Chapter 58. Picnic Breakfast

Jack hefted the rough bag he bore and grinned. Just a few more and he’d be ready to leave the forest and cross the River on the tumbled rocks above the waterfall—anyone with nerve and a good sense of balance could do so, and avoid going the long way around to the bridge about a mile upriver, where the Baranduin was born from the Lake. The best mushrooms were to be found on the Old Annuminas side of the River, where people seldom went, whether for fear of what might lurk in the ruins, or because they had too much to do in building up a new City in what had been for too long Wilderland.

He’d turn over the bag of mushrooms to the greengrocer, in payment for supplying his middle daughter to help Jack and the lads run their little shop. This was the first day of the week, when the hobbits could be expected to come to the marketplace, and the greengrocer would be happy to take their coin for the freshly-gathered mushrooms. After his years spent in the Shire and amongst the Shire-folk, Jack knew the best mushrooms, and which were the deadly ones, and his bargain with the greengrocer had resulted in benefit for both parties. Jack would be happy to take the lads out fishing, or tramping in the woods, leaving Seledrith in charge of the shop for their “day out”. She had a real feel for colour and texture and was already helping them turn a profit amongst the ladies of the court. Should Diamond, by chance, step into the shop, only Seledrith would be there to meet them. Another benefit that Jack had noticed was Will’s rapid breathing in Seledrith’s presence and his wide-eyed attention to anything the girl said, while stumbling all over his feet to please her... it would not be all that long before youth turned to manhood...

Though it was misty yet, the day promised to be warm and bright. Summer was waning; autumn would be here soon, and the hobbits would return to the Shire. The greengrocer would rue the loss of profit, perhaps, but Jack and Will would be able to relax for the first time since the excitement in the marketplace heralded the hobbits’ arrival last Spring. The King would return to the Southlands and Jack’s breathing space would stretch out for months, years perhaps, until the next visit of the Thain to the Lake.

In the meantime... Jack knelt at the base of a tree and dug his fingers into the loose soil. Fine specimens, these! Just a few more, and he’d call it a good morning’s work.

***

 ‘A picnic breakfast!’ Denethor said under his breath. ‘Now I think I’ve seen everything!’

 ‘Here, I think,’ Diamond said, indicating a grassy spot under the apple trees. ‘We can watch the Sun as she climbs into the sky, and when the day warms we’ll have a nice little walk to the Lake where we can cool our toes before we meet the King and Queen for luncheon, or was it tea?’

 ‘Tea,’ Pippin said, helping Hilly spread the blanket where Diamond had indicated. ‘Bergil will meet us at the Lake with our luncheon, as you recall, my dearest. Then he’ll escort you to the market, and Denny will have a well-earned rest!’

 ‘Rest,’ Diamond pouted. ‘Probably spend the afternoon polishing his mail or some such. Wouldn’t you much rather accompany us to market, Denny, and take tea with the Queen afterwards?’

 ‘My time is not my own,’ Denny said with a bow and a smile.

 ‘No, I do believe that when the King is not filling your time with the escorting of guests, a certain pretty young thing is directing the rest of your hours,’ Hilly said with a wink. Though he remained shy of the other Big Folk, he’d grown accustomed to Denny and Bergil over the summer months, considering them something like overtall hobbits.

 ‘Aha!’ Sam said, adding his laughter to the rest as Denethor ducked his head. ‘You’ll find you cannot conceal much from Hilly here. He makes it his business to find things out.’

 ‘Thain’s business,’ Hilly said.

 ‘After all, I must know all that is going on under my nose,’ Pippin said. ‘Here now, Sam, sit yourself down and rest that leg!’ Sam was walking now with a sturdy stick, a little farther every day, and threatening to return to the Shire just as soon as he could comfortably sit in a saddle for the number of hours the journey would require, much to the dismay of the little Gamgees, who wished to stay, like the Thain and his family, until summer’s end.

The Thain eased the Mayor down upon one of the blankets. Sam put his stick aside and sighed in satisfaction. ‘It’s a pretty place for a picnic,’ he said, admiring the well-kept trees, heavy with promise though it would be some weeks before the apples would begin to blush.

 ‘Too bad Merry couldn’t be here,’ Diamond said as she and Rose began to set out the feast, helped by Elanor and young Rose, while Frodo set the younger Gamgees and the little Took in order.

 ‘Too busy conspiring with the King,’ Pippin said behind his hand.

 ‘Are you going to Gondor?’ Sam asked frankly.

 ‘Now Sam,’ Pippin said. ‘I told Merry I’d give the idea full consideration.’

 ‘You’ve been considering for weeks now,’ Diamond said. ‘I’ve never known it to take you so long to make up your mind.’

 ‘My love,’ Pippin said, seizing her hand, plate of glistening grapes and all. He took the plate from her, set it down on the blanket, and gave the hand a fervent kiss. ‘You know that if I do decide to go to Gondor, I’ll take you with me.’

Diamond pulled her hand away. ‘How ever do you expect me to get breakfast on?’ she scolded with a smile. ‘Take me with you indeed!’ She turned to slicing cheese.

 ‘And me!’ Farry shouted, while Merry-lad and Pippin-lad looked glum at the prospect of losing their friend.

 ‘But you’ll have to promise to come a-visiting with your family, Sam,’ Pippin said. ‘It’ll be far too lonely, to be the only Shire-folk in the White City.’

Diamond caught her breath at his phrasing, but busied herself with cutting even slices of cheese. Mingled hope and dread stirred within her—dread at leaving all she knew, forever, to go off into foreign parts; and hope that her husband might choose life over duty.

He wouldn’t really be neglecting his duty by choosing so, she argued within herself silently, and not for the first time.  It is the King’s wish, after all.

Rose had fixed a plate for Denethor, as usual, and as usual the guardsman shook his head. ‘I’ve eaten,’ he said. When told he’d be accompanying the King’s guests on a breakfast picnic, he’d arranged to take his breakfast well before the dawn.

He was on guard, after all.

Not that anything had threatened the hobbits through the long, blessed summer days. Denethor felt nothing if not superfluous, especially as Hilly accompanied the Thain nearly everywhere, bow strung and quiver of wickedly-tipped arrows at his back. When he wasn’t shadowing Pippin, the hobbit of the Thain's escort was shadowing Diamond and Farry, whenever any of them left the palace or the sheltered courtyards and gardens.

Such is the lot of a bodyguard. Denethor felt superfluous in any event, for Elessar needed guarding as badly as a... as a sharp-toothed wolf! Promoted to the King’s elite guard on the battlefield, sometimes the young guardsman wondered if he’d be better off back in the ranks. Ah, but then he might never have made the acquaintance of hobbits.

All the while he was thinking his own thoughts, he was also listening to the conversation of the hobbits—Would Pippin really be coming with them to Gondor? So it sounded!—and all the while he was keeping track of each little hobbit as they finished their breakfast and climbed into the low limbs of the trees, and he was scanning their surroundings for any threat or danger. No wolves to be found, this time of year and this close to the City. No robbers to worry about, for the Road was well-patrolled in these days of peace. No...

His thoughts broke off as he staggered at a sudden blow, and pain bloomed in his side. To his amazement, looking down, he saw the feathered shaft of an arrow... and the hand he’d raised inadvertently came away with bright blood dripping from the fine black leather of his glove. He heard Diamond scream, a far away sound, and as if in a dream he saw Hilly grab up his bow even as he pulled his sword from its sheath, swinging to face the direction whence the attack had come. A shield! He should be bearing a shield in a shooting battle. But he’d been guarding against wolves and brigands, not archers...