PART THREE: Bedside Talk

When Saradoc entered Merry`s room, the healer was on his way out.

“What...?” the Master did not know exactly what to ask.

“Don’t worry, Master. I just gave him some more tea. He has been coughing a lot, and needs to get some real sleep, not just fevered unconsciousness. Go on in. It was not a sleeping draught I gave him. Just something to ease his coughing, much like what I gave him this morning.”

Saradoc had not had much time to talk to Merry after he came home from warning Standelf, and he would very much like to know what Merry had thought and why he had decided to act as he did. The Master did not disapprove of Merry`s actions, he only wanted to know what had gone through his head. Merry had shown more interest than Saradoc had ever hoped for in his future role as Master, and he wanted to make good use of this time together with his son now while it lasted. Soon Merry would have interests farther afield than just Buckland, and then it would be too late to start the training.

There was Saradoc and Esmie's new little nephew away in the Tookland that seemed to have attached himself firmly to Merry, and when the lads were in one place Merry was taking him with him wherever he went, together with Frodo or the other lads. Those lads would get into more mischief than Saradoc thought was possible for only two or three (if little Pippin joined them) lads to get into. But, who was he to judge, he had been the terror of the Hall himself once, and the apple had not fallen far from the tree it seemed.

Saradoc exchanged a worried glance with Esmie, noted that Frodo was fast asleep in a chair in the corner, and then sat down on the side of the bed, and gently laid a hand on Merry`s face. Merry was lying on his back, eyes closed. He was partly propped up to ease his heavy breathing and he was burning with fever.

“Oh, my Merry.” Merry, not quite asleep, blinked his eyes open a bit and licked his lips.

“Hullo, Dad.” He whispered.

Saradoc reached for the mug on the nightstand, and put an arm behind Merry`s head, lifting him a bit. “There’s a good lad.” He put the mug back down again; it was almost as full as before. Merry had only managed a few small sips.

“How is he?” Saradoc said, holding Merry`s hand and gently rubbing it.

“He’s coughing more and more often, and it does not sound good. I’ve washed him down again, the third time today. I’m frightened, Saradoc! What if our lad is as ill as little Pippin was last year? We almost lost him you know.” Esmeralda had been folding clothes and putting them in Merry`s cupboard, now she turned back to her husband. “I know we should not talk about this in front of him, but I can’t leave him.”

Suddenly, as if Saradoc had not seen Merry before, the lad appeared to his father like he had shrunken in the bed. And so fast! Only yesterday he had been up and about, if not exactly well. Merry was not little for his age, but now he looked so very small. His cheeks sunken and flushed, his little chest heaving with each breath he drew in. Merry shifted a bit at the gentle touch of his father’s fingers.

“Sssh, Merry my lad. It’s all right I’m here. Mum's here too. You just sleep now.”

Saradoc looked up from the child and faced his wife. “It can’t be as bad as that. Merry is both much older and stronger than Pippin was, even if he is ill now, it does not have to mean that he has anything but a bad cold. And Pippin was just a baby, you can’t compare Merry to a three year old lad.” He rose and went to lay a hand on Esmeralda`s shoulder.

“No, I suppose you’re right. I’m just scared, you know. And I love him so… Oh Saradoc!” She turned and buried her head in his shoulder, letting tension go and sobbing.

“It’ll be all right. Our Merry is strong. He will get through this. You just watch over him now.”

“Aye. I will.”

“It’s still raining, and I need to get to Standelf, I am sorry love. I would have someone else go, but how can I fail to do my duty by my people when my little son rode through rain and storm to save them?”

Esmeralda nodded. “I know. Although some might think that you don’t know your responsibilities if you leave your ill son’s side.” she said softly. You could never know which way the talk might go, and people seemed to have their own opinions about what was right and wrong when it came to their leaders. Esmeralda knew Saradoc wanted to sit by Merry above all right now, but she also knew that he had to look out for all his “children”.

“Hurry back, please. Frodo and I will keep watch.” Knowing he would protest and say she needed to rest too, she said “And if one of us is not here, there are enough aunties and cousins to spell us. Your brother sat with him a little while ago. There was an emergency in the kitchens I had to see to.” She went over to the bed, laying a cool hand against Merry` s cheek. Oh how she loved these two hobbits! Merry was so like his father. Not just in appearance, but also in the way he thought and acted.

“I had to tell the people up in Newbury that Merry was ill, they asked you know. Since he has been with me so much lately they wondered where he was.”

After taking a look at Merry, seeing that he looked to be sleeping, she continued their hushed conversation. “Will you sit with him for a minute? I need to get some broth ready, and I’m reluctant to wake Frodo, he too needs to rest. I’ll bring some food for you too. You have time for a bite before you go.”

*****

Esmeralda came back with the broth and a tray with food for Saradoc. Merry seemed to slumber peacefully, albeit heavily.

“I don’t like the way his fever is going,” Saradoc said, replacing the cloth again. “Is there nothing we can do?”

“I’ve bathed him several times today.” Esmeralda put her hand on Merry`s chest, under his shirt, he was indeed hot. “I’ve been thinking about writing to Paladin, but have not made up my mind yet. Saradoc… What if our Merry should die?

“There, now, we don’t want to make things sound worse than they are.”

“I know. It is just that he has never been this ill before. He is our only child you know, and I don’t know what I’d do if we should lose him.”

“It would be wrong of you not to be concerned, love. You’re his mother after all. You just take good care of our lad, and I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

“You always know what to say.” Esmeralda looked out of the window. “You had better be going now, if you are to get to Standelf and back before dark.”
Saradoc kissed his wife and son, and left the room.

*****

Hearing the door close behind the Master, Frodo awoke, and stretched in his chair. He looked over at the bed. Merry was shifting about a little. It seemed like the noise had woken Merry up too, for he was suddenly hunched over, coughing fiercely, arms wrapped about his stomach. Two sets of hands shot out to support him, and cousin and mother bumped heads in their urgency to help.

The coughing was changing. Merry`s face was beet red and tears were streaming down his face. He hacked, coughed and gagged, and some thick liquid came up. Merry gagged more, and threw up on his covers, having lost all control, broth, tea and water rushing out. Merry whimpered and went completely limp in their arms.
Esmeralda let Frodo hold Merry, and collected the covers and threw them on the floor, then she ran out of Merry`s room and threw open the door of the Master’s quarters, stopping the first hobbit she saw. “Get the healer, and water, both hot and cold!” The stunned hobbit was her nephew, Berilac, and he stopped dead when his auntie yelled at him. He was unused to seeing his normally composed aunt so upset. “Go laddie!” she yelled. Berilac ran.

In the meantime, Frodo had laid Merry down and started undressing him, whispering soothing words in his ears, not sure if Merry heard them or not. But at least that horrible coughing had stopped. Esmeralda came and helped him, and together they got the soaked nightshirt off of Merry and wrapped him in blankets. Frodo sat down in the chair, and held Merry in his lap while Esmeralda stripped the rest of the bed.

Berilac came running into the room with the healer. Pardy did not waste any time and went directly over to Frodo and the limp and almost unconscious Merry in his arms. Feeling for his pulse and listening to his heart and lungs, the healer laid a hand on Merry`s cheek.

“We need to get him cooled down, but I’m afraid of what that will do to his lungs. We can’t risk his fever raging on like this though.” Berilac was sent away again to get a tub ready. Pardy grabbed Merry from Frodo's arms and ran with him to the bathing room deeper inside the Master’s quarters. Frodo and Esmeralda followed, white faced and scared. Both had evidence of recent tears in their eyes. Servants went scattering as the healer came running with the wrapped up form of the young Master in his arms. Word had gone through the Hall that he had come down with a cold, but this looked nastier than a bout of the sniffles. Word spread anew, saying that the young Master was close to death, or at least gravely ill.

Water was quickly added to a tub, and Merry was literally thrown in. “Hold his head, Frodo! Mistress, take water and pour over his head. Not too cold mind you. I’ll be right back. Continue until he feels distinctively cooler.”

Merry had not been truly awake through most of the day, but came abruptly awake now when he was lowered into the water. Boneless, breathless and weak as he felt, he kicked and flailed, but Frodo had climbed into the tub with him, and was sitting back on his heels, firmly keeping Merry still. Water, cold to Merry, was poured over his head while Frodo whispered soothing nonsense in his ears.

A few minutes after leaving, the healer was back with a jar of something. He checked Merry`s temperature, and after a while proclaimed him safe for now. Merry was lifted out of the bath, dried and put in a clean nightshirt, blankets wrapped about him.
Pardy lifted Merry from his mother`s arms and carried him back to his room. The return journey to the bedroom was not as hurried as the journey to the bathing room had been, and now Berilac followed in their wake, terrified for his cousin. Several servants lined the hallways.

When Merry was put back to bed, Pardy opened the jar, and just like Esmeralda had the previous night, rubbed a salve into Merry`s chest. It smelled good, and the gentle massage made Merry relax and fall asleep

*****

Saradoc rode as quickly as he could to Standelf and back. But the ride was not as quick as he would have liked. Several times he was stopped by curious hobbits that had heard about Merry`s feats and wanted to thank him. Several asked where Merry was, since he was not with his father. Again Saradoc said that Merry was back at the Hall, ill in bed.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the farmer that Merry had spoken to said, when asking about the lad. “He was very wet and cold when he came here, but seemed fine otherwise. I made sure he put on some dry things and gave him a hot drink and supper before he insisted on going back to the Hall.”

“I appreciate that”, Saradoc said.

Even if part of the bank had fallen into the river, there was no crisis in Standelf for now, at least not as long as the rain had stopped pouring down the way it had been doing the last couple of days.

“You just continue as you have up till now, and things should be back to normal soon enough.”

“Aye. Give our sincere thanks to the young Master now, he’s a fine lad.”

“Aye, that he is.” Saradoc mounted his pony and left for the Hall.
Partway between the village and the Hall, a rider came at full speed, waving for the Master to stop.

“Master, Master. You’re needed back at the Hall. They say the young Master is dying!”

“What?” Saradoc could not believe this. “What happened? I was with him just before I left, and he was ill indeed, but not dying.”

“Some of the servants said that the healer had borne him in great haste to the bathing room, talking about young Master Merry needing to be cooled down. They were in a great hurry, sir, and did not come out for a long while, and the Mistress and young Mister Baggins looked to have been crying.”

Saradoc looked at the rider for a moment, recognizing him as one of the older lads in the Hall, not a servant exactly, but son of one of the many engineers that lived in the Hall.

“Who sent you?”

“The Steward, sir. He said to find you and tell you to come at once.”

“Well, I’m on my way home now anyway, you might as well join me.” Saradoc thought his Steward had acted a bit hastily, but then, everybody was concerned about Merry it seemed. And if Esmeralda had asked the Steward to have someone send for him, it was possible that she did not explain the situation in her normal calm manner, and the message got garbled. Still, Saradoc could not help feeling anxious.

*****

“Sweetie, are you awake? Merry dear?” Merry stirred and shifted about a little. He blinked his eyes open.

“Mum? Frodo?” He could not place the people in the room at once. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he recognized several people hovering by his bed. There was his mum, Frodo and his cousin Berilac of all people. Merry could not recall seeing him in the room earlier.

“Oh!” Esmeralda almost started crying: Merry was really awake.

“How are you feeling?” Frodo was sitting by his bedside.

“Tired and achy, and …” Merry put a hand to his own forehead. “I feel… I still have a fever, right?”

“I’m afraid you do, but it is better now, honey.” Esmeralda said, stroking his face with a light touch. To Merry her hand felt cool and soothing. He leaned against her.

“You should sleep some more, you know. We can talk later. Take something to drink first, though.” Frodo helped Merry drink, and settled his cousin comfortably against the pillows.

“All right.”

Merry was indeed still feverish, but his temperature had gone down somewhat, and he when he coughed it was not as wetly as before. He was on the mend.

*****

In the Master’s study a tense conversation was going on. When Saradoc had returned, he had gone straight to Merry`s room, only to find that his son was sleeping and Frodo was sitting in the chair, reading. Frodo told him that Merry had woken up and talked to them, and Saradoc could feel for himself that Merry`s fever was reduced to a level where it was not dangerous any more. Now he was having a conversation with the Steward and his father. And not just about the flooding and the cleaning up after it.

“Why did you send for me like that? You scared me!”

“We were all scared, Saradoc! We all love Merry dearly, and it did look nasty for some time.” Rory said.

“Yes, but why scare the whole Hall by sending out a messenger?”

“The whole Hall was scared in the first place. Everyone has followed Merry`s illness like hawks. Don’t you understand? When the healthy and sturdy Merry suddenly is very ill, everyone is concerned. He is the young Master, and he is deeply loved by all the Brandybucks. He ran back and forth with messages for a long time before even going to Standelf you know.”

“All right, all right. But will someone stop that talk about Merry dying now? He’s on the mend, though he's not well yet. I’ll be in his room if you need me.”

*****

Back in Merry`s room, Saradoc settled down by the bed. He had sent Frodo off to his own bed now, reassuring the lad for the hundredth time that Merry would be fine, and that Frodo needed rest. Merry would have to stay in bed for several days more, and would probably require Frodo's company most of that time for storytelling or a round or two of his favourite board game.

The evening went slowly by for the watching Master. He wanted to have a talk with Merry, but Merry was never really awake if he woke at all. The healer poked his head in, and checked on Merry, rubbing some more salve into his chest, and monitoring his temperature, leaving a tea with Saradoc to give Merry when he awoke.

“He’ll be fine” he assured the Master. “You should get some sleep yourself. These have been some trying days for you too, and we don’t need both Master and young Master ill in bed, now do we?”

“I suppose you’re right. But someone needs to watch with Merry, and I’ll gladly do it. I’ll just sleep here. I want to be close by if he should want me or wake up coughing.”

“All right.” It was a father’s responsibility to watch over his sick son, and that went for the Master too. “I’ll be by tomorrow again. See if you can keep his fever down with those cloths. If anything changes for the worse, call for me at once!”

“I will.”

*****

Merry slept through most of the night, only waking a couple of times with a cough. The fever, though, lingered. Saradoc was true to his word and sat by Merry`s bed through the night, cooling him down or helping him through the coughing. At dawn, Frodo came to sit with him.

*****

Merry woke up to the smell of food. He shifted to his side, and curled up, but not due to pain, only because he wanted to. He felt tired, stuffy, sore and weak, but he felt much better than he had yesterday.

He coughed a little, and sneezed.

Frodo had been reading, but Esmeralda had brought breakfast for him, and some broth for Merry, hoping he was awake by now. It was time for second breakfast.

“Morning Merry! Are you hungry? How do you feel?”

Breakfast, bath, a little nap and visit by the healer done, and Merry sat back against his pillows eyeing Frodo.

“What?” Frodo was amused. Merry was definitely on the mend, for his eyes gleamed with mischief in addition to the retreating fever.

“Can I get out of bed? I’ve been here for an eternity!”

“Of course you can’t. You’re not even well enough to use the privy by yourself yet, silly. You have to stay in bed at least today and tomorrow. You heard that yourself.” Merry was not the most patient of hobbits. He wanted to be up and about and not lie idly here while the other lads were out playing. The rain had let up completely now, but it was still muddy and slippery outside, so the youngsters would be playing inside. And then there was all that he had planned for Frodo`s visit. When he would be allowed out of bed, they would have lost almost a week already. Merry was getting impatient.

“But I have …” Merry tried to stifle a sneeze, but failed “I have so many plans for your visit!”

Frodo gave him a handkerchief “And we have a lot of time yet. Don’t worry Mer.”

“Please?”

“I’m sorry, love, but I can’t let you up when your mother and the healer made it very clear not to. But I´m so glad you are better. You had a nasty fever last night.”

“Well, I´m all better now. Will you read me a story then?”

“Of course!” Frodo grabbed the book he had been reading earlier and started a story. Merry sat back against his pillows and was asleep before Frodo had finished the first page.

*****

When Merry awoke the next time, it was to his father stroking his curls and gently shaking his shoulder.

“Hullo, my Merry-lad.” He said when seeing Merry`s eyes open. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

“I have some food here, would like some?” Saradoc looked over at the tray he had brought with him.

“Yes, please.”

“You’re hungry then?”

“Mmm. Father? I did right the other day? Riding to Standelf I mean?”

Saradoc sat the plate down. Had he not told Merry that? “Well of course you did. Did I not tell you?”

“Maybe. I was very tired, so I can’t remember, and then I have been too sick to think of it.”

“Well, Merry my lad. You did a wonderful job, and everyone in the Hall and the rest of Buckland is proud of you! They’re talking about what a great leader you will be. You just continue like that, and you will be the best Master Buckland ever had.”

Merry flushed a bit. “I will try my best.”

“I know you will. I love you Merry mine.”

Merry reached out his arms and was enveloped in a great bear hug. “Love you too, dad.”

“Now. How about that food?”

“Yes please.” Merry said, and reached for the plate.

The Master of Buckland locked eyes with his heir, and handed over the plate. Merry would be fine. There was no doubt.