Liquor Leaf and Ladies - Kesselia Banta
Part 5 – Life Goes On Anyway
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that's given to you" .... Gandalf
Midi-evil Medicine
In Comes the Cavalry
The New Man of the Family
Was It Wrong?
Dogs and their True Counterparts
Bag End Hall
Life Goes On
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Midi-evil Medicine
Leaches don't appreciate being removed from a juicy meal. They left yellowing hickeys and small maroon smears all over Merry's darkly bruised leg, and they wriggled in complaint as they were dropped unceremoniously into a tin bucket. No one told them that a pint of Hobbit juice it would be their last supper, for they were certain to have sucked out only the "bad blood" and therefore were burned alive within minutes of rash separation.
The result was a fat leg that appeared to have been experimented on by aliens and the noxious smell of fresh-roasted flesh. This foul experience was given no attention by any hobbit present. All mouths were stiff and brows were angled at how completely the leeches failed to produce the desired result. Two of them silently cleaned off a dining table and moved it out to the junk side of the Hill so the flies would collect far from anyone's kitchen. A third stayed with the crying and cursing patient that vocally clambered for other options. A giant butcher knife was sharpened, a wide leather belt strap was brought out to cut off circulation, and the appearance of a strangely-shaped bone saw punctuated an already gut-wrenching sense of doom.
Merry was carried out to the table by a thick blanket in use as a stretcher. The doctor's wife assisted the production with tight-throated orders to his friends. Chirping birds fluttered away from the sick aura. Tools, towels and supplies were fetched. Merry hips, chest and good leg were tied down firmly to the table. The doctor frowned at Pippin's pained expression and decided to let the quartet have a few minutes first. He and his wife stepped into the house.
Pippin turned to Meriadoc. He swallowed hard. "You want some whiskey?"
Merry's eyes were closed. His mouth frowned with disappointment. He shook his head.
Pippin straddled the single bench next to the table and took Merry's palm with a hard squeeze. He fretted a little, trying to think of something funny to say or words of comfort. He too closed his eyes and swallowed another dry throat.
"Least now you'll be taller than me," Merry muttered, trying to grin. Pippin was taller than him anyway.
"You can still stand as tall on one leg," Pippin answered as lightly as he could. "You'll just need me to balance you up like always." He looked Merry in the eyes and tried to smile. "It'll be no different than most nights coming out of a pub."
Merry gave him a weary smile. "Only if I live, Pip."
What little smile there was in Pippin's eyes had now vanished. "You have to live. What am I gonna do without you?"
Merry squeezed the other's palm. Somehow, it was easier comforting Pippin about this. Despite the years and mileage, Pippin would always be the baby. "Promise me somethin'."
Pippin lifted his gaze again.
"Get Bailey back. You'll need her."
"Don't talk like that." Pippin dropped his eyes just as quickly and shook his head. "You tell me your last requests some other time."
Merry squeezed his palm again. "Pip?"
Pippin lifted his face again and sniffed hard. He hated to, but gave acknowledgement to Merry's instruction. After that, Pippin could only stare at the air with stunned eyes and slack mouth.
Frodo and Sam were hardly four feet away from them both, but Frodo just now lifted his chin to join the conversation. "Should I get Kristana?"
Merry stared in the air as he shook his head. "I wouldn't let her if she asked." Even if she was willing to come, she would be seen, the interaction would be witnessed, and everyone would know.
Sam angled his head to see around Frodo, "Some things are worth spilling secrets over."
"No," Merry whispered, wished passionately that he could have, and shook his head again. "No."
Pippin's pale eyes stared back at Meriadoc's for one long hard moment of intense communication.
Pippin tried to breathe and Meriadoc bravely raised his chin. "Tell him I'm ready."
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In Comes the Cavalry
Sam retrieved the doctor from the houseby simply calling for him from the back door. He was already outside again when the elder man stepped out with a smile of wonder and Frodo's sword that he'd taken off the wall. "Is this it? Is the famous sword that glows blue when orcs are close?"
Frodo mouth wrinkled at the doctor's poor taste. He held his hand out for the sword. "Would you mind focusing your attentions on saving my friend's life?"
The doctor handed over the sword to Frodo, "Oh yes, of course," and skedaddled back around the house to the picnic-style operating table.
He started the deed by strapping up the leather belt high on his fat thigh. Merry stopped the movement with a harsh order to get his right testicle out from under the strap before it was squashed like a red grape. Pippin moved to stand behind him and set the pock-marked wooden spoon handle back in his mouth. Frodo took one forearm and held it hard to keep next to his shoulder. Pippin took the other. Sam handed over the steal slack-wench and winced so hard that one eye went shut. The doctor strapped up the leg and the wench and paused to make sure everyone was ready before he started cranking down the tourniquet. . . .
"Wait!" She
screamed from the other side of the hill and far down the road. "Merry!" Her
voice was pushed so loud and so harsh that it curdled on her throat. "Stop!"
Merry opened his eyes with knitted brows. Pippin lifted his head to listen. Sam
reached over to remove the Doctor's hand from the wench handle.
Frodo pulled his shoulders back. "That's Lauren's voice."
"She shouldn't see this," Sam uttered quietly. This scene was no place for a woman, the doctor's wife being a rare exception.
Frodo let go of Merry and skipped into a fast trot over the top of Bag End. He dodged shrubbery and blueberry bushes to climb to its easy summit and looked out to the road beyond. Her hands gathered her green skirts to her waist so she could run full tilt up the road, kicking up clouds of dust with her bare feet and letting the wildly dancing hair knot in the air behind her. "Frodo! Merry!? Stop!"
"Lauren!" Frodo called her attention and waved a arm so she would see him. "You can't come back here!"
She was heaving for air. Her eyes widened when she saw him, but continued to run to his front porch. "Don't take Merry's leg! There's a-" she heaved.
Frodo was full of conflicting emotions that she was here during such a horrid event. He felt the sick feeling that she was going to make this worse. Nothing else could have been done to save the leg, and it was prudent to get the dread of the amputation over with. There was no idea Lauren could have produced to change that.
"Rose sent me-" she heaved again.
He looked over the shrubs and down the hill at her. She held her chest on his front porch, looking flushed and pumping with adrenaline. "Lauren, you shouldn't be here."
"Wait. They haven't taken his leg yet, have they?"
Frodo glanced back. The doctor had taken a long step away from Merry, Sam kept guard on that wench, yet looked over his shoulder with a stiff mouth to Frodo and wondering what the hold up was. Merry closed his eyes again and squeezed them shut. Pippin simply glared up at him.
They could hear everything. The stupid woman was going to drag this painful day out, wasn't she?
Frodo looked down at her. "No. Why?"
"There's a man come to town." She heaved, but a little softer now. "Rose is bringing him in. Kristana and Bailey are on their way." She heaved again.
Frodo closed his eyes and shook his head. "You ladies can't be here for this."
Lauren waved a hand at him. "No, Frodo, you don't understand. There's a man come to town. I forgot his name." She heaved again, but smiled for that one. "Tall as a house, long white hair, starts with a G."
From behind the wooden spoon, Merry exclaimed the name. Frodo managed to verify it, "Gandalf?"
Lauren nodded, smiled and blew out controlled air. "That's the one. He's coming."
Frodo didn't listen to her. He turned and skidded down the hill again. "Gandalf is here!" Merry dropped his head back to the pillow and sputtered the spoon from his mouth. It fell onto his neck and rolled to fall in the grass. Sam immediately went to the strap to slip the leather off again. Pippin breathed as thought he hadn't since dawn and Frodo kept stepping out, growing a smile, and placing himself between the Doctor and the Brandybuck.
The doctor looked him up and down. "How dare you resort to sorcery! This is a medical matter!"
Frodo folded his arms at his chest and lifted his chin. "We'll see what the wizard has to say before we make that declaration." He proudly stood guard in front of the doctor to wait out Gandalf's arrival.
Lauren trotted around the yard at them. She flashed a smile at Frodo but it vanished when she saw Merry's leg. "Dear lord." She rushed to his side and sat on the bench where Pippin had been. Her eyes were happy to see him but her brows were perplexed. "Merry, your leg is blue."
Merry cleared his throat and dipped his chin tensely, "Yes, I know."
Lauren faked her naivety, "I did not think you'd put all those blueberries into one place."
Merry's tension crumbled to an old smile.
Kristana came tearing around the corner next and Bailey was at her heals, but Bailey's fast pace stumbled to a halt as soon as her eyes fell on Pippin. Pippin's eyes were just as cold and hurt in return, but that wasn't the topic now.
Kristana, on the other hand, marched right up behind Lauren and was already sitting down when she tightly ordered Lauren off. "Move."
Lauren hurried to untangle herself and her skirts from the bench and stepped quickly away. She apparently took no offense by it, for she flashed a smile again when Frodo glanced back at what was going on.
"You never sent me a message the leeches didn't work," Kristana snapped as she looked over the violet limb and proceeded to take care of him whether he liked it or not.
Merry was struck speechless at her presence in the middle of all these people. Pippin tore his eyes off Bailey, nervously scratched the side of his neck, and winced at Kristana's presence too. The brothers exchanged dramatic winces. This was going to get ugly, but not as ugly as a severed leg, so they unanimously agreed to grin at the upcoming pain.
"What changed your mind?" Merry asked softly, completely baffled about this action.
Kristana took Merry's hand and kissed the back of it to announce she was here where she was supposed to be. "Bailey changed it."
Merry flinched. Pippin blinked.
Rose wasn't the only one that arrived with Gandalf. Apparently, the lady Gamgee stirred up trouble in Bracegirdle hall by reporting Merry's medical status loud enough to send three women to tear through town to stop it. As a result, several angry men tore off after them for the forbidden visit, and two toddlers were tossed into Gandalf's cart so they wouldn't get left behind.
Within minutes, the north side of the Hill was filled with people. Liam gruffly ordered Kristana to step away and take care of his grandchild. Otho backed him up by ordering Bailey to step around the corner as well, which she did, but only to gather Mick and Elanor to supervise near the chicken coop. Rik yelled at Lauren as well, and though she bowed her head obediently, her eyes weren't so respectful.
Finally, Gandalf parted the sea of people like a giant gleaming razor. A pregnant redhead stomped up after him. As though they didn't believe it before, all four of the quartet took in the sight of him with wide eyes and exhausted smiles as thought their single, group prayer had just been answered. Somehow, everything was going to be okay.
The old wizard almost chuckled as he pushed himself up the slope by his staff. "You certainly tangled yourselves into a wicked net this time."
Rose was already starting to herd the onlookers back around the corner of the hill. She ushered Liam and Otho and flicked a glance to Lauren so she would know to do the same with the Doctor and Rik. Bailey was already gone with the kids. Brown eyes sprang back before rounding the corner. Ice blue eyes stretched out to catch another glimpse as she fetched a wandering little boy. A redhead looked back to wink at her husband. The blonde was left behind.
As soon as Gandalf was alone with the quartet, Kristana whipped the sheet completely off of Merry's body so Gandalf could get to work.
Merry shriveled at the sudden breeze. His eyes peaked back open at her, one at a time. "What did you do that for?"
"Oh hush." A grin threatened to emerge.
Gandalf leaned forward on his staff to look down at him. "My goodness what a lovely color."
"Why thank you." Merry responded properly.
Gandalf took in a long look at the leg in front of him and compared it to the very healthy one next to it. "Have I mentioned that your local physician is a bit of an eccentric quack?"
Pippin smiled from ear to ear.
Merry nodded regally, "Once or twice."
Sam dropped his grin into his hand.
"What are you going to do?" Frodo asked from behind Gandalf's elbow.
Gandalf sighed quickly and pressed his mouth to disappear behind his beard for a moment. "I'm going to fix his leg."
Pippin turned to Kristana and muttered respecfully, "You should go."
"No, Peregrin," Gandalf told him from under his white eyebrows. "You should go."
Pippin flinched. Misunderstanding and insult flavored his glare.
Gandalf looked at Sam, "as should you."
Sam stuttered his argument, "But I'm staying to support Merry."
Gandalf glanced around his elbow to Frodo, voicelessly telling him the same thing.
"Why?" Frodo demanded.
"Because you four gentlemen have managed yourselves into briar patches I have no magic to pull you from." He grinned a little, "You've already decided what you're going to do with the precious little time you've been granted. You just haven't done it yet."
Pippin set an elbow on the table so hard it thumped. "You've only been here a few minutes, Gandalf. How could you possibly-"
Gandalf started to get loud. "I am seven thousand years older that you, Peregrin Took, and that estimate is rounding down." His voice calmed and his grin graced his fatherly eyes again. "I deserve a little better respect out of you than to be considered an idiot."
Pippin abruptly closed his mouth.
"You three go on and manage your passionate visitors while the lady and I attend to Meriadoc."
Sam turned with understanding and Frodo followed him after a deep sigh of forced acceptance. Pippin shifted on his feet by Merry's side. He glanced over his shoulder at the intent woman beside him. Pippin was supposed to step out of the way so Kristana could take his life-long post? He turned to glare down at Merry. He tried to shake his head.
Merry smiled groggily at Pippin's expression. "You knew it was going to happen sooner or later."
Grey eyes closed hard.
"Do you remember my last request?"
He grinned, "Yes, you bastard."
"Go do it."
He slapped his palm into Merry's, squeezed hard, and dropped it as he forced his feet away.
Merry looked up at Kristana and soaked up the sparkle in her blueberry eyes.
She tucked in and whispered at him as though Gandalf couldn't hear them from twelve inches away. "We'll talk about it later."
Merry pulled her hand over and kissed the back of it. He dropped his head back again and settled confidently that he was in good hands.
Merry was going to be all right, inside and out, body and soul. Pippin had been relieved and replaced. He felt tremendously abandoned when he turned away from them completely, but it only took a few steps before Pippin truly realized what had transpired between them over the last several months.
Pippin's shoulders rolled back as he walked. His chin hardened and his eyes narrowed. He reached down to swoop up the orc-sword from the grass and squeezed it firmly in his palm. Pippin rounded the corner of the hill, but there was nothing left of Peter Pan.
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The New Man of the Family
Rose was sitting alone in the grass with Elanor and Little Mick. Pippin told her to take the poppits home to her house in case Merry got loud and/or the Bracegirdles got offensive. Rose agreed and gathered them up. They walked silently around the south side of the hill together until Rose peeled off to lumber down the hill to her own home.
Several arguments had already ensued. Sam glanced over his shoulder at Pippin's approach.
Pippin motioned back to Rose with the sword. "Go tend to your family."
Sam's brows knitted.
Pippin pugnaciously loosened the shirt around the shoulder of his sword-bearing arm. "This isn't your fight, Sam."
Sam's lips parted. He turned to catch Frodo's eye. Frodo turned around and caught the reflection of the sword.
Frodo turned back to the Michelin-shaped man that put out a steady stream insults at him. "Would you shut up already?"
Sam sucked in his lower lip and turned away. He slapped a silent good luck on the back of Frodo's shoulder and gave Pippin a smile over the playfully swinging sword. This was going to be fun to watch from the kitchen window.
Pippin stepped up boldly beside Frodo and kept swinging the sword in circles at his shoulder like it was a flag dance. The sight pulled everyone's arguing words to a wary stop.
"I have good news," Pippin told Otho with a tight little glare, and flicked the sword up between their faces to stand hard and steady, gleaming silver in the sunshine. "You're not an orc."
Otho blinked.
Pippin took an eager step forward.
Otho jumped backwards, and kept going even though one step was all Pippin ever meant to take.
"You're crazy," Otho insisted.
"Stop coming here." Frodo said with a sigh weary of Sackville-Baggins tenacity. "I don't care for your business."
"Bringing a weapon into a neighborly discussion!" Otho exclaimed as he moved out the gate.
Frodo lifted his chin higher, "I'll draw myself it if ever I see you on my property again."
Otho spat cusswords and huffed off down the hill. Pippin passed the sword to Frodo's hand without ceremony or discussion.
As Otho faded from the scene, Pippin stood Liam down. And Liam angled his head, facing him back just as hard. Frodo set the tip of the blade into the dirt between his feet and rested his hands casually on the hilt. Rik, Lauren and Bailey were poised behind Mister Bracegirdle, holding their breath for three different reasons.
"Where's Kristana?" Liam hissed, clearly finding distaste at his suspicions about why she had come.
"She's assisting Gandalf save Meriadoc's life," Pippin told him. "You'll have to wait for further details to come from Merry himself."
Liam shifted on his feet. His teeth clenched and his face started turning pink with anger. "You have shamed my family for the last damn time!"
"I've done nothing of the sort."
"You tore my daughter to shreds with your lies and plans and lack of int-"
"She's not your daughter!" Pippin yelled just as loud, silencing the man. "She's my wife."
From behind him, Frodo's eyes glittered happily at Bailey. He dipped his chin, trying to coax her out from behind her dad.
Liam hissed with a foul curl to his nose. "You have shared no vows-"
Pippin waved him off and looked intently at Bailey's uncertain eyes. He said it as a statement of fact, rapid and loud, but he was focused on keeping his emotions out of his throat with every word. "I vow to love you for the rest of my life, to be true to you, to honor you, and to take care of you to the best of my ability as well as whatever children you decide to bear for me." He was too afraid to wait for a reaction from her. He looked back to the sword in Frodo's hand. "I give these vows on this day-" he paused and reached his palm back for the sword.
Frodo's lips stretched across his face. He turned the blade to Pippin's palm and mumbled a reminder of today's date, "Eleventh of September."
Pippin flicked his palm against the blade and held out a bleeding cut. "- Eleventh of September to Bailey Bracegirdle Took as an affirmation of our marriage." He closed his mouth, pressed a Peregrin grin, and set his chin down with a poignant nod.
Liam was shaking his head at the insanity. "You can't vow marriage without a ceremony! Without the father's permission! Without a home to take her to!"
Pippin tried to listen, but he wasn't paying attention. Grey eyes slid to the side to reel her in by hers. A blood-dripping hand lifted slyly to reach for her. Liam was still arguing how improper and unconventional this all was when Bailey took a step out away from Lauren and closed the distance.
Liam's childish sounding complains tumbled to a stop when he saw the success smiling from Peregrin's eyes. His daughter was in the man's grip by the time he turned to find her. Bailey held tightly to his bleeding hand and tucked behind Pippin's shoulder to hide from the wrath of her father.
"There." Pippin lifted his chin back at his disagreeable father-in-law. "Don't dishonor the Took name by digging your nose into my marital business."
Frodo spit out a snicker but tucked it away just as quickly.
Liam's voice was stiff. "Bailey come back here."
Her eyes pleaded for understanding from behind Pippin's shoulder.
Liam hissed it hard and pointed at his side, "Bailey girl! Get back over here."
The silence was brilliantly painful.
Liam took a stomp forward. "Bailey!"
Bailey took a deeper step behind Pippin. Pippin shifted a step deeper in the way. "Mrs. Took will come to call on you when you're not so upset." Pippin reassured calmly.
Liam's face was so red and tight that he looked to blow steam out of his ears. He only considered tackling Pippin for a moment before the tip of a sharp sword showed up at his nose. He flicked back and stepped back and threatened a dozen benign things before he stormed down the road again.
Pippin let the air out of his lungs and turned victoriously at his girl but Bailey was shedding silent tears at her father's back. He thumbed the tear from her cheek. "He couldn't let go, Bailey, but he can get used to it."
She sniffed and smiled at him. "Did you mean it?"
Pippin grinned his cutest of smiles.
She beamed up at him, put her arms around his neck and permanently stuck herself to him. Pippin went to hold her, but found one palm still dripping a little. He laughed, "Damn that thing is sharp!"
Frodo chuckled and moved around them. He and Pippin managed a hankercheif wrap and tied it around his hand without trying to pry Bailey off of him. Frodo teased quietly. "Aren't you going to kiss the bride?"
Pippin wrapped his arms around her, but his eyes were still on Frodo. "We'll put together a real ceremony when Merry can stand at my side."
Bailey shifted her face to look up at him with questions.
Pippin grinned. "Wouldn't want to rob your chance at the dress and all that nonsense."
She tucked in a fresh smile and cuddled deep into his neck.
Pippin liked it and kept her there, but the business of the day had hardly concluded. He looked passed the Frodo's shoulder to see Rik giving quiet orders to Lauren.
"Shall I stay with you?"
Frodo shook his head, adjusted the sword in his palm and started to turn. "He's not the enemy," Frodo said somberly, "I am."
Pippin's brows flicked, but seeing the concerned yet non-aggressive expression on the Jainen's face, he started to understand. He nodded at Frodo and manually turned Bailey by the shoulders. He ducked into to whisper in her ear as he walked her down the grassy slope and beyond Sam's place to look over Bagshot #2.
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Was It Wrong?
Frodo sighed before turning his shoulders to the couple standing on his front porch. Both pairs of dark brown eyes were entrenched with polar hopes about Frodo's next move. He swung the sword around his shoulder simply as an unconscious fidget, and when he realized the statement it probably made, he rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder and dropped his eyes to the ground to climb through the vegetable garden to them.
"May I have private word with you?" Rik Orin asked politely despite the knot in his throat.
Frodo motioned to the front door. "Let's step inside."
As they all moved, he accidentally caught Lauren's stare and it hurt all over again. It was the expression that revealed to her what he was going to do. It surprised her, made her feel betrayed, abandoned, sold. . . but it was the very thing he'd claimed he would do all along. It made no sense why he felt guilty about doing it.
When they stepped into the front room, the first thing Frodo did was take the sword out of the picture. He set it lightly aside in a shadowed corner of the room and faced the tall Jainen without it.
Lauren's face was already tucked with agony when she came in. It was harshly odd not to know where to stand or what to do. Frodo glanced at her only momentarily, ready to send her to her room, but he stopped himself that it wasn't his place to do so.
Rik wasn't stupid, nor was he entirely angry. He turned his mutter to her direction. "Perhaps you should go collect your things, Maela."
Lauren was already crumbling to tears when her eyes shot to Rik. She looked at Frodo and her expression withered more that he was deliberately not looking back. She stepped between them to get through the house, and rushed off before she fell into full tears.
Frodo's eyes closed briefly to yank his soul back under control. He offered it before he opened his eyes, "Would you like some tea?-"
"I know who you are," Rik said, now facing him down. "I knew before Liam and Otho told me Maela was here." He finally looked Frodo in the eyes. "I knelt before you and your friends at Minas Tirith."
Frodo's black brows lightly wrinkled, but he shook his head, "That matters not in this issue."
"You deserve respect," Rik argued but stood his ground anyway, "but not Maela."
Frodo nodded a deep chin. "We didn't know she was married. She's been here nearly eight months—"
"Did you not look for her home?" Rik spat. "You've been to Gondor! Surely, you could see she was half-Jinhai! You didn't go to Gondor to search for her family in Osgiliath! You didn't go to Forlond to inquire in New Jainen Town! You knew these things and still you corralled her here where her memory would have never been coaxed back!"
Frodo was insulted, not angry. "I should not be required to travel all the way to Gondor for something you left behind!"
"Forlond is only a few days away!"
"I've never been to Forlond." Frodo spat with waning patience. "I had no knowledge of a Jainen Town there. Besides, you say it's new. How new is it? How would I have known?"
Rik's anger fell into a mutter. "Osgiliath was flattened. Too many were dead. We couldn't rebuild our lives in Gondor. We traveled by sea-"
"And how is it that Lauren was found half-dead in Hobbiton?"
Rik stepped back and sat down in the nearest chair. "There was a skirmish in Mithlond with a band of raiders. We lost." He licked his lips and shifted to explain. "A long time ago, Maela had been hit head with a piece of flying city from an orc-operated trebuchet. She's suffers a bad eye because of it. I don't know if you noticed, but she bumps into things, bangs her fingers. . . it's easy for her to get lost in the wilderness. Wes searched the north for her and Tan searched the south. As soon as my wounds healed, I searched east. We never thought she'd have gone this far on her own. Something else must have happened."
"Who are
Wes and Tan?" Frodo asked stiffly.
Rik lifted his head. "Wes is our uncle. Tan is her intended and my best friend.
Our parents died a long time ago."
Frodo's mouth opened. "Intended?" He stepped forward to the other chair and angled his head at Rik. "She's not married?"
Rik's face lightened, but his tone darkened. "I'm her half-brother." He flashed a smile at that. "She thinks I'm her husband. She doesn't even remember Tan."
Frodo couldn't help but smile with relief about that.
"I wouldn't look so content Mister Baggins. When he finds out about this, Tan will be coming after you."
"Even if she has no recollection of him?" Frodo pointed out. "Surely he must be reasonable enough to understand her memory loss."
Rik shook his head. "The Jinhai way gives him the right to an honor-killing."
Frodo's eyes bulged. "I hope he doesn't mind that I don't lay down so easily!"
Rik shook his head again, but this time he was smiling. "No, you fool. Not you. Her! By Jinhai law, he has the right to put her up for town stoning for shaming his name."
Frodo shot to his feet. "She's not going anywhere if she faces certain death at the end of her journey!"
Rik laughed at the reaction and waved the man to sit down. "He probably won't do it. He loves her too much." He leaned back in the chair and shrugged. "Besides, if she can pretend it never happened, and I certainly won't say anything if she asked me, then he'll never know."
Frodo squinted at him, "Have you told her any of this?"
Rik shook his head and laughed a little more like the charade was the perfect prank a brother could do to his little sister, but he did have adult reasons for it. "As soon as I realized she didn't exactly know who I was, I kept it all to myself so I could see what kind of pickle she'd gotten herself into. I found out in the oddest fashion. Last night, her girlfriends came around the Hall and swept her away. I caught them sneaking back in just before dawn." His eyes smiled at Frodo. "Apparantly, the ladies ran down to a nearby creek and got themselves a little tipped with a stolen bottle of spirits," Rik chuckled at the vision. "They came back soaking wet, giggling with guilt, and offering to satisfy my every need just to keep my mouth shut."
"They did not," Frodo insisted, frozen for confirmation.
"All right, that last part isn't true," Rik admitted with a boyish grin. "But they were begging quite penitently. Kristana and Bailey didn't strike me as friends when I arrived, but this morning, they were hooked together by the arms like they were Siamese twins and eluded to plans about taking on another pair simultaneously."
Frodo finally curled his face over to titter at the vision.
"Maela was afraid of me at that point, but she kept claiming she'd been infected by a Hobbit and now she was turning into one- insisting that her name was Laorin instead of Maela Orin. And the redhead that started it all, she was the only sane one of the bunch. I don't even think she was drunk. She gave quite a convincing argument that I should forgive and forget and proceeded to tuck the other three safely into bed."
Frodo smiled form ear to ear and dropped his chin dreamily onto his fist. "So the girls went for a midnight bottle of their own last night."
"They seemed to think they deserved it."
"That, they did." Frodo nodded maturely. "We're not exactly a malleable bunch."
Rik sighed, not excited about getting back to the subject. "Is Maela?"
Frodo sat up again, rubbed his chin a moment and dropped his hand back to his lap. "No, she's not. She stands her ground quite well even if she doesn't remember why."
"Has she showered you with questions about the One Ring? Or tried to get you to take her back to Gondor?" Rik asked as if such a deception were a real possibility. "She was the one voice that didn't want to leave."
"No. She doesn't remember the Ring. All she knows is what I've told her and I haven't told her much. She treats the mention of Gondor with no more interest or recognition than any other faraway place."
Rik huffed through his nose and looked at the air. "Tan is my best friend. I owe him my life. Maela's my only sister. My mother would have wanted me to ensure her happiness. . . . " He faintly shook his head. "I don't know what to do."
Frodo considered the dilemma as objectively as he could. He shifted forward in his chair, set his elbows on his knees and angled his head to look up at Rik. "There's a man out there on a table with a broken leg, but the woman that comforts him is another man's wife. We don't know what happened to Dirkwallen, just that he should have been back over two years ago. We have a tradition that three years is the magic time to wait before a widow is declared, making her available to other suitors, but Dirkwallen left behind a woman and a babe that needed tending to, and Merry was willing to take on the duty in his absence."
Rik listened to this with stale attention.
"Was it wrong for Merry to love her?"
"In the beginning? Yes."
"But in the end," Frodo corrected.
Rik had difficulty with this. "Two years is different than seven months."
"For Tan, understood. But for Lauren, the woman who has no recollection of that love, and for me who had no knowledge of it.... was it wrong?"
Rik shifted forward and set a palm on his knee. "I see your point, but look at Tan's perspective. He fought hard for her, he deserves better than to be left behind and forgotten."
"She's not going to get her memory back, Rik. Tan's an intended that will never see his bride. For all intent and purpose, Maela Orin is dead." He paused when Rik flicked his expression his harsh words. Frodo settled his tone again. "The woman that fell into my care is Lauren. And Lauren is the woman that wants to stay. I know what you are searching for, but you aren't going to find her here."
"I can't do that to my best friend."
"But you'll do it to your sister?"
Rik dropped his chin.
"Here's another one." Frodo said, sitting back again. "Pippin has always wanted Bailey, but not Liam's daughter. None of us can stand her when she's echoing her father's hard coherence to morality, but she fits in quite well when she's just being herself. Pippin's been trying to straddle the fence between doing things his own way and doing things the way the man of her house wants him to. He finally stood down that controlling father today, and Bailey's true colors finally came through when she stood behind him. Insolent? Yes. But was it wrong?"
"No," Rik shook his head. "I heard the way Liam talked over ale about it. He had some alternate motive, like he trying to settle some kind of a score. His claims had little to do with Bailey's happiness or welfare."
Frodo lifted a brow at how well Rik vocalized his point.
Rik grinned sarcastically, "Do you have one for Sam and his red head too?"
Frodo shrugged a smile. "A long time ago, Sam sacrificed everything for a
friend, and his friend betrayed him. He went through a deeper trench in hell than
the rest of us and yet he still feels guilty about being the first to settle in
with a family and drift from the group. He still supports us, but he doesn't
lean on us anymore."
Rik's lower lip shrugged a little.
"After so much darkness and death and injustices, it's difficult to come home and enjoy what you saved, especially when you've left so much of yourself behind. Is it wrong for Sam to feel guilty?"
Rik shook his head evenly.
"Then why does he?" Frodo asked him.
"I don't know."
Frodo's tone quieted. "Imagine for a moment you were the one that was gone. For whatever horrible reason, your life plans are destroyed, your family permanently wounded, and your love torn between being faithful to you and the ability to move on with her life."
"I'd want to be remembered."
"Remembered, yes, but not mourned forever."
"You speak as though it's you we're talking about." Rik leaned on his elbow leaning on the arm of the chair.
"I didn't die in Mordor." Frodo pointed out.
"But you were supposed to," Rik responded bravely.
"By who's declaration?!" Frodo snapped up with instant posture. "Where is it written who is supposed to die and who isn't? Even if you're one who believes that all events have a purpose in some grand scheme, wouldn't that only solidify that those who die, deliberately or accidentally, would rather have the rest of us move on and enjoy what they died for?"
"Tan isn't dead."
"But to her, he never existed."
Rik folded his lower lip in. He dropped his eyes to his lap.
"You are the man of her house. You are the one I ask for a blessing." He pushed himself out of the chair. "I'll do the right thing if you ask me to, but I need her as much as she needs me. Consider that as heavily as you consider Tan's honor."
Rik lifted black-brown eyes at him, still torn in the middle of this decision.
Frodo pressed a grin of respect, despite his hard words at him, and turned to leave the house so the man could think alone. In due time, he would wander into the back bedroom and talk to the crying woman long enough and honestly enough to discover what her name really was.
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Dogs and their True Counterparts
Merry was genuinely appreciative at whatever it was that Gandalf did to his leg, but the poor Hobbit was left with a glaring, constant ache that was louder than the pressure sensitive throb he'd already gotten used to. It was difficult to tell, but he and Gandalf insisted that the swelling was already going down. Merry declined being carried back inside right away so he could soak up more of the late summer's day. Instead, afternoon tea was brought to him in the yard.
Lauren cooked it. Rik declined it. Rose served it. Kristana fed it to him. Pippin teased his need to be babied. Bailey protected him from Pippin. Sam took tender care of his wife. Mick and Elanor play with wandering hens. Frodo numerously shared love-sick glances with his housemaid, and Gandalf laughed at it all.
"Fetch the man a strong bottle," Gandalf said after the meal, and leaned both hands on his staff. "You need to drink."
Merry's head was pressed back into the flat pillow. A painfully tight throat smiled out sarcasm, "You're tellin' me."
"Gandalf!" Bailey whined lightly. "How dare you order them into another drunken stupor!"
Gandalf explained calmly. "It'll thin his blood which will quicken its ability to get back where it's should be."
Frodo lifted his face with a smile. "And how dare you shun drunken stupors, Bailey!"
Rik stepped back and rapidly shook his head. Pippin squinted at Frodo, came to his feet and looked back at Bailey for explanations. Kristana's eyes widened momentarily, but she couldn't help but grin.
"I hear tell the four of you were down at the water baying at the moon like a bunch of hound dogs," Frodo announced.
Rose chuckled softly and leaned against her husband's shoulder.
Bailey set her fists on her hips. "We did not bay at anything!"
Pippin's eyelids fluttered, "You got drunk?"
Kristana looked at him over her shoulder and set her chin, "Ladies don't howl, Mister Baggins."
Merry lifted his chin a little. "Then what do they do?"
The quartet considered this a moment. Then one of girls made a noise, "Mreow?"
"Oh no!" Frodo shot out. Kristana's face flashed with laughter. Bailey wrinkled her nose and sniggered into Pippin's shoulder. Rose quietly tucked into Sam with soft humor. Everyone was either laughing or being laughed at in their own unique way.
Everyone but Rik. He had been forgotten for the moment by all except Gandalf.
Gandalf looked back at the Jinhai boy from across the loud crowd. He had wisdom in his gray eyes laden with a heavy sense of sympathy and comfort.
Rik's eyes dropped to the ground before looking warily over at his happily giggling sister. She had sparkly eyes for that Hobbit next to Gandalf, and that Hobbit was simply echoing the emotions back to her.
Rik looked back at Gandalf. Gandalf understood and agreed.
It took several more minutes to watch the four pairs laugh at each other before Rik could bring himself to do it, but she was no longer his sister.
Rik tucked down to mutter into her ear. He pushed gently on the small of her back.
Lauren's face fell into shock, but blossomed back just as quickly.Rik muttered to her about his intentions. He wasn't leaving for good; he was just leaving for now. He'd return tomorrow to discuss this decision in further detail.
The Jainen gave Frodo a manly nod of respect and silently stepped back out of the scene. Only Gandalf noticed he was leaving before he was gone.
Everyone else's attention snagged on Lauren's new movement. She crossed the grass and Frodo came to his feet to take her in. Her body flattened against him. Her arms hugged his waist and her face tucked with happy tears into his neck. Her breath tickled when it danced across his chin, "I love you."
Frodo tightened his arms around her shoulders and held her as long as she would let him. He imagined the road they'd traveled from then to now and he wondered, for the first time since the Ring, where the road of life might lead them in the future.
The Ring. He almost opened his eyes, but smiled instead.
Frodo had completely forgotten about the Ring.
He nudged his mouth into her smooth hair and uttered it with every fiber of his being. "I love you too."
~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~-- ~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~
Bag End Hall
A lot of tension had been lifted, but not all of it. Gandalf led three of the hobbit men to the very north end of this particular set of acreage. They were silent as they wandered to where field met the woods, and centered them in the shallow chasm of the oval depression. The sinkhole took up a great deal of the bowl's center, destroying their chance of plowing out a good crop of anything.
Sam scratched the top of his head and started looking depressed all over again.
"Do you see anything out of the ordinary?" Gandalf asked.
Pippin stood next to Gandalf and looked down the back field to the road, "the sinkhole?"
Gandalf fought the urge to reach back and whap him upside the head.
Frodo stepped up beside Sam and angled his head to look at the field. The grass was rich around the spot and wildflowers danced in the wind on the hilltops and slopes, but the earth was bitten, black, and raw in the middle of it all. Even the sides of the sinkhole had sunk, as if it too had been bitten vertically out in the shape of a large round circle.
Sam's brows lifted.
Gandalf gave a long glance back at them.
Frodo received Gandalf's expression and stepped out in front of them. He squinted hard to look closer at the shape in the mud wall and stepped curiously closer to the edge of the sink hole.
Sam leapt to follow him.
"What is it?" Pippin asked.
Frodo didn't answer and so the other two followed him to try and see what he was seeing. They met up at the edge to look into the mud pit.
Frodo pointed. Pippin and Sam tried to look down his finger to see something small, but Frodo pointed at something big.
The side of the sinkhole was in fact depressed in a perfect circle. Some chucks of earth were already falling away from a flat, wood-planked surface, but it's most telling feature was the fist-sized ball of mud smack-dab in the center of it.
Sam's head flinched back when he finally saw the shape in the mud. "Is that a door?"
Pippin curled his lip and looked around the edge to find the hints of similar shapes in the pit. "We seem to have plowed overtop of some abandoned house."
A grin lit Frodo's blue eyes and a single word fluttered from his smile. "Bilbo."
Merry and Kristana were fine to stay at the table and watch the children, but everyone else gravitated to watch the discovery. It took a great deal of rigging to throw a strong rope down the side and the three men shimmied down to explore the bottom of their very own archeological dig.
The base of the hole wasn't entirely mud. It was mud caked onto broken and rotting cut planks of wood. During their careful walk to the other side, a brass chalice was excavated. Frodo was the first to get to the door and started wiping off the doorknob in the center. He debated mildly with Pippin and Sam about whether or not opening it would undermine what little stability the structure had left.
"We didn't come down here for a dented brass chalice," Sam pointed out.
Pippin nodded in agreement.
Frodo gently turned the door knob.
Of course, it didn't open.
Once upon a time, Bag End was a hall. It was deduced that the eccentric bachelor and lord of the Hill closed off the parts of it he couldn't use and or couldn't keep up, and eventually forgot about them. All this must have predated Gandalf's first visit as well, for the wizard knew nothing about the bottom floor of Bag End.
It took all three of them and synchronized shoving shoulders to get the door to budge. A great deal of lanterns had to be passed down to light the inside of the structure. Pippin flattened a spot in the middle of the sinkhole and exhumed a stick to start drawing a map in the mud. It wasn't until nightfall when the catacombs were found to reach north and east, and even the ladies inside Bag End were holding candles and lanterns when Frodo, Pippin, and Sam carried loot up a hidden set of stairs and pushed through a door that, up to now, had been covered by a plain case of bookshelves.
A dust-caked bottle of one hundred year old scotch was delivered for Merry to enjoy. Other liquors, spirits, and potions were gathered in a corner of the house to peruse later. Most everything else they'd found was rotted or broken. . . except for a single small chest of forgotten jewels.
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Life Goes On
Leaves were starting to turn on the giant sycamore that towered the mill. Summer was over. Autumn had begun. And Frodo turned 36.
He strolled over the bridge and drew in a deep inhale of fresh air. Dusk drifted neon colors over the sky and the pond glittered bright mango and midnight blue reflections. The tranquil evening was accented by warm fires and hearty laughter escaped the loose confines of the pub, which was, of course, where they were going.
"It's almost no fun anymore without having Rosie to stare at behind the counter," Sam quipped.
Frodo shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "So stare at somebody else."
Sam flashed a smile. Good idea, but it wouldn't have done Sam any good. His voice tucked under. "I've been meaning to ask you, Frodo. Did you give Rik Orin any compensation before he left?"
Frodo pressed a big smile across his face. "I gave him my eldest chicken."
Sam threw his head back and laughed.
"What's so damned funny?" Merry grumbled. "Wait up, would you?"
They turned to see him hobbling along on a cane and a hard-wrapped, still-healing leg. Frodo and Sam stopped their feet, clasped their hands patiently in front of them, and waited. "Would you like us to carry you?" Frodo offered.
Pippin cackled just to dig the joke in deeper.
Merry walked as fast as his broken, unbendable leg would carry him, "Shut the hell up." He pushed between the pair and hobbled along, now leaving them behind.
Pippin lifted his chin and his brows to give them his classic, smug and happy grin and lightly strolled along behind Meriadoc.
Sam and Frodo bumped shoulders when they turned to resume their easy stroll down the bridge.
"What do you think the ladies are doing right now?" Pippin queried the rest.
Merry kept pushing himself along as though he'd been severed from the pub for far too long. "Making plans for us."
"Comparing notes about us," Frodo teased.
Sam shrugged, "They're probably wondering the same thing about us."
The air paused for a beat, then the other three shook their heads unanimously, "No. They know exactly what we're doing."
The young bar wench flirted with all four of them when the stepped inside, but her eyes batted faster at Frodo. Pippin informed her gruffly that the man was spoken for and sent her off to fetch four pints. Merry hobbled a direct line to an unoccupied table near the front wall and managed to sit down at it before the others had caught up with him. He lifted his leg with both hands, and Pippin shoved in the opposite bench so he could rest his calf on it. Frodo sat down on Merry's left. Sam scooted in on Merry's right, and Pippin pulled up a real chair to sit at the end of the table behind Frodo's shoulder.
When the fresh faced, big boobed bar bitch came around with four frothing mugs of beer, the four of them hooted out cheers and lifted their arms to do the wave.
"Happy Birthday, Frodo." They clanked ceramic mugs against each other and proceeded to pour it down their necks. Pipes unfolded from lapels and tobacco was dug out of pockets. They calmly sat back as a row of hoodlums and watched with entertainment how the rest of the patrons made complete fools of themselves.
Pippin's eyes were smiling at something when he sighed loudly with content. Frodo saw the plumply pink bar wench coming their way. Merry grinned guiltily and nudged Sam to pay attention. Sam looked at her from behind the rim of his mug, trying not to see how her breasts had further escaped her bodice.
Something hard thudded against the bottom of the table.
The quartet burst into rowdy laughter and they laughed so hard that tears came to their eyes. One would try to drink his beer and another would add another indecent comment. Soon enough, they'd drawn attention from some of the elder, more reserved patrons.
"Pipe down over there!"
"Keep your foul minds to yourselves!"
"There isn't a proper thing about them anymore."
Offended, Sam hooted strongly, "Sauron's gone because of us."
Merry tried to nudge him to calm him down.
"Back off!" Pippin agreed. "The shire is safe because we got him."
Frodo shook his head and muttered to them to calm down. He flicked a grin back to Merry. Merry agreed with a smile. They leaned into each other, motioned for Sam and Pippin to join in. The quartet raised their beers to the air and pushed out a loud and deep audacious song:
.
Don't put my name
In mud of shame
You're not that far above me!
.
My booze is cool
My pipe is full
My woman truly loves me!
.
So, stow your whine
I've served my time
In Hanoi, Hell and Hades!
.
And that is why
You can't deny
My liquor, leaf and ladies!!
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This story has been dedicated to:
Phillip "Jay" Thomas
North Carolina Country Boy
United States Navy
KIA 1991
"The shire is saved, so rest easy, Jay. We got him."
~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~-- ~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~
