4

The morning of First Yule dawned cold and grey.  Those who had to be about early doing chores and preparing for the celebration to come bustled through the cold and finished their jobs outdoors as quickly as possible.  It was generally agreed that the hearty breakfast that would be served later to open the festivities of the last day of the year would be welcome.

In the Thain’s quarters, the family began to reluctantly awaken.  Even little Sapphire seemed more interested in getting a little more sleep than in eating, for the moment.

“Do we have to get up?” Pippin moaned.  “Just a few more minutes.”

Diamond slowly sat up and brushed the hair away from her face.  “I don’t really want to get up either but we really don’t have a choice.  The Tooks will be expecting their Thain to open the festivities and lead them into the new year.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess I can muster the energy to get out of this bed.”  His wife giggled as she watched him throw back the covers, swing his feet over the side of the bed, rise and shuffle to the washstand.  

At about this time, Sapphire decided eating just might be better than sleep after all so Diamond gathered the child to her and offered her what she wanted.

-----

Once things were squared away with the baby and a minder had arrived to keep watch while the Mistress of Great Smials was away with the Thain, Pippin escorted his wife and young son to breakfast.

Technically, it was second breakfast but for most of those there it was their first and the first of the feasts to see the old year out and the new one in.

After he had finished the serious eating, Pippin looked around the room.  He smiled to see all the happy faces before him.  This was his fourth Yule as Thain and it looked to be the best yet.  His gaze wandered closer to home and he saw his cousin Merry, his wife and their children sitting a few places down at the head table.  Last, he eyes came to rest on his wife beside him.  She was smiling and seemed more at ease than she had in ages and this was the best Yule gift he could receive.  He was suddenly distracted by a small hand tugging on his sleeve.

“Da, I need some help cutting up my ham, please.”  Faramir looked up at his father.

Pippin looked back down at his son and the spell he’d seemed to be in was broken.  He patiently helped his young son practice is cutting skills.

-----

Once the breakfast was done, the preparations for the evening’s feast began in earnest.  The meals leading up to it would be smaller but still abundant. The second largest would be tea when the large Took clan would hold its more public gift giving.  After tea was over, most families would see their young children were fed dinner and readied for bed before the older teens, tweens and adults headed for the feast and dancing that would see the old year out and the new one in.

-----

As they left the dining room, Pippin looked over at Merry.  “Would you be interested in helping me bring in the Yule log?” he asked.

Merry glanced over at his wife before answering.  Estella looked back at him and smiled.  “Go on,” she said.  “It’s no different than if you were at the Hall and had to do the same thing.”

Diamond and Estella watched their husbands depart before collecting their children and heading back to their apartments.

Merry and Pippin went to their apartments and gathered coats, cloaks, scarves, and gloves.  They then headed out to collect the Yule log Pippin had been readying for several months.

“So, how long has this one been curing?” Merry asked as they tramped through the wood, the dried, frost-covered leaves crunching under their feet.

“Actually,” Pippin admitted, “It’s been waiting well over a year for me to come and bring it in.”

Merry gave him an inquiring look but didn’t say anything.  He knew that Pippin would reveal his reasoning, it just might take him a while to get the story out.  Pippin’s stories tended to wander quite a bit before reaching their point.

“You see,” the younger cousin continued, “I wasn’t the one to bring in the Yule log last year.  I had Regi do it for me.  I wasn’t exactly in the mood to celebrate.  At that point, I was just struggling to make it through each day.  I had enough on my mind with trying to run the Tooklands and trying to figure out what my life was going to look like without the support of the other half of my heart.  You see, Merry, while you’re the completion of my soul, Diamond makes my heart complete.  I never realized it but without her, I lost my love for life and for others.  Now that I have her back, I’m finding that love again.  I’m looking forward again and I have more hope than I’ve had in a long time.  So that’s why I came out here to collect this specific log.  It’s the one I should have used last year but then wasn’t the time.  Now is and I know that good things our finally in my future again.”

Merry didn’t say anything.  He merely nodded as he mentally ticked off one sign that Diamond’s and Pippin’s reconciliation was real.

-----

Tea time on First Yule was chaos.  There were children of all ages everywhere and several adults acting like children as they awaited the large family gift giving and then received their gifts.  There were many exclamations of delight and a few groans of disappointment all within a sea of talk while it seemed to snow food and rain drink.

Faramir and all four of the Brandybuck children made quite all haul at this gift giving.  All five were content with what they had received, even if they were less than impressed the new hats scarves and mittens they each received.

As the tea wound down and they headed back to their guest apartment, Perry, the oldest of Merry and Stella’s children began making his case to attend the formal dinner and the celebration of the changing of the year.

“Please, Dad,” he begged.  “I’m practically a teen, why can’t I go?”

Merry shook his head.  “Practically a teen my eye.  You’re ten.  The youngest teens there will probably be no younger than 18.  I know that’s how old I was when I first got to stay up to see the new year in.  As I recall, your Uncle Pippin was about the age you are now.  He was no happier than you are about not being able to go.  I’ll tell you what I told him then:  It seems like a long way off now, but in no time at all, you’ll be spending the early hours of Second Yule with your friends sharing stories and roasted mushrooms.”

Perry sighed.  “In a hundred years,” he moaned.  The only response from his parents to that were fond smiles and soft chuckles.

-----

The evening’s event were well underway.  the feast had been abundant and delicious and now all the residents and guests of the Great Smials old enough to attend were spending the last night of the year nibbling holiday dainties, sipping drinks and, of course, dancing.

Merry stood watching Pippin and Diamond as they shared one of the slower dances.  His own wife had been swept out onto the floor by cousin Ferdibrand.  It wasn’t until the dance was nearly done that the Brandybuck realized he’d been staring.  He hoped neither Pippin nor Diamond had noticed.

Out on the dance floor, Diamond looked at her husband intently.  “Why is Merry staring at us?”

Pippin cast a quick glance in his cousin’s direction and then returned his eyes to his wife.  “He’s still obsessing about us I think.  If you don’t mind, my dear, I’m going to let him have the next slow dance with you.  I think the two of you need to talk.  He needs to know that we really are all right and that he’s making you feel uncomfortable.  If I say something, it might get a little more heated than either of us would like.  I love him like a brother, but he’s got to let us live our lives.  I don’t need protecting.”  He sighed.

-----

As soon as the dance ended, Pippin escorted his wife over to where Merry was standing.  The two Tooks smiled at each other and then looked at Merry.

“I need to go find a drink,” Pippin stated.  “Would you mind partnering Diamond in the next slow dance?”

For a split second, Merry looked panicked but he quickly recovered his wits.

“Um, uh, sure,” he agreed.  “Why don’t you make sure there’s a glass here for all of us when we get back?”

Pippin smiled and nodded as the band began the next song.  It was also a slow one and, dutifully, Merry lead Diamond out among the dancers.

Pippin didn’t want to watch what might happen so he headed for the refreshments.  On his way he encountered Estella.

“I see that the two of them are at least near each other and the roof hasn’t fallen in,” she said.

“I’m hoping they talk, and I mean honestly; not this tiptoeing around the issue stuff.”

“I hope they do too,” Estella agreed.  “I’ve tried to reason with him but you know Merry.”

“Yes, I definitely know Merry,” said Pippin.  “I hope she can convince him that we’re fine and will be fine on our own without him looking out for me.  I wish he’d remember that I grew up a long time ago, a lot younger than most people realize.”

Estella patted him on the arm.  “He’ll remember it soon enough.  Have faith, Pippin.  Just as your marriage was tested and is being strengthen by hard experience so too is you bond with my husband.  You two have fought beside each other, for each other and with each other for all your life and, just like nothing will break you vow to Diamond, nothing will break the bond between you and Merry.”

“Does he know what a wise wife he has?” asked Pippin.

Estella shook her head.  “I don’t know, but the Brandybucks know.”  She smiled an innocent smile but her eyes were sparkling with anything but innocence. 

-----

As they danced, both Merry and Diamond tried to get up the courage to speak.

Finally, Diamond, in the typical way of a Took, just blurted out what she had to say.

“Merry, I’m feeling really uncomfortable around you right now and Pippin is starting to get defensive on my behalf.  We need you to give us a chance to put ourselves back together without you watching every move we make to see if it meets your standards for how we should act toward each other.  There is only one way that I can say that I love him and that is too simply say it.  I love Peregrin Took!  End of story.  Yes, we had a very bad time of it and, yes, it was my fault, but we are working things out and we are getting better.  So, if you don’t mind, let us alone so we can get on with it.”

Merry actually missed a step in the dance and nearly tripped.  He blushed both at his misstep and at having been caught out by Pippin and Diamond.

“All right,” he managed to say and then cleared his throat before continuing.  “I guess I’ve been told then,” he said.  “I’ll leave off the pestering and try to trust you two to work it out.”

“And the staring?” Diamond asked completely straight-faced.

“So you did see that?” asked Merry.

Diamond nodded.  “Please remember, Merry Brandybuck, that Peregrin Took is a hobbit grown and can fight his own battles.  Yes, he needs and values your support but he doesn’t need you to rush to his rescue any more than you need him to rush to yours.  Both of you know when you truly need the other but now isn’t one of those times.”

Merry couldn’t gainsay anything she’d said.  He knew the truth when he heard it so all he could do was nod and walk her back to Pippin’s side as the song ended.

-----

As midnight approached and First Yule turned to Second Yule and the Yule Log blazed brightly on the hearth, Pippin raised a glass before all the assembled Tooks, and assorted others, to toast the year that was ending as well as the one just beginning.

"With great joy and thanksgiving for the year that is past I raise my cup to the hope that is the bright dawn of our future.  Fare ye well, 1437 and welcome, 1438."

With those words the official celebration was ended.  Many of the tweens and younger adults, especially those not yet married, remained to see the first morning dawn.  They would roast chestnuts and mushrooms and bacon and talk for hours.  Over the years, more than one couple had begun their courtship on that early morning of the new year.

As for Peregrin, he and his wife quickly departed the festivities.  He had another way he wished to spend the early hours of this new year.  Also he knew that with the dawn would come a whole host of duties that needed doing on Second Yule beginning with attending the first breakfast of the new year.

As for Merry:  he had decided, after his talk with Diamond, that some quality time with his own wife was in order.  For them, the revels of the new year were best continued in the privacy of their quest bedroom.