Chapter Seven - Tookmoot

“Mmmm!” Pippin slurped the hot chicken stew from his spoon in one hand and held a piece of buttered bread in the other.

Dahlia the cook had come in a little while ago and announced lunch. Paladin decided that they would all eat in the sitting room. He and Merry brought the tea table close to the hearth, then all gathered round to feast on a delicious lunch and a warm story.

Pearl paused in eating her stew and bread; always willing to teach her young brother manners, “it’s not polite to make noises while you eat, Pippin.”

Paladin saw Merry open his mouth to say something. “Merry,” he gave a stern look.

“Yes, Uncle,” Merry answered, going back to eating.

While Pimpernel was buttering her roll she asked, “Father, why is it you never told this story before?”

“Don’t know,” he replied, taking a draught of water, “I suppose I thought no one would believe me--or us, I should say.”

Pearl looked around the table, “What made you think that we would believe you today?”

“I don’t know if you children believe me or not, but it is the truth.”

“I believe you, Papa.” Pippin smiled up at him. Pippin made a point of sitting next to his Papa.

“Thank you, Pippin.” Paladin leaned down and kissed his son.

Merry tried his best to guess what it was his Uncle Paladin saw chasing him in the Outlands. He tried to recover the stories in memory that his cousin Frodo or even Bilbo had told him. “Who--or what was it that you saw chasing you and Uncle Addie?”

“You’re getting ahead of the story, lad,” Paladin tousled Merry’s curls in return jest. “You will soon find out.”

“I have one question,” Pervinca laid down her spoon. With all sincerity she asked, “Do Saradoc and Esmeralda get married?” Seeing the stunned expressions around the table, she then laughed.

Relieved, Merry’s hand went to his heart, “I thought you were serious!”

Pimpernel laughed, “I wonder about you sometimes, lass!”

“They had to get married, didn’t they Papa?” Pippin stated. “They kissed,” he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. Why did everyone seem to laugh when he was trying to be serious? Though he smiled shyly when Pearl put her arm around his shoulder and hugged him.

Before any of them had a chance to lapse into their previous bickering, Paladin finished his bowl of stew, saying, “Are you all ready to continue on and listen?”

“Yes!” They all replied in a chorus.

“Very well then,” Paladin took another draught of water. “Essie and Sara had been questioned for over an hour…”

* * * * * *

Esmeralda and Saradoc had been questioned for over an hour; they were apparently spotted by some of the servants while talking to Paladin before they all disappeared. She spoke truthfully about seeing the lads and Bilbo; she even admitted to talking to Paladin, but she cautiously pranced around the issue of where the group was headed to. She had read the letter--along with Saradoc in the garden. It wasn’t sealed, and Paladin hadn’t said it was for their father’s eyes only.

“What do we do?” Saradoc asked her.

“My brother wouldn’t go to such lengths if all of this wasn’t important,” she answered.

“But it isn’t like he’s going to Hobbiton or even Buckland; he’s going to the Sea--along with Addie, Bilbo, and Uncle Isengar.”

“Bilbo and Uncle Isengar have both been on adventures before,” she said. “They know what they’re doing.”

“They’re going to be missed, you know. What should we say then? It isn’t like we don’t know where they are.”

“We’re going to keep silent--that is what we’re going to do,” Esmeralda instructed. “I will give father the note just as Paladin said to do after supper tonight.”

A long moment passed before Saradoc spoke. “If this is indeed important to you and Paladin, then I shall keep silent.”

Esmeralda now smiled grimly when she thought of what a dear friend her cousin was while being questioned. All he would tell his inquisitors is, ‘I cannot say for certain” which earned him a trip to a storeroom with his father and then sent to his room for the remainder of their stay.

She also was confined to her bedroom in the guest quarters; it was almost eight o’clock before her mother came to look in on her. Her mother came and sat on the edge of her bed.

Astora smoothed back her daughter‘s hair away from her face, “Why are you being so stubborn, Essie?”

“I was only doing what he asked me to do.”

“Paladin?”

Esmeralda nodded, “He did give me a note to give Father.” She reached inside her dress bodice and handed her mother a piece of paper that was folded over twice.

Astora took the paper and read it. She put her hand to her mouth, tears forming in her eyes, “Goodness, child--why have you kept this from us?”

“Paladin asked me to give it to Father after supper.” The tween added with a sidelong glance, “and seeing I’m not getting any, I may as well give it to you now.”

“But don’t you see, lass? Your brother could be in serious danger--or trouble!”

Esmeralda sat up on her bed, “Mother, I wouldn’t have obeyed his wishes if I thought for a minute that Uncle Isengar or Bilbo couldn’t watch out for him and Addie.”

Astora stood up from the bed to leave, gazing at Esmeralda, “Just expect your father to very angry with you.”

Esmeralda waited until her mother shut the door and murmured, “He already is. I’m in here without supper, aren’t I?”

~ ~ ~

“I knew this was going to happen!” Fortinbras paced in front of the fireplace in the common room. “It’s all that Bilbo’s fault.”

Sitting and standing about in the common room of the Smials were the Thain, Fortinbras, his son, Ferumbras II, Adalgrim, Flambard, Sigismond, Fiobold of the Isenbold line, and Rory Brandybuck.

“There’s nothing for it tonight,” said Flambard, “we won’t get very far in the dark.”

Adalgrim sat in his chair with his head in his hands remembering the tales--or lack thereof--of his Uncle Hildifons going on an adventure. Hildifons never returned. “I should’ve known; I should have seen it coming.” He sighed then sat up straight, “We must leave early in the morning to search for them--before dawn, if possible.”

“Whether we leave now, tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon what can we do?” Fiobold spoke up. “We could sit and wait at the borders, but other that that, unless any of us are willing to cross the borders, all we can do is sit and wait here at the Smials for their return.”

Fortinbras came and put his arm around Adalgrim in support. “I remember when we were boys, Isengar told me it took almost two days of riding to arrive at the Grey Havens. I imagine they will have already left the Shire by this time.”

“I can’t just sit here and wait,” Adalgrim sounded weary. He spoke with tears in his eyes, “My son is out there.”

Flambard, feeling the pain in his own heart, went up and embraced Adalgrim, “Mine, too.”