CHAPTER 27

Diamond gathered up her few items that had been in the guest room she had been occupying in Reggie’s quarters, and looked about to make sure that nothing remained.

“I’ll take that,” said Garnet. “You will have enough to do, carrying yourself.”

Lavender nodded her approval. She took the heavy cloak she had brought from the cottage, and wrapped it securely around her apprentice. “We are going to take this walk very slowly. I expect that you will need to sit down and rest several times along the way.” The healer shook her head, and mumbled something about “Tooks” under her breath.

“What was that, Mistress Lavender?” asked Garnet.

“This would be far easier on Diamond if we had a wheeled chair.”

Garnet stared at her in horror, as though she had sprouted a second head. “Oh dear me! No!”

Lavender sighed, and they headed out of the apartment.

By the time they got to the door, Diamond was feeling breathless and lightheaded. Was this how patients felt after weeks in bed? She’d have a lot more sympathy in the future.

But when they came into the main passageway, Merry and Estella were there, as well as Pippin‘s sister, Pearl.

“Miss Diamond,” said Merry, “I think that this walk might be a bit much for you.”

“I thought it might help if you would let Merry carry you?” asked Estella, almost apologetically.

Diamond’s eyes grew wide, and she was about to protest, but Lavender nodded approvingly. “That is an excellent idea, Mr. Meriadoc. You’re a strong and sturdy lad, I don’t think it would be too much for you.”

Since her mistress had already given permission, Diamond could scarcely object now. Merry swept her up in his strong arms like a mere child. Diamond flushed. He leaned his mouth near her ear and said “Pip’s really disappointed he could not do this for you. But he couldn’t figure out how to carry you *and* use his crutches.”

Estella walked close to Merry and her new friend, and Pearl walked along behind with the healer.

“Mother is wondering if she will be all right alone in the cottage when you have to be out seeing patients.”

“Diamond is recovered from her illness; she just has to regain her strength after being so long a-bed. Once we are back in the cottage, I will find light tasks for her, to help her build back up her endurance. She should be just fine.”

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Pippin sat twitchily on the settee in the family sitting room, and gave his mother a reproachful look. “I don’t see why I could not have at least walked down there with them. I’m doing fine on my crutches.”

“Inside the smial,” Eglantine said calmly. “It’s cold and icy out there, and you’ve not been outside with them enough to try going such a long distance.”

“Oh, come now, Mother! It’s not *that* far! It‘s only the other side of the garden.”

“It’s far enough. I’m tired of this conversation, son. Play me a song.”

Pippin sighed, and picked his shepherd’s pipes up from his lap. He began to play, a soft and melancholy Elven air that Legolas had taught him. Soon the music soothed his nerves, and he started to play some other more lively tunes.

Eglantine smiled, and gave a sigh of relief.

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Rosamunda looked with relief at the letter in her hand. This was wonderful.

My dear Cousin Rosamunda,

I am hoping this letter finds you still at the Great Smials. Pimpernel and Pervinca have told me that you and Estella are visiting there. In case you have already left, I am sending another copy of this letter to your home at Brock Hall.

It is an open secret that we can expect the announcement of a betrothal between Meriadoc and Estella sometime next spring after Fredegar returns. It is my hope that we can get the families together, and begin to know one another better before that time comes to pass.

I would like to extend an invitation for your family to join ours here at Brandy Hall for Yule. A Yule in Buckland is a merry time, and the celebration could only be the warmer for your presence.

I understand that Odovocar has a certain aversion to crossing the River, as indeed did your son. Our healer can recommend a calmative elixir which would ease his passage across the Bridge.

I am quite certain that Meriadoc and Peregrin will have returned to Buckland and Crickhollow prior to that time, and that Meriadoc will be available to partner Estella at the dancing and to show her about Buckland.

Please, do say you will all come. Saradoc and I look forward to becoming better acquainted with you.

Fondly,

Your cousin,

Esmeralda Brandybuck

Well, she and Estella would have to head home soon, to prepare for this. But not before they had finished doing business with Pearl’s dressmaker. Still, a week more at the most. That would give them barely a month and a half to get ready.

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Merry, Estella and Pearl came bursting into the family sitting room, laughing, noses and cheeks rosy with the cold.

“Goodness!” exclaimed Pearl, walking over to the hearth with her hands extended, “it’s nice and warm in here!”

Merry flopped down next to his cousin, and put his hand to the back of Pippin’s neck.

“Oi! Get your cold hand off!” Pippin swatted at Merry, and they spent a few minutes in horseplay.

Estella giggled, Pearl rolled her eyes, and Eglantine watched indulgently for a few moments, until Pippin turned to try and pin Merry down. She was afraid he’d get carried away and hurt his leg again. “Enough of that, lads!”

They stopped immediately. “Sorry, Mother,” mumbled Pippin.

“Yes, Aunt Tina,” said Merry at the same instant. They looked at one another and grinned unrepentantly.

Pippin flopped his head back and sighed. Diamond was back in the healer’s cottage, and he wouldn’t be able to see her easily now. She wouldn’t even be coming to check on him with her mistress, as she would be confined to the cottage with light duty for several more days. And he was really getting tired of the Smials. Besides, as long as he stayed here, he’d still be considered one of her “patients”.

“Merry? When are we going home?” He hadn’t meant for the question to pop out like that in front of everybody, and he blushed, realizing just how that was going to sound to his mother.

Eglantine felt a bit of a pang, true, but she had known for a while that Pippin considered Crickhollow his true home.

There was a slightly awkward silence, and then Merry said “Well, that’s going to depend on what Mistress Lavender says, isn’t it?” He glanced over at Estella.

Now Pippin felt abashed. He’d hurt his mother’s feelings, and he realized that with Estella here, Merry was in no hurry to leave. He wanted to apologize, but not really--he was not sorry he wanted to go home, only that he had blurted it out like that. He was actually relieved when the door to the room opened and Rosamunda came in. He’d never thought to be glad to see Cousin Rosamunda before.

She greeted everyone and took a seat in an armchair next to Eglantine’s. “Meriadoc, I’ve had a letter from your mother.”

Merry raised an eyebrow. “A letter from Mum?”

She nodded. “Your mother has graciously invited us to spend Yule at Brandy Hall.”

Merry restrained himself from giving a joyous yell, and contented himself with grinning at Estella, who also wore a broad smile. She looked at her mother. “Are we going to accept the invitation, Mother?”

Rosamunda nodded. “Yes, I do believe that we will. I know that your father may balk a bit, although I am sure he will be persuaded. However we will need to go home no later than the end of this coming week if we are to get everything properly prepared.”

Well, thought Pippin, that solves *that* problem. Now if only the healer will cooperate.

Eglantine shook her head. Pippin’s thoughts were obvious.

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That afternoon, Lavender came to check on his progress. In addition to feeling of his leg and using her pendulum, she asked him to walk about the room on his crutches.

“You are doing quite well with those,” she said as he came back to where he’d started at the settee. “I’d like to see you try just a few steps on your leg without them.”

His eyes grew wide with anticipation. He leaned the crutches against the settee, and put his weight on both his legs. He felt a pain, but not the kind of sharp, white pain that had shot through him only a few days earlier when he had jostled his leg. This was a duller pain, though insistent. He walked about five steps, before feeling a bit wobbly.

“That’s enough.” She handed the crutches back to him. “I think that you are almost well enough to begin doing without these some of the time. Start out tomorrow, I want you to take five steps morning and evening, and if you don’t wobble too much, then increase it to ten the next day.”

He sat down abruptly. “How soon can I go back to Buckland?”

“Who is your healer in Buckland?”

Merry, who had been watching with bated breath, lest Pippin stumble, spoke up “My cousin, Dodinas Brandybuck.”

Lavender looked at him and nodded. “Ah. I know Master Dodinas. Excellent healer.”

Merry felt gratified that she didn’t add--as so many did--”for a male”. The rest of the Shire put down the male healer to just one more oddity of the strange Bucklanders. But Cousin Dody really was a very good healer, and was one of the reasons he’d not found it so strange to be tended by Strider. It had taken Sam back a bit, though.

The healer looked at Pippin. “I think that if you start to work on doing without the crutches, you might be fit to travel in a few days. *But* you are not to travel pony-back. A waggon or carriage or coach. You *will* keep bundled up warmly, with a goodly supply of willow-bark on hand. I will give you a letter to Master Dodinas, describing your injury and your progress, and I expect that I will hear from him if you do not obey his direction. And if you intend to continue having my good opinion, you will not give him any trouble.”

Pippin caught the underlying meaning. If he wasn’t a good patient, she’d tell Diamond on him. He blushed. That was hardly fair. “I’ll mind Cousin Dody.”

Merry chuckled. “I will see that he does, Mistress Lavender, and so will my mother.”

“Very well.” She picked up her medical satchel, and left the room.

Pippin looked at Merry and bounced up and down where he sat. “We’re going home, Merry!”

Merry grinned. “It does look that way. But won’t you miss seeing Diamond?”

Pippin sobered up. “I will miss her--dreadfully. But if we stay here, I’m not going to be seeing much of her anyway. She’s cooped up in the healer’s cottage, and I’m cooped up here in the Smials. And once I’m better, I won’t be a patient anymore, and I can come back and start courting her *properly*!”

Merry laughed. “If you are talking about ‘proper‘--I think you’ve been around Sam too much--then you have to wait a few more years.”

Pippin took up a cushion and flung it at Merry’s head. Merry reached up and snagged it from the air before it hit him in the face.

“You know very well what I mean!”

“Yes, Pip, I do!”

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