By: Dana
Summary: Where Merry finally shows up.
Characters: Merry Brandybuck and some others
Pairings: None really
Rating: PG
Warnings: Gen, angst, violence
Author's Notes: During and some of the after of 'Overlooked', the third of The North-delving Incident.
, I put something at the start of this that's just for you. :)
Also, thank for the awesome title. (Thanks as well for the beta!)
Series Index: Roads Go On and Years Go By.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

Blotmath, SR 1420

'There's nothing here but grass, and hills, and sheep,' Mosco says, stressing that last word, at the edge of Merry's hearing. That's all well and mostly true, for the Westfarthing is wide and green and rolling. Merry, though, has never thought it home to an abnormal amount of sheep.

'There's nothing wrong with sheep,' says Doderic. 'Why, we've sheep in Buckland.'

'Not so many sheep as they have here,' Mosco says. 'They've more sheep here than they've hobbits.'

'Mosco, I think you're going daft.'

'I have not. And it's true. And there was that one in Tighfield – you remember the one. It was staring at me. I know it was.'

'Oh, Mosco,' Doderic says, then sighs. 'It's worse than I thought – you aren't just going daft, but you're full cracked instead.'

Another lad comments, saying it's just there's sometimes too much time on the open road – and it doesn't help that there's too much wide spaces left in the Westfarthing. The lad, named Brendilac, of Deephallow, sighs as he goes on: 'I like it better far better at home.'

'And speaking of sheep,' Mosco continues, and Merry rolls his eyes, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. 'Didn't Pippin once keep one was a pet? I'm almost sure he did.'

Merry rolls his eyes once more, finding it difficult to concentrate on Mosco, distracted as he is. 'You've no doubt mistaken Pippin for some other Pippin,' he says, biting his tongue. What he doesn't say is, 'Her name was Dumpling, and she wasn't a pet – just Pippin's favourite sheep in all of his father's flock.' Really, Merry didn't want to remember Dumpling: if memory served him well, she'd always given him a hard time.

Thankfully, Doderic speaks up, saying. 'Oh, and here I thought – well, I suppose we must be wrong.'

It's a fine bright day in the Westfarthing, a chill in the autumn air, a good fourteen miles of worn road between them and Tighfield. 'Merry, I don't see why you wanted to ride out here, of all places,' another of the lads, Bardo Twofoot, says. 'Mosco's really right, you know – there's nothing out here but hills, and sheep.'

'Ah, but you're wrong,' Merry says, trying to focus on that, and not the unease that follows close behind. 'There's a village, not more than a good-sized hamlet, six more miles up the road, I'd guess. North-delving – you weren't with us when we last rode through, after the Battle of Bywater. It's a quaint little place, really.'

'I still think we should have kept to Little Delving,' Bardo goes on. 'Weren't we to meet up with Captain Pippin?'

'Pippin's gone and got himself distracted, that's all,' Merry says, and though the day is bright, he feels as though he's speaking a dark and heavy untruth. 'I don't see the harm in riding through to North-delving, at any length. It really is a quaint little place.'

'Yes, you said that all ready,' Mosco says. 'Merry, are you well?'

'Well enough,' Merry says, with as much cheer as he can manage, even going so far as to grin. 'Come on, we aren't that far off – a pint sounds like a good idea, don't you say? There's a place in North-delving, I remember it from before... though we hadn't time to stop for any length, the last we went through.'

'True,' Mosco says. Then he snaps lightly on his reins, whistles to his dark pony, and it trots up impatiently. 'Oh, wait,' and he leans forward in his saddle, shielding his eyes from the sun. 'There's someone out on the road.'

'Perhaps he has some news,' says Doderic. 'Has it really been a year?'

It's been a long full year, that's true. Doderic and his pony catch up with Mosco, but Merry doesn't give in to the insistent urge that's dogging him now, that it would be best for him to ride hard. It must surprise them all when the figure on the road drops, and it's Mosco, then Doderic, who hurry off first.

Once Merry gets there, Mosco's down off his pony, holding his water-bottle – a lad sits collapsed on the ground, hair a mess, cheeks glowing pink. 'Were you running a race?' Mosco asks. 'If so, it looks like you're in the lead.'

'No,' the lad says, breathing hard. 'I... I... I'm Dani Underhill, of North-delving...' He accepts Mosco's water-bottle, takes a good drink, then blinks, looking stunned, once his gaze settles on Merry. 'You're Captain Merry, aren't you? Captain Pippin needs you – he's still in town.'

'Pippin? What's wrong?'

'I was... trying to run... needed to hurry to Tighfield. He thought you'd be in Little Delving...' Then Dani breathes noisily for a long moment, before taking another drink. 'There's... well, we've had an incident. You're needed in North-delving. I'll explain on the way.'

Merry nods, and Mosco helps Dani to his feet. 'Here, ride with me,' Merry says, offering his hand. Dani nods, and gets pulled up – Merry settles the smaller lad before him. 'So, tell me, what's wrong?'

'We... well, we've ruffians in town. They've been there all year.'

Merry makes a startled noise – no wonder he'd been so worried – and Pippin stumbled into that? 'Is Pippin–'

'Captain Pippin's well enough – he's been helping us, and leading us. We've planned on confronting the Men, all together, but I needed to fetch you and your lads.'

'I suppose it's good luck that we'd left Little Delving so early,' Merry mutters. 'Hold on, then,' he says, and he whistles sharp to Stybba, who's off at a sudden hard gallop. Dani startles, but then he laughs, though that's lost in the rushing wind. There were ruffians in North-delving, and they'd been there the entire year? Merry finds it hard to believe that they could have overlooked that village, and all those hobbits – but he'll deal with that soon enough, and put that guilt behind him.

'Merry, what'll we do?' Mosco asks, shouting.

'Well, I think... tell me, Dani, how many are there?'

'Ruffians?' he asks. 'There's five of them – well, four now, they took down the one. They had hostages, you see, and we couldn't breathe a word, for fear of losing them... they've killed some few, too.'

Merry bites down, nods. 'Well, if Pippin's done what I'm sure he's done, then he won't wait on the cavalry to arrive. He'll think he'll be able to manage it all at once – tell me, how did they manage to overcome him?'

'Drugged him, from what I've been told. But I couldn't say for sure. They had him locked up, for a while – from what else I've been told, I think they meant to ransom him, not kill him. At least, not right away. They... they're survivors, I think, ones who weren't run off. After the Battle of Bywater, they took refuge in North-delving.' Dani's voice drops, and Merry can barely hear him. 'And no one ever kne

w.' 'Well, better now than never,' Merry says, and he'll keep to that. 'Remind me the layout of town, won't you, Dani? I need to plan.'

'Plan what? What shall you do?'

'Why, liberate North-delving, of course – and save Pippin from himself. He'll need the rescuing, I'm sure.' He tries to keep his tone light.

'He's been very brave,' Dani says. 'We needed that, we did. After all that, I wasn't sure we'd be able to stand on our own.'

He thinks of something Boromir once told him, in the wild miles between Rivendell and the green at Parth Galen, then says, 'Standing can be difficult – that's true. But once you manage to get to your feet, you've accomplished the most difficult part all ready.'

All in all, it's less planning and more running in and catching the Ruffians off guard. Merry, of course, is reminded of another day, a full year behind – the thing with ruffians and hobbits, is that the Men so often don't take the hobbits with as much seriousness as they ought to.

They left Dani behind, in a copse beyond the border of town. 'I suppose you'll know when it's safe,' Merry says, and again he attempts to keep his tone laugh. Dani nods, whispers, 'take care, then, and good luck,' and Merry nods at them, then at Mosco, and off they went into town.

It's a lucky first blow that decides the outcome of the small skirmish, for Merry's seen battle, and this is hardly that. He catches one of the Men – perhaps the leader – taller, with darker eyes – to the side of his head with the flat of his blade, and then he goes down.

After that, the two who remain surrender without question, finding themselves at the mercy of swords, arrows, and well-tended slings. 'I suppose this means we've rounded up the last of the strays,' Merry says, after that, once the Men have been bound and taken care of. There's something else on his mind though, of course, and he turns and finds himself face to face with a red-haired lass, shock in her eyes.

'Captain Pippin's in the inn,' she says. Merry nods, and goes there in a hurry.

And so Merry finds Pippin, bound and unconscious, bruised and with a bandage round his brow. Merry feels he's come a long way, and he's seen horrific things, but he can't help weeping over his cousin, and Pippin bruised and unconscious. Another hobbit comes in, and Merry guesses there will be more time later, for sorrow and for cheer. He cuts Pippin free, and lifts him in his arms. 'Do you have a place I might take him?'

There is one, and Merry checks Pippin over himself. He isn't the only one injured, and there are hobbits fresh from captivity. Merry knows he can't simply sit at Pippin's bedside, not this time, so he leaves him there tended by one of the North-delving lasses – her name was Calluna Underhill, and one of Dani's younger sisters.

By the time Merry gets back to Pippin, once the village has been checked over, once Mosco and Doderic have ridden off to alert the nearest stationed Bounders, some twenty miles away, the sun is down, and Merry is hungry as well as tired, but Pippin only sleeps.

So he sits by Pippin's bedside, for he's made the time, and he'll deal with guilt soon enough, but he's only happy enough now that he's found Pippin, and that Pippin is whole. 'You're far too good at getting into trouble,' Merry says. 'What would have happened if I hadn't come in time?'

Merry won't think about that, for there's no good thing in thinking dark thoughts, and it would have him end up feeling very lost. The lass from outside returns, the one with red hair, and bright eyes. She introduces herself as Citrine Smallburrow, and says she's only come for a short moment, for she must tend to her sister (and she says that with tears glittering in her eyes). 'He hasn't wakened yet? Oh, Captain Merry, have you even been fed?'

Merry shakes his head, and Citrine frowns. 'Well, I'll see that something's brought – why, I'll do it myself. Still, I wanted to thank you, and thank Captain Pippin, though I see he's still sleeping. I think I spent a lot of the last year hurt and angry, and I wondered why you couldn't save us sooner. But things do all happen as they happen, and sometimes it simply takes longer than you'd want. Thank you, Merry,' she says, and smiles. Then she kisses his cheek, and Merry lets her.

'Now, I'll go find you something to eat. You look as though you're ready to collapse.'

So she goes, then returns, but in between that and then Merry tells Pippin he was lucky to find a lass like her – no doubt she helped him, perhaps in some great way. Then he sets his hand over Pippin's, and remembers another time where he sat by his still cousin's bedside, and this time doesn't seem nearly so dark as that.

'Just come back to me, won't you?' Merry says, and he doesn't quite manage to keep his tone light. 'I don't think Frodo would forgive me, and you know we both wouldn't want that!'

He doesn't collapse right then, and he has no plans to do so any time soon. He goes out again, to find that Mosco and Doderic have returned, and that the lads have rounded the Men up and led them from town, to the Rangers waiting outside the border (given the events of the day, that seemed the wisest course – Mosco and Doderic had alerted the Bounders, and had seen the Rangers alerted, too). 'Well, I suppose we ought to settle down for the night,' Merry says, for there's cheer in town and well-wishes, and they're all welcome, of course.

'Is Pippin well?' Mosco asks. His eyes seem dark, his voice seems low.

'Mosco, I–'

'Is he well? I hope he didn't manage to get hurt too seriously. He'd not want to worry you as such.'

'Oh, I know, and he's banged up now but tomorrow's an entirely different day.' They stand in the darkness that gathers outside the old, and Mosco nods. He must be thinking his own dark thoughts. 'Come on, then – you and Doderic both, you must be hungry. They've fed us all already, but more won't hurt.'

Mosco nods, accepting Merry's silence, but his words as well. 'You know, I am rather famished. Just so long as it isn't mutton,' he says, and he manages that with a smile.

Merry laughs, and feels better for that. If tears sting his eyes, if Mosco lets Merry hold him for a moment, then that hardly seems like something to be mentioned. Mosco smiles afterwards, and they go off to the one lit doorway together.

The next morning truly is an entirely different day, and there's nothing so quite wonderful as hearing Pippin's voice again, after one more long and quiet night.

Part I: Overlooked
Part II: Left Undone
Part III: Following Through