"We're going to see Cook," piped up the second guard who had, until then, been silent. "Aren't we, Iarhen?"

Iarhen's groan echoed off the low ceiling.

"You had to go and spoil it for him, didn't you?" he muttered. "It should have been a surprise, but oh no, you couldn't wait."

Pippin, seizing his opportunity, put on what he hoped was a smile worthy of a prince--although after three Gondorian pints, no food since supper the night before, and an indecent amount of gloating, it was a mite shaky--and said, "Breakfast then, is it?"