The Awkward Moment When…
21: It's hard retaining one's majesty
Pippin strolled through the streets of Minas Tirith, searching out Bergil, Beregond's son. The kindly soldier had to attend to his duties, but Pippin did not feel like staying cooped up in his and Gandalf's suite if the wizard was not there. Pippin wasn't entirely sure where he'd find this Bergil lad, but he couldn't be too far. And it gave him the opportunity of seeing a little more of the city of which he was now a guard.
While there was much less greenery in the city than there was in the Shire, and the presiding colours were mostly white and grey, Pippin couldn't deny that there was certainly a beauty, a grandeur to the city that gave it an atmosphere of greatness.
As Pippin walked through the streets, he received many strange looks – probably most people assumed he was a child, run off from his parents and desperately lost. Pippin sighed. His small stature really made it difficult to be taken seriously sometimes, judging by some of the smirks he saw on the faces of some of the citizens.
But then he realised that not all the whispers that circulated around him were bad – many people sounded excited at his approach, and called out to each other in raised voices.
Pippin was growing slightly bemused by the attention he was receiving, and then he heard what it was most of the people were shouting.
"Ernil i Pheriannath! Ernil i Pheriannath!"
The cries echoed off the stone walls, rebounding off the grey towers and creating the illusion that there was a huge crowd of people joining in the cry. Pippin grew even more concerned, until he realised that what they were saying, in a tongue other than that of the Common Speech, was "Prince of the Halflings."
Prince of the Halflings.
He could get used to this. All this 'prince' business. In fact he was rather enjoying it now; he couldn't wait to tell Merry! How jealous Merry would be about this!
Pippin continued on his way amidst the cries heralding his arrival, and unconsciously his gait changed. He walked a little taller, his back straight, and a slight strut to his step. He nodded graciously and smiled at the citizens, who regarded him with a mixture of wonder and amazement.
This was the life, Pippin mused. The people were creating a walking procession, as some of them followed him on his way into the centre of town. Pippin revelled in his new found fame; if only he were this popular back in the Shire! Oh, Merry would be so, so jealous when he told him about this!
Unfortunately for Pippin, the city was not in its best condition and there were various blocks of crumbling masonry littering the roads which could trip an unwary traveller.
What was even more unfortunate for Pippin was the act that he was so caught up in his new-found fame that unwary is exactly what he was.
As he continued with his majestic stride, his foot caught on one large boulder of stone and, shocked by the sudden impact, he fell to his knees and only just managed to save himself from falling face-first by sticking his hands out, and scratching his palms on the rough cobblestones in the process.
The whole street had gone quiet, as the 'Prince' fell over and lay on the ground, gasping as the pain set in after the shock wore off.
Thankfully for Pippin he really wasn't badly hurt at all; his slightly grazed palms had suffered the worst, and it was mostly his wounded pride which hurt.
Quickly Pippin scrambled to his feet, wiping his hands on his breeches, and gave a laugh, as if to show how unconcerned he was about the whole debacle. Conversation resumed at that, as many of the people laughed with him, and soon Pippin was underway again.
Thankfully no one seemed to think any less of him, and he arrived in the town centre still with a following of a score of Men.
As the grazes on his palms throbbed dully, Pippin thought that perhaps he wouldn't tell Merry about this. What Merry didn't know couldn't hurt him, after all…
A/N: Well, I'm back! :D
It's the first chapter in the new set of Return of the King! I really hope you enjoyed! :D Silly Pippin. What goes around comes around, as they say. I guess he shouldn't have thought about showing off to Merry! :P
I'm using the book as my guide, so I apologise if this doesn't really make much sense to those of you who have only seen the films. Basically Pippin gets shown round by a nice soldier called Beregond and then when Beregond has to go on duty Pippin walks through the town to go and find his son, and then it's all really sweet because they get along really well and it's cute and just aw. I do love Pippin really.
Please review! I'd love to know what you thought :)