"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."
"I see no hope of it now. But I've got to do the best I can."
A strained series of breaths, a sagging of the shoulders as he feels the weight of it pressing down –
..and he quickly goes to whatever bush he can find at the coming intruder. All the while his fingers tremble towards the golden band, on his finger by now if not for an iron will.
