Chapter Eight - Between Friends

Merry's eyes snapped open; something woke him, perhaps a noise? He knew he couldn't have been sleeping long; his eyelids were just as heavy as before. He looked over to where his aunt was sitting. She sat in her chair asleep with a blanket covering her. A bundle of knitting sat in her lap.

"Merry!" A hoarse whisper came from the direction of the bed. It was dark in the room with the exception of a small candle on the bureau, but Merry knew Pippin's whisper.

"What is it?" In two heartbeats, Merry quietly rose to his feet and was beside his cousin.

"I'm thirsty." Pippin rubbed his throat with his hand.

"Half a moment." Merry whispered back, then leaned over towards the bedside table where the pitcher of water sat. He filled the empty glass almost to the brim and then held it to Pippin's lips as he drank nearly the whole glass. "More?"

Pippin shook his head as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Why are you here?"

"Excuse me?"

"I thought you had important responsibilities to tend to." Answered Pippin.

Events of the past day ran through Merry's mind. "You are my important responsibility." Then he lay on the bed next to Pippin so they could hear each other whisper better. He didn't want to wake his aunt unnecessarily. "How did you know that I had responsibilities to attend to?"

"I heard you and Frodo talking about it...." Then realizing he gave himself away at feigning sleep again. "the night I got awfully sick."

Merry's eyes narrowed and he smirked at his best friend's constant cunning. "You were eavesdropping again, weren't you?"

Pippin felt too weak to dance around the issue. "Yes. I'm sorry, Merry. I can't help myself sometimes. Everyone talks as if I can't understand--but I do, Merry. I do understand."

"Well then I'm sorry, too."

Pippin's brow crinkled. "Why?"

"First, I shall do better at including you in mine and Frodo's conversations. But the night before last your dad sent you to bed early; so I didn't know to include you then anyway. Did that make sense?"

"Perfect sense, Mer, and I shall try to avoid eavesdropping on your conversations....as long as I'm included." He smiled. "But you said "first"; what's the second?"

Merry's smile went away. "I failed in my duties today, Pip."

Pippin saw the earnestness his friend's face. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. Was it bad?"

Merry nodded. "I failed you....and my dad."

Pippin blinked in surprise. "You're my best friend; you could never fail me, Merry."

"But I did, Pippin, and you nearly died because if it." Merry sighed deeply. "Some best friend I turned out to be." He looked on his cousin with sorrowful eyes, "I didn't look in on your Mum like I was supposed to, so she left for a bit and that's when your fever climbed. If I were here sitting with you like I was supposed to, none of that would have happened. And then little Salvia was just as sick....but she...she..." Merry's eyes glistened with tears.

Pippin watched the terrible anguish pouring from Merry's heart. "What happened?"

Merry swallowed the rising lump in his throat. "She died."

"That's terrible about Salvia." Said Pippin sadly, then added, "But sad as it is, her death wasn't your fault; no more your fault than my being sick was. You can't stop death, Merry, and my illness you couldn't control any more than my mother could. I hate to admit it, but I should have listened to my father and stayed home."

But it was my responsibility to be here, and I wasn't, he thought. Merry placed his hand on Pippin's forehead, "You're still a bit warm, and here I am talking your head off." He got up and tucked the covers around Pippin. "Go to sleep."

"All right, but did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, I heard." He kissed Pippin's forehead. "Go to sleep. I need to go out for a bit."

"Merry?"

"What?"

"Thanks."