Deeper Than the Darkness

***

Interlude: Packing Up

Pippin yawned as he walked into the kitchen early one morning. Merry was already there.

"You’re up early today," Pippin said, as he bent down to coax the fire back to life.

Merry was sitting in a chair by the table, wrapped in a blanket.

"Couldn’t sleep, so I thought I might as well be up. Have a biscuit," he replied, gesturing to a plate of biscuits leftover from the day before.

Pippin glanced at the table with a slight frown, and instead disappeared into the larder. In a moment, he reappeared with several eggs and some strips of bacon. Merry shuffled over to the shelves and fetched a pitcher of water to fill the tea kettle, then sat back down again.

After Pippin had the bacon started, he went and got two mugs from their pegs near the window. Outside, the sun was lifting the morning haze, promising a warm day.

"It looks as if Spring is here for good now. We should probably be thinking about cleaning out this place again. Do you think it will be warm enough to open all the windows?"

Merry sat up and looked at him. "You’re thinking of cleaning? What is this world coming to?"

Pippin gave him a very patient look. "Yes, cousin, we Tooks do plan ahead a bit, though I would think that even a Brandybuck ought to be able to figure that much out."

"What are you talking about?" asked Merry.

Pippin cracked the eggs into the pan. "I am thinking of our letter from Frodo. He sounded quite optimistic about the work that has been going on up at Bag End. I think it might even resemble a respectable hole before summer arrives."

"Oh, I see. So if his home is respectable, ours ought to be as well?"

"Of course not, Merry," said Pippin, turning back towards the table. "I merely mention that because most of his belongings are here. We are going to have to clean up if we are to help him move in."

"Well, no harm in starting early. But I refuse to work on an empty stomach."

"I would not ask you to," grinned Pippin. He poured out the tea. "It just seemed like a good time to tear the place apart, since we aren’t expecting any visitors this week."

"We aren’t? None at all?" Merry looked surprised as he reached for his mug. "I guess you are right."

"Of course I’m right. Now eat some of this food, and wake up your sleepy head." Pippin placed the eggs and bacon on the table, and took a seat himself. It would not do to ignore his own advice, he thought, and then got down to business.

***

"Merry, did you ever write a reply to Frodo’s letter?" asked Pippin when they took a break from moving around the furniture in the sitting room. He sat down on a chair that had been moved away from the wall to reveal cobwebs, dust bunnies and an old felt hat.

"No, I haven’t done that yet. I guess I ought to soon," Merry replied.

"It’s been…what, five days since we received his letter?" said Pippin. "He probably wants to hear about when we got it. But, anyway, I was thinking that we could tell him that things are all ready here, so when he gives the word, we will load everything up on carts and whisk it off to Hobbiton."

"Wait, do you mean that we are going to pack up this house, and then just wait for Frodo’s word to leave?" asked Merry. "Won’t that be a bit awkward?"

"Not at all, because, my dear cousin, we aren’t going to be here!" said Pippin, jumping lightly out of the chair. "We are going to visit Great Smials, and then when Frodo writes to us there, we will have an excuse to escape. You said that you wanted to go tramping around the Shire, and now we have a perfect opportunity to do so."

"That’s excellent!" said Merry, with approval. "You seem to have thought of everything today. I probably should be worried, though. I think you may have cured me of my desire to go anywhere, just by suggesting it so suddenly."

"Well, I will give you a day or so to get used to the idea," said Pippin, temporizing. "But you must write to Frodo today."

"I’ll do that now, then. I must get out of this clutter, though," said Merry, also standing up. "I’ll be in my room."

Pippin found him there later, asleep in his chair. The finished letter was on the table.