Chapter Three
The Next Morning
Merry awoke to a bell-like voice calling his name.
"Merry! Merry!" Estella's voice, he realized. He sat up quickly, banging his head against the bedpost.
"Damn," he swore, rubbing his head.
"Merry?" She had heard him? He hoped not.
"Just a minute Estella," he called, jumping out of bed and throwing on his rumpled clothes from the night before, for lack of anything better to wear. He slipped from the room and walked down the hall, then stood in the doorway of the kitchen and peered inside.
"Come on in, Merry, I've made you some breakfast," said Estella, gesturing toward a chair. She heaped pancakes and eggs and bacon and sausage and hash- browned potatoes onto his plate and then sat down and began to serve herself.
"What time is it?" he asked, noticing the light streaming through the window.
"A bit past nine," she answered.
"I'm sorry I slept so late."
"I'm sorry. Did I wake you? I thought you'd already be up."
"It's alright." Merry concentrated on his food, the only sound in the room coming from the crunching sound the bacon made as he chewed it.
"Th- That noise I heard earlier, when I woke you - what was that?" inquired Estella.
"I bumped my head on the bedpost," Merry replied, laughing. She laughed with him. Her laugh was gentle and carefree. It seemed to him in that moment even more beautiful than that of the Lady Éowyn, but this had a warm and joyful sort of beauty, not the bitter laughter that Merry had come to associate with the Éowyn for much of the time he had known her, which, like her fair exterior, was cold as ice. He shuddered, thinking about it, and tried to remember how she had laughed at her wedding, truly happy for the first time in a long time.
"Merry, are you alright?" he heard Estella ask. He looked up to see her face lined with concern. He nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine." He smiled, but try as he might, he couldn't seem to escape the sudden stream of memories which seemed to pour forth like the sparkling waters of the Brandywine. Unbidden, memories of summers spent swimming and wading in those waters came to him, filling him with longing.
"Would you like to learn how to swim?" he asked, breaking himself from his reminisces.
"I don't know," she answered.
"It's nothing to worry about," h said, "who knows, it might come in handy someday." He pictured them, swimming in the warm water on a lazy summer afternoon. He glanced out the window at the leaves, just starting to change color—alright, a fall morning then. He turned his attention back to Estella. She remained paused, seemingly in thought.
"If you'll teach me, I'm willing to learn," she said, finally.
"Let's go then."
"Now?" she asked, her eyes wide and fearful.
"Why not?" he replied.
Estella pulled a large basket off the shelf where she kept such trifles and began to fill it with bread and cheese and fruit.
"I thought we might eat our lunch out-of-doors," she remarked. Merry nodded. When she next looked up he was gone. Perplexed, she finished packing the basket and then went to look for him.
"Merry?" she called, poking her head outside, the gentle breeze ruffling her curls. And there he was, holding the reins to his pony, which wore nothing but a bridle.
"I hoped you aren't expecting me to ride like that," she said, trying unsuccessfully to hide the fear in her voice.
"Hand me that picnic basket," he said in answer, tying it to the pony's neckpiece. Next thing Estella knew she was on the horse, in front of him, galloping off towards Buckland.
"Merry!" she yelled, absolutely terrified (she was well enough when she was riding on her own, but this lack of control unnerved her). But he seemed to know what he was doing, and soon we slowed and came to a glade.
"It's beautiful," she whispered. The glade was full of red and yellow-leaved trees and sweet, green grass, leading down to a clear blue pool. She imagined how it would look in the spring—fair pink blossoms and grass even more lush. She sighed.
Merry dismounted and then helped Estella off the pony, in turn tying it to a nearby tree. Estella found herself staring in wonder at their beautiful surroundings.
"What is this place?" she asked.
"This is an outlet of the Brandywine. I found this glade," Merry announced, more than a hint of pride creeping into his voice. She smiled, waiting for him to continue. After a few minutes of standing in silence, he asked.
"Do you want to learn to swim or not?" Estella nodded.
"You'll have to remove your outer garments," he said. She nodded again and began to untie her bodice. As she did so, she noted that he, so bold a few minutes ago, was now pretending to be very interested in some pebbles at the edge of the glade.
He eventually turned, after she had stripped down to her plain, white under-shift. He had removed and neatly folded his cloak, vest, and shirt. He was slight of figure, despite his Ent-draught induced height, but handsome to her eyes. She braced herself against a sharp intake of breath as he caught her staring. She looked away, swiftly, embarrassed. But bolder now, he took her hand and led her down to the pool.
His strong hands supported me as he guided through floating and the basics of swimming, although he was talking rapidly again, plainly nervous. But, despite all this, soon she was able to swim far better than most hobbits ever do.
"Thank you," she said, feeling a familiar flush on her cheeks. "You have given me a great gift." She swam over to him and kissed him softly, wrapping her arms around him. He kissed her back, with more intensity and caressed the back of her neck. She groaned inwardly when he broke the kiss.
"We should get dry," he said, helping her out of the water. For a long time afterward, they lay out on the grass in the warm sun, letting the heat carry them off to sleep.
Meanwhile…
"Diamond?" Diamond heard a voice call her from the bushes by the side of the road.
"What are you up to, Master Peregrin?" she inquired, feigning anger.
"Well, uh, you see, I um…" He couldn't seem to string together a reply.
"Yes?" asked she asked, lifting an eyebrow. But she couldn't help but smile at his innocent charm. He must have noticed, because he grinned and looked her in the eye.
"I was just waiting for you, milady," he said with a grandiose bow. "Would you like to walk with me, my dear Diamond?"
"Maybe…" she said, pretending to really need to think about it, "…if you'll tell me what you've been up to…" He hastily gave her a lengthy explanation, his words all tumbling out of his mouth at once and tripping over one another.
"What ever am I going to do with you, Pippin?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips as she mock-scolded him.
"You could kiss me," he said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Oh Pippin," she replied, and punched him lightly on the arm, before taking him up on his suggestion.
She brushed her lips teasingly against Pippin's, and then caught him completely unawares by breaking their embrace and running down the path.
"Catch me if you can," she called, jumping over a low fence in the meadow. I ran after her. Finally, he reached her, tumbling through the long, green grass in her arms.
"I caught you," she said, kissing her forcefully. This time, Diamond gave in and kissed back.
"You really are beautiful, you know," he said, pouring on his Tookish charm.
"Am I, now?" she questioned, standing up and smiling impishly. She kissed him again.
After a long while she whispered in Pippin's ear.
"We should be going." he groaned, nodded, tacitly agreeing with her.
Just then, his stomach growled loudly. "I'm hungry," he announced.
"You're always hungry." He pondered this for a moment.
"I expect you're right. That's what everyone always says anyway." She smiled patiently.
"Well it should be around lunchtime. Let's go to The Ivy Bush and get something to eat."
"Sounds good to me," he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. They walked up the road in silence for a while, hands clasped and swinging, in the direction of Bywater.
"We're here," he said softly. They went in and he ordered food. And for once, during that meal, he did not get up and start singing; they just sat quietly, talking, and enjoying each other's company.
Suddenly, Diamond lit up like she had just remembered something.
"Pippin, I have to go; I promised I'd take care of some of my younger cousins. I was supposed to leave a half hour ago." She kissed him distractedly and ran out of the inn.
"Goodbye, Diamond!" he called after her.
For a long moment, Pippin just sat staring at the remains of the meal. Then he stood, dusted himself off, and walked out of the inn. He should head home too if he hoped to make it before nightfall. His father would probably have some task for him then. He sighed, and then started up the road.