Minas Tirith, December of 1438

On the twentieth of December the Hobbits reached Minas Tirith. They would have arrived nearly a month sooner but Pippin's illness had prolonged their journey. He had recovered by the time they arrived but there had been a few tough weeks when he had coughed non-stop and his nose wouldn't stop running. Luckily neither Sam nor Merry had caught his cold and all three of them were healthy and in good spirits when they arrived.

Merry looked around the white city with awe and realised he had missed it. He had never taken the time to really look at it when he had been there before; it was as if he saw it for the first time. The exquisite buildings, the colours and the history that lingered there. He was really glad to be back even though it delayed his visit with Éowyn.

Merry and Pippin were given the same chambers they had always slept in, and an additional bed had been put in for Sam. Relieved to finally be there and not have to travel anymore all three of them were cheerful and excited; nobody who saw them would think they were there to save friendships that were falling apart. When they were left alone to settle in to their chambers the three of them jokingly bickered over who would get to sleep where and whose responsibility it would be to make sure the fire was put out at night. Sam jokingly grabbed a blanket and flicked it at Merry, who laughed and retorted by tossing his pillow at Sam. Sam reached for the pillow on his bed and hurled it at Merry, who ducked, sending the pillow smack into Pippin's head instead. The three of them laughed hard and Merry had to sit down on his bed to catch his breath.

Pippin picked up the pillow to throw it back to Sam but suddenly he recognised it. It was Merry's old pillow, the one he had always slept on before. Now it had apparently been brought out from some storage room to lend to a guest at the citadel. Pippin was shocked to see it, and it reminded him why they had come to Minas Tirith. He put the pillow down on his bed and excused himself quickly, saying that he was going to go find out when dinner would be served.

Merry didn't seem to notice any change in Pippin's mood, he kept laughing and joking with Sam while he reached up his right foot to rub a toe that had gotten a blister. Sam however saw clearly that something had upset Pippin, and he sat down with a frown, wondering what it could have been. He was sad that the short moment of old times had ended so abruptly.

"I am so hungry I could eat a horse!" Merry declared with a grin on his face, in spite of the blister. "Of course, the people of Rohan would probably have my head for such a comment. If any of them asks I never said it. Perhaps I'll settle for eating a cow, how does that sound to you Sam?"

"As long as you're willing to share it with me…" Sam said, shaking his low feelings and was glad that at least Merry was in good spirits. "I hope there's dinner on the table real soon. If there's one thing that brings out an appetite worse than travelling it is arriving. And if I remember correctly the cooking is excellent here."

"They make this excellent rice thing" Merry said. "They mix it with something or other… I'm going to have to ask for the recipe for that."

"I remember the bread they baked…" Sam said and leaned back on his bead, his mouth watering. "Hot, freshly baked bread filled with sunflower seeds…"

"And the wine they serve" Merry continued their lines of thought. "They are good at the wine; they always know what kind to serve to what food."

"I'd settle for a nice mug of Minas Tirith ale" Sam said. "And a large steak to go with it… and some taters…"

"I can barely hear you, my stomach is growling so loudly" Merry said and leaned back on his bed with his hands behind his head. "Do you think they will have a big dinner or an informal one? I need a bath before I can show my face at a formal dinner and I'll starve to death if I have to bathe first!"

"I bet informal" Sam said. "Strider knows we'll be wanting food, food and food before anything else."

"Perhaps a bit of pipeweed" Merry said. "I could have a smoke before I eat. But nothing else."

They continued to lie there and speak about food for a while, working up their appetites until they could barely stand it. They took turns in naming their favourite foods until everything edible they could think of had been mentioned. Then they began to wonder what had happened to Pippin, he had been away for some time.

Just as they were about to go look for him the door opened and a freshly bathed Pippin entered clad in Gondorian clothes, and told them they were summoned to dinner. Sam got up from his bed and eyed Pippin up and down.

"Don't tell me it's anything formal! Why are you dressed like that? And when did you have the time to get a bath?"

"They told me dinner was at least half an hour away" Pippin said and shrugged a shoulder. "I asked for a bath and some clothes to wear. I feel more comfortable wearing Gondorian clothes when I'm here. Now hurry up you two, I am so starved I could eat a whole oliphant all on my own!"

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The Hobbits were given a few days to themselves as neither Legolas nor Gimli had arrived yet. Legolas had ridden over to the Glittering Caves when word reached him that the Hobbits would be late and together Legolas and Gimli rode to Minas Tirith. They were set to arrive a few days after the Hobbits and until then the three Halflings were free to do whatever they chose to. It was only a matter of a couple of days but those days seemed longer than weeks to all of them.

Sam felt lonely. It was apparent that Merry and Pippin had their old routines which they quickly fell into and Sam was left alone. Pippin disappeared early each morning to serve as a guard or an esquire and Merry spent most of his time at the Houses of Healing. There was not much for Sam to do but get reacquainted with the city and that only took him two days. Being back in Minas Tirith he found he missed Frodo and he was once again painfully reminded that things were never going to be the same as they had been when they were all together.

Neither of them saw much of Aragorn. He preferred to stay away until they were all gathered, and he was working hard to make sure that he could take a few days to spend just with the Fellowship without having to tend to matters of the kingdom. Faramir had offered to come in and take over Aragorn's workload for a few days but Aragorn had declined. He knew that if Faramir came then Éowyn would no doubt want to be there as well and the last thing they needed was such a distraction.

Queen Arwen observed what went on around her and felt the differences almost as clearly as the members of the Fellowship did. The only time all four of them were gathered was at supper, and even then there was little communication and little evidence of the bonds that tied them together.

"The Fellowship is shattered" she noted to Aragorn.

"We can fight it" Aragorn replied.

"If it is meant to be that way" Arwen said.

Aragorn was not sure what she meant. Was the Fellowship meant to find their way back to where they had been or was it all a lost cause? Aragorn himself had to admit that he had his doubts. He had lost the ability to reach Pippin a long time ago, and Merry was just as hard to reach now, harder than when he had been gone. Sam was the only one of the Hobbits Aragorn felt he had a strong bond with still, but they had not seen each other since the end of the War and there were a lot of adjustments to be made. Sometimes Aragorn couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the Fellowship of the Ring had played out its function a long time ago.

On the eve of December 24th Legolas and Gimli arrived. The Hobbits came to greet them but Sam had to stop and just look on for a while. It was clearer to him than ever how much things had changed when he saw Legolas and Gimli greeted by Merry and Pippin. What Pippin had said was true, the Elf and the Dwarf had divided their affections for the two Hobbits and seemed to have little emotion left for the one they favoured less. Gimli gave Pippin a large hug and an affectionate rustle of the curls while Legolas knelt down to greet Merry with gentle words and a warm smile. Gimli and Merry only nodded politely to one another, as did Legolas and Pippin. The two pairs which had once worked so nicely as a unit had now been divided.

Sam had not seen Legolas or Gimli since they had come with Pippin to give word of Merry's passing and both of them greeted him with affection. Sam had missed them and he was glad to see them again.

"Long time no see, Master Samwise" Legolas said. "I am glad we meet again under happier circumstances."

"I hope you're right" Sam mumbled under his breath.

Aragorn watched the five of them from a window in the citadel and wondered what would happen between them all. But this evening he was optimistic. Legolas and Gimli had arrived on December 24th. It seemed like fate.

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I know this chapter is short... but the next chapter should be up tomorrow and it's longer.