Rays of light poured through Diamond's open window. As they fell on her face, she stirred and awoke. Sitting up, Diamond realized there were soft voices outside the room. She smiled to herself, and quietly snuck over to the door. She cracked the door open quickly, only to find Merry and Pippin nearly dumb from surprise. She closed the door so that only her face could be seen.
"What, may I ask, were you doing?" said Diamond, half angry, half amused.
"Just waiting for you to wake up," said Merry innocently.
Diamond smiled, and then shut the door in their faces. She went about her room, searching for her clothes. Upon getting dressed she proceeded to the kitchen where her sisters were eagerly cooking breakfast. Merry and Pippin, who it seems never passed the opportunity for a meal, decided to stay and eat. After breakfast Diamond, Pippin, and Merry set out, with the intent of showing Diamond around Buckland.
The first place they intended to visit was Farmer Maggot's farm, which seemed to be a place often visited by the pair. They knew many shortcuts, and so the trip only took part of the morning. They walked through the fields, eating what they wanted, and talking freely.
"Why did you move to Buckland, Diamond?" asked Pippin, while eating part of a mushroom.
"My sisters wished to find more suitors. It is really a quite inadequate reason to move somewhere, however my sisters are quite shallow," she replied with a sigh.
"Enough talk. The reason we brought you here was not to talk, nor to eat; though that is part of it I will admit. Pip and I lead quite a, how to put it, an adventurous life. We cannot be held back by a young girl, who would get us caught," said Merry mischievously.
"What do mean?" said Diamond, a touch annoyed.
"If you wish to "borrow" with us, you must prove yourself worthy," said Pippin, now mirroring Merry's grin with one of his own.
"And how do you expect me to do that?" asked Diamond.
With another grin the pair rushed off into the field once again. Diamond ran after them as best she could. She was a quick runner, and so therefore she caught up with them quite easily.
"You may have caught us, but can you outrun them?" shouted Pippin loudly.
"Outrun who?" asked Diamond.
Just then a shout was heard from within the crop fields. "Run!" shouted Merry. The shouts were soon followed by the malicious growling of dogs from somewhere to their left. Diamond now knew what the boys had in store had for her. They had been loud enough to attract the attentions of the farmer, and his dogs. What they did not know was that unlike most young Hobbits, Diamond had spent most of her childhood outdoors running from "dragons" and "goblins", and was therefore a skilled runner.
After a few seconds she had caught up to the boys once again, and was about to run past them when Merry grabbed her leg, and threw her to the ground. "Let us see if she can catch up now!" shouted Merry teasingly.
The dogs were gaining quickly, and Diamond began to grow worried. She pulled herself up, and began to run again. She looked back only to see a dog nipping at her heals. The dog in the lead had a good shot at Diamond, and it leapt into the air. Just as it was about to take her down, someone threw Diamond to the ground. The dog landed on Diamond's rescuer instead, and managed to pin him to the ground with ease. The dogs were taught only to trap intruders, not to hurt them.
Diamond racked her brain to think of something that would help her rescuer, but alas she could not. The farmer was almost to the spot where the dog had her rescuer pinned. She could not see who it was, for the dog was so huge that it covered all of the Hobbit it had landed on. Then Diamond had an idea. The dogs were trained to attack those who stole the crops, so she ran to nearest corn stalk and started to frantically grab the corn. The dog saw her, and was after her in a flash. Diamond ran as fast as her legs would carry her, and as she ran she looked back to and saw Pippin stand up, clutching his shoulder. She began to stop, as if to turn back and help, but he motioned for her to run on. She hesitated, but then ran
Diamond pushed herself harder than ever before. Up ahead she saw the paths open out, and Merry was waiting on a ferry of some sort. Diamond ran onto the ferry and Merry pushed it quickly away from the landing with a long pole.
"What about Pippin?" panted Diamond.
"How did you manage to escape that dog after tripping. When I did that to Pippin on his first time, he was caught and punished for a month. I now deem you worthy," said Merry laughing.
"Thank you, but we cannot just leave him there," said Diamond. "He saved me from the dog."
"So that is how you made it," said Merry realizing now where Pippin had gotten.
"Merry!"
"Alright, we will go back for him," Merry reluctantly agreed.
They pushed the ferry back to the dock after the dog had retired from barking at them. After tying the ferry to the dock they walked back to the fields. "Where would he have gone?" asked Diamond.
"I know where he went, if he escaped. Come on, you have proven yourself worthy." He laughed again. A girl being able to pass his test must have seemed funny to him, for he laughed the entire rest of the way.
She followed Merry down a winding path through the fields, and they soon came to a small clearing on the edge of the farm. Overlooking the clearing was a large tree with many twisted branches. "Can you climb trees?" asked Merry. Diamond nodded, and they proceeded to climb the large tree. After a short climb they came to a huge branch large enough for two Hobbits to sit on side by side, and there resting his back against the trunk of the tree sat Pippin, nursing his hurt arm.
"You did not leave. I am surprised Merry," said Pippin annoyed.
"I would have left, trust me dear cousin. It was Diamond's idea to come back, though I do not know why," he replied.
Diamond said, "Well we could not have just left you here. You were hurt."
"It is not bad. I climbed the tree did I not?" Pippin responded, trying to sound tough.
Merry laughed at this, and simply proceeded to climb down the tree. "You know the way home," he called after them.
Pippin looked down the tree trunk just in time to catch one of Merry's boyish grins before he turned to Diamond.
There was an awkward silence, and then Diamond said, "You did not have to save me. I could have escaped on my own. I am not a child, you know." Then she climbed down the tree, and ran after Merry to catch a ride on the ferry.
"Your welcome."
Merry and Pippin decided to walk Diamond to her door once they had gotten back from Farmer Maggots that night. It was well into the night when they finally arrived, and upon entering the gate of her house Diamond's sisters ran up to her.
"Where have you been? Of all the days to run off, Diamond, honestly. Father is here.
We do not know why he has come to see us all, but he would not tell us until we all arrived. You must come in quickly," said Daisy.
"I cannot simply walk in there. Father will wonder where I have been. What shall I tell him?" cried Diamond frantically.
Maggie and Daisy looked uneasily at each other. They had not thought of this, but fortunately Merry had an idea. He gave Diamond all of the crops they had managed to take from the farm. "Tell your father you were getting food for the new house, and that you had to walk."
"That is a wonderful idea, Merry, thank you," replied Diamond.
She took the vegetables into her arms, and ran inside to meet her father.
"Where have you been, Diamond? You know my time is not something to be wasted," said a voice that Diamond knew belonged to her father.
"I was getting food, and Daisy and Maggie were unloading the cart, so I had to walk. Please forgive my absence, but we had no knowledge you were to visit, Sir," said Diamond, trying her hardest to sound apologetic.
"What is done is done. Now that you are here, sit, and call your sisters. There is something we need to discuss."
Daisy and Maggie walked into the room, and sat down beside Diamond. Their father stood up, and looked at each of them. Staring hard into each girl's eyes, as if testing for some hidden weakness. After a few moments he sat down again, and said, "I know you each have suitors of your own, however would you consider my choosing your suitor for you. I have several friends whose sons would offer large amounts of money to marry each of you. You would live a life of wealth and happiness. What do you think?"
Daisy and Maggie were quite eager to agree. It had become obvious over the past few years that the only quality they looked for in a suitor was wealth. Diamond, however, was enraged. She stood up angrily and said, "Father I shall not be a part of this. I care not for riches and wealth. You shall not force marriage upon me, for I wish to choose myself. Both Daisy and Maggie were given the chance to choose before now. I have not yet come to the age where I wish to have suitors. I am but twenty-one, is this not too you to be forcing me to marry. Please father."
"Diamond, you could have had suitors of your own if you spent more time away from your silly books, however I shall be fair. I shall give you one year's time. If you have not chosen your own husband by then, I shall choose for you," he said, with such authority that Diamond did not dare disagree, but she had one idea yet. "I will agree to this if you do not force me to marry until I am of age." "That is eleven years yet, Diamond!"
"Then I shall not agree to this, and I shall leave. I will go as far as I must to escape you," she shouted.
"Diamond, I shall make a compromise with you. If you have not chosen your own suitor in one I shall choose for you, however, I shall not enforce the marriage until you are of age. You shall remain engaged until then. That is an excellent chance for me to reap the benefits of a wealthy suitor. Do you agree? One year?"
"One year," repeated Diamond.