"I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again."

carrying the world around his neck

"I see no hope of it now. But I've got to do the best I can."

dutai:

ninefingered:

^{“..’home’. As far as I can remember. I wonder if there’s much point in believing a word they say. I am not going home.”}

^{There was no such place for him, but he had to go back regardless.}

“I guess that’s where you have to gamble,” a pause as she ponders momentarily. “But… I understand. About ‘not going home.’ Something like this…

—it’s in the right direction, though, isn’t it?”

^{"Even if I should return to my world, I would be unable to go home regardless. There is something I must do, and returning home is not one of them. But people are right to question them - after all, they’ve proved untrustworthy?”}

^{He paused.} 

^{“The right direction…yes, I can only hope it is. And what of you?”}