"Whatever it was, it wasn't worth the wait," Pippin said, as he took off his blindfold. "We would have done just as well to have..." Pippin trailed off as he saw what the wait had been for.
A large sack of wooden weapons sat on the ground in front of them. Each helmet, sword, spear, and shield was made to suit a hobbit. There were four of each.
"Merry," Frodo said, "where did you get all of these?"
"It's really quite simple, Frodo. Do you remember all of those times, every day for almost a year, when I sneaked off, and wouldn't tell you where I was going?"
"Yes, well, get on with it..."
"Well, I've spent those days in the woods, making these. There is a sword, shield, spear, and helmet for each of us. They are all hard and solid. We could have our own little skirmishes with all of these!"
Pippin reached forward and plucked a sword from the pile. Only then did he realize that each of the weapons had been hand-crafted.
"Wait, Merry. Do you mean to tell us that you missed an entire year of afternoon teas, just to make these for us to play with?"
"That's just what I mean to tell you, Pippin. It took me almost a month just to find the right wood for each, and another month after that to get all of the wood ready to be carved."
"That, I think," said Sam, "is perhaps the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
The four tweenaged hobbits spent the next hour hefting and testing their new weapons. Soon, a small sort of competition had begun amongst the small group. It was clear that Frodo was the best at defense with a shield. Merry and Pippin were equally matched with a sword, and Sam was easily the best spear-thrower.
Eventually, Merry called them all into a meeting. After they all had finished thanking him, each for the hundredth time, he told them about his other surprise.
"I have been working on these alone, to show you all that I had the grit to start and finish this project, but there is more that I want to make."
"What more could you want to make?" said Frodo. "It seems to me that there is scarce else a hobbit could ask for."
"What I want to make is armor. With all of these weapons, we could have some fun, but with armor..."
"Yes?" prodded Pippin.
"We could have tournaments and skirmishes without worrying about getting hurt. We could fight whenever we want, without any problem. All I need is your help in making this armor."
"I'm in," said Sam.
"Me, too!"
"And me!"
"Good," said Merry. "We'll start tomorrow."