hobbit ficlet for slightlytookish

[sophinisba]

Happy birthday to slightlytookish! I'm really glad we started getting to know each other this year and have been encouraging each other's mutual corruption (you with slash, me with Pippinfic).

I started a more substantial fic based on the prompts you gave me last month, but it isn't close to finished, so I did a pair of dribble-drabbles. Thanks to danachan for looking them over. I hope you like them and that you have a wonderful day!



Crickhollow, September

September
at Crickhollow,
a house waiting
to be left alone
by an owner in exile
and three friends following him lost.
But on the evening of the twenty-fifth
there's fire in the hearth and water hot;
meat, drink, and mushrooms to satisfy one and all;
and after night and silence fall, a conspiracy is unmasked.
Five hobbits tired of lying, afraid of saying goodbye,
at last speak the words friends and beloved
and feel the burden of secrecy lifted.
Morning will bring its own fears,
but right now they're happy
The house at Crickhollow,
for one night,
feels like
home.

September
at Crickhollow,
four years on,
Merry and Pippin drink
to Frodo's health and Bilbo's
and believe the words they say:
Last year's harvest was a fine one,
but this year will be better, and sweeter still,
in the Shire, the south, and across the sea,
for those who've left and those who stayed behind.
It's too much of everything for Merry to bear,
and he chokes on that wine of blessedness.
Pippin holds him and says, "My Merry,
You weren't going to cry, remember?
This never was Frodo's home,
but it's ours now,"
for another night,
two hobbits
together.