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Flames  by Lindelea

 

Ferdi was out of a job. The Thain and the visiting Master of Buckland had closeted themselves in the Thain's study, and emerged soberly after some time, but in full agreement.

'Pippin will be taking a holiday,' Thain Paladin told Ferdi later in the day. 'He and his cousin Merry will be spending time together, either here, or at Brandy Hall, and since Merry will be minding him, he won't need an escort for the nonce.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdibrand said without expression, but some of his bleakness must have shown through, for the Thain looked at him kindly.

'You just give more attention to getting that arm working properly again,' Paladin said. 'You'll be back on full escort duty before you know it.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdi said again, and left as soon as the Thain excused him.

He had one more day of minding Pippin, before the rest of Saradoc's party would arrive on the morrow, including his cousin Merry.

Pippin was with him as Healer Woodruff removed the splints for the last time, and began to examine the arm. Ferdi looked in dismay at the shriveled muscles. Woodruff had him wiggle his fingers, nodding in satisfaction at the result, and carefully felt her way up and down the arm, settling back at last.

'The bones have knit straight and true,' she said. 'You've a lot of work ahead of you, to strengthen the arm and get it working properly, but there's a good chance you'll have most of what you had before.' She rolled up her sleeves. 'Let's get started.'

'What's the point?' Ferdi said gloomily, looking at his wreck of an arm. 'It looks as if all it's fit for is to occupy a sling.'

'You'll do as you're told,' Pippin said authoritatively. 'I'm supposed to ride out on Socks with Hilly and Tolly this morning, you know, but if you don't cooperate with Woodruff, I'll stay to pester you instead.'

'You won't,' Ferdi said.

'Yes,' Pippin said smugly, 'I will. And Socks will kick out his stall, and it'll be your fault.'

'I'm already in trouble with the stable hobbits as it is,' Ferdi said.

'That's right! What with burning down the stables...'

'Nearly burning down the stables,' Ferdi interrupted, only to have Woodruff silence him with a stern look.

'You go on ahead, Master Peregrin,' Woodruff said coolly. 'I know how to mind your minder perfectly well without any help.'

'Very well,' Pippin said regally. 'I shall see you at second breakfast, Ferdi.'

'I'll be there with bells on,' Ferdi said.

'I'm counting on it,' Pippin replied, and left the room with the usual bounce in his step.

***

'Where are the bells?' Pippin wanted to know as he sat down beside Ferdi, and without waiting for an answer, he attacked his plate of food voraciously. 'Mmmm,' he said with his mouth full. 'A morning ride makes food taste so much better, why is that?'

'None of your nonsense, now, Pip,' Ferdi said. 'I'm not in the mood to hear it.' Tolly and Hilly would go back to being the Thain's escort, but he would be stuck on guard duty, standing outside one of the entrances to the Smials, probably, in the biting wind, putting up with hours of chilling boredom. At least it was a job.

'The Brandybucks are coming tomorrow, isn't that marvelous news?' Pippin bubbled.

'Marvelous,' Ferdi glummed, and stuffed his own mouth so that he wouldn't have to talk further.

Everard muttered something under his breath, and Pippin turned on him. 'What do you have against the Brandybucks?' he said.

'They're Brandybucks; isn't that enough?' Everard said.

'Well, they used to be Tooks, you know,' Pippin said. 'They're not that different from us, after all.'

'They swim,' Everard said, 'and they go about in boats,' he added, ticking the points off on his fingers, 'and they wear boots, of all things...'

'Only some of them wear boots,' Pippin broke in.

'...and they live on the wrong side of the River,' Tolly added, 'right up against that Old Forest. They'd have to be queer folk to want to live there,' he said with a shiver.

'You've never even been in the Old Forest,' Pippin protested.

'Aye,' Tolly said, 'but then I'm sensible, you know.'

'They actually go outside the Shire,' Everard said, 'All the way to Bree, I've heard, and mingle with Big Folk there. Well,' he said darkly, glaring from under his eyebrows, 'I've had about enough truck with Big Folk to last me the rest of my life.'

There was a mutter of agreement amongst their table mates. In general, Tooks had a dim opinion of Brandybucks. O, they'd welcome them, well enough, when they came to visit. One must be hospitable, after all, and the Thain's own sister had married a Brandybuck for some reason or other. But it was always a relief to see them off again.

***

Merry spent the month of January and half of February at the Smials, when he and Pippin weren't riding about the countryside in their shining mail, singing, waving at pretty lasses, accepting invitations to tea and dinner. They often jogged across the fields to Bywater and up to Hobbiton to visit Frodo, to check on the progress made restoring Bag End.

In mid-February, they packed up and took themselves off to Brandy Hall for about a month, before heading back to Bag End, and then they helped Frodo move his possessions from Crickhollow to Bag End, and thereafter imposed upon his hospitality until the wedding of Samwise Gamgee on the First of May, where, it was said, Merry Brandybuck had danced atop a table whilst he and Pippin serenaded the newly married couple.

The Thain shook his head at the stories. That Merry Brandybuck was a bad influence, he feared, an only child and quite spoilt by overindulgence. On the other hand, in the time that he'd spent at the Smials with Pippin, there had been no more screaming nightmares, so perhaps Frodo had the right of it. Give the lads a holiday, some time to become accustomed to home life again, before requiring that they take up their responsibilities again.

In Pippin's case, it wasn't much of a problem, as the lad was still a tween, but Paladin wondered at Saradoc's letting his son shirk his responsibilities, at his age. Still, he supposed he ought to be grateful and not snipe at the Master for letting Merry have time off to help Pippin get over his travels.

But now... Paladin put down the letter he held, and frowned. Now they were proposing to move into the house at Crickhollow. Saradoc's heart had nearly failed him, and Merry must stay close to the Hall and assume some of the responsibilities of Master, and he wished Pippin to share the house with him. Pippin, of course, would be given tasks to do at the Hall, good training in responsibility, but... why not return to the Smials, after all, and take up some duties on home ground?

Ah, well. Youth only lasted so long, after all. There would be time enough for duty when Pippin came of age. Might be good for the lad to have a bit of independence, stretch his wings a bit before putting the hood and jesses on. The Thain picked up his pen to write a note consenting to the move to Crickhollow, at least for the nonce.

 





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