Pippin Musing 9: Namarie The Shire early summer 1484 (Shire reckoning)

Pippin sat in front of Diamond's rose-covered grave bathed in the last rays of the sun. He had been dreading this day since the spring, when Merry got the letter from King Eomer, but he knew it was his duty to go. In his mind and heart he still felt young and he was a hale, Tookish 94 but Merry was 102 and his health was fading. If they did not leave now, they never would.

He sighed. Merry was right. They had to go. Eomer would be gone soon. They had made a trip to the human prince Faramir's deathbed but this time he and Merry would not return to the Shire. He mourned the strength of his youth, when travel was not so wearying but it would ill befit Peregrin, Knight of Gondor, and Meriadoc, Rider of Rohan, to be absent from Eomer's deathbed.

What did he really have left in the Shire? Sam left after Rose died. Merry's Estella passed away five years before and Diamond just two years ago. His son would be an admirable Thane but, as he looked at the white roses on his wife's grave, his resolve failed.

He did not want to leave his grandchildren. He knew he would never see them or the Shire again. Peony, who was fifteen, had taken it the hardest and had been going about with tears in her eyes for days. He hated to cause the lass so much pain. Lila, who would be twenty-one in the wintertime, wanted to go with them as their bodyguard and nineteen-year-old Blossom baked them bread for their journey. Berilac, who was seventeen, organized a farewell party for him.

He was grieved to leave his son but Faramir was middle-aged now and had been assisting him very ably in his duties as Thane for years. Pippin was still capable of being Thane but he felt his son was very capable and needed this opportunity to prove himself before he too was elderly.

Pippin dreamed of watching Diamond cut roses in a summer garden so many years ago while the sun sank below the horizon and the blue light that comes before true dark enveloped him. His reverie was broken when he felt a touch that was soft as dandelion fluff on his arm. It was Peony. The girl had the blotchy face and red, swollen eyes of someone who has been weeping hard for a long time. She sat next to him on the bench but it took her some time to speak.

"Grandpa Pip," she said in a quaking voice that was ready to break into tears, "will I never see you again?"

He drew her close and said, "Lass, lass. All things must come to an end. I have a sacred obligation to old friends. Queen Arwen has had one hobbit- maid at court. Maybe I can convince her to have another. It may not come to pass and you are still a little young yet. I will try and hope for it because I will greatly miss you."

Her sobs subsided into sniffles and they held each other until long after the sky darkened to ebony and fireflies danced above their heads in the soft night air.