WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RUSTY COTTON?

Pippin blinked back both the tears and the anger, as they helped more of the hobbits from the Lockholes. The sight of poor Fatty had nearly broken his heart, though his friend had jested with him. He was dreadfully shaken--Fatty had looked very nearly as starved as Frodo and Sam had, when they had first come out of Mordor!

He thought back to the storming of Isengard. "I wish," he muttered firmly under his breath, "that Quickbeam had been a bit quicker." The imagined thought of his Ent friend stomping on Saruman gave him a bit of grim satisfaction. "It would have saved a deal of trouble."

He pried open another door, and the three hobbits there blinked owlishly at the light.

"Come along now, lads," he said gently. "It's all over. You're free now."

They shambled out, looking wan and dispirited. As the last one came forth, Pippin was startled by a pair of hazel eyes, and a glimpse of red curls beneath a battered and shapeless felt hat.

Those eyes were familiar--"Rusty?" he said incredulously.

She stared at him for an instant, in shock. "Pippin? You're not dead?" then her knees buckled, and Pippin scooped her up, the hat falling unnoticed to the ground.

"Sam!" he called, "Tom!" as he hurried from the Lockholes.

"What is it Captain Pippin?" Tom asked, hurrying to his side.

Pippin looked at Tom, amazement still plain on his face. "It's your cousin, Rusty."

Tom gaped in disbelief. "Oh lass! And here we thought you safe all these weeks!"

She managed a faint smile for her cousin as he took her gently from Pippin. "Hullo, Tom," she whispered. "I'm so tired." She closed her eyes and gave a weary sigh.

He shook his head, and smoothed the cropped curls away from her brow. Her face was thin, and her usually freckle-dappled face was pale.

Sam looked at Tom. "We need to find a place for her. Are there any other lasses?"

Pippin nodded, but added "Most of them were in with poor old Lobelia. Rusty was in with the lads." He put a hand briefly to her head, where it lay cradled against Tom's should. "She was got up like a lad." He turned to where he saw Frodo in conference, along with Merry, with the sadly depleted Mayor Whitfoot. "Merry!" he called.

Merry looked up, and came over. "What's the matter?"

"It's Rusty. Where should we take her? She's going to need to be cleaned up and fed and possibly have a healer look her over."

"Mrs. Whitfoot and some of the other matrons have taken charge of the other lasses, Pip. They're taking all of the freed prisoners over to Brownlock's Emporium. The ruffians had it closed down, but there is plenty of room there, and Carlo Brownlock had some blankets and other supplies hidden away there. As soon as it's seen how many there are, and who needs healers, they will find families for them to stay with."

Tom nodded, and followed closely by Sam, they carried Rusty away. Pippin watched with an expression of sorrowful dismay, till he heard someone else calling out "Captain Pippin." Turning, he went to see what was needed. He was beginning to develop an understanding of what it must have meant for Aragorn and Boromir and Faramir having to be captains of Men. There was always someone who needed to be told what to do.

A few hours later, Pippin went in search of Sam, whom he found looking sad and lost, on the steps in front of the Emporium. Sam looked up at him, and asked "Where's Mr. Merry?" at the same time that Pippin asked "Where's Frodo?"

They caught one another's eye, and smiled faintly. Then Pippin said "I think we'll find them together. You've heard Merry's idea?"

Sam nodded. "He put Mayor Whitfoot up to asking Frodo to stand in for him until he's feeling more himself. I don't think Mr. Frodo was none too happy about it. He planned to give Mr. Merry an earful, I think."

Pippin shook his head with a rueful chuckle. "Merry will count 'an earful' a small price to pay. I have to say, I was in full agreement with him. Frodo needs something to keep his mind off all that awfulness at Bag End."

"Well, you're right there, Mr. Pippin. Mr. Frodo will be a lot better off if he don't have time to dwell overmuch on things as no one can do aught about."

Pippin sat down next to him. "It's been a bad piece of work, all the way 'round, Sam. I never thought we'd come home to any of this."

"I don't suppose none of us did, 'cepting maybe Gandalf. He seemed a bit, well, *knowing* when he left us."

Pippin shrugged. He'd wondered about that himself. But Gandalf had always been close about things--and on this, he had been right. They had grown enough to handle it on their own, without the interference of wizards or Rangers or other Big Folk, and it was a good thing, too. But he didn't say so. Instead, he said, "Well, that wasn't why I came looking for you. I wanted to ask about Rusty--how is she? And how did she come to be in the Lockholes? The last I'd heard, not long before we left the Shire, was that she was an apprenticed weaver to your Great-Aunt Jasper, all the way out in Gamwich."

"That's the truth, Mr. Pippin. But from what Tom said, when word come of what was going on, she got to worrying about her folks, and she came back to Bywater. Tom said she pestered him and Jolly something fierce to be helping out in Captain Freddy's band of lads. They was afraid she was going to do something rash against the Ruffians on her own, so them and Mr. Freddy come up with a job for her--she was helping to relocate the families of hobbits who were being forced to work for old Pimple, smuggling 'em into the Tooklands where they'd be safe." Sam sighed. "After the last time, they thought as she'd stayed there. No one knew she'd been caught."

"Do they know how it came to be?"

Sam shook his head. "She's weak and starved of course, like all of 'em were, and Tom and Jolly haven't had the heart to question her yet." His brows drew down in anger. "Orc-work, right here in the Shire!" he muttered.

Pippin patted Sam's arm, and he favoured Pippin with a small and rueful smile. "Anyways, she was taken in by family. My cousin Bramble and her husband took her in. They're living on the farm what used to belong to Aunt May and Uncle Rufus. Cousin BriarRose is staying there as well--she had to close her shop--it was too dangerous for her here in town, a spinster on her own."

"Do you think it would be all right for me to go and see her? We were pretty good chums at one time." He spared a slight smile at the remembrance of the mischief the two of them had found on their occasional meetings.

"I think as she'd like that, Mr. Pippin."

He nodded. "I'll ride out there after tea, then."

Sam nodded. "I'll come with you, Mr. Pippin. I need to check up on my cousins Bramble and BriarRose anyhow. And my Rosie's going to want to know all about how Rusty's doing."

It was beginning to get dark when Pippin and Sam rode up to the farm--it was a small, old-fashioned house, and not a smial. It looked somewhat rundown, as had many of the farms in the Shire, neglected during the Troubles. But as they rode up, Tom came out to welcome them.

They were made welcome by Bramble and her husband, Braden Gravelly, and by Bramble's sister, BriarRose Goodchild, who were Sam's cousins.

Braden was effusive in his thanks to them, for the running off of the Ruffians, and Bramble and BriarRose were full of questions for Sam about their time away from the Shire. Pippin left Sam speaking with his relatives, and went in to see Rusty.

She lay in the bed, looking wan and pale, her hazel eyes seeming huge in her thin face. Her young cousin Sweetbriar sat near her, coaxing her with a mug of broth. The lass gave a start as Pippin entered, and then, with an awkward curtsy and a giggle, made a hasty retreat, leaving the broth on the bedside table.

"Hullo, Rusty," Pippin said as cheerfully as he could manage. "It's been a while."

"Hello, Mr. Pippin, or Captain Peregrin, as I guess I should say, for I've heard of how you came to our rescue, you and your cousins and Sam."

"Ah, Rusty, you always called me Pippin before. Please, you are an old friend, let's have none of these titles between us, or I shall have to start calling you Miss Ruby Cotton." He sat down on the chair which her younger cousin had vacated.

There was a ghost of a smile that made itself briefly known, and she said "No call for that, then, Pippin."

He nodded, and took up the cup of broth her cousin had left behind, and held it to her lips. She gave him a startled look, and then took a sip, before leaning back against her pillows. "I should be more hungry. I don't seem to be able to take much in."

Pippin nodded. "Going without for a long time can do that." He hesitated, and then went on. "When poor Frodo and Sam finished their errand, they were thin as rails. Frodo's not completely recovered his appetite yet."

"Their errand?"

Pippin shrugged. "Why we had to leave the Shire. It's a long and complicated story--I think perhaps you may ask Sam--or if he is reluctant to answer, I believe your cousin Rose will have the story out of him."

She nodded, and did not press the question.

Pippin looked at her sadly. "Rusty, how did you come to be in the Lockholels?"

She took a deep breath. "I suppose Tom and Jolly told you I made them let me help out Captain Freddy?"

Pippin nodded.

"One of the things Captain Freddy tried to do was help the hobbits that were being forced to work for Lotho because of threats to their families. Whenever he would get the opportunity, he would try to get them away, and to smuggle them into the Tooklands, where the Ruffians could not get at them. He asked me to help with that--I would escort them into the Tooklands, to Whitwell, where your cousin Isembold Took would take them in, and then see to them finding a place to stay." She paused and looked at Pippin. "Isembold is really a very brave hobbit. He risked a lot."

"Buttons is a stout lad," said Pippin with a smile.

"Buttons?" Rusty's eyes grew wide.

"It's what we call him. I'm told it was because as a faunt he liked to eat buttons, but that's just hearsay. I was only a faunt myself at the time, so I wouldn't remember. But it's most certainly what everyone in the family calls him!"

She giggled, and then looked startled. "I think that's the first time I've laughed since--well, since I was taken." Her voice faltered.

"How'd that come to happen, Rusty? You're such a clever lass--I can't imagine you getting caught."

She sighed. "Heron Diggle, of Pincup, was a hobbit who'd been forced to work for Lotho, driving waggons full of pipe-weed away to Sarn Ford. They'd threatened his family. If his family could be taken to safety, then Heron wanted to join up with the rebellion. So Noddy Brownlock and I were sent to get them away: Heron's wife, Daffodil, his mother, Mistress Coraline, and the two children, a lad, Kit and a lass, Carrie. It was decided that it would be safer to split up: Noddy took the wife and the mother, who would have to travel by cart--the mother was an invalid. I was to take the children on foot. We would take the longer and safer way."

She paused for a few moments. "The ruffians had tightened their siege of the Tooklands. Do you remember the wooded copse about five miles east of the farm, that ran down to Stoney Brook?"

Pippin nodded. "I played there often as child," he said.

"We were making for it--it would be our last stop before trying to get to Whitwell the following night--we were travelling at night of course…"

"Of course, the better to avoid prying eyes." Pippin bit his lip, remembering how difficult the journey had been from Rivendell to Caradhras, travelling all night long. How much harder it would have been for a lass and two small children?

"We were creeping silently along, when we heard them, laughing and making a racket. They had a camp right in the way we needed to go. And there I was with the children." She shuddered, and crossed her arms and began to rub her upper arms as though she were chilled. "It was dark enough. If I'd been alone, I'd have risked trying to get by them--Big Folk are so noisy--but I couldn't take the chance with the children.

I decided to wait a while, to see if they'd fall asleep. And most of them did, but they'd set a watch. The night went on, and I knew once daybreak came, they'd see us right away. There was a bramble-bush nearby--it was plenty of cover for the children, but it wasn't big enough for me. I made Kit and Carrie go in to hide. 'Pretend you are hiding from a fox or an owl', I told them. And they were good as gold, frightened and cold and hungry as they were, they did as I said without a whimper."

She closed her eyes and her voice dropped to a whisper. "When the light began to break, I took off running. I knew they'd follow me away from the little ones, and they did. They caught me. Thought I was a lad, thought I was a Took, too, because of my red hair. Cuffed me about a bit."

Pippin's eyes grew stormy at the thought of brave Rusty, being mishandled so. He did not much imagine her captors had been any gentler with her than the Uruk-hai had been with him and Merry.

"I was knocked out. Came to on my way to the Lockholes. I told 'em my name was Isembold Took, and that I'd been sent by the Thain to see what I could find out about their movements. They thought I might know something, and chucked me in with a couple of other lads. They told me that they were saving me to be questioned by someone named Sharkey, but it never happened."

She stopped a moment, and then looked at Pippin, her eyes swimming with tears. "It's just--Pippin I don't know what happened to the children! I had to keep the Ruffians away from them, but they were left there, all alone--" suddenly, she burst into tears.

Pippin moved over to sit on the bed, and held her as she wept. "There, now, Rusty. You protected them as best you could. Take heart that you kept them from being caught--I'm sure that once they had you, the children would have been safe." He stroked her hair, and remembered how helpless he'd felt, being carried away from Frodo, whom he had promised to stick with, and from Sam, and Merry being carried along--not knowing if Merry was only unconscious, or maybe even dead. He knew just how she felt.

She wept against his shoulder until she began to hiccup. Pippin drew away, for an instant, and sighed. "I'm afraid I don't have any pocket-handkerchiefs with me, Rusty," he said. "Uncle Bilbo gave me a splendid one for Yule, but I seem to have lost it in my travels."

Rusty giggled, and gave a mighty sniff, and ran her hand under her nose like a little child. Pippin grinned at her, and then both of them chuckled.

"You Tooks always know how to make me laugh," she said, finally.

"Us Tooks, eh?" Pippin asked drolly, with a lift of his brow. "And you've known, oh so many Tooks!"

She blushed. "Well, not so very many--but the ones I know are very funny," and the twinkle in her eye when she said it reminded him of the lass who had sneaked them into the animal trainer's tent at the Michel Delving Fair.

Just then, the door opened, and her cousin Bramble came in. Pippin rose, took Rusty's hand just briefly in both his own, and then took his farewell.

______________________________

A couple of days later, Isembold Took was coming from his barn wondering when he would again have any animals to put in it--it had served so long to house refugees from elsewhere in the Shire--when he heard the sound of a pony rapidly approaching.

"Cousin Hildifons!" he exclaimed. "What's going on? Have the Ruffians returned?"

"No, not at all. But the Quick Post has been reinstated, and you've a letter here."

"Dear Buttons,

 I thought you might like to know: Rusty Cotton was found in the Lockholes. She's staying for the next few weeks at the Gravelly farm in Michel Delving. She's recovering well from her ordeal, but one thing looms large on her mind--she is worried about the two children she was forced to hide and leave behind. I know it would relieve her greatly if you had anything of their fate to tell her.

Glad you came through all these troubles safely.

Fond regards,

Cousin Pip."

He smiled. Resourceful young Kit had brought his sister safely to the wooded copse, guarded by Took archers. One of them had escorted the children quickly to the farm, where Noddy and their mother and grandmother had already arrived.

"Looks like I'm going to Michel Delving," he grinned. And maybe, he thought, Miss Rusty Cotton would consent to become Mrs. Isembold Took.