Chapter 29. Leave-taking

Hilly patted Posey’s back automatically as his mind reeled. ‘Ferdi?’ he said. ‘But he was well...’ He thought back to their leave-taking. Ferdi had eaten well, had talked and laughed, had got up from the bed to see them off, calling hearty sentiments and waving vigorously. He’d been a bit flushed, perhaps, but Hilly had attributed that to the warmth of the room; the fire on Ferdi’s hearth had been burning merrily when he arrived with the breakfast tray.

He thought again of the exchange he’d overheard between Thain and healer as he dressed after awakening.

 ‘...to the Bridge with me, is he well enough?’

 ‘Well enough! Never been better, I’d say. No ill effects, it seems. I checked him over when he started to waken, and it appears he’s taken no harm.’

Hilly had walked softly to the door of his room, not quite closed, and while his fingers automatically put his buttons through their holes he listened closely.

 ‘Glad to hear it! I’ll send a message to his wife, then, with the archers returning to Tuckborough...’

There had been a bustle in the corridor then, and Hilly had stepped back, missing the next few words, but no one tapped on his door and the low-voiced conversation resumed.

 ‘...settled then. I’ll send Ferdi back to the Smials under your wing.’

Tolly’s voice sounded then, with a question for the Thain, and Hilly heard Fennel say, ‘I’ll just check on Hilly. Now that the effects of the draught are wearing off at last, he ought to be fully awake and on his feet soon.’

Hilly moved on silent feet to the bed and sat down, fiddling with his top button. He looked up when Fennel tapped and entered.

 ‘Ah, we are awake!’ the healer said cheerily.

 ‘I don’t know about you, but I certainly am,’ Hilly said, jumping to his feet. ‘Where are we, and what is the time?’

 ‘It’s about time for elevenses, we're in Pincup, and everyone is out admiring the flowers,’ Fennel said. ‘Let’s just take one more look at you.’ Pincup? How had he come from Jack's camp to Pincup? Asleep the entire journey? Hilly shook his head.

 ‘Come now, Hilly, one more look,’ Fennel repeated, gesturing to the bed.

 ‘ ‘Twouldn’t be so bad if all you did was look,’ Hilly muttered as, after he undid all the buttons he’d just done up, Fennel proceeded to thump his chest and back, put his ear to a funnel laid against Hilly’s torso and instruct the escort to take a series of deep breaths.

 ‘Clear as a bell,’ Fennel said, straightening. ‘Bundle yourself warmly; you’re riding with the Thain to the Cockerel after nuncheon.’ He eyed Hilly. ‘Are you hungry?’ 

 ‘I could eat something,’ Hilly said. ‘Elevenses, you say? Then I missed breakfast, I suppose...’

 ‘You missed a deal more than that,’ Fennel said obscurely. ‘Fascinating thing, this outlandish draught you were given... You’re not famished from sleeping through so many meals, you look well...’

 ‘I am well,’ Hilly said emphatically, rising from the bed. ‘Never better.’ To his satisfaction, the healer did not contradict him. Truth be told, Hilly did feel fine and full of energy.

 ‘Good,’ Fennel said. ‘I’ll just go and relieve Old Holyard; he’s sitting with Ferdibrand. I cannot believe that hobbit has slept this long...’ the last part muttered under his breath, before the healer put on a smile once more and said, ‘You go to the kitchen and tell them to load a tray for two hungry hobbits of the Thain’s escort, and bring it to Ferdi’s room, will you, Hilly? You and Ferdi missed the feast, but you can have a feast of your own before you depart with the Thain.’

Hilly was brought back to the present moment as Posey’s arms squeezed him tight, before she raised her head from his shoulder and wiped her streaming eyes. ‘Don’t want to frighten the little ones,’ she whispered, putting on a smile. ‘They’ll be called soon enough to take their leave...’

 ‘What’s happened to Ferdi?’ he said. ‘Where is he?’

 ‘They moved him from the infirmary to his own bed this morning,’ Posey whispered.

Hilly nodded. “His own bed” meant one of two things when applied to a sick or injured hobbit. Either he was on the mend, too well to need healers’ constant attendance, or he was slipping away and being made as comfortable as possible. No wonder so many in the Smials were grieving: the Talk had gone round already that Ferdi was near death.

 ‘But I was just feasting with him...’ he said numbly, and then he laid a tender kiss upon Posey’s cheek. ‘Mind the little ones,’ he said. She nodded and slipped into their quarters again, and he heard her say, What song shall we sing now? as he turned away.

The door to Ferdi’s apartments was ajar, and as Hilly pushed it open he saw Reginard talking to Healer Woodruff. ‘Not long, now,’ the healer was saying.

 ‘What’s happened?’ Hilly demanded, striding into the room.

 ‘And how are you feeling, Hildibold?’ Woodruff said, breaking off and moving towards him.

 ‘I’m perfectly well; why shouldn’t I be?’ Hilly challenged.

The healer eyed him narrowly. ‘You look well enough,’ she said.

 ‘What’s happened?’ Hilly repeated. ‘Ferdi was perfectly well, a few days ago, when...’

 ‘He was not perfectly well,’ Woodruff contradicted, ‘though he wanted everyone to think he was. That hobbit hates a fuss.’

Tooks in general hate a fuss, but this was not the time to get into a debate with a healer. ‘So he wasn’t perfectly well,’ Hilly said. ‘He was on his feet, and...’

 ‘He had a small, dry cough, annoying but not worrisome, when he left the Smials with the Thain,’ Woodruff said. ‘Nell told me about it later. Had I heard it, I might have popped him into bed on the spot.’

 ‘For a cough?’ Hilly said. Healers were mad, they were, and here was proof.

 ‘The Old Gaffer’s Friend* is not to be trifled with,’ Woodruff said. ‘Falling in bogs and splashing through icy rivers with no food or rest to speak of would not be my best advice to someone suffering a cough.’

 ‘Old Gaffer...’ Hilly gasped.

 ‘Fennel wanted to keep him tucked up at Pincup, but from the sound of his breathing, the damage was already done and so the Thain was able to persuade him to bring Ferdi home to Nell, where at least he’d rest.’

 ‘But he didn’t rest?’ Hilly said.

For the first time, Reginard spoke. ‘He sat down to tea after arriving, was seized by a coughing fit so fierce he broke a rib, and went from bad to worse in the infirmary over the course of the evening.’

 ‘He’s had no rest from the coughing,’ Woodruff said. ‘Every breath is a stabbing pain, and so he doesn’t take deep breaths, even if he weren’t drowning already... and then the coughing starts again.’

 ‘Where’s Pippin?’ Regi said, turning towards the corridor. ‘Did he return with you?’ He shook his head. ‘I didn’t want to call him away from the King...’

 ‘He’s on his way to the Lake,’ Hilly said. ‘I was to bring the message...’

Regi swore under his breath. ‘On his way,’ he said hopelessly. ‘No chance to catch him up, then, I take it?’

 ‘A fast rider...’ Hilly said, thinking quickly, but Regi shook his head.

 ‘Too far,’ he said, ‘even riding straight through. Reach the Bridge some time tomorrow, and then how far will the King have gone? He’ll be two days’ journey ahead, and still the journey back again. Even if Pippin turned straight around, I don’t think Nell would last.’

 ‘Nell?’ Hilly gasped.

 ‘You know how it is with her,’ Woodruff said. ‘She nearly died when Rudivacar did. They were able to keep her eating then for the sake of his babe that she bore, but there’s no babe to keep her now. She’s taken neither food nor drink since Ferdi was carried to his own bed.’

 ‘But...’ Hilly said, sick at the thought. Though it was almost unheard-of for a hobbit to marry more than once, Nell and Ferdi had loved one another since childhood. They were a match, two halves of a whole. Nell’s first husband had been of a marriage arranged by her father, Thain Paladin, but though Nell married out of obedience, she’d come to love her Rudi and had nearly died when illness took him. Pippin had sustained her through her grief, and when she’d mourned a year, he’d nearly shoved her into Ferdi’s arms. ‘The children...’

 ‘She’d give her life for any of them,’ Woodruff said softly, ‘but for Ferdi she’ll lay her life down, and I know of no one able to turn her from it, save perhaps her brother. You know how it was when Rudi died...’

Hilly nodded. It had been all the Talk. He thought of Posey’s illness over the winter, and how he couldn’t imagine living on without her. He’d leave the Great Smials, at the very least, if he ever lost her, and wander, perhaps find the Sea at last. Nell’s choice was simply another way of leaving, following her beloved into the darkness.

 ‘May I see him?’ he whispered.

Woodruff’s lips tightened as if she would smile, but there was no smile in her eyes. ‘You may take your leave of him now, if you wish,’ she said.

I don’t wish anything of the sort! Hilly thought to himself, but he nodded and turned towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

Ferdi was propped up in the bed, Nell clinging to his hand, tears silently welling from her eyes as she gazed into the face of her beloved.

Hilly could see the pain and the effort in each gasping breath, though Ferdi seemed not to see anything, staring into nothingness, eyes half-open.

 ‘No,’ Hilly whispered. ‘Ferdi, you cannot... not like this...’ He stumbled over the words much as he stumbled over his feet, turning away blindly, not knowing where he was going but unable to bear the sight of Ferdibrand’s struggle for breath and the pain in Pimpernel’s eyes.

***
*A/N “Old Gaffer’s Friend” is a Shire term for pneumonia, which took the elderly relatively quickly and painlessly, but had an unfortunate mortality even amongst younger, stronger hobbits.