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FireStorm  by Lindelea

Chapter 4. Smials Welcome

Eglantine Took greeted her son with a choked cry, dropping her stitchery and rising from her chair by the fire to meet him with a great hug. 'O Pippin,' she said. 'O my boy, my dearest boy.' Her voice broke and she said no more for a long time, as he held her close and patted her back gently. Finally, she pushed herself back to look up into his face. 'It has been too long, son,' she said.

'Too long, indeed,' Pippin answered.

'I hear you've made good in Buckland,' Eglantine said, her tone proud. 'They say the Hall could hardly do without its steward.'

'I'm sure Merry will muddle along somehow,' Pippin answered. 'He's pretty good at muddling, you know.'

'I know,' she smiled. 'He's half Took, after all.' She sobered. 'Those Tooks who mention your name at all, say that 'tis Merry who's kept you out of trouble, more than the other way around.'

'He has, indeed,' Pippin smiled. 'But I like to think I've done my share.'

'I'm sure you have, son,' Eglantine said with another hug. 'You've a good head on your shoulders...' she looked up again, a mischievous smile lighting her face, '...even if you don't choose to show it most of the time.'

'It is nice to know my mother has such confidence in her son,' Pippin said.

'O aye,' she answered. 'Your father thought so, too.'

Pippin sobered. 'That comes as a surprise,' he said softly. 'All I remember him remarking on was how the few thoughts I had must rattle about, my head being so empty and all.'

'You should have heard him brag on you,' she whispered, 'how proud he was of you.'

'Never before my face, though,' Pippin said. 'As far as I knew, I was the most worthless son ever to darken a father's life. I always tried my best for him, but it was never good enough.'

'O Pippin,' she said, tears coming to her eyes.

'If he spoke so well of me, that must explain the whole-hearted welcome I received from the Tooks just now,' Pippin said dryly.

'He was bitter,' Eglantine said, 'when you refused to return.'

'He was the one who disowned me in the first place, Mother, as I recall.'

She sighed. 'He took you back,' she said.

'Only to disown me again, the next time I would not bend to his will. I just let things stay that way, after that. Why bounce back and forth like a ball? Much easier for a lazy lad to rest in one place, after all.'

'O Pippin,' she reproached again.

'And so whilst he was sending letters to Buckland, begging for my return, he was sowing seeds of bitterness against me with the Tooks,' Pippin said. 'I ought just to get back on my pony and ride back to Buckland, save that the lad is weary from the journey and deserves a night's rest, first.'

'Please don't go,' his mother pleaded.

'You and Regi want me to stay,' he said thoughtfully. 'Anyone else?'

She smiled ruefully. 'Your sisters, perhaps. Though I wouldn't count on it.'

'Ah,' Pippin said. 'So nice to be wanted.'

'Your father wanted you, lad,' Eglantine said gently. 'His last thoughts were of you, son.'

'What did he say?'

'He said... "My best was never good enough".' Her voice choked off in a sob, and swallowing hard, she continued in a whisper. 'He said, "Tell Pippin... I wish..." and that was all.' She saw her son's stricken face, and embraced him.

He murmured into her hair, 'I wish, too. I wish I hadn't been so stubborn...'

'O my boy,' she said. 'It's a byword in the Shire, is it not? "Stubborn as a Took". And it was better that you never came back, better for you both. He loved you very much, but he didn't know how to love, not really: he spoilt and shouted by turn, for all the good it did. He would have destroyed you, trying to make you over into what he thought you ought to be.'

'I'm tougher than I look,' Pippin said, releasing Eglantine and smiling down into her face.

'I don't know,' she teased. 'You don't look all that tough to me. That smile has got to go.'

He frowned obediently. 'How does this look?'

'It will do for a start,' she answered seriously. 'You are going to have to be hard, son, harder than diamonds, or the Tooks will eat you for breakfast.'

'They'll break their teeth on me if they try,' he said.

She chuckled low in her throat. 'Pity the poor Tooks, then,' she said. 'I don't think they know what they're up against.'

They moved to the chairs on either side of the hearth, talking awhile longer, and then Pippin rose to give his mother a last hug. 'Regi wanted me to meet him in the Thain's study,' he said.

'I will see you at supper,' Eglantine answered.

'I'll be there with bells on,' he promised.

Eglantine shuddered. 'Leave the bells,' she said. 'All I want to see is you.'

He laughed and gave her a last hug. 'I'll be there...' he said, and turned to the door. Looking back, he stood a moment as if memorising the scene, his mother in the chair by the fire, holding her needlework, smiling at him. With a last smile, he closed the door softly behind him.

***

As Pippin started to open the study door, he heard raised voices within.

'Whyever did you have to bring him here? He's a nuisance and a wastrel!' Pippin recognised the voice of Everard Took.

'He's not wasted much as Steward of Buckland,' Reginard answered calmly.

'That's because he's had Meriadoc Brandybuck standing at his shoulder, keeping him straight,' Everard answered.

'I cannot understand why you went to Buckland to bring back that ne'er-do-well,' Ferdibrand Took broke in. 'You've acted as Thain this past year whilst old Paladin lay abed refusing to die. Now you might as well take on the title and be Thain. No one would oppose you.'

'Pippin is the old Thain's son...' Reginard began.

'And we've seen that the succession needn't go from father to son, as long as it stays in the family! You're a Took, that's all that matters!' Ferdibrand broke in heatedly. 'Paladin wasn't the son of Ferumbras!'

'Ferumbras died childless,' Reginard countered. 'Paladin had a son.'

'A worthless mischief-maker, ' Everard said.

'A good-for-nothing...' Ferdibrand confirmed. 'You ought to be Took and Thain, Regi, I cannot understand how you can throw it away and condemn Tookland to suffer under this... this...'

Pippin decided it was a good time to enter. 'Scalawag?' he said helpfully as he came through the door. 'Or perhaps scapegrace would do.' The three disputers turned to him, and he smiled. 'Hello, Everard, it has been a long time.'

'Not long enough,' Everard muttered under his breath.

Ferdibrand regarded Pippin with thinly veiled contempt. 'The Thain's already in the ground,' he said, 'so why don't you go back to where you came from?'

Pippin kept smiling. 'It's nice to see you, too, cousin,' he replied.

Everard said to Reginard, 'Well, brother, I wash my hands of it. You do what you want. You always have done.' Without another glance at Pippin, he stalked out of the study.

Ferdibrand glared at Pippin. 'What are you doing back here?' he asked. 'I thought your father disowned you.'

Pippin answered coolly, 'He did. But he changed his mind and asked me to come back.'

The other smiled wryly. 'And you have always been such a fine, obedient son, one to be proud of...'

Reginard intervened. 'Now, that's enough, Ferdi.'

Ferdibrand shook his head stubbornly. 'You have the right of it, cousin. That's enough of Pippin, anyhow. I've had more of him than I can stomach already. The sooner I see the switching tail of his pony, the better. And good riddance to bad rubbish!' He followed Everard, closing the study door firmly behind him.

Pippin stared at the door for a moment, drew a deep breath, and turned to Reginard. 'Well,' he said, 'We're off to a good start, then. That went better than I'd expected.'

As he'd intended, Reginard stared at him in shock for a moment, then broke into a hearty guffaw.

Pippin cocked his head, staring intently at his cousin. 'Let us get some things straight, here, Regi,' he said quietly. 'Just who was the "they" that sent you to fetch me from Buckland?'

'It was a committee of three,' Reginard answered. 'Me, myself, and I.'

Pippin took another deep breath and squared his shoulders. 'That was what I was afraid of,' he said, and shook his head. 'What ever were you thinking?'





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