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The stares were no longer hostile, now they were mostly made up of curiosity and respect, Pippin mused. Quite different from how it was before in the days of the siege and even to the battle in front of Mordor.
The young hobbit shuddered at the memory of what he had seen of that horrific land after the victory on the field of the Dagorlad. Even he felt the weight of the many battles fought on that barren region in front of the gates of Mordor. Cousin Frodo and Sam survived twelve days in there on so little, from what they've said. I think it was one waterskin and some packets of lembas. Admittedly, the waterskin was refillable, but that's all.
We've all changed so much. Frodo's gone all quiet, Sam's... here he paused as even in his thoughts, Pippin couldn't find words to describe the changes he could see. Well, it's clear to anyone who knows him. Merry's changed too. He's faced the thing which nearly killed our cousin, only he came out victorious. And that brings things back around to me.
Pippin knew why the hostile and suspicious stares had been there, at least in part. He knew what he looked like to the Big People: a child, perhaps the same age as Bergil, the son of his friend Beregond, perhaps a little older as the Men of Gondor were generally quite tall. None of the Guard, or any of the servants had seen a hobbit before he arrived, thus the suspicion.
To be one of the Tower Guard was to be of rank, one of the elite, in the military structure of Minas Tirith. That much Pippin figured out within his first two days in service, After all, the Guard was under the command first of Boromir, and now of his younger brother Faramir, the son of the Steward of Gondor.
So, for what appeared to be a child from somewhere none of his compatriots had heard of, who had arrived with Gandalf, generally regarded as a bearer of bad news, to have suddenly become one of them, a member of the Guard, would have caused some resentment, to say the least. Above and beyond that, Pippin spent those first few days serving the Steward Denthor.
Still, he remembered, it was only with the beginning of the rumours of his connection to or involvement with the death of their former Captain, it depended on the rumour, but some of them were pretty ugly, that many of the Guard became noticeably hostile. Clearly Boromir had been well loved by those who served under him. Justifiably, Pippin thought sadly, for he was a good man and a good friend for the time I knew him, despite what he tried to do to Frodo. For the time I knew him, it was clear that he loved his City and wanted only it's safety. Thank Goodness Beregond and his company never believed those rumours, he continued gratefully.
It was only after I saved Beregond from that troll that I began to see respect from many of the Guard. That was, I think, when they stopped seeing me as a child and an outsider, and instead as someone who had a place among them.
Things changed again when news of his cousin Frodo's exploits became widely known throughout the Guard and the army. Pippin found himself as rather a hero to those who had heard the rumours of their deeds, simply for having survived. The status wasn't something he was overly comfortable with however, so he was glad when it began to die down again.
Which brings us more or less to the present day,
he thought as he left the mess hall to go on duty. The sight of a child sized livery for the Tower Guard wasn't something everyone was used to, so he still got some strange looks, which were what had set off the chain of thought in the first place.
The Tower Guard
News 