PART TWO: The New Master

“Of course I had tea, Merry. What did you think? That I didn`t eat just because you were locked away in that study with Uncle?”

“No I suppose not,” Merry laughed. They bundled up in warm jackets and scarves and walked outside. “Come on, let’s go.”

Saradoc was silent as they walked up on the top of Buck Hill, stopping just to the side of where a large vent from the Hall’s main kitchen was hidden in a bush just by revealing that they would have roast pork, sautéed potatoes and stewed mushrooms for supper. “Ooh, that makes me hungry,” Pippin said, sniffing expectantly as his stomach rumbled and Merry laughed, taking a sniff himself and nodding appreciatively. Saradoc didn’t join them in the appreciation of the upcoming dinner and seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

“Da?” Merry said a little worried, studying Saradoc. He had been unnaturally quiet as they walked and now he stood staring out at the lands around them. He turned from the vent. “You`re so quiet. Is everything all right?”

Saradoc smiled and pointed to the landscape around them, making a large arch with his arm. “Look at all of this, lads.”

From where they were standing they could see almost all of Buckland and also a good bit of the River and the Marish on the horizon. Below them lay the great garden of Brandy Hall with its orchards and lawns, the front yard, the barns and the stables, everything now covered in a thin layer of frost. A few ponies with blankets covering their backs could be seen in the paddock and in the distance a rider was trotting towards the Gate. Turning they saw the village of Bucklebury through the trees just below them and beyond the fields meeting the Hedge with the Old Forest looming darkly with its coniferous trees behind it. Farms were strewn about the rolling hills and in the distance were more villages and farms.

Mist from the River was wafting through the air over the frozen landscape, chilling hobbits and ponies, but also making the world look magical as the mist rolled over the fields and caressed the trees. Some leaves that had not been blown away by the wind yet were strewn about the fields and hills as pale shadows of their former selves with frosted edges, crumbling as soon as you trod on them or picked one up.

“Look,” Saradoc said again, his voice full of suppressed emotion, fire brightening up  the dullness of grief and loss in his eyes. He looked at them both in turn and Pippin gasped a little when the gaze met his. This wasn’t anger, it was something else. Saradoc turned a little and held Merry’s gaze as he spoke. “All this is for you. This is what your grandfather and his father before him and all the generations before them have built up and made into what it is so that you can stand here and know that you live in a prosperous and safe country with enough food on your table and a roof over your head for this year and many to come.”

“Yes, Da,” Merry said, wondering what had brought this on. He had heard speeches like this before and he loved Buckland deeply, but never had he heard Da talked like this. Merry wondered if he had done something unspeakable to harm Buckland and its inhabitants, but the last thing he could remember having done was to tease the lasses at the market, and that hardly hurt anyone. The lass in question hadn’t even been angry, she had just swatted at him and shooed him away. It couldn’t be as simple as his Da being anxious as the task now lying before him?

“Buckland is dependent on its Master,” Saradoc continued. “Without a Master to guide and teach them, to know the history and traditions who knows what might happen,” he mused more than warned. “There has always been a Master and there always will be. There has to.” He looked at Merry. “It’s in your blood.”

“I know, and I love Buckland. I could never live anywhere else,” Merry said. “It is my home and will always be. I may visit other places but I belong here Da. In Buckland and at your side, I know that. You know that. I do think though that if there ever should come a time where there would be no Master that the Brandybucks would manage. We*re are after all known for being bright, Da.” Merry tried to smile but the moment was too sombre for that.

“That might be so and I am glad of that and also that you love Buckland my lad. There is much for you to learn and it is time that you pick up on your studies.”

“I thought I was finished with having lessons,” Merry said.

“Do you think you know all there is to know about being a Master then? You’re not even of age yet,” Saradoc said, smiling slightly. “Even I don’t know that, and your Grandda didn’t either. We learn as long as we live and I should like to meet he who knows everything about his job. Being Master is more than a job, Merry. It is a lifestyle and a way of living.”

“I know, Da. You have told me often enough, and Grandda too.”

“Yes,” Saradoc continued. “We have. And you will hear it again. It is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn. It goes for you too, Pippin. Being a farmer isn’t an office job that ends at tea time.”

Pippin nodded. “My Da says that often enough too.”

They stood some time looking at each other, each occupied with his own thoughts, when Merry finally broke the silence.

“Da,” Merry began, wanting to reassure him that he’d do a marvellous job as Master and that he needn’t worry about a thing. Saradoc had in many ways been Master for some years now and was well liked and trusted as far as Merry knew. “I hope there will always be a Master. And I will learn everything I have to know to be a good one too.” Merry found it strange that he was reassuring his father. It was usually the other way around. Something was definitely amiss. Saradoc had never lacked self-confidence and from what Merry could see after following him around since he was little, he always did what he thought was best for Buckland and its people. “I do after all have a very good teacher!”

Saradoc smiled. “He’s not too bad, is he?”

Merry shook his head. “He’s the best.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want anything less than the best for my lads. Saradoc gathered Merry and Pippin in a hug.

“Thank you Uncle,” Pippin said a little surprised at the sudden burst of emotion.

“This,” Saradoc said, excitement and eagerness in his voice again, the solemnity passed. He pointed to the surrounding lands again “is your future. Tell me, Merry, what would you do if someone came to you after a crop failure saying that he had nothing to feed his family with? Say that this crop failure had afflicted all of Buckland and that you couldn’t just hand him a sack of grain? Or if a young lad with a newborn baby came to you after losing his wife to an illness that claimed her life after a hard birth, begging for help with no family to turn to? Or what if the Bridge broke? These are decisions you more than likely will have to face one day.”

“But uncle, it isn’t likely that the Bridge will break, is it?” Pippin ventured a little worried, mostly for his the possibilities of Merry or his uncle facing that dilemma, not so much for the Bridge.

“It hasn’t so far and it has been standing for a good many years. But it has been a near thing a few times.” Saradoc said, softening a little. Merry was fidgeting and not meeting his gaze and Pippin was looking anxiously from uncle to cousin. “I’m sorry my lads but these are real dilemmas.”

“I would offer the farmer work,” Merry said quietly after thinking a little. “I’m sure there’s something he would be able to do so he could feed his family in some way, even if we’d have to get flour or grain from other parts of the Shire or even from the Outside. And I’d offer his family food from the Hall’s larders if he had to leave the farm for some reason.” Merry looked up, again daring to meet Saradoc’s gaze. Saradoc nodded approvingly. “And I’d find a mother with a wee one herself to help feed the baby until it was old enough to manage without if he didn’t have anyone in the family who could help.”

“Good,” Saradoc said. Merry had turned more and more confident as he spoke and looked Saradoc straight in the eye. The lad had a great and generous heart and a mind for knowing what people needed. Saradoc never doubted that Merry would be a very good Master but he was playing more than he was working and that needed to change now that he was the official heir and Merry needed to see the importance of that. Merry was always one to take on too much responsibility but lately he had been careless and thoughtless and got himself in more trouble than usual. It was a part of growing up and stretching his wings, Saradoc knew, but it was a side of his Merry he was not often used to see. Still, it looked like he had paid attention to his lessons “And what about the Bridge? What would you do if it broke?”

“Well, there is the Ferry, of course, but that would be a detour for those not really needing to go to the Marish or Woody End but only wanted to come to or travel from Buckland. And if the activity on the Ferry would increase too much then I suppose we*d have to build another Ferry or fuse one of the larger fishing boats to use as Ferry.”

“There should be a crossing down by Haysend,” Pippin said.

“That would definitely be a detour,” Merry retorted, smiling.

“It would,” Saradoc said. “But beyond Haysend is the Outside and that is why we have the Bounds.”

“We could build it on the inside, just north of where the Withywindle runs out in the Brandywine.” Pippin was bouncing by now. Why hadn’t someone thought about that before?

“I do not know if that is a good idea. Men and other creatures might find that too tempting I should think,” Saradoc said not wanting to tell any more in front of Pippin. He lad was still a child. “All right, lads. It’s getting cold. Why don’t we go inside again? We’ll continue the lesson later.”

“But it would be fun seeing Men,” Pippin said as they started walking. “Merry saw one once, and I know Frodo has too.”

“I know, Pip, but many of them are dangerous and we don’t know which ones. That is what the Rangers are helping us with.”

“Do they know the difference then?”

“Yes they do.”

Pippin didn’t want to leave the subject and continued asking questions about Men and the Old Forest and everything he could think of from the Outside. It was a sad thing indeed that Bilbo was not longer amongst them for he would have had more answers to Pippin’s questions than his uncle and cousin. The old Master had also been a good source for this kind of information, a good friend of Bilbo as he had been, but now he too was gone. Pippin hadn’t realised before now how sad that actually made him. Old Rory had been Merry’s grandfather and not someone Pippin knew all that well, but he was always friendly and patiently answered his questions if Pippin met him.

Pippin found the speech Uncle had held up on the Hill a bit strange though, why wouldn’t Merry appreciate Buckland? Pippin knew for a fact that Merry was very fond of Buckland, just as he was of Whitwell and the Tooklands.

“Da?” Merry said as they came to the orchards outside the Hall again. “I know that things have been going well while Grandda was Master, but what would happen if there was nothing we could do at the Hall for those needing our help? What if there was no food to give out or money or goods to pay for work with?”

“You daft Brandybuck!” Pippin said, elbowing Merry. “Have you completely forgot that there is more to the Shire than Buckland? What do you have cousins for, eh? You would have to ask the Thain of course. Or you could always come to the farm if you’re hungry.”

“Thank you, Pip. I knew I always could count on you. But what if you don’t have any food either? And the Thain’s larders are empty?”

“Merry! Don’t paint things darker than they need be. We have plenty of food and enough to feed you and dozens more.”

“Merry is right, though,” Saradoc said. “And there is no harm in being prepared if so should happen. There might come a time when all or the Shire is suffering from bad or failed crops. We never know that, but it is on those occasions that cousins and friends need each other the most and need to depend upon each other.”

“Do you think Da will be Thain, uncle?” Pippin suddenly asked. “Thain Ferumbras has said he wants Da to be Thain after him.”

“I do not know, but that is very likely, Pippin,” Saradoc said, wondering about how much to tell him.

“What is the use of us living on a farm then? Why do I have to learn all about farming if I am not to be a farmer anyway?”

“Knowing how to farm is very important, even for a Thain. I am a farmer too, Pippin. You know that.”

“Yes, but you don’t seem to do much actual farming,” Pippin said.

“He does,” Merry said. “I’ve been with him many times out in the fields or visiting farms talking to the people living at them. I suppose you were too little to remember, but when Da was younger and Grandda still functioning as Master Da used to help out in the fields just like everyone else. Now he supervises what’s going on but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know how to do the job. You have to know what’s right to do if you are to lead others. And you have been here at harvest or planting to see enough of what is done and Da has always been in the thick of things.”

“Yes I have, and so will Merry one day and you too if Paladin becomes Thain and you after him. You have been helping out enough times to know that I have been there too, haven’t you?” Saradoc said gently while looking Pippin in the eye. “Or have you been too busy playing instead of working perhaps?”

“I don’t know, uncle. I help out in the fields, but Merry is so busy being with you and learning to do things all the time that I suppose I have spent more time wanting for him to come back than paying proper attention to what I have been doing.” Pippin bent his head, feeling ashamed.

Saradoc sighed. This was another conversation they had had before. Pippin was both jealous and angry at Merry for him having to learn so many things and help out all the time while he himself was considered too young. Saradoc had tried to remedy that but Pippin was still a child and had not the interest or the concentration to learn these things yet. It could be quite trying to teach Merry what he saw fitting that he learned, but Saradoc knew that deep down, Merry knew he didn’t have any other choice and that he had to learn these things if he were to succeed as Master one day. Saradoc knew and cherished that Merry showed both keen interest and talent for many of the things Saradoc taught him. And It could not be denied that Merry missed the carefree life Pippin still led. He knew Merry wanted to spend as much time with Pippin as possible, but Merry was growing up now, and the time for play and games would soon be over. Saradoc had after all been a lad himself and still remembered how nice it was to run through the fields or play with lads his own age instead of working. He was a grown hobbit with an almost grown son now but could still play a little, couldn’t he? After all, lads would always be lads, no matter what age they are and it didn’t hurt the Brandybucks to see their new Master smile and laugh and play with his lads. It would be a sign that life was back to normal now and although the grief still was tangible, he could not stop living when he had so much to still enjoy. He tapped Merry and Pippin on the shoulder and shouted “I’ll race you to the Hall. First one to reach the table gets the biggest slice of pie for dessert!”

Merry and Pippin hesitated for a split second trying to comprehend what had happened and ran after him.  “Do you think we’ll beat him?” Pippin panted, skirting through a corner as they entered the Hall after running through the orchards and over the courtyard, Saradoc still in front of them.

“I hope so!” Merry said. “We can’t have someone twice our age outrun us, now can we?”

As it turned out the match was even but Merry had barely sat down when Pippin drew out his chair to sit and Saradoc came into the room, all of them laughing and leaving residing hobbits and guests and servants in a state of half-shock. The talk would run high this night and many would wonder what had the Master come running laughing through the hallways chasing after his son and nephew. Saradoc decided to let them wonder.

Esmeralda was ready to scold when the trio burst into the Great Hall but thought better of it as all of them were laughing. When dinner was over and the dessert was served, Saradoc ceremoniously handed Merry his price and Merry accepted the large slice of pie with a wide grin before tucking in.