5

Afteryule 1, the day after the Yule celebrations was Merry’s birthday.  As this was not a milestone year, his party was a small affair attended only by his own family and the Thain’s.  The day after that, the Brandybucks departed for their own home and everyone else settled into the pattern of life that defined winter in the Shire.  The weather was cold which kept most people indoors except for those that had to care for livestock and were forced out multiple times each day to see to their needs.

Pippin used the short days of Afteryule to meet with the chief farmers of the Tooklands to plan out the spring planting and discuss the prospectes for the season to come.  He also held discussions with others of his advisors about various improvement projects that would be begun or finished when the days began to lengthen and the winds grew warmer.  He hoped that this would be the year when they could begin building a direct road from Tuckborough to Hobbiton.  As much coming and going as there was now between the two towns, a less winding route was needed to get from one to the other.  People didn’t like spending as much time getting to their destination as they planned to be there.

It was in late Solmath, about two weeks after Faramir’s birthday, that the dreams began.  They were actually nightmares but not just the ones Pippin was used to.  Even almost 20 years after the war, he was still prone to dreams about the events of that time but some of these dreams felt more like visions than dreams, and they were almost as  unpleasant as his memories of the quest.

The first one of these dreams was vague but he awoke with a since of dread that made him restless and unable to sleep.  Knowing that sleep would not come again that night, Pippin wandered through the darkened halls of Great Smials until he found his way to his office.  Once there, he threw himself into work to take his mind off the uneasy feeling.

By the following afternoon he was exhausted.  Reginard, his assistant, caught him nodding off more than once.  “Hard night?” he asked.

Pippin shook his head more to clear it than to negate Regi’s question.  “I didn’t sleep well last night, that’s all”

“Well that would explain all the signed documents I found on your desk this morning and the empty brandy snifter also.”

“I finally gave up and drank the brandy to try to get a little sleep.”

“Did it work?” Regi asked.

“No, but it tasted good.  That was an especially good bottle.  I may have to ask Merry if he has any more.”

-----

The next time the dream came it was a little less vague and even more unsettling.  This time, his tossing and turning in his sleep woke Diamond.

Pippin’s eyes popped open and he found himself looking up into the concerned face of his wife. “Ssh,” she whispered.  “It was only a dream,” she said.  She said the reassuring words that she often used to draw him back to reality after one of his nightmares.

She helped him to sit up.  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked when he had collected himself a bit.

Pippin slowly shook his head.  “No,” he softly answered.  “I’ve had this one a couple of times now and I’m still not sure what it’s about.  It definitely isn’t a memory and I’m still not sure that it’s a foretelling, but it definitely is disturbing.  Give me some time to clear my mind and maybe I’ll share it with you then.”

She could ask for no more.  She knew her husband and his dreaming well enough to know that he would give her answers in due time.

As they resettled themselves in bed, he reached for her and she went willingly into his arms.  She felt secure with his body cocooned  around her and he felt blessed to once again have his wife close to him.  Sighing contentedly, they let sleep reclaim them.

-----

Over the next two weeks, the dream recurred at least three times.  Each time new details were revealed and Pippin became more and more concerned about it’s implications.  Each time he awoke, Diamond was there to comfort and encourage him to talk about it.  Finally, he could hold out no longer and he began to describe what he seen, heard and felt.

“I was on the North Moor,” he began.  “It was cold and the air was thick with snow.  I know snow can fall quite heavily in the Shire north of Long Cleeve, but this seemed extreme even by those standards.  I could not see my hand in front of my face.  I knew that if I stayed there, I would freeze to death so I started walking.  The snow was up to my knees and each step was an effort to pull each foot free and place it back down again.  The cold had made it nigh impossible to feel the ground beneath my toes.  Just when I felt I could go no further, my numb foot kicked something and I nearly fell.  I reached down to see what could possibly be blocking my way and I felt cloth under my fingers.  It was a cloak and it was covering a body.  With a great deal of effort, I turned it over.”  

Here Pippin stopped.  He was afraid to say any more.  To tell his Diamond the identity of the one he’d found frozen to death near her childhood home would devastate her.

“Go on,” she softly encouraged.

“I can’t,” he said.  “I don’t remember the rest.”  It was a lie, but a lie told to protect his beloved and to convince himself that it was only a dream.

-----

Mid Rethe was now upon the Shire and farmers were starting to look at harvesting the winter crops and planting the spring.

Pippin had come through another bad spell of nightmares and old memories that always haunted the first two weeks of this month and was finally acting again like the positive, outgoing person he was.

“Looks like winter is finally behind us,” said Reginard to Pippin as they began work for the day.

“I hope so,” was the Thain’s answer.  “It wasn’t bad, as most winters go, but I’m always glad to see the sun show her warmer face.  The older I get, the less this body of mine can tolerate.  If I didn’t have responsibilities, and if you weren’t so set against ever being Thain, I’d haul myself back to Gondor and find a nice sunny spot to bake these bones until they forget what the ache of cold feels like.”  They both laughed at the notion of Pippin sitting idly in the sun.

“You’d get bored and have to come back here and find out how I was managing,” Regi said.  “You know that you love this place too much to trust it to anyone but Faramir when he’s old enough.

“But, if the cold’s bothering you that much, maybe you should speak to the healers about it.  Maybe there is something they could do to help.”

Pippin shook his head vehemently.  “No,” he said firmly, “I’ll just hobble through the days and snuggle warmly with my beloved each night.”

-----

Two days later, the rains began.

It was a cold rain that caused icy puddles to form and people had to use caution when walking through the courtyards of the Great Smials.  More than one person traveling between the barns and one of the many entrances to the dwelling slid or fell.

On the third day, the wind picked up and began to blow strongly from the north.

As they worked, Regi noticed that Pippin kept a warm drink near to hand at all times, and when he would get up and wander around in thought, as he was known to do, Regi noted that the Thain was limping, favoring his left leg.

As the time for the noon meal arrived, Pippin looked over at his assistant.  “Let’s call it done for this day, what say you?”

Regi nodded.  “I think you have a good idea there.  You don’t look like you feel that well.  “A warm meal and some time with your family, especially your most precious jewel, will set you to rights.  The work will still be here tomorrow.”

“Which precious jewel?” Pippin asked.  “I have two now, you know.”

“While your beautiful Sapphire is a bright light in your life, I was referring to you best beloved.”

Pippin sat for a moment and Regi could see the dreamy look come over his face.

“Save it till you get home,” he advised the Thain.  “You don’t want the whole of Great Smials speculating on how the head of the family is spending this cold, rainy afternoon.

All through that afternoon and night, the wind howled outside while, inside, Pippin spent time with his children and, when they finally were seen off to sleep, with his sweet wife.

-----

Over the next three days the storm finally blew itself out and the cold rain subsided to a drizzle.  On the fourth day in the afternoon, the sun peeped out from behind the clouds.  All breathed a sigh of relief that the surprise late-season storm was over.  

Pippin’s joy at the returning of the sun was short lived as the reports of damage and loss began to come in.

“How’d we fare?” Pippin asked Regi as he entered the office after second breakfast and saw his assistant already looking over the reports.

Regi looked up from the page he was studying.  “Here at the Smials, we seem to have come through relatively well.  We have some wind damage to some of the out-buildings, mainly roofs, and we had some minor leaks in the Smials in places that have been delved into the softer soil and not the good, solid rock of the hill but, all in all, nothing to write to Buckland about.”

“Good,” said Pippin, smiling.  “I wouldn’t want to give my cousin the wrong idea.”  They both gave a chuckle at this comment.  Funny how an old saying could take on new meaning like that.

“Anything else?” Pippin asked.

Regi hesitated for a moment.  Long enough to cause Pippin concern.  “What is it, Cousin?”

“Well,” Regi began but stopped again.  Now that the moment had come, he really didn’t want to have to tell Pippin the news from the North Farthing.

“Out with it,” Pippin said.  “We don’t have all day, you know.”

In the end Regi only said, “There was a Quick Post rider come in from Long Cleeve early this morning.  He brought this,”  Regi handed the Thain a folded piece of paper.  The seal had been broken so he knew that Reginard knew what the message contained.  Pippin opened it and read.

As soon as he finished, he looked at the older hobbit.  “Have one of the carriages made ready, and not one of the fancy ones.  We need something that will travel through snow.  Make sure the ponies are good, sturdy ones used to pulling.”

“You’re not going up there, are you?” asked Regi.

“Don’t be obtuse, Regi.  The fact I asked for the carriage should be indication enough that I am.  Now, excuse me while I go have a word with my wife.  Oh, and have two hampers of traveling food packed, please.”

“You’re not taking her?”

“Of course I’m taking her.  You read the note.  How can I not.  She lost her sister not quite two years ago.  How could I keep her away from her family at this time of loss.”

-----

Pippin found Diamond in their quarters.  She’d obviously finished all of her public work for the day and was now focused on her children.  She was just putting Sassy, as they had all begun calling the baby, down for a nap and Faramir was working on an assignment the Smials tutor had given him.

As soon as she saw his face, Diamond knew it was bad news her husband bore.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning back from the bedroom with the babe still in her arms.

“Why don’t you put her down and then come have a seat.”

Diamond nodded.  She knew that receiving bad news while holding a small child could be harmful to both the child and the recipient.

While Diamond was out of the room, Pippin asked Faramir if he could take his work to his bedroom.  Fortunately, the lad was wise beyond his years and made no argument.  He simply picked up his things and made a hasty departure.

When Diamond returned, Pippin guided her to the small sofa they liked to sit on together.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” he began.  “I just got a quick post from Long Cleeve.  It seems that while we were have cold rain and sleet, they were having a blizzard.  People were lost only feet from their own doors.  I’m afraid that Rudy is gone.  He was on his way to the family home to pick up Ruby and Bandy from a visit with your parents.”

Diamond was biting her lip trying to hold back the tears.  “He missed Jade so much, you know.” she finally said.  “I’m sure they’re together now.”

“I know they are,” Pippin agreed.  “Your mum and da want us to come to the funeral,” he continued.  “They said they could wait an extra day for us to get there.  We’ll have to leave right away.  I’ve already ordered that one of the sturdy carriages be readied.  We need to gather warm clothing for ourselves and the children.  If you’ll get what you and Sapphire need, I’ll gather the things for Faramir and myself.”

Only when she was behind a closed door gathering items did she let the tears fall.”

-----

It took the rest of that day and most of the next to make the trip.  They stopped overnight at an inn in Oatbarton.  Pippin was becoming more and more convinced as the trip proceeded that a direct rout to Bywater from Tuckborough was necessary as was a more practical road to Long Cleeve.  To stay on main roads, which was imperative with all the snow this far north, they would have to go all the way to Greenfields and then head back Southwest to reach their destination.

As they had traveled, they had tried as best they could to explain things to Faramir.  Death was a hard concept for many adults to fully grasp but for an eight-year-old it was almost impossible.  The only example they could give him was his grandmum’s death a little over a year earlier.  He had been so young when Diamond’s sister Jade had died giving birth to her daughter Ruby that Faramir didn’t even go with his parents to be there for the birth and then the funeral.

-----

Despite the sadness of the occasion, they were relieved when the trip was finally over and they were welcomed to the home of the North-Tooks at Long Cleeve.