Notes to Readers:
The co-author on this story, of course, is Jodancingtree.
Thank you for the comments! Reviews are very motivating and give me insights
into the stories that make me dig deeper in writing, which I probably wouldn't
do were I the only one reading these stories... (I am sending them on to Jo,
and she thanks you as well.) And thank you for your patience as well! We are
getting there—the last chapter is written, but there are a few in-between chapters
in the works to tie up loose ends, and they are not yet written.
Aemilia, yep, things are getting better. Now if Ferdi can just fend off the
healers he can get back to business as usual.
Hai, you are welcome! Thanks for the review!
Xena, it is still going to take some time for Pippin to break old habits, but
such is life. I'm sure he'll have plenty of people reminding him of his
promises.
If you cannot access ff.net, try www.storiesofarda.com.
You can leave reviews there, as well (thanks SoA reviewers! See replies at SoA
as well), and there is a "reply" feature where an author can reply to
a review right there rather than within the text of the story. I have also
discovered the "author alert" feature. Amazing place, that SoA.
The next chapter of "A Small and Passing Thing" will be posted on the morrow,
if all goes well. Pearl Took's story is within five chapters of completion, and
the outline to the first part of "Shire" tells me the same thing. Once the
stories are finished, my editor will deign to look at them, which means you
will be seeing one or both stories soon, I hope.
Enough admin notes. Let's get to the story.
***
Chapter 30. Arrival
Haldi and Isen half-carried Ferdi to his quarters, laying him upon the bed in
the inner room. He blinked at Nell as she sat down beside him. 'Where's Mardi?'
he asked.
'Here,' the healer said, entering with
a covered cup. He'd handed Nell over to another Took cousin and hurried to the
infirmary to pour out a sleeping draught. 'I want you to drink this.'
'I don't want it,' Ferdi said.
'It doesn't matter whether you want it
or not,' Nell said determinedly. 'You're going to drink it.'
'That's right, Da,' young Rudi said.
'Every drop.'
Though Ferdibrand tried to protest, he was overruled by the healer, Pimpernel,
and all the children. 'Very well,' he said. 'I will drink the draught, if I may
have a cup of tea to follow.' He winced again as the children cheered the
victory. Seeing this, Mardi was quick to shoo them out of the room. Nell
followed him with a question, and when she turned back Ferdi was just draining
the cup, making a face. 'Not as bad as his usual effort,' he said. 'He's
putting more honey in than he used to.'
'Well then,' Nell said quietly. Now was
not the time to pump her husband with questions as to just what had happened in
Woody End. That would have to come later, when he lost the pinched look about
his eyes. 'Lie yourself down and let me soothe away the pain.'
He put his arms about her and kissed her tenderly. 'My love,' he said. 'My
Nell.' She nestled into his arms and was content to be held for many breaths.
Yet another kiss was interrupted by a yawn on Ferdi's part, and Nell took the
opportunity to push him down.
'There!' she said, moving to where she
could run her fingertips back and forth across his forehead. 'How does that
feel?'
'That feels...' Ferdi said. His voice
trailed off into an indistinguishable murmur and his breathing became deep and
even.
Nell soothed his forehead for some time, then whispered, 'Ferdi? My love?'
There was no answer, and she rose cautiously from the bed. Another warning
cramp caught her and she sucked in her breath, then relaxed. She'd had plenty
of cramping over the last few days, but there was no reason to think the babe
would arrive anytime soon. She cast another glance behind her, but Ferdi had
not moved.
Exiting the bedroom, she found the children a-bustle, Cori and Freddy laying
the table for tea while Mignonette warmed the pot and Rudi and Odo toasted
bread over the fire.
'Da's tea is almost ready,' Mignonette
said.
'He won't be needing it,' Nell said.
'He's asleep already. Where's Mardi?'
'He was called away,' Rudi answered.
'He said he'd come by later.'
'Ah, good,' Nell said, taking up her
shawl. 'I have a little errand to run, and I expect I'll be back in time for
tea.'
'An errand?' Rudi asked. 'Would you
like me to escort you, Mother?'
'That won't be necessary,' Nell said
brightly. 'I'm not going far.' In point of fact, the Thain's quarters were only
a few steps away.
***
Pimpernel found the missing healer in the Thain's quarters, fussing over
Pippin, who was fending off the unwanted attention.
'I do not know why Regi felt the need to call you,' the Thain said, frustration
in his tone. 'I don't know when I've felt better!'
'You slept in the open last night,'
Mardi said sternly. 'In the open air, in winter! You could have sought shelter
in a farmhouse or woodcutter's cot if you did not want to draw attention at an
inn, but...'
'You showed precious little sense,'
Diamond scolded. She was one of the few who could openly criticise the Thain,
and she was taking full advantage of her position. 'You might have caught your
death! Now stop fussing and let Mardi listen to your breathing!'
Pippin submitted with poor grace, taking deep breaths when Mardi told him to,
coughing as instructed, breathing through mouth or nose at Mardi's request. The
healer finally straightened up, saying, 'It's a mercy. There doesn't seem to
have been any harm done. I'd still like to smear salve over front and back...'
'That smelly stuff?' Pippin asked with
a sigh. 'Is it really necessary?'
'Probably not,' Mardi said, 'but I'm
not taking any chances. Woodruff will have my hide if you fall ill. Chances
are, as soon as she returns from her daughter's hole she'll want to go over all
the same ground I just traversed.'
'What were you thinking?' Diamond said.
'I'd like to ask the same question,'
Nell put in. Advancing on her brother, she said, 'What were you thinking? It
was you, wasn't it, who accused Ferdi of intending harm to your son? I cannot
see anyone else's accusation taken seriously, but yours...'
'Yes,' Pippin said. 'It was I.'
For a moment Nell was taken aback by his candour, but she shouldn't have been
surprised. Devious her brother might be when it suited his purposes, but he was
not deceitful. 'After all Ferdi's done for you over the years, and Tolly as
well, to think that...'
'They were keeping my son from me,' Pippin
shot back. He took Diamond's hand and turned again to face his irate sister.
'They stopped our post, so that my wife worried needlessly.'
'Hmph!' Diamond said. 'And you didn't
worry at all?'
'Diamond, love,' Pippin said and kissed
her hand. 'I thought you too ill to write. You've been so miserable, I thought
perhaps the smell of the ink set you off or somewhat...' Diamond hmphed again
but allowed her husband to retain her hand.
Nell, on the other hand, was not
impressed. 'And that was grounds enough for banishing my husband?' she snapped.
'Banish him for trying to save your son from—.' She gasped at a sudden
stabbing pain.
Mardibold was at her side immediately. 'Nell, calm down,' he said.
'Easy enough for you to say!' she
breathed, then to Pippin she added, 'I'm not finished with you yet!' Another
pain assailed her.
'Coming awfully close together,' Mardi
muttered. 'Let us get you back to your own bed.'
'My husband!' Nell gasped. 'He took a
sleeping draught! O no!' She began to weep. 'He'll miss this birth as well as
the last...'
'And it's my fault,' Farry said from
the doorway where he'd watched the entire exchange.
'No, Farry,' Pippin said, but he was
interrupted by the healer.
'We can assign the blame at a later
date,' Mardi said sharply. 'This babe is coming any time now, is what I'm
thinking.' He urged Nell towards the door. 'Come, lass, at least you can be in
the same bed where your husband is asleep.'
'He'll be there in spirit,' Diamond
said, moving to Pimpernel's other side. 'O Nell, I'm sorry about this whole
mess.'
'You've no cause to apologise,' Nell
gasped as Diamond and Mardi guided her out the door and towards her own
apartments.
'Perhaps I don't,' Diamond said
with a significant look behind them and Mardi repressed a snort. Thain Peregrin
was in for it and no mistake.
'Mum? What is it?' Mignonette gasped as
they entered.
'What do you think?' Nell asked acidly.
'She must be close; she's being rude,'
Rudi said worriedly.
'I'm not being rude!' Nell
snapped. 'You try having a babe and you'll see...' She broke off as an
overwhelming urge seized her; she stopped short and hugged herself, panting.
'Don't push,' Mardi warned. 'Not until
I've had a look.' Nell glared at him and Diamond smothered an absurd desire to
laugh.
'Let's get her on the bed,' Ferdi said
from the doorway to their bedroom.
'Ferdi!' Nell gasped. Her husband stepped forward, sweeping her up in his arms,
taking her to the bed, holding her a moment while Diamond prepared the bed, and
then Ferdi laid her down. Mardi immediately got down to business while Diamond
organised the children in the sitting room.
'I want Woodruff!' Nell said
unreasonably.
'I see a curly crown!' Mardi announced,
ignoring her complaint. 'We won't even need the birthing stool at this rate.
All right, sweet Nell, you may push if you wish; all is well.'
'Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?'
Nell asked Ferdi, who was holding her close for want of anything better to do.
To her frustration, the urge had subsided. She wondered if she'd ever be
done with this, and suffered an absurd desire simply to get up and leave the
business to everyone else.
'Aren't you supposed to be pushing?'
Ferdi returned pleasantly.
'If you know so much why don't you
have this baby!' Nell gritted, but then another wave broke over her and she was
for the moment beyond words.
'Less talking, more pushing,' Mardi
said encouragingly. 'Now, Nell!'
Ferdi was never quite sure afterwards how it happened, but soon he heard a thin
cry and then Mardi was laughing. 'A lass!' the healer called triumphantly. 'A
beautiful lass!' Soon the healer was holding a blanket-wrapped babe. 'Sit down,
Ferdi,' he said. 'Here's your daughter.'
'My daughter,' Ferdi breathed, sinking
down next to Nell, whose ill temper had vanished as quickly as the babe had
come. 'Look, Nell, it's my daughter.' Pimpernel laughed softly, even as tears
filled her eyes to see her beloved holding the blanketed bundle as if a breath
might break the tiny mite.
'Our daughter, you mean,' she said with
a smile.
'That's what I said,' Ferdi whispered.
'Isn't she grand?'
