Beginnings & Endings

by pippinmerry

Chapter Eighteen


Pippin entered the kitchen on that fateful morning in late September. “Hello, Vincy,” he said to his sister as she cooked breakfast. “That smells wonderful.”

“Thank you, Pippin.” She saw his hand creep around her and make to grab one of the sausages. “Stop that.” She smacked his hand. “They’re for breakfast.”

“Well, then they are for eating.”

Pervinca smiled and shook her head at her brother. “Here,” she said, putting a tray in his hands. “Take this to Father.”

“How is he today?”

“No better, no worse. I did finally get Mother to go to bed. She sleeping in Pearl’s old room.”

“Good. She never sleeps when one of us sick.”

“I know, now take that to Father. Make sure he eats at least some of it. Then you can come back and have some breakfast.”

Pippin headed down the hallway and walked softly into his parents’ bedroom. “Father?”

Paladin stirred and opened his eyes. “Pippin, good morning son.”

Pippin smiled. “Are you feeling any better, Da?”

Paladin sighed. “No, not really.”

Earlier in the month, Paladin had come down with what many had thought was just a bad cold. It took a turn for the worse, however, and he had been bedridden for the past three days.

“Vincy gave me your breakfast and asked me to make sure that you ate it.”

“Your sister. She’s just as bad as your mother.”

“They worry. As do I.”

“Pippin-lad.” Paladin took his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. It’s my own fault. I haven’t looked after myself recently. There’s a lot of unrest in the Shire of late. Who’s looking after things while I’m here?”

“I’m looking after most of the paperwork, but Reg is the one everyone sees.”

“Reginard is good a lad.”

“Lad? Da, Reginard is far from a lad.”

“He’s younger than me so he’s a lad.” He looked up at his son. “You’re doing the paperwork?”

“Some of it.”

Paladin sighed. “You shouldn’t be. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Pippin, I just want you to enjoy what few years you have left as a tweenager.” He reached up and stroked his son’s cheek. “You have many years before you have to worry about the Thain’s work.”

Pippin grasped his father’s hand. “It’s not a bother, Da. I still have some fun. Merry’s coming over today. I don’t know what he has planned though.”

“Why does that worry me?”

Pippin smiled. “Here. I’ll trust you to eat this. If you don’t, Pervinca will have my hide.”

Paladin sat up and took the tray from his son. “You have fun with Merry, now, Pippin.”

“I will, Da.” He got up and quietly left the room.

“Pippin, there you are,” Tine said as he entered the kitchen. “Merry will be here soon, so hurry up and eat your breakfast.”

“I thought you were sleeping.” Pippin looked at his mother with great concern. He didn’t how he would feel if both of his parents became ill. “You should be, anyways.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m fine. Did he eat his breakfast?”

“He was when I left.” Pippin sat at the table and started in at his own breakfast.

“Good, good.”

There was a swift knocking the door. Pippin stood up. “That’ll be Merry. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here?”

Tine brush his hair back and out of his eyes. “Yes. You have fun with your cousin. There’s no point in all of standing around, worrying. It won’t help your father any.” She kissed his cheek. “Go on now. He’s waiting.”

Pippin pulled on his jack, scarf, and grabbed his cloak. “I’ll be back around dinner, Mother,” he called as he left the hobbit hole.

Merry was sitting on the fence when Pippin walked out. “There you are!”

“Sorry, Merry. I was talking to my mother.”

“Quite alright.” The pair took off down the lane. “How is your father, Pippin?”

“No better, no worse. He was eating breakfast so that’s a start.”

“That’s good. Come on then. We have a long day ahead.”

“What do you have planned anyways, Merry?”

“Farmer Maggot’s.”

Pippin’s face broke into a large smile. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

The two made their way to Maggot’s field on the boarders of Buckland.

“What should we take this time?” aske Merry.

“We haven’t taken any cabbages or carrots recently.”

The two took off to claim their prizes. Maggot, however, was not happy to find some of his crops being stolen.

Merry and Pippin both ran when they had been discovered. They ran through the crops and right into Sam and Frodo.

“Hello, Frodo!” said Merry as he helped Sam up.

“What are two up to?” said Frodo.

“You’ve been into Farmer Maggot’s crop!” Sam exclaimed as Merry placed some carrots in his arms.

Before Pippin or Merry could comment, they heard Farmer Maggot approach. The four took off to the edge of the field and promptly fell over the edge of a small hill.

“Never trust a Brandybuck and a Took,” said Sam in exasperation.

“Careful, Sam. I have both Brandybuck and Took blood in me.”

“I meant no offense, Mr. Frodo. These two just cause more trouble...”

“Yes, what were you two doing, raiding Maggot’s field. It’s not proper for the two of you, being the heirs to the Master and the Thain.”

“If you’ll recall, Cousin Frodo,” said Merry, as he got up. “YOU taught us.”

Pippin looked up from his spot on the ground and smiled at Frodo. “You were a good teacher.”

Frodo shook his head and laughed. He looked up at the lane as the others noticed a patch of mushrooms. A sense of unease filled him. “We should get off the road.” The others didn’t seem to notice. “Get off the road!”

They ran and hide under a tree root. A dark rider appeared over them. They didn’t quite know what to do. Everyone of them had the urge to run, but knew that could result in more danger. Merry had the foresight to toss the bag of mushrooms which the rider promptly went after. The four ran quickly to a small patch of trees where they stayed for a while, composing themselves.

It was later that night, that they encountered yet another rider. The rider seem particularly interested in Frodo but Merry lead them to the Bucklebury Ferry and they were soon rowing away from the danger.

“How far to the nearest crossing?” asked Frodo

“Brandywine Bridge. 20 miles.” Merry pushed the ferry further away from the shore.

Once they had calmed down and were headed toward the bridge, Merry turned to Frodo. “Would you care to tell us what that was all about?”

Frodo sighed and leaned forward. “It’s of no great importance, Merry.”

“Really now? So they were chasing you so they could join you for tea?”

Frodo looked up at his cousin. “Merry, please, do not worry. Sam and I just need to get to Bree.”

Pippin, who had been sitting quietly opposite Frodo, looked up. “Is this about Bilbo’s ring?”

Frodo shot a glance at Pippin. “What do you know about it?”

“We know more than you think, Frodo. Pippin and I saw him use it once. Then he used it at the party. Don’t try and deny it.”

Frodo looked at both of his cousins. He than relied the same tail Gandalf had told about the ring and it’s evil power. “We are to met Gandalf in Bree.”

“Good. I’m getting quite hungry,” Merry said.

“You two aren’t coming along.”

“Yes we are. You promised to take us on an adventure, Frodo. Here we are. We’re going with you, Frodo. We can’t let you go alone. You need more than Sam, you need your cousins, right Pippin?”

Pippin nodded but in the back of his mind, he thought of his family. I do hope they don’t worry too much, he thought as the ferry made to the bridge and the shore.

Once they had their feet back on dry land, Frodo turned to Merry. “They’re going to know something is up, if we leave this here.”

Merry gave it almost no thought as he shoved the ferry back out onto the river. “The current will carry it away. I just hope our folks don’t worry too much.”

Frodo patted Merry on the back. “We’ll see them soon, enough. Bree is that far away. We’ll be back soon.”