TM: Generally speaking, how do you think others perceive you?
Samwise couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was watching him. Had, in fact, been watching him from the moment he set foot beyond his beloved Shire and all the things he had ever known. Perhaps they recognized that he was out of his depth here in the Great Wide World. He was just a simple gardener, after all, who never thought of adventuring or anything more exciting than sun-warmed earth and the life he could coax from it.
True, his dreams sometimes ventured further than thoughts of breakfast and supper and how his garden grew. Those dreams carried him to far and distant lands, like dark Mirkwood or the great Misty Mountains of Mister Bilbo's wonderful tales. Even waking, Sam sometimes longed to see the fabled glory of the Elves and secretly wondered what it must be like beyond the four Farthings. They were fanciful thoughts and not the sort that a simple gardener should be keeping.
Yet here he stood, in gloom and darkness, hidden from sun and sky. Although he could not see the great vaulted roof of the cavern high overhead, he could feel its weight all around him. He loved earth and digging, no denying, but this was deeper down than any sensible hobbit had a right to be! Here, more than at any time, Sam felt the eyes of the Company upon him and imagined what they must be thinking. He had no skill with weapons or magic and he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or so his Gaffer was fond of saying. What use was a gardener on such a journey?
Like it or not, it's here I am and here I stay, thought Sam with grim determination. I can hold my own in a fight and I'll not be getting in the way of anyone, if that's what they're worrying about. But where Mister Frodo goes, his Sam goes, and that's the truth of it.
Samwise sat himself down beside Mister Frodo and gave no more thought to what the others of the Company might be thinking of him.
In fact, it would have surprised Sam to learn that his companions did indeed think upon the subject of Master Samwise, but not in the way he might have expected. Perhaps Gandalf and Strider understood better than most, for they recognized quiet bravery and fierce determination when they saw it and suspected that Frodo could not have chosen a better companion to share the trials that lay ahead.
True, his dreams sometimes ventured further than thoughts of breakfast and supper and how his garden grew. Those dreams carried him to far and distant lands, like dark Mirkwood or the great Misty Mountains of Mister Bilbo's wonderful tales. Even waking, Sam sometimes longed to see the fabled glory of the Elves and secretly wondered what it must be like beyond the four Farthings. They were fanciful thoughts and not the sort that a simple gardener should be keeping.
Yet here he stood, in gloom and darkness, hidden from sun and sky. Although he could not see the great vaulted roof of the cavern high overhead, he could feel its weight all around him. He loved earth and digging, no denying, but this was deeper down than any sensible hobbit had a right to be! Here, more than at any time, Sam felt the eyes of the Company upon him and imagined what they must be thinking. He had no skill with weapons or magic and he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or so his Gaffer was fond of saying. What use was a gardener on such a journey?
Like it or not, it's here I am and here I stay, thought Sam with grim determination. I can hold my own in a fight and I'll not be getting in the way of anyone, if that's what they're worrying about. But where Mister Frodo goes, his Sam goes, and that's the truth of it.
Samwise sat himself down beside Mister Frodo and gave no more thought to what the others of the Company might be thinking of him.
In fact, it would have surprised Sam to learn that his companions did indeed think upon the subject of Master Samwise, but not in the way he might have expected. Perhaps Gandalf and Strider understood better than most, for they recognized quiet bravery and fierce determination when they saw it and suspected that Frodo could not have chosen a better companion to share the trials that lay ahead.