The trip to the Marish was quite long,
but Asphodel, Laurel and Ollie knew where they were going. Along the way,
Laurel and Ollie asked Frodo and Merry several questions about where they
were from. Even Pippin told a little about himself. But as they walked
further, the talk began to die down. Pippin started whimpering that his
legs were "going into jelly", so Frodo lifted him up and carried him. He
was asleep not long after.
"I don't know why you baby him so
much, Frodo. I seem to be the only one to see how much of a terror he is.
He's so sweet and angelic around everyone else!"
"Merry, we've had this conversation
already. You're being unfair to Pippin. There's nothing you can do about
it, so just drop it, Mer." Frodo said. Merry was still complaining about
Pippin, and it was beginning to get on Frodo's nerves. Frodo did not anger
easily. In fact, it took a great deal to get him even upset. But Merry
was taking this too far, and it was aggravating Frodo to a great extent.
"Oi! Look, there's Great Fox Hall!"
Ollie called back to them, grinning. Merry looked up and was amazed at
what he saw. A great Hobbit hole, built into what looked like a mountain-hill.
It was at least two stories, from what Frodo and Merry could see, for some
Hobbit-holes may have secret upper floors in the back.
"Every Hallfaux in our grandfather's
branch of the family lives here." Laurel reported. "The only problem is,
we don't have many girl cousins near our age."
"Yes, Ollie gets all the luck, although
he is the eldest of the boy cousins. The girls are all too little."
"Our family's a bit scattered." Ollie
said. "Our grandparents, Overbund Hallfaux and Myrella Proudfoot, they
had a lot of daughters, and those daughters went off to Hobbiton and married
there, and don't come back so much."
"You said that all the Hallfauxes
lived here though." Merry said.
"It's true for my grandfather's sons,
for my father and uncles." Asphodel explained. "They all live here with
their families permanently. They're all Hallfauxes by name. Our aunts are
married off and living with their husbands, and rarely visit, except for
my Aunt Lily. She lives at Hallfaux with her little son and daughter. Her
husband died before the girl was born, and so she moved back in with the
family. You see, our father is the eldest of his brothers and sisters,
five years older than our eldest aunt. After him, there were six daughters
in a row, and then after that, three more sons. So there's quite an age
gap, really. The only thing is, now, all of aunts, have come by with their
husbands and families for our grandfather's birthday next week, and everything
is busy!"
"Except Auntie Mirabella, Asphodel,
don't forget." Ollie piped up. "Our Aunt Mirabella married as soon as possible
and no one's heard from her since. She dislikes this family."
"Now, Ollie, don't tell stories when
you don't know the full. Look, here we are at the gate. Should you wake
the little one?"
"No, he'll be fine." Frodo said,
patting Pippin on the back. Pippin didn't stir. Merry rolled his eyes.
"He'll wake up as soon as we get
in the Hall. There's nearly always a hungry Hobbit-child, so there's always
cooking going on!" Laurel said with a laugh. She took hold on one of the
great doors and opened it. Inside, there was a bustle of activity. Two
young Hobbit lads were wrestling on the floor, and immediately, Asphodel
went over and pried them apart. She took each boy by the back of his shirt
and picked them up. They both struggled to get back at one another, but
seeing that they couldn't, they simply gave up.
"Billy, Dorian, will you two ever
learn? Look at you, you're both a mess! Go on and wash up!" Asphodel dragged
both boys down into one of the hallways. Frodo and Merry heard them protesting
and struggling even as they couldn't see them anymore.
"Come on, now." Laurel said. "We'll
introduce you to our parents!"
Merry started to follow, but Frodo
grabbed the back of his arm. "Listen, Merry," Frodo instructed. "You leave
Pippin alone. We're guests here, and you can't go showing off a bad example.
They'll think of you horrid. You'd better keep away from Pippin. Is that
clear?"
"Yes, Frodo."
"Alright then." Frodo released his
grip on Merry's arm, and gently shook Pippin awake. Immediately, the little
hobbit boy's eyes sprang open, and his nose sniffed the air. "Something
smells good!" he whispered to Frodo. Frodo laughed, but whispered something
in Pippin's ear. Pippin's eyes widened and darted over to Merry for a moment.
Merry glared at him, and Pippin cast his eyes downward, and then nodded.
Frodo put him down and took his hand.
"Coming?" Laurel said, a tad impatiently.
Frodo nodded, and led Pippin. Merry followed.
"Mum! Da!" Ollie called, as they entered
a large and comfortable looking study. A rather old looking male Hobbit
was sitting in a chair, eyebrows knitted together in worry. A female Hobbit
stood beside him, reading something over his shoulder. Silently, the group
of young Hobbits approached them.
"…fearing that we won't have much
for the coming winter. It's going to hurt our funds, having my sisters
and their families here. What if--" The male hobbit stopped in mid-sentence,
for he caught a glimpse of his young son and daughter coming into the room.
Two unfamiliar faces followed behind his children. No, three. Another smaller
Hobbit held onto the hand of the older looking one.
"Laurelinae, (A/N: Laurelinae is
actually Laurel's real name. She is usually only called that by her mother,
although her father calls her that when she is in trouble. She usually
goes by Laurel, which was how Asphodel introduced her to the three boys.)
Oliden, where have you been? We've been worrying."
"Oh, Mum, we were just playing!"
Laurel said, cringing slightly. "Mum, please don't call me Laurelinae!
You know I don't like it when you do!"
"Who are these three young lads behind
you, Laurel, my dear? You know you shouldn't bring strangers home."
"Oh, Papa, we're sorry! These are
our new friends!" Oliden said. He turned to Frodo, Merry and Pippin. "This
is our mother, Rosie Hallfaux, and our father, Oliren. But I'm afraid I've
forgotten your names, so I can't finish the introduction."
"Oh, Ollie!" Laurel said with a giggle.
She seized Merry's arm and pulled him forward. "This is Meriadoc Brandybuck,
from Buckland, right?"
"Yes. Merry, for short though. Nice
to meet you, sir."
"Ah!" Oliren stood and strode over
to Merry, seizing his hand and shaking it vigorously. "My pleasure! But,
glory be, I'd never thought I'd get to meet Rorimac Brandybuck's own grandson
and heir! We'd been great friends as young hobbits growing up, Old Rory
and I. How's the old rascal doing?"
"Fine, sir. Still in his prime. He
and my father have been teaching me more about Buckland lately, getting
me ready."
"And your father, Saradoc, right?
Ah, a wonderful man!" He clapped Merry on the shoulder a little too roughly,
and the younger Hobbit nearly fell over. Laurel let out a laugh, and then
grabbed Pippin by the hand.
"Papa, Mama, this is little Peregrin
Took, from Tuckbourough, isn't it? His father's Thain of the Great Smials."
Oliren moved from Merry and grabbed Pippin's hand. A little scared by the
encounter, Pippin squeaked and ran to hid behind Frodo. Oliren let out
a laugh, and then pointed to Frodo.
"Now that I've got a good glimpse
of you, you look awfully familiar. Let me guess, now, don't tell……Are
you Drogo Baggins' boy?"
"Yes, sir. Frodo Baggins."
"Ha! I knew it!" He grabbed Frodo's
hand and shook it. "Your father was a great man! A tragedy, his death was.
My extended sympathies. But you're living with Mad Baggins? Old Bilbo,
right? As his heir?"
"Yes," Frodo said, uncomfortably.
He'd never really appreciated the fact that people still called Bilbo,
"Mad Baggins", especially to Frodo's face.
"Ah, well it's always nice to have
the heirs to three of the most famous places of the Hobbit lands in Great
Fox Hall. Will you be staying for supper?"
At that moment, two voices popped
into Merry's head.
"Mum! Papa, we're going now!"
"Yes, darling. Be back before dinner!"
"Is dinner already passed?" Merry
asked.
"Oh, goodness, yes." Rosie said.
"Dinner was over an hour ago!"
Merry grabbed Frodo's arm. "We promised
my mother we'd be back for dinner, remember? And we'll be in bigger trouble
since Pippin's with us!"
"Oh, no! Merry you're right!" Frodo
turned to Oliren. "We're really sorry to run out like this, but we promised
my Aunt Esme that we'd be back at Brandy Hall in time for dinner."
"Nonsense. The sky's getting dark.
You won't make it back in time for anything if you leave now. I'll send
a messenger on to Brandy Hall telling your mother you three are safe."
"Would you mind much, sir, if we
wrote it?" Frodo asked. "We really aren't supposed to have Pippin. He snuck
and came, and I expect they're very worried."
"Not at all. You two, Meriadoc and
Frodo, come over here and get some parchment. Ollie, would you think Pippin
would like to go and play with the other little ones?"
"Yes, I would please." Pippin said.
Rosie laughed, and came over to take Pippin's hand.
"Come, Laurelinae, Oliden. You two
get washed up and ready for supper." Over her shoulder, she called to her
husband and two guests. "Supper ought to be ready in fifteen minutes, so
hurry."
Frodo nodded, and he and Merry went
over to the desk. Oliren got up and went over to one of the many bookshelves
in the room.
"I'll wait for you to finish, so
I can give it to the messenger." He told the boys. "That way, I can show
you where the dining hall is. It gets hectic at mealtimes."
"Well, what should we say?" Merry
asked. Frodo took the quill from the table and dabbed it into the ink bottle.
"Here, look. I'll write a letter,
and you see if it looks alright." Frodo said. Frodo thought for a while,
and finally began. It was some time later when Frodo put the letter in
Merry's hands.
"Finished! Have a look, what do you
think?"
Merry read aloud:
Dear Aunt Esme, Uncle Saradoc, and Uncle Bilbo,
This is Frodo and Merry writing to
you. Pippin is here with us too. We're in the Marish, at Great Fox Hall.
While we were on the river, we met three Hobbits, and invited us to their
home. We lost track of the time, and by the time we arrived, we realized
we should have come home first. We're sending this by way of a messenger,
but we wanted only to tell you that Merry and Pippin and I are going to
be staying with our friends. We'll leave tomorrow morning, promptly, and
probably await any punishment you'll give us. Which we deserve, I suppose.
We ought to sign off, because the Hallfauxes are serving supper now. We
suppose we should give you a full explanation when we arrive back at Brandy
Hall. Just in case you didn't read it ahead, Pippin's alright, and he's
here with us, so it's another thing less for you to worry about. We'll
see you when we return.
Frodo & Merry
"Ok, it's alright." Merry said. "Here,
Mr. Oliren, the letter." Merry stood and went over to the elderly Hobbit
with the letter.
"Fine! Alright, come boys, we'll
go for supper now. We're having Swishers for dessert, a wonderful treat.
Come, now lads!"
Frodo and Merry followed Oliren out
of the study into a large dining hall. Several hobbits were already seated,
most of them quite small. Pippin was sitting in between Ollie and a little
Hobibt girl with a few dirt smudges all over her face, but they kept looking
at one another and giggling. Oliren directed them to their seats before
running off quickly in another direction. A few minutes passed, and more
hobbits arrived at the table. Only one seat remained empty, that of Oliren,
but the old hobbit arrived moments later. He went to his seat and banged
on the goblet.
"Hey! We have three guests! Three
brave hobbits who, as I am told by my young daughter, Laurel, saved my
son." He motioned for Frodo, Merry and Pippin to stand.
Merry scowled to himself. How is it
that Pippin and Frodo were getting credit for what he'd done? It was Merry
who had jumped in the water, Merry who had swam over to Ollie, Merry who
had pulled him up onto the ferry. And yet Frodo and Pippin were getting
credit. It wasn't fair. Now, everyone seemed to be against him.
A/N: I know, this wasn't my best ending of a chapter. I couldn't think of anything else to add. I'm open for suggestions to editing this chapter! Thanks. A family tree of the Hallfauxes is on the next chapter, in case you wanna know. Pt. 2 of this chapter will be Ch. 8
