Chapter Four: The Third Day and Fourth Night

“Shouldn’t he be getting better by now?” Pippin asked anxiously. “We’ve been praying for days. How long does it take? Are you sure someone’s listening?”

Gandalf smiled. “Someone is indeed listening, my dear Took. Fret not. Frodo has not succumbed.”

“But he’s not moving or waking either. I don’t think he’s getting any better.”

“He won’t until the shard is found and removed,” Elrond said gravely. As eight eyes flew to him in increased worry, he sought to add what reassurances he could. “But he is fighting it still. I marvel at his strength.”

The four hobbits gathered around their stricken kin and friend looked alternately very frightened and proud.

“That’s Frodo for you,” Merry said. “He’s the most stubborn of us all and will probably live longer than any of us because he loves life too much to surrender it anytime soon.”

“So I pray for it to be so,” the Elf lord said. “Only among the Elves who have fought against the might of Sauron and his master those long ages have I seen such valor against such a foe.”

“That’s Mr. Frodo too,” Sam said softly, looking tenderly down at his beloved master. “Always thought there was something Elvish about him with all that light in him that makes him so beautiful.”

Elrond looked at the stout hobbit, surprised that the little one was aware of the grace of IluvAdar that shone so brightly even now as it wrestled with the great darkness that still sought Frodo’s soul. He glanced at Gandalf who smiled.

“Even the littlest ones serve,” the wizard said. “You have in your keeping, Elrond, the best hobbit of all the Shire, the five best I dare say.”

“Indeed. It heartens me that as my people leave these shores, that Middle-earth will remain in good hands.”

Bilbo stroked his nephew’s cheek slowly, so pale and cold. “No, Gandalf, the best is right here, the very best and we are lesser than he but more blessed than any to know him. He must survive or the world will be darker and there will be nothing left in the world anymore for me.”

“I will seek again for the shard,” Elrond said. “It will mean further opening of his wound.”

“Then of course you must do that,” the ancient hobbit said even as his heart screamed in protest.

The Elf healer nodded and prepared to make another incision. He was not unmoved by the tears that slowly tracked down Bilbo’s cheeks as he took Frodo’s hand and gripped it firmly.

“I’m sorry, my boy,” the elder hobbit said. “I’m so sorry.”

As the blade pierced Frodo’s skin, he moaned and tried to writhe away from the scalpel. His hand tightened around Bilbo’s and the tears fell faster as Bilbo held his hand a bit tighter as well. Sam came to the Ring-bearer’s side and held his arm down so he couldn’t move, so Frodo could be cut again. The gardener could barely see for his own tears. He knew this was all to help his master heal, but how could he make his heart understand that to do that, more pain must be caused to the one he loved most in the world and that he was helping that to happen? He was openly sobbing while Bilbo and the others wept silently, their tears falling into Frodo’s curls or his blankets or his cheeks, blessing each place they touched. Sam’s fell into the wound itself.

Gandalf stood behind them, his lips moving in supplication. Aragorn joined the vigil in the late afternoon and offered his own prayers. The hobbits hadn’t rested or eaten since they had risen. Nothing could move them away. When Pippin swayed on his feet and would have fainted, Aragorn caught him gently and laid him at Frodo’s side. The smallest hobbit scrunched up until he was face to face with his cousin and then laid his head so it was touching Frodo’s. He sang softly a lullaby his beloved one had often sang to him, over and over, calming all those present, even himself.

“The darkness is falling, the Shire is still.

The moon is a-shining o’er water and hill.

Now homeward the cattle are wending their way,

And safely they’ll sleep till the dawning of day.

“Now all the wee birdies have gone to their rest,

Tucked up all cosy and safe in the nest.

And all the wee lambs rest on soft beds of hay,

And safely they’ll sleep till the dawning of day.

“Oh hush ye, my dearie, and close now yer eye.

Rest ye in peace till the morning is nigh.

All through the night by your side I will stay,

And safely you’ll sleep till the dawning of day.”

When Pippin trailed off mid-sentence, asleep himself, Gandalf covered him with a blanket. He looked at the others. “Time I think for all of you to rest a bit,” he said softly. Bilbo was already nodding in his chair, his hand still wrapped around Frodo’s good one, but Merry and Sam vehemently shook their heads, though they were nearly as exhausted.

Frodo tossed his head as Elrond continued to probe. “No, please, no, stop...” he murmured and Sam’s heart broke even more.

“Maybe you could stop just a bit, Mr. Elrond, sir?”

“I’m sorry, Samwise, but the deeper the shard moves into him, the more difficult it will be to remove.”

Gandalf put his hand on the gardener’s shoulder and Aragorn placed one of his on Merry’s.

Then suddenly the piece was removed. It seemed the light dimmed in the room, but flared just around the wound, bathing the hobbit in a warm glow before subsiding again within him, shining again softly, lighting him from within as it always had. Another Elf came forward and wrapped the shard in thick cloth, then hurried away to burn it.

“Le hannon, Adar,” Elrond murmured in his prayer of thanks, then cleaned and bound the wound.

Sam and Merry slumped. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” they whispered over and over as silently Gandalf and Aragorn mouthed the same.

Merry curled up next to Frodo as Elrond wrapped his shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

Sam seemed to be unaware of anyone else in the room as he began to stroke his master’s curls from where he stood at Frodo’s head and he softly crooned his own lullaby, sending his beloved into a true sleep.

“Sleep now,

And fear not the darkness.

There’s nothing can harm you,

Let go all your fear.

Sleep now,

Rest safe till the morning,

And when you awaken, I’ll be here.

“Sleep now,

And know I’ll be with you

To hold and protect you

Whatever befall.

Sleep now,

For I’ll e’er be nigh you

To hear you and answer when you call.

“Sleep now,

May no shadow touch you.

O close now your eyes, dear,

Lay down all your care.

Sleep now,

And know I’ll be by you,

Your every joy and woe to share.

“Sleep now,

For I will not leave you.

All through the long night

Beside you I’ll stay.

Sleep now,

And know that I’ll love you,

Keep and defend you all my days.

“Sleep now,

My joy, my beloved,

And know that I’ll never

From you depart.

Sleep now,

And know that whatever

This life may hold, you’ll be in my heart.”

He kissed that dear brow then with nowhere else to sleep he lay down where he had all the other nights, at his master’s feet. Frodo now slept peacefully. One battle had been won. The war continued.

So passed the third day and fourth night.

A/N: The songs are from the queen’s translations. The first is from Bywater, the second is thought to be have written by Sam. Adar is Sindarin for Father. Hroa is body, fea is soul.