"Pippin…Pippin?...Pippin!" Merry repeated his friend's name with an increasing tone of urgency. The hobbit in question was lying on the floor, unresponsive to our attempts to snap him out of his shock. Merry was going so far as to grip his friend by the shoulders and try to shake the stupor out of him. An attempt which we quickly ended, afraid of Merry accidently striking a dent into Pippin's skull in the process.

"Stop it or you may end up hurting him." I pulled Merry back by the end of his shirt.

"Is he dead?" Merry asked, the thought occurring to him. Whatever power the dark orb had, it clearly had ill effects on those not strong enough to yield it. Hobbits who at best wielded swords, and prior to that only dinner knives, included.

"No." Was my quick reply. "That's absurd." I really had no idea at that moment how Pippin was fairing in terms of life and death. In all honesty he looked as though he had been scared to death, his face having gone pale, and his eyes wide and full of fear. But I refused to think the trouble making little hobbit had been served his last dose of bitter medicine.

Gandalf was the one who set things right, coming to Pippin's side, checking him over quickly, and restoring him with a few mumbled incantations, in a language I couldn't make out with my blood pounding in my ears. Whatever reverie Pippin was in he snapped out of it, and began shaking, and apologizing all at once. He remnded me of a child who had awoken from a nightmare.

"There we are." I released my hold on Merry. "That's an improvement at least."

"Pippin look at me…" The wizard said, trying to remain patient, as Pippin looked away from his face and his eyes darted from Merry to me to Aragorn and onward from person to person, seeking out everyone but the wizard. "Pippin, look…what did you see?" Gandalf was firm, requiring answers, and as quickly as possible. Pippin mumbled a few more apologies. I was beginning to think Pippin had not remembered what he saw or did not see, when suddenly, in a shaky voice "A white tree…in a courtyard…it was dead, burning…the city was on fire…"

"This city?" Aragorn asked.

"No." Pippin's teeth chattered as he continued to quiver.

"Minas Tirith? Is that what you saw?" Gandalf pressed. At the mention of the great city everyone frowned realising Pippin may have gotten into more trouble than he normally did.

"I saw him." Pippin either ignored or forgot the question. "His voice was in my head, and he was speaking to me."

"Minas Tirith, was that the city you saw?" Gandalf repeated himself, dropping some of his patient tone.

"I…I think so." He swallowed thickly.

"Did you tell him anything? What did you say to him?"

"I can't be sure, I've never laid eyes on Minas Ti-"

"Speak Pippin! Answer the question." Gandalf snapped.

"He asked my name." Pippin finally answered. "I didn't answer." He quickly added. "Then he hurt me."

"And what of Frodo and the Ring? What did you say of them?"

I exchanged a worried glance with Aragorn, and then Eowyn, who stepped forward and gently placed her hand on Pippin's shoulder, in what was the most comforting gesture he received in his interrogation. "Pippin…did you say anything about Frodo?" She asked quietly.

The silence before his response was in reality only two seconds, but it felt stretched out to the span of a decade. Somewhere in those two seconds there was enough time to panic that the Dark Lord had finally gained the information he desperately wanted, and then assure oneself that Pippin had been too surprised and frightened to say anything, and then doubt oneself and be sure that Pippin, under the pain the orb inflicted on him, had let out Frodo's plans.

The internal debate continued on, switching sides, and with tension building until Pippin finally said "No."

I let out a vocal sigh of relief. "Thank all Valar." I mumbled to myself. "Fool of a Took." I echoed Gandalf's phrase for Pippin.

"Do not thank them just yet, Gideon." Gandalf rose, pulling up the hobbit with him. "We still have our consequences to deal with."

/

"Does he know he's leaving with Gandalf?" I asked Merry after a late counsel with Theoden had taken place.

Merry shook his head. "He's honest, as Gandalf said…but he's also a fool, as Gandalf said." He shook his head. "I don't think he's realised it yet. He's too relieved that things turned out as well as they did, given everything that could have gone wrong."

"He'll find out eventually." I sighed.

"No doubt when he's on horseback already." Merry nodded. "I'll try to talk some sense into him, we can't have him getting himself into trouble in Minas Tirith, can we?"

"If our fate rests on Pippin behaving himself…"

"I hope not." Merry shook his head and even laughed a little. He finished packing away Pippin's bag, a task that he had set about with the devotion of a brother. "Anyway, he'll have everything he needs there."

"He won't have you though." I added quietly. It was no secret that Pippin and Merry had been attached to each others sides since youth. I could not remember a time in which they had been separated for more than a few hours. To send one away and keep another here sounded almost cruel, and had it not been Gandalf's idea, I would not have trusted it.

"No." Merry frowned. "Maybe he won't have everything he needs, not in the strictest definition."

"But Gandalf will be there to watch over him." I added with more optimism. "And it would be awfully hard for Pippin to get into any trouble with the wizard always looking over his shoulder."

"He may find a way." Merry shook his head. "Has Gandalf left from the main hall yet?"

I glanced out the window, in time to see Gandalf bidding farewell to Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn. "He's parting just now."

"I suppose I better find Pippin, break the news to him as best I can." He looked up at me. "May I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course." I felt oddly like my sister, jumping at the chance to aid Merry and Pippin, suddenly defending them as she did before turning down another path.

"Would you take the bag I packed and bring it down to the stables? Perhaps down one of the back corridors? I wouldn't want Pip to see me holding it. He may not seem the brightest hobbit, but he would be able to put the pieces together if he saw a bag all packed up for him. I need to talk to him first, before he realizes he's leaving."

"I'll bring it down now." I nodded, and I slung the bag over my shoulder. An enormous weight fell between my shoulder blades. "It's heavier than it looks." I said, adjusting it on my shoulder. "What on earth did you pack for him? Rocks?"

"Food." Merry answered casually. "I raided the kitchen for him."

"Must have been some raid." I muttered under my breath as I made my exit, nodding a quick farewell to Merry. "No wonder he's having me carry it down…he probably couldn't lift it on his own."

I began to make my way down one of the back staircases, as requested. In my moment alone I found my head suddenly swimming with problems. There was the trouble Pippin had caused, Eowyn's fancy after Aragorn, which I could only hope did not cause any ill will between parties. Then the ever present concerns for ourselves, for Fali, for Frodo and the Ring.

"Saving the world….out of everything I could have done I choose to help save Middle Earth." I sighed.

"If I recall the occasion correctly," Aragorn spoke from the bottom of the staircase as I appeared. "It was your sister who pulled you along, and you were quite unhappy with her for doing so. She started sparring with you and you were unaware that Lord Elrond was watching. You took on the quest with a sense of duty, not complete willingness."

"Oh." I was reminded of those first few days of the journey which seemed to be years ago. "Well, you're not wrong." I added, continuing my walk, and Aragorn followed by my side.

"I'm glad your opinion has changed though." Aragorn said.

"It has?" I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"From what you were saying, it now sounds like you do choose to be with the Fellowship, small as it is now."

Aragorn's observation was right. If I was suddenly placed back before Lord Elrond and if I was asked if I would go with them, I would agree now. I'd still hate certain things…fighting and death and Fali leaving to protect Frodo and Sam when I thought she would be at my side as Pippin thought Merry would be. But I would go with them.

"Anyone can have a change of heart." I replied. After a pause, I asked "What will happen now?"

"We try to gain favor with Minas Tirith."

"Theoden didn't sound so positive over the idea."

"He is reluctant but he hasn't lost faith yet." Aragorn said. "Gandalf means not to fail us in his absence."

"So the wizard has some plan or other all thought up." I nodded. "Do you know what it is?"

"Yes, that which he told me."

"I suppose I'm not to be privy to those details?"

"No, you'll not know a thing, as is best."

"And Gandalf thinks it is only Merry and Pippin who get up to tricks." I shook my head and smirked. "If only he knew…"

We reached the stables and I swung Pippin's bag over the saddle, tying it down. From far off, but drawing closer, there was the sound of Merry almost scolding Pippin, and the hobbit apologizing for it. "We should leave." I said. "It will be hard enough for Pippin to part with one of us, worst of all with Merry. To have more of us about at the moment will only make it more difficult."

"We should be able to see him and Gandalf riding off from the wall." Aragorn said. "If you wish to witness them leaving. You seem to have become sort of attached to them since Pippin unknowingly caused this trouble."

"Fali would have wanted me to be in her absence…though I can't say it's only out of duty…it's difficult to hate hobbits, even ones as troublesome as Pippin and Merry. They never mean to harm anyone. They never mean to go looking for fights. Every bit of trouble they do cause is by accident, and so one can never hate them." We walked up the stairs to the top of the wall, turning our gaze toward the open land. I checked over my shoulder to see Gandalf making his way slowly to the stables. "Of course, it's still possible to be frustrated by them, now and then…"

"In some respects you sound hobbit-like." Aragorn said.

I nodded, silent. It had not been the first time the observation had been made, and I had often made it myself.

"I hope my saying so does not offend you. It is meant to be an admirable quality."

"Thank you." I replied. From Aragorn, it sounded like a compliment. Truly, if every person meant the harm that they did in life it would be a much darker world we lived in…I was suddenly more glad than ever I still favored peace over spars. What had sounded boring in my childhood now sounded like a necessity.

There was the sound of a horse breaking into a run from below. "They are leaving now." I sighed.

True to my prediction, Merry came bolting up the wall, and watching with us as Shadowfax raced off, carrying Gandalf and Pippin, looking more like a streak of white than like a horse and his riders. Merry watched it all with a serious, but saddened, look. I found myself shaking his shoulder a little to comfort him, and remind him that he was not alone yet.

"He's been by my side since we were just tweens." Merry said, quietly. "I got him into the worst sort of trouble…"

"It looks like he could manage trouble making very well on his own Merry, it is not your fault that he stumbled into another mishap." I said.

"I was always there to get him out of trouble though."

I watched the horse and riders travel on farther, beginning to melt into the landscape and disappear from sight. A felt a small pain in my chest, a stirring memory of when Fali wished me farewell, and then turned on her heel and disappeared down the river with Frodo and Sam. I had felt so empty in that moment…poor Merry, his own chest probably felt as empty.

"From what I've learned of hobbits, they are a most hardy folk." Aragorn said. "He will be fine."

"Foolhardy maybe…he is a Took after all." And Merry found he was able to laugh, causing us both to grin at him.

Merry watched the horizon long after our friends were gone. Aragorn and I stood by for a long time, but eventually I turned and whispered quietly that he may go. He had much to attend to, and I was capable of minding Merry.

A while after Aragorn departed Merry heaved a heavy sigh. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"I shouldn't have gave him all the pipeweed I had left." Merry mused. "A bit wasteful of me to do that." He grinned, and it became apparent that he was joking again.

"Truly you've spoiled him. I should be next to leave." I smiled, and concluded that we should climb down from the wall. "Come on, Merry." I said. "Follow me."

"Where to?"

"You'll see, just follow."

I've become Fali, was all I could think. Or more like her anyway. I pulled my sword from my belt as I led Merry to an empty courtyard. "Whenever Fali felt angry or depressed she'd practise drills until all her energy was spent." I said. "I found some odd peace in it to, just practising the motions. Eases the mind, let's you focus on something else."

"Fali always said you hated swordfighting…that you would rather read books in some private corner."

"I find I appreciate it now more." I said. "Aragorn taught me well."

"So now you're going to teach me?"

"Well, try to teach you." I shrugged. "Can't promise I'll make a good instructor, but Fali would knock me over the head if I didn't make sure that someone was keeping up your training."

Merry looked unsure. He hadn't done much fighting the whole of the journey, his path leading him elsewhere. "Trust the one who's still sand between his shoulder blades from his youth at the training grounds. You'll get better."

He slowly took out his own blade and stood in a somewhat ready stance. "The last time I did anything like this, Boromir…"

"Yes…right." I nodded. "But you should keep learning all the same. He didn't teach you something just so you could stop learning."

"You've been spending too much time with Aragorn…you're starting to sound a little like him."

I smirked. "Enough stalling, stand straighter. And put your feet a little farther apart." He did what I said. "Now keep your grip…" I struck my blade lightly against his. "Now, attack first."

Merry swung well, and met me swing for swing.

"You should have come to Erebor when you were younger." I said. "No doubt my brothers would have jumped on you and turned you into a true fighter." I swung hard and Merry lost his grip on his sword, which went flying across the courtyard. I shrugged, keeping the air around our practise light, and carefree. "It might have taken them a few summers, but they would have been wonderful seasons." I went and retrieved the blade for him. "Stronger grip, Merry. Now, attack first."

"Again?"

"That's how Aragorn trained me."

"How did your Father teach you?" Merry asked, beginning the spar.

"My father taught me the basics, how to stand, how to swing…I never really got on with fighting in formal lessons. I performed much better with my family. Actually…I think it was my mother who gave me my very first lesson. She fought as well as my father…and had more time on her hands. It's hard to help run a kingdom when you have four young children running in four different directions. Sparring was the only way she could organize us. She'd set Frerin and Fien against each other and practise with Fali and I."

"And the peace making streak in you?"

"The what?" I asked. "You noticed that?"

"It would be hard not too, you've come to the Shire so many summers." Merry laughed. "You and conflict didn't mix at all. Has it been knocked out of you?"

"I was born with it, I think. Must have been, it's been in me as far back as I can remember. It will take more than a few skirmishes and battles to knock it out."

I rallied against Merry, and the hobbit tried to overcome my attacks but was forced backward a ways, and eventually held up his arms in surrender.

"Good try that time." I nodded. "On the next one, try favoring your right a little more, it will help you balance."

"Gideon…"

"Yes?" Merry's eyes widened and focused on something behind me, and as I turned around a blade swung high and I flinched nervously, shielding myself from Aragorn. "What?" I managed to spit out the word in my surprise.

But Aragorn only uncrossed his sword from mine, took a half-step back and swung again, this time forcing me to move my person altogether. I swatted at his sword in a weak move. "You tried to sneak up on me…" I went on.

"Well it's not uncommon for people to come at you from behind…a man has more than one side to him, doesn't he?" He glanced over me shoulder. "Merry, would you care to join me?"

Merry gave a small, but devilish, smirk and stood ready, behind me.

"Teaming up on me? Is that my new challenge?" I asked. "Or is this meant to be a reminder that I am still a student myself?" Aragorn swung, and Merry made a false move, making me nearly jump out of my skin, expecting to be poked or prodded from one side, if not struck from both.

"I think you were making a passable instructor." Aragorn said. "Though sparring is meant to be a challenge at it's core."

So I was starting to outgrow my one-against-one trials. Or perhaps it was foolish to continue them after I had seen a battle like Helm's Deep. I smiled inwardly at my progress.

Merry then made a swing at me that came perilously close to one of my lower ribs, making that smile dissolve.

"Watch it!" I snapped, a bit harshly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to." Merry brushed it off quickly.

Aragorn then paused the spar, stepping back and lowering his sword. "Perhaps you had better find something with a little less impact Merry, until your technique matches your courage."

Merry agreed, and rushed off to find a wooden blade that could only bruise me, rather than give me a nasty scar.

"It's good of you to distract him, and give him the practise he needs." Aragorn said.

I nodded, my hand straying to my side where Merry's blade had nearly made contact, checking to make sure I was all right. There was no blood, or even a tear in the cloth, but my mind was still very alert and I felt as though there was some mark left there. "Substituting for Fali." I said, still checking over my rib. "We both needed something else to focus on, or we'd dwell too much on those we're closest too not being at our sides." I sighed. "I hope he does well without Pippin."

"If it's anything like how you did without Fali, he will only grow from it."

"You know if you want to compliment my progress, you can just say so, there's no need to riddle up your words. 'I'm proud of your growth, Gideon' will suffice." I said.

"You think I'm proud of what you've done?" Aragorn turned to me.

"Well…" I began to backtrack my words. "I was hoping you would be…I thought you might be…granted not proud of everything mind you, the whole getting you thrown off a horse and being such sulking, scared little thing at the beginning aren't my proudest moments…or trying to use the axe with Gimli, I fell right over…and getting intoxicated that one night we were celebrating…"

Aragorn held up his hand to quiet me, or else I may leave nothing good in my reputation. "Merry's returning. Let's continue the spar."

For a moment I looked at him, and for the briefest second it looked as though he would say those words, and his pride would be known. And then…

"Carry on, instructor." Words said with a well meant smirk.

I sighed. Perhaps another time…perhaps when Fali was around to hear it as well.

Finally updating after what seems like forever. C'est la vie.