What Empty Places are For

Chapter five

Pippin had been very tired that evening. The baking and cooking of treats for the children of the poor had gone on all day long. He had done his share of the actual work and had supervised it as well, along with Boromir. The running of a busy kitchen amid watching after the safety of the smaller children had exhausted him, and as he dozed off leaning against Boromir he reminded himself to make excuses and go to bed, but before he put thought to word, he dozed off.

He couldn't recall exactly when he had started leaning against Boromir, as though the Man was a comfy piece of furniture. It may have been the first time they shared a watch, when they had compared their childhood games and memories. It may have been after he had pushed Boromir flat on his back and sent him sliding downhill on his shield. For a certainty it had started while in Hollin somewhere. He'd started doing it because he noted it seemed to have a calming effect on Boromir, who was entirely too edgy and scratchy to suit Pippin. Pippin had discovered then that if he could make Boromir laugh, he seemed to relax and stopped looking so beset. If the others were trying to sleep and he couldn't sing or laugh much for fear of keeping them awake, he had discovered that if he leaned on Boromir and got him talking softly about home and family, he relaxed even more.

So the two, grim Man and pert hobbit, had fallen into the habit of playing little jokes on one other, and during quiet times, sitting together and talking softly. Gradually Pippin had noticed that his time with Boromir seemed to ease Merry as well, for Merry was very protective towards Pippin, which was very sweet, all things considered, but it hadn't exactly helped Pippin to mature quickly enough to suit himself. Always are the young in a hurry to grow up. This was true of all young, Man, Dwarf, Elf or Hobbit, whether folk or beast, on two legs or four, the young of all shared this trait, and Pippin was no different.

It was hard on poor Merry at times, always looking out after his young cousin, and Pippin had begun to ask himself if he might not be a burden of sorts. He was only just a young hobbit, and had not yet learned better. Pippin saw his times with Boromir as a chance to give Merry a little respite and a chance for himself to stretch his wings, to grow up a bit. Over the years he had examined this time again and again, turning it over in his mind like a worn old coin. What he had discovered was that this was when Pippin had begun to grow up and Boromir had begun to grow to examine himself and the nature of his family. Boromir had grown to care for the hobbits, especially Merry and Pippin, and had begun to listen to them discuss small family matters down to the most idle gossip. Once Pippin had gotten to Gondor, he understood everything. Poor Boromir and Faramir had had anything but a normal, everyday family. Pippin understood why Boromir had always been so grim and smiled so seldom, and why he had found Pippin's antics so amusing.

This discovery of the particulars of Boromir's sadness and hopelessness had broken Pippin's heart for both Faramir and Boromir. It made his grief for the loss of his friend all the more keen and painful. Pippin's first experiences with emptiness had been during his travels.

There had been an emptiness when Gandalf fell, and when Boromir fell. Yet more emptiness when he learned Frodo and Sam had set out on their own whilst Merry and Pippin had been captives, there had been a terrible emptiness as big as the sky when Pippin had been separated from Merry after the Palantir Incident. There had even been an emptiness after they had come home, in the lull after the Scouring of the Shire. There had been a terrible emptiness when Frodo had left.

Diamond and Faro had filled so much of the emptiness, but now that she was gone, it was like the emptiness she had left behind was bigger and blacker than all of the other emptiness all together. Now, sitting beside Boromir and listening to his voice as he read smoothly and rhythmically, Pippin leaned against him out of old habits, and he had made a discovery yet again.

He had also been looking for comfort long ago when they had first met. It was true he always felt safer with Merry, but what about Merry? Merry always looked after Pippin, but who would look after Merry on this journey, with Frodo saddled with his burden? Pippin had feared for Merry's safety for the first time in his young life, and though he hadn't realized it at the time, Boromir had offered his protection of these two in an unspoken vow, and as everyone knows, sometimes the unspoken vow is more sacred than any. An unspoken vow is never spoken and so can't be broken. Pippin had found comfort and ease in befriending Boromir, and had given it in return without ever even thinking of it.

So now, when the emptiness threatened to eat his very soul, he found comfort yet again as he slipped into dreams leaning against his friend. As he dozed off, he wondered, why had Boromir put up with it? What could the Man have thought about when Pippin leaned on him? And was this small act of care from a young and troublesome scamp of a hobbit have filled a kind of emptiness in Boromir? Asking these things of himself, Pippin dozed off, dozed off and dreamt.

And the dream…well, we shall see what the dream was and if it did some good, in the end.

Pippin was standing in what appeared to be a corridor. Looking both fore and aft, he could see no end to the corridor. On one side of the corridor was an endless shelf of books. All were in place, tidy, dusted and with titles neatly scribed onto the spines of each book.

On the other side were only empty shelves with many books lying about un-cared for. A wind whipped down the corridor, flipping the pages of the books lying about and Pippin could tell there was something odd about them, but was not certain what. He stooped and lifted one of the books and it began to crumble in his hand, but not before he noticed there was only one word written over and over in the book. The word was "ignorance."

Pippin woke with a jerk and a squeak; startling Boromir so much the book he had been reading flew from his hand and landed on the floor, spine up. The children laughed.

"Uncle Pippin nearly scared Poppa to death!" Diamond laughed. "Did you have bad dreams, Uncle Pippin?"

"I…I'm not sure if it was a bad dream, but it was a disturbing one. Very strange indeed." Pippin looked at the book on the floor. "Boromir, shame on you! You were raised a gentleman, you should know better than to abuse your books. My Da always said we should care for our books or we would all be ignorant."

The children laughed again, this time joined by their father. Oddly enough, Pippin didn't seem to hear them. Even stranger, he repeated one word over and over. The word was ignorance.

To Be Continued