Umm... Sorry?

Chapter Five

Life soon returned to some semblance of normality in Bag End West. Goldenberry learned from her friend the elven healer that the medicine she had been given occasionally made recipients ‘energetic’, though he judged in a household with nearly 30 ladies and one gentlehobbit, this might not be such a problem! Frodo seemed all right, and had suffered no apparent ill effects, so Goldenberry deemed it best to let the matter lie. It wasn’t until she overheard Taurendil, Merewyn, Iorethdttr and Brandy discussing him in the kitchen that she began to suspect he might indeed have been affected by the draught.

“Well, he’s certainly not incapacitated as far as I have seen,” Taurendil exclaimed. “The minute we let him out of bed, he’s done nothing but try and get back into it!”

Brandy laughed over her tea. She looked a bit tired this morning, but had a satisfied smile. “Yes, but not for sleep!” She tossed her generous curls. “It’s like he’s making up for lost time… and making up, and making up! I have never seen the like!”

“Did you hear?” added Merewyn. “He even when IN to EliyaKirian’s bedroom to find her!”

“Really?” the other ladies gasped. “What happened?” they asked.

Merewyn giggled. “Well, I don’t rightly know, but he didn’t come out for quite a while and I’ve not seen Eliya since!”

“Yes, about the only one I have even SEEN the next morning was Elda… and SHE looked like the cat that ate the canary!” Iorethdttr scoffed. “And have you SEEN the appointment book?” The other ladies shook their heads no. Iorethdttr looked vaguely disgusted. “Not a blank page in it! Honestly, how’s a lady to get time with her squire?!”

“Well, I don’t know how much attention he’s been paying to it lately anyway… He’s only one hobbit, but I swear that he’s been around the entire harem at least once! And it’s only been a month!” Taurendil shook her head in amusement.

At that moment, Patricia, Firiel and Gladys walked into the kitchen. All three looked a bit peaked. Patricia and Firiel got themselves tea and sat at the large table, but Gladys took one look at the cups and shook her head as if deciding against it.

“Do we have any crackers?” she asked. “I just can’t seem to get my stomach working lately. I feel so awful.”

Goldenberry quickly found her some crackers and asked if Gladys would like some ginger in her tea as it might help settle her system. Gladys accepted gratefully.

“Yes, Lily was complaining of much the same thing! We just get over a convalescent Frodo and now our sisters are coming down with a bug!” Patricia noted. “She came out to the observatory the other night and almost threw up on my journal!”

Firiel sipped unenthusiastically at her drink and nodded. “Yes, and Mel too! Although she’s been complaining of being achy and sore, not queasy.” She sighed. “Well, whatever it is we’ve all got, it’s not that bad. I can still function through it has made me retain water something fierce. I can barely lace up my bodice any more.”

The ladies continued to chat amicably but Goldenberry filed all their symptoms away in her mind. The combination sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it reminded her of. It would probably begin to show in time.



By the next week, more ladies were complaining of symptoms of the mysterious ailment. Evenstar, one of the youngest ladies, was by far the worst affected. She lay about for the first half of every day almost too ill to move, but was nearly always better by luncheon. Marigold wasn’t much better, but she’d found that by putting a snack by her bed every evening and eating a bit of it before she even rose, she could control the worst of her symptoms. What bothered the affected ladies most was that there seemed to be a group of their sisters who were NOT becoming ill. These lucky souls included Erendis, Queenie, Rosie, Elda, Ariel, Elevensies, Pearl, Chica, Bethel, Meryl, Quicksilver, Stormy and Goldenberry. While it would be assumed that the healers among them would be able to keep themselves healthy (though this kind of thinking was belayed by the fact that Evenstar was sicker than anyone!) it just didn’t seem fair that some would fall ill and others would not. Lily marked this disparity bitterly.

“You know,” she fumed. “What irritates me the most is that Frodo’s been so sweet and attentive lately, and most of us are too sick to even enjoy his company! And there go that lot, especially Elda and Meryl, hogging his time nearly to the exclusion of all else! If I see Elda with that sappy grin on her face one more time, I am going to hit her!”

Aisling nodded in agreement. “And Pearl hasn’t been much better! She and Rosie both have been so sweet tempered and maternal I could just scream. Do you know when I got sick last time, she had the nerve to send me to bed and even tried to tuck me in?” Lily didn’t think it wise to mention that Aisling had been becoming as cross and moody as Pearl was becoming maternal – they were uncharacteristic moods for both of them.

“Ele has been acting like that too,” piped up MelodyM. “I swear I have never seen her so sweet tempered! If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was taking some of Frodo’s medicine! She’s positively glowing.” The sweet hobbitlass scowled. “It’s all those evenings she’s been spending with Frodo, darn her! I’d be contented too!”

Erendis, who’d been listening quietly in the corner with Elenillor, closed her book and looked disapprovingly at them. “Well, I wouldn’t be too jealous of those ladies,” she said pointedly. “It seems to me that nearly everyone who’s gotten 10 feet of Frodo lately has come down with this illness! They’ll get theirs sooner or later, I feel sure.”

River Daughter frowned at her. “Well, you haven’t exactly shown any signs of illness either, Erendis. Shouldn’t you be one of the ones we are irritated at?”

Erendis looked smug. “Well, [b]I[/b] haven’t gotten near Frodo since the accident! I knew right off something fishy was going on when the first of you started getting sick. I don’t know what is, but if those others are greedy enough to hog all his time, then they will pay for their actions, and in spades!” The ladies looked at each other guiltily. Erendis did have a point. None of them had gotten ill until after they had been with Frodo. “See what I mean?” The dark haired lass chided. “Sorry, but whatever is going around, I’m going to give it a pass, thank you very much!”

“Well, that’s one way of handling it, I suppose,” Anais yawned. “But it’s too late for me, whatever it is, I’ve already got it, and I can only hope it’s nothing permanent.”


TBC

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