CHAPTER 21

The next morning was a quiet one. No one had rested well, with the worry over young Bergil and the fright of the day before. The only ones awake were Danulf, who was on watch, Rolly and Denny, who had risen to prepare a light breakfast, Poppy, who was watching by Bergil’s side, and Legolas who had gone for his usual morning walk.

Bergil finally had slept, though through much of the night he had been kept awake by painful coughing, and a fever which came and went. Now, soothed by herbs, he was deeply asleep. Targon and Éothain snored gently in their own bedrolls, also kept awake until the wee hours by the sick child in their tent.

“Mistress Poppy?” a voice softly called from the tent opening.

She glanced up. “Yes, Rolly?”

“Would you care for a bit of breakfast?”

“Thank you, yes I would. Just one moment.” She tried to speak softly and avoid waking the Men, but Targon sat up. “It’s all right, Captain Targon,” she said, and carefully made her way from the tent. Bergil would be fine for a few moments anyway.

She stretched to the popping of her joints, and walked with Rolly over by the fire, where he served her tea, and porridge, and griddlecakes topped with stewed dried fruit. The food put some heart into her, but made her quite sleepy. She was going to have to wake Viola to tend to Bergil, while she got some rest.

The smell of the food had begun to wake the other hobbits, who began to come out one by one, still yawning and tired.

“Don’t forget to leave some for the Men,” said Denny, as he watched Jolly fill his bowl with porridge.

“Your porridge is good, Denny,” he smiled.

“It’s the cinnamon as does the trick,” Denny replied.

“I’ll have to remember that.”

Fredegar stood over Poppy with his cup of tea. “How is Bergil this morning, Mistress Poppy?”

“He’s resting more or less comfortably at the moment.”

“Will he be all right?”

“I think so, as long as there are no complications. But we will still need to give him a few days to recover.”

Freddy sighed. “I am so relieved that he will be all right. I think we can live with a few delays. I am sure that the captains will agree.”

Viola came over to her mistress and sat down with her own breakfast. “Will you want me to watch over the patient while you get some sleep, Mistress Poppy?”

“Yes, please, Viola. I think that he will sleep through mid-morning; I dosed him last just before dawn. If he should waken, make sure he drinks water, and come fetch me if his fever should return once more.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The apprentice nodded, and went to the captains’ tent, just as Targon and É othain came out, yawning. The two Men came over and helped themselves to some of the griddlecakes and fruit, declining the porridge.

“It does smell delicious, Master Denny,” said É othain, “but the griddlecakes are a treat; I am afraid I have not the capacity to eat both.” He chuckled; the hobbits were always trying to make them eat more than they really wanted.

Berilac had come out, and was serving himself. “That’s quite all right,” he said. “That much more for the rest of us.” He sniffed appreciatively. “There’s cinnamon in it!”

When the breakfast was done, Jolly and Mosco decided to clean up. Cleaning up after the meal was usually Bergil’s job, and they did it silently, without a lot of the joking and songs that hobbits often engaged in while doing such chores. They felt too keenly the absence of the child whose task it was.

Freddy and Berilac approached Targon and É othain, who were yawning after their short sleep.

Targon glanced up. “What is it, Master Fredegar?”

“We are going to be here for a few days, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Berilac has suggested that this would be a good time for those of us who cannot swim to learn.”

“I think that is an excellent idea! You gave us quite a fright yesterday, going into the water like that. I would not have been half so alarmed had I not known that you could not swim.”

Freddy blushed. “I am afraid it did not even occur to me,” he shrugged.

Berilac spoke up. “The stream is too swift and swollen here, but I am thinking that there may be a less turbulent spot nearby where lessons could be given. Also, perhaps one of your Men could give the prisoners their lessons. I fear they do not trust me overmuch.”

The captains nodded. “I am sure that would be acceptable,” said Targon.

Éothain said “Anwynd is an excellent swimmer, I have reason to know.”

He glanced at Targon.

The Gondorian thought for a second. “All my Men know how to swim, but I think for your purposes, Borondir would be the best one to take such a task. We shall speak to both of them.”

Legolas had returned to the campsite, and wandered over to the discussion. “Freddy, I believe that I may have found an appropriate spot for your people to learn to swim.”

Legolas led Freddy, Berilac, Anwynd and Borondir downstream for a while. Soon they came to a grove of alders, and there the stream broadened into a large pond.

“Why, it’s a beaver pond!” said Berilac.

“Indeed,” replied the Elf. “It is a rather good sized beaver pond, shallow at the edges, and deepening towards the center. The water here is clean and clear. I do believe it would make an excellent spot for beginners to safely learn to swim.”

Freddy eyed the water suspiciously. It wasn’t like the swift running stream into which he had fallen the day before, but it was considerably larger than a bathtub, which was the most water he’d ever immersed himself in before. He gave a shudder. Still, he had agreed to Berilac’s suggestion, and as the leader of the group of hobbits, he was going to have to set an example. He was going to have to get over it. It did after all, make sense, and it was, after all for safety’s sake. He sighed.

Berilac clapped him on the shoulder. “Cheer up, Freddy. It could be worse. You could be having to learn in the River.”

“Or,” said Borondir, “in the sea.”

The hobbits stared at him. “The sea?”

“Aye. That’s where I learned to swim, visiting my kinfolk in Belfalas, I played upon the sands there, and swam in the salt sea.”

Legolas had gone very quiet and still.

Freddy shook his head. “I cannot imagine--I have heard stories of the sea--but so much water seems unnatural to me.”

“Believe me, Master Fredegar, it is very natural. Perhaps while you are in Gondor, you might get a chance to see it.”

“Perhaps.” To Freddy the sea seemed very perilous. He recalled the stories of drowned Nú menor--any body of water large enough to drown an entire kingdom seemed fraught with danger.

Berilac took a few steps closer to the pond, and cast an eye over the water. “Well, lacking a sea, or the river, this will do very well for hobbits to learn how to swim.”

Anwynd nodded. “They said you wished Borondir and I to teach the prisoners?”

“Yes,” said Beri. “They don’t really trust me, and I cannot see them cooperating with Rolly and Denny, so if you do not mind it, it would be a great help.”

Borondir chuckled. “I don’t know how well they will like it.”

“They don’t have to like it,” said Freddy. “If the rest of us have to learn this, so do they.” Actually, he felt a grim satisfaction thinking of the discomfiture of Bracegirdle and the Bankses.

The little group strolled back to camp, little noticing the quietness of the Elf. When they came in view of the camp, he said briefly “Excuse me,” and vanished up a tree.

Freddy was a bit puzzled. But, he reminded himself, Legolas is not a hobbit. He sometimes felt himself in danger of forgetting that, as he was such a good friend and companion.

Perched on the limb of a mighty oak, Legolas leaned against the trunk, and tried to ride the wave of longing that had overtaken him all unbidden. The sound of surf, that he had never heard, and the sound of gulls that he had heard only once and briefly, washed through his mind. Slowly the sound of the tree in which he sat began to override them.

Gimli stood up from where he sat by the campfire. “Where’s the Elf?” he asked.

Freddy shrugged. “He went up a tree, over there, as we walked back.”

The Dwarf walked in that direction. He glanced about, and noticed the oak tree. He looked up, but could see no sign of Legolas, nevertheless he was certain he must be up there as it was the largest tree around. He sat down beneath its bole, and pulled out a knife and a whetstone. Pretty soon his Elf would come down, and Gimli would be waiting for him.