Snow and the 13 dwarves

Chapter 11: Background History

(Sarah's POV)

As I walked away from the table, I tried to make up my mind about which hallway to explore.  Each of them were equally beautiful and built like balconies so that you always had a view of the scenery around you.  I finally chose one and made my way down it. To my surprise, I didn't see too many elves. But there were a few that walked past me in the opposite direction. I tried to wave and say hello, but they either gave a slight nod out of politeness or simply said hello and continued swiftly walking past.

"Man, the acoustics in here must be fantastic," I said to myself, hearing the sound of my footsteps reverberate off the walls.  I'm in chorus, Well... was, I remembered, and felt a twinge of homesickness.  But in chorus, my choir would go out into the school's foyer and sing. The acoustics were amazing, and it sounded beautiful.  Making sure no one was nearby, I decided to sing to myself.

And when my song finished, I felt peaceful.  I heard someone clapping behind me and I turned around.  It was Bilbo. "Oh, hey, Bilbo, didn't see ya there," I said, laughing nervously.  "You sounded good," he said, smiling up at me.  I smiled. "Thanks," I replied, walking beside him. "I haven't heard that compliment in forever."  "Oh, so you've gotten it before?" he asked, smiling and putting his hands behind his back.  I nodded. "Yeah," I continued to explain, "I was in this thing called chorus before I came here. It's a group of people who sing. I got a solo once at our winter concert, and I made district chorus for our state."  I smiled proudly, reflecting on the memories I had made.  Bilbo nodded and said, "That's rather nice.  Do you mind if I walk with you?"  "Sure. Come on, I was going to explore anyway," I replied, motioning for him to come walk by my side.

(Bilbo's POV)

We walked for a little while and looked around, eyeing everything with curiosity and delight. The peaceful setting certainly did wonders for my nerves, and I couldn't help but sigh in contentment as Sarah chatted on about things I didn't entirely understand. Of course I would reply with a nod of the head or a simply hum to let her know I still cared, even though I may not have been entirely listening. As we reached what seemed to be the library, a very large painting came into our sights. We went to go and examine it, and I especially noticed the amount of detail put into it.  It had a seemingly very evil entity in dark armor fighting a human man. A glowing ring encircled his finger, and I couldn't help but attempt to read the writing.  Sarah's jaw dropped as she said, "Oh wow." "What?" I asked, confused.  "That's Sauron fighting Isildur, I think," she said, her eyes scanning every inch of that painting.
"Who are they?" I asked, not entirely sure of what she was talking about. I'd heard those names before, but it had been some time ago. Back when I was no more than a small hobbit in search of some trouble to partake in.

She looked at me, confused for a moment, and then said, "You don't know? I thought you did." With a shrug, she continued to say, "Oh well.  I guess I get to tell you.  Okay so, Sauron was this really evil guy who secretly made a ring to rule all the other rings that were given to the elves, the dwarves, and the men. Gandalf and Elrond have one."

She continued, making motions with her hands in addition to the emphasis of her story. "So the men and elves joined together to take one last stand before he could destroy middle earth. But then Sauron killed Isildur's... father, I think?"  Her face scrunched up as she tried to remember the story.  "And Isildur got angry, of course, so he chopped off his finger with the ring on it, and Sauron was 'defeated'."  She made quotation marks with her fingers and continued to explain, "But he wasn't really.  His spirit lived in the ring." She proceeded to point at the one in the picture and say, "That one there. So when Isildur got it, Elrond took him to Mt. Doom in order to throw it into the lava, because lava from there is the only thing that can destroy it.  I dunno why, but it is.  Sadly, Isildur was tempted by to keep the ring, so he did.  When you get the ring, it causes you to become obsessed with it.  And that happened to Isildur.  The ring betrayed him, and he was shot by orcs on the road, I think. Then he fell into a river, and the ring left him. Then it was found by Gollum.  And then Gollum-"

She quickly stopped short and said, "Oop nevermind."  I was confused. "Oop?" "Oh look," she said, obviously trying to change the subject, "It's Isildur's shattered sword."  Then she quickly walked away to look at a statue holding a blanket with something on it. "No, wait, Sarah, what do you mean 'oops'?" I asked, and followed her.  "Look though, it's his actual sword," she said, still avoiding the topic at hand.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see it because I was too short. The table was held as high as the top of my head, and I couldn't have seen it even if I'd stood on the tips of my hairy toes.  Sarah looked down at me and said, "Ohhh, you can't see. Here lemme pick you up."  "What? No, Sarah!-"  She went behind me, heaved, and picked me up as if I were a child.  "Sarah, put me down!" I exclaimed, trying to wiggle my way out.  "Not until you look at the sword. Now hurry," she said, clearly struggling to keep me up.  I stopped wiggling and looked. It was a shattered sword.

After a moment, she asked, "Are you done yet?"  "Yes, now put me down please," I said, now a bit cross.  She bent to put me down and dropped me close to the floor. "Now, you've seen it," she said with a chuckle. I straightened my jacket and said, "Yes, I have."  "Come on, I bet there's more to see," she said, motioning towards other directions. "Yes I'm sure there is. And I don't think I will need to be picked up either," I replied, crossing my arms.

She frowned and said, "I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to see it."  I smirked and said, "It's alright.  Though I will certainly ask next time I want to be carried.  Alright?"  She smiled back, knowing that she was forgiven, and said, "Yeah. Come on, let's go see what else they've got."