A/N: Thanks to all who have/will review this story for it is very much appreciated. This takes place one month after the first chapter.
Rusta Iira
By: PTB
Chapter 2: Sunny Summer Explanations (say that five times fast!)
The sun was beginning to creep over the treetops, and her smiling face was peeking curiously at the four already stirring hobbit-lads on the banks of the creek.
Sam was sitting as far from the bank as he could, leaning against a tall oak and staring up into the green branches. He still could not figure out how Mister Frodo had convinced him to come on this camping trip. He avidly hated large bodies of water deeper than his ankles, and avoided them as a general rule, and he'd known they were to be staying by the crick for three days, yet Mister Frodo had still managed to get him here anyways. The young Gamgee sighed, unsure that he would ever figure it out.
The older hobbit in question was now building a small flame. Bilbo had taken time to teach his young cousin how, in case it was someday needed, and Frodo was rather proud that he could do it alone.
Pippin was trying to pull his small, still sleepy, self as close to the meager flame as possible. To be certain, it wasn't an unusually cold morning, but it also wasn't as warm as his room in Tuckbraugh. The young hobbit yawned and pulled his blanket around himself. He slept surprisingly heavy for having slept on rocks and roots all night and he was now having some difficulty fully waking.
Merry, alone of the hobbits, was making full use of the creek. He had stripped himself down to his under clothes, so that his chest was bare except for a white tooth hanging on a strand of old leather, and was now splashing around in the cold water. As he dove under the surface, sending water out in all directions, Frodo laughed and Sam muttered something about unnatural.
Pippin watched as Merry's auburn curls appeared, followed by a head and shoulders as his older cousin stood up in the chest deep water. An evil grin spread over the Brandybuck's face.
"Hey Frodo! Catch!" Merry's arm rose out of the water, and something silvery flew through the air. A bright shiny fish landed on the top of Frodo's head, and began flopping among the chestnut curls. Frodo let out a yelp and jumped back, the fish falling to the ground, and Sam jumped up to try and kill it. Pippin fell over laughing, as Merry dove under water again to avoid his cousin's wrath for a moment.
"Meriadoc Brandybuck, when I get my hands on you, you will not be smiling anymore!" Frodo bellowed over the silent creek, though all present knew it was a hollow threat. When Merry appeared again a few minutes later, down stream several feet and gasping for oxygen, Frodo was once again smiling.
"Well Merry, I did not think you could do it." He said good-naturedly as Merry waded back toward them and climbed dripping and resembling a half drowned dog, onto the muddy bank. Merry shook his head, sending silver water droplets everywhere, and flopped on his back on the bank before replying.
"I told ya' I'd get you a fish Frodo, and I meant it." The hobbit lad replied, picking up a piece of grass and sticking its end in the mouth. Frodo couldn't help but chuckle at this. Bilbo had once told him that people who chewed grass as children were better pipe smokers, and if that were true than Merry would make a very fine smoker someday indeed.
"Forgive me forever doubting you, cousin." Frodo said sincerely before turning to help Sam cook the unfortunate fish.
Merry stared up at the ever-lightening sky, until hazel eyes and brown black curls filled his vision. Merry seemed unfazed about his cousin's face suddenly appearing only an inch or so from his own.
"G'morning Pip!" He smiled, "you were asleep still when I got up. Did you sleep well?"
"Yep!" The young hobbit smiled enthusiastically and Merry closed his eyes, yawning slightly.
"That's good." He replied thickly. Merry paid dearly for his moment of lapse guard. Pippin quickly straddled his cousin's stomach and sat down with a whumf. Merry let out an oof, and his eyes shot open.
Pippin obviously was ignoring or did not see the glare he received from his older cousin, and he reached down to grab the tooth hanging on Merry's bare chest.
"What's this?" The inquisitive child asked, and Merry pushed himself up on his elbows.
"That," he explained, "is the tooth of a white wolf my Grandfather Roary killed during the Fell Winter. He used to always wear it on this leather, but he gave it to me on his last birthday. I always wear it, just usually under my clothes."
"Why?" The child asked eagerly Merry gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I won't want to add another reason, for people to think Brandybuck's are weird, Pip." Pippin sat there silently thoughtful for a moment.
"Why do they think you're strange, Merry?" The young hobbit asked innocently, playing with the tooth. Merry was silent for a while, carefully weighing his reply.
"Because...well lots of reasons, Pip. Buckland isn't really part of the Shire for one. They think of us as outsiders because we don't live in the Shire, technically speaking. For another reason, since we live so close to the Brandywine, some of us know how to swim. And some hobbits think that's 'unnatural'." Merry leaned his head back to grin at Sam, who at the moment, looked dangerously close to scowling.
"Why don't 'cha all move into the Shire then?" Pippin asked, as serious as any of the three others had ever seen him.
"Because, Pippin, we're," Merry thought for a moment, trying to come up with a suitable word to explain how Shire-folk saw Bucklanders, and failing. So, he settled for the closest thing he could think of. "Because we're different. No matter where we live, we're different from you Shire-folk. And people don't like what's different from them."
"But," Pippin cried, struggling to understand, "I'm different from my sisters and they still love me!"
"I'm glad for it, Pip." Merry said with a smile that was almost a scowl, meaning he was glad that the little lad was different from his older siblings.
He could not forget his visits to Tuckbraugh. Because he was such close kin, Shire custom would not allow the Tooks to outright refuse him, but he was never exactly *welcome* in the great Smials.
Sure, he could go there whenever he liked, but the atmosphere was chill and they always seemed to only show him the barest bit of hospitality. His room was always the smallest, the coldest, and the sheets the barest. He always got the smallest portions at meals, and they never asked if he wanted more.
Paladin was the worst, something Merry could not understand in the least. His mother was Paladin's sister, and he'd always been told he looked a lot like his mother. So if he looked like his sister, why did he hate him so?
"Why do hobbits hate what's different from them?" Pippin asked, leaning his sharp elbows into Merry's chest.
"Why is the sky blue? Why do stars appear at night? Why do girls giggle? I don't know the answers to any of those questions, really for sure. As you get older you'll hear lots of answers, and other untrue things." Silence reigned while Pippin tried to absorb this, and it was Merry who spoke again. "Do you trust me?" Pippin looked up, meeting Merry's eyes for the first time.
"What?"
"Do you trust me, Pippin?"
"Of course I do!" The child replied instantly and sincerely. Merry reached up one bare arm, and hugged Pippin's small frame tighter to his chest.
"Then never believe. No matter what evidence they show you, reasons they give, or how convincing they sound, never believe them."
Such was the earnest pleading in Merry's voice, that Pippin was speaking before he even comprehended what his cousin had said.
"I won't Merry! I promise I won't!"
Frodo smiled as he slowly turned the fish over the fire. Merry had handled that well, not going to deep for a child's comprehension. Yes, Merry and had done well, and for now Pippin would be satisfied.
"Breakfast is ready, lads! Come eat it before Sam and I finish it off!"
End A/N: *stops drooling over bare chested Merry to grin to her readers* Hello! Here are notes to all you wonderful people.
Just a Person: Yes I continued it, and there is more to come after this ^_^.
Whitney: Here's more. And there will be even MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!
StarDust: Trust me, they're going to learn eventually. If not in this story, in the end of RotK.
Melanie: Another Merry fan! *cheers* I adore Merry; I think he's the greatest. And I'm absolutely flattered you think this is one of the best.
Jenny: Well I try to be as original as possible. Though my friend Halo helps ^_^.
Kayrie: I'm flattered, really and truly. It's taken a very long time for me to learn some of the rules, and if you know a good one for remembering whether it's then or than that goes in certain places please share.
Halo: *gives her a Legolas plushie* that ought to' help calm you down ^_^.
Midnight Dove: Believe me, I'm going. Right now.
*Resumes drooling over Merry*
Rusta Iira
By: PTB
Chapter 2: Sunny Summer Explanations (say that five times fast!)
The sun was beginning to creep over the treetops, and her smiling face was peeking curiously at the four already stirring hobbit-lads on the banks of the creek.
Sam was sitting as far from the bank as he could, leaning against a tall oak and staring up into the green branches. He still could not figure out how Mister Frodo had convinced him to come on this camping trip. He avidly hated large bodies of water deeper than his ankles, and avoided them as a general rule, and he'd known they were to be staying by the crick for three days, yet Mister Frodo had still managed to get him here anyways. The young Gamgee sighed, unsure that he would ever figure it out.
The older hobbit in question was now building a small flame. Bilbo had taken time to teach his young cousin how, in case it was someday needed, and Frodo was rather proud that he could do it alone.
Pippin was trying to pull his small, still sleepy, self as close to the meager flame as possible. To be certain, it wasn't an unusually cold morning, but it also wasn't as warm as his room in Tuckbraugh. The young hobbit yawned and pulled his blanket around himself. He slept surprisingly heavy for having slept on rocks and roots all night and he was now having some difficulty fully waking.
Merry, alone of the hobbits, was making full use of the creek. He had stripped himself down to his under clothes, so that his chest was bare except for a white tooth hanging on a strand of old leather, and was now splashing around in the cold water. As he dove under the surface, sending water out in all directions, Frodo laughed and Sam muttered something about unnatural.
Pippin watched as Merry's auburn curls appeared, followed by a head and shoulders as his older cousin stood up in the chest deep water. An evil grin spread over the Brandybuck's face.
"Hey Frodo! Catch!" Merry's arm rose out of the water, and something silvery flew through the air. A bright shiny fish landed on the top of Frodo's head, and began flopping among the chestnut curls. Frodo let out a yelp and jumped back, the fish falling to the ground, and Sam jumped up to try and kill it. Pippin fell over laughing, as Merry dove under water again to avoid his cousin's wrath for a moment.
"Meriadoc Brandybuck, when I get my hands on you, you will not be smiling anymore!" Frodo bellowed over the silent creek, though all present knew it was a hollow threat. When Merry appeared again a few minutes later, down stream several feet and gasping for oxygen, Frodo was once again smiling.
"Well Merry, I did not think you could do it." He said good-naturedly as Merry waded back toward them and climbed dripping and resembling a half drowned dog, onto the muddy bank. Merry shook his head, sending silver water droplets everywhere, and flopped on his back on the bank before replying.
"I told ya' I'd get you a fish Frodo, and I meant it." The hobbit lad replied, picking up a piece of grass and sticking its end in the mouth. Frodo couldn't help but chuckle at this. Bilbo had once told him that people who chewed grass as children were better pipe smokers, and if that were true than Merry would make a very fine smoker someday indeed.
"Forgive me forever doubting you, cousin." Frodo said sincerely before turning to help Sam cook the unfortunate fish.
Merry stared up at the ever-lightening sky, until hazel eyes and brown black curls filled his vision. Merry seemed unfazed about his cousin's face suddenly appearing only an inch or so from his own.
"G'morning Pip!" He smiled, "you were asleep still when I got up. Did you sleep well?"
"Yep!" The young hobbit smiled enthusiastically and Merry closed his eyes, yawning slightly.
"That's good." He replied thickly. Merry paid dearly for his moment of lapse guard. Pippin quickly straddled his cousin's stomach and sat down with a whumf. Merry let out an oof, and his eyes shot open.
Pippin obviously was ignoring or did not see the glare he received from his older cousin, and he reached down to grab the tooth hanging on Merry's bare chest.
"What's this?" The inquisitive child asked, and Merry pushed himself up on his elbows.
"That," he explained, "is the tooth of a white wolf my Grandfather Roary killed during the Fell Winter. He used to always wear it on this leather, but he gave it to me on his last birthday. I always wear it, just usually under my clothes."
"Why?" The child asked eagerly Merry gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I won't want to add another reason, for people to think Brandybuck's are weird, Pip." Pippin sat there silently thoughtful for a moment.
"Why do they think you're strange, Merry?" The young hobbit asked innocently, playing with the tooth. Merry was silent for a while, carefully weighing his reply.
"Because...well lots of reasons, Pip. Buckland isn't really part of the Shire for one. They think of us as outsiders because we don't live in the Shire, technically speaking. For another reason, since we live so close to the Brandywine, some of us know how to swim. And some hobbits think that's 'unnatural'." Merry leaned his head back to grin at Sam, who at the moment, looked dangerously close to scowling.
"Why don't 'cha all move into the Shire then?" Pippin asked, as serious as any of the three others had ever seen him.
"Because, Pippin, we're," Merry thought for a moment, trying to come up with a suitable word to explain how Shire-folk saw Bucklanders, and failing. So, he settled for the closest thing he could think of. "Because we're different. No matter where we live, we're different from you Shire-folk. And people don't like what's different from them."
"But," Pippin cried, struggling to understand, "I'm different from my sisters and they still love me!"
"I'm glad for it, Pip." Merry said with a smile that was almost a scowl, meaning he was glad that the little lad was different from his older siblings.
He could not forget his visits to Tuckbraugh. Because he was such close kin, Shire custom would not allow the Tooks to outright refuse him, but he was never exactly *welcome* in the great Smials.
Sure, he could go there whenever he liked, but the atmosphere was chill and they always seemed to only show him the barest bit of hospitality. His room was always the smallest, the coldest, and the sheets the barest. He always got the smallest portions at meals, and they never asked if he wanted more.
Paladin was the worst, something Merry could not understand in the least. His mother was Paladin's sister, and he'd always been told he looked a lot like his mother. So if he looked like his sister, why did he hate him so?
"Why do hobbits hate what's different from them?" Pippin asked, leaning his sharp elbows into Merry's chest.
"Why is the sky blue? Why do stars appear at night? Why do girls giggle? I don't know the answers to any of those questions, really for sure. As you get older you'll hear lots of answers, and other untrue things." Silence reigned while Pippin tried to absorb this, and it was Merry who spoke again. "Do you trust me?" Pippin looked up, meeting Merry's eyes for the first time.
"What?"
"Do you trust me, Pippin?"
"Of course I do!" The child replied instantly and sincerely. Merry reached up one bare arm, and hugged Pippin's small frame tighter to his chest.
"Then never believe. No matter what evidence they show you, reasons they give, or how convincing they sound, never believe them."
Such was the earnest pleading in Merry's voice, that Pippin was speaking before he even comprehended what his cousin had said.
"I won't Merry! I promise I won't!"
Frodo smiled as he slowly turned the fish over the fire. Merry had handled that well, not going to deep for a child's comprehension. Yes, Merry and had done well, and for now Pippin would be satisfied.
"Breakfast is ready, lads! Come eat it before Sam and I finish it off!"
End A/N: *stops drooling over bare chested Merry to grin to her readers* Hello! Here are notes to all you wonderful people.
Just a Person: Yes I continued it, and there is more to come after this ^_^.
Whitney: Here's more. And there will be even MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!
StarDust: Trust me, they're going to learn eventually. If not in this story, in the end of RotK.
Melanie: Another Merry fan! *cheers* I adore Merry; I think he's the greatest. And I'm absolutely flattered you think this is one of the best.
Jenny: Well I try to be as original as possible. Though my friend Halo helps ^_^.
Kayrie: I'm flattered, really and truly. It's taken a very long time for me to learn some of the rules, and if you know a good one for remembering whether it's then or than that goes in certain places please share.
Halo: *gives her a Legolas plushie* that ought to' help calm you down ^_^.
Midnight Dove: Believe me, I'm going. Right now.
*Resumes drooling over Merry*