The World Ahead

Pippin climbed as high as he could before his knee started to ache, and then he found the familiar place where two branches forked and made a nice enough seat. He rested there, his back against the trunk and his legs dangling high above the ground.

Below him the hills and fields stretched out into the distance. The Great Smials seemed small from this height, but even on the ground home seemed too small to Pippin, its ceilings lower and its walls closer than he remembered. There were days when the feeling of being smothered grew too overwhelming, and the only way Pippin could bear it was to distance himself for a time from the concerned looks and well-meaning words his family offered him. Each time he wandered further away, and lately Pippin found himself drawn more often than not to Buckland, and to Merry. It was becoming more and more difficult to turn his feet toward home.

Well, Pippin thought, wiggling his toes. I can always come back.