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Where the Merlin Cries  by Lindelea

Chapter 29. Welcome Joyous Festal Day

The king of Haragost followed Elessar's lead, going to one knee to address the Halflings eye-to-eye.

'Thain Peregrin, if I may present Ha'alas, the king of Haragost,' Elessar said. He had worked out the thorny problem of introductions while on the ship, whom to present to whom in order to offend nobody; though he knew the hobbits would make allowances, he also knew that their social structure was well-defined.

'At your service,' King Ha'alas said with a broad grin; he had been studying the little people's customs and found them fascinating.

'At yours, and your family's,' the Thain said with a bow of his own, and then added, 'King Ha'alas, allow me to present my cousin, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Master of Buckland.'

Merry bowed, saying, 'At your service.'

The king returned the proper response, adding, 'Profuse apologies, Master, for the ignorance that led to the abduction of your people. We of Haragost are deeply shamed and seek to make reparations, poor as they are...'

Merry started to protest, but Elessar caught Pippin's eye and shook his head ever so slightly; Pippin touched his cousin's elbow, and Merry subsided.

'I thank you for the safe return of my cousin and her children,' was all he said, and Ha'alas nodded.

'It was not my doing,' the young king said. 'I could not save them, but for the actions of some of my subjects, who were brave and bold in the face of grave danger to themselves.'

Merry did not like the sound of this, but he forced himself to smile, and returned the nod.

Although it seemed as if Berimas could not get enough of his family, eventually others waiting on the bank were able to add their own hugs and greetings.

Gimli watched the process from the railing. 'How long do you suppose this will go on?' he asked idly.

'At least until the hobbits become hungry,' Legolas said practically. 'I'm sure the Mistress of Buckland will take charge of feeding everyone... didn't Pippin say something about the feast being ready?'

The dwarf grunted in reply, and the Thain, overhearing, turned to them and called, 'Gimli! Legolas! I ought to have known the two of you would be mixed in with this.'

'I did receive a message that I would not be allowed back in the Shire without the missing hobbits,' Legolas said, smiling. 'So here they are.'

'Fine,' Pippin said. 'You may join us at the feast.' He frowned at Gimli. 'I'm not so sure about the dwarf, of course...'

'You forget, your family adopted me and I am now a hobbit,' Gimli said. 'The elf, too, though he's a bit too tall for the role.'

Legolas laughed and Pippin grinned. 'We'll soon cut him down to size,' the Thain quipped. 'Had any good games of Kings, lately?'

'Not since leaving the Shire,' Legolas answered. 'But then, you invented the game, didn't you?'

'Hobbits did,' Pippin said.

'He just invents new strategies to confound his opponents,' Merry said. 'Nobody will play with him any more... he's been looking forward to your return, Legolas.'

'Kings?' Ha'alas said. 'But I have learned this game from the little mother.' He bowed to the Thain. 'I would be most happy to accommodate you in your desire for a game.'

Merry laughed. 'You don't know what you are letting yourself in for,' he said, but Pippin inclined his head gravely with thanks.

As Legolas had predicted, the Mistress of Buckland allowed the greetings to go on just so long, and then she put her foot down, with a nudge to Berilac. 'Food'll go cold!' the steward shouted, cupping his hands about his mouth to be heard above the happy bustle.

'We cannot have that,' the Thain said. 'If your majesties will accompany us...'

'Gladly,' Elessar said. 'Ha'alas...?' Arm in arm the two kings followed the hobbits down to the dock.

The feast was all that hobbits could make it, which was quite a lot, and the Big People thought they might perhaps have to stop eating for a week afterwards, or at least seek a quiet place for a long nap.

After the feast, King Ha'alas insisted that they go back to the dock, to supervise the unloading of the ship, the delivery of the "reparations" that could not begin to make amends for his crime, in his humblest of opinions.

'Very polite, these Southrons,' Pippin whispered to Elessar.

The King nodded, whispering back, 'Yes, right up to the time they take your head off.'

The Thain's eyes widened, and Elessar nodded soberly. 'This one's young, still, so we might be able to have some influence on him.' He smiled grimly as Pippin turned to whisper to Merry, sure that the presents would be properly received, and Ha'alas would not be insulted by an attempt to reject them.

A procession of boxes and trunks and barrels began to descend to the bank, as the hobbits watched, their astonishment growing.

Ha'alas sprang to open a trunk, revealing gold coins filling it to the brim.

'I paid for the hobbits, their weight in gold, to those evil ones who sold them as animals,' he said. 'Here is their ransom.'

'More gold,' the Thain said in dismay, then pasted on a bright smile for the king of Haragost. 'Very generous,' he said. He bit back the words, You shouldn't have, fearing that the pleasantry would be misconstrued by this dangerous Southron.

'He wanted to pay back twenty times our weight in gold, something to do with his Law, but I talked him down to ten,' Celandine laughed, leaning her head against the arm of the king of Haragost. He smiled down at her.

'I would have made it an hundred times,' he said, 'and it would not have been enough.'

'What will you do with the gold, Cellie?' Merry asked, bemused.

'Give it to the Thain, of course,' she said promptly.

Pippin choked and went into a coughing fit, needing a fair amount of back-slapping before he straightened again.

Celandine took pity on him. 'For the widows and orphans, you know,' she said. 'I know you've been providing for them from your own hoard all these years, ever since you became Thain.'

'From the old Thain's hoard, actually,' Pippin said. 'Much easier to spend his gold than my own.' Everyone laughed, for Pippin was not known for his ability to accumulate gold. He was too busy finding reason to spend it, for the benefit of the Shire.

'What is all this?' Berimas murmured to his wife, nodding to the growing profusion of cargo on the bank.

Celandine turned to him with a smile. 'I am afraid, my love, that we are embarrassingly rich,' she answered, opening one of the trunks to reveal lengths of richly-hued silk. 'King Ha'alas and his people kept showering us with more and more, and I hadn't the heart to say no.' As a matter of fact, she was wondering if the weight of it all would founder the Dove, but happily, they had made it safely over the Sea and up the Brandywine without incident. She brightened. 'Think of the wondrous birthday presents we'll be able to give!' For the rest of our lives, and our children's, and our children's children's she whispered, and her husband laughed, pulling her to himself again for a long kiss and hug.

'O my love,' he said, and stopped, at a loss for words, but she snuggled under his arm, looking up at him, eyes full.

'I know,' she whispered, and the young king of Haragost, watching, wiped a tear from his own eye.

'He seems over-young to be the king of a country,' Pippin whispered to Legolas at one point, indicating Ha'alas.

'It is a long story, and I will tell you... later,' the Wood Elf whispered back. Remembering Elessar's warning, the Thain nodded.

It was a grand four days, filled with feasting and singing, dancing and story-telling. The New Year's celebration was even grander than the last time the King had celebrated with Master, Mayor, and Thain, with the fireworks continuing for more than an hour, followed by feasting, dancing and singing until the dawn.

The fourth day was taken up with recovering from the previous day's celebration, and on the Big People's part, packing up and preparing to go aboard ship for the return journey, on the part of the crew of the Dove, or to go on to Fornost, on the part of Elessar, Ha'alas, and the King's Guard.

'The Queen and the rest of my family will be joining us in the summer,' Elessar said in parting to the Thain. 'I do hope you will be able to visit us at the Lake,' he added.

'I shall make every effort,' Pippin answered, 'but with this new commission of yours, I do not know if I will find the time.'

Elessar laughed. 'You'll find the time,' he said. 'You probably have all the details worked out already.' He fixed Pippin with a steady look. 'I expect to hear the results of the survey by midsummer.'

Pippin laughed. 'How did you know I was sending folk out to make a survey as soon as I return to Tookland?'

Elessar joined him in laughing, and the two embraced before the King turned to take his leave of the Mayor and Master.

***

Upon his return to the Great Smials, Pippin called Ferdibrand to ride with him, out to the hills, in the spring sunshine. When they were well away, he reined in his pony to speak.

'Ferdi, the King is seriously thinking of granting the Westmarch to the Shire,' Pippin said.

'The whole of it?' Ferdibrand asked, astounded. In his mind's eye, he could see the map spread out before him. 'It's as big as Buckland!'

'Or bigger,' the Thain agreed. 'And there's going to have to be a Master of the Westmarch, or at least a Warden...'

'I can see that,' Ferdi said, after a moment of consideration. 'Whom did you have in mind?'

'As I've considered, one name keeps popping to the fore,' Pippin said. Ferdi became aware that the keen eyes were scrutinising him closely. 'Ferdi... these past months, you've done Regi's work as well as your own...'

'You're going to send Reginard, then?' Ferdi asked, '...seeing as how you can spare him?'

'No,' Pippin said, shaking his head. 'I'm going to send you.' He waited for Ferdi to get over his open-mouthed astonishment. 'That is, if you'll go...'

'If I'll go...' Ferdibrand said. He thought again of the view from the Far Downs, the fair land spread out, wild and unsettled, full of promise, and a slow grin began to light his face.

'Is that a yes?' Pippin said, and Ferdi nodded, his grin brightening.

'Yes!' he said with enthusiasm, but caution checked him.

'What?' Pippin asked.

'That is, if my Nell will go,' he said.

'I think we might be able to persuade her,' Pippin said with a grin of his own. 'After all, I remember her being disappointed that she wasn't born a lad, after Ferumbras tapped Paladin to be Thain...'

'I'm certainly glad she wasn't,' Ferdi said fervently, and Pippin laughed.

'I'm sure you are,' he said, and leaned back in his saddle, eyes going to the sky. 'Mistress of Westmarch...' he mused. 'Got a kind of a ring to it...'

Ferdi laughed, and his cousin looked back to him again.

'You know why it's "Mistress and Thain" and not "Mister and Thain", don't you?' Pippin said wickedly.

'No, I hadn't heard that tale,' Ferdi said.

'Well, Bucca of the Marish, his wife was actually the first Thain, you know,' Pippin said, the storyteller's lilt creeping into his voice. 'But she got so annoyed at her husband's grumbling that one day, she threw up her hands and said, "Well, if you can do any better, you're welcome to try!" '

Both hobbits burst into loud guffaws, having heard similar sentiments expressed on more than one occasion.

Finally, wiping his eyes, Pippin said, '...and Thains down through the ages have been regretting it ever since.'

'How's that?' Ferdi asked.

'Well, just think on it. If Diamond were Thain, I wouldn't be stuck behind that desk day in and day out, I could take off and go fishing whenever I cared to.'

'No you wouldn't,' Ferdi said shrewdly. 'She'd probably have you out digging holes in the hot Sun.'

Pippin sighed. 'You're probably right,' he admitted. 'Well, we must take our blessings as they come, mustn't we?'

***

Notes from original posting

Note to Readers:

The Muse was quite cheerful last night and wrote a chapter and a half of "Flames". Now if I can just get her to look at "Merlin" again, fill in the missing material that comes before the already-finished chapters awaiting posting... (coaxing voice: "O Muse! :::waving pina colada vaguely, as if not knowing what to do with it::: Musie, dear!")

Xena, very thoughtful review. I think you're right about Ferdi, he is nothing if not thorough. And yes, Ferdi is multi-talented. You know, I really think he could have made a great Thain, had the succession passed down to him, had he not burned down the old Thain's stables... pardon me, nearly burned down the stables. I keep forgetting... It was actually not Sam's kids playing Frodo-and-Sam but some others from the Smials. Sam's kids were all gathering flowers on a hillside a little ways away, but still within sight of that huge hill. And yes, Merry is fussy. He gets that way when he's trying not to think of Dark things. I am glad you saw pictures in your head. That is what happens when I read the stories of my favourite writers.

Sunhawk, Aratfeniel, eiluj, happy to be of service.

Bookworm, will miss you. Hope you have a good time.

Hai, welcome back! Yes, Legolas is going to visit his cousins.

Runaround, your comments are very welcome. If the comments dry up, so does the writing...

Look for a new chapter to this story, if all goes well, in two days.

Look for the newest chapter to "Flames", in case you are following that story, on the morrow. And thank you for your patience.

***






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