Frodo’s Thoughts

Frodo meditates while walking to  Crickhollow.

*Walking. Large strides, heavy heart, dark thoughts.*

“Start walking.

I wonder where Gandalf is? I’ve never known him to be truly late before, though sometimes you would think he was.

He always said to me, “a wizard, Frodo Baggins, is never late. He always arrives precisely when he means too!” I wonder, I’m sure he always did, unless he was kept away by things he hadn’t known of. And that’s never happened in my lifetime. Something must have happened to him. I wonder what? Nothing good, I’m sure.

I wish he was here.

I wonder if The Ring had anything to do with it? It seems almost ridiculous, that such a small thing can cause so much trouble and change.

Look at Samwise, he never thought to set foot out of Hobbiton, much less across the Brandywine, yet that’s exactly where he’s headed now.

Merry and Pippin, too. How can I tell them that I’m not going to be staying at Crickhollow at all? It is hard, pretending that I really want to settle down there. It’s a shame, all that work and time they put into finding a house and all for nothing.

All this because of The Ring.

I can feel  it now, cold and hard, hitting against my chest with every step I take. It seems so, helpless almost, a simple bauble, yet, not so helpless or simple, either. It’s just a plain gold band, nothing to make you think anything special about it, but it has an allure that catches you and draws you to it, that has you looking at it and seeing only the things that give it beauty. Its size, its perfect shape, and the pure gold it is made of. I can see it now, in my mind’s eye. It is beautiful, yet simple. That is how I had thought of it when I received it from Bilbo. Yet there is nothing simple about it. How could I have ever thought that?

It is dangerous, I know. I knew it, but I could not bring myself to try to destroy it. It frightens me. I took it in my hand to throw it from me, yet when I tried, I found my resolve changed, and The Ring in my pocket. I did not want to let it go, it was altogether precious to me.

Where, oh where is Gandalf?”