IF YOU HAVE ALREADY READ THIS CHAPTER: MORE HAS BEEN ADDED! SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.
Chapter 11
Rethe, 1426
"It's time to go, Estella!" Merry called.
"I know!" Estella shouted back, exasperated with his nagging. "I'm coming!"
"Do you want to be able to say goodbye to Éowyn, or not?" yelled Merry. She didn't reply. She took a deep breath, and then carefully dragged her bags down the stairs. I'll never get used to stairs, she thought.
"Alright, I'm here," said Estella, reaching the hall where Merry was waiting.
"About time," he muttered. Estella frowned; she hated it when he got like this.
"Merry," she crooned, coming up behind him and burying her face in his shoulder. He turned around and kissed her softly.
"Let's go say goodbye." She nodded, following him outside.
"Eowyn!" said Merry loudly. She turned rapidly to face him.
"Merry," she said. She smiled sadly. "You're leaving. I'll get Faramir and Pippin and Diamond so we can all say goodbye." She started to walk away, but was stopped by Merry's hand on her arm. Estella stood a ways back, watching. She didn't want to interrupt.
"Eowyn…I shall miss you. I don't know how long it will be until I return." She knelt next to him.
"Whenever that is, you shall be welcome, Merry." Estella gazed at them in wonder. The great lady was crying. She watched as Merry wiped away her tears, though he looked upon the verge of tears himself. She bit her lip. Eowyn seemed to understand her beloved in ways she would never be able. She struggled to hold down tears of her own, then as they became too much for her, skulked back inside, where she let loose and wept freely.
After a while, she became aware that she was not alone in the hall.
"Diamond?" She looked up. Diamond smiled and nodded.
"What's wrong, Estella?" She looked concerned. With a heavy heart, Estella took her friend by the hand and led her outside. When Diamond saw them, she did something unexpected. She started to laugh!
"Not so loud!" whispered Estella urgently, yanking her back inside and pulling the door closed. "Now, what's so funny," Estella said angrily. To Estella's annoyance, this just made Diamond laugh harder. "Stop it!" she said, shaking her.
"I'm sorry, Estella," replied Diamond in-between bursts of laughter. "It's just that I came to see you to escape Pippin and Faramir. I swear it was the funniest thing you ever saw: a hobbit and a man, both of them grown, sobbing over each other like…" She guffawed, falling on the ground in her exuberance.
Estella couldn't help but smile. She waited for Diamond to stop laughing, and then reached out a hand and pulled her to her feet. Estella was feeling a lot better, but knew that when she went outside again, she would see the same picture, and that depressed her.
"Estella…" She let Diamond hug her. "There…now don't you feel better?" Estella nodded, smiling inwardly at her younger friend's attempts to comfort her. She didn't feel too much better though.
"Now," she continued, "I was thinking we could…" She stopped, seeing Estella's necklace for the first time. "Merry proposed?" Estella nodded. "Estella!" she squealed with girlish enthusiasm. "We're both getting married now!" She spun around the hall, delighted with the idea.
After several moments of this, Estella gave into Diamond's infectious joy at the prospects of their both being married, and fell into a fit of giggles with her friend.
At that moment, both Merry and Eowyn, and Pippin and Faramir burst into the hall. Merry and Pippin looked on in bemusement as their betrothed giggled until tears came to their eyes. Eowyn and Faramir exchanged glances.
"Let's go outside," said Faramir finally, squeezing Eowyn's shoulders. She nodded in agreement and they walked outside. The two hobbit couples followed.
The hobbits mounted their ponies in silence. It seemed that all their tears were spent. They said farewell softly, as if they were departing a funeral. Estella sighed.
Then Eowyn and Faramir's young son Elboron toddled out. He had his thumb in his mouth and was dragging a scraggly blanket behind him. Eowyn lifted the boy into her arms and held his hand, making it wave. She was smiling. Estella felt at peace then. She turned back around a reached across to where Merry was sitting on his pony and squeezed his hand. They would be in Minas Tirith before the day was out.
The month in Minas Tirith passed more quickly than anyone could have believed. Estella was amazed at how normal the king seemed—for one of the big folk, at any rate.
Queen Arwen was very intimidating in the beginning, with her seemingly flawless beauty, but once Estella warmed to her, she saw that the Elf was very kind. She was not just some beautiful painting, but a real person. One whose grace and generosity exceeded most people's, but quite real all the same.
Estella was sad to be leaving. But she knew she couldn't stay forever. So, they said their goodbyes, and departed. She glanced back over her shoulder, but she could no longer see the smiling faces and waving hands of the king and queen. Instead she turned back to Merry, soaking in the warmth and admiration in his eyes.
She urged her pony, a parting gift from King Éomer of Rohan, onward toward home. Home, she thought. Papa, Fatty...she hiccupped and sobbed; she hadn't thought about home in a long time and had no idea how much she had missed it. As much as she had loved adventuring with Merry, she was glad to be going home.
Thrimidge, 1426
Pippin watched for the last few miles of the trip, as the signs slowly increased in number; sweet rest to his tired eyes--until at last their tired ponies plodded into Buckland.
They took the back entrance into the stables. It was dark and they were weary, but the four hobbits un-tacked and curried the ponies themselves and exhausted, stumbled up the path to the house.
Meanwhile, Esmeralda, having been notified by the gate guards of the four hobbits' passing, had led her guests and servants to Crickhollow, where they all lay in wait with the lights dimmed, as if the whole of Buckland was holding its breath.
Merry, Pippin, Estella, and Diamond now reached the rounded door. They were all fatigued from their long journey, so didn't make much noise, but the guests were listening for them.
Merry opened the door and lit the hall lamp.
Like a spring uncoiled, the Hall came to life.
"Surprise," shouted the hobbits. And Esmeralda came forward to embrace her son.
The four travelers' eyes were wide with shock.
"Mama?" exclaimed Merry, "Papa?" as his father came forward as well.
"Ah, and Peregrin," boomed Saradoc. "It took you long enough to bring your cousin back, my lad," he scolded his nephew, but his smile and the twinkle in his eye belied his true feeling and he chuckled and hugged Pippin.
Diamond and Estella hung to the back while this was going on, not feeling it their place to intrude, but then Esmeralda called them forward. "Estella, Diamond, dears, come here!" They scurried up to meet the Mistress of Brandy Hall. "How nice it is to see you both again!" she said embracing them each in turn. "But come, you must be tired. I'll have the guest rooms set up and..." She glanced down at the lasses' necklaces.
"Sarry!" she cried. "Come here! Quick, quick!" Merry, Pippin, and Saradoc all came rushing over.
"What is it, Auntie?" asked Pippin, concernedly.
"Please tell me that those..." she said, pointing to Estella and Diamond's necks, "...are not what I think they are!"
"Yes, Mum, we're sorry we forgot to tell you, but Estella and I are promised now... and Pippin and Diamond," said Merry, nervously.
"But this—this cannot be! Not without a proper ceremony!" She was beginning to hyperventilate. "We must send envoys at once to—to your family, Estella, and to the Smials and Long Cleeve, and...Bed! All of you!" she shouted, grabbing Estella and Diamond by the wrists. She glanced about her. "What are you all staring at?" she said, addressing the hobbits of the hall who had assembled there. "The party is over! Now!" The crowd stomped out the door, grumbling, and Esmeralda pulled the lasses and her husband out with them.
"Goodnight Diamond!" Pippin yelled after them. Diamond looked back at him mournfully. "What have we done, Merry?" he asked, anguished.
"We've done nothing to be ashamed of, Pip," he replied and turned the corner down the hall, leaving Pippin standing in the front parlor staring after him.
By the next day Esmeralda seemed to have calmed down a bit. Around noon she sent a messenger to fetch them.
Merry was still angry at being treated like a child, until Pippin reasoned with him, begging him to come.
"Alright," said Merry, "but I'm not apologizing for anything."
"No one's asking you to," said Pippin in reply. Merry smiled grimly.
"Well, I guess we'll have to go then." Pippin smiled too; how well he knew his cousin.
A half hour later, Merry and Pippin were sitting in Merry's mother's parlor, across from Estella and Diamond, as Esmeralda paced back and forth, lecturing them. Merry gripped the wooden armrests of his seat harder with each accusation, and Pippin could see his knuckles turning white.
"Well I may after all be able to salvage the wreck you lads made of things," she said. And then she addressed the lasses, "I don't blame you, dears. It's not your fault my son and nephew are irresponsible." She glared at Merry and Pippin. "In any case—Estella, your father and brother are here, if you'd like to go and see them."
Estella kissed Merry on the cheek and rushed out. The others turned to follow. "Stay here, you three. Pippin, your parents should be here by tomorrow eve, if not sooner—same to you, Diamond. When everyone is here I will call an official meeting...in the meantime, remember that you are not formally engaged, so there is to be no acting as if you are." She raised an eyebrow. "Understood?"
They nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "Now, as such, you must give me your necklace, Diamond. Now don't fret," she said, taking a look at Diamond's anxious expression, "it will be well taken care of."
"But Estella..." Pippin never finished his sentence, having received such a horrible glare from his aunt that it shut him up, immediately.
"Give me the necklace, Diamond," demanded Esmeralda, calmly, extending her hand. Diamond reached around the back of her neck, unclasped it, and let it slide off her collarbone and into her hand. She shot her a venomous look and then, silently, she placed it in Pippin's aunt's hand. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Getting no reply, Esmeralda continued, "Off you go then!"
They filed out without a sound. Well, that didn't go quite like I expected it, thought Esmeralda, but I handled it pretty well, I think. She smiled and fixed her hair in the mirror.
In due course everyone arrived at the Hall. They decided to allow the betrothals to take place and all present voted to make it a small and informal ceremony, to be performed immediately.
The formal betrothal was brief. Merry and Estella were affianced first. Merry asked Estella's father if he could marry her, and then Estella herself. Both parties agreed of course, and Merry clasped the necklace around Estella's neck. Then the betrothal was sealed with a joyful kiss.
The ceremony was repeated in much the same way for Pippin and Diamond, and then the meeting broke for a nice lunch in a pavilion overlooking the Brandywine, everyone contented, once again.