Lyrd Of The Ryngs - The Homies

[Grey_Wolf]

The old man laid the Bowie knife along his lap, and Pippin put his hand to the hilt, and said slowly after Denethor:
"Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor, and to the Chief Architect of the Agency, to try achieve greatness in the field of Architecture, to meddle in design, plentyful or not, in conflict or peace, or death take me, or the world end, from this hour henceforth, until my contract expires. So say I, Peregrin son of Paladin of the Shire of the Halflings."

[EarthBound]

Denethor turned towards his drafting table which contained a scale drawing of Gondor...."Ah, you shall be in need of this, I think"...and handed Pippin a silver compass with sliver wings for the arms and and an emblem of the white tree in relief upon it's handle.

"Here, you may be in need of this, too," warned the Steward as he handed over a pocket protector...

[Grey_Wolf]

"And, along withe these gifts, this do I hear, Denethor son of Ecthelion, Chief Architect of Gondor, Vice President of the Gondor Architectural Bureau, and I will not forget it, nor fail to reward good design with grace, valour with honour, breach of contracts with dismissal." Then Pippin received back his Bowie knife and put it in its sheath.
"And now," said Denethor, "my first command to you: speak and be not silent! Tell me your full tale, and see that you recall all that you can of Boromir, my son. Sit now and begin!" As he spoke he punched the intercom that stood near his footstool, and at once his secretary entered from a side-door.

[Grey_Wolf]

"Bring beer and snacks and folding-chairs for the guests," said Denethor, "and see that none trouble us for one hour."

[Butterbeer]

SFX: whoooosh!

[Grey_Wolf]

"It is all that I have to spare, for there is much else to heed," he said to Gandalf. "Much of more import, it may seem, and yet to me less pressing. But maybe we can speak again at the end of the day."
"And earlier, it is to be hoped," said Gandalf. "For I have not driven hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. Is it naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?"
"It is much to me. But I know already sufficient of these deeds for my own counsel against the menace of the East." He turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smouldering fire, drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.

[Grey_Wolf]

Denethor looked indeed much more like a great salesman than Gandalf did, more serviceminded, honed by hard work, and powerful; and older. Yet by a sense other than sight Pippin perceived that Gandalf had the greater power and the deeper wisdom, and a majesty that was veiled. And he was older, far older. "How much older?" he wondered, and then he thought how odd it was that he had never thought about it before. Treebeard had said something about natural health care salesmen. What was Gandalf? In what far time and place did he come into the world, and when would he leave it? And then his musings broke off, and he saw that Denethor and Gandalf still looked each other in the eye, as if reading the other's mind. But it was Denethor who first withdrew his gaze.
"Yea," he said; "for though the Phones be lost, they say, still the Chief Architects of Gondor have better eye for detail than lesser men, and many ideas come to them. But sit now!"

[Grey_Wolf]

Then men came bearing a pair of folding-chairs and one brought three cans of Coors and Estrella Sour Cream & Onion Potatoe-chips. Pippin sat down, but he could not take his eyes from the old lord. Was it so, or had he only imagined it, that as he spoke of the Phones a sudden gleam of his eye had glanced upon Pippin's face?
"Now tell me your tale, my young associate," said Denethor, half kindly; half mockingly. "For the words of one whom my son so befriended will be welcome indeed."

[Butterbeer]

just before he could reply pippin noticed that both protagonists and worthy 'health salesmen ' took the opportunity to swallow a well-man health pill ... denethor's 'good eyesight and despair' brand was good, but not as healthly as gandalf's 'me-a-Mia Mithrandir' special-brew pills!

Pippin felt uncomfortable ... they not only needed some good architecture around here but some considerably more comfortable chairs!

[Grey_Wolf]

Pippin never forgot that hour in the great hall under the piercing eye of the Chief Architect of Gondor, stabbed ever and anon by his shrewd questions, and all the while conscious of Gandalf at his side, watching and listening, and (so Pippin felt) holding in check a rising wrath and impatience. When the hour was over and Denethor again pressed the intercom, Pippin felt worn out. "It cannot be more than nine o'clock," he thought. "I could now eat three breakfasts on end."
"Lead the Mr Mithrandir to the housing prepared for him," said Denethor, "and his companion may lodge with him for the present, if he will. But be it known that I have now hired him to in the company, and he shall be known as Peregrin son of Paladin and be given the access codes of the low denomination . SMS the Captains that they shall wait on me here, as soon as may be after 0300.
"And you, my Lord Mithrandir, shall come too, as and when you will. None shall hinder your coming to me at any time, save only in my brief hours of sleep. Let your wrath at an old man's folly run off and then return to my comfort!"
"Folly?" said Gandalf. "Nay, my lord, when you are a dotard you will die. You can use even your grief as a cloak. Do you think that I do not understand your purpose in questioning for an hour one who knows the least, while I sit by?"
"If you understand it, then be content," returned Denethor. "Pride would be folly that disdained help and counsel at need; but you deal out such gifts according to your own designs. Yet the Chief Architect of Gondor is not to be made the tool of other men's purposes, however worthy. And to him there is no purpose higher in the world as it now stands than the good of Gondor; and the rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man's, unless the Chief EO should come again."
"Unless Chief EO should come again?" said Gandalf. "Well, My friend Chief Architect, it is your task to keep some order in the Design Department still against that event, which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all the aid that you are pleased to ask for. But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am an architect . Did you not know?" And with that he turned and strode from the hall with Pippin running at his side.

[Grey_Wolf]

Gandalf did not look at Pippin or speak a word to him as they went. Their guide brought them from the doors of the hall, and then led them across the Court of the Fountain into a lane between skyscrapers. After several turns they came to a house close to the wall of the citadel upon the north side, not far from the shoulder that linked the hill with the mountain. Within, upon the first floor above the street, up a wide castiron winding stair, he showed them to a fair room, light and airy, with gold lamé wallpaper. There was hardly any furniture, having but a small table, two chairs and a bench; but at either side there were curtained alcoves with bunkbeds within which well-furbished bathrooms were hidden. There were three panorama windows that looked northward over the great curve of Anduin, still shrouded in mists, towards the Emyn Muil and Rauros far away. Pippin had to climb on the bench to look out over the deep stone sill.
"Are you angry with me, Gandalf?" he said, as their guide went out and closed the door. "I did the best I could."
"You did indeed!" said Gandalf, laughing suddenly; and he came and stood beside Pippin, putting his arm about the hobbit's shoulders and gazing out of the window. Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.
"Indeed you did your best," said the wizard; "and I hope that it may be long before you find yourself in such a tight corner again between two such terrible old men. Still the Chief Architect of Gondor learned more from you than you may have guessed, Pippin. You could not hide the fact that Boromir did not lead the Homies from Moria, and that there was one among you of high honour who was coming to Minas Tirith; and that he had a famous sword. Men think much about the stories of old days in Gondor; and Denethor has given long thought to the rhyme and to the words Isildur's Bane, since Boromir went away.
"He is not as other men of this time, Pippin, and whatever be his descent from father to son, by some chance the blood of Westernesse runs nearly true in him; as it does in his other son, Faramir, and yet did not in Boromir whom he loved best. He has long sight. He can perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men, even of those that dwell far off. It is difficult to deceive him, and dangerous to try.
"Remember that! For you are now employed in the company. I do not know what put it into your head, or your heart, to do that. But it was well done. I did not hinder it, for generous deed should not be checked by cold counsel. It touched his heart, as well (may I say it) as pleasing his humour. And at least you are free now to move about as you will in Minas Tirith - when you are not on duty. For there is another side to it. You are at his command; and he will not forget. Be wary still!"

[Grey_Wolf]

He fell silent and sighed. "Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than today, for many days to come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. The board is set, and the pieces are moving. One piece that I greatly desire to find is Faramir, now the Vice-President of the GAB. I do not think that he is in the City; but I have had no time to gather news. I must go. Pippin. I must go to this General Assembly and learn what I can. But the Enemy has the move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are likely to see as much of it as any, Peregrin son of Paladin, soldier of Gondor. Sharpen your blade!"

Gandalf went to the door, and there he turned. "I am in haste Pippin," he said. "Do me a favour when you go out. Even before you rest, if you are not too weary. Check where Shadowfax's garage is. These people are good with machines, for they are a good and wise folk, but they have less skill with bikes than some."

With that Gandalf went out; and as he did so, there came the digitally remastered ringing in a tower of the citadel. Three strokes it rang, like silver in the air, and ceased: it was 0800 hrs, the third from the rising of the sun.

[Butterbeer]

Pippin went out wondering at the full-on 5.1 surround sound of the digitally remastered chimes.

He was hungry and wondered where the biker's alley might be... his thoughts wandered to the traditional fry-up of a biker's and trucker's cafe: MMMmmm double bacon, triple suasage, fried tomatoes, deep-fried hash-browns, and quadruple mushrooms! (with a healthy apple of course) ...

[Grey_Wolf]

After having a hearty meal at McGondor's he went out for a walk again. He hadn't gone far before he noticed a man, clad in black and white, coming along the narrow street from the centre of the citadel towards him. Pippin felt lonely and made up his mind to speak as the man passed; but he had no need. The man came straight up to him.
"You are Peregrin the Halfling?" he said. "I am told that you have been sworn to the service of the Chief Architect of the City. Welcome!" He held out his hand and Pippin took it.
"I am named Beregond son of Baranor. I have no duty this morning, and I have been sent to you to teach you the access codes of the low denomination, and to tell you some of the many things that no doubt you will wish to know. And for my part, I would learn of you also. For never before have we seen a halfling in this land and though we have heard rumour of them, little is said of them in any tale that we know. Moreover you are a friend of Mithrandir. Do you know him well?"
"Well," said Pippin. "I have known of him all my short life, as you might say; and lately I have travelled far with him. But there is much to read in that book, and I cannot claim to have seen more than a page or two. Yet perhaps I know him as well as any but a few. Aragorn was the only one of our Company, I think, who really knew him."
"Aragorn?" said Beregond. "Who is he?"
"Oh," stammered Pippin, "he was a man who went about with us. I think he is in Rohan now."
"You have been in Rohan, I hear. There is much that I would ask you of that land also; for we put much of what little hope we have in its people. But I am forgetting my errand, which was first to answer what you would ask. What would you know, Master Peregrin?"

[Butterbeer]

"well, forgive me Master Beregrond ... but a subject dear to my heart... i was told after the majestic fry-up that food would be sparingly doled out henceforth .... where do i find the next meal as it where .. ?

asked pippin ( like all who had just had a MCGondor ... wondering as a mercenary after a kinda wholesome bite) ...

Beregond gave him an apprasing look...

[Grey_Wolf]

Beregond looked at him gravely. "An old campaigner, I see," he said. "They say that men who go warring afield look ever to the next hope of food and of drink; though I am not a travelled man myself. Then you have not yet eaten today?"
"Well, yes, to speak in courtesy, yes," said Pippin. "But no more than a McGondor Plus menue by the kindness of your Chief Architect; but he racked me for it with an hour of questions, and that is hungry work."

Beregond laughed. "At the table small men may do the greater deeds, we say. But you have broken your fast as well as any man in the Citadel, and with greater honour. This is a fortress and a tower of guard and is now in posture of war. We rise ere the Sun, and take a morsel in the grey light, and go to our duties at the opening hour. But do not despair!" He laughed again, seeing the dismay in Pippin's face. "Those who have had heavy duty take somewhat to refresh their strength in the mid-morning. Then there is the nuncheon, at noon or after as duties allow; and men gather for the daymeal, and such mirth as there still may be, about the hour of sunset.
"Come! We will walk a little and then go find us some refreshment, and eat and drink on the battlement, and survey the fair morning."

[Grey_Wolf]

"One moment!" said Pippin blushing. "Greed, or hunger by your courtesy, put it out of my mind. But Gandalf, Mithrandir as you call him, asked me to see to his bike - Shadowfax, a great machine of Rohan, and most priced of all the bikes of General Theoden, I am told, though he has given it Mithrandir for his services. I think his new master loves the machine better than he loves many men, and if his good will is of any value to this city, you will service Shadowfax to the best of your ability: with greater kindness than you have treated this hobbit, if it is possible."

[Grey_Wolf]

"Hobbit?" said Beregond.
"That is what we call ourselves," said Pippin.
"I am glad to learn it," said Beregond, "for now I may say that strange accents do not mar fair speech, and hobbits are a fair-spoken folk. But come! You shall make me acquainted with this marvelous machine. I love bikes, and we see them seldom in this stony city; for my people came from the mountain-vales, and before that from Ithilien. But fear not! The visit shall be short, a mere call of courtesy, and we will go thence to the Coffee Shop."

Pippin found that Shadowfax had been well garaged and serviced. For in the sixth circle, outside the walls of the citadel, there were some fairsized garages where a few dirt bikes were kept, hard by the condos of the errand-bikers of the Chief Architect: messengers always ready to go at the urgent command of Denethor or his staff employees. But now all the bikes and the drivers were out and away.

[Butterbeer]

"Nice wheels indeed" Said Beregond ... already there was an appreciative crowd of Riders coming in as rumour ran wild through the errand riders of Gondor who stood there in awe viewing Shadowfax ...

"Them Rohan guys really know their wheels..." they heard as they left.

[Grey_Wolf]

"Now we have to go and see to it that we ourselvers are "well serviced"" said Beregond, and he led Pippin back to the citadel, and so to a door in the 'scraper's north side. The Trooper's special fastfood joint and storage rooms, which hatches were closed all but one.

"This is C Company of the Guard's own fastfood joint and storage rooms." said Beregond."How ya doin', Targon!" he called through the hatch."It might be a bit early for chowder but here we have a newcomer in the service of the Chief Architect. He has travelled long and far with nothing to eat and had a long meeting this morning and he's hungry. Give us what you have!"