Note to readers: As you can see, if you've already read "Jewels", the action in this story continues to parallel the action in that story. Here you get to see the portrait of Frodo from its inception... if you want to see it delivered, go read "Jewels", the chapter entitled "Another Nephew's Visit" (chapter 24).

Thanks for the comments, Pansy and Bookworm!

***

25. Escort

The Tooks and the visiting relatives sought their beds after a hearty breakfast, sleeping until the late nooning. The time between noon meal and teatime was spent packing up, walking or talking or playing at Kings in the sunshine, a day of rest before the long journey on the morrow. Tea that day was a high tea, more of a supper, really; the tables groaned with festive food, and there was much laughter and story-telling and song. By the time late supper would normally be served, most of the travelling relatives had already sought their beds, to prepare for an early start the next day.

Ferdi was one of the few Tooks in the great room, taking a light meal, talking quietly with Tolly, when the Thain came up to their table. He motioned Tolly to remain seated, saying, 'Ferdibrand, a word, if you please?'

Ferdi pushed away his half-finished plate and rose. 'Certainly, Sir,' he said, and nodding to Tolly, he followed Paladin to his study. Once there, the Thain directed him to the chair beside the desk, poured an ale for each of them, and sat down behind the ornately cared desk.

Ferdi waited until the Thain picked up his glass and sipped before tasting his own ale. He waited while Paladin put the glass down, straightened a few papers on the desk, picked up the glass, took another sip of his ale, and then looked him directly in the eye.

'You did a fine job, when you were head of the escort,' the Thain finally said. That was in the time when Ferdi could outshoot Tolly or any other Took in Tookland, but Tolly was doing a fine job nowadays heading up the Thain's escort. Ferdi was content to follow his lead.

Paladin's next words startled him. 'I want you to take on the task of head escort.' But what of Tolly? He nearly spilt his ale, but managed to take hold of himself and maintain his composure, just barely.

A corner of the Thain's mouth twitched as if he'd followed Ferdi's thought. 'No, Tolly's doing a fine job,' he said. 'I was talking about my son's escort.'

Ferdi nodded. Of course, now that Pippin was back for good, and too old to have a minder, he would merit an escort of his own.

'You'll start on the morrow,' Paladin continued. 'Do you have any questions?'

'No, Sir,' Ferdibrand answered.

Paladin did not dismiss Ferdi, but sipped at his ale again, evidently deep in thought. Finally he said, 'You know our Pip is a wild 'un.'

Ferdi thought it best not to answer, contenting himself with a sip from his own glass.

'Spoilt, I must admit it,' the Thain said. 'We've spoilt him, those Brandybucks have, as well... he's headstrong, and willful, and it will take some time to wear those rough edges down.'

He took another sip from his glass, then said. 'But if he is a stubborn rock, I am the river... I will wear him smooth, shape him into what he needs to be, to become Thain. 'Tis only a matter of time.' He looked keenly at Ferdi. 'Don't let him wheedle you, you've a duty to do, and so does he.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdi answered. He put his glass down on the desk, half drunk up.

'Very well,' Paladin said. 'Be off with you now. And take that ale with you, don't want to waste it.'

Ferdi rose and bowed. 'No, Sir,' he answered, and taking the glass, he left the study.

Returning to the great room, he found Tolly just finishing his meal. The other's eyebrows rose, seeing the glass Ferdi carried.

'You want it?' Ferdi said. 'It's his private stock.'

'Thanks,' Tolly said, appropriating the glass and sipping appreciatively. 'Good stuff,' he said. 'So what did he want?'

'Wants me to head up Pippin's escort,' Ferdi answered.

'And you accepted?' Tolly said, perturbed.

'Did I have a choice?' Ferdi returned. 'He didn't exactly ask.'

Tolly shook his head. 'You're in for a rough ride. If Pip goes astray, guess who'll get the blame?'

Ferdi sighed. 'Tell me about it,' he said morosely. 'Let's just hope the lad has turned over a new leaf.'

Tolly shook his head again. 'One day doesn't make all that much difference,' he said. 'Sure, we say he's a year older, but he's not all that different from the Pip who stole your da's teeth last month and hid them behind the spice jars in the kitchens.'

Ferdi snorted, remembering the assistant cook's hysterics when she'd moved a spice jar to find the teeth grinning from the shelf.

'Ah, well,' Tolly said. He held out his hand. 'It's been good, working with you.'

'And with you,' Ferdi answered, taking the hand and giving it a solemn squeeze. He got up from the table, then, and said, 'Enjoy the ale. I'm going to turn in now.'

'Get plenty of rest, that's a good idea,' Tolly shot after him. 'You're going to need it.'

***

The days fell into a routine for Ferdibrand. Most mornings he was free, unless the Thain told him a day ahead of time that he would be riding out with Pippin, or that he would be sending his son on an errand the next day. In either case, Ferdi rode at Pippin's side.

Most days, however, Pippin was glued to his father's side, set to work at various tasks: copying out old records in a fair hand, hearing disputes and writing down his verdict (and have pity on him when his judgment didn't match the Thain's), listening to his father discuss business with the various hobbits who worked for him.

Ferdi's workday started when the Thain's ended, just after teatime, when Pippin would be released. At first, it was pleasant to accompany him about Tuckborough, laughing and joking as in the old days, but there inevitably came the time when the jesses began to chafe and his wild cousin began to pine for the sky.

'I do not see why you have to escort me everywhere I go,' Pippin grumbled as they prepared to ride out of the courtyard.

'It's custom,' Ferdi answered unperturbed. 'The Thain has had an escort ever since the time of Bucca of the Marish.'

'Yes, but there is not so much danger of wolves and ruffians and stoats, these days, as there used to be. The Shire is quite a tame place now, quite boring, actually,' Pippin said. 'When was the last time you had to draw your bow to save me from a charging boar, after all?'

'None of your nonsense, now, Pip,' Ferdi said. 'It's custom, and it's the Thain's orders, and it's my job. There's three good reasons for you, do I really have to come up with more?'

Pippin shook his head in frustration. 'If I could just get away by myself, to think my own thoughts, for awhile,' he said quietly. 'Sometimes I feel as if I'd been bound with cords, or as if there's not enough air in the world to breathe.'

'I'm sorry, Pip,' Ferdi said, honestly. 'The best I can do is ride behind you and keep my mouth shut. You can pretend you're off on your own, at least, if I don't say a word.'

'It's not the same,' Pippin grumbled.

'It's the best I can do,' Ferdi repeated. He nodded to Hilly, and they dropped back, allowing Pippin to ride ahead a little ways, but still alert, following, watching.

Ferdibrand watched Pippin grow progressively more tense, but there was little he could do; the Thain was in charge, after all, and determined to tame this wild son of his. One thing Ferdi could say for his cousin, the lad was honestly trying. It must have been discouraging for him to have all of his good work taken for granted, while his mistakes were singled out and picked apart by his critical father. Paladin set high standards for himself, and for everyone around him.

The first time Paladin disowned his son, Ferdi heard there'd been a shouting match in the study, and then the son had flung himself out of the Smials, tacked up his pony, and ridden off. Since it was morning hours, and Ferdi had not been notified of a need for his escort duty, he was away in Tuckborough and came back to the Smials to find Pippin gone.

Cold fear had clenched his gut; would the Thain blame him for his dereliction of duty? But no, it turned out, Paladin had issued an ultimatum that morning; either Pippin bow to his father's will, or leave Tookland, disinherited. He left.

Over mugs in the Spotted Duck that evening, Ferdi listened to the talk around him, shock, speculation, rumour, conjecture, head-shaking.

'I could have said, "I told you so",' Tolly said quietly. 'You don't cage a wild hawk and expect him to eat from your hand like a songbird.'

'So who'll be Thain after Paladin?' Ferdi asked. 'You?'

Tolly choked on his beer. When he had regained control of himself, he wiped his mouth and shuddered. 'Old Isembold removed our line from the succession,' he said, 'for which I will ever honour his name.'

'But could you replace your line in the succession... if you wanted to, that is?' Ferdi asked curiously.

'Well, thankfully it is not up to me, but to the eldest son, my brother Mardi, you know.'

'He doesn't even live in the Smials,' Ferdi commented.

'Nay, and so I think there's little danger of his taking on the Thainship,' Tolly said. 'I'm afraid Reginard will be stuck.'

'Poor Regi,' Ferdinand said. 'D'you think he'd turn it down?'

'No, his sense of duty is too strong, though I know he isn't too happy about the turn things have taken,' Tolly said. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he went out to hunt down Pippin and make him come back and apologise, or convinced the Thain to send for his son, taking him back.'

'If not Regi, then who?' Ferdi asked.

Tolly shook his head. 'Not Everard, not with his temper,' he said. He eyed Ferdi. 'And certainly not you, not after you burned down the old Thain's stables.'

'Nearly burned down the stables,' Ferdi corrected.

Tolly took another gulp of his beer. 'Whatever,' he said.

Things went pretty much as Tolly predicted. Reginard smoothed over the rift, the Thain sent a letter to Buckland asking for his son to return, and Pippin returned. Ferdi resumed his routine, but he couldn't help noticing that Pippin had misplaced his sense of humour. The lad hardly ever laughed these days, nor smiled much at all.

Odovacar Bolger brought his family for a visit to the Smials. Fredegar had regained his bulk, and then some, fully meriting his nickname of "Fatty", and little Estella had grown to be quite a beauty, Ferdi noted. Everard Took and Fatty took up where they'd left off, before the ruffians came, and evenings invariably found them down at the Spotted Duck, tossing darts, downing mugs, eating the excellent vittles that were part of the draw for the crowd of regulars that showed up nightly.

On one of these evenings, Pippin wandered into the great room to find Estella seated at a table, pot of tea before her, sketching. Ferdi was unobtrusively keeping track of his cousin, not completely trusting him to notify him when he wanted to go out. On more than one occasion, Pippin had slipped away to the Spotted Duck without his escort, and the wrath of the Thain had descended upon Ferdi as a result.

Now he saw Pippin pause behind Estella, looking down at her work. She blushed and put her hand over the sketch, but Pippin gently took her wrist and lifted it out of the way. 'That's quite good,' he said. 'How do you manage to sketch Merry so lifelike, when he's not even here?'

'O I just draw what I remember,' Estella said, trying to smile. 'Here,' she said, pulling another sheet over the picture of Merry, 'watch this!' Under her skillful fingers, a picture of Brandy Hall sprung forth, with little hobbits dabbling in the waters of the River; a splashing fight in the foreground, a few adults seated on the grass watching the bathers in the middle distance.

'That's just right!' Pippin said in wonder. 'So many times I've seen just that scene...' A sudden thought struck him. 'Do you think you could draw...'

'What?' Estella's smile was more real, this time.

'Frodo?' Pippin said.

'Watch,' Estella answered, and taking another sheet, began to draw. 'Frodo always used to put a mug of wildflowers at my mother's place, at breakfast,' she said absently, and soon Frodo looked from the page into Pippin's eyes, a mischievous smile quirking the sides of his mouth, a mug of wildflowers in his hands, the stray lock of hair that would never quite stay in its place bringing an unfamiliar ache to Pippin's throat.

Swallowing hard, he said, 'Yes, that's how I remember him, as well.' He blinked hard, mastered himself, and said, 'Could you do this up nicely, I mean, for a present?'

Looking across at the two from where he sat with Eglantine, the Thain nodded in satisfaction. 'Look,' he said, 'they make a nice couple, don't they?' He smiled. 'Looks as if there's something there between them, doesn't it?'

'That would be nice,' his wife agreed. She'd been so afraid that Pip would fall in love with some other lass, while he was out of the Smials, riding about the Shire with Meriadoc Brandybuck. What a disaster that would be, when they'd had an understanding with Odovacar Bolger for years...

Pippin spent quite a bit of time with Estella, watching the portrait grow under her capable hands, and his parents, and hers, watched the two of them just as closely, congratulating themselves that things seemed to be going quite well, indeed. As a matter of fact, the Bolgers extended their visit so that the portrait could be finished. Odovacar could hardly say no to his daughter; Rosamunda, his wife, enjoyed being back in her girlhood home, visiting with her brother Ferdinand and nephew Ferdibrand; and Fatty was enjoying the victuals at the Spotted Duck.

When the portrait was finished, the Thain hung it up in the great room for all to admire. Estella blushed at the compliments, and Pippin placed a protective arm around her. 'Now, Da,' he remonstrated, 'you're putting the poor lass on the spot and I fear she'll soon shrink to nothing...'

'Nonsense,' the Thain snorted. 'She's done a fine job, and we ought to recognise that.'

'So lifelike,' Eglantine murmured, 'why, it's as if he's about to speak...'

Rosamunda had tears in her eyes. 'That's just how he used to look, of a morning, at Budge Hall,' she said softly. 'The rascal, I miss him still.'

'Who is it for?' Odovacar asked Estella.

'Pip asked me to paint it,' his daughter said shyly. 'You'll have to ask him.'

'For Aunt Esmeralda,' Pippin said, 'in return for all the hospitality she's shown me over the years.'

'That's a fine thought,' Paladin nodded. 'Very thoughtful indeed. I know my sister has always had a soft spot in her heart for young Frodo.' He eyed his son. 'Perhaps you'd like to deliver it yourself.'

'I can have a holiday?' Pippin said, his face brightening.

'Aye, lad, you've worked hard,' his father said indulgently. 'You may take the month of March. Travel back east with the Bolgers, they can send an escort on to Brandy Hall with you, and back home again.'

'We'll give him an escort, all right,' Odovacar said, 'if he'll agree to stop at Budge Hall for a week before he goes on to Brandy Hall. It's been a long time since he's paid the Bolgers a visit, and his cousins are beginning to forget what he looks like...'

Paladin laughed and slapped Odovacar on the back. He thought to add, 'O, and you can take a pack pony of trade goods with you to Brandy Hall, for we're getting low on brandy.'

'Yes, Sir,' Pippin said, a sparkle in his eye for the first time in weeks.

The Thain looked over at Ferdi. 'Well, lad,' he said. 'It looks as if you'll have a few weeks off. You may go visit your sister, or whatever you like. Just be back on the First of April, when my son returns, to take up your duties again.'

'Yes, Sir,' Ferdi answered.

'And give my love to your sister,' Rosamunda Bolger added. 'It seems an age since I've seen my niece, you know.'