Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews and waiting for me to update! : )
Of Messes, Bumps, and Flowers
Frodo led Peter and Edmund into his large hobbit hole. Sam continued to cut the hedges around the house, but kept a suspicious eye on Edmund and Peter through the round windows.
Peter and Edmund had to stoop to enter the low doorway. The wide spacious entryway had several hooks to hang cloaks and hats. There were other doorways leading away from the main corridor into other rooms. They followed Frodo down the hall and into the kitchen. A merry fire was burning brightly in the hearth and a tin teakettle was hanging on a hook over the hot coals.
Another hobbit was bustling about the cozy kitchen. She had golden hair that fell in ringlets around her face. She had crystal clear blue eyes and a radiant smile. "What was all the commotion outside?" she asked turning towards them with a clay mixing bowl and wooden spoon in her hands. Then she stopped and her mouth dropped open. Finally, she found her voice, "W-who are the-these gentlemen, Frodo?"
"They are from a far off country called Narnia." Frodo explained.
"I'm Peter and this is Edmund." Peter spoke up, giving the hobbit a warm, genuine smile.
Seeing Edmund's hard face, Peter elbowed Edmund in the ribs and shot a glare at him. Then Edmund mustered up the cheesiest smile in the history of all the kings of Narnia.
"Well it's nice to meet you. I'm Rosie, Sam's wife." Rosie said feeling more comfortable around the boys.
Frodo motioned for the young kings to have a seat on one of the benches at the small, round, wooden table. The kings sat politely next to each other as Frodo seated himself on the opposite side. The table was quite cramped and Peter and Edmund had trouble staying on the hard bench.
"I'll make some tea and get you some supper." Rosie offered. She set about her work humming a cheerful song.
A fresh breeze blew the scent of blossoming flowers in from the open window, making the dark brown curtains ripple. A lone bird welcomed the evening with a beautiful song as the sunlight faded slowly.
"How did you get here?" Frodo asked the first question as Rosie served them the hot tea on a delicate china tray.
The tea cups were of an ivory color and had small, purple flowers on them. Blue birds fluttered around the blooms and the lip of the teacup was rimmed with gold. The teacups glistened against the soft candlelight.
Before the kings she set a grand hobbit meal. There were a lot of choices, from a plump, soft, dark blue fruit to some white meat bursting with flavor. The kings started eating the meal hungrily and then Peter started relaying the story about their adventures in the Western Wild and how they entered Middle Earth. Frodo listened intently to everything the High King said.
"You said you were searching for your queen." Frodo remembered, "What about that?"
"Our sister, Queen Susan, as we told you went missing in the Wild Forest and we came out to look for h-"
"What if she stumbled into this world Peter?" Edmund interrupted, suddenly struck by the thought.
"You could be right!" Peter exclaimed jumping up from the table.
Unfortunately, his knees upset the table as he jumped up and the table toppled over towards Frodo, who quickly leapt out of the way. Everything on the table clattered to the floor and all the teacups shattered.
Peter turned bright red and Edmund just sat there staring at the mess on the wooden floor.
"O-oh! I'm so sorry!" Peter profusely apologized. "I-"
"It's alright." Rosie interrupted, giving Peter a smile. "Accidents happen."
Peter, thoroughly embarrassed, started to help pick up the mess. Edmund tried to suppress the laughter that came to his lips, but failed miserably. Peter glared at him as he picked up a broken candle.
Just then Sam entered the kitchen and said; "I'm starving!" he stopped at what he saw. He saw Peter on the floor helping Rosie pick up the mess and saw Edmund trying to keep his seat on the bench as he howled with laughter; tears were rolling freely down his cheeks.
"What's going on here?" he demanded.
"Peter h-had… a litt-little run in… with-with…the table." Edmund spoke gasping for breath and then broke into another round of laughter.
Soon everything was cleaned up and after everything quieted down Frodo asked, "What is your plan?"
Sam was sitting at the table eating the food that Rosie prepared for him. "Hopefully to leave." He said with his mouth full.
"Oh shush!" Rosie scolded, slapping his shoulder.
"That's not a bad idea." Edmund muttered under his breath, staring hard at Sam.
"Uh…I don't know…" Peter replied, still a bit shaken by the table incident. "I guess we'll decide in the morning."
By this time the sun had fully set and the crickets chirped shrilly. The young kings were exhausted by their travels and adventures. Rosie noticed the kings' flushed faces.
"Why don't you escort Peter and Edmund to bed, Sam?" She suggested.
"What? Why?!" Sam furrowed his brow and snorted. "I ain't escort'n them to bed."
"Sam." Rosie said in a warning, motherly tone, crossing her arms, and glaring down at him.
"Oh alright." Sam got slowly up. "Come on then." He motioned Peter and Edmund to follow him.
They walked to another part of the house that Sam led them to. The whole house was cool and quiet. Candles lined the walls, lighting their way. All the while Sam muttered things under his breath about the weather, gardening, and why he was the one having to escort the boys to bed.
"Here's your room." Sam said, opening a red door. Then he walked back towards the kitchen to finish his unfinished meal.
"Good night!" Peter called back down the hall, but Sam didn't even look back.
Peter took a lit candle down from a stand in the light colored wall and entered the dark bedroom. "A jolly fellow he is, isn't he?" he commented.
"Pissh. I don't know what you're going on about." Edmund retorted, already fed up by the day's events.
"I was being sarcastic." Peter shot back.
"Since when is the High King sarcastic?" Edmund asked, rolling his eyes.
Edmund began to enter the doorway, but didn't crouch low enough and bumped his head against the solid, wooden doorframe.
"Ow!" he held his head.
This time it was Peter's turn to laugh.
"Very funny, High King, very funny." Edmund frowned.
"Now look who's being sarcastic?" he poked at his brother playfully.
"I'm not in the mood."
"Oh I can see that!" Peter continued to laugh.
Edmund finally got through the door and looked around. There was a bunk built into the wall at one end of the room and it looked as if it was made for dwarves. There was a bright colored rug on the floor and small fireplace that was unlit.
A little, glass chandelier hung from the ceiling and Peter went to light it with his burning candle. There were a few wooden chairs at the other end of the room and a bookcase sat in between them with a bunch of different colored books on it. The books were so old that it looked as if they would crumble to dust if you touched them. The room was quite clean and the bed sheets still smelled like sandalwood soap.
The young men then started stripping themselves of their armor and weapons.
"Edmund, could you come help me out of this breastplate?" Peter asked his younger brother.
"Sure." He answered and started unbuckling the sparkling, silver armor. "Peter, what do you think our search party will do then they find we're missing?"
Peter stopped unlacing his gauntlets and thoughtfully said, "I don't know."
Suddenly, there was a light knock on their door. Peter went to answer it as he removed his breastplate. There outside the door stood Rosie.
"Let me light a fire for you." She said, walking into the room.
"Oh." Peter said, "Thank you."
She rapidly lit a fire and soon it was crackling sharply.
"Do you need anything else?" She inquired sweetly.
"No, thank you." Peter responded.
"Alright then, just call if you need anything else!" She said walking to the door, "Good night!"
"Good night." Peter called back shutting the door.
After she left, the boys tumbled into the tiny beds, Edmund on the bottom and Peter on the top. Both of their legs dangled off the end of the bed.
They were both quiet for a few minutes and then Edmund whispered, "Peter?"
"Hmm?" Was his sleepy reply.
"Where do you think Susan is right now?" he asked.
"I donno." Peter said quietly.
After a few more restless minutes Edmund asked, "Do you think she is safe?"
"I donno."
"Do you think we will find her quickly?"
"I donno."
"Peter?" Edmund murmured again.
Peter shot up, "Would you quit disturbing my sleep?!" he demanded, but he forgot about the low ceiling and smacked his forehead on to it. "Ow!"
"You alright?" Edmund inquired.
"Yeah." He replied, rubbing the knot on his head. "No thanks to you."
Edmund started getting drowsy and slowly started to drift off to sleep, when he heard.
"Ed?"
"Hmm?"
"My head hurts."
Edmund sighed.
"Ed?"
"Hmm?"
"My head hurts a lot."
Edmund sighed again.
"Ed?
"Would you be quiet?!" Edmund exclaimed, sitting up, but heforgot about the top bunk and wacked his head upon the wood frame. "Oh ow!" he moaned.
Peter chuckled softly, "Looks like we're in the same boat now."
"Oh my head!" Edmund groaned.
"Tell me about it." Peter rolled his eyes and grinned.
After moaning and groaning for a few more minutes Edmund tried to settle down, but he couldn't. He kept tossing and turning in the bed. It didn't help that half his body was dangling over the end of the bed.
"Peter?"
"Yeah?"
"This bed is ridiculously uncomfortable."
"I know. I don't think I'll ever get to sleep now." Peter grunted, "And it's your fault."
"My fault?!"
"Yeah, you made me bump my head!"
"Well you just had to not let Susan go to Calormen so this is your fault!" Edmund retorted. "This would have never happened if you had let her go Tashbaan!"
"So now you're putting the blame on me!?" Peter argued.
"Yeah!"
"Well why don't we say it's both our fault and be done with it?" Peter settled it.
After a few more moments of silence Edmund said, "It's still your fault."
Peter answered the comment by bending down over the edge of his bed and striking Edmund with his pillow, "Be quiet!"
And that's how it ended. Peter started to fall asleep and Edmund stared into the glistening fireplace, listening to the fire pop. He thought about their adventures and of his sisters. Then he too nodded off to sleep.
--
I awoke in the castle of Minas Tirith the next morning and remembered that my bow and arrows were missing. I quickly dressed and searched franticly about my room for half the morning. To my dismay I could not find any trace of them whatsoever.
Late in the morning I heard a tap at my door. I opened it and saw the servant who had helped me the night before, standing there.
"M'lady, Lady Arwen requests you to dine with her at noon." She said, dipping a curtsy.
"Thank you." I replied as she turned to leave. "Wait!"
"Yes, M'lady?" She whirled around.
"I don't know your name." I answered.
"My name is Brie, M'lady." She said.
I rewarded her with a bright smile, "Tis nice to meet you, Brie. And you can drop all that 'M'lady' nonsense. I prefer to being called Susan or just Su."
Her deep, green eyes widened, "Are you sure, M'lady?"
"Of course I'm sure!" I laughed quietly. "After all Queens have to be sure of something before they say it right?"
"Alright then, Susan." She grinned and gave a little giggle.
"Thanks for the message. I'm sure you have many more things to do." I said with a bigger smile.
"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that Lady Arwen said she had a surprise awaiting you after you eat." She called back down the short hall as she left.
I shut the door. I wonder what the surprise could be. That thought lingered in my mind the rest of the morning.
--
Later, Brie came back to escort me to Arwen's lunch that she had prepared.
She led me to an open-air patio that looked out over the plains to the West. It was an overcast day with a light wind blowing from the south. Although it was cool, it was not cold and the sun was trying desperately to peek out from under the blanket of gray, fast moving clouds.
A small, square table sat on the stone floor and there was a roof that had kind of a lattice work dome with marble pillars supporting it. There was a lace table cloth on and two ivory candles that rested in a silver candle holder.
Arwen was sitting in one of the ivory, wicker chairs. She had on a light blue gown that had a rounded neckline. Her raven, black hair gently blew back from her pale shoulders in the breeze. She greeted me with a sweet smile and rose from her chair.
"Welcome Susan." She said.
"Hello Arwen." I replied.
We both took our seats and a light meal started being served on small, shining, sliver trays. As we started eating and talked about a variety of things, from family to different styles of dresses, and we quickly became fast friends.
"You haven't seen my bow and arrows this morning have you?" I asked.
"No why?"
"There missing." I said. "I must have misplaced them. I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere."
Just then a servant entered the area interrupting our conversation.
"I have a delivery to make to Queen Susan." He said, handing (to my great surprise) me a single, strange-looking flower that was blue.
After the servant left I said, "I wonder who this could be fr-," But before I could finish another servant came in carrying a bouquet of flowers in numerous colors.
He gave the same message and left our presents.
"As I was saying…" I rolled my eyes, "I wonder who these could be from."
"A secret admirer?" Arwen questioned, raising her eyebrows slightly.
"Merry and Pippin no doubt." I laughed.
Arwen giggled, "They did seem quite fond of you last evening."
We finished the satisfying meal and relaxed together for a while.
"Are you ready for your surprise?" She smiled slyly.
"Sure." I shrugged.
She motioned to a servant and then whispered in his ear. A few minutes later he returned and said, "Here is what you requested."
Out of the doorway jumped Merry and Pippin, "Surprise!" they both shouted in unison.
Then they both stopped and stared at me.
"You got her a flower too?!" Merry whispered the exclamation, elbowing his friend.
"Not a flower." Pippin hissed. "Flowers." He crossed his arms looking proud that he outdid his best friend.
"That was my idea!" Merry said a bit louder.
"No. Your idea was to get her a flower." Pippin pointed out. "My idea was to get her a bunch of flowers."
"Gentlehobbits!" I interrupted their argument. "What's the surprise?"
"Oh!" Pippin said. "We're taking you on a tour of this grand kingdom!" he looked pleased with himself.
"You did it again Pippin!" Merry smacked his forehead.
"Did what?" Pippin asked in a matter of fact tone.
"We're not taking her on a tour of the kingdom!" Merry ridiculed, "We're taking her on a tour of the citadel!"
"Same difference!" Pippin defended himself.
"Why don't we leave now?" I cut in again.
"Alright!" Merry said.
"Let's go on the grand tour of the kingdom!" Pippin affirmed.
"Well done Pip." Merry stated sarcastically.
As they left, they quarreled about who gets to take my arm and lead me through the city. I looked back at Arwen with a sigh.
"Well have fun." She wished me well. "Especially with those two!"
I rolled my eyes and followed Pippin and Merry.