15: Engagements, Confessions and Goodbyes

S.R. 1418 

Pervinca raced to Pippin’s room. She had some wonderful news, and he was the first person she wanted to tell. He was packing for his upcoming trip to Hobbiton and Buckland. Frodo Baggins needed help with his move to Crickhollow. Pervinca thought that Pippin seemed to be packing a lot for a simple trip to Hobbiton, but she refrained from making a comment. She had more important matters to worry about.

“Pippin, you’ll never believe what has happened!” she cried.

“Gandalf turned Merry into a toad?” Pippin offered, though his heart was not in it.

“No, silly! Everard and I are going to get married. We’ve finally made it official. We’re engaged!” Master Everard Took had been courting Pervinca for several years now. It had always been assumed that they would eventually marry, and Pervinca’s recent coming of age was all that they were waiting for.

Pippin forced a smile. “That’s wonderful, Vince. When will you be holding the wedding?”

“Well, hopefully as soon as possible.” In her joy, Pervinca didn’t yet notice the lines of worry on Pippin’s face. “But we shall wait until you’re back, of course.”

Pippin openly cringed. Wait until he was back? He didn’t even know if he was coming back! Merry had made it perfectly clear how dangerous this journey could well be.

“You don’t have to, you know,” he said in a small voice.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Pervinca cried. She suddenly wondered if Pippin didn’t want her to marry. She was his favourite sister, after all. “Pip, please don’t be upset that I’m marrying. Everard will be a wonderful husband, you know that.”

“No, no, Pervinca! I do want you to get married. And you know how much I like Ev. It’s just…” Pippin sighed. “You deserve to be happy, and you shouldn’t have to wait for me to get back.”

Pervinca laughed. “You’re only going to Hobbiton and Buckland! That’s hardly a long distance.”

Peregrin knew he had been sworn to secrecy. He knew that Merry had ordered him to tell no one about their plan, but he could not keep Pervinca, his dearest sister, in the dark like this. He whispered, “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not going to Hobbiton?”

“Well, I am going to Hobbiton and Buckland first, but then…who knows where we’re going.”

Pervinca paled as his words sunk in. “Pippin, what are you talking about?”

“I can’t tell you…”

“Pippin, please.” Pervinca’s eyes had started to tear up. Whatever Pippin said, it was not going to be good.

He sighed again. “Fine, but if Merry finds out, he’ll kill me. I won’t tell you all the details, just enough for you to understand. Perhaps Merry won’t think that so bad.” Pippin took a deep breath. “Frodo’s in trouble, big trouble. So big, that he has to leave the Shire.”

“So that’s why he sold Bag-End to the S.-Bs! I thought that was strange. He isn’t moving to Buckland at all.”

Peregrin shook his head. “It’s just a diversion. It would not do for Frodo to simply disappear like Bilbo did.”

“And you and Merry are going with him?”

“Yes, but he doesn’t know that yet. He only knows that Sam is.”

Pervinca took a sharp breath. “Sam? Sam is going too?”

“Gandalf chose Sam personally to be Frodo’s companion.”

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t know yet,” Pippin replied. “Rivendell for starters, but after that…”

“I’m coming with you,” Pervinca interrupted.

“No, Pervinca. I won’t let you. I’ll be in enough trouble as it is if they find out I told you. Imagine what would happen if I let you come along!” Pippin managed a smile. “I especially don’t want to think what Ev and Rosie would do to me. I’m sure that having you and Sam together in the Wild is a recipe for disaster.”

Amidst her tears, Pervinca laughed. Pippin was probably right. Faced with the dangers that would obviously be a part of this journey, she and Sam would be sure to form a bond that should not exist. Rose Cotton and Everard would never forgive them – if they ever came back.

“Oh, Pip! What if you never return?” she cried suddenly. “What if I never see you, or Merry, or Sam, or Frodo again?”

Pippin wrapped his arms around his sister, and for a moment, was annoyed that she stood an inch or two higher than him. “I promise I will come back. And I will bring those three with me. Even if I have to drag them the whole way.”

He had never broken a promise to his sister before, so it was hard for him to make one that he might not be able to keep. But perhaps that promise would help him hold on in times that he could feel inclined to give up.

“Then I shall wait until you come back to have the wedding,” she whispered.

“Pervinca, don’t! I want you to be happy.”

“I won’t be happy unless you stand witness at my wedding,” she stubbornly replied.

Pippin gave in. “I hope Everard will understand.”

The next morning, as Pippin left for Hobbiton, Paladin noticed that his youngest daughter seemed more upset than she should have been, considering Peregrin would only be gone for a month at the most. He had made this trip countless times. The Thain began to suspect that there was more to this situation than he was aware of.

* * * * * *

It was around three weeks after Peregrin left that a messenger arrived from Buckland bearing ill news. It seemed Crickhollow had been attacked.

“What of my son?” Paladin asked, slowly. The messenger had been taken to the Thain’s office. Eglantine sat by his side, gripping his hand tightly. Pervinca and Everard stood near by.

“No sign has been found of Peregrin, nor the Master’s son, nor Mister Frodo Baggins and his gardener,” the messenger replied. “Fredegar Bolger was the only hobbit found, but when I left Buckland, he had not yet come out of a raving fit of fear.”

Eglantine cried out, and Paladin pulled her close. Pervinca felt Everard’s hand on her shoulder, and was thankful for it. They really had gone. Part of her had wanted to believe that Pippin had made everything, but now she knew for certain it was all the truth. Frodo was in graver danger than she feared, if his home had been attacked.

Paladin gathered his strength and addressed the messenger in the proper Thain manner. “I must thank you for coming. Please rest for as long as you wish.”

“Thank you, sir, but I will probably head back soon.” The messenger bowed low. “Rumour has Master Saradoc may want the Old Forest searched, and they’ll need every able body they can find.”

“Then I ask that you take word to my sister and her husband that I shall be travelling to Buckland within the next few days. Perhaps, by then, Master Fredegar may have some answers for us.”

The messenger from Buckland bowed again and left the room. Eglantine could hold on no longer. She burst into tears.

“Oh, Peregrin!”

In the end, the Tooks did not need to travel to Buckland. Pimpernel was sent – she had moved to Brandy Hall when she married Merry’s cousin, Berilac. Paladin sent word to Pearl (living in Pincup with her husband, Orlando Burrows) to return to the Smials, so that all of Peregrin’s family would hear the news. Paladin, Eglantine, Pimpernel, Pearl and Pervinca sat in Paladin’s office.

“The general belief is that they were lost in the Forest,” Pimpernel explained. “Uncle Sarry is doing nothing to dispel that rumour. He thinks that it will help to keep Frodo’s secret.”

“What secret?” Eglantine demanded. “And what does it have to do with Pippin?”

“They’ve left the Shire,” whispered Pervinca. “Frodo’s in trouble, and Pippin, Merry and Sam went with him.”

Pimpernel looked at her sister in wonder. “How did you…? I suppose Pippin spoke to you.” The youngest Took nodded. “It’s to be expected. How much do you know?”

“Very little.”

“Well, Fredegar told us as much as he could. Poor fellow was nearly mad with terror. We had to send for Estella, so that she could calm him down. We would never have gotten any information out of him otherwise.”

“Pimpernel, please tell us why Peregrin has left us,” said Paladin, in a tense voice. He knew his daughter meant well, but she was quite prone to rambling.

Pimpernel took a deep breath, and then relayed everything she had heard from Fredegar Bolger, about Bilbo’s ring and Frodo’s quest to be rid of it.

“They left the Shire for our sake,” said Pearl. “They had to leave to keep the Shire safe. Frodo, did, at least, and Merry and Pippin would not be separated from him.”

“I asked to go with them,” Pervinca admitted, tears streaming down her face.

Paladin moved to his youngest daughter and held her tightly. “I am glad that you did not. It is hard enough for me to have to lose Pippin and Merry…”

“You haven’t lost them! They are going to come back. Pippin promised me. He had never broken a promise made to me!”

The Thain nodded. Much of him believed in what Pervinca said. Not only had Pippin never broken a promise, but when he was with Meriadoc, he never got himself into trouble he could not handle. Unfortunately, his more logical side forced doubt into his mind, and tried to convince him that he was holding onto a fool’s hope. He needed his son to be there, to tell him that anything was possible.

“Anything is possible, Dad,” said Pervinca, as if reading his mind. “As long as you believe in it.”

Paladin managed a smile.

* * * * * *

A/N: This chapter parallels with a chapter of “Just to Be With You”, where it is discovered that Crickhollow has been raided, and Pimpernel is chosen to take the message to her father. I just didn’t like to think that Pippin and Merry’s families had no idea what had happened to their sons, so that’s why I decided that they should be told.