Chapter 10

In North Farthing Diamond was crying her own tears. As good as his word, Rollo Boffin came with his grand carriage to take Diamond of Long Cleeve away to become Diamond Boffin of Dwaling. Her mother kissed her briefly and coldly at the gate before she boarded the carriage. Diamond shook Fetridge's hand and he mumbled something about it being 'all for the best'. Then she came to Hamlin. In her youth she had never much cared for him, he was too sullen, too serious, too much like her. But they had grown together in the last weeks and had even found some happiness in each other's company. But now she was to be parted from him as well. Each time she allowed her heart to love, the object of that affection was taken away. It seemed that perhaps it was not worth the pain to love at all.

"Will you come and see me?" she asked Ham as he helped her into the carriage.

"Will he allow it?" he inquired looking back to see his mother engrossed in conversation with Boffin. He was glad Diamond could not see the exchange taking place at the gate. Rollo had instructed his driver to unload a small trunk, no doubt filled with some precious commodity, as payment for his goods received. They shook hands to seal the deal.

"If I am permitted, I will come as soon as can be," he assured her taking her hand and kissing it. She smiled a sorrowful smile at him and he stepped back from the coach. Rollo tipped his head toward the lad and joined Diamond in the carriage. They rode off into the afternoon intending to head to Brockenborings where they'd stay the night, then carry on to Dwaling in the morning. 'Better it 'were done in a single trip, not broken into two,' Diamond thought to herself, 'It'll only double the misery.'

The scenery was dull and dying. The trees of the Bindbole Wood were bare in anticipation of the winter and the path was nearly empty of traffic. The death of the year was well timed for Diamond's feelings. Sleep had become her solace, for in sleep she could dream and remember. She dozed in the carriage, lulled by the rocking, and thankfully did not see the looks that Rollo Boffin fixed her with. He admired her pale skin, much paler than that of most hobbits, who, as a rule, spent a great deal of time out of doors. Her hair, which framed her face, glistened like honey fresh from the comb. Her figure was pleasing, curvacious, yet fit. He was gratified by his newest acquisition.

After their night in Brockenborings, they began to pass through country Diamond had never seen. The Hills of Scary stretched out to the east. They were lower than the White Downs and less green, but had a certain beauty.

"What are those hills called?" she asked. He was surprised by the sound of her voice since she hadn't spoken more than two words since they had left the inn.

"Those are the Hills of Scary, also called the Brockenbores. The town of Scary is just east of Brockenborings. My people have lived in Dwaling, just north of these hills, for many generations. The hills are not high, but they have been cleverly delved and hollowed in many places. The great quarry is there, at the eastern end of the range. My family used the tunnels as a short cut to the quarry and to Scary for many a long year. But they haven't been used since my grandfather Bollo Boffin's time. I expect all the tunnels would be caved in or forgotten by now," he explained, grateful to talk about a topic he was knowledgeable in.

Diamond nodded and then, much to his dismay, closed her eyes to sleep again. He knocked on the roof of the carriage and the driver clucked the ponies to speed up. The sooner he got her to his neck of the Shire, the better.

As they pulled up to his sister's home, a tidy hole built into the small, rocky ridge behind it, the driver stopped the ponies and Rollo helped Diamond out of the carriage. Dil came out after a time and greeted her brother warmly. Then she approached Diamond and held out her hand. Diamond shook it and bowed to the older hobbit.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Diamond," she said sweetly and helped Rollo carry the bags in. Diamond was shown to her room in order to unpack and get settled. It was a fine room, quite large and well furnished with a heavy oak bed frame and dresser. It had a large mirror over a small white dressing table. There was a large oak wardrobe in one corner and a large glazed window facing east. She stood at the window and surveyed the landscape of Dwaling. Some distance to the east she could see the Brandywine River bordered on both sides by tall beech trees. Their bare branches stood like a row of spikes offering but a glimpse of the river beyond. In the summer the river would be utterly obscured by their silvery leaves. Between the river and Daffodil's hole was a patchwork of empty fields. If she'd been able to look west, Diamond would have seen the lordly manor which Rollo and his household occupied. It, too, was built into the rocky ridge behind it. In fact it was the same ridge that Dil's hole was nestled into, albeit at a slightly higher elevation. Boffin Heights was large and well built. It had many, many rooms, though not as many as The Great Smials. Once she had settled in Rollo came to take his leave of her. He bowed at the door after he knocked. She tipped her head politely and he entered the room.

"I hope you are happy with the room. My sister is an excellent hostess and I am certain you will be treated well," he said happily.

"It is a beautiful room and I am sure your sister will be kinder to me than I deserve," she replied.

"You deserve every kindness, you will be the wife of the master of this family," he reminded her. She smiled as kindly as she could and bowed again. He brought a long box from behind his back and handed it to her proudly. She looked puzzled at him and brought the box to the bed with her where she sat it on her lap.

"Open it," he suggested, much pleased with the impending gift. She slowly opened the box and saw inside it a most beautiful gown. It was a pale lavender dress with a lace-up bodice. Also in the box was a fine white blouse, soft and shimmering. She looked up at him in surprise. He smiled but lowered his head in a moment and said,

"Thank my sister, she had it made for you."

"I shall," she replied holding the dress up before her eyes, "But thank you anyway." He met her eyes and smiled again, pleased that she was pleased.

"Perhaps you could wear it when you come to dinner at the end of the week? That should give you enough time to get settled," he asked. She nodded and he returned the nod. Then he bowed politely and took his leave of her. She spent a long time looking at the dress and wondering how it would look on her. She walked to the mirror and held it before her body. She could see the colour was very flattering to her eyes and cheeks. Then the smile left her face as she thought about how Pippin would react to seeing her in this dress. Guilt overtook her and she let the dress fall from her form. Accepting gifts from this hobbit, and worse yet, being pleased with them seemed an act of betrayal. She hung the dress in the wardrobe and sat on her bed. She refused to cry though. She had had enough crying for now. Though she had no intention of returning to her emotionless, former self, neither did she intend to become some weeping willow who spends her time dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief; one of those in a family was more than enough. She needed to learn to temper her emotions, to control them, or they would control her.

Though there was mail service in the Shire, it was usually reserved for serious communications like invitations to parties. But in late November Diamond received a letter from her dear cousin. Though she was glad to receive it, it did not contain much good news.

Dearest Cousin,

I hope this letter finds you well. As my mother understood from her cousin Willow, you will have gone away to Dwaling by the time this reaches you. I hope you find things there more to your liking than you feared you would. Cousin Willow assures us that although he may seem intimidating, Rollo Boffin is a decent hobbit. That must be small comfort to you dearest, most precious Diamond, but please take it as some comfort.

I spoke to Pippin before he and Merry went away with Frodo. He did not seem to know about your engagement to Rollo Boffin.

Diamond panicked as she read these lines, terrified her cousin would have given her away, but she did not need to fear as she saw when she read on.

I thought it was not my place to inform him since you had chosen not to. Perhaps it was the kinder choice. Let him go with a clear conscience. Which brings me to my next point. Merry left with Fatty Bolger two days before Pippin, Sam and Frodo set off for Crickhollow. At first, Merry assured me they were just helping Frodo to set up his new household and that he would be back soon. But after I pressed him, he admitted that he would be gone much longer than he had first expected. I knew he was lying to be kind. Like you, he felt it was better if I did not know the truth. But I got it out of him eventually. Tears are an excellent method of persuasion.

It seems that he and Pippin are accompanying Frodo, and his servent Sam Gamgee, of course, on some sort of expedition. I don't pretend to understand it all, but Merry did own that it is dangerous. You can see again that keeping the truth from Pippin may have been the best choice. He has gone off into danger thinking he has you to come back to. Perhaps that will serve him. I do not want to write any further on this topic as I find it troubling and there is little use in idle speculation.

On the positive side, the Thain set a good price for corn this year, so father is well pleased and we are settling in for winter quite nicely. Of course this winter will offer no gift as great as last winter. I think father would exchange any wealth for you, dearest, as would we all.

I hope you will allow me to stand with you at your wedding as I hope you have the pleasure of standing with me at mine, though I know the day will be bittersweet for us all. Perhaps fate will provide you with a way out so you can be free to marry the one you were fated to be with. If not, then perhaps you will find some sort of joy with the one you have.

I will write again and trust the post service to get the letter to you before I see you next. I hope that it will be soon.

Your Loving Cousin,

Primula

In spite of her recent resolution to cry less, Diamond let the tears fall freely in the privacy of her room. The letter had little good in it for Diamond. Her fears for Pippin increased ten-fold. She thought back to the end of September when she had had that spell, and wondered if it had anything to do with Pippin, though she knew somehow it did. Was he alive? She thought he must be. Would he remain so? She did not know. She dwelt on Pippin's fate for a moment, but like Prim, knew that it was pointless. She hoped that fate would deal him a kinder hand than she herself had been dealt. It was simply beyond the ken of an average hobbit, who never had any adventures or went anywhere, to imagine the depths of danger the four hobbits of the Fellowship had entered into. She imagined his peril was far less than it actually was, as did the whole of the Shire, and so her worry was equal to the limits of her own imagination. As for the good news, it had always been her intention to ask Prim stand up for her at her wedding and she was grateful Prim had offered. Having that to look forward to would make the ordeal more bearable.

The winter passed quite quickly. Rollo's sister, Daffodil, was an excellent companion for Diamond, much like an older sister. She felt well-cared for and well-kept. The situation also afforded her the opportunity to improve her domestic skills which were sorely lacking. She learned to light a fire, cook a variety of dishes, sew and even how to brew beer. But her education did not stop there. In her quest to improve herself, she sought out Rollo Boffin's neighbor. He was a Shirriff for the north-eastern section of the Shire and in his off hours she had persuaded him to instruct her in the proper use of the bow and arrow. At first Rollo had disapproved, but his sister convinced him by telling him that all the wealthy hobbit lasses were trained in archery. This was not precisely true, but Rollo was never one to allow his neighbors to show him up, so Diamond was allowed to train on the bow. Hobbits have always been hunters in addition to being farmers and there are many among them who can knock a bow with the best of men, though not necessarily the best of elves. Rusty Crane, an expert bowman, had the charge of training all the Shirriffs in archery. Diamond was nervous and shy, as she still had a tendency to be around strangers, but he put her at ease quickly with his kindness and patience.

"Shootin' an arrow is not about yankin' on the string and then lettin' it go. It is a matter of pullin' the string to its extreme and then releasin' it to go back to where its supposed to be, if you follow me," he explained. Diamond looked at him with a puzzled expression, her breath a cloud about her red-cheeked face, and he laughed. The air was cold on this early December morning and Rusty smiled thinking, not for the last time, if he was a single lad and 40 years younger that he would be in serious trouble. Diamond let the string loose and knocked the arrow up. She pulled the string back when suddenly the arrow shot sideways off the bow and planted itself in a bale of hay not two feet from where Rollo sat watching. He stood, rather surprised, and then excused himself on business. Most likely he wanted to go home with the same number of holes in his body as he had come with. In a few weeks, once Diamond had the basics, Rollo had a target range set up in one of the unused sheds to offer her a slightly warmer practice area. Her skill with the bow increased quickly and she enjoyed the sense of confidence it gave her.

As winter marched on, January came in fiercely. Diamond watched the cold rain freeze the trees and ground in a layer of ice. She confined her activities to those best done inside. Around the middle of the month she fell ill for several days. She was sweaty and restless. She burned with fever one day, and the next day she was icy cold. On the 15th of January, as she lay sleeping fitfully, Dil dozed in a chair at her side as she had done for the 2 days previous. Suddenly Diamond sat up in bed and screamed, "Pippin!" at the top her voice. Dil started from her sleep and opened her eyes in time to see Diamond reach her arms out, her eyes blind, her fingers groping. Dil caught her flailing hands and held them together with her own.

Diamond's eyes stared blindly ahead and her mouth opened and closed. Far away, Pippin watched Gandalf the Grey plummet into the darkness of the deeps beneath Khazad-dum, their utter blackness breached only by the firey Balrog falling beneath the wizard. Pippin's mouth was contorted with pain and grief. Diamond's mouth moved with his, mirroring his cries. But though she tried, Dil could not make out Diamond's words until Diamond screamed aloud again, "Pippin!" and then fell back into a dreamless, death-like sleep. Diamond remembered none of it the next morning and seemed to get better quite quickly after that. When another day had passed and she was well enough to speak, Dil asked her about her dreams. Diamond had no memory of them. Dil asked her who or what 'pippin' was, but Diamond denied knowing and blamed the nonsensical talk on the fever. Dil let it go, but she was not satisfied by the answers she recieved and set her mind on knowing what the dreams meant, and who or what this 'pippin' was.