Chapter 33. Refining Fire

There were cheers as Reginard thrust the torch into the oil-soaked piled-high wood. Ferdibrand tensed as the flames roared skywards; he’d never cared much for bonfires, the wild burning barely contained, flames rising higher than a hobbit’s head, sparks flying up as if seeking to take their places amongst the stars. Worse, Nell was not by his side to steady him. He wished he were with her in the big bed, cuddling close, marvelling anew at curls and eyelashes and tiny, perfectly formed fingers and toes. But no, he understood the need to be here, to show the Tooks that all was well.

Of course, if you looked at Meadowsweet, standing grim at Tolly’s side, you might not believe the reassurance that Thain and Steward were trying to convey. Every line of her body was stiff with resentment, her eyes snapped, and her lips were set in a thin line. Their children stood uncertainly around them. It was a festive affair but their mother was not acting at all festive, and they’d heard their parents arguing before they’d come out for the lighting of the bonfire, Sweetie shooting flaming darts of anger which Tolly quenched as quickly as they landed.

As soon as the fire settled to a steady burning, teens and tweens moved forward to thrust long sticks in, each seeking the perfect spot for the bacon and mushrooms they were roasting. Servers moved through the crowd with mugs of ale. By custom the Thain received the first mug, but did not drink until he’d seen the servers reach the edges of the crowd. When he estimated that everyone had been served, he raised his mug in a toast.

 ‘To loyal Tooks!’ he cried, and with a cheer the crowd drank.

It was time for Reginard to lift his mug to toast the Thain as custom demanded, but as he raised his hand, shouting, ‘To the...’ Pippin cut him off, pulling his arm down again, spilling some of the fine ale.

 ‘Why’d you do that?’ he asked, dumbfounded, even as the crowd fell silent.

 ‘I know,’ Pippin said regretfully. ‘Pity to waste a drop of this.’ He took another sip from his mug and turned to the staring crowd. Raising his voice he shouted, ‘Do not drink to the Thain this night; he doesn’t deserve it.’

There were scattered exclamations of shock and then the only sound was the roar and snap of the fire.

 ‘Pip,’ Ferdi said in an undertone, but his cousin shook off his restraining hand.

 ‘No,’ he said clearly, his voice carrying to the edges of the crowd. ‘No, for the Talk will be heard throughout the land whether we stand silent or shout out the truth, so let us shout!’ Indeed, his voice rose as he spoke so that he was shouting at the last. He certainly had the attention of all.

Ferdi held his breath, exchanging glances with Tolly. One was never quite sure what would come from Pippin next... He wished to put all this mess behind him, quietly sweep it under the rug, but it didn’t seem that the Thain had the same desire.

Pippin looked from Ferdi to Tolly. His eye fell upon Meadowsweet and he nodded as if the anger in her countenance confirmed his thoughts. Raising his voice again, he said, ‘I am not fit to be your Thain.’

Sweetie gasped, as did the rest of the crowd, while the hobbits of the escort shuffled their feet and glanced at one another uneasily.

Pippin continued. ‘I have made serious errors in judgement, accused loyal Tooks of disloyalty, made decisions without thinking matters through, and nearly ruined the lives of two who have sworn to lay down their lives for me and for my family.’

 ‘Pip,’ Ferdi said again under his breath.

 ‘No,’ Pippin said firmly. ‘I want it to be perfectly clear in any of the Talk that results from this, that I am at fault, I am to blame, and Tolibold and Ferdibrand retain their honour. If anyone’s honour and good name is to be tarnished, let it be mine and mine alone!’

 ‘Well the Master of Buckland played some little part,’ Tolly muttered, but Pippin quelled him with a glance. Meadowsweet stood stock-still, her anger turned to confusion. Master of Buckland? She had thought Pippin alone bore the blame for the near-ruin of her family.

 ‘Don’t forget Ev’ard,’ Haldi said in a low tone.

 ‘Regi put him up to it, with all his talk of ruffians,’ Hilly added. Meadowsweet stared from one hobbit of the escort to another. What was going on?

 ‘If the Tooks desire it I will step down,’ Pippin continued now. ‘If you will still have me, I will do my best to serve you with all my heart and my strength. You have my loyalty, and I will do all I can to deserve yours in turn.’

There was a breathless silence as the hobbits in the crowd exchanged glances. What ought they to do?

The escort solved the problem neatly by bowing down to the Thain en masse, in a movement so smooth it might have been rehearsed were it not so spontaneous. The crowd murmured. If the escort, the hobbits closest to the Thain, gave him their trust, then the rest of the Tooks could do no less.

Regi raised his mug once more, and the rest of the hobbits gathered there followed suit, knowing what he was about to say. It was custom, after all. ‘To the Thain!’ he shouted, and there was an echoing roar from the crowd before all drank the toast.

***

Tolly went off to fetch fresh mugs for himself and the Thain. When he’d left Sweetie she was still tense, but when he returned, to his astonishment he found her standing next to Pippin and laughing. ‘I cannot believe your aunt would have said such a thing to Mistress Lalia!’ she gasped.

 ‘Thankee,’ Pippin said, taking the mug and turning back to Tolly’s wife. ‘Well you know what happened... as a matter of course Mistress Lalia gave orders that all new gowns were to have “becoming lace” sewn at the top, seeing as how it was the latest fashion in Buckland!’

 ‘But it wasn’t,’ Meadowsweet said wryly.

 ‘O yes it was,’ Pippin said, ‘Just as soon as Auntie Esmeralda returned to Buckland and told everyone that it would be the latest fashion from that point on!’ He laughed heartily. ‘What a disappointment to young hobbits, to have all that loveliness covered up with lace!’

 ‘I’d heard the fashion at the Smials was scandalous at the time, that one “young lady” actually fell out of her dress at a ball and caused great embarrassment to the hobbits around her,’ Meadowsweet said. ‘It was all the talk of the village, and when the steward came through looking to hire serving lasses for the Great Smials Granda wouldn’t let my mother go, or any of her sisters.’

 ‘Well the fashion changed,’ Pippin said, ‘and now you know the real reason why.’

 ‘Of course it did,’ Meadowsweet said, ‘else I never would have come to the Smials as a serving lass,’ she took Tolly’s arm and of a wonder smiled up at him, ‘and met my true-love, and married him.’

Pippin smiled as well, and Ferdi was nodding nearby. It looked as if the charm of the Thain had won over his most adamant critic. ‘A fine hobbit he is, too,’ Pippin said.

 ‘Don’t I know it,’ Meadowsweet agreed, and Tolly sighed in relief. Perhaps there’d be no more arguing over leaving the Great Smials. On the other hand, if Meadowsweet were to be reminded of the agonies of this past week, as she inevitably would be, perhaps the arguments weren’t quite over. He’d have to be on his toes, or she might manoeuvre him into agreeing to take the Thain’s restitution, becoming a smallholder on their own piece of land. Not a bad thing to keep in mind for the future, but he wasn’t quite ready to lay down his duties yet...

His musings were interrupted as a shift in the wind blew a wisp of smoke their way. It was an inconvenience, and he winked hard to rid his eyes of the stinging tears, even as he held his breath and waved the smoke away. When his vision cleared he saw the Thain held firmly in Ferdibrand’s grasp. Pippin had evidently taken a lungful, caught unawares by the smoke for he stood with his mouth open, hands pressed to his chest as he gasped for air. A sudden attack of violent coughing shook the Thain, bending him nearly double.

Tolly jumped to his side. ‘Let’s get him out of here,’ he said, taking Pippin’s other arm. Ferdi nodded and they pulled him away from the bonfire, the crowd parting before them as the celebrating hobbits realised the Thain’s predicament.

Healer Mardibold met them at the edge of the crowd. ‘Lay him down,’ he said, but Pippin shook his head.

 ‘No,’ he managed to gasp. ‘Inside, away from...’

Ferdi nodded. ‘Away from the crowd,’ he said, taking a fresh grip on Pippin’s arm. ‘Come on, Tolly.’ It would do no good for the confidence of the Tooks to see Pip helpless in the grip of one of his breathless fits.

They half-carried him quickly through one of the lesser entrances of the Great Smials and into a small parlour, where Mardibold opened the Thain’s shirt with such urgency that half the buttons popped from their threads. He smeared a pungent ointment liberally over Pippin’s throat, chest and back. ‘This’ll help open things up,’ he said encouragingly. ‘Just keep breathing.’

 ‘Easy enough for you to say,’ Pippin managed, but Mardibold interrupted.

 ‘Save your breath,’ he said. ‘No talk! I don’t care how difficult it is for you to hold your tongue, just do it!’

Young Faramir hovered in the doorway. Pippin held out a hand to his son and Farry swiftly crossed to his father and took tight hold. ‘Please,’ the lad whispered.

Pippin could spare him no word, for all his effort now was given to the fight to breathe. He locked eyes with his son, however, and each drew strength from the other.

Running feet were heard in the corridor and Haldi burst into the room, bearing a draught that he’d been sent to fetch. ‘Good,’ Mardi said. ‘Drink this all down.’

Pippin drank, gagging at the taste. ‘That’s right,’ Mardi said grimly. ‘I made it extra bitter for your nearly banishing my brother! Drink it anyhow.’

The Thain’s breath was beginning to come easier already, thanks to the ointment, and he whispered, ‘You ought not joke at a time like this.’

 ‘Who’s joking?’ Mardi said. Pippin drank the rest of the draught with a shudder. Mardi sat quietly beside him, holding his wrist to count heartbeats as the rapid shallow breaths steadied and became slower and deeper. Finally he released the Thain's wrist with a sigh and shake of his head. 'Well, you've managed to dodge the blow once more, Sir, but I'd avoid bonfires in future were I you.'

 'A bit awkward, that,' Pippin said, letting his head fall back to rest. 'Who'd give the Thain's toast to open the festivities?'

 'I'll do it,' Ferdi said, 'if only to keep you from the smoke.'

Pippin smiled and closed his eyes, drifting away under the influence of the draught.

 ‘Why?’ Meadowsweet whispered from the doorway. She’d left the children in the care of their eldest brother and followed the little group to the parlour. She crossed now to Tolly’s side, looking down at the Thain. ‘Why do you stay?’ she added.

 ‘I beg your pardon?’ Pippin said politely, opening his eyes. They were somewhat clouded from lack of air and the relaxing draught.

 ‘Sweetie,’ Tolly hissed, but the Thain put up a forestalling hand.

 ‘No,’ Pippin said. ‘I want to hear her out.’ He blinked his eyes to clear them. ‘Is it that you think I’m not fit to be Thain? Why didn’t you speak up by the fireside just now?’

 ‘Why do you stay, ill as you are?’ Meadowsweet said, falling to her knees before him, taking his other hand. ‘I’ve heard the Talk, how the burden of the Thainship takes all your strength and pulls you down. How you’d live longer if you lived quietly with just your wife and family and not all us Tooks to worry you. Why do you stay?’

 ‘Do you know,’ Pippin said softly, his fingers tightening on Faramir’s and Meadowsweet’s.

 ‘Yes, Da?’ Farry said encouragingly.

 ‘How I love the Shire,’ Pippin said, his voice low and dreamy, eyes not seeming to see the others in the room. ‘D’y’know, I never knew how richly blessed we are, until I went away to the Southlands, to War and battle and despair... So green,’ he said. ‘To see cool sunlight and green grass again, a forlorn hope in that forsaken place...’

 ‘Come, Sir, let us take you off to your bed,’ Mardi said gently. ‘We'll let Diamond see that you're well before she happens to hear otherwise.’

As they lifted him, Pippin retained his grasp on Meadowsweet’s hand. He turned his head to look searchingly into her eyes. ‘I love the Shire,’ he repeated sleepily.

 ‘I know you do,’ she answered, for it seemed he was waiting for an answer.

 ‘So green,’ Pippin whispered again, releasing her hand as his eyes closed and he slept.