Chapter 13. And What D'you Think He Saw?

'We are a little ahead of ourselves,' Pippin-lad observed, 'for the hills are already drawing nearer, see?' He lifted his hand and pointed. 'I think that yesterday, we must have walked well past the spot where they camped by that stream that "wandered down from the hills" and ended in the marshes.'

'The days are longer this time of year, remember,' Robin Bolger said. 'You told us that in Frodo's account, they camped when evening descended upon them.'

'But we did the same, yesterday,' Faramir said. 'As the Sun was painting her colours in the sky, we made our camp for the night.'

'Yes, cousin,' Robin said, 'but we did the "same as they" but a few days after Mid-Year's day, and we had arisen with the Sun in the morning. We had hours more walking than they did in a single day...'

'No wonder my legs hurt,' Pippin-lad muttered under his breath, so low that Faramir was probably the only one who heard him. 

But the latter said nothing, for his legs were hurting, too. The price you pay to grow stronger, he thought stubbornly. He did not think to ask to cut today's walking short or to slow the pace, both of which sounded like an admission of weakness to him, rather than common sense as it would have seemed to his elders, though he did not realise it.

They walked on in silence for a few more moments before Faramir resumed the conversation. 'So even though we've no pony to lighten our load, we've gone faster?' he said, his brow wrinkled in thought. He had not considered the difference that the longer summer days would impose on their journey. 'Or farther, anyhow,' he amended.

'The latter, I think,' Robin answered. 'Even if they might have gone a little faster than we have, what with "Longshanks" and his ability to stride at a ground-eating pace, while we are much cumbered by travelling with a pair of teens...'

'Hoi!' Pippin-lad protested.

'Well it's true,' Faramir told him. 'We are teens, and that is the truth, and though I'm told I'm tall for my age, my legs are still shorter than a tween's would be. And my da, though the shortest of the Company, was in the latter part of his tween years at the time they were walking this trail...'

'He would have had most of his growing years behind him,' Ferdi agreed. 'He might have grown another inch or two before he reached his majority, had he left such things as Ent-draughts alone...'

'Are you saying my da would've been short for a Took?' Faramir asked, turning to look at his uncle and nearly tripping over his feet as a result, such that Ferdi hurried forward a step or two to steady him and save him from falling.

'Watch where you're walking, lad, or walk where you're watching,' Ferdi told him, still holding Farry's arm as they walked along together, leaving Haldoron to bring up the rear. 'And yes. Your da's head came up as far as my chin, that last time I saw him before he disappeared, and he would've grown only an inch or two more if things had been left to run a natural course – which they were not, as was quite evident when he returned a year later and an inch or two taller than I am or ever will be!'

'You might always try an Ent-draught yourself, you know,' Robin said, and smirked.

Ferdi glowered at his Bolger nephew. 'I am already tall enough,' he said. 'As it is, I have to duck to enter most people's doorways. Being taller would be most inconvenient, I deem!' He dropped back to take up his station by the Ranger's side once more, as if the two of them were herding the others before them.

'All the Hobbits of the Thain's escort are tall,' Robin observed. 'Why is that? Is it one of the requirements, besides shooting, riding, and running?'

'Don't forget swimming,' Faramir said behind his hand. Both Robin and Pippin-lad choked at this idea.

'Swimming?' Haldoron said. 'But I thought only Bucklanders learned how to swim!' 

'Brandybucks, in particular,' Ferdi said shortly.

'But you're not one of them,' Haldoron said. 'I know very well that you're a Took!'

'I thank you for that,' Ferdi said. 'Some Tooks have learnt how to swim, though not all of them voluntarily.'

'I don't understand,' the Man admitted.

'The Thain was the first one I know of,' Ferdi said. 'Frodo's parents drowned, and Merry's a Brandybuck, and between the two of them, they made sure to teach Pippin the art of not-drowning, if you take my meaning.'

'Ah,' the Man said, considering this information. 'And the other Tooks?'

'Thain Peregrin, in his infinite wisdom, has decreed that all of the hobbits of his escort must be able to swim, including knowing how to escape the clutches of a bog or the swift current of a tumbling stream, in addition to being able to shoot accurately, ride skilfully, and run far.' He blew out a breath in seeming disgust and added, 'And, o' course, when Farry was just a wee faunt, his da taught him how to swim like a fish. Unnatural as it might seem.'

'And that is why you knew what to do when Pip fell into the bog?' Haldoron said.

'I suppose the knowledge does have its uses from time to time,' Ferdi admitted. 'But it's still totally unnatural for a Hobbit. Unless, of course, one is a Brandybuck.'

'And everyone knows what is said about Brandybucks!' Robin said with a laugh.

'I don't!' Haldoron retorted. 'I suppose that is one of the things about Hobbits I am meant to be learning?'

'Perhaps,' Ferdi said thoughtfully, and he cocked his head. 'But then again, perhaps not... For it is not something that is said in polite company! And even Farry and Pip-lad don't know it, at their tender ages. And when they ask—'

'You just say we'll know when we're older,' Faramir finished the thought in a world-weary tone. 'But how much older, is what I'd like to know?'

'Older,' Ferdibrand answered. 'And that's all you need to know at this point.'

Haldoron's lips quirked, though he managed to keep himself from smirking.

'So I think we should reach the foot of the westward slopes by the time the Sun reaches her nooning,' Pippin-lad continued the line of conversation he'd begun earlier since there was no point in asking, being only a teen, what was said about Brandybucks when not in polite company. 'We are ahead of our time! Or theirs, anyhow.'

'A brief stop for a rest and a bite to eat, and then...' Faramir said.

'And then we'll follow the trail at the base of the hills, southwards, to Weathertop,' Pippin-lad said.

Behind his hand, Haldoron observed wryly to Ferdi, 'I begin to wonder if the lad knows the land better than a Ranger!'

The Hobbit shook his head. 'It's all head knowledge,' he said. 'He knows it in his head, well enough; he even knows what the maps show... but he's never walked on this ground before today, nor has he stood atop Weathertop, within the tumbled ring of stone that my cousins have described to me, and looked out upon the surrounding country.' He walked a few more steps in silence and then said, 'I imagine it might be something like standing atop one of the high Green Hills, would it not be?'

'A little,' the Man said. 'Except that from Weathertop, one can see snowy mountains, high white peaks peeping over lower grey ones, and the foothills at their feet.'

Ferdi shuddered. 'Mountains!' he said. 'I've never seen a mountain.' He shook his head. 'Never have had the desire to see one, but it seems I've little choice in the matter now, as things stand...'

The Man stared at him in astonishment but said nothing. 

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Yet as the New Company stood within the broken ring of stone after struggling up the steep trail to the top of Amon Sûl, Ferdi stared in wonder at the view to be had in all directions. 'I can see why they put a tower here,' he said. 'What an astounding vantage!'

But when he turned to look to the East, he stood for a long time, gazing in silence. It was mid-afternoon; the Sun was behind them, and the mountains that rose in the distance glistened in her light and seemed to beckon to the beholder, promising even more wondrous sights beyond their slopes. And Ferdi's companions heard him whisper, 'I begin to understand...'

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Author's note: This chapter may reflect phrases and descriptions from 'A Knife in the Dark' in The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Also, to the earliest readers: Oops, sorry if you noticed the title change. I put the wrong title in at first (one that belongs with a later chapter). It has been replaced with the correct title.

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