Chapter 20. Epilogue

A few days after Mid-year’s day a cloud of hobbits floated down the Great East Road on pony-back, in waggons and in coaches. Young hobbits darted in and out of the group, laughing and joining in the songs shared by all.

 ‘Just which ones are the newlyweds?’ Pippin said to Diamond as they rode in an open carriage, the top folded down to allow the Sun to share the ride. He nodded at his sister. Nell had left her seat in one of the coaches to ride on the saddle before her beloved Ferdibrand, encircled by his arms, alternately laughing at his witticisms and joining the singing.

 ‘The ones we left home,’ Diamond said. She sighed. ‘Imagine little Faramir in charge of the Great Smials while we are off gallivanting with the King!’

 ‘The earth trembles underfoot at the thought,’ Pippin said, then added, ‘No, wait; that’s an aftershake.’

 ‘Bite your tongue!’ Diamond cried, but Pippin only laughed.

 ‘If Farry does a proper job let us go to Gondor next,’ he said.

 ‘Why not?’ Diamond said recklessly, holding tighter to his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. ‘It sounds like a lovely plan. We can travel South with the King when he leaves the Lake after Frodo’s birthday.’

 ‘Between Farry and Robin and Ferdi and Regi, the Smials ought to be there when we get back,’ Pippin said.

 ‘Back?’ Ferdi said, reining his pony close to the carriage. ‘You’re not going off to Gondor without me, cousin!’

 ‘What’s that?’ Pippin said.

 ‘My Nell has never been to Gondor,’ Ferdi said, ‘and if you are going we’re coming with you! Besides, I’d like to see my old cousin Fredegar again. He says he finds Ithilien very agreeable.’

 ‘His last letter made it sound so lovely,’ Pimpernel sighed from his lap. ‘What do you say, husband? Shall we go there, perhaps to stay?’

Ferdi gave this serious consideration, as he did all his wife’s questions, while Pippin fought an absurd urge to hold his breath. ‘Not this time,’ he said at last.

 ‘This time?’ Pippin began, but Ferdi wasn’t finished.

 ‘Your brother, you see, has threatened to step down if I abandon him,’ Ferdi informed Nell.

 ‘No!’ Pimpernel protested.

 ‘His exact words,’ Ferdi said smugly. ‘ “The day you go is the day I go,” he said. I have a knack for remembering such things.’

 ‘Yes you do,’ his wife murmured, planting a kiss on his chin as he continued.

 ‘I could hardly be so cruel as to throw Farry into the Thainship when he’s only newly wed! Bad enough that his father is running off to the Lake and leaving the weight of the Shire on Farry’s shoulders for the remainder of the Summer...’ he looked darkly at the Thain, ‘or longer.’

Though he knew it was pointless to answer Ferdi in this mood, nevertheless Pippin tried. ‘I...’ he began.

Ferdi continued as if the Thain had not spoken. ‘I suppose we’ll have to go to Gondor just to make sure the Thain and Mistress arrive safely and are not pressed to stay too long.’

 ‘Yes, we’d want to see them safely back to the Shire again,’ Nell said.

 ‘We’ll pass the coldest months there, I think,’ Ferdi said, ‘and start back home when Spring begins to bloom in the Shire. What say you, wife?’

 ‘Don’t I have a say in this?’ Pippin said, quirking an eyebrow.

 ‘Why should you? You’re only Thain after all, and more than that...’ Ferdi said in a superior manner.

 ‘More than that?’ Diamond said dryly.

 ‘More than that, he’s a younger cousin!’ Ferdi said. ‘He needs to respect his elders, and all that sort of thing.’

 ‘Good of you to keep reminding him,’ Diamond said. ‘He forgets, you know.’

 ‘I’m terribly forgetful,’ Pippin said, lifting the palm of her hand and laying a kiss in the centre. ‘Don’t know what I’d do without all the help I get.’

They reached the Brandywine Bridge just at teatime that day and were greeted by the Master of Buckland, his Mistress, and a host of King’s Men in black and silver. ‘Tea is laid by the River,’ Merry said.

 ‘A picnic! How delightful!’ Ferdi answered, giving the reins of his pony to a respectful guardsman and lifting his wife down to stand at his side.

 ‘Everything’s delightful,’ Pimpernel observed, twining her fingers through his.

 ‘Of course,’ Ferdi maintained. ‘As long as I have you by my side, it always will be!’ His eyes lit up as a tall figure approached them. ‘Ah Elessar!’ he cried. ‘It is good to see you!’

 ‘It is indeed,’ the King said with a smile for the doughty chancellor. ‘It is good to see you see!’ He’d been grieved when Ferdi’s encounter with ruffians had left the bold hobbit blind and helpless... no, not helpless. He’d never be that.

 ‘I can see why they made you King,’ Ferdi said. ‘You have a way with words, you know.’

 ‘Do I?’ Elessar laughed. ‘I shall have to make you one of my Counsellors, I think.’

 ‘I shall be much too busy,’ Ferdi informed him loftily. ‘You Men will just have to muddle along as best you can.’

 ‘Strider!’ Pippin said, alighting from the carriage.

 ‘Pippin,’ the King returned, taking the outstretched hand in his. His healer’s eye took quick stock and he nodded satisfaction. ‘You look much better than I’d expected.’

 ‘Reports of my death are always exaggerated,’ Pippin said. ‘You ought to know that by now.’

 ‘I must admit I was glad to receive the report of your recovery,’ Elessar said gravely.

 ‘Well I’m about to perish of hunger,’ Mistress Rose said, coming up to the group with Samwise.

 ‘We cannot have that!’ the King laughed. ‘The Queen awaits us by the River. The feast is laid!’ He had a hug for Sam before they walked down the grassy bank to the laden tables, groaning with food, and the blankets spread for the feasters’ comfort.

There were singing and talk and eating and laughter, one at a time and all mixed together, until the Sun began to sink in the West and many of the celebrants dozed off, replete with fellowship and food.

The King and his Counsellors sat a little apart, talking quietly of business. While much damage had been done, the hobbits had been busy as bees making repairs. ‘And so you can safely come away to the Lake for a time,’ Elessar said in satisfaction, sitting back to light his pipe. ‘Good, I’m glad to hear that.’

 ‘Not just the Lake,’ Pippin said, drawing on his own pipe. ‘How about if we travel to Gondor with you for the Winter? Return home after New Year’s?’

 ‘That would be wonderful,’ the King said, his eyes lighting with pleasure. ‘You too, Merry? Samwise?’

 Sam shook his head. ‘I don’t know,’ he said slowly.

Pippin nudged him, and for a moment Frodo’s mischievous little cousin shone from his eyes. ‘Surely you can get away for the Winter,’ he said, and Sam remembered how Mr. Pippin’s cousins never could deny him anything when he set his mind on it. ‘I know you cannot come away to the Lake, what with all the festivals and faires you must open, but after the harvest festivals...’

 ‘What about you, Merry?’ Sam said to put him off. He’d set Pippin to teasing Merry to go, and he’d be left in peace about the matter.

 ‘It sounds grand,’ Merry said. ‘I think Estella could use a warm, mild winter for a change. She’s worked herself thin these past weeks.’

Sam sighed. No help there. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he said. Come to think of it, he would like to go South one more time in his life, perhaps stop in the Golden Wood to remember the Lady, walk the glades of Ithilien again...

Pippin struck him on the arm with a gentle fist. ‘You do that,’ he said. ‘Just make sure you come to the right decision.’

 ‘Your pipe’s going out,’ Sam observed, and gained a few moments peace while Pippin tended to his pipe.

Settling back, Pippin puffed in silence, evidently deep in thought. A fish jumped in the River and he looked up, saying suddenly, ‘Farry told me the most interesting thing the day after the wedding.’

 ‘What was it?’ Merry asked. Sam, on the other hand, had a good idea, having had a rather startling conversation with Goldi on that same day.

 ‘He said he saw Frodo,’ Pippin said slowly.

 ‘What, in a dream?’ Merry said.

 ‘Merry, do you remember in the Dearth, the dream you thought you had?’ Pippin said. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all.’

 ‘What?’ Merry laughed. ‘I dreamed I was talking to Frodo.’

 ‘Farry said he saw Frodo,’ Pippin said. ‘I’m not completely convinced he was dreaming.’

 ‘What do you mean?’ Sam said, while Elessar sat and smoked in silence.

 ‘Frodo... Farry said he looked as he might had he stayed in the Shire,’ Pippin said thoughtfully. ‘Like an old gaffer,’ he said. He chuckled. ‘I cannot imagine Frodo as a gaffer, can you?’

 ‘Did he say anything?’ Merry said, interested.

 ‘He said Farry wandered too soon, that he’d been sent to...’ Pippin fumbled for the words. ‘He’d been sent, imagine that,’ he said with a faraway look. ‘I wonder who sent him?’

 ‘Why was he sent?’ Merry said patiently. He was used to bringing his younger cousin back from a side trail.

 ‘To send Farry back to us,’ Pippin said. ‘He said Farry’d wandered too soon, that he was to be the next Thain, and his son after him.’ A look of wonder crossed his face. ‘I’m going to have a grandson!’

 ‘What, now?’ Merry said, and Sam prepared to congratulate him while Elessar chuckled softly.

 ‘What? O no,’ Pippin said hastily, coming back to the present. ‘It’s early days yet. No, but Farry had to come back, you see, or he’d have no son to follow him.’ He looked now to the King.

 ‘Is it true, Strider?’ he asked almost plaintively.

 ‘Is what true, Pippin?’ the King said gently.

 ‘Did he see Frodo?’ Pippin said. ‘Did he really? He asked Frodo if he were dead, and Frodo laughed and said it wasn’t his time yet. Did Farry see him in truth, Strider? Is Frodo well and happy?’

 ‘From what I’ve learned, living among the Elves,’ Elessar said softly, ‘I’d say there’s a good chance Farry was not dreaming.’

Merry sighed. ‘Perhaps I wasn’t dreaming then, either,’ he said. He remembered Frodo’s smile, the sound of his voice, the peace in his face, all shadow and sorrow gone.

Elessar nodded, while Sam sat back again, paying strict attention to his pipe. It was true! Frodo was alive, and well, and waiting... On a blanket nearby, Rose stirred and murmured in her sleep and Sam’s heart settled back into place. Not yet, he told himself, and not soon, I hope, for where Mr Frodo is it seems like no time at all. I don’t have to worry about him all alone there, waiting... Not soon, he thought again, but someday.

As the Sun sank beyond the River a cool breeze chilled the hobbits sleeping on the bank and they began to sit up and stretch. ‘Time for supper!’ Estella called, ‘and bed! The pavilions are ready, the soup is hot and the beds are turned down,’ she said. ‘You’ve had a long journey, and it’s farther to the Lake! Time to rest, for morning will come early!’

 ‘Indeed,’ the King said, laughing. ‘The days are long this time of year, and morning will be here before we know it.’

 ‘Quite right,’ Estella said, satisfied. She took Arwen by the hand. ‘Come along, my Queen. Let us lead out, lest our husbands linger talking and let the food get cold!’

Arwen laughed and allowed herself to be led, calling back over her shoulder, 'Come along or we'll eat all and leave you the crumbs!'

 'We'll make a hobbit of you yet,' Estella was heard to say.

 'A lovely prospect,' the Queen answered. 'I cannot think of a more delightful idea!'

Sam rose and went to the blanket where Rose still slept. He kissed her cheek. ‘Sam?’ she said sleepily, extending a hand which he took in his warm grasp. He firmly put thoughts of Mr Frodo behind.

Drawing a deep breath, he said, ‘Well, I’m back.’