BRONWE: Higher
By ALBA

FANDOM: Lord of the Rings - Character Fiction

SERIES: Bronwe

CHAPTER: 10/?

RATING: PG-13 at most (non-slash)

SPOILERS: Nothing. Pre-LOTR at the moment.

SUMMARY: The story of Merry and Pippin's relationship. Merry challenges Pippin to climb the tallest tree in the Shire.

DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story do not belong to me, they belong to J.R.R. Tolkien's estate. I merely borrowed them and will return them when I'm finished with them. I am making no money off this fiction, in fact, I'm paying for it to even BE here. So don't sue me because I am flat broke. PrettySparklyDanceBoys broke my bank.

DEDICATION: For Kris, my beloved, nasty elfslut. :) For Janelle, my smutmuse who gives me the needed boots to the head. And to Daisy Gamgee for her kind words and her go-ahead for me to write this series. Also, many thanks to Lux and GreenSage over at Livejournal, without whom a part of this chapter wouldn't have been written.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Bronwe" is Sindarin for "enduring, lasting quality, faith" (according to this site anyways). No, Elves don't have anything to do with the story. I just liked the word. :)

Bronwe: Higher

"Well, here we are," Merry said, turning to face Pippin. "The highest tree in the whole Shire."

"You must be able to see all the way across the Sea from the top of that thing!"

"Why don't you climb up it and see?"

"No way, Merry! What if we get caught?"

"You managed to climb the Gaffer's tree without being caught," Merry reminded him. "You're too good to get yourself caught."

Pippin blushed a bit at the compliment, but wasn't going to be so easily swayed. "I don't know, Merry..."

"Are you too scared?"

"No, of course not!" Pippin bristled. "What if I fall?"

"That's what I'm here for. I'll catch you."

"Promise?" Pippin's eyes bored into his and Merry squirmed a bit.

"I promise."

"Will you climb the tree with me?"

"It won't take both of us. You'll just have to climb up there and give me a full description of what you see. Tell me what it's like to be that high. Tell me what it looks like from way up there."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well... okay then." Pippin glanced up at the tree before quickly stripping off his shirt and handing it to Merry. Taking one last deep breath, Pippin began the long climb.

"You're doing great, Pip!" Merry shouted when Pippin was halfway up. He was almost level with most of the trees in the Shire, but he had a long way yet to go on this one.

"This thing just won't end!" Pippin shouted back. "But this is fun! You should try it!"

"Maybe another time. But keep going and tell me what you see when you reach the top!" There was a long silence as Pippin continued to climb, finally vanishing from Merry's sight. "Pippin?"

"Wow!" Pippin called down. "This is amazing, Merry!"

"What do you see?"

"Everything! I can see the mountains from up here! I think they're the ones from Uncle Bilbo's tale. You know, the one with the dwarves and the dragon?"

"I know which one you mean. What else?"

"The Brandywine."

"We see that all the time! What about the other direction? Opposite the mountains?"

"I can't even describe it... it's beautiful." Pippin fell silent again for a time. "I'm coming back down, Merry."

"I'm here, Pip." Slowly, slowly, Pippin made his way down the tree until he finally sat on a branch about five feet above Merry's head. "What did you see?" Prompted Merry.

"Heaven," was all Pippin said, dropping down the last few feet and turning to look Merry in the eyes. "I saw Heaven."