaning back with a laugh. ‘If the treasury ever gets low, I know I can count on your help. You may send the gold to the Lake, if Gondor is too far.’

 ‘Ha!’ Pippin said. ‘If you think...’ He broke off suddenly, his eyes narrowing at a sudden thought.

Diamond touched his hand. ‘My love?’

 ‘Hilly,’ Pippin said, turning to the escort. ‘Why not bring Posey to the Lake for a holiday? She was laid so low over the winter, think of what the sunshine and fresh air will do for her, and perhaps there might be other healing as well...?’

 ‘The House of Healing offers hope to many that were hopeless,’ Arwen said gently, her smile warm and somehow filled with understanding; how she knew, Hilly did not know.

 ‘But how?’ he said, his breath coming short. To see the Lake, and to take Posey away from their smial and the grief that lingered there... ‘You’re off in the morning, you said, and...’ He sneaked a glance at the King and looked quickly away. Who was he, to hold up a King?

 ‘A guard detail could remain here until your return,’ Pippin said, and then he laughed. ‘An escort for the escort! What a droll idea!’ He cast an eye at the King. ‘What do you say, Strider? Could you spare a few Men to bring Hilly and his beloved safely to the Lake?’

 ‘I could indeed,’ the King said. ‘We shall depart on the morrow, as planned, but I’ll leave an escort waiting for you, Hildibold, if it please you to join us at the Lake.’

 ‘If it please me...’ Hilly said, quite overcome. He seized the King’s hand and kissed it fervently. ‘Thank you, my liege,’ he said. ‘I was that grieved, to have a chance to see such a great sight in all the world and yet not dare to go too far and too long from my beloved, and now to hope for healing and new hope for my Posey...’

So it was that Hilly found himself after supper riding across the Brandywine Bridge and on his way to the Great Smials, himself bringing Pippin’s message to Reginard, rather than a quick post rider. He could not help singing as he rode into the gathering dusk, welcoming each star that winked at him from the sky above, singing the jolly round Moon out of his bed, not quite so round as he’d been a few days earlier; he was pouring himself out again, but still he graciously lit the road for a traveller eager to reach home.

Partway to morning, Hilly stopped at an inn to rest his borrowed pony and himself. He slept a few hours and rose early, breakfasted heartily, and was on his way again as the Sun was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. At this rate he’d reach the Great Smials just in time for tea.

He trotted into the yard feeling a lightness of spirit that he hadn’t felt in weeks. The yard was quiet, for such a bright spring day. Of course, with the Thain gone, the Great Smials wouldn’t be as busy as usual... But the stable lad who stepped up to take his pony greeted him with sober face and reddened eyes. ‘Welcome home, Hilly. It is good indeed to see you. You’re come in good time.’

 ‘Thankee, Tam,’ Hilly replied, wondering, but before he could ask if aught were amiss, the lad gulped and mumbled that he’d rub the pony down well and turn him out, turning abruptly away.

Hilly stared after him, and then looked to the face of the Smials. Mourning was not hung in the windows, as he’d half-expected. “Come in good time,” though. Someone hadn’t died in recent days, then, but...

Worry hurried his steps as he crossed the yard to enter the Great Smials. He’d find Posey, first, and make sure that all was well with her, or as well as he could expect, anyhow. Then he’d convey Pippin’s message to Regi, that the Thain expected to spend the entire summer at the Lake with the King, unless word was sent that he was urgently needed. The King would maintain a small outpost not far from the North Gate of Buckland, and a message would travel as swiftly as might be at need.

He received sober greetings from all he met, and not a few showed signs of weeping, though he was in too much of a hurry to greet Posey to stop and inquire as to the bad news. Such news, no doubt, would keep.

Reaching his quarters, he heard Posey’s voice lifted in song and threw back the door with a glad, ‘I’m back!’

Posey sat upon the hearthrug, surrounded by young hobbits, the oldest of whom were toasting bread over the fire. At Hilly’s entrance she jumped up and ran to embrace him, holding tight and burying her face in his shoulder. ‘O my love!’ she said over and again.

Hilly was ready to protest that he was well, indeed, and the mishap with the bog had been grossly exaggerated, truly, but she put a silencing finger to his lips as she raised a tear-streaked face. With a glance back at the hearth, she said, ‘Rudi, you just mind the younger ones for a moment.’

Young Rudi nodded soberly and turned back to his toasting fork, saying, ‘Now who’ll have this next slice?’ as Posey drew Hilly through the door and into the corridor.

 ‘You’re keeping Nell and Ferdi’s young ones?’ Hilly said.

 ‘O Hilly,’ she whispered, fresh tears welling from her eyes.

 ‘What is it? What is the matter, my love?’ Hilly said, his unease growing.

 ‘O Hilly,’ Posey said again, her voice breaking. ‘It’s Ferdi...’





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