A Break from Hardships Chapter 2: Trouble in Paradise, a lord of the rings fanfic

Ch. 2 Trouble in Paradise

"It was a reflex." Pippin couldn't quite find the words. "I...I just wanted to help him." Staring at his hairy feet he thought about what happened. "Why did it have to go that way Merry? It shouldn't have happened like that."

Stoic, Merry turned toward his cousin. "I know Pip, I should have seen it coming." Quickly he turned away, stuck in his head, not able to shake the feeling that he could have prevented it. 'It was an accident, right?' Merry thought to himself, but he felt he must bear the terrible burden of guilt. 'Yes, it was, but only in the beginning… I could have said something, warned him. I usually say something, but why didn't I this time?'

Staring at his cousin in that warm orange glow Pippin felt ashamed. Pippin could hear his voice saying 'I know you're angry with me about what happened, but it wasn't my fault!' He could almost hear himself choking on tears trying to convince his cousin and apologize. 'It was an accident!' But Pippin couldn't bring himself to say the words, he could only continue to stare at his cousin, under emerging stars and high above the dangerous, hot water below.

Hours Earlier

"Come, come young Hobbits. Join me in a bowl or two of some Old Toby." Willie breathed out with the Earth, his voice extremely calming and now without its rusty quality, as if to say he had lowered his defenses. "Sit with me and watch the sunset, the colors are vivid tonight."

Taking their respective places on either side of Willowsnare, with their backs to the big white rock, each experienced smoker began to load their pieces. "Willie, what is that pipe made out of?" Merry inquired, curious as ever.

"This, my little friend, is Obsidian." Willie replied deep, slow and with emphasis on the last word.

"Obsidian!" Merry said surprised, "How did you make a pipe out of that?"

"I don't understand," Pippin interjected. "What's so special about Obsidian?"

"Obsidian is one of the hardest substances in Middle Earth!" Merry explained, giddy as a schoolgirl from seeing something he had only ever dreamed of. "Which would make it extremely hard to make a pipe out of."

"Indeed it was you wise young one, but dwarves are extremely skilled craftsmen...as are the elves I guess, but I prefer myself a good dwarven craft." Willie explained, "It all started back in the Shire actually, in Longbottom. I had been traveling across Middle Earth, taking an adventure of sorts, when I ended up there. I met this man, he was short like you, and he just kept babbling on and on about this plant he had started growing, saying that everyone needs to try it. He was so incessant about it that I gave in to his request and tried a puff on his small, small piece, which turned out to be the whole bowl." Willie reminisced fondly, "But that tiny puff was all I needed to know that I needed to try more. The first time I smelled it is unforgettable, and that only slightly beats the taste, sweeter than anything I had ever tried, except for maybe morning dew-covered fruit. Needless to say, I couldn't continue using such a small contraption if I were to keep smoking this "Halflings' Leaf" so I retraced my steps back to a small town of Dwarves that I had previously befriended to see if they could help me. Oddly enough, these dwarves lived near a volcano, which as I'm sure you know Merry, is where Obsidian is formed. The ground was rich with minerals, but their largest abundance was their amount of Obsidian."

Willie paused and drew on his Obsidian beauty. It was as smooth as glass with a long, curved chamber leading from the bowl to the mouthpiece. Gleaming in the setting sun, Willie pulled it down and away from his face. Smoke still pouring out of the mouthpiece, it set a large smooth plain, like rolling hills, above which Willie spewed a thick white cloud with minor adjustments of his mouth, and slight head movement. The cloud slowly morphed in front of these young halflings, full of wonder, as they see a cloud of smoke change into a willow tree ent walking through a hilly field, surrounded by birds, rabbits and other various life, orbiting him like satellites. The ent continued to walk, then looked up to new forming clouds which developed into incredible dragons, ships, and a spider spinning a web quickly, nimbly, and intricately, forming patterns that neither Pippin nor Merry could even begin to comprehend.

Before either of them could speak, Willie said randomly, "Alright so think about this. Is your mouth really a part of your body?" Before leaning back and taking another long draw, the wind blowing away his previous creation, only this time to release the smoke in an unorganized bundle while repeatedly opening and closing his mouth, with a new found look of extreme confusion.

Equally as puzzled, Merry replied hesitantly, "Well, yes of course, if your mouth isn't a part of your body then where is it?"

Quickly Willie snapped back to his original kind, wise, unconfused self, "I don't know, forget I asked."

Pippin still in disbelief of the smoke trick he had just witnessed, blurted out, "How did you DO that? That was incredible!"

"What that silly thing that the wind blew away?" Willie replied, "I would hardly say that I did that, I just guided the smoke in a way that I thought would be interesting, I ultimately do not have enough control to ensure that that would happen."

"But that was a smoke trick right?" Pippin inquired confused, "How did you make that happen if you didn't control it?"

"Well, ultimately the one thing you control is yourself." Willie explained, "I can attempt to prevent things, I can try to begin things, but the only way it can actually happen is if the universe takes it in that direction. I am just one ent, I can be the best one ent that there is and still not change anything because it cannot be done by just one. What I and everyone else can do is try to be that one that does try to change things, or prevent them and so on, and with everyone striving to be that one we find change actually possible, working together to fix whatever may be wrong. This is why I cannot take credit, for it requires more than just me, I simply try to act as a guide." Pipe still burning, he takes another draw, this time expelling his smoke in a much simpler ring pattern, making a target like Merry does, except with many, many more rings, before finishing with a beautiful elvish smoke arrow shooting through the bullseye, dissipating the target into a haze of diffusing smoke particles.

Willie returned to the original subject "Due to the plethora of obsidian, these dwarves had to find efficient ways of using it. They found it was rather difficult to use in its naturally occurring state, but that with extensive heating, it became much more manageable. So, in exchange for my services transporting their goods in mass quantities, the master smelter and nine others constructed this for me, it took them one full day, but when it was finished, they deemed it indestructible, and seeing as its lasted me this long, they're probably right." Willie added with a chuckle.

"Wow, who was the hobbit that wanted you to try the pipeweed?" Pippin asked.

"Well it was Toby, or rather Tobold as you may better know him." Willie responded.

"Wait Tobold? Tobold Hornblower?" Merry inquired longingly.

"Yes, that's the one. He became quite a good friend of mine actually, and sent me on my way with a large supply of long bottom leaf and I went around advertising for him, earning myself a lifetime supply, as long as he kept up business, and as I'm sure you know, business boomed." Willie continued in his deep, slow voice.

"So you've had that for some 350 years?" Merry asked longing just the same.

"Just about, yes." Willie replied, before abruptly changing the subject, "But seriously though, think about it. Isn't your mouth just a hole that your body goes around, leading to cavities that are really just more empty space trapped with your body around it?" Thinking deeply once again, the ent leaned back once more taking another long pull on his obsidian piece, that confused look upon his face yet again.

"I guess so, but that doesn't really matter does it?" Pippin responded to the odd question honestly. "I mean, I can eat, smoke, drink, and talk. That's good enough for me."

Surprised by this response the ent began to laugh while smoking, and he sucked the bowl's ember through. Coughing, he could feel the burn in his chest, a burn that must get out. Willie coughed and coughed, but the burn only spread. Knowing he was short on time, he reached out for help from the Hobbits. "Merry! Pippin! I haven't got long." He could feel the burn rising in his chest more and more. It was very little at first, but was growing exponentially. "I sucked in an ember, and it's smoldering inside of me right now, it grows by the second and soon it will overtake me."

"Run to Isengard Willie!" Pippin shouted in urgency. "It's flooded, the water will put out the flame!"

And off he went. No ent had ever moved so fast as this burning willow, rushing through Fangorn forest, quickly departing that beautiful clearing where the view of the sunset was so nice, and unfortunately reaching its climax of colors when he sprinted away towards Isengard. The Hobbits hurried after him following a trail of heavy, sunken footsteps leading through a path big enough for an oliphant to fit through. Worried they might lose him, they push themselves to run faster and faster.

Up ahead of them and still pulling away was Willie. The fire had spread now up his chest farther and was breaching the surface of his chin from the inside out, starting to ignite his beard. Now seeing Isengard he lengthened his stride and increased his pace beelining straight for the front gates. Having accelerated to this point he could no longer observe his surroundings as he wishes to, he has tunnel vision and he won't be taken off course. The flames had gone farther south and were now protruding out of his lower back. Closer still, he saw the finish and started feeling relief, believing that he was out of the woods. In an instant, he's on the ground, and he felt more burning, this time originating from his foot. No time to lose and two fires in his body Willie sprang up and continued his sprint towards safety.

Running, still following the tracks left by Willie, Merry and Pippin found themselves in an ent-sized crater where their cook fire had once been. Now so close to Isengard they knew they would find him soon, and reaccelerate to see an ent run up a hill and jump over the walls of Isengard. A loud splash is associated with a large burst of flame reaching over the walls. Upon arrival of the top of the wall of Isengard, they saw their wise, old, new friend burning to death in a pit of fiery waters.

Weak, Willie looked up at the two Hobbits and spoke, his voice cracked and pained. "My dear halfling friends. Thank you for your company this past hour, it has been truly wonderful, you remind me so very much of good old Toby, but now, it's my time to go. I must say, that there could be no better view for my death than that sunset there, it may only be better if viewed from where we met. I liked that place, it was paradise." With a calm expression and his eyes fixed on the sky, his death was oddly tranquil and beautiful.

'He is so accepting, that it is his time, and that it needs to happen that way.' Merry thought to himself, 'It would have been okay if I had said something' And guilt begun to hang on his shoulders.

'I've never seen Merry so sad.' Pippin thought, 'He really enjoyed learning all of that stuff from Willie, and it's my fault he sucked that ember through. He must hate me.' Suddenly remembering how hungry he was, he went down to the once cook site, gathered some salted pork and fish and went back up to the wall, to cook it on the fire that was licking its way up the walls of Isengard.

Deep hues of purple, orange, pink, and still a little blue, with extensive amount of contrast from one to the next, were the beauty of which Willie spoke on his deathbed. And now cooking atop the wall, the Hobbits could enjoy it in silence, as Willie liked to, each one trying to think of how to start the discussion with the other.

For some time they continued this silence, allowing darkness to fill the sky, leaving the only light to come from the stars, moon, and the fire below.

Stoic, Merry turned toward his cousin. "I know Pip, I should have seen it coming." Quickly he turned away, stuck in his head not able to shake the feeling that he could have prevented it. 'It was an accident, right?' Merry thought to himself, but he felt he must bear the terrible burden of guilt. 'Yes, it was, but only in the beginning… I could have said something, warned him. I usually say something, but why didn't I this time?'

"I should have said something." Merry said, finally relieving the tension. " I noticed a film on the surface of the water… I should've known it was oil!" Merry yelled slamming his head into his palms.

"Wait, you feel like it was your fault?" Pippin asked cautiously, "I was the one who made him catch on fire and then I told him to run here. It couldn't have been your fault."

"Neither of you two should be blaming yourself." A new voice interjected. "Willowsnare knew that his death was inevitable the moment he hit the surface." The voice was long, deep and rough like bark.

"Treebeard! It's good to see you," Pippin exclaimed before adding solemnly, "I'm sorry about Willie, he was a good ent."

"A fool is what he was." Treebeard replied in a sudden flash of anger, which died quickly, "A wise, old fool, but he wasn't quite all there." Treebeard leaned in close, "His head was full of fungi, those same damned mushrooms that Radagast likes to eat."

"I guess that explains the mouth question." Merry deduced.

"Indeed," replied Treebeard in a reflective tone, "He's been trying to convince everyone that your mouth is just space your body goes around for years. The only one who has ever really accepted that idea is Radagast. But as odd as he was, he had some very clear moments sometimes, where he could share his introspective developments with people, teaching them good lessons for ways to live life. Even in death he passes on a lesson, one that I've been trying to instill in you two for some time. Don't be hasty." And with that treebeard was off.

"I feel we should do something for him, but I don't know what we could do." Merry said, longing to pay tribute to his fallen comrade.

"We should grab his pipe-weed and let him spread its sweet aroma once more." Pippin suggested.

Returning to the clearing was much more calm than the previous trip to Isengard, allowing for Merry and Pippin to take in the serene nature of early night, reflecting on what they had learned from Willie. Upon arrival in the clearing, the giant bag of pipeweed and equally giant obsidian pipe were still in the same spot that they had been left in.

"Do you think we should bring his pipe?" Merry asked Pippin.

"No, let's leave it here." Pippin replied, "He would've wanted it to stay in paradise." Before turning to the sack of pipeweed larger than the two Hobbits and lifting one end.

They returned to Isengard successfully with the pounds upon pounds of pipeweed that they carried and brought it up to the wall, where the fire had diminished, though not by too much.

"Let's smoke a bowl with him." Merry suggested.

Seeing it as the wonderful idea that it was, they each packed a bowl from his sack before throwing the remaining plethora across the flames, instantly filling all of Isengard with the sweetest smell it had ever experienced. Now reflecting further still on wisdom from Willie, Pippin took a long draw from his pipe and let it flow out of his mouth slowly. The cloud turned very slowly into an old, kind willow tree ent's face, which winked and smiled. Pippin smiled back to the smoke Willie as he dissipated slowly into the light breeze as the sun was just starting to come up. Looking out onto the horizon, Pippin could swear he saw four riders coming their way.