Pippin Musing 7: Passages The Shire Late Fall 1463

Pippin sat at a long table in the great smial that was heavily laden with food and decorations and sipped a glass of his best old win yards. As he greeted his son's wedding guests, he reflected on the passing years and what a good match Faramir was making with Goldilocks Gamgee.

The decades since the war had been fruitful ones for the Shire but the most wonderful and miraculous event was Merry and Estella's late-in-life son, Saradoc II. Faramir had been almost fourteen when young Saradoc was born in late 1443 and treated the younger hobbit as a little brother. The elder Brandybucks doted on their handsome blond, blue-eyed lad.

Pippin smiled at a guest and thought that there was a time when a Took marrying a Gamgee would have been unthinkable or at least highly unusual but those days were long past. Even if Sam had not been made mayor or the heir to Bag End, Pippin knew him for a hero and had a great respect for the six-time mayor and his sensible wife.

The younger Gamgees were the most admirable hobbits and had been Faramir's childhood companions. Pippin almost laughed out loud at the memory of his six-year-old son telling him he would marry Goldilocks when he grew up. Now, in the year of his coming-of-age, Faramir was fulfilling his infant promise. Goldilocks was a lively, hard-working girl who had gilt curls and her father's kind, brown eyes. She also had Sam's affinity for gardening. Goldilocks and Diamond had dried many of the late summer/early fall flowers for wedding decorations.

The time had passed for fresh flowers this year but the weather had been relatively mild and the trees brightened the landscape with shades of red, orange, and gold. It was a cool, clear night and, when Pippin saw Merry and Sam slipping outside, he followed them. The three middle-aged hobbits gazed up at the stars and the luminous moon. They smoked their pipes while speaking of their children and the adventures of their own youth.

They had not been outside long when their wives came to get them and scolded them for leaving the party. A small band, which included Saradoc on the drum, started playing and Pippin danced with Diamond and grinned when he saw that Rosie still had to drag a blushing Sam onto the dance floor. Merry and Estella swirled around in a skillful fashion. Faramir, looking handsome and very happy, danced with a beaming Goldilocks.

It seemed like a very short time indeed when the band played its last song and the guests began to depart in the moonlight. When the last guest left, he remarked to Diamond that they really had raised an excellent son and the party had been a rousing success. She smiled and agreed. As he drifted off to sleep, Thane Peregrin could still smell the dried roses and feel a warm, internal glow from the old win wards.