Hey everyone. This is my second story, even though I'm not very far into my first. However, I find that the quality of my writing declines seriously if I focus on just one story; if I have a choice of which to work on, then I seem to do better. So I decided to begin another -- this one, about Pippin and Diamond, another hobbit couple I adore. Hope you all enjoy =)
-Chapter One-
Tainted Love
Diamond of Long Cleeve stormed angrily through her front door, in her sightless rage completely trampling a few meager daisies that had just recently poked through the soft soil outside the house.
"Diamond?" her mother called from a room near the back of the house as the front door slammed. Diamond didn't answer; half blinded by tears that welled in her eyes, she stumbled towards her room, refusing to let the tears fall freely until safely behind her closed door.
She wept silently, sprawled across her bed, her tears coursing in abundance and leaving wet trails upon her cheeks, which were bright pink from the strong emotions gushing through her body. Pounding her fists repeatedly upon a pillow, she found that it helped to keep her anger under control, although all her grief could not possibly be expressed. Finally, feeling quite exhausted and utterly horrible, her tears stopped flowing and in their place she acquired a hollow emptiness. She rolled upon her back, clutching her pillow tightly to her body as though holding it would make all her bad feelings go away.
The warm spring sunshine drifted through the window and warmed the room. While the weather was uplifting and pleasing to most, to Diamond it seemed to contrast sharply with her current mood, making her all the more upset. Her anger seemed to melt away and she longed to cry again; to cry and cry until she had cried all her feelings from her body and was left with nothing, but the tears would not come over again. It seemed she had spent them already.
A soft knock sounded upon the door, and before Diamond had time to respond, it was pushed slowly open. Her sister Prisca's head was revealed peeking around the door, a soft smile gracing her slender face. "Can I come in?" she asked, although without waiting for an answer, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her. Coming over to sit upon the edge of Diamond's bed, she reached over and laid her hand across Diamond's own. Diamond took no heed of her.
"Mother said she thought she heard you come in not long ago," Prisca said lightly, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. "I thought I'd come to see if it was you."
Diamond muttered a few things incoherently, and Prisca smiled slightly, her large amber eyes timidly watching Diamond. She took in Diamond's puffy red eyes and disheveled appearance without a word. Idly, she played with one of Diamond's auburn curls, twisting it around a finger before patting it neatly back into place.
"Weren't you going to see Nob today?" Prisca asked gently then. Diamond swallowed and said nothing, though the tears that she had thought had abandoned her earlier made their appearance once more. Prisca soothingly wiped the wetness from her sister's cheek, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"I was going to surprise him," Diamond mumbled through her tears. "Nob, that is. I was going to surprise him with a visit."
"Aye, you were. What happened?" Prisca asked softly.
Diamond shook her head lightly, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "I don't want to talk about it," she whispered. "At least, not at the moment." She shut her eyes, drawing her pillow up over her head as if in hope to block out the entire world. Her pain was too fresh; she had been cut too deep. She didn't have the words to describe what had happened.
Prisca patted Diamond's hand and then withdrew her own. "Perhaps later, then?" she asked. She pulled the pillow away from Diamond's face. "Whatever happened today, we will sort it out," she promised, staring down at her sister's tear-streaked face. Diamond nodded wretchedly.
Prisca didn't leave right away, but instead lay next to Diamond and rubbed her back soothingly. Diamond was silent, clutching her pillow as though her life depended on it, giving Prisca her own time to think. She watched her younger sister's sides rise and fall with each shuddering breath she took, and her heart felt for the lass. Diamond didn't let a lot of things faze her, so what had happened to make her so upset couldn't be all too decent. Though, she and Nob had been together for quite a while, and their wedding was only a mere few weeks ago... perhaps it had just been a fight, and the fight had scared Diamond.
Prisca sighed. It had seemed like her sister and Nob had been perfect for each other from the first time they met -- at a party a few years before. From the start their conversations had flowed smoothly, their times together had been memorable and enjoyable, and they fit the picture; two decent hobbits who made a fine pair. It wasn't long after that that the two officially became a couple, and it was only five months previous to this very date that Nob had proposed. Since then, all of Diamond's family had been quite busy making preparations, and Diamond had never seemed happier as she bounced about, a large smile constantly stretched across her features.
We'll get this sorted out, Prisca thought resolutely, suddenly desperate to get her sister's happiness back, her thoughts echoing the words she had spoken to Diamond.
Diamond was currently lost in her own feelings. The tears drying on her cheeks and at the corner of her eyes felt cool and somewhat refreshing, as did the slight breeze that played in through the parted window. She listened to her younger cousins running about, yelling and shouting as they engaged in countless games with each other. More than anything at the moment, she longed to be that age again and that carefree. Children simply didn't have to worry about the problems she had now.
"I wish I was young again," she spoke aloud, voicing her thoughts at last. Prisca was surprised by her voice. She propped herself up on her elbow and glanced down curiously at Diamond.
"You are young, Di," she assured her. "You've got another year yet until you're thirty-three, and that's plenty of time..."
"Not young enough to climb trees again," she said despondently. "Not young enough to spend the afternoon fishing, and have my only worry being what was for supper. Not young enough to be able to spend hours doing nothing but wandering aimlessly."
Prisca sighed and rested her chin on Diamond's head. "Is that what you want?"
"Yes," Diamond said with a hint of a whimper in her tone, and Prisca grinned at how childlike Diamond suddenly sounded. Feeling that Diamond was a bit better, Prisca decided to try her luck.
"Do you want to tell me what happened with Nob?"
Instead of dissolving once more into tears like Prisca half expected, Diamond sighed and rolled upon her stomach. She watched Prisca silently a moment.
"What would you say if I told you the wedding was off, Pris?" she asked then. Prisca opened her mouth as if to say something, closed it, and then opened it again.
"I'd tell you not to joke around like that, because someone might hear you, and think of the uproar that would cause!"
Diamond glanced down at the quilt on her bed and was silent. Prisca watched her nervously.
"Diamond?" she asked slowly.
"Prisca, the wedding is off," Diamond said tonelessly, and raised her gaze to Prisca's. Prisca was startled to see her eyes glistening over as tears formed once more.
"What?" she gasped. "Diamond... why?"
"We had a... disagreement," Diamond said and rolled back onto her side so her back was towards Prisca.
"And that's it?" Prisca demanded. "You got in one fight, and it's all over?" she took a deep breath. "Di," she said, trying to control the rush of emotions she suddenly felt. "You were so happy with Nob, and you two are..."
"...perfect for each other, yes, I've heard it before!" Diamond said angrily. She turned back around sharply, eyes no longer holding sorrow but now obvious annoyance and a twinge of anger. "That's what everyone says."
"Well, it's true, is it not?"
"I don't know," Diamond sighed, the anger dropping out of her tone once more. "The wedding is off, Prisca. That's all there is to it."
Prisca said nothing for a while as she tried to absorb what she was hearing. Instead of her thoughts taking course, however, she found herself listening to everything and nothing at once as though she had never heard the sounds before; the laughter of the children, the songs of the birds, the wind rustling through leaves, Diamond's gentle breathing... "What was the fight about?" she asked at last. Diamond shrugged.
"Nothing much," she responded slowly. "We just realized that it wouldn't work, I suppose. Or rather, I did."
Prisca held her sister's gaze a moment, and in an instant knew this wasn't the whole truth. That alone wouldn't have caused Diamond as much anger and grief as it had. She didn't question Diamond, further, however. Her main priority was to see her sister happy again, and obviously this talk about her relationship with Nob was not about to do it. As much as Prisca wanted to find out everything that was going through her sister's head right this second, they could wait to talk more about the foiled wedding later -- now Diamond needed to forget about it for a while.
Prisca stood rapidly, staring down at Diamond who still lay on the bed and cocking an eyebrow at her.
"Well then you know what we must do?" Prisca demanded hurriedly. Diamond shook her head.
"No, what?"
"Get up, and brush your hair and wash your face. You can't go out like that. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to be seen with you."
Problems momentarily forgotten, Diamond eyed her sister suspiciously at the abrupt change of subject. "Where are we going?"
Prisca laughed and opened the door to Diamond's room. "We're going to fish, and then we're going to climb trees, and then we're going to giggle like little children and spend the rest of the day running around aimlessly, while we worry about what's for supper." She paused and glanced at Diamond sternly. "Be ready in ten minutes, or else I'll leave without you," she threatened and disappeared into the hall, shutting the door behind her.
