Chapter 26. Epilogue
'Your first visit to the Great Smials,' Pippin said to the Mistress of Buckland as he and Diamond, along with young Faramir, escorted Merry and Estella to the great room for the welcoming feast.
Estella wrinkled her nose and gave him a searching look. 'Is it well with you, cousin?' she asked, honest concern in her tone. 'Did you take in too much Sun, earlier, when you were riding the fields to check on the progress of ploughing and planting?'
Pippin laughed, and Estella smiled uncertainly. For – of course! – this was by far not her first visit to the Great Smials, but the latest of many... including that time, during the Scouring of the Shire to drive out the remainder of Lotho's ruffians, when a small force of archers led by Pippin himself (and Merry, who at the time was not leading anything but rather being carried along, having been wounded in an earlier skirmish) had swooped upon Harley and Mum's holding to reclaim Estella and return her to her previous life as the treasured and doted-upon daughter of Odovacar Bolger.
Her life as "Twig" had changed her in many ways, however, both overtly (as in her close-cropped curls, which she kept that way until her brother Freddy was fully recovered from his time in the Lockholes) and more subtly. Her iron will had been forged to fine steel; her wit had been sharpened and was now keenly focused, and her eyes saw more clearly than they had before, stripping away assumptions to lay the truth bare before her and everyone around her when it seemed the right course of action to her. And considering the sound judgement and common sense that her life with the back-country Tooks had cultivated, her steering on whatever course of action she might choose was usually shrewd and accurate.
'Your first visit since the Tooks confirmed me as Thain,' Pippin clarified, mischief glinting in his eyes. In fact, Estella thought, he seemed quite pleased to have her there, a fellow mischief-maker in their younger days, and a small part of her, that sometimes spoke with a voice of its own, surprised her by pitying him. Hood and jesses, like a wild hawk taken captive, her thought whispered deep within.
And so she replied brightly, her face clearing, 'Ah! And you want us to see the place before you pull it down about everyone's ears!'
'My love,' Merry hissed in her ear, and she subsided. He'd explained to her before they'd left Buckland that Pippin's confirmation as Thain was a matter of controversy and by no means a settled matter. Though it went against the grain to act as if all was as it should be, for the sake of Merry's love for his cousin, Estella would do her best to rein herself in. Still, the thought rankled. It seemed better to her to have it out in the open and counter every argument with sound logic than to play the kind of politics the Tooks were likely to engage in.
That she could prevail against a host of Tooks was a matter of little doubt to her. Only her love for her husband could constrain her to hold her peace. At least for now.
Eglantine was already in her place at the head table when Pippin entered with his wife and child and the guests of honour. In fact, most of the tables in the great room were full today, filled with Tooks and Tooklanders. Perhaps the only exception was the table reserved for hobbits of the Thain's escort, according to tradition, both those currently serving and those who had retired, along with their wives. When the escort chose to gather at that table, they sent their children to the nursery tables and the minders assigned there. This arrangement allowed them to talk freely during the meal without distraction or interruption.
Everyone stood up from their chairs at the Thain's entry, per protocol, and waited for Pippin to greet the assembly. Once that was done, they could all bow to him as the host of the feast, and then he'd invite them to take their seats, and then the feasting could begin!
The festive gathering began as usual. Pippin asked Merry and Estella to pause while he seated Diamond with great courtesy, and of course he placed Faramir in the chair between his and Diamond's, though he did not, himself, sit down. But then, instead of inviting Merry to take the chair next to his, as would be expected for the guest of honour, Pippin beckoned to the visiting Master and Mistress of Buckland to follow him off the dais where the head tables stood, to the first table on the lower level: the escorts' privileged space.
On seeing the Thain approach, the hobbits of his escort turned to face the oncoming group and then bowed to the Brandybucks when the little party reached them.
'What's this?' Merry asked out of the corner of his mouth, for the rest of the diners in the room were staring at this unusual procedure, and Pippin had, to this point, offered no explanation.
'The hobbits of the Thain's escort request the honour of your company at their table this evening,' Pippin said formally.
The Head of the Thain's escort, Ferdibrand, pulled out the chair next to him, saying to Estella, 'Mistress? If you would grace us with your presence?'
Estella sat down in the chair as requested, though she didn't quite know what to make of the current happenings. She was glad when Ferdi seated Merry beside her before returning to his own seat and standing behind it.
Pippin, smiling as if he hadn't noticed the staring hobbits filling the room, quickly mounted the steps of the raised platform and went to stand at his place. 'Welcome to the feast!' he called.
The assembled hobbits bowed as one to the Thain. As they straightened, the Thain said, 'Please, take your seats!'
Pippin then seated himself, saying aside to Diamond, 'I wonder what they would do should I forget to tell them to sit themselves down?'
'Eat standing up, I suppose,' she answered. 'For it would be such a shame to let this good food go to waste!'
Reginard, on Diamond's far side, managed to restrain himself from chiding the young Thain's nonsense in this very public gathering. But only just.
'You have the right of it, my dear,' Pippin answered as a hovering server lowered his tray to allow Pippin to fork slices of succulent meat onto Diamond's plate and then Farry's, and finally, his own. The server went on to Reginard next while another offered the Thain a divided dish holding several kinds of vegetables. Behind him, a third waited with a dish of potatoes and a pitcher of gravy.
At the lower tables, the diners were serving themselves and passing the serving platters around the tables, each of which had two assigned servers whose duty was to replenish any platters when their contents ran low. Ferdibrand courteously served Estella, beside him, before passing each platter on to Merry. The Brandybucks supposed this to be the proper procedure when invited to sit at the escorts' table since Ferdi was the Head, though they didn't know for certain. After all, Buckland did not keep the same traditions as the Tookland, including the tradition of an escort: while archers could be found throughout the Shire, the Brandybucks did not employ any specifically to follow the Master and Mistress around as an honour guard of sorts. Thankfully.
The meal continued uneventfully through several courses. Finally, at the same time the sweet course was being distributed to all the tables, servants began to circulate with trays of assorted beverages: wine, ale and fruit juices. The diners nodded to each other wisely and did not drink from the glasses they chose but simply set them on the table, ready and waiting for the proper time. After all, this practice in the Great Smials always preceded the toast which the Thain, by tradition, offered at the end of a festive meal.
Since the purpose of the banquet was, ostensibly, to welcome the Master and Mistress of Buckland to the Great Smials for the first time since Peregrin had become Thain, the nature of the upcoming toast was obvious to all. And though the Tooks generally held a dim view of Buckland and Bucklanders in general, they were resigned to drinking whatever toast the Thain might proclaim, as was only good manners in the case of invited guests.
At last, Pippin stood up from his chair and lifted his glass, and the assembly followed his lead, glasses held at the ready. He smiled as his gaze went around the expectant faces filling the room. They're all ready to repeat after me, "to the Master and Mistress of Buckland", or some such, he thought. A quick, meaningless phrase, a polite sip, and then they can sit down and enjoy the rest of the glass at their leisure, over their gossip and gab and assorted cheeses.
His glance at Reginard revealed the Steward's wariness. O' course, Pippin thought to himself, maintaining his smile – though there was no humour in it now, for his thoughts were hardly amusing. If he should, this moment, choose to end the meal by setting in motion the Thain's toast, toasting "to loyal Tooks!", then Regi would be obliged to voice the answering toast, "to the Thain!" Tradition required this exact observance, of course, before the assembly could be dismissed. But let us not rush into the dragon's mouth, the young Thain thought, remembering a favourite phrase of Bilbo's, if we can put off the awful moment for a bit longer.
It would certainly be embarrassing if less than half the room were to toast the Thain... especially in the presence of the guests who were attending, Merry and Estella among them. And yet, considering the opposition to Pippin's succession to the Thainship, he wasn't sure even the Tooks' deep respect for Eglantine would suffice – unless she, and not Regi, spoke the answering toast.
But for anyone but the Steward to propose the toast to the Thain would defy tradition.
...and that's the problem, Pippin thought. The Tooks are so bound by tradition, it's a wonder they can lift their forks to their mouths!
Still, there was naught he could do but bake that bread when it was risen.
He was about to turn tradition on its head, anyhow, giving the Tooks more fuel for the fire. What's the worst they can do? he thought. Turn me off? And then I'm free to make my way to Gondor – with Diamond and Farry, of course, and... live happily ever after?
The thought returned genuine mirth to his smile. And from the corner of his eye, he saw Regi stiffen. It's not what you're thinking, old fellow... Will I surprise you? Somehow, Pippin was sure his Steward would, indeed, be surprised. Hopefully it would turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
Pippin's plan involved not following the established convention, and since he controlled the narrative here, he intended to make the most of the opportunity. Better still, he might shake up a few stolid Tooks and give them food for thought, while reminding the rest of the incredible debt they owed to a relatively small number of courageous hobbits.
Eglantine, of course, knew his intention, as did Diamond, as well as the hobbits of the escort and some of the guests in attendance. The rest of the Tooks and Tooklanders filling the room, well... As Sam might put it, they were in for an eye-opener, and no mistake.
One benefit from pausing after he'd stood and raised his glass was that Pippin now had the attention of everyone in the room, even the children sitting at the nursery tables with minders.
'I thank you for your kind attention!' Pippin began. Good, obvious stuff, though not the toast everyone was expecting. Go on now, lad, they're waiting, he told himself.
'You see,' he went on, lowering his glass as he spoke, 'since I assumed the position of Thain and began to go through the records, that I might better understand Tookland's needs and the Tooks' accustomed way of doing things, a grave oversight has come to light.'
Some of his listeners had lifted their glasses higher, as if to signal, Get on with it! Others had lowered their glasses as Pippin had, with some going so far as to rest their glass on the table to wait until he finished talking. The different expressions on the faces before him were interesting, as well: some looked mutinous, others curious, and still more were passively waiting or obviously going through the motions for the sake of tradition.
'Thain Paladin was relatively new at the job,' Pippin continued, 'for he had been Thain for only about three years, thus facing much opposition from various factions of Tooks who thought he shouldn't have become Thain in the first place,' – quite a familiar feeling, actually! – 'because his grandfather had claimed he had withdrawn our branch of the family from the Succession.'
Pippin studied the faces before him. Curiosity had overtaken annoyance, he thought. 'Please, take your seats,' he said. 'For I have a little more to say before we drink our toast.'
He waited through the chair-scraping that followed, and then resumed. 'When he had been Thain for only about three years, as I meant to say, the Tooks were faced with a crisis the likes of which had not been seen in nearly an hundred years, since the Fell Winter when White Wolves invaded the Shire. But this more recent invasion involved Wolves of a different sort – who walked upright on two feet, who were invited in, not merely taking advantage of an opportunity (such as the rivers freezing over), but invited by a Shire hobbit to cross the Bounds and take up residence and, indeed, begin stealing and bullying under the guise of "gathering and sharing"!'
More of the hostility in the room had faded, though wariness remained. Did his listeners think he was going to launch into a story of his adventures (how disgusting! his thought laughed within him) in foreign parts during the time frame he was describing? Pippin's face brightened at the thought. The idea was tempting, he had to admit, but it would hardly serve his purpose and would likely result in a great deal of harm to the Tookland, should he antagonise the Tooks enough to remove him as Thain, probably – nay, inevitably – leading to chaos and confusion.
'Paladin saw the danger,' Pippin said, 'but none in the Outer Shire heeded his warnings. What he could do, he did; he closed the borders of the Tookland to Men after Tooks had shot three for prowling and thieving. No,' he corrected himself. 'Not thieving, which can simply mean stealing by stealth. Robbing,' he said. 'Taking someone else's property by force or threat. Tooks shot three of Lotho's Men for prowling and robbing.'
He nodded at the indignation in the faces before him. 'Ultimately, Paladin and his advisors realised that they couldn't keep Men out of the Tookland with threats alone. But the idea of shooting every Man who tried to trespass on Tookish land was distasteful, at best, and so they made a plan, and carried it out! Tookland's engineers turned from delving smials and mines and quarries and wells to digging Man-sized traps, while the hunters set nooses and snares large enough for Men to step in – and regret their choices!'
A chuckle answered this thought, and many of the faces Pippin saw now reflected pride.
'Several times, Lotho – and after him, Sharkey – planned and set in motion attacks on our borders, but every one of these attacks failed, and the Tookland remained free!'
A cheer actually resulted! Feeling encouraged at this sign, Pippin thought, Keep on as you're going, lad. You seem to have their attention now.
'An hundred Tooks marched to the Battle at Bywater, when the Shire-folk arose to throw the ruffians out at last. And the bows of Tookish archers, as well as those of other Tooklanders, were a major factor in persuading any Men who thought they'd linger, that the Shire proper, just like the Tookland, would no longer be a healthy place for them! And so all Shire-folk were set free of their oppressors!'
Another rousing cheer erupted from Pippin's listeners. Though he maintained his stern (Thainly, Diamond called it) expression, privately, he was thinking wryly, Well done, lad. If this Thain business doesn't work out, perhaps you can go for Mayor, or simply travel around the Shire giving speeches for your living...
Pippin dropped his voice slightly to invite his listeners' closer attention, rather like tugging gently at the line when a fish was mouthing the hook but the hook had not quite been set. 'And afterwards, there was a grand celebration – deservedly so! – and Thain Paladin acknowledged the contributions of all those who'd defended our homeland – not only our spies, our border guards, our archers who kept Men from entering the land, but also the farmers who grew enough food to feed everyone and the craftshobbits who provided what hobbits needed for daily living in the absence of trade with the Outer Shire, the mums and dads who continued to raise the children in safety and security, and the loyalty of the Tooks and Tooklanders who protected the land and the people from the ruffians that sought to invade and conquer!'
He thought he might have risked the Thain's toast at this point and received a satisfactory response rather than an embarrassing one. What a pity it was that he was not quite finished!
A little more quietly, Pippin said, 'But there were some whom Thain Paladin wished to honour above the rest, for their ceaseless vigilance, the dangers they regularly risked, the sacrifices they made,' and he dropped his voice further, but it didn't matter, for there was no other sound in the great room now. He thought the hobbits before him all might even be holding their breaths. '...and some of whom gave up their lives.'
Into the hush, he dropped words like pebbles, sending ripples through the room. 'And on the Mid-year's Day that followed the Battle of Bywater and the Scouring of the Shire, Thain Paladin convened a solemn convocation on the fields outside Michael Delving, where all the Shire-folk attending the Free Faire might hear about everything that went into the struggle and the victory that set them free at last. There before the multitude, he read a long list of the names of Shire-folk who had stood against the ruffians and proclaimed them "heroes of the Shire".' Pippin saw many in the crowd nodding at the memory.
'And then the Thain recited the names of certain Tooks and Tooklanders, and he proclaimed them "heroes of the Tookland"!' Pippin grinned as he added, '...including the Mistress of the Tooks, Eglantine, who devised and arranged the delivery of many rumours to be spread throughout the Outer Shire to confuse and confound Lotho and his Men!'
He waited out the cheers for "the Mistress" but did not miss the ironic glances passing between particular hobbits among his listeners – those sitting at the escorts' table and more, especially the archers and border guards who had never quite become reconciled to being labelled as heroes.
'I know that you know all this,' Pippin said to his listeners. 'For most of you lived it! Saw it. Heard the words of Thain Paladin, there at the Free Faire's closing ceremonies, when Frodo Baggins formally resigned as Mayor of Michel Delving, and Will Whitfoot was restored to the office. But there is something I warrant you do not know...'
The curiosity was back.
'Do you remember the first time Lotho's Men marched against the Tookland in force?' Pippin asked. 'Do you remember the Muster?' He saw many nodding in the crowd. 'You who were border guards at the time, do you remember the orders, "Taunt Lotho's Men and lead them into the traps; warn them, but if you must shoot them, aim to wound"?' More nods.
But the young Thain had another question for his listeners. 'Do you remember when those orders were changed to "shoot to kill"?' he asked. He heard gasps from various quarters of the room, from hobbits who had not heard this part of the story before. He also had to suppress a sigh at Merry's suddenly grim expression, for they'd argued about which details would be better "lost" when the official histories were told and written.
'Do you know why?' Pippin asked at last. The nods were few and far between in response to this last question. 'Just as I thought,' he said lower, and then raised his voice again, speaking as clearly as possible. 'I think you ought to be told.' His gaze swept the assembly, deliberately pausing to meet Merry's glare and then moving on, giving every listener the feeling he was speaking personally to each one in the room.
For despite his dearest cousin's disapproval, Pippin felt confident of his chosen course. 'For it is not in the nature of Hobbits to take life lightly,' he said soberly. 'And so I have come to the conclusion that you should know the truth about Lotho Sackville-Baggins: he was only a puppet, and there was someone behind him in the shadows, pulling his strings.' Pippin smiled grimly then and added, 'And no, I'm not talking about Lobelia.'
Into the sprinkling of chuckles that resulted, he said, 'To be fair to Mistress Lobelia, she was – at first – quite pleased with her son's "success" and growing wealth and influence! But then she saw Lotho's Men multiplying and growing bolder and ever more destructive, and Lotho would not listen to her concerns – because he could not, as she came to realise. And when she stood up to the ruffians, they hauled her off to the Lockholes. Would Lotho have allowed that, had he been the one truly in control?'
Pippin stopped speaking and watched his listeners murmur and shuffle their feet as they began to come to the same conclusion Farmer Cotton had voiced to the Travellers upon their return.
Pippin resumed speaking when he thought most of his listeners were "on the same page" with him, as Bilbo had been fond of saying. 'Although, at first, he might have thought that accumulating wealth and power was his own idea, he'd actually been cleverly manipulated. Even as he welcomed the first of "his" Men to the Shire, he was really following the orders of the real Master of the ruffians, the one you knew as Sharkey. The wizard Saruman, in fact.'
Any lingering confusion and disbelief gave way to increasing conviction as Pippin went on. 'I know this, you see, because shortly before that first assault was launched against our borders, half-Orcs were arriving in the Shire, ostensibly to work for Lotho.' He paused and looked an apology at Merry before informing the assembly, 'You may not know, and so I feel I must tell you, that Saruman saw Men and Orcs as animals to be cross-bred for his purposes; thus, he created half-orcs and goblin-men to serve him – ravening, fierce and pitiless creatures which he bred with an eye to "improving" the Hobbit-hunters of history and legend. The blood of Men simply made them larger and stronger than goblins, as well as able to tolerate the light of the Sun.'
Every face ranged before Pippin now displayed horror. Including Merry's, of course.
'Even before the wizard arrived in the Shire, the Tooks and Tooklanders, by their resistance, were disrupting his ultimate goal – to destroy the Shire and Shire-folk,' Pippin went on inexorably. 'And so, he formed a new plan to overrun the borders, to capture Paladin and his family to make an example of them, to kill all the other leaders in the Tookland, and to kill or enslave or imprison all the rest. And he sent, for this purpose, his creatures that were more vile and cunning than his ruffians who were already in the Shire. For some of the Shire-folk had, before that time, been able to befriend Lotho's Men! Such a possibility did not suit the wizard's evil purposes.'
Shock and anger were slowly replacing horror.
'You may not know,' Pippin said, looking to Merry once more and seeing grudging acceptance, 'but I deem you ought to know, that the wizard's plan to conquer the Tookland and destroy the Tooks had a good chance of succeeding, in part because the Tooks were used to repulsing Men and would not be expecting the kind of vicious fighters that were about to assault the border. Thus, the element of surprise was one of the weapons the invaders were counting upon.'
Pippin smiled at his listeners. 'But best-laid plans go oft awry,' he said. 'And by chance, the wizard's plans were overheard.' His smile widened. 'I'm sure you remember the exploits of a particular Took known as the Fox.' While he'd known Ferdi would not be happy with this turn of events, there was no helping it. Pippin's cousin would simply have to live with the discomfort.
'At the time,' Pippin went on, 'he was escorting a young Took who lived outside the Tookland, whose parents had recognised the danger. Ruffians had already been hunting Tooks and marching them to the Lockholes for some months; then they began beating them... and worse. And so the parents asked the Fox to take their child to the safety of the Free Tookland.
'But on this occasion, ruffians captured the Fox, and unlike other times when he was able to elude or escape his captors, they injured him so badly, he had no hopes of escaping,' Pippin said. The faces before him went quite still.
'He had told the young Took to run if they should encounter ruffians, to run, and not look back!' By this time, Estella had gone rigid in her seat, in contrast to the hobbits of escort around her who'd known this story would be told, who sat alert but relaxed. Of course, Merry did not yet know the rest of the story. But he'd soon find out.
'But the young Took did not run far, as it turned out; instead, the hobbit hid nearby, and when darkness fell, formulated and carried out a plan to rescue the Fox from the ruffians' clutches! The plan included finding a secure hiding place nearby, for the ruffians had severely beaten their prisoner in their fury at his companion's escape. And that hiding place had been chosen so well that though the Men searched for hours, they did not find the Hobbits and conjectured they had not stayed in the area but had gone on to the safety of the Tookland. There, the two Tooks lay quiet and – quite by chance – listened to a ruffian leader lay out the plan to his followers to overrun the border!'
Soft sounds of approbation arose from the crowd but were quickly hushed, for it was clear the story was not over.
Pippin continued. 'After the ruffians marched away, the hidden hobbits made sure they were well gone. They knew there was no time to waste: The Tooks must be warned! ...but the Fox was badly injured, so badly, both he and the young Took thought he might be dying. And yet, if Paladin did not receive the information he critically needed, many more would die, including the Thain and his family! And so, with no thought for himself – and with a great deal of help from the young Took with him – the Fox made his way to the border, where he could find a pony.'
Relief was beginning to spread over the faces of his listeners; Pippin put his glass down on the table and held up his hand. 'But that was not the end of it.'
A murmur arose but quickly died. Pippin nodded. 'You see, part way to the Great Smials, the Fox collapsed, overcome by his injuries. But the young Took with him knew that the warning must be delivered, and as soon as possible, even were the Fox to die! And so the young Took found help, and the message went onwards, until it reached the Thain! ...who called a Muster, and the Muster repelled the attack successfully because of the details the Fox had provided, at risk of his own life; and afterwards, the Thain and his advisers were able to adjust their plans for the defence of the Tookland to prevent or defeat similar attacks!'
A general sigh filled the room. Pippin paused, then said, 'I'm happy to report that the Fox did not die but recovered from his injuries, though he did not appreciate Healer Woodruff's decree that he must spend two weeks abed!' As he'd intended, the resulting chuckle released some of the tension in the assembly.
'I'm sorry to have to inform you,' Pippin added, and saw his listeners stiffen again, 'that the young Took who ensured that critical information reached the Thain never did receive recognition as a hero of the Tookland.'
He heard indignant murmurs of What? and Never? from several listeners – not, however, those who already bore the appellation and who probably were reluctant to inflict such a burden on someone else.
'Therefore, as my first official public act,' Pippin said, standing straighter, 'I intend to rectify this oversight.'
Estella seemed to be shrinking in her chair, and the young Thain sighed. It couldn't be helped. And, he argued with himself, it's probably for her own good. For Estella's reputation amongst the Tooks was that of a trickster and mischief-maker, lingering long after she'd grown up and assumed the serious responsibilities of the Mistress of Buckland.
She deserved better. Merry, of course, remained oblivious, but the time was quickly approaching when he'd have yet another reason to appreciate the hobbit he'd married.
Accordingly, Pippin snapped out, 'Heroes of the Tookland, stand tall!' He had every confidence the hobbits would obey, for Eglantine had gone to every one of them in the days before the banquet had been scheduled and informed them of her expectations regarding their behaviour at this juncture. Throughout the room, Tooks and Tooklanders stood, some more reluctantly than others, but under Eglantine's stern gaze, none of the heroes Paladin had recognised remained seated.
Pippin nodded at Ferdibrand. 'Fox,' he said. 'If you would do the honours?'
Ferdi was already standing; now he turned to Estella and offered her his arm. Pippin saw Merry object, saw Ferdi counter him, saw Estella, though her face was white, take Ferdi's arm defiantly (defying not Merry but the staring Tooks around her).
With great courtesy, the Fox escorted Estella to stand before Pippin at the head table. 'You snake!' she hissed as she made a graceful courtesy to the Thain.
'Not at all,' Pippin answered in an undertone as he bowed in response. And then he reached to remove the finely-crafted gold chain he'd put on earlier, which had remained hidden, tucked beneath his shirt, until this moment. He then lifted the chain and its green jewel, of the same kind of stone as the one found in the Seal of the Thain of the Tooks, over Estella's head.
'Estella Took-Bolger Brandybuck, I name you Hero of the Tookland!' he grandly proclaimed, and all the other hobbits standing in the great room raised a cheer, including Hally and Rosemary Bolger, who'd come from the Woody End with their children upon receiving the Thain's invitation, and Harliburt and Chrysanthemum Took and their large family, and all the hobbits of the Thain's escort, among others.
If looks could kill, Pippin might be in fear of his life, standing eye to eye with Estella. But then she put on a sweet smile and turned to face the crowd, and rendered a deep courtesy to everyone in general and her wide-eyed husband in particular.
'And now, I would like to propose a toast,' Pippin said. The standing Heroes picked up their glasses, while the rest of the crowd stood up from their seats, holding their glasses in hand, and Pippin took up the two "extra" glasses he'd ordered ahead of time and handed one to Ferdi and one to Estella.
Pippin reclaimed his own glass and, smiling broadly, lifted it to the assembly. 'To the Heroes of the Tookland!' he cried.
A hearty echo answered him, and to his satisfaction, Pippin saw Merry shouting with the rest, and everyone drank the toast. (And if Estella raised her glass to Ferdi, and the Fox raised his glass to Twig, well, that was their own business.)
Dared he risk the ritual toast that concluded every festive occasion at the Great Smials?
Pippin raised his glass again, commanding the attention of the crowd. 'To loyal Tooks!' he shouted. As with one voice, the crowd roared, 'To loyal Tooks!' And all, including the Thain, drank the toast.
Then it was time for the Steward to give the response, and silence fell once more as Regi lifted his glass. 'To the Thain!' he proclaimed, lifting his glass higher.
And the new Thain breathed a private sigh of relief at the thundering response. To the Thain!
When the last toast had been drunk, Ferdi put his glass back down on the table and offered his arm to Estella once more. 'My good Twig?' he said, cocking an eyebrow.
'Old Uncle!' Estella answered. But as the Fox began to escort the newly recognised hero back to her table, she paused and looked back at Pippin. 'I may never forgive you for this!' she whispered.
Pippin spread his arms and shrugged. 'I was taking a risk, I know,' he answered.
But Estella was determined to have the last word. 'It's properly Heroine!' she said. And then she smiled at Ferdi and gestured to the steps leading from the dais to the lower tables. 'If you please, Fox...'
'It's my pleasure,' Ferdi responded in kind. And as they moved away, Pippin heard his head of escort whisper, 'And anytime in future you might need rescuing, just let me know.'
And Estella answered him simply enough. 'Likewise!'
~ * ~ * ~ THE END ~ * ~ * ~