Chapter 48. Of Picnics and Party Games

It was a glorious day for a picnic, and even with Rose Gamgee staying behind with her eldest and the littlest ones, quite a crowd set out that day, following the Road part-ways out of the City, turning off on a track that lead into the woods, until they reached the little clearing with its velvet moss and noontide sunshine slanting down through the trees. The rushing of the stream sounded, cool and refreshing, not far away.

Merry claimed the privilege of carrying little Faramir upon his shoulders, and so the Thain was not encumbered, but free to carry Pip-lad, who smiled down upon the rest of the hobbits from his high and lofty perch. He was nearly as tall as one of the Big Folk!

Hilly had his bow with him, strung and ready, providing escort to the Thain and his family, guardsmen or no guardsmen. He walked, one hand holding his bow, and the other holding to his greatest treasure, though Posey was ready to loose his hand at any time, should he need to pull an arrow from the quiver on his back and fit it to the bow.

Arwen and Elessar also walked hand-in-hand, and when they reached the clearing the King removed his boots and stockings and revelled in the feel of the moss on his bare feet. ‘We’ll all be hobbits for the nonce,’ he said, and when he’d sat down Pippin clapped him on the shoulder.

‘I’ve been a hobbit for years, and I can tell you there’s no better thing in the world to be!’

Arwen laughed and drew off her light slippers.

Bergil and Denny exchanged glances. They didn’t expect the King’s “edict” to apply to them, on duty as they were, and so they took up their posts at opposite ends of the clearing, where they had a good view of the clearing and the surrounding woods. Really, they expected no trouble, this close to the City, but little hobbits will wander, and there are wandering Men as well, so they were more there in event of wandering than for any other reason.

It might have been boring duty, except for the young hobbits who kept coming up to them to “share” tid-bits from the picnic hampers: nice little sandwiches, or sweet biscuits, or a slightly crushed strawberry clenched in an overeager little fist. The two guardsmen exchanged ironic looks; they were still being plagued by hobbits intent on stuffing them full of food! But things could be worse, they supposed.

It might have made the duty less boring for them if they’d seen the Men concealed in the underbrush, near where they left the Road to take the trail to the picnic clearing, rough-clad and ill-kempt Men who were staring after the procession with hungry eyes.

 ‘Not this day,’ one barely breathed when the picnickers were well-past. ‘Too well guarded, and King and Queen amongst them. But you marked the little lad, did you not?’

 ‘It was easy to pick him out, with his father dressed like a little guardsman! I’ll know him when I see him,’ the other said, nodding. ‘Dark hair, much darker than his father’s, dark eyes too. Pointed chin with a dimple, one crooked tooth in a gap-toothed grin. Even if he’s not with his father, we’ll take the right one, when luck favours us!’

Diamond took Posey’s hand and settled her on a picnic blanket near Arwen and the little princess. Posey quickly made friends with the little one, playing “peek-boo” with a serviette while Diamond and Estella set out the food. Soon all were eating, laughing, and talking, all at once, all, of course, but the watchful guardsmen, standing like statues in the shadows of the trees.

Strawberries, there were, and scones, and cream in crocks, and sparkling sugar to scatter atop like snow upon a mountain top. Sandwiches, cut into pleasing shapes and stuffed full of good things: salmon, and trout, ground and mixed with soft cheese and spice; cucumbers sliced paper thin, nestled atop a layer of thin-spread sweet butter; minced meat or fowl or chopped egg; why, there were even sandwiches with a filling of spicy watercress!

To complement the sandwiches were vegetables, fresh and pickled in jars. The fresh vegetables had been cut into clever shapes. Why, that picnic was a feast for the eyes as well as the taste!

Biscuits there were of many sorts and shapes: shortbread, jam-filled, ginger-and-spice, just to name a few. And then there was the cake! Seedcake, of course, for that was the Thain’s favourite, but there were also apple-tart and cherry-pockets and sponge cake with cream filling and so much more! A feast fit for a King, as Pippin declared more than once, and each time Elessar would bow and pop another morsel into his mouth in perfect agreement.

Meal over, the youngest among them fell asleep and were laid down upon the blankets, Faramir and Pip-lad, Merry-lad and Goldilocks, and little Princess Liriel.

 ‘Can we not dance?’ young Rosie Gamgee said with a plaintive look. ‘The moss is so cool, and fresh, and green!’ She picked up her skirts and executed a few pretty steps.

 ‘In truth, I believe we must!’ Pippin said, seizing her hand and holding his hand out to Arwen. Laughing, the Queen left her little one sleeping and joined the dance, and soon Elessar and Merry and Diamond and Estella and Frodo-lad and Hilly and even his Posey had joined the circle, while Samwise dozed in the midst of his sleeping children.

When at last, breathless and laughing, the dancers sat down again, Merry proposed a game where one or two would act out a scene and the rest would have to guess the story. This provided a great deal of distraction for all, and even the silent guardsmen occasionally smiled at the antics that followed, especially to see their King crowned with flowers, crawling upon the moss with Frodo-lad riding on his back while the other merry-makers shouted their guesses.

 ‘Ah, me!’ Arwen panted, holding her sides, flushed from laughing. She looked like a mere girl in that moment, with her dark hair come undone and cascading down her back and her eyes dancing in merriment. She looked like a mere girl, or perhaps a wood sprite that had come out to play in the sunlight. She fanned herself and added, ‘I don’t know when I’ve had a better time!’

 ‘We must picnic more often, I think,’ her husband said with a fond smile, but the smile faded as he looked past her.

 ‘What is it?’ Merry said, for though he’d had a fine and frolicsome time himself, he was ever watchful for a new worry.

 ‘Estel?’ Arwen said, her own smile gone. She followed his gaze to the blankets and gasped. ‘Liriel!’ The rumpled coverlet, where the toddler had been so peacefully asleep through the merry revels, surrounded by slumbering hobbits, had an empty spot in the middle. The little princess was gone!