The company has just left Rivendell. Still new to each other, conversations are scarce, except between the hobbits.
They have been walking for over 5 hours, and Gimli expresses how much his feet hurt, and that he would
like to rest. Pippin is the only one to take notice.
"Oh, I could keep walking for another hour and a half or so, if it wasn't for my grumbling stomach." He
takes an steals an apple from Sam's pack when he isn't looking.
"You mean to say your feet are not the least bit sore from all this marching about?"
"Nope." He takes a bite of his apple and grins at Gimli.
Gimli looks at Pippin like he's nuts, then looks ahead. Aragorn was motioning them to an area where
they could stop. Gimli finds a place to sit down
"Let me take a look at your feet. You must have some sort of sole on the bottoms, for you to not be in pain at all."
Pippin shurgs as he sits down next to Gimli. Gimli examines his foot and mutters. "No shoe, no sole,
nothing. And this hobbit of the Shire, with it's soft grass, is not sore at all, but me...a dwarf of the
mountains, is so sore, I'm willing to do anything to soothe my feet. I just don't understand"
"Well, Gimli, I've never worn shoes. You see, up until a while ago, I had never even heard of them. A
hobbit's foot is as thicker, and tougher than leather. It really is almost like a shoe. There isn't much that
can go through it." Pippin looked quite proud to have stronger feet than any dwarf.
Gimli picks up one of Pippin's feet, and taps the bottom of it. "So, can you feel that?"
"Not really, no."
Gimli shakes his head. "Well, I guess hobbits are made of tougher stuff than I thought."
Later...beside the river Anduin
"Oh yes? Just a simple matter of finding our way through Emin Muil? An impassible lambrynth of razor
sharp rocks. And after that, it get's even better! Festering, stinking marshlands, far as the eye can see!"
Pippin gives Gimli a look, which Gimli asks about later. "Now why are you worried about the rocks,
Pippin? You said your feet were tough enough for that."
"Well, the words 'impassible' and 'razor sharp' do not give me much comfort. Our feet may be tough enough for
small pebbles, or a bit of mud, but if Emin Muil is as bad as you say it is, I hope to not have to go that route."
"You under-estimate yourself, young Took. I'm sure your feet could take such a beating as that of a troll
before they would even begin to tremble.And by the way you handled that Troll in Moria, I'm sure you would
win in a fight between you two."
Later still. On the Field of Cormallen.
Gimli takes his blood soaked axe out of an orc. The fighting is over, and Gimli looks to find those still
alive. Legolas is still up. Good. Oh, and there's Aragorn...now for young Peregrin...Pippin? Pippin!
He looked frantically around. "Where is he?"
Legolas: "Come on Gimli. The fighting is over. Let's go."
"No, we can't. Not untill I find Pippin."
They search the grounds and find nothing, no one. Gimli, in grief, sits down ontop of what he thinks is
a large stone. He buries his head in his hands. As he looks down, he notices something. A foot? A
foot! "Legolas! It...It's a foot! A Hob..." he jumps up suddenly from his seat, and looks at the 'stone',
which strangely resembles a troll.
"What are you talking about, Gimli?"
Gimli doesn't answer. He rolls the troll over and uncovers a small hobbit, unconcious. Legolas stands
silent, stunned.
"Pippin..." Gimli whispers, and he picks him up. Through tears, Gimli carries the young Took through
the rubble and bodies, and made sure he was brought to the Healer, and he would not leave Pippin's side
until he awoke.
After Pippin is healed. In Ithilien, with the others of the Company
"At length Gandalf rose. 'The hands of the King are the hands of healing, dear friends,' he said. 'But you
went to the very brink of death ere he recalled you, putting forth all his power, and sent you into the
sweet forgetfulness of sleep. And though you have indeed slept long and blessedly, still it is now time
to sleep again.'
'And not only Sam and Frodo here,' said Gimli, 'but you too, Pippin. I love you, if only because of the
pains you have cost me, which I shall never forget. Nor shall I forget finding you on the hill of the last
battle. But for Gimli the Dwarf you would have been lost then. But at least I know now the look of a
hobbit's foot, though it be all that can be seen under a heap of bodies. And when I heaved that great carcase
off you, I made sure you were dead. I could have torn out my beard. And it is only a day yet since you were
first up and abroad again. To bed now you go. And so shall I.'" (taken from 'The Return of the King. "The
Field of Cormallen")
Gimli and Pippin exchanged a look, and Pippin smiled, wiggling his toes.
