Chapter 12: Nothing of the Real World

I awoke the next morning to a sunlit room, and a gentle breeze swaying in the trees. All the other beds were empty. I stretched and sat up in bed. Frodo had apparently laid me down last night and tucked me in. I smiled to myself at the thought. Frodo was such a kind, gentle Hobbit; even when he was in the darkest of hours, he still would be there to comfort a friend.

I was famished for breakfast by the time I was done pondering in my thoughts, so I slid my feet out onto the cold, stone floor. When I did so, the comforter shifted and a slip of paper fell off the bed, along with a flower.

I bent over and frowned at the paper and flower. The flower was a Larkspur: how quaint. And the slip of paper was covered in a neat, rounded handwriting in green ink. It read:

"Dear Larkspur,

Last night in your dream, I heard you speak of a girl: a sister, you called her. I know something is troubling you, and it's not just me. I feel as if I haven't been told something I should have been told long ago. I'll be on the highest overlook.

-Frodo"

At last, after all those years of not speaking of my sister, Frodo had figured it out. He had to be told something. I didn't ever believe he would find out this way, though.

I made my way downstairs for a bite to eat before going to see Frodo. I wasn't surprised to find Merry, Pippin, and Sam still shoveling heapings of food into their faces when I arrived. I shot them a look of disgust.

"Ah!" Merry exclaimed around a mouth-full of bread. "The sleeping beauty has awoken!"

Sam and Pippin giggled as I bit into a slice of toast.

"I can see it now," Merry joked. "Larkspur, sleeping beauty, fair maiden of the meadow, with Larkspurs in her hair, or so Frodo says." He grinned ornerly at me.

I blushed pink and reached for an apple so he wouldn't see my cheeks. "Quit being so childish, Merry." I scolded as I bit into the apple.

"Childish?" Merry shifted in his seat. "No, Spur, I wouldn't dream of it. I was only observing how you've been acting around Frodo, lately. You've blushed so much I am surprised that your face isn't stained red," he teased, and Pippin snickered. "And last night for example," I stopped chewing on the crispness for a moment and really listened to what Merry was getting at. "You cried your eyes out on his shoulder after having nightmares. That's the 1,000th bucket of water you've cried over him this past week. One would think that somebody might care for someone," Merry cooed, cheekily. Pippin stopped laughing, abruptly. It was the calm before the storm, or the explosion, in my case.

I whirled to greet Merry's ginning face with a piercing bitterness. "And you don't, Meridoc Brandybuck?" I snapped. "Frodo's my best friend and he could have died or worse! What if Pippin was in Frodo's place? Then would you understand what I have lived through?!"

Merry struggled with this thought for a long time. His confused expression made bile-anger flare up inside of me, bubbling and hot. I glowered back at him. "No, you wouldn't, would you, Merry? All your life has been nothing, but a game to you!" I desperately tried to hold my tongue, but the words kept shooting out of my mouth like razor-sharp arrows. "You've been running around with a Took, while I was busy trying to get over my sister's parting! Frodo was my only friend during that time! Do you know what I went through?! You know nothing of the really world, Merry!" I spat acid words."You have no idea what it is like to be left completely alone with nothing and have grief take over your life!"

Merry leaped out of his chair. He towered over me and stared straight into my eyes, cold and hard, and shouted, "At least you have hope that you still have a family! My parents are dead!" His voice cracked. He winced at the word and stood there glaring, through tears, with a fiery anger before storming out of the kitchen.

I released my breath, surprised and dumbstruck at what had just unfolded. I shuddered, and for no reason at all, tears dripped down my face. I couldn't hold them. I was unaware of Sam and Pippin still sitting there, gaping wide. I was too shocked at what I had just witnessed in Merry's eyes. I dashed out of the kitchen, toward the highest overlook. I had seen the anger in Merry's eyes, yes, but that wasn't what had shocked me like being plunged into icy water. It was, that behind all the flames of anger in his eyes, I saw two things I never thought I would ever see in Merry's laughing eyes: hurt and grief.