“ His thought fled far away and his eyes saw no more- (return of the king page 177 the black gate opens)

“Pippin!” Gimli called out. No answer, he'd been searching for the young hobbit about 2 hours now what ever would he tell that other lad, Merry. Gimli looked across there he saw a troll dead. Gimli looked about the body and then he saw...a foot? A small hairy foot. “No it couldn't”. but it was true the foot belonged to a hobbit a young hobbit “pippin?” he asked himself. Lifting the troll The dread filled his heart as he saw the young hobbit he'd been searching for. “no” he said. Gimli lifted the small hobbit off the ground fearing the worse and headed toward Gandalf and Aragorn. “Gandalf,... I've found him” Gimli said “oh dear” Gandalf said “Aragorn? Gandalf asked  “get him into a bed in Master Meriadoc's tent Legolas please get one of the nurses to bring me a bowl and spoon” Aragorn said. Gandalf took the limp hobbit from Gimli and carried him to the tent Aragorn met up with them with a bowl of althlas tea in his hand . merry was lying on his bed just lying there wondering when Gandalf walked in carrying pippin in his hands “pippin!” merry exclaimed jumping out of his bed rushing over to everyone but he was pushed back by Gimli  “what's wrong?” merry asked. Nobody answered “what's wrong with him?” merry asked still no answer “SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG WITH PIPPIN!” merry yelled everyone turned there heads “somebody please tell me” merry said in a weak voice “oh merry if we knew we'd tell you” Arwen said “what can i do?” merry asked “ be calm” Arwen said “i want to help please” merry said in his weak small voice  Arwen looked at him. She couldn't tell him no it would be like telling Aragorn not to become king pointless because he would do it anyway.  Merry pushed through the crowd until he was next to Aragorn who was trying to wake pippin with the sent of  the tea . If pippin was alive there was no way he could stomach tea what Aragorn was doing was all he really could do.  “Aragorn please” merry pleaded his legs turning to jelly before him Looking up at Aragorn who looked back down at merry. Aragorn shook his head and Merry looked down at pippin. Not  daring to breath merry took pippin's icy hand in his “i won't cry not in front of everyone” he thought to himself. “pippin it's me it's merry ,wake up my little pippin” merry whispered. Pippin did not respond. Minuet after minuet merry continued to call to pippin trying his best to not cry in front of everyone. “pippin” merry called in one last useless effort “don't be........dead” merry cried. He'd given up on not crying. Everyone stared at merry all trying to hold their tears as well. Pippin's eyes fluttered open and he looked about dazed. Merry looked up seeing pippin open his eyes and merry took a breath of relief  and a joy that he had not felt since long before he'd lost pippin in the battle filled him. Pippin glanced at merry and closed his eyes once more. For the sake of himself merry hoped it would not be the last time he did so. Everyone who had crowded the room had left only Merry, Aragorn,Gandalf, and Arwen remained. “what has our little one done to himself?” Arwen said “a nice foul wound i fear the troll that fell on him almost killed him but our little friend is stronger then we all think.” Aragorn said “troll?” merry asked hardly believing what they had just said “yes our young friend slayed  a troll today Pippin has shown himself to be more then meets the eye. He has shown how heroic he truly is. He has earned my respect” Gandalf said. Merry smiled “Pippin” he said softly then looking back at his battered friend let his smile fade. Hours had passed and pippin had not woken again. Merry tried to keep the thought of pippin dying out of his mind but it kept coming back and he still pushed it away. “Merry” Aragorn called, merry looked up from the book he was reading becoming more restless every second “ i think it's ok for us to leave would you like to join us for dinner?” he asked “no thank you” Merry said as calmly as he could “i would have assumed you to say that would you like me to bring you something?” Aragorn asked  “i suppose” merry said quietally. For one of the few times in his life he didn't want to think about food or anything else having to do with leaving his tent. Everyone left and Merry knew one of them would be back and stay with him that was expected. Merry sat cross-legged  on the floor reading his book or at least he thought he was he let his mind wander on over to pippin who lay in his cot motionless just breathing softly “oh pip” he whispered “you are still to young to understand anything that is going on, oh why did Elrond even think of letting us go on this journey? And why did you talk treebeard into letting us stay? This is not fair you should not have never gotten hurt, you should have stayed behind” he thought to himself. He had thought about just how long he had been in that tent. Pacing about, never staying put, being restless, losing any sleep he was supposed to get, not doing anything to get well, waiting for pippin to return. He’d done all that and more just wanting to know that pippin was safe, then only then could he relax and be at ease. Merry felt mixed feelings of anger , sadness, and joy. Joyful that pippin was back and safe, upset that pippin was hurt and might not make it, and angry at anyone and everyone that had let them come on this journey, also angry at the troll that had almost claimed pippin, and maybe even a little angry at pippin, for straying off like that in the mist of battle out of merry’s protective sight. The whole battle was now such a impassable blur that merry hoped he would not have to fight again. Someone stepped into the tent “merry?” A man’s strong voice asked. Merry snapped out of his daze and spun around “Eomer?” he asked “I heard about your cousin, I wanted to see if you were alright” Eomer said “oh” merry said quietly “I’m very sorry he got hurt but also very happy he was found” he said “how is lady Eowyn?” merry asked remembering the reason he was here and not in Rohan being forlorn. “she’s fine…actually she’s the one that found out about your cousin” “Eomer admitted “oh” merry said “well like I said I’m happy that he was found . I uh have to go bye” Eomer said as he left merry was basically alone again but not for long merry decided to keep himself occupied by trying to figure out who was going to eat dinner with him. He finally came down to 2 people : Aragorn or Gandalf “well I suppose one of them has to don’t they?” merry asked himself. Merry felt he was waiting longer then he thought he would. Merry soon found himself acting like a little kid again pretending everything was alright, he pretended he was having a conversation with pippin and he asked his question again “so who do you think is going to eat dinner with  us? Merry asked “well I think it will be Gandalf” merry imagined pippin saying “well I suppose one of them has to don’t they?” merry asked again “well yes” pippin said “maybe we will get to go home soon” pippin said “yeah maybe we will” merry said in a lying voice “merry you know that I can tell when your lying” pippin said “yeah I know” merry said “why are you lying?” pippin asked “what? Oh you think I’m  lying to you?” merry asked “merry, I know your lying to me. Were not going to go home soon are we?” pippin asked “no probably not” merry said “probably not what?” Aragorn asked merry sat up realizing that he daydreamed the conversation he’d just had with pippin. ”oh uh um nothing” merry lied. So Aragorn didn’t know that merry lied and that was quite alright with merry.  “here I brought you some dinner , I-I know it’s not much to a hobbit but at least it’s food” Aragorn said trying to be nice “thank you but I’m not very hungry” merry said “well I’ll set it on this table right here” Aragorn said “do you mind if I eat my dinner?” Aragorn asked “no” merry said. Aragorn sat down “listen you were very brave today if I was you and I had just saw my best friend like that I don’t think I could have stopped myself from crying, as it was it was hard enough to look at him and not cry” Aragorn said “yes I suppose it was” merry said. without looking up Aragorn was trying to make an effort to make merry feel better about what happened but he remembered something he learned a while ago “everyone grieves differently” which was true. “merry” Aragorn said trying to grab Merry’s attention “yes” merry said without looking up “you know, when I was younger I would play this game with people do you think you might want to play? Aragorn asked trying to think of a way to get merry to talk. “sure” merry plainly “I’ll tell you what I’m wishing for and you tell me what your wishing for or I could guess it” Aragorn said “ok” merry said dully “I wish that u didn’t have to see you and pippin frown or be scared or see anyone else scared” Aragorn said “oh” merry said not really caring “what is it you wish for?” Aragorn asked “guess” merry whispered felling awful and ready to hit and cry “you wish that it was you instead of pippin lying on that cot, or better yet you wish you both were alright” Aragorn said merry fought tears and shook his head quietly “merry you      don’t Have to be strong about this” Aragorn said merry shook his head and began to cry. “ it’s all my fault! I let him stray off, I let him go into battle, he is hurt because of me” merry cried “merry this was not your fault you mustn’t blame yourself” Aragorn said trying his best to comfort merry “it was my fault, I guess everyone was right we should have never left the shire” merry admitted “no merry that’s not true if you and pippin hadn’t left the shire Faramir would be dead, Eowyn would still be in Rohan” Aragorn said “and Boromir would still be alive” merry said almost hating himself “well not necessarily” Aragorn said “what do you mean?” merry asked “well, you see there’s something about Boromir that you didn’t know about “ Aragorn said “like what?” merry asked “well remember when Frodo took that