"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."

many partings;

aharbingerofdeath:

ninefingered:

^{Ragged breathing, the cowed posture. The signs of pain, a sagging position against a wall, eyes cloudy from something that could and should not be written or spoken. Words spilled, dream-like, weak in a way they had not been since he arrived. Each word took a hitched gasp from aching lungs.}

^{”..Tell me — please, what….” His eyes flutter. “What.. happens to those who leave this place? I must know. Where..where do they go?”}

  _{Both corners of pink lips lowered into a frown. Not a sign of sadness, but one of contemplation. From where she stood, he was in no condition to attempt something like that. If the uneven breaths were not enough to go by, the position he was in certainly was. This was a stranger in question, but letting the guy walk off would only make for a guilty conscience.}  

 _{”You’re not seriously thinking about doing that, are you?” A test of mental stability. “Anyone who tries isn’t heard from again. They aren’t just going to let us leave like that.” Not concrete facts, but ones that seemed to be true.} 

^{“No, at least, not yet, ” Came the weary answer, ripe with a sort of disgust with himself. As he was now, there was no chance of him reaching Sam, let alone moving from this spot until his regained memories had their way with them – along with his scars.} 

^{She didn’t seem harmful, but it was too early to regard her as someone ‘safe’ or 'good’ or anything in the grey areas. A young 'human’ girl, as the 'big person’ term was called here, with some modicum of concern, how great, he didn’t know.} 

^{“But do you..? Do you know where they’ve gone? ”}