Chapter Twenty Two

When Merry awoke, the room was completely dark and knew it must be the early morning hours. When will my head stop pounding?, he thought. He let out a loud sigh. He turned over several times in his attempt to find sleep. Then he saw the door open a crack. It was Paladin. “Merry?”

“I’m awake.”

“I thought I heard you stirring about. I’m with Pippin for the moment until I can get him back to sleep, but I’ll be back in right after.”

“I’ll be all right, Uncle--see to Pippin. He sounds like he’s hurting badly.” Merry could hear his cousin crying in the next room.

“Mistress Bell is mixing something for him to sleep. He’ll be in pain a couple more days, but it will pass. How are you?”

“The same.”

Paladin grinned sadly at his nephew’s response. But there is no elixir in Middle Earth that will take away heartaches. He quietly closed the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

Pearl was always an early riser; one had to be when living on a farm. She washed up, went out to the kitchen and fumbled around to find the pots and pans. She found the cellars and brought up eggs and bacon, then began cooking breakfast. Pretty soon the rest would be wandering out as the aroma met their noses. When the bread was done, she opened the oven door to take out the bread and nearly dropped it when she turned around. Pearl gasped, “Father--you startled me!”

“I know I must look a fright this morning, Pearl; I’ve only slept a few hours.”

“You don‘t look all that terrible, father, I just didn’t hear you enter the kitchen is all.”

Paladin settled into a chair, “Is tea on yet?”

“Yes, it is.” She placed a cup in front of him.

“Your mother has taught you well, Pearl,” he laughed, “The smell of bacon and bread will drag any male hobbit out of bed at any hour!” Paladin stared at the steam rising from his cup as Pearl poured the tea.

“Father, you should have woke me up to help with Pippin.”

“Why--so we both would look frightful this morning? No. This past night was the heart of rearing children, Pearl.” He quipped, carefully sipping the hot liquid and winced when he burned his tongue anyway. Then more seriously he added, “I feel pity for Saradoc. Many times he had the chance to cradle his son the way I’ve done Pippin, but he chose not to. And now he pays the price.”

Pearl sat down next to her father with her own cup of tea. “What do you think will happen next, father?”

“I must get back to the harvest. I cannot spend another day here, and I cannot leave Merry behind.” Paladin shrugged his shoulders, he spoke as if he saw Merry’s future laid out in his mind. “Merry will probably never return to Brandy Hall except to visit his mother, I fear. I will speak with Saradoc before we leave today. Merry will probably go home with us and stay for a time. After that...,” he trailed off. He sipped his tea again. “I do hope beyond all hope, however, that Merry does go back to Brandy Hall. Not only for my sister’s sake, but so that he and Saradoc can finally....I don’t know...start a course of getting to know each other. This knot took years to tie and will take years to unravel.”

After all that had happened in the last couple days, Pearl was more than ready to go home. “Well, the sooner everyone is up and eats breakfast, the sooner we can leave.”