Taste the air coming in, feel it going out through the nose, and the sun, and the wind, and every last tickle of grass on back of the neck, and…

Listen to your uncle massacre the fairest of tongues.

…ar i pitya huo cénala sit’alassë landë…

“Stop a minute.  Alassë should be accusative, if it was what he saw, only I cannot tell if that is your speech—”

“—Or my grammar.  Fortunately for you, I am here to tell you, once more, that the Quenya accusative died out in Middle-earth long ago, and if you’d just keep current with the times, my lord Finrod…”

Frodo suppressed a sigh.  They’d been going on like this for hours, and if Finrod would just up and tell his uncle that he was wrong—

“No, you see, Westron possesses no such vowels, so we have to approximate—”

“—Or just become very, very good listeners,” Frodo said loudly.  “Which is far, far too easy with the two of you.”  He opened his eyes and sat up.  “A, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, ai, au, oi, ui, eu, iu, and don’t aspirate the voiceless plosives.  Those are the Valinorean variants, are they not?”

Bilbo looked incredibly put out.  Finrod nodded.

“There,” said Frodo.  “So, you see, it can be done.”

“My dear Frodo,” said Finrod—good heavens, he had been around Bilbo too long!—“I fear you are rather ruining the fun of our conversation.”

“On the contrary,” said Frodo.  “Here I am, in the most peaceful places in all of Arda, and I can’t even think the way you two go on with your pedantry.  Good day!”

Bilbo stared at him, stunned, and then Frodo, realizing how worked up he’d gotten, smiled, and then he laughed merrily as a child and ran down the hill.

Oh, it was far better to feel prickly than to feel nothing!

*  *  *

“Well,” said Bilbo, “that was unexpected.”

“He is feeling more himself, then?” said Finrod.

“I hope so,” said Bilbo.  He grinned a devilish grin.  “You know, if you couldn’t tell from that petulant display, my nephew has a remarkable talent for accents and foreign sounds in general, and he’s far better traveled than ever I was…”

Yes, Bilbo would.