Passing for Underhill Chapter Twenty Five
Merry woke up in a strange bed. It was large, meant for a whole group of people, and Merry realized he must be at an inn. With a sudden stab of fear, he remembered his hand being cut off, and looked down.
His arm was in a sling, bound tightly to his chest. A hand protruded from the end of the sling. Merry carefully moved a finger. It responded. He let his head fall back onto the pillow and cried tears of relief.
He heard people talking in the next room, Pippin and a female voice, but could not make out what they were saying. He fell asleep again.
When he woke up the second time, Pippin was sitting in a chair by the window, talking in hushed tones with Pearl, his oldest sister. Merry stirred. "Hey, Pip," he whispered. His voice cracked with disuse. "Does this inn have anything to drink in it?"
Pippin rushed to his side, made as if to help him up, but then hesitated. "Merry, are you—that is—"
"He's trying to ask if you want someone else to help you," Pearl interpreted. "Egads, but he's been walking on eggshells. And here I thought I was coming out to Buckland to fuss over him!"
Merry tried to gesture Pippin to him, realized what a bad idea it was to attempt to move his hand, and settled for whispering, "There's no one else I'd want to look after me right now."
Pippin smiled a little and helped Merry sit up, and gave him some water. "It's tomorrow, in case you were wondering. Eldarion says you can ride home with me in the cart whenever you've a mind to, as long as you don't try to use your hand for a while there's no reason you can't travel."
"Home. Yes." Merry's voice grew stronger after wetting his whistle. "You say his name without rancor, now," Merry observed.
"I watched him sew your hand back on. He really is a Miracle Worker."
"And a man of foresight," Merry agreed. "Pippin—just checking—"
"The Ring is destroyed."
"And what happened to the lump of gold?"
The door opened, and Eldarion came in with a tray.
"Looks like you're about to see," Pippin said. He gestured to a brooch of red gold, shaped like an athelas leaf and adorned with a single, tiny white stone like a dewdrop. The casting would never be mistaken for work of elven craft, but Eldarion wore it like a crown jewel. "Mr. Smith named it the Miracle Pin."
As Eldarion passed him, Pippin realized that Eldarion was taller than he was, now. It was somewhat disconcerting, since he had almost started to think of him as a fellow hobbit.
Eldarion set down the tray, which proved to contain bread and butter, and half a ripe cheese. "The house-wife sent up elevenses. How are you feeling, Merry?"
"Remarkably good, considering. Did you give me something for the pain?"
"Only athelas, in topical application. The effect will not last, so let me know when you need an analgesic. I have not the skill to make the stronger preparations, for my father will not teach me anything dangerous until I am of age. But there are some comforts I know which may ease you."
"I didn't think Aragorn was a surgeon. Did he teach you to sew lost limbs back on?"
Before Eldarion could answer, Pippin popped out with, "He learned from Gondor's field surgeons and old books of Elrond's. Oh no! The soothsayer gift! The spell survived the destruction of the Ring!"
Merry's face tightened. "If you're still a soothsayer… am I still a follower of little Faramir?"
"Kh—" Pippin cut off the expletive. "Only one way to find out. But the commands of the Voice are very literal. I think, if it was going to work on you at all, you would have turned your pony and followed Faramir when the boys rode off with Sam. Following, you see."
"Maybe. Still, I think the first time I meet your son again, I'd rather not have all of Brandy Hall as an audience. I hate being feared, but I can live with that better than being ridiculed."
"I can understand that," Pippin nodded. "Those times when Gandalf called me 'fool of a Took' cut me worse than any whip."
Merry looked away.
"Well, if that's not gloomy talk!" Pearl exclaimed. "You defeated Saruman, again, and destroyed his Ring. Be happy! You're heroes. Everybody in the Shire is going to be talking about it."
"What, that I—" Pippin bit back whatever he was going to say.
"You should be glad, Pip," Pearl said, suddenly serious. "This will drive out all the other gossip. The tale that brought me racing out to Buckland to comfort you, among them."
To cover his embarrassment, Pippin started slicing and buttering the bread, and handing it out. He reached for the cheese, but Eldarion caught his arm. "That's not for you."
"Kherekh burzum!" Pippin could not contain himself this time. "How long until I can eat normally again?"
"A week at least, perhaps longer."
"A week?!"
"I guess, Pippin. It is better to err on the side of caution. I would predict with more confidence, were you to allow me to examine you."
Pippin made an inarticulate noise and tore at his hair. Pearl tried to stop him, but he shook her off. "Don't, don't, don't, just don't, Pearl." Then he stalked out and slammed the door.
Pippin's oldest sister shook her head. "He's not near right, yet. And not only in the gut."
"Only time will heal both, I fear," Eldarion said. "Though I could treat him again, if he would let me, it is not critical. He will live, with or without further healing, so he keeps to the dietary restrictions for a time."
"How about my hand?" Merry asked. "How long will this take to heal?"
"A month at least, I should think. The bone was cut clean in two. In one of the race of Men, I would cast it for at least half a year. You Halfling folk recover far more quickly, however, and I shall not be here in a moon's time to cut the cast away, so I have only splinted and anchored it. Do move your fingers, to maintain flexibility, but do not try to use your hand at all this week. After that, if it does not pain you to do so, you may begin to hold small things, briefly. Let your pain be your guide, since my time here runs short."
Later that day, Merry and Pippin rode in the cart, while Eldarion drove it. Pearl rode on her miniature palfrey, leading the other pony. The Miracle Pin shone on Eldarion's hobbit style vest. They rode slowly, and reached Brandy Hall at dusk.
Eldarion helped Merry to his guest room, where he found Estella waiting for him, to his great relief.
Pippin likewise found Diamond in the Took Suite. She was applying cold cloths to Fairy's red back. Pippin stopped in the doorway and sagged against it. "What happened to you?!" Then the terrible compulsion of the soothsayer gift came over him and he answered, "Sam caught you playing with a kitten instead of digging weeds, and made you—" Pippin clamped his hand over his mouth in horror. He knew what he was about to say.
The soothsayer gift was not only still with him, it was even stronger. Now he could see the scene in front of him, all complete. It was completely innocent; and yet it lanced through his heart. He saw Sam pulling little Faramir to his feet. The boy was wearing a very silly hat. Pippin heard Sam say, 'What did I tell you boys about goofing off?' and he watched five year old Goldi stuffing the kitten down her dress and running back to the Hall.
Pippin slid down the doorframe and crumpled to the floor. Now he was having visions! "This is the last straw. This is just the last damned straw."
Diamond flew to him when he fell to the ground. She hugged him, and little Faramir padded over and hugged him, too.
"Don't be sad, daddy," Fairy said. "It was worth it. I found a kitten in the woods and gave it to Goldie, and I asked her to marry me and she said yes."
Pippin was quite diverted from his self-pity by this startling statement. "Faramir-lad, aren't you a little young to be courting girls?"
"Just one girl, daddy."
Pippin smiled in spite of himself. "Well, you could do worse, I suppose. And what an enchanting new tradition you've started: the engagement kitten."
Diamond grinned. "Now why didn't we think of that?"
"Too wrapped up in other concerns?" Pippin asked.
Diamond blushed and grinned even wider. She leaned in to kiss her husband, and this time, for the first time since the kidnapping, Pippin returned the kiss with enthusiasm.
"Hey, you two, I'm still here," Faramir objected.
"So you are. And I think your mother still has a little work to do, am I right, Di?"
She sighed. "Yes. He was out all day. I wouldn't've thought he could really sunburn after all the time he's spent outside this summer, but at least he's not going to peel."
"Right. Have you two eaten?"
"Yes, not an hour ago."
"I'll leave you to your work, then. I'm off in search of the kitchens."
While Merry and Pippin returned to their guest rooms, Celandine found a room for Pearl. She caught pumped Pearl for information on the destruction of the Ring, and then caught Pearl up on the latest gossip of Brandy Hall, which was the minor matter of the dandelion covenant.
Pearl clucked her tongue and shook her head when she heard about the children's engagement. "Wonder if that'll stand? The two families are great friends, of course, but really, the Gamgees are not our class, no matter the inheritance from the Bagginses. The Thain's heir really should be matched with gentry."
"Well," Celandine allowed, "at least they're landed. And the Mayor has been made a Councillor of the North Kingdom, right along with the Master of Buckland and the Thain of the Shire, so you might call that a title of nobility, though there was no land grant along with it."
"True," Pearl agreed. "But no need to get myself in a dither over it yet. Faramir has plenty of time to grow up and find a better match. Thirty years at least! So what happened then? I half expected Diamond to be out on the road to greet us, so something must have happened."
"Sam seems to have been directed to take charge of the boys' dandelion slaying adventure, and thought that hunting kittens instead was out of bounds, so he found a clever way to give little Fairy a red sore backside without ever touching him, by taking away his shirt. The sun did the rest."
"What?!" Pearl shrieked. "He took his clothes off and burned him?! Pippin will have a stroke!" Pearl pelted down the corridor. Then she realized she did not know which way Pippin's room was. "Where's my brother? Celandine, take me there!"
Reluctantly, Celandine led the way. "It's not really that bad, Pearl dear. I saw the boy, when he came in. No need to panic."
Pearl would not be derailed until she had seen little Faramir herself. The boy suffered her show of auntly concern stoically. When she had seen it, she agreed the sunburn was fairly mild. She wished Diamond and Faramir good-night, and left with Celandine.
"Well, you were right, dear heart, it was not a bad sunburn. Still, that Sam was thoughtless, after what happened to poor Pip. But what can one expect of the nouveau riche? Just not of gentle mind, that Sam." Pearl shook her head. "I can certainly understand Frodo Baggins wanting to see his loyal servant taken care of after his passing, but really, to leave the whole estate to him! That kind really needs a Master to do his thinking for him."
Celandine bit her tongue. She liked the Gamgees, but she had to agree with Pearl that Sam's choice of penalty for the horseplay with the kitten was a bit inconsiderate under the circumstances. 'Not of gentle mind' really did sum up Sam's personality fairly well.
Two weeks later, with Pippin thankfully eating whatever he pleased again, and Merry's arm at rest in a sling and able to help with two-handed tasks like packing the bowl of a pipe (though Estella still had to button his shirt for him), Pearl packed back off to her own husband and children, and general peace and harmony restored to the residents and guests of Brandy Hall, the Travelers and their families prepared to accompany Eldarion to Bree.
There was much hugging, and a line of Eldarion's cured patients gathered in the road to cheer him on his way. He waved to them in a princely fashion. Then Eldarion the Miracle Worker road off on his low pony into the east.
Along with a large wagon full of Gamgee children, two Tooks and a Brandybuck, driven by Sam. Only Diamond rode on her own pony. Estella stayed behind.
End of Chapter Twenty Five