Chapter 59. To Sleep, Perchance

Merry opened his eyes to see Doderic in the chair by the bed. 'Why aren't you out digging something?' he asked irritably.

Doderic smiled and stretched. 'Too hot out there,' he said. 'It was either splash in the shallows of the River with the little ones, which is much too much work, or hide away underground, and what better place to do it than in the pleasant and gracious company of the Master?'

'Which Master are you talking about?' Merry asked.

Doderic grinned. 'You're very pleasant company when you're asleep, cousin,' he said.

Merry sighed. 'I've been sleeping for days.'

'Not quite,' Doderic answered. 'The races were only the day before yesterday, you know.'

'Then I've had plenty of sleep,' Merry said, trying to struggle upright, only to be pushed back down by his cousin.

'I calculate that if you sleep straight through the next month you will have made up for all the sleep you've lost this year,' Doderic said.

Merry looked at him in exasperation. 'Go calculate something else,' he snapped.

The healer breezed in with a bowl. 'Ah,' he said, 'We're awake.'

The Master glared. 'I don't know about you,' he said irritably, 'but I certainly am.'

Unperturbed, Robin handed the bowl to Doderic. 'Here,' he said.

Doderic affected surprise. 'Some of Estella's special custard? For me?'

'No, you idiot, for me,' Merry said, reaching for the bowl, but his right hand did not seem to be working properly and he settled back in silent frustration.

The healer propped him into a sitting position. Doderic was surprised to see how weak his cousin was, and he spoke more gently. 'I thought I saw you nearly drop your glass at the late supper,' he said. 'Do you want to eat with your left hand, or shall I feed it to you?' Merry snorted in answer, and Doderic steadied the bowl for him as he fed himself, somewhat awkwardly.

'Where's Estella?' he demanded of the healer after a few bites.

Robin smiled. 'I sent her to nap away the hottest part of the day, and after that she's going to take your son down to the River to splash in the shallows.'

'The shallows...' Merry echoed. 'With the River so low...' he mused, then looked up. 'Have any of the wells failed yet?'

Doderic laughed. 'Trust you to find something to worry about,' he said. 'Haven't you any better things to do? Sleep, for instance?'

'Have they?' Merry insisted. Doderic hesitated, and the Master nodded. 'I knew we were close to losing some of the shallower wells,' he said. 'Have you started taking water from the River, yet?'

Doderic shook his head. 'It hasn't come to that. We have sent out a warning to boil any water taken from the River before using it, for those whose wells are failing. I had crews out digging for water this morning, in the cool of the day, and we may dig by torchlight when the Sun has gone down.' He put the empty bowl aside. 'Don't worry, Merry,' he said. 'We've all the water we need flowing by the Hall. No matter how bad the drought is, the Brandywine will never run dry.'

'I would have said the Shire would never run out of food,' Merry said gloomily.

'We haven't, yet,' Robin said, pulling away the pillows that propped him up in the bed and easing him down. 'And now it is time to sleep again.'

'Sleep,' Merry grumbled. 'I'm sleeping my life away.'

The healer smiled. 'Quite the opposite,' he said, 'I assure you.'

***

The next time he woke, it was dark outside the window and Pippin was sitting by the bed. 'What did the King say?' Merry asked.

'You're not one to waste words, I'll say that for you,' Pippin said. 'How about, "How are you, Pippin? How was the ride, Pippin? Welcome back, cousin, I hope you didn't get heat sickness from riding in the Sun..."?'

Merry said obediently, 'How are you, Pippin? How was the ride, Pippin? Welcome back, cousin, I hope you didn't get heat sickness from riding in the Sun.'

The Thain leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the bed. 'I'm fine, cousin, thank you for asking,' he said. He took a deep breath, then added, 'We are now officially beholden to the King.'

'Ah, well,' Merry said philosophically. 'He's been beholden to the Shire for years, after what Frodo and Sam did... I guess we're just getting a taste of our own bitter herbs.' Pippin made a wry face, and Merry added, 'Let us think cheerful thoughts. Perhaps the waggons will get stuck at Sarn Ford and a flood will come down to wash them away. Then we won't be owing anything to anyone.'

'No such luck,' Pippin sighed. 'They've built a bridge at Sarn Ford, the King says.'

'Ah, well,' Merry said. 'I guess we're to be stuck with waggons of food, then.'

'I can think of worse things,' Pippin answered.

'So can I,' Merry said. '...like lying abed for days on end when there's work to be done.'

'I've tried it,' Pippin said. 'It's not so bad, once you get used to it.'

'I don't want to get used to it!' Merry snapped in frustration. He started to throw back the covers but his cousin forestalled him. 'Pippin!' he said. 'I shall go mad if I have to stay abed any longer.'

'No you won't,' Pippin said stubbornly. 'You'll get the sleep you've been denying yourself.'

'No one ever died for lack of sleep,' Merry said.

'Are you looking to become the first?' Pippin asked. 'Here,' he said, 'I'll help you to sit up, if you promise that is as far as you will take things.' At Merry's nod, he propped his cousin with pillows. 'Would you care for some of the Hall's finest?'

'Are we running out of that, too?' Merry asked.

'No, I'm told there's a goodly supply, yet,' Pippin said, pouring out two glasses of brandy. He noted that Merry did not even try to take the glass with his right hand.

'Good, at least we'll have something to drink when the wells all run dry,' Merry said.

'Doderic has crews out digging deeper wells as we speak,' Pippin said. 'Which reminds me. Another message came from Tuckborough this evening. The hobbits of Tookland express thanks for the waggonloads of foodstuffs.'

'How's the water supply there?'

'I do believe they are delving ever deeper into the earth in search of water,' Pippin said. 'Nothing that a little rain wouldn't fix.'

'More than a little, I'm afraid,' Merry said, sipping his brandy.

'How's the hand?' Pippin said.

'It hasn't fallen off, yet,' Merry said. He moved the fingers slightly. 'A little stiffer than yesterday, perhaps. I think I'm getting too much sleep; it seems to be making me stiff all over.' He shrugged his shoulders a few times and sipped again. 'What did the King say?'

'We should receive waggonloads of food from the South at the end of October, or early in November,' Pippin said. 'Enough to take us through Yule, and by then more ought to arrive by ship, if the River is not too low.'

'Never count your chickens until they're in the pot,' Merry said.

'Well, if it doesn't rain, the Shire is going to turn to dust and blow away,' Pippin said 'The King offered us lands in the South, by the way, should that happen.'

'What?' Merry said sharply, sitting up a little straighter.

'There weren't always hobbits in the Shire, you know,' Pippin said. 'Think of all the old legends, before Marcho and Blanco. For that matter, where did Marcho and Blanco come from, after all?'

'Leave the Shire?' Merry whispered. 'I cannot imagine such a thing.'

'I wonder if the hobbits who crossed the mountains in the first place could imagine leaving their fair and green country in the upper vales of the Anduin, before Greenwood the Great became Mirkwood the Dark,' Pippin said. He put his glass down and stretched. 'But it may not come to that. The rains may come; they've had a nice holiday, three years now, and must be feeling rather sick for a sight of old haunts again.' He took Merry's empty glass. 'And now, cousin, unless you wish to eat something, I think it is time to sleep again.'

'I'm not hungry,' Merry said absently. 'And I don't want to sleep.'

'The healer has ordered that you stay in bed a week complete,' Pippin answered.

'A week! I've had two days, surely that is more than enough,' Merry said. 'There is so much to be done, Pippin.'

'Don't I know it?' Pippin answered. 'I must needs return to Tuckborough tomorrow. But I expect you to stay abed even without me sitting upon you.' He picked up a covered cup from the table by the bed. 'Here, Healer Robin left this for you. He said it would help you to sleep without dreaming.'

'That would be a mercy,' Merry said quietly. He took the cup in his left hand, but did not drink.

'I know why the healer will not let your wife sit by your bedside,' Pippin said, 'and why Robin has left you in this bed rather than your own.' Merry was confused at the apparent change of subject.

'Why is that?' Merry asked.

'You were calling for Estella, earlier,' Pippin said. 'It did not sound like a pleasant dream.'

Merry was silent, looking into the depths of the cup.

'All the worry in the world will not add a day to Estella's life,' Pippin said softly, 'and it harms her as well as yourself, you know, for you give her cause to worry about you.'

Merry said nothing. Pippin took the silence to mean encouragement, so he took a deep breath and continued. 'Each day is another gold coin added to your treasure, you know.' Merry nodded. 'So guard them, gather them, hold them close. But... do not squander them in worry and fear.' He gazed earnestly at his cousin. 'We cannot know the number of our days, Merry. You could go out on the River tomorrow with Estella, and never return, just as happened to Drogo and Primula, or you could both live to be a hundred. As you said yourself, today's troubles are enough for today; don't look for tomorrow's troubles. They may never come, but even if they do, all the worry in Middle-earth won't keep them away, and might well hasten their coming.'

They sat in silence for a long while.

Finally, breaking the silence, 'How did my baby cousin ever become so wise?' Merry asked.

Pippin smiled. 'Must have been all those long talks with my bed,' he said. 'We're on a first-name basis, you know.'

Merry nodded. 'I think you've mentioned that.' Despite himself, he felt his eyelids becoming heavy again. He drank the bitter herbal concoction at a gulp and handed the cup to his cousin.

'Good night,' Pippin said quietly. 'Sleep tight, cousin, and may all your dreams, if any, be pleasant ones.'

Merry yawned, murmured something inaudible, turned over, and slept again.