Samwise Solves a Problem

50. Samwise Solves a Problem

After nearly a week of enjoying the hospitality of Brandy Hall, the Gamgees were preparing to leave for Whitfurrows the next morning. Of course, Merry invited Pippin and Diamond to share a farewell glass with Sam and Rose after the children had been put to bed. Naturally, Estella was there, too.

To this point, Pippin had managed to dodge all the hints that had been tossed about over the days of the Gamgees' visit quite successfully. However, Samwise had not made it all the way to the Fiery Mountain without a great deal of stubbornness, not to mention the strong will and dedication needed to accomplish a worthy goal. Add in his fondness and concern for young Pippin and his respect (and, frankly, concern) for Merry, and the youngest Traveller really stood no chance in the face of the gardener's determination to succeed in this current quest. Thus, towards the end of the evening, the Mayor said, 'This has been such a pleasant holiday! Perhaps even better for its being unexpected and unplanned.'

'We have had a lovely time,' Rose agreed. 'The Master and Mistress of Brandy Hall are the souls of hospitality! I'm so glad they pressed us to visit again soon, the last time we were here, and Brandy Hall was so much closer than Bag End when we found out the Whitfurrows harvest festival had been put off a week.' Exchanging a fond glance with Sam, she added, 'Why, I feel a whole new hobbit!'

'There is something to be said for unexpected holidays,' Pippin agreed. After stifling a yawn and muttering something about having had his quota of brandy for the night, he turned to Estella and added, 'Why, Merry was looking rather worn down, as I remember, when Uncle Saradoc argued the two of you into leaving for Rohan. And I think the extra month did not go amiss, cousin,' he said to Merry. 'For you're looking so much better than you did after the spring floodwaters finally receded.'

'It was a difficult flood season this year,' Merry said. 'But I see you were able to rebuild the Ferry landing during the time I was gone.'

Pippin waved a nonchalant hand and slouched lower in his comfortable chair. 'Merimas can take most of the credit for that project.'

'Unexpected holidays...' Estella mused. 'You know, they just might become the newest fashion! Considering how well-rested we were after our sojourn in Rohan, and the Gamgees having the opportunity to relax and refresh themselves here at the Hall...'

'Y'know, if you and Diamond were to set out within a fortnight, you could quite easily arrive in Minas Tirith by Ring Day,' Merry said, quite as if he were reciting the next logical step in a sequence, though it was rather wasted on his younger cousin, who was looking weary to the point of falling asleep in his brandy.

'That is, if you don't stop off at Edoras,' Estella put in. 'Just travel straight through Rohan; that's my advice. Don't wave as you go by, don't stop to talk to strange Rohirrim...'

'...or even familiar ones,' Merry said.

Estella hit him gently on the arm with a loosely-clenched fist in affirmation. 'True!' she said. 'The familiar ones are all the more dangerous, for they disarm you with their friendly manner, and the next thing you know, you're caught in a web of hospitality that's nearly impossible to escape.'

'P'rhaps you'd like to borrow my Sting,' Sam said to Pippin. 'Mr Frodo's sword proved quite effective against Shelob's webs...'

This generous offer of Sam's had the desired effect on the young Steward of Buckland, for he sat up abruptly and started paying heed to the conversation. 'Er, what?' he stammered. 'Why would I need to borrow Sting to clear spiderwebs from the Hall? The servants do quite well with the lambs-fleece dusters, I should think, especially since Merimas had the brilliant inspiration to fasten the fleece to long poles to reach high ceilings and corners...'

'I thought that was your doing?' Merry said, only to have Estella tap his arm again. 'Ow!' he said, rubbing at the spot.

'Don't change the subject!' Estella snapped.

'I didn't—' Merry began, and when she frowned at him, he doubled down. 'Well I didn't! It was all Pippin's doing...!'

'Perhaps he ought to stick with talking only to strange Rohirrim,' Samwise said. 'Then he might not need Sting at all.'

'Why would I want to go about Rohan sticking Riders I don't even know with Frodo's sword?' Pippin said in outrage.

'At least you've got him as far as Rohan now,' Estella said to Merry. 'That's some progress, at least.'

'I would like to see Rohan someday,' Diamond said. 'Just the name "Golden Hall",' and she sighed before adding, 'sounds so beautiful, somehow. And I hear the horses are lovely.'

'Don't you start!' Pippin warned.

Diamond looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. 'Start what?' she said. 'You're the one talking about going to Gondor!'

'Going to Gondor!'

She blinked at her beloved. 'See?' she said. 'There you go again! So when are we leaving, dearest?'

'Within a fortnight,' Samwise said. 'Otherwise, you're in danger of missing the celebration.'

'What celebration?' Pippin said, thoroughly confused.

'Ring Day, o' course.'

'I have no intention of going to Minas Tirith for Ring Day!' Pippin said, flummoxed.

Sam looked hurt at this. 'But why wouldn't you want to honour your cousin? After what he did for you? For the Shire? For all of us, really?'

'He wasn't the only one,' Merry said quietly, taking a meditative sip of his brandy.

'That's right; you aren't the only one, Sam!' Pippin said.

'I was talking about Frodo,' Merry corrected.

'Frodo's not even here!' Pippin said. 'And I maintain that Sam is not the only one talking utter nonsense!'

'Frodo was not the only Ring-bearer!' Merry said, not to be thrown off track.

'Who said that he was?' Pippin said.

'And Sam is making complete sense!' Estella said firmly. 'Utter sense, even!'

Pippin shook his head and then peered into his brandy glass. 'Perhaps I have over-imbibed,' he said, as if to himself. 'For I am utterly lost...'

'You don't want to get lost on your way to Gondor, or you really will come belated, and miss the celebration,' Sam said, returning to the point with all the stubbornness of a Gamgee. 'Besides,' he added, 'your escort of King's Men is due to reach the North-gate in only a week, or ten days at the most, for they are all too aware of how tight the schedule is already...'

'Escort?' Pippin said.

'Why yes,' Sam said, holding out his glass as Merry lifted the decanter with a questioning look. 'Thank you, Merry. Very kind.'

'What escort might that be?' Pippin said.

Sam looked at him in concern. 'Perhaps you have over-imbibed, Pippin,' he said kindly, as one much older to a much younger hobbit. 'For I said, and quite plainly, too...'

'You said my escort would be at the North-gate,' Pippin said.

'So you are going to Gondor, cousin!' Estella said brightly. 'I do wish you'd stop playing games with us; this is all getting very confusing.'

'I never said...' Pippin began.

'Let's not start that again,' Diamond warned.

'I'm afraid the King's escort are going to be quite put out if you should change your mind at this late date,' Sam said, sadly shaking his head.

'Samwise,' Pippin said with elaborate patience.

'Yes, Pippin?' Sam said, giving every evidence of paying close attention.

'Why will the King's escort be quite put out?' Pippin asked, but then he held up a staying hand. 'No, no,' he said to himself. 'That's probably not quite the right question.' He closed his eyes and mumbled to himself whilst the rest of his companions exchanged glances.

At last, opening his eyes, Pippin said, 'Sam, please tell me what you know about the King's escort.'

'They're a group of elite Guardsmen,' Sam began helpfully, 'tasked by Strider, which is the reason for the name "King's escort"...'

'No, no, no,' Pippin interrupted, waving his hands. 'I know all about that! Tell me about the particular King's escort due to be waiting at the North-gate in a week... or perhaps ten days!'

'O that King's escort!' Sam said brightly. He lifted his glass in a toast to Merry and took a sip.

Doggedly, Pippin said, 'Yes. That one.'

'Well, we were due in Whitfurrows on the First of August, as you know, to open the harvest festival there,' Samwise said.

'I don't see what that has to do with...' Pippin mumbled to himself, but then he shook his head and said aloud, 'Never mind that. Go on, if you wouldn't mind.'

'I don't mind at all!' Sam said cheerfully. 'We arrived the day before, only to be told that the festival had been put off for a week, and hadn't I received their message? That I hadn't, I told them, and...'

'What does this have to do with Gondor?' Pippin asked, more to himself than Sam.

But the Mayor brightened. 'Quite so!' he said. 'They felt so badly about the message going astray, and us showing up a week early, as it were. And so when Strider's message...'

'Strider sent a message?' Pippin and Merry said together.

'Isn't that what he just said?' Estella asked.

'Well, they made sure to pass the message on to me; they even sent a quick-post rider to the Hall.'

'I remember!' Merry said. 'When you arrived last week, a quick-post rider arrived with a message for you the next day... but the message was from Strider? Why didn't you say anything?'

'Why,' Sam said, 'I was feeling so low at having to say "No" to his request, what with him being King and all, for I'm already committed to festivals all over the Shire... A promise is a promise, you know.'

'What request?' Pippin said.

Sam turned to him, and a grin spread across his face. 'And then I remembered the talk the previous evening, where everyone talked about how you were wishing to travel to Gondor, but you hadn't had time to plan anything, what with Merry being weeks overdue coming back from Rohan...'

'I was wishing to go to Gondor?' Pippin said.

'Well of course, dear heart,' Diamond said. 'Everyone knows it.'

'So I had the bright idea; Strider had already ordered the King's escort to meet me at the Bridge, and so I thought – why not?'

'Why not what?' Pippin and Merry said in the same breath.

'Well if Pippin was already wishing to go, but hadn't had time to plan, and Strider was planning that I should go, but I haven't the time to travel... and so I sent off a message to the Captain of the escort to convey my apologies to Strider, though o' course I said Elessar, not Strider, but that it didn't have to be a wasted trip, for they could escort you and your family instead!'

While Pippin was still trying to work out the crux of the matter, Merry slapped Sam on the back, saying, 'That's brilliant, Sam! I can see why the Shire-folk elected you as Mayor!'

'For his ability to muddle a story beyond all recognition in the telling of it?' Pippin asked.

'For his problem-solving ability and far-sightedness!' Merry said.

'Seeing all the way to Gondor,' Estella said behind her hand to Diamond, who grinned.

'Exactly what is brilliant, cousin?' Pippin asked Merry.

'Your escort are due at the North-gate in a week or, at the latest, ten days from now! And here you were saying you couldn't leave any later than a fortnight from now and still be assured of reaching Gondor in time for Ring Day!'

'Wait, who said that?' Pippin said, thoroughly confused.

'You did!' Estella said brightly, even though she knew it wasn't true. It was all in a good cause, after all.

'I don't remember,' Pippin said, rubbing at his forehead. 'Why is it, lately, I'm finding it so difficult to follow what ought to be a simple conversation?'

'You're right,' Merry said with a definitive nod.

'I am?' Pippin said. 'What am I right about, pray tell?'

'You're badly in need of a holiday,' Merry said. 'You're even having a hard time paying attention to the simplest conversation...'

'I must be,' Pippin said. He shook his head as if to clear it, and then he blinked. 'For I don't seem to remember wishing to go to Gondor, or talking about going to Gondor, or planning to go...'

'But that's because you haven't had time to plan,' Samwise reminded him, 'as you said only a few moments ago.'

'I did?' Pippin said, and then he put his glass carefully on the table. 'I don't remember.'

'Definitely in need of a holiday,' Estella said to Merry.

'I seem to be going to Gondor,' Pippin said.

Rose spoke for the first time. Up until this point, she'd been watching in amazement as the others, including her husband, wove a web of words and wound them around the young Steward until he was firmly entrapped and seemingly beyond all hope of disentangling himself. 'Well I hope you'll have a lovely time!' 

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Author's note:

Pippin, Diamond and Farry's journey to Gondor is a whole 'nother story, due to be published later in the year. Think good thoughts, if you wouldn't mind.

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