13:
Pervinca’s Gift
Pervinca
spent the night in Pippin’s room. Fortunately, he did not wake during the
night, but slept soundly from the moment Merry brought him to the room.
Pervinca did not sleep quite so well, for she had to sleep on a chair, and
comfortable as it was, it was not the best for sleeping on.
She
woke late in the morning to a groan. “Oh, I want to die.”
“Good
morning, Pip,” she greeted, opening one eye. “Feeling a little ill, are we?”
“A
little? I feel very ill. And now I’m even more confused as to why
everyone likes ale. It tastes vile and leaves you feeling sickly the morning
after.”
Pervinca
stood. “I think you probably feel so bad because it was your first experience
with ale, and because you are far too young for it just yet.”
Pippin
simply grunted and pulled the covers over his head. Pervinca left him alone to
his misery. As she shut the door behind her, she found a great commotion was
taking place in the hallway of Bag-End. It seemed that Frodo was clearing away
some of his uncle’s useless possessions.
“What’s
going on?” Pervinca asked Merry, catching his arm as he walked passed her.
“Oh,
good morning, Pervinca,” Merry replied. “Did you sleep well? How is Pippin?”
“I
don’t think he’ll be drinking ale again for some time. Even though he brought
most of it up, he’s still suffering.”
“First
time is often like that. I can remember my first experience with ale – I have
Fredegar Bolger, Ferdibrand Took, and my cousin Berilac to thank for that
wonderful evening.”
“I’m
afraid I did not sleep all that well. I never have much liked sleeping while
sitting, and I was worried about Frodo.”
Merry
nodded. “So was I. Oh, and to answer the question you asked, Old Bilbo left a
few gifts behind.” He snicked. “A lot of them are jokes. Very funny, some of
them. Oh, but that reminds me!” Merry took Pervinca’s hand and led her into the
kitchen. There, he handed her a small wooden box with a label on it. “Uncle
Bilbo left this for you.”
Pervinca
read the label. For PERVINCA TOOK. May the memory of one long gone live on
in you. You will know what to do with this. With love, Uncle Bilbo.
Pervinca recognised the box. It was small enough to fit in her hand, and had
the engraving of what appeared to be a pervinca-flower on the lid. She
remembered finding it when she had been much younger.
“Uncle Bilbo, what’s this?” nine-year-old Pervinca Took asked, showing a small wooden to the old hobbit.
“Why,
that belonged to my mother,” Bilbo answered, seating his young cousin on his
lap. “She was a Took, you know – Belladonna – and she looked very much like
you.”
“Really?”
Pervinca touched her face. She could not imagine anyone looking like her. Pearl
and Pimpernel both looked like their mother.
Bilbo
nodded. Placing Pervinca on the floor, he led her into the hallway and pointed
to one of the portraits. “That’s my mother.”
“She
was very pretty.” Pervinca now felt very honoured that Bilbo thought she looked
like his mother. She placed the box in Bilbo’s hand.
Bilbo
looked at it for a moment, then said, “I still need this now, but one day, I
might give it to you.”
Pervinca
shook her head. “But I wouldn’t have any use for it. You should keep it to
remind you of your mother.”
“But I have you for that! Perhaps you will be able to give it to someone special, who will be able to use it.
Merry’s
voice brought Pervinca back to the present. “Are you deaf, cousin? I asked what
it was.”
“It
belonged to Belladonna Baggins,” Pervinca answered. “Uncle Bilbo told me when I
was a child that he’d give it to me one day.”
Merry
looked at the box, critically. “Looks to small for a lass to use.”
“It
is, but I can think of someone who might be able to use it.” Pervinca smiled.
“I’ll be back later, Merry. Check on Pippin for me.” She left Bag-End with a
clear purpose.
* *
* * * *
Sam
removed another discarded plate from Bilbo’s garden. It saddened him to think
that he would never hear Bilbo’s voice scolding him for being late again. Of
course, that was only one of the thoughts weighing heavily on his mind. Many of
his thoughts were about Miss Pervinca Took. Why had she run away like that?
“Good
morning, Master Samwise.” For a moment, Sam thought he was imagining things,
but when he turned, Pervinca was standing on the other side of the hedge.
“Pervinca!”
he cried, before remembering his place. “I mean, good morning, Miss Pervinca.”
“I
thought I might find you here. I feel I need to apologise for my actions at the
party. I should not have run away from you like I did, without giving you a
reason. I was very confused about…well about everything.”
“I
understand, Miss Pervinca,” said Sam, in a small voice. “You aren’t angry at
me, are you?”
“Angry?
How could I be? You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“But
yesterday, at the party, after we…you said that we had both done something
wrong. I didn’t know what you meant.”
Pervinca
frowned. She had not forgotten her vision, but she was no closer to deciphering
its meaning. “Don’t worry about that, Sam. I was probably just talking
nonsense.”
Sam
did not believe her, but would not say so. He had done far too many improper
things in the company of Pervinca. “If you say so, Miss Pervinca.”
“Sam,
do you suppose we could be friends?” Pervinca asked, after a moment of
uncomfortable silence. “I mean, a part of me wants us to be more, but the rest
of me knows that we can’t be.”
“I
know what you mean.” Sam meant that. He almost felt torn in two. Part of him
adored the excitement that Pervinca would bring into his life, but the other
part remembered his evening with Rose Cotton, and how beautiful she had looked,
despite her dress not being as fine as Pervinca’s. “I would love for us to be
friends, Miss Pervinca.”
“Oh,
I almost forgot!” Pervinca handed him the box. “The whole reason I came to find
you! I want you to have this.”
Sam
examined the box. It was beautifully made, and he quickly noted the pervinca
engraving on the top. “I can’t accept this, Miss Pervinca.”
“Of
course you can. Uncle Bilbo gave it to me, even though I told him long ago that
I’d have no use for it. He said that I’d know someone who would use it.”
Sam
could not argue that the little wooden box would be perfect for keeping small
amounts of cooking salt. Very useful for when he cooked for Frodo on their
short camping trips in the woods of the Shire.
“It
has a pervinca engraved on the top,” he commented.
“Yes.
I thought you could use it to remind you of me.”
Sam
smiled. “I don’t need a pretty box for that, but I thank you all the same.”
From
the road, Rose saw them talking. At first, she had thought that perhaps Sam was
demanding a reason for Pervinca running away like she had, but then she saw Sam
smiling. Her heart sank again, and she turned to leave before either of them
saw her.
“Mistress
Rose! Won’t you join us?”
Rose
froze. Never before had she been called Mistress. All who knew her simply
addressed her as Rose or Rosie. For someone as respectable as Miss Pervinca
Took to address her as Mistress Rose was a great deal. She turned back to look
at them.
“Well,
come on then, Rosie,” said Sam. “There’s plenty o’ room for more company,
unless you have something that needs doin’.”
Rose
did not have time to think of an errand she could have been doing. She had, in
fact, been looking for Sam. She wanted to ask him if he would have liked to go
on a picnic with her later in the week. With no reason for her not to join
them, Rosie made her way over to the hedge.
“I
was just out for a stroll,” she said. “Nothing important.”
“You
need not dislike me, Rose,” Pervinca stated.
“Dislike?
I don’t dislike you! It’s just…” She blushed and looked down. “I suppose I was
just jealous that my Sam seemed to have an interest in you. But if he’s happy
to be with you, then I’m happy for him.”
Sam
also blushed. For a moment, he thought about what Tom would think of him. He
had two of the Shire’s most beautiful maidens almost fighting for his
affections. Had he been a less caring soul, he would have taken advantage of
the situation, but Samwise Gamgee had a big heart. “Rosie, it’s not at all like
that!”
“Sam
and I have agreed to be friends,” Pervinca continued. “And I was hoping that
you and I could be also.”
“Me?
Friends with you?” Rose gasped. “But, you’re the Thain’s daughter! Isn’t there
rules, or something?”
“I
don’t know of any rule that prevents folks from being friends,” said Sam. “Why,
just look at me and Mister Frodo. And my Gaffer with Mister Bilbo. Your class
has no say in who you call your friend.”
Rose
curtsied the way her mother had taught her. “Then I would be honoured to call
Miss Pervinca Took my friend.”
Pervinca
embraced her new friend. “I’m so glad you said yes. To be honest, I don’t have any
friends who are lasses.”
“But
you’ve got two sisters!” Sam laughed.
“Yes,
two sisters who are close in age, and thus close to each other. They
don’t always have time for their little sister. I think I’m too Tookish for
them.” Pervinca laughed too. “Oh, you know something; my father told me that
the two of you are betrothed. Is that true?”
Both
Sam and Rosie blushed again. Sam explained. “It’s a common mistake – we’re not
officially betrothed. Our dads just thought it would be nice if the two of us
married some day. They thought the same of Tom and Mari. I doubt they’d have
problems if Rose found someone she’d prefer to be with.”
“Oh,
Sam!” Rosie playfully slapped Sam’s arm. “What of you, Pervinca? Since you have
successfully embarrassed both Sam and myself, I believe it is your turn. Have
you been betrothed?”
Pervinca
laughed again. “I asked my father that exact same question. He told me that he
and my mother wanted us to follow our own hearts.”
“Your
father sounds like a very wise hobbit.”
* *
* * * *
A/N:
The wooden box spoken about in this chapter is supposed to be the box of salt
Sam has with him on their journey. I based its appearance on what it looked
like in the extended DVD of The Two Towers, though of course, I
described the surface design as being a pervinca!