Disclaimer: I don’t own any hobbits….though I wish I did! I own a car and a computer that is about it. Hobbits and everything from LOTR is owned by the the good Professor JRR Tolkien’s Estate. This is all just for fun.

AN: Well I have long been a Frodo fan, but I read a really good Merry and Estella story, and it convinced me to write my own. I hope you guys like it, enjoy!

AN2: Everything that is italicized is not my own words. They are words that come straight from The Grey Havens chapter in LOTR pg. 998 (In my book).

The Tale of Merry and Estella

Chapter 1

“Hello, can anyone here me?” the voice said rousing a young hobbit lass out of her slumber. What was going on? Who was that yelling? Estella’s throbbing head made it hard for her to concentrate on the pounding feet above her. She had been stuck down here for so long it must be messing with her head she mused. She thought back to when her whole life had changed.

Estella Bolger didn’t have that many complaints in life, she had two loving parents, and a caring brother and she lived in a lovely hole in the Bridgefields district in the small town of Budge Ford. But as content as Estella was in her life, that was all going to change very soon.

It all started when Frodo Baggins announced he was selling his beautiful Bag End to the abominable Sackville-Baggins. Fredegar, Estella’s brother who mostly went by the nickname Fatty went with Merry Brandybuck to set up a home for Frodo in Crickhollow. That very night Estella had woken up in fear to hear the Horn Call of Buckland, meaning something dangerous was afoot.

The following morning Fatty returned home, terrified, yet refusing to give in to his sisters pleadings. Rumors of some tall men wearing dark cloaks and riding black horses kept the Shire buzzing for many days. In addition to that Frodo, his gardener Sam Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took had also wound up missing without a trace. People guessed, and Fatty even hinted at it, that the four of them had met their fate in the Old Forest. As odd as this disappearance was, it was only the beginning.

Soon many big, rough looking men began to show up in the Shire, doing business with Lotho Sackville-Baggins mostly. As time wore on though a new order rose up in The Shire. Everyone was to give a percentage of their crops to the “gatherers” and “sharers”, ruffians who would come around taking food against the hobbits’ will.

But the very worst thing that happened was that their beautiful Shire began to look grim, dirty and polluted. Trees were hewn down without care, old holes were replaced with crude metal ones, and the new mill in Hobbiton caused much of the black smoke rising into the sky.

It was too much for Estella to take, she wanted to decry what was happening to her home, and so she did the only thing she thought could help. Estella joined her brother’s rebel band (despite Fatty’s best efforts to get her to reconsider) that was holed up in the Brockenbores in the hills of Scary. They became very efficient at what they did, causing the ruffians much grief. Until of course, they caught.

For what seemed like years, Estella, her brother, and several other hobbits were crammed into the Lockholes in Michel Delving. They had little to drink and eat the whole time, and they were also in a very poorly lit room. This is why Estella thought she was going mad when she heard the voice.

“Hello!” said the voice louder in a more reassuring voice. Estella heard the sound of someone approaching. She listened as the sounds of footsteps drew nearer… those didn’t sound like the loud shoes the ruffians all wore, instead it was the soft patter of hobbit feet.

“Help,” she heard Fatty utter. A lantern light moved to where he was, and Estella gasped. It was none other than Frodo Baggins. Was it truly him, the hobbit who had disappeared all those years ago, or was it months? She didn’t even know. Yes, it was Frodo, though it seemed like this Frodo looked a bit more ill and weary than she remembered.

Right behind Frodo were the rest of the truant hobbits Sam Gamgee, Pippin Took, and Merry Brandybuck. Estella was once again shocked to see how very different these hobbits looked from the ones she remembered. All four had swords at their waists, and Merry and Pippin had armor with peculiar symbols and designs on them. Estella could only imagine what wonderful and terrifying places these four had been.

Frodo quickly unlocked the door, and then Sam and Pippin came over to Fredegar. Estella’s poor brother was so weak he could barely stand, he needed his friends to carry him, but it was no great wait for them as Fredegar’s previous bulk was all gone.

“You would have done better to come with us after all, poor old Fredegar!” said Pippin.

Fred opened an eye and forced a weak smile. “Who’s this young giant with the loud voice? Not little Pippin! What’s your size in hats now?” Fred exclaimed in a small voice, just causing Pippin to chortle a little.

Meanwhile Estella managed to get to her legs, weak though she was. Though she had been in the Lockholes for as long as he had, Fred had mostly given his rations of food to his sister, feeling it was the least he could do for not being more hard on Estella and making her stay with their parents.

“Need some help?” a voice asked, distracting Estella. She looked up to see Merry’s face glancing at her with a slight look of concern.

“I can manage fine by myself, thanks, but I would like to know what has happened. Where did those ruffians go?” she asked.

“Either out of The Shire or they were killed, yesterday the Battle of Bywater was fought and we defeated them,” replied Merry with a grim smile on his face.

Estella was slightly taken aback, was this truly the same hobbit that had once pushed her in the mud when she was a young hobbit lass? His face seemed to look more careworn, and tired, he really looked like he had been through the ringer. Yet, he also looked powerful and very proud. Oh and the biggest shock was that he was TALL! Since when was he ever that huge?

Estella regained her composure quickly. “It’s about time something was done, thank goodness it is over,” she said. “Well I better go check on Fredegar, he’ll be needing me, good day Mr. Brandybuck,” Estella stated before exiting the Lockholes in search for her brother.

It was quite the reunion when Fred and Estella finally arrived in Budgeford. Her parents were anxiously waiting for them, and their mother Rosamunda was in tears, especially seeing the state her son was in, not to mention the way Estella looked. In fact she became a mother hen, especially over Fred; she was feeding him triple at every meal. Their father, Odovacar wanted to know everything as he had been fairly as of late, and didn’t know much about the happenings of the Shire recently.

One day during Elevensies, they were halfway through their meal when there was a knock on the door. “I will get it Estella dear, you eat,” Rosa said while hurrying to answer the door. She moved pretty fast for a hobbit that was 81 years of age. Estella picked at her food, but suddenly looked up as she saw her mother walking back in followed by Merry Brandybuck.

“Why hello Mr. Brandybuck, good to see you,” said Odo, before taking a puff from his pipe. Estella glanced up to see Merry, once again dressed in his peculiar clothing and armor.

“And you Mr. Bolger,” replied Merry before turning to Fredegar. “How are you feeling Fred?” he asked.

“Just fine, eating six square meals a day again, I will be Fatty again soon. Or at least I hope so,” Fred replied.

“I’m sure you will be,” Merry said assuredly. “I just came by to see how you are, I wonder how you would have been now, had you come with us.”

“You never told me Merry, what was the Old Forest like?” Fred asked with a shudder. Mention of the forest, drew the attention of Estella and her parents.

“Well…in the forest the trees try to trip you, and they don’t like our presence one bit. As long as you avoid Old Man Willow… and the Barrows (here Merry shuddered) its quite fine,” he replied with a grin to mask the memory of the Forest.

“I can’t really believe that friend,” replied Fatty.

“Oh pardon me Mr. Brandybuck, did you want anything to eat or drink?” Rosamunda exclaimed, trying to change the subject.

“No thanks, I’m quite alright, thanks Mrs. Bolger,” Merry said formally.

Estella didn’t care to hear anymore, so she excused herself and walked outside. She didn’t know what it was, but for some reason she was uncomfortable being in the same room as Merry. Before they “travelers” had left, she had no problems whatsoever telling him off or chatting comfortably with him, but not anymore. In the year he was gone Merry Brandybuck had ceased to be the same person she knew her whole life.

Estella sat down on a bench in their garden for some peace and quiet. Unfortunately that wasn’t about to happen if Merry was around. 10 minutes after she had left, Merry came back outside whistling some strange tune. Merry stopped the moment he saw Estella.

“Good day Mr. Brandybuck,” Estella said, not even looking at him.

“Merry,” he said. “You always called me Merry before, why the sudden change?” he asked, walking over in front of Estella.

“I don’t know, just…” Estella started.

“Just what?” he asked, smirking a bit.

“Just never mind, good day Mr. Brandybuck,” Estella finished, walking back into her hole and closed the door. Outside Merry rolled his eyes and muttered “lasses” before setting off down the road.

In the weeks that followed, every hobbit was buzzing around like bees building homes, tearing down the awful houses the ruffians built, and replant gardens and such. Fred was still too weak to help, and Rosa and Odo were too old to be of much use, so Estella alone went to help with the efforts of cleaning up the Shire. Most days she and a group of other women fixed meals for all the men building and repairing homes.

Estella was still trying to sort out her feelings about the new Merry Brandybuck, but she was too busy most of the time to dwell on it. Merry was often going around the Shire with Pippin, rooting out the last bands of ruffians, always dressed in his armor. Estella only saw Merry those few times when he stopped by at the Bolger hole to see how Fred was doing. Finally though, Estella just got used to this new Merry and paid him no mind, she had more important things to do.

As time wore on, Yule came and went, and finally it was springtime in 1420, and what a season it was. Everywhere Estella looked, green sprouts were shooting up, the trees all got new green leaves, and the Shire once again became the beautiful place it had been before Sharkey’s men had came and ruined it. Estella knew that it was Sam Gamgee who had planted all the new trees and went around foresting the whole Shire. He had done a marvelous job, yet it was certainly peculiar how fast the trees grew.

One day when Estella was outside in the garden a small lad came up to their hole, but spotting Estella he walked up to her instead.
“Are you Miss Estella Bolger?” he asked.

“Yes I am,” she replied, wondering what was going on.

“I have a letter for you,” the boy said handing to her. Estella thanked the boy and walked into her home holding the letter in her gloved hand. Taking it off she broke the seal and pulled a piece of parchment. Seeing it was from her friend Melilot Brandybuck, she eagerly began to read it.

Dear Estella,

How are you doing, my friend? I have been well of course, Brandy Hall just as busy as ever. I really have no one to talk to, I am craving to chat with you, and though I have friends here, they aren’t Estella Bolger. And so I have a big question to ask. First off Master Saradoc is planning a big Spring Cotillion on April 20th. And I came up with the idea of you coming here to Brandy Hall for a couple of weeks and stay for the party? It would be simply grand to have my best friend over for a while, just send me a letter soon.

Oh and by the way, Mentha wants to know if Fredegar is going to come. She has been going out of her mind with worry about the poor thing. Anyways I best be going, it’s time for luncheon and if I don’t get there now, I won’t be able to eat until afternoon tea. Send me a reply as soon as you can.

Your Friend,

Melilot

Estella read the letter over, before smiling and writing her response.

AN: Well there you have it, my first chapter. I promise the next one will be up soon! And as always review please. They feed the imagination…and speed the fingers up.