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Where the Merlin Cries  by Lindelea

11. I Go and Seek with Longing

'Stay in the bed!' the Thain's command rang out, startling the healer.

'Whatever do you mean? I'm good as new,' Regi protested, as Pippin and Ferdi took hold of him from both sides and eased him back down.

'You came this close,' and Pippin's finger and thumb were not far apart, indeed, 'to dying, and while the Ent draught has done a wonder of healing in your body, it will take time for your body to replace all the blood you lost.'

'I'm fine,' Regi said.

'You might well crack your head on the floor if you try to get up too soon,' Pippin said, 'and then where would I be? We've given you the last drop as it is!'

'But--' Regi said.

'Stay in the bed!' the Thain reiterated.

Regi sat back against the pillows they'd propped behind him. 'I do believe you're enjoying this,' he said.

The Thain gave a grin. 'You know,' he replied, 'I am. I really am. All the times I had to lie there and take it when you said those same words to me...'

'And now you're going to make me eat those words, is that it?'

'I really think you'd prefer breakfast instead,' the Thain said, a lightness in his tone and a sparkle in his eye that had been missing for days.

The healer huffed, but she could not deny that her patient was awake, alert, and much more alive than he had any right to be. 'How do you like your eggs cooked?' she said gruffly.

'Are you going to cook them yourself?' Regi asked.

'I just might do that,' she said. 'I've never cooked breakfast for a patient I'd given up, before.' She touched the back of her hand to the steward's forehead and shook her head. There was no sign of fever from the wounds that had been killing him hours earlier. She wondered what she would find beneath the dressings.

'Just make sure his breakfast is hot and plentiful,' the Thain said.

'And bring enough for the Thain, as well,' Ferdi said.

'You're not going to sing that old tune again, are you?' Pippin asked in exasperation.

'You've gone off your feed, you know you have, with the worry over Diamond, and the long ride,' Ferdi said, then added importantly, 'It's my job to notice these things.'

Pippin sighed and shook his head while Reginard laughed at him. 'Back to normal,' the latter said.

'Not quite,' the Thain answered. 'There's still a little matter of ruffians to clear up.'

'That's not all,' the healer broke in, having made no signs of stirring herself to fetch breakfast, rather she seemed more likely to pester her patient half to death. 'I want to take a look at those wounds.'

'What wounds?' Regi laughed. 'I'm a whole hobbit again.'

'Lie back and let the healer work, Reg,' Pippin said quietly, and the steward shook his head.

'You're going to keep throwing my own words back at me half the day, aren't you?'

'More,' Pippin said, 'if need be.' He watched as Verbena lifted the dressing over one arm, revealing the healing flesh, pink and healthy, no sign of infection. She probed with a gentle finger and nodded thoughtfully.

'That elixir might have helped your body heal itself faster than you have any right to expect, but it's not at all healed, yet, Master Steward,' she said soberly. 'If what's inside of you looks like the outside, you had better lie still for a few days more... and broth, for starters, I shouldn't wonder.'

'Broth?' Regi said in dismay.

Pippin patted his shoulder sympathetically. 'Listen to your healer,' he intoned. Regi glared at him, and he grinned. 'Always wanted to be able to say that to someone,' he said. 'I've heard it enough times myself.'

But the healer's face was grim. 'I just hope you didn't tear anything loose when you sat up a moment ago,' she said, with a pat on the arm. 'Ah, well, we'll know soon enough, I expect. And yes,' she added with a firm nod, 'broth, until we know that everything is back in working order again.'

Regi gave a deep sigh, then considered the alternative. At least he was able to sigh deeply.

'I never could understand why they call you a patient, when you're bound to feel so impatient,' Pippin mused.

The corners of the steward's mouth tightened in irritation as he glanced up at his Thain. 'None of your nonsense, now, lad,' he snapped.

Pippin smiled and patted his shoulder again. 'You don't know, Reg, how happy I am to hear you say that again.'

Ferdi didn't say anything, but he looked away until he could master himself, cleared his throat, and said, 'Welcome back to the world, Reg.'

'Glad to be here,' Reginard answered softly. He was feeling drowsy again, and the others quieted, sitting without speaking, as his eyelids drifted lower and his breathing became even. The healer gently closed her hand about his wrist, waited, counting, then withdrew her hand, nodding in satisfaction.

'I don't know what that stuff was, but I could use a goodly supply of it.'

'That was the last,' the Thain said.

'Can you get more?' she asked.

He shook his head. 'I don't even want to begin to speculate... would the tree-folk find it presumptuous of us to ask?'

'And who'd go?' Ferdi said. 'You certainly cannot leave the Shire, and Mayor Sam's a bit tied up with the lasses at the moment...'

'Leaving Merry to go,' Pippin said thoughtfully, then shook his head. 'No, I could not ask it of him.' He sighed. 'With the ruffians threatening, and Buckland so vulnerable, he could not leave his people, not at this time.'

He gazed thoughtfully at Ferdibrand. 'That leaves you, I suppose,' he said.

'Me?' Ferdi said, startled.

'O aye,' Pippin answered. He smiled. 'Of course, you had better not mention that your sister is married to a woodcarver,' he reflected. Ferdi wanted to smack him one, but he contained himself. He was, after all, chancellor, and Pippin was, after all, Thain. It just wouldn't be seemly.

On further consideration, the Thain shook his head. 'I cannot see the Ents setting up a regular trade with the Shire, somehow,' he said. 'And besides...' he shuddered. 'The stuff comes at an awful price. Poor Reg,' he added, 'I remember thinking, the second time the stuff was forced down my throat, that I'd rather die than go through the healing again...'

'I thought you a fiend,' the healer admitted, 'to torture him so.'

'It gave me no pleasure,' Pippin said soberly. 'I had to keep thinking of the alternative, his dying without ever meeting his newest child.'

Ferdi nodded silently.

***

The feeding had not gone as well as Rose had hoped. They had gotten a little of the gruel into Rosie-lass, but not enough to sustain her life, were she to continue in this sad state. Not even Leot's coaxing could get much into her mouth, and even when they did get the spoon past her teeth, she would hold the food in her mouth, until Rose in desperation would stroke her throat to make her swallow.

After the attempted feeding, they tried to lay her down on the bed, but she resisted them, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly, eyes still fixed in their empty stare. Rose sang a lullaby, but could not finish for the tears that threatened.

Samwise put gentle arms around his wife, and led her from the room while Holly sat down again beside Rosie-lass and began to hum a soothing tune, stroking the hair back from the girl's face, then taking up a brush to gently work the tangles from the curls. Rosie-lass tolerated this, and so Holly continued to croon and brush, hoping the gentle touch would recall the lass from whatever place she'd taken herself off to.

'Whatever are we going to do?' Rose whispered when they were safely out of the room. 'O Sam, what did they do to her?'

'From what Ellie said, they carried the girls away, tied up in sacks, then dumped them out and bound them. Ellie said the ruffians were gentle enough, not wanting to damage them, expecting to get a good price for them in Harad.'

'Harad?' Rose said, confused.

'Off South,' Sam said. 'The Sunlands.'

'They would have taken our lasses off South, and we'd never have seen them again,' Rose whispered.

'Aye, and they'll be taking other lasses too, unless we figure out what to do about it,' Sam said, 'or the King does.'

***

Notes to readers from original posting:

tallhobbit, am deep in the depths of Harad at the moment, and while it is very interesting to write, my imagination is *tired* with the strain of imagining all this stuff. Am bribing the Muse with a super sized pina colada to have her tell me more, it was all her idea in the first place, after all...

Bookworm, Chapter 10 was a bit of fun, wasn't it? The Tooks are used to Pippin's whimsical ways, even as they chide him with the recurring "None of your nonsense, now..." But the poor healer, now... And we will have a bit more fun with chapter 11.

Comments, as always, are very welcome. Hope to catch you tomorrow! (p.s. Am also adding a new chapter to "Flames" today, in case you were following that story as well.)






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