52.) Conjugation - written by Corli
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Sam gets help from Merry & Pippin in studying Elvish verb conjugation.
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THIS STORY CONTAINS IMPLIED BOY-BOY LOVE, THOUGH NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS. HOWEVER, THIS STORY MIGHT NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR ALL READERS.
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Please let them be home, Sam thought anxiously as he knocked on the dorm room door.
He heard a startled yelp from inside the room, followed by Pippin's breathless, "Who is it?"
"It's Sam."
Muffled voices were heard inside. "Uh...we're kinda BUSY, Sam," Merry finally called out impatiently. "What'd'ya want?"
"Sorry to bother you, Merry, but it's an emergency," Sam said frantically.
More muffled voices were heard before Pippin called out, "Just a minute, Sam. We'll be right with you."
Sam looked at his watch anxiously. It was only an hour until rugby practice, and then he had to go straight to work at the Perk until close. With his test tomorrow morning at eight a.m., this was the only time he had to study. Frodo had agreed to help him this afternoon, but he hadn't been in his room just now, and he hadn't even left a note. Sam was kind of sore - it wasn't like Frodo to stand up his friends like that.
But it's getting close to deadline time, Sam thought, quickly making excuses for his friend. He must've just forgotten.
Merry finally opened the door, clearly not pleased. "What's the emergency?" he asked impatiently, wiping his hands on a towel and then tossing it into the hamper.
"I'm really sorry, Merry, but I have an Elvish test tomorrow, and Frodo isn't around to tutor me. Do you think you and Pippin could quiz me?"
"Since when are your grades an emergency?" Merry scoffed.
"C'mon in, Sam," Pippin called amiably from where he was lying on his unkempt bed, his hands lying lazily behind his head. "We'll help you, if we can remember anything - it's been months since we spoke any Elvish." A thought occurred to him and he asked eagerly, "Ooh, your test isn't on swear words, is it, 'cuz we definitely know those."
"No," said Sam, walking in and putting his backpack down on Merry's desk. "It's on verbs - you know, conjugating and stuff."
Pippin smiled. "Oh, Merry's an EXPERT at conjugating."
"Really? Thank goodness," Sam said, relieved that someone would be able to help him study. He quickly pulled out his textbook and turned it to the vocabulary page. "Here's the list of verbs that we're being tested on," he said, handing it to Merry before sitting down at the desk.
Merry sighed frustratedly as he took the book and sat down on his neatly made bed, scooching back till his shoulders were against the wall and then crossing his legs Elven style in front of him, placing the opened book on his lap. "All right, let's see," he said, sighing as he glanced at the list. "What's the verb for 'we drank'?"
Sam thought a moment, wondering why it sounded so foreign to him, before remembering, "Oh, we don't know the past tense yet. We only know present tense."
Merry sighed frustratedly as Pippin cheerfully piped in, "Okay, then how about 'I drink'?"
"You can do anything you want, Pippin," Sam said. "I don't want to interrupt you if you need to do stuff."
Pippin giggled. "I don't want to drink, Sam. I was asking you for the verb 'I drink'."
Sam blushed. "Oh. Well, let's see - 'to drink' is 'soga'...so it's an a-verb...which means the I-ending is -on. So I think it should be...'sogon'?"
"Correct," Pippin announced, clearly having used that word recently himself.
"But I don't think you'll be allowed to do that on the test," Merry said irritably.
"Do what?" Sam asked.
"Work it all out outloud - it might be disturbing to the other students, you know?"
"Oh, of course I wouldn't talk during a test, Merry," Sam said. "I was just doing it to practice."
"Well, maybe you should PRACTICE doing it in your head," Merry suggested helpfully.
Sam nodded. "Oh yes, if you think that's best, Merry. Give me another word and I'll try to do it silently."
Merry glanced at the list. "'It stops'."
'It stops'. 'Dar' is stop, and it's a basic verb, so the it-ending is...-ir, I think. But then it has an 'a' in it, so it does that weird prestanneth thing so the 'a' turns into an 'e', I think. "Uh...derin?"
"No, that's 'THEY stop'."
"Oh, right, right, sorry." Sam searched his brain for the proper conjugation but it just wouldn't come to him. "I don't remember."
"The third person singular keeps the same ending as the verb," Merry explained. "So it should be dâr."
"Oh, that's right. I remember now. I'm really sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for," Pippin said cheerfully. "That's what we're here for."
Sam smiled at Pippin. "I really appreciate it - I'm sure you have better things to do then spending the afternoon drilling me on Elvish."
Merry harrumphed as Pippin shook his head, smiling mischievously. "We weren't drilling anything else, Sam - we don't mind."
Merry cleared his throat impatiently. "'You eat'."
"No, I just had my tea," Sam said, "but thanks for offering."
Merry rolled his eyes. "The VERB 'you eat'," he snapped.
"Oh, right. Let's see, 'to eat' is..." he trailed off as he saw Merry's glare. "Sorry." Merry seems really frustrated with me, so I better be quiet. Let's see - 'to eat' is 'mad', and the you-ending is -ach, but it's another prestanneth, so... "Medach?"
"Correct!" Pippin said, obviously remembering that one as well.
Merry sighed and read off the list, "'He bites'."
Pippin giggled. "He does? How do YOU know, Merry?" he teased.
Sam saw Merry smile for the first time since entering the room. Sam worked out the conjugation, watching his two friends smiling and making faces back and forth to each other as they waited. Finally Sam answered, "Nâg?"
Merry nodded, turning his attention back to the book. "Good. Now, how about 'I spit'?"
Pippin giggled even harder. "That is NOT on the list!"
"Is so!" Merry said defensively, holding the book towards Pippin and pointing to a word in small print.
"Uh...puion?" Sam asked uncertainly, not sure about all the vowels. However, he realized that the conjugating itself was actually getting easier, as if the synapses in his brain just needed some warming up before they could work.
Merry nodded. "That's it."
"How about 'you lick'?" Pippin asked eagerly, rolling onto his side and propping his head on his elbow.
Sam crinkled his forehead in thought, not remembering the word from when he'd reviewed the list earlier. "Is that word on the list?" he asked, turning to Merry.
"Yep," Pippin answered quickly. "Isn't it, Merry?"
Merry nodded, vaguely pointing to the book.
This one took longer to conjugate because Sam wasn't as familiar with the root word, but Merry and Pippin seemed to be silently amusing themselves as he thought the conjugation through. Eventually he answered, "Levig."
"'It swells'," Merry said, not even looking in the book.
"Tuia."
"'I rise'," Pippin said, grinning, as Merry put the book aside.
"Erion."
"'You grow'," Merry said, uncrossing his legs and stretching them out in front of him on the bed.
"Galach."
"'We...entangle'," Pippin said, not taking his eyes from Merry's.
"Gonathram." Wow, I'm getting good at this. Merry and Pippin make great study buddies!
"'You spread'," Merry said, and Pippin giggled.
"Peliag?" Or is that the word for butter? I don't remember.
"'You insert'," Pippin said.
Guess I was right about spread or else they would've said something. Let's see - insert... "Nestagich."
"'We unite'," Merry said.
"Ertham."
"'You stab'," Pippin said.
"Eithach."
"'It thrusts'," Merry said.
"Nasta." Wow, we're really getting a rhythm going. This is a GREAT way to study!
Pippin thought a moment before saying breathlessly, "'I shudder'."
"Shutter?" Sam asked, glancing at the window.
"ShuDDer, ShuDDer!" Merry snapped impatiently.
"Oh." Sam certainly didn't remember there being this many words on his vocabulary list, but he wracked his brains until it came to him. "Girin."
"'You fill'," Merry said.
"Pannag."
"'It stains'," Pippin said, and Merry stifled a laugh.
"Gwatha."
Before Merry could ask another one, Pippin giggled and quickly said, "'He watches'."
"Tîr," Sam answered, watching as Merry crawled off his bed.
"Is it getting a little hot in here?" Merry asked as he opened the window wide, letting the fresh autumn breeze fill the room.
"Uh, Sam...don't you have work or something?" Pippin asked innocently.
"Oh, rugby," Sam said, glancing at his watch. "I gotta go - I don't wanna be late." He stood up, taking the book from where Merry had left it on the bed and putting it into his backpack. "Today we're practicing our tackles."
Pippin smiled. "I love tackles."
Sam opened the door and then turned around to thank his friends, almost colliding with Merry, who'd followed him across the room. "I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all your help," Sam said, smiling genuinely at his friends. "Both of you. I don't think I ever could've done it by myself."
Pippin giggled from his bed as Merry said, "You don't want to be late, Sam," shutting the door and locking it behind him.
What cool friends I have, helping me to study, Sam thought as he hurried off to rugby. I never knew Merry and Pippin could conjugate so well.
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