Chapter 17. From Darkness into Light

A swelling crowd of hobbits stood in the yard of the Great Smials. Where hobbits gather there is invariably song, but not this day. Not that they were silent; when living hobbits were found and brought out there were cheers; when blanket-shrouded forms were carried out there were sobs and moans. The rescuers were burrowing into the deepest part of the Smials now. In the interest of speed they were breaking through intact walls rather than chipping away at the falls in the corridors. This practice posed no little risk, for they were eroding the very supports that kept the bulk of the Hill from falling in upon them, but workers braced each opening even as the next was begun.

Swift teens and tweens ran back and forth from the work to the yard bearing news. At last Gimli sent a messenger who pushed his way through the crowd, ran across the yard, and lifted the flap of the first pavilion of injured. ‘They’re breaking through!’ he panted.

Diamond started up, but sank back again, her grip on Pippin’s hand tightening. To her surprise he spoke.

 ‘Go,’ he whispered. ‘Go and greet the lads.’

 ‘Yes, my love,’ she answered, kissing him softly on the forehead. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’

 ‘I will wait,’ he said and closed his eyes again.

Nell moved to Diamond’s side; the crowd parted for them as they walked the interminable distance across the yard to the front of the Smials. Goldi followed, her older sisters Rosie and Elanor flanking her. Reginard met them when they reached the front of the crowd. He took Pimpernel’s hand while her grown sons, come from Bridgefields after the shake to render aid to the Tooks and support to their mother, stood protectively about her and her daughters and younger sons clustered close.

 ‘They were breaking into your suite first and then the Thain’s beyond,’ he said.

 ‘Of course,’ Pimpernel said. Her face was serene, her voice calm. She’d lost her Ferdi a thousand times over again in her mind these past few days, but in the face of reality she felt only numb. At last the waiting would be over and her Ferdi would be set free.

Diamond’s grip on Nell’s arm tightened as a blanket-shrouded litter was slowly carried out. Nell merely nodded. She had been expecting this. Nearly a week without eating, and another three days buried in the rubble; what hobbit could have survived it? Goldi’s father Sam, perhaps, and the legendary Frodo Baggins, but that was the stuff of stories... There had been no lembas to sustain Ferdibrand.

Mardibold Took stepped forward to speak to the litter bearers; they stopped and he lifted the corner of the blanket, shook his head sadly, and turned away. Diamond gasped, her fingers digging into Nell’s arm. ‘Look!’ she whispered.

A scrap of frock the green of new leaves protruded from under the blanket. ‘The watcher,’ Nell breathed. ‘It is Blossom! But what of my Ferdibrand?’

 ‘I’ll find out,’ Regi said, patting her arm. The steward strode forward to meet the litter bearers on their slow journey to the pavilion where the dead were being prepared for burial. He spoke as they walked along, then trotted back.

 ‘What is it?’ Diamond said. She had her arm around Nell now, for Pippin’s sister was white and trembling.

 ‘Blossom was the only one they found in your apartments, Nell,’ Regi said. ‘They’re breaking through the wall into the Thain’s suite next.’

 ‘Not there!’ Nell whispered. ‘Ferdi was not there! What can it mean?’

Less than an hour later another blanketed body was borne out of the entrance and Regi went to enquire. ‘Farry?’ Diamond said, her face tight with dread. She stepped forward as Mardibold lifted the blanket, but the old healer gave a cry of grief and sagged back into the arms of the hobbits around him.

 ‘Telebold,’ Regi said heavily, returning to the front of the crowd. The tutor was Mardi’s eldest son, Reginard’s brother-in-love. Rosamunda, who’d come to stand on Diamond’s other side, began to weep. Regi put his arms around his wife and kissed her. ‘Go to Mardi,’ he told his wife gently. Nodding, she stumbled away, surrounded by her daughters only, for her sons were among the rescuers deep in the Smials.

 ‘Then where...?’ Diamond said, feeling the same disorientation that had assaulted Nell earlier.

 ‘They were not in the study, not anywhere in the suite,’ Regi said. ‘The delvers are breaking into the corridor beyond to continue the search.’

It seemed to be an eternity of waiting. No messengers came out to report news that was good or ill. The Sun shone down on the watchers, the breeze caressed them, birds wheeled in the sky above. It was a beautiful day.

At last hobbits bearing litters emerged from the entrance, but... Diamond gave a gasp. Though the hobbits being borne along were wrapped in blankets, they were not shrouded! She broke from the comforting hands that grasped her and ran forward, belatedly followed by Pimpernel and Reginard.

 ‘Farry!’ she gasped. ‘Merigrin! Borry! Berry!’ Tears of joy flooded her cheeks.

 ‘Don’t cry, Mama,’ Berry said from his litter. ‘Tell them to let me up; I’m not hurt!’

 ‘You let us be the judge of that, young hobbit,’ Sigimand said sternly, though the effect was rather spoilt by the broad smile on his face at finding all of the Thain’s sons breathing and three of them awake and talking!

 ‘Ferdi! My love!’ Nell was sobbing beside the last litter. She was hugging the chancellor as best she could, with him wrapped up in blankets as he was.

 ‘Nell, please,’ Siggy said, moving to her side. ‘He’s dangerously weak. We need to get some sustenance into him without delay.’ Nell released her husband and walked beside him as the litters were borne to the Thain’s pavilion, her children following.

Diamond ran ahead, as light on her feet as if she were a young girl once more. She thrust her way into the pavilion crying, ‘They’re safe! Pippin, they’re found!’

 ‘Farry too?’ Merry said, starting up from his cousin’s side.

 ‘Farry too!’ Diamond confirmed, dropping to her knees beside her husband and taking up his hand to press her lips to it. His fingers tightened on hers. ‘Do you hear me, love?’ she said.

 ‘I hear,’ Pippin said without opening his eyes. ‘All are safe? But Farry...’

 ‘He’s breathing,’ Diamond said. ‘While there’s breath, there’s life.’

 ‘You might take the words to heart,’ Merry said to Pippin. ‘You’re breathing as well, you know.’

 ‘Yes,’ Pippin answered, but then the first of the litters was brought in and laid down nearby.

 ‘Da!’ Berry said. ‘Tell them to let me up! I’m not hurt!’

 ‘Blessings never cease,’ Pippin murmured, a smile creasing his face for the first time since the disaster.

 ‘Borry has a broken arm which Ferdi set, Meri and Farry were buried and dug out again, and...’

 ‘Ferdi?’ Pippin said, opening his eyes.

 ‘He’s weak from lack of nourishment, but they’re forcing fluids down him even as we speak,’ Siggy said with a nod towards the furthest litter. Two assistants were holding Ferdibrand so that Evergreen could pour rich broth down the tube she’d eased into place. Within a few moments, if he kept the broth down, she’d follow it with a thin custard of milk, eggs, and sweetening, foods designed to give strength and energy. ‘We can do the same for you, if you like, Sir, or you can take your nourishment the conventional way.’

Merry helped prop pillows behind Pippin and Diamond held a mug of broth to her husband’s lips. ‘Strong and salty, my dear, just what you need,’ she said.

 ‘Plenty more where that came from,’ Siggy said with a pat for Diamond’s shoulder. ‘You just sing out when he’s ready for more.’ He rose to give each of the Thain’s sons a more complete examination. Their sisters flitted among them, cooing and chattering by turns.

There was a disturbance on the far side of the pavilion; Evergreen’s voice rose in protest. ‘Ferdi, no! Don’t...’ as the chancellor choked, struggled in the assistants’ grasp, and reached up to pull the tube out. ‘He’s awakening,’ the healer added unnecessarily. ‘Let him be.’

The assistants laid him gently down and Nell moved closer. ‘Ferdibrand?’ she said, taking up his hand. ‘I’m here, Ferdi, my own.’

 ‘My Nell,’ he breathed. His eyes opened and a look of wonder bloomed on his face.

 ‘You’re safe, my love,’ Nell said. ‘You’re out of the darkness.’

 ‘Yes,’ he whispered, his hand rising to trace her features with a trembling finger. ‘I am.’

 Nell gasped as she realised his eyes were moving across her face, drinking her in. ‘Ferdi-love?’ she whispered. ‘Do you see? You can see me?’

 ‘You are as beautiful as the day I first loved you,’ Ferdi said softly, reaching with both hands now. Pimpernel fell forward upon him and the two embraced, weeping together.

 ‘Da?’ Rudi said behind Pimpernel. Nell sat up again.

‘Rudi?’ Ferdi said to their eldest. ‘My but you’ve grown since last I saw you. And this is Freddy? And Cori?’ He named each of the children as his eyes fell upon them, his face bright with joy and wonder.

Merry patted Diamond’s arm, gave Pippin a gentle jab. ‘I’ll be back,’ he said and rose. Looking across the room, he’d seen Legolas at Faramir’s side, a serious expression on the usually cheerful face. Crossing quickly, he crouched by the Wood Elf, murmuring, ‘What is it?’

 ‘He breathes, but he is merely a shell. His spirit is gone; Faramir is not here,’ Legolas said softly with a look of grief.

 ‘While there’s breath there’s life,’ Merry said, confused, but Gimli who’d followed the litters shook his head.

 ‘When a Dwarf is buried, sometimes he is not breathing when he’s dug out,’ he said. ‘We start him breathing again, and he may waken and be perfectly well, or...’

 ‘While there’s breath there’s life,’ Goldi said stubbornly. She’d been chafing Farry’s hand and entreating him to speak; now she looked up and said to the Master, ‘Marry us.’

 ‘What?’ Merry said, confused.

 ‘It’s time for the wedding,’ Goldi said, sniffing back her tears. ‘The Sun is at her highest, shining her blessing upon the land. Today is our wedding day.’ She looked down at Farry again. ‘Isn’t it, beloved? You said you would not miss this day for all the world.’

 ‘Yes,’ Estella said, standing behind her husband, her hand resting on his shoulder. ‘It is time for the wedding.’