Chapter 64. Tea, that Soother of All Ills

Part-way back to the City Merry dismounted and drew near to Pippin and Farry. ‘I find myself quite ready to be put out, should I not have a turn at carrying my lad!’ he declared.

 ‘Ah, but you pout so magnificently!’ Pippin replied. ‘I find myself tempted to be difficult.’

Farry laughed and reached for Merry, who managed to catch him as he toppled from his father’s shoulders.

 ‘I suppose you want me to take a turn carrying your other lad,’ Pippin said, glancing at the prancing pony following Merry.

 ‘No, but you might sit on him, just to keep him tethered to the earth,’ Merry said. ‘I swear one of these days he’ll sprout wings and fly.’

 ‘Well then, I’ll tether him for you,’ Pippin said, and taking the reins from his cousin he swung into the saddle. Merry nodded, satisfied, and Diamond heaved a private sigh of relief, while Sam and Rose on the litter exchanged a significant glance.

However, Pippin cantered ahead to Denethor’s litter and swung down again. The guardsman had fallen silent, his face bleached of all colour, his breathing laboured. ‘Steady, Denny,’ Pippin said, trotting close by the litter. ‘One breath at a time.’

 ‘It—would—be—most—convenient—’ Denny puffed, ‘to take—two—breaths—at a—time.’ His ungloved hand tightened on the side of the litter until his knuckles turned white, for the effort to breathe, set against the steady agony of the arrow, was taking its toll.

 ‘Yes, but you’d use up your air faster that way,’ Pippin said. ‘One breath at a time.’

 ‘Save your breath; that would be even better,’ Faenon said. ‘Might I suggest, sir, that you use that pony to good effect and ride ahead to alert the healers that we’re coming?’ Privately he thought that the Ernil looked nearly as washed-out as the guardsman on the litter.

 ‘I shall carry the message onward and return in three shakes!’ Pippin announced. He mounted, guided the pony away from the litter, and leaned forward in the saddle. That was all the pony was waiting for; he broke out into a fast pace and was soon to be seen reaching the Gate to the City rising in the distance.

He did not return, however, for the head healer sent for Elladan, who brooked none of Pippin’s arguments but popped the hobbit directly into bed, giving orders for the smearing of pungent balm and simmering of herbs, at least until the arrival of the King to say otherwise. Thus Pippin did not see Denethor’s arrival, Elessar now walking at his side, though he did hear the flurry in the corridors that resulted.

When Diamond appeared he was ready to pop from frustration. ‘Well?’ he barked. ‘What news?’

 ‘Sam’s leg will be set, and the King is about to remove the arrow from Denny,’ she said, climbing up onto the bed to administer a healing kiss. ‘Merry has Farry, I ordered Hilly to escort Posey to the gardens, Rose has her feet up, and Arwen has charge of the little Gamgees with Elanor her ever-helpful maid.’

 ‘Sounds as if all’s settling out,’ Pippin said, relaxing back into the cushions that propped him.

 ‘Yes, dearest,’ Diamond said, stroking his forehead with her fingertips. ‘Your part in the matter is done, so you may take a well-earned rest.’

 ‘Rest!’ Pippin protested. ‘Why, it’s barely nooning!’

 ‘Rest,’ Diamond soothed, snuggling against him. ‘I don’t know but that I’ll join you.’

Still stiff with protest, Pippin put an arm around her. ‘I don’t know why people fuss so,’ he said.

 ‘Think how heavily the time would hang on their hands if they didn’t,’ Diamond said softly, resting her head on his shoulder. ‘Why, you’re keeping them from terrible boredom!’

 ‘Hoorah for me,’ Pippin grumbled, but his wife gave a sigh and relaxed into even breathing. Pippin found it quite suggestive, really, and his own eyelids began to droop. Thus when Elessar’s step was heard in the doorway, the Thain was fast asleep and heard nothing.

Diamond, however, opened her eyes. ‘How’s Denny?’ she whispered, easing herself away from her husband. He sighed but did not waken.

 ‘Resting,’ Elessar said. ‘You may tell Pippin that I made liberal use of athelas, as he suggested,’ there was a distinct twinkle in his eye, ‘and I have great hopes that Denethor will survive his wounds.’

 ‘Survive...’ Diamond said, wrinkling her forehead as she considered the King’s phrasing. ‘What about “recover”?’

 ‘I don’t know yet, how complete his recovery will be,’ Elessar said. ‘Just tell your husband that Denethor is resting comfortably.’

Diamond nodded. Pippin would likely see through the words. “Resting comfortably” could mean anything from Farry taking a nap after a day filled with play, to someone near death and under the influence of a sleeping draught. ‘I’ll tell him,’ she said.

As she’d thought, Pippin was not satisfied with the news when he wakened, and was all ready to hop out of the bed in search of Elessar, or failing that, Denethor, when the King himself entered, Arwen on his arm.

 ‘We have come to take tea with you,’ the King said.

 ‘All very well and good,’ Pippin said, ‘but I fear we’ve little to offer you save a few simmering herbs.’

 ‘Tea and all the trimmings,’ Arwen said, ‘and due to arrive at any moment.’ It had not escaped her that Pippin would not meet her eyes, but she resolved to say nothing at the time. She’d take it up with her husband.

 ‘Well, I’d like to see the Rohirrim top this,’ Pippin said brightly. ‘Tea and all the trimmings, brought to the bedside! Why, you don’t even have to arise in the morning! Simply sit up, eat, and lie down again!’

 ‘Even Bombur has himself carried to table, as I recall,’ Elessar said. ‘He doesn’t spend quite all his time abed.’

 ‘Not quite,’ Pippin conceded. ‘Very well, I shall make it my ambition to rival him in luxury, at least as long as I can stand to sit still.’

 ‘Perhaps for five minutes,’ Diamond said, laughing. ‘I fear that is all you could stand!’

 ‘Then I’ll sit,’ Pippin said. ‘And what of our son? Has Merry decided to keep him for himself?’

 ‘He’ll be along shortly, with the tea,’ Arwen said. Pippin threw a smile in her direction, but he was still avoiding her gaze. What was he hiding? ‘And Merry and Estella. Hilly and Posey are taking their tea in the garden, and Rose and all the little Gamgees are sitting on Sam’s bed.’

 ‘Tea in bed, the latest fashion!’ Merry said, entering. He boosted young Faramir onto the bed, put his hands on Estella’s waist and lifted her onto the bed. Though none of the hobbits remarked on it, King and Queen noticed a general brightening of expressions at this evidence of his healing.

 ‘I still see no evidence of tea,’ Pippin said, disgruntled, but several trays arrived in the next few moments, and soon tea was poured out, the food was apportioned, and everyone was eating and drinking and talking at once.

Pippin had wanted a full report on Denethor, but it had to wait until tea was over, for of course such topics are better left alone when eating. At last the tea things were cleared away and Diamond took Farry off for his bath and then to ready him for bed. Estella sat resolutely through the description of removing the arrow, bathing the wound in athelas to head off the red swelling that could take the guardsman’s life even if the arrow had done no life-threatening harm, the special dressings that would allow air to escape from his chest without more air entering.

 ‘We’ll watch him for fever and other such signs,’ Elessar concluded.

 ‘It’s early days yet,’ Estella murmured, and the rest of the hobbits nodded.

 ‘A hobbit shot through would die in agonies within a week, with all that Shire-healers could do for him,’ Pippin said, his eyes clouded with memory. ‘Athelas is wondrous stuff.’

 ‘It might have something to do with the hands of the King,’ Merry said aside.

 ‘Perhaps,’ Pippin conceded. ‘Perhaps.’ Privately he was thinking that even the hands of the King had their limitations, but of course he did not say this aloud. He sighed.

 ‘But you are still weary, I see,’ Arwen said, rising from her seat. Pippin did not seize her hand and kiss it with a wink, as he usually did, and Elessar frowned slightly. ‘Let us not keep you from your rest.’

 ‘Not all that weary,’ Pippin said, but his protest was rather spoilt by the yawn that followed.

 ‘Sleep well,’ Elessar said. ‘I’ll look in on you in the morning.’

 ‘Perhaps I’ll be the one to look in on you,’ Pippin said. ‘You cannot keep me in this bed forever.’

 ‘Alas,’ Merry said. ‘It’s not for want of trying!’ All laughed, and King and Queen excused themselves.

The hobbits talked quietly for awhile longer, and Pippin could not resist the soothing tones his cousins employed. It was not long before he dropped off.

When Diamond appeared with sleepy Farry, washed and clad in nightclothes, in her arms, Merry and Estella excused themselves in whispers and took themselves off for a walk in the gardens under the fading sky.