CHAPTER 5

There was a rap on Pippin’s door. Merry glanced over, but Pippin didn’t stir, so he went to open the door. It was his cousin Pimpernel. She looked tired and fretful, and he didn’t think it had to do with her new babies. He reached out and embraced her. She trembled a bit in his arms, and he looked at her with concern. She obviously had not had much sleep the night before.

“Oh Merry, I’m so glad you got here! How is he?” she said.

“He’s sleeping right now.” He stood back so that she could enter the room.

Pimmie saw Diamond. “Hullo, Miss Diamond,” she said softly. “Is everything all right?”

Diamond smiled at Pippin’s sister. She liked Pimpernel. She had assisted with the delivery of the babies, and helped to tend them afterward. She thought Pimpernel was a wonderful mother. It would have been horrible if she had been widowed so soon after the twins were born. “Aside from a broken leg and a nasty cold,” she said, “he seems to be faring quite well.”

Pimmie went over, and looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Do you think I could be alone with him for a little while?”

Diamond hesitated. While Mistress Lavender had not said she *had* to stay with the patient at all times, she was a bit unsure about leaving him without permission.

Merry spoke up. “I’ve an idea, Diamond, why don’t we rouse up my cousin Frodo and my friend Sam, and take a little turn around the south garden before second breakfast. I’m sure Pip’s sister will be fine with him, and I know that if he wakes, she wants to talk to him privately.”

She agreed to the sense of this, so Merry went down a couple of doors, and rapped on the one to Frodo’s room. “Come in, Merry!” came the reply.

Merry turned and gave her a smile. “I’ll see if he’s decent. You wait here.”

She stood there pondering how his cousin could have known it was he at the door, when it suddenly opened and they both came out. “Good morning, Miss Diamond,” said Frodo gallantly.

“Good morning, Mr. Baggins.”

Merry turned to her. “It seems Sam is already out in the garden. Shall we see if we can find him?”

It was not really a good time of year for viewing the garden. Most of the plants had been put to bed for the winter beneath a blanket of mulch, and the trees had already lost most of their foliage, though some still had a bit of their fall color still clinging. Sam, of course, could find pleasure in a garden any time of year. He was deep in a conversation with the Took’s head gardener about bulbs and wintering over. They did not interrupt him; he acknowledged their presence with a nod.

For Frodo, Merry and Diamond, the main attraction was the crisp fall air and the sunny blue sky--very pleasant after a night spent in a sickroom. They walked about a bit, and then availed themselves of one of the many benches scattered about the garden walks.

“So, Diamond,” said Merry, “how do you find it, being here in the Great Smials? Are your southern relations driving you mad yet?”

She laughed pleasantly. “I’ve never been among so many Tooks all at one time before! We North-tooks are a scattered lot. We live in holes and houses of only one family. That probably seems odd to you as well, since I have always heard that Brandy Hall is just as much a warren as the Great Smials.”

“Indeed, it is. In some ways even more so,” Merry grinned. “Even to one raised in it, it can be overwhelming at times.” He glanced across Diamond to Frodo, who laughed wryly.

The gardener had gone back to his work, and Sam came over to stand behind Frodo. He listened quietly.

“I know that Bag End was a pleasant respite after all the racket at Brandy Hall,” said Frodo.

Diamond looked at Frodo. She was curious about this mysterious cousin, who had taken away the heirs to the Tooks and the Brandybucks for a whole year, and brought them back just in time to save the Shire. He had an air about him that teased at the edge of her healer’s instincts. She knew she had a lot more to learn before she could begin to understand what she sensed from him. She glanced at the way he had put his right hand in his pocket, though they were seated. It could not be terribly comfortable to sit that way, but it was clear he was self-conscious about his missing finger. She had asked Mistress Lavender about it after the first time she had seen him, but her mistress only seemed to know that it was something that had happened when the Travellers were away, and that all of them were reluctant to speak of it. And then there was the business of the athelas leaves. And the business of his healer--and actually Pippin’s healer, and if she understood correctly, Merry’s and Samwise’s as well--having been the new King. That seemed so odd to her. Male healers were rare in her experience, but how in the world could one also be a King? And why would these hobbits be so important as to rate his attention? She found herself very curious indeed.

“And what kind of patient are you finding Pippin to be?” asked Merry. “He’s been known to drive healers to distraction.”

“So far he’s been a good patient. At least he takes his medicine without a lot of fuss, though I know some of it has been rather bitter--unlike his father!” She gave a wry expression. Just a few weeks ago, the Thain had needed to be treated for an infection from a bad tooth, and oh! the fuss there had been over taking the bad tasting medicine. It had taken Mistress Took to finally overcome his objections, and even afterward, he sputtered and complained for hours.

Frodo, Merry and Sam all laughed. Merry shook his head. “As a lad, Pip used to be much worse about taking his medicine. I can recall having to chase him down and drag him out from under a bed by one leg to make him take a cough tonic. But he learned a hard lesson about that!”

Diamond looked over at him, curious.

Frodo took up the tale. “Pippin was very young, only about twelve. It was the first year after Bilbo had left, and Merry and Pippin had come to spend the spring with me at Bag End. Pip fell ill with a cold, and the healer gave us a tonic to dose him with, to help keep it from settling in his chest. I admit it smelled foul, and tasted even fouler. He did everything he could to avoid taking it. We had to chase after him every day when it was time to take it.”

“And then,” said Merry, “one day, he suddenly stopped resisting. He put up a bit of a fuss, and made awful faces, but he quit giving us any difficulty. I suppose that *should* have made me suspicious, but I put it down to the fact that we had bribed him with tea and cakes, and he just wanted more of the same. Then a few nights later, he had a relapse, a serious one.” Merry’s face grew sober, remembering how scary it had been to wake to Pippin coughing and barely able to breathe. “Not only had his cold come back even worse, but it had settled in his chest with a vengeance.”

“It turned out,” put in Frodo, “that the silly child had emptied the tonic out and replaced it with cold tea! The healer was not available that night--she‘d gone out to deliver a baby, if I recall correctly, and Merry and I were at wit’s end. If Sam and his father had not remembered how the tonic was made, I shudder to think what could have happened.”*

“ ‘Tweren’t nothing,” murmured Sam, a bit embarrassed at the praise.

“I beg to differ, Sam,” said Merry. “I think that it was a great deal, indeed!”

“So do I,” said Frodo stoutly. “You and your gaffer saved his life, I do believe.”

Sam blushed.

“At any rate, it gave Pippin such a fright that he stopped putting up a fuss about taking his medicine when he needed to. I suppose Strider should have been grateful for that--” Merry cut his eyes at Frodo “--since you gave him enough trouble for two on that score.”

Frodo laughed. “It doesn’t do to have the healers have things all their own way, now does it?”

Diamond gave him a mock stern look. “I don’t know why not. Personally, I think that healers should *always* get their own way!”

“You would!” laughed Merry, and the others laughed as well. “Is that why you decided to be a healer--to get your own way all the time?” He asked it lightly, but he listened intently for her answer.

“Oh, I had an aunt, Mistress Jewel North-took. She was a well-known and well-respected healer there in Long Cleeve. I thought she hung the moon, and all I ever wanted was to be just like her. She never wed, but she had her own little hole all to herself and whichever one of her apprentices she happened to be training at the time. I always thought that I would one day be her apprentice myself, but she died of a sudden apoplexy before I was old enough for it.” Diamond looked a bit sad.

“I’m sorry,” said Merry, contrite.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I am enjoying my time with Mistress Lavender. But I had thought we’d be spending our time in Budgeford. I was very surprised when we were asked to take over here while Mistress Poppy is gone, and even more surprised when we did so.”

“Why is that? Wouldn’t any healer consider working for the Thain a plum assignment?” Again Merry was listening very intently, as though to draw out any subtleties in her answer.

“It’s not so much that, but you know that Mistress Lavender is married. That’s unusual for a healer, you know. We generally tend to feel that marriage is a distraction. But her husband, Polo Bunce, did not object although it meant a year apart, except for the occasional visit.”

Merry raised his brow and pursed his lips. “And so, do *you* think marriage is a distraction?”

She laughed. “I don’t have time to think about it one way or the other. In fact, I shouldn’t be taking this time right now. If you gentlehobbits will excuse me, I need to go see if Mistress Lavender wants to wake for second breakfast. And I believe she will be wanting me to check some of her other patients for her today.” Diamond rose gracefully, and Merry and Frodo stood. She took her leave and headed back into the Smials. Merry watched her thoughtfully.

Sam looked at him curiously. “Mr. Merry! If I did not know you better, I would think that Miss Estella might have a rival, the way you was chatting Miss Diamond up!”

Frodo chuckled. “I don’t think so, Sam. There’s only one reason Merry would be paying so much attention to the lovely healer’s apprentice! So she’s caught Pippin’s eye, has she?”

Merry shook his head ruefully. Frodo knew him all too well. “Well, I wouldn’t have said anything, but since you’ve guessed it, yes she has. I think he’s fallen pretty hard.”

“So did she pass your inspection?” Frodo asked. He thought that Merry was getting a bit carried away, but he knew better than to advise him to stay out of it. It would never happen. Merry felt that any business of his cousins’ was business of his, and always had done.

Merry looked thoughtful. “She seems intelligent and level-headed. I’d say that she just might be the kind of lass he needs--she’s certainly not overly impressed that he’s the son of the Thain, nor with his status as a Knight of Gondor. On the other hand, she doesn’t seem to see him as anything but a patient. That is probably very professional of her, but it’s going to make things hard on Pip if she doesn’t return his interest. It worries me that she doesn’t seem to care about getting married.”

“Well, you know, Mr. Merry, that’s how most healers are! Why this Mistress Lavender is the only healer I’ve ever met myself who *is* married, though I’ve no doubt as there‘s a few others,” put in Sam. “But you know, if anyone can overcome that, it’s Mr. Pippin once he makes his mind up. And I don’t know about you, Mr. Frodo and Mr. Merry, but I think I’m going in to see about a bit of second breakfast. And then maybe we can get a turn to see Mr. Pippin.”

“That’s the best bit of wisdom I’ve heard this morning,” said Frodo. “And Merry, I know saying this to you is like talking to a wall, but try not to worry so much about Pip. He’s got a lot going for him, and if this is indeed the lass for him, he will make it happen; if she is not, then your interference is not going to mend matters.”

“I don’t interfere!”

Frodo and Sam frankly goggled at him.

He had the grace to blush, and they laughed.

“Well, it’s not *interference*. I just need to take care of him.”

And Frodo shook his head in defeat. Merry was right. But the need was more Merry’s than it was Pippin’s.

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*This is a reference to the first Round Robin story done on the PippinHealers Yahoo! group.  It's called "Of Tonic and Tea" and is found here on Stories of Arda at:  

  http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterview.asp?sid=3485&cid=13247