Pippin cantered up Hill Lane, past the scores of Hobbits laboring to rebuild Bagshot Row, past the brown Party Field, past the large huts and right to Bag End's door. Hobbits either greeted him or stared as he rode past, but he nodded or waved to all who should shout a 'hello'.
He never thought that returning to the Shire would mean this much work. If he wasn't on patrol with Merry, working to root out the rest of the Big Folk, then he was either getting his hands dirty helping with Hobbiton restoration, or riding between Hobbiton and Tuckburrow. His long absence made his family loathe for him to take a step outside of the Great Smials again, but he appeased them with long tellings of his adventures.
This was his first window of free time since the Battle of Bywater nearly a week ago, and he was going to Bag End not to visit Frodo, but to visit all the wounded from the battle. Bag End had been the first building to be cleaned and scoured from ceiling to floor, to act as a infirmary of sorts for those ill or wounded. The largest and closest residence to where all the action took place, it kept all of its' patients warm and dry as they were tended on by their family and friends.
Pippin dismounted in front of Bag End's gate, and tied his horse up. With a promise he wouldn't be long, he walked towards Bag End's front door.
How good it would be when Sam finally was able to get his hands back into Bag End's dirt! How Pippin missed the flowers and soft grass that seemed to spring up, almost by magic each spring because of Sam's gentle care. When Pippin saw the first green bud spring out of the ground come spring, he knew how glad his heart would be!
"Master Took, a word please."
Pippin was shaken out of his thoughts by the commanding voice of a matriarch. At the door of Bag End an older but imposing woman stood. She closed the door behind her, and walked towards Pippin.
Pippin bowed. "How may I help you, Madam--"
"Mistress Mira of Long Cleeve. I am Diamond's mother."
Mistress Mira! It's an honor to meet you!" Pippin said, and with all his heart. Throughout the week Pippin had met many of Diamond's family in and about Hobbiton, but not yet the parents who had raised her. Mistress Mira was old--she must have been in her eighties at least--but was hale and sharp eyed, not so much a hawk as an old mother cat, well versed at protecting her litter. Pippin had a suspicion he was looking at what Diamond could one day become.
"Master Took--may I call you Peregrin? I have heard others do so."
"Mistress Mira, Pippin will be fine."
"Pippin." Her face became serious again. "I have not yet had the chance to thank you for saving my daughter. We are indebted to you--"
"Let us not speak of debts and such!" he differed.
"But we are, Pippin." Mistress Mira smiled up at him, and Pippin felt like he was one of her younglings. "If you had not returned her to Hobbiton so quickly, I might have lost my youngest. My husband and I have lost children before--but our hearts are older and not suited for such grief anymore."
"Well, all Long Cleeves are North-tooks, right? And North-tooks are cousins of sorts to Tooks, so I was only doing what family should!" Pippin exclaimed, taking her hands in his. "So you needn't worry for you're daughter, Mistress Mira, or any of your children as long as I'm back in the Shire!"
Mistress Mira laughed. "How old are you, dear Pippin?"
"While I was away I turned twenty-nine."
"Older than my Milo then by at least three years. And old enough to keep your word!" She laughed again, and Pippin couldn't be happier than if he had made his own mother laugh. "It is good that I've met you Pippin. You are a good lad. You are always welcome in Long Cleeve, and all of North Farthing at that."
"Have a good day, Mistress Mira!" Pippin exclaimed.
"Yes well, back to work on Bagshot row! We're nearly done, you know. The Big Folks hadn't really gotten around to razing anything in the North, so we all thought we'd come down and give our Hobbiton brothers a hand. Nothing more sinful than a bunch of strong hobbits sitting around when there is work to be done! Good day, Pippin!"
With that, Mistress Mira walked back down to Bagshot row, humming as she went.
Pippin turned and continued towards the door--but once again, stopped. This time, movement to his left caught his eye, and he went to investigate. What he found nearly send him laughing again.
"You two!" he exclaimed.
There, under the bedroom window, Ollie and Primrose were balancing on an old discarding chair. It was broken in several spots which made it terribly wobbly, and Pippin's yell had frightened them so that they fell right off and into a heap on the ground.
"You'd think after all that happened to you two, your mothers would never let you out of their sight again!" he said as he helped them back up and dusted them off.
"We're NOT out of their sight!" Primrose protested. "They're right there in Bagshot Row, helping out."
"They told us to stay away from the workers! And to stay out of trouble!" Ollie retorted.
"Look," Pippin said, leading them away from the window. "I've been getting in and out of trouble for more years than you've been alive, and I say that it looks you're not doing such a good job of staying out of it."
"But Ollie and I wrote a song for Diamond, to cheer her up!" Primrose said.
"We wanted to say thank you. We never did get too."
"A song then? Well, let me hear it then, and I'll tell you if it's any good," Pippin said as he sat on the ground. Now Primrose and Ollie reached his ears, and they leaned over to whisper it to him.
Pippin began to laugh once they were through. "Why, that's a great song! Diamond will be absolutely honored! But--I think I have a better idea of going about it then climbing through windows."
"Oh, we weren't going to CLIMB through the window!" Primrose corrected him. "We just wanted to see if that was the room Diamond was in."
"We were going to sing it outside of her window." Ollie explained.
"Here, let me tell you MY plan…I think you'll like it better--" Pippin conspiratorial said as he leaned in to whisper it in their ears.
