Clarity of Vision Chapter 28
Title: Clarity of Vision, Chapter 28
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Bilbo Baggins, Thorin, Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin, Dís
Fandom: Hobbit
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3600
Story Summary: In a Middle-Earth where Erebor never fell, a shadow remains in the heart of the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo Baggins finds himself drawn ( Read more... )
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Bilbo Baggins, Thorin, Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin, Dís
Fandom: Hobbit
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3600
Story Summary: In a Middle-Earth where Erebor never fell, a shadow remains in the heart of the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo Baggins finds himself drawn ( Read more... )
"What a hobbit you are," said Thorin, amused. "One tree is much like another, and the sky is merely the sky, after all."
"A birch is nothing like a beech, and they're both completely different from a pine," Bilbo retorted. "And as for the sky--it's different every day and every hour. Who could tire of watching it? How you can bear to live sealed up in stone, I don't know."
Oh, Bilbo... *pets him*
In general we have two words for trees: zurm-khubûb-ghelekh and zurm-khubûb-zuz."
Bilbo rummaged through his meager Khuzdul. "Tree-forge-good and tree-forge-bad?"
Thorin nodded. "Trees good for burning and trees not good for burning."
Oh my, I wonder what Yavanna thinks of that! (I'm re-reading the Silmarillion, so it's on my mind!)
"I suggest a trade," Thorin said. "I shall continue with our Khuzdul lessons, and in return you can teach me the names of the trees and plants we see."
"Oh," said Bilbo, "That sounds quite nice! It's a shame there are no flowers blooming right now, but perhaps I could sketch some for you and we could study that way."
Thorin nodded gravely. "Acceptable," he said.
asdfghjk! *squee*
Thorin put his arm around him to steady him, and Bilbo decided he didn't mind wagon travel so much after all.
*squees again*
I believe Fíli and Kíli have learned not to take you too seriously either."
"That's a comfort," Thorin retorted, feeling obscurely relieved.
Awww! *pets Thorin*
Bilbo looked slightly wistful when he realized they were going to bypass Rivendell, but even he had to admit that a few dozen dwarves might be a little much for the Last Homely House to handle.
Aww :( But yes, I do wonder what Elrond's reaction would have been to dozens of dwarves turning up on his doorstep! :P
Thorin couldn't find Bilbo in the chaos of gibbering shrieks and lowing oxen and felt panic grip him, then forcibly reminded himself that Bilbo had survived Moria perfectly well without him and returned to grimly slashing at the furious hordes.
Oooooh! I do think those might be my favorite lines from this chapter!
It wasn't like I was going to duck out on Dori, after all
DORI! :D
"That narrows it down greatly," said Kíli, his eyes dancing
Kili... :p
"This is a different kind of grumpiness from your usual baseline cantankerousness," Bilbo said.
*gigglesnorts*
"Well, not entirely. It's that...it has been so long," he said softly. "I have not celebrated the Ceremony of the Moon for more than thirty years. Three decades I have been on the road, away from my kind. I fear sometimes that I have become…" He hesitated. "...un-dwarvish." He made a sound caught somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "I do not believe I can express in Westron the wrongness of such a thing."
Oh, Thorin! *pets him gently*
The story was a long and quite fascinating one, and involved Mahal coming to the greatest smiths of the dwarves "in the time of starlight" and leading them in the crafting of two great vessels of silver and gold, burnished to brightness.
Oooh! I love this take on the making of the Sun and Moon... I can't quite remember, did Tolkien write somewhere that the dwarves helped Aule to make them? I can only remember he and Tulkas dropping the last fruits, lol...
"Certainly not," Thorin said.
*snorts* No, of course you're not, Thorin. :p
Oh, and I really loved the ceremony, the words were so lovely...
This was a lovely chapter, thank you so much for sharing it! :)
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I know! That line of Aule's "They shall still have need of firewood" strikes me as one of the funniest in the Silmarillion (admittedly, not a book known for its punchlines!) I don't think I can get them to meet Treebeard in the continuation, but there must be Ents to the east too, right?
Wait, wait! However, prior to the Third Age, the Entwives abandoned the Ents in order to start a garden east of Fangorn in what became the Brown Lands; following the end of the Second Age, they disappeared. When Treebeard went searching for them, he could not find them.
CAN THEY FIND THE ENTWIVES? Apparently Tolkien said he thought they were destroyed in the Second Age, but maybe they moved further East? *ponders*
Aww :( But yes, I do wonder what Elrond's reaction would have been to dozens of dwarves turning up on his doorstep! :P
Even the most well-behaved dwarves would probably cause him to throw his hands up in despair and fumigate the whole place!
Doriiiii! His little brother is traveling with the company too, he gets mentioned (not by name) in the next chapter and I'm hoping he will show up more!
Oooh! I love this take on the making of the Sun and Moon... I can't quite remember, did Tolkien write somewhere that the dwarves helped Aule to make them?
I spent a long time talking with Dan about it--I kind of wanted them to have a totally different take on how they were created, but since the Silmarillion is historical fact, not a myth, within the world, I decided to stick closer to it. The canon says that Aule "and his people" made the vessels, and I'm pretty sure Tolkien meant the Noldor or his own Maiar, BUT it could totally be the dwarves, couldn't it? Oooh, now that I think of it, it would be maybe better if the Noldor made the sun and the dwarves the moon, so they had a special connection with it? I sort of imagine that after years living in the mountains with only starlight, the dwarves found the sun almost unbearable and preferred the moon...
OK, this has become really detailed, so I'd better stop here! Thank you for the wonderfully thought-provoking comment! *wanders off, thinking more*
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YES. YES. THE ENTWIVES!!!!! YOU HAVE TO INCLUDE THEM, PLEEEEEASSSSE! I so desperately want Thorin and Bilbo to meet an Ent, somehow...
I spent a long time talking with Dan about it--I kind of wanted them to have a totally different take on how they were created, but since the Silmarillion is historical fact, not a myth, within the world, I decided to stick closer to it. The canon says that Aule "and his people" made the vessels, and I'm pretty sure Tolkien meant the Noldor or his own Maiar, BUT it could totally be the dwarves, couldn't it? Oooh, now that I think of it, it would be maybe better if the Noldor made the sun and the dwarves the moon, so they had a special connection with it? I sort of imagine that after years living in the mountains with only starlight, the dwarves found the sun almost unbearable and preferred the moon...
Ooooh! I really like all those thoughts, it would make a lot of sense that the dwarves... well, wouldn't like the sun very much! And I just love the idea of them helping Aule make the moon...
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I have to re-read how Gimli responds to them! Because they're...sort of racial enemies, more than elves and dwarves are, after all! I suspect the "Entwives" call themselves just "Ents" and have lost their "Enthusbands," too. :) I know they're smaller, so now I'm imagining some rather cute ents based on lilac bushes and apple trees...who could still probably crush you pretty easily...
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