PART 6

The next day dawned bright and sunny. When Merry woke, Frodo was already up and dressed, sitting on the edge of his bed.

'Good morning.' He said.

Merry was amazed at how good Frodo was at telling what was going on when he couldn't see a thing. Since he had been blinded, his other senses had become extra alert. He could work out where someone was and what they were doing just by listening. He could tell what was cooking just by smell. He knew where things were by feeling around, and he could tell what most foods were by taste. Just the creaking of Merry's bed told him that Merry had woken up.

'Morning.' Merry replied groggily. 'You're up early.'

'The birds were singing, woke me up.' Frodo explained. 'I didn't think there was much point in trying to get back to sleep. It's going to be a lovely day.'

'How do you know that?'

'I can tell. The birds always sing more in the mornings when it's going to be a nice day, I've noticed that. And it's warmer than usual at this time.'

Merry shook his head, half to wake himself up slightly, and half out of sheer amazement at Frodo, knowing what the weather was going to be like when he couldn't even see out the window.

Merry got out of bed, found some clothes and quickly dressed. 'Better go and start the breakfast. There are five of us now!'

'We're the first ones up,' Frodo replied. 'I haven't heard anyone else moving around.'

'Might as well get started, it's gone daybreak. Pip and Sam at least should be getting up, the lazybones. Go and wake them, Fro, it'll do them good.'

Frodo grinned and left his and Merry's room. He walked down the corridor, and quietly opened the door of Sam and Pippin's room. The slow, steady breathing that Frodo could hear was enough to tell him that his two friends were still fast asleep.

'Rise and shine!' Frodo said loudly, feeling for the two beds in the room, and pulling the covers off the two hobbits. He then proceeded to pull back the curtains of the window, and stood in the corner of the room, making sure that Sam and Pippin got up. He could hear the two hobbits mumbling, annoyed at being woken up.

'Come on, get up.' Frodo persisted, 'I've been up for ages, it's a lovely day, you don't want to miss it all!'

'We won't miss it all.' Sam mumbled groggily. 'It's still early.'

'Not that early… you'll miss first breakfast if you don't get up now!' Frodo heard a sudden mad scrabbling, and he knew that Pippin, at least, had got up. Telling Pippin he would miss his meals was the best way to get him to do something.

'Come on Sam, or I'll go and get a jug of cold water and pour it all over you.' Again, there was a mad scrabbling, and Sam got out of his bed. Threaten Sam with water, and you'll get perfect results.

***

Merry was already cooking when Sam and Pippin came into the kitchen, still yawning and only looking half awake. Frodo followed them, looking significantly more awake. About ten minutes later they heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway, and Gandalf appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.

'Morning.' The old wizard said cheerfully.

'Morning.' The four hobbits replied.

'We were going to let you sleep.' Merry said. 'You must have been travelling for ages.'

'Oh, it wasn't that bad. Don't worry about me, Meriadoc, I've been through much worse.'

Merry then served up the breakfast, and the four hobbits and the wizard sat around the table, talking about all that had happened to them since their last meetings. Gandalf explained about how busy he had been in Rivendell, and apologised profusely for not coming to visit his friends sooner.

'Don't worry, Gandalf.' Frodo said.

'I must admit, it's nice seeing you all again.'

Merry, Pippin and Sam winced, they knew this was one of the phrases that could make Frodo get upset and depressed. Luckily, Frodo just busied himself with his breakfast, and didn't say anything.

***

That afternoon Gandalf was admiring Bag End's gardens with Sam and Merry, while Pippin and Frodo were at the market.

It was a hot day, and after a while Sam, Merry and Gandalf lay down under the shade of a tree for a rest from the sun, just as Frodo and Pippin came back home. They disappeared inside the house, and a minute later Frodo appeared outside.

'Sam? Merry? Gandalf?' Frodo asked, unsure of where the others were. Gandalf thought this slightly strange, but said nothing as Merry called over to Frodo.

Frodo moved towards them, but not realising that they were actually lying on the ground, tripped straight over Sam and landed right on top of Merry. There were a few seconds of silence. Merry was speechless, partly because the wind had been knocked out of him by Frodo, and partly because of how close Frodo was to him. Sam was shocked and Gandalf was confused. Frodo's fists were clenched, trying to control his frustration as he moved off Merry, and began to apologise to Sam.

'Look where you're going, Frodo.' Gandalf joked, and Merry saw Frodo's fists clench even tighter. Now he had got over the shock of finding Frodo on top of him, he discreetly put a hand on Frodo's arm to try and calm him down.

At that moment, there was a loud crash from inside Bag End. 'What's Pippin done now?' Sam asked no one in particular.

'I'll go and see.' Frodo said, desperate to get away from Gandalf, who was winding him up more and more with everything he said. He knew it wasn't intentional, but he didn't know whether he could take much more. Perhaps Sam and Merry would talk to Gandalf while he was gone?

Frodo went back into the house, and into the kitchen where he knew Pippin had gone to make drinks for everyone.

'Frodo, stop, be careful!' Pippin cried, but too late – Frodo had stepped right on a piece of broken glass. He cried out in pain, and Pippin quickly helped him to a chair.

'I dropped some glasses, they broke.' Pippin said, trying to look at the bottom of Frodo's foot, which was now heavily bleeding. Pippin wasn't the one who dealt with injuries, that was Sam.

'Stay there, I'll go and get Sam.' Pippin said, and ran from the kitchen and outside. 'SAM!' Pippin called, panicking now. 'Frodo's hurt himself, it looks pretty bad.'

'Calm down Pippin!' Sam said, as he followed his friend back into the kitchen. Pippin explained to Sam about the broken glass as he examined Frodo's foot. Merry and Gandalf had followed him, and were now standing in the doorway. Gandalf, yet again, was confused. The glass was easily visible on the floor, why had Frodo walked right into it?

Frodo was now moaning in pain as Sam tried to clean up Frodo's foot enough for him to see whether the glass had lodged itself in Frodo's foot. But as he cleaned the blood, more came from the wound.

'This is going to hurt, Fro.' Sam said, as he got a fresh cloth from the supplies Pippin had hurried off and got, and pressed hard against the wound. Frodo cried out in pain, but Sam had at least managed to lessen the blood flow. Now he could see the wound more clearly, he could make out a piece of glass sticking into Frodo's foot. Sam now took the tweezers from the small first aid pack they had in Bag End, and managed to remove the piece of glass in one piece. Unfortunately, this started the blood flowing again, but that didn't matter as much now. Sam took the bandages from the pack, and quickly and neatly bandaged Frodo's foot.

'There!' He said, eventually happy with his handiwork. 'Not exactly elven standard, but good enough for a hobbit.'

Frodo got slowly up from the chair, wincing as he tried to put some weight on his injured foot. He quickly lifted it up from the ground, and proceeded to limp slowly and painfully from the kitchen. He was annoyed and embarrassed at doing something so stupid. He had heard a crash, he should have realised that there was something broken on the floor.

He went into his and Merry's room, and closed the door before sitting down heavily on his bed. Gandalf was almost certainly going to ask questions now, and he'd have to tell him. He didn't blame the others for not telling him, it was his problem, and therefore his responsibility to tell the wizard.

Frodo sighed heavily as he heard the bedroom door open, and he heard Merry's voice from the doorway. 'Are you alright, Fro?'

'You don't mean my foot, do you?' Frodo asked as he felt Merry sit down next to him.

'I do, but I also mean that you shouldn't let this get to you. I'm sure lots of people would do that; glass isn't always that easy to see. It could happen to anybody…' Merry knew that the glass had been easily visible, but he wasn't about to tell Frodo that.

'It was stupid, Merry, stupid! I knew that something had broken, I should have asked Pip what had happened before I walked in.'

'Frodo,' Merry said, with an unusually serious tone in his voice. 'Do not blame yourself. I don't want you getting depressed again. It was a mistake that anyone could make, and it wasn't in the slightest bit stupid, all right?'

Frodo nodded half-heartedly, and then he felt an arm around his shoulder. 'Now, how's your foot?' Merry asked, much more kindly and in a more friendly tone. Frodo couldn't help but laugh.

'I'll live.' He replied, smiling again.

'That's more like it, now let's go back to the others.' Merry said, and followed a still limping Frodo out the bedroom.

***

After dinner that night the four hobbits and Gandalf were sitting in the front room of Bag End. It was late, and nearly pitch black outside. Sam and Merry had lit candles around the room, and had got the fire going.

Frodo had gone out the room to get himself a drink, and Merry decided it was probably time to tell Gandalf about Frodo.

'Gandalf, there's something we need to tell you,' Merry began, just as Frodo walked back into the room, and accidentally knocked Gandalf's staff over from where it had been standing in a corner of the room. As it fell to the floor, a jet of blue light shot from the end of it, extinguishing all the candles and the fire and plunging the room into darkness.

'Ah sh… nuts!' Pippin said. 'Shnuts! Hey, Merry, I've created a new word, Merry! Merry! I've created a new word, Merry!'

'Pippin, shut up!' Merry said, annoyed at his younger cousin and the distraction.

'What's happened?' Frodo asked cautiously.

'All the candles and the fire have gone out.' Merry said. 'You knocked over Gandalf's staff.'

'Oh, sorry.'

'Don't worry,' Sam said, already relighting the candles and the fire.

Gandalf was getting even more confused – surely Frodo could see his staff in the corner. Then again, anyone can trip over things. But still, why on Middle-earth did he ask what had happened? Surely that was obvious! Still, he kept quiet.

Merry gave up trying to tell Gandalf about Frodo with Frodo in the room, so their conversation turned to Bilbo, the quest with the ring, and so on and so forth.

After a while, all five of them began to feel tired. Pippin and Sam were the first to go to bed, followed by Frodo and Gandalf. Merry was almost always the last to go to bed.

Frodo and Gandalf went out into the hallway of Bag End, and Gandalf stopped by his bedroom door.

'Goodnight, Frodo.' He said.

'Goodnight, Gandalf.' Frodo said, still walking, but with his head turned towards the sound of Gandalf's voice. He wasn't thinking about where he was going, and accidentally walked straight into a small table in the hallway.

'Ow!' He said, rubbing his leg. He felt for what he had walked into, and then remembered that there was a table there.

'Look where you're going, Frodo.' Gandalf laughed before going into his room. Frodo just stood there, trying to control his anger and frustration. When he had managed to calm himself down sufficiently, he carried on to his and Merry's room, avoiding the table.

By the time Merry came into their bedroom, Frodo was fast asleep. Merry just stood by Frodo's bed for a while, watching him sleep. It was times like these when Merry most wanted to be with Frodo, asleep with him in his arms. But, like all the other nights since they had arrived at Bag End, all he could do was gently kiss Frodo on the forehead before getting into his own bed.

This Merry did, and then lay awake, trying to get Frodo out of his mind. He was being stupid, he told himself, it was nothing more than a crush, like the ones he had had in his teens and tweens. But this felt somehow different. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his feelings secret. Earlier that day, when Frodo had fallen on top of him, he had to desperately try to stop himself from flinging his arms around the other hobbit and kissing him. He found himself wishing that he could see Aragorn again – Merry found him easy to talk to about Frodo. And he still thought himself guilty for Frodo actually being blind.

Still thinking about Frodo, he fell asleep.

***

It was late evening, and it was exactly 6 years to the day Frodo had been told he was blind for life by Elrond in Rivendell. Frodo was depressed, he had been all day. Gandalf was still with them, and they had still not been able to tell him about Frodo. Whenever they tried, they got interrupted by something or the other.

Today, all Merry, Sam and Pippin had been interested in was trying to keep Frodo happy and keep his spirits up. They tried as hard as they could to stop Gandalf saying something which would annoy Frodo, even if he didn't mean it.

Now, they were all sitting around a large bonfire Sam, Merry and Pippin had been preparing. They knew Frodo loved bonfires, even if he couldn't see the flames. He loved the sound of the twigs crackling and he loved the feel of the heat on his body as he sat near them. They also reminded him of when his parents and Bilbo took him to see them when he was much younger.

Tonight, his spirits were definitely raised by the bonfire, even if he was still feeling a little depressed. He could feel Merry and Sam on either side of him, making sure he didn't stray too close to the fire by mistake, and he was grateful for their concern. Sam, Merry, Pippin and Gandalf were in very high spirits, laughing and joking. Sam was cooking sausages and potatoes in the fire, and they were all having a generally good time.

Gandalf couldn't help but notice that even though Frodo seemed to be having a good time, he was consistently "staring" into the fire. After a while, he spoke. 'Don't keep staring into the fire like that, Frodo! You'll go blind!'

Of course he was joking, but something inside Frodo snapped. He couldn't take Gandalf's comments any more, all these nice to see you agains, these look where you're goings and now he was telling him not to stare at something or he'd go blind.

'IT WON'T MAKE MUCH DIFFERENCE, WILL IT?' Frodo shouted, standing up. 'I'M ALREADY BLIND! I HAVE BEEN FOR 6 YEARS!' And with that he ran into the house, leaving Gandalf sitting there, shocked.