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Flames  by Lindelea

 

A week later, Pippin returned to the Smials for fresh supplies, along with Merry, half the Tookish archers--for the Thain insisted that his son have a heavy escort as long as any ruffians remained in the land--and Merimac Brandybuck. The Badger left his force of irregulars in Woody End to sniff out the hiding places of more ruffians, the better to attack them when he returned.

The Thain had been in and left again the previous day, off to rout more ruffians out of the southwest part of the Shire. Most of the ruffians had fled out of the land, offering little resistance, but there were a few pockets of Men left who were a bit... slow in leaving, trying to gather a few spoils on their way to the border. Thain Paladin enjoyed hurrying these along, relieving them of their extra burdens along the way, and returning any possessions that could be traced to their owners.

Pippin found Ferdibrand sitting propped up on cushions in his bed, much improved from the previous week.

'So your head is harder than a ruffian's club?' he said as he poked his head in at the door.

'So it seems,' Ferdi answered. 'Come in, cousin, rest your feet for a spell.'

'That I will,' Pippin replied, and slouching into a chair by the bed, he put his feet up onto the bed and sighed.

'Comfy?' Ferdi asked.

'Quite,' Pippin replied.

'Now would not be a good time to ask you to get up and fetch me somewhat, I take it.'

'Not particularly, no,' Pippin said, opening one eye.

'What did you need, Ferdi?' Everard asked from the other side of the bed.

'O naught,' Ferdi said wickedly. 'Just testing.'

'He's well on the road to recovery,' Everard said.

'I can see that,' Pippin answered.

'With your eyes closed?' Ferdi asked.

'I'm gifted that way,' Pippin said. 'Now would you hold the noise down long enough for me to get a bit of rest?'

'Who's the patient, here?' Ferdi demanded.

'You are, of course,' Pippin said, eyes remaining closed. 'And why do they call it being a patient when it makes you feel so impatient, is what I'd like to know.'

'None of your nonsense, now, lad,' Everard said. 'Ferdi, the healer said you could stay up an hour or so, but it's time for you to sleep again.' Ferdibrand started to protest, only to be interrupted by a snore from Pippin.

When Everard would have shaken his cousin, Ferdi held up his good hand to stop him. 'Leave him be,' he said. 'I find it rather cosy; you know, I never thought I'd hear Pip snoring again in this life.'

'You'll tire of it soon enough,' Everard said.

'No doubt,' Ferdi answered, his own lids growing heavy. 'But...' What he would have said trailed away into a snore of his own.

When Ferdi awakened later, Pippin was still snoring lightly, but Merimac had taken Everard's place by the other side of the bed. When the older hobbit saw his eyes open, he said, 'Hullo, Fox.'

'Hullo, Badger,' Ferdi replied. 'How goes the hunt?'

'It goes. We're sweeping them out like the lasses sweep the dust out the door on Last Day. They'll be gone before Year's End, at this rate.'

'And good riddance,' Ferdi said fervently. 'I hope never to see a Man eye to eye again.'

'I'll drink to that,' Merimac said, and poured out two cups of water. They toasted solemnly, and drank.

'There are good Men in the world,' Pippin said, suddenly awake. 'Why, I have some very good friends who are Men.'

'More pity you,' Ferdi said. He started to shake his head but thought the better of it.

Pimpernel breezed in with a tray of food. 'Teatime!' she caroled, putting down the tray, spreading a serviette under Ferdi's chin, and fixing a cup of tea to his liking. When Pippin reached for one of the sandwiches, she slapped his hand. 'You go get your own,' she scolded. 'You're not stuck in a bed.'

'I might have to try it sometime, just to get some attention around here,' Pippin drawled, but his sister merely tossed her head with a sniff.

'Would you fetch me a cup, lass?' Merimac asked, and she turned a smile on him. 'Certainly, Mr Brandybuck,' she said. 'I should be most happy to oblige.'

'I like that!' Pippin said.

'He is an honoured guest,' Pimpernel said loftily. 'You are merely a younger brother.'

'That's telling him, Nell,' Ferdi said, and Pimpernel flashed him a smile before leaving the room.

'Whatever are you buttering her up for?' Pippin said, stealing a sandwich from the plate.

'She is a sweet and thoughtful lass,' Ferdi said ponderously, taking a bite of sandwich. Pippin snorted and took a piece of cake. Ferdi added, 'And she makes the best apple tart I've ever tasted.'

'Apple tart?' Merimac said, coming to attention. 'Let me see some of that.' Between them, they managed to polish off the contents of Ferdi's tea tray before Pimpernel returned with a cup for Merimac, and, despite the earlier scolding, one for Pippin as well.

She smiled down at Ferdi. 'Well,' she said, 'It's nice to see you're getting your appetite back. Or...' she cast a suspicious glance at Pippin and Merimac, '...did these two ruffians go gathering and sharing your tea?'

'I fear we did all the gathering, and he did all the sharing,' Merimac said, 'but if you'll cut some more of that lovely apple tart for an old hobbit, I'd be happy to carry a fresh tray to the poor Fox, now.'

He was as good as his word, and so Ferdi got his tea after all, and was all the better for the company that came along with it.

They were laughing uproariously at some tale of Pippin's when Healer Woodruff stormed through the door, scolding like a magpie. 'Off with ye, now,' she said fiercely. 'Haven't ye a lick of sense? This is a sick hobbit you're disturbing! Laughter is good, but too much of a good thing can be bad!' She took a look at Ferdi's face and said, 'Ye've done enough mischief for one day, tired him more than is good for him. Now, out! All of you! And let him get some rest!'

Ferdi winked at the others behind her back, then let the healer settle him for sleeping. 'I'm well, really, Woodruff,' he said with a yawn. 'Never felt better.'

'You will feel better, lad,' she said more gently, pulling up the covers, 'if ye don't die laughing, first. Now go to sleep,' she said. 'I might let them visit you on the morrow, if they promise to be good.'

'I'm always good,' Pippin protested.

'Aye, that you are, lad,' Woodruff agreed equably, then scowled. '...when you aren't getting into mischief, that is. Now off with you.' The last was spoken in a whisper, as Ferdi's eyes had already drifted shut and he was breathing evenly. Pippin and Merimac nodded, and with exaggerated caution, tiptoed from the room.

***

The next time Pippin returned from the hunt, it was the First of December and Yuletide preparations were in full swing. He found Ferdibrand out of bed, in a chair, and said, 'This is quite the improvement!'

'You're telling me,' Ferdi said. 'I was beginning to think I'd take root in the bed.'

'Well, I'm glad they pulled you out of the flower bed, you weed of a Took,' Pippin said.

'Hardly ornamental,' Ferdi agreed, putting his good hand to his head.

'Are you all right, cousin?' Pippin asked more softly.

'Just an ache,' Ferdi said. 'Not as bad as it was.' He looked ruefully at his heavily bandaged and splinted bow arm. 'Head'll be better sooner than the arm, I warrant. D'you think the Thain can use a one-armed archer?'

'It'll be a first,' Pippin said, 'but I'll ask him.'

'No, don't,' Ferdi said suddenly. He looked down at his lap, then up at Pippin. 'I don't want pity, and I don't want charity.'

'None intended,' Pippin answered soberly. He tried to lighten the other's mood. 'I suppose you could always apply as stable sweeper.'

Ferdi shook his head. 'No, that wouldn't work. We nearly burned down the stables, remember?'

Pippin nodded, 'Ah, that's right, I nearly forgot.'

'You can be sure none of the other Tooks will forget,' Ferdi said. He stretched his good arm. 'Ah, well, I'm sure I'll figure out something I can do.'

By mid-December, Pippin was back at the Smials for good, with the remainder of the ruffians hounded out of the Shire. The Thain set a watch on the borders, to make sure none would try to return, and then gave his full attention to ordering the Great Smials.

Paladin called Ferdibrand to his study. Ferdi was up and about, restless for something to do, but hindered by the splinted arm which threatened, to his mind at least, to take up permanent residence in its sling.

'Sir,' he said, standing at attention before the ornate desk.

'Sit yourself down, lad,' the Thain said, sharp eyes noting the other's pallor. Ferdi was not completely recovered, he could see, but the healers had as much trouble keeping that one abed as they did the Thain's own son. He admired such spirit; properly channeled, he could put it to good use.

'I have a task for you, should you decide to accept it.'

Ferdi sat up straighter. 'A task?' he asked.

'Aye,' the Thain said. 'Now that my son is back, he needs a proper escort. I'd like to have you in charge.' He shuffled a few papers on the desk, then looked up to say, 'My son is already installed in his rooms, and of course there is a spare bed there; he may have traipsed halfway across Middle-earth, but he is still a tween.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdi said. By custom, Tookish children and tweens did not rate a private room until they reached their majority. Either a relative or a servant shared their room until they were considered adults. Ferdi wondered how Pippin would feel about this, after experiencing relative freedom from the restrictions of custom and propriety.

'He's willful,' the Thain said, 'and headstrong. He'll lead you a merry dance.'

'I know,' Ferdi said.

'Of course, if you serve him well, he might take you on his staff when he's Thain after me,' Paladin said. 'Many's the steward started out as a tween-minder.'

Ferdi nodded, hope beginning to stir within. Perhaps there was some use for a one-armed Took after all. Even if he did not regain use of his bow arm, he might have some contribution to make.

'Will you take on the job?' Paladin asked.

'I'll do my best, Sir,' Ferdi answered.

'That's all I ask,' Paladin said. 'Just your best.'

***

Pippin did snore, but not enough to disrupt Ferdi's sleep. The nightmares were another story. Night after night, the son of the Thain would cry out in his sleep, and Ferdi would waken, go to the other's bed, sit down, and speak soothing words until he quieted again.

Some nights were worse than others. Once, Ferdi was awakened from a sound sleep by a thin, keening cry. Sitting bolt upright, he jumped from his bed and rushed to his cousin.

'It's all right, cousin, just a dream,' he soothed, but Pippin lay stiff in his bed, eyes wide, scarcely breathing. 'Pip?' Ferdi said, alarmed.

In an unearthly voice, Pippin said, 'It is not for you, Saruman! I will send for it at once! Say just that!'

'Pip?' Ferdi said, shaking his cousin lightly, but Pippin only put his hands over his face and began to keen again. A lamp came up in the doorway, and Ferdi looked up to see the Thain and his wife.

'What is it?' Eglantine said, moving to her son's bed.

'Some sort of nightmare,' Ferdi answered, 'but I cannot waken him.'

'Son?' Eglantine coaxed, rubbing Pippin's arm. 'Son?'

Pippin gave a shuddering sigh and threw his arms about his mother, sobbing bitterly.

Ferdi looked worriedly to the Thain, but the old hobbit was as horrified as himself. Finally, the fit seemed to pass, and Eglantine eased her son down on the bed again, crooning a lullaby, smoothing the hair over his forehead, until he was once again breathing evenly in sleep.

For the most part, Ferdi became quite adept at easing his younger cousin back to sleep, and was annoyed when Meriadoc Brandybuck popped up at the Smials for a visit just before Yuletide.

'I'll just take the extra bed in Pip's room, I'm sure you won't mind, Ferdi,' he said breezily.

'Not at all,' Ferdi lied. He wasn't so sure he liked the idea of Merry knowing that Pippin's sleep was torn by nightmares each night, but there wasn't much he could do about it, being so far outranked by the other.

He settled that night in the next room, on a sofa pulled close to the doorway. He bolted upright in the middle night, hearing the unearthly keening that had so unnerved him a few days before.

When he reached the doorway, he saw Merry sitting by the bed, holding Pippin's hand. 'It's all right, Pip,' he said. 'They're gone, now, all of them gone. They can't hurt you anymore.'

'Who can't hurt him?' Ferdi asked quietly.

Merry met his eyes, then looked back down. 'They're gone, Pip,' he said again. 'It was just a dream.'

Pippin sighed and turned on his side, snuggling into his pillows. 'Go back to bed, Ferdi,' Merry said. 'We're all right, here.'

Ferdi considered throwing another log on Pippin's fire, but could not bring himself to do so. Though it was one of Ferdi's duties as his cousin's minder, Pippin had quietly assumed the fire-building and tending duties, to spare his cousin from having to deal with the flames. Now Merry followed his gaze, and said, 'Leave the fire, it's fine. Go back to bed, Ferdi.'

Ferdibrand nodded, and took himself off to the sofa, to sleep restlessly until morning. When he awakened, he cautiously poked his head in the door, to see Merry still sitting on the bed, holding Pippin's hand, back against the headboard, asleep.

 





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