Chapter 4. ...And Serious Business into the Bargain

~ on the banks of a fishing stream near New Annúminas, a few days later ~

Elessar cast his line and moved the hook with its life-like lure through the water in a series of practised jerks. Before long, he had landed another fat trout which he added to the string of fish he’d caught already. ‘Not long before we have enough for breakfast!’ he said. ‘Even if the hobbits should decide to join us at table.’

‘I might as well set aside my rod and sit down at my ease,’ Haldoron said, ‘for all the luck seems to be with you this day, cousin.’

‘Quite possibly,’ Elessar said. ‘It certainly is not with you, as I regret to have to inform you.’

Haldoron retrieved his line and lure, moved to set his pole aside, and turned to confront his cousin. ‘You are talking about more than the fish story you’ll be telling when we return to the lodge with our catch, I think.’

‘Plans have changed,’ Elessar said.

‘Are you going to tell me just which plans have changed, or did you want it to be a surprise?’ Haldoron said sourly.

‘A surprise might be diverting,’ Elessar said, ‘and a good test of how adept you are at landing on your feet—’

‘If I were a cat, perhaps,’ Haldoron said.

Elessar cast his line again and spoke to the lure as he moved it gently through the water. ‘Think of it as your first lesson in learning to understand and appreciate Hobbits.’

‘I should think I’d already had that lesson,’ Haldoron said with a wry twist of his mouth.

Elessar looked over at him, his expression matching his kinsman’s. ‘You might think that,’ he said. ‘But as an old friend of mine once observed, “Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch.”’

Haldoron raised an eyebrow. ‘A hundred years?’ he echoed. ‘Who was your friend, a Dwarf? For I cannot imagine Elves bothering to learn “all that there is to know” about the ways of hobbits.’

‘A wizard, rather.’

Haldoron nodded. ‘Ah yes,’ he said. ‘I remember... he tasked you to hunt for the creature Gollum...’

Elessar raised a staying hand. ‘I counselled him, rather, when he came to me in calling for help from the Dúnedain...’

‘He asked us to double the Watch on the Shire,’ Haldoron remembered. ‘But then you went off with him on that hare-brained quest... at least, it seemed hare-brained at the time, considering how long it had been since the creature had last been seen. I wasn’t the only one who thought it was too late, and that you ought to fix your attention instead on the deteriorating situation in the North-lands.’

The former Steward shook his head. ‘A long and hopeless search it seemed – and turned out to be. Travelling in the wizard’s company the whole length of the Wilderland, down even to the Mountains of Shadow and the fences of Mordor, at intervals over the span of eight years, and all in vain. As I’ve said, you’d have done better had you stayed in the North-lands and directed the defence of the Shire and the lands around Bree.’

‘Halbarad was a competent Captain.’

‘And then instead of sending you back to the North-lands when he abandoned the search, he went to Gondor...’

‘And you still blame me for not returning immediately, staying, and not going out again,’ Elessar said quietly.

‘We were hard-pressed!’ Haldoron protested. ‘With all my brother could do...’

‘The Dúnedain would have been equally hard-pressed had I returned instead of continuing the search alone,’ Elessar countered. ‘But that is neither here nor there.’

‘Do you mean because you found Gollum at last? ...in the Dead Marshes, as I recall. For what it was worth. For the Wood Elves failed in their trust...’

‘At least Gandalf was able to question him before he escaped,’ Elessar said. ‘And, tragically, the Wood Elves paid for their error with the lives of his guards.’ He raised his pole in a sudden motion but missed the trout that had lunged for the lure, revealing the depth of his perturbation. ‘And that was not what I meant.’

‘Then speak more plainly, cousin, if you wish me to follow your thought. For I may be many things, a fool included, but I am not yet (and will likely never be) a mind-reader.’

Elessar retrieved his line and turned away from the stream, holding pole and line in one hand. ‘The hobbits have surprised me,’ he said.

‘Have they?’ Rich irony dripped from the simple words.

‘The journey before you is no longer a simple matter.’

‘I never imagined it would be,’ Haldoron said. ‘Not after—’

‘The Thain, Master and Mayor did rather confound your application of the law,’ Elessar agreed. ‘But rightly so. In point of fact, their interference – or intervention, for a politer term – ought to have been no surprise at all. In hindsight, it wasn’t.’

‘In hindsight,’ Haldoron echoed, and sighed heavily. ‘Would that hindsight were as clear as... but no. If I’d had the gift of foresight, I’d never have signed that death warrant, the one that spurred the Shire-folk to go to desperate lengths to save those Men.’ He met Elessar’s gaze and scrutinised the King’s face. ‘Why is it, you are trying to salvage your erring cousin, again?’

But Elessar set aside the question as if Haldoron had not spoken. ‘Instead of a full complement of Guardsmen, as the Thain originally requested, the party will now recreate the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring.’

‘That, I thought, was the point of the entire exercise,’ Haldoron said, gritting his teeth.

‘You need neither foresight nor hindsight to perceive the path before you clearly,’ Elessar replied, but at the sternness in his tone, his cousin straightened and looked up in surprise. The King met his quizzical gaze squarely, allowing his annoyance to show. ‘No,’ he said forcefully. ‘All you need do is listen – which is exactly what you did not do in your earlier dealings with hobbits, which has landed you in the spot you are in.’

Haldoron was brought up short. He took a deep breath and let it out again, thinking through all that Elessar had said. At last, he said, ‘The word you used was “recreate”, I think.’

‘Don’t be so modest,’ Elessar snapped. ‘You obviously heard me. And I would assume you were also listening to what I said.’

‘I heard you,’ Haldoron affirmed. ‘But as to my capacity for listening...’ one side of his mouth tightened, ‘I have been informed that my listening skills require refinement.’

Elessar maintained silence.

Haldoron continued. ‘We are not taking an adequate body of Guardsmen to discourage ruffians from attempting to capture the valuable hostages I am to be escorting... the son of the Thain, as well as his sister’s husband.’ He thought further. ‘Guardsmen that the Thain himself requested. And yet, I am certain that you are well-practised in listening to hobbits, so I would deem that you were not the one who set aside the Guard detail.’

From his cousin’s expression, he thought he might be following the right track. ‘And yet, it makes no sense that the Thain would remove the protection he originally requested for his son – unless he were calling off the entire expedition.’ He narrowed his eyes at Elessar. ‘But that is not what he has done, I take it, for you said that we will be recreating the journey of the Fellowship...’

The implications hit him like a punch in the gut, and he gasped.

Elessar nodded slowly. ‘One Man and four Hobbits will travel from Bree to Rivendell. You may be joined by an Elf sometime after you descend from the hills, some days after taking in the view from the summit of Amon Sûl, but there is no guarantee. One of the sons of Elrond may oblige us in this since Glorfindel is no longer to be found in Middle-earth.’ But his face was troubled, and he shook his head. ‘My foster brothers are neither in New Annúminas nor Imladris at this time, and so I do not know if or when my message requesting their aid in this matter will reach them.’

‘And one young hobbit is worth so much trouble?’ Haldoron said under his breath.

‘He is the son of the Thain. And Peregrin is said to be the finest Thain in a hundred years – maybe two. Not only Tooks and Tooklanders, but all Shire-folk, the Bucklanders included, are prospering under his watchful eye.’

‘I’m happy for them,’ Haldoron said. ‘What does that have to do with—?’

‘Peregrin will not survive should he lose his son,’ Elessar said starkly. ‘I saw this in his heart and mind, on a previous occasion when young Faramir’s life hung in the balance.’

‘Something new you’ve learned about hobbits?’ Haldoron said.

‘It is a quality of the Fallohides, especially, among all the Little Folk,’ Elessar said, deliberately employing the Mannish term. ‘Under ordinary and extraordinary circumstances, they form soul-ties. Before their People came to the Bree-land in the first place, it was generally known that a Fallohide did not usually survive the death of a mate.’ He met Haldoron’s curious gaze. ‘In these modern times, the blending of the bloodlines of Fallohides, Stoors and Harfoots means that hobbits, as a rule, do not remarry after losing a spouse even though they are more likely to survive such a loss these days. Ferdibrand, your travelling companion-to-be, is a rare exception. Or more properly, his wife is.’

Haldoron nodded, cataloguing this information for future reference.

‘Such a tie exists between the Master of Buckland and the Thain of the Shire,’ Elessar continued, ‘which I might attribute to the ordeal they lived through together. However, Frodo told me once that they were extraordinarily close from the time of Peregrin’s birth, so it may not be quite that simple.’

‘Nothing seems to be “quite that simple” when it comes to hobbits,’ Haldoron responded. ‘And so there is such a tie between Peregrin’s heart, and that of his son...’

‘The Fallohide strain runs nearly pure in some of the Tooks,’ Elessar said softly. ‘And the ties that form between hearts are not simple or easily explained. I have discerned that Faramir is likely to survive his father’s death (which is all to the good since the lad is supposed to be Thain after his father) though unlikely to survive the death of his wife, whoever she may turn out to be. And Pippin will have the strength to survive the death of Diamond, should she pre-decease him, but only because of Merry’s hold upon his heart.’

‘And if the Thain should die, Buckland would lose her Master.’

‘Neither neat nor tidy,’ Elessar agreed. ‘But it is information that we must take into account. I would not care to lose two of my three Counsellors of the North-kingdom in the Shire at one throw.’

‘Very well then. Cancel the – the re-enactment,’ Haldoron said.

Holding Haldoron’s gaze, Elessar slowly shook his head. ‘Have you not yet learned that hobbits are not such simple folk as they might appear?’

‘I am a slow learner, it seems,’ Haldoron said, looking away.

‘You’ll have time to learn,’ Elessar said. ‘Going on with the journey... At Rivendell, Bergil, son of Beregond and, strictly speaking, a Man of Gondor, will join you. He has been my liaison to the Shire for the past two years, and before he was appointed to that role, he had much experience in the way of dealing with hobbits.’

‘He is the Mayor’s adopted son, someone said,’ Haldoron replied, though his tone implied it was more a question than a statement.

‘And Peregrin hopes that Legolas and Gimli will agree to aid him in this,’ Elessar went on.

‘But why not simply stop—?’

‘When Peregrin was still the son of the Thain and not the Thain himself, when he was still but a tween,’ and Elessar studied Haldoron’s face as if to ascertain the other Man’s understanding, ‘he left the Shire without his father’s knowledge or permission because he felt strongly about the matter he had chosen to undertake. And Faramir...’ he concluded, ‘is his father’s son. In every sense of the word.’

Haldoron took a sharp breath.

Elessar nodded soberly. ‘I think you begin to see,’ he said. ‘Hobbits are not the simple folk they may appear, at casual acquaintance. And in dealing with hobbits, one can never take for granted that the process will be either simple or straightforward.’

‘I’m beginning to grasp that idea.’ 

Elessar looked to see that the string of trout he’d caught were solidly fastened to their lines and safely immersed in the stream, then gestured to the grassy bank. ‘Come, sit down. I think you might benefit from hearing, from my perspective, the full story of the journey you will be retracing...’

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Author’s note: Some phrases and ideas in this chapter were drawn from “The Shadow of the Past” and “The Council of Elrond” in The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.

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