Of Snowhobbits and Cold Chills
by Garnet Took
Authors Notes: For this challenge my starter sentence was:
"Oh, that's wonderful!"_ laughed delightedly.
In this story Pippin is nine, Merry is a few days away from his 18th birthday
and Berilac is 19.
Disclaimer: All character and settings in this story belong to the Tolkien Estate, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema. I've only spent the last several years daydreaming about them. No profit is being made on this so please don't sue. You'd get more from a turnip than you will from me.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Merry laughed delightedly. "I'm so glad you won't have to spend this whole Yule visit indoors, Pippin."
"Me, too," was Pippin's happy response.
The Took family, Pippin, his parents and his three older sisters, had arrived at Brandy Hall earlier that afternoon to begin their Yule celebration with the Brandybucks. Every second year the Tooks would play hosts to the grand Party. For Pippin's entire life he had been forced by his poor health and weak lungs to spend the holiday indoors. While his sisters and cousins played in the snow he would watch them through a window, but only if he was bundled warmly in a blanket to prevent any chill. But this year would be different. Pippin had been deemed by the healers to be strong enough to spend some time outside in the cold, if he wore a warm coat and kept his neck and mouth wrapped in a thick wool scarf.
"Well, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Merry asked his little cousin as he helped the child unpack.
"I want to go outside and play!" exclaimed Pippin. "I've always wanted to build a snowhobbit and have a snowball fight, but only if no one throws the snowballs too hard. I think that would hurt and not be fun at all."
"Those sound like great ideas, Pippin. I don't like to get hit with a snowball that's been thrown too hard. Just stay away from Berilac. He throws to hurt.
"Now, if we're going to go out tomorrow, you need to get a good night's sleep. So it's off to bed with you as soon as you've had your supper. All right?"
Pippin nodded his agreement. He had no intention of doing anything that might keep him cooped up all winter this time.
Bright and early the next morning, Merry was awakened by a small hobbit bouncing on his bed. "Get up! Get up, Merry! I want to go out!" Pippin yelled in Merry's ear.
"Calm down, Pippin. We'll go out as soon as I'm up and dressed and we've had a good breakfast. Now get off me, or we won't be going anywhere."
After a warm and plentiful breakfast, Merry helped Pippin into his coat, cloak and, most importantly, his new, warm scarf. "Now, what is the one rule you must follow?" Merry asked.
"Don't take off my scarf," Pippin answered dutifully.
"Right," said Merry. "Now, are you ready to go out?"
"Yes, yes, yes," Pippin jumped up and down in his excitement.
With a dramatic flourish, Merry threw open the front door of Brandy Hall. Pippin stared open-mouthed for a moment and then bolted into the snow-covered world revealed by the opened door. "Wait for me!" called Merry, shutting the door and running after his cousin.
Once outside, it didn't take Merry and Pippin long to find a number of cousins to play with. "Come on," called Doderic, "we're building a snowhobbit."
The older children worked on the body while Doderic, Ilberic and Pippin rolled a large ball to serve as the head. Once they were finished, Merry and Berilac lifted it into place.
"Now all he needs is clothing and a face," said Ilberic. "I know where there's a couple of rocks we can use for eyes, and I have a button we can use for his waistcoat."
"I can lend a button, too," said Merry. "I also can go get a carrot for a nose. How does that sound?"
"Great," agreed Pippin. "I've got a button or two, too."
Quickly they added their decorations to their creation. "Well, I'd say that looks almost perfect," said Berilac. "Now all he needs is a scarf. Hey, Pippin, can we use yours?"
"No," said Pippin. "My mum and the healer said I have to leave mine on. Couldn't we use yours instead?"
"Oh, come on, yours would look so much nicer than mine." With this, Berilac stepped toward Pippin and took the end of the smaller hobbit's scarf in his hand. "No one's going to care if you take it off for a short time. We'll just leave it till we're ready to go in and then you can have it back. It can be our little secret."
Pippin hesitated. He didn't know for sure what could happen if he took off the scarf, but he also wasn't sure he wanted to find out. "I don't think I should take it off, Beri. If any of the adults find out, I'll be kept indoors for the rest of my visit."
Without warning, Berilac tugged on the end of the scarf he held, pulling it off Pippin's neck. Pippin just stood there open-mouthed. He couldn't say or do anything he was so shocked.
"Give it back!" demanded Merry. "Just because you're older, Beri, doesn't give you the right to bully smaller children and take things that don't belong to you. I'm going straight to my dad and tell him what you've done. Come on, Pippin." Merry turned and headed back to the Hall.
"I can't, Merry," cried Pippin. "I can't go back in without my scarf." He made a vain attempt to retrieve the scarf from around the neck of the snowhobbit, but he was too short to reach that high. Merry just shrugged and stomped off toward Brandy Hall.
"Come on," said Berilac, "let's go down to the river and see if it has started freezing over yet." Doderic and Ilberic dutifully followed their older cousin.
They were used to Berilac's bossiness, and figured it was just easier to go along with him than make a fuss. Pippin felt no such compulsion. He determinedly remained where he was, trying to get his scarf back.
After a few failed attempts, Pippin gave up and sat down in the snow. He couldn't figure out why the effort he'd put out trying to get the scarf had cost him so much strength. He also noticed that the cold air was making his chest hurt. Am I making that strange sound? Every time he breathed he heard this rattling, gasping sound, and he noticed that he wasn't getting as much air with each breath as he felt like he needed.
Merry found his father in his study looking over last-minute documents that needed his approval before the end of the year. "Dad, I need to talk to you," stated the younger Brandybuck, walking resolutely into the room without so much as knocking to announce himself. Saradoc jumped, nearly dropping the quill he was holding.
"What is it, son? It must be important for you to burst in on me like that.
"Berilac's at it again. He was trying to take Pippin's scarf to use on the
snowhobbit we built. Pippin tried to talk him out of it by telling him how much trouble he'd get in if he took it off, but Beri didn't care; so then I said I was going to come tell you. I don't know what happened after that, but you've got to come do something or else Berilac's going to think he can get away with being a bully. Most of the younger children are afraid of him as it is. Pippin's the only one with the nerve to stand up to him, and that's just because he's not as familiar with him as we are."
"Where are they now?" asked Saradoc, putting the quill back in the penholder and rising from his desk.
"I left them just outside the main door of the Hall," answered Merry. Before Merry could say anything else, or even think, Saradoc strode from the room and headed for the front door, stopping only long enough to don his coat and cloak. Merry had to almost run to keep up with his father.
The sight that greeted them outside was enough to stop both in their tracks.
Pippin was half sitting, half kneeling in the snow beside the snowhobbit that he had helped to build; and even from a distance, Saradoc and Merry could hear the gasping wheezing that passed for the small hobbit's breathing.
"Pippin!" exclaimed Merry, rushing to his cousin's side. "Come on. We've got to get you inside so the healer can look at you." Carefully he helped the child to his feet and turned to head back to Brandy Hall.
"Get him some help," said Saradoc, taking Pippin's scarf into his hands. "Also, tell your Aunt Eglantine and Uncle Paladin exactly what happened. I'm going to find young Berilac and put an end to this appalling behavior." With this, he stomped off following the tracks the boys had left in the snow toward the river.
Merry helped Pippin back indoors and ordered the first person they met to find one of the healers. Then he got the little Took settled on the sofa in the main parlor and waited. Pippin was still gasping, and Merry noticed that his lips had a blue tinge to them. Merry was overjoyed when one of the healers, Lilac he thought her name was, finally arrived and took charge of the situation.
"I need boiling water," she ordered. One of the servants who had followed her into the room rushed to comply. "I also need a basin and a mug."
As soon as the water and the other items arrived, she dumped most of the water into the basin and quickly added a large packet of herbs. "I'm going to use a couple of the Winter Sickness treatments on him," Lilac explained to Merry. "Help him sit up with his face above the basin so that he can breathe in the steam." Once Merry had Pippin sitting bent over the bowl, the healer covered the child completely with the throw from the back of the sofa. "There, that will keep the steam in where it will do the most good. Just keep breathing as deeply as you can, young Peregrin. I'm going to make you a special cup of tea, and I want you to drink it all."
Merry watched as the healer poured the contents of another, smaller packet into the mug and added the remaining water. She then covered it with a cloth to let it steep. "Now all we can do is wait," she said.
After several minutes, though Merry thought it felt like hours, Lilac pulled the cover back from Pippin's face. To Merry he looked different than he had, but not really any better. While his lips were no longer blue, his face was now beet-red and beaded with sweat. At least Merry could no longer hear the wheezy, raspy sound that had been the young Took's breathing.
"Now, Pippin, drink all of this and then I'll let Merry take you back to your room so you can rest."
Pippin took the mug and looked ruefully into its depths. With obvious reluctance, he raised it to his lips and dutifully drank it down. He made a face as he handed the cup back to the healer. "You really must still be feeling poorly," she commented accepting the mug, "for you not to complain about taking medicine."
"Will he be all right?" asked Merry.
"Yes, I believe he will," answered Lilac. "He may have a sore throat for a few days, and deep breaths may be hard to get for a while, but other than that, he should be just fine. There will, however, be no more going outside until the weather warms up. That's what caused the problem to start with. The cold caused his lungs to constrict so that he couldn't get any air. That is something that he will probably have to be aware of, and avoid, for the rest of his life. Just one of the hazards of being born too early, I'm afraid.
"Now, Pippin," she said, looking back down at her young patient, "let's get you back to your parents and bundled safely into your bed so that you can rest."
"And don't worry, Pippin," added Merry. "I'll make sure your mum and dad know this wasn't your fault. I can't wait to see what Dad does to that Berilac."
Saradoc found Berilac and the other boys on the riverbank. They looked like they were thinking about testing the thickness of the ice near the edge. Saradoc cleared his throat loudly. "Well, lads, I wouldn't do that if I were you," he commented. "Berilac, you wouldn't by any chance be bullying Ilby or Dody into going out there, are you? Don't you think you've done enough of that for one day?"
"Huh?" Berilac looked up the bank at his uncle, with his best innocent face.
"Don't give me that look," ordered Saradoc, all pretense at friendliness gone. "I know what happened this morning," he continued. "The healer is seeing to Pippin now, and you'd best hope all goes well; otherwise things may not go so well for you either."
Berilac hung his head. He knew he'd been beaten, this time.
"Now, I want all three of you back up at the Hall as fast as your feet can carry you. You, Berilac, are not to set foot outside your parent's quarters until I say so. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir, Uncle Saradoc" All three headed back toward Brandy Hall at a run.
That evening, Saradoc called his brother into his study for a heart-to-heart talk about Berilac's behavior. They agreed to a severe grounding and an apology to Peregrin, for this offence. If any future incidents occurred, then a public cincture would be the punishment.
The next morning, Berilac met Pippin after breakfast.
"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't know something that bad would happen to you. Don't think, though, that that's going to make me go easier on you. I didn't mean for something bad to happen, but you didn't even fight back. And, until you do, I'm still going to make life hard for you. Know that I'm not scared of Uncle Doc's threats."
"You disgust me," answered Pippin. "The only reason you feel bad is that you got caught. I feel bad for you, Berilac Brandybuck. You're never going to have any friends or people who care about you because you've driven them all away by your actions. And, by the way, I'm not scared of you. You may be bigger and stronger and louder, but I've got things you don't have. I have my honor, and my friends. Think about it." With that, Pippin turned and walked away.
"What was that all about?" asked Merry, when Pippin caught up with him.
"Nothing important," Pippin answered. "I feel like beating you at a game of draughts before second breakfast. Let's go."
Merry just shook his head and followed his younger cousin down the hall.
The End