Minas Tirith, July of 1436

A smile crept across Aragorn's face as his newly arrived guest kneeled before him. He got up from his throne and placed a hand on the Hobbit's shoulder.

"You've been away for a long time" he said. "But have you really been away for so long that you've forgotten that I wish you not to bow to me?"

"I always forget that as soon as you've said it" Pippin assured and rose.

"Old friend, it's good to see you" Aragorn said and hugged the Halfling.

"And it is good to be seen" Pippin replied. "My, you did not have that many grey strains in your hair the last time I was here! Don't tell me you are growing old?"

With a laugh Aragorn sent Pippin on his way to unpack his things in his old chambers. After all these years it was nice to finally have him back in the halls of Minas Tirith. Aragorn had begun to doubt that Pippin would ever muster up the courage to return to Gondor and he was glad that he had been proven wrong. Perhaps he had underestimated the Hobbit ability to shrug any sorrow. Whatever the case might be, it was about time that Pippin came back to Minas Tirith.

XX
XX

"How are your dreams?" Aragorn asked that night when they were having a late supper together, just the two of them.

"My dreams?"

"When last you were here you were haunted by nightmares."

"I haven't had a single dream about Merry for years" Pippin said. "Though I do have the occasional nightmare. Just a week ago I dreamt that there was a mushroom famine in the Shire! You laugh, but it was horrid!"

"Still the same old Pippin" Aragorn noted with a chuckle.

"Of course" Pippin said. "I haven't changed."

"That makes me happy to hear" Aragorn said. "And I've learned you are doing a fine job since you took over your father's office. I've been keeping my eye on you Hobbits; the Shire is one of my provinces after all. It seems it is resting in very capable hands, you and Samwise are managing it beautifully."

"And Berilac Brandybuck" Pippin added. "Though he's got Buckland on his hands. Not really the Shire."

Aragorn laughed.

"I thought you were all Shire folk. As far as I'm concerned Buckland is within Shire boarders, whatever your maps might say."

"You're the king, I cannot argue with you."

"Is that so? I seem to recall you being an expert at doing just that."

Pippin shrugged his shoulders with a slight smile and returned his attention to the meal. He was glad to finally be in Minas Tirith, the journey had not been long but it had been awkward. Earlier Legolas had felt uncomfortable around Pippin but now Pippin felt uncomfortable around Legolas as well, creating a situation where the only one whom everyone felt comfortable with was Gimli. Gimli had been anything but happy about the situation which had resulted in all three of them being in a gloomy mood. It was a relief when the journey had ended.

"For how long will you be staying this time?"

"A month" Pippin said. "I wish I could stay for longer, but I've been away from home long enough already. I long to see my family again."

"Are you lonesome?"

The question came so abruptly it made Pippin pause his hand in the middle of bringing the fork to his mouth. He looked up at Aragorn.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what it sounded like. Are you lonesome?"

"Without my family? Both no and yes. I wish I could be with them, but I am not alone here. I have my old friends here."

"What about in the other aspect? Are you lonesome that way?"

"I'm not sure what you mean" Pippin said avoidingly and continued his meal.

"I think you do."

With a sigh Pippin put his fork down.

"Please Strider, not you too! Really! Why must I have this conversation with everyone I see here?"

"You've been away for so long. We only ask because we care."

"I'm doing just fine. Better than fine. Yes life is different from what I would have thought it to be, but no, I'm not sad or lonely. I've moved on. You tall folk here might not be able to grasp that but it's true. Time did not stop eleven years ago and neither did life."

"It's hard to know how you are doing my fiend when you are not around" Aragorn said calmly. "I know you have stayed away and I understand the reasons why. I also know that a large part of that reason is your new responsibilities in the Shire, both to your office and to your family. All I'm saying is that your letters haven't been very descriptive and I don't know where your mind is now. So I asked."

"Strider it's not that I don't appreciate the concern" Pippin said. "It's just that the concern is a little dated. We're talking about a full decade; I have come a long way since the Hobbit who was afraid to go to sleep because he feared he might be haunted by nightmares. And having this conversation with everyone I used to know is getting old!"

"Don't take it too seriously then" Aragorn said. "Perhaps we don't talk to you about it merely for your sake… Perhaps it is for our own, to get to confirm with you that it's okay that time has paid its price. I think for the most of us it feels good to have your consent and understanding. As you've said, it's been a decade. Right when you've lost someone you think you will remember them vividly every day of the rest of your life. But the truth is it doesn't work that way. The memory of his face, it fades sometimes."

"Yes I know what you mean" Pippin said. "Memories come and go. Some of them fade while others become stronger. But even I have trouble remembering what he looked like. There are times when I cannot for the life of me recall the sound of his voice. And that is okay. Aragorn neither you nor anybody else is in need of my blessing. Haven't we all lost a lot of people dear to us during the War? Why should this loss be any different from those? Truth be told Strider I have never been this close to leaving my past behind and it feels good. None of us ought to linger in the things that were. We will get to see his face again and hear his voice again, on the other side of time, so why waste any energy on trying to bring them back to life now?"

"You have grown wise over the years" Aragorn said.

"I don't know about that" Pippin said. "But I know I've matured. Honestly, I wasn't growing the way I ought to have when we were together. I never needed to develop half of me because I had that half in him. Perhaps that is why he had to die, so that I could become me completely."

"You think there was a reason?"

"Don't you? I can't believe anybody dies for no reason."

"If there was I do not believe the reason had anything to do with you" Aragorn said. "The reason was that he encountered orcs when he was alone. Let's not read anything more into it. It's good to see you doing so well, Pippin. For a while there we were afraid we were going to lose you too."

"It really hurts my feelings that you didn't have higher thoughts of me than that" Pippin said with a grin. "Shouldn't you know by now that I always bounce back?"

"Indeed you do" Aragorn said.

XX
XX

Pippin pulled the covers of the bed up to his nose and sighed contently. He was quite tired and with a full stomach it was nice to crawl into bed. Though he wouldn't admit it to Faramir the linen was much softer and nicer in Minas Tirith than it was in Ithilien, Pippin had a feeling he would sleep better this night than he had for many weeks. He almost felt he could purr just like a cat.

Through the door he could hear the footsteps of servants passing through the halls. It seemed not even night time was completely silent at the citadel. Pippin had forgotten how there always seemed to be someone going about their business at the citadel, no matter what the hour. When he was younger he sometimes found himself bothered by it, just as he was about to go to sleep someone would walk by outside and his keen Hobbit ears would pick up on it and make him alert again. Nowadays it felt comforting, it felt just like it should being back in Minas Tirith.

The next morning he had a busy schedule. Aragorn had asked him to train the young prince in swordsmanship, having heard from Faramir that Pippin was ideally suited for such tasks. Aragorn had hinted that if things went well he would assign Pippin to Prince Eldarion during the rest of his stay, to be a teacher and a companion. Pippin thought it sounded great, he looked forward to getting to spend some time with Aragorn's son. Although he wouldn't mind getting out of fencing duty. Swordsmanship had never been his favourite thing and was never going to be.

XX
XX

To Pippin's great joy Aragorn soon decided to assign the Hobbit to other duties than sword practice. Pippin found himself being the new esquire to the prince and realised almost right away that it was no easy job. Not only did Prince Eldarion have a busy schedule but as it turned out he was quite the handful whenever he had a moment to spare. Pippin had only been in his service for one hour before Eldarion was missing. It took him twenty minutes to find the young prince, who had gone off in a different direction when Pippin had had his back turned. It seemed Eldarion had no patience to sit still and wanted to be busy with something all the time, which seemed to explain the busy schedule. Pippin had a very hectic time keeping up with him.

Though in spite of his restless nature which forced Pippin to constantly be on his toes, Pippin found he liked the young prince and was happy to be in his company. The boy was intelligent and happy to learn, in some ways quite old for his years. He was always interested in a good story, and Pippin, like any Hobbit, loved to tell stories. Eldarion could sit and listen for ages while Pippin went through stories which could honestly bore even the most interested Hobbit child. But Eldarion seemed to love it. It was fortunate, for Pippin was able to use his stories to keep the prince under tabs. Whenever there was a spare moment it was time for another story.

Pippin's stories were all old Shire tales he had grown up listening to. That, or they were Shire history, long detailed stories about who had done what when and how who was related to whom. Eldarion seemed to like hearing about it and it pleased Pippin that the future king took such interest in the Shire. It boded well for the future. Though Aragorn dryly commented at one occasion that if Pippin wanted Eldarion to think highly of the Shire then perhaps it was time to stop boring him with the complete Shire history.

XX
XX

One afternoon Pippin was crawled up in an armchair with his pipe in his mouth and a book in his hands, catching up on his reading while Eldarion was studying. Pippin had gotten his hands on some mighty fine pipe weed and was happy to get a chance to smoke it, these days his schedule had little time left for such pleasures. Eldarion's study time was the perfect opportunity to catch up on his smoking; with the boy bent over his books Pippin had some peace and quiet.

After a while Eldarion looked up from his book on Gondorian geography and glanced over at the small figure in the armchair blowing smoke rings like he never did anything else. Eldarion was bored by now with studying and wanted something else to do. A smile crept across his face.

"My lord Peregrin!" he said.

"Mmmmm?" Pippin said without looking up from his book.

"Tell me a story!"

"You're supposed to be studying. Let your geography book tell you a story."

"I want to hear a story! I'm done reading about geography now anyways, can't I get one little story before I go on to do my history reading?"

Pippin glanced over at the clock on the wall. Eldarion had been studying well for a good forty minutes now. That was quite impressing; Pippin's own son could never keep interest up for more than twenty. It seemed appropriate to reward him with a story.

"Alright then" Pippin said and put down his pipe and book. "What do you wish to hear about? Perhaps a story on how old Isumbras III went about digging out the north hall of the Great Smials?"

"Actually I would like to hear about something other than that" Eldarion said with an important look on his face.

"Very well then" Pippin said and went over to sit down next to him. "What do you wish to hear about?"

"Can I pick anything at all?"

"You may come with suggestions."

The smile on Eldarion's face grew even wider. He gave Pippin his most pleased look and hoped the Hobbit wouldn't say no.

"Tell me about the Fellowship of the Ring!"

"The Fellowship of the Ring?" Pippin echoed. He hadn't heard anybody refer to their old company by that name for a very long time. "Where did you hear about them?"

"The ladies here are all about the gossip" Eldarion said. "I've heard about it before when I was younger, I know it was something about the war. Then there was nothing about it for years. Since you arrived it has been talked about again. I conclude that you must have something to do with it and I would be much interested in hearing all about it! It sounds very exciting! What is a fellowship anyway?"

Pippin laughed.

"I don't know that exciting is the word to use" he said. "A fellowship is a companionship, a group of people who are joined together for some purpose. In this case to protect and accompany a ringbearer."

"What is a ringbearer?"

"Now that is a whole other story!"

"But were you part of the fellowship?"

"Indeed I was. And your father was too."

"He was?"

"Yes. Legolas the Elf and Gimli the Dwarf were as well. There were five others as well, but they have all passed on or sailed west, save for one who lives in the Shire."

"Tell me more! Tell me all about it!"

Pippin chuckled.

"Really, there is not much more to tell. The nine of us travelled together, then we were separated but we continued to share a bond with one another… It's hard to explain, but imagine you have a group of best friends. And even though you might not always be all together and there might be other people with you, you still have a sense of belonging with those friends that you don't have with the others around you. They are your special friends and will always be just that."

"So that's all the fellowship is?" Eldarion said with noticeable disappointment. "A group of friends?"

"That doesn't sound grand to you?"

"I have friends of my own" Eldarion said. "There's nothing special about it. Everybody has friends."

"I have other friends as well" Pippin said. "But none like the members of my fellowship. You will perhaps understand one day. I think you are still too young."

Eldarion looked sceptical. Without saying anything else he opened up his history book and began to read. Pippin went back to his pipe and book, amazed by the experience of Eldarion choosing to study over getting further into a story. Apparently the fellowship was hugely disappointing to him. He had obviously expected a more exciting explanation than that the fellowship was a group of friends. With a crooked smile on his face Pippin thought that the young prince could have gotten some much more entertaining information if he had only asked what the fellowship had done rather than what they were. Until Eldarion asked to hear about it Pippin would not tell. He enjoyed sitting on lots of information without letting it show. It was good practice in problem solving for the prince and great fun for Pippin.

XX
XX

It took Eldarion a week to bring up the subject of the fellowship again. By then he had investigated the subject as best as he could with his young years and knew a bit more of what he was asking about.

"I know you were important during the war" he said to Pippin with a content grin on his face.

"Who, me?"

"The fellowship!"

"Oh, that" Pippin said and shrugged his shoulders. "Well weren't we all? It is not difficult to be important during the war, either you are important or you are too oppressed to be. We were all free people; of course we ended up being important. Just like every soldier who bled for Gondor and for Middle-Earth!"

Eldarion looked disappointed.

"Oh."

"Perhaps you ought to dig a little deeper into the source of information you have found" Pippin said. "You might find there is a lot to learn."

Eldarion's interest peaked up again.

"So you were important! Important enough to be mentioned by your own names still, and not just as one of the soldiers!"

"We were soldiers" Pippin calmly said. "I am guard of the citadel, am I not? Your father is king and led his troops to victory at that time. Gimli and Legolas are both skilled warriors, as were those in the fellowship who are no longer among us."

"That doesn't make me much wiser" Eldarion complained with a sigh.

XX

XX

After another week had gone by, when Pippin only had ten more days before his return to the Shire, Prince Eldarion had figured out how to put his words in order to be told something really interesting.

"Please tell me about the siege of Gondor!" was the first request.

And Pippin told him a child friendly version of the siege.

"Please tell me about when Father was crowned king!"

And Pippin told him the story.

"Tell me about the time you saved Lord Faramir!"

After two days Pippin had told him five different stories of the fellowship, and the young prince only got more and more interested. He tried to get some hints from his father on what interesting stories there was to hear about but Aragorn didn't tell him anything. So he went to other sources, and once even managed to get a suggestion from Legolas. Pippin told him about whatever he asked him, but after the first couple of stories Eldarion grew tired of hearing about people he didn't know anything about. He did not know Legolas or Gimli very well, and he could not relate to the stories he was told about his father, so in the end that left only stories about Pippin. Pippin found it quite awkward to retell his own actions but the child ate it up as fast as Pippin could dish it out.

"Tell me about when you swore allegiance to Lord Denethor!"

And Pippin told him about it.

"Tell me about when you fought at the battle of the Pelennor Fields!"

Pippin smiled.

"You have been misinformed, my young prince. I never took any part in that battle. I was inside the besieged city, remember?"

Eldarion frowned.

"But I am so sure I heard them say you fought out on the fields!"

"There was a Perian out on the fields. But it was not me."

"What happened to him?"

"He died."

Eldarion pondered that and then decided to drop the subject for now. Instead he had something else he wanted to hear about.

"Tell me about when you destroyed that ring!"

Pippin laughed.

"Slow down here, my lord! That was most definitely not me!"

"Was it that other Perian?"

"No it was yet another Perian. There were four of us."

"What happened to the other two?"

"One is the Mayor of the Shire. The other sailed West a long time ago."

Eldarion thought that over.

"So you did not really do all that much?"

"Oh I beg your pardon, young prince! I saved the steward's life, that ought to count for something!"

"And you swore allegiance to the house of Gondor" Eldarion remembered. "I'm glad you did. I like you."

"I accept that praise with gratitude, my prince" Pippin said. "I am also quite happy I swore my allegiance. And I'm glad your father decided to let me serve you. It has been a real learning experience."

Eldarion looked troubled over something. He thought in silence for a moment and then put words to his thoughts.

"All seven of you seemed to be doing so many different things during the War!"

"Nine" Pippin corrected. "There were nine of us."

"It's very hard to keep track of who did who! I bet there are a million exciting stories waiting to be told, but I will never find out what they are this way! I don't know what way to turn with all you nine being scattered like that!"

"No, most of the time we were quite unified" Pippin said. "None of us were ever alone. Save for one, the same one who fought out at Pelennor. He was the only one to be travelling without the company of another fellowship member."

"How come?"

"I can't remember" Pippin said. "And it doesn't matter now. Tell me young prince, why does this all interest you so?"

"Because I spend all my day with you, and I see my father every day. Masters Legolas and Gimli are often around even if I do not know them well. These stories are your stories; it makes them so much more interesting when they are about people you know!"

"I tried to tell my son about the fellowship once" Pippin said. "He listened politely but I could tell he thought his father was one queer Halfling. Periannath do not usually have adventures, in fact it's quite frowned upon. My son takes more after his mother than me, and perhaps that is a blessing."

"I want to have adventure" Eldarion said.

"Maybe someday you might" Pippin said.

"It must be so exciting! I can't wait until I am old enough!"

"Exciting…" Pippin said thoughtfully. "Honestly you don't realise you are having an adventure while you are having it. Except that us Periannath knew we would be considered queer upon our return home for even having left the Shire! Quite frankly it is much more exciting to look back at the happenings than it was to live through them. At least now you know who survived and who did not, and that you came out all right in the end. I find you can enjoy stories much more when you aren't worried you will be dead by the end of them…"

"I think an adventure would be tops!" Eldarion said, not really listening to Pippin for once. "Slay dragons and fight orcs…"

"Then you must practice your swordsmanship" Pippin said. "Come along now my lord, we had better get you down to your teacher."

With a gentle shove he got Eldarion moving down the halls. Pippin followed a few paces behind, wishing to himself that Eldarion would never get his wish and have any adventures. Pippin preferred hearing about adventures; once someone you knew and cared about was involved in them it became a little too close to home. He might be a Took but even a Took was still a Hobbit and no matter what he had written in his own history Pippin could not completely favour adventures. He was in truth quite glad that his son showed so little interest in hearing about the fellowship, the less prone the boy was to ride out and find adventures of his own the better.

While Eldarion practiced his swordsmanship Pippin began to make preparations for his journey back. It was not a small feat to ride all the way to the Shire, and there were a lot of things that had to be planned. Gimli and Legolas would accompany him this time as well, and it was anybody's guess how that would play out.

Pippin longed to get back home, but part of him wished he could stay just a little longer. He loved being back in Gondor now that he knew it was not as bad as he had feared it would be. And he had gotten such a fine connection with the young prince. Eldarion might have grown both older and forgetful by the time they would meet again. Pippin had a feeling that a teenage boy would not be interested in spending so much time with a Halfling who was nearly half a century older than him.

As he sat down with Gimli and Legolas to make the last preparations Pippin was thankful he still had eight days before he had to leave. He would get to see Faramir and Éowyn once more; they were riding in to take part in an annual celebration held two days before Pippin's departure. It felt good that they were coming. Pippin was glad he would get to say goodbye to all those closest to him before he left Gondor.