“if I were tall enough to ride my OWN horse, you mean?” stranger and stranger he is beginning to find them; the big folk, with all doors, literally, open to them. tall, strong, with proper swords hanging from their belts, whilst he has begun to learn that his dagger, SHINY as it may be, serves as nothing but a letter opener perhaps. and yet they always ask for guidance. for opinions, and help. well, some of them do. not perhaps the gloomy folk of Bree, with whom Merry has had a run-in or two in his youth, and now finds them ODD but not unfriendly. and perhaps not men such as Aragorn, who seems to know everything and more. but she does. with war looming ahead, and no sword on her belt, but family leaving for a battlefield she is not supposed to be on. much like HIM in a way, isn’t it?
and Merry hums thoughtfully; the large, hairy feet dangling in the air beside her’s so safely on the ground, while he turns a tankard in his hands. “I would fight,” then rings the HONEST reply after a moment. quiet, yet determined, as if he had given the notion too much previous thought already. “we have a duty to protect our family, don’t we? I mean, what good are we for otherwise, right?” and has that not been the reason why he had come on this QUEST in the first place? to protect Frodo?