Chapter Six


Melilot shook her head clear of memories and
straightened up a little, searching Pervinca's eyes.

Pervinca was still holding Melilot tightly in her arms
and now glanced at her, brows knitted and fear in her
eyes. "What are you thinking?" she asked, almost
suspiciously.

Melilot smiled in her gentle way. "How absolutely crazy
you were to do it in the first place."

Pervinca scoffed. "Ever since we were little, people
used to say we looked so much alike, we could be twins."

"Yes, when you were both ten or younger," Melilot said,
a bit more sharply than she usually spoke.

Pervinca was starting to lose her calm as well. "I
fooled them all for fourteen years! And I fooled *you*,
remember?"

Suddenly Melilot laughed. "For a while. But, as funny
as it may sound, your dear little brother was your
undoing."

Pervinca couldn't hold back anymore. Melilot's laugh
was the final nail in her coffin. The young Took's eyes
blazed as she looked down at Melilot, her voice clear
and stern and full of hurt. "I *meant* for you to find
me out. I didn't want to pretend to you, Lottie, not
ever. I wanted you to know me as *me*, and not as
Everard. Our game has gone so well for all these years!
For all these years, under the very noses of our
curious relatives, we've pulled it through! Why,
Lottie, why do you have to speak of endings and
impossibilities when we ourselves proved we can escape
both?"

"Pervinca," Melilot softly spoke, staring at the fire,
"I remember all those times when I had to think up
clever distractions for aunts and uncles, when my heart
hammered and I thought I was going to burst from the
excitement and fear. Lately you've grown careless;
you've gone to too many parties in a short while as
Everard, and people are starting to *talk* when there's
a new face in the crowd that often. I've had to cover
for you more times than I can very well count. I
remember freezing every time someone mentioned Adelard
Took's children. I still freeze at every mention of
Everard Took."

She turned to look at Pervinca, her eyes dark and sad.
"It was a crazy game for two crazy children. I enjoyed
it while it lasted, but now I'm growing tired of
constant hiding. Oh, Vinca, Vinca, my dearest, we are
not children anymore." Melilot pushed the fair curls
from Pervinca's face, gazing at her with such warmth
and love in her eyes that Pervinca thought she could
just melt. "Maybe you haven't noticed it yourself but
I've watched you for a long time, and I find it harder
and harder to see you as Everard. You have grown,
Vinca. You have turned into a pretty young lady. And
Everard... he has not grown."

Pervinca was silent for a while, her chest tightening
and the backs of her eyes starting to sting. "It's not
fair," she finally managed, her voice hollow and hardly
audible.

Melilot wrapped her arms around Pervinca's shoulders
and back and tried to get as close to her as possible.
"Yes, it is unfair, my love, isn't it?" she whispered,
her own voice quivering. "You would've made such a
fine, fine lad, the best any lass would hope to have...
and the only one I would have had."

"I would've given anything to be able to court you like
any normal lads would," Pervinca sniffled. "That was
why I continued the game, why I took all those
chances." *Just a wish.* She steeled herself against
the sob that almost escaped her at the thought.

"Maybe we need to let Everard leave for his last trip
to the Sea," Melilot said quietly, stroking
Pervinca's hair. "Don't think that I won't miss him
also, but it is for the best. Otherwise, they are going
to find out about us, too."

All was silent for a while. Warmth slowly crept in the
room as the little fire crackled and hungrily ate the
wood. There was no warmth in Pervinca's heart, however,
not the happy warmth that always rose inside her chest
when she had Melilot in her arms. Now, in this
moment, everything seemed hopeless. She clung to
Melilot without a word, trying to soothe her aching
heart. There was healing power in her gentle friend's
presence, she had always known it and felt it;
something that both calmed Pervinca when she was
furious and comforted her when she was hurt. It never
failed, not even now, when so many things seemed to
abruptly have changed in their lives.

"They must be waiting for us," Melilot suddenly said,
her voice sounding unnaturally loud in the silent
room. She didn't move, however.

Pervinca raised her head and pressed a quick kiss on
Melilot's temple. "Of course. Hop up, Miss Brandybuck,
and I'll follow close behind."

Melilot squirmed a little to steal a kiss from
Pervinca's unexpecting lips, then got on her feet and
a-righted the hem of her dress with care. She took
Pervinca's hand and they hurried out of the room, both
somewhat dazzled at the number of things they had
unburdened on each other's shoulders and unsure of how
to address them.

Eventually, when only one turn around a corner
separated them from the kitchen, Pervinca found a way.
She grabbed Melilot's hands and managed to spin her
around to face her.

"We will say goodbye to him. Tonight."

Melilot's eyes were confused for a moment, then melted
into mixture of relief and anticipation. She nodded her
head, slowly. "We'll give him the best possible
farewell," she quietly said, raising her hand to touch
Pervinca's cheek.

"Who?" asked a sharp voice somewhere in the vicinity.

Both Melilot and Pervinca jumped, and it was a miracle
they didn't hit their curly heads on the ceiling.
Pippin had appeared in the corridor behind them,
wearing one of Merry's vests. His breeches and shirt
were from his own change of clothes. He was chewing on
an apple, eyes big and alert.

"Oh, no one, no one at all!" Melilot yelped, startled.

Pervinca tried her best to think up an explanation. The
downside was, Pippin was such a good liar himself that
he immediately noticed when someone else was lying.

"Oh well," Pippin shrugged, his mouth full of apple.
"It can wait, at least until we're all settled down
with a bite or two or a dozen. Also, it's getting
rather late and I would very much like to see that
fireplace of yours, cousin Melilot." He stuffed the
rest of the fruit into his mouth - which seemed like an
impossible feat, but young hobbits have an
extraordinary skill for gulping down massive amounts of
food.

"Where's Merry?" Melilot asked, looking left and right
in the corridor, suddenly afraid that someone else
might've heard their conversation.

Pippin wiped his hands on his breeches. "In the
kitchen, waiting for you. He sent me to get some
blueberries from the storage room." He lifted a heavy
looking key to prove his words.

Pervinca snatched it from his fingers and grabbed
Melilot's hand. "No, no, no, we can go get them! You
tell cousin Merry to prepare a large tray or two, and
that some tea would be largely appreciated!"

Pippin looked perplexed for a moment, but then shrugged
cheerfully as the hobbit girls hurried off. He had
nothing against returning to the kitchen. After all,
everything they were going to eat had to be first
tested for quality... and there was one mushroom pie
that had looked like it might need some closer
inspection from a certain Took. Pippin licked his lips
in anticipation and flung the kitchen door open.

"I found the missing lasses!" he announced, snatching a
roll and chewing on it while he walked in between
the massive tables, trying to find Merry. The Brandy
Hall kitchen was huge and when he had been smaller, he
had thought it was a scary place - but full of
treasure, if you dared to enter it. A slice of ham
here, a bucketful of berries there, and the window
sills were the best of all, because there could be
found the freshly baked pies and cakes. Most of those
never got to cool off properly before eager fingers had
already snatched them.

Pippin almost knocked a huge kettle from one table as
he ran around it to the other side. He had caught a
glimpse of brown curls through the many kettles and
pots piled neatly on the table and now found Merry,
leaning over a rather large tray, unmoving and
seemingly in deep thought.

"Cousin!" Pippin called, "didn't you hear me?"

Merry jumped a little, then straightened his back. His
face was a little flushed, probably because of the
steam rising from one of the largest teapots in the
Hall, which he had placed on the tray. "Sorry, I was
far away," he said, smiling a small crooked smile.

Pippin nodded. "Apparently." His eyes wandered hungrily
over the slices of ham and loaves of white bread set on
the tray. "You've been far away ever since we came back
inside," he then added nonchalantly, still looking at
the tray, his hands behind his back.

Merry was silent. He had expected this kind of comment,
but couldn't think of a reply. He quickly opened the
nearest drawer and took out the apple marmalade to buy
some more time. There was nothing that he could say,
except perhaps... "I'm sorry."

Pippin paused in the middle of preparing a nice ham
sandwich and gave his cousin a quick look. Merry's brow
was knitted in worry, his expression pained as he
leaned against the drawer, his eyes staring into space.
It wasn't hard for the young Took to catch his thoughts.

"What?" Pippin asked, and put the loaf of bread back on
the table. "What are you saying, Merry? Because I can't
make a head or tail of it. Just before, you said it
was a joke and you didn't mean it, and now you're
apologising as if you *did* mean it. You're being
downright odd tonight, cousin." His own brow knitted
and he took a quick step closer to put his hand over
Merry's shoulder. "I don't understand what is going on,
please, Merry, tell me!"

For a while they looked at each other, both a bit
amazed at Pippin's outpour. Then Merry slowly shook his
head. "Neither do I, Pip. Let's just forget about it,
alright?" He made an attempt to cheer up a little.

But Pippin was still frowning. "So you *didn't* mean
it?"

"Of... of course not," Merry burst out, trying to laugh
the matter off. "That's silly! It was only a - a
mistake! Accident!"

"Oh," Pippin said tonelessly. "I guess that's alright
then..."

"Here." Merry tried to distract him by offering him the
marmalade. "See if you can find a spoon for this."

Pippin nodded and for a while they filled the tray in
silence. Merry noticed that Pippin was still
uncomfortable, he saw it in the way that his younger
cousin nervously nibbled at his sandwich, and knew he
hadn't said enough. Or perhaps the Took wanted to have
the last word, as usual.

Sure enough, Pippin soon turned around and straightened
his back, as if preparing to make a big announcement.
"Merry. I don't believe it was an accident. And I'm
afraid it's quite impossible to pretend otherwise."
The young Took raised his chin (which had a speck of
marmalade on it) and put his hands on his hips.

"But it was," Merry tried, already knowing it was a
lost cause.

Pippin shook his head. "Uh uh. And I can prove it."

And without another word, he grabbed a handful of
Merry's curls and brought their mouths together for a
rough and totally unexpected kiss. It was short and
forceful and Merry was almost knocked down on the floor
by sheer amazement. Pippin's aim had been a bit off and
his lips had landed on the side of Merry's mouth,
leaving a speck of marmalade there.

Pippin withdrew a little, apparently as surprised as
Merry was, but kept his eyes fixed on Merry's. "Now
that," he said a bit unevenly, "is something one simply
*cannot* do by accident. Say what you will, but it
can't be done."

But Merry's attention focused suddenly on something
else as a small frying pan dropped on the floor,
clattering loudly. Pippin also turned around, spotting
the furiously blushing Melilot who was standing a few
steps away, both hands raised to cover her mouth.

***

Ah, cliffhangers, the spice of ficwriter's life. Me
like cliffhangers. XP