Chapter 23. Restitution

Merry and Reginard found it difficult to work out a plan for restitution.  They ran into a roadblock they had not expected: Ferdibrand himself, his pride, and his lifelong habit of working for everything he had, refusing even the hint of charity.

'I will take no gold I have not earned by honest work. I have your oath, Pippin -- that is better than gold to me,' Ferdi said stubbornly.

'And from Ev'ard?' Regi asked. 'Will you see my brother banished, because you will not take his gold?' That put a different face on the matter, and Ferdi stared at him in dismay. Regi and Ev'ard were the best hobbits in the Tookland, he thought. He could not bear to see the one grieved and the other lost forever.

'Restitution or the brand, Ferdi. It must be one or the other,' Merry said. 'You know that as well as any of us.'

'Why?' Ferdi whispered. He wanted to shout the question in his frustration, but so tight was the grip he held on himself, that his voice was barely audible. He needed no answer -- he saw it in the face of every hobbit in the room, bred in their bones and his own as well. Tradition. It was the underpinning that held the Shire together.

Merry's gaze was sympathetic but unyielding. Everard's fate hung on two points: Ferdi's pride, and the engineer's stubbornness.

Everard sat without speaking, his eyes unseeing. They were used to this from him; it happened often enough when he was caught up with some thorny engineering problem: an unstable hillside, or a well that came up dry when it should have hit water. Ferdi pulled his chair around to sit beside him.

'Ev'ard?' he said. There was no answer and he gave the engineer a nudge. 'Ev'ard!' he repeated a little louder. There was still no response, and he resisted the urge to grab Everard by the shoulders and shake him until he paid attention. He settled for a sharp poke in the ribs.

The engineer blinked. 'Eh? What? O Ferdi, it's you.'

'Yes, it's me. Who were you expecting, then?'

'Just waiting for someone to tell me it was time,' Everard said bleakly.

'Time for what?' Ferdi asked, puzzled.

Everard stared. 'Have you lost your wits after all, Ferdi?' He was almost shouting, and he lowered his voice with an effort. 'You know what is to happen.'

'I know what might happen, unless we find an alternative, but that's what we're talking about, Ev'ard - an alternative. Restitution.'

'Alternative, hah,' Everard gritted. 'It will be the brand, and no more than I deserve, but I wish you would all hurry up and get it over with.'

'Ev'ard, I don't believe you!' Ferdi said in amazement. 'Will you not be content with this miserable situation until someone gets banished?'

'Not someone... me,' Everard said. 'I'm the one.'

'You're the one, are you? You took the son of the Thain without telling anyone what you were doing,' Ferdi said, affecting astonishment.

'No!' Everard said. 'You did that. I'm the one who took two plus two and came up with twenty-seven.'

'Well, perhaps you need to brush up on your calculating,' Ferdi said, trying for a light tone, but it was the wrong thing to say.

'Go on, Ferdi! How can you even look me at me after what I did?' Everard was shouting again. His nerves were frayed and his temper, usually kept tightly reined, was spinning out of control.

'Ev'ard, calm down,' Ferdi said soothingly. 'Maybe binding isn't such a bad idea after all.'

Everard held out his hands. 'Go ahead. Let's get it over.'

Ferdi sighed, shaking his head, and Tolly came over to lean against the table next to them. 'You can forget about being banished, Ev'ard,' he said pleasantly. 'We can't afford to lose a good engineer, what with the forward-looking, energetic young Thain we've got. I may wall you up in one of your own tunnels, though, if you don't stop this foolishness.'

Everard didn't answer, and Ferdi touched him tentatively on the arm. 'I made a bad mistake, Ev'ard, and we're still trying to untangle the knots. Please help us to do this.'

Everard looked straight ahead, and his voice was flat. 'I took facts, plain facts, and spun a fantastic piece of cloth that was nothing like the truth. It was my doing that led the Thain and the Master so far astray...'

'Well, Regi helped, with his talk of ruffians,' Ferdi said reasonably.

'That danger is real enough,' Tolly objected.

'Real, but we don't need to lose our heads over it. Keep our eyes open and take precautions, that's plain hobbit sense,' Ferdi said.

'I'm so sorry, Ferdi,' said Everard. Clearly he had not heard a word. 'I'm so terribly sorry, and I can never make it up to you.'

'And will your banishment make it any better?' Ferdi demanded. 'Wake up, Ev'ard! You were a fool, but so was I. So we're two fools together, and the brand won't make us any wiser, either one of us. You stick to engineering after this, where you know what you're doing, and I won't try to out-manoeuvre the Thain.'

'Hear, hear!' said a voice from across the table. Pippin stood there, looking much better than he had earlier. 'Best shove over by the window, lads; Rosemary is trying to put luncheon on the table. And Ferdi, if you don't want Ev'ard's gold, you'll have to think of something else he can give you, to pay his debt. No,' he added, raising his hand, 'I know you don't want anything. But it is required, if he is not to be banished, and don't you see that he will have no peace until he has made some restitution?'

They moved to stand by the window. 'There is something you can do for me, Ev'ard,' Tolly said unexpectedly. 'My oldest boy will never make an archer, hasn't the eye for it, but he's mad to learn engineering. Wants me to send him to the dwarves, but that takes more gold than I'm ever likely to see. You could teach him, though, if you'd take him on. You're a fine engineer; I've heard the Thain go on about it.'

Everard nodded slowly. 'All right, Tolly. I'll do that, and gladly, if the Thain will allow it.'

'The Thain will certainly allow it.' Pippin had followed them over to the window, and now Merry came to join them. 'Send him to Ev'ard as soon as we get home, Tolly. And bring me an accounting of what you owe; that is my part, to see you free of debt.' He thought for a moment and added, 'and if Ev'ard thinks the lad shows enough promise to go to the dwarves to study, I'll foot that bill as well.'

'Thank you, sir.' Tolly sounded relieved, but then he grinned. 'It's a pity I didn't have the sense to stay out of debt, for then I could ask for something better than gold - your promise to stop trying to slip away from your escort!'

There was a general laugh. 'I believe he'd rather give you the gold,' Merry said when he could speak.

'Indeed. I would make you no such promise, Tolly, for I'm certain I could not keep it.' Pippin's tone was light, but it was clear he meant what he said.

'That was a good thought of Tolly's,' Merry went on. 'You don't have anyone in your family who wants to learn engineering, do you, Ferdi?'

Ferdi gave a snort of laughter. 'Not a one - they're all too fond of the open air.'

'And Rudivar will be the head of his own family; he'll be The Bolger when he comes of age. Should give him both fortune and responsibility enough for any reasonable hobbit,' Pippin put in.

Merry nodded. 'What of the others? Or are any of them old enough to be thinking of the future?'

'Odovar is the next oldest, and he's still young. He's a natural for the stables, though; I would I had my father's string of ponies, if only for Odo's sake. He's got the bloodlines of half the Shire in his head, figuring the best breedings -' Ferdi jerked himself back to the present. 'Now don't run away with that thought, Pippin! My family is well enough, and we need no charity.'

'No one is talking of charity, Ferdibrand Took! Everard must pay his debt to you, one way or another; or will you see him ridden out of the Shire, to save your pride?' Merry had drawn himself up to his full height, terrible in his earnestness, and Ferdi dropped his eyes. 'You need nothing, you say, and none of your children would wish to be Ev'ard's apprentice. But he has gold enough to put a few good ponies in your stable, and so make restitution. For his place in the Shire, and for Odovar's future, will you not let him do it?'

Ferdi turned to Everard. 'Will that make your peace with me, Ev'ard? Will you take my forgiveness then, and call us even?'

Everard smiled a little. 'Not even, no, but I'll be able to look you in the face. Yes, it will make our peace, if you'll let me do that, Ferdi.'

'All right, then. We'll take Odovar to the Autumn Pony Meet, and let him choose, and you will tell him what his limits are, mind! You are not to beggar yourself, making amends; there's no need.'

'So it is settled,' Pippin said, sounding relieved. 'My oath to Ferdi, and Tolly's debts paid; Tolly's son to be trained as engineer, and some good ponies for Ferdi's stable; we have our restitution. Is it enough, Merry?'

Merry looked to Reginard, who nodded. 'It is justice,' he said. 'Also it looks well to the future: another engineer, a start for a stable of fine ponies, a new trust between the Thain and his followers. We have turned this situation from evil to good, I think.'

'And yet there is more to be done, to make this right, ' Pippin said soberly. 'When we get home, the Smials will be a hotbed of speculation and talk. Tolly was taken away bound and under guard - reputations have been destroyed by far less. It will not restore his honour to pay his debts and leave his good name blackened.'

'We'll just tell everyone there was a plot to steal the Thain's gold,' Ferdi said easily.

'And I was supposed the chief plotter?' Tolly said in astonishment.

'Wouldn't work,' Haldegrim said. 'Nobody'd believe it.'

'I'm glad you think so,' Tolly said, somewhat mollified.

'The Thain has enough trouble giving away his gold, as fast as he accumulates it,' Haldegrim added, and Tolly snorted.

'We'll tell them Tolly was suspected of switching the labels on the spice jars in the kitchen, but it turned out to be Faramir instead,' Hilly said with a grin. 'They'll believe that.'

'Between us all, we'll come up with some story to cover the facts,' Merry said. 'You'll never stop the Tooks from talking, Pip, you know that.'

It was times like this that Pippin most regretted his lost health - what he wouldn't give, at this moment, for a comforting pipe to busy his hands and soothe his frazzled nerves! He walked back to the half-cleared table where one of the teapots still stood, picked it up and upended it over his mug, but only a few drops came out. Ferdi, watching from the window, came then, and without a word took mug and pot from him and went to brew more tea, and Pippin walked back to the window, jamming his hands firmly into his pockets.

'We cannot stop them from talking,' he said, 'you have the right of that. Any story we tell will be suspect; they will dig under and around it, trying to sniff out the truth. So let us give them the truth, first to last, and let them make what they can of it.'

There was silence, then a gabble of consternation. 'Tell them Farry ran off?' 'Tell them Tolly and Ferdi were stopping the Post -' 'And the false accusations - will they ever trust the Thain's justice again?'

'Do you want the Shire to know what wicked men are capable of, cousin, kidnapping children for ransom? For that is what we suspected them of, you know.' Merry's voice was grave.

'I said tell them the truth, not our wild surmises. That Farry ran, yes, and Ferdi followed him. That they stopped the Post, to spare Diamond from worry, and that the deceit was discovered when I sent for Faramir. That we judged in haste and wrongly, and Farry woke in time and cleared them.'

'And that you and Everard made restitution?'

Pippin's voice was firm. 'Yes, and that I took oath to be loyal to those who serve me, as they are loyal to me.' Haldegrim, Hildibold, and Isenard nodded at this; the Thain looked searchingly into each face, and they all met his gaze squarely. Very well, they would not ask to be released from their oaths. It was not trust, not yet, but a chance to earn it from them. 'Tell the truth,' he repeated.

Merry shook his head. 'They may turn you out, cousin. I can find work for you in Buckland, should it come to that.' A smile twitched the corner of his mouth, but Pippin laughed outright.

'Aye, I'll hold you to that, mind! If they turn me out, Regi can have the job, and good fortune to him.'

'They'll not turn you out,' Reginard said. 'Not while I have breath to shout against it. I think you have the right of it, Pippin. The only weapon we have against gossip and slander is truth.'

Merry nodded. Ferdi brought Pippin a mug of tea, strong and scalding hot the way he liked it, and someone picked up the overturned Kings board and pieces, putting them away. Rosemary and her girls cleared away the rest of the tea things and started setting dishes on the table. Pippin wandered to the door of the room where the children were playing. Farry looked up and caught his eye, then coloured and looked away.

'Farry. Come here a moment, lad,' Pippin said. He might as well have this out now; the longer he postponed it, the worse it would be. Farry picked his way around the play farmyard and wooden animals and came to stand before him.

'Let's go in the other room for a moment, shall we?' Pippin held out his hand, and Farry took it, hesitating. They went into the other bedroom and closed the door.

'I owe you an apology, Faramir.' Pippin fumbled for the right words. 'It was wrong, and very dangerous, for you to run away, but if I had been the father I should have been, you would not have been driven to it. I am sorry, Farry.'

He had his hands on Farry's shoulders as he spoke, and he could feel the tension in the child's body.

Ferry looked up to meet his gaze, eyes wide and full of questions. 'Why did you blame Ferdi, Da? You would've banished him - branded him - if I hadn't woken up in time! And all he did was try to help me, and he wanted me to go to you, only I didn't want to...

'I was wrong,' Pippin said. 'I admitted to everyone here that I was wrong, Farry. I was angry and afraid, and so I was not fair to Ferdi, or to Tolly. I have promised them to do better in future, and they have forgiven me.' He swallowed. This was hard; it was so hard. 'I would ask your forgiveness as well.'

'Is that why you were kneeling? Because you were promising them?'

Pippin nodded, and then realized Farry looking towards the door, as if seeing his father swear the oath all over again. 'Yes,' he said. He placed a gentle finger under the lad's chin, tipping the small face up to look into his again. 'Yes, Farry, that is exactly right. And you know that I keep my promises. Never once have I broken a promise made to you.'

There was silence, then Faramir threw his arms around his father, squeezing so hard that Pippin struggled to breathe. 'I forgive you, Da.' Pippin dropped to one knee to gather his lad in his arms, leaning his head against the tousled hair.

'I love you, son. You cannot guess how much I love you.'

'Then will you promise me?' Farry said against his father's shoulder. Just then there was a tap on the door.

'Enter!' Pippin said, privately cursing the interruption. The door opened; Ferdi stood in the doorway with a question for the Thain.

'A moment, Ferdibrand,' said the Thain. 'Promise you what, lad? Promise you time? I'll give you as much time as I have, Farry. No more work after teatime, that will be the start of it.'

Farry pushed back against his father's hold, to look him square in the face. 'Promise me,' he said desperately. 'Promise!'

'What, Farry?' Pippin said patiently.

'Don't ever leave, Da,' Farry said. 'Don't go.'

Ferdi inhaled sharply as he caught the lad's meaning, and Pippin looked to him for explanation.

'He is asking you not to die, Pip.'

The Thain's eyes blazed with wrath at his speaking so openly before the boy, but Ferdi looked back steadily. 'Do you think he does not know, cousin? We all know; you know it yourself. You do him no favours when you will not acknowledge it. You leave him to face his fear and grief alone.'

Pippin looked into his son's face, and Farry nodded as a tear slipped down his cheek. "Ah, Farry," he breathed, pulling his lad to him with all his strength. "My son, my heart, I don't want to leave you! I'll stay as long as I can fight, every day I can, and I'll fight with everything I've got. That is all I can promise, Farry. I will not lie to you.'

'You always keep your promises, Da,' Farry sobbed.

'I do, Farry.' Pippin leaned his cheek against the little tear-wet face, his own eyes brimming over. 'I do, and that is why I cannot promise. But I promise I will stay as long as I can, and I won't neglect you again. While I live, we will take time to love each other.' They clung together, and the open acknowledgment of death somehow made life that much more precious, and love more sweet.