Chapter 16. Consequences

'Very well,' Diamond said once all of the remaining Gamgee children had indicated their understanding of the requirements they must observe to remain in the room whilst one of them faced Tookish judgement.

But then Frodo-lad raised a tentative hand.

Pippin nudged Diamond; she nodded and said, 'Frodo?' 

'Permission to speak, Mistress Diamond?' the eldest Gamgee son said. 

Frodo-lad was still only a teen, though he acted older than his years most of the time, just as he was in this moment. For some reason, seeing Frodo so serious and carefully-spoken reminded Farry of Uncle Merry telling him that Frodo-lad was the image of his father Samwise at the same age.

'Permission granted.'

'We are here – not in this hearing, I don't mean, but staying here in the Smials whilst our parents are in the South-lands – by the Thain and Mistress's kind invitation,' Frodo began, 'and...' he gulped, suddenly returning to the young hobbit he was. '...you've extended us every hospitality, and we've rewarded you so very shabbily...'

A suppressed sob sounded from Rosie-lass, and her eyes shone with tears. But Farry had eyes only for Goldi and the misery plain on her face, reflecting the belated knowledge that her choices had brought shame to her family... her parents... her beloved Elanor... as well as the Thain and Mistress of Tookland, who had pledged to keep the Mayor's children safe whilst he and his wife were away in the South-lands. Sympathy rose in him, for he'd made a similar mistake not so many months ago, bringing shame on his parents and peril to others who'd only meant to rectify his error.

'Thank you, Frodo,' Diamond said, interrupting, but then she (and perhaps the Thain?) were the only ones who might interrupt someone during this hearing without penalty. 'You and your brothers and sisters, all but one, are held guiltless in this matter.'

'But...' Frodo said unwisely, and then he wilted under Diamond's stern look.

'As are your parents, of course,' Diamond finished, 'for they are not even here in the Shire!' She took a deep breath and said, 'Now...'

All those standing before the Thain's desk stood straighter, divining that the questioning was about to begin, and the consequences hung upon the answers they would give – not only for themselves but for the others in the room.

But no. They were all mistaken, Farry realised, himself included.

'Sage and Daffodil,' Diamond addressed the minders, 'You were assigned that night to watch over the Gamgee children.'

'I was,' said Sage, and Daffy echoed him.

Diamond nodded. 'Water rations, for the rest of today,' she said. 'Goldi ought not to have been able to leave the Mayor's guest apartments as she did.' She looked sternly at the minders. 'You don't even have the excuse, pitiful as it might be, that it was the middle night, making you less alert than you might otherwise have been. For it is our understanding that she stole away when the clock struck eight, and no later!'

'Yes, Mistress,' the two minders said together. Was that relief he saw on their faces? Farry wondered. He hadn't been able to include the minders in his planning, but 'twas true that they had failed in their responsibilities, especially if they had also not noticed Frodo-lad and Rosie-lass sneaking out in the middle night to search for their missing sister!

Minders were supposed to stand in for parents who were absent or ill. At night, this might mean singing lullabies, tendering glasses of water, helping with the chamber pot, soothing a nightmare, or preventing a sleep-walking child from wandering. Goldi had not been sleep-walking, nor had Frodo-lad or Rosie-lass, but still, the minders had been too easily evaded, it seemed. Farry had a sudden vision of a group of minders gathered together, holding a council of sorts, to discuss the matter. He might find it much more difficult in future to sneak out at night to pull a prank, such as switching the labels on the spices in the kitchen, he suspected.

'Sandy,' Diamond said next, and the hobbitservant stood straighter, his face expressionless.

'Farry had no minder assigned that night,' the Mistress went on. 'The penalty might fall upon your head, otherwise, except that neither the Thain nor I had asked you to watch out for small children sleep-walking or asking for a glass of water or such.'

'Yes, Mistress,' Sandy said tonelessly, but Diamond looked sharply at him nonetheless.

'You are not to put yourself on water rations for that night's work, or any imagined lacking on your part,' she said firmly.

Farry watched Sandy take a shaking breath and let it out in a whoosh, and then the hobbitservant's shoulders slumped a little before he caught himself and straightened again. 'Yes, Mistress,' he said again.

Out of the corner of his eye, Faramir saw his father's slight nod of approval for Diamond's perceptiveness.

'Sage and Daffodil, take yourselves off now. You may take the rest of what would otherwise be your mealtimes this day to ponder your failings and talk together of how you would avoid a similar happening in future,' Diamond said, sounding as hard and cold as her namesake. But then, she was a mother herself, and her duties often forced her to rely on minders, even though she'd rather mind her own little ones most of the time. Moreover, Farry had perfect confidence that she'd be perfectly pleasant, even kind to the errant minders on the morrow.

'Tolibold and Ferdibrand,' Diamond said next, causing all members of both families who were in the room to stiffen to attention. 'I take it that you were merely players in the roles assigned to you in this incident.' Both of the hobbits she addressed nodded but did not speak.

Diamond turned her eyes to Goldi. 'Goldilocks, I doubt that you or any in your family would know of this,' she said, 'for it was a matter of a hearing, as formal as this one though it took place outside of the Tookland, as well as a Convocation here in the Great Smials; and all who participated were sworn to silence.'

'Yes, Mistress,' Goldi said, obviously confused.

Diamond turned to her son. 'Farry, tell Goldi what you did as a child a year or so younger than she is now.'

Farry swallowed hard on a suddenly dry throat. 'I ran away,' he said. 'I... ran away... to Gondor.'

Goldi started, as did all the older Gamgee children.

'And what were the consequences?' Diamond asked.

'I suffered the bite of a fox on my leg,' Farry said to Goldi, and saw horror on all the Gamgee children's faces in response. 'But worse...' He looked over pleadingly at his parents, and tears came to his eyes as he looked forward again, encompassing Ferdi and Tolly and their families in his gaze.

'Worse?' Diamond prompted.

'Tolibold... and Uncle Ferdi...' he said, stumbling over his words. 'Because I ran away, they were accused of being in league with child-stealing ruffians and sentenced to banishment from the Shire.'

*** 

'What!' Adelbrim interjected, interrupting Faramir's narration in his consternation.

'Just wait,' Farry said. 'It gets better.'

'The Thain banished them!? He would have seen them branded and cast out over the Bounds, exiles forever more?' Adelbrim said.

'Not the Thain,' Farry said as if reciting dry, emotionless historical fact, though his face had lost all colour at the distressing memory. 'My father was an injured party. 'Twas the Master of Buckland who judged their cases and, based on my father's wishes, pronounced the Ban.'

Adelbrim's mouth opened and closed, but he made no sound. Only Laurel was as shocked as the head of escort, for everyone else there – Rudi, Goldi and Farry – knew the full story. Of course. The seal of silence had been broken in that hearing in the Thain's study, and what had been hidden had been made clear before being sealed away once more.

Farry looked around at everyone's faces and resumed his narration.

*** 

Rosie-lass swayed, and Frodo-lad caught her and shook her by the arm. None of that, he hissed in her ear, forgetting in the moment the obligation to speak only when spoken to.

'Do you need to be excused?' Diamond said to the Gamgee children in general. But Rosie-lass shook off her brother's grip, stood straighter, and answered. 'No, Mistress. If you please, Mistress...'

'Yes?' Diamond said.

'We wish to remain for Goldi's sake, if we may,' Rosie pleaded.

'Very well,' Diamond said. She did not insult Frodo or Rosie by reminding them to hold their tongues unless she asked one of them a question.

'Peregrin,' Diamond said, though she continued to look straight ahead at those who seemed to be on trial.

'Mistress Diamond,' Pippin said, equally formal.

'It is my view that this incident came about because of impulsive action without thought taken for the consequences.' Farry heard no answer from his father, but Pippin must have nodded or given some sign, for Diamond went on. 'Peregrin,' she said formally, 'please describe some of the other times when you yourself, perhaps driven by your unchecked emotions, took action without thinking through the consequences beforehand.'

Farry, staring straight ahead, heard the whisper of his da's clothing as Pippin moved restlessly in his chair. The hobbits standing before him had their attention fully fixed on the Thain, he thought.

'I followed Frodo,' the Thain began quietly. '...although, in that case, I did my best to count the cost under the circumstances. I tried to weigh all the factors, with the knowledge I had at the time.' He paused for a long moment, then added, 'Had I the foresight to see the Troubles descending upon the Shire, I might have stayed.' He fell silent again, and somehow Farry (still staring straight ahead) could imagine him shaking his head, for he said, 'No, but then I'd've been ill-prepared to deal with the ruffians had I stayed i' truth.'

'Besides that,' Diamond said, moving him off the subject.

'In Moria, I was unnerved by the long dark and silence,' Pippin said. 'When the Company came to a door in the passage, Merry and I pushed forward, glad to find a place that seemed to offer shelter of sorts, or concealment, a place to rest that was not in the open passageway. Luckily Gandalf stopped us, and went before us with a light, for there was an open pit – a well – and one or both of us might have blundered into it in the dark in our foolishness.'

'Yes,' Diamond said, and waited.

'And... and... I could not seem to keep myself away from that well. I crept near and peered over the side, and I felt a cool mist on my face that seemed to rise from untold depths. And so, as I might if I came upon a well here in the Shire so deep as to hide how far down the water might be, or even if there was water in the well, I... I dropped a stone down. 'Twas but a small stone, no more than a pebble...' 

'Go on,' Diamond said when he stopped.

'And, I think, I woke something in the depths.' Farry heard his father's shaking breath. 'And... and Gandalf fell in Moria, and I was to blame.'

'Regi,' Diamond said, interrupting.

'Mistress,' the Steward answered.

'Add to the record that Peregrin believed at the time and still believes he was to blame for Gandalf's fall, though there is no firm evidence as to that conclusion.'

'Yes, Mistress,' Regi said, and the scratch of his quill was clearly heard in the silence of the room.

'Let us move on, Peregrin,' Diamond said. 'Have you another incident for us to consider?'

'A shining ball fell heavily from the tower of Orthanc after the Ents laid waste to the wizard Saruman's realm,' Pippin said. 'A globe of crystal, with a heart of glowing fire. Thinking to be helpful, as well as drawn by curiosity, I ran to retrieve it... and was caught in its snare. All of Middle-earth might've been lost as a result of my foolishness...'

'Yes,' Diamond said quietly. 'I believe the consequences more than paid the penalty. Let us move on. Can you give us a more recent example?'

'I passed judgement upon Ferdibrand and Tolibold,' Pippin replied in a low voice, 'that they should be banished from the Shire, their names removed from the Book and mentioned nevermore.'

Faramir saw his Auntie Nell biting her lip hard, while Meadowsweet lifted a handkerchief to her face. But Rudi and Gorbi stood as stone-faced as their fathers.

'Rather, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Master of Buckland, passed judgement,' Diamond corrected.

'After I had told him my wishes in the matter,' Pippin said bitterly. 'And I wasn’t thinking straight – I didn't think it through – I let myself be ruled by my emotions, by my anger and fear, and I nearly perpetrated an unforgivable injustice on hobbits who were only doing their duty to the best of their understanding.'

'Please recount how this horrifying injustice nearly came about.' And Diamond was as terrible as any Thain in her remote precision, Farry thought with a shudder.

His mother held up her hand as Pippin opened his mouth to speak. 'Is it well with you, Farry? Do you have a chill?'

Farry hastened to say, 'I'm well, Mum. I mean, Mistress.' For this was a formal hearing, after all.

'Nevertheless,' Diamond said, slipping her own shawl from her shoulders. She tucked it around Farry's back and shoulders before resuming. 'Please proceed, Peregrin.'

'Farry had gone missing, and Ferdi and Tolly conspired to cover up his disappearance whilst Ferdi tracked down the lad and brought him back, or that is what they hoped they might accomplish.'

Farry became aware his mother was addressing him, 'Because you ran away, Faramir?'

'Yes, Mistress,' Faramir answered.

'Ran away – to Gondor?'

'Yes, Mistress.'

And Diamond said, 'So you see, Goldi, that you are not the first to think of such a thing.'

Since the Mistress of the Tooks had spoken directly to the little lass, Goldi felt empowered to speak. 'I see...' she said to Diamond, but then she looked at Faramir, her eyes accusing, and hissed, 'Why did you never tell me?'

'He was sworn to silence to protect the innocent,' Diamond answered for her son. 'And that brings us to the current conspiracy...'

Rudi moved uneasily, but Gorbi stood like a sun-struck troll. But Diamond's next question served as a bridge of sorts between Farry's and Goldi's "incidents".

'Ferdibrand,' she said. 'When you caught up with Farry that previous time, you felt obliged to strike a bargain with him.'

'Yes, Mistress.'

'Tell us of that bargain.'

'The lad... Faramir,' Ferdi said, shifting to a more formal tone, 'told me that he'd keep running away, no matter how many times I might return him to the Smials, until at last I stopped trying.'

'So you see, Goldilocks,' Diamond said, 'there is good precedent for young Faramir to worry that, should he inform "the adults" of the danger you faced, you might be determined enough to evade any and all protections we might set in place for your safety.'

Goldi clasped her hands tightly together, staring at Farry as if new ideas might be arising in her mind. 'Yes Mistress,' she said.

'And so, Faramir,' Diamond said, turning her head to speak to her son beside her. 'You thought to ask your cousins for help. Though they are only tweens, you thought they might well be invested in the problem, in your proposal, if only to shield their fathers from any impulsive action on the Thain's part because of the scars they bore from the previous instance.'

'Scars?' Goldi said involuntarily, but she was confused, for while Farry had talked about the bite of a fox, no other injuries had been mentioned.

'The sentence of banishment was pronounced, and the brand came within inches of Ferdibrand's face,' Diamond said. 'Farry, tell the rest.'

'I – I was fevered, but I woke up – my cousin Robin pinched me awake, he was that desperate, and for good reason! And I ran out of the house in a night-dress, into the icy yard, crying for them to stop!' He drew several shuddering breaths. Diamond waited for him to calm himself, and at last he was able to resume. 'The Master asked me to give my testimony, and I did, and then they talked about restitution and a false accusation, and I thought all was done...'

'But it wasn't done,' Diamond said, and her own voice betrayed some of her own burden of upsetting memory despite the iron control she was exercising. 'For the Talk, which is what impelled you to leave the Tookland for Gondor in the first place, ran rampant when all of you returned from the Woody End, not only ran rampant but grew and expanded until the original incident was unrecognisable in the telling.'

'It was as Merry said,' Pippin said in a dull voice, forgetting for the moment he was speaking out of turn.

'Yes, Peregrin?' Diamond said. 'Please recount what the Master of Buckland said.'

'I heard him say to himself, under his breath, when he thought no one was paying heed...' Pippin whispered, 'he said, The Tooks will never forget it; the whispers will run like rats through the back corridors of the Smials for years to come, and not everyone will be content to believe the accusations false... I only realised the truth of his words when the Tooks called a Convocation some time afterwards and threatened to banish the lot of us for the muckle we'd made.'

'The lot of you?' Diamond clarified, her voice tight.

'Ferdibrand. Tolibold. Everard. Myself. And Reginard, for though they assigned him no guilt in the matter, he vowed to stand by the Thain, no matter what decision the Tooks might declare.'

'So you see, Goldilocks,' Diamond said, once more speaking to the small Gamgee lass, 'a single choice is like a pebble tossed into a well... or a better picture might be a pond, sending ripples that spread and grow as they expand. So do the consequences of what seems like a simple individual action...'

Goldi had no answer.

'And so, you see, young Rudivar and Gorbibold saw their fathers put in peril twice on account of the same incident! Just when they felt they could relax, that life would go back to what it had always been, the Tooks called a Convocation and went over the whole miserable business again, and their fathers only escaped by the skin of their teeth – a chance remark on the part of one of the Councillors judging the case. For I had no hope,' and Diamond's voice broke, and she had to clear her throat before she said huskily, 'no hope whatsoever, for any of the accused who stood there before the assemblage of Tooks, until the moment when Rudigrim casually voiced his question. Of a wonder, Erlingar did not dismiss him for speaking out of turn but entertained the idea, engaged in a discussion, and worked his way to a solution that – praise be! – did not involve banishing five stalwart Tooks!' Including her husband, the Thain.

'And so, Gorbibold,' Diamond said unexpectedly, turning her attention to the tween who stood before her, fists clenched and eyes bright with unshed tears. 'You agreed to help Faramir, if only to leave Tolibold completely out of the situation. For that was your price, to take part in the conspiracy to keep Goldilocks safe.'

'Yes, Mistress,' Gorbi said. 'I said I would help, but only if my da would be kept completely in the clear, even if I should draw a severe penalty for my part.'

'Gorbi,' Tolly whispered, and swallowed hard. And then he turned to his son and held out his arms, and the two embraced fervently. Diamond waited patiently until father and son had finished hugging each other and, recalled to themselves, had faced her once more. But Tolly reached out and took Meadowsweet's hand in a firm grasp, which continued until the hearing ended.

'And you, Rudivar?' Diamond said as she recommenced her questioning.

'We thought my da's help might be needed, should the Plan go awry and we might need to track the children, as he tracked Faramir that previous time,' Rudivar said. 'I didn't want to involve him at all, but Farry insisted we should plan for every contingency we could think of, and he promised that he'd shield my da to the best of his ability. And since he was risking himself...' The tween gulped and stopped speaking.

'Risking himself?' Diamond prompted.

Rudi took several breaths and, obviously steeling himself, continued. 'There's foxes,' he said. 'And owls. And other menaces... wild swine, or stray dogs... And though Farry is tall for his age, the two of them are still small enough... the risks were very real. That's why Farry couldn't allow the little lass to take off on her own...'

'Farry planned the route with us, so that searchers would have a good idea where to look for them,' Gorbi put in. 'Should something happen to Rudi, who was to act as Ferdi's guide so long as the Plan went as it should, then I would be able to show the Thain and a Muster the children's intended route on a map...'

Goldi was staring at Farry again. 'You said you'd help me run away...' she murmured. 'But you didn't really mean that... what you meant was that you'd help me be caught again!'

'No!' Farry said, though with himself and Goldi and Gorbi all speaking out of turn, he worried they were making things worse.

But Diamond took firm hold of the reins and steered the hearing back on course. 'Explain, Faramir,' she said.

'I said I'd help you run away,' Farry said. 'And I meant it. For I knew if you were caught too soon, you'd only be more careful the next time, and it would be harder to keep you safe. And my parents are responsible for your safety! So like Gorbi, like Rudi, I was protecting my da! And my mum...'

'But your promise did not extend all the way to Gondor, I think,' Diamond said.

'It's a long, long way to Gondor,' Farry said, still speaking directly to Goldi. 'It's too far. We're too young... too little... It's bad enough that just our starting out on such a course would have brought awful consequences down on the heads of innocents – the adults responsible for watching over us – but bad enough as such consequences would be, just think, Goldi, think of the consequences that would come down upon them when we died!'

'I didn't think...' Goldi whispered.

'So the plan was to guide you and guard you and help you realise how impossible such a journey must be for a child, for children. I wanted you to be good and tired...'

'I was.'

'...and sick of walking, and worried about running out of food, and...'

'...and worried sick about you when you got hurt,' Goldi said, which served to silence Farry. 'I thought about leaving you in that byre and going on by myself, you know... so you'd get in less trouble.'

Farry found his voice. 'But I would have had to follow,' he said. 'Any other choice would've been wrong.'

Pippin moved suddenly, and Diamond put a hand on his arm, and Farry heard her whisper, It does no good to sprinkle icing sugar over a hog and pretend he's a teacake.

***

Farry broke off his storytelling and added aside, 'It took me years to understand that he – my da, I mean – was thinking of Frodo and Sam at that moment, how Sam flung himself at Frodo's departing boat, and missed, and nearly drowned in the deep, swift water, so desperate was he to follow his Master.'

'He said it would have been the death of him, to be left behind,' Goldi murmured. And then she gasped in sudden realisation, pulled her hand from Farry's grasp, and grabbed at his arm with both hands, as desperate as a drowning hobbit clinging to a tree branch. 'But you did nothing wrong, my love!' she said. 'All that you did was noble and good. I was the one Mistress Diamond was thinking of, not my dad or Mister Frodo. For she understood, somehow, that if she could not stop your father from speaking his thought aloud, and I got it in my head, with my childish understanding at the time, that my quest was anything like Frodo's, nothing could've stopped me from trying again!'

Blinking away tears, she allowed Farry to pull free of her hold and then enfold her in his arms, offering the only comfort he could. From the safety of his embrace, she said, 'I can see now so clearly why the Tooks hold their Mistress in such high affection and esteem. O Farry...'

'O Goldi,' Farry answered, burying his face in her hair.

But Goldi wasn't finished. 'I have such a long way to go, even to approach the heights she has reached in their eyes.'

'It's a worthy goal to aspire to,' Rudi said quietly.

'...and much better than running off to Gondor,' Laurel added after a long pause. 'Though hopefully you've already learnt your lesson there...'

***

'You'd have followed me?' Goldi said, and for reasons of her own, Diamond allowed the conversation between the two children to disrupt the hearing. 'But of course you would have,' the small lass affirmed. 'And that is why, in the end, I decided I couldn't leave you there, in apparent safety, and strike out on my own.'

'Apparent safety?' Farry said, puzzled.

'Safe from foxes, perhaps,' Goldi said, 'but I knew you'd bear the blame, even if I were to creep away and leave you sleeping. I would be on my way, knowing that you would bear the penalty...'

'And Gorbi,' Farry said. 'And Rudi.' He took a shallow breath, his eyes shadowed, and said, 'And if anything had happened to you, and it would have... for it's a wide world, and a dangerous one, and that's why children have grown-ups to guard and guide them until they're big enough. The blame would've fallen upon the Tooks, in general, and my mum and da, in particular, and everyone with the least scrap of responsibility for our safety... the minders, the servants, the escort... your own brothers and sisters...'

Goldi was breathing raggedly now, and tears were spilling from her eyes. 'I never thought... I didn't think that far... I only...!'

At last, Diamond broke in. 'Ripples in a pond, Goldilocks.'

'I'm sorry! I'm so very sorry! Please! Punish me! I'll take all the consequences... but please don't let anyone else be harmed...!'

Sandy knelt to hug the distraught child, but even as he held her, Frodo-lad moved from his frozen stance, followed closely by Rosie-lass and then the rest of the Gamgee children there, surrounding Goldi and hugging her and each other, most of them sobbing with her in sympathy.

Diamond waited out the storm of tears. At last, when quiet had resumed, with only an occasional gulp from one of the tear-stained children, she said, 'Very well.' And Sandy stood to his feet once more, and the Gamgee children, though still closely bunched together, stood straight and waited for whatever awful pronouncement was forthcoming.

'I think you have learned the lesson set before you, that you set in motion by your choice, your decision, and the actions that followed,' Diamond said.

'I have,' Goldi gulped. 'I mean, I think I have.'

'I think you have, too,' Diamond said, 'keeping in mind that you are only a child, with a child's understanding.'

Farry wrenched his gaze from Goldi and turned his head to stare at his mother. He had no idea what to expect, but he had perfect confidence that whatever Diamond decided would be right.

'Therefore – Regi – here is my finding,' Diamond said, alerting the Steward that she'd finished gathering evidence and the next notation would indicate her findings regarding the matter, along with a record of the punishment assigned as a consequence.

'Faramir – Gorbibold – Rudivar,' Diamond intoned, 'as the conspirators in this matter, still, it would seem an injustice to assign any blame to you or to the adults who watch over you, to the ones who love you and whom you love so much that you sought to keep them safe from blame.'

Farry saw Rudi and Gorbi deflate slightly, as if they'd been holding their breath; and their parents moved to hug them from either side, enveloping them in love.

'Rusty,' Diamond continued, 'like Sandy, I find no fault with you.'

The hobbitservant bowed and muttered his thanks.

'Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin-lad,' (to distinguish from the other Pippin in the room), 'Hamfast, and Daisy,' Diamond said. 'As I stated earlier, you are all held guiltless in this matter. You were only responsible to stay in your beds that night – and though Frodo and Rose did not, they only left their beds to try to find Goldilocks, and then, in Rose's case, to seek help from responsible adults. Therefore, none of you has earned a rebuke or a penalty.'

'Yes, Mistress,' Frodo-lad said, and the rest echoed him in chorus.

'And lastly, Goldilocks,' Diamond said, and it must be said that most of the hobbits in the Thain's study felt the need to hold their breath on hearing these words.

'Yes, Mistress Diamond,' Goldi said bravely, and those closest to her could see her trembling, though she stood as straight as she could.

'I think you have learned your lesson here, as I said earlier, and so I will lay no penalty upon you except to encourage you to think deeply about all that was discussed here, even though you must do so privately and not discuss the matter with anyone else.' A general exhalation in the room came on the heels of this pronouncement.

'Mistress?' Goldi said, her face showing her confusion.

'If, at a later time, you should find yourself confused, or think of questions that you cannot ask of anyone since this incident will be closed when you walk out that door, I enjoin you to come to me.'

'To you, Mistress Diamond?' Goldi asked.

'Come to me, and we will remove ourselves to a private place where we can talk with no chance of being overheard, and we can talk over any confusion you may have, or any questions you cannot work out the answers to without help.'

'Yes, Mistress, thank you,' Goldi said, and she dropped a courtesy in her gratitude.

'And Goldi,' Diamond said, making everyone still themselves again from the relaxation they'd begun to express. When she determined that she had the little one's full attention, she said, 'You may feel as if you were let off too easily, that you cannot feel at ease unless you pay some penalty.'

Goldi blinked at this.

'Some do,' Diamond said. 'Even children. But I have known hobbits of the Thain's escort to have put themselves on water rations even though their actions – in falling short of their duty – were excused by someone in higher authority as not entirely their fault due to circumstances. And so I thought you might think to deny yourself sweets, or some such...'

Goldi's eyes widened with surprise.

'And you have my leave to do so,' Diamond said reasonably, 'if you think it would do you good or give your conscience some ease... But...'

Only one 'but' will I allow tonight, Farry thought absurdly, turning his head to look at his mother.

'Yes, Mistress?' Goldi said, sounding breathless.

Diamond wagged her finger at the small lass. 'But I forbid any such sacrifice on your part the day after tomorrow, for I would not have any sorrow mar my son's birthday!'

*** 

Author's note: Some turns of phrase were inspired by (or may have been borrowed from) "A Journey in the Dark", "The Breaking of the Fellowship", "The Palantír", and "The Siege of Gondor" in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Pippin's (actually Merry's) wonderful turn of phrase, "The Tooks will never forget it; the whispers will run like rats through the back corridors of the Smials..." was written by JoDancingTree, who co-authored Runaway.

***