Chapter Eight

Solmath, 1426 (Two Weeks previous)

"Diamond?" Pippin whispered. No response. He carefully pushed the door open. "Diamond?" he said, again, louder, listening to her even breathing as she slept and feeling a certain familiar guilt about waking her. She began to stir. "Diamond!" She sat straight up.

"Pippin?"

"Shh, not so loud; you'll wake everyone up!"

"Wha—?" she yawned, "what time is it?"

"Quarter to four."

"What are you doing here so early?" He was under the impression that maybe he hadn't chosen the right time; she hardly seemed capable of stringing a sentence together. Oh well; it was now or never.

"Diamond?" She nodded, yawning again as she did so. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"At this hour, Pip?" Nodding, he smiled his most charming smile. That seemed to do the trick. She got up and let him lead her down to the garden.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Shh." He put my finger to his lips. Maybe this wasn't one of his brighter ideas, but he was carrying it out excellently, if he did say so himself. They walked over to a bridge crossing a pond. Leaning on the splintery rail they looked into the water. Her reflection was a ghost upon the dark pond, reflected in the moon light. Pippin gazed at it in all its disheveled glory. He looked up at her and smiled; this was the hobbit he wanted to marry; he could feel it now more than ever.

"Pippin? Is something wrong?" How could anything ever be wrong? He wondered. He felt like he was walking on air.

"Diamond. Diamond, listen to me." He was ecstatic. Nothing could ever spoil his happiness.

What was wrong with him? Was he drunk? Diamond wondered. She was wide awake now and well aware that she must look ridiculous. She leaned over the side of the bridge to look at her reflection in the water.

"Diamond?" she heard Pippin call as if from a long way away. She felt herself tilting and before she knew it she was in the shallow water below, covered in disgusting duck droppings. "Diamond!" he yelled again and raced over to her, holding his hand out.

This was in a word, too good to resist. She reached out for his hand and pulled him into the muck beside her. He came up sputtering. Before she knew it they were both laughing uncontrollably.

"I- wanted- to- give- you- this," Pippin said in between bursts of laughter. He held out his hand. Diamond looked at the mud in his palm. What in—? Then she glimpsed something shiny amid the muck. She reached out and pulled a long silvery strand from his hand. She gasped at what she saw at the chain's end: a multi-faceted diamond in the shape of a water-lily.

"Does this mean..." He nodded. Before she knew what I was doing she threw herself on him, kissing him passionately in the awful, muddy water. "Pippin, Pippin!" she cried. She sat up, gasping for breath. "I love you. But I can't marry you."

Pippin blinked several times. He had gone from joy to horror in just a few short seconds. Surely he hadn't heard her right.

"What?" he cried in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Pippin. I can't." Can't or won't? He wondered, in a daze.

"It's too soon; we only started courting a few months ago."

"But Diamond..." he protested. Nothing was making sense.

"I just need some time to think." She stood up and walked back inside, leaving Pippin to sit in the muck and ponder what had just happened.

Two weeks later Diamond was still undecided. She had carried the necklace around with her all during that time, never daring to put it on, or to let it leave her person. What was the matter with her? She wondered. I want to marry Pippin. She had been waiting for him to ask.

"Ulfff." There you go, Diamond. Brilliant. Don't look where you're going, oh no, just fall flat on your face. She put out one hand to steady herself and the other to pick herself up and the other to hold the neck—wait, that's three hands, she thought. So where's the necklace? Hurry, Diamond, think. She quickly glanced around the floor. Phew! There it was. She crawled over and picked up. Relieved, she was just getting back up, when-

"Urgh," she heard someone say. A dull pain hit her side. "Diamond?" She shook her head to clear it and looked up. She found soft grey eyes looking down into hers.

"I'm sorry, Merry! I- I had dropped something and was trying to pick it up."

"What?" a familiar feminine voice asked. Estella. Alright. She kept her fingers closed tightly around the necklace. Did she really want to show them what she had been holding? They had no idea about that night and the surprise proposal, the two weeks spent avoiding Pippin at all costs. And then there was Pippin. What was she doing? Of course she wanted to marry him! Then why was she so reluctant to show them? Before she could muddy things up further, her hand opened almost upon reflex. She forced a smile; there was no getting around it now: she was going to be married!