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Title: The Night's Advice (#3913)
Author: NancyBrooke
Chapters: 1

Archive: Tolkien
Category: Lord of the Rings
Description: Saradoc tries to give Merry advice, and learns something unexpected. Inspired by the "Mind Yer Mama" challenge
Published: 01 Oct 2008
Updated: 01 Oct 2008
Warnings:
Type: Humour
Characters: Saradoc; Merry


Chapter 1 - The Night's Advice

Saradoc slipped softly along the darkened paths of Brandy Hall gently testing each casement and door, ensuring himself that all was, indeed, exactly as it should be. There really was no need, Buckland had not known a petty thief or cutpurse in generations, but it was a ritual he’d developed in the many sleepless nights of Esmeralda’s troubled confinement, and it helped to settle a mind that often felt crowded with the whole of Buckland and the Marish, too, and let him shut away those concerns behind safe doors, at least until tomorrow.

His task nearly completed, Saradoc turned down the corridor that would lead him to bed beside his Esme, and stopped. Behind the door closest to theirs his sharp ears caught an unusual rustling.

Softly, he turned the knob, and pushed.

And there, bolt-up in bed and staring, he found Merry.

Who immediately flopped back against his pillow, rolled over fitfully and let out the whole of his breath in the most dramatic huff a nine-year-old could possibly conjure.

Saradoc suppressed a smile. “Can’t sleep?”

“No!”

“May I come in?”

“Yes.”

Saradoc moved to sit down on the bed had once been his. Usually a calm sleeper, Merry had tossed and turned so much he’d completely untucked his sheets and blankets. Saradoc surreptitiously grabbed a corner and briefly tugged himself a flat spot.

“Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?”

“No.”

Saradoc raised an eyebrow. Certainly a clever lad, Merry was usually willing to seek out and accept advice, although he often made up his own mind in the end; a trait Saradoc admired, if not encouraged.

“No?”

“It’s just –” in the darkness Saradoc could almost hear his son knitting his brows: “something I have to work out for myself.”

For a moment Saradoc considered, then reached forward and brushed his son’s unruly curls from his forehead. It had been too long since Esme had cut them. Then he stood and lifted the head of Merry’s bedclothes in one suggestion Merry could not refuse.

“Alright, if you’re sure, but right now – sleep.”

This time, Merry nestled down quietly and Saradoc settled the bedclothes about him. He could almost feel the tension leaving his son’s small body. He turned to go.

Still, as Father and Master, he couldn’t resist offering one piece of unasked-for advice; it was part of his job, after all. He paused on the threshold:

“Just remember, as your grandfather used to say, ‘everything will look brighter in the morning.’”

And from deep in the darkness, a small voice coming out of a yawn replied contentedly “'course it will, the sun will be up.”

Saradoc paused, and then went ahead and pulled the door shut behind him. Then he fairly clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing aloud. Of all the …! He shook his head wonderingly and padded on down the hall toward bed.

With practiced stealth he slid himself in beside his wife, who only snuggled closer at the blankets being lifted from her warmth. Saradoc dropped a light kiss into her hair and closed his eyes, still smiling to himself.

‘Everything will look brighter in the morning’. How many times had his own father told him the very self same thing? But until now, he’d never seen the simple truth of it.

Contended himself, Saradoc snuggled a little deeper into the covers, and held his wife a little closer. Whatever else the morning might hold, he could rest assured his son, at least, would be shining brightly.

And he’d take him down the hill to Bucklebury, to the barber, for a proper hair cut.











Notes: My father really did give me that advice on several occasions, and it always made me feel better, but it wasn't until I said it myself to my daughter that I realized exactly what I was saying (she still doesn't know, and keep using it, and it seems to make her feel better).

This was intended for the "Mind Yer Mama" drabble challenge, but grew in the telling, and I couldn't give it a decent trim.

Self-betaed, so if you see any errors, please let me know by pm.
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