Passing for Underhill Chapter 11

Merry told Pippin to wait right there, and went and brought back a bucket of water for the rabbit butcher to clean up in. Meanwhile, Sam reappeared with his three naughty boys, and Diamond caught up with Faramir-lad. Soon the whole company was reassembled in the garden.

"Caught the rabbit," Pippin announced, holding up the dead bunny. Goldilocks started crying, which devolved into a coughing fit, and then little Faramir started crying too, with a similar effect, and this set off the baby. This in turn caused Elanor to start screaming vile curses in the Black Speech which she must have picked up from Pippin. This led to Sam hauling Elanor off around the hill where he had taken the boys, not without a backward hard look at Pippin.

"Stop, for the love of the Valar!" yelled Eldarion, getting up from the ground. "Enough, enough, there's been enough pain already today! Sam, come back! I command it!" Eldarion had never issued a princely order to any of the hobbits before. He was not certain he actually had the authority to do so, as the Shire was an independent principality under the protection of the Northern Crown, rather more like Rohan than like the princedoms of Dol Amroth or Ithilien. But Sam came back.

Eldarion said, "The first priority, now that the fire is out, is healing the afflicted. Let us go somewhere that can supply hot water, and I shall brew athelas. Would that I could call its power on myself, for I too have breathed the smoke. I shall begin with the children. I do not know if my endurance will hold long enough to treat all of you. However, if not, I will rest, and continue after."

Elanor looked at Eldarion with her hand over her heart, flushed and breathing rapidly. Rosie caught the love-light in Elanor's eyes and turned her face up to the heavens, as if to say, 'why me'? Estella, noticing Rosie's eye-rolling, dissolved into hysterical laughter.

"That makes good sense, Mr. Underhill," agreed Sam, ignoring the byplay between the lasses. "We'll go to Rosie's folk. The Cottons live nigh to the Hill."

So Eldarion set up his Miracle Working station on the Cottons' farm, and treated all the coughs. When he got to Frodo Gardner, he said, "There's something more here," and told him he would treat him again the next day. When it was finally Merry's turn, Eldarion commented, "The talisman still resists me. I am weary, but soon we must deal with this." Merry nodded and said nothing.

When he was done healing everyone, Eldarion was grey-faced with fatigue, and went to bed in the Cottons' house, not to arise 'til mid-afternoon the following day. When he emerged, and stood on the porch to stretch and take in the warm air of early autumn, he found a line of hobbits waiting for him. The fellow who had come to the door during the fire was the first in line, followed by an elderly matron, an embarrassed-looking young couple, and a toothless, skinny crone with a pet goat on a leash.

"Hullo," he said, trying to sound as hobbitish as possible. He was glad he had taken the trouble to wrap up his feet before coming outside. "And who would you be, and what's all this, then?"

"Are you the Miracle Worker?" Asked the first hobbit.

"Yes, that I am."

"Then you're who we're all needin' to see."

Eldarion nodded. "I shall do my best. But I will treat young Frodo first. I could not do all I should for him yesterday, in the rush of fire victims."

Eldarion returned to the house, and insisted that old Mrs. Cotton start a tea kettle for the brewing of kingsfoil before Eldarion would even eat breakfast, or tea, as may be. After he had been plied with rolls and bacon and fruit, Eldarion took over the kitchen, it being the only room which had not been pressed into service as a spare bedroom, and asked for Frodo Gardner to be brought to him.

Eldarion sent most of the others away, but Frodo-lad's parents stayed.

"Now, let us see what ails you, my friend," Eldarion said. "Allow me to examine you. Do not be embarrassed."

Frodo-lad said, "I think I know what you sensed," and pushed up a sleeve to reveal pus-filled sores. "I washed the bites, but I guess I didn't do it good enough."

"Well enough," Eldarion corrected absently, taking the arm. "Yes, they are infected. Rabbit bites?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you say something?" Sam asked.

"I tried to," said Frodo Gardner. "You didn't want to hear it."

"I will heal you," said Eldarion. He breathed on the leaves of athelas, and steeped them in the water, mumbling over the brew as he always did. Then he got a small knife from a kitchen drawer, and asked Rosie to bring a cup of brandy. He cleaned the knife and the arm with the brandy, then carefully punctured the sores and drained them, and finally washed the arm in the athelas water.

After healing Frodo-lad, Eldarion had the Cottons admit his petitioners one by one for healing. Then Eldarion went back to sleep.

"It's no good, his not eating, and doing nothing all day but treat patients," Sam said.

"Maybe it would be best to go elsewhere," Diamond suggested. "How did Bag End seem, when you went up there today with the cleanup crew, Sam?"

"It's uninhabitable," Sam replied. "And will be for days, probably, until we can get the smoke out of everything. Maybe longer than that, if we end up having to sort through and pitch most of what's in the north tunnel, and replace all the wallpaper, and wash all the rugs and the bedding, as well as scrub down all the surfaces and wash the clothes and the towels, and…" Sam sighed. "Not to mention drying out the floor in the tunnel. The north tunnel was never finished as a room, just excavated for storage, and that flooring was just planks laid right onto packed earth."

"Let's all go to Brandy Hall," said Estella. "We always planned to round out Eldarion's trip to the Shire by visiting our homes as well, not just Bag End. We'll just go a little ahead of schedule. First Brandy Hall and then the Great Smials, and then on to Bree, just like we always planned."

Sam nodded. "Alright. You take the children with you. I'll stay and oversee the work on Bag End."

"No, you go on, Sam," said Rosie. "I know how much it means to you, to visit with your friend Strider's son. I'll stay here in my mother's house 'til the old hole is fit to live in again. Mother and I so rarely get a chance to visit by ourselves, without the army of little lads and lasses. I'll keep the baby with me, but take the rest of the children on to Buckland and Tuckborough."

Sam brightened. "Oh! I hadn't thought of that. Sure, Rosie, have a good visit, and try not to work too hard."

So Rosie stayed at the Cottons' farm, to supervise the restoration of Bag End, while the Miracle Worker and his train moved on to Brandy Hall. Merry insisted that Estella ride in the wagon on top of a pile of down pillows. Eldarion, exhausted, borrowed part of her pile and slept.

Pippin rode his pony next to Merry, and asked quietly, "When are you planning on fessing up, Merry?"

"About what?"

"Don't give me that. About the ring, you ninny."

"It's not like it's one of the Great Rings, you know," Merry defended. "It wasn't made by Sauron. And who knows exactly when Saruman made it? He might not have turned evil by then. And anyway, he was never completely evil like Sauron."

"Oh, so he wasn't evil? Enjoyed your visit to the Ugluk Health Spa, did you? I admit, the cross country running was quite good for the legs. And the restricted diet, well, of a certainty I lost weight. Not so sure about the beauty regimen, though."

"Stow it, Pippin. I'll come clean if it's relevant. But I'm not planning to use it anymore, so what difference does it make?"

"I don't know, Merry. But it scares me. You've been a bit peculiar since you picked it up."

"I've been peculiar?!" Merry shouted, then at once lowered his voice to keep the conversation confidential. "You should talk. The only reason I was even able to hear it calling to me is because you frightened me out of my mind."

"I'm sorry, Merry. I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"I know, Pippin. And I don't blame you, really. How much of a hypocrite would I be if I did? Since you never blamed me." Merry paused, and said even more softly, "Or at least, that's what you always say."

"I don't blame you. At least, not for anything that happened while we were both children. I wish you would have stood up to your father before he died, though. After we got back from the quest."

"I wish that too."

"But what I meant by peculiar," Pippin continued, "was when you confronted me in the garden. You used the Voice again. And how could you even think I would hurt my son?"

"Because you hurt me, Pippin."

"Oh, Merry…" Pippin's shoulders slumped.

"Don't say you're sorry again. I'm not accusing, I'm just explaining. You couldn't ever do it before. It wasn't in you. There are some certainties in life: the sun rises in the east, spring follows winter, what goes up must come down, cats don't lay eggs, pigs don't fly, and Pippin doesn't—doesn't whip my ass. It was an immutable law of nature."

"Nature," Pippin echoed. "It's in the natural order of the things for people to change."

"Oh no, Pippin, not that again. I never meant to brainwash you."

"Yes you did," Pippin said. Then he shook his head and said, "Where did that come from?" Then he answered himself, in a tone of startled revelation. "You had a need to make sure I would never flip you again. You told me not to want to, and—and I don't."

Merry covered his face with his hand. The rest of the ride passed in awkward silence. Soon the whole caravan was ensconced at Brandy Hall, which was not a hall but a rather large excavation in a rather small hill, with a two-level wooden façade around a large front door. Some of the newer rooms were actually built like a house of Men, on the second level behind the balcony. After the completely of the hall-like wooden front many centuries ago, the Brandybucks had begun building outbuildings and auxiliary guesthouses, of which the house at Crickhollow was one. However, there were plenty of guest rooms in the Hall itself.

The Tooks were given one suite with a sitting room and two bedrooms, and the Gamgees took over a branch of a side tunnel with six minor bedrooms ending at a parlor, onto which opened a larger bedroom, and a washroom. Sam scrambled to divide the six children's rooms between his nine children (baby Bilbo having remained with Rosie), without Rosie's help in sorting rivalries. He had never realized that his second youngest daughter Daisy couldn't stand her baby sister Primrose. Nor that Goldilocks felt the same way about both of them. Little Rose thought she was too old to be sharing with anybody, and all the boys thought Hammy was too young to share with them. Eventually Sam decided Daisy and Hammy were young enough for their genders to make no difference, and put them in together. Merry-lad and Pippin-lad went in one room, he kept one year old Primmy with him, and the rest of the children each got their own room. By the time he was done assigning rooms, he wished he had stayed at Bag End scrubbing soot off the ceiling.

Pippin had been to Brandy Hall several times since the old Master died, but he had avoided the corridor where Saradoc's old study had been. Now, though, he was curious about Merry's story of clearing it and burning its contents. So when he had settled in (which did not take long, as no one had packed any of the reeking contents of Bag End), he decided to go exploring. He hesitated a long time outside the door. Then he thought, "This is foolish. There aren't any cave trolls in there. What am I afraid of?" He turned the knob and went in.

He had half expected to see a mound of dirt in the middle of the room, but apparently Merry had ordered the ceiling shored up again. The room had been completely redecorated, with sky-blue paint on the walls and the new ceiling. Someone had added puffy white clouds, and a cheery yellow sun. Pippin realized the sun was painted right in the place where the hook used to be.

"I wonder, did Merry paint this himself?" Then Pippin answered his own question, just as he had done on the pony. "No, plenty of other people probably got hung up there and beaten. Anybody in Buckland could have felt the need to plaster something cheerful over this place. I wonder who… Dody painted that. How in burzum do I know that? Because I have to tell the truth."

Pippin rocked back on his heels. "Good heavens." He wondered if he could divine the answer to anything just by asking himself the question. He had a sudden urge to ask out loud how long he was going to live, but suppressed it. "The Voice. Merry ordered me to tell the truth. An order given in the Voice. And it isn't wearing off. In fact, it's getting stronger. When Merry asked me what difference it made if he kept the ring a secret, I didn't know. That was only yesterday."

"Pippin?" Merry stood at the open door. "Celandine said she'd seen you go down this corridor. What are you doing in here?"

"Discovering the secrets of wizardry." Pippin blinked, as surprised by his answer as Merry looked to be. "Apparently." Pippin gestured to the painted sun. "Dody, too, huh?"

Merry's eyebrows raised even higher. "How did you know who painted that?"

"Because I asked myself, and the answer came to me. You've made me into a soothsayer. True Took, that's me. Come in, Merry."

Merry walked into the room tentatively. "Did I do that with the Voice?"

"Yes. Still think it makes no difference if you keep it?"

Merry bit his lip. "I didn't realize the power would work like that. Power beyond my imagining, that's what the Voice promised me. I guess it was right. But I don't think I really want that kind of power."

"No, Merry, the only power you ever needed was right here." Pippin gestured to the room. "And right here." To himself, this time. "And here." He put his hand over Merry's heart.

"I never had any power in this room." Merry turned and walked a few paces away.

"Yes you did. More than I had, anyway."

"Oh, Pippin, I'm so sorry!" Merry started sobbing. He turned back to Pippin and buried his face in Pippin's shoulder. "I wanted to defy him. I wanted to refuse his orders. I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't brave enough."

Pippin started. For a few moments, he stood stock still. Then, awkwardly, he put his arms around Merry. "Shh, shh. He's dead now."

"Now that you've become True Took," Merry sniffled, "you aren't saying you don't blame me anymore."

"I don't blame you, Merry. There, do you finally believe me? By the power of Saruman's ring, I cannot lie."

"Prove it. Tell me how you feel about the Show."

"At the time it was the worst experience of my young life. Now it barely makes the top ten. How long do you think I can go on putting your father's face in my catalog of absolute evil, when I've seen the Eye of Sauron?"

"And me, Pippin? My part in the Show?"

"Merry—I liked it. Well, sometimes, some things. Sometimes I was afraid I was going to die. Sometimes I was confused, and didn't really understand what was happening. Sometimes you pushed me so far beyond my limits I stopped thinking at all. But sometimes I enjoyed it. And I want you to do it again."

"What?" Merry broke the semi-embrace.

"I want to be taken by you." Pippin turned away. "Please don't say 'what' again. The Voice is doing this. The Voice won't let me stop talking. I'm terribly embarrassed, and I never wanted you to know. I never even wanted to admit that to myself. We're both married, for heaven's sake. Not to mention that we're first cousins."

"It's not your fault, Pippin. You can't help what you felt. You can't help it if sometimes your body responded in pleasure."

"I know that! It's still embarrassing."

"For me, too. He knew, Pippin. He could see that sometimes I—I couldn't hide it, he was watching." Merry started to cry again, and his head went down on Pippin's shoulder once more. "He wanted me to become just like him."

"Oh, Merry. Aren't I the last person in Middle Earth who ought to have to comfort you about this?"

Merry stepped back and covered his face with his hands. "I'm sorry!"

"I know. But don't you see, Merry, what a fantastic opportunity you have now? To really let go, I mean. To let go of the past, to let go of your need for power. Just let it go."

Merry wiped his tears and asked shakily, "What do you mean?"

"Let go of your substitute power object. Let go of the ring."

Merry took a step back. "I haven't got the first clue how to destroy it. It wasn't made in Mordor, Mount Doom isn't the right place to take it. But who knows what is? Isengard is broken, its smithies turned into a lake. It might not even be possible."

Pippin stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and set trembling hands on Merry's arms. He smiled a little, trying to look reassuring. "Just give it up, Merry. You said you don't need it or want it, right?"

"Right. What should I do with it, then?"

"Give it to me, Merry."

Merry's eyes widened, and he stepped back and shook off Pippin's grasp. "No!"

"Give me the ring!" A strange look passed over Pippin's face, and his hand strayed to his sword-hilt.

"Get a hold of yourself, Pippin!" Merry danced back, out of grabbing range.

"It should have been mine! I'm the one who never had any power! Why should it always come to you? When's my turn?" Pippin drew his sword and advanced on Merry.

"Forgive me, Pip," Merry whispered. Then he barked, "Lay down and stay down!" The crack of the command echoed back from the unfurnished chamber.

Pippin dropped to the floor. His sword clattered on the paving stones, and he lay on his belly, still but for a slight shivering, face turned to the side, looking up at Merry with one white-rimmed eye. "How?" Pippin whispered. "That wasn't even the Voice. You aren't wearing the ring."

"No," Merry said softly. He kicked Pippin's sword away from him. "You were right. I don't need the Voice to have power. Not over you, anyway. You wonder how I'm doing this? How am I doing it, True Took?"

"You are able to interrupt the call of the ring because I want you to," Pippin answered, each word seemingly pulled from him with great effort. "Your own words are more powerful than the Voice because I want you to dominate me." Pippin shut his eyes tight, squeezing out tears. "Merry, I don't really want the ring. But the pathway that power uses to call to me is seared through my soul."

"I know, Pippin. I'm sorry. Is it safe to let you up now?"

"Yes. I am in possession of myself again. I'm not going to try to grab the ring."

"Then get up. I'm done."

The oft-repeated counterphrase worked even better than magic. Pippin stirred and climbed to his feet. "Valar! Merry. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know."