Notes to Readers:

A new week! Let us hope ff.net is over its troubles and lets me post a chapter daily as planned.

Please be sure to leave a review! They are very motivating, and each review you leave entitles you to a free cup of cyber-tea in the parlour (The Muse and I do try to make our guests feel welcome). What you are seeing here is the edited draft. (Thanks to my editor who prefers to work behind the scenes.) I call it "draft" though it will likely remain in this state, unless a reader points out a glaring error and it needs changing. "Final" sounds so... final.

Xena, it is interesting how we move from sorrow to joy and back again in real life, often experiencing both emotions at the same time. Yet it is difficult to write such without sounding forced. Why is that? You're sharp, as you will see in this next chapter. There is something very wrong. Thanks for reviewing!

Runaway Update: Runaway is finished! It came in at 35 chapters. Another chapter will be posted to ff.net as soon as my editor is finished with it (she says tonight or tomorrow—think good thoughts!)

Expect another chapter of "Small and Passing Thing" in a day or three, if all goes well. My editor is helping me whip the thing into shape, chapter by chapter.

I have begun posting the chapters of "Shire" interspersed with chapters from this story from now on, as long as ffnet and my editor cooperate. One of these days she'll tire of reading about "my editor" and let me use her name...! Until then, dear editor, I bow to your untiring aid!

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Chapter 42. Stuffed to the Gills

Freddy was up early again the next morning, but Frodo was waiting for him. 'You gave me the slip yesterday, cousin,' he said cheerily, 'but you won't find it so easy today! I might as well have stayed in Bywater!'

'You might as well have!' Freddy laughed. 'I looked for you when I got back from my trampings, but they said you were napping.'

'And when I got up for late supper, you were already abed,' Frodo said. 'We might be playing a game of tag...'

'Ah but you have caught me at last,' Freddy said. They entered the room where breakfast was laid out on the sideboard, and both loaded their plates with good things.

'What is your plan for today?' Frodo asked.

'I thought I'd ride to the hills of Scary, perhaps as far as the Brockenbores, take a look around,' Freddy said. 'We can pack a picnic if you think your ancient bones can stand an all-day ride, or if they cannot, I'll see you at late supper.'

'Hah! You won't get rid of me so easily this day!' Frodo said, '...or I really will be tempted to go back to Bywater—and sulk!'

'We mustn't have you sulking,' Freddy said, pushing his barely-touched plate away. 'I'll go see that the picnic is packed and the ponies are saddled.'

'You do that,' Frodo said, continuing to tuck into his own good breakfast as a servant cleared Freddy's place.

It was a good visit for Frodo, very relaxing, filled with fine food, walks, rides, and laughter. He was up early each morning, gathering the early spring flowers so that his Aunt Rosamunda had a mugful at her breakfast place without fail. 'You'll spoil my mother dreadfully,' Freddy said after a week of this. 'She'll not want to eat breakfast if the flowers are missing.'

'You'll have to go out and gather them when I am gone,' Frodo said. 'I cannot be coming from Bag End every morning to make sure your mother has her flowers!'

That afternoon at teatime, Odovacar pulled a letter from his pocket and fixed his daughter with a firm look. 'Great Aunt Camellia Boffins writes to ask Estella to visit,' he said to Rosamunda and the table at large.

'Is she still in Tookland?' Rosamunda asked, dabbing at her mouth with a serviette.

'No,' Odo said, a wondering smile on his face. 'The good hobbits of Waymeet have completely restored Boffindale Hole to its former glory. The Boffins are homeless no longer, and much of their fortune has been recovered from ruffians' storeholes. Folco still goes out to work, however; he says he's found great satisfaction in it.'

'Just so long as he's not taking bread out of the mouth of another hobbit who needs the work,' Freddy said.

'No, there's quite a bit of work to be done,' Odo said, glancing again at the letter.

'Sounds fascinating. Perhaps I ought to try it,' Freddy said as he spread melting butter on a still-warm crumpet, added marmalade and set the whole aside.

'Did the Boffins hire out the restoration?' Frodo wanted to know.

'No, that's the wonder of it,' Odo said. 'Master and Mistress Boffins were preparing to remove to the Great Smials where the Thain had prepared a place for them, when the hobbits of Waymeet came to ask them to stay, said they'd been working all along on the Hole and it was nearly ready for habitation. They wouldn't even accept pay for their time and effort.'

'Bless them!' Rosamunda said, dabbing at her eyes.

'I'd say the Shire is recovering nicely,' Freddy said to Frodo. He pushed his plate away. 'I couldn't eat another bite,' he added. 'Shall we retire to the library for a game of Kings?'

'But wait!' Estella said. 'You said I'm to visit the Boffins family? When?'

'I think you could leave the day after tomorrow,' Odovacar said. 'That would have you arriving the day before Great Aunt Camellia's birthday.'

'And how long must I stay?' Estella asked.

'Do not make it sound such a burden, sister,' Freddy said. 'You've always enjoyed Great Aunt Camellia's company.' He laughed when Estella rolled her eyes. 'If you're worried about me, then don't! I am well. Look!' He wiggled the gloved fingers of his right hand. 'I can move a little more each day.'

'If you stay a month, you can stop off at Bag End on your way back,' Frodo said. 'I ought to be living there by then.'

'May I?' Estella asked her parents.

'I don't see why not,' Rosamunda said indulgently.

'We'll even have Samwise and his sister come to tea,' Frodo said with a smile.

'O thank you, Frodo!' Estella said, rising to rush to him and throw her arms about him in a hug. Remembering just in time, she stopped herself and put out a genteel hand, which he bowed over.

'You're most welcome,' he said, laughing.

So it was that when Merry and Pippin rode up to Budge Hall in the last days of February, Estella was not there with the rest of the family to greet them. It was probably just as well, her mother thought, considering the girl's feelings for her cousin Merry, properly concealed but evident to a mother's loving eyes. It was really too bad they were bound by that previous agreement, she thought, but there was nothing to be done now that the bed was made but to lie in it.

'Don't you look fine!' Rosamunda said as they slid down from their ponies, resplendent in mail, with their shields and helms making them look as if they'd ridden out from a picture in an old book. 'How long can you stay?'

'Only a day or two,' Merry answered. 'We're on our way from the Great Smials to Brandy Hall, but we thought we'd take the long way round to check on our Bolger and Baggins cousins.'

'Prepare to be wined and dined,' Freddy laughed. 'Your ponies might not be able to carry you away.'

'Well then we shall stay forever,' Pippin said in response, linking arms with Freddy to walk into the house.

Merry lingered behind with Frodo. 'You're looking well enough,' he said, 'but I'd expected Freddy to look better than he does.'

'He's much better!' Frodo said in surprise. 'You saw how he was before!'

'I do not see that much difference from that time to this,' Merry said.

'He's filled out quite a bit,' Frodo said. 'Granted, it will be some time before he's "Fatty" again, but—'

'Are we talking about the same hobbit?' Merry said quizzically.

Frodo slapped him on the back. 'Come along, cousin, I do believe you are faint from hunger,' he laughed. 'Freddy's fine! Do try to stop worrying, at least for today...'

'I'll try,' Merry said dubiously, but he privately resolved to watch Freddy closely as long as he was in Budge Hall.

'You're too late for tea, but we'll scrape up some crumbs for you,' Rosamunda was saying as they sat down in the parlour. As it turned out, everyone nibbled along, keeping the Travellers company, everyone, that is to say, but Freddy, who declared he'd stuffed himself at tea and would burst with another bite.

'The way you load your plate, I'm not surprised,' Frodo laughed.

'Well I must work at it if there's to be a "Fatty Bolger" again,' Freddy said complacently.

'You might start working at it now,' Merry said, but Freddy only sipped at his tea, saying he'd float away with any more.

'Burst with another bite, and float away with more...' Pippin said privately to Merry as they adjourned to the library for a game of Kings. 'What is going on here, Merry? Freddy looks as if they've stuck him back in the Lockholes again. Don't they see?'

'Perhaps he's been ill, and they're trying to chirk him up,' Merry said slowly.

'I don't know, Merry,' Pippin said, shaking his head, but Merry put a hand on his arm.

'Surely Frodo...' Merry said, and shook his head in irritation. Frodo didn't seem at all worried, had even chided Merry for worrying. 'We'll keep watch, Pippin. Perhaps we ought to extend our visit a day or three.'

It did not take a day or three for the Travellers to see that something was very wrong at Budge Hall. Freddy missed the eventide meal, busy about something or other. At late supper he loaded his plate, laughing at Frodo's jests, but he merely pushed the food around and ate very little if anything.

When the servants began to clear away, Freddy sat back with a sigh of satisfaction. 'Another fine meal,' he said.

'Was it?' Merry asked acidly.

Pippin added, 'You hardly ate a bite!'

'What?' Freddy laughed. 'Why, the roast was succulent and juicy, the potatoes done to a turn, the apple compote...'

'How would you know?' Pippin asked curiously.

'I had two or three helpings, at least!' Freddy said. 'Or was it four?'

'It might have been five, the way you carried on,' Frodo said.

Pippin looked from one cousin to the other in astonishment. 'It's a spell,' he breathed. 'Don't you see it, Merry? They're ensorcelled!'

'What a joke!' Freddy shouted.

Odovacar looked at the young hobbits curiously, but with a vague feeling of alarm. 'Whatever do you mean, young Pip?'

'It's just like the stories you used to read to me, Frodo, from Bilbo's old books!' Pippin said more emphatically. 'Freddy eats nothing but all think they see him stuffing himself.'

'It was a good joke, Pip, but I think its time is over,' Frodo said.

'No,' Merry said. 'It's not a joke, Frodo. I saw it as well.'

'Saw what?' Rosamunda asked, her own unease growing.

'Freddy never ate a bite,' Merry said. 'They took his plate away still full of food.'

'Ah, well,' Freddy said, 'You must excuse me. In my greed, I took more than I ought. I really couldn't finish that fifth portion. I should have stopped with thirds or fourths.'

'You didn't even begin—' Pippin broke in, but Merry put a hand on his arm.

'Freddy, it is not a joke of Pip's, I'm telling you; you haven't eaten a single bite. We watched closely, Pip and I. How many meals have you missed since coming home?' Merry went on.

'Why, none at all!' Freddy said, then thought back. 'A few, perhaps, when I was too full from the previous meal to eat anything.'

'As you are full now,' Merry said soberly.

'Exactly!' Freddy said.

'Let me see you eat,' Merry said now, buttering a roll and extending it to Freddy. 'It's just a few bites, and I know this is your favourite; it's my mother's dinner-roll recipe. I recognised it when I tasted it.'

Freddy took the roll slowly, a half-comical, half-puzzled look in his eye. He lifted the roll to his mouth and then set it down again. 'This is ridiculous, Merry!' he said. 'I've known you to go along with Pippin's jokes before, but...'

'Eat,' Merry said implacably, and there was something in his eye, something Freddy had not seen before his cousins had departed from Crickhollow to begin the Quest. Freddy took a bite, another, and a third, then put the roll down.

'Are you satisfied?' he said. 'I really dare not eat any more than that; I am absolutely stuffed! You'll be able to hang me on a wall after another bite, like that trophy fish in the Thain's study!'

Pippin started to protest, but Merry kicked him under the table. Under cover of the others' laughter, he muttered, 'We'll take this up with Frodo later.'

'Before Freddy starves himself to death, I hope,' Pippin muttered back.

Frodo stayed up with the Travellers long after the Bolgers had sought their beds. He was glad to hear that Pippin's nightmares had decreased in number and intensity and Merry's sleepwalking had ceased. 'My father wanted me to stay in Tookland when Merry departed this time,' Pippin said, 'but my mother made him let us go together. She said Merry's a good influence, don't you find that funny?' He laughed as Merry punched him on the arm.

'What I didn't find funny was that joke of yours at supper this evening,' Frodo said.

'It was no joke, Frodo,' Merry said. 'As far as I can tell, Freddy's not eating. You said he'd gained in health, strength, and substance, but he looks as thin to me now as he did before Yule.'

'You're serious, Merry,' Frodo said slowly.

'As am I!' Pippin put in. 'You don't think I'd joke about something so serious!'

'You are quite the one for a joke,' Frodo said, but Merry interrupted.

'We are serious indeed, Frodo. Why can you not see it? And his parents, the ones you'd think would be keeping a close eye on him, they are as blind as you, apparently. What about Estella?'

'She was called away,' Frodo said, 'but she saw nothing wrong or she wouldn't have gone.' His head was reeling. How was it that Merry and Pippin saw something no one else saw?

'You watch Freddy closely at breakfast, Frodo, and if you see him put even a forkful in his mouth, pinch me on the arm and I'll tell you what I saw,' Merry said.

Pippin yawned widely, and the effect was catching. The older cousins almost instantly had to stifle yawns of their own.

'I'll do that, Merry,' Frodo said. 'But for now, I suppose we had better seek our own beds.' They hugged each other, and Merry and Pippin went off to their shared room. 'No sleep-walking, now,' Frodo called softly after them.

'And no nightmares,' Pippin called back. 'If you find yourself bothered, just tumble in with the rest of the litter of pups.'

'We could go out and sleep on the hard ground outside, if that would make it more appealing,' Merry said over his shoulder.

Frodo chuckled and shook his head. 'Only if there's a feather-bed and a roof over my head in the bargain,' he said. With a laugh the cousins parted.

Passing by Freddy's room, Frodo thought he'd look in. He tapped softly on the door but there was no answer. Cracking the door open, he saw by the light of the watch-lamp that the bedcovers were tossed and tumbled, but the bed was empty.

'Freddy?' he called. There was no answer. He stepped in, wondering. 'Freddy?' he said a little louder, to be answered by a moan. Moving quickly to the far side of the bed, he found his cousin curled on the floor between the desk and the bed. He'd been sick in the wastebasket, Frodo saw, though there was not much to show for it.

'Freddy!' he said urgently, leaning down to touch his cousin's arm. Freddy groaned and began once more to retch.

Frodo grabbed the bell-pull and yanked hard. Within moments, a sleepy servant poked his head in the door. 'Did you require something?' he said.

'Fetch a healer!' Frodo snapped. 'Finch Smallfoot lives in the town, does he not?'

'He does,' the servant said, now wide-awake and alarmed.

'Fetch him, and be quick about it!' Frodo said. 'Knock on the Master's door on your way.' The servant disappeared, and Frodo spoke again to his cousin. 'Freddy? Do you hear me?'

Freddy stopped retching and Frodo breathed a sigh of relief. 'Must've et something that disagreed with me,' Freddy muttered. 'What're you doing here, cousin?' he said, looking up at Frodo. 'I—' he broke off as his eyes rolled back in his head and he began to convulse.

'Freddy!' Frodo said frantically. He heard Odovacar exclaim from behind him.

'What is it? What's happened?' the Bolger said, crossing the room swiftly to bend over his son.

'He says that something he ate disagreed with him,' Frodo said, 'but he's not brought much up. Whatever it is might still be with him.'

'The mushrooms!' Odo said. 'D'you suppose one of them might have been bad?'

'Stewed as they were, wouldn't all of us be affected?' Frodo said.

'He didn't eat any of the mushrooms,' Merry said from the doorway. 'He ate only a bit of bread and butter.'

'That's what's in the wastebasket,' Frodo said slowly. It began to dawn on him that Merry and Pippin had been serious after all.

'It's the wizard's spell,' Pippin, standing at Merry's side, said. 'Somehow it's affected you all, not just Freddy.'

'Why are you not affected?' Frodo asked, watching Freddy convulsing, helpless to do anything.

'We saw Gandalf throw Saruman down, unmask his lies,' Merry said, crossing to crouch beside Frodo. 'Perhaps his lies have no power over us as a result.' Freddy lay still again, and Odo gathered his son in his arms, softly calling his name. 'Look!' Merry said. 'Do you not see it? He is dangerously thin, Frodo, and looks as if he hasn't eaten in days!'

Frodo blinked. As through a mist he caught a glimpse of Freddy, thin, starved-looking, but then the healthy Freddy overlaid the vision again. Healthy? What was he thinking?

'If it is the wizard's spell then we've got to get him out of here,' Odovacar said urgently. 'Help me to lift him.'

'Where will you take him?' Merry asked.

'Back to the Cottons,' Odo said. 'He was able to eat there, and none of us was enspelled.'

'What, tonight?' Frodo asked.

'Do you have a better idea, cousin?' Odo snapped.

'No,' Frodo admitted. 'No, I do not.'

'Very well. We'll leave for Bywater now, drive through the night, stop partway for a rest and a bite to eat, and then continue on. I'll send a quick post message ahead of us so that they'll know to expect us.'

'We're expected at Brandy Hall on the morrow,' Merry said, 'but we can change our plans…'

'No need,' Odo said. 'If the Cottons are affected by the spell, we'll send a message. I'm hoping, however, that we'll see a difference as soon as we cross Budge Ford.'

Odo called to the servants to ready the coach-and-four. Meanwhile they lifted Freddy onto the bed and dressed him warmly.

Healer Finch arrived and was quickly filled in. He stared in wonder at Freddy, who had apparently fallen asleep fully dressed on the bed. 'He looks fine to me,' he said slowly. 'I do not understand.' He shook his head and looked again, picked up Freddy's wrist, held it for a long time. 'His heartbeat is very weak,' he said in shock. 'What is going on here?'

Rosamunda came in, a shawl thrown over her night-dress. 'What is it? What's happening?' she said.

'The lads were right: it is some sort of a spell, not a joke at all,' Odo said grimly. 'We're taking Freddy back to Bywater. I only hope it's not too late.'