"The...the ...ring?" Bilbo asked. His hand began to tremble as he held the pan full of sizzling oil.
"The Ring that you most likely stole from Smèagol, Gollum, or whatever you call that being, and which was also stolen from his cousin Dèagol." Roswehn answered seraphically. She was not sure about those accusations, but she wanted to study Bilbo's reaction. Seeing the Hobbit getting pale, she knew truth was very close.
"I have much esteem for you, Bilbo, since I saw you I felt great sympathy, and admiration for your honesty ... Now, do not force me to change my judgment." Roswehn continued.
"I really do not know what you're talking about." Bilbo answered, turning and pretending to continue preparing eggs and sausages. "In addition, I am shocked ... I am incredulous!" He said. "I invited you in my house, I'm preparing a di..dinner for you, and you accuse me of being a thief!" He shook his head. "Very unpolite, girl. I was a burglar, and I was hired regularly for this, but I'm not a thief."
Roswehn was amazed. "Hired? By whom?" She wanted to know. Then she remembered that when she had met Bilbo in Dale, he had told her he was doing a job for the Dwarves.
Ah here we go. See how everything becomes clear? She thought.
"By Thorin." Bilbo answered. Naming his friend made the Hobbit even more embarrassed. A shadow of sorrow appeared on his fifty-year-old face.
Roswehn sighed. She had expected resistance from him. She had to go on gradually. "Bilbo, dear Bilbo, now you have to listen to me. I told you before, that the story of my life would not have been the subject of this discussion, but I'd better clarify, because I do not want to seem hostile to you. " Roswehn said, leaning back in her chair.
"As you've noticed, I wear Elven clothes, you might think they're from Greenwood, but no, they gave them to me in Rivendell. The little kingdom of Elrond, do you know him? " Roswehn asked.
The Hobbit nodded. "Yes, I met him, when I went to Imladris with the Dwarves."
"Yeah, I was a guest there, too ... just one night. A few months ago, I visited the Lothlòrien, another wonderful place ... and now my home is in Greenwood, so I would say that I have enough knowledge of the world of the Elves." the girl said. "And d'you know what I have realized, after having deepened my culture on those creatures? That they have a boring life." she added.
"The ... the Elves?" Bilbo asked. He was carefully putting on a plate what he had prepared for Roswehn.
"Yes, them. Oh, and do not put salt on eggs, please, I hate salty food."
Roswehn was not very hungry and, apart from the damn thirst, she felt the urge to wash herself. Later she would have asked the Hobbit to use the bathroom, hoping that the little man had a tub large enough to put at least her feet in. But she decided to wait and see how the discussion would end. She was more than certain that Bilbo was hiding something in his house.
"The Elves spend the days of their eternal life doing three things: working, reading and meditating.They have a real obsession with knowledge. All their realms are provided with immense libraries, and you see them wandering through their beautiful streets, and flowery paths and under their decorated porches, with books in their hands, all silent and concentrated. I love them for this, besides the fact that I share the bed with one of them ... because they are like me. As you are hungry for sausages and eggs, dear Bilbo, they are hungry for knowledge. But in the long run, such a life is monotonous." Roswehn said to the Hobbit, who in the meantime had sat at the table, with her.
"Yes, but ... it's in their nature, I think." Bilbo answered.
"We've come to the point: it's in their nature, and in my nature, as in yours, there's also the desire to travel, move, to live adventures.You know, I argued with Thranduil, for this reason. He does not understand my impatience to explore this world.He hated my choice to come here, and he does not even know I'm pregnant ... "she revealed.
"Oh really? He doesn't know, but ... why?" Bilbo asked.
"I discovered it at home, that is ... in Dale ... Anyway, what I want to tell you is that we, mortal beings, are different from the Elves. We have something they do not know: passion. We humans and the Dwarves and you Hobbits too...we all burn with passion, which is not only about what we like to do, our hobbies, our projects ... it's also something else ... It's the physical, sentimental passion ... it's carnal. " Roswehn continued, while Bilbo moved a little uneasily on the seat. He was also blushing.
"Human girls believe that I am lucky to be with an Elf, I know, they imagine that they are fabulous and tireless lovers and they make you touch the sky with a finger, and in some ways it is true, but ... since I live with him ... I never had the impression that he really likes what I am giving him, that he feels what I feel when we are together, that is. " Roswehn then got up and started walking around the table. "I do not know why I'm talking to you about such things...forgive me if I make you feel uncomfortable ..."
"No, it's alright...I'm an adult, you know." Bilbo said. He no longer seemed very attracted to his plate of eggs.
Roswehn sighed. "I told you I was in Rivendell, something happened over there, I met another Elf, a beautiful, young, delicate Elf, he was so graceful. We were walking along a road and he suddenly looked at me in a way that .." Roswehn put a hand on her stomach. "... I swear, if he had asked me to follow him in his room, maybe I would have done it."
Bilbo looked amazed. "Would you cheat on Thranduil? ... It does not seem like a ...ahem...good idea."
"I said maybe. I do not know, but I was tempted. I love my King. You have no idea what he is for me ... yet, I was tempted." Roswehn said. "As you were tempted by that Ring and you took it, as Smèagol probably killed his cousin for it: because we mortals are not like the Elves, it's a biological, natural, and unchangeable difference. They do not betray, they do not kill one another out of greed, they are almost perfect. We are not, we are weak. "
Bilbo listened, petrified. The woman was going there where he hoped that no one would ever go: straight to his conscience.
"So if you now tell me that you have that Ring and you are hiding it because of a natural desire for possession, and that since I have entered your house you are lying to me on purpose ... I would understand it. Because I am guilty as well, in front of my conscience. I do not know if you can understand. " Roswehn said. "But Bilbo, be aware: the thing you probably have here, has an immense importance for all the free peoples of Middle-earth. If you really have it, you must know this."
Bilbo was speechless. He wanted to say: yes, the Ring is here, it's hidden in the cupboard you saw at the entrance. But he could not tell her about his Precious. It was his property, and that was all.
And then, who was that woman who was accusing him? Why was she judging him? A thief? He was not a thief. He had found the Ring.
"I'm sorry I can not help you, I do not really know what you're talking about." Bilbo answered. "And then ... how did you come to the conclusion that I should have that thing?" he asked, looking a little offended.
"I told you that the Elves have great libraries," she explained. "There's one in Greenwood too, and I go there sometimes, when Thranduil remembers he's a king and dedicates himself to his realm. Their books are all written in elvish, I can hardly read it, but I learned a little. I found an interesting essay among all those hundreds of books, a book on the history of Elven rings. I do not want to summarize it, I reveal only one thing to you: the Rings respond to their masters, it is true, those to whom they were assigned by Sauron ... but whoever finds, and bears, one, can still use some of its powers. " Roswehn told him. "The ability to disappear, for example .. Invisibility, and the ability to feel things, vibrations, dimensions that our senses could not normally feel."
Bilbo looked at her without moving. He seemed very worried, but remained stoically composed.
"You survived Smaug. Let me tell you something: I met a Dragon as well ... you've been lucky, blatantly lucky. Or rather, let's say that something may have helped you, maybe an instrument that made you invisible? " Roswehn put her hands on the back of the chair. "What do you think, does this sound like a good deduction for you?"
"That sounds like a reasonable explanation, yes, but it has nothing to do with me. I'm sorry, really, you made a mistake." Bilbo answered.
"A mistake. Very well." the woman answered, keeping at bay the frustration. She wasn't able to extort the confession she wanted to hear. "So I must believe you, maybe I was wrong, then. Though my instinct says that the little golden thing is somewhere here." she said, looking around.
"But that's fair: I want to believe Bilbo the Great. So we will stay here, you and me, dining like two old friends and talking about the seasons and the problems of this hard and short life that has been given to us. Only, I regret having to return to Greenwood without being able to give my beloved King the news he was waiting for. You know, this story worries him a lot, and I hate to see him worried. I fought against his pride for accepting me in his life ... and I want him to be happy, you understand ... "Roswehn said," ... no, you can not understand, Hobbit of the Shire. "
She looked at the dish Bilbo had prepared for her. "Let's taste these good things, then, if we can't do anything else."
"There's a much more beautiful news you have to give him, right?" Bilbo asked. "I believe that after receiving it, he will no longer think of rings or other matters."
"Yes, well, I hope you are right about that. I hope he will be happy." Roswehn commented with a bitter smile. Then she looked at him. "I do not know if you really met that creature called Gollum ... but keep one thing in mind: it was like you, once, a Hobbit like you, think about what he has become. Bilbo, it's your destiny, if that ring it's here and you won't be able to get rid of it. "
"I'm sorry, but I'll tell you again: I really do not know what you're talking about." Bilbo replied.
Roswehn held back a shot of impatience. Then she took a deep breath and decided to let it go for the moment. She promised herself, however, to go back to Rivendell and report her impressions to Elrond. He would have decided what to do.
After all, what was she?
At that moment, nothing more than a pregnant woman and prey to a thousand doubts even on herself, let alone the fate of Middle-earth.
A confused and weak human in a hole in the ground.