Wherever You Are Is Home Chapter Seven - "Of Meddlers and Busybodies" It is 1405 in the Shire Reckoning Pippin is 15, Merry is 23, Sam is 25 and Frodo is 37 "How did it go with Mister Merry?" Sam asked. "Not well." Frodo admitted. "How about Pippin?" "Stubborn as a Took." Sam said. Frodo sighed. "Well, love, I will see you at Bag End." He pulled Sam close and kissed him fondly. "I will be missin' you on the road." Sam said sadly. "And I you." Frodo said. "Will they be mad at us, you think?" Sam asked. "Absolutely." Frodo said with a wicked grin that made Sam smile. "So mad they could spit." They shared a laugh, and another kiss, and went on to make their mischief. "Mister Pippin?" Sam called as he passed the young hobbit in the hall. He noted that the younger hobbit had a pack slung over his shoulder. "I was thinkin' you could have some breakfast with me." "Sorry, Sam." Pippin said. "I am leaving for the Smials." "Right now, Mister Pippin?" Sam asked. "I meant to be gone a half-hour past." "You are traveling home?" Sam asked. He paused and worried his lower lip with his teeth as if in thought. "Beggin' your pardon, Mister Pippin, but I have an idea." "What is that, Sam?" Pippin sounded a touch impatient. "Mister Frodo has some business here at Brandy Hall." Sam said carefully. "He is like to be stayin' another day or two, but I need to be getting' back to Bag End and the gardens." "You can't wait for him?" Pippin asked. "I can, Mister Pippin, but the vegetables can't, if you are takin' my meaning. If you will wait 'til after breakfast, we could be takin' the trip together, at least as far as Bag End." Pippin was quiet for a few moments, considering. He looked over Sam's shoulder to peer down the hallway. "You could stay the night before heading for the Smials." Sam offered, almost desperately. If Merry happened along, Pippin would run off, and he would have to go back to Bag End empty-handed. "Would be savin' you sleepin' under a hedge, or payin' on a room at The Green Dragon or The Ivy Bush." "Will you make me breakfast in the morning?" Pippin joked. "You don't need to be askin' that, Mister Pippin." Sam said with relief. "Wouldn't be no bother at all." "Meriadoc." Merry only looked at him. Frodo could by Merry's greenish hue that he was regretting last night's foray with the ale casks. Among a few other things, by the look on his face. "He left a half-hour ago." Merry did not need to tell Frodo who he was. "For the Smials." Frodo wasn't asking. His thoughts drifted briefly to Sam, who would be saddled with Pippin, and sighed to himself. "He didn't even say goodbye." Merry said. "I meant to talk to him, but he was just gone." "I am leaving for Bag End after lunch." He said, trying to sound casual. "Would you care to join me? Get away from this place for a few days?" "You are leaving?" Merry asked, confused. "What about Sam?" "Sam left this morning for Michel Delving." Frodo said, delivering the lie flawlessly. "He is going to do a bit of gardening at the Mathom-house, at the request of Whil Whitfoot." "Oh." Merry said. "He must be very excited." "He nearly in fits when he told me." Frodo said. "This does leave me to travel by myself, unless you would be so kind as to join me." "I doubt I will be fit company." Merry warned. "You have rarely been fit company a day in your life." Frodo joked. "Go get packed, and meet me after lunch." Sam eyed Pippin sideways as they walked, and chewed at his bottom lip. Pippin was lacking his usual carefree, unconcerned demeanor. The younger hobbit was pleasant, and chatted with Sam amiably, but his tones were clipped and his behavior was worryingly subdued. As disaffected as Pippin was trying to act, Merry was weighing heavily on his mind. Sam sighed with frustration. Pippin may have been thinking about Merry, but he was pointedly not talking about Merry. He had waited half the walk to Bag End for Pippin to say something about his cousin, but he had not. Every time Sam steered the conversation so that he could bring up Merry, Pippin swiveled it back before he got the chance. "Beggin' your pardon, Mister Pippin, but I have a question." Sam said. He took a deep, steadying breath. "Why did you leave without Mister Merry?" Pippin's face grew stony. Sam steeled himself when Pippin's eyes flashed angrily, but he did not say anything scathing. "I was just wondering." Sam said, lightly. "You have not been out of Mister Merry's company for many years, and it has been worryin' me that you just ran off like you did, without a word to him. Did he not want to go to the Smials?" Pippin grunted. "Did you have angry words with him, Mister Pippin?" "No." Pippin said. "We did not have any words. Angry or otherwise." "Would I be missin' my guess if I said that was the problem?" Sam asked. "That you did not have any words?" "No." Pippin responded. "That is exactly the problem." Sam smiled, as much to Pippin as to himself. "Sam." Pippin said after a pause. "What did you mean last night? All that about wanting what you can't have, and forgetting to wait?" v "Oh." Sam said, trying to remember exactly what he had said. He had been nervous when Frodo had sent him to talk to Pippin, and had had an ale to calm himself before confronting the lad. "I was sayin' that if a person works too hard at tryin' to ignore a thing, they're like to forget they were wantin' it in the first place." "But if you truly want something, how can you forget about it?" "Not forgettin' like you don't remember it is there." Sam explained. "You just make yourself not think about it, so it doesn’t drive you mad." "You said that you had done it." Pippin pressed. Sam's eyes widened, and he wondered on exactly how much ale had had drank before talking to the lad. He could not imagine that he would have started prattling on about his own relationship, a relationship that he did not speak of to save his Gaffer some embarrassment, when he had been send to straighten Pippin out. "Everyone has done it, if you are takin' my meaning." Sam offered lamely. "But I am talking about you." Pippin insisted. "Who is she?" "What?" Sam asked. "You told me all that about forgetting and waiting." Pippin said impatiently. "And I asked you how you knew, and you said that you had done it. The forgetting an waiting." Pippin reached out and squeezed Sam's shoulder gently. "Who she is, that you were trying to forget. I won’t tell anyone. Not even Mr. Frodo." Sam smiled despite himself at Pippin's slip. He ruffled the lad's curls fondly, and smiled. "Well?" Pippin demanded. "Who is she? That Rosie-lass that I have seen watching you?" "I was not talkin' about anyone in particular." Sam attempted. Pippin did not look convinced. "And I was not talking about Rose Cotton when I said what I said." "Rose is very pretty." Pippin offered. "That she is." Sam said. It was true, Rose was a beauty, and had a sweet, kind heart. "She likes me, so Mister Frodo tells me." Frodo teased him about Rose Cotton in a continual basis. "Then what is the problem?" Pippin asked, confused. He didn’t understand why older hobbits insisted on making things so difficult. "I just didn't take to her, if you are takin' my meaning." Sam said. He eyed Pippin sideways, and muttered in frustration. This conversation was not going the way it was supposed to at all. This Took bratling had twisted the entire thing back on him, and Sam had been powerless to stop it. Sam wondered how Merry had spent all these years with Pippin without becoming a gibbering madman. "Why?" Pippin. "I don’t understand. Did she do something wrong?" "No, lad." Sam said. "She did not." "Then what?" Pippin was so confused and frustrated that he was practically screaming, and looked closed to tears. "If she likes you, and you think she is pretty, and she hasn't done anything wrong, then what?" "Like I said, Mister Pippin, I just didn't take to her." Sam said. He took a deep breath, and let himself tell Pippin the truth. Its not like he'll be tellin' my Gaffer, seein' how he feels about his cousin. "I just did not take her to like I took to Mister Frodo." "What?" Pippin stopped walking to grab Sam by the arm. He pulled the gardener around to face him. "Frodo?" Sam did not reply, but the crimson color that rushed over Sam, up to the scalp gave Pippin his answer. "You're in love with Frodo?" Pippin asked. Sam nodded. "So that is who you were talking about? The forgetting and waiting was about Frodo?" "It was." Sam said. "I took to Mister Frodo the day we met, though I wasn’t knowing' what I was feelin'. As time passed, I think I started knowin' what I was feelin', but I ignored it." "But why?" Pippin screamed, not understanding why Sam would do something so preposterous. "Because I didn’t think I was fittin' for me to be feelin' like I did." Sam said. "With me bein' so much younger than him, and my father bein' employed at his household." "So I kept ignorin' it." Sam continued. "I just tried to get on with my work, and tried to act like Mister Frodo was not there." "Does he know?" Pippin asked. "Have you ever told him?" "I told him." Sam said, smiling. "What made you tell him?" Pippin inquired. "He did." Sam said. "Mister Frodo got tired of waitin' on me to come around, so he told me how he felt himself. I fought him about it at first, but seein' that he was feelin' the same way that I was, there wasn't no point in denying it after awhile." "Wait." Pippin stopped him. He furrowed his brow in thought, and then smiled once he had worked it out. "Frodo loves you, too?" "That he does." Sam admitted. "Leastwise, he says he does." Sam said, winking at Pippin. "And that changed your mind?" "No." Sam said. "I still wasn't thinking it was fitting." Sam paused thoughtfully. "Still don’t." "Why? Because he is a lad?" "Oh no." Sam said. "That was never the problem." "You don’t think that is wrong for a lad to love another lad?" "I think that if you find a love so strong that you could just lay down and die for it, and that person feels the same way, its not really matterin' if it be a lad or a lass." Pippin decided right then that Samwise Gamgee was true to his name. As far as Pippin was concerned, the gardener was the wisest hobbit in the Shire. "If it wasn't because he was a lad, what had you so bothered?" Pippin asked. "I told you, Mister Pippin." Sam said. "It wasn't what we were, but who we were, if you follow me. I just didn't think it would do, the heir of Bag End carrying on with the son of Mister Bilbo's gardener." "Did you tell Frodo this?" "I did." Sam said. "And what did Frodo say?" "He kissed me." Sam blushed furiously. "He kissed me, and told me to quit being a fool of a Gamgee." "I don’t think you were going to talk to him." Frodo said as they walked. "I don’t want to talk about it, Frodo." "Well, you are going to." "Is that why you asked me to come with you, so you could berate me about Pippin the whole walk to Bag End?" "Not the only reason, cousin." Frodo said with a small laugh. " I do hate traveling alone." "Does Sam love you like you love him?" Merry asked suddenly. "He does." Frodo stated, giving Merry a flat look that said he did not appreciate the attempt to change the subject. "I envy you two." Merry muttered. "You just love each other, and that is that, and bugger everything else." "Is that is what you think?" Frodo snorted indignantly. "That it was just that easy? That one day I just turned to Sam and told him I loved him, and Sam told me he loved me too, and we kissed, had some tea, and lived happily ever after?" Frodo looked at Merry, who was embarrassed and upset at the same time, and softened. "I knew how I felt, and wanted nothing more to be with him." Frodo said quietly. "But what about Sam?" "He knew how he felt, too, but he was afraid because he didn't think it was proper. He worked very hard to ignore it." "But he came around." Merry stated. "He did." Frodo said. "But he fought me hard on it, and it hurt. It hurt me when he pushed me away, because it made me think that he did not love me, even though I knew he did. I almost gave up in despair a few times. Luckily, I did not give up, and though I cried for the pain and hurt he caused me when he tried to deny how he felt, it was worth it in the end." Merry did not respond. His eyes were wet, and Frodo could see that he was fighting the tears with everything he had. "He is so young." Merry said. "Just so young." "Sam is younger than me." Frodo replied. "By more years than Pippin is younger than you." "But Sam is twenty-five." Merry argued. "Pippin is fifteen." "Sam is twenty-five now." Frodo gave back. "He was fourteen when I met him." "So what did you do?" "I let him finish growing up for a bit." Frodo said. "But…." Merry started. "Oh stop." Frodo waved him off. "I didn’t tell Sam how I felt right away because I wanted him to finish growing up. You haven’t told Pippin because you won't admit how you feel to yourself." "How long did you wait?" "Five years." Merry stopped walking to turn and face Frodo. "But how did you decide he was old enough?" "I don’t think it was really that." Frodo said. "I just couldn’t wait anymore. Having to see him everyday, wanting to tell him, wanting to touch him…it nearly drove me mad." "But you don’t regret it?" "Not once, Meriadoc Brandybuck." Frodo said. "Not once." "Well it is good to be home, make no mistake." Sam said as he swung open the front door to Bag End. "Will you be wantin' some tea, Mister Pippin?" "Don’t go to any trouble, Sam." Pippin said, though he new it was a futile request. "How about a bite?" Sam said. "Wouldn't be no trouble at all." "Can I help?" Pippin offered. "No, no, Mister Pippin." Sam chided. "You just get yourself settled in." He watched Pippin disappear into the sitting room with a worried smile. By his figuring, Merry and Frodo would be arriving within the next four hours. If he could just keep Pippin from destroying the gardens or setting the kitchen on fire before Merry got there, all would be well. "Looks like someone is home." Merry said, spotting smoke curling out of Bag End's chimney as they approached the front door. "Probably the Gaffer." Frodo said smoothly. "He said he was going to check on the place while we were away." Frodo swung the door open, and steeled himself from what was to come. Merry walked in behind him, but stopped short in the doorway. "Sam!" Merry exclaimed. "I thought you were in Michel Delving." The gardener opened his mouth to explain, but Merry knew it was going to be a fat pack of lies by the sheepish look on his reddening face. Merry looked questioningly at Sam, and then turned to favor Frodo with the same expression. Frodo only stood there, looking entirely too innocent and extremely pleased with himself. "Sam? Pippin called from the sitting room. "Who is here?" Merry's eyes widened until they threatened to engulf his face when he realized what Frodo and Sam had done. He glared murderously at the both of them, and said a few words that would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap if his mother had heard him. "Merry?" Pippin was standing in the doorway to the sitting room. He looked as confused as Merry felt, and was glaring at Sam as hard as Merry had been glaring at Frodo. "You tricked me." Pippin spat at Sam. "You lied to me." Merry hissed at Frodo. "I am going to go." Pippin said. "No, you stay." Merry said. "I will go." "Quite alright." Pippin snapped. "I was going back to the Smials anyway." "Nobody is going anywhere!" Frodo bellowed, a roaring tone that did not suit his slight frame. Merry and Pippin both stared at Frodo in shocked silence. "The two of you are going to get your foolish, stubborn rumps into my sitting room." Frodo said, his voice quieter but no less firm. He walked towards the sitting room, leading Merry behind him by the hand. He turned Pippin back around and pushed him through the door with a firm shove, and then hauled Merry into after him by his arm. He slipped back out and shut the door, leaning against it. He smiled at Sam, who was still fussing with the tea. "Nevermind that tea, my love." Frodo said. "I am going to get them some ale." Merry sat rigidly on the edge of the couch, studiously not looking at Pippin. Pippin sat in Frodo's chair with his head bowed, frowning at his ale like it had done him a personal wrong. The silence in the room was so awkward that Merry was sure Frodo and Sam could likely feel it in the kitchen. Unable to stand it anymore, Merry drained his ale in one draught, and made himself speak. "I love you." "No, you don’t." Pippin said, more to his ale than to Merry. "Yes, I do." "Then why didn’t you tell me?" Pippin asked petulantly, looking up from his ale briefly. "I told you. I told you, and you didn’t say anything." "Because I was afraid to admit it to myself." Merry said miserably. He saw Pippin wipe tears away, and it made him feel worse. "You have never been afraid of anything in your life." Pippin replied. "And you have always done whatever you wanted, with out all this thinking and making excuses." "I knew I loved you, but I didn't want to admit it to myself." Merry said. "Because I thought it was wrong." "How could it be wrong?" Pippin yelled. "If I love you, and you love me, then what could be so wrong?" "I practically raised you, Pippin, watched you grow since you were three days old." He continued. "I thought it was wrong of me, to feel this way, after I had taken care of you for all these years, and made you trust me." "You are so young, Pip." Merry continued. "So young." "If you really love me, it wouldn’t matter." Pippin retorted. "And you are my cousin." Merry said. "You are making excuses." Pippin shouted. "If you don’t love me, then tell me that and I will go back to the Smials. But don't tell me you do just to shut me up, then make a hundred excuses as to why we can’t be together." "I was just so afraid of hurting you." Merry said. "But you're hurting me now, because you are lying, and making excuses." Pippin said. "You don’t want me. You just don’t want to make me upset." "I am not making excuses." Merry said. "I am just afraid." "You don't love me and you don’t want me" Pippin shouted. "I do." Merry insisted. "You want my sister!" Pippin shouted. "What?" "You kissed her, Meriadoc Brandybuck." Pippin screamed. "I saw you do it." Merry went numb. He looked at Pippin with a face full of regret and apologies, but Pippin only glared at him with fury. "She just looked so much like you." Merry said softly. "Her face, and the way she looked at me….she just looked so much like you. I shouldn’t have done it, and I didn’t want to do it, but……." "But you did." Pippin made a snuffling sound. "You don’t want me, you want her!" "I do not want her!." Merry shouted. He tried to calm himself, knowing that Pippin was purposely trying to provoke him to anger, but he couldn't. He was so furious at everything; at himself, at Pippin, at Frodo and Sam. At Nel, for having the audacity to look like Pippin. "You know what I was thinking about when I kissed her?" Merry asked, shouting so loud his voice echoed through the room. Pippin cocked a questioning eyebrow, taunting him. "You! I was thinking about you!" "I don’t believe you." Pippin said. "Ask her!" Merry shouted. "Ask her why she was so upset when she walked away from me. Ask her why she was crying!" Merry started crying himself. "Go on, Pippin, ask her. Ask her if she was crying because I said your name when I was kissing her!" Pippin stood there, stiff as a board, with his mouth hanging open in shock. "All I want is you!" Merry shouted, walking towards Pippin. "All I ever think about it you." Merry was shouting loud enough that Pippin was sure he could be heard back at Brandy Hall. "I love you so much it hurts! It kills me! I could just lay down and die for it!" Merry was ranting like a madman, and he didn't care. It felt good to let it all out. "I want you so badly." He got about a pace from Pippin and reached out for him, but Pippin backed away. Merry couldn’t really blame him, the way he was raving. "I want you so badly that I have nearly made myself insane about it." "Merry….." Pippin breathed nervously. Merry had backed him up against the sitting room wall, and had pressed his hands against the wall on either side of Pippin so that he could not get away. "You are maddening, Pip. Maddening." Merry said, his voice dropping to a throaty whisper. He dipped his head close to Pippin's ear, and could feel Pippin shiver every time his breath touched him. "You would hug me, lay on me, breath on me….it made me crazy." Merry pulled away from Pippin's ear so he could look at him, moving his face close to his cousin's. "I wanted you so much, but I just wouldn’t let myself. I was afraid that it would scare you, how much I wanted you. I was afraid that if I touched you that I wouldn't be able to stop myself before I hurt you." "Merry." Pippin's voice was low and husky, and a tiny bit afraid. "I wanted to touch you." Merry murmured. "I wanted to feel you. I wanted to pull your clothes off and run my hands all over you." His lips brushed lightly against Pippin's as he talked, making his erection spring to life. "I wanted to kiss you." Merry leaned into Pippin, pushing the bulge in his pants against Pippin's hips. "I've wanted rub this against you for so long. I've wanted you to feel it." Merry rocked against him, and moaned low in his throat when his erection brushed against Pippin's. Pippin moaned, too, which only made Merry grind against him harder, leaning Pippin into the wall. "I've wanted you to touch it, so I wouldn't have to touch it when I was alone, thinking about you." Pippin was pressed flat against the wall, shaking, with his eyes closed. Merry kissed his ear lightly, and he shivered. Merry moved to hover by Pippin's mouth again, and trailed his lips across Pippin's softly. "Please, Merry." Pippin said quietly, almost begging. "Please." "What?" Merry murmured, letting his breath move over Pippin's lips. "Don’t tease me anymore." Pippin rocked against Merry, whimpering. "I love you." Merry whispered, running his tongue over Pippin's lower lip. "Please, Merry!" Merry ran his tongue over Pippin's lower lip again, producing another whimper. Then pressed his lips against Pippin's, slipping his tongue into his mouth. He felt a sharp jolt of fire shoot down his spine when Pippin's tongue slid against his, and pulled Pippin to him desperately. Pippin reached up and threaded the fingers of one hand in the curls at the back of Merry's neck, and moaned into his mouth when Merry's hardness rubbed his. He ran the other hand down Merry's back and cupped his rump, pulling him closer. "I love you." Merry whispered, kissing down Pippin's jaw to his neck. Pippin whimpered, and dug his fingers into Merry's rump. Merry moaned and nipped at his neck in response, pushing his hardness against him. "I love you, too." Pippin murmured into Merry's neck. He sucked lightly, moving across to bite softly at the hollow of Merry's throat. Merry sucked on his bottom lip, and kissed him again. He slipped his hands under Pippin's shirt, and ran his hands over the soft skin of his cousin's chest and back. Pippin returned the kiss eagerly; teasing his tongue against Merry's and sucking on it lightly. He pulled away from Merry's mouth to trace his tongue along Merry's ear, sucking it lightly along its edge. He gave a gasp when Merry's hands ran over the bare skin of his chest, and shivered at the contact. He whimpered as Merry kissed his neck and shoulders, and moaned when Merry nipped at his throat. They pushed against each other, kissing feverishly, giving soft moans and gasps each time their erections touched. Merry rocked against Pippin rhythmically, enjoying the soft, sensual sounds his cousin made. Pippin clung to Merry desperately, clawing at his shoulders and back each time Merry pushed up against him. Glorious sensations rushed through Pippin's body, sensations he had never felt before. Everything in the world had disappeared. All he was aware of was Merry; Merry's lips on his, Merry's hands on his rump, Merry's chest pushed against his, Merry's erection grinding against his. He felt fire in his belly and ice over his skin at the same time, so sweet that it was almost painful. Pippin shivered uncontrollably, and rocked his hips to push his erection harder into Merry. He suddenly got a panicky, desperate feeling as the sensations coursing through him felt rushed and hurried, and became too sweet to bear. His erection started to throb almost painfully, and the fire in his belly raged. "Oh no. No." He sobbed as he felt his body rushing for completion, not wanting it to end. "Oh, Merry. I am going to….. oh, Merry… not yet, Merry. Please… not yet." "Let it go, Pip." Merry murmured, running his hand down Pippin's chest. He slid his hand over the cloth of Pippin's breeches, and rubbed his hand against Pippin's hardness. "Let it happen." "Merry!" Pippin sobbed. "Let me hear you." Merry begged, when he felt Pippin's hardness throb. He cupped it and squeezed gently, rubbing faster. "I've waited so long to hear you." "Oh, Merry!" Pippin wailed, unable to hold it off any longer. "Merry!" He shuddered hard, and sagged against Merry's chest. Merry had already been close himself. Feeling Pippin shudder against him and hearing him call out his name had sent him over the edge. He pushed against Pippin's hips hard, one last time, and called Pippin's name as he let himself go. "I told you." Merry whispered, once he remembered how to speak. "I told you that once I started touching you, I wouldn't be able to stop." He pulled back to gaze at his cousin, and his breath caught in fear. Pippin was crying. "I am sorry." Merry said, terrified. He wrapped an arm around Pippin and lead him too the couch, cursing himself for being so selfish and reckless. "I didn't want to scare you. You're still so young, still a child. I shouldn't have….." "You didn't scare me, Merry." Pippin said in a breathy voice. "You love me, and there is nothing scary about that." "Then why are you crying?" "It just felt so good." Pippin said, shakily. "It felt so good I could hardly stand it, but I didn’t want it to end at the same time. And then it was over, and I couldn’t stand that either." "I'll have to be more careful." Merry pulled Pippin over to him and laid him on his chest. He rocked him, and smoothed his hair. "You are too young. You don’t even know what you are giving me." "I am giving you myself." Pippin replied. And Merry laughed. Pippin made it sound so simple. So easy. "I love you." He said, kissing Pippin's curls. "I love you, too." Pippin said. Sam set his tea aside and pulled Frodo down into his lap. Frodo had been pacing back and forth across the kitchen since the two younger hobbits had gone into the sitting room, and it was upsetting Sam to see him so distressed. Frodo smiled at him warmly, but Sam could see worry in his face as the muffled sound of yelling coming from the sitting room grew louder. There had been an awful lot of yelling. "I am not understandin' what they are yellin' for." Sam said. "They are both very angry." Frodo said, almost sadly. "Angry at what?" "At us." Frodo sadi, almost sheepishly. "At each other. At themselves." He sighed. "At everything." Suddenly, the yelling ceased. Sam felt, rather than saw, Frodo relax. Frodo had been sitting on his lap stiffly, ready to leap off it and rush into the sitting room before Merry and Pippin killed each other. Once the yelling stopped he softened, and leaned back against Sam's chest. Sam sighed contentedly, enjoying this fond, peaceful moment with his lover, after the hectic venture to Brandy Hall. He wrapped his arms around Frodo, and squeezed until the smaller hobbit gave a grunt. They at there for quite some time, just enjoying the moment. "You think that they will be alright?" Sam asked suddenly, nodding his head towards the sitting room. This sudden and prolonged silence was almost as unnerving as the yelling. Merry! Frodo twisted to look at Sam, and raised his eyebrow, and Sam blushed. Oh, Merry! "Come to think of it," Sam said, "I think they will be just fine. Thus ends Chapter Seven, as Pervinca tells it. Chapter Six | Chapter Eight back to the Blue Book