Aragorn checked Sam’s condition again and, being satisfied that it was stable, he asked the Hobbits if they would be all right while he stepped out to talk to the others. “Of course we will, Strider,” Frodo assured Aragorn, bringing Sam a cup of ginger tea and covering him warmly with more blankets. “And if anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.”

“After us of course,” Sam added sleepily after drinking the tea. Frodo rolled up another blanket and placed under Sam’s shoulder to make sure he was as comfortable as possible. Aragorn smiled and wrapped a blanket around Frodo too. Then he stepped out as the sun was setting, totally unprepared for the hostile reaction he would encounter.

“All right, Aragorn, what happened?” Pippin demanded, glaring up at him as the rest of the Fellowship gasped. “Nothing to worry about?” he continued icily when Aragorn didn’t answer right away. “Sam will be all right by tomorrow, will he?”

“Pippin! Calm down!” Boromir gasped, barely able to contain his shock. He never would have imagined this from the good-natured little Hobbit.

“How can I calm down?” Pippin demanded stamping his foot, “I may be young, but I am not ignorant,” he continued turning to Aragorn again. “Sam almost died, didn’t he? After you said his condition wasn’t serious and I believed you.” Merry looked disapprovingly at his cousin but said nothing.

If Pippin is angry now, just wait until he finds out what happened! Aragorn thought miserably, as he tried to think how on Middle Earth he was going to explain that. Well, someone had to do it and of course, that someone was him. Now, how should I go about it? he wondered.

“Are you going to answer me?” Pippin demanded, his voice rising at least three decibels. “You better, because if you don’t I’m going to….” What was he going to do? He stood speechless as he probed mentally for a suitable course of action.

“Pippin, you seem very upset,” Aragorn said gently, getting down on his knees beside the young Hobbit.

“Really, Strider? What gave you that idea?” Pippin asked sarcastically, although his hostility lessened slightly now that Aragorn was at his level.

“Master Peregrin, this behaviour is totally unacceptable!” warned Gandalf, as he came down from the hill where he had kept a look out. He and Pippin were surprised, however, when Aragorn held up his hand

“Let him talk, Gandalf,” Aragorn requested, his voice resigned. “I don’t blame you, or anyone else for being upset, Pippin,” he continued. “The fact of the matter is, this was my making and I feel very upset with myself for that.”

Things were silent for the next minute. The rest of the Fellowship looked confused until finally Gandalf spoke. “Yes, you mentioned that you should have watched for signs of AMS. I should have too, Aragorn. The fault was as much mine as yours, knowing as much about hobbits as I do.”

“AMS was only part of the problem,” Aragorn replied, “and a relatively small part at that. I gave Sam a healing herb that he was allergic to, not once but twice.”

There was a collective gasp from the Fellowship when they heard that. Legolas, Gimli and Boromir looked stunned and alarmed, Pippin and Merry just looked confused. Gandalf closed his eyes leaned on his staff for support. “Just like Ivy Goodchild,” he said, almost to himself.

“Who?” Pippin asked. He had heard that name before, but never quite understood the significance of it.

“Sam’s cousin,” Merry told him. “She was the one that ate shellfish and died. I remember hearing about that a few times.”

“So, was the shellfish poison?” Pippin asked, trying to make some sense of all this.

“It was to her, Pippin. She was allergic to it,” Aragorn explained but Pippin, and to a lesser extent, Merry still looked confused. “Having an allergy, or being allergic to something means that a person gets sick in some way from a substance that would be harmless to most people. Allergic reactions come in varying degrees of seriousness. Thankfully, Sam’s reaction was only moderate and I had the means to treat it. His cousin apparently wasn’t so fortunate.”

“I doubt anything could saved her,” Gandalf added. “From what Bilbo told me, her reaction was extremely serious.”

“Did you give Sam shellfish?” Merry wanted to know. It made no sense but then, he had seen a lot of things that made no sense.

“No, Merry, shellfish is only one possible cause of reactions,” Aragorn forced himself to keep his head up, although it was becoming increasingly difficult under the circumstances. “In Sam’s case it was echinacea.”

“Echinacea? Isn’t that a type of flower?” Merry asked. When Aragorn nodded, Merry quickly became as confused as Pippin had been.

“A gardener shouldn’t be allergic to a flower,” Pippin pointed out. His hostility was quickly being replaced by curiosity, but Aragorn had felt more comfortable with the former. At least that way he knew what to expect next. What was the reaction going to be when he finally told them everything? Or should he tell them everything? How much did they want to know exactly? Well, he should probably satisfy Pippin’s curiosity, if nothing else.

“Tending flowers in the garden is quite different from actually swallowing them, Pippin,” he explained, “but Sam did mentioned afterwards that the leaves made his hands itch.”

“So are the healers in the Shire going to have to stop using it?” Merry said. “Probably; it doesn’t seem to be a safe healing herb.”

“Not necessary, echinacea is usually a safe herb, Merry. It can be very effective as well, but a healer should consider the possibly of an allergy before giving any type of medicine and watch for a reaction afterwards. I failed to do this, and unfortunately, everyone has seen the result of that.”

“What was it supposed to do, Strider?” Pippin asked. He had noticed that Aragorn was upset and now felt rather badly about that, but his curiosity was too strong to resist asking more questions.

“It was supposed to prevent Sam from getting something worse than AMS and help him recover from it. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. I caused it by not taking a proper health history and I made it worse by not recognizing what was happening when I should have.” Aragorn bowed his head and took a deep breath, trying to contain his emotions.

“Oh Strider!” Pippin gently placed his hand on Aragorn’s shoulder. His hostility was gone completely and he now felt only concern. “Don’t feel bad any more. You were trying to help Sam, not hurt him.”

“Exactly, no one is blaming you,” Merry confirmed, temporarily forgetting about his own problem.

Aragorn pulled both Hobbits to him and hugged them tightly, touched beyond words by their compassion and forgiveness. The rest of the Fellowship looked on, equally moved by what they saw. Boromir, however, noticed that Pippin’s coolness toward Merry was still unchanged.