Chapter 20. If the Shoe Fits...

About a week later Pippin, walking between Diamond and Merigrin, poked his head in at the door to Ferdibrand’s room. The children were out taking tea with new friends amongst the Rohirrim. Tea was all the fashion in the city of Edoras, since the Halflings had arrived and thoroughly charmed their hosts.

 ‘We’ve been bewitched,’ Eomer had said more than once.

Each time Lothiriel had answered firmly, ‘It is a good sort of bewitchment.’

Still, Eomer reflected, his armour was sure to grow uncomfortable if the practice of six meals a day continued after the hobbits recommenced their journey.

At the moment King and Queen of the Mark were taking tea with Ferdibrand and Pimpernel. While he had not cared all that much for the beverage on first acquaintance, Eomer found himself this day finishing his second cup, and about to accept a third that Nell was pressing upon him, whilst Lothiriel hid her amusement and nibbled at a dainty sweet.

 ‘Pip!’ Ferdibrand said, half rising before his tender feet reminded him of their state. ‘What’re you doing out of bed?’

 ‘Walking,’ Pippin said. The only reminders of his injury were a healing scar just before his left ear, a slight wobble while walking that was slowly improving, and a tendency to ask the same question over again. Since he’d always been one to ask a question repeatedly until he heard an answer that satisfied him, no one found this worrisome. He also had no memory of the snowstorm, his fall, or the events afterward, up until he breathed the fragrance of athelas, at which time he “woke up”, in his own words.

 ‘Well, walk in here and take some tea before you waste away to naught,’ Pimpernel said, taking down three more hobbit-sized cups and pouring out.

One of the healers’ assistants, Fylstan, knocked at the door as the Thain was regaling Eomer with a story of the annual Tookland Pony Races. ‘...and so, not to be left out, he jumped three fences, ended on the race course, caught the field, passed them up and won the race!’

King and Queen were laughing heartily at the spectacle of a pony taking matters into his own... hoofs and entering himself in the running.

Finally wiping his eyes, Eomer looked to Ferdibrand. ‘Is this story true?’ he demanded. ‘It does not sound possible.’

 ‘Not completely,’ Ferdi said with a smug look. As Pippin started to protest, he went on, ‘ ‘Twas only two fences he jumped, cousin, do you not remember? Someone had left the gate unlatched and so when he pressed against it he won free of the paddock.’

 ‘He was disqualified, of course,’ Nell said smoothly. ‘He did not bear the weight of a rider and so had an unfair advantage.’

 ‘None of the other ponies had to jump any fences,’ Ferdi said. ‘I’d say he won against the odds.’

 ‘In any event, he seemed to think he’d won,’ Pippin said. ‘There was no talking to him for weeks after, unless you brought apple or carrot or other bribe.’ He sighed. ‘He was unlike any other pony I’ve ever known, and I miss him still. I think I know a little of what the Elves must feel when they befriend mortals...’

 ‘It is a short life, so make it a merry one,’ Ferdi said, toasting with his teacup.

 ‘Sometimes I think you’re more pony than hobbit,’ Pippin observed.

 ‘Undoubtedly,’ Ferdi said, and Eomer laughed.

 ‘We are kindred spirits, my hobbit friend,’ he said. ‘My wife accuses me of being more horse than Man at times.’

 ‘Especially when you come in after a long day in the saddle,’ Lothiriel said, wrinkling her nose.

Fylstan had been listening from the doorway, and now entered on the burst of laughter that followed the Queen’s remark. ‘That’s a good sound to hear,’ he said with a smile, adding, ‘Master Chancellor, I come bearing your release from your bed.’

 ‘Lovely,’ Ferdi said, looking quizzically at his bandaged feet. ‘Am I to crawl about the Halls of Healing, then?’

Eomer made as if to rise from his seat and Ferdi waved him back down, saying, ‘Stay, you haven’t had a fourth cup yet! We’d be terrible hosts to turn you away with your tea unfinished.’

 ‘By your leave, Lord,’ Fylstan said, and Eomer nodded. Fylstan knelt upon the floor, unwinding the bandages, probing the healing new skin with gentle fingers. ‘Healing nicely,’ he murmured.

 ‘I could have told you that,’ Ferdi said, passing his teacup to Nell for refilling. ‘They itch.’

 ‘No need for more bandages as long as you keep them from the floor,’ Fylstan said. He smiled at Ferdi’s quizzical look and drew two pairs of socks from the sack he bore, one pair of a smooth white material and the other pair knitted thick and soft-looking. ‘Let us see how these suit.’ He eased them over Ferdi’s feet, white first, followed by the colourful pair. ‘How does that feel?’ he asked.

 ‘Warm!’ Ferdi said, marvelling. ‘Why, I see now how you Big Folk get along without fur on your feet.’

 ‘Yours is growing back, but the socks will keep your feet warm and cushion the healing skin until your feet are as they were,’ Fylstan said.

 ‘They don’t seem all that practical,’ Nell said with a puzzled look. ‘How do you keep them clean?’

 ‘Ah,’ Fylstan said, reaching into his sack. ‘You wash them, as you’d wash your feet, but you also keep them from the dust.’ He drew out a pair of boots, somewhat larger than Ferdi’s feet to accommodate the thick stockings, but obviously made for a hobbit.

 ‘Boots!’ the hobbits all exclaimed together.

 ‘It’s all the latest fancy in Buckland, you know,’ Merry said from the doorway, Estella at his side. He grinned at the welcome, and pointed to his own booted feet. ‘Come, Ferdi, slip the boots on and keep company with me.’

 ‘Well, throw me in the River and call me a Brandybuck,’ Ferdi drawled. He stuck out his feet and Fylstan eased the boots on.

 ‘Let us try standing now,’ Fylstan murmured, hands held ready to steady the hobbit.

 ‘Are you in doubt? I’m sure you have no trouble standing,’ Ferdi said. ‘At least I hope you don’t. Or have you been at the King’s wine? Now for myself...’ He set his feet on the floor and rose cautiously. A smile broke out on his face. ‘What do you know about that?’ he said. ‘It doesn’t hurt!’

 ‘If you do not run, jump, or stomp your feet you ought to remain comfortable,’ Fylstan said.

 ‘Hear that, Ferdi?’ Nell said, wagging her finger. ‘You may not stomp your feet at me when you fly into a fit of temper.’

 ‘However am I to find diversion if I cannot fly into a fit of temper?’ Ferdi asked.

 ‘Go and find a wild pony running on the plains of Rohan and teach him to jump fences,’ Pippin said. ‘Their races need more excitement.’

 ‘Teach him to jump fences?’ Ferdi said, all innocence. ‘Why cousin, I...’

Pimpernel laughed. ‘He knows you too well, Ferdi.’

 ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Ferdi said with dignity. ‘Just because I argued that the particular pony under discussion ought to be allowed to run in the race, doesn’t mean that I...’

 ‘You mean, you were not the one who left the gate unlatched?’ Pippin said, feigning surprise.

 ‘I know better than to leave a gate unlatched!’ Ferdi retorted.

 ‘Indeed,’ Pippin said wisely.

Elessar spoke from the doorway. ‘Well, Eomer,’ he said. ‘It seems that the farewell feast under preparation is in good time. All of our invalids are on their feet and ready to continue the journey.’

 ‘You could stay, you know,’ Lothiriel said. ‘Our harvest is nearly finished, and there will be feasting and dancing and races...’

 ‘Ah but we are expected in Gondor,’ Elessar said, shaking his head. ‘The mayor of Dindale, as a matter of fact, has planned a grand welcoming celebration, and it would be thoughtless for us to stay on when he and his people have done so much to prepare, from the reports I’ve received. They are expecting us soon.’

 ‘Perhaps on your return journey, you could stop over for a few weeks,’ Eomer said. ‘In the springtime there are many births of foals to celebrate.’

 ‘Many!’ Estella said, squeezing her husband’s arm, and Merry laughed, remembering other visits to Rohan that stretched for weeks beyond the original departure date.

 ‘In any event,’ Eomer said after he drained his fourth cup, ‘the farewell feast is laid, and I invite you to join us in the Hall if you cannot see your way clear to stay with us through the winter.’

 ‘Another time, perhaps,’ Estella said politely. Undoubtedly they would stay through the winter on a future visit. If Eomer were to have his way they’d move in to the Golden Hall and take up permanent residence there. ‘The feast is laid, you say? Then let us gather the children and meet you there!’