Merry, who knew Pippin better than anyone could tell that his cousin was softening a bit towards him. That was good, but he hadn’t apologized which still a cause for concern. Pippin had never behaved like this before, especially not towards Merry. On the other hand, they had never quite been faced with a situation like this before. Someone they cared about had almost died right in front of them unexpectedly. Weathertop had been similar, but even then they knew, right after Frodo’s stabbing that there was a good chance they could lose him. Sam, however, had come down with a seemingly mild illness and was expected to make a complete recovery very soon. There had been nothing had prepare them for what happened and Pippin apparently felt betrayed after being told Sam would be all right.

Maybe I shouldn’t have told him that, Merry thought. But I was sure of it too. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Oh, but what is this? It makes absolutely no sense.

Merry looked up hopefully to see Pippin get up from the tree stump he was sitting on, obviously looking for some comfort. He had gotten his hopes up too soon, however. Pippin darted over the cave entrance without giving him a glance.

“Oh Boromir!” Pippin cried, throwing himself into the Man’s arms. Boromir, who had been watching for some time to make sure the Hobbits came to no harm, was caught off guard for a minute, but quickly returned Pippin’s embrace. “It was so awful!” Pippin sobbed, “I still can’t believe what happened!”

“Yes I know,” Boromir said gently. “I was quite shaken by that myself. I can just imagine what it must have been like for you.”

“Boromir, is Sam going be all right now?” Pippin asked, looking pleadingly into his eyes. Boromir, not used to being at a loss for words, agonized over this. He wanted with all his heart to say yes, Sam would be all right, but he knew there was still a chance he might not be. He was relieved to see Merry approach slowly. Maybe he would be spared the ordeal of having to speak, at least for a while. No such luck, however.

“Boromir, what happened to Sam?” Merry asked quietly, giving Boromir a trusting look that almost broke his heart. Boromir groaned inside; here was another question he had no answer for!

What had happened to Sam? Boromir had a general idea, but not being a healer he didn’t feel qualified to explain, especially after seeing the disastrous result of incorrect information the first time. No, Aragorn would have to take care of that when he came out. But when was that going to be?

Boromir knelt down in front of the two Hobbits and looked at them seriously, but compassionately. "Pippin and Merry, I am going to be honest with you. I don't know what happened, and I don't know if Sam will be all right." As the two Hobbits' faces fell, he continued hastily. "I don't want to you to lose hope, but I don't want to lie to you either. We need to wait for Aragorn to tell us, because he is the healer, I am not."

“But Boromir, you helped treat him. You must know something!” Merry protested.

“Listen to Boromir; he speaks wisely,” Legolas told the Hobbits firmly as he and Gimli returned from gathering whatever medicinal herbs they could find before the expected snow fall that evening.

“Indeed,” said Gimli with equal resolve. “We all have gifts that are unique to us, which is why the Fellowship was formed and is so important.” Boromir looked up at them gratefully for a minute. As he went back to giving the Hobbits what comfort he could, the Elf and the Dwarf looked at each with amazement. Finally there was something they agreed on!

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

Frodo and Sam were confused. How could what happened to Sam be Aragorn’s fault? And what exactly did happen, anyway? Both Hobbits had been expecting bad news and were preparing themselves for it, but Aragorn’s reaction was something they were definitely not prepared for.

Aragorn, quickly noticing this, took a breath and considered for a minute how he was going to explain. “I believe you had an allergic reaction, Sam,” he said at last. “Do you know what that means?” Both Hobbits nodded, their eyes widened with shock.

“My cousin had one of those about fifty years ago,” Sam explained. “Her brother, who lived by the sea had come home for a visit and he brought shellfish for the family as a special treat. Just after it was served and she started eating it…” Sam cringed and looked down.

“She had reaction just like Sam’s and she died,” Frodo finished. “No one in the Shire knew why until the next time Gandalf visited, then he explained everything. Of course, I was too young to remember anything about it, but Bilbo said it caused such a stir in the Shire that no one has had shellfish since. Not that they saw very much of it before that.”

“Mr. Strider, what’s this got to do with me?” Sam wanted to know, “I never ate shellfish before.”

“Allergic reactions can caused by any number of things, Sam,” Aragorn explained. “In your case, I’m sure it was the echinacea I had you take. Twice.” Aragorn cringed when he said this.

Frodo almost panicked when he realized the significance of this. “Sam isn’t going to die, is he?” he asked in horror.

“I don’t think so,” Aragorn replied cautiously. “Fortunately, extreme reactions like the one you described don’t happen very often. Sam’s reaction was only moderate and it isn’t showing signs of happening again, although we still need to watch carefully for that.”

“Sam, if this is true I don’t ever want you tending echinacea flowers again!” Frodo exclaimed.

“They never gave me any real problems before, Mr. Frodo,” Sam told him. “I just got some itching whenever I touched their leaves, and it always went away right after I washed my hands.” Aragorn cringed again when he heard this.

“Are you all right, Strider?” Frodo asked. He and Sam both looked at him with concern now they had recovered from their own shock and noticed how upset he was.

“Oh yes. I just feel awful about what I did,” Aragorn replied, keeping his voice low to avoid upsetting the Hobbits too.

“What you did?” Sam looked confused, and then understanding quickly he said, “It wasn’t your fault, sir. In fact it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Nobody could have known I was allergic to echinacea.”

“I should have asked if anything of thing in the medicine had ever affected you, Sam,” Aragorn replied. “Had I known that you itched whenever you touched echinacea leaves, then I would have known right away you were allergic to them and this would all have been avoided. And besides that, your symptoms came on too quickly to be caused by an ordinary cold. I should have realized that too.”

“We all make mistakes, sir,” Sam told him compassionately.

“Yes, Strider, don’t blame yourself,” Frodo said gently, giving Aragorn’s hand a squeeze. “The important thing is that he’s all right now.”

“Thanks to you,” Sam added. Aragorn smiled, having no words to say. They had forgiven him completely; now if he could just forgive himself.