Tea for Two, and Two for Tea 
a set of four drabbles

In Family Matters, Pippin's cousin Tolibold was injured and lost while on the Thain's business in the North Farthing. He awakened with no memory of who he was or where he'd come from. Worse, because of the circumstances under which he disappeared, his friends and loved ones back home in the Tookland thought he had died in a bog. Some months after his disappearance, Pippin's mother Eglantine recognised him in a crowd and set his recovery in motion. This drabble set takes place about a fortnight after Tolly's return to the Great Smials.

***  

Eglantine Took looked up from her knitting at the quiet tap on the sitting-room door. 'Enter!' she called. 

She was getting ready to repeat the greeting when the door opened, rather slowly, even hesitantly, but finally swinging wide enough that she could see her visitor's face. 

'Tolibold!' she said, gesturing welcome. 'Come in, come in!' 

'Mistress,' the head of the Thain's escort said, and stopped. 

'Did you have a message for me?' Eglantine asked as the silence stretched on. 

'I...' Tolly said. She waited. 

He crossed the room and fell to his knees, bowing his head. 'Mistress,' he said again. 

*** 

Eglantine sat at a loss for a moment, but then she reached out and laid a hand upon his curls. 'Tolly,' she said quietly. 

The face that he raised to her was streaked with tears, she saw, and he opened his mouth but seemed unable to speak. 

'All's well, lad,' she said, even as she worried at what this scene might portend. Was the hobbit in danger of losing himself again? 

'They told me...' Tolly began at last. He gulped and added, 'They said, 'twas you who saw me, who told the Thain, there, at the market, what you'd seen...' 

***  

'I did,' Eglantine smiled. 'I knew your face... I thought I'd seen a ghost! But then, somehow, I knew it was you, there, in the flesh – though hardly distinguishable from a north-Took – that you'd not been lost in the bog after all! Why, any of the other visiting Tooks might have...' 

'But they didn't,' Tolly said earnestly. 'They saw me, but... they did not see me.' His face twisted in his inability to put his feelings into words. He lacked the ease with words that Pippin, or Ferdi, or his younger brother Hilly enjoyed, and how well he knew it. 

***  

'I came at once,' said that bold hobbit, 'before I should lose my nerve.' He smiled tightly at Eglantine's look of surprise. 'Believe you me,' he said. 'I'm not one to seek out my betters for tea and conversation.' 

Eglantine chuckled. 'Seeing as how you detest the taste of tea...' she began. 

But he bowed his head again, briefly. Then looked up, his face set and determined. 'Thank you, Mistress,' he said. 

'You're most welcome, lad.' 

He shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'It's more than that. Thank you. For I was lost, and you gave me my life back.' 

***  

Pippin, Diamond and Farry spilled into the sitting room some time later, laughing at the comedy that had ensued in the great room. The Master and Mistress of Buckland had arrived for their annual Yuletide visit, and the Thain had sent out word that a festive high tea would be served to welcome them.  

Eglantine had begged off, pleading for a bit of quiet. 

But now they found her and Tolly, companionably sharing teacakes – and a pot of the "detested" tea – and laughing. 

'Thank you, Tolly,' Eglantine said as the escort rose abruptly.  

'Mistress,' Tolly said, and took his leave. 

***