Chapter 58. Starting Off on the Right Foot

Someone was waiting at the North-gate when the Thain’s coach, with Diamond and Farry riding inside, Tolly driving and Pippin enjoying the freedom of sitting next to him on the driver’s bench atop the coach, crossed the Brandywine Bridge and pulled up before the Gate. Several someones were waiting, in point of fact, comprising three hobbits on ponies, clustered around a cloaked figure that was twice as tall as a standing hobbit but at a fairly comfortable conversational height with a mounted hobbit.

‘Pippin!’ one of the riders shouted gleefully, waving. ‘Welcome! We thought you might take the Ferry and ride northwards along the Buckland Road to the Gate to drop off your Messenger, and then turn about and go back to the Hall in time for tea, since the River is not so high as it might be. Imagine our surprise to be watching southwards and then hear your ponies clopping across the Bridge!’

Pippin returned the wave from his high perch. ‘Beri!’ he called. ‘I couldn’t subject my excellent cousin Tolibold to the Ferry! Why, he might never speak to me again!’

Tolly managed what he hoped was a satisfactory smile. Here he was, in the middle of a cheerful exchange between the Thain and the Steward of Buckland, being mentioned on equal terms with them. One of these days he might get used to it, but at the moment, he still fought the temptation to turn and look about for some other Tolibold that the speaker was undoubtedly referring to.

Berilac Brandybuck slid down from his pony, handed his reins to another rider and moved to the side of the coach, looking up at the hobbits on the driver’s bench. ‘C’mon down, Tolly! I’ll take your “baggage” from here, as I always do when I meet the coach, whether at the Bridge or at the Ferry landing!’

‘Or as Merry always does, if you are otherwise occupied!’ Pippin laughed, not at all put out by being lumped together with Diamond and Farry as “baggage” by the Steward of Buckland. 

‘Rather the other way around!’ Berilac corrected. ‘Merry nearly always meets you when you are expected to visit, but you’ve come a bit belated this time! And because you’re late, he is otherwise occupied at the moment and so has sent me in his place!’ He frowned prodigiously at the Thain and added, ‘As it is, we are at grave risk of being late to tea!’ But he could not hold the scowl, and soon was beaming once more.

‘We had to stop off along the way,’ Pippin said in explanation, though he did not see fit to explain any further, for dropping off Ferdibrand in the Woody End and stopping to exchange greetings and news with Hally Woodcarver and Rose, Ferdi’s sister, was a Tookish matter and no business of the Brandybucks. ‘It put us a bit behind schedule.’ He elbowed his head of escort. ‘You see?’ he said. ‘It’s as if folk don’t trust me out of their sight! If one of you lot aren’t escorting me about, the Master of Buckland assigns a Brandybuck cousin to the task!’

‘We don’t dare leave you to your own devices!’ Berilac shouted, laughing in his turn. ‘Why, you know what Merry always says!’

Tolly handed the reins to Pippin, took up the straps of his saddlebags (holding a change of clothes, some travel rations, and documents bearing the Seal of the Thain) and his bow case and quiver, and climbed down. Reaching Berilac, he stopped the other hobbit from immediately climbing up and said in an undertone, ‘What is it that Master Merry always says?’

Berilac leaned closer, lifted a hand to the side of his face as if telling a tremendous secret, and hissed, ‘If there’s any trouble to be found anywhere, Pip will be the one to find it!’ Then, laughing uproariously, he slapped Tolly on the shoulder, climbed up the side of the coach, and demanded the reins from Pippin.

Tolly heard merry laughter coming from the cloaked-and-hooded figure standing nearby, and then the tall one threw the hood back, revealing an astonishingly fair face framed with golden hair. ‘Merry’s got you pegged, Pippin!’

‘Tolly!’ the Thain said with a grand gesture. ‘Forgive me for not climbing down to introduce the two of you properly to each other, but we are in peril of being late for tea with the Master of Buckland! And so... If I may present my dear friend Legolas!’

Legolas? Tolly thought in astonishment. Does he mean the Legolas of all those stories he tells about his Journey in the Outlands?

At the same time, a shout of excitement came from inside the coach, followed by the head and shoulders and torso of young Faramir who practically fell out of the window as he enthusiastically waved and called greetings to the Fair One. ‘Legolas!’

‘Faramir!’ Legolas returned with similar enthusiasm. ‘You’ve grown since the last time the stars shone upon our meeting!’

Faramir beamed. ‘I have!’ he proclaimed. He then slid lower in the window in response to Diamond’s entreaties so that only his head and arms were sticking out. ‘Are you coming to tea?’ the young hobbit wanted to know.

‘I will be honoured to take tea with you and your parents at Brandy Hall! But first I must perform a small errand for the King. Therefore, I will see you at Yuletide in Buckland!’

Yuletide! Tolly thought in dismay. Are we to be away until Yuletide? Just where am I to be delivering the Thain’s messages to, I wonder!

Faramir seemed unfazed, as if he were used to Elves and their casual ways with the passage of time. ‘I will hold you to it!’ the child promised the Wood Elf. Considering Faramir’s tender age, Tolly was struck by the fact that the lad neither pleaded nor teased to have his way. It seemed that Faramir was not one to try to dissuade a King’s messenger from his assigned duty. If he was disappointed, he hid it well, but then, he was all too likely more or less reconciled these days to the restrictions imposed upon the son of the Thain. Poor lad.

Not to be put off, the Thain broke into the conversation between the Wood Elf and his son to attempt his introduction a second time. ‘Tolibold! If I may present my dear friend Legolas!’

In his dismay at having himself called to the attention of one of the Fair Folk, Tolly stood frozen a moment, mouth open in surprise, but the Elf quickly set him at ease with a graceful bow. ‘At your service, Master Tolibold!’

This small courtesy was enough to recall Tolly to himself. He realised his mouth was open and shut it firmly, then gave an answering bow and the polite response, ‘At yours, and at your family’s, Sir!’

Legolas laughed. ‘If we are to travel all the way to Bree in company, I must insist that you call me by my proper name.’

Pippin called down again to Tolly, his face shining with mischief, ‘He doesn’t answer to “Sir”, can you believe it? How I wish I could get away with such behaviour myself!’

‘You get away with altogether too much already!’ Berilac said, applying a sharp elbow to Pippin’s ribs to drive the point home and eliciting an “oof” from the Thain.

‘No doubt!’ Legolas observed with a broad grin. ‘I’m sure your cousin will be happy to fill me in on all the details.’

Astonishingly, Tolly was beginning to catch his balance amidst the rapid-fire exchanges. Perhaps it was the heady feeling of keeping company with an Elf, or perhaps the very presence of Legolas lent him a sensation of grace he’d never experienced before. In any event, Tolly’s answer reflected, more or less, the attitude he enjoyed when hoisting a pint at the Spotted Duck surrounded by fellow archers rather than the typical working hobbit’s reserve in dealing with the gentry that he was used to employing. Thus, he looked directly at Legolas for the first time and boldly responded, ‘That I will be happy to do so, indeed! But only if you’ll call me by my proper name – Tolly – and none of this “Master Tolibold” business!’

‘O well done, Tolly!’ cried Pippin, applauding.

‘All this talk is not going to bring us to Brandy Hall in time for tea!’ Berilac interrupted, once more affecting a severe tone, and he snapped the whip he had picked up from its socket, cracking it above the ponies’ heads and startling them into motion. Faramir disappeared inside the coach once more. Atop the coach, Pippin seemed in danger of losing his seat at the sharp jerk of the coach, but Berilac’s practised grab settled him safely again. 

Seeming unrattled at the near-spill, the Thain waved farewell to the travellers. ‘Swift journey, and safe return!’

‘And you as well, Pippin!’ Legolas called as Berilac turned the ponies’ heads towards the gateway and snapped the whip in the air again to send them into a coordinated trot. The Wood Elf raised his voice to call after the receding coach. ‘Don’t worry; your messenger and I shall take excellent care of each other!’

‘You do that!’ Pippin called over his shoulder, but further conversation was precluded by the rapid movement of the coach in the direction of Brandy Hall.

The rider holding the reins to Berilac’s pony said, ‘Master Tolibold, the Thain requested that the Master prepare a pony for you to ride, one suited to bear you a long distance, rather farther than one might travel within the Bounds of the Shire.’

‘A long distance, indeed,’ said the other rider, whom Tolly recognised as a high-ranking Brandybuck. ‘Since we often find it necessary to travel to Bree on the Hall’s business, we keep a small herd of distance-ponies on hand. The Thain requests that you ride the stallion there and back again to try out its paces. If you’re satisfied, upon your return, you’re to take the young fellow on to the Great Smials to improve the bloodlines of the Tooks’ stables, and the Thain’ll send the stallion’s price along to the Master. Tookish beasts are more suited for speed than stamina, and he intends to remedy the situation.’

‘Another “special commission” of sorts,’ Tolly said, bemused, and the riders laughed.

‘Exactly!’ the first rider said as he held out the reins to Tolly. ‘Journey swiftly, and return safe!’

‘Thanks!’ Tolly said, inwardly startled at his growing ability to casually rub elbows with such exalted company. He settled the saddlebags in place, then shouldered his bow case and quiver before taking the reins and moving to the pony’s head, admiring the clean lines and intelligent look in the large, dark eyes that seemed to measure him. ‘Hullo there,’ he said, taking off a glove and reaching out his palm for the pony to snuffle. ‘It seems we’ll be travelling together.’

Legolas unearthed an apple from somewhere under his cloak and extended it to the Took. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘You might as well get off on a good footing.’

‘My thanks,’ Tolly said, shyly adding, ‘Legolas.’ He extended the treat to his new acquaintance, and the stallion graciously swept the apple from his hand and crunched it between his teeth. Tolly nodded, and to the watching two riders, who seemed inclined to remain until the messengers’ departure, he called, ‘What’s his name?’

‘Strider!’ the Brandybuck cousin said brightly, then, ‘Come along, Demi! At this rate, we’ll have to gallop all the way to the Hall if we’re to come to tea before Pippin eats all!’ With cheerful waves, the two hobbits were off, leaving only a cloud of dust in their wake.

Tolly heard a stifled laugh from the Fair One at his side and looked to see the Wood Elf’s eyes dancing with mirth. He chuckled a little himself at the thought of Pippin eating all the food at the welcoming feast, a ridiculous notion, considering the Brandybucks’ reputation for spreading a groaning board. ...but then it occurred to him that the Travellers occasionally referred to King Elessar as Strider when talking amongst themselves, even Mayor Sam, who all these years after his Masters had sailed away still called the departed Bagginses “Mr Bilbo” and “Mr Frodo”. He wondered just which jest the merry Elf might be laughing at – or was it both?

‘And so,’ he said to his new companion, feeling suddenly uncertain as he turned to the consideration of more practical matters. ‘How are we to go about this business of Thain and King? Do you walk beside me as I ride? That might be quite convenient for me but perhaps tiring for you.’ 

Although, he thought, it might be possible that Elves did not tire in the same way as other folk. Tolly wasn’t sure. In the Thain’s stories, Legolas was a magical, almost mystical figure who could run atop the surface of deep snow, shoot Fell Beasts out of the sky, effortlessly carry an injured Man as tall as himself, and more. He hesitated, then added, ‘And are there any inns along the way? I had the idea from the maps I studied that Bree is at some distance from the Brandywine Bridge.’

‘We’ll travel through the evening hours to an outpost of the King’s Guardsmen, where you’ll find bed and board, perhaps not as fancy as a palace—’

‘I’ve never even seen a palace,’ Tolly felt the need to interject.

‘Then it won’t matter if the food is plain and wholesome and plentiful,’ Legolas said.

‘That sounds quite agreeable, to my mind,’ Tolly said. ‘My cousins have often complained that palace food is too fancy to eat, as it is! So... shall we sally forth?’

‘I think we shall!’ the Fair One said with a chuckle. 

Really, Tolly was finding this King’s messenger more companionable with every passing moment.

‘A moment, if you please, my friend,’ Legolas said, then turned away and whistled. A graceful elf-horse emerged from the lengthening shadows under a nearby copse of trees. The beast was seemingly made of sunlight and shadow itself, as its dapples had blended with its surroundings until its rider had called it forth.

The Elf leapt lightly onto its back and laughed again. ‘Here we are, off on an adventure!’ And then he bowed (though how he could manage to bow from the back of a horse and still appear so graceful, Tolly couldn’t fathom) and said, ‘Begging your pardon, Tolly! I shall do my best to avoid mentioning such unmentionable words, at least in polite society, as we ride together. But I must confess, your cousins have quite spoilt me with their unhobbitish taste for...’ he put his hand to the side of his mouth and whispered, ‘...adventure!’

Not to be outdone, Tolly shook his head and put on a wry expression. ‘I know,’ he said dourly. ‘They’re completely spoilt! That’s why my cousins must send messengers out and about, you know, rather than travelling there and back again themselves!’

‘No, that is something I did not know; but why is it that they have to send messengers out and about?’ Legolas replied, raising a quizzical eyebrow as they turned their mounts to follow the East Road and nudged them into motion.

‘One cannot take them anywhere!’ Tolly mock-confided. ‘They sow pandemonium where ever they go!’

‘Ah, but that is something I already knew!’ Legolas said gaily. ‘The stories I could tell you...!’

Things were looking up, Tolly thought to himself. This long, tedious journey in unfamiliar territory was looking less tedious all the time. ‘Do tell!’ he returned cheerfully.

Legolas smiled. ‘I can see why Peregrin chose you as his messenger,’ he said. And then he launched into the first of many stories of a young Pippin, still but a tween, and some of his escapades in the White City before the Travellers returned to the Shire.

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