Chapter 15. Down in the Dell

The Sun was still high in the sky when the New Walkers reached the little dell where the original Travellers had made their stand against five of the Black Riders sent to reclaim the Ring for their dread master. Thus, even though they had explored the hilltop in the middle of the afternoon, the length of the summer day meant that they still had plenty of sunlight left before darkness fell.

'O' course, darkness doesn't mean the same thing to us,' Pip-lad said to Robin as they reached the bowl-shaped dell at the bottom of the sheltered hollow on the western flank of the great hill. 'They came to the dell a little earlier in the day than we have now. "Mid-day", I think Mister Frodo wrote, and he also said that they decided to climb the hill while the daylight was still strong or broad or something of the sort.'

'But your dad stayed in the dell, with Farry's da?' Robin said.

'That's right,' Pip replied. 'They explored the dell while the others climbed to the top. They found—'

'—Firewood, and the marks of booted feet,' Haldoron put in, for he'd been listening. 'The firewood and some of the footprints were left by Rangers, my kinsman thought. But he also saw newer tracks, made by heavy boots, though he could not tell how many had left those marks, whether one or many. And he was anxious, for he realised he'd already made a grievous error on the hilltop, perhaps drawing unwanted attention as they stood there looking out upon the land.'

'Elessar?' Ferdi said in astonishment. 'Made a grievous error?'

Haldoron chuckled without humour. 'O you'll learn of many grievous errors as we make our way...'

'Do tell,' Ferdi said.

Haldoron shook his head. 'It would not be the same if I merely recounted what my kinsman told me, as we stand here in this place,' he said. 'As I have been learning, myself, on our journey. Aragorn told me how it was to travel with Hobbits, but the experience is still markedly different from the expectations I formed as I listened to his stories.' 

'What do you mean when you say "how it is to travel with Hobbits"?' Faramir demanded. 'As... as if it would be some sort of trial or ordeal or...'

'I mean no disrespect, Master Faramir,' Haldoron said quickly, bowing to the young son of the Thain. 'And I did not say that travelling with Hobbits was difficult or challenging or even a negative thing! It's simply... different.'

'In what way?' Faramir challenged, not completely mollified by this answer.

Haldoron found himself in the novel position of explaining himself to a young Hobbit, a child, moreover, according to Ferdibrand's earlier explanation, along with insights Elessar had shared with him before their departure. You might compare Faramir and Pip-lad to your own son when he was at about ten or eleven years of age, he'd said, and then with a sly grin, he'd punched Haldoron on the arm with a loose fist and added, if you can remember that far back, that is.

How would he have explained this point to his young son? He would have used something familiar, drawn a parallel to what his boy had observed in nature. He remembered, for instance, the time they had discussed combat tactics while watching two ant colonies engaged in battle. Bolstered by the memory, he opened his mouth, but then – it was as if Elessar whispered in his ear, They're hobbits, remember! – and he shut it again and thought further.

He had the attention of all four of his Hobbit companions now, he realised, for Pip and Robin had broken off their conversation to listen as well.

'Take, for example, the matter of food,' Haldoron said. 

His companions nodded, and was that an approving glance from Ferdibrand?

'Men who are travelling without Hobbits are much less likely to kindle fire,' the Ranger-guide said. 'There are no hot drinks, no stews or soups, not even freshly killed meat or caught fish roasting over the flames, or roots dug from the ground and buried in the coals of a fire to bake... for there is no fire unless the Men encounter special circumstances.'

'What sort of circumstances?' Farry asked, having been drawn in by the word-picture the Man was painting for his listeners. 'A celebration, perhaps?'

Haldoron managed not to laugh at this exceptional idea, for he knew the young hobbit would take umbrage, and he was trying to build bridges and not tear them down. Not only that, but casual celebrations were common amongst Hobbits, the Man was learning from walking and listening to the talk that flowed between his companions. It would not be an exaggeration, he thought, to say that Life was a celebration for Hobbits, in general terms.

'Sadly, no,' he answered. 'More like life and death, I must confess. If one of your companions should fall through the ice while crossing a lake in the middle of Winter, not stripping him down, dressing him in warm, dry clothing, and kindling fire would be likely to sound his death knell! O there are other ways to warm a freezing Man without a fire, but...'

'What ways?' Pip-lad spoke up, reminding Haldoron of the bright curiosity that drove this young one to soak up learning as a cloth might soak up liquid.

'Well,' he said, allowing himself to be drawn from the path he was pursuing, 'There was a time when Aragorn – Elessar was off hunting for that Gollum-creature, and a small party of us were hunting in the wintertime, for the snows had fallen more heavily than usual, and our food supplies were running low. We had followed the tracks of a large herd of deer out of our own usual territory, drawn by the promise of a good harvest. As we crossed a lake, my young kinsman fell through the ice near the shore at a spot where a spring fed into the lake, and so the ice was thinner there – but we could not see the danger because snow covered everything.'

'And you did not kindle fire?' a wide-eyed Faramir asked.

'We were in troll country,' Haldoron explained, 'and the smoke might have drawn unwanted attention. And so we stripped the clothes not only from our young cousin, but also from our own bodies, that is, Halbarad and myself, and we rolled ourselves together with our kinsman in a blanket and then wrapped ourselves in layers of blankets as we huddled, skin-on-skin.' He shuddered. 'Ah, but he was so cold!' And then the Man gave a wry grin and said, 'Think of it as the opposite to tucking up under the covers where a bedwarmer has prepared the way for you!'

'But did you not take a deathly chill?' Pip asked.

'While one of us was chilled to the bone, the others started out warm and dry, and the blankets also captured the heat of our bodies and kept it from escaping,' Haldoron said. 'And so we warmed our young kinsman with our own natural heat. And as soon as he stopped shivering and his teeth stopped chattering, we unrolled from our huddle, dressed in dry clothing, and continued the hunt.'

Drawing his mind back from the past, Haldoron went on with his point. 'Travelling Men of my acquaintance tend to carry dried rations – dried meat and fruit, hard biscuits, nutmeats – and drink water. No fires means no hot drinks...'

'No tea,' Pip whispered to Robin with a shudder.

'...and Men carry no heavy cookpots with them, for there's no cooking! You bite off a piece of meat or fruit and fill your mouth with water to soften it until you can chew it, or you might soak a hard biscuit in a cup of water to make it edible...'

'No cooking!' Robin whispered back in dismay.

'And so, you see, I might as well be stopping at an inn each night as I travel with you,' Haldoron said, spreading his arms expressively. 'For we've hot tea to drink, and a hearty stew to eat at night, and the leftovers in the morning...'

'And that's because we Hobbits are travelling with a Man,' Ferdi said dryly.

'What's that?' Haldoron said.

'Leftovers saved for the morning,' Ferdi clarified. 'For if we were not travelling with a Man, the youngsters would eat everything up, like a horde of locusts, leaving nothing for the morning. But Pip told me that Men have little patience for cooking up a meal when it's time to start travelling again. They're much more amenable to meal preparations when one has stopped for the day.'

'Hmmm,' Haldoron said thoughtfully.

'And so, I've reminded the youngsters every night that if they eat everything we cook in the evening, they'll have to chew on dried meat and dried fruit in the morning, and likely as they're walking, rather than making a sit-down meal of it.' Ferdi shook his head. 'And for some reason, they would rather not.'

'We could always begin walking again without stopping to take a meal before we begin,' Haldoron said, seemingly trying to be helpful, but there was a twinkle in his eye as he spoke. 'Indeed, not only would that save time, but then we'd be "beginning as we meant to continue", as they say...'

'Starving, you mean?' Faramir said.

'Putting the miles behind us, rather,' Haldoron said, hiding a smile. 'But, Master Faramir, that is one example I can think of to show how travelling with Hobbits is different from travelling only with Men.' He looked at the angle of the Sun. 'But it is growing later, and I know you wanted to explore the dell and build a fire, as they did – and I sent a message ahead to ensure that a small store of firewood should be left for us – and "prepare a frugal meal" as darkness falls, and talk about the coming of the Black Riders, and Frodo's astounding courage...'

'Prepare a frugal meal?' Faramir said in dismay.

'That's what it says in the Red Book,' Pip said. 'And they hadn't eaten since breakfast! While we've had plenty of travel rations to munch on as we walked through the morning and climbed yon hill above us – and even as we walked down again!'

'Who's the stickler for authenticity now?' Robin quietly teased his younger cousin.

'Hmph!' Farry responded.

But Haldoron soothed the ruffled feathers of the son of the Thain by saying, 'A frugal meal this evening, and a night of telling tales, and sleep – and a fine breakfast in the morning at the outpost of King's Men waiting for us where the Road passes this great hill.'

'I'll drink to that!' Ferdi said, raising his water bottle and tilting it to swallow a mouthful or two. 'Give me hot breakfast any day over cold! Why, starting with no breakfast at all sounds quite pleasant compared to eating cold food for breakfast!'

'That's very un-Hobbity of you, Uncle!' Faramir said.

Ferdi bowed in his direction. 'Not at all,' he said. 'Cold food for breakfast would be the un-Hobbity thing, in my book.'

'And this from one who was known to sleep in hollow logs or the deserted dens of animals, not all that long ago,' Robin said behind his hand to Haldoron.

The Ranger-guide smiled at Ferdibrand. 'It appears we may have a great deal more in common than we first imagined.'

'I wouldn't be too sure,' Ferdi warned. 'After all, you've admitted that Men eat cold food more often than hot when they're travelling. Picnics are fine and good! ...in moderation! And not for days on end...'

'Then I suppose we will simply have to keep searching for that elusive common ground my King and your Thain have tasked us to discover,' Haldoron said.

'Unfortunately, I believe you have the right of it,' Ferdi said, and sighed. And then he changed his tone completely, and rubbing his hands together, he said, 'Well then, where is that store of firewood, that we may begin preparing our "scanty meal"? I can hardly wait! For at least it will be hot...'

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Author's notes: 

Some turns of phrase were drawn from "A Knife in the Dark" in The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I actually wanted to title this chapter "The Far'mir in the Dell", which is even worse than one of my usual puns, but I managed to resist. More or less. Puns do at times run rampant in our household, and they're a hard habit to break, it seems.

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