Chapter seven
For time out of mind tales had been told about the Old Forest. It was said that there was a magic about the place, and not all of it was goodly. This is fair enough, but it does not go far enough, for is all of it is not goodly, then some of it must by necessity be goodly or at least indifferent. Whatever the case, Boromir and Pippin had dismissed many such tales. After all, they had seen much of the world and had seen magic, real magic, and neither was convinced the tales about the Old Forest were anything but just that, tales.
Both Man and hobbit were now having their doubts as to the wisdom of their previous assumptions, however, for the snow was falling and the wind was blowing with such force that both were reminded of their misadventures in the White Mountains. The snow fell so thick they couldn't so much as mark a viable path back home, so they decided to try to make a shelter until this noisome occurrence had abated. Boromir had taught Pippin how to build a temporary shelter, and the two now worked in perfect harmony to achieve this goal. Branches were broken and lashed together with vines. Then there would be a layer of broad-leaved evergreen foliage, then more branches. This process was repeated until they had created a small cave-like structure, which they both crawled into. They huddled together for warmth after a bundle of twigs and leaves had been pulled into the entrance to plug it up.
"This isn't exactly how I planned to spend the day with you, Pippin. I wish we had just stayed home now." Boromir said, wrapping his cloak tightly around himself. Pippin did the same.
"It is rather miserable, but we could not have foreseen this. Don't feel badly, Boromir! Why must you always accuse yourself? It was a splendid idea to go on a hunt, and it still is. We shall only have to wait a bit. It never snows so very much here so this can't last too long. We may yet take some game." Pippin said through chattering teeth. He was rubbing his hands and feet in a futile gesture to warm himself.
Sorrowing or not, Pippin was still the game little fellow Boromir had grown to love and respect. The hobbit would sit there and turn blue before he would ask for help, and Boromir knew that small bodies lose heat more quickly than bigger ones. Pippin would need help to stay warm, but Boromir knew better than to wait until Pippin asked. Faramir had been the same, so Boromir knew what to do. He had thanked the Light many times for his knowledge in regards to managing little brothers.
"Pippin, I'm freezing!" he said. "Two cloaks are better than one. What do you say we bundle up together and share our cloaks?"
Pippin nodded, crawled over to Boromir and sat with his back to Boromir's chest. He took off his cloak and spread it over his body. Then Boromir used his own cloak around the both of them. The combined body heat helped a lot, and soon Pippin's teeth no longer chattered and his hands and feet no longer felt like blocks of ice.
"Well, here we are, it seems, back on Caradhras, after all these years." Pippin said.
"Well, it isn't all that bad!" Boromir laughed. "Still, it is cold! What shall we do while we wait this out?"
"I don't know. Talk, or perhaps tell stories, I suppose. Merry would know."
"Merry would know," said Boromir, "but I'm afraid we are stuck with only ourselves."
"Yes, this is true." Pippin sighed. "I hope I shall be good enough company."
"Pippin, you have always been good company. Why else would I count myself a friend to you?"
"I used to think it was because you felt sorry for me."
"Because you were so young? I did feel sorry for you." Boromir said. "You were little more than a child. In fact, in many ways you were still a child. But how you grew! I was very proud of you, Pippin, and very grateful. You served Gondor well and with great valor and honor. You may have been only a little hobbit lad, but many men would have quailed under the circumstances you shone under. How you burned and shone! A jewel among hobbits, my friend, truly a jewel."
"Now you are making me blush. I only tried to do the right thing. I never meant to be a hero. I never even meant to go into battle, though I did feel I had to do something worthy. I only wanted to show that I could be of service and value. I wanted the City to know we hobbits are worthy people."
"And you did, how you did! I wish I could have been right there at your side, but if I had, I may have tried to stop you, thinking I should protect you."
"And taken all the glory for yourself, no doubt." Pippin said tartly. He felt Boromir shake with laughter.
"You know me too well. But I think I could not have stopped you, though I'm sure I would have tried. After all, when did you ever blindly obey anyone?"
"Never. Well, except for Diamond. I would have done anything she asked of me."
Boromir sat quietly for a bit, thinking. Then he spoke.
"You still can." he said.
"What?" Pippin said, looking up over his shoulder.
"Give me chance to explain. What were some of the things she used to dream of?"
"Well, she cared about the poor and the aged. She dreamed of being able to help them. She cared about children. She always wanted more, you know."
"I know, Pippin, and I'm very sorry about…" Boromir tried to go on, but found himself at a loss for words.
"The twins, Boromir. Finduilas and Firiel. You can say their names."
"I know, but I was loath to bring it up. You two wanted those babies so badly, only to have them sicken and pass on so soon after they were born."
"She never got over it, either." Pippin sighed. "I think it broke something of her spirit, Boromir. She was never quite the same."
"Neither were you." Boromir laid a hand on Pippin's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I understand. I lost a babe, too. No matter how many you have, they don't replace the ones lost."
"Yes, this is true."
"What else did she dream of?" asked Boromir.
"Oh, so many things. She wanted so badly to make life easier and better for the Four Farthings. It is a difficult thing to do, though, when so many don't even know how to read or calculate numbers. How does one begin to do anything about such as that?"
"In Gondor we have a great library, but not anyone can just walk into it and take a book. One must have permission, and then no book may be removed."
"Hmm. That does limit the uses, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does. You have a wonderful collection of books. Too bad all hobbits can't have such a collection."
Pippin was silent for a long time. Suddenly he sat up, throwing off both cloaks."That's it! That's what the dream was about!"
"Pippin?"
"I dreamed I saw books, thousands of them all in a row on shelves that went a far as the eye could see. Then I saw other books just lying around as though they were nothing more than litter, and on their pages was one word: ignorance."
"I don't understand."
"Well, look at Sam! Bilbo taught him to read and calculate, and look how far the Gamgees have come! Why not any hobbit, Boromir? Why shouldn't any hobbit, young or old, rich or poor have just as good a chance as any other hobbit?"
"But Pippin, who will teach them all?"
"They will teach themselves, Boromir!"
"I still don't understand."
"A library, Boromir, a library! A library like the one in Gondor, but with a difference. One that any hobbit may walk into and borrow a book. Diamond would have loved it, and it would help to make her dream of helping the poor come true. If they are educated, they can do better! That way there need not be so many living in ignorance."
"What a splendid idea!" Boromir exclaimed. "My dear, clever little friend, you have found it. You have found something to put in the empty places. And I can help. Faramir has access to the great libraries. We can ask him to find scribes, and we can pay the scribes to copy the books we'll need and ship them here."
"Yes! Oh, this will be wonderful! Faro will be so proud! He has always longed for more books."
"We'll need to make a list of books we want." Boromir found Pippin's mood to be catching and his voice became as animated as the hobbit's voice now. "Faramir will be more than happy to recommend some as well."
"Well, I'm glad now that it started snowing so hard. If it had not, we might never have thought of this. What a happy accident."
"There are no accidents, Pippin. I found that out long ago. The Maker, the Light, Eru, whatever one chooses to call the Creator, it is He that did this. There are no coincidences, Pippin, only unseen wonders."
"Somehow your words feel right, Boromir. Perhaps Diamond spoke to me in my dream. Perhaps the Maker knew this, and made the snow just so we would think of a library for Diamond. And for Saro, too, I insist. I'm sure you have not forgotten what her childhood was like."
"How could I? My darling had a hard life."
"Yes, Boromir, she did. But you took care of that. I have never met a woman of the Big Folk as happy as she was with you. You took her from a hard and sad life and treated her like a queen, and she adored you all her days."
"Just as you said she would on our wedding day."
"Yes, I remember that, now. How nervous you were!"
"And how nervous you were."
"I was a wreck, wasn't I?" Pippin laughed. "I thought I would look a fool, but Diamond reassured me so much I was able to forget about worrying and enjoy the wedding and even play and sing. Merry helped us both out, too."
"They were so beautiful that day, Saro and Diamond and Estella." Boromir said wistfully. "Like bejeweled flowers. I can still see them."
"So can I. Boromir?"
"Yes?"
"If we keep them in our hearts, we haven't really lost them, have we?"
"I suppose not."
"And the library will help with that, too."
"Very much so, I think." Boromir said. "Now come and cover up, you are turning blue."
"You just don't want to get cold, so you're using me as a blanket." He sounded almost like his old, saucy self, the Pippin Boromir had first grown so fond of.
"Yes, I know. I never did care what happened to you." Boromir said wryly.
Pippin sat back down and leaned back against Boromir again. The cloaks were once more bundled around them.
"Still, I suppose I shall have to keep putting up with you. Someone has to look after you." Pippin's tone was quite comically patronizing.
"Yes, quite. I always was rather uselessly dependent on others to look after me."
"Well, not quite useless."
"Really? And just how is that?" said Boromir, anticipating a little hobbit pertness, as Gandalf used to call it.
"Well, you do make a nice, comfy piece of furniture from time to time. You come in handy during cold spells, too."
"Well, it's good to know I can be of some small service." Boromir said around a small smile.
"I really do think the library will be quite a good thing. It really will help fill up the empty places." Pippin said.
"Still…" said Boromir, eyebrows drawn together in thought.
"Still, what?"
"What are they for? The empty places, I mean. Why do we have them?"
"That I do not know." Pippin said. "Perhaps we can figure that out."
"Perhaps. Right now, though, I can only think of one thing. Well, two things."
"And what would that be?"
"The honey-cakes in my pouch, then a little nap until the snow has stopped." Boromir said jovially.
"You have some splendid ideas for a piece of furniture."
"I also have splendid honey-cakes. Would you like one?"
"No, I'd like two." Pippin said with a bit of assertiveness.
Boromir laughed and dug the little cakes out of his pouch. They ate in silence, and without a word settled in and dozed off. Outside, the snow fell thicker than ever.
To Be Continued