Chapter 7. Food for Thought

~ S.R. 1434, Late Autumn ~

'Another Quarter Day is nearly upon us?' said the young Thain in consternation. 'How do the days manage to speed by, even as they sometimes seem to drag on forever?'

'Difficult to believe,' Regi replied, 'what with the mildness of the weather these past few days. Mistress Summer seems to be lingering, reluctant to depart for the Southlands, and Mistress Autumn is running behind her time... Why, the hunters report that the numbers of migrating birds have been remarkably few, for this late in the year!'

'I do hope it doesn't mean a dearth of game for the pantry,' Pippin muttered, shaking his head. 'Added to the effect of the drought on the crops we harvested, as well as the loss from the wildfire, and the Tooks may have to tighten their belts before Spring returns to the land...!'

'Bite your tongue!' the Steward scolded. 'Let us not borrow trouble. Thus far, Renilard blames the lack of game on the mild weather, causing the birds to overlook their usual departure date. He insists that once the North Wind begins to blow, they'll quickly remember, and fill the skies once more as they pass overhead on their way to warmer climes.'

'I suppose they have no calendars to rely upon,' the young Thain mused. 'Think of the trouble Shire-folk would be in without such! If not for your attention to days and dates, the hay would likely still be in the fields rather than gathered in!'

Regi bowed slightly in acknowledgement of this word of praise from his Thain, then returned to business. 'Tomorrow, regardless of the summery weather, 'twill be time to ride to the store-hole to fetch the coin needed to settle our debts and purchase whatever supplies are needed for the coming months...'

'Whatever supplies we can afford,' Pippin interjected.

'Of course,' Regi said. 'I should think that goes without saying...'

'Without saying is what got us into this state in the first place,' the young Thain said, fixing his Steward with a stern eye. 'Had I known at the start about Tookland's financial situation, I might have done things differently... not made some of the commitments I made, early on and all unknowing.'

He held up his hand to stay Reginard's apology. 'Never mind, Regi,' he said. 'Call it a lesson learned; a reminder to look before I leap.' He sighed. 'It seems to be a lesson I must learn over and again, for some reason or other. I can only hope I might get it right one of these times, that there will be no need to repeat it in future.'

'That would be a grand hope for any hobbit,' Regi agreed, 'though I should say the thought applies especially to the Tooks as a whole, and not just individual Tooks.'

He saw Pippin's lips tighten in what might pass for a smile, though the younger hobbit's face remained unusually sombre. To distract him, the Steward asked, 'Would you like me to go to the store-hole tomorrow, or is that a task you'd prefer to handle personally?' He was fairly sure of the answer he'd receive.

Pippin did not disappoint him. 'Of course I shall go and take care of that vital task myself!' the young Thain said. 'Besides,' he added, 'what ever would I do if something came up and you were away, and no one was here whom the Tooks would listen to!'

'We might hope they would listen to their Thain,' Regi said dryly.

'Ten years from now, perhaps,' Pippin said, 'if not a dozen. No,' he said, shaking his head, 'I think the best use of our resources is for me to run this little errand and for you to stay on the spot in case of any emergency that might come up.'

He cocked an eye at his Steward and said, without hope, 'I don't suppose I might be allowed to consider it a holiday of sorts – a walking party of one, giving me time to think my own thoughts without interruption or distraction?'

'That would be leaping without looking, I should think,' Regi answered.

Pippin sighed and nodded. 'I thought as much,' he said. 'Very well. I'll take Ferdi with me, if I may... and no ponies. We can carry our picnic with us on our backs, and bring the quarterly funds back the same way after we've eaten up the food!' Ferdi's injured leg, having had several weeks to heal since their last "walking party", ought not to hamper him at this late date. 

'A wonder of planning and economy,' Regi said dryly. 'Plus you won't be burdened by the necessity of eating as much food as the cooks can stuff into the saddlebags of multiple ponies...!'

'You heard about that?' Pippin said.

Regi chuckled. 'Ferdi told me about the feast they sent along with you the last time you went to the store-hole,' he replied. 'Enough to nearly founder the two of you! As it was, you both found it necessary to ride back to the Smials on pack-ponies rather than walking!'

Pippin nodded with a grimace that Regi would likely attribute to the generosity of the Smials cooks in packing the saddlebags for that one-day journey. At least, it seemed, Ferdi had not mentioned their difficulties related to the heat of that day, much less the escort's mishap that had resulted in a twisted ankle and a bump to his head. The young Thain suspected that if Regi had heard the entire story, the Steward would now be insisting on a full escort there and back again. Surrounded by Tooks! he thought in dismay. Exactly what I'd like to get away from, if only for a few hours!

Aloud, he said only, 'That sounds quite satisfactory, Regi. If you'll make the arrangements for the morrow, then, we'll be wanting to make an early start.'

*** 

The day dawned brightly, promising pleasant weather to follow. The two Walkers started out wearing light jackets to ward off the early-morning chill. Coats or cloaks seemed more of a burden than a boon, especially without a pack pony to carry them. 

'It's not as if we'll be climbing cruel Caradhras,' Pippin had said as he'd hung up his cloak on a hook near the stable entrance, once he'd decided he wouldn't need the added warmth or weight. 

Ferdi had looked at him askance but followed suit. With the warm weather continuing, a cloak seemed hardly necessary. His sceptical look had more to do with Pippin's mention of faraway places than the young Thain's choice to leave his cloak behind. The escort also had the beginnings of a headache stirring behind his eyes – but that was his own fault, he figured, for having stayed late at The Spotted Duck after reaching the finals of the monthly darts tournament last evening. He'd also had a few more beers than his usual habit as the evening progressed. 

The longer they walked, the gladder Ferdi was at not having to bear the extra weight of the rolled-up cloak. There and back again I would have had to carry it, he thought to himself. Rolled-up the whole time, and to what purpose? Tied onto the top of my pack, it would have kept the breeze from the back of my neck and thus been much more of a hindrance than a help!

The Sun seemed to agree, shining so brightly as to dazzle his eyes. Or was that the effects of last night's over-imbibing, haunting him still?

*** 

'Still no frost last night,' Ferdi said as they skirted the side of one of the great hills between them and Hoard Hill. He shook his head. 'I don't like it.'

'It makes for pleasant travelling,' Pippin argued.

'I don't like it at all,' Ferdi insisted. 'It's unnatural, this late in the year, and no frost! The farmers aren't happy, either.'

Pippin pointed to the top of the hill they were passing. 'Frost was sparkling on the hilltops when we started out,' he said, 'though the Sun has melted it away by now. Soon enough, I should think, the frost faeries will visit the valleys as well.' At Ferdi's sceptical look, he shrugged. 'I've never known a year without winter, have you?'

Though Ferdi admitted aloud that winter had always come on the heels of autumn in his lifetime, he added under his breath, 'I suppose there's always a first time.'

'Don't borrow trouble,' Pippin scolded, echoing Reginard. 'And look!' he added more cheerfully, waving his hand at the intensely blue autumnal sky, painted with mare's tails that foretold a weather change to come. The usual flocks of ducks and geese that had been absent up until now seemed to be making up for lost time. Over the past week or two, a few scattered pairs and relatively small flocks had flown over the courtyard between the Great Smials proper and the outbuildings, including the stables. However, since the dawning of this day, when the Thain and his escort had left the Smials behind, migratory birds had been appearing in increasing numbers as the morning wore on. 'It seems the birds are finally waking up to the time of year! By tomorrow they'll be flocking so thick that even I might be able to bag a bird or two, even with my poor aim with a bow!'

'Good hunting is on the horizon!' Ferdi said with a genuine smile. 'At last!'

Pippin returned the smile. 'I give you leave to take the day tomorrow for hunting,' he said generously. 'Just so long as you bring me back a brace of ducks for the Thain's table.' He was no archer, as he freely admitted, though he could cast an accurate stone with the best of them.

'It will be my pleasure!' Ferdi said, grinning.

*** 

The mildness of the day, followed by increasing warmth as the Sun rose in the sky, continued to reflect the unusually warm weather they'd seen over the previous span of days, leading the walkers to doff their jackets fairly early on in the hike. Indeed, by mid-morning, though Pippin and Ferdi had rolled up their shirtsleeves and loosened the collars of their shirts, they were sweating freely under the onslaught of the hard-working Sun.

'I do hope we won't find the weather as warm as the last time we made this journey!' Pippin said to Ferdi, unbuttoning the next button on his shirt in search of some small additional degree of relief. 'It stands to reason that mid-November ought to be chillier than midsummer!'

His no-nonsense cousin made no reply to this obvious statement.

Ferdi, for his part, seemed abstracted. Perhaps it was the hurrying birds that filled the skies above them, or perhaps the brightness of the sunshine had dazzled his eyes. At the moment, he was trudging along in silence, his eyes squinting and his forehead creased in deep thought, or so it seemed to his younger cousin.

'At least the clouds seem to be thickening,' Pippin said, shading his eyes to study the sky. 'We ought to have some relief from the Sun by the time we begin to make our way back home again.'

'What was that, Cousin?' Ferdi said with a start, as if he'd only just now realised that Pippin was addressing him.

'The walk back to the Smials ought to be cooler, with the clouds interceding for us and holding off the worst of the Sun's temper this day,' Pippin repeated.

'Oh,' Ferdi answered, and then, 'aye.' He seemed to shake himself free of his thoughts and turned his head to meet Pippin's gaze. 'Are you feeling the heat, Sir?' he said formally. 'Perhaps you ought to drink some water. We can refill our flasks when we reach Hoard Hill, after all.'

'I'll drink to that,' Pippin said cheerily, and went on to press Ferdi to take a few swallows of his own. 'I should hate for you to collapse from the heat, and have to carry you to safety...' He almost laughed at the pained look his cousin directed at him, but at least Ferdi uncapped his flask and drank.

The clouds continued to thicken as they walked, but brought little relief from the heat. Instead, the air seemed to press down on the walkers, uncomfortably warm and increasingly humid. It was a relief to reach the little spring emerging from the side of Hoard Hill; both cousins splashed their heads and necks with the icy water and sighed at the cooling effect.

'I think we'll have our picnic in that cavern at the base of the hill – it's relatively cool, underground as it is – before we climb the hill to the store-hole,' Pippin said. They might as easily have picnicked within the store-hole itself, but he didn't like the thought of closing the door to hide the entrance from any passing observer and then eating by lantern-light in the presence of those perilous barrels of black powder. Such a course of action seemed to be asking for trouble.

Ferdi had no objections, and Pippin was glad to see that the icy water seemed to have restored his older cousin's energies. They made a pleasant – if somewhat less sumptuous than before – meal, which also served to make room in their packs for the coins they would carry homeward.

'Less weight to carry up the hill, as well,' Ferdi said as they wound their way up Hoard Hill, mellowed by the good food and accompanying casual conversation the two cousins had enjoyed in the cavern. 'I can see why we made you Thain, cousin,' he added. 'You have a knack for solving problems.'

'We're carrying the same amount of weight as we did before,' Pippin argued. 'It's just that it's inside us rather than inside our packs!'

'Never mind,' Ferdi answered. 'Perhaps the Tooks were a bit over-hasty in confirming you as Thain after all...'

Pippin laughed. 'Problem's not solved after all, eh, Ferdi?'

'Yet if you'd had the sense not to point that out, no one would be the wiser!'

'Would you rather have an honest Thain, or a clever one?' Pippin asked.

To his surprise, his older cousin appeared to give his rather-unserious question serious consideration. At last, Ferdi answered, 'Both, actually.' 

Good food for thought, Pippin thought to himself as they continued to toil their way uphill. Something to chew on as we go...

***