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A New Reckoning  by Dreamflower

CHAPTER 63

In a tent in Tuckborough, in the encampment of the King’s delegation sat four very disgruntled hobbits. Their initial terror had begun to wear off, and now the Bankses and Dago Bracegirdle were snapping at one another crossly.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into that harebrained scheme of Lotho’s,” Clodio complained. “I should have known it was no good, coming from a son of Lobelia, the old harridan.”

“Lobelia’s only fault was in marrying that Sackville-Baggins in the first place. And you didn’t need much talking into. As I recall, you were quite happy with the thought of all the profit to be made selling the pipeweed away down South, and buying up as much of the local property as possible. It’s a shame you didn’t have the fortitude to keep your mouth shut.”

“Fortitude!” Clodio was nearly foaming at the mouth. “You’re a fine one to talk about that! Taking off and running, leaving me to hold the bag!”

“There wouldn’t have been a bag to hold if your idiot sons had even as much sense as a goose. Talk about harebrained schemes--trying to stir up this bunch of Men was possibly the stupidest thing these two morons you sired have ever come up with!”

“Who are you calling a moron, you old villain?” shouted Clovis. He started to jump on Dago, and was hauled back by the hand of his younger brother Cado on his collar. He turned he ire on his sibling. “Let go of me! What do you think you’re doing?”

“He’s absolutely right!” shouted Cado. “We are morons! You come up with the world’s stupidest ideas, and I listen to them! I don’t know why I ever listen to you--no one knows better than me what an idiot you are!”

“Stop it!” yelled Clodio.

The younger Bankses ignored their father completely.

“If I’m such an idiot why do you always do what I say?”

“Good question! It’s not a mistake I’m likely to ever repeat in the future. You’ve never thought up anything that didn’t lead to disaster. You just do whatever comes into your head and hang the consequences!  You've never had a brain in your head!  There are slugs in the garden with more intelligence than you!”

With a roar, Clovis launched himself on his younger brother, pinning him down and raining blows on his face, until he suddenly found himself yanked backwards by a huge hand, and lifted high in the air. It was Leodwald, who had been posted outside the tent where the prisoners were being kept. He had thought the bickering somewhat amusing, until it had erupted into violence. Éothain entered the tent to see what the uproar was all about.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

“The cubs were fighting each other, sir,” said Leodwald, dangling Clovis up even higher and giving him a little shake. “Actually, this one was beating on the other.” Clovis began to turn a bit green.

Cado sat up, his hand to his nose, which was bleeding copiously. “I tink by dose is bwoken.”

The commander of the Rohirrim looked at Clodio. “I have been indulgent to you in not tying you all up, and in allowing you to remain together. Can you not control your sons?” Clodio glared up at the Man. “No, I suppose you cannot, or none of this would have happened in the first place.”

Éothain pinched his forehead. He was rapidly getting a headache. And he was going to have to escort this bunch to Edoras. So much for a nice simple diplomatic mission to the pleasant little Shire.

“Leodwald, take that one--” he pointed to Clovis, who was still dangling from one of the soldier’s meaty hands, “and give him to Anwynd to watch. We will have to keep him by himself from now on, I suppose. Then please go and fetch Mistress Poppy or her apprentice to come see to the other one.”

Clovis looked horrified at the thought of being alone. “Father!” he called, as he was carried out.

Clodio ignored him, and glared at Cado.

Targon entered the tent. “What’s all the commotion?”

Éothain sighed and explained what had happened. Targon shook his head. “Well, I see nothing for it but to keep all of them separated from now on.”

The three remaining hobbits looked at one another in horror. It was bad enough together, but it would be unbearable alone.

_____________________________________________________

Eglantine was in her sitting room with Pearl, Primrose and Peridot.

“Well, my dears, things are almost back to normal, now the assembly is over. But we do have a few things that need to be taken care of.”

The other three nodded. Pearl smiled. “There’s always something, isn’t there, Mother?”

“Indeed there is. Reggie’s daughters, for one thing. Opal should be all right. Mistress Lavender is to take charge of her recovery while Poppy is gone away South. If the child does well, she will then be apprenticed to Poppy when she returns.” Eglantine felt slightly dubious over this herself. While she felt sorry for the lass, she was not sure the child was bright enough to be a healer. But Poppy assured her that Opal had the aptitude, and she would trust the healer on it.

“As to Amethyst and Garnet, they have been quite subdued since all this trouble occurred. I am hoping that they may be showing the beginnings of some sense, now that Hyacinth is out of the way. But they need to be taken in hand. There are some things Reggie just cannot do, and that he cannot understand.”

Primrose shook her head. “He has no idea of some of the silly things those lasses of his have been up to in the past; and Hyacinth encouraged it, in the hopes they would snag a husband.”

Peridot laughed. “She was the biggest obstacle to any of them finding a husband. No sane hobbit wanted her for a mother-in-law.”

“Well,” said Eglantine, “she is out of the way now, but she still presents an obstacle, for many will be remembering they are the daughters of a hobbitess who was banished from the family, and although he has disavowed her, Reggie has yet to tell Paladin if he wishes to dissolve the marriage.”

“Do you really think he will do that?” Pearl asked. It was close to unheard of. The last time it had happened in the Shire was nearly two generations ago, when a lass had snared a husband by pretending to be with child. Disavowal was less drastic, yet even that was rare. About twenty years ago a wife had disavowed her husband for unfaithfulness, and about fifteen years ago a husband had disavowed his wife when he discovered that she had stolen from his mother. None of them could remember any other such occurrence until now.

“Somehow I doubt it,” answered her mother. “It would create more problems than it would solve, though Paladin is still angry enough at her to be encouraging him to do so. But Reggie has good hobbit sense, and Paladin will cool down soon.” Eglantine herself planned never to cool down towards Hyacinth, but as long as she was no longer under her roof and she never had to lay eyes on her again, she did not care if Reggie dissolved the marriage. But when she thought of what could have happened if she had ever left a sick Pippin in Hyacinth’s care, it sent chills down her spine.

“At any rate, Pearl, I would like you to continue to take the lasses under your wing. You have done an admirable job so far, and I think that they have come to respect your judgment. I do not say that you should act as a surrogate mother, but keep an eye on them.”

“That is not a problem, Mother. I have begun to find out that there is more to those lasses than their mother ever gave them credit for. They are not nearly as stupid as we have always thought them, but they have become used to hiding their intelligence over the years until it has become second nature. Hyacinth always used to tell them that no lad would want a clever lass to wife.”

Her mother and her aunts had a hardy laugh over this. Eglantine wiped her eyes, and said “Please don’t let anyone tell that to your father! Oh my!” She drew a deep breath. “I don’t know when I’ve ever heard anything so very silly!"  She shook herself, and composed herself to continue.

"The other thing I would like to bring up is Beryl. Mistress Lavender told me that she has accepted her family’s fate, and no longer needs the calming draughts. And she will not follow them into exile. I had not expected her to; Clodio and her sons always treated her with a certain amount of contempt and disdain. But I owe her.” All of them recalled how Eglantine would never have had a last chance to see her dying mother if Beryl had not risked sending her word against Clodio’s wishes. He never learned how it was that Eglantine and her children had suddenly shown up so fortuitously. But Tina had no doubt that her brother would have made Beryl’s life miserable if he had ever discovered it.

“She will not be able to keep her home, with no husband to provide for her. I would like to offer her a place here. Primrose, if you would, please look for suitable quarters among the uninhabited apartments. She won’t need a large place, since it is just her.”

“I will talk to Mistress Appleblossom at once.” Primrose thought this was an excellent idea. She did not especially like Beryl, who tended to be somewhat flighty and was not particularly bright, but she definitely thought that Clodio’s wife had a raw deal from all this. And in spite of her greedy husband and her nasty sons, Beryl’s heart was in the right place.

________________________________________________

Danulf looked in disgust at the sniveling hobbit that had been left in his care. Although he knew that it was the other brother who had thrown the rock at him, this one was there and had done nothing to prevent the cowardly act.

He looked up as Viola Harfoot approached.

“I hear that someone has a bloody nose needs tending?” she asked, pointedly ignoring her writhing patient.

“Right there.” Danulf gestured.

She knelt down and moved his hand away from his face. Yes, it looked a bit broken. She took a cloth and dampened it with an astringent from her satchel, and began to clean the blood off.

“Ow! That stings!” Cado brought his hand back up to his nose. She firmly moved it away, looking at the tattoo. She had done pretty good work with that, considering that it was the first official tattoo she had ever done.

After cleaning the blood up, she examined the nose again, and then reached up with two fingers and gave it a little twist to set it.

“Arrgh! That hurt!”

“Don’t be such a baby. I guess I could have left it to heal crookedly. Next time I will.”

She took out a jar of a white paste and smeared it liberally onto the affronted nose and face.

“There.”

Cado opened his eyes and looked at her. She really was a comely lass. He wished he were not in such a pickle. Otherwise he might try to make an impression on her. But it was definitely too late for that. She’d already seen him at his worst.

She stood up. “He is as right as he will ever be,” she said contemptuously. “If you need either Mistress Poppy or myself again, Master Danulf, please let us know.”

“Certainly, Miss Viola. Are you looking forward to your journey with us?”

She laughed. “Not really. But Mistress Poppy is, and my wishes don’t much count. And I am looking forward to the new things that I will learn about healing when we reach the South.”

Danulf smiled. “Well, I hope that we may change your mind, and make the journey a pleasant one for you.”

“Thank you, Master Danulf.”

Cado watched her leave. So she would be traveling with them, would she?

 





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