"Room at the table for one more?"

Rosie looked up at the voice, smiling at Pippin and motioning for him to sit down. Elanor was being doted on by three of the young waitresses, leaving Rosie to enjoy her afternoon tea in peace. She offered Pippin a scone, which he bit into without a moment's hesitation.

"I didn't know you were coming to Hobbiton. Is Merry with you?"

"Aye, and Stel and Dinny besides. We're staying here, as a matter of fact, though the others are out causing some sort of trouble at the moment. We're here for the bonfires tomorrow night, you've got far more leaves to spare round here than anywhere else does." Pippin took the mug offered to him by one of the serving girls with a nod of thanks and drank deeply before speaking again. "What're you doing out and about anyway, mistress Rose? I'd heard that those who lived up at Bag End never came outside any more."

"Very funny. We've been visiting, Elly and me. Seeing the new Grubb baby."

"Ah, he'll probably end up having his heart broken by her some day, you know. That girl of yours is a pretty little one."

"I'll bet my last biscuit any child of yours will be twice the heartbreaker of the pick of my brood, Mr Peregrin."

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Pippin said with a smile, munching on his second scone. Rosie covered her mouth with her hand as a wide yawn escaped her. Pippin's expression grew sympathetic.

"Ah, that's a look I recognise, sad to say it. Seen it in the glass on my own face too often."

"Merry has nightmares too, then?" Rosie asked in a quiet voice. Pippin nodded.

"Terrible ones. I do too, at times, and I'm sure Sam's no different. But Merry and Frodo... it hurt them more, I think. They're not the same hobbits they were a few years back."

"None of us are, Mr Pippin, none of us are." Rosie said sadly, then sighed. "But anyway, let's talk of happier things. Do you remember years ago, you can't have been very old at all, when Gandalf came to bonfire night and put different colours on the flames?"

"I can remember it happening in quite a few occasions. He did love to see the parties we had." Pippin's small grin at the memory was sad and pinched, and Rosie wondered how someone still in their tweens could look so weary. "He came to see Merry and me last week, you know."

"Really? I'm surprised he didn't stop by Bag End, then. Frodo and Sam would have loved to get a visit."

Pippin hesitated. "I think he knows he'll see them soon enough. Now, Rosie, there's a few things I want to tell you, and I only say them at all because I think our dear Frodo would kill me if I tried to put more worry on Sam about him, but one of you deserves to know at least. If it were Merry..." Pippin paused, then roused himself and started speaking quickly, letting all the words free in a tumble. "Sometime very soon Frodo's going to go away, he'll say it's to see his uncle Bilbo in Rivendell. But he won't be coming back from the trip, he's planning to sail with the Elves. That's why Gandalf came, he thought we should know to see them all off."

"Oh." Rosie said. Someone dropped a plate to the floor by the counter, it landed with a clatter. Elanor cooed under all the attention she was getting. The scones and jam and cream on the table suddenly smelt too sweet, like rot. Rosie felt as if she was going to be sick.

"Oh." Rosie said again.

"When I was young, I used to sit and annoy Sam when he was trying to work whenever I visited Frodo. I'd make him teach me about the garden, and some of the things he said have never left me. Even when all the plants are pulled from a bit of earth, it's still good for growing. The only time it's done with is if somebody puts salt down, and then there's no way to remedy it. Sa... Sharkey's voice was a dangerous thing, and I think he made Frodo believe there was salt in his heart. Make him see that flowers can still grow there, Rosie. It's up to you, because when he looks at Sam he can see the dark times if he chooses to, but all you mean to him are good bright things."

"Is that why you and Merry latched on to your Miss Diamond and his Estella?"

Pippin nodded, smiling softly at the thought of the two lasses. Before he could say anything, though, the door opened and Marigold marched inside. She didn't have a hat or bonnet on, and her hair was wild around her face.

"Want to join us, Marigold?" Pippin offered, pulling another chair over. She noticed them and glared, then spoke coolly despite her obviously worked-up state.

"Why Rosie, Peregrin, so nice to see you. And Elanor's looking well, she's got that queer-shaped face like all Baggins children but I suppose that can't be helped."

Rosie's head jolted back as if she'd been stung, the malice in the words sharp enough to cut and entirely unexpected.

"You should go live in Bree. The Men there wouldn't notice how loose you are, on account of the size difference." Marigold hissed. "You and Ferny deserved each other."

Silence fell like the swing of an axe, everyone pausing and turning to watch the scene. Pippin moved to stand but Rosie stilled him, putting her hand on his arm, then pushing her own chair back with a deliberate and long scraping sound.

Pippin's eyes flashed with anger, the weariness in his face revealed as strength, and knowing, and a steely kind of love that wouldn't bend or waver under any onslaught.

Rosie stood up, half a head taller than Marigold, her jaw clenched. Stepped forward and Marigold flinched back, eyes suddenly showing a sheen of fear. Then Rosie shook her head, and turned to pick Elanor up.

"I've exactly what I deserve, Marigold, and the same's true for you."

Head held high, Rosie walked out of the still-open door, Pippin beside her. She made it all the way around the corner and down the lane before she sat down in the dirt and began to sob. Pippin rubbed her back gently as she cried.

"Nothing works, Pippin, nothing. Not Black Hellebore or Ginger or even Kingsfoil, and that used to help him at first. I want him to stay, but for what? So he can be in pain all the time, and listen to ridiculous talk from folk like Marigold?"

Pippin didn't say anything, just kept up the small soothing touches and pats.

"She's wrong, anyway. El's as Gamgee as she is, more so even if you're judging by nature as well as blood. I don't know where the fairness came from, but it wasn't Frodo. Elanor isn't his baby, though..." Rosie hesitated. "There was a brother or sister for her that was lost, and it might have been."

Pippin nodded. "I thought so. We heard about your troubles and couldn't help but wonder. Rose, Sam's going to heal in time, and so will I, and every day I'm surer Merry will too. If we all can, so can Frodo. You can make him see that."

"Yes." Rosie dried her tears on the hem of her skirt, nodding to herself. "I can."

~

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