“Pip!” Merry dashed out after Pippin, hurt and confused. “Pippin, why are you acting this?”

Pippin spun around and glared at his cousin. “You lied to me Merry,” he declare hotly.

“Lied to you?” Merry gasped, feeling every emotional imaginable rising up inside him. “Pippin I can’t believe what I’m hearing! I never lied to you in my life!”

“Until earlier today when you said Sam was going to be all right!” Pippin replied bitterly. “I believed you, Merry. I’ve always trusted you and now this!”

“How was I to know?” Merry shot back, deeply hurt by Pippin’s behaviour, but at the feeling entitled to some anger of his own. “I never saw anything like this in my life and I don’t understand what happened even now. Strider said….” Merry stopped speaking suddenly and put his hand over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to blame Strider, but he realized too late that was the way it came out.

“Pip, Strider didn’t know either. I don’t think anybody could have known….” Merry stopped talking at that point and just looked confused. Known what, he wondered. “Pippin, do you want to alone now?” Merry asked quietly, thinking it might be best for both of them.

“Don’t go too far,” Pippin replied hesitantly, “because..well..it might not be safe for us out here alone.” Merry smiled with relief and sat on a log about four feet from where Pippin was standing.

*********************

Aragorn monitored Sam’s condition closely for the next five hours and gave him a half dropper full of tincture at regular intervals from the smaller black bottle. Sam felt itchy, had cold symptoms and become violently sick after taking his medicine. That obviously meant an allergic reaction. So the question was, what caused the reaction? Frodo was lying by his side, exhausted from the incident. As much as Aragorn hated to disturb Frodo, he had to get some answers soon, it might prevent Sam having another attack. Gandalf had gone out to keep watch after giving as Aragorn as much information as he could about hobbit health in general. Now Aragorn would have to get some information from Frodo, since he knew he knew Sam best. He would let Sam sleep for now to recover his strength.

“Frodo?” he whispered, rubbing his arm gently. “Don’t be frightened, but I have to talk to you.” Frodo sprang up, his blue eyes widened with alarm.

“Is Sam still all right?” he tried to keep his voice down, but it was clearly difficult.

“At this time yes,” Aragorn assured him. Frodo forced himself to stay calm by remembering that getting upset wouldn’t help Sam. “I hope I can prevent this from happening again. Has Sam ever had a reaction like this, to your knowledge?” Aragorn wanted to know.

“No never,” Frodo replied. He knew Sam was never the type to admit he was sick, but surely something like this couldn’t be concealed.

“Has it ever happened to his parents, or any of his brothers or sisters, that you know of?” Aragorn continued.

“I don’t think so,” Frodo told him, “His mother got pneumonia and I think she had some of the symptoms, but nothing sudden like this.”

“Is there anything you could tell me about Sam’s health? It could be important even if it seems irrelevant.”

“I never saw him get really sick,” Frodo said considering this, “But sometimes he works too hard and pulls a muscle, or he stays in the sun too long and gets a headache. Whenever I notice that, I insist that he come inside, and I make him some willow, rosemary and licorice tea.”

“Are you sure it was that exactly combination?” Aragorn asked, feeling he was getting somewhere now.

“Yes, Strider, that’s the standard treatment for pain in the Shire and as far as I know, it never hurts anyone, certainly not Sam.”

Aragorn considered this. Willow, rosemary and licorice could be safely ruled out, it seemed. “What about slippery elm or wild cherry bark or muellin?” he continued.

“They gave that to his mother when she had pneumonia. It seemed to help her, and it certainly didn’t do her any harm.”

That was good to know. There was a very good chance Sam would have inherited his mother’s allergy, if there was one. “Has Sam himself ever been given any of those treatments?” Aragorn continued.

“I don’t know,” Frodo replied. At that moment, Sam began to wake up.

“Hello, Sam. How are you feeling?” Frodo asked gently, as Aragorn propped Sam’s feet up again. Sam smiled, not sure how to answer that.

“Well, I feel a bit better now. I don’t much like sleeping on my side, even though I know I have to for now. And I can still breathe pretty easy, which is wonderful.”

“We were just discussing what might have caused your reaction,” Aragorn explained. “Have you have taken wild cherry, slippery elm bark or meullin?”

“Sometimes when I have a really nasty cold and I’m coughing. I take it to keep from disturb my family at night.”

“And has it ever affected you adversely?” Aragorn continued. Sam looked confused. “Has it ever made you sick or done anything to do you that it wasn't meant to?” Sam shook his head.

“And what about valerian? Have you ever had that?”

“Yes, valerian and skullcap tincture when I was really small. They gave it for a few days to help me sleep when something really bad happened, like a death in the family. And they used sometimes to calm me down when I was sick and I wouldn’t let the healer tend to me. You’ve probably noticed I don’t much like being tended by a healer.” Frodo smiled sympathetically. “Although I got a bit better about that over time,” Sam added quickly.

Aragorn clenched his teeth and groaned inside. All the other herbs had been ruled out as the cause of the reaction. That could only mean one thing. “What about echinacea?” he asked, needing to be completely certain.

“Those purple flowers, sir?” Sam asked. Aragorn nodded. “I take care of them in Mr. Frodo’s garden, but I didn’t know they were used to make medicine.”

Aragorn cursed himself again and let his head fall against the cave wall none too gently. The Hobbits would have rushed to his side, but Sam’s head was on Frodo’s lap and Sam himself didn’t have the strength to get up quickly. “This was my fault completely,” Aragorn told them cryptically. “I don’t know what to say, Frodo and Sam, except that I’m sorry.” Both Hobbits looked at him, feeling shocked and confused.