8

Over the next several weeks, as the Spring days lengthened warmed, things began settling into a more normal routine for the Thain and his family.  The settling in did not go without its bumps.

A couple of days after they returned to the Great Smials, Pippin had sent a letter to Buckland to let Merry know what was going on and to solicit  any advice that his Aunt Esmeralda could give about being adoptive parents.  While it was true that she and Saradoc never adopted Frodo, they were his primary family while he lived at Brandy Hall.

The replies he received were full of encouragement but surprisingly short on advice.

Merry’s letter had congratulated Pippin and Diamond and wished them well.  He also told them that they would plan to see them at the Lithe Days fair, even though it wasn’t an election year.

The letter from Esmeralda, which Pippin could tell was written for her by Estella since Esmeralda had been in failing health for the last few years and could no longer write, gave the common-sense comment to love all the children equally.  She did remind them to be cautious to make sure that discipline and praise were given out fairly.  If they expected Faramir to behave a certain way, they should expect that same behavior out of Bandobras.

-----

There was no advice anyone could give them on the next small crisis they faced.  It started one morning at breakfast.

Ruby had been quiet ever since they’d returned to the Great Smials.  She had been at that stage just before an infant becomes a faunt where she was gaining new words at a rapid rate and all of a sudden, with the change in circumstances, she had stopped talking altogether.  On this morning she had finished all the eggs and toast on her plate and started looking around the table from her seat in her high chair.  She was clearly looking for the person who could provide seconds for her.  Her eyes lit on Diamond.  “Mummumum! More!” she cried.

At his sister’s words, Brandobras slammed down his fork.  “She’s not our mum,” he yelled. 

Diamond, who had started to break into a smile of joy at the small child’s referring to her as mum suddenly got a hurt look on her face instead and looked almost ready to cry at the older child’s words and Ruby began to whimper.  Faramir just looked stunned.

Pippin quietly laid down his knife and fork and slowly turned to face his foster son.

“Bandobras,” he said in a soft voice, a voice Faramir recognized all too well, “first of all, we do not shout at the table.  Second, you do not shout at your little sister.  Third, that was disrespectful to your Aunt Diamond.  That will do for the moment.  You may leave the table and go to your room and think about what you have done and what you need to do to fix it.  I’ll be along to speak to you when the rest of us are done eating.”

Glaring at everyone at the table, the six-year-old got up and left without a word or backward glance. 

Diamond got Ruby some more eggs which seemed to restore her disposition.  As she set the food down in front of the little lass, she looked over at her husband.  “This isn’t going so well, is it?”

“This certainly is a rock in the road,” Pippin agreed, “but we can navigate around it I think.”  He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin and laid it on the table.  “I guess I should go talk to him.”

Pippin knocked on the bedroom door.  There was no answer.  He slowly pushed the door open.  A pillow flew at him.  Fortunately, he still had a soldier’s reflexes.  He caught it before it could hit him.

“Did that make you feel any better?” he asked as he came into the room.

Bandobras remained silent.  He sat glaring at his Uncle.

Pippin was not deterred.  He came over and sat beside the lad on the bed.

“If you want to say anything, now’s the time to do it.  I know you’ve got a lot of anger built up inside.  I’d rather see you get it out than keep bottling it up.  I also would rather you say it to me and not go hurting your Aunt Diamond.  You may never think of us as your parents but Ruby will and she’s going to start seeing Diamond more and more as her mum.  I’m not asking you to understand it but I am asking you to respect it.  Both lasses deserve that much from you.”

Bandobras didn’t look at Pippin for a long time.  He simply looked down at his hands in his lap.  Finally he sighed and looked up.

“My da’s not coming back, is he?” he said, and the tears were clear to hear in his voice.

Pippin shook his head.  “No, Bandy, he’s not.  I know you miss him.  I’ll tell you a secret if you want to hear it.”

The lad looked directly at him for the first time since he’d come into the room.  He nodded.

“I didn’t get along with my father at all, especially once I became a tween, and he’s been gone for four years now but I still miss him.  I want to share things with him but I can’t.  I miss my mum too.”

“Really?”  There was a hint of shock in the child’s voice.  “I didn’t think adults missed their mums and das.”

“We do,” Pippin assured him.  “I’ll tell you something else.  I sometimes still get a little emotional about them.”

“You cry?”  Bandy was amazed at this possibility.

Pippin nodded.  “It’s all right to cry and it’s all right to be angry about what happened but it is never all right to take that anger out on the people who love you.  No one’s going to think less of you for missing your parents.  If they do, you send them to me and I’ll set them straight.

“And they have to listen to you ‘cause you’re the Thain, right?”  The lad gave a hint of a smile.

“Something like that.”  Pippin felt the corners of his own mouth turn up.

They sat quietly together for a long moment.  Pippin could tell that the child was thinking but he couldn’t figure out what he was thinking about.

“So, other than this morning, how are you liking being here?”  Maybe a total change of subject would bring out more issues that needed dealing with.

“It’s a lot different than back home,” Bandy answered.  “I don’t have the chores I used to have.  I like that.  I don’t like the lessons so much but I like having more lads my age around.  Most of them are nice and the ones that haven’t been have had to deal with Faramir.  He really is acting like a big brother.  I didn’t think I’d like that but I do.”

“I understand your feelings about the lessons,” Pippin said.  “I wasn’t fond of them either.  I had been used to having my mum teaching me until I came here.  I was a tween then and thought I was almost done with lessons, then I found out how much more children at the Smials learned.  I didn’t think I was going to survive it but I did and you will too.

“So, Faramir is being a good big brother?  That’s good to hear.  I know he’s happy to have a lad about the place.”

“He says we’re a good team, like you and his Uncle Merry.  Wait,” the child got a strange look on his face.  “Did you really do all those things Faramir says you did?”

Pippin laughed.  “Faramir may exaggerate some of it but, yes, the Master of Buckland and I were quite the team of rapscallions in our day.”

Maybe having you for a da won’t be such a bad thing after all.”

“I like the sound of that,” said Pippin.

“It doesn’t sound quite right to me, not yet,” responded Bandobras.  “I need a name for you and Aunt Diamond that says were closer family.”

“You don’t know this,” said Pippin, “because you haven’t been around them yet, but the Mayor’s children call him Sam-Dad and they call their mum Rose-Mum.  Maybe you could could up with something like that.  We wouldn’t want to steal their names but we could come up with something close.”

Bandy nodded.  “I’ll think about it,” he said.  “Why do you call me by my nickname when Faramir doesn’t have one?”

Pippin’s mind had to catch up to the change in subject.  This child was as flighty as he had been at that age.  “We just never found one that sounded right to us.”

“I’ll work on that then too.”

“You can start on that as soon as you finish saying something to your aunt and everyone else who was at breakfast.”

The small lad hopped off the bed and went to apologize to Diamond, Faramir and little Ruby.

-----

Apologies made and accepted, Bandobras and Faramir headed off to their morning lessons with the tutor for the Great Smials.  As they left, Pippin and Diamond heard the younger lad saying, “So, what do think a nickname would be for you?  Farry maybe, but that sounds almost too much like fairy and you don’t have wings or sprinkle stardust.  Hmm, I’m going to really have to work on this.”

“What,” asked Diamond, “did you two talk about?  What brought on the topic of nicknames?”

“It’s complicated,” was Pippin’s answer.

“When you’re involved, it usually is.”

“I resemble that remark,” Pippin answered with mock offense.  “Let’s just say that I’m getting everything I did to plague my family brought home to me.  There is no doubting the heritage of those two lads.  Bandy may not be mine by birth, but he’s mine by temperament and that’s for sure.”

Diamond just laughed.

“Well, this isn’t getting the paperwork I have waiting for me done and I know Regi has all sorts of enjoyable things planned for me today, so I’d better get to my office before he sends out a search party.”

“Yes,” agreed Diamond.  “You have your chores and I have mine.  I have a meeting with the head cook and one with the head housekeeper.  I think I’m also going to let Ruby get acquainted with those in the nursery.  Hopefully she’ll not be too fussy for them.”

That night at dinner, Bandy was still trying out nicknames on Faramir.

“Fara sound’s like a pony’s name,” he mused, “and Mir just doesn’t sound like anything.  Mirry is too close to Merry and would confuse things when the Brandybucks come to visit.  Far just sounds like someone giving directions.  Fam might work but it just doesn’t sound right to me and Fammy sounds like you’re hungry.”

The older lad just sighed and looked helplessly at his father.  “Do I really need a nickname?” he asked.  “I mean, Faramir’s been good enough for eight years.”

“You’re the only one without one though,” was Bandy’s reply.  “Even you mum and da have nicknames.  And I’m trying to come up with something for Ruby and I to call them that shows their almost our parents.”

“There, you see!” exclaimed Faramir.

“See what?” both Bandy and Pippin asked at once.  Bandy seemed hurt and Pippin just seemed confused.

“Ruby!” Faramir answered loudly, but not loud enough to be accused of shouting at the table.  “Ruby does’’t have a nickname and if it’s good enough for her, then not having a nickname is good enough for me.  I like my name.”

“But, Ruby’s name is short, yours isn’t,” persisted Bandobras.  “Are you sure you don’t want a shorter name?  Really?”

Faramir nodded as he took a bite of his supper.  

“I guess that’s settled then,” answered Pippin.  “So have you thought of any names for your Aunt Diamond and I?”

“I’m still thinking about it.  I hope I can think of something I like.”

“I hope we can live with it too,” agreed Pippin.