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The Many Aspects of Merimac Brandybuck  by Lily Dragonquill

Title: Precious
Rating: G
Summary: A visit to Whitwell and a quarrel with its occupants causes some discomfort.
Year: 1348


Special thanks to Dreamflower.



~*~*~


"Where did you get that?"

Paladin winced at the high-pitched note in his sister's voice. It was quite normal for her to quickly rise to provocation but he hadn't heard that particular tone in weeks; not since Ruby, Opal, and Amethyst had insisted that she was too young to come along to their Highday-evening out. Rejected by her elder sisters Esmeralda tended to lash out at everybody unlucky enough to cross her way.

Paladin hoped he could ignore her this time but then Saradoc, who was standing beside him, sighed deeply and pointed out that it was again Merimac who stood at the receiving end of Esmeralda's unusually flaring wrath.

The poor child seemed quite intimidated by Esmeralda's anger, looking at her wide-eyed and unable to reply. That, however, might also have been because Esme was flooding him with insults and Paladin silently congratulated him for bearing it so well.

"Don't make me take it back from you!"

That was enough. Paladin jumped from the fence he was sitting on. "Esmeralda Took! If you need to vent your temper yell at Ruby. She at least will be able to talk back."

"I could talk back as well," Merimac piped in.

Paladin and Esmeralda ignored him. She was busy shooting Paladin malevolent looks, while he held her gaze because it would infuriate her even more. Ruby, as the eldest of five children, had a way of telling off her siblings for every misstep and Paladin felt a secret pleasure whenever his sisters argued among themselves.

"You think I'm in a temper, do you?" Esmeralda growled. "Well, you'd be as well. What good is there in having sisters when they keep telling me I'm too young to join them while this little…" Esmeralda gestured at Merimac but failed to find a suitable name. "I saw him sneak around the smial. He took grandma's ring although mother keeps it in a casket in her room. What were you doing skulking about in there?"

Esmeralda glared down at Merimac who smiled in perfect innocence, though Paladin did not fail to notice that the child kept his hands hidden behind his back. His manner, also, was slightly different and numerous visits with the Brandybucks had taught him not to trust Merimac whenever he started brushing his toes over the grass the way he did now.

Ignoring Esmeralda's continued twitter Paladin knelt down in front of his cousin and placed his hands on his shoulders. In a gentle voice he asked: "Did you take the ring, Merimac?"

Merimac opened his mouth, then, obviously realising he was caught, lowered his eyes and drew even more vigorous circles with his toes. "It wasn't in a casket," he pointed out. "It was just lying on the nightstand."

"Why did you take it?"

"What did he do this time?" Saradoc asked with a reproachful look at his brother. "Why do you always have to spoil everything?"

"I didn't!" Merimac told him indignantly. "It was pretty and…"

"You can't just take it away, Mac. It's an heirloom, you know and…" Paladin tried to explain but Esmeralda interrupted him.

"You realise you're stealing, do you?!" she thundered and before Paladin could stop her she grabbed Merimac by the arm and tried to take the shining golden ring from him. The sunlight got caught in the glittering diamond as Merimac desperately tried to keep it out of Esmeralda's grip.

"Stop it, Esmeralda!" Paladin yelled but she kept screaming at Merimac who shouted back, his cheeks flushed and his eyes blazing as he struggled to break free.

Later, Paladin could never quite tell how it happened. Saradoc cried for them to stop fighting while Paladin tried in vain to separate his sister from Merimac. He only succeeded when Merimac collapsed, choking and gasping for breath. Esmeralda immediately let go of him and they both stared at their cousin, unable to move.

"No, you didn't!" Esmeralda moaned but her voice had lost its sharpness and was now trembling with the seriousness of the situation.

Merimac had only seen this one way to escape his captor, but in the scuffle no one had noticed that he had shoved the ring into his mouth until it was too late. With watering eyes he desperately tried to suck in some air, one moment trying to swallow the treacherous trinket and the next fighting to retch it back up. Horrible choking and gurgling noises accompanied this struggle as Merimac's face grew crimson and the arms with which he tried to support his weight trembled.

"Do something!" Saradoc was the first to awake from his stupor and it seemed to Paladin that his voice cleared the mist in front of his eyes.

Without knowing what he was doing or whether it was the right thing to do, he grabbed Merimac around the chest and hit him on the back with the flat of his hand. "Retch it back up!"

"That's it!" Esmeralda finally came to as well. "You have to stick your finger down his throat so that he vomits. I saw Ruby do that to the Longbottom boy when he swallowed poisonous berries."

Paladin stared at her, momentarily forgetting that Merimac was about to suffocate. He did not realise that the coughing sounds were once again replaced by heavy swallowing. "I'm not going to stick my finger down anybody's throat!"

"Mama!" Saradoc fled in a panic, fearful eyes glued to Merimac's helpless form.

Paladin felt a pang of guilt. This was not the time for arguments, however horrible Esmeralda's suggestions might be, but just as he made up his mind Merimac, now purple in the face, fell limply against his chest and gulped in the air like a fish outside water.

"What's going on?" Esmeralda asked nervously looking at their cousin as if he had grown a second head.

Paladin glared at her before tentatively touching a flaming and tear-streaked cheek. "Mac?"

The child opened his watery eyes and smiled weakly up at him. "It's gone," he croaked before breaking into a breathless giggle.

Paladin kept staring but Esmeralda's temper immediately rose again. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

Merimac shrugged innocently. "It's no longer there."

"You didn't!" Esmeralda shouted and Merimac tensed, his grin vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. "You didn't swallow it!"

"What did he swallow?"

Menegilda hastened around the corner fearing the worst. Saradoc was rarely that pale in the face and he never stuttered, except when in a panic. The sight before her didn't do anything to lessen the tightness in her chest. Paladin and Esmeralda knelt in the grass, a weak-looking Merimac in Paladin's lap. He was flushed and breathing hard, while Paladin caressed his cheek with a frightened look on his ashen face. Menegilda felt her own colour drain and her finger tighten convulsively around the fabric of her skirts.

"Mama!" Menegilda's heart skipped a beat. "Don't let her get me." Merimac sat up and spread his arms as if to hug her, only to slump back against Paladin once more.

"Merimac, sweet, are you all right?" Relief washed over her as she pushed Esmeralda out of the way to kneel down in front of her youngest son, combed her fingers through his hair, stroked his wet cheeks, and patted his shoulders.

"He swallowed my grandmother's ring!" stormed Esmeralda.

"Esmeralda Took!" Hyacinth scolded; there was no doubt who the girl had her temper from. "Mind your tone!"

"You swallowed it?" Menegilda asked, dimly aware of the worry in her voice. "You didn't choke it back up? Saradoc said…"

Merimac interrupted her with a shake of his head. "I tried. It wouldn't work, but it's gone now."

She smiled weakly at her boy's confident expression but couldn't ignore the knot which once again formed in her chest. "Do you hurt? Are you sick?"

Merimac frowned in confusion. "I'm fine, but you should worry about Esme, Aunt Hyacinth. She's mad and her eyes are almost popping out when she shouts."

"You little…," Esmeralda thundered but whatever insult she had in mind was lost in a wave of laughter. Menegilda felt her tenseness ease and was only dimly aware that Saradoc, too, had reappeared beside her and now smiled uncertainly at his brother who seemed decidedly puzzled at the sudden outbreak of mirth.

"You will tell me when you're feeling unwell, won't you?" Menegilda asked her youngest son when the laughter subsided.

Merimac frowned but nodded nonetheless.

"And you will tell me whenever you have to use the privy in the next two days."

"I can do that alone!" Merimac blustered indignantly.

"I know, dear, but you have to tell me."

"And what if I don't want to?"

Menegilda gave him a stern look and though Merimac averted his eyes she knew he wouldn't fail to inform her.

"That's settled then," she said looking from Paladin, who was still rather pale, to Saradoc and a pink-cheeked Esmeralda, and back to her flushed son. "Why did you take Aster's ring?"

Merimac's ears turned even redder as he fidgeted and made to hide his face in Paladin's shirt. It needed another stern prompting of Menegilda's to coax a mumbled reply out of him. "It was pretty, and it's my birthday soon. I hardly have any presents and you told dad," he gave her a hurt look before hiding his face again. "You told him you like rings even though you seldom wear them. I thought it would make you happy."

Menegilda couldn't reply at once. Her heart swelled with love and her eyes filled with fond tears. After a moment she scooped Merimac into her arms, held him close and kissed his forehead. "My sweet, you needn't give me a ring to make me happy, especially not one that doesn't belong to you. See, I couldn't wear it anyway whenever I go to one of the many mummies in Buckland." Merimac looked at her with a mixture of sadness and relief. "Besides, you still have another six weeks until your birthday. I'm sure you will find a small present by then, won't you?"

Merimac nodded and smiled when Menegilda brushed another kiss onto his curls before she turned an apologetic look to her friend. "I'm sorry about your ring, Hyacinth, but I think you will have it back in less than two days."

"Urgh!" Esmeralda's voice was so full of disgust that Merimac wheeled around with a look of fascination. She turned a thoroughly sick look at him. "You're revolting!"

Without further ado Esmeralda turned her back on them and stormed off. All five looked after her in silence for a moment until Merimac heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "I'm glad she's gone."

Menegilda clucked her tongue at him and ruffled his curls before she guided him and Saradoc back to the table where she and Hyacinth had tea together. It was better to keep an eye on him and the lads before they ended up in worse trouble.


~THE END~





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